[Morell]: 12th regular meeting, June 6 2023 of the Medford City Council is called to order Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Councilor Carol. Councilor Collins. Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Morell]: Councilor Tseng, President, President Morell, President seven presidents are absent. We have a special guest we have 2416 here earning one of their badges tonight and they are going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[Tseng]: 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.
[Morell]: Thank you. Well done. Announcements, accolades, remembrances, reports, and records. The records of the meeting of May 23rd, 2023 were passed to Vice President Bears. Vice President Bears, how did you find them?
[Bears]: Madam President, I found the records in order and I move approval on the records and all reports of committees.
[Morell]: On the motion of Vice President Bears to move approval on the records and all reports of committees, seconded by Councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Tseng]: Yes.
[Morell]: Yes. on the motion of Councilor Knight to waive the reading in lieu of a brief synopsis provided by Vice-Chairman Bears, seconded by- Second. Vice-Chairman Bears. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice-Chairman Bears. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins.
[Morell]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Stroud. Yes. Councilor Sagan. Yes.
[Morell]: Yes, I'm in the affirmative, so your motion passes. I will go to Vice President Bears for a brief synopsis of the paper before us for this public hearing. Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. I believe this is the sixth public meeting we've now had on these items. These are three amendments proposed to the city charter that with the approval of the council and the approval of the mayor would be submitted to the voters in November for their approval. This first amendment would provide the city council with the authority to employ staff for research and legal consulting as needed. The second one would create a better budget plan and better budget process for the city of Medford by setting a formal date by which the mayor would be required to submit the annual budget. The City Council would also have a formal date by which it would have to approve or otherwise act on the mayor's budget proposal, and it would also allow the City Council to have a real role in the budget process by reallocating funds between line items. Right now, the City Council can only approve a whole budget, reject a whole budget, or cut specific line items. This would make the City Council a partner in the budget process. But the city council could not increase the budget above the mayor's proposal. So those are the three amendments of the third amendment sorry the third amendment would. make appointees of the mayor to municipal boards, committees, and commissions created by city ordinance or by state law, subject to confirmation of the council. Right now, the city council does not confirm any nominees to the boards, committees, and commissions that are created by ordinance or state law, unless otherwise required by the ordinance or by state law. So those are the three. I won't do the summary on the next two. Save us some time on that.
[Morell]: Thank you. And I know there were some questions the last time for any amendments from legal counsel. Are those included in what is on the agenda or is that something you need to make on the floor?
[Bears]: Yes, the language reflects the motion from our May 9th meeting to incorporate the specific language changes from legal counsel. And those were also, those changes are also in our packets this past weekend as a red line copy and were also sent out to Councilors about a month ago when they came in from Attorney Goldberg.
[Morell]: So as this is a public hearing, I will take each, I will go to, sorry, we'll go to Councilor Collins. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Apologies, President Brown. I'm happy for you to open the meeting first.
[Morell]: Thank you. So as this is a public hearing, I'll take these papers one by one. So we have paper 23-097. So this is the appointments by city council. enable the city council with many stipulations to secure legal services either by employment or on a contractual basis. Such legal services shall be solely in the service of the council and make good research analysis drafting drafting assistance. Was it anyone who would like me to read the full proposed amendments? Okay, so we'll open this portion of the public hearing if there is anyone who would like to speak in favor of paper 23-097, either on Zoom or in person. Seeing none, this portion of the public hearing is closed. Is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition of paper 23-097, either in person or on Zoom? Seeing none, this portion of the public hearing is closed. Any further discussion from the council or do I have a motion?
[Hurtubise]: Motion to approve.
[Morell]: I'll start going to Councilor Tseng.
[Tseng]: I'll be brief because we've held meetings on this, and I wanted to reiterate that we've done our very best to engage the public in a rigorous process with this. And I believe that to members of the public, the item at hand is pretty clear. I especially get that sense from emails that I've gotten from constituents, We've asked for feedback with gauge support, and we've gotten a lot of feedback in support. Because this is an important vote, I wanted to quickly reiterate why I support this. First, I think it allows for a framework of cooperation. And as the mayor said in our Tuesday meeting last week, that's a goal that we, that's something that we want to aspire to. from both sides. And it allows for that framework through good times and bad. Councilor Berry said something that stuck with me. He said something along the lines of, we want to be writing the press releases with you guys, with the mayor. And I just do believe that there's so much stronger of a message of political movement when we all work together. and compromise and work together to get to a place where we like on the issues. But it's not just about the positives. I believe that these amendments allow us to shoulder the burden of governance together, to make difficult choices together, and to do so in a more public, transparent format where we can explain the choices that we make to our residents as well, which I think is gonna be important in the years coming up, especially with the fiscal cliff that we've all been talking about. What these amendments offer isn't that much different from what happens in other cities and other levels of government. People expect us to work together. They expect the legislative branch to have a role in these things. And people are actually just confused why we don't do these things the way that we're proposing already. I see that in the survey results for the budget survey that I put out. I believe that these amendments allow us to do our job. Residents expect legislators to legislate. It's the central mission of our job and it's in the name. To all the residents who wonder why we don't move faster on issues, I believe while a lot of it is a need for process, a lot of it is also the lack of staff and researchers that we have. These amendments allow us to make it help us to help you. They help us to do our job. I think that these amendments I'm going to close off here. But by saying that, I think these amendments allow us to plan and longer term and increase transparency, it moves up the calendar. and I know that this is a stated goal of everyone on the city council and the mayor said that as well. I think a prime example is in soliciting feedback from residents this time. I think I have really I think we've all talked about after school child care before on the council, but it is something that we need to tackle as a city. And if we were able to engage residents at an earlier time, and we had more of a public facing process where the legislative could help the executive do that too, we would be able to find a way to address it or start to address it in the budget. And so I think, you know, there are literally litany of reasons why I think everyone should support these amendments. But I think Councilor Bears for all the work that he's put into this, I think the rest of the council for being so patient and for for entertaining these ideas.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you, President Morell. I'm excited that we've gotten to the point tonight where we get to vote on these. I thank Vice President Bears for noting that this is the sixth time that we've been able to meet and discuss these in public meetings so far this year and have the floor open for public comment and questions. But at the same time, you know, I want to reinforce for folks who are watching this meeting that this is the beginning of a process, not the end. You know, should these pass, this would be no different from putting, for example, a debt exclusion on the ballot or putting a CPA amendment on the ballot, as was done several years ago. This leads it up to the voters to continue to discuss and consider and then place individual votes on these individual amendments. I've said this before, but just to reiterate, you know, I think that these amendments would be additive for this whole community. Administrations change, but we always deserve a council that is truly empowered to represent our community members and act on their behalf, not just be a grandstanding body, not just be a rubber stamp. Right now, this council can't appropriate resources to ensure that the policies we do pass actually get enforced or if they are just left to gather dust. We can't hire staff to allow us to do our work confidently or effectively or with the resources that we need. We're not empowered to really collaborate with the administration to craft budgets that reflect what we hear from our constituents. So to me, these are important because these amendments would leave the community with seven more avenues. for meaningful representation in their city government, and that's really what it comes down to. The community's representatives should be able to actually materially represent them. So this is about you know, just making some important targeted tweaks to our 40-year-old charter so that we can start working for a better community now. Because I think that the work we have to do, the work that we've been trying to do, will be done better and faster with these amendments with a more balanced and collaborative government. And I don't think that that can wait, you know, half a decade or more to be able to work more effectively for the constituents. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Collins. Any further discussion from the Council? And just to reiterate, just so people, as Councilor Collins said, to make clear on the process, an affirmative vote from the council would result in this going to the mayor's desk. It would then have to be approved by the mayor. It would be then vetted by the attorney general to then appear on the November ballot to be voted on by the voters. So that's the process. So this is, as Councilor Collins says, this is a step in the process. And if this is voted in the affirmative, nothing would change tonight. It just moves it on to the mayor's desk, then to the AG if she votes affirmative, and then to the voters. So we have a motion from vicers and pairs to approve 23-097. And again, this is appointments by the city council with regards to securing legal services either by employment or on a contractual basis. Do I have a second? Second. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. And do you want to wait the public comment period? Yes. Okay.
[Knight]: Madam President, I'd advise against it on a matter that's as significant as enough as our charter.
[Morell]: Advise against?
[Knight]: Waving the comment.
[Morell]: Okay, we'll keep the, okay. So motion to approve pending the six-day public comment period.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins.
[Knight]: Yes, no, I mean, no, no, no, no.
[Morell]: Yes, six in the affirmative one in the negative emotion passes. Going to 23-098. notice of a public hearing. The Medford City Council will hold a continued public hearing on the motion of Vice President Bears to waive the reading. As we've already gotten a brief summary, so we'll waive the reading. I will say that this paper is about the creation and approval of the municipal budget, and generally the mayor and city council of the city of Medford shall each have a role in the budget process, including the power to modify in whole or in part an appropriation order or an item within the total amount of any appropriation order, clarify budgetary procedures, and take such other actions as are necessary to amend, approve, or disapprove the annual budget for the city. Notwithstanding the first sentence of this section, however, the mayor shall have inclusive authority to originate an appropriation order, and it goes on for four more paragraphs. So I will open up the public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak in favor of 23-098, creation and approval of a municipal budget? either on Zoom or in person. Seeing none, this portion of the public hearing is closed. Is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition of the paper before us, either on Zoom or in person? Seeing none, this portion of the public hearing is closed. Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. I'd just like to note that I've received at least 30 emails in the last three days supporting this paper among other budget requests, and I would move to approve.
[Morell]: So we have a motion from Vice President Bears. to approve pending the six-day power period, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. And again, this paper would follow the exact same process I outlined before, an approval by the council, sent to the mayor's desk, it would have to be vetted by the AG if she approves it, and then to the voters in November. So on the motion of vices and fairs, as seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Ferris. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Scopelli. Yes. Councilor Tseng. Yes. President Morocco.
[Morell]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative, the motion passes. 23-099. Notice of a public hearing. The Medford City Council will hold a continued public hearing in the Howard F. Alden Chambers at Medford City Hall, 85 George B. Hassett Drive, Medford, and via Zoom on Tuesday, June 6th, 2023 at 7 p.m. A link will be posted no later than Friday, June 2nd, 2023, on a proposal from Councilor Isaac B. Zach Bears.
[Knight]: Motion to waive the reading.
[Morell]: On the motion of Vice Mayor Bears to waive the reading, seconded by Councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Morell]: Yes, the full reading is waived. I will read that the paper before us to three dash 099. Generally, the mayor shall appoint subject to confirmation by the city council by majority vote on members of municipal boards, committees and commissions except the school committee officials appointed by the governor and assessors, if elected by a vote of the people, for whom no other method of appointment or selection is provided by city ordinance or general laws. All members of municipal boards, committees, and commissions shall serve terms as defined by city ordinance and general laws. All heads of departments shall be appointed by the mayor without confirmation of city council. And that continues on. I will continue the public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak in favor of Q3-099 appointments by the mayor? Either in person or on Zoom. Seeing none, this portion of the public hearing is closed. Is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition of paper 23-099? Seeing none, this portion of the public hearing is closed. Any further discussion from the council? Do I have a motion?
[Bears]: Motion to approve pending the comment period.
[Morell]: On the motion of vicers and bearers to approve paper 23-099 pending the six-day public comment period. Second. Councilor Collins. And again, just to reiterate one last time, this approval by the council would set this to the mayor's desk. If the mayor were to approve it, it would have to go to the attorney general and then appear before the voters in November. So on the motion of Vice President Bears as seconded by Councilor Collins. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Naito? Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. Councilor Tseng? Yes. Councilor Morocco?
[Morell]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative, the motion passes. Going to 23-287, notice of a public hearing. The Medford City Council will hold a continued public hearing in the Howard F. Alden Chambers of Medford City Hall, 85 George P. Hassett Drive, Medford via Zoom on Tuesday, June 6th at 7 p.m. A link to be posted no later than Friday, June 2, 2023 on a petition from Luis P. Santos, Oasis Restaurant, Silva & Content, LLC, 373 Main Street, Medford, Mass, 02155, for a special permit to amend its hours of operation in accordance with Medford Zoning Ordinance Chapter 94-7.2.1 to operate extended hours at its business at 373 Main Street, Medford, Mass, 02155, and said site being located in a Commercial 1 Zoning District C1 as follows. extended hours of operation requested 11pm through 1am Sunday through Saturday petition and plans may be seen in the office of the city clerk room 103 Medford City Hall Medford mass call 781-393-2425 for any accommodation slash aids. The city of Medford is an EOAA 504 employer by order of the city councilor council sign Adam L. Hardeby city clerk advertise in the Medford transcript and summerville journal May 4 and May 11, 2023. If the petitioner wants to come forward from Oasis first so we can get, we'll hear from Oasis first, the petitioner. I know there had been some discussion as far as amending the hours you're seeking so if you want to just tell us about the petition and then we do also have legal counsel on as Councilor Scarpelli had requested.
[Luis Santos]: Thank you. was a misunderstanding the first one we applied to one o'clock. So we're not really needing to one o'clock. Our main thing now is to have it licensed until midnight if we can, just in case something happens on Friday night and Saturday night. If there's a party that comes late, like 1030 or 1045, that happens all the time. If there's a group of large people, they're gonna stay past 11, like for maybe half an hour, for 15 minutes, I don't want to feel to operate illegal. So if I could have until midnight, nothing's going to change. Our hours are going to stay the same during the week and Friday and Saturday. We have this license for 22 years, the common vehicle license until 11. So 11 is going to close anyway. But I wanted to have the ability so people can stay in there. If there's a large group of people, if it's a small group, I'd rather to close and all my servers go home and my cooks go home. and the
[Scarpelli]: If I can, I thank you. I know that we've been getting messages back and forth. And this is the reason why I asked for the extension. And I appreciate you working with the neighbors. Yeah, we know. I know the neighbors are very happy with the the rules that you're putting in place your employees. I think that's very important. But so let's just so we can move forward. So you're asking for the extended hours until 12 o'clock just for Fridays and Saturdays and Wednesday night and Wednesday night special
[Luis Santos]: that we advertised, but we had a good meeting with the neighbors, and they're happy the way we talked.
[Scarpelli]: This is exactly what I was hoping for. So if we're looking at the conversation we had back and forth with both everybody talking in favor for you and the respect that you have for the neighbors, the neighbors they have for you, my friend. So I would, I know we still have to move forward, but so to be clear, it's Wednesday, Fridays, and Saturdays until 12 o'clock. Okay, thank you. You're welcome, thank you.
[Morell]: And then did you have specific questions for Attorney Austin?
[Scarpelli]: Well, what the question was, if it was going to be, you know, if we were gonna deny it, you know, in what grounds do we have to deny the special permit? So I think that with this resolution, I know we'll hear from the residents, but if we don't see any conflicts, I appreciate the council for being here, but we wouldn't need their involvement because that answer would be new. So thank you.
[Morell]: Okay, and as this is a public hearing, I have to take comments in a specific order. So I'm going to take comments. in favor of the paper first, if there's, I'll open up. How do you know what I'm gonna say? You don't know if they're in favor or opposed?
[Scarpelli]: You in favor?
[Morell]: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, it's just because it's a specific order for this type of hearing.
[D'Antonio]: So name and address. I'm Louise D'Antonio, 41 Dartmouth Street, which is perpendicular to Yale Street, and I've grown up in that neighborhood. I wanted to report on the meeting. Despite what some people may have thought, we had a very vigorous, respectful meeting, All people at the meeting, including the mayor's representative from the Portuguese Brazilian council was present. We were able to express our ideas, our thoughts, our concerns without being held back. And it was a very honest, productive meeting. We spoke about the hours, but one of the things that we all agreed upon was that That area between 1130 and one o'clock, 1.30 in the afternoon has very little enforcement, parking enforcement. We also both agree that there has to be more enforcement in the evening in the parking lot at those late hours. So we're going to try to make some contact with the police department or something. I don't know how many cars are available, but if you have a problem in a specific area at a specific time, that's when you send people down there. You don't wait until two hours later, drive down the street, see that there are no cars there, and then say, well, what's the problem? So... Ms.
[Scarpelli]: D'Antonio, if I can, I know I asked for for this meeting specifically because I didn't think that this was just the issue with just with oasis I think the enforcement was big so I recommended that we had legal counsel here, the police chief, the DPW traffic commission, I mean the traffic director as anybody else here. We should, I think we asked for the parking director also. And the parking director.
[Morell]: We have the building commissioner here.
[Scarpelli]: I do not see. Not the building, but really is really having.
[D'Antonio]: I think that's important. One of the things I wanted to mention, we have no disagreement with the restaurants. Not at all. But a year ago, some residents in another part of the city complained about not being able to park on their street. And then within a week, there were signs and barriers. Now that's a different section of the city, but they got a response very quickly. So thank you for asking for that meeting. I look forward to that.
[Scarpelli]: Yeah, well, I'm a little disappointed because we asked him to come tonight. And that was one of the reasons wasn't just, it wasn't just the community members and the business owners to talk and glad you did. But the other reason why we call this because it was concerns of other issues that I think the enforcement was bringing in the negativity of the business owners where we have to make sure that there's a plan in place, whether it's signage, whether we talk to the traffic commission, and do residents only from certain times or set up, you know, patrols in the parking lot area, and around the same time is the closing of the establishment. So this is the these are the questions I wanted to ask the the departments that are relevant to get us. I agree.
[D'Antonio]: But the thing is, you can have a lot of signs. But if there's no enforcement, I don't science science. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.
[Morell]: And just the resolution we had was just about legal counsel. I think you may have mentioned that but they didn't put it in.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, so I think that'll be something we'll have to follow through. I think for the neighbors. I think the feedback that I got back from the neighbors was that, you know, really, is is giving South Method the respect that they deserve and the residents there that they deserve, and making sure that there's some sort of a plan that the administration can work with the traffic department, the chief of police, and making sure that they step up dedicated patrols if that's what's needed in the evenings. But I think the piece that bothered me the most, the phone calls that I got, were the elderly neighbors that said that, you know, the blocking of the driveways. And to say that it was Oasis's fault, I didn't believe that. I think that the issue really is having the enforcement. And I think that we need to, you know, I know it's not a popular thing to do. But when you throw a few tickets on a few cars, and somebody gets told because a senior citizen can't back up out of the driveway for an emergency reason. I think that's more important to me than any anybody's uncomfortable situation of going to get their their automobile out of impound because they didn't park and a reasonable area. So I think that's something down the line we need to really call for a meeting, whether it be a committee of the whole or subcommittee on public safety, and really bring the neighbors back out. So thank you, Madam President.
[Morell]: Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of the petition? And that would be the owners if you want to speak in favor once more, if you want to just come up. So you're in favor?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Morell]: Anyone else who would like to speak in favor? Seeing none, is there anyone else, anyone who would like to speak in opposition of the petition before us? Please come up to the podium.
[David Perella]: Hi, my name is David Perella. I'm at 16 Yale Street. I would just like to go on record that I do oppose this. And I do think, so I've heard before that you can't come up with a reason why you would deny this. Well, I can give you one reason. I think you have an obligation to protect the quality of life of the residents. And it's that simple. So I simply wanna go on record saying I do not support this and I hope that you will reconsider.
[Morell]: Thank you.
[David Perella]: Thank you.
[Morell]: Is there anyone else who would like to speak in opposition either on Zoom or in person? Seeing none portion of the public hearing is closed any further discussion from the council. Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. I would hope that I wasn't in on some of the meetings but I would hope that in the restaurant they will put some signs up for the customers to respect the neighborhood.
[Scarpelli]: That's part of the discussion. The part of the discussion with the owners, we're going to place signs not only in the facility, but also as they walk around toward the public parking area. And I believe it's going to be in a few different languages, just for our Portuguese speaking patrons. So we appreciate that. And I think that's the, you know, and I appreciate that the general came up and talked about, you know.
[Caraviello]: And maybe we should notify the other restaurants that are in that block also about what's happening. He's not the only one there. I agree. I think that we should ask you. There's two other restaurants there. Maybe you should be notified also.
[Scarpelli]: Maybe community development? Yeah. That's a good idea. Yes. To reach out to Bocelli's and I think Mace Cafe stays open a little later. So maybe reaching out to them, form a motion that maybe that the liaison to the businesses can reach out and see what they can do to make sure that they can post some signage or, you know, for their patrons to also respect that neighborhood.
[Morell]: Do you want to make that a B paper?
[Scarpelli]: Could you please? I'm sorry.
[Morell]: So do you have that language, Mr. Clerk? So we have a B paper from Councilor Scarpelli to ask community development to reach out with signage for all of the restaurants in the area that utilize that parking lot. Do I have a second for that B paper? That's right. So we'll take the B paper first. So on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. And this is for the B paper, not the main petition.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Morell]: Second by, so we want to move approval of the amended. Monday, Friday, Saturday, the Wednesday, Friday, Saturday extended hours until midnight. Correct. Correct. Thank you. And that is seconded by. Mr. Clark, please call the roll when you're ready.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Morell]: Yes. Seven the affirmative zero negative the motion passes the petition is approved pending the six day public comment period. Thank you. Petitions presentations and similar papers. 23-321 petition for a common victors license by Ranga Narasimhan nine shadow lane and over mass 01810 for med sub LLC subway at 4110 Mystic Valley Parkway Medford mass oh 2155 representing med sub LLC district manager Manal Patel, I will go with the petitioner can come up, and I will also go to Councilor Scarpelli who is the chair of our licensing subcommittee. Want to tell us a little bit about the business. I mean, we're all familiar with Subway, but do you want to just tell us what you're seeking?
[Ranga Narasimhan]: Yeah, it's a fast food restaurant. We've been doing this one for close to 10 years now. And we have multiple locations. And this one, we just started. We took over from the previous owner. They're running the business. and we just took over this one. So it's nothing changed. Everything's going to be the same as it is. The hours are the same.
[Scarpelli]: It's not extended, correct, because that goes with the owner. So all this is just changing of ownership from one subway. Yes. Right. The subway and Mystic Ave. Yes. Okay. And this is that you have only five employees that work for you?
[Ranga Narasimhan]: Yeah, it's like a few part timer. Yeah. And, like, you know, one is a free time.
[Morell]: Okay, it's probably just what I just said.
[Ranga Narasimhan]: Yeah, I'm sorry, Mr. So many mistakes. Yeah, I apologize.
[Morell]: Are we still going to honor the $5 for one.
[Scarpelli]: Madam President, I see everything in order, all paperwork's in order, so I would move approval after my colleagues have any comments.
[Morell]: Thank you. Any further discussion from the council? Seeing none, so on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to approve, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Paris. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins.
[Morell]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Naito. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. Councilor Tseng. Yes.
[Morell]: Yes, seven the affirmative zero negative the motion passes. Congratulations. Thank you for being here so long. Going to motions, orders and resolutions 23-313 offered by vice and bears. He is so resolved by the Metro City Council that the subcommittee on ordinances and rules need to consider an ordinance establishing a municipal compensation advisory board to consistently study the adequacy of compensation of all municipal officials and employees and create a report on a regular basis that is kept on file for the benefit of the public and the city's elected officials, vices and affairs.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President, I'll be brief as I think this is relatively self explanatory, but something that we've been asking for, and it hasn't come to fruition yet, although our new HR director said they are working on it as a classification and compensation study. This would actually create something that exists in several other communities, which is an advisory board to conduct such a study regularly and provide regular updates to make sure that the salaries offered to all municipal employees are competitive. So I would move to refer this to the subcommittee on ordinances and rules for further discussion.
[Morell]: Any further discussion by the council? On the motion of vice-president Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice-president Bears. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Scarpello. Yes. Councilor Santa. Yes. President Raul.
[Morell]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 23-three one four offer by Councilor Scarpelli be it so resolved the Metro City Council invite residents and the city engineer to speak with the city council regarding safety issues when it comes to private ways Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Madam President. This came about when the resident came to us who's been on the list, who lives in a private way who who's lived there for a long time in the city. she planted a tree, a rooting tree in front of her establishment, her home, and she sat on the list for three years and was informed by a city engineer, I believe, and I was hoping he was here, but obviously he's not, that the city engineer has now followed through with the hard line, which is a law that the city does not maintain private ways. I will tell you I received many phone calls concerning public safety when it comes to these decisions. We can understand when it comes to doing these bigger projects and understand our rules and regulations when it comes to private ways. We understand that one of the biggest reasons that we don't receive enough funding from the state or the federal government is because Medford has, what people don't realize, an abundance of private ways. And it really hurts our bottom line when it comes to road work in our community. So if you talk to most people that own homes on private ways, they have a lot of pride and they maintain their homes. And this one person who has a very dangerous lip now because of a rooting tree and has been on this list, had now been told that this would not work. And we need to clarify this because The truth of the matter is, if someone does still trip and fall, the burden falls back on who? Not the resident. It comes back to this council and the city and legal action. So if you see those suits that we've had in the past, 3,500, 5,500, these all add up to a pretty good number. But more importantly, I fear that it's going to be that elderly person that walks down that private way, smashes their head and God forbid passes. And I think this is something that to just be passive about changing this rule as a new new city engineer, and And I wish he was here because I'd like to ask him some questions that the residents that did reach out to him from what I've been told was that it was very arrogant in his presentation. And to me as a city employee, municipal employee, that person works for the residents of the city. And I think that's the biggest piece. I think that we need to have guidelines set by this administration, really informing the people in the private ways of these rule changes or not to rule changes, but the the the persistence of following those rules now. Now, I got a phone call from another resident. And he said, Well, George, we live over here near Arthur Winthrop Street. My neighbors and I, three years ago, followed the rule and we brought in a hot top company because the street was deplorable. And they talked to these professionals and said, because this isn't a major way, you should use this type of top, this type of patch. They repaved the whole street on their dime. They did it right. And then they're upset now because during the Winthrop Street project, The city diverted all of the traffic where? Through this private way. Now, because of the hot top that was laid, because of the trucks that drove down that road consistently, their street is now in disarray. So their question that I wanted to ask the city engineer, if this is the case, what fair is fair, is the city now liable for repaving that street? And that's a logical point. But again, when you're not talking, you're not communicating with your residents, this is a huge concern. So these are the things that are open-ended. And I would make the motion that we ask the city administration to please set up guidelines to re-educate our constituents on the follow through now of our new engineer and the policies that they're now following through or not following through. and the fact that what if the city is diverting the public traffic into their private ways and destroying these roadways that have just been paved? So I like to get these answered for these constituents because The next step is they said they would come here and the eight people that I did talk to said, you could use my name. And I said, you know what, let's see what the answers are in the follow through. Because I will tell you, for the residents that are listening, This is very frustrating for us because we ask these questions, not because we want to be rabble rousers because that's because this city administration has come up here and said, well, our, our, our directors, our directors in different departments are actually afraid to come to city council because of backlash or aggressive behavior. And this is what we're putting office we're putting office to be their voice. And that's not an easy place to stand, but when you were elected or you're hired in a municipal field, that's part of your job. That's your, that's part of your job requirements. Come here and answer these questions so residents can understand what the process is.
[Knight]: I'm just, I'm not sure if I heard councilor Scarpelli right. Is he saying that the staff of the mayor who came up here and said that she's holding people accountable? is scared to come before this council and be held accountable. That's what it sounds like to me Council Scarpelli is that they're scared to come before the city council and be held accountable, but the mayor comes up here and beats her chest, saying how she's holding people accountable when she's getting dragged out of here and handcuffs and making them undergo psychological evaluations. So I'm a little concerned about that and I thank the council for bringing that up and that's a very good point, but I know, and I'll end with this.
[Scarpelli]: I think we need more communication through the administration to really let our constituents know of these processes. When no one comes up to answer these questions, everything's left open-ended. And the frustration gets to a boiling point where we're seeing good people in this community putting for sale signs and moving out. And that I hate to see. And all it is sometimes is just simple conversation. You saw what we did tonight with a very, very, very productive business in our city and neighbors that had an issue. They got to sit down together because we opened the line of communication for them and they found the best avenue for both parties. So these are the things we need in our community and I think the city administration is really failing us. So thank you, Madam President.
[Collins]: Thank you, President Morell and I think the two specific questions that Councilors are probably raised at the end are important ones to resurface for constituents I think if he's making a motion to have a committee of the whole on those two I think, I think that these are topics that we've talked about a lot this term already and I think that our city engineer and others in the engineering department have offered really helpful insight I mean just for me as an individual Councilor and resident. The issue of how private ways interact with the rest of the city. Obviously, it's it's genuinely confusing and they've given us good counsel before and I think that sort of that causal chain like if this then what if you live on a private way. Clearly there's still more residents that we have to reach with that information I agree that we need a better communication strategy for that. I just wanted to raise you know I, I, I think that, um, Yeah, no. This is clearly an issue. One, because it's come up again, because it's come up so many times before this term, whether we've been talking about in the chambers, and I know that I've had one-on-one conversations with residents. many times in my pretty short term so far. I've had to go to the engineer and ask him for insight that I then relay back to the residents just about the various issues involved in living on private ways. And the other thing that I think is important to note in this conversation in terms of, you know, what are the reasons that we're not serving our constituents and our constituents on private ways, you know, to the best of our ability is everybody is trying to make do with pretty scarce resources. I remember one of the things that I've heard from members of our DPW staff and our engineer in the past is, you know, matters of public safety are always prioritized when possible. But our ceiling for what's possible is really low, and budgets are extremely tight when everybody's operating on skeleton resources. And I don't think that that is always the decision of individual staff people, but just operating in a very austere environment. So I think that's important to bring into conversation, because when we're talking about safety of our residents and safety of our residents in our private ways, The decisions that we make and the decisions that the administration makes about the resources that we have to deploy around our community in the interest of aesthetics and public safety, that trickles down to individual cases like this. And so I think it's fair to say we need insight from this position specifically and that role specifically, but also to say, if we don't have resources to go around where most of the people who come to us with an issue on a private way leave that conversation disappointed, we need to take a hard look at our books and see what would it take to be able to better serve those residents. Because as I know, we've talked as a council about how expensive it is to bring a private way back into the public fold. Um, you know, those are residents that were that we are sort of agreeing to leave in that situation when we don't build towards a plan where we can bring those back under public jurisdiction. So I just wanted to raise the point that I think that this is this is part of the long term strategy to that we've been talking about all year is, you know, sort of lacking comprehensiveness. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. No, this is something. that we get questions on all the time. But it seems like over the last year and a half is when these issues seem to come to a head. The TPW in the past has always maintained these roads for the people and the best they could. They trimmed trees and they did whatever they could. Now we're at the point, since this new engineer is taking over and under the administration, We expect the people to pay for their own tree trimming, pay for their own street, pay for everything. and I don't see them getting a reduction in their tax rate. They pay the same amount of taxes that everybody else in this room pays, and they're entitled to the same amount of services. Not what our engineer decides is his idea of services, because this has just started under this new watch in the last year and a half. So I thank Councilor Scott Pate for bringing this up, but this is, I say, this DPW has always taken care of these issues, and now they don't.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Thank you, Madam President. I don't think that the engineer is the bad guy in this situation. I think that the engineer is the fall guy, which is a difference because we've had previous administrations in this community that have allowed private ways to be provided with maintenance and services, okay? And the only thing that's different is the administration, right? So this is definitely an administrative prerogative. It's something that we're seeing come down from the top. It's not coming from the engineer across the city, it's coming from the boss, the mayor, all right? So when we talk about this resolution and we talk about the issues that Councilor Scarpelli brings up, he says that the city is not maintaining private waste, which would infer that we're maintaining public waste, and we're not doing that either. But when we talk about the services that you're entitled to and receive access to as a resident on a private way, we talk about access to the public schools, access to public safety and first response, snow removal and trash removal. We don't get trees trimmed. We don't get sidewalks fixed. We don't get streets paved. What about the underground infrastructure? Is that the responsibility of the taxpayer? Is that the responsibility of the city? Okay, so where does it stop and where does it start is a big question. Now, I don't think people who live on private ways have a problem living on a private way, quite frankly, I don't think people that live on a private way would have a problem paying for some of these services that they want themselves. I think part of the problem is that they can't get anybody to provide them with help when they want to initiate their rights at City Hall. So if I lived on a private way and I said look at I want to put up a crash bar and I want to say resident access only. Say Wildwood Road, for example, right across the street from Medford High School. It's a private way. Why can't they put up, just like they have on Rosina Drive in the Heights, on Murray Hill Road in the Heights, a crash bar where cars can't drive down that street because it's a private way. And they can tell you when and when you can't. The fire department can still provide emergency access. The police department can still have emergency access. The MS can still have emergency access. and these residents that live on the streets that are abutting the Mystic Lakes complain year in and year out about the fact that neighborhoods being overrun and inundated by people that are parking on their private ways in front of their houses and their driveways and the like to access the Mystic Lakes. But the city doesn't provide them with the information or the tools necessary to protect themselves on their private way, but won't provide them the services either. It becomes very frustrating. And inaction is not an answer or a response. to a circumstance in the community. So meetings are great, but ultimately we've had a number of meetings on this back in September and even previously, and we're still talking about it because there's been inaction. And that's the difference between what makes a thriving community and what makes a failing community. So when we talk about the one thing that people want when they move into a city is they wanna make sure that their tax dollars stretch a long way, they get banked for their buck and they're provided with city services. We have over 30% of the streets in this community that are private ways and we're not providing those people with services. Thus far, I feel as though we're failing them. We're failing them because we're not providing them with any recourse information or ability to enact or enact their rights or enable themselves to protect their, their investment in their future destiny in the community. Thank you, Madam President.
[Morell]: Thank you. President Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President, I just wanted to note that. We did hold a meeting on private ways with the DPW commissioner on October 25th, 2022, and that recording is available through Medford Community Media. And there's also more information about the city's policies on private ways around enforcement on the city website and the police department website.
[Morell]: Thank you. And just go probably apologize was your motion to have a committee of the whole on this topic and invite the city engineer, or.
[Scarpelli]: Madam President, I think that the goal for this is really to educate the constituents, and And so I would like to see a community hall with those residents of private ways, get the word out. And I appreciate Councilor Knight and Councilor Bears sending that information, but when you are living to a certain standard here, and you've grown up in a private way or lived in a private way, and all of a sudden snap a finger, the way that you've lived your life, things have changed now, whether it's right, wrong or indifferent. The residents that live in those private ways have to be reeducated and really have to acknowledge what needs to be expected as they move on. If this is the way it goes, like Councilor Knight said, the I don't blame the city engineer in any way. I question his his behavior or his tone with what residents have told me. And you know, I'd like I said, if he was here, I'd love to ask him but but that's the what I question with our our city engineer. Again, my question is really you're making changes, sweeping changes that are really affecting our community. And especially when it comes to public safety, when people are expecting their sidewalks to get done. Because imagine if, like Councilor Knight said, you have a sidewalk that's panels lifted, you have an elderly parent that lives in your home with you. You're expecting the city to make these changes because they've been on this list, so they wait. Now all of a sudden they're told that after three years you're top of that list. They know we're not fixing it because you're a private way. We're changing our policy. So that's the process. I think we need to meet with all of these departments and really set the tone with how to reeducate our private way residents. And then maybe they have to answer some questions about legitimate questions that were brought about on detours and sending heavy trucking that ruined a street that has just been paved. So these are legitimate issues. So thank you, Madam President.
[Morell]: Thank you guys.
[Bears]: President Bears Thank you Madam President, and I just want to reiterate I don't disagree with that at all I think this actually really speaks to why it's so important that the mayor approves these charter ballot questions that we just move forward, and we implement the better budget plan because we need to have an honest conversation what is it going to cost to bring everything up to a state of good repair, what is it going to cost to bring all these private ways in the public domain. and we need a plan for it. And right now we don't even have the process to have the conversations to come up with a plan. So we're stuck with scheduling this meeting and that meeting and the police have a meeting and we had a subcommittee meeting. Now we have a committee, the whole meeting, but we need a budget plan. And so that's why I'm so glad that the council moved forward on these amendments. And I really hope that the mayor moves forward on them as well so that the voters can have a choice.
[Morell]: Thank you, Vice President Bears. So we have a motion from We have a motion from apologies. Okay. We have a motion from Councilor Scarpelli for a committee of the whole to invite the city engineer as well as all residents.
[Hurtubise]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Vice President Bears. Yes. Yes.
[Morell]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Morell]: Yes. I'm in the affirmative zero negative the motion passes to three dash three to two offered by Councilor Knight be resolved in preparation for budget discussions at the city administration furnish the following information related to school spending. One, cost to date for the per diem payments made to David Murphy, former assistant superintendent. Two, cost of KP law investigation of the MHS softball team and results of findings of the investigation. Three, cost per week related for teachers covering hallway security details in MHS since the much publicized stabbing incident. Four, an explanation of the difference in duties and responsibilities of the following positions, data manager and data director. and read an explanation as to the reasoning behind the salary disparity between the positions and five costs and copy of the report performed by Welch et al relative to school safety and security. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much. These are some items that have been popular fodder for discussion in our community over recent months. Recently, the school department has met and they've discussed their budget priorities. Looks like they're about eight or $900,000 short from where they'd like to be. I've always had an issue with the school committee and their ability to manage within their budget sometimes. I feel like sometimes you've got to make hard decisions, and that's what elected officials are putting these positions for. And when it comes time to tightening the belt and spending within your means, sometimes our school committee does not do that. And as a result, we see some wasteful spending. It's been brought to my attention that some of these cost items that are included in this list, Madam President, are reaching astronomical figures. For example, it's my understanding that the cost for teachers covering hallway security duties is somewhere around $25,000 to $35,000 a week of ARPA money being spent for teachers to monitor the hallways up in Method High. So when we're talking about a school committee's professed shortfall of about $800,000. Let's take a look at some of the spending that we're doing when we talk about the investigation into the NHL softball team. I know we have attorney Howard Greenspan as the school department's attorney who's on retainer. Did KP Law conduct the investigation? Why? Why did KP Law conduct the investigation? Was that a special contract? Was that something that fell outside the scope of our contract with KP Law? Is that something we're going to be assessed for? How much did it cost? What were the findings of the investigation? Was it a worthy expenditure? Should we have used internal counsel that we have on retainer or should we have gone outside? Is this wasteful spending? So Madam President, these are some things that I want to take a look at when we talk about the position of data manager and the position of data director. From what I understand, they have the exact same duties, responsibilities and functions. The only difference is the salary. the incumbent that's in the position is a female who's going to make $10,000 to $15,000 less than the new appointee who's a male. But their responsibilities and duties really aren't that different. So I want to know what's going on. Why is there such a disparity in the wages between these two positions? And why is there a need for two positions with duplicate duties? Also, you know, Medford High has been on the news a lot. It's not for winning state championships, all right? It's because of violence in our school department. So the school department went and they hired a consultant. They spent a lot of money on a consultant to file a report, and this report makes suggestions. I want to know what these suggestions are, what the cost of the report was, and whether or not these suggestions are even being implemented, or whether it was just a, let's get us out of the news, hire a consultant to come in here and do a report, and then we can wave the report in the air and say, no, we did something, but not implement any of the changes that they've asked for. So when we talk about previous administration of the school department, and we talk about a gentleman like Mr. Belson, who'd come before us, and who would talk about school violence, well, Roy was one of the founders of the STARS program, right? The School Threat Assessment and Response System that's been implemented statewide, okay? That was in response to an issue back in the early 90s. What steps has this administration taken to put in something like a STARS program that would assess violence on our school systems and establish reasonable response? So these are some of the things that I have great concern about. We all talk about you can't put a price tag on public safety, but apparently you can't. I mean, if this is any truth to this expenditure at $33,000 a week in APA funds being assigned for teachers to monitor the halls, I think that's gross negligence in terms of spending, and it's a gross negligence of the fiduciary responsibility of the stewards of our taxes. So it's pretty self-explanatory. When we get the answers to the questions, we'll be in a better position to figure out exactly what's going on here. This council's been asking now for financial data for three years, and we haven't been receiving it forthwith. So my hope was to put this on the agenda to give everybody ample notice and time to prepare it, to give it to us before our budget discussions finalize at the end of the month, Madam President.
[Morell]: Thank you. Any further discussion from the council? Seeing none, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Temporarily absent.
[Hurtubise]: No. That's right.
[Knight]: Yes.
[Knight]: Yes.
[Morell]: Yes. So five in the affirmative one in the negative one absent motion passes to three. This is a paper that also includes vices and Pharisees out but I will keep going. Would you like me to wait?
[Knight]: We'll survive without him, Madam President.
[Morell]: Sorry?
[Knight]: We'll survive without him.
[Morell]: Okay. It's a zoning paper, but 23-323 offered by Councilor Caraviello, Councilor Collins, and Vice President Bears. Proposed amendments to the Medford zoning ordinance for June 2023.
[Knight]: Number one, amend table of use and- Madam President, motion to waive the reading and refer to the CD board as pursuant to Massachusetts General Election Act 41A.
[Morell]: Thank you. So we have a motion from Councilor Knight to waive the reading and refer to the CD board, seconded by- Councilor Caraviello, any discussion before we take that vote as this is procedural to refer to the CD board per MGL? Seeing none, we have to, so yeah, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll to move the reading and refer to the CD board.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. President?
[Morell]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. The paper is referred to the CD board.
[Knight]: On that point, Madam President, I'd just like to ask that the city clerk calendar this event. As we know, because this is a zoning change, it's pursuant to certain rules and regulations established by state law that create timelines for us to act. And if we don't act in time, then we got to start over from scratch. And this is a very important matter that I think we need to keep an eye on when we're coming into summer break. Sometimes these things fall off the shelf. So I just ask that the city clerk keep us in line to make sure that we do our job.
[Morell]: Thank you. And I do see just Director Hunt and City Planner Daniel Evans are also on a call. So they're also paying attention to that timeline, I'm sure. So I will go to, I'm gonna thumbs up from Director Hunt. So she is on it as well. So, I'm sorry. 21, okay. Skipping ahead to page 21. vacations from the mayor to three dash 324 to Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council regarding donation acceptances. Dear President Morella members of the city council I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves under MGL chapter 44 section 53 a a donation of $500 from Boston Proud Corp for the use of pride and a donation of $350 for instigators from instigators LLC to the city for filming in the for filming in the upper city hall mall, a lot respectfully submitted. Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor.
[Knight]: Madam president.
[Morell]: Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: If we could get a written explanation from the city administration as to why someone would pay us for the use of pride, because I'm not too sure what that means. Yeah. That would be great, but it's 500 bucks. I mean, total value of this paper is $850. You know what I mean? I move approval on the paper, but I would like a written explanation.
[Morell]: So we have a motion to approve. So we have a motion. Councilor Knight to approve as amended by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Any further discussion from the council? Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. Councilor Tseng. Yes.
[Morell]: Yes, 70% negative the motion passes. Communications from city officers and employees. This actually has the same number as the previous I should have caught that. We'll just update that. Okay, 23-324 and we will update that preliminary election September 12 motion to waive the reading and have the city clerk announced the dates as to when that early voting will be available on the motion of Council night to waive the reading and have the city clerk announced the dates as to when early voting will be available, seconded by... I'd extend that to both papers, Madam President. To both papers. So we'll have an overview from the city clerk on both papers. I'm sorry? From the elections manager?
[Knight]: No.
[Morell]: City clerk, okay. So we have a motion. Not after the last... We have a motion from Councilor Knight and seconded by... Councilor Scarpelli, I believe, to waive the reading and have just the City Clerk brief us on the dates for early voting and the municipal election. And I believe there's actually three papers. Actually no, that's a separate one. Okay, on those two papers. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: There's a no. Councilor Nielsen.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. Councilor Tseng. Yes. President Morell.
[Morell]: No, so five in the affirmative, two in the negative, motion passes. We were gonna waive the reading and have an update from the city clerk on the election dates that are before us in these papers. President Bears.
[Bears]: I respect what Councilor Knight's saying, but the city clerk's no longer involved in elections. I don't think we should try and do anything to not reinforce that they're separate offices. So that's just my opinion.
[Morell]: Understood. I mean, we took the vote, the motion passed, we can have the clerk read the dates and then we can open up to participation on the paper. So if anyone else wants to speak.
[Knight]: I mean, am I missing something here? All we're doing is announcing what the early voting dates are, because, you know what I mean? It seems like it's a pretty self-explanatory paper over there. All it is is a public service announcement, as far as I can tell, right?
[Morell]: Understood. We'll have the clerk read, and then if anyone wants to speak on it as the candidate agenda item.
[Hurtubise]: For the preliminary election on September 12th, early voting dates, September 5th, which is a Tuesday from 8.30 to 4.30, September 6th, which is a Wednesday from 8.30 to 7.30, September 7th, a Thursday from 830 to 430 and September 8th, a Friday from 830 to 1230 p.m. That's the hours for the September election. Proposed hours for the November 7th election for early voting. Monday, October 30th from 8.30 to 4.30. Tuesday, October 31st from 8.30 to 4.30. Wednesday, November 1st from 8.30 to 7.30. Thursday, November 2nd from 8.30 to 4.30 p.m. Any discussion from the council?
[Caraviello]: Why is there no Saturdays here? Is there a reason?
[Unidentified]: No, we've done it in the past on Saturdays.
[Elections Manager]: Saturdays when there are federal and state elections because it's a local election. We're trying to keep it during the week when we have staff in hand and keep the overtime hours down. But we are not required. It's a courtesy to voters. The reason why this information is presented to you tonight is because it's an opt-in situation. So we're requesting that you accept our presentation on early voting hours, early voting person hours.
[Morell]: Thank you. Vice President Bears.
[Knight]: The paper before us has no language on it, legal or otherwise, saying it doesn't mean the City Council opt in to support early voting. It doesn't tell us when the dates are going to be. So from a legal standpoint, I mean, usually if there's an opt-in, there's some certain language that you need to adopt or support in order for an opt-in to happen.
[Morell]: Are you able to offer clarity on that? Is this something that the Council needs to know?
[Knight]: That's not the paper that's before us this evening.
[Elections Manager]: Sure, I can offer clarification. What we're doing is the Election Commission has approved within their meetings the dates of early voting, and as a courtesy to the board at the City Council, we're offering them the opportunity just to agree and accept that these are the dates that we're going to do. And if there were any questions, we would answer any questions about that at that time.
[Morell]: OK, thank you. So it's a courtesy. It's not something that would change anything.
[Knight]: So we don't have to take any action. There's a courtesy. It's not a necessary mechanism of government for us to take a vote for this to happen, right? It's going to happen no matter what.
[Elections Manager]: It's important, informative, and we also just appreciate you. accepting what we've presented to you.
[Knight]: We don't have to write the board just an autonomous board that's made its determination and they're presenting us their findings. I'm fine with that.
[Morell]: Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. I for one, I'm not comfortable with not having Saturdays. I think Saturdays are really important for early voting. I think we know municipal elections are the least I think we should give them the most opportunity to get people to vote. This is why I was so concerned with the budget presented to us for the election office because it sounds like we're trying not to spend more money this year. So we're not going to do early voting on Saturdays for municipal election when we're electing the mayor and the city council, the school committee. the three offices probably that actually impact residents' lives the most of any government office versus I'm pretty sure I know how Medford's gonna vote in November 2024 and 2026 and 2028. Hope, maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. So I just feel really uncomfortable not having the Saturdays and I think we've done more, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe we've done more early voting for municipal elections in previous years than this amount that's being offered.
[Elections Manager]: So for state, I can't speak to early voting for municipal elections prior to this. I know that early voting with the state, they do give us requirements as to what we have to offer when it's a state and federal election required to do Saturdays and Sundays based on the population of the city of Metzger. What I will offer to you is I understand that Saturdays are important. However, when we've done elections on Saturdays, they are lower turnouts. And so the idea is that if we keep the election availability during the week, as well as doing early voting via ballots, early mail to ballots, we actually may get the same amount of people as opposed to offering Saturday time.
[Bears]: Okay. Yeah. I mean, we definitely last general election offered five days early voting, including a Saturday as well as vote by mail. And I think we should at least continue with what we've done in the past.
[Elections Manager]: Is that for a municipal election?
[Bears]: That was municipal election, November 2nd, 2021. Okay. Thank you.
[Tseng]: Thank you. I just wanted to add my voice to the choir supporting Saturday early voting dates. I mean, respectfully, I think it's really important for accessibility, and even if Saturday sees lower turnout, per se, a lot of those voters might only be able to vote on Saturday, or that might be the most by far the most convenient option for them. And I wouldn't want to take that piece of our democracy away. And so anything we can do to sustain that, to keep that as an option, I think is really important.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you, President Morell. I agree with that. I think that having a weekend opportunity is very important. You know, people have different schedules, different work schedules. I also want to note to Election Manager Ripley, I apologize. I think I misunderstood the previous motion we took. I certainly didn't want to preempt your office's opportunity to speak on the presentation that you've created, especially since this is an opportunity to get the word out to residents and voters about what to expect for our elections in September and November, so I know there's a lot of, you know, great kind of FAQ information submitted onto our agenda. Certainly, if there's anything more that you wanted to share or were planning to share relating to the Miss Paul elections, the sort of know before you go section, I'd certainly be eager to hear that from your office. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you. Councilor Caraviellol.
[Caraviello]: President, I'd make a motion that these papers be sent back to the commission for re-examination and reconsideration for Saturday voting.
[Knight]: The paper requires an election from the council. Yeah. So my worst fear is Oh, well, I didn't get a chance to vote because early voting wasn't open on Wednesday, the 5th. Well, the city council approved the schedule. City Council has no authority on this whatsoever. So we can recommend that they open on Saturday. I don't have a problem with that. But in terms of supporting the plan and not supporting the plan, we don't have to do it. I don't think we should.
[Morell]: We do have a motion on the floor before yours from Council night to receive a place on file. Before we get to that, I just also want to add my voice to the chorus of just concerns about not having a Saturday voting. I think Councilor Tseng made a really good point. I understand that it may be lower turnout numbers, but that may be the only date those people can vote. We don't know that, but I think it's really important to have. So it's something we have had in the past that people, you know, they may have voted that way. They may have voted on Saturday two years ago, and they're counting on voting on Saturday this year. And to find out they can't, they may have missed their window. So I just want to add to that. So a motion from Councilor Knight to receive and place a file seconded by Vice President Bears. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli?
[Morell]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morell?
[Morell]: Yes. Seven in favor, zero negative, the motion passes. So that was 324 and 325 together. We do also have 326. So page paper 3.6 is just a listing of, you know, we're open seats for the 20 June 1st 2023. Sorry, the date of submission is June 1st. So the municipal election open seats for 2023 is City Council, seven seats, two year term, Mayor, one seat, two year term, and school committee, six seats, two years term.
[Unidentified]: President.
[Bears]: just wanted to add a couple questions. This is separate from the call to election, which you're gonna put before us at a later date to put this on the ballot. Okay. And sorry, I didn't ask it when you were talking about vote by mail, just a little bit ago. We've had a relationship with the post office in Medford around vote by mail, the last few elections, given the just sheer volume. in 2020, 2021, and 2022. What's the status of that relationship? Is everything going to be in place for September and November? And also, how has that been going with the census? We touched on it last time we talked, but I just wanted to check on those two things really quick.
[Elections Manager]: Sure. So we have met with both the supervisor and the manager at the post office. I met with them two weeks ago just to discuss what our needs were. The election calendar went out to them today just so that they're aware of when we're going to be sending things out and when we want to accept things in. The gentleman's name is Brian. Brian will be working closely with us. We will have ID badges so that when we go over to the post office, the only people that can pick up elections materials will be someone in our office that has an ID badge and they're aware of those requirements. When it comes to sending mail out, We do now have these green tags that designate the envelopes as ballots. Those are used across the state to ensure that the ballots are processed faster than other mail. So that is something that was not in place and is now in place. So what happens is, when we send ballots out, we wrap these green tags around the ballots, bring them to the post office, and they get processed more quickly. Henry? and the other commissioners will be assisting us when it comes to going to the post office if we need that. The idea is that we should be able to do that ourselves within the office, within the, you know, just making sure we have coverage in the office and getting the balance. Does that answer?
[Bears]: Yeah, and just that arrangement's in place for the city census as well? It is, correct. Okay.
[Elections Manager]: Yep, it is all in place, and what we're doing is we're also prepping for the March election so the post office is aware of what our needs are for March as well.
[Bears]: Okay, thank you.
[Elections Manager]: Can I bring up two things? I don't know if it's appropriate or not, but I just want to make a reminder that the 13th, along with what we're talking about, the positions, the 13th is the day that nomination papers will be available in our office. It's room 102, so please pass the word if people are going to be running for office to stop in. The other thing is... I'm sorry? They close on the 28th of July. And that's the last date to pull papers? That's the last day to submit papers to our office. The papers will be certified by August 8th.
[Bears]: What's the last day to pull?
[Elections Manager]: The last day to pull? Hold on, let me look at my notes here. I apologize. Ah, come on. The last day to pick up nomination papers is July 21st. As a reminder with regards to nomination papers, I just want to make sure that everybody remembers that if they have not returned their census, they need to return the postcard in order to be eligible to sign nomination papers. We've sent out the mailing for the inactive voters for the census. We just want to make sure people understand they have to sign something. Otherwise, when they go to the polls,
[Knight]: on the Now historically, up until Sandy Gale became the elections manager, we never had this issue with the census and with people getting pulled from the list and everything else. It's been a nightmare ever since. It's created a ton of problems in this community. We've had people coming up here saying the elections have been raked. I remember Richard Brady Daugherty up here screaming and yelling saying that the elections raked and Zach Baer's fault because he talked to Sandy and they were colluding to remove people from the rolls and everything else. It's a bad practice, you know, it didn't have that didn't happen. But that was the that was the general consensus throughout the community was that, you know, Zach was running around trying to control the voting. But anyway, what I'm saying is, why don't we cool it on that a little bit, relax a little bit, because it does create a situation where a lot of people get frustrated and it creates voter apathy, where they don't want to come out and vote. and they don't want to go and waste their time going through this ordeal of this. I know the elections are great, but they're overwhelmed when they get in there and they got one person that says, what do you mean I can't vote? Well, listen, I just talked to 4,000 people that can and you can't. Like, sorry, what do you want me to tell you guys? Today's the biggest day of the year for me, right? And they don't get the attention that they deserve. And then they have to come down to city hall and go back and go back to the back. They're not going to vote. They're just not going to do it. So I'll reiterate the fact, I don't think it's the best practice. I mean, it might be what you're required to do, what you can do. I think it's what you can do, not necessarily what you're required to do. But I don't think that it's working in favor of promoting full involvement in elections.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Newton. I think that's an important point, but I want to make sure. So you're talking about signing papers specifically? Correct.
[Elections Manager]: Yep. I want to make sure that people are active voters. If you don't mind, I would love to explain to you the process. We are required by law to send the census out. By June 15th, we are required to inactivate voters who have not returned their census. We've moved our timeframe up so that we have plenty of time to let people know through the postcards that they needed to let us know that they're still living in Medford.
[Knight]: example, like I have to fill out a census, I'm on the ballot, and I gotta fill out a census every year. And I can't vote for myself if I don't. This is crazy. I can't sign my own nomination papers if I don't fill out the census, but I'm an elected official in the community. To be an elected official, I believe I have to be a registered voter. Right? So I'm not a registered voter right now because I didn't fill out the census.
[Elections Manager]: No, there's a difference.
[Knight]: I apologize.
[Elections Manager]: So an active voter simply means you haven't returned your census. And we do everything in our power to make sure that any inactive voters are notified that they're inactive. And that when they go to the polls, we may try and make it as easy as possible for them to be able to just show their ID and vote.
[Knight]: Right. And what I'm saying is that the past practice was never like this. And it was always very, it was always a lot easier than what's going on now. Now, if this is the way it's going to be, this is the way it's going to be, that's fine. I'm just saying that I don't think it's necessarily conducive to promoting full involvement in elections.
[Morell]: Thank you. Vice President Paris.
[Bears]: I'm a little concerned because what I'm hearing is if people didn't fill out their census and they sign a nomination form, then those signatures will not be valid for the purposes of nomination.
[Elections Manager]: That is my understanding correct.
[Bears]: Sorry, go ahead.
[Elections Manager]: You can ask your question.
[Bears]: How many census forms went out and how many have been returned?
[Elections Manager]: 23,000 census forms were sent out to the households in Medford. We have received back about 17,000. Yes, we sent another 15,000 cards out to registered voters. Some of those cards come back as PO returns because the people have moved and they haven't notified us. We are following up as quickly as we can. We've received about 4,000 returns on the postcards to date. So, and we're still having them come in. And people can, the cards can come in any time. I mean, there's no drop dead date for the cards. We just would like to have the cards sent in before the September election.
[Bears]: Got it, so you're expecting most people who are active voters now will be active voters on June 16th?
[Unidentified]: Absolutely.
[Bears]: Okay, could you just communicate that number to us to let us know how many people were inactivated once that's completed?
[Elections Manager]: So people have already been inactivated. So if they didn't send their census in by April 25th, we then sent out postcards to 15,000 people. And we've gotten back about 4,000 postcards. So we're still working on getting them in. We process them every day. We did go to the post office to check and make sure that the post office was sending them to us. We made sure that we had all our business reply mail money in place so that the postcards aren't delayed at all.
[Bears]: If you could just at whatever point you feel, either if it's June 16th or before then, communicate to the council through the clerk and the president. how many, what percentage of registered voters in the city are active versus inactive and how many were made inactive this year? The percentage, it could be the actual number, it could be both, but you know.
[Elections Manager]: So about 15,000 voters were made inactive.
[Bears]: And how many voters are there?
[Elections Manager]: Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: How many voters are there?
[Elections Manager]: There are, so there are.
[Knight]: Including the 15,000 hit the road.
[Elections Manager]: I don't have the number in front of me. I don't want to quote a number that I would give you incorrectly.
[Knight]: It's like a third that you threw out, right? Mm-hmm. So like 33% of the registered voters are no longer, are inactive now. They're inactive. Because they didn't send back a census.
[Elections Manager]: But there's 4,000 that have sent it in. So we've reduced that.
[Knight]: Yeah, right. But I mean, ultimately, you took a third of the population from inactive. Correct, as required. A third of the voting population, 33%.
[Elections Manager]: As required by a law, yes.
[Bears]: That's crazy. So there were 15,000 who hadn't returned, who were registered. Now they returned their postcards, so it's down to 11,000?
[Elections Manager]: Correct.
[Bears]: Okay.
[Elections Manager]: Correct. And just to give you a perspective, Somerville, when we inactivated our folks, they had a 30% return rate on their census. So our census was higher than that.
[Knight]: My experience with Somerville have always been they make things very difficult for anybody to do anything over there.
[Morell]: Fair enough. And does SARA follow a similar policy as far as how quickly they inactivate people?
[Elections Manager]: Yes. Yeah. Everybody has to be inactivated by early June. And what I did- What happens if they're not?
[Knight]: Do they turn into a pumpkin?
[Elections Manager]: If they're not inactivated, we're not in compliance.
[Knight]: And then what happens?
[Elections Manager]: I don't know what the state does if we're not in compliance. I just would prefer to be in compliance because I think it's important that we follow the rules that are given to us. to uphold the integrity of the election.
[Knight]: I understand your frustration with the- I mean, you can't just throw a third of the people in the community off the voter rolls. You want to say that they can still vote? Listen, you made them inactive voters. They're going to show up at the polls and they're going to say, no, you can't vote. Go stand in the corner and fill it out in the bad boy booth. Right? I mean, that's what happens, right? So it's hard enough to get people to want to participate. And I just think that this is a failed policy. It's not your policy. It's just a failed policy. You're saying it's to comply with the state law. I think that doesn't make any sense. It's crazy. It's crazy if you fall off the, if you don't fill out your census form, but they not send you an excise tax bill, pretty sure they do. You know what I mean? Pretty sure they do. So they're going to take away your right to have a voice, but they're still going to tax you.
[Elections Manager]: One thing that we've, one thing that we have implemented in order to make the affirmations for inactive voters easier is we just have a roster. So people are just, you know, there's four boxes, sign your name, what's your address and write your hand, write your name so that we know who you are. It makes it much faster than having people fill out two or three forms, which is why there has been past practice.
[Knight]: So we'll continue to- That was the past practice beginning within the last 36 months.
[Morell]: Well, we'll continue to approve that process. Thank you. So we have a motion from Councilor Knight to receive and place on file, seconded by- Second. Vice Mayor Bears, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Knight]: Madam President, there's a paper that I submitted to be included in the record this evening, pursuant to communications from city offices and employees, which is the section of the agenda that we're into this evening.
[Morell]: What am I skipping something.
[Knight]: I received a correspondence today from the firefighters union. And at our last meeting, I believe that I do have the right to initiate a point of personal privilege. The mayor told me that I was being distruthful at the meeting the other night. And this was the same meeting that the mayor said that she was very close to settling all the union contracts and that they were doing a great job and they were this close to settling all the contracts, including the fire contract. And this evening, Madam President, in our mailboxes before the meeting, we received a correspondence from the fire union. And what it says is this administration has been in office for three years and five months. Local 1033, I'm sorry, local 1032, which is the Metro Firefighters Union, has been without a contract for 706 days. The mayor spoke last week about how well negotiations were going with the fire department and that we were close to settling a contract. I just want to repeat that. The mayor spoke last week about how well negotiations were going with the fire department and that we were close to settling a contract. That was clear, right? That's what the mayor said? Okay. Well, this is what the union says. This could not be any further from the truth. the city is proposing in their budget double digit percentage raises to their non-union employees while unions in the city go years without a contract. We have new hires to this day who still do not have health insurance through the city of Medford because of administrative errors. The mayor's office represented that everybody was covered and that this problem was resolved. There's another thing in this letter that I'd like to point out, Madam President, and that's that in this budget that the mayor has proposed, they're cutting two more firefighter positions. At the same time, the mayor is putting out press releases boasting how the city of Medford is one of the fastest growing communities in the country. So we have a communication here from employees of this city. I'd ask that they be included in the record, Madam President. It was addressed to this council. It's highlighting issues and concerns that were brought up at last week's meeting. And it addresses certain things that were said, and I think that it should be included as part of the record and ask my council colleagues to support me and having this letter included as part of the record.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. All right, we have a motion from Councilor Knight to include this letter in the record seconded by Vice President Beyers. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Public participation. And we have some folks here from the HR Commission would like to speak.
[Milva McDonald]: Hi, Milva McDonald, 61 Monument Street. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm the chair of the Medford Charter Study Committee. As you know, charter review has been discussed in Medford for many years, and we are at an exciting moment right now with volunteer residents undertaking the task. As we work with the Collins Center for Public Management, a nonprofit entity out of UMass Boston that has guided many communities through the process of charter review. We are examining the charter as a whole and learning, among other things, about how pieces interact with each other, best practices, and trends. The goal is to propose a sturdy, fair, transparent charter that provides a strong framework for our city government in the long term. This holistic look at the charter is especially important in Medford because of how much time has passed since the last review. As the blueprint for how our city government operates, the charter is a vitally important document that affects every person who lives in our city. Now, for the first time in decades, we are finally giving it a checkup, looking at our form of government, the balance of powers, the composition of our elected bodies, length and limits of terms for elected officials, budget procedures, mechanisms for citizen participation, and more. I have heard this council reiterate many times that charter review should come from the people, and that is exactly what is happening. We are all residents who volunteered for this task because we care about our city. Our process prioritizes community engagement and input. We will use the public feedback we collect to draft a proposal that must make its way through several portals, including this council, before ever becoming official. The final step is at the ballot box with the voters. The voters, the people, will have the final say. Our webpage at www.medfordmad.org slash charter study has a wealth of information, including a form inviting public feedback. You will find us at Circle the Square in June, the Farmer's Market in August, and other events around the city. We will also be circulating a survey very soon. But the main reason I'm here is to extend an invitation. We are especially excited about our first public information and listening session this Thursday, June 8th at 7 p.m. right here in City Hall Chambers. All are welcome and encouraged to join us. It's going to be fun. regardless of which are events or meetings you can or cannot attend. Your voice is important, and we want to hear from you, the residents of our city and the leaders of our city about your thoughts, hopes and dreams for our municipal government. We hope to see you on Thursday evening right here. Thank you. Thank you.
[Morell]: Anyone else wish to speak for public participation? either in person or on Zoom.
[Bears]: I have a motion to take 22-514 the outdoor dining ordinance off the table and approve for third reading.
[Morell]: We have a motion to take 22-514 the outdoor dining ordinance off the table for approval for third reading. Do I have a second?
[Milva McDonald]: Second.
[Morell]: Second by Councilor Collins. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll to take it off the table. Sorry? Take it off the table and approve. Okay, a motion to take off the table and approve. For those following along, this is just a number of updates to our outdoor dining ordinance, a lot of it in work with our building commissioner, some safety, some modernization, and just making it also accessible and friendly for the business community. So on the motion versus and bear second by Councilor Collins.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The motion passes for third reading. Motion from Councilor Knight to adjourn. Seconded by vice affairs.
[Morell]: Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
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