[Fred Dello Russo]: regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Present. Councilor Falco? Present. Councilor Naik? Present. Vice-President Lemkern? Present. Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Scarpelli? Present.
[Fred Dello Russo]: President Del Russo? Present. Seven members present, none absent. Please rise to salute the flag. Merry Christmas, everybody. 16-182. Communication from the mayor. President Frederick N. Dello Russo Jr. and members of the Medford City Council, from Stephanie M. Burke, Mayor, re-request to approve and permit the City of Medford to apply for state grant funds in connection with a construction grant offered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Dear President Dello Russo and members of the Medford City Council, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body give its approval, consent, and permission for the City of Medford to one, apply for state grant funds in connection with the state construction grant offered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, and two, to approve project schematic design to be submitted with the application. Barbara Kerr, director of Medford Public Library, will be in attendance. To answer any of your questions, respectfully submitted, Stephanie M. Burke, Mayor. Thank you. And we welcome to the podium Ms. Kerr to speak to us on this matter. Before she does, I know Councilor Caraviello has some remarks to share with us.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I want to thank Barbara and the building committee and the friends of the library for the hard work that they've done over the last six months to get the project to this point. I mean, This money has been available to communities for the last four years, and under Barbara's leadership, we finally have the library committee coming to Medford, and the grant is at a point where it should be now. I mean, the mayor, with her staff, has done almost a year's worth of work in five months. I want to congratulate the mayor, and her staff, and Barbara and her staff, and the friends of the library. forgetting, forgetting us to this point. And hopefully, uh, there's, there's a large grant out there that will be available and hopefully we'll be able to get it and bring the library up to the, to, uh, the standard that it should be for the people of this community. Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor, madam librarian.
[Barbara Kerr]: Oh, I have our architect with us. Shall I have her come up as well?
[Fred Dello Russo]: If she would like. We also have the solicitor here, uh, Mark Rumley, who's here to share. some information that might be pertinent to our discussions. Go ahead with your presentation, Barbara.
[Barbara Kerr]: Oh, I'm sorry. What am I doing?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Hi, welcome. Please say your name and address for the record.
[Barbara Kerr]: Barbara Kerr, 35 Baker Place, Newton, Massachusetts.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Welcome. Thank you. Tell us about this project.
[Barbara Kerr]: Well, this is a grant program that the Board of Library Commission commissioners runs. It comes up every decade or so. It pays for about 42% of a construction project. We've been working on it since April. Usually it's a two-year project, but we jumped in the middle. So we've been working on it since April. The grant goes in at the end of January, and we hear whether we got a grant and where we are on the list. If we did get a grant, we'll hear at the end of July. We got together. We had to put together two possible schematics, one for a renovation and one for a new building. We looked at them. We went through several variations. Angela did a lot of back and forth with them. And the building committee decided unanimously that we wanted a new building. There's a differential in cost of $600,000 to a million dollars, which is still a big chunk of money, but comparatively speaking, it isn't. And there was A lot of discussion about the fact that because our building is so old and it was built before the current building codes were written, that there were likely to be unanticipated expenses during the renovation that might bring the cost up to where the new building would be. the latest new building floor plans with you. The new building, taking down the current building, putting up a new one, allows us to maximize the space. Because even though it is a whole block, it's a very constrained space, and we have accessibility issues, if you know, if you've ever tried to come in the back door, because it comes in, and you have to go upstairs or downstairs to get anywhere. So being able to take down a building allows us to adjust the, thank you, adjust the grade, the grade, right, yes. so that when you come in the back door, you come in on a floor, you're not at stairs. And in addition to that, because it's a new building, it can sort of be slanted out on the corners, which added about 4,000 square feet to the design, which let us put everything that we wanted to put into it. And if we had done a renovation, we couldn't have fit everything that we fit in a new building. So that's where we stand.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And it takes into account a lot of the issues regarding ledge there, water runoff and all of that.
[SPEAKER_09]: So my name is Angela Hyatt. I'm an architect in Boston. Thank you. My address is 87 Walnut Street in Brookline. I'm an architect that specializes in libraries. And we were hired by the building committee almost exactly two and a half months ago. So even though they've been working on the project for a few months, we've come in kind of to the tail end and been working nonstop here to catch up and get all the requirements in place for the grant. As part of the grant actually anticipates that some, the grant requirements anticipate that some projects will encounter subsurface conditions that might make a project more expensive than another. And so part of the grant requirements is to do a geotechnical a full geotechnical survey and analysis, and so we've done that. That actually was just completed a couple weeks ago. We know that there is ledge there, and so for that reason, we are not anticipating going down an extra story like we typically might here in New England. So yes, the proposed building footprint is similar to what exists now, but because the second floor is built out, gets us the extra square footage needed to meet the library program goals.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And what inspired some of the more contemporary lines and swoops, it's almost a retro-contemporary, one could even wonder should this be Mike Brady architects, if you look at some of the sketches. Could be.
[SPEAKER_09]: Well, yes, what exists now is pretty much exactly a Mike Brady architecture. Let me just say, we are very early in the design process. We are still in schematic design. And that's part of the requirements for the grant is to submit a schematic design. So we just started this design phase a couple of weeks ago. So everything at this point is, especially the building exterior, is very malleable. What the library commissioners are primarily looking at is the interior floor plan and the arrangement of stacks and furniture and spaces to make sure that the functional arrangement is correct. So we're just dipping our toes into the exterior and we thought it would be appropriate to do a building that was mostly brick because of the history of brick manufacturing in Medford. And since we're not replacing historic building, we didn't feel confined to recreate something that didn't exist.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Wonderful. And the use of, just a brief look at it, the use of light in open space and natural lighting in there is a wonderful addition to that building. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_09]: That's one of the most important library planning principles is to design space that is flexible and open and doesn't have a lot of unnecessary interior walls because we can't really anticipate what is going to be 10 or 20 years out. So keeping it open and flexible is important.
[SPEAKER_05]: Great. Chair recognizes Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for being here tonight. And I did have the opportunity to go to the last library meeting and you had a great presentation with regard to the look and the feel of the inside of a library, hopefully in the future. So I was wondering if you could elaborate more on that as to the difference between what we currently have and what hopefully we will currently have in the future. If you could just tell us a little bit about the look and the feel inside the library.
[Barbara Kerr]: Well, what we're going to do, it's going to be, right now we're full and we have about three electrical outlets. So if nothing else happens, we'll have a lot more electrical outlets. The bottom floor is going to be similar in terms of what's there. You're going to come in pretty much the same place. The right hand side is going to be all the adult collections reference. The local history area is going to have its own room. Now, the nice thing that we've been able to add is if you have this page open, is down here, those are small study rooms. Because the problem with an open plan building, which we've known for 56 years, that noise can be an issue. So instead of putting in walled rooms, we put in these small study spaces. And that's a piece that wouldn't have fit in a renovation. We could only have had about half the number of those. The other half of the bottom floor is gonna be staff area, which will be based on efficiency rather than the plugs. So that'll be a nice change. The very nice piece is the second floor. The right-hand side, if you're standing with High Street behind you, is a very expanded youth services area. So young adults will be on the High Street side. That'll be a much bigger space. And then children's will be on the other side. And they're going to have their own performance space, much bigger, because they're both pretty cramped areas at this point. So expanded seating, expanded shelving, nice lighting. Samantha wants the columns to look like trees, so we're gonna pursue that at a later point. The young adult section is gonna be walled off from children, so they have their own space, but they're going to share a circulation desk and staff, which is very nice. The other side is the great piece. That's public access space, because as we know, what we're missing right now is public meeting space. We have the Magoon Room and that's it. So in this design there, I believe are 15 spaces that can be used for public, various public functions. There are a whole bunch of small meeting rooms. In this public space, there's a new Magoon room, a maker space, a large conference room, a digital media lab. There will be a cafe area, and there'll be an art gallery space in the cafe area. And there's going to be an open, what's the word? There's going to be an atrium. Thank you. So there will be light coming down to below. So it gives us much more room than we have. And as Angela said, the open plan design, our building has its issues, but the open plan served us very well for 50 years because we were able to adapt to what came up. And libraries are more or less in transition now. You know, if all it is is books in 40 years, we have the space to put all the books back in. But if it's not, we have space to put other things in as well.
[John Falco]: I really like the idea of the group space as far as, which I think is, you know, I think so much work done now at school, you know, there's a lot of group study and, you know, there's a lot of group work. So I think this is a great idea to incorporate this into the plan. The other thing I also like, too, is, I mean, I like the whole design. It's really nice. It seems like it's really well thought out. So great job on that. As far as the multi-purpose room goes, how many people does that seat? And is that suited for giving presentations, all kinds of stuff like that?
[SPEAKER_09]: It's going to be a flat floor, not a raised floor, so that it can be used for a variety of events. So right now, the furniture arrangement is kind of shown lecture mode or maybe screening a movie or film, but it's meant to have a variety of different flexible seating options. If you count the number of chairs, I think there are a little over a hundred shown in that room, but the building code would allow us to almost double that number. So we're encouraged by the library commissioners to show what is a reasonable seating arrangement. But if the event called for it, there could be more people in that room.
[Barbara Kerr]: Okay. The children's performance space, which is on the other side, that's also a fairly large room. So that could, at this point, anytime there's a children's performer, they're in the Lagoon Room, but they could actually have their own performances in their own room, which they'd like.
[SPEAKER_09]: And the whole area that's shaded brown on the plans is this kind of after hours zone, this public access zone, which is designed to allow the library to close the rest of the library and leave that open for after hours programming. So it's not going to be an additional draw on staff to kind of be in all corners of the library when there is a major event going on.
[John Falco]: As far as the, looking at the plan here, as far as the parking goes, I believe, so are those garages coming down?
[Barbara Kerr]: It couldn't do that much with it, but it is an addition of 12 spaces, I think.
[John Falco]: 12 spaces? Okay.
[Barbara Kerr]: I had dreamt that it would be more than that, but it can't be.
[John Falco]: And I'm sorry, back to inside the library, as far as computers, technology goes.
[Barbara Kerr]: I mean, are we talking... I'm not sure how many computers right now are at the library currently, but I am assuming this will allow us to... Right now, the public computer space in reference has seven computers, and this is 23 plus. And children and young adult will also have their own. And the young adult, our teen space, is hooked into this digital media lab, which is gonna have all sorts of computer stations and green screens and things that you can play with. Okay, great.
[John Falco]: I love the plan. Um, I love the idea of a new library. Um, you know, I grew up going to the library when I was a kid and back when I was a kid, they had the satellite libraries and we're going to the library in my neighborhood, but it's great to come down here to the square. Um, so I love, you know, the location, the designs really nice. And, um, you know, I think, uh, this is a huge, a huge investment, but I think it's well worth it. And, um, you know, I, I think that, you know, if we're going to do it, we have to make sure we do it right. And, um, you know, and it needs to be ready for, you know, future generations of Method residents. So, um, I'm really happy about this. I supported a hundred percent and I look forward to hopefully we get, hopefully we get that grant. We can move forward on this. So thank you for all your hard work.
[Barbara Kerr]: Thank you. One thing I wanted to make sure everybody understood the vote tonight is not a commitment of any kind. This is simply a vote giving us permission to apply for the grant. So it doesn't mean we're going to build a library down the road, although I'm sure we will. But just so that, Nobody thinks we've snuck in a grant, you know, it's not in a building at some point. We didn't. So thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor chair recognizes council Scarpelli. Thank you very much again, Barbara and the committee. And, uh, I know that, uh, one of the biggest pieces that I, I applaud both, uh, council Kaviello for spearheading this and moving this forward is the, the F the funding mechanism and reaching out to the grant funding. I think that's so important. I think when, we're talking about the big projects we are looking at here in the community and looking what we're trying to do here with the library is a model of success. And I, and I applaud everybody involved. Um, it's so exciting. Uh, so again, the plans look so exciting. It's, it's so, it's so new. It's, it's, it's, it's refreshing to see. I think that one of the only questions I have is as we move forward and looking at typical mistakes we sometimes make in this community is a building and designing of the roof. That's always seems to be the first issue that comes about when you talk about construction later on and having the flat roofs in New England. And so, but the way it looks like it's, it looks like it's sloped and we're, we're thinking ahead and making sure that we don't have, um, the same issues we have in today's, um, library. So, and I could assume that's correct.
[SPEAKER_09]: That's right. We're looking at a series of, of kind of gently curving sloped roofs. Um, and, and we have a lot of experience, uh, building and designing in New England. So you know exactly what you're talking about.
[George Scarpelli]: And I think the last, I know you touched upon it, but having this indoor area being so, um, uh, open and, and, and, and, and new, um, I, I like to even look at, you know, and then a fellow council have already talked about it, so I don't want to be redundant, but the outside plants, I know we said that we'd haven't touched upon that yet, but as I, as we look at some of the designs, are we putting, um, interactive areas outside and, and so we can really bring the library outside and that's going to be part of the plan as we move forward. I know the front page, you know, we can see more trees and areas, but can you expand on that a little bit?
[Barbara Kerr]: So the hillside Avenue side now that is grass is going to stay because at the top of that hill is a beach tree that's from the mid 19th century. So we're not building out on that side. So we are expecting to landscape and create some kind of park area that is unfortunately not covered by the library grant.
[George Scarpelli]: That's okay. But with the tree staying and I know that was important, but again, I applaud everybody's effort with this moving forward and I'm in total, uh, support 1000% and, uh, very excited by the way that being creative with the funding and, um, and there's the design especially. So thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Chair recognizes Vice President Luebel-Kern.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President de la Ruzo. Thank you, Barbara and your team for working on this. A few questions with regards to the 42 percent. Can you kind of explain what we're looking at for pricing down the line? What's the cost estimate? I know that seems like it's just going to be for construction. So what does that not include? And then I know you said you'll hear if we do get the grant by around the end of July, what's the timeframe with regards to when we have to commit to come up with the full amount and when will we have to start construction?
[Barbara Kerr]: Let me answer the second part first, if that's okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Perfect.
[Barbara Kerr]: What they do is they create a waiting list. There'll be one group that, The money is available for the first year. The way it works is they have been promised $120 million for this grant round. 100 and what? 120 million. Thank you. But the state releases it, and they don't know how much is going to be released every year. It all depends on how the state budgeting process works out. So the first group, their money will be available next July. And their projects will probably be paid for over the course of two or three years. And then they go to the next group on the list and down and down. We are not falling down. So we are probably not going to be in the first group. That's the sort of the high priority group that are really in sort of desperate circumstances. There's one that's being demolished to put a road in. So I think they're first, but we could be in the first group. If we were in the first group, the council would have to vote on accepting the money within six months and construction has to start within 18 months. So if we were in the first group, we could be starting work as early as 2018. I don't think we are. The indicators I've gotten from the library commissioners people is that we would be a little further down the list. And they pay for some parts of it and others they don't. I think you each have this document, the sort of grayed out pieces. You have one, right?
[SPEAKER_09]: Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of hard to read there. I put in the far right hand column, um, anything that is not eligible for the grant reimbursement is, is noted. Um, it's roughly in the end, um, things that aren't eligible are site work. parking, furniture, computers, site acquisition costs, which you don't have to worry about. In the end, it works out to roughly 50% of the total project cost.
[Barbara Kerr]: And we recently did the calculation they have and it's actually going to be 11 million at this point. This is not our final project cost. So this is the draft. So it's going to be 11 million. It'll probably be a little bit more than that. And there is also 11 million as far as what? That's what we will get from the state commission. And there will be is a little bit additional money. I think it's about 300,000 for a green incentive grant that we are going to pursue.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And I see here on the, break down that you just gave us. This is a reimbursement grant, so we would have to go out to bond or take from free cash for the full amount, and then can you explain how the reimbursement works? Is it after completion of the entire project or as we're spending?
[SPEAKER_09]: It's bracketed, so there is, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, there's a first installment made to pay for design fees. there is a kind of, I think, a midpoint through construction or early construction, and then I think they hold the final bit for when it's complete. So they recognize that there are some upfront costs before you even get in the ground associated with design and permitting and everything else.
[Barbara Kerr]: I think it's a third a third a third or something like that. This document has more details about the budgeting which I don't entirely understand.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And when you said Director Kerr when you said. the first group will there be? Is there usually a number? Do they pick three or four projects, or is it five or six?
[Barbara Kerr]: I mean... It depends on... There are so many variables in this because there are 34 libraries applying of very varying sizes. We are actually on the big size, big... You know what I mean. So it will all depend on how much money is released to them the first year and how much the different projects are going to cost.
[SPEAKER_09]: In past grant rounds, I think there have been kind of that seven to nine or something around there, just kind of as a placeholder to understand how many are released initially. And in the last grant round, they gave 17 grants.
[Barbara Kerr]: And in this grant, there are two Boston branches, a Cambridge branch, and the Newton Library, who are the big guys. And then there's us. And then everybody else is smaller than we are. So we're kind of standalone.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So in the last round, they gave 17 out of how many that applied?
[Barbara Kerr]: Probably about 35.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So you have all those grants from the last round, probably, that reapplied for a second time? Some of them. Some did.
[Barbara Kerr]: It has been 10 years, so a lot of people did it on their own.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Oh, gotcha.
[Barbara Kerr]: And our chances seem to be very good. We've gotten very, very positive feedback from Weber.
[SPEAKER_09]: As an architect, just anecdotally, going to a lot of these walkthroughs of other communities that are interested in doing this whole process that we're doing for you, I came away from some of these walkthroughs of their present facilities thinking, Why are they applying for a grant? I think having a building that's of your vintage that really hasn't been expanded or changed in over 50 years, I think it's going to work in your favor.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, I don't think our building has even been maintained.
[Barbara Kerr]: We had a little, they put in new ceilings.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Minimally maintained.
[Barbara Kerr]: Minimally, yeah. And we've never had any construction grant funding before we've ever done a renovation. And we're a city, which is kind of a plus. They consider us an urban environment, which a lot of the others are little towns or affluent suburbs. So we have an edge, I think.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And can you remind us of the age of the building? It was originally built in? 56, in 1959 it was built.
[Barbara Kerr]: Designed in 56, yeah.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: That's all the questions I have for now. I think this is something that this council begged for, and that Councilor Caraviello helped move forward months and months ago. I mean, just seeing the roof look like it's going to collapse with the tiles all missing, especially in the children's area, was a big concern of mine, and it's something that needs bathrooms are concerns of other councilors. each piece of the library needs to be updated and maintained. And I think adding the second floor is also something that we wanted to pursue. Um, this is a lot of money. I just, I asked that obviously some of the questions we had in our prior meeting, I think last week with regards to the police station and where we're going to get, you were going to take that money from too, is it's important to kind of know where we're going to be, how we're going to be able to do a number of these projects that need to be done. So hopefully the mayor will be able to, talk to us more and really start planning. This is the first step, and I think it's important to apply for the grant so that we have that option.
[Barbara Kerr]: And one thing I'd like to mention is I've been talking to Bloomberg Philanthropy since we started this process, and they're not willing to give me a dollar amount to put in the application, but Mayor Bloomberg is writing a support letter for the grant, so I'm optimistic about a good relationship with them going forward, because his mother was a big library user, and they told me he's excited about the project.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Well, thank you for all your hard work and we appreciate it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Madam vice president chair recognizes Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much.
[Adam Knight]: And Ms. Kerr, thank you for being here this evening. Um, this project looks like it's going to expand the library to about 44,000 gross square feet. What are we at right now? 29 29 so it almost gives us almost double hopeful. Not quite, but close. Um, do you think that based on the current staffing levels, you have enough, personnel to operate the facility once it, if we're lucky enough to receive the grant. Do we have enough staff and personnel?
[Barbara Kerr]: We will need to add some extra people. Right now, because it's on one level, it can be staffed with a fairly Just two or three people. But if there is a second level, you shouldn't have fewer than three people up there at one time. So I calculated roughly that it would be 175 hours of staffing that we would need to have. But that could be a mixture of full-time and part-time. I don't think it would be. It's going to be crippling, I hope. Or robots. But we haven't got enough.
[Adam Knight]: Well, I mean, I think that if you need the staff, you do the staff. And that's not a problem. And looking at this, Mr. President, this is something that the council's requested on multiple occasions to have the administration pursue the Board of Library Commissioners grant funding to expand or construct a new library. If we also look at this, Mr. President, this council and councils in the past have restored funding to allow us to be at a level where we can apply for the grant. We've dealt with many maintenance and capital issues related to the library, the roof leaking, some gutters being blocked, and we've invested money there. and studies and so on and so forth as to how we're going to move forward and address the present day concerns with the library. Mr. President. Um, I think that this is a great approach and a great step forward. I congratulate miss Kerr on her hard work in such a short time. Being the library director, we've been able to bring this to fruition and um, I really think it's, it's a great measure and it's something that I'm going to be supporting this, uh, this evening, Mr. President. So as such move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Um, thank you. Councilor Knight on the motion for approval by council night chair recognizes Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And, uh, I couldn't be more happy. Uh, two years ago, uh, this council had a big borrow and steal to get $10,000 allocated in the budget to fix what I refer to as two prison bathrooms in the library. And, uh, they were painted and some, uh, fixtures were replaced. Um, and now we're talking about, uh, possibly a $27 million brand new library, complete with community gathering spaces, which I believe is going to be a home run. This library will not only be a library, it'll be a central gathering place for all of the city. And I have big expectations for this building now.
[Barbara Kerr]: And, uh, right.
[Michael Marks]: I'm glad to hear. I know there's been talk about, uh, putting in a small cafe where you can get a scone and a cup of coffee, and I think that's a great asset. I've had people in the community come up to me and say, you know, in this day and age, do we really need a new library? And what I tell people is that this is not the library that we all remember, where you go pull out old microfilm and sit down and maybe rent a video or so forth or a book. This is going to be a state-of-the-art community gathering space. um, and equip with the latest in technology and someplace that, uh, you want to say, Hey, I'm going to go down to the square to go to the library and, uh, it'll become a destination place. So I am so ecstatic to see, uh, the plans, uh, moving forward. Uh, I know the, uh, friends of the library been working, uh, with this building, uh, for a number of years and the new library building committee has done yeoman's work. and gathering the information needed and such a short period of time. Uh, the question I do have is that, uh, I don't want to be a Debbie downer, but if the grant does not come through for some reason, do we have a plan B in place? Uh, because, um, I want to see something happen. This is great. I want to see this happen. But if this, for whatever reason doesn't come to fruition, I think we need to have a plan B and start moving on that plan B. immediately, so has there been any discussion?
[Barbara Kerr]: Not between, well, in my head, yes. I figured the first thing we would do would be to speak to Bloomberg Philanthropies and see if they would be willing to proceed, even if we didn't get a grant. Okay. We can try a capital campaign. I suspect what we will end up doing is raising some money to do an interim renovation so that we can use the second floor, and then when the grant round comes around in the next 10 years, then we would apply again.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. Um, now you mentioned, I think council Longo current asked about the construction timeframe. What is the total construction from, uh, putting a shovel into the ground until we actually do a ribbon cutting?
[SPEAKER_09]: Uh, we're estimating, um, uh, let's see. I don't have the exact number of months. I want to say around 16 months. 16 now that that is a plus or minus. And it would be part of a negotiation with a, with a contractor. And, and as we get a little bit more detailed in the design, we would be able to pin that down a little bit more and put that into the project bidding documents that this is our construction schedule.
[Michael Marks]: So as part of the plans, what is going to be done to temporarily relocate the library for possibly almost a two year span?
[Barbara Kerr]: What you usually do is you take a proportion of your collection with you. It would depend on what available space is available at the time that we need to move out. I've known people who've been in a school auditorium for a couple of years. We'd have to find a storefront or an empty building and relocate for that time.
[Michael Marks]: So has there been any consideration of potential sites?
[Barbara Kerr]: I have some ideas, but it's all going to depend on when we know when we're moving out and what's available at that time. I personally think Springstep would be a great place to land for a couple of years, but it may not be available at the time. So I think it's something we're going to have to look at when we're a little closer to knowing when we are actually going to have to move out.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. And the Magoon Room has a number of historical artifacts. Is there any discussion on using some of the Amelia Hart artifacts that are in there to enhance the library and enhance some of the educational tools that we might have.
[Barbara Kerr]: Everything we have has been written into the mate, the basic building program and they're not designed there. We haven't designed spaces with them, but we do. We're very aware of them when we're going to move them with us. And the, in the children's department, there are these carved, uh, sculptural bookshelves and things that were part of the Bloomberg donation when, um, mayor Bloomberg's mother died and those are going to be worked into the children's, scheme in the new building, but we will bring the guy. We'll bring everybody with us. Definitely.
[SPEAKER_09]: In fact, we have a, there is a local history room, a dedicated local history room on the first floor in these plans. So, um, we'll, we'll be able to locate the, the air heart, um, cabinet and display and all that.
[Michael Marks]: That's right. Almost in the same theme that you have now, when you walk into the library, you have the display cases where you have stuff similar to that, where, uh, we may be able to turn a section of the library into, come and display your old political buttons like you had in there at one point.
[Barbara Kerr]: We will find spaces and then there'll be an art gallery on the second floor so we can hang larger things there.
[Michael Marks]: That's, that's great. That's great. Um, so just, just the, uh, the last point I have, um, regarding, uh, is, uh, there any stipulation regarding the city's, uh, budgetary requirements, uh, in regards to, as you know, I don't have to tell you, Barbara, that, uh, over the last several years, the city has underfunded, uh, the library. Um, and, uh, is there any requirements when we apply for the grant that we have to maintain that funding at a level so that that is written into the grant document itself?
[Barbara Kerr]: I believe. You all have this, it says it in there somewhere. You have during the construction period state aid, the compliance levels have to be maintained. And the fact that we are now at our levels and have been maintained for several years is a very good, we wouldn't be able to apply if they weren't. So it is somewhere in here it is written in that they have to be. If it's not in this one, it's in this library.
[Adam Knight]: We believe you.
[Barbara Kerr]: Okay. Thank you.
[Michael Marks]: That's great. And I, and I liked the suggestion. I realized there's no funding within the grant for the exterior landscaping. Is that correct? Or, uh, that council Scarpelli brought up about having interactive, um, uh, similar to what we're doing out here at the, uh, on Salem street. I'm sorry. I'm Riverside F as you probably know, we're doing the bus shelter over, and that particular area to turn it into an outdoor gathering space. And we're going to have a number of interactive exhibits for young and middle-aged children. And I'd love to see something around the library. They do a great project in South Boston. My kids just went recently. And they have these lit up, I can never remember the name of it. If anyone knows, if you could help me out. They have these great lit up things that you can sit in. And it's a big attraction.
[SPEAKER_09]: Oh, the Lawn on D?
[Michael Marks]: Lawn on D. Lawn on D. And let me tell you, it's a great attraction. I'm not sure what the cost is, but kids go from all over, all over to go there and be pictured with these outdoor seating, illuminated structures. And it's really just, you know, an excellent take and something that would serve as an attraction, as Councilor Scarpelli mentioned. and maybe something outside where we received a grant for the Riverside Ave, $250,000 for this project. It might be something that we can look at for the exterior of the library. But Barbara, I want to thank you in your short term as the director. We seem to be on the move.
[Barbara Kerr]: Very much so. Faster than I intended to go.
[Michael Marks]: Well, it takes leadership. And I want to thank you for your leadership and the board of the library and also the building committee as well as Councilor Caraviello, I think it was about a year and a half ago, you mentioned about doing the library over and looking for grants. And I think everyone looked at you like you had three heads and now we're looking at him as he has one giant head. And I mean that in a good way. I mean that in a good way. Lots of brains in it. And so I want to thank Councilor Caraviello for his leadership on that too.
[SPEAKER_05]: So thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Chair recognizes Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Here we are.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Could you just comment really quick, if you don't mind, on the green incentive? I remember, I think you had mentioned it at the meeting that night, but just so everyone knows, if you could just talk a little bit about it, because I believe it does, there's an incentive to go in green, and I believe there's more grant funding that we can acquire if we do go green.
[SPEAKER_09]: Do you want Alicia? Can we borrow Alicia? I'll just answer generally, and you can supplement if you need to. There are not only moral reasons to design a green building, like helping the environment, but there's also financial reasons, too. lower energy costs, there's also health reasons, better environment for people that live or work and spend time in the library. And for that reason, we normally design buildings that meet, that would be able to get LEED certified. That's just kind of in the bones of making good architecture. The Mass Board of Library Commissioners, incentivizes actually getting certified as a lead project by giving some additional grant money. We usually assume around 2% of the eligible project costs. So it's doing things that we would probably normally suggest are done anyway, like using low VOC materials. super efficient energy equipment, HVAC equipment, et cetera. But by actually pursuing the grant, you get reimbursed for all those good decisions.
[John Falco]: And if I'm correct, are we aiming for silver, the silver level?
[SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, I think we have done a preliminary lead checklist where you kind of go through all the criteria and you kind of guesstimate, you know, these are in the bag, these are question marks, these are kind of probably not achievable. And it looks like silver is definitely achievable. We kind of land squarely in the mid range of silver. So, um, that would be, um, that would be a, a good target in an additional 2.5%.
[John Falco]: So it just, that helps.
[John Falco]: Great. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Falco on the motion for approval by council and I'd second by council. Carve yellow chair recognizes Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Um, yes, Mr. President. I just, um, I wonder if they have a green incentive. Are there any other incentives that are available for us to pursue to receive increased grant reimbursement or increased priority in receiving the grant?
[Barbara Kerr]: There's nothing built into this. There is the, you know, the EQV, the need parameter that is assigned to different communities. We have a 7.91 percentage and that is actually added to our grant amount. So we have an additional 7% worth of money, but the green, the incentive is the only other thing that they've got built in.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Excellent.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Appreciate the work.
[Adam Knight]: Good job guys.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. I know there's a citizen that would like to speak and we want to hear from, uh, the venerable city solicitor regarding a slight paragraph change of language in the grant application request. Chair recognizes the city solicitor.
[Mark Rumley]: Good evening, Mr. President. Mark Rumley, city solicitor. I reside at 50 Woodrow Avenue in Medford. My input into all this has been very mechanical. I've been working with Barbara to help certain aspects of the grant and the documentation that's necessary. And I also commend Barbara and her committee for the work that they've done into this design. But along the lines of the mechanical work I have to do, and I mean that in a legal sense, in the resolution that you have right now, there's a paragraph one. Now, Barbara and I spoke through Barbara to the library commissioners today and yesterday, and there's a small change in paragraph one that's necessary. The paragraph should be changed to, and I have this written out for the clerk, The paragraph should be changed to read, apply, accept, and expend state grant funds subject to appropriation by the city of Medford in connection with a state construction grant offered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, then semicolon and the word and. So I have this to be distributed. The resolution should be amended to include this paragraph number one. Sure, I'll read it again. Apply, accept, and expend state grant funds, comma, subject to appropriation by the city of Medford, comma, in connection with a state construction grant offered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, semi-colon, and, and then you go into number two. But I have it typed out for you, so you don't have to write it out. If the messenger would distribute those, And this is the language, this is the language that has been approved by the state library committee commissioners, which would make this grant, uh, well, it would get it into the starting gate. And that's really what we're doing tonight. We're getting it into the starting gate and then they'll open the gates and every horse will take off and we'll see what happens. Madam vice president.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. I'm solicitor Emily. So will this come back to the council for any additional vote or are we, are you, I think that is that language.
[Mark Rumley]: A good part of its standard, what they've asked for. But it would come back because the grant would only be part of the dollars necessary to go through this construction. So it would always be subject to additional appropriation by this council. Because it would be a significant amount of money. That would always be the case. Because the grant would not cover 100% of the construction cost.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I don't have to come before the council because you'd need a hundred percent and then, cause then you'd be reimbursed.
[Mark Rumley]: Okay. So hopefully when we get involved in the, in this grant process, if it's successful, as Barbara has, has described, it may be in the first level, might be in the second, uh, God willing. But if it is, then we would have to make an appropriation in order to supplement the funds so that recon, uh, new construction could begin. Okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you.
[Mark Rumley]: Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Uh, madam vice president, uh, chair recognizes citizen, at the podium.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you, Councilor Dello Russo, Andrew Castagnetti, Cushing Street, Medford Mass. I also commend all the people involved that want to better the city. In the past, I've said it numerous times, if you need something, the city needs it, but they should do it. My only concern is these buildings are not that old, such as the police station, the library. And actually, they're younger than I am. and it doesn't seem right that they're in such disrepair that they have to be replaced. Saying that, we have over probably 10,000 houses in this city that are made of wood frame, and they seem to be in fine standing order. Chevrolet Auditorium, I believe, was built in 1939, according to Dee, and I think Method High School on Forest Street, the old one, I believe, was built in the 1800s. So it seems to me we have a problem with maintenance and I just don't want to see us spend millions and down the road our children are going to be saddled in another 50 years with billion dollar buildings. That's my only concern. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Citizen chair recognizes councilor night.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President motion to adopt the amendment as proposed by city solicitor motion. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Just if we could, cause Mr. Cassidy brings up a great point and maybe if Barbara can answer it as part of the grant proposal, does the city have to clearly define what its maintenance will be of the building?
[Barbara Kerr]: There is a question about stewardship. Um, they wanted a statement saying how you were planning to maintain. And I wrote that it would be included in the annual budget maintenance of the building.
[Michael Marks]: So, so that is part of the grant proposal.
[Barbara Kerr]: It's one of the questions.
[Michael Marks]: It is one of the questions. So, and I agree with Mr. Castagnetti that there's been a lack of oversight for many years, but we have to move on forward now and that shouldn't prevent us from creating these great new structures for our residents. So, um, thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Barbara. Thank you very, very much for your leadership in this matter. So on the motion to adopt the amended language provided by the city solicitor Offered by councillor night all those in favor All those adopted on the main motion offered for approval by councillor night seconded by councillor Caraviello Mr. Clerk, please call the roll Yes Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 9 in the negative. The request to seek the grant has been granted. Congratulations. Thank you all again. Very good work. Joya Noel. 16-810, report of committee. Committee of the whole meeting report from December 13th, 2016 regarding fiscal year 17 tax rate and proposed application and order for Riverside Plaza and its design. We took those up in fact last week. So the chair awaits motion to adopt the committee report. Motion to adopt the committee report. All those in favor? All those opposed? The committee report is adopted. 16-811, subcommittee meeting report from October 24th, 2016 on zoning and ordinances regarding demolition and delay and papers in committee. Who's the chair of that paper? That is me. Councilor, can you tell us a little bit about it to refresh our memories?
[Adam Knight]: Absolutely.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It seems a little restrictive to my eye.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, the Medford historical district commission came before the Medford city council's subcommittee on zoning and ordinances. They have constructed a proposal to amend the current language of the Medford city ordinances that deal with demolition delay. Um, the subcommittee met in the presentation was put on by the historical district commission and his chairman, Ryan Haywood, uh, members of the commission were in attendance, including, uh, miss Morris, I believe, who just walked out the door here, who was here for the library. Um, ultimately, Mr. President, this was a number of changes were being made. The subcommittee voted to send the proposal to the city solicitor, the office of community development and the building commissioners for recommendations and input. Um, prior to reporting the paper out of, uh, prior to reporting the paper to the committee of the whole. So we were asking that the council adopt this committee report so that we could ask the questions, get that answer back and then provide you with more information at a later date.
[Fred Dello Russo]: That is very helpful, Councilor, as an explanation. On the motion for approval, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. The paper is adopted, Mr. Clerk. Mr. President, a motion to suspend the rules. It will be sent out to the appropriate people for input. On the motion of Councilor Knight for suspension of the rules, all those in favor? All those opposed, motion granted. For what reason are we in the suspension?
[Adam Knight]: Today, Mr. President, the community preservation act ordinance to develop the community preservation committee has reached its eligibility for third reading. And I'd ask that paper one six, seven, six, six be taken off the table for its third reading this evening on the motion that we take 16-seven 66 off the table.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those in favor. All those opposed before us for a third reading chair weights motion. We have before us 16-766 Community Preservation Act Ordinance for a third reading. The Chair is awaiting a motion to act on this.
[Adam Knight]: Move approval, Mr. President. Doesn't sound like it's too controversial.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion for approval, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, call the roll. This is an ordinance. I'm sorry. The Council President stands corrected. That was seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, indicate Councilor Scarpelli gets credit for the seconding of the motion. Please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice-President Lowell-Kern? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes.
[Clerk]: President Dello Russo?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With the vote of seven, the affirmative, none of the negative. The motion is ordained. Councilor, while we're under suspension, I think the vice-president was, getting my attention first, madam.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'll yield. I was just going to do the condolences, but, uh, council max, we have a resident here that would like to speak.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President with the resident here, uh, the unnamed resident come up to speak to us. Tidings of joy. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Robert Penta]: My name is Robert Penta zero summit road, Medford mass, former member of this body. And if I was sitting on this side of the rail tonight, I'd be making the same proposal that I want to say to it this evening. I've been following this story now for a few days, and it's been evident over the last three days in the Boston Herald. There's a story regarding a young man. His name is DJ Simons. He's a Boston police officer, 28 years old. He is the unsung hero. He is the forgotten man in the Boston Marathon story. And what I would like to propose and ask you as Medford City Councilors to do on behalf of our city, knowing that we have that great monument out there for the Crystal Campbell Peace Garden, that represents our city, who recognizes in times of tragedy, we do stand to the occasion. We put our political principles aside, and we do unify amongst ourselves. This gentleman, 28 years old, was hit by a bomb, pipe bomb, four days after the incident that took place at the Boston Marathon. He was one of the first officers on the scene. And as a result of that, he received a head injury. And he died subsequently one year later. And as a result of that, His mother, Roxanne Simons, and father, who lived down in the Cape, were never notified of this story called Patriots Day. They called up the producers, Peter Berg, Mark Wahlberg, and they have yet to receive a response. Fellow Boston police officers are aware of what took place. A state representative up on Beacon Hill named Tim Whelan made an application to the, um, the board of the directors and the film director, uh, for, uh, Patriot's day and asked them if they would consider doing a post script somehow of putting it in there. Never got a response back. The part that was hurting and disturbing according to Mrs. Simons is the fact that when they can't at the end of the movie, the postscripts of the movie had the four pitches and the four names of the folks that we have in our peace garden. But Mr. Simon's name was, was not there. This gentleman is 28 years old. He's a college graduate. And subsequently, on graduating college, he went to the Boston Police School to become a Boston police officer. He was originally stationed in Brighton, Mass. But he was more of wanting to be not a Boston police officer who hands out tickets. He wanted to get into the inner city youth, and that's where he did. He went into the inner city youth where the problems were, and he loved it. He was a good police officer, loved by many policemen, and loved by his community. He unfortunately has not even received any kind of recognition throughout this whole program called Patriot's Day, which is a great movie if you want to look at it like that. And as they do say, sometimes there are some errors and there's some slips to get through. But they were notified well in advance, and they're still notified as of now, that maybe to have him recognized as being an unsung hero who died, unfortunately, one year after the tragedy. He was one of the first people, one of the first people of Boston police responders to Watertown Mass on the night of that incident. Mr. President, all my council colleagues, you folks do many resolutions for many people, whether they are for sports, whether they are for someone who might have passed away, whatever it might be. But for the family of this police officer, I think it would be outstanding that this Medford City Council recognizes the fact that this gentleman, DJ Simons, who didn't get recognized, is recognized by the city of Medford, its city government. For the gentleman did give his life. He did respond and he was there. And for his parents not to have any recognition to that at all, it's just not right. And I don't think it's fair. So I ask of you, seven of you collectively, for one of you to offer the resolution, or if jointly, to send a note of condolences and of appreciation and of thanks to the Simons family, thanking them for their sons. efforts as a result of the Boston Marathon. And maybe there is something, somehow, some way, a plaque of postscript can find its way to that Peace Garden as well here in the city of Medford to let the entire world, to let the entire people know and to let the Simons family know that the city of Medford will not forget and they're most appreciative of what their son did. So I offer, I ask one of you to come forward and do that. Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston, as of today's paper, has he himself has taken it upon himself to seek out through the producers and the directors of that show who have refused, I shouldn't say refused, who have yet to respond back to him to have him included. What the reason is, nobody knows. But it's a known fact, it is a known fact that that gentleman died in the line of duty protecting the citizens, doing his job as a police officer in behalf of the citizens of this commonwealth and the citizens of Boston and for the people who participated in that Boston Marathon.
[Michael Marks]: I think we should offer it as a council. Yes, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: A motion from Councilman Marks that a letter of condolence be sent to the aforementioned police officer's family in recognition of his dedicated service and sacrifice and his being a victim of hatred state law. and that the city of Medford shall make an effort to recognize him in the memorial that exists on the city grounds. On that motion, seconded by the Vice President of the Mayor and all those in favor.
[Clerk]: Roll call vote.
[Fred Dello Russo]: expansion. We're going to take a couple, uh, we're going to take a couple, uh, page gentlemen.
[Michael Marks]: I just want to thank, uh, Councilor Penta for bringing this to our attention. I did see something in the news recently, uh, regarding Mr, uh, Simons. And, um, I think the, um, uh, movie producers did put out a statement saying at the end, They thanked all who were involved and who had some type of involvement or hardship with the Marathon bombing. And that was the way they presented it as covering everyone. So, but I want to thank Councilor Penta, Mr. President, for bringing this up.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Thank you very much. Papers under suspension. 16-814 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council uh, send condolences to the family of Joseph Bettinelli on his recent passing. Mr. Bettinelli was a teacher in Medford schools, science teacher at the Lincoln junior high school and served our country in World War II in the United States Navy. Mr. Bettinelli's presence will be missed by all. Secondly, offered by Councilor Caraviello, 16-813 offered, uh, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its, uh, sincere condolences to the family of Jean Barry Sutherland on a recent passing. Jean was an educator to the children of Medford for many years, and always had a smile and hello for everyone. Her presence in our community will be sorely missed.
[Richard Caraviello]: Please join us. Did you want to speak? Yes, Mr. President. Quick thing. You know, I had Mr. Bettinelli in the Lincoln Junior High School as a teacher. Good guy, nice, good guy. I know he's moved out, but he was a World War II veteran in the Navy, and he did serve our country there, too. And as far as Jean Barry Sutherland goes, I've been friendly with the Barry family for many, many years. And Jean was one of those special people. You'd always see her and her sister walking all over the city of Medford, always with a smile. And again, she's one of those people that always brought joy to everyone. So again, she'll be sorely missed in our community. Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Marks?
[Michael Marks]: And Mr. President, too, I'd be remiss if I didn't say something about Jean Barry Sutherland. I have known Jean for a number of years, and she was truly a dedicated professional in our Medford Public Schools. She was well-liked by everyone, as Councilor Caraviello mentioned. She always had a smile on her face, even when she was going through very trying times over the last many years, she was there to give a positive note and positive advice. And, uh, she will solely be missed in this community.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, please join us in a moment of silence. Offered by council Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford city council commend and congratulate the jingle bell, uh, committee, for another successful Jingle Bell Festival all the way.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, again, I think every year when people come in and see the trees here, I don't think a lot of people know what the actual meaning of them are. And over the last 17 years, the Jingle Bell Committee has raised over $350,000 for the Buddy Caholden Center. And the Buddy Caholden Center is a center that It's a daycare center for people with Alzheimer's and dementia. And it's a horrible disease for someone to have in their family, unless you have it, unless you know somebody, you have something to be involved with. People just don't know how devastating it is. And this year, the Jingle Bell Committee raised over $20,000 again this year. And every year they say that their commitment to the Buddy Cahalan Center has been great. And they bought vans, they did the kitchen over. So the money isn't just used for that, but been used for many things. And I just wanna thank the committee, those women, they do yeoman's work for that small weekend of time. And the trees, they look great again. I just wanna thank them again for their work.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. On that motion, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries, offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council have the DPW, make the necessary repairs to the potholders on Swan Street. Councilor.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I don't know if many people know, but Swan Street is a major carrier of oil trucks that go get filled up down at Dunman Fuel. And there's some pretty serious holes there that should be repaired. And it's only a matter of time before a truck breaks an axle and punctures their tank. and we have a serious spill in our community. So I would ask that the DPW go down and do what they can to fix that street. I thought that was gonna be fixed as part of when the DPW building was built at Swan Street and James Street, but I see that they're not fixed. But Swan Street is in disrepair, and I said that there's an awful lot of oil trucks that go down that street because they fill up with Dunavant fuel, And again, I would, I would hate to see a spill, uh, with contamination in our community.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The motion for approval by council Caraviello, the citizen wishes to speak at the podium.
[Robert Penta]: Please state your name and address for the record. Robert Pence is zero summit road. Method mast. Uh, just to jump onto what council Caraviello has alluded to. Are you at a gentleman up here about six months ago complaining about he drove down the street, not only did he break his spring, but it was a full tank of gas. I mean, oil, God forbid that that oil didn't go. The city has now been put on notice. This is the second time. You're doing streets all over there. You just got through doing Governor's Avenue from top to bottom on one side. You've been doing other streets in the city. Here is a commercial street that is just begging for an accident to happen. And unfortunately, it's probably going to cause the city a major lawsuit. So as Councilor Caraviello has alluded to, I think it's something that needs to take place immediately before an accident does happen. And if that does happen, then you'd have OSHA and everybody else down here. So, you know, once informed, shame on you. Twice informed, look out because that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. And I don't think you'd really wanna have something like that right now. Thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Merry Christmas on the motion for approval. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Do we wanna clean everything off the agendas here, citizen? Thank you. What do you wish to address us on?
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Season's greetings.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: First off, I'd be remiss after receiving some information finally from the assessor's office not to mentioned this calculation that I did on my own time, hopefully would benefit the middle class real estate taxpayer in the future. I'll make it very brief. Finally, I received all the information pertaining to last week's real estate tax rate meeting, and I did a fair sample calculation to compare what the average real estate tax bill for the year would be. if we had adopted the 20% owner occupied real estate tax exemption based on the average home value here in 02155, which is 485,000 times $10 and 50 something cents would be 5,122. And with the 20% exemption, the 485, you would take away 20% of the value, which is 97,000. You have therefore a sum of 388,000 times, much higher rate from 1050 to 1240s, but it's 4,800 and change. The bottom line is the average home of a home that lives in it would save $307 a year if the 20% exemption was adopted. But in reality, the average single family will be building extra $280 increase next year. Therefore also 11,000 out of the 12,000 owner occupied homeowners who actually live in their house will miss out on this huge real estate savings. If we only had adopted the Commonwealth of Massachusetts general law chapter 59 section five C which offers us middle class real estate tax relief. This 300 to possibly $600 real estate tax savings for the average homeowner would have been a nice Christmas gift for the first time ever. As I say in baseball, wait until next year unless somebody wants to discuss the matter right now. Thank you for saying no. Furthermore, if I may ad lib this, problem number two we have, in my opinion, you may remember the lovely Russian lady brought this issue to this honorable body. years ago, but I never understood it until now. Now I get it proposition two and a half. Thank you to Barbara Anderson. Rest her soul limits the tax levy, which is about a hundred million dollars last year to two and a half percent increase. So that's about two and a half million dollars. However, the new growth that we generated was 1.8 million. The city always goes up to the max within a hair. which is $2.5 million, the new growth is $1.8 million. And those are new buildings that just come out of nowhere to generate the extra $1.8 million of new real estate tax that never existed prior. Never. So the Russian lady made a good point. In reality, take away a $2.5 million increase from Prop 2.5, and the new growth was $1.8 million, the increase should have been $700,000, period, versus 4.2 million. That's like seven times. So we could have saved maybe, instead of a $300 average increase, maybe it would have been like 50 bucks. But I'm not a math scientist, but the math seems to tell the facts. I'm not sure who was responsible for this injustice. By not first deducting the new growth, from the Prop 2.5 increase. As she used to say, it's like an annuity that keeps on giving. And then the 2.5% is based on the following year on a higher number, and we don't get any tax relief. Not only that, we get hurt because we have to pay more police cars, more fire trucks, more schooling, more teachers, I don't understand. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. In closing, if I may say, wishing some of you a merry Christmas and a happy Hanukkah and to all a good night.
[Fred Dello Russo]: One at Dolly chair recognizes council night. Why are we're under suspension?
[Adam Knight]: Um, Mr. President, motion to take any paper that's been on the table for six months or more and receive in place on file.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion, all those in favor?
[Adam Knight]: Aye.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those opposed? 15-605, hearing National Grid and Verizon Canal Street table, August 16th, 2015. Motion to receive and place on file by Councilor Knight. August 15th. 2015, my apologies. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Transfer $250,000 from sales real estate for five kiosks improvements in council, December 22nd, 2015 tabled. That was under the old administration. There was no clarity on it. And, um, uh, it, uh, there's been no action for it on a year. We don't know. It can be repurposed a year.
[Adam Knight]: It's been there for a year. I think it was a paper that was put forward by the previous administration. It was tabled by a previous council. If the administration has an interest in pursuing it, they should refile the paper. The way I look at it, it shouldn't cloud up our agenda.
[Fred Dello Russo]: They'll refile if they're going to repost it. What's that?
[Michael Marks]: I said that is to benefit the business owners in each of our business districts. And I think we should get an answer before we take something off our agenda, Mr. President. Because it's been on there a year. It's certainly not bothering me, Mr. President. And I think it deserves, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and every business in this community, to get an answer on it, Mr. President.
[Adam Knight]: Motion to send to the mayor's office to- I have a question, Mr. President. I mean, if the paper's been sitting on the table for a year, then nothing was ever reported out of the council. What are we waiting on an answer for if we never were able to ask the question because the paper was tabled and never moved from here? So is the question that you're asking is to ask the administration whether?
[Michael Marks]: There was several questions asked, Mr. President. That's why the paper was put on the table. I remember like it was yesterday that we asked that if there was $250,000 reserved for the business districts that we find out who would be responsible for giving out the money to each business district. Was it going to go to the West Medford business community or was it going to go to the chamber and so forth? So we had a number of questions and maybe we have to just revisit to find out what the status is rather than just doing away with the paper. Well then why don't we have a motion so we can get an answer?
[George Scarpelli]: Constance Scarpelli, if I can, not to be, um, just, just, I know nothing about this. Is there a way that we can refile to get more information?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think that make a motion.
[George Scarpelli]: Can I make the motion that we refiles? Maybe that would be better. So to request the administrator to update us on this matter, right? So we can understand if I don't, is that a suitable motion?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Is that a suitable motion? Everyone on that motion seconded by councilor Falco. All those in favor. 16-zero zero nine. No confidence. That was a no confidence. by a city put to me, a citizen put towards me.
[Adam Knight]: It's tabled indefinitely pursuant to council rule. It can't come up anyway.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It can't come up anyway. Receive in place on file or does it stay on the table forever?
[Adam Knight]: Receive in place on file. All those in favor?
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those opposed? School committee policies for future bomb threat 16-069 February 9th. We got all that information in several subsequent meetings. Motion to receive and place on file.
[Michael Marks]: Have we ever received the full policy, Mr. President? Because that was what we asked for.
[SPEAKER_12]: I think we did in the budget.
[Michael Marks]: Can we ask that we receive a copy of the full policy, Mr. President?
[Fred Dello Russo]: On motion, Councilor Marx.
[Adam Knight]: Point of information, Mr. President? Councilor. I believe in response to the February bomb threats, the superintendent of schools was presented with accommodation from the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents on how it was handled and the policy that was put in place after the fact, if I'm not mistaken. I believe there was also a press release or an article that was put out about that.
[Michael Marks]: Yeah, so if we can get a copy of the policy, that's all I'm asking.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, 16-063, that a copy of the policy be sent to the council. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion granted. 16-472, accounting use of school facilities for free or donation in council May 10, 2016. Are we up to six months?
[Adam Knight]: It's been there for six months and there has been a policy that's been adopted by the policymaking body that affects the school use facilities, the school committee.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion that this be received and placed on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. 16-629, residents addresses pedestrian safety. We've discussed this ad nauseum on several locations throughout the city over the past 90 months. Motion to receive and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion granted. 16-636. Special permit for Kino. Monitor NK convenience. That was October. It needs action in 90 days.
[Adam Knight]: It was here September 20th, Mr. President. Today would be the 90th day. They get it by right after 90 days. They don't have to come back to us. They get it constructively. So it's the council's actually not taking action. We're sitting on it and we're letting them get the license. The question, because the matter was tabled, we wanted the question answered, but the question never got reported out of the, out of the council because the matter was tabled. So, because the matter was tabled, the question was never reported out. Because the question was never reported out, we never got the answer. Because we never got the answer, today is the 90th day. I have some concerns as to sitting on our hands and saying, let a constructive acceptance go through them, Mr. President. But, you know, I'll certainly do what my council colleagues feel is appropriate.
[Michael Marks]: So, what was the question?
[Adam Knight]: The question was.
[Michael Marks]: I don't know what the question was.
[Adam Knight]: I have the slides. what are the city council, what's the city's rights in terms of whether or not they grant or don't create the keynote license? And then what happens if we say no, what comes next?
[Michael Marks]: So that was the question that we couldn't get out to the administration.
[Adam Knight]: That was the question that got tabled. I believe a council one go table the matter because there was some opposition in the crowd and she wanted to see if there was some feedback that we could get. And then we all agreed to say, okay, let's get some feedback. We've tried to get the feedback, but because the paper never went out, The motion that we get the question, the question never got sent to the city solicitor. So because the question never got sent, we never got an answer, but off the table now, September 20th, October 20th. So 90 days from the date that they were here. So it's a constructive acceptance. If in fact, so what's the motion on the table?
[George Scarpelli]: We'll make the motion that we revisit it anyway, even if it's with this.
[Adam Knight]: Yeah, I think that the way that we should, Mr. President, if I can recommend, um, That's exactly my concern because it's also included in the zoning act. We need to do something with it. And so I don't think we're gonna meet in two January.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, I'm a little confused. The, the fact that a paper is before us as a, as a resolution and we may have a question on the paper itself, right? From what I'm hearing from some of my colleagues, it appears that, we have to approve the paper in order to get questions answered. And I don't think that's necessarily true. Mr. President, I think we can request as a council to get answers. Uh, we had a Councilor Knights resolution a few weeks ago about setting up a reserve account in the city and we didn't support that as a council, but we did support sending it to the mayor to see if the mayor, um, uh, thought it was appropriate, uh, for, uh, the setting of, a reserve account. So I'm not quite sure the fact that we don't approve something necessarily means that we can't get something answered. And if it is, then we have to change our council rules because that, that doesn't make any sense to me that we have to approve something before we can get some answers or in order to get access that has been here.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Well,
[Adam Knight]: I don't think that the question was asked before the matter was tabled, Mr. President. So the matter was tabled, the debate was ended. We voted on the tabling of the issue. The question never got reported out because the question was asked after the matter was tabled, if I remember correctly. Either way, it's a matter that needs housekeeping for whatever reason. It's on the table. The 90th day is coming up. So we need to make our mind up as to whether or not we want to allow a constructive table, return it to the table. If it stays on the table, they're going to get a constructive approval of the license, but it might also open the city up to some legal ramifications because it's also included as part of a zoning act. So we need to give them a decision one way or the other.
[Michael Marks]: It's the petitioner reached out to the city clerk. Have you heard from the petitioner?
[Adam Knight]: He's the petitioner.
[Clerk]: Right. But if they reach out since they're the one that stated the law, they, they, they knew right off the bat what you guys were doing. So they're waiting for the timeframe to end.
[Adam Knight]: But nothing that doesn't preclude them from still pursuing relief through the zoning act and maybe holding us accountable in that regard, whether or not we're subject to litigation. by accepting a constructive approval of a matter that's also outlined in a zoning act, which says that we need to give a special permit to make a decision on it, might leave us open to some legal situation, Mr. President, some legal liability. So I think that the way to handle this would be, Mr. President, we can, I mean, I know that majority of the council was opposed to issuing the license, but if we don't do issue the light, if we don't issue the license, then we might be open to opening us up.
[Michael Marks]: We didn't take any vote. How do you know majority of the council was opposed to it?
[Fred Dello Russo]: And based upon the discussion that night, that's a big conclusion to move to take the matter off the table and move for approval on the motion for council tonight to take the table off and motion for approval. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes, special permit use, kino monitor, NK convenience, 562 high school.
[Adam Knight]: The first motion is to take the matter off the table. If the council doesn't want to take the matter off the table, then that's fine.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The motion is to take it off the table. My apologies. The council has clarified me. The motion is to take it off the table. On that motion to take it off the table, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Aye. Chair in doubt, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll to take this paper off the table. 16-six 36 council caviar.
[Clerk]: Yes. Council Falco. We only have 90 days. Yes. Council night. Yes. Vice-president occurred. Yeah. Council moms. Yes. Council Scarpelli. Yes. Isn't Delaware.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With the vote of six in the affirmative one in the negative. The paper is before us.
[Richard Caraviello]: She awaits motion motion to approve the license.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, the motion for approval by consulate care of yellow. Second. Madam vice president.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: through the chair. Um, so clerk Finn, if we don't take a vote on it, it's going to get approved in two days. Their license will be approved in two days. Oh, do you?
[Clerk]: I'm not the legal opinion, but that has been the practice. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. If you have 90 days from the, from the hearing, uh, to make a decision or else it's going to get approved.
[Adam Knight]: point of information. I think it's a two, it's a double edged sword him as the president. Um, the council has to act within 90 days of receiving the application and that's okay. If we don't, they constructed, they, that's a constructive approval and they get the license. But then there's also a question is because it's included in the zoning act and it says that we need to make an action within those 90 days. If we don't, is there a liability on the city for not acting?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. We have motion for approval on the floor chair. Wait a second. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? No. Councilor Knights? Yes. Vice President Low and Current? No. Councilor Marksley? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? No.
[Fred Dello Russo]: President Del Russo? Yes. The vote is 4 in the affirmative, 3 in the negative. It passes. No, it fails. It needs a five.
[Clerk]: And I need to have stated reasons for the denial.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All right. So the motion fails and the clerk requires stated reasons for why those people did not vote in favor. We will start on the roll call. The first negative vote was Councilor Falco. Your reasons for not voting in the affirmative.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I can give you something in writing if you want, but I don't have...
[Clerk]: Request for a brief recess. It's been made by Council of Knight.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The Council remains in recess until being recalled. The matter before us is item number 16-636, six, special permit use, keno monitor, NK, convenience, 562 High Street. There was a vote taken to not, a non-successful vote to grant the special permit, and we're awaiting discussion on the reasons. Chair recognizes the Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: No, I'll yield to- Yield to Councilor Falco.
[SPEAKER_05]: Chair recognizes Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to move for reconsideration so we can move this to zoning subcommittee.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for reconsideration. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? I'm in opposition. Chair is in doubt. Mr. Clerk, call the roll for reconsideration.
[Richard Caraviello]: It's a reconsideration vote first. We have to get the reconsideration vote first.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. Motion for reconsideration. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Long-Term? Yes. Councilor Frosch? Yes. Councilor Scott-Gilliam? Yes. President Dello Russo?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. The vote is seven in the affirmative, nine in the negative. The matter is in force for reconsideration. Chair awaits a motion. Chair awaits a motion. Motion for approval, Mr. President. Motion for approval on the floor.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I'd like to move this to subcommittee.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion. Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: I think we should move it to subcommittee because I know myself, this is the first time that I'm voting on a license like this. I've never had a vote on a license like this before. I think it needs more research. I think this may be, I won't speak for all of us, but I think there's a few of us that, have a few questions that need to be addressed. Um, and, uh, by the city solicitor and they haven't been addressed because it was tabled. So I think we should move this to subcommittee. So those questions can be addressed. So when we take future votes, we're all on the same page. We said, feel like right now, maybe there's some of us that aren't.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We have two contradictory motions before us. There's a motion approved by council. Can't be held council. You wish to be recognized?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes, I do. It's present. So if, if I'm understanding this right, if we don't vote for this in the next, In two days, he automatically gets his license. So he gets his license automatically, is that correct? He's going to get his license. So if it goes to subcommittee, the mayor's going to get his license anyways. Correct? Right.
[Adam Knight]: So as a B paper, chair recognizes Councilor Knight. I think the question wasn't whether or not the gentleman was going to get his license constructively after 90 days. The question was whether or not by the council being inactive on the matter, we're opening the city up to a liability in the courts of law.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Right. Thank you, councillor. So, we have two contradictory motions before us. We'll take councillor Falco's motion as a B paper. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll on the B paper that the matter be sent to subcommittee for further examination as in the year some councillors have been on the council, they've not met such a conundrum. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? No. Councilor Favreau? Yes. Councilor Mayne? No. Vice-President O'Kerr? Yes. Councilor Matz? No. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President De La Ruza?
[Fred Dello Russo]: No. The vote of four in the negative, three in the positive, the motion fails. Now to the motion of Councilor Caraviello for approval. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Adam Knight]: Point of information, Mr. President? Point of information on that, Councilor Knight, where individuals that are voting in opposition have to state the reasons they are for. Are they required to do that while they take the vote, after they take the vote, before they take the vote, during when they take the vote? What is the procedure in terms of how that's to be done?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor, they should, and it has been past practice, and I would recommend as president that the councilors state their reason for opposition as they take their vote or subsequent immediately to it before the clerk calls the roll on the next member of the council. Is that satisfactory to everyone? Thank you, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco?
[John Falco]: No.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please state your reason, Councilor.
[John Falco]: So my reasons are, and I've talked to many residents about this, A business featuring Kino to go may encourage loitering and lingering of patrons inside and outside the licensed premises, leading to further problems and public nuisance of nature. In parking issues were issues as well. So, but I can, those are in a nutshell, some of the issues that I have with the- Thank you for those reasons.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, councillor. Next is?
[Clerk]: Councilor Knight.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor, for those concise reasons. Yes. With a vote of five in the affirmative, two in the negative, the special permit is granted. Motion to adjourn. Six o'clock in room 207. The purpose of the committee of the whole meeting is to take up a presentation of the Water and Sewer Commission on unaccounted for water. I know there's another word for it, but to monitor the ebb and flow of water and sewage. Leak detection, yes. Thank you very much.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. President, I will not be in attendance tomorrow. We will be having a very important meeting with the focus group on recreation that I'm chairing. So I apologize for my absence, but I'm sure my fellow councilors will, uh, Keep me updated. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilor. And Councilor, thank you for your leadership in the hard work you have done on the committee to which I appointed you. Thank you. I appreciate you very much. Uh, Councilor Knight wishes to speak.
[Adam Knight]: I just wish to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Merry Christmas to all of you too. Yes. From your city council here in Medford. Merry Christmas. Uh, the records of the meeting of December 13th passed to Councilor Carol yellow. Councilor, how did you find those records?
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President, I have reviewed the records, and they appear to be in order, and I have a motion for approval. On the motion for approval of those records, all those in favor?
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those opposed? On the motion, the records are approved. And on the motion of Councilor Falco, for adjournment? The meeting next week. Oh, the meeting next week is canceled. But in the week after, your meeting of the local police station will be held. Yes.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Yes. Next meeting, uh, the, uh, is that on the sixth or the third, the third police community meeting will be held at the South Medford fire station.
[Fred Dello Russo]: 7 PM on Wednesday evening in the author Dello Russo, uh, meeting. You are correct. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Everyone is welcome. No matter what neighbor you neighborhood you're from, everyone is welcome.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you for your leadership and successes in that effort.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Meeting adjourned.
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