[Richard Caraviello]: Medford City Council, 13th regular meeting. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo? Present. Councilor Falco? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Councilor Adam Kern? Present. Vice President Marks?
[v8c6yqLwu5E_SPEAKER_17]: Present.
[Clerk]: Councilor Scarpelli?
[v8c6yqLwu5E_SPEAKER_17]: Present.
[Richard Caraviello]: President Caraviello? Present. Please rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Motion by Councilor Knight to suspend the rules.
[v8c6yqLwu5E_SPEAKER_17]: To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council,
[Richard Caraviello]: Dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the appropriation of certified free cash in the amount of $250,000 for providing a cash match for the school department capital skills grant. The balance in certified free cash prior to this vote is $8,604,329. Superintendent Roy Belson, will be on hand to answer any questions that we may have. Mr. Bellison.
[Roy Belson]: Mr. President, members of the council, good evening. I'm here tonight with Dr. Heidi Riccio, the principal director of the Medford Vocational Technical School. And she's going to go into some detail for you with regard to this particular capital skills program. The money was awarded by the governor recently. Contract was just signed the end of March. And there is going to be approximately $1.3 million of altogether between the state grant and in-kind contributions from various vendors and others of their money. But we need a $250,000 capital match to advance our culinary arts and hospitality program and our advanced manufacturing program. If you go up the technical school now, you'll see that the old print shop is now being deconstructed and being made into a first class hospitality and restaurant center. And you're also going to see the advance of the advanced manufacturing activity going on with robotics and engineering going on, things that were never really considered likely in a vocational technical school years ago. Dr. Riccio has done a terrific job putting all this together. We're very pleased that the governor saw his way to give us a half million dollars, and I'm going to let her go into details. You have some materials that we've given you previously, but also tonight she's added some supplementals that she can discuss with you so that you have an idea of what we're investing in. We think this is a terrific project. It's going to advance our activities technically. It's also going to help us partner with some very significant area individuals and corporations. And we think it's one of the best things we've ever done. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Riccio. Thank you, Mr. Belson.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Mr. Belson, city council. I have given you two packets of information. The first is the part of the app booth were submitted as part of the application. The first is the budget. And what we looked at with this capital skills grant that came out through the governor's office, I'm sure you have all been well aware of what vocational education is in Massachusetts, particularly since the Governor Baker has come in and has allotted over $35 million in the next three to five years for specific vocational technical expansion. In Medford, over the last three years, we have increased our programs from 11, to 20. We have also eliminated pretty much the out-of-district tuition that we are paying out of Medford and two out-of-district placements as a result of these new programs. Culinary arts and hospitality is the third largest industry in the world, second only to the healthcare operations and government agencies. We also have Winn-Everett or Winn-Boston Harbor coming in that will employ up to 4,000 hospitality workers, not including the addition of a Marriott corporate hotel chain here, which is a boutique hotel that opened just last year. Another hotel and conference center that is opening up in Medford, including the hotel that already exists. lots of different area restaurants, but in addition to that, being so closely situated to Boston, which is the largest convention center in the state of Massachusetts. Because of this, we see a significant need to increase our opportunities for our students and make sure that they're prepared for the future workforce, not just the existing workforce. The current space was built in the mid-1990s out of a first-floor cafeteria. The space was divided up and sectioned off. There is no window space available. There is no easy access to the general public. There is outdated equipment. The tile is not appropriate for the kitchen of today, as well as the dining room. The new space was written as a direct result of what those needs are. The space was selected as Graphic Communications because it sits on an outside area or quadrant of the vocational high school. This means that there'll be easy access from the outside public coming into the vocational school to dine and have their meetings at our school. There'll be no access to the rest of the building because the entrance will be directly from the outside. As a result, we have applied for the $500,000. Last year, we did not get awarded it. We felt that it was important to go back to the governor and seek why. One of the reasons is that we did not have enough or strong enough partnership or in-kind donations. So as a result, we spent the last 10 months investigating who we can partner with. The partners are situated in that two-page document that you have. We are also looking at advanced manufacturing. And I believe February of last year, it was the city council that actually recommended, which I did receive a letter from Councilman Marks, to investigate advanced manufacturing. As a result, we felt that there was a need to increase our opportunities for our robotics and engineering students and increase advanced manufacturing opportunities. Therefore, there's approximately $89,000 of this grant application that was strictly and solely for advanced manufacturing equipment. If you see on the second page, and it has all of our partnerships, I can certainly explain the partnerships between InKind and CashValue, if you would like. In kind with Bunker Community College is the dual enrollment potential. So we took the average cost of what a three credit course is, multiplied it by the number of students that potentially could take these dual enrollment courses, and that's how we were able to figure that out. That's a little bit different than articulated credit. Articulated credit is credit that students receive at the vocational high school just by being part of that program. For example, Culinary Arts and Hospitality has a state-articulated agreement with every community college in the state of Massachusetts. Therefore, as a result of taking their high school program at the vocational school, they have an option provided they meet the criteria of a B or better to earn college credit. That is the same in the engineering program as well as the robotics program. So that articulated credit is a cost savings to the number of students that have the potential to earn college credit just by coming to the vocational high school. When Boston Harbor, which I did include each of these in-kind and cash donations in the second packet has a letter of support as well as what those donations or in-kind services are. Wynn Boston Harbor, over the next five years, has committed to $525,000 worth of in-kind donations. What that means is that Wynn Boston Harbor, because it is considered a luxury resort property, They change out their equipment and services in linen every three years in order to make sure that they're providing exceptional service to their guests. We will become a direct benefactor of any of the outdated equipment. It's not outdated by anybody else's standards but when, as a result of the type of program and offerings that they have. We will also have monthly guest lecture series programs for our students. What that means is the executive chefs, sous chefs from the Wynn Boston Harbor will guest lecture to the high school students at the vocational high school. In addition to that, they have guaranteed internships and cooperative education services or opportunities for our students. The Labor's Local 22. has donated the materials that it will cost in order to build the ADA compliant ramp that will be the main entrance area of our vocational school, which is at a cost savings to the district of $50,000. Microsoft Corporation, we have three software engineers, two of which work for Microsoft Corporation. When companies like Microsoft donate their time or their services to a school district, they can award financial equivalent to the hours of what they donate to a particular school district. Those software engineers have awarded Medford Vocational Technical High School their equal salary pay for each hour that they donate to Medford Vocational School, which is five days per week, five hours per week. iRobot donated a robot that the students are able to work with. And Medford Public Schools, this is the in-kind of $75,000. We believe that our students in the construction fields, meaning carpentry, construction and craft laborers, electrical, HVAC and refrigeration, and metal fabrication, should receive authentic learning experiences alongside the tradesmen that we will be hiring in order to complete this work. As a result, we specifically put in our quotes that they have to be willing to work alongside our students. We believe that our students will receive authentic work. If you have been following us on Facebook or in the blog that Lisa Evangelista has, there are several pictures of our kids directly involved in this project. So we value that at a cost savings to the district or to the city of $75,000. We are also, through Bunker Hill Community College, we have engaged in a partnership through the Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium, in which $48,000 is being given to the district in order to run this program and to pay for certain costs and materials. The second packet that you have is labor statistics that validates the reason why we selected culinary arts and hospitality as well as the advanced manufacturing fields. This can all be found on the Massachusetts Labor Statistics website. The letters of support as well as the plan in moving forward and the equipment that we had submitted for approval. We also have a letter from state representatives, as well as the mayor of Everett and the mayor of Medford, forging a partnership between the two schools for offering vocational courses or programs to students from Medford and Everett. So at this time, if you have questions for me or- You should.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. President. So, a few years back, as a member of the school committee and myself and Mr. Falco, I don't think we ever dreamed that the vision that the reality that we are in today and the vision that you've led us with, Dr. Riccio, is amazing. The thought process in my mind back then was trying to boost the programs that we had in place, the automotive, the electrical, the other wonderful programs. But what you've done here now, the leadership programs, the partnerships with different businesses, communities, and unions, the collaborations with all the stakeholders, the alumni involvement, the thousands of dollars that we're saving, keeping our kids in our community, and the money that we were losing at that time. The sense of pride that I feel for what you're trying to do and what you are accomplishing is immense. And you can feel it throughout the community. Again, I had two more phone calls today from parents asking me, how can I get in touch with the vocational school where kids were not in vocational education. They were in private schools and wanted to come back to Medford and wanting to participate in the vocational experience. So as this program, as this request comes in front of us, I just see it as a continued commitment that I made back then to try to focus on helping the vocational school be the jewel that it's supposed to be. And with your leadership and the superintendent's leadership, I think we've done that. I think this is just an amazing program. I see the benefits in the community that I work in, not to knock them, but they have one wonderful program. And they boast on that one wonderful program, and that program is the culinary arts program. And what that program does for that community's senior citizens and residents, that they can just walk across the street and take the senior bus to the vocational school and purchase and have a four course meal that normally they can't afford and to come into that culinary art setting and celebrate that and knowing that this is now going to be a reality in Medford and seeing the construction that's being done there and the access that the community will have there is second to none. And as I told the director this week that the only one piece of jewelry that they had on us is now going to go back, and we're now taking over everything. And so again, when you're talking about money well spent, I think this community, and with your efforts, and the way you've spelt it out for us, only shows and reinforces how, not just financially, but prideful enthusiasm that we're getting back tenfold. from our investment. So I thank you. I commend you. And, um, and I don't care what anybody says. Uh, no one has thanked me for bringing you to, to, to Medford. I think it was me personally. I drove all the way to your home and brought you here. So, um, that really didn't happen, but I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Scott. Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank, uh, Mr. Bellson and Dr. Riccio for being here tonight. I am very, very excited to hear this news with regard to the grant. You know, Councilor Scarpelli hit it on the head. When we were on the school committee, we used to, you know, we had the folk and, you know, and I was always of the mentality of, you know, we've had vocational education in this city for over 80 years. And we, you know, we should embrace it. And we should, you know, give it the funding that it needs. And if we give it the right amount of funding, It's going to happen. And I think we did that. But one of the key components was hiring you. And I mean that when I say that, because I tell people this. When we were on the school committee, we hired almost every single principal in the district, because principals were coming and going. And I thought that, honestly, I look today at everyone that we hired, and I think you were one of our best hires. And I mean that, because since you've come in, You know, you've really built the program. You know, when you say you've gone from 11 to 20 programs, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any other school district that has done that. When we talk about, you know, out-of-district tuition, the reduction, almost the elimination of out-of-district tuition, kids going to Minuteman, I mean, when we used to have budget time, we used to look at that number, and it was just mind-boggling. I think it was up at around a half a million dollars at one point.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: One million.
[John Falco]: More than that. OK, yeah, one million. I'm sorry. So $1 million. And we've reduced that. So that's a significant reduction. And those dollars are coming back, and they're in our school district. And I mean, the partnerships that you've built, the vision that you had, it's just been amazing. And you haven't even been in the district that long. So you've had quite an impact. And you know, everybody you talk to, Um, you know, vocational, you know, technical, uh, technical, um, school. I mean, really vocational education is the rage right now. I mean, every, a lot of kids want to go to the book, go to method technical school. And, uh, you know, the way I look at it is it's the best of both worlds because you can learn a trade and you can go to college if you want. Yeah. And I think those are valuable tools. And, um, to come here with this news tonight, um, I mean, To see that all the partnerships that you've formed and the in-kind donations that are coming in, it's just remarkable. This is something that I support 100%. And I think that the other thing you're trying to do is you're trying to build the alumni network, which I think is huge. And I'm going to plug. Yeah, absolutely. You have an event coming up.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: I do. Well, not I, because it's the Alumni Association, but Musical Bingo. So it's $25, April 13th, 7 to 11, at the Irish American Club. And the prizes are pretty phenomenal, actually. We have the Sheridan Boston, and I don't know if you know the hotel industry, but April in Boston on a Saturday night is extremely difficult to even get a hotel room, let alone get one for free. So we were able to get the Red Sox Saturday, I think it's April 27th, with an overnight to the Sheridan Hotel as one of the prizes. We have probably about four or five different sets of Red Sox tickets and hotel reservations. We have been nothing but generous and we've had a tremendous amount of graduates that have donated. We have, I know you're going to kill me because you have your Red Sox hat on, but whoever the Cy Young award winner was last year, we have, Cy? I said it right, Cy? Oh, okay. So, whatever. I know that. But anyway, we have his baseball, okay? So, we have a lot of fabulous prizes that are out there, but the biggest thing with the Alumni Association is that we didn't have a formalized association. And we know in Medford Because we have had vocational education long before any regional vocational school district since 1932. So we're coming up to our 90th. And as a result, we need to recognize that alumni. Because often the alumni go, well, how can I help? Well, this is one of the ways to help, is to join the Alumni Association. All funds will be given to students alone. So scholarship funds to defray the cost of tools, because as you know, if you are in auto tech, you do not get a job unless you already have your set of tools. So we want to be able to provide each graduate with a set of entry level tools for whatever program they're in. And that's what the Alumni Association is really raising funds for. It's not for all of us to have a party. It's to directly benefit the students of the vocational school as they enter their field of study or college, whichever they prefer.
[Roy Belson]: So before Heidi goes on a little bit, tonight she came down, she left school, left 200 members of the advisory committees, all 20, 10 per advisory committee up there, working on doing additional contributions and the like.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: How many people are up there now? 200 plus? There are about 220.
[Roy Belson]: Yeah. It's incredible up there. They're working up there, developing all kinds of ways to assist the school moving forward. It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: Hardest part is I had to trust everyone to do the job, right? And so clearly, I trust them. I can leave. Because they're good.
[Roy Belson]: No, we have a- No, meaning leave tonight. We have a bracelet on us.
[John Falco]: If I may, I just wanted to just finish up, I guess, by saying, you know, I really admire the fact that, you know, you never gave up on the grant. And when we turned down, I think it was last year, and you went back and said, why? I mean, that tells, you know, everyone here a lot about you and about, you know, how you work. And it's like, I like how you have that, you know, never give up, you know, optimism. And, you know, we need to push ahead. We need to try harder. We need to see what we can do. If we don't get it this year, let's see if we can get it next year. And I think that's important. And I support this 100% and I move approval.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Falco. Councilor Longo-Caraviello.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Thank you for the presentation. My first question was going to be the design, but it looks like we all got it in our packet. I'm sure all the other councilors have seen it. We got this in the packet tonight. It looks very nice. Both drawings are in the packet. One question I have, maybe you could just elaborate. I know it was discussed. a couple weeks ago, Mr. Superintendent, but maybe you can elaborate with regards to, it was just said a million dollars was being spent on out-of-district, which I believe was Minuteman, but maybe you can just go over those figures. For people out there that are saying, why the $250,000? Do we have, you know?
[Roy Belson]: So what you have is you have a situation in which if a school district does not have a particular vocational program, a student from our community could opt to go to a regional vocational school which has the program. Now, the program that has absorbed most of our youngsters who have gone out of the district is Minuteman. And there's some to Essex Aggie and places like that for agricultural programs. But Minuteman has been the main thing. And there was as many as 50 youngsters out there a few years ago. And given their tuition rates and the like, with special ed assessments on top of it, we're pushing $1 million a year. Next year, we'll have, what, eight people out? We have eight people out, and the year after, there'll be zero. There were no applications that came in from Minuteman this year because we have programs that can't touch our young people because we have the programs in-house. In addition to that, with the expansion of what we're doing and working with Everett and some other communities that need a vocational program, we're actually going to be bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on tuition. So the turnaround in a short period of time could be close to $2 million. And that goes back to reinvesting in a school, because when you talk about technical education, you have to reinvest all the time. And you can't just simply say, well, the equipment is there, and it's going to be there for the next 50 years. It's not like bricks. It's got to be the state of the art. And we've got to be able to reinvest on a regular basis. And that's going to give us that capacity. It's going to give us that capacity to hire people who have a great deal of experience, rather than people who are starting out in careers. And that's going to change. the entire way we look at the future. So I think that sort of, I hope that answers your question. If you need more, I can tell you more.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Just the AP. So 1 million, we spent a couple of years ago. I remember that during budget time. And then what will the eight, just bringing that number of 40 or 50 students out to eight, what was, what's the cost difference there?
[Roy Belson]: Well, the cost difference at eight students, probably a couple hundred thousand dollars, the most 150, you know, thousand dollars down from that in a year from now, that'll be gone altogether. The other thing that's probably very significant is that Minuteman is looking to rebuild its facility. They want to build a 628-pupil facility. They don't have 628 pupils to put in it. So as a result, the cost of that is going to be absorbed by the remaining towns. There were 16 communities that were in the Minuteman district. There are now nine, as seven communities opted to leave because they didn't want to be part of the capital plans. that Minuteman was going to assess. We're going to guess that some community is going to pay $40,000, $50,000 per pupil to go to Minuteman, because there's going to be a capital charge to go there. And we think it's not a very workable kind of thing. I think the state's going to have to intervene. But in the short term, we're out of that. We're gone. Because they were going to get the ability to assess a capital fee on top of the tuition fee, which could have been $10,000 on top of the tuition, which would have gone up to over $20,000. $35,000 per kid. Unrealistic. We got ahead of the curve. We saw it coming. That's why we were pushing back on the Minuteman issues a few years ago. And we're also saving transportation, because we won't be sending youngsters there. That's another $65,000 to $75,000 a year in transportation. So a lot of positives in that. And then, of course, the evening school programs that Dr. Riccio has started, bringing people in from the community to learn trades and other things like that. That's going to be another major thing. for not only revenue, but also to give our people a chance to gain the skills they need. You know, one of the discussions about jobs and creating jobs is giving people skill training, because you can't necessarily protect an industry which is no longer viable in this country by just simply saying, let's hope it comes back. You have to give people skill training so they can move on to the next industry. And another thing that she's done, which I think is particularly significant, she's clustered and created programs so that you're cross-trained. So if you're an HVAC in some of these other areas, you're learning multiple skills. So if one industry goes south, you've got capacity to move to other industries. And that's exciting. Not only is hospitality, you know, the restaurant, but it's the back of the house, it's the front of the house, it's all the maintenance of the house that goes with it. So it's a major, major industry that produces all kinds of jobs and allows people to move across the lines as they cross trains.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. So on that, just in 2018-19 is when we expect zero teenagers to go outside a district, and that's when we'll be able to opt out before the capital assessment. Right. OK. Great. And then with regards to a time frame, if you do get, obviously, this money, and I believe you said it was 1.3 in total, what's the time frame for the build out and grand opening? You want to tell them? get ready, put your roller skates on.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: Okay. So part of the grant application is that the equipment is installed by June 30th, which is the fiscal year. Yep. So we recognize that there may be some incidental work that is going to have to be done over the summer months, but the grand opening will be in September.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I do want to echo the sentiments of my two former school committee colleagues with regards to increasing 11 programs to 20 and all the work you've done. I see it in the newspaper and on Facebook, and it's really encouraging and exciting to see. And it's the opportunities for our students that they didn't have before. So I want to thank you myself. And I look, you know, this is going to be amazing for especially those who want to be in the hospitality or robotics fields. And I think that's wonderful.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilman O'Farrell.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Nice. Mr. President, thank you very much. And Mr. Belson and Ms. Riccio, thank you very much for being here this evening. I just want to thank you for the job that you both have done on this. It's been a long work in progress, and you've done a great job. And I really think you're doing a great job in moving vocational education in Medford forward and in the right direction. You've broken down walls, the walls between the high school and the vocational school, and you've built the bridge over to Everett now. We built the bridge over to the casino, bridge to local 22, bridge to iRobot. You're really doing a great job, and I think that this proposal's not only well thought out, but it's data driven. And I think it'll both fill a void that we have here in the community, but it will also prepare our future leaders for the ability to be successful in our region's economy. So thank you very much for the work that you do. This is something that I'll support wholeheartedly, and I have no problem supporting it this evening. I think it's a great job. The amount of information that you've provided us this evening is terrific. It answers any question that I could even come up with if I wanted to. But this is something I believe in. I think you've done an excellent job. You know, when I was in high school, Medford High and the vocational school were operating in two distinct worlds. And since the time that you've been on, Ms. Riccio, we've seen a lot of changes in the culture up at Medford High School. And I think it's for the better. I think you're doing an excellent job. And, you know, I'd love to see the look on Mr. Kelly's face and Mr. Rendazzo's face and Mr. Mahoney's face come June when this opens up. I know that the vocational director when I was in school is no longer with us. He was a great person, Larry Volpe. And I can tell you right now, he'd be very proud of the progress that the vocational schools made. So thank you very much for your work. And I'm certainly comfortable supporting this this evening. Thank you, Councilor.
[Michael Marks]: Vice President Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank the superintendent of schools, Mr. Belson. This is twice in two weeks that you've been before us. We're on a roll. We'll see you next week, right? And I want to thank Dr. Riccio for coming tonight. You know, For many years in this community, and I could speak from previous experience as a graduate of the vocational school, vocational education in this community was always the stepchild, and never got the recognition for a lot of years. And when I say recognition, meaning funding-wise. There was always a lack of funding in the vocational school, and I think that's why we saw for a period of time a mass exodus from our vocational school to Lexington Minuteman and other surrounding schools. Because yes, indeed, we had shops, but as you just mentioned, they weren't equipped with the latest and greatest of technology or equipment. And it got a reputation that, well, we have a vocational school, but it's not up to par. And I can't tell you how proud I am to see what's going on in that particular school, how proud I am when I open the local paper, and see our students being recognized for winning awards, statewide awards. It's just a very proud feeling. And with all honesty, as was mentioned by some of my colleagues, Dr. Riccio, you've really infused some life back into that vocational school. And I'm glad to see that you mentioned advanced manufacturing. That was something I put and was supported by this council back probably a year ago, I think. It was in February of last year. Right. And those are actually the jobs that we're seeing out in the market now. There are jobs that are paying 60, 70, 80 grand, which is not a bad starting salary. And I'm glad to see that we're moving in that direction also. As Councilor Knight mentioned, when I was at the vocational school, there was a clear, it was like the Berlin Wall. You never passed a certain corridor. And it was vice versa. The high school kids never passed that. And now we have a cooperative learning with vocational and high school kids. It's just a great initiative. that kids from the high school may want to explore and say, you know what? Because I'll be honest with you, when I was in high school, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I thought a vocational education was where I wanted to go. And I ended up going back to college and didn't work in the trade. But I think it's an option that not everyone goes to a four-year college. And it's an option that we can brag about as a community, saying we offer the latest and greatest, not just a vocational education, the latest and greatest in technology and equipment in our schools. And we're actually partnershipping now with the city of Everett, which will, I think, be a great partnership to infuse more money into the vocational school. And I'm very pleased to hear about that. I do have to put in a plug because I hear it over and over again from parents that, how come we don't have a plumbing shop at the vocational school? And let me tell you, a plumber is like having a doctorate degree. They make their own hours, they show up at your house whenever they want, and they make very good money. And I think it's a trade that really that I think if we did open a plumbing shop, that you'd see full enrollment immediately. And not only full enrollment, but when kids graduate, they're going to graduate with a trade behind them that they can write their own meal ticket. And not to say your other shops don't, but the plumbing field, to me, is something that I'm sure there's probably an expensive startup cost, but I think it would be worth its weight in gold to attract more kids to the vocational school, to an industry that, in my opinion, you know, I urge kids to go into electrical, plumbing. They make an honest living. They make a good living. to support their families and there's plenty of work out there for a good plumber, a good electrician across the board. The one question I would ask you is that you mentioned about 100 students from Everett coming over and knowing the size of our program, I know we added another nine programs to our already existing programs. At what point will we be compromising our own vocational school with Medford students. Do we have a number in sight that would say, you know what, we're not gonna exceed a certain number. Will Medford students get preference over Everett students if a shop is filling up? Maybe if you could just elaborate a little bit on that.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely. We selected the 100 as the magic number as far as what, with our current capacity, could we handle without taking away from our Medford students. So 100 was the capacity. Right now, we are at 365 students that are taking advantage of vocational education, including high school students, and I think you all kind of went to school back in the day, and there are a lot more students enrolled just at the public high school, whether it's the high school or the vocational school. The square footage of the space, which is 536,000 square feet of the complex, originally housed a lot more students from an enrollment perspective. So we do have the capacity to grow, but looking at the current numbers without really looking at where the need is, we capped it at 100. We are also looking at doing a memorandum of understanding biannually so that we can make sure that it fits within the context of what we vision Medford Vocational High School to be. So 100 is that cap at this time.
[Michael Marks]: OK. And this has always been another issue, community outreach with the vocational students. And for a number of years, it was stated that, well, we can't have, we can do community stuff if you bring something to the vocational school, but we can't have our students go out into the general population and work on projects because of liability issues. And I'm not sure if that's something that you've looked into, but I believe our school would be a huge asset. And I always mention it, actually, when we talk about different projects going on in the city, saying, wouldn't it be nice to introduce a vocational school? Maybe someone in the metal fabrication would benefit from a learning standpoint and also from a community involvement standpoint. Has there been any movement to having more community outreach with our vocational students?
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely. Ironically, it's the plumbing board at the State Division of Professional Licensure that makes it very difficult for students to go out and work. But the other boards have been very flexible in that space, knowing that they are training the future workforce. Vocational education is really founded on authentic learning opportunities, which is not necessarily in the classroom. So we look at the community as an extension of the classroom. In vocational education, I'm not sure what it was in Medford prior to, but across the Commonwealth, those community-type projects are extremely important. We also, though, have to consider what is the curriculum of that particular program. For example, we no longer have what you would all call cabinet making. It's not something that we are teaching at this time. So if somebody would like us to build cabinets for a house, that is not something that we would do. If you look at our standards or our frameworks, so that's really the critical piece is that it has to fit within the curriculum of what that program is seeking. However, just last spring, we did do with the community garden, build a shed. So it's a grade 10 project because grade 10 would be a shed building project because it has the same concepts for framing as what a residential house would be. We're looking at this restaurant. Our students are using metal studs as well as fire rated studs. They're working with the building inspectors within the city of Medford. the ADA compliance officer, Diane McLeod. This is as true of a real project as you're going to get, but what it will do is it will jumpstart us, because you're right. When I first got here, we didn't necessarily go out into the community, and I didn't understand why, because most other vocational schools actually build a house. in the community, whether it's with Habitat for Humanity or another organization, or they have their own non-profit foundation that buys the land and then the vocational school builds the house. Our goal is to be able to do that long term. But we can't do that with 12 students in the carpentry program. So we need to be able to build the capacity to be able to do those larger projects. In addition to that, there are homes, if you know, through EPA for lead paint. Students cannot work on structures that have been built prior to 1970 without having a certification, a LED certified, EPA certified instructor in themselves. So we don't want to jeopardize students. If somebody calls us and said, oh, can you do something in this home? Or we wouldn't do home, actually. It can't be a house. It can't be a personal residence. But even if they wanted us to do something here, we would need to make sure that there's no lead paint in that area because you have to have a specialty for it. But yes, we are definitely into doing community service projects. We're also working with the Medford Little League and helping them with their concession stands. And so we're hoping to build one this year and then one the following year.
[Roy Belson]: You may want to tell them about the cooperative ed statistics.
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: Oh yes, that's kind of exciting. One thing that when I first got here is cooperative education is a work training program where students in their senior year of a vocational school can go out and work in the field alongside as an apprentice. However, by law, they can really go out in their junior year. So our goal was to not wait until their senior year. If the student is ready, they should be able to go out third term of their junior year and seek employment in that particular content area. And as a result of the hard work of our cooperative education coordinator, Lisa Berube, who came to us two years ago, she is, or Medford, is the fifth largest co-op placement by percentage in the state. And that's pretty incredible. But I will say it's really the support of the school committee and Superintendent Belson because we didn't have that position before. So before I got here, we had a teacher that was expected to teach full time. and go out and seek these placements. And you cannot do two jobs simultaneously and still expect a different outcome. So by hiring this person, she is out hitting the pavement each day. And the jobs that these kids are getting are real jobs that are growing. So some of them are making $18 to $20 an hour as 16-year-old students.
[Roy Belson]: I mentioned the laborers, Lou Mandarini's shop has been incredible, training the youngsters in Hopkinton and developing things and guaranteeing jobs for them. As you know, the construction industry is booming right now, and they're being guaranteed some incredible opportunities right now. A couple of quick points on going outside, just to augment what Dr. Riccio said, is that we have to pay attention to Davis-Bacon Law, can't compete. with certain kinds of activities out there, because that's, it violates certain laws. We also have to be careful, because remember, a high school student can be 14, 15 years old, so certain power equipment that they use has to be regulated. There's all kinds of child labor laws and things like that that we have to pay attention to. So anytime we cooperate with someone or look for a job project, we have to all take all that in consideration. And anyone who wants to work with us has to get CORI checked and all kinds of other kinds of investigations to make sure that we're not sending somebody into a place where there's problems, whether they're alcohol, drugs, or, you know, safety issues and so on and so forth. So there's a lot of little things that you've got to pay attention to, but Heidi's on top of it and she's, she's been terrific. And Lisa has been terrific as has a whole group of them. They've really got a spirit of esprit de corps over there that's,
[Michael Marks]: Just, Heidi, one more question regarding the enrollment. What has the enrollment been in the last three years?
[i42WuXCHMQM_SPEAKER_04]: It's difficult because I will say by increasing the opportunities for high school students, if you were to look at the Department of Ed website, it doesn't necessarily give a true reflection of the student population that we have. So if you were to look at the Department of Ed website, it looks like 265 vocational technical high school students. However, we're also serving an additional 130 high school students. that are taking advantage of career and technical education. We also have to look at enrollment from incoming ninth graders on the district level. For example, last year, not this year's grade nine students, but the year before, so our grade 10 students right now, there were 100 incoming, more incoming grade nine students two years ago than there was this year. So the numbers fluctuate, so that's why I think it's important to kind of look at the percentage. What is the percentage of the kids? So on average, incoming vocational high school students over the last two years have been 32% of the student population of incoming ninth graders.
[Roy Belson]: It should also be noted too that next year, every ninth grader at the high school will explore shops at the vocational school. So we've set it up as one of their options. They will go through with that as an elective. It will take some time to see a shop in a rotation. We're working out the schedule right now. I'm not sure how many days or how many weeks you're going to put them in, but that's going to be part of their electives. They have a chance to see that and see it from, for example, when they take something like biotech or environmental science, it just crosses over. It just crosses over. There are kids who are going to go from the vocational tech MIT because of their ability to put it together.
[Michael Marks]: That's great. Again, I am so pleased with the new offerings and the advancement that we've made in the vocational school. And it's under your leadership, Dr. Ruccio, and the superintendent of schools who has come around over the last several years. Let me tell you, he's really come around. And you know, Mr. Superintendent, it was back in 1983 I was at the sheet metal fabrication vocational school, method vocational school. And I made my first project. It was a mailbox. And I remember taking it home. I put it up on the wall in front of my mother's house, where my mother still lives. And if you go by there today, that mailbox, it's 34 years old. It's still hanging on the side of her house. After 34 years. So it shows you the craftsmanship, in technology that came out of that school.
[Roy Belson]: So I'm going to tell you one quick story. I went to the Roberts Junior High School. Never a quick story. Well, what can you do? I went to Roberts Junior High School. I'm going to read from a phone book next. And Ken Peck was the woodworking teacher. And I remember the name Ken Peck. But he was well before you. You're all too young. And Ken Peck was the woodworking teacher. And the goal was to make a game with a spinner on it, you know, a block of wood with different things on it. And I invented the first mini game. I could never get the block of wood to be square so the block could get smaller and smaller and smaller until the spinning just went beyond the wood. There was no wood left. It'd take off, right? Take it off. Al Johnson, who became the vocational director years ago, remember Al? Al became the vocational director. Kicked me out of sheet metal at the Roberts one year because he said, you'll ruin everything here. And I never got beyond the lazy brown Dog jumped all the way, the red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog and put me. So that wasn't my skill.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Batson. And Mr. Belson, on my behalf, I'm coming up my 45th year graduating from that high school with a second graduating class, and who would have thought we'd see now what you have there. And I thank you for your guidance, and Dr. Richfield for your vision, Again, I go up there now, and I'm amazed at some of the things I see. And you're providing real-world jobs for these kids to learn for when they graduate. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Just one last comment, Mr. President, which is simply this, is that a couple weeks ago, I was here, and you voted to submit the SOI. That plays into this, too. There's going to be some incredible things moving out in the next little while. You're part of it. You've been part of it. The whole science labs. fields, other things that were done, all contributed. In the next period of time, you're going to see something that you probably couldn't have envisioned because of people like Dr. Riccio and others who are investing themselves, bringing real talent to the place, and with real vision, and with real, let's say, aggressive and assertive ways to get funding to augment what we get from the city. So thank you for your support because you've been there supporting it. We have to come to you for city money and we appreciate what you do to support us as well. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. We have, we have a, someone don't like to speak.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Name and address of the record, please. Andrew Castagnetti, Cushman street, Method, Massachusetts. Great to hear. vocational training for our local students in Medford. As a matter of fact, it seems it's way overdue. From what I understand, a lot of corporations that are here, the Raytheons and GEs, they cannot find enough qualified students, especially coming out of high school. So I was kind of surprised to hear that the Minuteman bill was I believe the awards were up to a million dollars on one annual basis. And I understand and I've heard for many years if it's true that some other communities send their students here, such as Everett and others maybe. And I was just curious if it's $20,000 or $30,000 to send our children to Minuteman, times 20-something, whatever, became a million dollars. I was just wondering, if you put it on a scale, how much did we acquire by renting out vocational and teachers to other students? How much per year and what that total was compared to up to the million dollars? One other addendum, if I could recollect. Yes, I recollect. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. On the motion by- May I just finish one- I'm sorry. Mr. President. I would hope it would be automatic that in the future, even the present, that the Medford High School vocational school would be on a first term, first basis to satisfy all of our local students that live here. before we start renting it out and charging and making monies from other students. So to the chair, I'd like to know, on a scale of a million dollars, minute man versus how much we charged and how much per student we charge, and also if there'd be a guarantee that to make sure that our students would have first preference over any aliens that might come in from other cities.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Mr. Belson, would you like to address that?
[Roy Belson]: Minuteman, this year's rate was something like $17,500 plus $4,500 for special education. That rate will go up and the capital fee gets added. We project it's going to be at $30,000 in another couple of years. We're using a rate that is around $12,000 plus $4,500 or $4,000 for special needs, plus an administrative fee of about $1,500. So we're probably in the $15,000, $16,000 variety altogether. So it's definitely a good deal for our neighbors. At the same token, it provides us with substantial revenue. You understand the term marginal utility. When you've got so much space, it's already paid for. Everything else is extra. So, you know, we're not costing ourselves money by adding staff. We're just filling in where we could. get value with existing operations.
[djVjfHvwilk_SPEAKER_10]: Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Well, for a particular... Well, it depends on how many youngsters we have there, but, you know, with... Well, we have a hundred students, okay, in the building. When that actually is realized, we'll be seeing a hundred times, maybe a million and a half to two million. Hasn't started yet.
[v8c6yqLwu5E_SPEAKER_17]: No.
[Roy Belson]: I thought vocational students were already coming here from. They are, but there's, they are, but there's, I believe that's true. They are, but there's about 30 of those right now. There's a lot.
[djVjfHvwilk_SPEAKER_10]: And will the Medford residents and students have first preference? Absolutely.
[Roy Belson]: Absolutely. Yes.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by council Scarpelli, seconded by councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Lungo-Koehn? Yes. Vice President Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Cameo?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative and none in the negative. Motion passes. Congratulations and keep up the good work that you're doing up there. We thank you very much. Motion by Councilor Lungo-Koehn to revert back to regular business. 17, three, two, nine, offered by Vice President Mox, be it resolved that the city administration update the council on traffic improvements and pedestrian safety initiatives. Well, I'll let you do that after I come back to that. Be it resolved that the city administration update the council on traffic improvements and pedestrian safety initiatives at Wellington Circle, Mystic Avenue, and the Fellsway. Vice President Mox.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I put this on the agenda tonight as a follow-up to discussions that have been held by this Medford City Council over the last several years, and also recent discussions about road safety audits that took place that were audited by the Mass. Department of Transportation. Some of it is regarding the need to update Wellington Circle which we all know has been long overdue for many years, and some of it is because of the new Wynn Casino that will be coming to fruition within the next roughly year and a half. I offer this, Mr. President, to get some answers on behalf of not just Medford residents that have to deal with the daily traffic at Wellington Circle, but because Wellington Circle is really the intersection to Everett, Malden, Somerville, Revere. It impacts many, many commuters, not just residents of this community. It was back in 2014 that the state legislature approved $26 million, Mr. President, for transportation funding within this community. And as part of that $26 million, the state legislature, in their wisdom, along with Mayor McGlynn, earmarked $15 million to look at a grade separation at Wellington Circle, which is an underpass that would go from 16 and 28 right through Wellington Circle and bypass a lot of the surface traffic that we're having now. Not too happy to say that I'm not aware of one penny that has been put forward to help mitigate some of the concerns that we have regarding traffic congestion at Wellington Circle and the need for traffic and safety improvements at Wellington Circle. Wynn Management, I'm sorry, Wynn Casino, when they submitted their application to the city of Medford, mentioned that they were going to spend $1 million on traffic improvements in Method, including traffic signals, upgrades, and timing optimization at Wellington Circle, and a study for long-term improvements. And I got a copy of the road safety audit, which was submitted by AECOM. which is at 250 Apollo Drive, Chelmsford, Mass. And they conducted the road safety audit on behalf of MassDOT. And the report was issued to the city of Medford in March 10, 2016. And if the council would just indulge me, it was a 40-page report. I don't want to read it all, but I would like to just go through some of the highlights that were recommended for Wellington Circle. and improvements to Wellington Circle. The background on this says the Federal Highway Administration defines road safety audit as the formal safety examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent multidisciplinary team. The purpose of the RSA is to identify potential safety issues and possible opportunities for safety improvements considering all roadway users. The RSA evaluates the Wellington Circle intersection along Mystic Valley Parkway, Revere Beach Parkway, Felsway, Middlesex Ave, and Mystic Valley Parkway. Under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, a safety audit was scheduled for this intersection as part of the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency approval process for the proposed Winn Everett project. It then goes on to say the project data The road safety audit was completed for Wellington Circle on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016. The RSA for Route 16, Mystic Valley Parkway, was conducted on the same day with the same audit team members. The agenda for the RSA meeting held at Wynn Design and Development offices near Wellington Circle. Method is provided within this report. And the report goes on, Mr. President, to list the, if you would, call it, the top potential safety enhancement issues at Wellington Circle. And there probably is about 20 of them on here. And they're rated, Mr. President, according to the safety payoff. Is it a high payoff for the commuters and pedestrians? Is it a medium payoff or a low payoff? Also, the time frame. Is it short-term, long-term, mid-term, and then the cost, high-cost, low-cost, and mid-cost? And who's responsible, the responsible agency for seeing this take place? I just would like to go through a few of these, Mr. President. And the reason why I bring this up is if anyone goes by Wellington and up on 93, you'll see the steel construction going up for the Wynn Resort. And it's on the fast track. And I'm concerned that some of the promises that were made originally for mitigation and to our community are not being followed through. And if they are, I'm not receiving any information on what's taking place to help mitigate some of the traffic concerns we have in Wellington. So traffic signal equipment installed countdown pedestrian signals. That currently does not exist, believe it or not, in an intersection that size. There's no countdown signals. Traffic signal equipment. Review signal heads and replace balls with arrows. Traffic signal equipment. Repair pedestrian signals from Route 28 southbound facing west. Traffic signal equipment. Many signals difficult to see, especially due to glare. Install signal backplates with reflective border and add visors as needed. Traffic signal equipment. Clearance time has appeared to be short for some intersection movements. Evaluate lengthening the yellow and all red clearance intervals. ADA accessibility. Upgrade all pedestrian crossings to meet ADA standards. One of the largest rotaries in this Commonwealth is not ADA compliant. Not sure how that happens, Mr. President, but it's not ADA compliant. Signage, install lane overhead, lane utilization signage on all intersections, approaches to make lanes used clear to motorists. You know, I actually live near Wellington Circle. You know how many times I see someone come in the opposite way? You know how busy that is, coming the exact opposite way through Wellington Circle. It happens quite frequently, actually, because of the poor signage. Pedestrian and bicycle combination evaluate the feasibility for pedestrian crosswalk at Middlesex have where no crosswalk exist Pedestrian bicycle combination examine the feasibility of providing separate bicycle lanes along route 16 eastbound and westbound through the circle lane configuration evaluate removing Through lane on route 28 southbound approach to the intersection and add lane markings where feasible to avoid lane confusion intersection geometry. Analyze a long-term scenario where the Middlesex Ave signal is moved further north. Evaluate the impact on safety and operations on all modes. I only bring up those few, Mr. President, because they seem like vital, important issues that need to be addressed. And, you know, we've received a lot of promises from our state delegation. I've talked to Representative Donato, who was instrumental, actually, in making sure that the state legislature did put in the $26 million back in 2014. So I know he's been working hard. I know Mayor McGlynn asked for what they refer to as a bypass, which would be a lane separation to go underground. And Mayor McGlynn asked, I believe it was Wynn Casino, for $100 million to do the project. And I'm not sure where those negotiations went, but I think Wynn would probably be more than happy to pitch in. But they see this as an issue that has existed well before the casino ever decided to come to Everett in this particular area. It really is a major infrastructure need for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, not just for the city of Medford, where that's such a crucial, crucial bypass to many other communities. So the question I'm asking tonight, Mr. President, I have a couple of them is, is there a commitment by Wynn to ensure the changes to increase intersection capacity will actually be implemented prior to the project opening? So they made a commitment of a million dollars and other improvements. Are we gonna see this commitment prior to their opening of Wynn Casino? Question two, Wynn plans to have most of the casino employees park offsite. and I've actually mentioned this in several articles that I read online, Wellington Circle is one of the major areas, I'm sorry, not Wellington Circle, the T Station, Wellington T Station is one of the major areas where they want to park employee cars at the Wellington T Station. Now if they have, you know, 2,000 employees, they're probably not all on at work at once, You can imagine the impact to commuters that use a Wellington station and park their cars there. So that would be a devastating impact to the local commuters if that were to take place, Mr. President. Also, so I'd like to know what wind plans are for employee parking off-site. And has the city of Medford requested wind to fund a long-term study for the circle? So in addition to the road safety audit, which was requested by MassDOT, and they complied. Has the city of Medford, on behalf of our residents and our infrastructure, requested a long-term study for the circle itself, Mr. President? So those are the three questions that I'd ask for approval with this paper, and hopefully we'll get a response back. And if need be, maybe we need to meet with DOT to push this issue, Mr. President. Like I said, It is a method issue, but this, as far as I'm concerned, is a state issue. I've been on the council a number of years now, and we've been talking about this each and every year for the past 15 years, about what are we going to do with the horrendous traffic queue up at Wellington Circle. You know, there are times I come from Boston that I don't hit any traffic coming or going to Boston, but you know where I hit it? Three minutes from my door at Wellington Circle, I'm stuck in 15 minutes of traffic in the city of Medford. And many of these concerns can be addressed with basic, basic needs, as I mentioned, regarding lane configuration, regarding traffic signal equipment, regarding signage. You know, we don't have to recreate the wheel here. This could be done with, you know, just some minor improvements to that circle, which haven't taken place in a lot of years. So I'd ask for approval, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Council Member O'Brien. Thank you, President Caraviello. I just want to second the resolve and thank Council Member Max for bringing this up. I actually work in the area, and I cross the street. I drive it all the time, and I cross the street. Today I went to Qdoba for some lunch. Sometimes I have to run. So if you see a woman in heels running across Wellington Circle, it's probably me in the middle of the day. The lights are not too bad, but it is still very scary because it's such a huge intersection. And you're right that we've talked about traffic and pedestrian safety in this intersection many times. I remember years ago bringing up pedestrian safety and making it more safe with regards to the lights and the signage. And directing patterns, obviously that has to do a lot with the traffic. I remember right into the state it really didn't go anywhere. But it would be extremely important to get it done, especially where we are going to increase the traffic with the wind development and increase the amount of cars on the road and parked at the T station. That's only going to congest station landing. If wind wants to park at the T, that's only going to more so congest Wellington Circle and station landing with regards to parking and traffic. So I really hope that the administration is on top of this and can keep the council updated on what initiatives we can take or how we can move forward to make traffic smoother and pedestrian safety more safe. And I think those recommendations in that 40-page report hit the nail on the head. They're small changes that can be made one at a time over the next several months to a year and make things definitely a heck of a lot better than they are now. So I second the resolve. I hope that we do get a report back from the administration on this and we move forward on making that intersection safer.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor De La Rosa. Mr. President, I wish to lend my words of support and encouragement on this endeavor.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. De La Rosa. On the motion by Councilor Naye, it is seconded by Councilor Langel-O'Karn. Name and address for the record, please.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you, Honorable Caraviello Presidents. Andrew Kast and Eddie Cushing Street in Medford, Mass., And I want to thank Councilor Marks and Brianna and other Councilors for bringing up this situation at the Wellington Circle. In my opinion, it's well over 20 years overdue that the state itself, I would think, should have at least put some bridges or tunnels, water permitting, et cetera, as they did on McGrath Highway and other sections towards Somerville. Unfortunately, it has not been done. And meanwhile, since 20 years ago or 30 years ago, they closed the Meadowland Drive and the Wellington Trenton Drive. We have multiple apartment buildings left and right. And we have Wegmans about to open. We have Station Landon. Then we have Assembly Road is probably only 5% developed, mind you. I'm just guesstimating. And I think the casino's supposed to draw 17,000 cars per whatever, which sounds like a big number. So it's unfair, especially to these two Councilors who do business or live in that neighborhood also. And it affects my wife going to Market Basket in Chelsea. In the name of Medford traffic safety, however, I saw Mr. Gav in this resolution, and I wanted to bring up something. And in the name of Medford Public's traffic safety, again, I want to notify 02155 of two dangerous traffic locations. Number one is at Route 38, which is Mystic Avenue, the old highway to Boston. heading north from Harvard Street towards Medford Square. There's five lanes on that highway going towards Atlas Liquors. And there's no parking on either side of that state road. And then the five lanes reduces to only two lanes directly across the street of 141 Mystic Avenue, which has a sign on that building saying, David's auto repair. For lack of better words, it's a real goat's F of a situation. There's been many accidents there, and I've seen cars turn over, and I've seen people get into wheelchairs and not walk again. So, all of a sudden, when you hit Atlas, there's an ambiguous sign. Left lane's supposed to take a left onto Hancock Street. And the other lane, there's an arrow where it says only, but good luck if you can try to configure what that means. And then there's also a sign where it says crosswalk, and it has a big, beautiful yellow sign, brand new, and it shows a crosswalk with two people, caricatures crossing. However, wouldn't you know, there's three vehicles parked on the right-hand side at David's Auto Repair. a dangerous, dangerous situation, especially when vehicles sometimes are doing well over 40, maybe 50 or 60 miles per hour, and a lot of them are outsiders, they don't know about that left onto Hancock Street, and it reduces, I repeat, from five lanes to two lanes, and all of a sudden there's three cars parked on the right, and they're SUVs, and you can't see over them, especially if you're a pedestrian wanting to cross the old civilization to cross the street to 141. It's very dangerous. That's not the only one, in my opinion. I hope we get resolution. I brought this up at the police station, at their meetings, and a couple of officers said they would look into it. I'm not sure if it's already been ratified. I'm not sure. But the last time I was out last week, I did see the three vehicles still there. Whether they're legally parked or illegally parked, I don't know, but common sense says you're looking for another bad accident. The second one is also a dangerous intersection, and it's my neck of the woods in East Ford. At Park Street, as you're coming down Park Street onto Riverside Avenue, you cannot see over that left house on the end, which is number one Park Street. It has a corner wooden fence, which causes an obstructed view. Again, there's been many, many accidents there. Some police officers have told me, good luck, because it'd be nice to get rid of that fence. And I'm not saying to do it in eminent domain, but maybe you could ask the resident if they'd be willing to allow me to cut the top half of that fence down at my cost. I'd be happy to do so. Two dangerous situations. And the third one I've already covered before, and that was the Roosevelt Circle. Was it Roosevelt? Yeah, Wellington I talked about. That's the bridge that should have been there 20 years ago. Roosevelt Circle. As you're coming from Medford Square, going on to Exit 33, it may be. But you're going towards that first rotary before you get to the Rice Pond turnoff, so to speak. But anyway, around that rotary, there's a lot of overgrown trees, it seems, that are wild. But I think in the last year or so, they've been cutting them down. Another dangerous location, because they're really flying around that rotary, and a lot of accidents happen at that rotary also. So I don't want to give you more than three today. Thank you for listening.
[Richard Caraviello]: Move the question, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Kessling. On the motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Longo Kearns. Mr. President, just a second. Councilor Monk, Vice President Monk.
[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, because I think, you know, we have a number of state roads in this community, and I think it's unacceptable when we have to tell residents that may live on Elm Street or, you know, Mystic Ave or Riverside, I'm not, sorry, not Riverside Ave, Middlesex Ave, the Felsway, that because it's a state road, There's nothing we can do to improve pedestrian safety. There's nothing we can do to the traffic signals because they're located on a state road. We can't touch your tree or your sidewalk. And I think it's unacceptable to tell a taxpayer in this community that we can't do these things or our hands are tied. And I think we have to do a better job with communicating with the state, whether it's DCR or Department of Transportation, to, on behalf of residents, to get issues resolved, Mr. President. I just want to make that known.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you. Vice president. On the motion by council mark, seconded by council logo, Karen. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dela Rousseau. Councilor Falco. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Leclerc. Yes. Vice president Marks. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative. None of the negative motion passes. 17, 3, 3, 1 offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn, whereas the draft capital improvement plan has been changed significantly, be it resolved that the administration forward the Medford City Council a copy of the new capital improvement plan or draft a new capital improvement plan within the next 30 days. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I'll be short but sweet. This is with regards to the capital improvement plan. It was a draft that we were given months ago, and it has been significantly changed. So this council has spoke about it within the last month or so with regards to receiving a copy, hoping to receive a copy of the new capital improvement plan, or even just a new draft that we can review. And I think that's something that's going to be extremely important before June, before we start discussing the budget on the beginning of June. I noticed tonight in the papers that we had in our packet, there's another equipment request that's going to be going to the mayor for over $100,000. So there has to have been, between this and I'm sure many other equipment needs and other things that are going to need to go into a capital improvement plan, I'm sure it has changed not only with regards to the police department, but in other ways. So it would be nice to get a new updated plan or a new draft plan so we have something to go off of and we know which direction we're moving forward. When we have that expenditure for the new police station, that's associated with about $20 to $22 million, which we weren't expecting until a few more years from now. Now things are going to have to shift around. And I would like to know where the where the administration sees the city moving forward with regards to the capital plan and what is next down the line and how we're going to fit the fire station in and where does the library fall. I just want to see what the administration has in mind and that we can have it in front of us and be able to ask questions, especially when we do come down to budget talks, which is a month and a half from now. Thank you. Roll call, please.
[Michael Marks]: On the motion approved by Councilor Knight, Roll call has been requested.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo? Dello Russo. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Hunter-Kern? Yes. Vice President Mox? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes.
[Michael Marks]: Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion is adopted. Paper 17-336. offered by President Caraviello. Be resolved that the Medford City Council contact National Grid Gas to immediately repair sidewalk in front of 2500 Mystic Valley Parkway to the corner of Winthrop Street for public safety concerns. Council President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I think about three weeks ago there was a gas leak at 2500 Mystic Valley Parkway. And it lasted, I think, for about a day. And since then, there has been no repair of that sidewalk that goes from 2500 Muskegon Valley Parkway all the way down to the lights at Winter Street. And if you go by there, there's no plates and there's nothing, and there's a couple of sinkholes there that are very dangerous, and that is on the path where people walk their children to school at St. Joseph's. And like I said, I have not seen anybody from the gas company there. I put in a call, I got no response. And again, I think it's something that the administration needs to do immediately. Again, because those sinkholes are getting bigger as the rain keeps coming over these next few days. If they're not going to fix the sidewalk immediately, at least put some plates there. So the parents, when they walk their children to school, a lot of the seniors, I see a lot of the seniors walk by, they're walking to Medford Square, don't get hurt.
[Michael Marks]: On the motion by council president Caraviello, uh, seconded by council Longo current all in favor. Aye. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. If I could, uh, just from the chair, uh, we all received in our packet, uh, from, uh, correspondence from, uh, the city of method conservation commission. They're having a notice of public hearing, uh, in room 201 on April 5th, beginning at 6 30 PM. Uh, the hearing is regarding the notice of intent, uh, electrical transmission project says end style electric company doing business as ever source energy has filed a notice of intent regarding the installation of a new underground electrical transmission line at multiple locations within existing paved roadways along Winthrop street, salt street and mystic Ave and beneath the mystic river, a portion of the proposed activity. is located within bordering land subject to flooding associated with the Mystic River, the 100-foot buffer zone to Inland Bank, and a 200-foot riverfront area. The reason why I bring this up is this is the issue that Eversource came before the council roughly, I think it was eight months to a year ago, and they're gonna be digging a trench roughly, I think it's two and a half miles through our city, starting at the Winchester Line on Winthrop Street, uh, going down salt street and then mystic Ave. And, uh, they're going to be digging, I think a three or four foot trench along the road. There's going to be interruption to people using, uh, their driveways. And, um, it's a very important project. And I think one that residents should be aware of. Um, I would ask, and I'm not sure today is the, what the fourth, uh, this meeting is tomorrow, April 5th. Maybe if the council sees fit, that a reverse 9-1-1 go out to area residents, alerting them of this very important meeting, which is gonna be a major disruption on Winthrop Salt Street and Mystic Ave, not only for area residents, but also people commuting through that particular area. Motion made by Councilor Longo-Kurt, thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I, if I may, um, uh, I, I would second the motion to, uh, the reverse 911. I think that's a very important issue. I just wanted to make, while you're on the topic of meetings for tomorrow night, uh, I just wanted to also mention that tomorrow night is a, uh, community police meeting. This one is at the West Medford community center. It starts at 7pm. Everyone's invited, uh, no matter what part of the city you're from, but just wanted to, uh, let everyone know. So this tomorrow night's a busy night.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you. Council. Thank you. So I seconded by Councilor Lungo that reverse 911 go out informing residents of the Conservation Commission meeting held tomorrow at 6.30 in room 201 here at City Hall regarding the Eversource underground electrical project that'll be taking place. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, while we're making announcements, I just would like the opportunity to respond to the council relative to a resolution that was put on a couple of weeks ago regarding the street sweeping schedule. Um, it's been brought to my attention through, uh, the mayor's liaison to the city council that, um, the street sweeping will begin on Monday the 10th and we'll continue through the 28th. It will happen from 8am to 6pm on a zone by zone basis. Um, the DPW is established 14 zones. It's also been brought to my attention that the Metro police department will be enforcing parking restrictions and cars will be towed. Parking will be allowed on designated major arteries, however, and there will be no street sweeping on Patriot's Day, Mr. President. If you go to the city's website, under important links, you'll be able to find out what zone your home would be classified under. And if you don't have Internet access, you're encouraged to call 781-396-5500, and they will be able to tell you what zone you live in and tell you when your street sweeping is going to occur so that you do not face the wrath of the Medford police enforcing the parking restrictions during the spring sweep.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Councilor. Offered by 17-333, offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council announce the Medford High School Drama Club's production of Pippin, which will be held on Thursday, April 6th at 7.30, Friday, April 7th at 7.30, and next Saturday, April 8th at 2.30 and 7.30. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Briefly, thank you, Vice President Marks. It's brought to my attention that the high school students will be performing Pippin this weekend, and I think it's obviously a great addition to Medford and the activities that are going on this weekend. The middle school at the McGlynn School had Annie last spring, which was amazing, and I believe they did another performance About a month ago, which I heard was was great as well. So I think that Annie was a sold-out show. So if you do want tickets definitely Make sure you get those It's gonna be a great performance and I'm looking forward to it. So I want to announce it to the pop to the public Pippin I think it's like a pippy long stockings type of I don't sing so I'm not gonna sing one but Thank you Sarah Grant is the director, and she does the middle school and the high school, and she does an amazing job with the students, and they work all year long on the set, and obviously practicing the performance, and I wish them the best of luck.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Lungo-Koehn. 17.332, offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn, be it resolved that the administration appoint a Civic Advisory Committee to oversee development projects for review of potential developments consisting of four units or more and or a civic advisory committee per project made up of residents that live in each potentially develop developable area. Councilor Lungo-Curran.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. I'm president Caraviello. I think this goes hand in hand with what the city council's subcommittee and council as a whole is trying to do. Um, and we've spoke about it before updating our zoning ordinances, which, After research that I did a few months ago, it seems like it's going to take years, not just months or weeks. It's going to take years. And it's time that we as a community and neighborhoods don't have. So I did some more research. And I always am drawn to Somerville because they do have a lot of development. And the people seem to be really, really involved. And our people are starting, our residents, Medford residents, especially when a development's coming to different neighborhoods, are starting to want to get involved. They want to be part of how the city moves forward. And Somerville has a number of different committees, a couple that I have researched in the last couple weeks. I know there's a Union Square Community Advisory Committee, CAC, and they oversee the planning process. And it's something that helps the aldermen in Somerville. I was able to view a meeting helps them decide where to go and what to do and what to fight for. It's a way for the aldermen to know the concerns. It's a way to help the Zoning Board of Appeals in Somerville do what they have to do. These committees help. They lead workshops. They run surveys. They do mapping exercises. When I was reading about it, it almost reminded me of what the Medford Community Coalition does when you have How do you see Medford workshops that they've had in the past? And these committees in Somerville do this with regards to zoning, development, a number of different things. There was even a, George may be able to comment on it. I don't know if you, there was research that I did and it was with regards to how to bring in food establishments that are beneficial to the community and the environment. And they're light years above what we're doing here in Medford. And I think this is a great tool that would help advance positivity and smart, not smart, it would, in Somerville, grassroots effort, and it encapsules community values and meaningful decision making that I believe is needed in Medford. I know it was brought to my attention when I did my research, and then we also had a Medford resident who brought it up at the podium. I'm not sure if she wants me to recognize her name, a Medford resident did mention a community group that does this. So I think we need to see who's interested and figure out if we need one committee to help or if it's a section by section type of thing, whether that be like a Wellington Civic Advisory Committee and North Medford, South Medford, West Medford, just so people can get involved and we can have community meetings that are gonna definitely move the city forward the way community wants, the way the neighbors and neighborhoods want development to go, and I think it's an extremely important component to the City Council revamping our zoning ordinances. We could spend days, weeks, months, years doing it, but we want the community involved, and there are people, residents, smart people that want to be involved and that really have opinions and want to move forward and branch out and see where everybody else wants to see this city, how we want to see it developed, and what we want to see more of and less of, and just do it in a fashion that is obviously better than we're doing now. Because how it's worked in the last several years is just, it's created uproars, it's created litigation that is unnecessary. we need to figure out another way. And I think this is definitely one component that will help in that a great deal. Another committee that I had looked into or did a little research onto is they have Union Square is going through a lot of development and they have the Somerville Community Corporation and a Union Square committee that is helping the city of Somerville just with that section. So that's why I wanted to kind of leave My resolve open-ended, whether it be discussion with the council or if the administration sees fit to review it on their own. You can go have a number of different committees within the city or you could just have one that oversees projects. There's four more units coming in that we have a committee that looks at the plans, goes over the plans, brings people together with community meetings. I remember coming in City Hall probably a couple months ago And it took me three different stops in three different offices to get plans for a development that was taking place on Salem Street. And those plans, they were there, I was able to view them eventually, but they weren't accessible. The city of Somerville has their plans online. So there's just a number of different things that Medford's kind of behind the eight ball on, and for transparency purposes, is needed in Medford. And I hope my council colleagues support this, and I hope the administration takes an active look and implements some sort of civic advisory committee, whether that be one or many, to help move the city forward.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Longo-Kearns. On the motion by Councilor Longo-Kearns, name and address of the record, please.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez, 281 Park Street. I'm a future candidate for the City Council. My involvement in the city came to the public because of development. I had seen the for sale sign on Salem Street at the Break Pro and I started coming into City Hall to see what was happening and accidentally stumbled upon the Locust Street plan. I think a lot of citizens would just really be happy if we knew about these things before they were in the final stage. The Locust Street project, I went to the zoning board meeting. That was pretty much when we saw how this project was going to take place from a supermarket to a 490 unit apartment building, which is now in litigation because they didn't seek community input. The community had no idea that this project was coming to being until Citizens started posting on Facebook and alerting people and encouraging them to come to City Hall and Yahoo groups. If this committee was able to even just let people know that this is coming. I live on Park Street and have lived there for more than a decade and I didn't know that condo development was coming up. at 179 Park Street until it had already started to be built. I had never heard of it. A lot of people that live on my street had no idea that there was even a Salem Street project being discussed because we're not within that 300 feet, even though that will impact us. The parents at the school that is the Roberts Elementary School that is kitty corner to this project didn't know about it until it started to be posted on Facebook. If nothing else, if we can get people to know what is happening, so that we can understand what the downfalls will be, what the benefits will be, the cost analysis, the impact on the schools, the impact on traffic, on parking. These things are all important to us as Medford residents, and we need to know. Just today on Facebook, there's a property that's being listed as a 1,900 unit house, a 1,900 square foot house with three bedrooms and two baths. It's for sale for $1 million. And the listing says, the home and garage are in average to good condition, need updating and rehab work. However, this property is all about the land. The potential to build, Sella does not guarantee this, although any potential buyer should perform due diligence on the potential of this lot. So we're encouraging developers to come and look at this property that's in a single family zoned area and they're telling them that you can probably build several units here. The community needs to be aware of this and we need to be watchful because nobody wants to find out when the ground is being broken on their street because they're outside that 300-foot area, that there's now going to be five families living 10 houses away that may have 10 to 12 more cars that will be on the street because we're giving parking variances. So this is something that's very important to the community as a whole, and I hope that you'll follow up on this. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Longo and seconded by Councilor Falco, roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk? Vice President Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think this is a good resolve. Any way we can outreach to the community and make sure that residents have ample notice, whether they want to support or go against a project, I think is a step in the right direction. I still think that we can write this within our zoning ordinance. So, as was mentioned by Cheryl, about the 300-foot buffer that we have to notify residents, we, as a council, can require 500 feet, 1,000 feet through our zoning ordinance, Mr. President. And we can also, through our zoning ordinance, I believe, set up community advisory committees that require projects to go through particular committees. I think it's a very good idea if you want to have committees set up in each neighborhood or one central committee that would cover the entire city. But this is definitely a worthy resolve And I support it wholeheartedly.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo? No. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? No. Councilor Long and Kern? Yes. Vice President Marks? Yes. Councilor Starpelli? Yes. President Caravielloli?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. Motion passes. 17334, offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn, be it resolved that Brittany Lanzilli be congratulated on her UU Women's National University team's bronze medal win at the 2017 Winter World University Games in Alamie, Kaskanigan. Kaskanikin, Kastanistan, Kazakhstan on February 8. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I know that's a tough word. I wanted to put this forward. It seems like every few months we're congratulating Brittany Lanzilli or somebody from the Lanzilli family, but I don't think it cannot be done because of the accomplishments that she's achieved. at her young age. She was one of the original families that helped start a women's girls hockey team at the high school and ever since her career has just taken off. So we're so proud to have her here in Medford and we want to congratulate her on all her accomplishments and she's led the way for female athletes in general but young female hockey players that she's their role model and Um, it's just, it's just wonderful to see her at the, in the front page of the sports section of the Medford transcript and read about her on a, I mean monthly basis. So I just want to congratulate her and her family and just wonderful work.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. I, uh, thank, uh, Councilor, uh, Brianna Longo-Curran for bringing this forward. Brittany's, uh, been a superstar and, uh, she should be celebrated. So I, uh, appreciate this, um, this resolution, but I wanted to mention that I believe her father, Kenny, is now an ambassador in Kazakhstan. He's made such an impact in that country, I believe they want him to come back, and he's just an amazing person. So, congratulations.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Knight. Mr. President, I second the motion for approval. I wanted to congratulate the Lanzilli family as well. that we've had Brittany up here a number of times now, from her days playing in Medford High, where she was a top goal scorer, to her All-Scholastic selection two years in a row, now to her placement on the World National Team, and now coming back home with her bronze medal. So, Mr. President, it's great to have someone in this community that so many people can look up to. She comes from a great family, and I wish her the best of luck. And I want to thank her for representing Medford, Mass., and the United States of America with dignity and pride overseas, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor. Maybe we can invite her up here with her bronze medal for a citation in the near future. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: She is a student first, and she's out there at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, so.
[Richard Caraviello]: Okay, well, when she's back sometime on a break, if we can invite her up here, it would be nice, with the bronze medal, it would be nice for everybody to see. And her dad, too. And her dad. He lands the other families a good family. Thank you. 17339, offered by President Caraviello, being resolved that the Medford City Council send its condolences to the family of Arthur Ford on his recent passing. Mr. Ford was an Army veteran who served his country in World War II. His presence in our community will be missed. If we could rise for a moment of silence for Mr. Ford. Motion for suspension by Councilor Knight. Offered by Councilor Dello Russo, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its condolences to the family of longtime DPW worker, Philip Genta, who passed away recently. Councilor Knight. This is actually Councilor Dello Russo's resolution. Oh, sorry. Councilor Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Mr. President. Phil Jones worked for the city in the DPW for a good 30 years. He's a Korean War veteran, a devoted husband and father, a great guy who had a good time in life, was devoted to his sons, his family, his grandchildren, a good husband, and a decent man. We lost a good man. Thank you, Mr. Councilor Dello Russo.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scapelli. Thank you for, Councilor Dello Russo, bringing this Resolution forward. Mr. Junta was a great man. I know his sons well, and he'll be missed.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. If we could please rise for a moment of silence.
[George Scarpelli]: If we can, I just want to just mention this weekend, The Crystal Campbell scholarship presentation for the marathon team celebration for Crystal Campbell's scholarships will be given out this Saturday, April 8th from noon to 2. If people would like to join us for a luncheon inside the Medford Senior Center, followed by a gathering at the Crystal Campbell Peace Garden, We're located at 101 Riverside Avenue here in Medford. So if everybody, my fellow councilors and the viewing public, if they, it's a great cause with the marathon, the anniversary of our marathon coming up. such a tragic event, and this event celebrates when something really terrible happens, how great people rally around a cause and present scholarships in the name of Crystal Campbell. So I think it's very important. And if anyone would like to join me, I'll be there. So thank you very much.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, yes, in our packets this week, we also had a response from the mayor relative to a resolution that was put forward on the 21st. The resolution, the council asked if the mayor could update us relative to the appointments for the Community Preservation Commission. And the response that we received in our packet this week was that we should see the names coming across our desk within the next two weeks, Mr. President. So it's something I'm looking forward to. And I thank the administration for their prompt response.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilman. Records, the records of the March 21st meeting were passed to Vice President Mox. Vice President Mox, were you able to rectify the mistake?
[v8c6yqLwu5E_SPEAKER_17]: Yes, Mr. President. Page 17-315 is an error and I will report that to the city clerk.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Do you find them in order now?
[v8c6yqLwu5E_SPEAKER_17]: I find the records to be in good order.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The records of the meeting of March 28th, 2017 We're passed to Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, how did you find the records this week? Thank you. On the motion. On the motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Dello Russo. Motion passes. Motion for adjournment by Councilor Neistat. Second by Councilor Falco. Meeting has been adjourned. Thank you.
|
total time: 8.5 minutes total words: 689  |
total time: 12.25 minutes total words: 1049  |
total time: 5.47 minutes total words: 190  |
total time: 3.94 minutes total words: 431  |
|
total time: 13.06 minutes total words: 837  |
total time: 3.97 minutes total words: 426  |
total time: 25.21 minutes total words: 781  |
total time: 0.55 minutes total words: 48  |