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Councilor James Walsh Emerges as Council Advisor During Gardner MA City Council Meeting of 5-1-23
Listen to the meeting on any device. CLICK PLAY
Complete Agenda and Packet (600 pages) CLICK HERE
Councilor Walsh pays attention to the details and often provides well-reasoned advice to the City Council during meetings. Whether you agree with him or not, he is calm, courteous, and thoughtful. At this meeting he expressed a concern about whether a letter signed by 5 City Councilors violated the Open Meeting law because an opinion was expressed in it and the letter was then circulated to all Councilors. See letter – The Letter asked for the 3 Zoning Matters regarding Sports Betting, Marijuana Shops, and Route 140 Zoning be scheduled for public hearing. Walsh acknowledged that 5 City Councilors did not constitute a quorum and thus there was no violation on that basis, but on other concerns, thought an opinion might be prudent. Councilor Judy Mack motioned for the City Council to refer to the City Law Department for an opinion, and the City Council approved the motion unanimously.
Later in the meeting, Council President Kazinskas reviewed guidance regarding “New Business” time, stating that they might have to list items ahead of time. This was based on an Open Meeting Law Complaint regarding the Swansea Board of Selectmen. The matter was also referred to the City Law Department for an opinion.
Downtown Improvement Capital Project
Items Approved. The Gardner City Council referred a number of items to the Finance Committee and Public Service Committee, but did approve the Mayor’s request for $350,000 to go to the Downtown Improvement Capital Project.
Mayor Michael Nicholson issued a statement on the project. “If you’re driving by Monument Park over the next few months, you’ll notice some construction work being done. This work includes re-doing the sidewalks around Monument Park to make them ADA compliant and adding Victorian light posts to the perimeter, removing trees that are either diseased or dead (only ones that fit those categories) and replacing them with new trees, extending the North Central Pathway Bike Trail from the Gardner Veterans Arena Skating Rink to Crystal Lake Cemetery along Crystal Lake’s shores behind the Greenwood Pool, and the creation of a new waterfront park at the former National Grid Substation site. This is being done as Phase 3 of our 6 Phase Downtown Infrastructure Improvement Project. This $1.5 million project is being funded by City funds as well as State and Federal grant funding. Thank you to Congresswoman Lori Trahan, State Representative Jon Zlotnik, State Senator Anne M. Gobi, and all of our partners on the state and federal level for helping Gardner secure this funding. (Please note: the rendering below also shows the preliminary plan for the construction of a pavilion at the site of the former Greenwood Indoor Pool building. This work is not expected to begin until December 2023/January 2024)”
The project is the City’s portion of Phase 3 of the 6 phase Multi-million dollar infrastructure project including various improvements in the Monument Park area. For the exciting renderings of the 4 components of this project, CLICK HERE. Also details the exact sources of funding for each of the 4 items.