[Caraviello]: Good evening, everyone. 13th regular meeting of the Medford City Council, May 11th, 2021. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Present.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Falco. Present. Vice President Knight. Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell. Present. Councilor Scarpelli. Present. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, 17th, please rise and salute the flag.
[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]: So with the 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 strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medford.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link therein. In the event we were able to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Motions, orders, and resolutions 21364 offered by Vice President Knight, being so resolved that the Medford City Council extended its deep and sincere congratulations to Ben Ercolini on the momentous occasion of his retirement after 43 years of dedicated service as an electrician with Filene's and Macy's department stores. Vice President Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much.
[Knight]: This resolution was filed at the request of a former colleague, Councilor Camuso, who's maintained a very long lasting friendship with Mr. Ercolini. And Paul and I were on the phone just the other day and we were catching up and he explained to me that Mr. Riccolini had just retired after 43 long years working at Filene's and Macy's as an electrician. I know Mr. Riccolini so I had the pleasure and opportunity to go to high school with his son, David. We played in the same basketball team together. And it's great to see somebody, Mr. President, who's dedicated so much time to one company and has been able to reach the golden years of retirement after 43 years. So with that being said, I'd ask my council colleagues to support me. in off-resolution. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: On the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Scott Belli, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello? Yes. Setting the affirmative, motion passes. 21365, authorized by Vice President Knight, be it so resolved that the Medford City Council requests the city administration provide an update relative to the status of contract negotiations with the Building and Recreation Department staff. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I do feel as though this resolution is somewhat self-explanatory. Ultimately, the Building Department and Recreation Department had to do the contract negotiations with the administration, what appears to be over a year ago now at this point. It's my understanding that the contract negotiations had stalled for some period of time. And I'd like to ask for an update as to the status of the ongoing negotiations, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Falcon. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello. Yes, affirmative motion passes. 21366 on by Vice President Knight, being so resolved that the Medford City Council extended steep and sincere condolences to the family of Melissa Menounos on a recent passing. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. off of the Fellsway over in that section of the city, Mr. President, I believe in Councilor Scarpelli's old neck of the woods. And she's the mother of Maria Menounos, of local celebrity from entertainment news and the like, Mr. President, the classmate of mine from high school. And she recently lost her mother after a very public battle with brain cancer. And we all know what a great job the Menounos have done in being contributors to the city of Medford. So with that being said, I'd like to offer deepest condolences to the Menounos family.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Lee. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you Councilor Knight to bring this forward. I know that the Menounos family, strong family, Medford, I coach Maria. My time as a basketball coach in Medford High and her brother Peter grew up on our street, on Parris Street. Very hardworking parents and really good people. And I know Maria's values of family came from her parents. And I know when she, She hit it big and she brought her mom and dad with her every step of the way. And I know this has been a public battle of this sick disease and cancer and reach out to them and send a deep, deep condolences to the family and sending our prayers. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. The motion by vice president seconded by Councilor Scott, Mr. Clerk, you call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Garibaldi. Yes. Seven in the affirmative, motion passes. 2-1, 3-7, offered by Councilor Marks. Oh, I'm sorry, yes. Please rise for a moment of silence. 2, 1, 3, 6, 7, offered by Councilor Marksx, be it resolved that the long-term plan to address the condition of the roads are, of the long-term condition to plan to address the condition of our roads be the such. Councilor Marksx.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I put this on the agenda tonight because of the number of phone calls I've taken and the number of emails I've received, Mr. President, over the last several months. This by no stretch is a new issue. in this community. And I wanna thank my colleagues, Vice President Knight, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Falco and President Caraviello over the years, I know have put resolutions on regarding the poor condition of our roads and what capital plan will we have to assist us in a systematic approach to repaving our roads. And to date, Mr. President, I think it's clear to state that we have no systematic approach to repaving our roads. The mayor recently put together a capital plan which does include paving the roads, but that's the last I heard about it. I haven't heard anything else, Mr. President. And over the years, there's been a lot of talk, a lot of lip service, but no formalized plan to address the over 719 streets in this community, which are broken down by 500, I'm sorry, 450 city streets and 269 private ways in our community. So we have over 719 streets. And currently right now, Mr. President, what we put into the actual city budget to repave streets, not to fix potholes, to repave streets is a big fat goose egg. That's what we put in our city budget every year to repave streets. We do rely on chapter 90 funding, which on a given year, we get roughly about $980,000. I can tell you firsthand, Mr. President, over the past four and a half years, we repaved nine streets out of 719 in this community. Those were full streets that were paved. And we partially paved another 21 streets. So even at best, if we said there were 30 streets done, Mr. President, in the last five years, And if you look at it, the life expectancy of a road, and depending on the maintenance and how you keep up, depending on the traffic, depending on if you allow heavy trucking on streets, the life expectancy of a street can vary. But typically, you're looking at a little over 20 years. So if you look at doing 30 streets every five years, After 20 years, you'll have paved 120 streets, which is 28% of the 450 streets. And that doesn't include private ways. So if you take that into consideration, Mr. President, we are never going to get ahead of this. will always be repaving and never have an approach where someday we can be proud and say, look at our roads. They're in beautiful, pristine condition. but we have no such plan, Mr. President, of addressing this. And that doesn't even count the 269 private ways, which is about 40% of all the streets we have in this community. So I offer this tonight, Mr. President, because I think when you look at a community, And you look at the livability. You look at how vibrant a community is. You look at how well it's taken care of. You look at how city government operates. I think it says a lot about a community when you see streets that are torn up. There was a street right next to me, Bradbury. They just did a gas line, Mr. President. And we see this all too often. They dug maybe a four or five foot trench, two feet wide. And it goes up the entire length of the street. And I asked whether or not they're going to do curb to curb. And I was told, oh, absolutely not. That wasn't part of the recommendations. And what they are going to do, Mr. President, is just refill that trench. So if you had a driveway or a new driveway and you allowed someone to come in at no fault of your own and dig up your driveway, you would expect to get your driveway repaved. Not a patch job, which after a few years, if you're lucky, starts to sink. and then there's mix match and it creates craters and potholes and a lot of other concerns, Mr. President. So I ask that we find out from the administration, even though we did get a correspondence regarding this capital plan, if we can get an in-depth report on what's going to be done with the roads Mr. President, also today there was an announcement that there was $37.4 million that's going to be coming to the city of Medford from the federal government. I realize there's still ironing out and hashing out what it can be spent on over how many years and so forth. But we have to find out before we do any budgeting if that money can be spent on capital needs, which I believe it can, Mr. President. and I would prefer it be spent on capital needs one-time cost in the community and our roads should be at the top of the list. So I would ask Mr. President that in the form of a motion that we find out more in depth about the mayor's capital plan for the refurbishing of our roads I would ask that the $37.4 million I believe that came out today, if that could be used to fund new roads in the community, infrastructure improvements. And I would ask, Mr. President, that we come up with a systematic approach to addressing our roads that will one day have us see all our roads done over a period of time. and not just 15 to 20, and then 15 to 20. And by the time you get to that second 15 to 20, the first 15 to 20 you go back to, because it's 20 years. So it makes no sense, Mr. President. And I'd put that in the form of a motion. Thank you.
[Knight]: Thank you. Vice President Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you, Councilor Marks, for the presentation. I think it's spot on. I had the opportunity to review the mayor's capital plan. And what I was able to do, derived through my analysis was that this capital plan calls for the resurfacing either partially or totally of about two streets a year for the next six years. And the only investment being made is chapter 90 funds, which is about $900,000 annually, Mr. President. In a community of this size, in the condition of the roads that we have, that investment is not enough. It needs to be reprioritized. This capital plan needs to be reprioritized. For the last, 12 months or so, we've been hearing about a pavement management plan. Now, we had the call-in center come in and put together this capital plan that the mayor is using for FY 21 through 26, touting it as the first ever capital plan that's ever been implemented in the city of Medford. Apparently, she doesn't remember, shot the course that the McGlynn administration had put forward. Perhaps she doesn't remember the countless documents that the Burke administration had provided us that looked very similar to this capital plan that came out from the call-in center that the outside contractor provided to us. So with that being said, Mr. President, I thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. And I do feel as though the investment needs to be more than what it is right now, two streets a year for the next six years. The roadways and the condition they're in right now are not gonna be able to sustain the next six years without a far more significant investment. So with that being said, I second the council's motion. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Marksley for bringing this forward and Vice President Knight for his comments as well. And both Councilors are right. There needs to be a specific long-term plan for how we're going to repave roads throughout our community. I mean, each one of us, I'm sure year after year, has received countless calls with regards to potholes, just streets being ripped up after the winter from plowing, and you can only patch so long before you need to resurface an entire street. Two streets a year? It's completely, it's just wrong. It doesn't make any sense. You'll never get to a point where you're going to have new streets throughout most of the community. I mean, two streets a year, you're lucky to get a neighborhood done in 10 years. So we need to do better in that area. The capital plan, Vice President Knight is correct. The capital plan, it does not, there's really, there's not too much to address this. It needs to be addressed. I mean, in many ways, these are quality of life issues. When people are in their neighborhoods and they're driving and they have potholes all over the place, it's just not right. The administration needs to do a better job. There needs to be a long-term plan. And if I may, Councilor Marks, if you mind, if I would amend the resolution to find out exactly what streets were paved over the past two years. And if we can find out, get an itemized list of how the chapter 90 funding was spent in the past year. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: And if I can say something, for the last two years in a row, myself and Councilor Falco have offered a resolution for a pilot program to bring a company in that comes to the MMA show every year, and they would and we've asked for a pilot to try a half a dozen streets to see how it works, and that went nowhere. And I'd ask, if we could offer that, if Councilor Falco would offer that motioning amendment also. for that pilot program to be brought back again. I don't know, I think we did offer it earlier in the year, I don't remember.
[Falco]: Yeah, correct. President Caraviello, if I may add an amendment to get an update from the DPW as to if the pilot program for resurfacing streets with recycled asphalt will be put in the budget, in the upcoming budget.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Falco]: And if I may continue on that, I think it was back in February this year. And what they basically do is they take the asphalt right there, and they grind the street down, and it goes into a truck and actually put new asphalt down. You are correct. It's half the cost. And even if they had just a pilot program, just try a few streets. It's better than nothing. And there's some streets that are in dire need of repair, and this needs to be addressed now more than ever.
[Morell]: Thank you. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this up. I think we all often hear about residents, you know, about potholes, but many of them do want to know what is the long-term plan. They understand that, you know, a one-time fix lasts only so long. So I thank Councilor Marks for bringing this up and the other Councilors for their comments. And I also thank him for adding the part about the, you know, the American Rescue Plan money. We now have a dollar amount And this is something I've asked for multiple motions, trying to get an understanding of how the administration intends to use this money. I understand that we're still trying to find out or learning of how it can be used, but budget time is coming. And this is a huge amount of money that will really impact decisions from this council. And I, you know, this is something we really need to have. So thank you for bringing that up.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by council Marks as amended by council Marks and as amended
[Marks]: Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Just while we're on the subject, because it's somewhat related, I'm not going to offer it tonight, but in addition to the streets, Mr. President, all you have to do is take a walk around the neighborhood and see the hundreds of old tree stumps that are lined on our streets, up and down. I'd venture to say there's thousands in this city. I've done a count just in my neighborhood alone. And there's literally 30 or 40 just on abutting streets. And you can tell they've been cut down for years. This is not new stumps. These have been stumps that have been around for years. And this council has asked, Mr. President, about the stump list. And in the past, we've got, well, here's a list. Then we get a partial list, not a full list. And then we got an indication a couple of years back that they went through 90% of the stumps. Where? Where? They're all around the community, Mr. President. So tree stumps, raised sidewalks, trip and fall hazards everywhere. Someone just sent me a photo of a woman that fell over the weekend in the square, busted her nose open wide, Mr. President, on a sidewalk that was slanted up. But this exists everywhere, Mr. President, throughout this community. Rose is part of it. Broken sidewalks, tree stumps, double poles, It speaks volumes about a community and a community that cares. And, you know, you take a look around this community and, you know, I hate to say it, but it looks like no one cares, really. And we got to do a better job. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, President Caballero. And I'd like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing that forward as well. I know during this pandemic, I've been trying to do a lot of walking. through various neighborhoods throughout our city. And Councilor Marks is right. If you take a walk through the neighborhoods, no matter what neighborhood you go to, there are stumps everywhere and there are raised sidewalks everywhere. Trip hazards beyond belief. And they need to be addressed. They haven't been addressed. We have not been given any type of a program that's going to address these issues. The residents deserve better. These are trip hazards literally right in front of their house. Someone's going to get hurt. And unfortunately it sounds like someone already did.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Knight]: Mr. President. In building upon what councilor Marks and councilor Falco said, this isn't just a quality of life issue. This is more than a quality of life issue, Mr. President. This is a safety issue. It's a service delivery issue, but most importantly, it's a pride issue. I mean, do we want to be known as the community when someone's driving into Medford from Winchester, they say, all right, get ready. Here we come entering Medford. When they're coming in from Arlington entering Medford, driving down these terrible streets. I mean, that's not the image, Mr. President, that I think we want to portray to our neighboring communities. We have people in this town that are spending outrageous, outrageous amounts of money to purchase homes. And how long do we think that the residents are going to be able to put up with the lack of service delivery in direct correlation to their tax bills and what they're paying, Mr. President? Because right now it's significantly lacking. The services that we offer are significantly lacking and we need to do better. I'm seeing stumps in this community, and as Councilor Markswell, they've been there so long, they're getting taller. I see stumps in the city that are five feet high now. If you look at the intersection of Winter Street and Lawrence Road, for example, there was a dead tree in front of the house there. The resident asked for the tree to be taken down. The tree never got taken down, Mr. President. Instead, the tree fell down on the resident's house. The resident gets the tree removed from his front yard. He calls the city to remove the stump. The city cuts the stump. The stump's five and a half feet high, and it's starting to grow leaves out of it now it's been there so long. I mean, enough's enough, Mr. President. It's time that we stop putting the boots back on the ground. We reopen City Hall, and we get back to work. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Good evening, name and address of the record, please.
[D'Antonio]: Louise D'Antonio, 41 Dartmouth Street, Medford Mass. This is a suggestion, and it may be off the wall, but why don't we have our good neighbor, Tufts University. for a donation towards funding for streets. I mean, there are people that live along the backside of St. Brookings Street, and people are inconvenienced. They work on the roads a lot. They inconvenience people. And I think it would be a nice gesture if the city asked us to contribute to the improvement of the roads and the streets, if not in the entire city, at least perhaps in the area where they're located. But I just thought it might be a way of bringing in some extra money.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Good evening. Name and address of the record, please.
[Anita Dantonio]: Good evening. Anita D'Antonio, 14 Yale Street, Medford. I just want to say the sound system, I haven't been here for a long time.
[Caraviello]: Thank you for coming.
[Anita Dantonio]: It's much improved. You can actually hear everything that's being said, so that's great. I just wanted to give you some perspective. There was a great guy who used to do a lot of videotaping in the city. I don't know his first name. He was Mr. Fiorello. He was a longtime resident of Medford. He at one time in the 1990s, I believe it was, came up to the podium more than once talking about the roads in Medford. And he said, if you took a glass of milk with you and you drove down High Street, by the time you got to the end of it, you'd have a milkshake. Well, now we have a milkshake. Winthrop, Main Street, High Street. So I would hope by the year 2021 now, maybe in his memory, we'll drive down the street with a glass of milk and end up with a glass of milk when we traverse it. But it's just so long ago. And this has been a problem chronically. since, gee, probably before the 1990s, but it certainly, there's not been much improvement. So that's what I want to say.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Okay, on the motion by Councilor Marks, as amended by Councilor Marks and amended by Councilor Falco once and amended by Councilor Falco a second time.
[Marks]: Mr. President, just if we could. Thank you, Mr. President. While we're on the tree stump subject, I'd like to put a motion forward that the city administration do a thorough walkthrough of the city and give us an exact count of the number of tree stumps, Mr. President. Because I don't think they have an understanding on how many are out there. And then we can address it this year's budget because it's actually gonna be a budget of mine. Councilor Knights, absolutely right. You had people in this community that paid a very high tax, Mr. President, and not receiving the city service. Do you wanna make that a big paper? Yes, I'd like to make it a big paper. And when you can use these particular stumps and double poles as a reference, when you tell someone to take a left at the double pole and then take a right at the tree stump that's been there a hundred years, you know, they've been around a long time. So I think Mr. President, we have to get a handle on the number and address it in this year's budget. Thank you. Okay.
[Caraviello]: On the original paper offered by Councilor Mack, Well, we've already started the procedure on this one. On the paper, the original motion offered by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. As amended.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in the frame of the motion passes. 21368 offered by Councilor Marks being resolved at Medford City Council recognize Harold McGillivray Jr. for receiving the recognition and honor of having his name placed on the wall at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. May 9th through May 15th is National Police Week. I offer this resolution tonight to honor one of Method's very own and Method's very finest. On May 13th, 2021, Harold McGillivray Jr.' 's name will be placed on the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C., along with another 22,611 heroes. The memorial was established to tell the story of American law enforcement and to honor the fallen who protect and serve, Mr. President. Harold F. McGillivray Jr. was appointed to the Medford Police Department on May 31st, 1964, and served with distinction until his later appointment to the Metropolitan District Commission Police Department on December 1st, 1967, and then was signed to the Old Colony District in South Boston. Harold McGillivray, during a routine traffic stop on the Southeast Expressway on November 13th, 1978, at approximately 1.40 a.m., was struck by a vehicle at a high rate of speed and was rushed to the University Hospital, where a team of four doctors began a 13 and a half hour life-saving operation. Post-surgery patrolman McGillivray spent 13 days in the intensive care unit before being placed on the cardiac floor for the next four months. Officer McGillivray would spend the next several years in and out of the hospital undergoing additional procedures as a result of his injuries sustained during the traffic stop. Patrolman McGillivray eventually made it back to his beloved job at DDC police and was forced to retire on December 31st, 1984 due to injuries sustained in the line of duty. Patrolman Howard McGillivray, Jr. served the residents of Method and the Commonwealth with honor and distinction for over 20 years, Mr. President. Harold McGillivray, Jr., a debt of gratitude for his service, not only to the citizens of Medford, but to the residents of the Commonwealth. Anyone that knew Harold knew he was a man of integrity, a man of faith, a man who loved his family, and a man who took his job very seriously. If you were in need, Harold McGillivray Jr. would be the first at your doorstep, Mr. President. That was the type of person he was. We have his brave son now serving in the Method Police Department and is our dog officer and does a tremendous job. Harold McGillivray Jr., he didn't need a dog. He was the bulldog. Anyone that knew him, he was tough as nails, but he had a heart of gold, Mr. President. He'd be the first to step forward and help. And this is a huge honor to have his name placed on the monument in Washington, D.C., with 22,611 other heroes that protect every day the citizens of Method, put their life on the line. to do their job. And as I stated last week, for one of our state police officers that retired after three decades, Mr. President, I say the same about Harold McGilvery Jr., a man that was dedicated, a man that cared about his community more than anything else, and someone that should be recognized. And I ask that this meeting, Mr. President, be named in honor of Harold McGillivray Jr. for his commitment to this community and the residents of the Commonwealth. And I want to show our appreciation for having his name placed on the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC, which is going to happen on the 13th, which is this Thursday. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: And Council Box said we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that his two sons, both Harold and Paul, are both fine officers in our Methodist Police Department who followed in the footsteps of their dad. That is correct. Thank you, Mr. President.
[D'Antonio]: Good evening. Name and address of the record, please. Excuse me. My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. It's such an honor to see an honor bestowed on this gentleman, Harold McGilvra Jr. I met Harold when I was eight years old, and he was a teenager, and he was going out with his future wife over on Marion Street, Main Street. The four houses that connected in the back all together, we all used to play there. We used to torture Harry. He was older. Back then when kids tortured the older kids, they'd smack you around a little bit. It was a lot of fun. I gotta tell you something about Harry. One of the toughest guys I ever met. He wasn't supposed to survive that accident. When Harry walked down the street, if he was coming from Tufts Park after banging in a box, okay, you could tell it was Harry. You know why? The street lamps used to shine off the spit on his shoes. They used to, it was incredible. He was like a parade dress all the time. When Harry was in the neighborhood and he was on patrol that night, you don't have to worry about anything. You can leave your doors unlocked. He didn't need a patrol car to get to the scene. He'd run to the scene. He was incredible. He was just one of those people. And when you got into, many conversations and he had some conversations up here and a couple of times they got heated, but then when he was proven that his point was not the correct point, Harry would come up and he'd apologize and say, I'm sorry, this is the information I had. So I just, I can remember the day that he got hit. I remember the day when he first came down the streets and he pretty much put up all of us on notice, but the McGilvery family is a long, long, history in the city of Medford and in South Medford. And if you didn't know him at Gilbrey, you didn't come from Medford. So God bless him. Bye bye. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Good evening, name and address of the record, please.
[Penta]: Robert Penta, Zero Summit Road, Medford, Mass, former member of the Saugus party. My recollection of Harrell goes back to the many times, not only him being a police officer, but the many times he stayed involved in his community. He used to come to these council meetings. on numerous occasions. And if he had an opinion to make, he would make it. And he would tell you right to your face what he thought of you. That's the same way he acted when he was a police officer. If he made an infraction of the law, you were guilty of doing it. And then if he wanted to give you a break, that would be a separate story. But the interesting part about Harold is I think he represents what a lot of people try to do to a police officer today. They try to make them look like a bad person. They're not out there for the community. That's the worst message you can send out there right now. Harold McGillivray was a policeman's policeman. And he represents every single policeman that puts that uniform on every day, puts that gun, puts that badge, and goes out there to defend the people of the community that they're in, whether it's city, county, state, or whatever it might be. I would hope that the people of Medford not only appreciate the fact that Harold McGillivray and the family and his two sons, who are also police officers in the city, are going to have their father's name be put on the plaque that represents what law enforcement is in this country. They're there to help and defend the people, and that's what it should be about. not to debunk them, but to defend them. And it's a shame that anyone tries to do anything to take away from the integrity of what a police officer is. And to Mr. Harold McGillivray, I thank him very much because I enjoyed him and he was a good supporter of mine. And because of that, I support him as well. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: And again, I want to thank, I've known the McGilvery family both as a friend and as a friend of the family, and believe it or not, I was just paper boy, as he objected. And Harold and his brothers were both good family, good community members, always volunteering. And again, this is, thank you, Councilor Marks, for putting this on. And Mr. President.
[Knight]: Vice President Mayne. I think we'd be remiss in not pointing out the role that Mr. McGilvray had. in professionalizing policing across America through his involvement in organized labor. Mr. McGilvrey was a champion on behalf of his colleagues, police officers across America, across Massachusetts, in fighting for collective bargaining rights and lobbying up at the State House for benefits for police officers in the line of duty, which he was one, Mr. President. And if we think about the nature of the injuries that Mr. McGilvrey sustained and how long he suffered, many would say that he'd still be with us today if it weren't for that fateful night and that accident that occurred. So with that being said, this is a very prestigious honor, and I want to join Councilman Marks in extending my congratulations to the family for their hard work and perseverance in making sure that Mr. McGilvery's name is in fact included in the law enforcement memorial down in Washington, D.C. So with that being said, thank you very much, Councilman Marks.
[Caraviello]: on the motion by Council Mark seconded by second by Councilor Falco. 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?
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello? Yes, second the affirmative motion passes. Before we do communications from the mayor, I thought Marianne was on the call. She was gonna give us just a brief synopsis on the COVID update. Marianne, are you still there? There you are. Hi, Marianne. Marianne, can you give us a brief update of what's happening in the community with the COVID?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Sure. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Mr. President of the City Council. So great news or good news anyways. Last two weeks we've had case counts in the single digits, which is wonderful. We haven't had that probably since October. So we're very excited about that. Since May 1, we've had 38 cases reported. 20 of those cases are ages 29 and less. So we really wanna focus on that population. We really wanna make sure that they get vaccinated. You've heard that the FDA has approved going forward now the Pfizer vaccine for 12 plus. So we are very hopeful that we'll be able to do a vaccination clinic next week. I'm at the interest middle school for 1612 plus, which will be, which will be great, because those are the kids and now we're entering the sports season. This week they did loosen a lot of the guidelines around sports. So it's a little concerning but if you know if we can get vaccines out there and people still adhere. You know, they loosened up the guidelines around sports as far as face coverings are concerned. But again, it's only if you can maintain that six feet social distancing. So they're saying, you know, baseball, softball. So that's a little leak that everyone's really excited about. But again, if you can't maintain six feet social distancing, you really still should be wearing a mask. Last week we did offer a clinic at the high school for the 16 plus for the Pfizer. We didn't get a lot of takers, which was a little bit disappointing. I'm hoping that maybe that means a lot of our 16 plus have already been vaccinated, but they will certainly be welcome next week at the Andrews. On Tuesday is what we're planning as long as the CDC signs off on the FDA approval. I'm hoping that Tuesday at the end of this, we will be doing this clinic for 12 plus. We're also planning on a clinic on 522 at the West Bedford Community Center. The Bangladesh community had reached out to us, which was amazing. And we're hoping to offer a clinic at the West Bedford Community Center on 522, as well another clinic on 528. focusing on the Haitian Creole community, with thanks to Pastor Pierre, who is helping us organize that. We were planning on having what I guess people would call a town hall, but what we're going to be calling a real talk series about the vaccine and the effectiveness and the concerns people might have. We were going to host that on the 19th, we're going to move that to the 26th. Cambridge Health Alliance and City of Cambridge is actually hosting the Haitian Creole specific town hall on the 19th. So we didn't want to interfere with that. And there should be a lot of good information. But as well, the 26th will be a kickoff to a series of real talk conversations we'll be having and targeting specific communities. around the concerns, hesitancy, if any, around getting the vaccine. We'll be finishing off our 250 homebound vaccines this week, which is really excited about. And again, like there has been a lot of changes as of 5-10 and more to come as of 5-29. So sector specific, specific changes for restaurants and retail and so any of those businesses, if they have concerns, they can call us certainly but a lot of those updates are already on the mass.gov website, but like around sports tournaments now allowed. A lot of things that I've said no to. Yes, so forget everything I said. The tournaments are now allowed. The face covering again is a little bit more relaxed, but again, you must be six feet able to six feet social distance. Road races are now allowed. Spectators are now allowed for the 20 plus adult sports, which had been not allowed at all previously. So a lot of changes this week and a lot more to come on May 29th. And again, people have any questions, they can certainly reach out to us. But a lot of those guidance documents have been updated already on the mass.gov website. I think that's what I have.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much to you and to your staff for all your hard work. With regard to the 12 plus vaccine, I believe you said next Tuesday?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: We're hoping. We have to wait. The FDA has approved, but the CDC has not signed off yet. But that's expected to come by Friday with more guidance to follow. So yes, Tuesday would be the date if we're all good to go.
[Falco]: Would that be in the afternoon or at night? Do we have the particulars?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, so it's going to be the interest middle school to 36 is what we're planning right now. We have just about 246 doses I want to say a Pfizer, which is the vaccine that's been approved so it's limited, we'll have the 246, but we really want to use those 246 and get, get these.
[Falco]: Thank you. And how are the how are the kids being notified? Is there a robo call going out or verse 911?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So right now the schools are doing notification, I believe that the first one might actually be going out this evening, via website. And then we will be doing if not tonight, they will be doing the reverse call. But this is not just restricted to the medical schools. Right? This is anybody 12 plus private schools, whatever. are allowed are invited anybody 12 classes invited to come to this clinic. Again, with the with the approval from CDC going forward that we have it by Tuesday.
[Falco]: Thank you. And as far as the talk about the real talk series, that's, did you say that's made 26.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: May 26 is our date now. We have two great speakers. We want to make sure that they're able to, we have them booked for the May 19th date. We want to make sure they can make the May 16th date. Two wonderful speakers, one from the Cambridge Health Alliance, who's the actual director of the Infectious Disease Department, and one from Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, as well as our own Board of Health members. So, yeah. that it's gonna be, we were hoping to do a webinar. It looks like it's more gonna be now end up in a Zoom format, but yeah, that would come on that. That should be going out as well as far as a promotion tomorrow on that, but that's May 26th. That'll be in the evening at 6 p.m. And the Zoom link to follow. That's just the first, yep. Sorry.
[Falco]: I was just gonna say, with regard to the home bond program, so you said you're almost, I believe you're almost complete with that. And what type of vaccine was given out for that? I know, I believe at first you said maybe a few weeks ago, Johnson and Johnson, but that may have stopped, right?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, so what we're doing this week is basically finishing off the, this will be the second dose for everyone. So we had done Moderna. So the 250 will be finishing off the second dose of Moderna. We had gotten a hundred plus doses of J&J, of the Johnson & Johnson, basically the day before they shut us off. So we still have the J&J, if people are interested, we have done a few of them. Some people are hesitant, we're willing to work with them and talk through it. Again, you know, it's still a very low risk But the risk is the women ages 18 to 55. But we are certainly happy to talk through that. But again, that's a very low risk. As far as home on elders and males, the risk is even lower, way lower. So we do have that vaccine available. If people are interested, and they still need homebound vaccines, they certainly can still call us because we do have doses available.
[Falco]: Thank you. And last but not least, when we talked previously, you had mentioned the members of the community that are hesitant to the vaccine. And I believe the state was possibly going to come in and help out with the program where they would almost go door to door. Is that still happening or is that going to happen?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, we're still working on that with the mass ambassadors. That's kind of how this Real Talk series came about. And we're looking to fly a door to door. Like I said, we're working with a lot of a lot of the faith communities and figuring out the best way to reach out to folks. You gotta look at almost, it's almost like a political campaign, right? We're talking about going out there and doing door knocks and dropping flyers and talking to people and really getting their questions and concerns and trying to figure out how we can best address those. So we are still reaching out with the mass ambassadors And that's still underway. But that's kind of how the real series talk took off. Not wanting to call it a town hall because it kind of has that government tone to it. So which is part of the hesitancy. We've had folks that don't want to give us their address, you know, don't have insurance. And that's all good. That's fine. We don't need insurance. You know, we don't need an address. Just get vaccinated. That's what the message we're trying to get out.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. To follow on with that, before I get to my question, I know that Councilor Falco, thanks for bringing those up, but have we done it, we thought about doing a public press release like, you know, with throughout the community so people feel comfortable that the people that that their neighbors that they trust, like, you know, this council and say, Councilor Scarpelli, I had the Pfizer, I feel great, I feel safe, I'm doing my part. The mayor's office, you know, the school committee, the coaches, the teachers, you know, have we done anything that sort of creative and using a valuable asset, which is a communications director that's very talented, and probably the best public access director and Pat Gordon, I think that, you know, putting all that together, that could be something that could really move mountains. And putting that on the loop, I think that this is something that we can use. Maybe if you could share that, Marion, with the mayor, and maybe that'd be something that we can push.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, no, you're right on, exactly. And we've done that. And hopefully it'll be out soon. It's just final touches being put on it. But we have a video that we put together with just exactly what you laid out with trusted individuals from throughout the community, giving their experience, showing that, you know, the folks that have gotten the vaccine and what it's meant and how they're doing. So that PSA, I guess is what you call it, will be going out. It's a video, Sophie in my office, Sophie Antoine worked really hard on that and reached out to a lot of great people in the community and a lot of people responded. So it's a great little video and that will be coming out very soon.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, so to follow along with that, it's my other question. I appreciate the openness now to get this process rolling. Great to hear there was zero deaths today, first time in June. The numbers are dropping. but still the responsibility of face coverings and vaccines. You look at this chambers today, we have invested community members that are here to share their opinions or their input in something they would like to share. I think that what I'm hearing from my constituents is maybe looking at the other bodies that aren't opening up a live audience so they can be heard in an open forum. Is that something that the Board of Health is working with, let's say the school committee, other boards and commissions that, believe me, we understand and might be a little in the fact that this is still a pandemic, but we're on the back end. And I think that follows along with people that are feeling, that are a little hesitant that when they see their elected officials in person vaccinated, that they're showing them with the good example that we're moving forward. And this was a horrible time, but I think that is that something that's being discussed with the mayor's office as well as opening city hall for the business that needs to be done in the city, Miriam?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So we have to go by state guidance. That's what we're under, right? Right now, only town halls and city council and those types of meetings, you have a special, your own guidance that you're allowed to operate the way you are. None of those other board sessions have been allowed. And that's, again, state guidance. We're still at 50%. Office space capacity is still 50%. And that's what City Hall has to operate under. We have not gone beyond state guidance. We are going with state guidance and you know, that's where we're at.
[Scarpelli]: I appreciate it. It just, you know, the concerns that I've been, you know, I heard, you know, the great news, we can now put 50% of the people at amusement parks and we can now have everybody go to baseball games, but the office, these public meetings are still closed off for our community members. They're asking me, so I appreciate you pointing out that this is a state guideline. So this is something they really need to get to Governor Baker and move that along. It's coming to me and they appreciate the work that we've done on the city council helping these chambers. So I think that I've gotten maybe 10 phone calls in the last week and a half with some concerns that they've had in other boards and commissions and committees that they really want a form that they can see in person. at least the answer comes from our director of health and I appreciate that. The last question I have is I know a few weeks back, we hired the COVID director of emergency operations. I truly don't know the actual title, but what is exactly that person doing? Is there any updates on what that person's doing?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: You'll have to refer to the communications?
[Scarpelli]: No, I believe we hired, somebody in the field to oversee the COVID response?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Brooke has been working since, gosh, no, it wasn't recently, but yes, she has been, she transitioned over. She had been being paid with CARES Act, and I'm actually asking to add to the budget this year, that position because it was really reckoning like solely, recognize that this was a position we were lacking within the community when this hit. So Brooke, who had already been like an emergency preparedness person and an MRC person long before I even came here under a grant, luckily she was still here under a different grant, but we were able to transition her and she's been amazing. She's been the volunteer coordinator person, the MRC person, We've been able to pay her so far under the CARES Act, but I am certainly looking to add that position going forward in this fiscal, this next fiscal year as a position, because it was incredibly obvious that that's what we were lacking when this hit.
[Scarpelli]: I appreciate that clarification as well. So thank you. Councilor Belco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Marion, I have one last question I forgot to ask. So I know we're doing outreach to our public school families. What about our Catholic school or parochial school, St. Ray's, St. Joe's? Are we reaching out to those parents, those populations to make sure that they know? Absolutely.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely, yeah. We want to make that clear. You know, even if you don't go to St. Ray's or St. Joe's, if you go to, you know, whatever school, wherever, if you live in Medford, if you don't, And we just want to get vaccines, we want to get shots. So any 12 year old plus, if you're willing to, if we can pull this off on Tuesday, which I'm almost 100% sure that we'll get CDC approval by this weekend with guidelines, we'll be able to put this in place on Tuesday. So yeah, please, anybody, everybody. Again, like I said, like the majority of our cases are under 29 years old. And, you know, unfortunately there are 20 year olds on vents right now in hospitals. So, you know, 20 year old and younger are not invincible as I know my kids think they are. So we need to get vaccines. We need to get shots in their arms.
[Falco]: But is the outreach being done from your office to St. Ray's and St. Joe's to those schools?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: That'll come from my office. The outreach to the Medford Public Schools will go from Medford Public Schools, but the outreach, the other, and the general, the community at large will come from my office. We're just waiting, we don't, we're just waiting for the CDC to sign off.
[Falco]: So I just wanna, so as far as, so is it a robo-call to everyone in the community? I guess it is that, is someone directly calling those schools saying these shots are available? That's my question.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: We have relationships with those schools, certainly since the pandemic. Thank you.
[Knight]: So from what I'm gathering, Brooke Hoyt has been appointed the COVID communication specialist?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: No, she's our emergency preparedness person. She's our volunteer coordinator. communication specialist is a different position.
[Knight]: Okay, can we talk a little bit about that?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So I wasn't sure which one you, I don't think it was talking about the communication specialist.
[Knight]: George, maybe you can clarify. I don't know if you were talking about the communications person or if you were talking about the emergency plan.
[Scarpelli]: That's what the confusion was. I know that this is something that we hired just recently, this position that we just hired recently to deal with the COVID emergency plan. So I, it was a, I believe it was a Mia's appointment.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: I was- That might be the communication specialist.
[Scarpelli]: Myrtle or something, Stephanie? Myrtle?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Which is Steve Sperry. Is that?
[Knight]: I don't know. You tell us, Marianne, but I think what we're trying to find out is who the COVID communication specialist is that we just approved a position for a couple of weeks ago. Has that position been filled? Who's in it?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: That's yeah. That would be Steve, and he's been instrumental in helping us get a lot of the communications out. Yes, he has been hired as the COVID communication specialist for the last couple of weeks, and thank God he was. But yes.
[Scarpelli]: So what I'm asking is, because I don't, I'm confused because you just said someone else's name that was a communication person. So Steve is the person, Marion?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, so you had said the emergency preparedness person, so that would be Brooke, but Steve is the communications, COVID communications specific, was hired a few weeks ago to come on board.
[Scarpelli]: I didn't hire Steve, so. Okay, so does he work under you, or do you work with him?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: We work under Jackie. Jackie's amazingly talented and creative, but she cannot certainly handle all the communications, including the COVID stuff. So they hired Steve on to assist her, I believe, with, you know, and he's certainly part of our team right now, as far as helping us get all these messages out. But he works, he does not report to me, he reports to our communications director, Jackie.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, thank you. So that's all I was trying to get at. I know that we approved a position for this COVID position that I truly forgot, but I looked through my notes and so the question is probably better off for Jackie, because just to get an update of what, if he's doing communications for COVID, there's some questions. So I'll direct that to Jackie. Thank you. Mr. President.
[Knight]: So what I'm understanding is that the COVID-19 communication coordinator does not work for the Board of Health, the COVID-19 communication coordinator works in the press department, the city's press department?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: He reports to the expert in communications, yes, but he certainly has been working with us very closely as part of our team and directing us on how to best do and get messaging out, but then he obviously checks with Jackie to make sure that that's the right way to go.
[Knight]: No, he does not work for the board of health.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Any other questions?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: The only last thing I want to put out there is that, again, we have all you know that the cancer center is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 to four, we're not getting. They're opening up to walk-ins. You don't have to have an appointment. We really want to encourage people to go there. We asked not getting the participation that we were hoping for. And the concern is if we don't continue to get participation that we may not be able to sustain that. So any help and walk-ins are available Wednesday and Thursday, please get vaccine.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Marianne. Thank you, Marianne. The orders of the day by council name. 21018, communication from the mayor to the honorable president, members of city council, members of president and city council. I respectfully request to recommend that your own body approved the following amendments to revise ordinances entitled personnel article two classification and compensation plan section 66 slash three three title offices and employees non-union diversity and human diversity non-union by adding the new positions of director of economic development and director of diversity and human resources to the following classification. Amendment A, classification CAP 5 personally states that it applies as follows. CAP 15, sealer of weights and measures, recreation director, director of communication. The language of CAP 15 shall be amended to read as follows. CAP 15, sealer of weights and measures, and recreation director, director of communications, and director of economic developments. Amendment B, Classification 19 presently states that it applies as follows. CAF 19, City Clerk, Treasurer-Collector, Director of Budget, CPO, Director of Public Health and Elder Services, Chief Assessor. The language of CAF 19 shall be amended to read as follows. CAF 19, City Clerk, Treasurer-Collector, Director of Budget, CPO, Director of Public Health and Elder Services, Chief Assessor, Director of Diversity, in human resources. Respectfully submitted. Random random one.
[Scarpelli]: Yeah, it's better. Scott belly. Is there someone from the city administration just to ask a question just about the as I'm reading this? Is the seal of way to measures its own own position? Or is it now go up somewhere else? Because that's what I believe it was.
[Caraviello]: Alicia, not me, Benjamin. Can you answer that question? Felicia.
[Nunley-Benjamin]: Good evening, honorable Councilors. I believe in this CAF, the sealer weights and measures is its own position, but currently I believe we don't have a sealers and weights measure position and said it's paid as a stipend.
[Scarpelli]: Okay. Do you know what moving forward in the future budget? Is this going to be a standalone position? Are we looking for somebody or is this going to be absorbed into another position, Felicia?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: To the chair, I'm not aware of it being presented as a new position, but again, I'd have to check back with the mayor, but as of my knowledge, I don't believe so.
[Scarpelli]: You don't believe so that it's still gonna have its own title or it's gonna still be absorbed?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: I believe it's good. I believe what is happening here is they're leaving that alone and they're just adding a position to it at some time in the past in the history was its own position, but it's not its own position anymore.
[Knight]: We have information on that, Mr. President. So one of the information, Vice President Knight, I'm confused as to how we can have a city ordinance that dictates we have a sealer of weights and measures that's going to be compensated at a certain rate of pay. And then the administration decides that the ordinance doesn't exist and goes and creates a position that's a stipend job and gives it to somebody else.
[Nunley-Benjamin]: Through the chair, that's historically how it's been since I've been. I have not seen it as its own position.
[Scarpelli]: I believe it's a stipend. I believe that's what it is. If I'm incorrect, I apologize, but I believe it's a stipend. Okay. Thank you. Maybe I'm
[Knight]: Vice President Knight, did you want the floor? I just, sometimes I scratch my head and wonder why we have ordinances, Mr. President, if we're not going to go by them. We also can hope to uphold the ordinances of the community. And then it seems to me like a lot of the time, you know, the ordinances are only read when it's convenient to the person that's reasonable.
[Caraviello]: Okay, so this has been, this ordinance has been discussed at length with several community hall meetings. was voted on last week. And if you need the procedure, we want to vote on each amendment separately. The motion by Vice President Knight to approve amendment A, seconded by. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[Hurtubise]: Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello. Yes, I'm in the affirmative motion passes.
[Caraviello]: Amendment B. Motion to approve. The motion by Councilor Bears to approve. Seconded by. Second. Seconded by Councilor Morell.
[Falco]: Mr. President. Councilor Falco. So just to try to make sure I have this right. So the motion is to make the diversity director of human resources part of cap 19. So that would be joining the two positions, if I'm correct.
[Caraviello]: I think that it was amended B is adding a position that did not exist in the past, which is the director of diversity and human resources. So I think we voted, not mistaken, we voted to me the whole meeting to eliminate that position and that's how it was reported out.
[Knight]: You are correct. Vice President Knight. The way that I'm looking at this vote, Mr. President, is that we're eliminating the office of diversity and inclusion and we're merging those functions with the human resource office. And I think this council has been loud and clear that that's not what we want. That's correct. We're going to, we want to see a president to diversity. So with that being said, I certainly have no problem voting against this amendment.
[Scarpelli]: Mr. President. Again, I apologize. I know this is very important. I know I mentioned it at the first meeting. I know we've had many, but as we, as we've gone through the round table discussions about race in our community, one of the biggest, biggest initiatives that we're that was said over and over again, is when the words are great, the meetings are great, but when is this community gonna put their money where their mouth is? And one of the things we talked about, I think I said it then, was in those discussions, the round table discussions, is that the glaring problem of not having a diversity specialist that works with the school, And having that person that's in the city side, working with the school department together with the city side would be monumental and moving some huge initiatives forward. So again, I apologize because I have been, I did miss that meeting with dealing with the family issue, but I just can't support this in any way, especially what we've been talking about in this community for the last of teen months. This is exactly what we talked about, putting money where our mouth is, putting the person in that position who's valuable in that position to go out and increase his role, both working with what he did in the private sector and his knowledge in the community. And it would be valuable to have that person go right to the school system yesterday and start working together with the school department, the city side, to get to some resolutions to show our community that yes, we're not just having marches, we're not just talking around tables, but we're actually making things happen. So thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Galco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my colleagues. We've had numerous meetings, numerous Committee of the Whole meetings on this topic. And we've had a lot of valuable discussion. And I still like to go back and look at the metrics. We have 58,000, probably close to 58,000 people in this city. Probably about 4,000 students around there. Hundreds of employees in our school system and in our city. We are one of the largest cities in the Commonwealth by population. We have no one specifically in the school system that is responsible for diversity and inclusion. It's a piece of someone's job, but no one is not a person that's solely responsible for that. Diversity and inclusion within our school system and within our city should be a priority. Sometimes an issue comes before this council that is as much timely as it is important. Diversity is just such an issue. I wanna make it abundantly clear that in my view, it is time to move the diversity issue from talk to reality. Raising the reality of inclusion and equity is not a part-time effort. It requires the attentive focus of a full-time diversity officer who has time to see the issue at every level. This includes hiring practices to help make sure that the faces in City Hall reflect the faces of our community. And it also includes the continual analysis of our municipal contracts. Who are the companies that we have, that we contract with? What is the percentage of contracts that the city has with minority businesses or businesses that are owned by women? We have to move from talk to action. I want Mr. Osborne to know that my objection to the mayor's request is not a reflection on his abilities or his professionalism. It is about what the city needs, and it is time that we meet the need of diversity and inclusion head on. And the mayor's request does not do that. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Morell]: Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I just want to note that my vote is going to reflect the work that's being done right now. And as the mayor has structured it, I too want to see, you know, the full time, I want to see the diversity department built out essentially, and all I can do is act on the information that the administration has given us that they are going to build out this department in the coming budget. It's not something they can do tomorrow. And again, my vote is just reflecting the work that is going on right now that is being taken on by the one person and the hard work that they're doing and reflecting the current structure and ensuring that it's paymently. Thank you.
[Marks]: Thank you. Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. Make no mistake about this. A vote to merge the director of diversity human resource director is a vote to take a step backwards regarding diversity in this community. Make no bones about it. Councilor Falco was a thousand percent correct, Mr. President. A vote tonight to support that will be a vote to do away with the director, a standalone director position that has existed for years in this community with the sole responsibility of looking at diversity through a lens of this community. and the people that live in this community. So in my opinion, it's taking a step, a giant step backwards. This council also met within the past year, Mr. President, seven of us and discussed and put together a list of priorities that we voted on unanimously. And one of the votes was not to merge this position, it was to keep a standalone diversity director. That was a vote seven zero, Mr. President. So, you know, we've been consistent on this issue. If others want to flip flop back and forth, that's their call, but we've been consistent on this issue, Mr. President. And now's the time to stand up against the administration and say, this is far too important of a position to have it go by the wayside. Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Bearsley.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think it would be remiss to say that the person who holds this position right now thinks that this is working and that this is a good idea. So I just wanna acknowledge that. I agree, we need to invest deeply in diversity inclusion. And I think one of the actions that we can take is and show that diversity is a priority is elevating this position. Additionally, in our meeting, the mayor committed to another full-time diversity staff reporting to this position, which would bring us from one staff in 2018 to two staff next year. We've heard from the current person who holds this position, Mr. Osborne, that it's working. And he said this is partially about valuing the work that he is doing. It has led to new hiring processes, exactly what we were just talking about, that highlight and advance the issues of diversity and inclusion. And additionally, we heard at the meeting from the mayor's staff that this could potentially lead to a reduction in pay for the person who currently holds the office. I cannot vote to reduce the pay of someone who is doing so much work for this community. So I will be voting to approve this tonight. and continuing our commitment within the budget process to have even more people focused on diversity and inclusion in this community. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you Councilman Haynes.
[Knight]: Any further discussion? Mr. President, if I may. Vice President Knight. Seems to me like the city administration's committed to creating a lot of new jobs and a budget during this hiring freeze that you talked about Thursday night, I believe. You know, when we look at this position in particular, this isn't something that just came out of the blue. This isn't something that just came out of the blue. On January 1st, 2020, this council passed a resolution questioning the merger of this position. That's some 17 months ago, Mr. President. This council was on record questioning whether or not this was a good idea. And we've maintained consistency and we've been steadfast in our position on this. So when the city administration responded to it and said they don't feel as though it's a conflict of interest when the diversity director would also sit on the hiring panel And if someone who didn't get a position felt as though they were discriminated against or had an issue, they'd have to go to the diversity director who's a member of the hiring panel. Who is that person servicing? Is he servicing the hiring panel and the administration as a member of the hiring panel? Or is he working as a director of diversity to address the issues that the person is bringing to them? I think councilor Falco hit the nail on the head. The city of Medford is one of the largest employers in the city of Medford. We have a ton of employees. We need to make a commitment to this. So when we look at the history of the position and we see the council speaking out against it in January of 2020, the city administration initiating a personnel action form in January of 2020, the city administration initiating another personnel action form on 3-23-2020 with another pay increase, and then the city administration implementing another personnel action form on 10-22-2020 with another pay increase, It seems as though no one's listening to what this council is saying. So with that being said, I'm going to stand with my council colleagues, Mr. President. The commitment to diversity has to be real. It can be spun any way you want to spin it. But at the end of the day, the council has been speaking about this for 17 months. And we've been saying this isn't something we want.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Any further discussion? On the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell. This is a vote similar to the first one, but this will take its first reading. So Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. No. Vice President Knight. Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. No.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello-Villa. No. Two in the affirmative, five in the negative. Motion passes. Motion fails. So the amendment A will take its first reading tonight and it will be further advertised. Thank you. 2, 1, 3, 6, 9, members of the city council, dear Mr. President, city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves the appropriation of retained earnings in the amount of $500,000 and zero cents. This amount is being requested to subsidize the fiscal 2022 Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund budget due to the health and pandemic, health pandemic and current economic conditions. Retained earnings are reserves of the Water and Sewer Fund. Reserves can be used for any lawful purpose, which serve primarily to provide financial security in cases of unforeseen events, such as COVID-19 or capital replacement. The balance of retained earnings for this vote is $6,059,512. Finance Director Alicia Nunday Benjamin is here to answer any significant questions against the matter. the CLE Brianna. Mayor, Alicia, brief some options on this.
[Nunley-Benjamin]: Thank you honorable president, honorable councilors. I was at the Water and Sewer Commission rate setting meeting and the mayor has decided to appropriate $500,000 to subsidize the budget to make the rate increase be 3% for the next year, which is consistent with last year. It was a 3% increase. without the $500,000 transfer, the increase to the rate pay would be 5%.
[Caraviello]: Questions for Alicia Dundley? Any questions?
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Mr. President, and I appreciate we have the finance director on. In the past, in this finance director, Alicia has been around for a while. There's always been discussion about tapping into our, retained earnings or free cash because it may impact the bond rating. I was just wondering at what point in this particular account, if we were to vote for a higher dollar amount, would that impact our bond rating? or the potential of our impact?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: The reason for the 500,000 and the 3% is to keep it minimal because if you use more money to subsidize and reduce the rate, once your reserves are gone, the users would have rate shock because it'd be a huge increase. Furthermore, in the fiscal year 22 budget, I saw a lot of capital items being submitted to the water and sewer budget, which I took out, and that would actually need to be funded through retained earnings. So I would not suggest dipping any further into retained earnings.
[Marks]: Right, so if I could, Alicia, what do we anticipate every year of additional funds to retained earnings?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: That's hard to say. So retained earnings are one-time revenue, so we could deplete the whole thing and not have any retained earnings at all. What retained earnings is, is we actually had more money. We didn't spend as much as we thought we were going to spend. We had some savings. So initially, when I put these emergency spending freezes in place, Usually they're slowing down on their spending, which causes a little bit of savings at the end, but going forward, once the economy recovers and COVID is gone, there's no guarantee you're going to have retained earnings each year.
[Marks]: I understand that, but this account grows every year, sitting on the council. So I'm trying to anticipate once we use 500,000, It's currently $6,059,000. That'll leave us with about $5,500,000. What do we anticipate this time next year having in the account?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: I'm sure it's- That'll be estimated at the end of the year to be complete to the chair. That would be estimated at the end of the year. I'd have to look to come up with an estimate of what would be left, but knowing that there are huge capital costs that are coming through there is gonna take that number down. So even if, we have money, as you said, at the end of the year, a lot of that is going to be earmarked for projects that I took out of the budget so that the rate payers didn't have any great increase. Because it's really only supposed to be used for one-time costs. It's usually not used for subsidizing the rate, but due to COVID-19, that's why we're using it to subsidize the budget, to ease the pain off of people during the recession. But it really should be used for one-time costs, such as capital costs.
[Marks]: Right. And I can appreciate that. I can tell you firsthand that this amount of money is not gonna ease much off the rate payers. I think it's a good symbolic gesture, but it's really not gonna ease the feelings of the rate payers in this community. And if anything, the 6 million that's out there, as you stated, is an overreach of the city charging too much for water and sewer, and that's how we end up with the retained earnings. But putting that aside, there's been some discussion recently, and I brought up the issue within the last couple of weeks about our water meters. And this discussion has been that we're close to the life expectancy of the water meters that were installed some years back. And is the administration, if you can't answer this, I understand, it's not under your jurisdiction, Is the administration currently looking at water meters within the community for replacement?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: Through the chair, yes. Yes, the current administration is looking at water meters.
[Marks]: So is there potential that the retained earnings, which could be a one-time cost for infrastructure, be looked at for the replacement of water meters?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: If requested by the DPW, They can request that of the mayor. They can request to use retained earnings for replacement of water meters. They absolutely can.
[Marks]: DPW or the water and sewer commissions?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: I'm talking about the DPW because the water and sewer is under the DPW umbrella.
[Marks]: Right, but who would ultimately approve the new meters? Would it be the water and sewer commissioners?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: No, it would be the mayor because the mayor would have to fund it.
[Marks]: Right, so the recommendation doesn't come from the Water and Sewer Commissioners?
[Nunley-Benjamin]: No. What the Water and Sewer Commissioners do each year when we're meeting is they're discussing policy, they get the budget number from me, they get the debt service number from me, they get the indirect costs, which is the people's health insurance, dental insurance, pension costs. They get that and then they vote a rate to fund those operations. And obviously the biggest cost of all being the MWRA assessment, this year alone went up $835,471. That's what they're voting.
[Marks]: Right. So that's, you know, when I was on the council, when we last replaced the water meters and the water and sewer commissioners were an integral part, of the replacement, along with the DPW, you are correct. So my, you know, one concern is that if we don't request more money for retained earnings to offset the increase, we're at 3% now with the 500,000, then if we are gonna use this for new water meters, which I think we all can remember the time and Councilor Penta brought it up a couple of weeks ago about the number of abatements. I believe it was over 700 abatements given in one calendar year because we were estimating over half of our water and sewer bills because of malfunctioning meters. We never want to go back to that time. So if we can get some type of commitment from the administration that the funds will be taken out of this account I will not look to further tap this account because I think in general, it's going to ultimately save the rate payers by having an accurate meter and it serves the same purpose. So at this point, I'm not gonna have an additional dollar amount as long as we know that the money is coming from these particular funds for the new meters. And I guess at some point, the mayor is going to ask for an appropriation. So it will require a council approval, but I just want to go on record that that's what I would be supporting at this point.
[Knight]: Thank you. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Any further questions?
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. Yes, Mr. President, you know, Councilor Marks started talking about the capital improvement plan earlier and being a big government nerd got me all excited and got me reading this capital improvement plan over the weekend. And when you look at the capital improvement plan, what you'll see in it, is that over the next six years, it's the administration's intention to spend upwards of $18 million on water and sewer infrastructure. The capital improvement plan also says the investment strategy calls for all water and sewer projects to be funded from enterprise revenues. And the meters, Mr. President, are not a part of this capital improvement plan. So let's just get that out there right now. you know, the meat is not part of the strategy or the school improvement plan that they're discussing. So the administration may be looking at it, but it seems to me that that started probably about 14 days ago when the speaker was up at the podium. So with that being said, Mr. President, I certainly think it's important that we provide rate relief to the tax, to the rate payers, and I'll be supporting this paper this evening. But, you know, ultimately what we're doing is really developing this structural deficit. Every year we're going to have to appropriate these funds, because if we don't, then as the finance director said, the rate payers are gonna see sticker shots because their rate's gonna go up, you know, somewhere around 5%. So with that being said, I will put the paper this evening. However, I would like to point out the inconsistencies between the capital improvement plan and what's going on. Any further questions?
[Caraviello]: Okay, on the motion. Motion to accept.
[Merritt]: Motion for approval, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: On the motion. On the motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by. seconded by Councilor, Vice President Knight. Councilor Falco, did you want to speak? I'll speak, thank you. On the motion, by Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Pears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Yes. President Garibaldi. Yes, that is affirmative, motion passes. Reports of committees, 210184, Committee of the Whole report. 201A is what we just voted on just a few minutes ago, and it was reported out favorably. Motion to accept. The motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Keohokalole? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello? Yes. 2065, May 5th, 2021 Committee of the Whole report. This Committee of the Whole was regarding the Falzell Fulton Street traffic issues with the Chief and Officer Hartnett. So on the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Falco, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Garavaglia. Yes. Motion passes. Public participation. Councilor, former Councilor Patricia Dougherty, 235 Winter Street, number 440 Method Mass. Former Councilor Patricia Dougherty would like to discuss with the residents of Method, Method's ability to exercise the first amendment way of free speech. Former Councilor Dougherty. Good evening. Name and address of the record, please.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: Patricia Brady Daugherty, 235 Winthrop Street. Thank you. Councilors, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. In order to stay in my timeframe, I'm going to read my statement, so please bear with me. Last Tuesday, I placed this on the agenda to speak about a statement made by a Human Rights Commission member in an April meeting who was critical of the fact that the mayor was on a Zoom meeting alongside the flag. The statement made was, and I quote, I noticed that the male was sitting next to the flag and the flag means so many things to so many people, but to black and brown people, it means rape and pillaging. I want to repeat that statement so that you understand that you heard it correctly. I noticed that the mayor was sitting next to the flag and the flag means so many things to so many people. Ms.
[Knight]: Brady, if I may interrupt you for just a moment and ask that you put your mask on due to the guidelines that the board of health has put out.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: We don't want to create- I'll put it under my chin, but I am going to follow the Councilors and not wear my mask over my face when speaking. They're separated by- Ms.
[Knight]: Brady, I'm not the one that creates the guideline. I'm just going to ask you to comply with it. Can you please comply with it?
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: You can ask me, but I don't want to do it. It'll cause me to have problems speaking.
[Knight]: I'm asking you to comply with the guideline, Ms. Brady. I don't want to have to go down this road.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: I want to give you your turn to speak.
[Knight]: And I'm asking you to please put your mask on.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: Only as a favor to you, Adam.
[Knight]: I appreciate it.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: It appears that no one at the Human Rights Commission meeting spoke up to defend the flag. However, one person did step forward on social media, but I will speak to that in a minute. There are thousands of veterans in this community. There are hundreds of people in this community who have shed their blood and died on the battlefield in defense of their flag, our flag. Every person who's into the military takes this oath, takes their oath in front of the American flag. Every morning, the army awakes to the rising of the flag, the raising of the flag with revelry. And when the day is done, the flag is lowered when the evening gun is fired in a solemn ceremony. An American soldier wears the flag on his sleeve. If a soldier dies in combat, he comes home in a flag-draped coffin. When a soldier is buried with full military honors, the last thing that happens is that the flag is folded, presented to family with the words, by a grateful nation. A soldier does not allow the flag to touch the ground, and when the flag is worn out, it's burned and its ashes buried. Between World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq, almost a million and a half Americans lost their lives overseas. We do not speak German or Japanese as a captive people because of these veterans. We decorate our veterans' graves on Oak Grove with flags for Memorial Day. This weekend and next, veterans will place 8,700 flags on graves for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday on May 31st, when the city will honor the men and women who died while serving their country. Veterans look to this flag as a symbol of this great country, the lives lost and the freedoms won. Veterans are bonded to the flag as are most Americans. We say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag as school children, the city council and the school committee starts its meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance as do people at baseball games and other sporting events. It is who we are as an American people. If this statement regarding the flag were made in a private conversation, then I would fully support the commission members right to say this no matter how offensive it is to veterans and other citizens. However, this person was serving in an official capacity as representative of the city of Medford when she made the statement. All people who are elected officials and appointed members of boards and commission in this city take an oath to uphold the constitution. The constitution is the basis of the country and the flag is a symbol of our country here and around the world. The statement regarding the flag made by the Human Rights Commission member calls into question her ability to faithfully execute her duties impartially as an appointed member in this city. For instance, would she treat a veteran fairly or unfairly if he or she appeared before the commission wearing a hat with a flag on it? And speaking of veterans, This week, veteran organizations in the city learned that the city is seeking a waiver from the state to override the law requiring veterans preference when hiring new police officers. Again, another insult to veterans is that veterans do not matter in this city any longer. As mentioned earlier, one Medford resident expressed his anger on social media about the statement made by the Human Rights Commission member disrespecting the flag. He titled his post defending the flag. Although I do not condone some of the language he chose to use in his post, nevertheless, he has a constitutional right of free speech as we all do express his opinion. However, in response to this post, the Human Rights Commission called an emergency meeting, essentially to attack this resident expressing an opinion they do not like. During this emergency Zoom meeting, the Human Rights Commission members, including the mayor's liaison, the director of diversity, two city Councilors, a school committee member, including members of the public, proceeded to vilify this resident, simply because he had expressed his criticism of the statement attacking the flag. They called him a racist, a misogynist, and a deviant, all under the pretext of a public meeting. One woman even asked the chief of police who was present if they could visit this person, if they could investigate him, if they could intimidate him. That sounds like someone advocating KGB action, like in a police state. And not one person present objected to that statement. Again, all of this vitriol is directed an individual simply because he exercised his constitutional right to free speech. Is it not height of hypocrisy for commission members, elected officials and others to condemn this resident for exercising his first amendment right to free speech while at the same time claiming the commission member, the original statement to spreading the flag was a proper exercise of free speech? Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Mr. President.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say I was present at that meeting and I actually specifically did say I did object to that. So I think there's a little bit of selective hearing here. That's all I'll say.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: Thank you to the chair to Council of bears. It'd be a lot nicer if you could come see me eye to eye like the other Councilors are here.
[Bears]: It'd be a lot nicer if you would wear a mask as we've asked you to do.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. I want to let you know that I watched that meeting, all 143 minutes of it, painfully watching it three times. I have many, many notes. What you did say was, you did say he has a right to say it, but you went on to vilify him and you went on to vilify white males in the community. And you said it was a white male problem. It was a cultural problem in this city. And I don't have those in front of me, because I got to stay within my 10 minutes. Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor. Mr. President, if I may. Councilor Betz. I said specifically, you can quote me, we will not police or surveil our way out of this. So I was specifically saying we should not advocate any use of police or surveillance around this topic. And freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. He said something, people objected to it, they made their point. That's how this works. Thank you.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: The chair councilor bears more than 350 Tuesday nights a chair to countless committee of the whole meetings. I know how the process works. I'm also a member of the bar. I heard what you said. You didn't say a word when that woman on Grove Street said what she said about police tactics and intimidating him. You did say something earlier and I said what you said, but you also said it was a white male problem and it was a cultural problem in this city.
[Knight]: Thank you, Mr. President. Vice President Knight. I don't think we need to get into what he said. She said at this point, the speaker was able to articulate her thoughts and the gentleman was able to rebut. It may be appropriate for us to move on. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Doherty.
[Cs57SkaizpQ_SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Good evening. Name and address of the record, please.
[Anita Dantonio]: Good evening. Anita D'Antonio, 14 Yale Street. Very interesting issue, free speech and the First Amendment. And very pertinent to this city. in this era. I am a lifelong resident of Medford, and that brings me to a point. Recently, there was a resolution brought forward by a public official, I believe on the school committee, requesting that public participation or public speaking participants not mention that they were lifelong residents. or whatever years they spent in Medford. We're talking about free speech here. If that isn't an abrogation of free speech, I don't know what is, coming from a public official. And I would like to add onto what Ms. Brady-Doherty said. This Human Rights Commission, that's under the rubric of a public commission. you're making statements from that podium, from that chair, and they're taken with some authority. So I would say everyone has the right to free speech, but you do have to be careful in terms of whether you are libeling people, slandering them, which brings me to another point, something that happened in Medford, I found very disturbing, but I heard very little about this in terms of condemnation from any public officials. I spoke with the mayor about it. I really didn't get much of an effective, efficacious response. It had to do with the rally, the infamous rally that took place in support of the Medford Police Department. What ensued from that because people organized that, supported it, was a list, Racists of Medford. The people who supported that rally were targeted, put on a blog, on the internet, for all to see, and it was there for months. It's just been recently taken down. I was told that, well, we can't trace who the author of that is. We don't know how to get it off of the internet, on and on. I did not hear a condemnation of that blog from any public official with any robustness behind it. The way the mayor and the police chief condemned and castigated the organizers and the rally in support of the Medford police. Whether I agree with it or not, that's not the point. What came out of that was someone who decided she didn't like those people who organized that rally. And she was gonna just show everyone what racist they were. These are private citizens. They are business owners. They are residents of this city. They are our neighbors. What happened? That's libel. That's not free speech. Libel is not covered by free speech. Some of the things I'm hearing from public officials, whether they be on Twitter or Facebook, and that's part of the problem. We have supplanted face-to-face speech, coming to meetings like this and having vibrant disagreements and agreements and discussion with Facebook and Twitter. I stand here with trepidation anytime I come to this podium because I'm speaking to the public, it's a public speaking exercise. There's even more anxiety now because I have the fear I may be doxxed. I may find my picture, my address, my name on Facebook with any stereotype, fill in the blank. For crying out loud, I may even be labeled a Democrat or a Republican. That's a little humor, sorry. But you know, the atmosphere in this city is toxic. We can discuss the budget, we can discuss diversity, all of that, but the atmosphere is toxic here. Just go on Facebook, the Medford Mass Facebook. Take a look at any of the statements that are made. I have read stereotypical statements that are a disgrace coming from people who espouse their tolerance. If you've lived here a certain amount of years, you fit into a certain pigeonhole. It is, if you're of a certain ethnicity, you fit into another one. And nobody is condemning this. Nobody is speaking out. We want diversity. How about some consideration for decency? Use all the free speech you want. Here's a quote. If you're really in favor of free speech, then you're in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you're not in favor of free speech. Noam Chomsky said that, someone I vehemently disagree with ideologically, but he makes exact sense. That's exactly correct. That's what makes all of this great. I have watched city council meetings where we have had such contentious meetings over issues. I mean, insults were hurled, accusations back and forth, never to go home and find on some public forum that any one of the Councilors or the citizens who came up were condemned, stereotyped, called bigot, racist, xenophobe, on and on and on. It's just the order of the day. If you do not agree with a particular thought or agenda, or you have a different opinion, you're presumed guilty of something. And it goes from there. So between those two incidents, I could point to with regard to the racist of Medford, imagine any one of you being on that blog, wouldn't that be nice? That's probably the worst thing you could call someone. And that stayed up there. All you had to do was put in racist of Medford. And there it was for all the world to see. Not a peep from anyone. Not a peep from the chief of police. Maybe you could not find out who had that blog, but your Donnell could have condemned it robustly and said, we don't want that in this city. Nothing. I heard nothing. The same thing now with what I shouldn't say I'm a lifelong resident. I don't care if you moved here yesterday, you're welcomed in this city. I should be accepted in this city as a lifelong resident and not be put in a pigeon hole because I choose to speak freely. We are chilling free speech and it's right here in our own city. We haven't crossed the Rubicon yet, but we're perilously close. And I'm afraid it's only going to get worse. It doesn't look good right now. And we don't have the courage of our convictions to stand up and oppose things when they are wrong. Not when they're politically correct to oppose, but when they are wrong. That's all I ask. And then the last thing I'll say is, quoting Winston Churchill, a paraphrase. Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. We should not embrace that. We should have good, free, flowing conversation. And when I leave this podium, I should feel as though I've made my opinion known, and I don't wanna feel as though I've been stereotyped, labeled, ostracized, castigated. Should not be, but that's what's happening in this city. far too often. Thank you for listening to me.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. D'Antonio. Good evening. Name and address of the record, please.
[Penta]: My name is Robert Penta, Zero Summit Road. I'm at the NASS, former member of the Sawyer-Gasparti. I want to, at the outset, I'd like to thank former Councilor Doherty for coming forward because her points of vote are very cogent because Memorial Day is right around the corner. It's probably the most sacred of all our veterans holidays during the course of the year. And for this city to go forward and look for an exemption to eliminate veterans in a police exam preference says an awful lot of things as it relates to where are we going? You know, where are we going as a community and as elected officials? You know the real sad part about this? This is gonna be the 30th year in Washington, D.C. that the veterans have had their annual motorcycle parade. And it's the first time that it's being canceled. It's being canceled because allegedly of COVID. But on the same day, BLM is having their parade and cannabis is having their event on the same day, same times as the schedule for the AMVETS 30th anniversary motorcycle parade. There's a little bit of a disconnect here and maybe of a political, where do we go and who is in support of who and whatever it might be. I'll tell you my experience about my free speech being infringed upon. There's a group in Method called Method Mass Politics. The issue was the Christopher Columbus School. Now I expressed my opinion on that page, like I've done on many pages here on the city of Medford. I've been called every conceivable thing that you can think of on that page. on that group by members in that group and leaving no expert is out. Just use your imagination. That's free speech. And if they want to say it, and if they're not going to be scolded because of being the appropriateness of their language, then so be it. But I shouldn't be chastised or anyone else be chastised for going on that page or any other page and expressing your opinion. Just like Ms. D'Antonio said, just like Councilor Doherty said. And when you are on a board and a commission of this community, common sense dictates. Because that's what you're here for, to listen to both sides of whatever the issue might be. Common sense dictates. And unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working here in the city. You know what I resent the most? I resent the most when people say, I'm white, I was born privileged, and I have a spoon in my mouth, and I can take advantage of anything, or I have taken advantage of it. When I look at all of you, you're all white, okay? You work for what you got nothing's been handed down to you. And I resent the fact that anyone would turn around and tell me that I'm a racist because I'm white. I've been privileged because I'm white because nobody knows my life. Nobody knows my background, how I got to where I am. And just because I served in government for 39 years, which is the greatest honor I've ever had, outside of being married and having children. No one can take away that feeling of serving the people but you serve the people not to denigrate the people, you serve them to build them up. And when you start to tell little kids today in school, that you've got to be ashamed whether you're white, black, blue or brown, that's wrong. Don't do that to a little kid in our public school education. I'm gonna switch gears real quick. The city of Medford has just been, I've read in patch today, city of Medford is getting $37,500,000. So if the city of Medford is getting $37,500,000, as Councilor Marks alluded to earlier on this evening, I guess the better question is, you guys have got a budget coming up. So if you have a budget coming up, why should you discuss a budget when you're anticipating under the American Recovery Act, this $37 million, you're gonna get it all at once, you're gonna get it over a year, how are you going to get it? You people should have a committee of the whole meeting with the mayor present to tell you how this money is going to be disseminated. In 2007 and 2009, when this country had its economic problems, the monies that were given out back then couldn't compete against the needs that the communities have. Well, now it's a little bit different. We're getting $37 million. It's a tremendous amount of money. But you got to look at some of the things that can be used for. And to me, the first question is, it's looming right around the corner from all of you in 2029, you've got an approximately $30 million unfunded pension liability that no one still talks about. Who's gonna pay for that? How's it gonna be paid? Is it gonna be included in this money that you're going to be getting? These are questions you really need to ask. Also, it talks about paying premium pay for the people who did work during the COVID-19. Well, how are you going to disseminate that? Is it going to be first responders? Is it going to be fire? Is it going to be police? Who's it going to be? I think you really need to sit down and have this conversation. Let me ask you, have you people have been notified already that you're getting $37 million or did you just read about it in the paper? You know, Mr. President?
[Caraviello]: I have not received it officially.
[Penta]: You have not received it, but it's okay for transparency, for the patch to have it, but the council not to have it. My suggestion strongly to folks, all of you, whether you're sitting here or the two that are sitting home, that you sit down with the mayor and her staff to discuss what that $37,500,000 is all about. Point of information, Mr. President?
[Knight]: Point of information, Vice President May. If you refer to our packet that we received this evening, we'll look at paper 21329, and that was a response from the mayor. We were seeking guidance on how the money would be spent. says it'll be coming midway pursuant to conversations the administration said with the Division of Local Services. And the mayor's response goes on to further, this was the mayor's response to a council resolution. Guidance on how the money AARP will be coming by mid-May says BLS. So far, we only know we can spend it on lost revenue in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. I will refer this to Ms. Menley for response to the projected revenues on 42721, signed mail-on. So this council has taken those steps, Councilor Penta. We have asked for the meeting. We have asked where the funds are going to be spent. The question is whether or not we're going to get the meeting. I didn't see that paper.
[Penta]: Through the chair, Mr. President, it also indicates that you can get premium pay for essential workers and you can offer additional support. And you can also, the money can also go into the educational park and the educational park for which a lot of these kids have gone through, they have suffered over the past year for emotional disabilities that kids have been able to suffer. and we won't get it to the people. We'll just leave it like that. There is money there. It's broken down. There's six categories. I'm not gonna go through all six of them. I'm just saying, thank you, Council Vice President Knight, but I think you really need to sit down. And before you take one vote on this budget coming up, you should know exactly how and when that money's coming in and what it can be used for. And just as a third point, let's go back to the money that they wanna use to take the $500,000 out of that retained earnings account. We are well beyond the 10 year, 10 to 12 year minimum. We're into almost the 15th year. We have batteries. Batteries are not calculating properly. And that's going to reflect on people's bills. And that's going to be, it was 795 abatements.
[Caraviello]: That's not what the topic is.
[Penta]: No, no. No, listen, wait a minute. We're talking about money. We're coming close to our 10 minutes. I'm sorry, Mr. President. It does talk about money that can be used for infrastructure and water and sewer and water and sewer.
[Caraviello]: but we weren't talking about that.
[Penta]: And water and soil. This is public participation. It's my right to say my free speech, and it's my time to say what I want to say, Mr. President. Okay, that's the problem. Don't shut somebody off if they're making a point.
[Knight]: The gentleman has a right to free speech. No one's going to stop him from standing on the front of the stairs of City Hall and screaming at the top of his lungs whatever he wants to talk about. This is also a city council meeting and there are some parameters that surround it. So I can certainly respect the gentleman has something to say and I'd like him to finish. But the same thing being said, you can't just come up here and just start saying whatever you want, whatever you want. All right, there has to be some parameters and they have to be deployed. Mr. President, I respectfully disagree.
[Bears]: I identify myself. Thank you, Mr. President. Two points. One, all speech at any public meeting, according to mass general law is at the discretion of the chair. Second, the pension liability, that's essentially the IRS final rule on the ARP came out yesterday. which is also the day that the final amount came out. That's from the Department of the Treasury. Pension liabilities cannot be funded using ARP money. And there were a few other categories. We've had several resolutions on the issue and I was reading a 130 page letter yesterday. So I can tell you that this council is on top of the ARP.
[Penta]: Thank you. Mr. President, with all due respect to the unfunded liability, if you look at the budget for the last four years, it's not been funded. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Hey, thank you. Okay, we have public participation from Maureen Ronin, 43 Winter Street Method Mass. Maureen would like to discuss Massachusetts dyslexia guidelines. Maureen, are you on the call here? Okay, Maureen. Maureen, are you able to touch the record, please?
[SPEAKER_01]: My name is Maureen Rodine and I live at 43 Winter Street in Medford. Thank you for having me here tonight. I spoke to the school committee last night and my community participation tonight is very similar. My name is Maureen Rodine and I am the mother of six children. My three elementary school age children struggle significantly with reading. They work with dedicated and professional teachers that genuinely care about the children. Recently, the Department of Education released the Massachusetts Dyslexia Guidelines to help guide districts and families understand and remediate this common language-based learning disability. On page 49 of these guidelines, it references the Every Student Succeeds Act, also called ESSA. This federal law was passed in 2015. It mandates that all reading intervention be evidence-based and peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. This effectively eliminates the eclectic approach that is also referred to as pulling from different reading programs that takes place in this district. Our teachers need support and training in order to deliver evidence-based reading instruction with fidelity. Our ETLs need to be trained in evidence-based reading instruction so that they know that a student is receiving appropriate services in accordance with this federal law. My second grade son's IEP states that he will use, and I quote, picture cues to decode. This is guessing and is completely inappropriate as it is not evidence-based and peer-reviewed. It actually interferes with learning to read because it takes the student's eyes away from the letters on the page. I understand that the district has made some changes in early literacy. However, we are still using journeys as a core curriculum. This program is so flawed that it is effectively banned in several states because it lacks some of the essential components for reading instruction. The district recently bought a patch, but it's too little and does not address the students that already went through the program. Our teachers are required to use DRA and some, I've seen, found this in Pinnell for reading assessments. Independent testing has stated that a teacher would be more accurate, percentage-wise, predicting reading failure if she just flipped a coin. I personally reached out to Dr. Matthew Burns, who led this study, and he wrote that it is terrible at identifying struggling readers and that most kids who struggled with reading cannot read a book at their level. Prevention is the key to this. I am asking that all pre-K to K-8th grade general ed teachers and the administration take professional development in the language essentials for teaching, reading, and spelling. It's called Letters by Dr. Louisa Moats. I am asking that every single special education teacher that supports students academically be trained and certified in LITS, Orton-Gillingham, and REBA, which are all evidence-based and peer-reviewed reading intervention. And I am asking for the district to hire a consultant that is an expert in literacy to substantially help guide them. We also need one person that oversees all tiers of reading instruction and is accountable for ESSA compliance. All of our children deserve to be taught to read in school. Literacy should not be reserved for the lucky few that learn to read with little instruction or those with parents that have a lot of money for neuropsychological testing, tutors, advocates, lawyers, and special dyslexia schools. I am asking for you to provide significant funding to our schools so that our teachers are trained in evidence-based reading instruction and that our children are taught to read. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Maureen.
[Knight]: Thank you. I just think it would be important to point out that the city council does not set the bottom line dollar amount for the budget. That bottom line dollar amount for the budget is set by the mayor. And the mayor is also the one that would dictate how much money she would intend to spend on the school department and how much money she would intend to spend here on the city side. I believe last year we did a 60-40 split, if I'm not mistaken, or maybe 50-50. But with that being said, Mr. President, I can certainly appreciate what you're saying. Mrs. Rowan and I have spoken in the past on this very same topic. It is a school committee policy issue, and it's my hope that the school committee takes the appropriate steps to comply with federal law Thank you, Vice President Haynes.
[Caraviello]: Maureen, thank you very much for coming this evening. Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you. Mr. President, I see Joanna Quateria Mejia with their hand up.
[Caraviello]: Joanna Quateria, did you have your hand up? Joanna?
[7dpVBOZN8pE_SPEAKER_15]: Yes, I had to unmute, I do.
[Caraviello]: Hi, Joanna. Name and address of the record, please.
[7dpVBOZN8pE_SPEAKER_15]: Joanna Quateria Mejia, 35 Early Ave. And I just want to state that it's absolutely important that we respect each other's freedom of speech. However, I am going to, through you, say to the three speakers that spoke about free speech, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. And when you come on social media and you say things that are going to get people angry, then certainly people are going to say things back. The other thing I wanted to say is I will participate any way I want, Mr. Bender. If I want to be remote, I'll be remote. And when I feel comfortable, I'll come to the chambers and I hope to meet you there. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Joanna.
[Knight]: Mr. President, Vice President Knight, on that topic, I mean, ultimately, you know, I don't think the Medford City Council's gonna take up the role of being the Facebook police or the social media police of the city of Medford. Okay. Um, I just don't think that that's what we're here for. And I don't think that that's, you know, uh, really falls into the line of things that move mentioned forward. Um, so with that being said, I can appreciate the speakers feeling uncomfortable about online bullying. And, um, you know, it's something that we see every day from kids on up to adults, apparently. Um, but with that being said, Mr. President, I personally don't think that, um, the Medford city council is the appropriate forum, uh, to air your grievances regarding what people said about you on Facebook and how they said it.
[Bears]: Thank you. Mr. President, if I may come to this, I just want to completely agree with Councilor Knight and the whole purpose of the First Amendment is that the government shouldn't get in the business of regulating speech in the first place. So it's not our prerogative. And the best way we can honor the First Amendment is to not do that. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Um, we have one more person on the public participation. Mr. big lonely name and address of the record, please. Mr. Viglione, name and address of the record, please.
[Viglione]: Hi, can you hear me okay? Joe Viglione, 446 Charles Street, Marlin, Massachusetts. Thank you, councilors. About 2009, when Judge Jackson Thompson was in the room, the city solicitor at the time said that the city does not chill free speech. I think that's the essence of what the petitioners were trying to say tonight, about the city chilling free speech, and maybe That should be the topic. We should find a way for people to actually express themselves at the access station, at the city council. That's all I have to say. I want to applaud them for coming up and showing the courage to discuss this issue. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Biglioni. Any further participation from the public? I don't see any hands up. Excuse me, I see one more. Mr. Castagnetti, name and address of the record, please. Mr. Castagnetti, name and address of the record, please.
[Castagnetti]: Hello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, Mr. Castagnetti, name and address, please.
[Castagnetti]: I was actually having a cigarette inside my fireplace. I was waving at my cigarette. However, that's okay. However, since I have an invitation.
[Caraviello]: I thought you were waving. Thank you, Mr. Castagnetti.
[Castagnetti]: Tell you what, I'll say a few words. I'd be remiss not to. May I?
[Caraviello]: We lost you, Mr. Castagnetti. We'll try to get you back. Excuse me, did you want to speak? Name and address on the record, please.
[Merritt]: Dave Merritt, 373 Riverside Ave, Medford. Not related to free speech or anything like that, but as a resident, and I'm sure some of you have actually driven by my house. I live right near Wegmans. Trash pickup. Normally our trash is picked up on Monday. My trash barrel is still out from waste management. It is Tuesday. I don't know when they are coming. Should everyone on Riverside Ave be calling the phone number that's given to report this trash pickup, or is this something that could be handled?
[Knight]: I would recommend calling Mary in the DPW office, and she'll be able to help coordinate the trash pickup. But if they missed the whole street.
[Merritt]: I think they missed the whole street.
[Knight]: That's why, if it was just me, I would call the number, but you look up and down. Give a call to the DPW, and I'm sure that we can make that phone call in the morning. We can direct the city clerk to do such to have them be sure that they inform the mayor's office through the DPW and Mayor Menezes that trash pickup on Riverside Ave was skipped on Monday. And I will offer that in the form of a motion.
[Caraviello]: Okay. Good. There's no motion. All right, that's fine. The clerk will call in the morning.
[Merritt]: Great, and just because I know you do have a budget coming up, maybe one thing to consider are metrics in terms of, because this isn't the first time that this is happening with waste management. So perhaps if you do have missed pickups or whatnot, that's something y'all being interested in, perhaps you can use this some leverage to set the rate in the future. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
[Caraviello]: Mr. Kessler, did you want to speak or not? No, okay, thank you. Records were passed to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, how did you find those records?
[Marks]: President, I have time to review the records and ask that they be reviewed next week.
[Caraviello]: The motion by Councilor Marks that the records be tabled for one week. Seconded by Vice President Knight, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Powell? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello? Yes.
[Caraviello]: We have a motion to adjourn. Oh, the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by. Seconded by Councilor Mark. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello? Yes. Stephanie Ferretta, motion passes. Adjourned.
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