[Clerk]: The meeting of the Medford City Council is now called to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[SPEAKER_10]: All seven council are present. Please rise and salute the flag.
[SPEAKER_16]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[Clerk]: Paper 17-001, election of a council president for 2017. Do we have any nominations? Councilor Dello Russo?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I wish to nominate for president to the Medford City Council, Richard F. Caraviello.
[Clerk]: Richard F. Caraviello's name is placed in nomination. Seconded by Councilor Knight. Any further nominations? Nominations be closed. Nominations be closed. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[SPEAKER_10]: Councilor Caraviello?
[Clerk]: Presence.
[SPEAKER_10]: Councilor Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Richard F. Caraviello.
[SPEAKER_10]: Councilor Falco. Richard F. Caraviello. Councilor Knight. Richard F. Caraviello. Councilor Longo. Richard F. Caraviello. Councilor Moniz.
[SPEAKER_02]: Richard F. Caraviello. Richard F. Caraviello.
[Clerk]: Six in the affirmative for Richard F. Caraviello, one present. Congratulations. Please rise. Please raise your right hand. Repeat after me. Aye. Richard Caraviello. Richard Caraviello. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully and impartially. That I will faithfully and impartially. Discharge and perform. Discharge and perform.
[Richard Caraviello]: All the duties. All the duties. Are coming upon me. Are coming upon me. As City Council President. As City Council President. According to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability. In understanding. In understanding. Agreeable to the rules and regulations. Agreeable to the rules and regulations. Of the Constitution. Of the Constitution. The laws of this Commonwealth. The laws of the Commonwealth. In the ordinance of the City of Medford. In the ordinance of the City of Medford. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to thank my fellow colleagues for having the faith tonight and supporting me for this. And I will do my best to uphold the rules of the council and do the best job that's possible. I want to thank my family for coming here to support me and all my other friends in the audience. I want to thank them for coming to support me. Thank you.
[Clerk]: Okay, paper 17-002, election of Council Vice President for 2017. Do I have any nominations? Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Clerk Finn. I'd like to nominate Michael Marks.
[Richard Caraviello]: Second, Mr. Chairman.
[Clerk]: Councilor Lungo-Koehn nominated Michael Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, I'd like to nominate Adam Knight.
[Clerk]: The nomination is in place for Adam Knight by Councilor Dello Russo. Councilor Knight is nominated Frederick N. Dello Russo Jr. Any further nominations? The nomination be closed. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Adam Knight.
[SPEAKER_10]: Michael Knox.
[SPEAKER_02]: Michael Marks. Michael Marks. Okay.
[SPEAKER_10]: That's four in the affirmative from Michael Marks.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President, I ask for a unanimous vote.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello has asked for a unanimous vote. Any motion?
[SPEAKER_10]: Second motion.
[Clerk]: Second motion, all right. Let's call the roll.
[SPEAKER_10]: Dr. John Russell.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Adam Knight.
[SPEAKER_10]: Councilor Crantham. Michael Marx. Councilor Mann. Michael Marks. Michael Marks.
[Clerk]: Michael Marks. Four in the affirmative for Michael Marks, one in the affirmative for Councilor Dello Russo, one in the affirmative for Councilor Knight, and one present. Congratulations, Michael Marks. I know. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Michael J. Mox, do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully and impartially, that I will faithfully and impartially, discharge and perform, discharge and perform, all the duties, all the duties, incumbent upon me, incumbent upon me, the City Council Vice President, the City Council Vice President, according to the best of my ability, according to the best of my ability, and understanding, and understanding, agreeable to the rules and regulations, agreeable to the rules and regulations, the laws of this Commonwealth,
[Michael Marks]: the laws of the Commonwealth and the ordinances of the city of Medford. So help me God. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I want to thank my fellow colleagues who had the wisdom to support me tonight. I'd like to thank my family who has supported me for the past 15 years. as a member of this, uh, body. Um, I would also like to state that, uh, it's incumbent upon us as members of the city council to make sure that, uh, this forum, uh, maintains as the only open forum to speak, uh, residents, uh, to allow them to come up and speak, uh, their opinion. Uh, there are a number of important issues that I've talked to the, uh, new president about. Uh, one is, uh, zoning as we all know, zoning is, the lifeblood of a community and our zoning hasn't been reviewed in over 30 years. Uh, the other issue is, uh, the method police station. And that's been a number one priority of the city council for the past five years. And I'm hoping over this next year that we will work as a group, uh, to pursue these issues and move them forward. I'd also like to thank my family who, uh, my wife asked me tonight, uh, should I come? And I said, no, don't worry. No other family will be there tonight. And I see Rick Caraviellola has the first three rolls of family. So honey, I'm sorry, but you can see me on TV. But thank you again. I appreciate that. Thank you.
[Clerk]: All right, the council will take a brief recess and reconvene with the new president.
[Richard Caraviello]: 17-0-0-3, offered by Councilor Dello Russo, be it resolved that the standing committee rules be adopted as the standing rules of the City Council insofar as they are applicable. Motion for approval, Mr. President. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? 7-0-5. Thank you. 17-0-0-4, offered by Councilor Dello Russo, be it resolved that the City Council transfer all papers and committees are on the table from 2016 Council to the 2017 Council. Councilor Doroso. Seconds? Second. Second by Councilor Knight. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes 7-0. Motion by Councilor Knight to suspend the rules. 1-7709. Petition for a common fixture license by Scott Kennedy, District Manager for Compass Group Doing Businesses, Eurus Dining Services, 20 Cabot Road, Medford. There's a certificate going on file, a building department signed off, fire department, police department, health department, treasurer, and everything else. Is the petitioner present this evening? Please take the podium. Councilor Scarpelli, licensing chairman, do you have the papers? Order. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, state your name for the record, please. Steven Robel. And you're with? Urist. Urist. And who's that up there, but the Wellington group? It's Compass Group. Compass Group, so you run the cafeteria up there? That's correct. Okay. Councilor Scarpelli?
[SPEAKER_16]: I'll pay for it, so in order for order to be executed.
[Richard Caraviello]: Second, Mr. President. Second by Councilor Dello Russo. All in favor? Motion has it. Congratulations. Do a good job up there for us. Good luck.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: Motion by Councilor Knight to revert back to regular business. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 17005 offered by Councilor Caraviglia. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council allow Alan McDonald of Hallmark Health to address the City Council in regards to the progress of the Hallmark Health merger. Thank you, Councilman.
[SPEAKER_04]: Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Name and address for the record, please.
[SPEAKER_04]: My name is Alan McDonald. I'm President and Chief Executive Officer of Hall-Markell System, which includes, of course, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital, of which we're so proud. And it's a great honor for me to be here for this evening. And I want to congratulate you, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, and the whole council. This is a wonderful step. It's going to be a great year.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm here with Dr. Michelson and Mrs. Michelson, Dr. Marano, and Mr. Terrabelsi, all wonderful supporters over many, many years of the Lawrence Memorial Hospital, as has this council. And I want to thank this council very much for the last four or five years, you've been working with us towards an affiliation for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Hallmark Health that's going to strengthen the healthcare services in this city for generations to come, in my opinion. And as you know, we just, as of January 1 of this year, two days ago, became effectively partnered with Tufts Medical Center and Circle Health, which is Lowell General Hospital in Lowell, which is a major hospital, uh, to work with Hallmark Health, three founding members of a new parent organization called Wellforce. And we will be equal members on the board of trustees for that charitable parent organization, seven trustees from our community, seven from Tufts Medical and seven from Lowell. And we will be making investments in our healthcare facilities and services for again, the next generation to come. And I wanted to bring that news in person at your invitation, Mr. President, because it is momentous. As you know, we've had 92 and a half years, almost 93 years for the Lawrence. And the last couple of years, as healthcare has changed, as the patient base is using acute care hospitals in a little different way, because so much more can be outpatient and ambulatory, but we still have a lot of need for inpatient care. And so we need to adjust to make sure that we're offering the level of services for the future that will warrant investment in the Lawrence, particularly, and that will draw the patient volume to match our capability to provide the services. We have tremendous talent in terms of physicians and nurses and technical staff at the Lawrence. Where, as Dr. Michelson always says to me, we're open for business. And yes, we are. We have been for 92 plus years. And we intend to be for some time to come. And that's our goal. And we find in partnering with Tufts Medical Center in particular, which means so much to this community, that the university itself and the School of Medicine, which are apart from the center, but they're all part of the same network. that they, all of those organizations, were so excited that we were interested in becoming part of their network. And we're going to see over the next few years' time more of what we call specialty services in the community. And that's a tremendous step for us. As we've discussed with this council over the last few years, we have looked at partnerships with other people, and this council has been supportive of that. seven to zero, and we appreciate it very, very much. Uh, what happened is, you know, the state itself, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, wanted us to look at all the options that might be available to us. Well, there were many, and we had wonderful business proposals from a number of organizations that were very proud to say, wanted to be associated with Hallmark Health. In the end, For us to see a governance opportunity where we could have a lot to say about the future of our community in the larger network, that was what was most attractive. Much more than just reporting to a larger organization and waiting to hear what the organization felt was most important to our community. We would like to be the party that influences that future. And that's what this opportunity is going to give us more than any other business opportunity that came to us. But I wanted to bring that news here and I wanted to be able to respond to any questions you might have about our governance structure or what it might mean. We don't expect there'll be abrupt changes or anything really quick because we are not giving our license away. We are not entering into any new business pattern at the moment. We are operating as we have been and will continue to do and we will grow with it and we're going to grow over time. The real excitement of this is that we're going to have partners with us who care as much about our community as we do. And that was the selling point on this arrangement. And we are going to sit down in this month in particular, have a number of meetings next week and two weeks from now that will relate to business planning, will relate to investment structure that we will be wanting to invest some capital that we have held back on in the last few years while we've waited for the affiliation to happen. And we're going to take a long look at what would be best in particular for the Lawrence and for other facilities that we have, not just the Lawrence, but I think we really start there and say, we want to make sure that we're doing something that's right for the community.
[Richard Caraviello]: I would hope that, um, we would, we would get together again in the near future with the Tufts people. Uh, so, so, us as a council in the city would know what direction the hospital is going and for as far as services and, uh, and changes that that is going to be made. So again, Alan, I thank you for coming down. And if any of our Councilors, uh, Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And, uh, first I'd like to thank president McDonald. Uh, this is probably maybe the seventh or eighth time he's appeared before this method city council providing us with updates along the way. And it's been very helpful, at least to me, when residents call and actually employees of Hallmark Health and want to know what the scoop is, I can unequivocally tell them things that I've heard you mention. And so that's been very helpful. I just want to reassure people because I know the number of calls I did receive, people are concerned about prompt care and the emergency area. Are we going to see any change to the prompt care emergency area under this merger agreement?
[SPEAKER_04]: The short answer is no, and you always want to say, for what time, to the year 2340, or what is it? What my communication team always tells me, nothing changes until it does change. Everything stays the same until it changes. Our intention is to continue for as long as we can look ahead at our ability to provide urgent care, emergency care, and acute care at the Long Island Memorial Hospital. We have been making some changes because we need to make sure that we can attract the investment to reinvest in the Lawrence that will see a volume to match the investment. So we are trying to judge what the patient base is most interested in, in terms of using the facility. Naturally, we've done as we have in the past in the orthopedics and I just had a discussion now about our interest in pediatrics. We have a strong interest in trying to figure out how to do more in that area if we can. But we're looking at a number of different areas that we'd like to do more in that with the help of Tufts Medical Center we might be able to do that we might not be able to do on our own. And so what complements each one of those systems and services is what the future will dictate for us. But certainly our intention is to maintain what we have now and grow from there. Uh, and uh, there's no timetable on it. That's the thing. When people ask me as they have asked you, I've been involved since the 1980s with the hospital folks here have been involved a little longer, but that's a pretty good long stretch. But I've been asked since the 1980s almost each and every year, are we going to do forever certain things at the Lawrence. And I say, well, you asked me 10 years ago, we're still doing it. Five years ago, we're still doing it. It's possible 25 years from now, we would be doing something different. It's very important for us to look at what the changes in the healthcare industry are so that we maintain our presence at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Some communities, as we know, don't have that presence anymore because they didn't adapt. They weren't able to attract the investments. We think we're going to attract investments and recruit more talent to what we have in this arrangement. And that's the future for us. But if we cannot attract the investment or cannot attract the recruiting of top talent, there won't be the future. We think there will be. That's our game plan. That's what we're going to do.
[Michael Marks]: So just if I could, Mr. President, the merger that was going to happen with Partners Healthcare. Yes. From what I understand, Lawrence Memorial Hospital is going to be more of a cardiac center. There was going to be a psychiatry area within Lawrence Memorial, an expanded psychiatry area. Now with Tufts, are we going to be looking at a different focus of specialties or will the focus still be on the focuses that were with Hallmark Health and enhancing those specialties?
[SPEAKER_04]: That is the exact discussion that we're having even this month, and we've had all the way up, and we're going to have through this year. We're very strong in behavioral health, as you know, at the Lowndes. We, with partners, looked at the opportunity to continue using Lawrence in a way that it is now on acute care overnight stay. We used to have, as you know, 134 bed license that was fairly active well back. We're still very active in certain areas, but the size of that 134 beds is more than we would need. As I've said during the discussions, with the partners people, if we invested for 134 acute care beds at the Lawrence, it wouldn't get the use and it wouldn't pay back the investment, and then we would be without a hospital. If we, with partners, that was a different plan, but with partners, if we invested for 30 to 35, what they called short-term beds and other medical services, you would be in a position because that was similar to what the use was when we talked to partners to grow and that if we in 10 years needed 60 beds or a hundred beds, we would be there to grow. Whereas if we over invest and over promise and we can't pay back the investment, we go the way of some of those other community hospitals that don't exist. And then 10, 15 years when you're ready for it, we're not there to grow. But if we invest for the way that the population and patient base wants to use the facility, and we have the volume and the community support that you've given us and that the community generally will give us, then we're in a position to grow again as things change, because nothing stays the same as we know. There's a flow on the way different services provide. We don't need as much open heart surgery as once upon a time, because there's less invasive stuff that we can do for cardiology. All of these services change over time. So you make the investments. But they don't last for 25, 30 years because the technology changes, the medical intelligence changes. We just want, we want to be available for what the near term is to be able to continue growing for the longer term. And that includes in our mind, emergency department, it includes urgent care, it includes certain acute care needs as well. But exactly what that is, we have to do that now in discussion with Tufts Medical Center, not just ourselves. What we like about this is they care as much about our community as we do. And we're now going to be working with somebody that has more resources, more reach for other resources, and, uh, an ability to help us recruit more talent.
[Michael Marks]: If you can keep us in touch every step of the way, be helpful like you've been doing. I want to do that. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you very much. Councilman. Okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. President Caraviello, my question kind of revolved around the same thing that Councilor Marks asked. You said that you're not sure how we're going to grow, but you will grow over time and maintain and figure out what the needs are. And that will be with the help of the trustees. You mentioned orthopedic and possibly pediatrics. Is there anything else that you think would come down the line, whether you've been in talks
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, we're going to stay strong in internal medicine. We're going to stay strong in cancer care. We're going to stay strong in our system on maternal health. Those things are very important to us. We will stay strong in behavioral health as well. That's an area that we've got a long history in, and the Commonwealth needs a lot of help in that area, frankly, and we'd like to be part of that help. So these are all things that we care tremendously about, and then it's a matter of recruiting the talent in the areas that we want to be good in. And we continue. I always say to my gang, you can win the Super Bowl and it doesn't mean you skip the draft the next year. You're still recruiting off the top of the draft if you can. We've got a tremendous amount of talent, but we're always looking to grow that talent base because things change. People come and go, and technology changes, as I say. So we want to continue to be strong in all the places that I mentioned. But like in any system, again with the flow, you become stronger in certain areas, and then you try to go in other areas as well. But you play to your strength. And our strength has been in cardiology, internal medicine, uh, cancer care, as I say, maternal health. And we really see an opportunity in pediatrics to do more. As you know, over the years, we used to deliver babies at the Lawrence, my brother and sister, my older brother and sister were born there. And, uh, there you go. And my mother was a Cambridge girl. My dad was, but my mother was Cambridge. She had me at Cambridge city hospital. I was a third. I don't know what happened. But we stopped delivering babies at the Lawrence, but we do other things. And so you can't tell what the long, long term is going to be. But in the immediate term, it is to strengthen what we already have, and then to see where that takes us. But if we're working as we are going to be with a world class outfit, Tufts Medical Center was established in 1796. It was founded by Paul Revere and Sam Adams and a few of those folks. We're going to be tying in with some people who know how to stick around. And we do too. And we want to build on that. We don't know exactly what that means for 2025 or 2030 or 2035, but to us it means that we're going to have a team that wants to be here, that wants to grow and stay with whatever the technology on medical care is. And one of the things, we've talked about it here and privately among ourselves, that some of the things that we used to do in the hospital and go in for four or five days with, let's say, a hernia operation or a gallbladder operation, we used to go in for four or five days and be told not to move in the bed. Now we have an afternoon, they take care of us and send us home and call in the morning and say, I hope you're okay. And we are okay, because we had great talent. There were other things. One of the things, what happens is when we get patients in the hospital now, they're sicker patients than once upon a time in a sense. I do remember speaking with my dear mother. She would say, she had seven children. She said, I love it when I have one of you because they put me in there for a whole week and I get a week off, she would say to me. when you have a baby. So they're just a very different thing. And it'll be different in 2025. But we want to be part of it, whatever it is. And that's what we're trying to do. We're going to grow with it.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then to follow up on that, I know the partnership's going to help greatly. What resources are there? What better things can we do to make sure we're growing with the times? Financially, how will we be able to do that? And I guess my follow-up would be, how will you be able to, or hopefully, my hope would be, How are you going to include the community in that discussion?
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, we have, uh, we've been blessed to frankly, uh, for the lifetime of the Lawrence, uh, and we brought it into the hallmark that we have a group of corporate as we call them, but they're really ambassadors, uh, some 130, uh, community, uh, folks who, uh, are very much a part of our committees. You know, we have, uh, our own, the strategic planning committees that the board of trustees has. It includes what I call corporators that are not trustees. They're not employees of the hospital. They are community people and uh, uh, who just like working for community interest, because we are still a charitable organization. We're a not-for-profit charitable outfit, and we lean on the community quite a bit for how we use the resources that are charitable resources. So we will continue to have that group of some 130 corporators that are part of our committees, that are part of our annual meeting, part of our discussion groups that we have when we make these plans. And that'll be a big piece of what we do. When we go for the investment, what's interesting about what we've put together is one financially obligated group. So what that means is when we go to the market for capital money, That capital money comes to the parent group, Welforce. And we are one third of the parent group to make the decisions on how to spend the money. But we will be responsible for our own operations. But we will be audited and looked at as one financially obligated group with Lowell, Tufts Medical Center, and ourselves. Now that's an advantage to us in borrowing money. Because we are much strengthened, frankly, by the volume, some 9,000 employees will make up the well force group. And just a significant opportunity to attract more than we could ever attract on our own for capital investment. So that was an important thing for us. It wasn't the number one thing. The number one thing really is clinical integration, being able to take care of the patient base before they need to come to a hospital, while they're at a hospital situation, and after they're at a hospital situation. Not too long ago, We really were just a hospital. And it would be, if you were sick and wanted to come to us, we would take care of you and help you to be better and go back out. Now, so much of what we do, more than half of what we do, is outside the hospital structure itself. It's in the community. It's outreach into the community. And that's a whole different industry for us. But that means different investments, too. And by teaming up. with where we can be clinically integrated to fill the gaps that you have as a natural part of being a community hospital. As a standalone community hospital, you couldn't possibly have all the skills you need to take care of patients, pre-admission to post-discharge. When you're part of a larger organization, you can fill those gaps beautifully. And that's what we're going to do. It's going to be a tremendous advantage to this community to have an organization right in the community, right in the city of Medford. that has that breadth of talent and depth of talent.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: That's my question. Thank you, President McDonnell, for coming and for answering all our questions. And thank you to the doctors who joined you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Dello Russo. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Mr. President. It was a pleasure to work with you during the past few years as the proposals for merger have evolved, and I had great opportunity on a couple occasions to meet with some of those steering committees at the hospital, and I see the fine work that they're doing. And we know that you're looking at every contingency that you can to preserve the best of the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. With the impending changes in the Universal Health Care Act, Do you feel that you're prepared to deal with that and how it's going to work with the availability and delivery of services vis-a-vis insurance regulation? And we can't read minds of what's going on in the mind of he who will be president, but there's a lot coming down the road.
[SPEAKER_04]: No, we cannot. The changes in the regulatory world and the financial world on healthcare have been momentous over the last decade and even in the last half a dozen years in Massachusetts. But I would say that We're going to be fairly strong in this commonwealth of Massachusetts, whatever happens at the federal level. We know we're more expensive in Massachusetts for health care than other states. There are a lot of reasons for that. Teaching hospitals have a bigger percentage of beds in this state. The level of income for everything in this state is higher, so the costs are higher for lots of things. So that's something we have to continue to work with. And one of the things this organization that we're part of now is going to do is bring, we think, more affordable care on specialty services into the community. It's a little different than we were talking about with the partners discussion and other discussions we had that were more about tertiary, ordinary care going into the city, keeping more primary care out here in the community. This is about looking at not so much having the specialty care in the city of Boston. It's about having a little bit more of it out in the community over time. That's going to be more affordable for patients in the long term. It's going to keep them closer to home and be more convenient for the family visiting and for the patient himself or herself. What's going to happen at the federal level if they change in the Affordable Care Act, there will be some changes in the assurance circumstances for sure. But what this Commonwealth has done, as you know, since 2006, has had the individual mandate, which supposedly the national government was going to build off of. It's a little different program at the national level. But the fact of the matter is, we still have that in Massachusetts. It's 10 years in, and people are still supportive of it. The business community is supportive of it. The health care for all end of it is very supportive of it. Insurance industry is supportive. And so we're all working together to make it work in this commonwealth the way it's not being cooperated with at the national level. So we're going to continue to work on that among ourselves, the people we work with in Massachusetts. But it is a bit of worry about what will be the circumstance at the national level with a change in the Affordable Care Act and nothing in its place. And it's an interesting story that this commonwealth has led because we started in 1986 with the free care pool that was supported by all the elements with the idea that it would be temporary for free care and bad debt until we could find a way to insure everybody. It took 20 years to figure it out. Changes in the free care pool in 1991 and at the end of the 90s. different ways to fund the free care pool, different ways to take the money out. And eventually, as you know so well, in 2005 and 2006, the legislature put together a plan that we still support in this commonwealth as a group, as a citizenry. And that's a tremendous advantage for us. And it's tough on the provider side on the finances, because they are really strictly controlled. But it's up to us to figure out a way to manage that. And it is hard, because you've built a system up, a lot of it built on subsidies, frankly, in the 70s and 80s, that is a relatively expensive system without those subsidies. And the subsidies are going away a little bit, a little bit more each year, as a matter of fact. And so the system that was built needs to be fed, but it needs to also be a little different system to come down a little bit on the overhead. So we're balancing that. We're trying to make that work, to still provide the services. lower the overhead as much as we can while we're doing it, uh, and keep ourselves strong, continue to recruit. So it's a balancing act for sure. Uh, and, and it doesn't stay the same all the time. So if they change it nationally, we're going to have more balancing to do it. That's for sure. But I do think that, uh, this commonwealth is going to figure out a way to keep this industry strong over time.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. Mr. McDonald, good to see you. Happy New Year. And thank you for coming down this evening. As you stated, the partnership discussions with the Mass General Hospital were a little different than the ones that you're having now. And during the discussions with the Mass General Hospital, there was also some talk about expansion of the campus at Lawrence Memorial Hospital site. And I know that there's a lot of uncertainty in the area now based upon the newness of this relationship that you're entering into, but are those expansion plans still on the horizon?
[SPEAKER_04]: I would say we don't have the plans. I don't know if you'd call them expansion plans or remodeling plans. The, the situation as we look at it is different than it was with partners. The economic imperative for partners, if I could just make a generalization, but you of course had Dr. Torciani here a year plus back, and he was explaining some of the rationale for partners. And part of the rationale is that there are a lot of patients in this community that choose to go to Mass General Hospital for relatively uncomplicated medical procedures. That is something that is not helpful to the economics of Mass General Hospital because they're built for the very major situations. So that if they wound up with 35 or 40% of relatively minor procedures in all of their beds, that would not, over time, that would not help them continue to invest and grow in what they do. So it wasn't a case of sending out patients to the community, it was a case of saying to our patients and partners mind, if we were Mass General Hospital of Medford, wouldn't you want to stay in Medford rather than come into Boston? And the rationale was pretty good, frankly, for that. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts didn't like that. The Health Policy Commission said, we're afraid that Mass General's already so big that this will increase their market, and it won't be a competitive situation for everybody else. We, as you know, had a 20-plus year relationship with Mass General. We thought it would be the perfect situation. Commonwealth said, no, you should go out and look at other places. Interestingly enough for us, we really love the situation we're in right now. And it was interesting. We wouldn't have found the situation if we did what we were going to do with partners. But I would say for all of us, there's more than one solution to a problem lots of times. And for us, we knew back in 2009, 2010, that we wanted to affiliate with a larger network to fill those gaps, to attract the investment, to build the recruitment. Because we knew that if we didn't, we would fall backwards and eventually we'd come down here and say we can't make a go anymore. And because you're either getting better or you're getting worse. We hear it all the time. We want to keep getting better. We were not getting better in 2009, in 2010. And we said we know how we're going to get better. We're going to team up as the other systems have done around the country. with a very first-class, world-class organization, which certainly Partners is. We had a wonderful relationship with Partners, and I think they would have done very nicely for this community, frankly, but it wasn't allowed to go forward. So we went out and we had 12 proposals from 12 different organizations that came to us, and we settled on this because it has a different plan, but it has more of our opportunity to influence the future for our organization and our communities. Now, we have a lot of work to do to make it happen, and we can't lean on somebody as we could have leaned a little bit on partners. We're going to be on our own a little more. But I can tell you that our team is excited about that, that maybe four or five years ago, we worried, you know, what if we are on our own? I think now we're excited about it. I don't say I think. I know we are. And it's a lot of work. It's going to take a lot of community support to make it happen. But we want to try and we think that We'll do it. And it's a little different than just telling the patients here that like to go to Mass General, stay here because we're not going to be Mass General. We're going to be something else. But we're going to be pretty good. We're going to be real good. And we're going to compete. And Dr. Torciano, who was here, and a good friend, and I would love to think I'll still be working alongside of him in other ways. But he and I have said we're going to compete. And that's what we're going to do. And we're going to recognize that they're a terrific organization, Partners Healthcare, but we also recognize that Tufts Medical Center is also a terrific organization, and we're going to benefit by that big time.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. McDonald, thank you very much. I, for one, recognize the value that the hospital has here in our community, not only for providing quality levels of care, but for also providing jobs that provide a living wage to residents in the city and in the region. So I thank you for your work and for your efforts in keeping your nose to the grindstone and finding a partnership that the Commonwealth can live with and that will work out for Medford and for Hallmark Health. So thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_04]: Councilor Knight, thank you. We have a fabulous group of employees. You're right. And we love them. They're very dedicated and talented and we want to do well by them.
[John Falco]: Councilor Felkel. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. McDonald, for being here tonight. And congratulations on the merger. And thank you for your leadership through the merger. Any type of a merger is never easy, and leadership is the key. And I thank you for that. And, you know, as one of my big concerns, I guess, was in Consular, and I had mentioned it was a capital investments. And it's always good to see or it'd be nice to see. And I know you don't have any definite plans to tonight that you can give us, but just to see in the future what your plans are for the campus here at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. I think that's something that the community's really looking at. And the Lawrence Memorial Hospital is a valuable asset to this community that has been around, like you said, for almost 100 years. And I'm happy to see that the hospital's here. It's alive and well. But capital investment's the big thing for me. I'd love to hear more. It sounds like you're pretty limited as to what you can say.
[SPEAKER_04]: We had a plan on the table in 2012 with partners for immediate investment at the Lawrence and a substantial investment at the Lawrence built towards a set of acute care needs but also medical ancillary services that would go with the overnight acute care needs that fit what I was just saying to Councilor Knight, you know, was part of the Mass General Hospital and Partners plan. As we look at the opportunity we have and the agreement we have with the welfare folks about capital investment coming to Hallmark Health, we see a similar amount of dollars over time, over the next few years, that will probably be directed at Hallmark Health. Now, what exactly will direct towards the Lawrence and towards other facilities that we have in cancer care in Stoneham and clinical in Reading and hospital in Melrose. We have other things that we will work with the well force leadership on directing, but we still have our own board of trustees, Hallmark Health Board of Trustees, and that will be a big influencer on the welfare decisions about what we do. But we have, in this next month, I looked at my calendar, I have nine days of work days in January that I will spend almost exclusively with the welfare people on planning, and governance issues, and seeking capital investment, not to be spent tomorrow, but the people who might be interested in investing in welfare if they understand us and what our intentions are over the term. So we will have some of those meetings even this month with people who might be backers, let's say. But part of attracting the backing is to say, here's what we're going to do with the money when you lend it to us, because you're going to be interested in that. And it's going to have to be convincing that when we spend the money, it's going to create the volume and the return on the investment that will pay off the investor and allow us to grow and go out for the But what the exact use of that money is, is no longer entirely up to Hallmont Health. It's part of our parent company with us, and that's where we're going to be spending nine of those days in this very month to figure this out.
[John Falco]: That's good. So as far as the branding goes, is it still going to be going to be Lawrence Memorial Hospital? What will be the actual?
[SPEAKER_04]: Very interesting. We've had, uh, we've had hours of discussion on branding and, uh, uh, we have not reached a resolution on that. Uh, because those who have been in business as well for us, interestingly enough, well force, which is a name that we haven't really heard very much, but isn't young. It's only since 2014. So, In 2014, Tufts Medical Center and Lowell General Hospital decided to put themselves together to bring more specialty services into Lowell from Tufts Medical Center. And it's worked. We've been very impressed with it. It was one of the things that brought our attention to this opportunity for us. And the situation with the with the Wellforce people is they've had two and a half years of using that name and getting their clientele used to the name Wellforce. So they think that's pretty good and they'd like to use Wellforce some more. For us, we're brand new to that. We kind of like the Tufts Medical Center name quite a bit, frankly, especially because the city of Bedford has such a wonderful relationship with people who are Tufts related. And we're part of that circle. And so we'd like people to know that we're part of that circle. And so how do you brand that so that they can see past well for us to see what our relationship is with Tufts Medical Center? Because we're going to have students, residences from the School of Medicine helping us here over time. We're going to have more to do in our School of Nursing with the Tufts School of Medicine. And as you know, the School of Nursing at the Lawrence started On April 1 of 1924, just like Lawrence Memorial started, they started together the same day, School of Nursing and the hospital. We're going to have help with that School of Nursing for potentially graduate study through the School of Medicine with Tufts. Fabulous. We'd like some more identification with that at the time because that's pretty impressive. So we're having these discussions about branding with the parent that likes well for us, and we don't know how much influence we have yet to get the brand the way we want it. But we're working on it, because we're having a lot of discussion. And when we look at, for instance, some of our competitors and what they've done, when, for instance, Leahy Hospital, which is now Leahy Health, had Beverly come in, it was some 12 to 15 months before they had branded Lahey Health. I mean, they didn't do it right away. They brought Beverly in and worked on some other things on the North Shore. And then over time, after discussion, they came up with a little different brand that they kind of liked. And so we don't feel compelled that we have to this week have the branding. But we're going to work hard to let the public know with whom we're affiliated and what we're all about. In a way that I don't think we did very well with Hallmark Health. I don't think we did a good job with that at all. It's 19 years that we've been Hallmark Health. We put ourselves together in 1997 with, in those days, Malden Hospital and Melrose-Wakefield and Witten Hospital in Everett. And of course, things changed. Everett's now part of Cambridge Health Alliance, and Baldwin Hospital wouldn't continue, unfortunately. But we named ourselves Hallmark, and I don't think it really caught on with the public as to what Hallmark really meant. And that was our fault, and we're trying to do a little better with the next round.
[John Falco]: Do you know if there are, so the nursing school actually, it's near and dear to my heart. My wife actually is a graduate from the nursing school. Yeah, great program, fabulous program, has produced a lot of fine nurses. And do you know if there are going to be any changes to that or is that kind of just... No, that is still so strong.
[SPEAKER_04]: The nursing school, we're at capacity. It's the number one nursing school for placement. You know, we place the grads, as you know, number one two-year program for placement. We're now with Regis College, too, for an opportunity for the baccalaureate. We're going to look into graduate opportunities. We are at capacity. And we have to determine what we're going to do over time in facilities for the School of Nursing. But it's a tremendous asset to not just Larmor. It's a tremendous asset to Hallmark Health generally and to the community and to the Commonwealth of Mass. So we want to keep that going.
[John Falco]: Great. Great job. Uh, if you could keep us updated on, uh, uh, as you get on this road, that would be great. And thank you for coming before us and happy new year. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you for coming. And, um, I hope to see you soon. Uh, with some more news of what's, uh, uh, uh, what's more, more, uh, impending things coming in. Uh, and again, A lot of people don't know, aside from being a medical facility, Hallmark has been a great community provider for many organizations and many things in this community. And I would hope that through this merger, the commitment to the community will stay the same.
[SPEAKER_04]: Mr. President, it's a privilege to come before this council. Thank you for inviting me. I'd like to come anytime at all. Thank you very much.
[Robert Penta]: Good evening, Mr. President. Congratulations on your term. My name is Robert Penta, Zero Summit Road, former member of the Saugus Party. On the issue of branding, I'll get to that first. Alan, maybe just an idea that you can call it the Lawrence Memorial Hospital slash the division of the Welfare, Welforce Group, because I think the community would respect the idea that the merger is taking place. It's a great idea. It's a great place to have an opportunity to move forward, but at the same time, this community knows the hospital is the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. And as a division of welfare, that might be the catalyst to get other communities to be involved. But my concern is, you folks have all mentioned it, but there's a debt obligation to the Malden Hospital, to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital, or Hallmark has. And there hasn't been any comment as it relates to the fact is how does that debt obligation work when the three hospitals get together and I don't just know if it's a third, I don't know how it's going to be proportioned out. at who has the majority vote and how the vote's going to take place. But whatever the multi-million dollars that are left on that hospital debt obligation that's needed, how is that going to interact, number one? And number two, when something needs to take place as far as development, for which all of you folks have talked about the development, who's going to come first in line for it? I mean, if two hospitals have the same idea, is wellness going to allow both hospitals to do the same thing? Are you going to split up the types of developments that you're going to have? And I think that would be beneficial for A, the community to know, but also the doctors, the nurses and the programs that you're going to be having here at the, uh, at the Lawrence. Um, so with that being said, and I know it's a financial consideration. The last part of the question would be on an annual basis. I'm quite sure. Is this merger independent or is it conclusive of all together? And the profits are split three ways. And then the Lawrence can go on its merry way and take whatever that money is for whatever its purpose is. I'm assuming, and they would assume, cause you said, um, Mr. McDonald, you said we will be responsible for our own obligations and that's an outstanding obligation. So I think we need to have, I'd like to have that question answered as a taxpayer in the community. Um, I think it's great that the merger is taking place, but I still think these are a couple of questions that need to be answered. And I, and I think it would be good for the community to know where we're going because I know it was council Falco has and council Longo current and some members of the council have attended meetings. as to what's going to be the development of the Malden Hospital. Once that sale takes place, does that money go into the pot of the kitty or does that go just strictly to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital? So I would appreciate it through the chair, Mr. President, if Mr. McDonald could answer those questions. Alan, can you answer Councilor Penter's concerns?
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm happy to talk about the finances. And I know there were a lot of questions there I should have written about as I went. If I don't, Mr. Penter, if I Come on back up if I miss one or two of the questions. I heard the discussion about the Malden Hospital, and we are still obligated on the debt for the Malden Hospital. What happens when you become one obligated group, all the parties are obligated for every debt. We will go in and borrow money through the parent company to do work at Hallmark Health. We will be obligated ourselves It's like a marriage where, you know, both parties are 100 percent obligated. We'll be obligated to pay back our debt, but Tufts Medical and Lowell General will also be obligated to pay back our debt. When we merged in 1997 with Malden, Malden at that time had a $30 million debt, long-term debt. They did not have any money, any cash reserves. They had $30 million debt. And unfortunately, they were losing about $10 million a year in operations. It was a very difficult situation for them. In a sense, we thought we could rescue the hospital. Turned out that it wasn't rescuable because in the balanced budget act changes in 98, 99 at the federal government, the changes in Medicaid, Medicare payment actually reduced our reserves for Hallmark health to where we were about half of cash to long-term debt. That was the difficulty. We've built it up over time. We're now more than twice cash to debt. We've had a very good buildup over a decade period of time. But we still, while we're paying off Malden, continue to be obligated to pay the Malden debt. And at this moment, out of that $30 million debt, we still have about $13 million or so that's on the books for Malden that we will pay off over time, no question about it. And that will be the way it will be for welfare. When we come in and borrow money, if we get to the situation where we cannot pay our debt, Tufts Medical Center and Lowell will be equally obligated on the debt that we have. And that's a big move for them, frankly. And it's one that should give some comfort to this community that we're coming in with people who care as much about the community as we do. Thank you, Alan.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. McDonald, let's see if he's done.
[SPEAKER_04]: The question was, will Lawrence Memorial Hospital be a division of Welforce? Actually, the interesting thing is, going back to the branding discussion, we've got Welforce, Hallmark, Circle Health, Tufts Medical Center, Melrose Wakefield Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital. We've got a lot of brands out there that are running around, and we've got to figure out a way to bring them in so that When you talk about General Electric, you know what you're talking about. And the fact of the matter is, it's not a division, any more than Lawrence was not a division of Hallmark Health. When we put the Lawrence together with those other hospitals, we became a financially obligated group as Hallmark. So we never looked at it as a division of Hallmark, and we don't look at it as a division of Wellforce either. We're really all one family is what the situation is. and that's the way we're gonna be trying to make, move it forward. Thank you, Allen.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. Move approval, Mr. President. All in favor? Aye. Allen, thank you. Hope to see you soon. All right, moving along. 17006, offered by Councilor Marks. Whereas the city of Medford, current default speed of 30 miles an hour exists on all city streets where there is no posted speed limit and whereas state legislature recently voted to allow local municipalities the ability to lower the default speed limit to 25, excuse me, 25 miles per hour on any roadway inside a thickly settled or business district, and whereas reducing the default speed limit from 30 miles an hour to 25 miles an hour gives drivers and pedestrians more reaction time making our streets safer for walking, driving, and bicycling then. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council vote to lower the current default speed from 30 miles an hour to 25 miles an hour, and be it further resolved that the city of Medford replace outdated speeding signs with new 25 mile per hour sign citywide and inform the residents of the new default speed limit throughout a widespread Public Outreach Program. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to recognize Chief Leo Sacco is here tonight, whom I've had a great conversation regarding this very resolution. Mr. President, I offer this resolution tonight based on the fact that the number one issue, and I think I won't speak for all my colleagues, but the number one issue that I receive uh, is, uh, pedestrian safety and speeding on our streets. And it's been an issue for a number of years, uh, in this community. Uh, this council has made many recommendations for traffic calming initiatives, uh, in the community to address, uh, some of the concerns we have, uh, for people speeding and the fact that, um, pedestrians don't feel safe crossing our roads. We had a number of incidences in this community of recent. We had a student that was struck on High Street and a number of other incidences in our community regarding speeding vehicles. And my opinion, lowering the default speed limit. And when we refer to default speed limit right now, it's any road that currently doesn't have a speed limit, which is probably a large majority of our roads right now that don't have a speed limit. So those roads are set by default at 30 miles per hour. Lowering it to 25, Mr. President, in my opinion, will save lives in this community. And that's not just lip service. That is fact. And lowering the speed limit by five miles an hour doesn't seem like a lot, but it increases the reaction time for both the drivers and pedestrians. And whatever we can do to arm not only pedestrians but drivers with additional time to react is a step in the right direction towards making our streets safer, Mr. President. I have something that I got off of. It was posted on auto.com. And I thought it was pretty interesting. And it talks about reaction time. And if the council would just indulge me for a minute, I think it's pretty interesting. It says at 25 miles an hour, which is a common speed limit in urban and residential areas, it may not seem like you're going that fast, but you are going about twice as fast as an average person can run. Record-setting Olympic runners have managed to reach speed limits around 25 miles per hour, but that is rare. A hypothetical situation. A vehicle is traveling 25 miles an hour, and a pedestrian enters the roadway. It takes two seconds for the driver to see the pedestrian, decide to stop the vehicle, and then press the brake. That means that before the driver has time to react, the car has continued moving 25 miles an hour for two whole seconds. The vehicle has moved 55 feet before they can even press the brake. If the car has an average stopping distance at 25 miles an hour of 30 feet, that means the car will have moved a total of 85 feet down the roadway before it comes to a stop. That is the length of eight Toyota Camrys, to put it into perspective, parked end to end. Because of the human factor, as speed increases, the stopping distance increases dramatically. At 30 miles per hour, which is our current default limit, The stopping distance is much greater. It's 109 feet. At 35 miles per hour, it goes up to 136 feet. And you're not really speeding yet. switch up the numbers to a freeway speed, which is roughly 60 miles per hour, and the stopping distance is about 305 feet. That's the length of an entire football field. So I think when you put it in perspective, it doesn't sound like a great diminishing of speed, 30 to 25, but it does allow for reaction time for both drivers and pedestrians. And I know this is an initiative the Chief has spoken about. I know Officer Brooks in the Traffic Division is working on something very similar language, Mr. President. We all know the complaints that we receive from residents. Our city, between the hour of 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., and then 4 and 6 p.m., turns into a major cutthroat. People trying to avoid the 93 traffic traverse through our city at all rates of speed, Mr. President, with total disregards for any residents in this particular city. So I would ask, Mr. President, that proper notification, once approved, be sent to the residents to let them know that there is a new default speed limit of 25 miles an hour so every resident is aware. And we can do that through a number of different initiatives. The reverse 911 we can put up on the city website, and we can also start posting new 25-mile-an-hour signs throughout the community. And I would also ask, Mr. President, that uh, this be reviewed by the traffic commission. I think, uh, where they set the rules and regulations for the roads, although I feel very strongly here tonight that, uh, all we need is a vote of the council to move this forward. I would recommend that it be sent to the traffic commission for, uh, their review, Mr. President and eventual passing. And, um, you know, I, I think, uh, this is the time to react. to this particular issue. We've promised residents of this community over the years that we were going to implement a pilot program for raised crosswalks. The mayor, then mayor, Mayor McGlynn, promised a pilot program with three raised crosswalks in the community some three and a half years ago. We've only installed one so far to date. So I think this is an important issue. It's a public safety issue. It's an issue that impacts every person in this community, not just pedestrians, but cyclists that are riding through our community, and, you know, people riding in their cars. I have two, from a selfish standpoint, two new drivers in my family alone. And I can tell you the first thing I tell my children is that speed kills. And keeping control of your cars extremely important. Maintaining proper speed on roadways, uh, is, is very important. And reaction time is extremely important. So, uh, I look forward to hearing what my fellow colleagues have to state and also chief Sacco. Um, the chief law enforcement officer is here tonight and I think we should provide him ample opportunity, uh, Mr. President to address this issue.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilman. Okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I want to first thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. It's something that I think a few cities and towns have done it recently and I think it's definitely a good initiative. The number one complaint I get as a city councilor over my years sitting here is pedestrian safety, school safety with regards to children walking across the street and walking to school. We've witnessed some near misses and incidents that we'd rather not talk about tonight, but also just speeding on our streets. And it's something that we always respond to, and we always bring it up at the council. And I know, especially as of recent, Sergeant Hartnett and Officer Brooks have been very responsive to the council, and it's a pleasure to get traffic studies forwarded to us. It's something pretty new for the council, and it's something that I'm just excited about it. They definitely are taking a concern and know of the problems and are doing their best to do what they can with a small division, obviously. So on that, there's, I think there's three main things we need to focus on. Obviously when we do change this and hopefully the traffic commission agrees with this as well as the police department. Um, but I think we do need the public outreach is a major component of this. We need to, make sure the citizens of this community realize what the change is and how it's going to impact driving in our community for the better. But definitely a period of notification is important. And I think that's something that we definitely can do. I also think it's important that we beef up that traffic division, whether it's ask the mayor tonight or we've asked her before to increase personnel in the police department. But I think enforcement is going to be a huge component of this. And it's something that's going to not only with the change in the ordinance, but also the change in our streets. If we can get enforcement, we're going to slow down vehicles and we're going to keep our pedestrians and people driving safer. So I really like to amend this and ask that not only do we reduce the speed limit, but we ask the mayor to hire additional personnel, especially for the traffic division. It's a number one complaint. And it's something that needs to be addressed, um, with, and with the help of our new side sergeant and officer Brooks and the traffic commission, I think an additional, um, one, two, Oh, there'll be great three personnel in that division is, would greatly improve the safety in our community. We can make it a B paper. Sure. Um, and then while the chief's here and I know he's probably going to address the community and the city council, if we can maybe get an update with regards to, the movable speed limit signs. And I know there's one movable stationary speed limit sign. If we can just kind of get an update, it's something that I've been interested in and I feel that it does deter speeding. And I think it's another component of this. So if we could maybe get an update in conjunction with whatever, you know, the chief would like to address us, that would be great.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to take a minute to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. Uh, I have only been on the council for a year now, but, majority of the calls that I get and the emails that I get are about traffic congestion, uh, public safety with regard to, um, just, uh, automobiles. And, um, so I think this is vital. I think it's important. Um, it's not only saves lives, it makes sense. It makes complete sense. I think it's going to make a difference. Um, you know, since I've been on the couch, I've been pushing to have community police meetings, uh, moved out into the neighborhoods and we've done that over the last three months, and we're going to continue that ongoing. And the common theme that comes up every single meeting, and so far we've met over at the Brooks School, we met at St. Francis, we met at the Andrews, the common theme that comes up is traffic and congestion and speeding. And this is definitely a tool that we should be using. We should be lowering the speed limit. I think it will go a long way in just, you know, just having a better public safety. And, um, so I support this resolution, uh, a hundred percent, um, officer Brooks and, uh, Sergeant Hartnett, uh, have also, um, uh, mentioned this at our, um, subcommittee meetings with guarding the, uh, Malvern hospital, uh, ad hoc subcommittee meeting. Um, they talked about, um, the speed, lowering the speed limit did come up and, uh, but it's, it's, this is a valuable tool. I, I thank you. Council Marks are bringing it forward. I support it wholeheartedly and, uh, If I also may mention at this point that the next community police meeting is actually tomorrow night at the South Medford Fire Station at 7 p.m. And I am sure that we'll be talking a lot about speed limits and traffic as well. So, and everyone is welcome. But uh, uh, Councilor Marks, thank you for bringing this forward. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. Um, Councilor Marks brings forward a resolution that I don't think anybody behind this rail is going to be opposed to. It's something that we've discussed in the past. It's something that we're going to continue discussing to the future because quite frankly, traffic on our streets and speeding on our streets is a significant problem here in the city of Medford. The legislature and its divine wisdom gave these municipalities back some local control with the passage of this law that would allow us to set the speed limit at 25 miles per hour in areas that aren't posted. But what the legislature also did in this piece of legislation, Mr. President, was they gave the municipality the ability to create local pedestrian safety zones where the speed limit can be 20 miles an hour. And it's for thickly settled business districts, areas abutting fire stations, police stations, parks, and schools. And, Mr. President, I'd like to amend the paper by putting forward a C paper and asking that the Examination of pedestrian safety zones also be looked at by the Traffic Commission in conjunction with Walker Medford, the Bicycle Commission, and the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. President. I think it would make sense to have these three entities working together to identify areas that can be designated as pedestrian safety zones, and the speed limit in those areas can be reduced down to 20 miles an hour.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Layton. Chief Sacco, would you like to add something to the conversation?
[Leo Sacco]: I'm sure you would. Good evening. Leo Sacco, police chief, uh, resided to 27 Elm street in Medford. Uh, congratulations on your election as president. Thank you. And, uh, Councilor Marks is vice president and happy new year to all. Uh, as Councilor Knight mentioned, I don't think anyone's going to argue about this, uh, speed limit reduction and thick thickly settled districts or business districts. Uh, back in November, the legislature passed the municipal modernization act, which allowed cities and towns to, to opt into a couple of chapters. And that's what we need the council support for is to allow us to opt into the chapter and section that allows us to reduce the speed limit to 25 from 30 and also the safety zones, not just around schools, but around playgrounds, around hospitals, senior centers, uh, any number of areas. And it would be 20 miles per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Uh, but, uh, I just respectfully submit that it is within the realm of the traffic commission to have to, uh, review this and, and to pass it. And I just one member, we have five members. I think all, uh, all members will be supportive of this. Uh, it's something that's long overdue. I've spoken with Suzanne Renford, who is the director of the traffic and parking department in Somerville. And, uh, she informs me that Somerville jumped on board, uh, prior to this being passed. And once it was passed, they were able to, uh, enact the legislation and the regulations and signage. within the city and I think many Medford residents notice now when you drive from a Medford Street, whether it be Medford Street, Main Street, any of the streets that connect with Somerville, they have the big sign almost like a school zone sign saying thickly settled district, 25 miles per hour, pretty much what was stated about default, unless it's on some street that has a posted speed limit. The one thing that the state legislature did not allow us to do with this is to change the speed limit on state posted are state-numbered routes, which would be Route 16, Route 28, Route 38. So we can do it on roads that are owned and maintained by the city of Medford, but we can't change the speed limit on state-numbered routes. And you know we have a number of them that pass through the city, but at least if we can control the speed on the streets that feed into those routes, maybe it'll be contagious. The good thing that's happening with this legislation is Cambridge has adopted it, and Boston has adopted it as well. They have to wait till they advertise that they've passed this, and then they will post. Somerville's the first. But if we are on board with this, then it becomes not just one city doing this. It's going to be a regional effort. So hopefully that will gain public participation. 20 miles per hour or 25 miles per hour may sound like it's very slow. But if you look at some of the traffic that's traveling on these roads, they're doing a lot more than 30. So we need to do something about that and save lives. And I won't go through the statistics. Vice President Max already went through that. It's common sense. You slow down, you'll save lives. And that's what we're looking to accomplish. But the one concern that I have, and Councilor Lungo-Koehn brought it up, was personnel. And we do need personnel. But we also need the equipment. I know she wants an update on the signboards or the radar trailer. We haven't been able to move on that just yet. We're looking forward to move on. We've had several other issues that jumped to the forefront, but we need the personnel, we need the equipment and radar equipment. We're using some antique pieces out there. They're certified, they're calibrated, they still work, but we do need the equipment. In the last two years, I believe, if the numbers are correct, we brought in $150,000 each year uh, into the city coffers over the past two years, 2015 and 2016, the numbers aren't complete for 16. Uh, but with that funding, say 300,000 that came in, if a small portion of that could be dedicated back to equipment would be, uh, a big help to all of us in the police department. So I just tossed that out there for your consideration. Uh, and that's really an avenue we need to, to look at and to go forward on. and I'm here for any questions, but I strongly as the police chief strongly support this legislation and this resolution and ask that the council opt into those chapters and sections. I believe it's 90 17 C and 90 18 B. Okay. Okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. If I could ask you a question, you haven't moved on fixing the speed monitor sign that was broken?
[Leo Sacco]: We've looked at it. We've had someone look at it. We're waiting to hear back whether it's repairable.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then I could be wrong.
[Leo Sacco]: We are in line to purchase two new monitors.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, we did approve funding for that about six months ago.
[Leo Sacco]: Right, that has not happened as yet. It will happen before the spring. The problem is we're concerned about putting those out there. inclement weather and have someone skid into them or something like that. So, uh, but it is working in Somerville and I'm told that the Somerville traffic and parking, they move their radar trailers around regularly. And, uh, the big thing with that is neighbors get to see exactly the speed of the traffic on their roadways.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And chief, if I may through the, through the chair, if I could amend this as well, whether it's with my B paper or D paper, If we could just get an update, if you could go back and look and let us know how many pieces of radar equipment you have and how old they are, and maybe just a couple lines on, you know, how we should update them and how much it would cost, and something maybe we could advocate for you. We keep pushing for, you know, enforcement, but obviously you need the people to do it and the tools to do it. I mean, how far back are we talking? How outdated are these? Radar pieces of radar.
[Leo Sacco]: They're old, but like I said, they are calibrated. They are accurate, but they're old pieces that could be problematic. We do need later and greater technology.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah. If we could get, um, just get that in writing of how old the pieces of radar are and how many we have and how we, you know, the cost of upgrading.
[Richard Caraviello]: That'll be a deep paper. And chief, I would hope you'll have this on the agenda for the January.
[Leo Sacco]: for us. That's the plan at this point.
[Michael Marks]: Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. And Chief Sacco brings up a very valid point that over the past two years, the men and women of our police department have written over $300,000 of citations, is that correct, Chief?
[Leo Sacco]: In that area. It may not be the exact number, but very close.
[Michael Marks]: Strictly for move-in violations? Move-in violations. For move-in violations. And it's, you know, it's very important to have a dedicated revenue stream to increase the equipment and provide updated equipment to our law enforcement, as well as the fire department, Mr. President, as we all know. and not to have a dedicated revenue stream because the budget clearly is not doing its purpose of revamping and replacing equipment. And that goes from police cars on down to radar to electric speeding signs. It runs the whole gambit. And I think it's only appropriate that we as a council send a message to the mayor that the mayor create an earmark that a percentage of the revenue that's generated by the police department be earmarked back to the police department for the purpose of updating equipment. And that way you'll have a dedicated stream of revenue that we don't have to wonder each year if the chief has enough revenue to keep up with the equipment needs. And I'll throw out a figure of 25%, so 25% be earmarked to the police department of the ticketing revenue Mr. President, back to the police department. And I would offer that as an e-paper, Mr. President, that we have a dedicated revenue source. You know, this is not an issue that we — this is a very serious issue that men in police — police men and women have the ability to perform their jobs and be presented with state-of-the-art equipment. And I, for one, don't think that's currently happening right now. and hope that, uh, an air mock, uh, to the police department would, uh, alleviate the concerns that we are having. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Counsel locks chief. You have anything else you want to add? That's it. Okay. Well, okay. Uh, Mr. Clark, um, we haven't, we have a regular motion. We have a B paper. We have a C paper of a D paper and we have an E paper. Mr. Clerk, if you want to, we'll start with the e-paper, if you want to read it back so everybody knows what it is.
[Clerk]: The e-paper is, obviously, Councilor Marks is creating a earmarked percentage of ticket revenue to be directed to police equipment.
[SPEAKER_02]: In particular, 25%. Directed back to the police department in the form of an amount for the purpose of updating equipment.
[Richard Caraviello]: Okay, Councilor Marks' motion on the E paper. All in favour? All opposed? Hearing and seeing none, motion passes 7-0. On the D paper, Mr. Clerk, if you could read that back. Is it the D paper or the B paper?
[Clerk]: The D. Because the D paper is, Councilor, it's an update on the radar equipment, how many there are, what needs to be repaired and cost of upgrade.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion on the D paper, all in favor? Opposed? Hearing and seeing none, motion passes 7-0. Mr. Clerk, if you could read back the C paper.
[Clerk]: C paper, I believe is Councilor Knight, and that would be... That's Councilor Knight. Referring to the safety zones, right? Safety zones and traffic... Traffic Division, Traffic Commission to review the legislation on safety zones and to work with the... The Traffic Commission, Walkman for the Bicycle Commission and the Chamber of Commerce.
[Richard Caraviello]: Work to identify... All in favor of the C motion? Opposed? Motion passes 7-0. On the B paper offered by Councilor Langlois-Grant.
[Clerk]: It's hiring additional personnel for the Traffic Division.
[Richard Caraviello]: All in favor of the B paper offered by council along the current post done. Motion passes seven zero and on the original motion by Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, if I can just add Councilor Marks because I think we have to be specific in the language. My language was to send it to the traffic commission, but I'd also ask my colleagues to vote on the acceptance of a chapter 90 section 17 C and 18 B. Okay. as well as sending it to the traffic commission. Okay.
[Richard Caraviello]: So this is a, this is only right for one motion.
[Adam Knight]: Um, I'm wondering if the traffic commission would be required to adopt those sections first and then bring it to the council or whether or not the council adopts those sessions, those, those sections first and then sends it to the traffic commission. Um, procedurally, I wonder what the appropriate fashion solicitor, could you give us some guidance here?
[Mark Rumley]: Good evening, Mr. President. Congratulations. Thank you. My name is Mark Romley. I'm the city solicitor. I reside at 50 Woodrow Avenue in Medford because of the nature of this statute. It's a little bit unique as to the acceptance, but I think the preferable way is to have the council accepted first and then refer it to the traffic commission for its discernment and ostensibly its passage. And the reason I say that is if we flipped it over and went the other way, there's something incongruous about it. You'd have the, entity that has jurisdiction over the roadways, the Traffic Commission, accepting it, and then referring it back to you for acceptance. It's like two negatives. So I think this is the cleaner and more appropriate way to go jurisdictionally.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Solisa. All right, so on the original motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Lungo-Koehn, roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Falco?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Lungo-Koehn? Yes. Vice President Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Cavioli?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. And the motion, vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, motion passes. Chief, we'll look forward to seeing you on the traffic commission with these resolutions. 1-7007, offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn. be it resolved that the Medford City Council go on record supporting the prohibition of the issuance of use variances in the city of Medford. Before I yield the floor to Councilor Lungo-Koehn, for those of you who don't know what a use variance is, the solicitor was gracious enough to give it to me and it says, a use variance allows the owner of the property to use his property in a way that deviates from local zoning standards. It is an exemption to the zoning regulations governing the use of the property. For example, a use variance might allow a commercial use to take place in a residential district. So for those of you who didn't know what it was, now we know. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I put this on, I think it's something that the council definitely needs to discuss, whether it be you know, fully tonight or in a subcommittee meeting. The last time use variances were voted on was before, obviously, I think the longest serving right now, Councilor Marks and I, and we've never taken a vote with regards to use variances. And I think it's an important topic now, more than ever, due to the major development going on in our community. Use variances have been issued, whether or not that's, have been legal depends on, I guess, your interpretation of our ordinances. But I think it's definitely a topic that needs to be discussed among this council. And I think it's a topic that needs to be addressed by the administration in conjunction with this council as well. I think we're on showing from what's taken place on the council floor in the last six to nine months, it seems as if we're not on the same page and I think we need to, it's time to get on the same page. We have a number of units, 500 units that are coming online very shortly with regards to apartments and we need to decide where the vision is and what type of growth we want in our community and I think we need to sit down with the mayor to discuss that. I'm sure my colleagues are in agreement with that. a use variance in the development that has been going on. It's impacting our streets, our sidewalks, traffic, the environment. It's impacting parking in our schools, and it's something that needs to be discussed. And I hope my council colleagues will realize the importance of this discussion that needs to be had. And, you know, I, for one, would like to prohibit the use variance. I think it needs to be seen by another body. An ordinance can always be changed back. Somewhere like station landing can always come back to the council. But I think another body needs to have a set of eyes on something so significant that has caused a number of controversy in the city. But I would ask my colleagues to support it, whether we do it now or we sit in committee of the whole and invite the mayor to sit down with us. It's something that needs to be discussed, and it needs to be discussed sooner than later so that we know where we're going in the future.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: I yelled to a city solicitor.
[Mark Rumley]: I thank you, Mr. President. And I'll be very brief. I'm very glad that this came up again tonight as it did once a few months back and whatever the council does with a use variances or recommendations going forward is always up to the council. That's a legislative decision, but I wanted to make it very clear that in the, the status of our zoning ordinances, from the beginning right through today. There is no prohibition on a use variance in our ordinances. There hasn't been, even though there was some discussion about that some months ago. So I wanted to be clear about that. The reason I'd say that is when you look at this and you discern whether or not it's a good idea or a bad idea, that's within your province as a legislative body. But if there's going to be a change in the zoning ordinance, it would have to go through the normal steps from you as a launching pad to the Community Development Board back to you the way that other amendments to the zoning ordinance go. But I wanted to be emphatic about, uh, the fact that because there had been some discussion about whether or not use variances are prohibited under our ordinances, our zoning ordinance, the answer to that, I would say emphatically etch it in granite is they are not prohibited, but whether you do so in the future is entirely up to the legislative process.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. Councilor Scott. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Again, I think this is a topic conversation that I think that with traffic and safety is one of our biggest issues. So I appreciate fellow Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn bringing this forward. But I think this is just a smaller picture of what we're looking at as a body of our ordinances that haven't been looked at in over 30 years. I know that I mentioned in the past, something that will not cost the city money is to really ask our partners and the metro area planning council to come in with us and just to revisit and get more of an idea of what we're, what we're talking about and what we're, what direction we're moving into and give us a better idea and how long, how our ordinances have been in place and whether they need to be moved on. So, I think this is definitely a big picture, but it's something that I'd like to see as, if we can, to move to subcommittee, committee of the whole meeting. We could talk about these issues in more of a, as a whole, not in pieces, but with the administration looking to see where our view, our vision is as we move forward in this community. I know what the administration has been trying to do with Method Square and doing some great things there, but I think that there is some confusion in what direction we want to go into. So if we can, I'd rather see this move to Committee of the Whole meeting and ask our partners in the Metro Area Planning Council to give us some guides. I know we use them now in multiple areas and they're here and we've already paid for their services and that's what maybe getting some guidance with their expertise and, um, and also our vision with what we're doing. So again, if we can, um, my, my recommendation is really going to look to either move this to a subcommittee or committee of the whole meeting. We could talk about this in depth before I put a vote yes or no to this. So thank you. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. I think that the issue of zoning is a very important issue here in the city of Medford. I, for one, am not in favor of eliminating a use zone, a use variance. Personally, myself, I think that it's going to hinder our ability to attract good businesses and to develop parcels that are underdeveloped or underutilized. However, I think that Councilor Longo makes a great point. We need to be in the same room with the administration to talk about a vision for the city and what direction we're going to go in. And I think Councilor Scarpelli makes a great point as well. We can bring in the Massachusetts Area Planning Council to come in and to talk to us about what steps we can take. But the first foundation of this is going to be to develop that vision. And I don't think that that vision is going to be developed without us first sitting down with the administration, Mr. President. So I would motion to have this paper referred to the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, where we can set up a meeting with the administration to talk about our vision for development here in the community. We can have the subcommittee generate some questions for the administration and report them back to the council.
[Richard Caraviello]: Intergovernmental Relations?
[Adam Knight]: That was a subcommittee that was established by Councilor Camuso. And then we can start the discussion, Mr. President. You go to the subcommittee on intergovernmental relations. We have some questions that are asked. We have some foundation documents that are produced. Those foundation documents can be reported out to the committee in the hall. The committee in the hall can sit down. We can review the documents that we have. And now we have a launching pad and a jump off, Mr. President. So that's the course of action that I recommend, and I appreciate you providing me the floor.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, I would concur with the council who suggests that it should go to subcommittee and engage the principle of subsidiarity. Secondly, I'd caution against an overdue, uh, dependence upon the metropolitan area planning council, whereas their interests are metropolitan. Uh, I'm concerned with the city of Medford. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And, uh, I'd like to begin by saying I think that this should be moved to Committee of the Whole, and the reason why, if we're gonna be talking about the mayor's vision for this city, and the vision for economic development, and zoning, we should all be at the table. This is a Committee of the Whole topic as far as I'm concerned. I think zoning is a huge issue. Zoning has not been looked at in 30 to 40 years. I had a resolution last year saying that we should bring in someone from the outside to look at it. Will it cost money? Yes, but it needs to be looked at. It hasn't been looked at in far too long. I understand where you're coming from, Councilor Longo, by bringing this forward tonight, but I think it does need more discussion, without a doubt. If I could amend the resolution, if we could get some, I'd like to know how many, over the past 25 years, how many use variances have been granted? I can give you some, a little bit of guidance there.
[Richard Caraviello]: Over the last, I did ask the building commissioner to go back, and he went back to, 2006, and there were 27 issued going back to 2006. 27 issued? 27 were issued. Uh, some were small. Somebody else, uh, he gave me, uh, if Larry were here, I could, I could get everybody a copy. Uh, but, uh, he gave me the addresses, uh, that they were given to some are just, you know, like on houses and, you know, smaller things and some pertain to larger projects. Um, I will, I will get a copy and send it out to everybody. Uh, so that's, that is a number of going back 10 years.
[John Falco]: Let's go back 10 years and he's 27, 27. And how many, if you don't mind me asking, do you know how many of those are like major, like economic development related?
[Richard Caraviello]: Um, uh, mystic Valley Parkway, 37 a mystic Valley Parkway, 24 a Boston Avenue was probably a bigger one. Um, say three 66 Salem street, Let's say a lot of them are just, you know, a little, middle six ave, you know, some of them are small, some of them, you know, it doesn't say exactly what was done on them, but they do have addresses here.
[John Falco]: Because if we could get, if we could go back 20 years, just because I want to see with regard to economic development, what's the impact of these variances? What are they, you know, what's being approved? I mean, we should be looking at that. get 20 years. It'd be great to see the 10 years, but I want to see, I'm assuming a lot of that small stuff. And if we're talking about economic development, I want to see the big projects that have been approved and then we can look at those and say, okay, what is it been the impact of these use variances that have been approved?
[Richard Caraviello]: Do you want to make that motion?
[John Falco]: If I could, yes.
[Richard Caraviello]: And I can amend the resolution to the building commissioner can go back 20 years instead of the 10 that he already gave me. Please. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Another 10. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: And I, for one, Mr. President, you know, feel as though we do need to review zoning, but we need to review zoning to accomplish a purpose. So what are we looking at it for? If we're going to bring in outside agencies and outside entities and spend money, we need to have a goal. We need to have some sort of a prize in the sky that we're shooting for that we want to attain. Not just, it hasn't been looked at, so look at it. It has to be, okay, these are the goals that were set out to accomplish. What steps do we need to take? And can you provide us with the technical assistance to get there?
[Richard Caraviello]: I think we need to share the mayor's vision also. So we know what, uh, uh, what direction they're going and also my rest is present.
[Michael Marks]: Also marks. Thank you, Mr. President. I agree with councilor Falco and council one go current that this is far too important of an issue to be in subcommittee and deserves the full weight of this council and the committee of the whole meeting. Uh, I would also say, Mr. President, uh, that, uh, this council, as we hear over and over again, has very little authority and little teeth. And, you know, one of the big important roles of this council is the setting of the city budget and also zoning, which as I mentioned earlier, is the lifeline of a community. And talk about issues that impact quality of life of each and every resident, it's zoning. And, you know, it hasn't been reviewed in a while, And I think Councilor Falco, when he brought up the suggestion a while back to bring someone on board, I think was an admirable suggestion to bring that up and receive guidance. I've been on the council a number of years. I don't claim to be a zoning expert. It's very intricate and there's a lot of moving parts when it comes to zoning. And I think it's only appropriate that we receive guidance from someone that is an expert when we go over the hundreds of zoning pages and this community that haven't been looked at in over 30 years. It's a very important role of this council, and I just would hate to see it wind up in a subcommittee that is probably going to end up spinning their wheels, and I'd rather see a full-blown meeting of the council. And we can get some direction from the administration, but don't lose sight. This isn't a council prerogative. This is a council prerogative. So, we can get insight what the mayor would like to see, but guess what? It's this body. We have to put on our big boy pants, this council, and stand up and say, this is the direction this council would like to see. We've all been around a number of years, and I think we all have ideas on what we'd like to see happen in this community and how we'd like to move forward in this community. So, let's not sit back and say we want to, you know, just rely on the administration because, in my opinion, Mr. President, It has to arrive with this council. Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Counsel X name and address of the record, please.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm shower Rodriguez. I live at 281 Park street. Um, Variances are a very interesting thing in the city of Medford. Anyone who's tried to add a deck, a shed, or anything onto their house knows that it can be quite expensive to get a variance, quite timely, and oftentimes you're refused. But what I've noticed in the trend of attending meetings for the past seven months is that if you're a developer, and you want to come in and change the entire shape of a property and build something completely different, tear down a supermarket and put 490 units, that project will glide through fairly easy. And that's not right. Variances are supposed to be very difficult to get. There's supposed to be a demonstrated hardship before variance is granted. You're not just supposed to say, Well, I'll make less money if I don't do it this way. That's not a hardship. That's not how a variance is supposed to be granted. These variances are flying out right now on Salem Street where we're looking at break pro is going to be turned and they want to build two floors over over what they're allowed to build and their reason for it is because they want to make more money. There's no reason that there's a problem with the property that they need to build higher. They just want variances. It's not just use variances. It's lots of variances. If you go to the planning meetings for the square, you'll hear, we want mixed use. We want lots of residential. They want to change the use of the square. But if you hear the people when they invite us and ask us what we want, we're not asking for that. We're not saying, well, what we really need is, you know, 2,000 more students in our schools. You know, the second grade at the Roberts was closed this year because the class sizes reached 25. The third grade has five classes, and their classes are over 20, 22, 23 per class, because the balance of the building is happening on the east side of town. So any talk about zoning needs to include, is one side getting hammered? Yes, we have the 200 going on Middle Six Avenue, not a small project, 200 condos. We have potentially, 490 on Lucas Street. We have 324 opening up right near Wellington. All of those people will siphon into those streets. They'll siphon into the Roberts. They'll siphon into the McGlynn, and those schools can't take it. while we look at the other side of town with class sizes of 16 and 17, and we add them together and say, oh, the average is under 20. It's not. We really need to look at what's happening here. We also need to balance our commercial and our residential properties. We can't keep turning our commercial into residential. The cost of a residence is far more than the cost of commercial to our infrastructure. You'll never, ever see Hallmark Health send a student to our elementary school. you will definitely see that happen out of a residential. So we really need to look at not only our uses, but also why are we granting variances so easily? I think the only thing I saw that failed in the past seven months was the project on Salem Street and Haynes Square where he was proposing building units on top of a storefront with zero parking and said that they could use the street or stop and shop and that was turned down. But other projects are pushing through. without concern for the neighbors around. If the Salem Street project pushes through, the Roberts Elementary School schoolyard will not see the sun in the winter. Because right now, their own building is four stories, and by one o'clock, there's no more sun. That building will be at least one floor higher, and it will cast us into shadow by probably about 11 a.m. The children will be out in recess, in shadow. It's not just about what the mayor wants. I think if you go out and talk to the people, you're going to find that the density is hurting some of us. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Longo-Khan, did you want to see this go to a subcommittee or are you looking for a vote this evening?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'm looking for a vote for it to go to committee of the whole. So we can, we need to discuss this with the mayor.
[Richard Caraviello]: Obviously you wanted to go to the intergovernmental
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You know, I'd like this to go to committee of the whole sit down with the mayor first. I think that needs to be done immediately. I mean, the zoning board of appeals is obviously works in conjunction with the mayor's office and they, we need to, um, one of the major council Dello Russo, the, uh, uh, zoning board of appeals is an independent board that has quasi judicial authority.
[Fred Dello Russo]: That's correct. It does not, uh, at, uh, in conjunction with anybody but itself. That is correct. So far as I understand, and I stand to be corrected by a reasonable authority. You are correct.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: One can reasonably assume the zoning board of appeals is the only board and commission that got a raise this past budget time. And one can make their own.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, this is also a brand new board of appeals. Also, it's a brand new board and we need to, we need to have a vision.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You know, smart growth is what we need. Not highly dense.
[Richard Caraviello]: Okay. Well, on Councilor Longo's motion is to send this to the Council of the Whole. Roll call. Roll call vote has been requested. As amended. As amended.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dela Rousseau.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Falco.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Lungo-Koehn. Yes. Vice-president Marks. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. What was seven in the affirmative. None in there. Motion's Pat motion passes 17-zero zero eight offered by councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the method city council send this condolences to the family of Nicholas the Maria on his recent passing. This is the Maria served our country. as a Navy veteran in the Vietnam War. His presence in our community will be missed. And we also have one more, if we can get them both at the same time. 17-010, offered by Councilor Caraviello, being resolved that the Medford City Council send its condolences to the family of Mary Cecchini on her recent passing at 105 years old. Mary was a lifelong resident, and Mary was also our oldest living resident in the city of Medford. Mary's presence in our community is going to be missed by many. If we could stand for a moment of silence. Motion for suspension by Vice President Marks. Mr. President, the President has a question. Oh, who? Oh, okay. While we're on the suspension.
[John Costas]: Good evening. Name and address for the record, please. John Kostas, 56 Haynes Street. Happy New Year. I'm in 2017. On Christmas Eve, at four o'clock, my entire street lost water. The 12-inch main burst under a catch basin. And it wasn't a slow trickle to a, it was an end, I put out on Facebook. We called the water department, and Brian and his crew were fantastic. They assessed what was going to go on. We called them at 4 o'clock. There was some stuff going on. And by 5.30, they were digging up the street. And at 9.30, we all had our water back at 9.30. On Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve. And I just like to publicly acknowledge the wonderful job and how much we really appreciate everything Brian and his crew did because it wasn't a great night. And we were thrilled because everybody had people coming over on Christmas Day. And we all kind of wondered how we're going to flush our toilets. And you don't realize how much you appreciate running water. until it just doesn't exist. So I just want to publicly acknowledge the DPW and the Water Department for an excellent job.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Mr. Carstens. Thank you. Yeah. Joy to the world. Yes. Thank you very much. And Mr. President, uh, while we're on the subject of water, uh, we're awaiting a committee report, subcommittee report, uh, The council met in subcommittee last week on Wednesday, just before Christmas, and made a motion for approval to encourage the administration to pursue negotiations regarding a leak detection system, system-wide within the city. And we can be grateful to some of the councilors who've been persistent advocates for improvement in the care of our water and sewer.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Marks has been a long time advocate of that. Councilor Locren.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: On a separate issue, if we could take a vote tonight and request that we reach out to City Clerk just reaches out to the Chamber of Commerce to start discussion with regards to, I know a number of communities are banning plastic bags and I don't know if any of the other councils have got emails and phone calls with requests of asking us what we're going to do. I think maybe some conversation needs to start at least at the beginning, see what the chamber thinks, see if they can reach out to their members about banning plastic bags. I know Cambridge does it and I know there's a few other communities that are really looking at doing it and I think Medford needs to start inquiring and reaching out before we come across just taking a vote on it, see how the chamber feels and see how the businesses feel about this. They may hate it, they may love it. It's obviously great for the environment. I know you can still purchase bags for 10 cents at most Cambridge shops. So it is just something that's been on my radar to question. And I think tonight will be a fine night to just see if we can get an email out to the Chamber of Commerce to start the dialogue, see if they can discuss it at one of their next meetings and reach out to their membership to figure out what the suggestions would be and what the impact would be.
[Richard Caraviello]: The Chamber of Commerce will be meeting tomorrow night. If you'd like to send Janet Donnelly an email, you could do that. I would advise as City Council Member and on the Board of Directors that I shouldn't speak for the Chamber of Commerce while behind the rim.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If I could just take this opportunity to point out that I forget what state it is. but a state legislature recently passed a law forbidding local cities and towns from prohibiting plastic bags.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor LaRosa. On the plastic bags?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: All in favor?
[Richard Caraviello]: Present. And Councilor Knight was asked to be recorded in opposition. Thank you. Well, Mr. Clerk, if you could send that out. And 1-7-0-1-1 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate State Representative Paul Donato on being the longest-serving state representative in measurement history of 16 years. The representative does yeoman's work throughout our city, and I, for one, as being a friend, been a friend and a mentor to me over the years, congratulating him for all the work that he does in our community. Councilor Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, if you wouldn't mind, I motion approval of this on your behalf. Thank you. And I must say that My first encounter with Paul Donato was when I was a young lad distributing literature on the campaign route to my father. And Paul Donato was putting out his own literature as he ran for school committee. And got on, and I've known him ever since. A great legislative leader, so much so that obviously he's been raised to leadership position in the state house underneath Speaker DeLeo. And people of Medford can be grateful every day to have such a fine advocate working on their behalf.
[Richard Caraviello]: You are correct. The representative, make sure that Medford gets more than its fair share of the state funds.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Uh, Mr. President, over the last 16 years, the representative has brought home the bacon per se, uh, to this district. He's done a great job delivering for his constituency here in the city of Medford. And, um, I just want to thank him for his hard work and wish him a good health and, uh, hopefully another 16 years. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also like to thank, uh, Paul for his hard work, uh, as our state representative, he's done a fine job and he's, uh, He's always been known as the, you know, you give him a call, you get a call back, and he's always been there. He's always been there for the city in every capacity he's served in, and he's done a great job, so congratulations to Paul and his years of service. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Hi, too. I would like to share my congratulations to Representative Donato, and I know that he has been used as a role model for, I think, everyone behind this reel, one way or another, so we appreciate everything he's done for our community, We hope he continues for another 16 years and delivers more goods to our fair city. Thank you. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Lungo-Koehnly.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Be brief. Thank you, President Caraviello. I too want to thank Representative Donato for all his hard work and advocacy for the city of Medford. It doesn't go unnoticed.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. And Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Are we asking to give him a citation? Is that what we're doing?
[Richard Caraviello]: I would like to have the representative come up here in the near future and receive a citation from our distinguished party.
[Michael Marks]: So what do we do if he stays another term, 17, 18 years? Give him another citation then? Give him another citation. Give him another citation.
[Richard Caraviello]: If we can get the representative up here in the next few weeks to give him a citation, it would be nice.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, I'd be remiss too if I didn't say a few words about Representative Donato. Uh, here's a, here's a man that, uh, served in many capacities, the member of the school committee, member of the city council, uh, as, uh, acting, uh, actually not acting as mayor under the old city charter and now, uh, as state representative. So he served in a number of capacities in this community and, uh, with distinction. So I wish him well and,
[Andrew Castagnetti]: It almost sounds like he's leaving, but he's saying he's staying so he's saying I wanted to thank him for his years of service Thank you Name address for the record sir Thank You cast Castagnetti Andrew Cushin Street, Method, Mass I would also thank council representative Paul judge and to not oh also for a his longevity and all his good work he's done for the local peoples, even going back to the Chevalier Auditorium and getting those seats installed and things of that nature. I also would be remiss not to thank him for my birthday cards.
[Richard Caraviello]: All those in favor? Aye.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Four under suspension. Yes. Can we take paper off the table? eligible for its third reading, 16-804.
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes, 16-804, grant $250,000 and appropriate $550,000 for the reconstruction of Riverside Plaza. And this will be its third reading. Mr. Clerk, if you can call the roll.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Move approval.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President. Councilor Marks. Mr. President, I just want to go on record and be consistent with my vote that I do not support the funding mechanism of the $250,000 grant because it opens this city up to creating parkland in the middle of Medford Square with a number of restrictions at a time when we're trying to revitalize our downtown business district. So for that reason, Mr. President, I do not support the $250,000 grant, although I do support the project and it was my council resolution, Mr. President, that led to this uh, redoing, uh, and reuse of, uh, the bus shelter on Riverside Avenue. You are correct.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion for approval, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Motion for approval by Councilor Dello Russo. Mr. President.
[Robert Penta]: Um, well, it sounds like it's a great idea. I mean, for the city to go out of its way to get this grant, to put a piece of parkland in a position where you could probably do something else. I just don't know. You know, the part that seems to be very disturbing, they can go out of their way to find money, whether it be for this park land. And this past week, an application went in for the Medford Public Library, which is all good. These are all good causes. But you have a Medford police station that's completely coming apart. It's lost its value. You go back to 2009, Councilman Marks brought forward a complaint from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts saying that the building was unfit for its habitation. The city did nothing on it. The city refused to condemn it. And it's in a state of disrepair. There is nothing going on. And you try to explain this to the people in the city of Medford, you're spending $250,000, almost $500,000 to rehabilitate a place in Medford Square that you would have to leave like that ad infinitum. It just doesn't make any sense. It doesn't relate to not only development of Medford Square, it just doesn't relate to spending your money in the right way. There are so many things that need to take place. And I just don't know. And I think today, most recently, the administration just hired another assistant in one of the departments. You know, it would be nice if you folks and ladies, you know, were advised as to what's going on when the hiring takes place here and to have some kind of an opportunity to really need all these people at these expensive salaries. You know, you just got through, unfortunately, insulting the kids from the vocational school, not you as a Councilor, but the city administration. by trying to hide and not use the Christmas gifts of building these things that they had around here for City Hall, and then you go put them down at Hormel Stadium, and the city administration says we're gonna have another dedicating ceremony for which never took place for that, but you're standing here, but you're standing here as it relates to spending $250,000 and accepting a grant that you'll have no control over the use of the property. It makes absolutely no sense at all. So I agree with you, Councilman Marks. It was your idea in the beginning just to refurbish it, But for that kind of money, try to explain that to the guy in the street who's trying to save money to buy a new refrigerator or a washing machine and do some upgrading in his house.
[Richard Caraviello]: Move the question Mr. President.
[Robert Penta]: The city should change its priorities as it relates to how they want to spend their development money and for its future.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilman. Name and address, record please.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Andrew Castagnetti, Cushing Street, Bedford, Mass. Um, This Riverside Plaza project, it seems to me that it's money that's not being well spent. If you go through a spending 250,000 or, or 350,000, however it works out whenever you get the grant money, et cetera. I took a real close look at it. I'm kind of old school and it seems to me it's an fine, I'll stand in order as far as the strength of the structure. It does need a roof, obviously. And if it was me, what I would do, I would put a new roof on it, and that shouldn't cost more than $2,000. And I would, let's say, a weather vane, maybe someone could donate it from one of their estates from the old days, in the clipper ship building days, and I would probably a 25 to 55 foot high, a sculptor of sorts, metal with the wind, and I would put it three steps higher towards, next to the old cemetery. That's what I would do. That shouldn't cost more than, depending on how much the artist wants, 25,000 total. And we have no so-called handcuff limits in the future with that property that way. Just thinking out loud. Thank you for listening.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you for your opinion, Mr. Castagnetti. Name and address for the record, please.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez 281 Park Street. This project sounds exactly like the type of project that we were discussing last year when the election, when we passed the CPA. This was supposed to be so that we wouldn't have to take money out of the general funds and put off things that the city needed because we had this special account that was just for projects like this. And a year later, we're still waiting on that CPA ordinance and we're still waiting on that commission to be drafted.
[Richard Caraviello]: It has been drafted.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: It's been drafted in the past. OK, and we're waiting on the commission. And this project shouldn't take a dollar out of our general money. It should come right out of the CPA funds. We've already paid those funds in. And if this is the project that we want to spend the money on, then that's where the money should come. We have to be leery of some of these grants. I do apply for grants as part of my PTO at my daughter's elementary school. And I've seen grants that look great and say, we're going to give you $60,000, and you can put new playground equipment on your school. But you have to provide $150,000 for surfacing and leveling. And then I say, whoa, we can't do that because we don't have that kind of money. That's something that we need to look at here. Grants are great, but we can't afford all of them. And we have to be choosy. And if we have a fund that's sitting there ripe for projects like this, then that's something we should tap into. Is that something that we can retroactively tap into here? Or is that just money that's going to come out of the general fund and it's just gone?
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Point of information, Councilor Knight. The Community Preservation Act has a requirement that a Community Preservation Commission will be established. And the Community Preservation Commission is the capital planning body and the body that would come up with where that funding is going to be spent and where it's going to be appropriated.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Name and address of the record, please.
[SPEAKER_02]: With approval of the council.
[Richard Caraviello]: Name and address of the record.
[Jeanne Martin]: Gene Martin, 10 Cummings Street. Thank you very much. First of all, I want to thank the mayor and commend her for doing, for looking at Medford Square. I think it's fantastic because Medford Square, the traffic pattern is an absolute nightmare. So I want to thank her for putting that as a top priority for the city. I think it's great and worthy and fantastic. I mean, it's absolutely It's got to be the number one thing, because it's a mess. And we want people to come here, and we want them to enjoy the square. That said, I'm grateful for the library. I'm going to compliment her on the library. Whoever got that done.
[Richard Caraviello]: The library has nothing to do with this.
[Jeanne Martin]: Right. But whoever got that done, fantastic.
[Richard Caraviello]: The library isn't done.
[Jeanne Martin]: It's not a done deal?
[Richard Caraviello]: It's not a done deal. It's just an application.
[Jeanne Martin]: Well, I wish it all well because I'm a proponent of the library. But anyway, the problem is that the drip, drip, drip of small amounts of money. And I don't know if we're borrowing money. Are we borrowing the $250,000 to pay for this? We're borrowing. So we're going to be doing one of those bonds, right? Oh, no. So you see that can't happen. The problem with that, and with all due respect, is that we need to prioritize the police department first.
[Richard Caraviello]: And the problem with this money has nothing to do with the police department either.
[Jeanne Martin]: Yeah, but it all adds up to this money.
[Richard Caraviello]: This money has nothing to do with the police departments. You can't take this money and put it to this grant money and use it for the police department.
[Jeanne Martin]: Not the grant money. No, but the bond money. See, it's a small project.
[SPEAKER_10]: There's no such thing.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: We're going out to bond 550, but the council did take a vote that once we get reimbursed that 250, it will go directly towards paying off the portion of the bond.
[Jeanne Martin]: But we are taking out a bond to do it.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: We're taking out a bond. We're going to reimburse it but only 250. So yes, the city is in it for 300.
[Jeanne Martin]: With all due respect and I get that. But we're still borrowing money for a small project that's not necessary for the city. It's a nice project. The other point that I would like to make is that I like the idea of doing the city square. Instead of just doing it drip by drip by drip, we need to have a master plan for the thing. And if we don't get a grant, then we don't get a grant for it. Because we have to have the whole city, the square process, like in, you know, and then if we can get a grant for it, fantastic. But it has to be straightened out. without thinking that, you know, Daddy Warbucks is going to give us money. And I know it's great when he does that, but it's, you know, I would just warn us that if we keep on doing small little grants and grants and grants, we'll never get to the priorities because we have schools to pay for and repairs and maintenance and police department personnel and everything else. And so every little bit matters. But, um, so I don't want to be a, I really don't want to be a fly in the ointment. I was having a great night. I wasn't going to get up and talk, but, but I can't help myself. So thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: This is a built, this is a building block for the redevelopment of the square. Move the question, Mr. President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Um, president Caraviello, I just want to reiterate, I think, The last few speakers are making an extremely important point. And I think as one Councilor, I would rather be voting for a new police station or bonding for a new police station. But that was not what has been put forward to us by the administration. This is a worthwhile project. It's great that we're getting grant money. It is a little pricey. I agree with that. It was what was put before us, not being allowed to make changes financially to the concept is difficult. I think it's a hard decision we have to make. But it's something, with regards to the police station, it is all relevant. We need to go out to bond for a new police station. We need to do it sooner than proposed in the capital improvement plan. But until we have five Councilors that will bond together and demand that, it's not going to happen until the administration is ready. And we've said loud and clear, that is our priority. It is our priority. So we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do we not vote for any of these projects and then not move the city forward, waiting for that? Or do we just continually keep asking for it and keep almost begging for it?
[Jeanne Martin]: With all due respect, it's going to sound like terrible. But the little thing that you're talking about is a luxury. It's like a thing for people to come and gather.
[Richard Caraviello]: And with the things that this- It's the start of a building the rebuilding of the squares. It's a starting point. You have to start somewhere.
[Jeanne Martin]: Yeah, but we have to have a master plan.
[Richard Caraviello]: You may not agree, but it is a starting point. Move the question, Mr. President.
[Robert Penta]: Thank you. Just one point. Maybe I misunderstood something. Did you just say that this is the beginning of the starting of the building of the square? It's a starting point. Where's the report on that? And who presented that? And where is it? It's no one presented. It's a starting point. Who said it's the starting point? I said it's the starting point. So don't let's mislead the people by saying it's the starting point.
[Richard Caraviello]: That is a misleading. It is a misleading. It's a starting point for the rebuilding of the square.
[Robert Penta]: The starting point of the building in the square is those poor businesses that are being affected by a bridge that's got another year and a half to go over there, okay? And they can't get the right of day. And no one from this city, hall, has gone down to any one of those businesses and asked them, how is their business, how has it been affected? They have a bus stop issue they can't even get resolved. And you're talking about taking $250,000 and putting it on a piece of property.
[Richard Caraviello]: Many people have gone down and addressed the business. No, they haven't.
[Robert Penta]: No one from this building has gone down there. No, I think you go out and go talk to the people. More importantly, more importantly, Mr. President, you're making this a permanent piece of property that you cannot touch. And if you cannot touch it, what's the sense of taking it? You're being restricted. And if you're being restricted, you council Longo current, you said it's an expensive.
[Adam Knight]: In the past several months, we've seen a number of resolutions come across the city council, uh, agenda that had been voted on favorably by these bodies. Mr. President, um, that speak to directed patrols down in Medford square due to an increased amount of loitering. Um, uh, I believe the term was undesirables hanging around the square. Um, it was used a couple of times, but quite frankly, um, we don't have any right to tell somebody who's standing in public property. That's not a park land to beat it. When it becomes a park, it falls into the jurisdiction of the park commission. We have more control and direction over what happens in that piece of land.
[Robert Penta]: And right now the park, if I understand it correctly, and I can be corrected, It's in perpetuity. Councilor Lingo-Curran, she's the lawyer. Perpetuity means it stays the way it is. I understand that. I understand that. What is your rush, Councilor De La Rosa? You want to get home early? You have a customer waiting for you? Listen, I would like to make my point.
[Richard Caraviello]: This is very important.
[Robert Penta]: You're taking city money to match it and to get paid back on it. The unfortunate part is, don't have people misled that this is the beginning of changing the revitalization of Bedford Square. When you haven't even had the business people, you haven't even had the chamber come in to have a discussion on how it is.
[Richard Caraviello]: We've had multiple discussions. No, you haven't had multiple discussions.
[Robert Penta]: You haven't, Mr. President. And you're on the chamber and you've been there long enough and you should know.
[Richard Caraviello]: I don't speak for the chamber behind the rail. I do not speak for the chamber behind the rail. Councilor Longo-Kirk.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Just on that point of imperpetuity, I think it was asked in the committee of the whole meeting, and I think it's satisfied. And I understand the concern. I had the concern as well. And I understand why Councilor Marks is voting against it. But I asked that question specifically. And there's obviously a rule against perpetuity. So the way it was explained to us, and I am taking that as how things would go, is that we could not, yes, that will be parkland. That will be parkland for a very long time. And if we try to change it in two, three, four years, especially while we're paying off that bond, then no, we're not going to be able to change that. But down the line, 25, 35, 40 years down the line, whenever that may be, and whenever this council wants to change that, we may be able to do that. And that's how it was explained to us.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On Councilor Dello Russo's motion. Second. Second by Councilor Layton. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. It's recording in opposition based on- Councilor Marks has been recorded in opposition based on the reasons he stated.
[Clerk]: On the funding mechanism. When the roll call comes. Councilor Dello Russo. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Landau-Kern. Yes. Vice President Marks.
[SPEAKER_02]: No.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[Clerk]: President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. In the vote of six in the affirmative, one in the negative. Motion passes. It's had a standard reading. and it will move on. Thank you. Records have been passed to Councilor Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, I wish more time to scrutinize the records and motion that they be tabled.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Dello Russo. Motion to adjourn by Councilor Falco.
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