AI-generated transcript of City Council 10-17-23

[Morell]: 20th regular meeting of the Medford City Council, October 17th, 2023, is called to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Present. Councilor Caraviello. Present. Councilor Collins.

[Collins]: Present.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight is absent. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng. Present. President Rivera.

[Morell]: Present. Five present, two absent. Please rise and salute the flag. Announcements, accolades, remembrances, reports and records 23-435 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it so resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Mary Terry on the celebration of her 100th birthday. Councilor Caraviello.

[Caraviello]: Madam President, if you'd like to join 23436 with that?

[Morell]: Absolutely. 23436, offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it so resolved that Medford City Council congratulate Rita Tomololo on the celebration of her 100th birthday. Councilor Caraviello.

[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. Anytime you reach a 100th birthday, it's a milestone in our community. And both of these women are a longtime Medford residents, and I just wanted to congratulate both of them on reaching their 100th birthday. Hopefully we'll be here to congratulate them on their 101st birthday. So I just wanted to thank Mary and Rita on the celebration of their birthdays.

[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Tseng, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Layton is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morocco?

[Morell]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The motion passes. Happy birthday to both Mary and Vida. Records, the tabled records of the meeting of- Madam President?

[Bears]: Vice President Bears. Motion to take paper 23-440 under suspension.

[Morell]: On the motion of Vice President Bears to take paper 23-440 in the hands of the clerk under suspension, seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Yes. Five in the affirmative zero negative to absent motion passes the suspended to take 23-44023-440 offered by Councilor Caraviello

[Morell]: Be it resolved, the Medford City Council observe a moment of silence in memory of former Assistant City Clerk, Dorothy L. Donaghy. Dottie was the Assistant City Clerk for more than 30 years and served as Acting City Clerk for almost two years after the retirement of City Clerk Joseph McGonigal and before the appointment of former City Clerk Ed Finn. Dottie provided long and dedicated service to the city of Medford. Her presence, leadership, kindness, and friendship will be missed. The City Council's offer its deepest condolences, deepest and sincere condolences to her family. be it further resolved that tonight's meeting be dedicated in Dottie's honor. Councilor Caraviello.

[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. This is a sad day for our city. Dottie was an icon in our city hall. Many years, long before any of us were here, Dottie's been here. She's been a rock in that office. Many times she could have been the city clerk anytime she wanted to. She just didn't want to do it. But let's say, always a kind face and always always there to help people. And it's, uh, you know, she's just retired and, uh, say it's just a sad day. She's an icon in our community, and she's going to be missed. So, um, our condolences go out to her family in the time of sadness.

[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Vice President Bears.

[Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. I also wanted to send my condolences to her family and also to her extended City Hall family. I know that her impact has far outlasted her retirement, that the vault in the clerk's office is dedicated in her name, and that she served over several clerkships, bringing a lot of consistency and passion to her role. So definitely thinking of her family and also thinking of all those who worked with her who are missing her today and for time to come. Thank you.

[Morell]: Councilor Tseng, Mr. Clerk? Councilor Tseng?

[Tseng]: I never got the chance to meet Boddy, but... when you, I think, look through City Hall, when you look at what's the hard work being achieved here, a lot of it is built on the backs of the greats who came before. And someone like Dottie, whose work has meant so much to Medford and really has pushed our city forward, I think it's an honor to be able to recognize her, even if I didn't get to know her personally, to know her through all of you all.

[Morell]: Thank you. Clare Curtis.

[Hurtubise]: Dottie was an amazing mentor and a terrific friend. She was amazingly kind and very, very funny. And she kept things light in the clerk's office when they were serious. And she made us serious when we were getting a little too light. And she knew everything about how that office worked and works. And she had multiple opportunities to be city clerk. She turned the wall down. This is a monumental loss for the city. Thank you. My condolences to Dottie's family, to her friends. We all miss her terribly already, and I find it incredibly difficult to speak of her in the past tense.

[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I'll go to Councilor Collins.

[Collins]: Thank you, President Morell. I'd just also like to extend my deepest condolences to Dottie's family. This is a sad day for the city. I'll be thinking of her and of the family in coming days. Thank you.

[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Collins. And yes, just to echo my fellow councilors, just sending our deepest and sincere condolences and thanking Dottie for her incredible service to the city of Medford and for her family for lending her to the city of Medford for so long. So under the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by uh, vice affairs. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes, Councilor Cariollo. Yes, Council Collins. Yes, Councilor Knight is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng. Yes. President Morell.

[Morell]: Yes. Five in the affirmative. Zero negative. Two absent. Motion passes. Please rise for a moment of silence. Do I have a motion to revert back to regular order of business? And the motion by Susan Fares to revert back to regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Fares? Councilor Caraviello?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morell?

[Morell]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. Motion passes. records, the records, the tabled records of the meeting of September 19th, 2023 were passed to Councilor Collins. Councilor Collins, how did you find them?

[Collins]: I find them in order and I move for approval.

[Morell]: On the motion of Councilor Collins, seconded by- Second. Councilor Caraviello, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears?

[Unidentified]: Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: tonight is absent, Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng, present roll.

[Morell]: Yes, five in the affirmative, zero negative, two absent, motion passes. The records of the meeting of October 3rd were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight is absent, Vice Mayor Bears.

[Bears]: Madam President, motion to pass these records to Councilor Caraviello.

[Morell]: On the motion, would you accept that motion?

[Bears]: I'll accept that motion.

[Morell]: On the motion of Vice Mayor Bears to pass the records to Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears?

[Unidentified]: Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Nunez is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng?

[Morell]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero negative. Two absent, the motion passes. The meeting of the records of the meeting of October 3rd, 2023 are passed to Councilor Caraviello.

[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. I review the records and I find them in order of motion for approval.

[Morell]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. I'm sorry. A lot of writing tonight.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears?

[Unidentified]: Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins? Councilor Knight is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng? Present and roll.

[Morell]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The motion passes. Reports of committees 23-416, October 3rd, 2023, Committee of the Whole report to follow on road issues. This is where we met with Director of Board of Health, Mary O'Connor, gave us an update and answered some questions as far as the ongoing road issues in the city and the ways she's worked with other departments to address them and just ways in general they're being addressed. Questions of theirs?

[Bears]: Madam President, motion to join all reports of committees and approve after a short summary of each.

[Morell]: on the motion of Vice President Bears to join all reports committees and to approve. after short summary, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. I will go through that short summary. 22-494, October 10th, 2023, subcommittee on ordinances and rules. Reports follow on the budget ordinance. Vice-Chancellor Mayors.

[Bears]: We discussed the draft, the latest draft of the budget ordinance. At this meeting, we're gonna have further meetings on the budget ordinance. The structure that we came up with was deemed day 100, but we need to work on how long it will take to get to 100.

[Morell]: Thank you, Vice President Bears. 19070, October 11th, 2023, Committee of the Whole, report to follow tree ordinance. This was a follow-up meeting on our ongoing work on a draft tree ordinance. We had an updated version of the ordinance that worked off a previous draft that had a number of edits and suggestions from Acting Building Commissioner Forty, and we had a good discussion. We made some small edits, and we reported those out to Planning, Development, and Sustainability, the Energy and Environment Committee, and then Therese Manford for additional comments at this time. So on the motion of vices and bears to approve the record seconded by cancer carb yellow circle is called the role. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Yes, five in the infirmary is doing the negative to absent the motion passes.

[Morell]: Motions, orders, and resolutions, 23-437, offered by Councilor Caraviello. The fee is so resolved that the Medford City Council have DCR replace the guardrail at Route 16 and Auburn Street in the interest of public safety. Councilor Caraviello.

[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, this is the guardrail over by Whole Foods. It's hindering the sidewalk for people to walk over there, especially because that's the only way, there's a crosswalk there on both sides. And it's been like that for several weeks. The DCI can get out there and replace it as soon as possible. It'd be a great interest of everybody in the community over there.

[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. And thank you for bringing this up. I think this is perhaps the third time you've had to bring this up. Different crashes each time, but this is an area that continues to get crashed into and leaves kind of a path of destruction every time. So thank you for bringing this forward. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello, I'm seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Ferris?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Dunn is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng? Present roll?

[Morell]: Yes, five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. Motion passes. Communications from the Mayor, 23-438, to Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council regarding accelerated new growth. Dear President Morell and members of the City Council, I respect the request and recommend that your honorable body accept the provisions of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 59, Section 2A, which provides that any improvements to real estate during the period beginning January 2nd and ending on June 30th of the fiscal year, preceding that to which the tax relates, shall be deemed part of such real property on the January 1st assessment date for that year effective as of fiscal year 2025. Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 59, Section 2AA, is a local option statute that allows a community to value and assess new growth, example, new construction, or other physical additions to real property occurring by June 30th for the fiscal year beginning July 1st. This local adoption law, commonly referred to as Chapter 653, allows the community to assess improved parcels, which ensures the property owners pay a fair share of the cost of government operations for the fiscal year beginning July 1st rather than a later date. If accepted, the vote will take effect in fiscal year 2025, July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025, which has an assessment date of January 1st, 2024. Therefore, any improvements made from January 2nd, 2024 and June 30th, 2024 will be included in the FY 2025 tax assessment. Chief Assessor, Ted Costigan, will be present to provide the council with an overview and answer any questions. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Respectfully submitted, Granolongo Kern, Mayor. We have Mr. Costa again here, if councillors have any questions. I know you were helpful enough to talk to a lot of us in advance, just make sure we understood what was before us tonight, so I appreciate that. Any other questions?

[Caraviello]: If we get a brief synopsis of how this works and the effect it has on the community, that'd be great.

[Costigan]: Yes. Yeah, sure. So typically, we take a snapshot of every real estate in the city for January 1st, and then that's for the following fiscal year. So usually it lags about six to 18 months. This would kind of eliminate that six-month period and would tie new construction and building permits to that July 1st date, which is the start of the fiscal year. So as the paper said, it ties the valuation to the fiscal year. They're paying their fair share of valuation, which is tied to the taxes they paid. Surrounding communities, Somerville, Malden, Winchester, Arlington have all adopted this. So it's a helpful provision for us in assessing because we do our building permit work in May, June, July, as opposed to going out in December, January, February. So It's helpful administratively that our building permit season doesn't align with our vacant season. So administratively, it's helpful to staff as well.

[Morell]: Thank you. President Bears.

[Bears]: Thank you, and thanks for answering my questions on this. Before, I just have one more. Is there anything with, because it's lining up right with the fiscal year, where there could be like late Probably coming on very late in the prior fiscal year that would be counted in the new fiscal year.

[Costigan]: Nope, it just moves up that snapshot six months. So if a building permit is filed by June, we'll be aware of it and be able to value that. As opposed to right now, if a property owner files a February building permit, we can't look at it till the next year, January, which is for the following fiscal year. So it lags quite a bit right now. I appreciate our conversation before. Thank you for mentioning that.

[Bears]: Yeah, of course, of course. And is it going to change the date at which we set the rate for the coming year?

[Costigan]: No.

[Bears]: Okay, great. Thank you.

[Morell]: Thank you. And if I could, so just, I think just repeating back, as I understand what you said and what we had talked about is essentially cuts down a six month lag time, which helps you administratively, but also I feel like would probably be important in a city, cities like ours, where there is a significant amount of new roof and permits pulled, so making sure we're capturing that kind of as quickly as we can, correct?

[Costigan]: Exactly. Yeah, that's exactly right. we will get the benefit in fiscal year 25 of having that sort of extra six month period, but then we're gonna be on a really a fiscal year 12 month period. But yeah, it's helpful for our office, absolutely.

[Morell]: Great, thank you.

[Bears]: Second.

[Morell]: So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello to approve, seconded by Councilor Tseng, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Paris.

[Unidentified]: Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Collins.

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Morell]: Yes, five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent, the motion passes. Thank you so much. Communications from city officials, 23-439, the election commission respectfully request the following be added to the October 17th city council meeting. One, acceptance of the November 7th election warrant, signatures of the council are required. to acceptance of police chief designated officers for early voting and election day details. Designated the police chief as a decision maker regarding office staffing at the election polling locations. Chapter 92, section 72, the select board, board of select midtown council or city council of each city and town in consultation with its elections officers and registrars shall detail a sufficient number of police officers or constables for each building that contains the polling place for one or more precincts at every election therein to preserve order and to protect the election officers and supervisors from any interference, with their duties and to aid in enforcing the laws relating to elections. I motion to transfer decisions regarding decisions regarding staffing of police officers at polling locations to the chief of police or his designate for all elections going forward. Motion second. Oh, sorry. Just reading. Just kidding. Thank you for the worksheet. Let's see. I motion to accept the municipal election warrant as written. Does everyone want me to read this or would you like a brief synopsis? Could you, I mean, I'll keep, I mean, I'll read, that's fine. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, warned for Medford November 2023 municipal election to residents of the city of Medford, Massachusetts, greeting in the name of the Commonwealth, you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of said city or town who are qualified to vote in elections at Ward 1, Precinct 1, Andrews Middle School, 3000 Mystic Valley Parkway. Ward 1, Precinct 2, Firefighters Club, 340 Salem Street. Ward 2, Precinct 1, Roberts Elementary School, Park Street. Ward 2, Precinct 2, Roberts Elementary, 35 Court Street. Ward 3, Precinct 1, American Legion, 321 Winthrop Street. Ward 3, Precinct 2, Temple Shalom, 475 Winthrop Street. Ward 4, Precinct 1, Tufts University, Gancher Center, 161 College Ave. Ward 4, Precinct 2, Walkling Court, Auburn Street and North Street. Ward 5, Precinct 1, Visitek Elementary School, 37 Hicks Ave. Ward 5, Precinct 2, Visitek Elementary School, 37 Hicks Ave. Ward 6, Precinct 1, West Bedford Fire Station, 26 Harvard Ave. Ward 6, Precinct 2 and Precinct 2A, Brooks Elementary School, 388 High Street. Ward 7, Precinct 1, Mystic Valley Towers, North Building Entrance. Ward 7, Precinct 2 and Precinct 2A, McGlynn K-8 Public Schools, 3004 Mystic Valley Parkway. Ward 8, Precinct 1, Senior Center, 101 Riverside Ave. Ward 8, Precinct 2, South Medford Fire Station, 0 Medford Street. On Tuesday, the seventh day of November, 2023, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the following purpose, to cast their votes in the municipal election of the candidates of the following offices. City Council, number of open seats, seven term, two years. Mayor, number of open seats, one term, two years. School committee, number of open seats, six term, two years. Hear or fail not, I make return of this warrant with your doings thereon at the time and place of said voting given under our hands the second day of October, 2023. Posted at each polling location at the library and at City Hall. Going to our election, yeah. I will hand it over to our elections manager at this time. Oh, just one second, your mic's not on.

[Elections Manager]: There we go. Thanks. That was impressive, by the way. Um, the Election Commission is requesting that you accept the warrant for the election as as stated, and it's pretty self explanatory. At this point, the state does require that the City Council does accept it and sign the warrant.

[Morell]: Thank you. Any discussion on the council? And that'd be both, both provisions, because there's, okay. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello to accept both provisions, that would be designated the police chief as the decision maker, and then the municipal election warrants as written. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Tseng, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins. Councilor Matt is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng? President Bears?. President Morocco.

[Morell]: Yes, five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent, the motion passes. Thank you.

[Hurtubise]: Okay, great, thank you. Councilor Collins is signed. We can have her come into City Hall and sign later. So I think four is going to be sufficient anyway.

[Morell]: Thank you. Public participation. Is there anyone on Zoom or in person who would like to speak for public participation? Seeing none, before we adjourn, I do want to note that we'll be meeting again next week for our regular meeting. On the 24th, we have a slight adjustment to our calendars this month. So we'll have another regular meeting next Tuesday, the 24th. And after that, it'll be two weeks until we have a regular meeting scheduled. Do I have, yes. So on the motion of Councilor Tseng to adjourn, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Vice President Bears? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight is absent. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. Councilor Tseng? Yes, President Morell.

[Morell]: Yes, five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everyone.

Morell total time: 12.43 minutes total words: 2184	Collins total time: 0.22 minutes total words: 49	Caraviello total time: 1.66 minutes total words: 300	Bears total time: 1.47 minutes total words: 261
Tseng total time: 0.54 minutes total words: 90