[Caraviello]: 10th regular meeting of the Medford City Council, March 9th, 2021. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Present.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Falco. Present. Vice President Knight. Present. Councilor Marks. Present. Councilor Morell. Present. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Present.
[Falco]: 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.
[Caraviello]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020, order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 30, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020, order imposing the strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted by remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and general guidelines
[Hurtubise]: think we lost the chambers for a second. So looks like they're trying to get it back.
[Caraviello]: I have an announcement to make that the Council Chambers are now open to the public. We do have some guests here this evening. We have taken all the necessary guidelines given to us by the Board of Health. Currently, we have a capacity of 18 seats. They're all spaced six feet apart. The first row, instead of being six feet from the rail, is 10 feet from the rail to give a little extra buffer to make sure that everybody is safely distanced from each other. There are signs on the building outside, so everybody will adhere to the proper protocol. The messenger is logging everybody that comes into the meeting, and he will give it to the clerk so they can put it in to the computer on the next day. So anyone who wishes to come to meetings going forward, the chamber is open for public participation or anything you want to say here. So before we start the meeting, we have Marianne O'Connor, who's going to give us a little brief synopsis on where we are with vaccinations and general health things. Marianne, are you here?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: I am. Hi.
[Caraviello]: Good evening, Council President members City Council overview of what you've been doing and where we're going with the COVID in the vaccination process.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Sure, sure. So give you a little update on our case numbers which are looking thankfully, a lot better. In January, actually, we had over 1,000 cases, positive cases. In February, that number is down to just over 300. So we're seeing that winter surge that we had, the holiday surge certainly is coming down, which is great news, which the state also is seeing the same numbers, which is why the governor recently change some of the reopening plans recently as far as restaurants and capacities. And if these numbers continue, if the data, public health data continues to trend downward across the state, hospitalizations, there will be additional increases in capacity and some more reopening gathering limits release a little bit further, probably by the end of the month. I know a lot of the youth sports, the spring sports are looking for guidance and hoping, you know, for better news. And we're hoping that that does happen. They did release guidance around youth sports. I believe March 1st was the most recent, but we're gonna try to hold off before we answer any of those plans and see what we're at the end of April. And hopefully it's even better news. We have been, taking what we've been able to get from the state as far as vaccinations are concerned. We've done probably about 11 clinics to date. We've been able to do regionally. We started out regionally. I think you all know that we were with Medford, I'm sorry, Mystic Valley Public Health Coalition Partners, which is Melrose, Wakefield, Malden, Winchester, Stoneman, Medford. We did regional clinics and were able to regionally do 371 first responders, both first and second doses. They completed their vaccination. We were able to do about 545 COVID facing healthcare workers regionally, and about 122, both first and second doses for both of those congregate care, those were the first phase one people that we were able to do. And we did those regionally. We were able to do. 354, 75 plus elders, Medford specific, because right after that, the state kind of cut us off basically for doses, for regional doses and stuff. So we're kind of on our own. So we did 354 first doses of 75 plus, and they will be getting their second doses this Saturday at the Andrews School. It's 354 75 plus folks. And we're now we've been working started working with Jeff Driscoll about a month ago and planning for our housing authorities. It's a separate program from the state, even though they've cut the locals off from basic vaccine first doses. They do have a separate program for local housing authorities. So Jeff and I started talking about this a while ago, and he was able to submit a plan. And we did get those doses last week and happy to announce that today we did tampon building. We did 94 people at the tampon building. We are doing a welding gardens tomorrow and walking court on Thursday. And then we got this week, we just got noticed and we received today actually another 300 doses for the salt and salt Riverside. building, which we are planning on doing next Friday. So that's all great news. We also have been able to participate and do doses for our homebound. We are continuing to add to that list. We do have limited doses. We were able to do 90 homebound residents last week. The weeks of running together could have been the week before. and they will be getting their second doses as well. And we believe we have about a hundred doses additionally for another a hundred homebound individuals. So the state is just releasing their homebound plan on how we should be doing it, but we've already done it. So we're already well on our way. And we did receive the second doses for those homebound individuals as well. But that's probably gonna be the end of what we have for vaccine. Unless the floodgates open, state gets more vaccine and they allow the locals to continue to do, because right now we are not in line. Hospitals are getting them first, pharmacies, the mass vaccination sites, obviously. Locals are not receiving doses any longer.
[Falco]: Thank you very much to you and your department and all the volunteers for their hard work. I just, you just mentioned the homebound, I think it was a homebound plan. Can you talk a little bit more about that.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So, we had put aside doses originally for the homebound. A few weeks ago, I'm sorry, I can't, my weeks fall into each other. I can't tell you what week is which, but so we were able to do, we partnered with Armstrong Ambulance, and I believe it was last week. We were able to complete 90 doses for homebound individuals. These are folks who had either called the Council on Aging, the West Bedford Community Center, or our office, whether it be their children, are the individuals themselves. These are really homebound individuals. These aren't people who can get out to vaccination sites, you know, even with assistance. These are, these are, we're looking to target individuals who are really unable to go even out to medical appointments without assistance. So we do, we did have a list, we do have a list from the council and people are continuing to call. And so we are adding to that list, but we did get the first 90 done. and next week we are hoping with again the help of amazing volunteers to get another 60 done but we do have additional doses and we did receive the second doses so we are we're good for the whole month but again we're not getting any more so once we we reach what we have that's that's all we have.
[Marks]: Okay, Council Member Bucks. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Marianne for being on the call tonight. That was extremely informative, and I appreciate the update. Marianne, last week we received as a council a correspondence from the mayor stating that the city was in the process of submitting an application to the state to become a vaccination site. I was just wondering if you can update us with that.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, we haven't heard back from the state yet. So we are trying to propose to be a regional vaccination site. There are pretty strict requirements around what the state's looking for. We are partnering with Cambridge Health Alliance, Somerville, several other communities, Malden, Everett, Chelsea, a lot of other in Cambridge, trying to get the state to approve us as a regional vaccination site. If that is approved, The site, one of the sites we're proposing, a couple, one of the sites would be the Gansher Center in Medford at Tufts University, which would be amazing. So we would have it right here locally. Unfortunately, one of the requirements, again, to fulfill, to be approved, is that you're open to the entire state. So it's not just a regional site like we had had originally for those five, six communities that we were with. It's a regional site, but it has to be open to the entire state. You have to be able to do at least 750 doses a day for five days within the week. That's why the Cambridge Health Alliance has stepped up and is offering to assist with this, which would be great, but we have to be approved by the state. It's gonna be basically considered like one of the mass vaccination sites. I did hear on a call from DPH today for the first time. that if we are approved 25% of the doses would be reserved for local communities which is amazing news which is great news. That means our residents would be avail those 25%. of the doses, but again, we have not, I believe there are almost 18 or more applications put into the state for these sites. And only one, as far as I know, has been approved so far. We have not heard. We're still waiting.
[Marks]: And I'm sure you'll keep us posted if and when we do hear. Oh, yes. Can you give us an update on where we stand with the Method Public School faculty and teachers being vaccinated?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: I would love to be able to say that we're going to do that. But again, the locals are not being given the doses. So unfortunately, right now, the CVS pharmacies are vaccinating teachers, if you can get an appointment, because they're part of the federal pharmacy program. And when President Biden announced that last week, that teachers were now able to do so. CVS opened up slots for teachers. The state is not opening up slots for teachers until this Thursday, March 12th. They can go on and make an appointment for March 12th and beyond, if they can get an appointment. But right now they're being treated like the rest of the general population. You have to get on the site, you have to try to get an appointment. There is nothing for us slotted to be able to do our own teachers, which we would love to do. We would love to be able to do our own teachers, but we are not being given vaccine to do so.
[Marks]: Right, so the Department of Education just came out with a mandate that elementary school students will be going back beginning of April. And I'm just wondering where we stand with the vaccination for staff and teachers. And it sounds to me that it's up to the teachers to go off and try to get their own vaccinations. And yeah, I'm not sure why they're not listed as a priority, not just with the city, but on the state and the federal level, especially where the requirement is that in-school learning will take place at the beginning of April. So that kind of troubles me. One other point, Mary Ann, and I'm not sure if you can answer it or not, We have roughly, according to my figures, about 4,500 seniors that are 75 years or older that currently reside in the city of Medford. Do we have any indication what percent of those seniors have received either their first or second vaccination?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: That's hard. That's hard to say. I think the state is looking at county wide data. They haven't given us city community wide data. I can't tell you who's been able to go to Danvers or Fenway or Gillette or, you know, I know about 200 of our senior residents were at the regional site that we had in Wakefield. I know that 354 came to our site. But I can't tell you who's been able to reach you. The good news is that now that we're doing the housing authorities, and we are reaching out to the council and aging like I said have their lists and community housing authority and the West Medford Community Center. And when we reach back out to these people, a lot of them have told us they've already received the vaccine, or they've already got an appointment. So they don't need our services right now. So that's good, that's good to hear. But I cannot, no, I have no idea who went to Gillette, who went to Fenway, who went to Danvers, or any of the mass vaccination sites. The state has not released those numbers to us. They're only doing it on a county-wise, countywide basis I believe right now.
[Marks]: So how difficult Marianne would it be for us, and I realize the state's not providing these numbers. How difficult would it be for us as a community to look at our most vulnerable, which are our seniors, especially seniors over 75. to reach out directly to them, if there's some 4,500, I'm sure that can be done, to see where they are in the process and to see who may need the additional help to gather an appointment, get on the internet. And how difficult would that be? Is that something that we can accomplish?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: I guess, but we have tried to promote and publicize that they can call us, they can call the, Council on Aging, they can call the West Medford Community Center. The Housing Authority is certainly doing all the reaching out they can. If they need assistance, you know, to call us, because obviously this is not an easy process right if you don't have access to the internet. First of all, you can't do it at all. If you don't have a child, a son or a daughter to help you, you're not going to be able to do it. And it's just a terrible process hard process to begin with for everybody so we've asked people if they need assistance to reach out to us, and certainly we do have a lot of folks who have. But to really scan the whole 4500, I mean, I don't know I mean we'd have to really think about that how, how would be able to accomplish that but we are getting We do have numbers of folks who are still in need of assistance, and I know the Council on Aging every day is helping to try to book appointments for people who can actually get to those other sites. You know it's one thing to be able to book the appointments another thing to be able to actually get there right so we also have transportation options for folks. This there's a couple of different transportation options folks that we've set up so that if They can get an appointment but they can't literally like drive there or get there, we do have transportation options they should call the Council on Aging, or the West Benford Community Center RS, and we can hook them up with with transportation. The Mystic Valley Elder Services is offering transportation, two round trip for both shots. So, so there are options, and we're hoping that people get that message and they call, they reach out.
[Marks]: I don't think anyone behind this real doubts the work that's been done by the West Medford Community Center or the Council on Aging or your office. I would just hope maybe a little more emphasis goes on outreach rather than the community reaching out to you guys, you know, especially for our most vulnerable population. And, you know, we took a vote, Marianne, I just want to set the record straight a few weeks back. And I'm under the impression that maybe part of our vote wasn't accurately reflected in what this council voted on. But we did vote unanimously to ask that you provide us with a weekly five minute update. And there may be weeks that you don't have an update and you just come on and say, I don't have an update. But I think would be very helpful, not just for this council, but the edification of the people that are watching that get a lot of their information from tuning in over the many years, especially many seniors, that that would be very helpful. So I would just respectfully ask if you could set aside five minutes at the beginning of our meeting every week, just to give us an update, especially during this vaccination rollout. And I wanna thank you and Council President Caraviello for establishing this chamber to be an open, once again, an open forum to allow residents to come up and speak in a safe fashion. And I think you both really put together a great working plan that involves CDC regulations, Board of Health regulations. And I as one member, and I'm sure my colleagues can speak for themselves, are very appreciative to that fact. And I wanna thank you both for your leadership on that.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. Thank you. And I didn't, you know, I have never seen my name on the agenda. So I don't want to break any open meeting laws. So if I'm on the agenda, let me know. And I will absolutely be there. I've never been invited. And I haven't been on the agenda. But certainly going forward, I would be happy to.
[Marks]: Well, can I personally invite you the next?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I think I think I formally need to be on the agenda, though. That's all I'm saying.
[Knight]: to do, right? I mean, she's the only way I know the worst.
[Caraviello]: Uh, let me go, Kurt. If we can unmute the man, please. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President. Thank you, President Kevin Carve yellow and thank you to the city councilors for allowing us to give an update and be here for the next item, hopefully, which will be the proclamation for our Board of Health director, staff and volunteers. I just wanted to chime in when Councilor Marks asked about the 4,500 seniors and just to give some reassurance that when we first had the doses and we were setting up the clinic and the governor announced that we would be able to vaccinate 75 and older, the next day we scrambled, we had emergency meetings, we grabbed the help of the Medford Housing Authority, the West Medford Community Center, the senior center came together, and we were very concerned that we would sell out of our appointments in 30 minutes. But I wanted to reassure you that it was open for over a week before the state took the rest of our doses. And before they took our doses, we were able to call between my office, the Board of Health, our three partners, we were able to call every 75 year or older that had reached out to us and left a voicemail over the last week and get them that appointment and able to get as many people as we can appointments at the state sites as well. So I didn't want to just point that out that we are doing everything we can to respond to calls to get appointments for people. And we were able to have that clinic open for a full week and get everybody in that needed an appointment that was 75 plus, which went amazingly that day. And we look forward to giving them their second dose this weekend.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilor Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Mary Ann, for taking the time to be here and for your ongoing and seemingly never ending work. I just have one question. So I just want to confirm to you that it's my understanding that When you're eligible, and as people become eligible as the steps of the phases tick on and are announced, as people become eligible, right now the best information is that when you're eligible, the best place to get your vaccine is wherever you can get an appointment. Is that correct? Great, and then, oops, muted.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: There you go. Yeah, so absolutely. Great. for sure.
[Morell]: And then thinking to the housing authority, everyone in those buildings, those people are already being contacted. That kind of rule I just said doesn't apply.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, so it's kind of restricted. It's not every building in the housing authority. It's the afforded elderly and affordable housing. So there's a tampon, walk-in courts, Weldon, and Canal Street. that were eligible for these doses. So if we have extra, they've asked that we reach out to the other folks who qualify in housing authority buildings. But at this point, those were the only units that were identified in this program. Okay, great. Thank you.
[Scarpelli]: That's all I have. Thank you. Along with that, Miriam, first of all, thank you and for all the volunteers for everything is done through this pandemic. And again, like Council Member Mox said, I know that I was, I know I'd go home and my mother would say, my wife would say, might be a little critical, but I really wanted the opportunity for the residents that wanted to come here and speak in person because it says they're for them and so I appreciate the work that you've done with Council President Caraviello to get the chambers open. And so people can feel like they can be heard and share in what issues are in our community. And I appreciate that. One quick question I do have. If we have seniors or sons or daughters of seniors that haven't receive phone calls? Should they direct calls to the mayor's office your office to get better understanding of how they can get vaccinated or if they had questions?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So we have the resource line that I would I would point people towards because that's the best way for us to kind of figure out what the what the need is or what the question is and make it and then we can divvy it out to whoever can answer best so the resource line is the best way to put in a question.
[Scarpelli]: Do you know that number off my head right now of course I don't. But then the meeting. Yeah, I'll look for it.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: And then, if they're homebound for sure that they should reach out to any of directly to the counseling agent, our office or anyone else, but if they're really home on individuals certainly reach out to us directly. Okay, thank you.
[Scarpelli]: My last question is the hypothetical. I know we've been very adamant to making sure that our teachers were finding any way possible. Do we have, is there a plan in case of extra dosages that we can work with either the Armstrong or our fire department to maybe work with the school department to get teachers vaccinated. I know that if there's a case that we might, I know you're saying that as we're calling different seniors, they're saying they're already vaccinated. So I don't know if we have a mechanism in place that if we do find that we have extra vaccinations that we can, you know, if there's a plan in place that we can maybe, cause that's where we can We have a captive audience in their schools where if they want to be vaccinated, we could bring it to them. Is there anything like that set up just in case as a hypothetical?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: I would love to, yeah. No, I would love to. Unfortunately, so these are state supplied vaccines. So we are kind of held to the restrictions as to who we can use them on. So right now, like again, with the affordable housing, elder and affordable housing, we've been asked if you don't, you know, if we don't fulfill those and to move on to the other housing authority locations and maybe in those family buildings that they have, they have people who are qualified, which would be, you know, 75 plus two comorbidities, 65 plus. I have reached out to Melrose Wakefield Hospital. The hospital seemed to be getting some doses recently. And at least looking at the K through three who have to be in school by April 5 I talked to the superintendent told me that's like three to 400 teachers and staff. If we could even possibly get them done because they have to be in person learning full time by, you know, April 5. So I did reach out to Melrose Wakefield so they have us, you know, kind of on their Radar, if they have the doses, he got minimal doses this week and they were gone in two hours. So, but we're on the radar for that, but certainly, yeah, we're working and all of the local boards of health are pushing DPH to allow us to do our teachers. So things change, you know, it could change tomorrow. Maybe they'll say, okay, yeah, but right now, no.
[Caraviello]: Okay, thank you. Mary Ann, I do have the resource number here that was provided. It's, for those who need it, it's 781-475-5644. Again, I'll repeat it again. 781-475-5644. And that is the resource line for those who need some assistance. Thank you. Councilor Knight, Vice President Knight, did you want to speak? Mr. President. Yes. Okay, Councilor Bess.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Marianne and the entire health department, board of health staff and everybody else. I just had one quick question on the update. Has the state provided any sort of information on what the next expanded phase of vaccination might look like? Is that what these additional regional centers are? Or is that still, are you still waiting for that last minute email?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, we'll find out after it's printed in the press. Yeah, no, we don't know. So they have the phases online. I shouldn't say that. There are the phases online. So next would be your essential workers, right? They did move the teachers up out of that category into their own. But after this group would be the essential worker group in the next phase. So the phases are online. You can see who's in those groups. they just happen to take the teachers out of that group and push them up.
[Bears]: Right, yeah, and I guess I more meant like, are they talking about more locations, more vaccine, you know, that kind of thing?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, so they're looking at these regional sites. They did put a thing out to folks and say, if you can meet these requirements, if you can do 750 doses a day, five days a week, you know, and stand up these locations regionally, But again, they're trying to do it geographically, right? So where the places are that are hot, like the Cape just opened up theirs, right? So the places that don't have direct access is where they're identifying. Now, whether they think people in Medford can easily go to the Heinz Center or Danvers, you know, I don't agree with that, but I'm not the state so. So hopefully, we'll see, we're pushing hard because some of the communities and love actually several the communities that we've partnered with those you know high impacted communities. So they really need access. So, we hope.
[Bears]: Yeah. Thank you, Mary and I appreciate that I figured that would be the answer. I'm sorry that's what you have to work with.
[Caraviello]: Again, Marianne, thank you and thank you for all the volunteers who've been helping you on this. And I want to thank you for the help that you've given me so we can get this room open to the public. So again, I thank you for your guidance and look forward to seeing you next week. Any further questions from Marianne before we move on? Marianne, thank you.
[Bears]: Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Best.
[Bears]: I'd like to move to suspend the rules to take papers 21-100 and 21-181.
[Caraviello]: 21-100. And what's the other one?
[Bears]: It's the paper that Councilor Mark sent under suspension, 21-181. Okay.
[Caraviello]: All right, on the motion by Councilor Bears, suspend the rule, seconded by. I'm sorry? I will do the 100, 21-100. On the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by? Seconded. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Lococo? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in favor of rules are suspended. Communications from the Mayor, 2-1-0-0-0. To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford Mass, dear Mr. President and City Council, I am pleased to put forward this proclamation, proclamation of gratitude to the staff and volunteers of the Method Board of Health in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic in recognition of the work of the Method Board of Health, Director Marion O'Connor, staff, and volunteers. I welcome the council to join me in adopting this proclamation as well. Sincerely, Mayor Brenna Longo-Curran. Madam Mayor.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I appreciate the time. I want to point out that we have I think all of our Board of Health staff on the call, Sophie, Rose, Brooke, Sarah, Melanie, Penny, Wendy, I see you all there. I also see a number of our volunteers. Patty Costas is here, Pat Hanson's here. So I'm sure I'm missing some, but I just want to point out that not only are we here for all of you tonight, You're all here also to support Marion O'Connor, our board of health director and all the work that she has done with obviously the help of you. So you've got us through the last year and this is for you. And I appreciate the council signing onto this proclamation that we will hang proudly at Medford City Hall for all to see. So if I may, this is a proclamation of gratitude to the staff and volunteers of the Medford Board of Health in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Whereas the city of Medford along with the nation and the entire world has faced the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic since the beginning of 2020. And whereas the virus has affected the lives of every single person in the city of Medford and has claimed the lives of over 500,000 people in the United States. And whereas the Medford Board of Health in response to this unprecedented public health and humanitarian crisis immediately and boldly took steps to protect public health, deliver aid, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our community. And whereas more than 120 residents in both medical and non-medical fields have consistently volunteered time and efforts to the city's model R U OK program to provide food, medication, supplies, phone calls, vaccinations, and comfort to Medford residents. And whereas together with the R U OK volunteers and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, the Board of Health has been able to provide critical aid and support to the Medford community within the past year, including more than 10,000 initial calls made to seniors with 2,500 additional calls for follow-up, more than 2,500 deliveries of meals, medication and supplies, contact tracing for nearly 5,000 local cases of COVID-19, including daily case counts as high as 105, created Medford's first multilingual language resource line to connect residents with resources and services related to food security, housing, mental and behavioral assistance, and other related needs, and nearly 2,000 calls received in just over two months. And whereas in collaboration with administrators, staff, and health workers at Medford public schools, coordinated and provided support for over 20,000 individual and pooled COVID-19 tests in Medford schools, allowing children to return to in-person learning safely and securely. And whereas despite limitations and supply from the Commonwealth, coordinated the direct vaccination of nearly 2000 people thus far in the city of Medford, including residents 75 and older during clinics and directly in homes for those unable to travel, And whereas working with the Medford Council on Aging, Medford Housing Authority, and West Medford Community Center directly assisted more than 500 Medford seniors with making vaccine appointments, registration, and transportation to state-sponsored vaccine sites. And whereas the Medford Board of Health, through Director Mary Ann O'Connor, the dedicated staff, and countless volunteers, has, from the onset of the virus one year ago, performed above and beyond the call of duty for the benefit of the public health of the residents of the city of Medford, regardless of language spoken, economic situation, race, gender, immigration status, ability, benefit eligibility or religious affiliation. Now, therefore, I as mayor of the city of Medford do hereby proclaim with profound gratitude to those who have worked tirelessly to protect public health and in remembrance of those we have lost that the city of Medford extends its deepest thanks and appreciation to the Medford Board of Health Director, Marianne O'Connor, the staff and volunteers of the Medford Board of Health for their work in the past year and on behalf of the people of Medford.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. And if I just may, it's been a really tough year for the community. It's been a tough year for our volunteers, our staff, and our director, but they have come together. They are a family, we are all a family, and we have been able to conquer the challenges that have come before us. And thank you to the city council for your support, and the school committee, and the school administration. Together we've been able to get through it, and we have hope now. We are vaccinating people. It's a wonderful thing. And we're gonna continue to do the work. And I thank you. I know Mirian O'Connor's family's here too. Everybody just so proud of the work that you all have done. And thank you from the bottom of my heart as mayor. And I'm sure the city council feels the same. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[Bears]: Councilor Best. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you to Mirian and everyone at the Board of Health and Health Department and all of the volunteers. And just reading through that list, I think it's important that we do it, not just to acknowledge everything you've done, but to, it got me a little choked up just thinking about how far we've come together through all of this. And it's been so hard and so many last minute changes and so much loss. But I also think we've gained a lot of community through this as best as we could and helped so many people.
[Hurtubise]: I just want to thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Beza. Councilor Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I thank the mayor for introducing this. It's very much needed. And I read something this past weekend that was startling, but I guess not too surprising at this point, in that one in three people has lost someone to COVID, someone in their lives to COVID, and more than half of those people who have died in the U.S. have passed since November. And I say this to just note the incredible impact and the long haul of this, something that's been felt acutely by those working diligently in community health, supporting Medford residents through loss of their loved ones, loss of jobs, loss of incomes, loss of normalcy and stability. And this past year has been an incredible weight to bear for all of us, but really no one has shouldered the burden quite like our community centers or volunteers or public health workers that are on the call tonight. And these staff and these volunteers have given endlessly of themselves at a time when we're all facing collective trauma, grief, and loss, and sometimes makes us act in ways that doesn't make their jobs any easier. So again, I thank the mayor for introducing this proclamation to commend and honor the work of such an important group of people, really led fearlessly by Marian O'Connor, who has had no shortage of difficult and light speed decisions to make under a microscope. And I don't think I can commend her enough for that work. And I think the whole community is so appreciative of that work. So I wholly support this, and I'm really honored to have these individuals in our community and working for our community.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Belco.
[Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I also want to thank Mary Ann O'Connor and her staff and all the volunteers for their hard work. And I thank the mayor for bringing this forward, and I thank Consular Marks because I know he has a resolution as well that he's bringing forward. And I cannot thank everyone enough, especially, like you said, Marianne, the staff members, the volunteers, and, you know, There were so many people that volunteered this effort. And this has been a really, really tough year. And so many people sacrificing their own health to help others. And it was nice to see the community come together and still come together to help during these very, very tough times. So I want to say thank you for all your hard work. Thank you, Marianne, personally, for taking the many phone calls I made to you over the past year about COVID. And thank you so much for your help. And I can't thank you enough. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Mr. President, at this time, I would ask, because the council made a statement as well, I would ask that that statement be read as well, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Okay. We have a statement here offered by Councilor Marks on the suspension of the Medford City Council is honored to offer this council accommodation, a council accommodation of extreme appreciation and profound gratitude to the Medford community who is working tirelessly to protect the health and safety of fellow residents. Therefore, be it resolved that the Medford City Council acknowledge the many workers, residents, and businesses who are stepping up above and beyond to provide critical assistance and compassion during these trying times. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I thought this was very fitting to bring up, Mr. President. The mayor, in her capacity, has the ability to put out proclamations. The council has the ability to put out commendations. And Mr. President, this is truly a thank you to all those in the community that have participated over the past year in ensuring that we fight this horrible COVID-19 as one, Mr. President. And I think what you saw over the past year is a community unite over a common cause. And it involves many people in this community, as which we just heard the Board of Health and the many volunteers over the past year have worked tirelessly to make sure that our most vulnerable population served in a time of need, Mr. President. And that does not go unnoticed. So on behalf of the council, I'm sure my council colleagues will speak I'd like to personally thank Mary Ann and the Board of Health, as well as the volunteers. I also would like to take a moment, Mr. President, for someone that is in stop and shop at least two days a week and have seen the, what I call, frontline workers that have been there since day one, Mr. President, making sure that we have food, Mr. President, making sure that our stores remain open These two also are the unsung heroes that we don't hear about, Mr. President. Meal carriers. They haven't missed a beat, Mr. President, in the past year. Healthcare workers who have been dealing with the sick and infirm, Mr. President, during these tough, difficult times. First responders, police, fire, and EMS within our community have done yeoman's work, Mr. President, in answering the calls over the past year and have not received much praise, Mr. President, but I think this council accommodation is thanking them after a year of their due diligence, Mr. President. School employees, teachers that have been on the front lines, Mr. President, as well. I mentioned grocery workers, bankers, Mr. President, retail employees, truckers, delivery people that have been delivering in our neighborhoods into the most needy, into shut-ins in the community. Military personnel, Mr. President, that have been there to protect us during this awful virus. Sanitary workers, restaurant workers. We have a gentleman here tonight, Mr. President, that owns a restaurant. And many of these restaurant workers during this tough time were there to make sure that they stayed open, even though business was tough and, you know, you weren't allowed to have people in your restaurant. They stayed open for takeout and assisted residents, Mr. President, during this tough fiscal time and tough times. You know, that doesn't go unnoticed, Mr. President. We have nonprofit workers that have been out in the streets assisting families, homeless families, people that are being discarded, Mr. President, tenants and so forth. That has been a huge issue, Mr. President. The building and trades, they haven't gone down, Mr. President. They're up and functioning. Civil service employees, Mr. President, And every other Method resident that reached out to their neighbor or a loved one and asked them if they needed help, if they needed assistance, do they need someone to shovel? Do they need someone to go to the store and pick up their laundry? Or do they need someone to help get some food? And these are the unsung heroes, Mr. President, in our community. And on behalf of the council, I'm sure my council colleagues are gonna speak on this. We wanna thank them. on behalf of the mayor's proclamation, and also the council's accommodation, thanking everyone in our community for pitching in during this very difficult time.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Schiaffelli.
[Scarpelli]: So again, thank you, Marianne and your staff for providing the leadership that we needed in probably the most difficult time this community has ever seen. So I also to follow along with Council Marks. He said it all, but I think that what I saw during this pandemic is sense of community and the few things that Council Marks mentioned that really impressed me is the seniors, our neighbors that are seniors, when you'd watch neighbors walk next door because they were going to the supermarket and ask them if they needed for them to pick something up just because they didn't want them to be exposed, whether it's Halloween and making sure our neighborhood kids can have a safe and happy time and make sure that we did give them an opportunity to celebrate Halloween, but in a safe manner, whether it's, you know, teachers and, you know, I'm lucky to have my sister as a reading teacher, just listen to her stories and, you know, watch her cry at times because of the frustration at the beginning and what teachers are going through. It's been so, It's been so eye-opening when you look at tragedies, how communities band together. And one thing that I'm very proud of is that one thing we did see is Council Marks, everybody that he mentioned, the leadership team with the Board of Health and Mary Ann, and our fire and police, and they didn't take a day off. Our firemen and police, men and women, and five men and women were first ones through a door and hearing the stories, how they had to wrap up to make sure they were keeping themselves safe and their co-workers safe is just commendable. So we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but we see contentious issues in our community today. And I don't want our community to bypass how great Medford is and how they acted and how they continue to act and making sure they're protecting each other. You know, something simple as wearing a mask. I'll be honest with you, in my travels, I didn't see too many people in the city of Medford not wearing a mask. And something that simple meant so much for our safety and for each other's safety and health and well-being. So again, I appreciate the mayor bringing this forward. I appreciate Councilor Marks bringing his accommodation forward and And this is, like I said, as we get to the end, we pray for the people that we lost. We never forget their struggle that they've gone through, but at the same time, we celebrate how our communities stood together and we're getting through this. So thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. And again, thank you everyone. Again, I think Councilor Marks and Councilor Caput took in pretty much everybody in the city here. So I don't think we have anybody else to thank here. We have a motion on the floor to join papers 21000 and 21181. Motion, Mr. President. The motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll to join these two papers.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. I'm in the affirmative motion passes the joint vote.
[Marks]: Mr. President, while we're on suspension. Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: While we're on suspension, Councilor Marks. I'm sorry. We have to vote on the original, on the paper.
[Bears]: Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: We can take a vote on the paper, but while we're on the suspension after, I'd like to offer another item. Mr. Clerk, we call the vote on the actual paper.
[Bears]: Mr. President. Thank you. Just before we vote on the paper, I got a little choked up earlier and I just again wanted to thank everybody. And also, you know, my sister's a frontline worker and I think she's very much appreciated all the health guidelines that have gone out. She works at a bank down in Haines Square and, you know, she's been very grateful that people are wearing masks and the health guidelines are being followed. And, you know, if there's ever an issue, they know who to call. So I just wanted to link those two issues together and just also say, you know, there's a few months ahead of us, still difficult few months. And I think all the work that we've done as a whole community or the whole list of people, everyone in Medford who has stepped up and followed the guidance and leadership of our board of health, you know, we got to see this through, we got to stick it out and you know, all this work can't be for naught. So hopefully fingers crossed, we're a few months away from everybody being vaccinated and thinking about a new normal. And I just implore everybody Let's keep going and make sure that we can actually see the other end of this tunnel. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: The motion by Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Assembly affirmative, motion passes. Councilor Knight, Vice President Knight. 21-098 petition for calling a picture license by Michael Lewis seven heaven drive on the day, New Hampshire for cafe services or the cafe one cabinet road method mass. Mr. Lewis, are you on the call? I am. The chair recognizes the Chairman of the Licensing Council, Scott Belli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for presenting your business here in Medford. I see everything that you have passed everything in. Everything looks in order. If you can, if you could just, before our councilors ask some questions, can you give us a little synopsis of what we're doing in your business?
[SPEAKER_09]: Cafe Services, a contract management company. In Medford, we were operating a corporate cafe for the Davis companies of One Cabot Road. The company that was in there, Simpsons Corp, went out of business, so we took it over for them. But we do corporate cafes, we do K-12 school districts in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, and we do senior dining in all of the six New England states.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, so do you have an actual cafe, or is this just in bulk that we just do?
[SPEAKER_09]: No, it's a cafe where we have actually just one person there because of the population in the building.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, so thank you. I do see everything in order, so I move approval. I know my fellow colleagues may have questions. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Scarpelli for approval, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Keohokalole.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Knight.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Councilor Scartelli.
[SPEAKER_09]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes, 17 affirmative motion passes. Good luck Mr. Lewis on your cafe.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you very much for your time.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Mr. President, while we're under suspension, I would ask that we take public participation. We have a distinguished gentleman in the audience that served almost four decades in the public service here in the community that would like to speak.
[Caraviello]: Yes, on the motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by.
[Marks]: Second.
[Caraviello]: By Councilor, Vice President Knight, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Councilor Marks.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, seven in favor of the motion passes. Public participation petition to the Honorable City Council. Citizens participation. offered by Robert M. Penta that the issue of water and sewer base be charged since 2017 be discussed. Good evening, name and address of the record, please.
[Penta]: My name is Robert Penta, Zero Summit Road. I don't know if you can hear me.
[Caraviello]: We'd appreciate it if you don't touch that.
[Penta]: No, can you hear it?
[Caraviello]: Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.
[Penta]: Back in May of 2017, what was presented here before the city of Medford was a new, what they call a base, rate of 861 per household. And then the different charge would be for the commercial district folks here in the city of Medford. And then one of the arguments was that it would raise $1 million a year. That was approximately 4% of what the city's budget was at that point in time required for the water and sewer services in the city of Medford. Subsequent to that, it's gone on for the last three years. now coming into its fourth fiscal year. And I believe a response that was sent back to the city, you folks, pursuant to a request from one of your colleagues, was a breakdown of how much money each and every one of the last three fiscal years amounted to. Inclusive of that amount, again, was the term of $1 million to be used per year, but they never reached the $1 million per year. What was reached was $2,585,362.66 as compared to the $3 million that was allegedly stated that the city would gain. That's a difference of $414,637. So where do we go with that? Where we go with that, the argument was that that would be used to supplement water and sewer for whatever needs might be if something were to come up also to subsidize the water and sewer department in case of something that's anticipated. In the letter that came back, it indicated here that the universal connectivity fee is an infrastructure recovery charge to be hooked into and maintained in the water and sewer system. The fixed base connectivity fee is estimated at $1 million per year to help stabilize revenues in this place. That response also indicated that that money goes to your water and sewer account. There is no breakdown. There is no breakdown to the charges, commercial or residential. There is no breakdown also as to how and where that money has been spent. And there is no program that is set up presently that tells you what that money can be used for. So right now, all it's done has been included into your water and sewer account. One of the misnomers to this whole project, when sold back in 2017, was in case there is a, in case, that's the word, in case there is a deficit in either the water or sewer account. In the years 2016 and 17, there were deficits on the sewer side, not the water side. But each and every year, when the water and sewer budget is estimated, it's estimated on what the work is going to be here in the city of Medford, and also, The water and the sewer rates that you get from the MWRA, those rates come in ahead of time, not after a budget is made and set. That's another misnomer as it relates to the full program. So approximately right now, you're sitting on $2,585,000 of base rate fees or charges, whatever the term you want to use, that has come from the Mr. and Mrs. Metro taxpayer has been put into the general revenues of your water and sewer account. That ladies and gentlemen is not the proper accounting practices and procedures because in your own water and sewer account, you have to have it broken down. You have it broken down by employees. You have it broken down by cost of material. You have it broken down by the named individuals in the trucks and everything else that goes along with it. My suggestion to you folks would be simply this. You can't put a fee on somebody or a charge without knowing what you're charging them for. It's not fair. If that's the case, you should have just raised the water and sewer account by the approximate 4% that you think it was going to do to offset it. So if you're sitting on a surplus of approximately $7 million or thereabouts in your water and sewer enterprise account, and you're sitting on approximately having already raised $2.5 million, but you still don't know how it was spent, where it was gonna go, Where is the projected projects that are supposed to come? It doesn't make any sense because right now, what it's saying is it's a water and sewage charge. It was to services in case something were to happen. The original proposal back in 2017 was the charge for the water meeting. And that was the charge that was going to be placed on each and every residential person. So we know right now that that charge every single time, once it comes out, is not for the meter. But unfortunately, for accounting purposes, because you can't figure it out, in this city, in the accounting department, there is nothing to be found that'll tell you how and where that money was spent. But you can find it in water and sewer, in their particular budgets, independently separated. My suggestion would be to you, that you have a budget coming up this year. I would hope that maybe somebody would make a request and ask the question, because it doesn't make any sense that the response that came back from the finance director, we don't keep an accounting. Well, if you don't keep an accounting, how do you keep an accounting of residential and commercial meters that you have and what you're going to be charged? How can you allege that you're going to be taking in a million dollars a year when you haven't even got to that figure? Something needs to be said as it relates to these type of budgetary items. Seven weeks ago, I came in here and I think I explained something like seven items. I'm going to go through them all one at a time, not tonight, Mr. President. I will go through them all one at a time. Because good accounting procedures tells you what comes in has got to go out and how does it go out. You've got situations here that you really don't know why should you be charging these people to supplement or augment a water and sewer account that's presently sitting in millions of dollars. You have yet to be told what the cost is going to be for an anticipated construction sidewalk, street reconstruction might be because of water and sewer. So if you keep taking in these monies from Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, you're overcharging them. You're overcharging them each and every year on this base rate, the speed, whatever it might be. Point of information, Mr. President.
[Knight]: Point of information, Vice President Knight. I think it's important to point out, and I understand what the council is saying, and I don't want to interrupt them, but I think it's important to point out that this base fee is something that's implemented by the administration. It's not a vote that was taken by the council, does not require council approval. It's under the purview of the Water and Sewer Commission. They meet monthly to discuss these type of items. And that the accounting that's being done should be done in accord with the GAA, the Government Accounting Office, the General Accepted Accounting Principles, Mr. President. And looking at what the gentleman's saying, I do have some agreement with what he's saying, but there's also some items that we need to clarify. And the first item we need to clarify is this is the doing of the council. This is the doing of the administration of the Water and Sewer Commission.
[Penta]: Well, while that may be true, there's also, you talk about general accounting practices. General accounting practices does state that if you are going to put a budgetary item on a budget, as you councilors get each and every year, the question needs to be asked, if I'm going to just put $100 million, so to speak, and put it into a line item, and there's no accounting of the money, other than the fact I just put it into an account, what's the purpose of that? So you're right, it's an administrative prerogative, but when it came up in May of 2017, it was contentiously argued at this Medford City Council as to why we need this new fee. And at that point in time, the argument was for the purposes of the meters, for the accounting of the meters. Now it's going into the general revenue, and now we're being told that there is no delineation, there's no explanation, there's no accounting of how that money's being spent. So if that's the case, And as Councilors, if there's no explanation of how it's being spent, before you used to have the accounting firm of Melanson and Heath, you don't have them anymore. You have them for like 15 years out of New Hampshire. You have a new accounting company that comes in here, they're supposed to do an annual audit. That question ought to come up. Because if you remember correctly, if you looked at the Melanson and Heath audits, that was one of their concerns on the MWRA, especially in our water and sewer accounts, if you go back and read them, the accounting and the prioritizing how the money is spent. This account, or this money, Councilor Knight, there's no accounting with the money. It just goes into a general revenue.
[Knight]: I didn't say you didn't have legitimate concerns, Councilor Penta. What I said was that it needs to be pointed out that the Medford City Council isn't the one that implemented these fees, and Medford City Council isn't the one that has the purview to remove them.
[Penta]: As watchdogs of the city's money, over and beyond the administration, the administration can make a proposal. The bottom line is here with the council. You either vote it up or you vote it down. And if you're going to vote it up or you're going to vote it down, The question is, what are you voting on? And if something comes to your attention to be questioned as to why and how, this is where it's going to take place in the Medford City Council Chambers.
[Knight]: But the matter is never going to come before us for us to vote up or down because it is not within our purview. It is within the purview of the Water and Sewer Commission. So the beef is not here in the Alden Chambers. It should be in room 201 with the Water and Sewer Commission.
[Penta]: Then I would respectfully suggest, if we follow that train of thought, I would respectfully suggest a freedom of information request to the city auditor, asking the city auditor. As to why, Mr. President, why there is no accounting. When you get the money from the MWRA ahead of time, before a budget is made, there's an accounting of how that money is going to be spent. You have money.
[Bears]: What information, Mr. President? What information, Councilor Biss? Just, it's a public records request, not a freedom of information. Thank you.
[Penta]: Thank you, Councilor Biss. I believe, Mr. President, a Freedom of Information Act can come from anybody. And if the council does not get it as you got it from the response from the finance person, then you would go to that next group. Because again, if you follow what Councilor Neider said, if allegedly it comes from the Water and Soil Commission, it's their call, maybe their call to implement it. But it's your call to decide how and where, if it's going to be spent. And you guys can ask for an accounting of how the money is being spent. That's it.
[Marks]: Thank you.
[Penta]: You're more than happy to answer the questions because it's the finances of our community and you can't keep tagging on to Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer and now not having an answer or an explanation.
[Marks]: Mr. President, Councilor Baxton. I wanna thank my former council colleague. I know he's very passionate on this and this is not the first time Councilor Penta spoke on this issue and he does raise some valid concerns. I offered the resolution back some several weeks ago and read thoroughly the response we got from Aleesha Nunley, our finance director. And I also received the correspondence via email from the Water and Sewer Commission to the chair, Dominic Camara, who in my opinion, along with the rest of the board, is doing a great job in a very difficult, as you can imagine, board to operate, Mr. President. And, you know, the response that we received from the administration, we did ask this council ask directly, if we're able to see the base rate, what that actually pays for within the water and sewer enterprise account. And they were unable to break out that particular portion compared to just the regular rates and say, well, with the base rate, we paid for X, Y, and Z. And that's how they do their accounting. And personally, I don't see a problem with that. What Councilor Penter is asking for is more of an itemized type listing of where the expenditures are going based on what revenues coming in, and I'm not sure if they have the capability or capacity to report it out that way. But that, as Councilor Knight mentioned, that's not really end of our purview anyways. When this originally came out on the council, there was some concern because members of the council, including myself, thought this was a connectivity fee. And it raised a lot of eyebrows because at the time we said, wait a minute, we usually have a surplus in the water and sewer accounts, of several million dollars, why would we need now all of a sudden start charging residents a connectivity fee? We're already connected to the water and sewer system. But come to find out it wasn't really a connectivity fee, it was a base rate fee. And there is a difference, a substantial difference. And as Councilor Penta alluded to, the base fee is a stabilizer. So the way it was told to me and the way I understand it is that every period, the billing period, we're not sure what we're going to receive for revenue. We know how much the MWRE is going to charge us because we have everything needed, right? City Hall gets constant updates through the little antenna on your water meter telling how much the water usage is. So City Hall at any given minute could say how much the water consumption is. We have giant meters throughout the community that show the inflow and outflow of sewage. And we can tell you how much sewage is leaving this community. So they have a good handle on what the fixed charges are in this community. The handle we don't have is how much revenue are we gonna bring in? Because there may be, especially during these fiscal difficult times during COVID, that someone may not be able to pay their water and sewer bill. And it happens not just during COVID, other times. And so having, the way I understand it, a base rate set up It sets up a revenue stabilizer. So we know there's a million dollars guarantee that's coming from the rate payers that's gonna pay off what we owe. So it's not an extra charge. It is definitely not an extra charge in the bill. It goes towards paying off your rate, the water and sewer rate for the entire community. And it's somewhat provides a stabilizer. One would ask, why don't we raise it? because the million dollars is not much of a stabilizer. Why don't we raise that base fee? And then we can have guaranteed money in there and know where the money's coming from and serve the same purpose. So I think I understand where you're coming from councilor. I'm not quite sure the city has the capability of providing that level of detail. that you're looking for regarding what projects were done in the city, what infrastructure did this money go towards? Leak detection. You've been talking about leak detection for 20 years. We have a high percentage of water that's leaking out throughout the system, and it's costing the rate payers millions of dollars. The council has probably heard me a million times about inflow and infiltration. The sewer system. We accept groundwater that's going into the sewer system, and that groundwater is going out to Deer Island and being treated as raw sewage. costing us millions of dollars a year. And we're aware of it, but guess what? We have an aging infrastructure. You know, so this is a much larger issue. I wanna thank the council for keeping it in front of us. You know, our water meters, like the new schools that we talk about that were put in 17 years ago, our water meters are now, the new water meters are 15 to 17 years old, and the life expectancy was roughly 13 to 15 years. And it's just a matter of time that we experienced when I first got on the council, that half of our meters were being estimated. That's when the city steps in and says, you know, Mr. Panto, we don't know how much you're using for water, but we're gonna estimate your bill. How would you like your bill to be estimated and not actual? So they could be charging you double what you're actually using. And that's why we put the emphasis on these new meters. And now we're coming up to a period of time where You know, we have to look at these meters and it's a multi-million dollar project, but it's very important that people get charged exactly what they're using, Mr. President, very important. And I'll always support that, Mr. President. And the days of estimating are over in my opinion. So I appreciate the council bringing it up. I always look forward to hearing Councilor Penter and he does his homework and research and I thank you for bringing it up again.
[Penta]: Mr. President, just on that matter, just to go back and reflect, Demita's had a lifespan of 10 to 12 years. I don't know if it's 13 to 15. But that's a perfect example, a perfect example of when you have a budget that's coming up from the Department of Public Works, having a projection, for example, on new water meters, that dollar amount in anticipation needs to be in there. And while it's into the proposed budget that you folks deliberate over, it's likewise the same type of money that can be deliberated over the base fee for which goes in there. You back then, Council March, talked about the retained earnings, but the retained earnings, has to be something that's certified and qualified by the Department of Revenue and subsequently voted upon by the city council. So taking all of that into consideration, you're dealing with a multi-million dollar surplus right now in your water and sewer account, and you also have inclusive of that multi-million dollar, you're talking about two and a half million dollars right now that's been collected. So how does that fit into either retained earnings or the water and sewer balance Is it off by two and a half minute because this is a new dollar amount in there?
[Marks]: Just a point of information, Mr. President. Just a point of information, this council, and I believe you were part of it back some years ago, we've voted year after year after year to use retained earnings to offset the rates. And the rates over the last couple of years were going to go up double digits. And if it wasn't for this council and previous council stepping up and offsetting it with the, which is rate payers money, but offsetting with that money that you're talking about in retained earnings, the rates would have gone up even higher. So I just want to set the record straight on that.
[Penta]: And in 2016, Mr. President, the deficit was 467,000. And in 2017, it was 427,000. That was on the SOAR account, but that was offset on the opposite side. Council March is talking about because of the retained earnings of the surplus that was in the water and sewer. All I'm saying, all I'm saying is this account, if it's included in your water and sewer account, it should be accounted for and how it's spent or anticipated to be spent, just like any project that's going to be done in the forthcoming year. And there was also a dollar amount contained in the budget for unanticipated expenses. You may have a street that just blows open, a major line that blows open, I don't know, but the money is there. And lastly, let me just say this, Mr. President, each and every year, I don't know, coming into this year, each and every year, there's been approximately a million dollars in surplus that's left over from the prior year's budget. So each and every year for the last maybe 10 to 12 years, there's been approximately a million dollars, and that money, which is left over, once it's certified by the Department of Revenue, it's leftover money, can be used for any unanticipated debt deficit that takes place in the city. But we don't have to do it because you've got surpluses, in the water and sewer enterprise.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Penta]: You're welcome.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Penta]: You're welcome.
[Caraviello]: We have another participant that would like to speak.
[Penta]: Oh, I'm sorry.
[Caraviello]: No, you wanna speak on the public participation? You just came to visit us? We're glad to have you here. Council Mark says I think he has one more on the suspension.
[Hurtubise]: 2-0-2-1-0-9-2.
[Caraviello]: 2-1-0-9-2 offered by President Caravelle be resolved. 2-1-0-9-2 out of suspension. You're talking about the condolence. No, not that. 21092, opened by President Cabrera. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council discuss the following letter of interest from a candidate for the Haumel Commission. You have a copy of the letter on file here. And I think Mr. Collins is on the call here. Brian, are you here? For those of you who don't know, this is Brian Collins. He's a member of the Western Community Center. He runs many successful programs over there. And Brian has expressed interest in the Bacon-Hormel Commission. And there were some other candidates, but they did not put in the application. So Brian, if you want to give us just a little option about yourself.
[SPEAKER_08]: Sure, absolutely. So I'm a lifelong resident of Medford. I went to school here, graduated, and now I worked and raised my daughter here. And I've been volunteering on the board for the West Medford Community Center for the past 12 years. I enjoy working with the kids in the community and bringing the good things that we do at the West Medford Community Center. So I was grateful to get an offer to work on the whole male committee to do the same thing there and make that awesome field available to the kids and the organizations of Medford. So thank you for the invitation. Thank you, Brian.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. Collins for applying. I know Mr. Collins from a lot of volunteer work. I know the basketball programs at Duggar Park and also with our our fundraising that goes on during the summer. And I appreciate his application. I think he would be a valuable member of this commission and I would support him wholeheartedly. So thank you for reaching out. I think you would really make the Hormel Commission a most successful venture. So thank you.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. When I learned that the existing council appointment, Mr. Guayona was not interested in reapplying for the position, I became very concerned about how we were going to fill this position and what quality of candidates we've received. And when I saw the email of one, Mr. Brian Collins and his interest in serving on the position, it certainly set my fears at ease. I've had the ability and the good fortune of having to work with Brian for a number of years. I also grew up in West Medford. Don't let him fool you, he's a West Medford legend. Everybody who grew up in West Medford knows Brian Collins, knows who Brian and Mark are. He's a great guy and he's someone that puts his money where his mouth is, Mr. President, has a great proven track record of bringing successful programming to our community and also thinking outside the box. And watching what he's done down in the center, it's unbelievable to see the amount of program and the amount of effort and hard work that he's put in there. How the center's evolved over the last 12 years since he's been involved is amazing. So with that being said, Mr. President, I certainly feel very confident in the application of Brian Collins to serve on the whole mail commission. And I for one would move for approval of appointment. Thank you. Council Bis.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. And hi, Brian. It's good to see you. you know, I can only echo what my colleagues have said about what you've done for our community and the great work of the West Medford Community Center and how much it's grown and such a, you know, even more vibrant now than it was years ago, which is great. And I, you know, I just like, since we're appointing you, I like to, you know, try to ask a question and just what's a project or something that you'd really like to get started on at Hormel Stadium if you were appointed to the position?
[SPEAKER_08]: So it's a great question. And I usually take, I listen to what the community wants. So for instance, at the community center, it's not so much of me driving the programs. It's me listening to the kids in the community of what things they would want to see. So for instance, I recall growing up here, we never had girls basketball. But six or seven years ago, the parents would come to me and say, how come all the boys get basketball? No one ever pays attention to the girls. And I got a daughter. So I actually felt the same way. So when something like that comes to my attention, that's what I would be more in a movement in that direction. So I would be more of listening to what the community would like to see at Hormel. as opposed to any personal preference?
[Bears]: That's fantastic. And I think that's exactly, you know, should have expected that answer from you. So thank you very much.
[Marks]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And I would ask my colleagues to wait to tell Brian how much work this is until we take our vote. But no, you know, anyone in the community that's been around the community knows the amount of time Brian puts in at the West Medford Community Center. how he volunteers endlessly across the city. His organizational skills are impeccable. Look at the offerings and how far the West Medford Community Center has come over the years. And, you know, Brian won't toot his own horn and I know there's a lot of good people there, but Brian is largely due in part to what he's done for that West Medford Community Center over the years. As you can see, he's a level-headed person, which is needed on boards and commissions. He's a man of reason and a person of understanding, and I think he would be a great fit, Mr. President. We don't have many appointments as a council. You can count them on one hand, how many appointments we have. So this is important to us as a council, and it's important we pick the right person. And without a doubt, Brian is going to do some remarkable things down there. We have a beautiful stadium, Mr. President, we can all be proud of. And I know Brian will continue to make that a showplace for our community.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Brian for his interest in the position. I've known Brian for years through his work at the West Bedford Community Center. And he's always there. I know he's always put a lot of time, effort, and energy into program development, really getting getting things running and keeping things moving over the West Bedford Community Center. It's always been a successful program, but he's been involved for many years. I know he's been a real big part of that success. And I think, you know, Brian just hit it on the head when he said it earlier, listening. That's what a lot of this comes down to, listening to what the community wants, listening to what the community needs. And I think he's been a valuable asset at the West Bedford Community Center, and I think he's going to be a valuable asset on the Whole Milk Commission as well. I thank him for his interest, and I definitely support disappointment. So Brian, thank you very much.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, it's hard to hard to go last when someone such a hard working and highly committed person this community, but I like everyone else on the council. Seemingly everyone else in the community have had the pleasure of working with Brian through some through some things at the West Medford Community Center. He's a stalwart there. He does an incredible amount of work there. And thank you, Councilor Bears and thank you for Brian for speaking on it, the girls basketball program, because that's something that I think when your name comes up, people just talk about, you know, recently, just how wildly popular and successful that program was and really loved and you know, as as things get back to normal, hopefully coming back. So I think that's just a really great example of the kind of work you do. And as far as that listening, so I, I support this appointment and I think you would be a great addition to the Hormel Commission.
[Caraviello]: Thank you and personally I've known Brian for about 10 years now and he's done remarkable work at the center there. He's attentive to everyone's needs and the big thing is he listens. He listens to what people want and that's why he's successful working with the community. So again, and I also support Brian for the job and wait a motion from the floor, which is Councilor Scarpelli as president to nominate and select Brian Collins as seconded by Vice President Knight.
[Marks]: Mr. President, before you call the roll.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the outgoing Commissioner Lenny Gliona, who has done a tremendous job representing not only the Hormel Commission, but this Medford City Council who appointed him back some several years ago that have made great strides at Hormel, largely in part of Lenny's input and his diligence to this community. So I wanted to personally thank him.
[Caraviello]: And I too want to thank Len for his years of dedication on the commission there. And I know Len will be showing up on some other project within the community because that's the kind of guy that he is. So I know I'll be seeing his name somewhere else. Mr. President. Oh, sorry.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. I would just be remiss if it's since the time to thank Len for his hard work on the commission has come up. I'd be remiss if I didn't add my voice. I've become a close friend of Mr. Lyon and I know he's took his role very seriously and worked very hard on it. And I thank him for his years of service on it.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, I'm really brief, but to echo the sentiments of my colleagues that just spoke, I also thank Mr. Guiliano for his years of commitment to the position. Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Knight]: Mr. President, I was going to put a resolution on next week to thank him. I would have had to do that now that you went out of my sales here.
[Caraviello]: The motion by Councilor Scott Bailey, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. I mean, for most passes. Brian, welcome to the commission and we look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity. Good luck, Brian. Thank you very much. Thank you. First, let me bring back the regular business. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. capital plan to reflect the resurfacing of city roads and the revitalization of Medford Square and Mystic Avenue as year one priorities. And be it further resolved, the capital plan be adjusted to call for a resurfacing of no less than 10 miles of roadway per year. Vice President Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much.
[Knight]: Here in the city of Medford, we have about 140 miles of roadway. And if we look at the capital plan that was released last week, I had the opportunity to watch the meeting on local access television. Pat Gordon did a good job delivering that TV program to us last week. If you look at the capital plan, you'll see that over a six-year period, it calls for the resurfacing of about 11 roads, Mr. President. Now, we're a community that has 145 miles of roadway, and I don't think there's one street in this community at this point in time that's pristinely paved from curb to curb with no potholes, no markings, no proper markings and signage, proper crosswalks and the like. Everybody in this community uses roads to get from point A to point B, whether it be school buses, fire engines, plows, police cars, you and me, bicycles, pedestrians, everybody uses the streets, Mr. President. And the condition of our roadways at this point in time are subpar. When you look at surrounding communities, you can tell when you get there. because the pavement changes. When you drive from Bedford into Malden, all of a sudden the ride gets a little less bumpy. The same thing when you go into Arlington or Somerville or Winchester. So Mr. President, we have a capital plan. We've heard a lot about this pavement inventory that was going to be taken by the administration. Ultimately at this point in time, you know, the curb appeal in this community isn't what it once was. And we need to start investing money back in our infrastructure so that our curb appeal can be something that's enticing, so that a curb appeal can be something that when a taxpayer looks out their window, they can be proud of. Instead of having to call C-Click fix, they can smile and tell their friends, why don't you come over and take a look at what a great job they did. I will say this, the plowing that's been done in the community over the past year or so has been excellent, Mr. President. But with that being said, the toll that's taken on our roads is beginning to show. So with that being said, I'm requesting that the administration adjust the capital plan to take into consideration our aging infrastructure and roadways. With 10 miles a year, it would still take us 14 years to resurface each roadway in the community. So it's an ambitious goal, Mr. President, but I feel as though we need to do something more ambitious than 12 streets over six years. That coupled with the fact that we've been talking about ways to generate revenue in this community, to generate new growth, to address the $5 to $8 million budget deficit. We've been discussing the revitalization of Method Square now since the 100-year parade when I was in the fifth grade. And we had a great opportunity to address some concerns along Mystic Gap. And I think that that's kind of fallen by the wayside after all the work that the Metropolitan Area Planning Council has done. I'm very happy of the work that we've been able to do with Mr. Barbrowski. And once we get this recodification process completed, I look forward to moving forward and hopefully securing the zoning consultant for further review of our zoning ordinances. But with that being said, Mr. President, I asked my council colleagues to support this resolution. I feel as though it's a capital plan that needs to invest in things that matter. And one thing that everybody in this community uses is our roads. So with that being said, I'd ask my council colleagues to support the resolution.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Councilor Bears. Thank you, Mr. President. I agree with Councilor Knight's sentiment and I will be supporting the resolution. I'd just like to propose a B paper that also asks how many miles would be resurfaced per year under the initial proposal from the administration? Yes, how many miles per year proposed under the initial capital plan draft? Thank you, Mr. President.
[Marks]: I want to thank Vice President Knight for bringing this up. I think behind this rail, we've all spoken about sidewalks and roads ad nauseum. And I think this is a great proposal. However, Mr. President, with that being said, we as a council have not had the opportunity to sit down as a council and go over the capital plan. And I would respectfully ask my colleague to hold off on this until we have the ability as a council to sit down and go through what we believe are some of the issues that we would like to see addressed within the capital plan and not do it piecemeal. And I would just respectfully ask my council colleague to either withdraw this or set up a meeting where we can sit down and have a meaningful dialogue. It's $107 million proposal. And I also had the opportunity to watch it, Mr. President. And there are a lot of unanswered questions from the school appropriation to when the fire department will eventually see their buildings be refurbished and why are we waiting so long to refurbish? the fire headquarters, as well as the other existing buildings. I think there's a lot that needs to go over. And I don't want to send a message that if we do support this, that this is what the council is looking for. And that's it, Mr. President, because that's furthest from I as one member of the council. So I hope my council colleague can appreciate that. And maybe we can use this as a catalyst to take a look at the capital plan and see what the needs are as a council and as a community.
[Knight]: The way I look at it, Mr. President, is this. The plan's been released. The plan is the plan. The mayor didn't involve us in the planning procedure, in the planning process. This council, week in and week out, sends the administration requests in the form of resolutions, making requests and recommendations as to where money should be invested. This proposal right here falls in line with the votes that the council's taken in the past. I understand where he's coming from, but I respectfully decline. I'd like to have the paper be voted on, Mr. President. I'd like to see the capital plan addressed. I've had enough of the condition of these roadways. I've been banging on this table since I got elected, talking about public utilities coming in this community, tearing up our streets, about what we're gonna do to come up with a plan. And we're not getting anywhere. Now we have a capital investment plan, Mr. President. We have a CIP and it doesn't address our streets. So if the council is taking these votes and we're serious about the votes we've taken, And there are many other items that are going to be priorities. I certainly don't feel as though that's an incorrect statement to make. And I certainly understand that Councilor Marks has some priorities that he's fighting for as does Councilor Scarpelli and so Councilor Falco. But with that being said, Mr. President, the paper that's before us is to ask that the capital plan be adjusted to call for these things as year one priorities. Any further putting it off is going to put us into year two. There won't be year one priorities. So with that being said, I'd ask my colleagues to support the paper. It is what it is, Mr. President. The mayor released the plan. We asked for an opportunity to have involvement. That opportunity wasn't afforded or awarded to us. So now we gotta do what we gotta do to get in there what we think is important for our constituents in this community. This is the approach I'd like to take in doing it, Mr. President. I'd like to be put on record knowing that I support resurfacing of our roadways. Again, it's something that everybody in this community uses. It's something that everybody in this community needs. And the quality there right now is awful. So with that being said, I respectfully decline the gentleman's request at this point in time, I feel.
[Marks]: Mr. President, if I could. As I stated, I don't think anyone's been a bigger advocate of roads over my term on the council in discussing the needs and the fact that we don't put any money in the budget for roads. From what I've been told by the mayor, and the mayor can correct me if I'm wrong, she told me this was a draft capital plan.
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