“Dollars and Cents” Plus “Fodder and Sense” Major Topics of City Council Meetings on May 15, 2023
Dollars and Cents
An informal meeting was held at 6pm for a School Budget presentation by Superintendent Mark Pellegrino. Listen to the informal meeting on any device. CLICK PLAY.
In the Regular City Council Meeting at 7:30pm, the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget was referred to the City Council as a Committee of the Whole and various standing committees for study and report. The Monty Tech Budget Plan was placed on file. The just over $700k for snow and ice was approved.. It was noted that there were 166 hires in Gardner this year as various other money orders were approved. Listen to the Regular Meeting on any device. CLICK PLAY
Fodder and Sense
The City Council adopted a new Common Sense policy regarding New Business and comments. New Business will be restricted to items which are unanticipated items. The customary comments will occur during a new section of the meeting entitled “Councilor Comments and Remarks”. The Council voted to self report the procedural error regarding the letter from Councilors asking for the 3 Zoning items be considered. And the suggested response was approved regarding the Paul DeMeo OML complaint. Zoning items are expected to appear for consideration again via a request from a City Councilor (without an opinion expressed.), or by other means such as by 10 citizen signatures. Publisher’s Note; The Open Meeting Law was enacted to mandate transparency in local government. Ironically, in the OML issues the City Council has experienced, it was sharing too much information that resulted in problems. The intent of being open and honest with the public has never been questioned. In fact, the City of Gardner has been praised for its openness and transparency. Informal Agenda and Packet —- Regular Meeting Agenda and Packet