FINANCE CONTROL BOARD, July 19, 2007

Present:  Chairman Christopher Gabrieli, Mayor Charles V. Ryan, Robert Nunes, James Morton, City Council President Kateri Walsh, City Clerk Wayman Lee.

Public Comment

Chairman Gabrieli:  [in progress]...clarifying comments.  We’ve decided in regard to the public comments going forward that we’ll to do two things a tiny bit differently.  One, we’re encouraging or supporting control board members asking clarifying questions to the extent somebody raises something that we just don’t understand so we can get the full benefit of this opportunity to hear from the public.  And, second, we’ve asked staff to provide us a memo, a follow-up memo, on all the issues raised at control board meeting speak-outs so that we can understand the context, the [unintelligible] of the department response and whether there is some piece of information that it is really important for us to know for the future or not. 

And we won’t have that memo from last time, because we just asked for it today, so...but we would hope on a timely basis going forward to be able to know for each control board what the follow through was on items raised.  We may or may not necessarily comment on those--some of these are sensitive matters, as you can imagine—but I want to make sure you all realize we intend to try to benefit from the opportunity to hear from people who may or may not be part of, you know, the administration or, you know, part of the city ap--...who may...that anybody can walk up and bring up an issue and that those of us who don’t know the context will learn it. So, thank you very much.

City Clerk Wayman Lee:  For those of you who’ve never attended a public comment session, we go with three minutes per party.  We have ten people that have signed up today so I would ask that you keep your comments brief.  I will give you a heads up at one minute, at 30 seconds, and at ten seconds.  Our first speaker today is Miss Lois Smith.

Lois Smith:  Once again, it’s a great pleasure to see the wonderful energy and the chemistry in this room between all of you, and, respectfully, I want to thank you for letting me speak with you. 

            Lack of recess and physical education in Springfield schools is the predominant reason that children are not learning and that health problems abound.  Know that all valid research indicates the need for consistent and scheduled breaks with physical activity.  And, knowing the serious health issues our children face and knowing the lack of physical activity is causing false identification of ADHD and serious drug use, our school administration has continued over the 2 ½ years that I have brought this research into light to continue down the slippery slope that has exasperated these problems and increased crime and drugs in our city.  Please remember that I talked about “return on investment” at the last control board meeting. 

We do need to immediately begin a nation-wide search for a new leader in our school district.  This is even more evident as we evaluate SABIS Charter School in Springfield which is doing a magnificent job.  They do have recesses, extended physical education extensive and other things.  Today I would like to offer some historically valid comments on the selection of a new superintendent of schools.  Finding the dynamic man or woman to replace Dr. Burke has challenges.  When we try to entice the best, we find ourselves looking at a group of existent superintendents who are either leaving under pressure from their present jobs or have not found their present opportunities satisfactory.  So we’re predominantly recycling bad news.  I suggest looking in new fields, looking at an exemplary school and offering an upgrade of title or post to an assistant superintendent and allowing that individual if they need extra credentialing, and it’s limited in scope, to go back and get it while they’re performing. 

In California, I tested this; I know it works, the upgrading aspect.  There was a small company that was of unknown ilk, limited budget, and they wanted to get executives from a company that was being bought out.  And eight people that were requested to move over with an upgrade did so.  I guess that I would like you to look into.

And I do want to comment on the drug situation that if we called the 13 most used ADHA drugs in school by their proper street name, “meth,” and “methamphetamines,” no parent would allow their child to be put on those drugs.  We call them when they’re in school by 13 nice names like Ritalin and Adderol When these kids drop out, it becomes “meth.”  Think about that; it’s really important.  It’s the most serious drug.  I want you to think...to carefully consider what I’m proposing regarding a search committee (which we’ve talked about before) an independent search committee that would be comprised of people that we select from the community who are not attached in any way to the school district.

Thank you very much for listening to me. I appreciate your time in listening to me.  And thank you Mr. Gabrieli for commenting about commenting about my efforts to get here last week.  I’m a little slow on the up-take.  Thank you. 

WL:  Miss Ann Poliak.

Ann Poliak:  [Passes out something to board members.]  The first page is a letter and then stapled is just a statement that I’ve summarized, so it’s right now referring to the letter itself.  I’m here in regards to this letter that I received which is self-explanatory and I passed it out.  Want me to proceed?  Want to look it over or go ahead? 

The city council denied unanimously two requests in 2002 and 2006 for the zone changes referred to in the letter.  There’s not enough time for me to go through all the reasons they denied the zone change so I’ll proceed with what I have.  I feel it’s important at this time.  At the first zone change hearing, in fact, it was Councilor Timothy Ryan who lives in the neighborhood that made the motion to deny the zone change.  Mr. Kushner, the petitioner, filed an appeal with the court, and if the city lost the court case, the results would be the same--as indicated in the letter—a zone change would be granted.  That would be no risk to the city or the financial control board or whatever.  The city solicitor, Michael Mulcahy, never presented his entire case to Judge Tina Page for the first denial, and no presentation was ever made for the second zone change denial.  One of the reasons for the denial of the zone change was the petitioner, Mr. Kushner, was dumping on his own property.  The city ordered Mr. Kushner to clean up the trash in August 2006.  This is a picture of how the property looked in June 2007.  [Approaching the Board with photos asking:  Will you pass these around?]

Granting the zone change is overriding two city council votes, rewarding bad behavior, and punishing the neighborhood.  It’s also setting a precedent for other businesses in the neighborhood to request a zone change for parking.  I’m hoping the Financial Control Board will reconsider and return this issue to the court.  I’m confident that if Judge Tina Page is presented all of the information, she will uphold the city council’s votes.  And if the Financial Control Board is also given the information, they would agree with the votes.  That’s about it.  Just, if you reconsider, look over the documentation that I presented that was done very rapidly because I wasn’t given much notice by getting the letter over the week-end, and thank you for your consideration.

CG:  Thank you very much.

WL:  City Councilor Domenic J. Sarno.

City Councilor Domenic J. Sarno:  Good afternoon, James, Mayor Nunes, Chairman Gabrieli, Mayor Ryan, Council President Kateri Walsh.  Before I go into my statement, I’d just like to echo...Miss Poliak says she’s worked very hard...the neighborhood came out adamantly opposed to this and now to have it moved to the Financial Control Board after two votes of the city council and also with a pending court case is wrong.  The neighborhood has worked hard to keep their neighborhood area and you can see how the petitioner keeps his property.

            I’m here to ask you to terminate the street sweeping contract which was given out some two years ago to a private organization.  It is evident two years in a row that this establishment cannot do the job.  We are six months behind.  Al Chwalek has had to activate—reactivate—our old city street sweepers to do this job.  It is not fair to the citizens and taxpayers of the city of Springfield to keep footing this bill.  They’re burdened too much as it is.  And, again, two years in a row with this private contract, the city itself has had to come in and do the job that residents expect.  I would ask you to terminate this contract. You can do it with or without cause with 30 days of written notice.  And I would also ask you to bring this service back to the DPW who was doing an outstanding job.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

CG:  Thank you.

WL:  Ann B. Leavenworth.

Ann B. Leavenworth:  Good afternoon.  I had a thought and I thought I’d bring it to you.  If you’ve heard it before, just stop me, but it has to do with...I’ve been reading in the paper a lot about having a clean city and a lot—especially letters to the editors—about the people that go around with the grocery carts picking up bottles and this idea came to me when one day—I live in the inner city and I was sitting on my porch, and I saw a man go into a field, and he picked up a bottle and then he put it back down.  Obviously, it wasn’t refundable, and that’s understandable; they have enough to carry around.  But I thought maybe the city could do a partnership with these people.  You could pay them $10. a bag for all the trash they picked up.  And I know you have street sweepers, but there’s the sidewalks, there’s the tree belts, there’s the terraces that aren’t owned by people.  There’s the little parks and the fields.  And perhaps you could even buy them really nice carriages and maybe find them a place to store their other stuff while they’re working.  I just think it would give them respect.  They obviously want to work if they will collect things they will only get a nickel for.  It would help the city, and it would help those people.

That’s all for that.  I don’t have the details.  I figured I’d see how you liked this first, but I’d be willing to work on the details if you’re at all interested. 

And since I have time, one other thing, Holy Family Church and Holy Cross Church is having a community celebration on August 4.  It’s for all the people of the city.  We have food, music, everything, no cost, raffle prizes (no cost).  So you’re all invited, so please come.

CG:  Thank you.

WL:  Kevin Noonan.

Kevin Noonan:  Thank you.  Mr. Morton, Mayor Nunes, Mr. Gabrieli, Mayor Ryan, Councilor Walsh.  Just outside that window in 2004, a man was found dead at the steps.  He was homeless, and he chose not to go to the Worthington St shelter for fear of his safety.  Prior to that in December, another man was found dead at the...my favorite shopping place at the corner of Lyman Street and Chestnut.  He had tried to shimmy through the bars and sliced his gut open and either bled to death or froze to death, whichever came first.  Immediately after, Open Pantry Community Services, an agency which I run, responded by opening the...asking the downtown churches to open up their doors, and they did.  And we housed upwards of 85 to 95 people per night.  We went among these three churches (Christ Church Cathedral, Old First Church, and South Church) until June of 2005 when the St. Joseph’s Church opened up, and we were able to stay there until the Mayor asked us to go to the former jail at York Street. We stayed there until, as you know, July 12 of this past week.

            We receive funding from the state Department of Transitional Assistance.  We have several contracts with them.  We run shelters—family shelters in the city of Springfield.  We received funding from them in March of ’06, but one of the problems that developed is that the city of Springfield declined to give us occupancy permits for longer than six months at a time.  They cited zoning as their issue.  They never identified any problems with code in the building until afterwards when they refuse---‘til the...July 8 or 9 when they were in court.  For 22 months, they claimed this was an emergency, but for 22 months, they now retroactively tell us that we were there in an unsafe situation.  Now they’ve blocked us from receiving the $400,000. a year, and they’ve basically stuffed everyone into Worthington House. 

We ran this program between 1989 and 1994 after a man who was homeless died in Agawam, and the city of Springfield—different administration—at that time responded by adding 12 beds in the basement of Worthington House.  Now, they’re counting those same 12 beds again as if they were new.  The conditions at the jail, which they told us were unsafe, they’re now moved people into the kitchen which has no sprinkler system.

On the eve of the court case filed by the guests, the basement space flooded which is a common problem on Worthington Street.  We were told it was just ground water.  We’ve worked on that street before; we know it’s not healthy to...the kind of water that comes in. 

The Housing First, we support it totally.  Of the 100 vouchers that the city has allocated through the SHA, not one has been issued to date.  We’re saying “Why would you cut the safety net before issuing those vouchers?”  The Warming Place didn’t in fact close on the 12^th of July, we continued to operate at 287 State Street.  Some of the guests are here today, and they’d like to speak with you.  They’re afraid to go to Worthington House.  They are concerned for their safety, and they’re looking for an alternative.

What we’re asking the control board to do today is to let us reopen the Warming Place with funding from the state...from the city, because the city has blocked us from our state funding, and let us provide an alternative so that there are no other deaths in the city of Springfield.  Many of the people who left that day went to the bushes, and the other people who are here are sitting up in chairs at this point, and they’re sitting up in chairs just so we can get around the draconian measures of the city which will insist that we can’t run a shelter in that space.  So they sit in chairs all night, and that’s how they sleep.  Thank you very much.

WL:  Dianne Maquire.

Dianne Maquire:  Good afternoon.  My name’s Dianne and I am...22 months ago, I walked into the Warming Place, and it wasn’t “home” to me, I felt warm.  Since I’ve been at the Warming Place...well, actually since they’ve closed the Warming Place, I reside at the Worthington Street Shelter.  When I walk in those doors, I fear.  I’m scared, because as I look in the walls, as I look at the ceilings with water leaking on us while we’re sleeping on mattresses on the floor, overcrowded, girls arguing because they want the bathroom next, because there’s only one bathroom to use, it’s very stressful.  And me being three months pregnant, it’s not well for me.  The Warming Place being open, not only did it help me find myself, but I found other people that I can trust in, that I haven’t trusted in a long time being to the shelters, that staff really cared about me as to I could talk to them about things that I couldn’t talk to nobody before not even my therapist and they were there to help me with stuff that I’m coming now together with my housing, my income that I couldn’t do on my own, that I couldn’t, that I was confused about.  I just feel that being...the Warming Place being closed has put a gap in me.  It put a gap in my not because of my life going on, but it put a gap I met people that cared about me. I’ve been in Springfield for about ten years.  I’m not originally from here, but since being homeless in and out of the Worthington Street Shelter, which I was in the past, I didn’t like it.  I’ve been disrespected, I’ve been put down because I was homeless, and being at the Warming Place, they never did that to me. 

So now that I’m residing at the Worthington Street shelter, which I have no choice to be there right now, until we supposedly get our housing vouchers which I’m number 14 on the list and I’m still waiting for and we were promised a month ago, I feel that we was lied to, that we was put down.  And not only am I speaking for myself, for others also.  And we...we’re confused.  And at the Warming Place, they was honest with us; they was open with us.  These people are lying to us, and I don’t feel that it’s right that we should be lied to about certain things, especially somewhere to live.  The place that we had to live at was torn down, and that was a big family that I knew about.  Over here, I can’t be like that.  I mean the staff is like “What do you need?”  Can I...you know, I’m not....  I need some help.  I asked a question  the other day, and I got yelled at and just disrespected and almost got banned, thrown on the street.  So, I’m just asking for myself and my child...I mean if there’s a future... people that are homeless...if they can have another Warming Place to open up to for them.  Thank you.

CG:  Thank you.

WL:  Kevin Ryl

Kevin Ryl:  Good afternoon.  My name is Kevin Ryl, and I, too, came from the Warming Place.  I haven’t been there long, but since I have been there, I noticed that the Warming Place has a sense of love up in there.  All the staff are just outright going to help you with anything, any kind of problem.  Now that the Warming Place is closed, everybody is jammed up in Worthington.  Worthington is not a place of best shelter; it is not.  I mean quote unquote they say they “fixed everything.”  The sinks are still stopping up; the toilets are still backing up; the showers are still backing up.  Downstairs in the basement, every time it rains, they have to take people out of the basement and stick them in the kitchen, and I don’t think that’s right.  Plus the thing is, not only that, they run it like it’s a jail, which I feel is not right neither.   At the Warming Place, everybody...you know there was just love there, you know what I mean.  It’s...it was no...it wasn’t ran like a jail, know what I mean.  We could come in and get our every situated and everything, and we could sign back out until 10:00.  At the Worthington, once you in, you in.  You can’t leave the property; you can’t do this; you can’t do that; you can’t do nothing, you know?  I mean it’s beyond...I don’t know, but I would like on you all behalf to take deep in your heart and see how us people that’s...are homeless feel, because if not...I believe there will be trouble in Springfield, because people don’t want to go to Worthington.  People are living in the waterfront bushes, sleeping on the library grass; nobody wants to go to Worthington.  So if you could dig deep down in your heart, please help us to at least open up the Open Door [sic] back up or to borrow some other place suitable for us to go.  Thank you very much.

WL:  Ruben LaGares, Jr.

Ruben LaGares, Jr.:  Good afternoon.  My name is Ruben LaGares, Jr.  I’m here from the...I’m homeless, too. I was staying at Worthington first and then the staff members, they mistreated...not in the sense of abuse, but with words and stuff like that.  And I had back problems, used to be working, I had my house and everything, I was married, but since I got hurt, things just went chaos, so I just ended up being homeless, so I was staying at the Worthington shelter. I had difficulty there with a staff member, so I ended up going to the Warming Place, and, over there, I felt the warmth of the staff and the consideration they had on us and they looked forward to us to look a place to be and help us with, you know, whatever kind of help we needed. 

And then, when I found out that they were closing the Warming Place, I headed back to the Worthington about a month before they close.  And when I got back there, some of the staff that was working there, apparently they got involved in some situation, and some of them got kicked out from the staff, one of the members that was there.   I don’t know what was his problem, he was picky towards me and I got papers stating that I needed to be sleeping on the bottom bunk, because I can’t climb, I got back problems, knee...I got to get some surgeries...and they didn’t took that into consideration.  They always had me jumping from bed to bed using the top bunks and no consideration at all.  So I made a complaint over there, and I spoke with the man in charge over there and apparently pulled somebody out...pulled some strings and put him on the spot, but there’s always issues over there, and they bringing us like problems that they’re not necessary and making it hard for us to get around and by 6:00 you got to go in there and they treat us like we’re in prison or something, you know. 

They don’t let us go do things that we’ve got to do like paperwork, go outside and do meetings and stuff like that.  It’s a lot of strictness, and in the Warming Place, it was different, because we took papers and they understood and let us go and do what we had to do and solve the problem.  But at the Worthington place, it’s difficult with the staff member that’s involved with the...they don’t take nothing into consideration.  Just because we’re homeless...not because we’re homeless doesn’t mean that we’re not human and we care and we got feelings and we got things that we got to look forward to like finding our own places and look forward.  But they make it hard on us and they mistreat us with words and they look at us like we’re down there [gestures] and because they got a little up, they’re better than us.  And that’s...I think it’s kind of wrong, so that’s why I left to Warming Place and now that I’m back over here, it’s like it’s different.  It was better at the Warming Place, because they consider us like humans and they helped us.  Over there, it’s just mans over there, and they like...they treat us with unnecessary words like not...not nasty words, but just the way they talk to you like harsh and like loud and then you cannot tell nothing back, because they write you up, they look to throw you out into the streets, and the streets are dangerous out there, especially now with the drugs involvement and they see you sleeping, they think you got money and they jump you and like that.  I’m a man, and I could stand on my own, but it’s hard. When you’re sleeping, anybody could come and just hurt you.  So that’s all I got to say.  I would like to see what can we do about the situation in Springfield with the homeless situation and get a better place so that we can look forward to.  And that’s all that I have to say.  I thank you for the attention.  I appreciate it.  Thank you all.

WL:  Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson:  Good afternoon.  I represent the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 7, and today I’m speaking on behalf of the Pioneer Valley Building Trades who represent over 700 working residents and their families in the city of Springfield.  And what I’d like to talk to you about today is the upcoming two school projects, Putnam Vocational and the Forest Park Middle School.  And, as I’m sure you’re aware, the building trades are trying to secure a project labor agreement on these schools.  And what I’d like to talk to you about is there’s reports out there that are favorable on project labor agreements and some that are not.  And what we would like is an opportunity at an up-coming meeting to perhaps give you a presentation that may take about 20 minutes which will outline some underlying facts on jobs in the area that were done under project labor agreements and some that weren’t.  We feel in our opinion, there’s a value of a project, a cost an actual cost to build a quality school, and there’s a perceived cost on projects that were done without a project labor agreement.  And some of the information we’d like to share with you is some of the costs that are incurred on some of these school departments three, four, five years after these projects are built.  We feel we have some valuable information that may be most beneficial to you when weighing your decision on a project labor agreement on these two projects.  And, again, I ask you to grant us an opportunity to give you a short presentation at an upcoming meeting.  Thank you.

WL:  Elinor Hartshorn

Elinor Hartshorn:  Thank you.  My name is Elinor Hartshorn.  I am a retired political science professor, and at various times I have served as chairman of the Planning Board of Springfield and of the Riverfront Development Commission, and at one time I had an organization called Landscape Springfield, and I was chairman of a committee to get money approved for the new high school which was quite a while ago. My particular interest in this...I want to say I think it’s been a very useful exercise for the city to have somebody come in from the outside who has no vested interest in the city and use your expertise to help us with some of the problems we have.  And I realize this has been hard for some of the employees, but I think in the long run it will be good. 

            One of my major concerns at the present time is the schools.  We don’t have enough teachers.  We don’t have enough money.  Suburban communities can provide lots of things for their children, but Springfield can’t.  Suburban communities—Longmeadow is the more prominent one here—their parents have income triple that of students in Springfield.  They take them on trips, etc. and they have a smaller class size.  And I think that we need to somehow be able to get more teachers for our school, and hopefully, provide a pre-kindergarten pre-school and cut down the class sizes.  There are some wonderful teachers in the schools, but a lot of them have left because they have so many students and they can’t manage the students.  And I think the schools cannot be improved and it will take money, and how one gets it I do not know.  But I would like to encourage you to really look and to see if more money could be got for the school so we can give these students, many of whom come from very poor homes, have an education which they need for this century.  So, thank you.

WL:  Mary Tzambazakis.

Springfield CFO Mary Tzambazakis:  Good afternoon, gentlemen.  Today, I’m speaking to you as a CFO and also a resident of the city.  Today marks a true milestone in our city, and that milestone is the departure of Philip Puccia, our executive director.  And I’m reminded of the first sentence of A Tale of Two Cities where it says “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”    And, truly, Philip joined us at the later.  I joined the city in 2004 with the Mayor, and I can tell you, the first two or three months of my tenure here prior to Phil’s arrival, I was wondering what I’d gotten myself into.  There was a lot of denial around here, and some people still to this day do not want to face the realities of what existed.  And I will clearly tell you that the realities were: not a $21million deficit, but a true $41million deficit.  I will tell you that the street lights were turned off in front of every other home.  I will tell you that for the first few months, we weren’t sure whether this city was going to go into receivership and bankruptcy or not.

            I couldn’t even prepare a cash flow.  I had to use a calculator to look over paper books.  It took me three months at night.  The once finance department staffed by six people had been obliterated to one person, the CFO—no staff, no people, no secretary.  Nothing.  There was a lot of incompetence in many areas.  There were a lot of untrained professionals in many areas.  They needed to be developed, not through fault of their own, but because their managers didn’t take the personal interest in preparing them for the future.

            When Philip joined us, I’ll be quite honest, I didn’t trust him.  I was a Democrat; he was a Republican, and we had a few rounds the first few weeks in my office.  But as we began this long journey, and I started calling him at 7:30 every single morning for the past three years, I realized that this wasn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, this was a business management issue.  And that those ideas and principles of accountability, integrity are not unique in either party. 

I came to respect him for the integrity that he has and also to appreciate how he’s had to manage the delicate balance between the public entity, the people living in the city of Springfield, and the employees.  Because it’s a balancing act.  Sometimes you do something that the employees aren’t happy about, but it benefits the residents.  And sometimes you do things that benefit the employees hat the residents aren’t happy about.  And it’s a very delicate balance.  And, quite honestly, I think our legislative body and our elected officials are constantly challenged because they do the best they can, but, because they’re elected officials, there are sometimes parameters around them that someone like Philip wouldn’t have.

I would like to say that I wish him the best in his future, that I have been blessed, because the last three years have been very difficult for myself and for many of us and that somewhere along the way I realized that he was going to be probably the best guy I’d ever work for.  And I’m sure that there will be just as much quality in working with Steven, because Steve Lisauskas is a great, wonderful man, and David [Panagore] is a good guy, too and good people. 

But I’d like to thank him for taking two hours out of his day for drive in and drive home for three years.  And I think that the residents of this community need to know that.  Because nobody else would drive four hours every single day to this city and come in and listen.  And it was a partnership between us and the state.  It wasn’t a “We’ll do this and you do that.”  We sat down in a room.  We would talk about what the issues are, he would ask our opinion, and he would give us the ability and the tools we needed to be successful, so I thank you for that,  Philip.  I thank you for your friendship, and I wish you the best.

[Applause]

WL:  That concludes the public comment portion of the meeting.

Presentation by Secretary of Labor Suzanne Bump

CG:  Thank you.  We are delighted and honored to have today with us Secretary of Labor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Suzanne Bump, and I think her appearance here today to speak briefly as part of speak-out, kind of a special session, is, I think, a very welcome sign that I’m well aware of and I think a lot of other members of the control board are aware of, but maybe not everyone in Springfield is, which is the degree to which this administration is very focused on Springfield. And I think actions speak louder than words; it’s early in the process, but I think her willingness to come out today---and [addressing Secretary Bump] thank you for sitting through the rest of speak-out.  I apologize that...it’s always...you know, your time is very valuable, but just join the line, right?  [laughter]  But we’re real thrilled to have you here and we look forward to hearing some thoughts you have to share with us about Springfield and the opportunity to work with the administration. 

Secretary of Labor Suzanne Bump:  Well, thank you.  I do appreciate the opportunity to be here, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor, members of the board and also members of the community who are here.  I’m very pleased to be here as Governor Patrick’s Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development.  I expect that I am going to be but the first in a parade of secretaries that you are going to be meeting and collaborating with over the coming years.  As Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, I have a...wear a multiplicity of hats.  I have a number of jobs.  I spend a lot of time talking with folks like my friends here [gestures toward earlier speaker] from the Electrical Workers local about policy matters such as project labor agreements and such.  I also spend a good deal of my time working on, naturally enough, workforce development issues. 

This administration has established three priorities in the area of workforce development .  One is to address a problem that the governor laments every time he talks about workforce development and economic growth and that is the tremendous mis-match we have between the jobs that are available in our economy and the skills of the workers who are looking for employment.  It therefore falls upon my agency to collaborate across all other agencies and with partners throughout the community in order to bring about the kinds of information and goal setting that we need to correct that problem for the Commonwealth.  I’m also very much engaged in aligning resources, programmatic financial resources because workforce development funds flow across state agencies and from the federal government, and there are many, many sources of funding that need to be much better coordinated than they have been.  Another area of our focus is on youth, on the emerging workforce and the challenges that are presented to our educational system and to our employer community by the...our failure to make youth “work ready.” 

And one of the other things that I do with my time is participate not just in the governor’s over-all cabinet, but also, and more particularly for our conversation today, in his development cabinet.  the governor has created this development cabinet in order to create a much more holistic approach to economic growth across the Commonwealth, and so the resources and expertise within, not just labor and workforce development, but also housing, economic development in housing, energy and the environment, administration and finance and transportation public works are all brought to bear so that we can develop very collaborative strategies for solving a number of the problems that the governor has identified to us.

Chief among the problems that the governor has identified to us is the problem—set of problems...that’s created...is being experienced now in the city of Springfield.  It has...it has been one of the governor’s goals from the very first meeting of the development cabinet to have all of us focus very much on helping the city of Springfield and the surrounding communities find their economic footing, create a new regional identity and to restore prosperity across all segments of society to this very important area of the Commonwealth.  That has meant for me over the past several months that we have been in the Department of Workforce Development intensifying the relationships that we already have with our partners in workforce development out here.  That’s principally been the Hampden County Regional Employment Board.  Bill Ward has always been an important partner with state agencies in workforce development, and we have, therefore, a very sound basis for an enhanced collaboration and relationship with this area.

I personally have been extremely impressed by the initiative and the savvy of the folks involved with the Hampden County Regional Employment Board.  I know that the Mayor has had a very strong relationship as well with them and places a very high level of importance on this kind of collaboration and that is obviously a wonderful factor in setting a very strong foundation for the work that is to come.  More specifically, some of the things that might focus on Springfield is going to mean is that it is going to mean that changes that we already are undertaking within the agencies, including to address those three priorities that I mentioned at the outset, are going to be put into even higher relief out here in the city of Springfield so that we can get in a process to make much more strategic investments in workforce development and in worker education here in the area. 

And so we are looking to efforts that have now been commenced by the Hampden County REB to do a few things.  To first take an asset and needs assessment so that we know all of the range of resources available for workers and our emerging workforce and that, likewise, we know the other side of the coin, the demand side of the coin, we have a better catalog of the needs of employers to...with regard to specific education requirements and specific skills that they need to fill the jobs that they have.

From that, we...working with all of the partners across workforce development which includes institutions of higher education and community based organizations as well as elements of governments, the goal is to identify some consensus driven priorities around workforce development, around education, and around skills training and to establish a set, a clear set, of roles and responsibilities for each of the numerous partners that are coming to the table.  The identification of these priorities then will lead to a determination of the kinds of investments, programmatic and financial investments, that need to be made.   As I had suggested, the Hampden County REB has already begun this process.  They are moving toward a November conference that will lead very shortly thereafter, and that is by the end of the calendar year, to a very specific plan for workforce development strategies for Springfield and the area.

Our role in this is really to be a supporting player.  One of the things that I want to emphasize is that this is going to be an undertaking that is going to be very locally driven.  This is not going to be a top down approach.  The folks in Hampden County have shown that they have the expertise, they have the quality of relationships, in order to undertake the assessment, to come to some consensus and to develop a plan and so what we are going to do is provide the resources that are necessary to do research and to help with convening.  And then we are going to do our darndest to be creative about the use of resources that we already have in state government to support the education and training initiatives that are identified as far as priorities for this area.

We’re all ready, for instance, and have under way a process that...of examining how much more effectively we can use all across the state the $21million in employer grants that are given out on an annual basis for employee training.  It’s my perception that money is not used to its maximum strategic advantage, and that it doesn’t involve enough of the folks on the ground such as the Workforce Investment Boards and the REB in decision making about what kinds of projects that we will...that we should support.  It’s my intention to give the Hampden Regional Employment Board much greater say in the distribution of the grants to employers so we can really make sure that we’re really getting bang for the buck, getting benefits to employees in terms of career paths, potential career paths to real skill gains, so that we can grow the businesses that are the foundation of the local economy.

We can’t determine right now...I can’t tell you right now what the dollar commitment is that we’ll be making because that, of course, is going to be driven by the identification of needs, but I can tell you that the administration is very determined to help Springfield meet its needs.  And some of those needs have been identified even in advance of the analysis that is going to be undertaken to give us micro-data.  We know on a macro level that one of the biggest challenges for the economy here is the fact that there is insufficient programming for adult basic education and English as a second language.  The waiting lists here are as extensive if not more so than they are across the Commonwealth.  Those very basic skills are the threshold for meeting the needs of employers in skills training.  We know that that is a gap that we have to fill. 

Additionally, we know that we need to pull together more resources, not just within the schools, but across the broader community and from the employer community with drop-out rate.  We have far too many kids in all of our “gateway cities” and that includes Springfield who are dropping out of school and dropping out of the workforce.  That has negative implications not only for them, but for the whole regional economy, and we know that we need to get more creative about that.  The governor has already shown a commitment to expanding programs like summer jobs.  More money has been allocated to Springfield for this year, and more still, we hope, will be forthcoming next year for summer jobs.  We want to expand that as well into support for year-round jobs for teenagers to provide them with the kind of school-to-career connections that they need to make them work-ready and also gives them incentives to stay in school and complete their education.

The other thing that we know that we need to do is focus on training in particular industry sectors.  I mentioned that skills mismatch; that is a statewide problem. It is particularly acute in some job categories here in Springfield.  Springfield has a higher...has the highest rate of health care jobs that are going unfilled in the Commonwealth.  Of any of the seven areas of the Commonwealth, the Hampden County area has the highest job vacancy rate in health care.  There’s also a crying need on the part of employers for more folks that are prepared to enter engineering jobs and jobs in finance and insurance as well as in social service professions. 

So we know that large scale what some of our priorities are.  We need to get more specific information so that we can really target our resources and create the kind of plan for investments and then set of investments to help solve those problems. As I indicated though, I have a great deal of confidence that we can accomplish these goals in Springfield.  There is, as I said, there’s already a group of very determined leaders who are ready to tackle this project.  I can appreciate that for a lot of folks both up here and sitting behind me, this may not sound like it’s ground-breaking.  This sounds like it is in fact very prosaic.  It’s pretty basic, and I will grant you that.  I would say that the breakthrough comes in the fact that we now have a state administration that is willing to be a partner, that is willing to put you locals in the driver’s seat and is willing to provide the resources necessary to help you achieve your goals and our goals as well.

So I really appreciate the opportunity to start to get acquainted with the work that you’re doing so that it can become...get folded into the work that we are doing already, and I look forward to a long and productive partnership with you.  I’d be happy to take any questions.

CG:  Thank you for coming.  Your presence as well as your words, you know, give us confidence that there’ll be good news coming from that effort.  And I think that three of us who are new to the board, you know, went through a process before we became formally on it of listening to folks about issues.  We heard pretty consistently from some employers exactly what you’ve identified, and it’s great that you know it, that both in health care and in the manufacturing industries in particular it we heard directly from employers saying “We have open jobs that we could...that are middle class entry jobs that, if we had more skills in the workforce we could do” so I think nothing would be more satisfying than to pay whatever modest role we can in connecting your efforts to those, because we have big aspirations for job creation and beyond that, but if we could just fill jobs that are here today to the benefit of those employers and those citizens, it would be a big deal. 

Mayor Charles V. Ryan:  I just wanted to personally welcome the secretary to Springfield.  I had a lovely conversation on the telephone yesterday, and I pointed out to her that a member of this board, James Morton, was our workforce development coordinator for three years from January 2004 to about January 2007, and I’m just struck by the synergy that a member of this board really was “our man in Havana” on this very, very important issue, and did a great job.  I’m sure his experience there is going to serve this board very well in cooperating with you.  and I’m just delighted with your leadership.

SB:  Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and as soon as you mentioned Mr. Morton’s name, to me yesterday in conversation, I called him up and found that, if he hasn’t told you, that he very much wants to be your point person on this important project and, given his range of expertise, I really look forward to that.  Of particular importance to me, as well, frankly, is that...is his already strong relationship with the Hampden County Regional Employment Board.  Bill Ward couldn’t be with us today, but Steve Truman has been good enough to join me here.  We had a good meeting at his office before we came here.  He, too, has a real commitment to this issue as well as a great deal of expertise, and I think that all of the elements are here for a very productive collaboration. 

I must say that I also feel, based on a view that I have of...from the 21^st floor of Ashburton Place [on Beacon Hill]..of the state and what’s going on that I think that there’s a higher degree of cooperation evidenced among the players out here than I’ve seen in some of the other areas.  And that certainly bodes well as well. 

City Council President Kateri Walsh:  Welcome to Springfield.  I would have to say that as one of the first members of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women and former chair of the Springfield Women’s Commission, I’m very pleased to see a female in this role, but as part of your workforce development, are there going to be any programs specifically for women and girls?

SB:  The workforce training funds that I allocate don’t tend to be focused in that way.  We work under a lot of federal dictates that target resources toward youth, toward older workers, toward, for instance, TANIF recipients (welfare recipients), disabled populations, and there isn’t necessarily a gender specific set of programming.  That said, when we get to the level, or when the REBs get to the level of distributing monies that they, that are made available to them in choosing the community partners, there is a greater capacity for them to do some of that work.  Implicit in your question, though, is the suggestion that there needs to be greater focus on employment opportunities for young women.  I hear that and so that’s obviously information that I will incorporate in our thinking about this.

Thank you.  This is not my first time in Springfield, even as secretary, I do want that clear.  I had visited very early on the career center up the hill.  That was very impressive, just last week I was in Holyoke visiting their career center as well, and there’s so much potential and what you clearly need is the support of the state.  You need somebody that’s going to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, and that’s our intention. 

CG:  I’d just like to recognize that you are or have been a resident of the Western part of the state.

SB:  I am.  I am.  I’m almost home.

CG:  Lest you be mistaken as one of these Eastern Massachusetts types prone to be suspicious characters.  Thank you very much, really appreciate it.  We’re going to take a short break and then...

[Applause]

Approval of Minutes

Executive Director Phil Puccia:   I’d like to bring Item 2 to your attention, the approval of the minutes which you see attached. 

**MINUTES APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY

Appointment of Executive Director

PP:  Mr. Chairman, I give you Item Number 3.

CG:  As we all know...and that was a lovely statement by the CFO...it is with mixed emotions, gratitude and regret and excitement about the future, that we accept your resignation as executive director of this control board, and at this moment, I want to come back and thank you for your service and be clear about that on behalf of those of us new to the board, you know, and I think as the governor has noted and we have noted, we do consider the hard work that has happened up to this date, frankly, crucial to the opportunity to do the further things we want to do and, you know, mistakes are always made, but overall the record is really quite impressive. 

PP:  Thank you and it’s been my pleasure and to do this job, and I’ll miss it when it’s gone.

CG:  Well, we look forward to attracting some of that fancy private capital you’re going to be associated with in the near future.  We hope you’ll keep Springfield in mind from time to time.

PP:  I will, sir.

CG:  But life goes on, I think as General DeGaulle said, the cemetery is full of unreplaceable gentlemen, so in the spirit of that, I make the motion that...leave room for discussion if anyone would like to...to appoint Steven Lisauskas as the new executive director of the Springfield Finance Control Board effective today.  And any discussion?

CVR:  Well, I would like to say that I’ve worked with Steve Lisauskas—Steve, how long you been here?--14 months, and, really, on a daily basis, and I have long since come to respect and very much appreciate his talent, work ethic, his interest in the city of Springfield.  He’s a well-educated professional in this field.  He has been a very, very outstanding deputy to Phil and he can come into this position with really no learning curve.  He knows the issues.  He knows the people.  He’s in full stride, and I think that  there really isn’t any question about it, he’s really the logical individual to fill this post, and I think we’ll be very, very well-served.  We’ve got two more years as an organization; it’s important that we have the kind of staff ability that Mr. Lisauskas could bring to the table. 

I would hope that the board would encourage the filling of the spot that he has now, which is deputy, because I don’t think that this can be done properly with just essentially a one-person staff.  Mr. Panagore is in a little bit different category even though he’s a state employee, but he has a full-time job as economic development commissioner of the city of Springfield which is very demanding, especially the way David handles it. 

So I think that...I mean I’ve made many speeches over the last two weeks about my own personal sadness at saying good-bye to Phil, at least in this capacity.  He’s been...just  been remarkable person; he’s done so much for this city.  I will never get over my deep gratitude, and I think the longer he stays, the more thinking people came to exactly the same conclusion.  It was a pivotal time in our city’s history, and one of the great breaks that we had is that Phil Puccia was asked to lead us...to lead the control board.  But I really think that today’s business is to appoint his successor, and I think that the logical and outstanding choice would be Steven Lisauskas.

CG:  Any other comment or discussion?  Just to be clear for the record, we’ve had a chance, all of us, to interview Steven and to review his resume and benefited from being able to understand, you know, Mr. Puccia’s perspective as his previous boss, as his reference so to speak, and the Mayor and Council President Kateri Walsh had worked with him, you know, before our time, and I do think as part of your excellent record, Phil, to have brought two outstanding people, David and Steve—which all good leaders do—is have good folks, which is part of why they’re replaceable, so they’re both essential to the job we need going forward.  And I thank you for—despite my disappointment in your resigning on the very day I started basically [laughs], I try not to take that as any kind of signal....

PP:  It was not intentional, sir.  [Laughter]

CG:  ...but we’ll appreciate that, so unless there’s any other comment, I’d ... yes, President...

KW:  I’d just like to echo what the Mayor said and remind people that Mr. Lisauskas was very instrumental in resolving the problem with the retirees and the IRS and has worked very hard, has a great work ethic, and I’m happy to support him, because I think in this kind of a transition it’s important to have someone who’s had the experience.  But I would hope that when we go to look for a deputy, that we will consider applicants from the city of Springfield in that position.  Because I do believe in, as the secretary said, there are talented people in the city of Springfield.

CG:  Any other comment?  Shall we submit that to vote?  Does that require roll call or can we do that by voice? 

WL:  It’s an appointment of your staff, so it does not require a roll call.

 **MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

[Applause]

Salary of Executive Director

CG:  Before you sit down, I have one other motion.  Go ahead and sit down  Before you take this, I would not want to force you to speak to the next motion which is I have had the chance to review the compensation history of the current executive director as well as the deputy’s previous record and had a chance to talk to people about comparable jobs that our candidate could compete for and, on that basis, I make a motion that the salary of the new executive director be set at $120,000.  Any discussion?

CVR:  I think that’s very appropriate.

CG:  Does that require a roll call?

**MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

Acceptance of Chapter 90 Funding

SL:  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.  Thank you very much.  Look forward to working with you over the next two years. 

The next item on the agenda is Executive Order 07-19-04.  This executive order would accept Chapter 90 funding which is roadway funding from the Commonwealth in the amount of $2,697,328.  That money would be, as all Chapter 90 money is, available for the city to expend on various roadway improvement projects.

Robert Nunes:  Steve and the Mayor, I assume to have an aggressive road resurfacing project in the works and in the planning stages?

CVR:  Yes.

SL:  I believe in the capital bond that was issued in January I believe, Mayor, was it $4million was it.

CVR:  That’s right.  We’ve got a laundry list of a lot of streets that haven’t been touched in this bond that we floated in January of $38million.  There’s $4million in there for highways and $1million for sidewalks.  We’re in the middle of an enormously successful program right now that Mr. Chwalek is running.  And I tell you, we are in every corner of the city...are very exciting.  This will mean...this is...first of all, as you know, the Commonwealth has increased the Chapter 90 allocation this year.  That’s very, very meaningful, but we’ve now had three good years of recovery on public ways, and I want to continue that, and this will be the foundation for our program in the next calendar year.  We probably will spend about $100,000. out of this immediately, because we started something eight or nine months ago, matter of a couple hundred thousand on guard rails.  We had wooden guard rails--all broken, capsized and everything.  so it’s a matter of public safety as well as aesthetic appearance.  And Al and I have been talking—we feel out of this (it doesn’t make much of a dent in it) we’ll do another $100,000. in this construction season, and that leaves about $2.5million as we go into calendar ’08.  This year is pretty much committed. 

RN:  Any of the projects...is it new reconstruction or is it an over lay or...?

CVR:  Well, we’ve got arterials which on some of them is really a very significant rebuilding of the streets, and so, on a per mile basis, it’s much more expensive than just a simple overlay. On our residential streets--and we started a private way program a year ago, too, for the first time in 40 years—you know, people paying $2000., $3000., $4000. a year in taxes with streets that were...just didn’t exist.  So these are very meaningful things, so the overlay, the simple overlay is pretty much on the residential streets, but the arterials are getting a much more, stronger reconstitution.  Yeah.

RN:  Good work.

**MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

State Street:  Presentation Regarding the Project, Transfer of Funding

SL:  Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  The next item is a brief presentation on the State Street project.  Mr. Panagore, the city’s chief development officer with the control board, will be making a presentation.  And after the presentation, we have an order for you which will provide for the city’s funding portion of that project.

Chief Development Officer David Panagore:  Good morning, Mr. Chairman, board members, Mayor.  Before you this morning is a city’s request for funding city’s portion of the approximately $13million State Street 3.2 mile roadway project.  In...give you a couple little background for a second and introduce John Bechard of VHB and, as well, Al Chwalek, DPW director, is here to answer any questions. 

This project touches more than six neighborhood in the city immediately adjacent.  It touches about 80,000 people within a half a mile.  It’s really the spine of the city, running East/West and is the original Boston Post Road through the city, running past the new GSA excellence, design excellence court house and by Moshe Safdi and also touches on Springfield College to its South, Mason Square, American International College, Springfield Technical Community College and the MassMutual main offices. 

What we’d like to do this morning is in order to brief you for this vote, is to go through briefly the project.  The project’s been about three years or more in running and, as I say, multimillion dollar, multiple sources.  There’s been a team meeting on a bi-weekly basis for years—I came into it myself about two years ago—and they’d already been meeting for well over a year.  John is the lead engineer designer on the project.  I turn it over to John right now to run through it.  And it’s not just a road project; we do view this as a development project to spur the city on.  When John completes, just I will talk in brief about the coalition for the...on State Street to revitalize the street before Steve returns to discuss any questions regarding the appropriation order or the project.  John?

John Bechard:  Thank you very much for having me here this afternoon.  I’m going to go through a brief presentation, project limits, project specifics, and a little bit about the funding schedule and our next steps.  Project begins at East Columbus Avenue and runs up through Berkshire Avenue.  The overall project limits as shown here are I91 and, to the left, the Connecticut River and the split at Berkshire Avenue and Boston Road at the far terminus of the project.  Project includes 17 traffic signal upgrades, 3.2 miles of roadway and sidewalk and extensive street resurfacing and street and sidewalk improvements.  The overall project scope when we first started with MassHighway and Congressman Neal securing significant federal funding for the project was to improve traffic flow and aesthetics and safety along the corridor, roadway resurfacing, traffic signal upgrades, sidewalks and street lighting replacement.  You know, use the process to with the community to build project consensus within neighborhoods.  Moreover not a simple roadway reconstruction as David just described, but bring the neighborhoods into the project and be part of the selection of alternatives.  And then developing an action plan in conjunction with those neighborhoods and the businesses for $13million for construction financing. 

Project essentially began in ’04 with a planning study phase which encompassed approximately six months, the design and permitting phase of approximately 18 months and then a value engineering phase which we’ve been working on over the last seven months.  I’m going to hit those specifically.

As part of the project planning, started in May of ’04, first thing we did was we went out to the neighborhoods and we had neighborhood input meetings: white piece of paper up on the wall, brought everyone in from the neighborhoods at appropriate locations in lower State Street, middle State Street, and upper State Street so we could get great participation day time and night time meetings (dates here).  And then did a site walk of the corridor, again picking up people along the way and just saying, “What are the things that you’d like to see about the improvements along State Street, not only the traffic improvements that we’ve talked about and sidewalk improvements, but to try and help spur economic development and business development through the corridor?”

As part of that part of the project, then we identified issues and concerns from the neighborhoods, the public, our own traffic reports, developed improvement concepts, and did more of a planning level concept development on each of intersection study locations as well as significant areas along the corridor, developed a preliminary corridor report and then went through a six to seven month state highway review and contract approval to go into the design phase that we’ve satisfied the, you know, the public planning phase.

As we get into design and permitting, we started with the existing condition survey, instrument survey in the field, went back to the neighborhood—it had been some time waiting for state approval...state and federal approval of the design funding...went back to the neighborhoods with “Here’s what we talked about a year ago.  Here are some of the concepts we developed, and now we’re going to be out in the field doing survey, and let’s get some more input.”  Players change, funding changes, other opportunities, you know, present themselves, so we wanted to go back in, and here’s just a listing of some...several of the neighborhood meetings: the Springfield Business Development Corp., Chamber of Commerce, and then Mason Square as one predominant area of the center part of the city. 

Developed a preliminary design plans in October/December of ’05 and then that went through a MassHighway FHWA review through April of ’06.  Once we got through that review, we went into the more defined MassHighway public hearing phase, went to the Historic Commission, had business neighborhood meetings.  MassHighways official public hearing, and then as part of the permitting process went through MIPA, city council sub-committee meetings, the library commission and the conservation commission.  Different elements of the projects had to go through different elements of review, began the final design in June of ’06 and really completed that last December, and since that time...I should say, before we get into that piece...kind of in parallel with the design phase, we needed to secure right-of-way.  Began a process of over 212...over 200...

DP:  I might add, this was the responsibility of the city law department, and we did this all internally with city staff over 212 right-of-way actions, and I’d say, for the law department, did them all on time and on target with VHB’s help. 

JB:  As I said, over 212 to be exact...first thing we did go out with legal notices to identify, you know, the project specifics, went to property owner meetings and just discussed impacts to private property, went through a property appraisal, again through the city’s law department.  And, at the end of the day, we had 18 total permitted easements, nine of which were property donations, you know, over 50%...50%, and then we had over 194 total temporary easements and with 139 donations from people and businesses along the corridor, so this is tremendous public support along the corridor.  And then subsequently with the control board vote last summer with the law department, too, actually authorized the actions and property.  Yes, Mayor.

CVR:  Is it fair to say that you’re aware of the fact that Councilor Williams within the last week or so has indicated that he and many of his colleagues or constituents in the Mason Square area were not aware of the traffic changes that are indicated in the design?

JB:  We’re aware of that, Mayor, and we are meeting with the councilor next week in one of his sub-committee meetings...

CVR:  OK, fine.

JB:  I’m not going to go back to the specifics, but we did meet...

CVR:  ...as long as you’re aware of it, because that is some very recent activity.

JB:  We...we had met with Councilor Williams’s subcommittee in September of ’06 with similar concerns and thought we had addressed those concerns.  We’re happy to go back in front of them and talk about those issues.

CVR:  Thank you.

KW:  Mr. Chairman, I’d like to follow up on that, because I did attend that meeting and Mr. Panagore was there also, and there were on a hot summer night over 65 people there who were very concerned about the traffic flow.  So in your presentation today, are you specifically asking us to approve the traffic changes, for example, the traffic on State and Catherine Street or is that down the line and what recourse do the people who are now concerned have with this plan? 

DP:  Want me to answer?  Go ahead, John.

JB: The project has gone through the final design phase.  We’ve secured all the property and is ready for MassHighway and FHWA to put the project out to bid next month.  A lot of the changes were dictated by the traffic flow along the corridor by the state and federal government as part of that.  I think that we, we have proven through that, you know, interaction of traffic that we have a better flow of traffic.  I understand there’s some concerns, some people maybe had not attended some of the, you know, I mean I went through a litany of  the meetings that we did take, maybe we missed some of those.  And we’re happy to go back in front of them and try to demonstrate to them how we got to where we’re at and what we’re moving forward on. 

CVR:  But to answer Councilor Walsh’s question, you’re not coming to us for specific approval of this project, are you?  That’s really a MassHighway project.

DP:  If I may, Mayor, we put before the board a continuing appropriation order, and so it’s a financial order and we were requested to provide a background briefing. This is solely for informational purposes for the new members of the board...

CVR:  Right.

DP:  ...and as a refresher for the Mayor and Council President..  There is no request before the board...I would ask John:  Where in the process, do the changes...?  And we did make sure...in a moment, John will be going through the—since we couldn’t do the whole 3.2 mile...it’s a, you know,...block-by-block, we did present for you this morning the particular places: the library, St. James Ave., in Mason Square where changes are being made in the roadway, but in terms of this process [turning back to JB], Where in the process is there specific approvals by either the city, the state or the federal government on roadway realignment?   This is actually a state road?

JB:  No, this is a city...

DP:  ... a city road

JB:  ...but we were dictated a little bit by the state and ...we were dictated by state and federal standards on traffic signal implementation and traffic flow.  So a lot of the approvals have gone forward, and we’re not seeking approval on the road changes here, but have gone through their final reviews through MassHighway and FHWA.

CVR:  With the exception of money that we’re appropriating for better street lights, this is all federal and state money.

JB:  Correct.  Except for the right-of-way acquisitions that the city did participate in, everything else is all state and federal money.

KW:  I do have a follow-up question, through the chair:  In your experience, the people that are concerned and are now starting a petition, how much success do the have, would they have, if they actually wanted to change some of the design?

JB:  Any change in design is just going to set us back, you know, some period of time where we are very close to having it go out to construction.  Some of the elements of the project, obviously, with the new court house to be open, we would significantly miss the opening of the court house with the roadway improvements and...

DP:  If I may, and I would like to pause for a moment on the question and have John go over both what the redesign in the Mason Square area is and what is to be achieved, because I know that there’s been a lot of work being done by VHB, by the engineers, by the state to really improve the way Mason Square operates and to...as I ...when we were at that public meeting just the other week, to give the opportunity to the engineers before we get into a back and forth on the, the timing, to talk about why the idea to date has been one that’s proposed, because I think there’s been a lot of good work that actually improves the area where Representative Swan’s offices are.  It turns that into the possibility of sort of a “pass through” for retail to develop, you know, people to be able to shop there and the park gets realigned as well.  But I think questions about timing, etc. are going to continue to come up, and we need to address those.

JB:  As David mentioned, you know, with three miles and the court house and other improvements along the corridor, we picked out five key areas that we had supporting graphics to some of the changes—again, more of an update for the new board.  First item was that we’re installing a median or grass and planted landscape median from Spring Street up through Federal Stree t in front of the library, by—in front of the...excuse me, not in front of the library, in front of the Armory and STCC.  And one of the traffic...you know, a traffic calming measure [unintelligible] the landscaping and we went through the design retaining the historic brick sidewalk through there.  This [slide] is what it currently looks like, and this [slide] is how we expect it to look with a center planted median, revegetating the slope and then the vegetation in the center.

DP:  John, if you go back just a half second to the...to the...one more [slide].  There...so what we’re seeing there was that tree lined corridor in the center—that tree lined corridor is the new piece in front of where the Armory is as you’re heading up the hill.

JB:  In the...just to give perspective on color, the kind of red band at the top is the reconstruction or re-laying of the historic brick sidewalk in front of the Armory, so we’re not eliminating that.  We’re removing it, regrading it with the same bricks back in there.  And we’ve been going through that historic review both with the local as well as the state and federal government on the historic side. 

            Up at the STCC and the crossing at Commerce, currently how it operates today, there’s a crosswalk and a pedestrian waiting area for PVTA buses.  During the pla—as I mentioned, we went through the planning level study, this is what came out of the planning level with the neighborhoods, how it could look: a brick crosswalk median, opening in the island and then a switchback to get pedestrians from that elevated sidewalk in the concept phase.  Beginning of the design phase, we’ve stayed with that had a switchback for handicapped people to be able to get from that elevated sidewalk (which is about 5’ above the roadway edge) to get down and be able to cross to Commerce.  We’re also going to have a push-button signal at that location to get to the high school.  Again, this is how it kind of looks today; you can see that elevation difference (the truck is in the parking lot behind the sidewalk) and what we’re looking at is a stone and concrete switchback and then a brick crossing across State Street and then the vegetated median.

            Another key location, St. James intersection: a lot of confusion as you can see from the, just from the wheel pattern on the pavement.  We went again through the kind of the concept phase, sketched up what it could look like on a broad brush, and then came back with how the design can look is to, you know, bring Magazine Street more square into St. James Ave.--that green kind of green bulb out--and have that redirect traffic and try to get some vegetation there, because it’s really a big sea of pavement, how it kind of looks today.  What we’re looking at with vegetation of the medians, this is coming out of Magazine Street and kind of bringing out that bulb out to bring one lane coming out and then revegetating that stretch.

            Next piece, we get up to Mason Square. Again here’s an aerial of how it looks today, traffic peels off from State Street to Wilbraham Road and drives by, you know, Representative Swan’s and those business offices at a height rate of speed, comes to the signal at...

DP:  If I might break in, for new members of the board, Eastern Ave. comes in from the north and Rep. Swan’s building, and the park in the center, to the southern side there’s a little long building, sort of like a keyboard and that sort of sidewalk, old school strip retail and Eastern coming in from the north.

JB:  So that kind of triangular island is historic, is part of the Mason Square and Winchester Square historic district.  Looked at it, developed about five different kind of broad brush concepts to it.  One of them, meeting with the businesses there and Representative Swan and those businesses there actually in his office, talked about their businesses were suffering by the parking.  There’s parking behind those businesses, but people were on a drive by, and they were going through Wilbraham Road too quickly so we turned that more into a parking area...it still, you know, slowing down the traffic, putting in...relandscaping the area and putting in parking spaces right in front and then bringing the traffic then once again to Wilbraham Road further down State Street and Catherine, making a hard right turn and then continuing on Wilbraham Road way.  We narrowed Eastern Ave., which is the road that comes up from the bottom of the sheet, so that it’s going to be only one lane coming out there and, you know, put stop sign control there and eliminating the signal—that’s the longest signal currently in the city right now, at that particular location.  After the concepts—you know, we did a couple concepts of  which we looked at maintaining that roadway pattern the way it is now, parking area like this, even a roundabout configuration to see how it would work. 

This is actually the design plan.  You can see it’s, you know, it has the brick crosswalks through there.  We’ve redone the square and adjusted the monuments, replaced all the historic monuments in the foundations so it’s going to put a seating area in there so we’ll get a lot more use from the business and the public frequenting those businesses. 

And here is kind of how it looks today.  This looking at Wilbraham Road straight down, State Street being to the left, and we’re really “bulbing out” common, that landscape island and creating more of a park than has been out there today.  As I said, traffic has been going through there very, very fast, and we’re trying to look at reducing speeds through there.  Again, coming kind of from the corner of Eastern Avenue how it looks today and trying, you know, revegetating it and redoing that square. 

DP:  John, if I may, before you proceed, since it’s been raised as a question, could you briefly take, for a moment, discussion the numbers, the traffic piece, etc., how Eastern Ave. operates and what your thinking was...

JB:  Sure.

DP:  ...behind having it no longer pass through the square.

JB:  I’m just going to back to the overall graphic the way it is currently.  Coming out of Eastern Ave. two lanes, there’s a traffic signal and its linked with the...

CVR:  Try it on the map.

DP:  And I apologize....

JB:  I didn’t bring my pointer today, I apologize.  But Eastern Avenue comes from the South.  It’s a two lane approach, comes up to a traffic signal, traffic signal at Eastern Ave. and Wilbraham and it ties into the signal at State Street and Catherine.  And traffic again comes through the square and tees up heading in the northerly...I guess it would be the easterly, direction and goes and starts to stack up and using it as a thoroughfare not using it as intended to try and keep speeds down. 

And when the light turns, you have two lanes of traffic coming from Wilbraham Road kind of blowing right across it with only one lane is supposed to be there, the right most lane is supposed to be a dedicated right turn lane.  Coming out of Eastern, there’s two lanes now, a right turn lane and a through lane, and we’re going to be restricting that through lane to be able to get to State Street.  

There’s about 150 to 160 vehicles in the peak period between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning and 4:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon that currently go from Eastern Avenue toward State Street.  We expect that we’re going to redirect some of those that are going to take a right onto Wilbraham Road and some are going to use Monroe Street and come up onto Hancock that would want to get to State Street to go toward the downtown, 150, 160...it’s about two, two and a half vehicles a minute, only in that 8:00 to 9:00 and 4:00 to 4:00 window, the morning and the afternoon.  During the other parts of the day, we’re not getting ten vehicles an hour, you know, making that maneuver.  It’s a small percentage, whereas there’s over 18,000 vehicles going—I’m sorry, 10,000 vehicles going down Wilbraham Road on a daily basis and over 18,000 on State Street at the same location, so there’s a very small percentage during that period of time.

I’ll just go back up to where we...kind of how it looks.  Going up to the very end of the project, we’ve looked at Berkshire Avenue and Boston Road.  Boston Road was reconstructed a few years ago, and looking at more of a gateway entrance to the State Street corridor, this is how it looks now in front of St. Michael’s cemetery.  We went through, again, a kind of a design phase to expand on the traffic island and revegetate it, get some good sized trees in there and have more of an entryway as you’re enter into the State Street area, upgrading that signal and providing handicap accessibility across the St. Michael’s Cemetery and improving on that left turn lane getting onto Boston Road.  This is how it kind of looks today, and this is how we envision it looking after construction.

Little bit about the value engineering process:  we started with, you know, a significant $13million originally with the project and then due to several...the history, I guess I’ll do first...$13million originally for the project.  Due to the federal rescission and MassHighway cost escalation and then MassHighway contingencies, you know, we’ve lost like 65% of that money in various elements as what we’ve had to do since December is really start to “value engineer”...go back to the value engineering slide...is take out portions. 

We’re obviously doing the new court house.  We’re only doing those portions of Spring and Elliot Street now that are within the limits of the court house project.  We were taking Pearl and Edwards Street and redoing the whole thing, and it just...they’re off the federal corridor, federal government said, “Jeeze, guys don’t have enough money.  You’re going to have to look for another appropriation.”  So we’ve really looked at improving around the court house to make sure that all ties together. 

We had traffic signals, as I said there originally were ten intersections, expanded to 17.  Some of those signals have been upgraded in maybe the last ten to 12 years.  We’ve had to reuse some of the equipment; it wasn’t in bad shape, but it’s not going to blend with the entire corridor.  So we’ve had to, you know, reuse some of that equipment and eliminate some of the conduit, we’re trying to have a conduit run from East Columbus Avenue up to Boston Road, because the signals are going to coordinate and be communicative, you know, through the whole process. We have speed...don’t want to get into the specifics, but each signal is going to communicate with the signal down the line so we can get more of a traffic progression along the corridor, and we’ve had to break it into several pieces not running an extra 10,000’ of conduit. 

Eliminated the fold up pavement there: cobbles under the roadway that we were looking to have removed and regrade the roadway, that had to be eliminated due to funding, and then retaining kind of the sidewalk and curbing along the corridor, that was in good standard, it met ADA compliance, but it’s not going to match with the rest of the project.  It met standards, so we couldn’t get the federal government to kick in the money.

And the last thing is that the State Street bridge has been kind of on the books for several years, but it’s not what MassHighway calls, you know, “structurally obsolete,”  means it’s not going to imminently fall down.  It’s functional, you know, it’s just not functional at this time, so they’ve eliminated the $1million for the funding of the bridge at this time.

I talked the budget and the history, little bit on the utilities and the investment: that’s been over $7million by public and private utilities along the corridor over the last three years.  Water and Sewer has done over $3.5million worth of upgrades.  Baystate Gas and Verizon are completing their efforts, will be finishing this fall.  Comcast is already finished.  And WEMCO, Western Mass Electric, will be working with the state’s contractor as we install the new street lighting system and then doing their upgrades during the construction of the project.  But, instrumental in all of these utilities going forward, doing their relocations in advance, I think everyone can attest that’s there’s a lot of delay with utility relocations, and we got them on board early to have their, you know, the project move forward.

DP:  And I might also mention that the, in terms of the increases, the increasing cost China, New Orleans, etc. the administration has been excellent and Secretary Cohen...you know, MassHighway has been driven by the realities of the market.  And even this morning, this morning’s project team meeting, we were informed that Secretary Cohen and his commitment to the project, they’re facing another 6% increase in costs they project and the state will be funding that gap as well.  So our working relationship with the administration and with the feds has been excellent and on-going every two weeks.

JB:  I mentioned the value engineering that we’ve been kind of going through today, we’re hoping that today was one of our last meetings where MassHighway informs us that Secretary Cohen had closed the gaps that we had in the project.

            Couple of pending items: we had the Mass. Historic Commission and its Section 106 federal review.  We were informed this morning, at this morning’s meeting, that that has been cleared.  We’ll get the final sign-off letter today, and, you know, with this morning’s meeting, we think we have the FHWA MassHighway with budget approval.  And, you know, we’ll be really close to going to contract documents next month.  Bidding through October, and then construction November this year through October 2009.

RN:  [unintelligible] ...schedules...you’re looking at construction November ’07.

JB:  We’re looking at ground-breaking in November of ’07.  I don’t see a significant amount of work happening this winter, obviously, but there are things; some tree removals, some utility underground work that the contractor is going to have to do for drainage that can be done now, it’s not precluded, but I expect the main piece of the project to really start in probably March of next year.

CVR:  Will it be done sequentially or will they be working in two sections at the same time at any point in the project?

JB:  Mayor, we’re trying to...we’ve offered some sequencing to get the court house area completed to be more in line with when the court house is due to open.  We get the roadway improvements and the sidewalk improvements completed there so that they can get opened and that’s one of our key target points: to start immediately, you know, this year or soon off in the spring and then we have provided some flexibility with the contractor to be able to work with maintaining two lanes of traffic or one lane in each direction during off-peak times, but there’ll be some impact, but what we’re trying to phase it so that way we keep...we’re not impacting businesses along the whole corridor.  We’re going to try and get pieces done so that we can, you know, reopen those sections.

DP:  I’ll be very brief.  Following on this, the...led by MassMutual, the congressman’s office, and a wide variety of stakeholders up and down the corridor and staffed by Maureen Hays of the Springfield Business Development Corporation, an affiliate of the EDC.  There are over 50 groups up and down State Street who’ve come together (including the city) to basically come up with a redevelopment program.  This is privately funded, and it’s basically got doing a market study and to focus on priority sites along the corridor so that we can spur development going forward. 

At each of the meetings, there has been widespread input and engagement.  The selection of the consultant who’s on board right now is EHA.  I myself participated in it, and about 35 people who all actively sat there and participated, asked questions of each of the consultants.  And, in the end, the selection of the consultant was unanimous.  It really was an excellent working process.

There’s, for one moment, the scope of services for the consultant:  Basically it’s a market analysis, market segments, [unintelligible] existing conditions, and meeting with focus groups and stakeholders on the corridor and the end result to basically come up with a redevelopment program, knowing that this is not a one year or a two year, this is a long term commitment that has to involve everyone from the neighborhoods to the businesses to the major institutions. 

And that’s basically to the schedule dates.  I would just go down towards the bottom there.  Evalu—focus groups are happening.  Currently coming up, there’s been a couple discussions so far.  Next, after that, would be essentially a draft evaluation, the development opportunities, and they expect to be issuing something by the end of this year.  I mention again, this is a fully privately funded study, and they’ve raised over $250,000.

With that, that ends our presentation on it.  What we have before the board this morning...this afternoon...is a request for $880,000. for the city’s portion. You’ve seen, you know, all of the “VE-ing” [value engineering] that has had to happen, all the project overruns in terms of the discernable elements of the project. You could think of it this way: the $880,000. speaks to the lighting along the corridor.  It was a discrete element that, in our conversations with the state, we were able to sort of say “OK, this is what the city would be able to pay for, so that this project could stay on track.”  The state has come to the table, the congressman’s office has come to the table, and the federal government is seeking additional funds, and we come before you this morning for a request for city funds for $880,000. 

CVR:  Calling for action.  I don’t see a vote.

DP:  It is appropriation transfer, your honor.

CVR:  Oh, OK, all right.  Oh OK, fine.  I’m sorry.

RN:  If I may, total cost of the project again?

JB:  It’s $14million, $15million with all of the add-ons.

RN:  State and the city’s share is $880,000 and, obviously, the city’s [unintelligible]?  And the federal court house project, obviously that’s a federal investment.  I understand that the federal offices are going to move into the court house?

CVR:  Some are.

RN:  Some are.

CVR:  Only some.  Much of the federal offices are going into private places and paying rent.

RN:  OK, which will result in a vacancy of the federal building in the downtown area.

CVR:  Well, that’s one of the major problems confronting us is the reuse of that building.

RN:  OK and I’m sure you’re thinking about it and talking about it and....

DP:  We’ve been working very closely with Mass. Development and, you know, working with Mass. Development, working with the business community on opportunities and really using the expertise of Mass. Development.  Particularly... we analogized to them and they thought... they have decided to be very engaged...100 Cambridge Street [in downtown Boston], the old Saltonstall Building, that they did as a project, a very similar in a sense a reuse, and they’ve costed the building out and they’re coming up with numbers and we see them as becoming very important for the eventual redevelopment of that building.

James Morton:  Mr. Chairman, what have we done to make sure the residents of the city of Springfield are in line for some of these employment opportunities that will come out of this project?

JB:  As part of any MassHighway FHWA project, there is a...there’s both a training program as well as a...we’ve installed...well, inserted...city ordinance on trying to hire local, you know, contractors and the like to participate in the project, but it is still going to be, you know, open competitive bid.  We are expecting that it will be significant investment from city residents in the project.

JM:  And training programs, how do they get advertised, or how does the community find out about them?

JB:  They, they’re administered through the state office of labor relations and through MassHighway on the training program.

DP:  And, if I may, Mr. Morton, as well starting, I believe, next week, Eddie Corbin is going to be, is being appointed as the city’s compliance officer.  And I know that city contracts that’s within the work that you do in that office.  And I do know that, from my work in Chelsea, these are very...there’s very labor intensive and you do need to do a lot of outreach to have a successful project and having someone on staff who would be able to be full time on this sort of stuff, I think, is important for success. 

**MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

JW:  [Apparently asks JB for a copy of some document.]

JB:  I will certainly have a CD burned and get it to you in a day or so.

SL:  That was the last official order of business unless there is new business, Mr. Chairman.

New Business

CG:  Any new business?

Adjournment to Executive Session

SL:  Adjournment to executive session to discuss strategy relative to litigation and property disposition.

**MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.