[Hurtubise]: Welcome to the first regular meeting of the Medford City Council 2023. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. On zoom I believe he was on there earlier. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, this is the one time of the year that I get to preside over the council meetings. My rule is that I want to be in the chair for as short a time as possible. So agenda item number 1, 23001, election of a council president for calendar year 2023. May I have nominations for council president, please?
[Bears]: Mr. Clerk. Councilor Bears. I would like to nominate Nicole Morell for council president.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears has nominated Nicole Morell for Council President with a second from Councilor Caraviello.
[Unidentified]: Are there any further nominations?
[Hurtubise]: Is there a motion to close nominations? Councilor Caraviello has moved to close nominations. Councilor Tseng second. All in favor of closing nominations? Excuse me? Oh, I do have to roll. Yes, you're right. I have to roll call it just because Councilor Knight is, and I had I been clerk, I would have caught that, but I'm presiding and I missed it. Madam Clerk, please call the roll because Councilor Knight is present on zoom. It has to be, it has to be a roll call vote. Yes. Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: OK, so on the motion of Councilor Bears, as seconded by Councilor Caraviello, for Nicole Morell to be council president for calendar year 2023. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears.
[Unidentified]: Nicole Morell. Councilor Caraviello. Nicole Morell. Councilor Bears.
[SPEAKER_10]: Nicole Morell.
[Morell]: I abstain.
[Tseng]: Nicole Morell.
[Hurtubise]: I vote of six in favor and Councilor Morell abstaining from voting. Councilor Morell is elected council president for calendar year 2023. Congratulations. You can take it at your seat if you'd like.
[Morell]: Do you do the vice president, too, or do I do the vice president?
[Hurtubise]: I do the vice president as well. So whatever you want to do. I, Nicole Burrell, do solemnly affirm that I will faithfully Council, according to best viability, and understanding, agreeable to the rules and regulations of the Constitution, the laws of this Commonwealth, and the importance of this statement. President, congratulations.
[Morell]: Thank you, everyone, for your continued support. Basically, what the oath said, I worked in the best of my ability to be fair and impartial, and I hope that comes through, and I plan to continue doing that for another year, so thank you.
[Hurtubise]: 23002, election of a council vice president for 2023. May I have nominations, if any, for vice president for 2023? Councilor Caraviello has nominated Councilor Bears. Is there a second? Councilor Tseng has seconded the nomination. Are there any further nominations for vice president? I'm sorry Councilor I missed you.
[Castagnetti]: Motion to close nominations.
[Hurtubise]: Move to close nominations and Councilor Caraviello second. All right. So, on the nomination for Isaac B Zach bears to serve as vice president of the city council for calendar year 2023. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Isaac Beers.
[Castagnetti]: Isaac Beezik Beers.
[Hurtubise]: All right, on a vote of six in favor, zero opposed, and Councilor Bears abstaining. Isaac B. Zach Bears is elected Vice President of the Medford City Council for calendar year 2023. Congratulations. It's right here. I, Isaac Beers, do solemnly affirm that I will faithfully and partially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as Vice President of the Medford City Council, according to the best of my ability, and understanding the rules and regulations of the Constitution.
[Bears]: agreeable to the rules and regulations of the constitution the laws of this commonwealth the laws of this commonwealth and the ordinances of the city of manhattan and the ordinances of the city of manhattan congratulations i also i want to thank my colleagues thank president morel um it's been a difficult year but i think in many respects uh we've done incredible work um and we have a lot more to do in this upcoming year to finish out our term. I mean, there's so much on our agenda that I'm excited to get to work on in partnership with all of you. So thank you very much.
[Hurtubise]: Madam Clerk, thank you very much. Madam President, please take the chair. I want to vacate. I'm much more comfortable in the clerk's seat.
[Morell]: Zoom is updating. 22-003 offered by Vice President Bears. Be it resolved that the standing committee rules be adopted as the standing rules of the City Council insofar as they are applicable. Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. This is an agenda item traditionally offered by the Vice President for the previous year. just adopting all of our rules for the rest of this term for the year 2023, so I move approval.
[Morell]: Second. And I can't see, does anyone have one comment on this? I can't, I'm on Zoom yet. All right, so on the motion of Vice President Bears, it's seconded by Councilor Collins. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins? Yes. Councilor Dyke?
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli?
[Morell]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Morell]: Yes, seven in front of zero negative motion passes. 23-004 offered by Councilor Vice President Bears be resolved with the City Council transfer all papers and committees or on the table from 2022 Council to the 2023 Council Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President, similar motion, just moving all of the papers that are in committee and on the table to the current year. And I move approval.
[Morell]: On the motion of our affairs is second by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Morell]: Yes. 740 and then I have the motion passes announcements, accolades, remembrances, reports and records. 23-005 offered by Councilor Collins. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Arts Collaborative Medford on the planned opening of their new Community Arts Center on Mystic Ave later this year. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you very much, President Morell. Myself and others in the Medford Arts community received word just a week or two ago that there is a planned opening for Arts Collaborative Medford's very long-planned, long-anticipated community arts center sometime later this year. At this point, it's looking like it's going to be in the spring. This has been the product of years and years and years of work and effort on the part of many in Medford's arts community. As a working artist myself, you know it's hard to overstate how important it is to have a community art center actually within our city limits, it's, it's very hard to find. space for arts, for community arts within our communities. These spaces are really scarce, they're really precious, they really mean a lot to artists working in all types of media. So I'm really excited to see what this can do to leverage a very rich existing arts community in Medford and I just want to wish a very hearty congratulations to everybody who's worked on this project so far.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilor Collins for bringing this forward. I want to thank you for this because I started working on this two years ago. I was the one that received the call from that company and the gentleman that I spoke to says he had some space that he would want to donate to the community. My first thought was the home for the arts and immediately after that, I reached out to my fellow Councilor Councilor Marks at the time, who was a member of the Arts Council, and him and I, along with Jim silver or rumor, and other people we had several meetings with the people from Gordon group and it ended up be. We had to wait until it finally got approved by thing but it's something that you know I'm happy to be part of. And I want to thank you know Council marks for all his help because he goes back to the days when they were trying to get the swan school. And that's that never happened and I know we tried to get the property on. over by the park there, that never came through. So I said, this is something that I'm glad that I had a hand in, and I say, I wanna thank all the people in the arts community for all their, we had many meetings down there, and I know it took some time before we finally approved it, but I think that was one of the, that was a good thing when they came to me and we got it done. So thank you for bringing this forward.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng.
[Tseng]: Thank you, President Farrell. I think Councilor Caraviello kind of read my mind. The talking about arts and how we find a space for arts was one of the things that Councilmarks and I actually talked about a long time ago before I even ran for office, and I wanted to make sure that you got a proper shout out for the work that he's done and the tremendous amount of effort that Councilmarks put into making sure the arts as a space and effort as well. The arts, I think it's not controversial to say, is a benefit to all Medford residents, from youth to adulthood to retirement. The arts really, I think, brings out creativity and brings out community. And I'm someone who benefited from investment in the arts back at Medford High, back in the Medford public schools, I miss, I miss the art classes and the music classes. And I think, you know, as someone who just graduated from school, finding a way to kind of continue to be connected to an arts community is something that I think is at the heart of the front of mind. for a lot of Medford residents. When we talk about mental health, which is obviously so important, this is one of the ways that we can work together as a community to address the issue. So I'm very excited for this, and I thank Councilor Collins for putting this on the agenda.
[Morell]: Thank you. Any further discussion from the council? On the motion of Councilor Collins, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes. Council carry over. Councilor Collins. Yes. Council night.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor scarpelli.
[Morell]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Tseng yes. President Morell.
[Morell]: Yes. So the inferno is here and then I get the motion passes records the records of the meeting of December 20 2022 were passed to Councilor count Caraviello, Councilor Caraviello, how did you find on the motion of Councilor Caraviello seconded by Councilor scarpelli Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Morell]: fuel storage tanks, litigation, and there will be a remanded hearing on this next week, the 17th at our regular meeting. Do I have a motion?
[Hurtubise]: Motion approved.
[Morell]: On the motion.
[Hurtubise]: Is there a motion to approve just the open session, correct? Yes.
[Morell]: On the motion of Vice Mayor Bears to approve the open session report, seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes. Council Caribbean. Yes. Council Collins. Yes. Council night.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[Morell]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Tseng prison room.
[Morell]: Yes, seven in front of zero negative motion passes motions orders and resolutions to to dash 602 offered by cancer vice president bears just keep reading what's on the paper, be it so resolved in the Metro City Council that the mayor and traffic commission implement a citywide program to put up signage on all public ways indicating city policy for snow removal and street sweeping, specifically the odd even snow emergency policy and information on the big sweep. Such a program would improve quality of life for residents by reducing tickets and towing and improve the compliance and public safety during snow emergencies. Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. I know that ideas like this have been discussed many times in the city. As everyone is aware, we have our big sweep twice a year, and there's not really posted signage anywhere in the city indicating when that's going to occur. So for many residents, that means either you're in the know or you're not. And when you're not in the know, that can mean a ticket or a tow, and an inconvenience to say the least, and a significant financial burden on residents of the community. You know, I have personally spoken to many residents who've been caught up in this, and you know, the answer, well, you sign up for email notifications, and you're not gonna, you know, that's not really the answer that I wanna be able to provide, and I don't think it's the answer that the city should be providing. Similarly, during snowstorms, you know, there's always someone who doesn't know about odd even, or what year is which, and we have some streets in the city where you can't get by. You know, Bob can't get by if there's a car in the wrong place, so it's a ticket or a tow, and that's only if they catch him before the snow falls. So for public safety reasons, for quality of life, for making sure that residents are, you know, not, you don't have to be in the know to avoid a penalty like this. I really think that we should move in the direction of trying to put up signage on all the streets where this applies to the best of our ability so that residents are informed when they, you know, it's a lot easier to say to a resident who gets sick at her toad, the signs right there, you know, you really got to read that sign. It makes the information much more accessible. In terms of the content itself, You know, I foresee that it's possible. You know, I know the big sweep happens on different days and you have odd even in alternating years, but I really think it's possible that we could at least put up a sign that says, these are the months when the big sweep that generally happens. You know, these are the months when we generally have snow. Visit the city website for specific details on those days and times. And then, you know, it's not the perfect solution. I mean, the perfect solution would be a better process and more funding to do something more than the big sweep every year. I know in neighboring communities, they have, you know, every Tuesday, we do street sweeping, and then it's real easy, because you only have to, you know, you don't have to take that extra step when you look at the sign, all the information you need is right there. But I just think we need to do more on this front, especially for better or worse, now that there's a in-house, you know, parking program at some point that should produce, I would believe, some revenue to potentially support a program like this, and again, So many residents so many people you know who have been affected by this have made it a point to reach out and say, can we do something better it's something I hear really often so I would really appreciate my colleagues support and hopefully the support of the mayor and the Traffic Commission as well. Thank you.
[Morell]: That's great.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. So I understand what comes up is coming up this is, this has come up many times before. And you're right, we only sleep two times a year and we don't even know. when the sweep is coming. The cost of putting up these signs for sweeping twice a year when they give you the number is quite costly. I'd rather see them spend the money and buy a sweeper. The $200,000 or $300,000 it's going to cost to put up these signs, to sweep twice a year, I'd rather spend that money on a sweeper that'll sweep on a regular basis or about one or two sweepers. And the other thing is we're suffering from sign pollution in this city. There's signs everywhere. There's signs for everything. I mean, you go down the streets, from where I live in West Medford, there's like 64 signs in a half a mile stretch. So let's say, I think we got to stop picking and choosing the signs that we put up. I mean, we're putting up a sign for everything now. Some streets have got many signs. So again, I understand where you're coming in and the intent is correct, but until we have a program in place where we're sweeping every week, we put up a sign to say we're gonna sweep twice a year. I think it's just a waste of money. I'd rather spend that money and buy a sweeper.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpellilli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Council. I too understand the concept behind it, because we all get the phone calls from the people that didn't know, and I think a lot has to do with the transparency and the communication from the administration's office. I think that's where we're lacking. I think that I work in a community that the streets get swept every Tuesday, so having those signs up are important. even that, being a member of the community there, you still hear people complain because they got towed or because, you know, one thing or the other. So if we had an infrastructure in place here that had the times and locations all set, and we know, I mean, imagine even getting the notification today, you know, what process they have today for the twice a year, it starts one day, then all of a sudden it's another day. So and then changing those on a sign that would be monumental. So I think that I also agree. I got a phone call from one constituent that reminded me over an issue in their neighborhood when they putting up, um, they're putting up crossing, you know, crossing sides. They were upset because What is Councilor Cabrera assigned pollution? Yeah, it just looks messy when we're trying to clean the streets up. So I personally think, I don't disagree with you. I just think there has to be a process from the administration that really spreads the word. I know that, what is it? I've heard that there's a new website unveiling soon probably 2025, I'm not sure, but as soon as they get an IT department, they're putting together. a new site. I mean, that's the first step. I mean, um, you know, something simple as in the old days, they even coming down the street and putting, you know, notices on telephone poles, letting people know that they're coming the next day, having the police come down a little bit earlier, hitting the sirens. I mean, there's got to be another way. And what I would recommend is honestly calling for a subcommittee that we can actually you know whether it be signs with with myself or traffic that we can meet with all the parties involved and let's let's vet out a process that even right now what we could do immediately before the spring sweep and we so we can look at that process i think i don't disagree with council beers i i hear we get the same phone calls But I think there's so many other variables that would impact that. I think we're just way too early to look at the cost, the aesthetics of it, and the management of it. We don't know when we're going to do one thing or the other. So that that's why I would, I wouldn't support it tonight, but I would support a meeting and bringing this forward to a subcommittee where we could bring all those parties that council is asking for together and say, Hey, this is the extreme in my eyes, but what can we do right now to make it work? So thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you, president Rowland. Yeah, I really appreciate the discussion around this. you know, we all get the emails and the calls when we, you know, usually it's around the big sweep. And, you know, I think it's an issue that I'd be really happy if there was a way for the city administration to look at what can we do short term and what can we do long term. I got a call a couple months ago from a constituent who, real recent resident, I think they live in South Medford, just like I do. And they said, you know, I just didn't know my car got towed and it was like her whole paycheck. know, of course, a lot of people have had that experience. It's not a one-off. You know, I hope that she was able to, you know, bounce back from that. But, you know, that's the type of thing that I think we have a lot of conversations about and ultimately want to insulate our residents from that kind of penalty. I think people want to do the right thing. I, you know, of course, we're, we sit behind this rail. We're Councilors. We're not policy implementers. Like, I don't know how to do the DPW's job. Certainly don't know how to do our city staff's job, but I'd really love for this to, whether it's through this resolution, follow-up meeting, you know, either or, I think that this is something that I'd really love to discuss with city administration, just to say, you know, what can we do so that we're bridging that gap? Because I think we see the patterns where there are residents, as Councilor Bears says, there are residents who have been on the email list all along, they get the phone calls, and then there are folks who just, they don't know what they don't know. And I think that ideally would be part of a revamped communication strategy, but I'd love it if we could do as much as we could. Thanks.
[Tseng]: I think a lot of the points on either side of the debate have already been said so I'll keep my statement short. I would love. I think this is a, this is an important issue. I do think that, you know, we have a responsibility as a city to make sure our residents are well informed about what goes on in our community and how to avoid being ticketed, and I would really I think on issues like this, I think it's important to bring in the stakeholders to the table and see what, as Councilor Collins said, we're not experts on this issue, but I do think that this is a valid idea, and it'd be good to hear about what the city administration has to say about it.
[Morell]: Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, ma'am. This was talked about before. And it was talked about when the person rents a house here, that the real estate people or the landlord should have a packet to give them so they know to sign up for these things. For the students that are here from Tufts, Tufts should give them a packet. So they sign up for the 911 calls or the email. And we talked about this many years ago. It just never came to pass. But I said, I think that would be a better option. Even if the city did a mailer to every house with a packet saying, listen, if you want to be notified about these things, sign up, register your phone, your cell phone, or sign up for the notifications. I mean, I get calls from some people that in the middle of a snow storm, they're calling up saying, you know, no one told me it was snowing out. There was a story, I said, well, you know, I want to say to people, are you living under a rock sometimes? I mean, some people just don't want to, you know, don't want to accept responsibility for not parking, you know, when they should be parking. But I think, you know, maybe the city should send out a packet to all the other property owners and tell them give this to your tenants when they move in so they know what the procedure when a person rents from the real estate people should have these the chamber of commerce should have these so i say there is other revenues to get this out there uh then you know the you know to move forward for those who don't you know say you just you know moved in here recently president bears thank you madam president um and thank you councilor carbiello i think um
[Bears]: you know, that's a good point about something maybe we could add to the housing stability notification ordinance that we were close on. You know, we could add that in as something that they should include, you know, not just here's your rights around housing stability, but here's some key city resources around parking, snow removal, et cetera. I think that would be a really easy addition to make to that. And I'd just like to propose an amendment to this resolution. I think maybe it sounds like we're all on basically the same page that we just want this to be better than it is now. And I'm not married to, you know, we must have my $300,000 street sign program. So I would propose an amendment first to strike the word implement in the first sentence and replace it with the word explore. And then I have a further amendment that I can read out when the clerk's ready. Great. It would be be it further resolved that the mayor and traffic commission report back on barriers to adding signage as well as current actions. Yep. To improve communications. regarding street sweeping and snow emergencies for discussion with the council. And then we'll get whatever they send back to us. We get a cyber to send it once we get the communication.
[Morell]: Any further discussion by the council? Councilor Tseng.
[Tseng]: I think I'm cancer caravilas suggestion is good one and I would, it would be great to see that in the housing stability notification ordinance. I think another aspect that I would like to add to it is adding it onto the city website making sure that it's an easy place to find. I've been a big proponent of having a welcome to Medford part of the website, a resource where all the most important documents are all in one place, especially for younger residents who are moving in. Oftentimes, internet is the first place that we go to to find information. And so when it's easy to find on the internet, I think that would be a benefit to our community.
[Bears]: If I may just quickly, that is embarrassing. Thank you. Yeah. And then I think to that point, You know, I was reading, I think, a welcoming committee agenda, something that came through our packet recently. And it seemed like they may be sending something to people.
[Hurtubise]: They're meeting tomorrow. That's their first meeting.
[Bears]: OK.