[Falco]: Okay, the 14th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will not come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Present. Vice President Caraviello? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Morell? Present. Councilor Scarpelli? Present. President Falco?
[Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. Can we all please rise to salute the flag?
[Unidentified]: 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. Thank you.
[Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020, order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 30A, Section 18. in the governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitation 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 the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and your parties with the right annual requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the city of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post this on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website and audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-320 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration give us an update on the policy dealing with public parking during this trying time. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate everybody for being here. I know I've talked to the chief of staff about this a few weeks ago, but again, I've been getting phone calls about Republic Parking and whether they're, you know, the question, the misconception that they're not in the business district or they are in the business district, that they're, are they essential? Are they non-essential? I'll give you a few examples. It's seeing that what I'm hearing is that they're going into the neighborhoods. and really bearing down on neighborhood parking where some parking issues, as I talked to some constituents, have never been an issue for years, and they're coming down and ticketing certain areas, and it doesn't limit to one area of the city. I hear in West Medford, I hear in South Medford, I hear in North Medford that, so really, if we can, is really, if we can get Mr. Rodriguez, if you can, look into really defining and putting something out there so our constituents understand what the process is. Because I think there is a misconception that it's not essential and it shouldn't be out there. They are essential, but they're not doing the business district, but they are obligated to go into the communities, into the neighborhoods. I think that's what I've been hearing, and if we can get that concern taken care of or addressed, that'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
[Falco]: Okay. Any of the councillors like to speak on this? Okay, Claude Hernandez, do you have any emails?
[Hurtubise]: Mr. President, I do not have any emails on this topic.
[Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli. Second, Mr. President. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-321 offered by Consuelo Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration give us an update dealing with the census. Consuelo Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you again, Mr. President. With what's going on in our time today and the fear of budget decreases and the downfalls we're looking to have possibly, adding the lack of information gathered by the census and losing any sort of federal money because we haven't done our due diligence as a leadership and a community, I know that if we can, I want to make amendment, if we can reach out to state delegates to see if there is, I know there was talk about an extension, when they were going to, actually the kickoff I believe was April 1st, and now it's, I haven't heard, we haven't heard much about it. is could the city administration, could we look at non-essential employees that are getting paid, that aren't working at City Hall? Is there a way we can put a team together that can reach out right now via phone or other avenues to get people interested, get them involved in returning their census forms? I think that while there is a lull in one facet of government, I think that maybe we can look at a way to take advantage of our educated and capable employees within City Hall. to really mount an attack and get the information out that's needed to get the information back that we're going to need for our schools and our police stations and fire stations and DPW. It's going to be massively important. And I know that we did talk about it, but I just wanted to gather some information with that. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And if I may really quick, Neil Osborne, who is basically the point person, I believe, for the city with regard to the census. We were going back and forth before coronavirus, trying to set up a committee, the whole meeting, just to give everyone an update as to what the plans were with regard to what the city was gonna do and how things were going to operate with regard to the census. And once coronavirus happened, everything kind of went off track. So I'm going to try to schedule a committee the whole meeting. I'm not sure if Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez had mentioned previously that Neil might be on the call. Do we know if Neil's on the call?
[Dave Rodrigues]: I just checked with him. He's not on the call right now. And I just checked with him. I haven't heard back.
[Falco]: OK, no problem. It doesn't sound like he's on the call. But I will schedule a committee the whole meeting with Neil to set up a Zoom call so we can actually specifically talk about the census. But Councilor Scott, it looks like you
[Scarpelli]: I think if we can, I appreciate that, that'd be a great start. I think if we can invite the, I know each community has a representative from the Census Bureau. If we can invite them also, I don't know if Mr. Rodriguez could pass that along to Neil Osborne. I know that each, like I said, each community has someone that works for the Census Bureau as a contact person, if we can find out who that is and invite them to that committee, the whole meeting, to see what they're doing at the federal level too. So, thank you. Thank you.
[Falco]: Are there any questions regarding this resolution? Any comments from the council? Any comments in general? Okay. Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez, did you have a comment you wanted to make?
[Dave Rodrigues]: Yeah, just the one thing. I do know that Neil has been continuing his work with the Complete Count Committee and the community liaison, so she was in the office right before all this jumped off, so she has been working with that. I did check on our self-community response rates before the meeting tonight. And Medford has a self-response rate of 58.5%. Massachusetts overall has a 55.8%. So we're a little bit above the state average. A little bit behind Somerville, they're at 58.8. Malden, we're ahead of Malden and Everett. Malden's at 50.8. Everett is at 42.7. And we're lagging behind Winchester and Arlington. Arlington's at 69% and Winchester is at 71.7. It's kind of all over the place, but we are above the state average. And I do know Neil has been working hard to try to re-understand the importance, like Councilor Scarpelli said, about this is how everything happens. This is how all the formulas get written. This is how all the numbers get derived. So we understand the importance. We want to drive up these numbers to get the most accurate, complete count we can. Excellent. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. I was just curious how often we could get updates on that percentage response rate.
[Dave Rodrigues]: They're available online all the time, so they're done in real time. I can email the link to the councilors, and you can see how we're measuring up to everybody else.
[Falco]: If you could, I'd greatly appreciate that. Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Yeah, and I think one other thing that's on that website is that our final self-response rate in 2010 was 68%. So obviously, we want to get above that, given that all the people who don't do the self-response, someone comes to their door, and that's gonna be a whole other set of circumstances given what's going on. So a really big push is good. And I think also Chief of Staff Rodriguez, the communities you outlined and the difference in the response rates are pretty clear why that's happening, right? The richer neighborhoods and towns have a higher response rate. So I think a really important effort on reaching out to folks who we may not always reach is gonna be important.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions or comments? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by- Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Sorry about that, yes.
[Hurtubise]: President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, and the affirmative is zero. Zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[Hurtubise]: Mr. President. That was with Councilor Scarpelli's amendment?
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Falco]: As amended by Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Got it. Mr. President, motion to suspend the rules to take paper 20316 that was tabled from last week. Second. Second.
[Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to take 2-0, 3-1-6. From the table. All those in favor.
[Hurtubise]: Get a vote, roll call. Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll. This is to suspend to take 3-1-6.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell.
[Falco]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-316, April 16th, 2020, to President John Falco, honorable members of the Medford City Council, from Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, regarding loan order city sidewalks, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following loan order. City method loan order citywide sidewalks, be it ordered that the sum of $500,000 be hereby is appropriated to pay the cost of repairing, constructing, and reconstructing various sidewalks throughout the city, including engineering and design services, and for the payment of all costs incidentally related thereto, that to meet this appropriation, the city treasurer, with approval of the mayor, is authorized to borrow said sum under Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 7.1, as amended and supplemented or pursuant to any other and to issue bonds or notes of the city thereof. Therefore, any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this order, lest any such premium applied to the payment of the cost of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this order in accordance with Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. If further order, that the city treasurer is authorized to file an application with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Municipal Finance Oversight Board to qualify into Chapter 44A of the general laws, any and all bonds or notes of the city authorized by this vote or pursuant to any prior vote of the city and in connection. therewith to provide such information and execute such documents as the Municipal Finance Oversight Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may require, very truly yours, Mayor Brianne Alago-Kern. So last week, this paper came before us. There were a number of questions that the councilors had for the administration. We received some responses earlier today from Let's see he's from my chief of staff Dave Rodriguez. They were forwarded to us by Club her to bees did everyone have a chance to read those or what we can do is I can actually go through the questions and read up the answers so everyone can I see what the responses were from the administration. Vice President Caraviello had the first question. He offered an amendment requesting information on whether the mayor and the DPW have looked into the pilot program mentioned in January to repair sidewalks for less money than it costs to replace them and whether method reached any agreement with Walden. The answer, I assume that this question is regarding the request from the council that the administration explore the option of utilizing a method of sidewalk repair that involves grinding and not full replacement. The requested funding is for the continuation of a previously procured contract with an existing contractor, La Rovere Construction. I'm not aware of any negotiations or discussions that have been had by the administration with the city of Malden regarding sidewalk replacement. We will look into the feasibility of the sidewalk repair method vendor in future contracts. So that was the answer to the first question. Second question was asked by Councilor Marks. Council Marks offered an amendment requesting the answer to the following question. Is the administration working from a list? The answer, yes. While the pavement condition index, the PCI project is set to begin this summer, the mayor has asked the DPW commissioner and city engineer for a list based on their experience of sidewalks that are in the most need of replacement, the sidewalks to be replaced and selected by using the following criteria in no particular order. One, age of the request. Two, condition of the surrounding sidewalks and driveway aprons. Three, geography, an attempt is made to spread it out equitably throughout the city. Part B to the question, if there is a list, what percentage of the work on this list is being done with this $500,000? The answer, it depends on the on the ground conditions for each sidewalk. The hope is to stretch the work as far as possible. Last year, the city was able to replace 232 sidewalks of varying lengths under the current contract in 2019. Part C, is there a priority list? The answer is yes, based on the criteria above. Part D, when will the work take place? Answer, upcoming construction season. Number three, Councilor Morell offered an amendment requesting answers to the following questions. A, can the administration please clarify what phase three is and are there additional phases? B, does the administration anticipate making another request for funding sidewalk repairs and to when does that carry us? The answer is, that this is the second part of a two-year contract. Sidewalk repair replacement is constantly needed and subject to availability of funds. Number four, Council appears off an amendment requesting answers to the following question. How does this project in its funding fit into the COVID-19 impact on city finances? And does this funding request need to be pared back? Answer, the administration is currently working on understanding the extent of COVID-19 we'll have on our city finances for current and future fiscal years. A request has been put forth to complete a current contract. The city's finance team believes that this is within our capacity at this time. Question five, what is the current free cash balance? The answer is approximately $12 million. Number six, what is the city's current bonding capacity? The answer, the city is authorized to borrow up to 5% of the equalized values in the community. City is currently borrowing less than 1% of the EQB. The city's borrowing capacity currently exceeds $500 million. So those are questions that the administration, well actually these are the questions and answers, the answers from the administration. At this point in time, I'll recognize Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez for his timely response. The question I do have, and maybe I didn't pose it correctly last week, I'm trying to figure out how existing sidewalks are on our list currently.
[Dave Rodrigues]: So I have the list, I have the full list. I had meant to scan the full list for my office. It's probably about this thick of all the sidewalks in the city. And as complaints come through from different sources, they come from Councilors, they come from to the mayor's office through C-Click Fix, that data is collected on that list. And then people go out to make assessments based upon the need for replacement. So I can certainly, it's just a large list. I'm happy to provide you with a copy and scan that to you. It is a very large file though. That's why I didn't send it around, but I can certainly make that available.
[Marks]: Okay, in the past, Dave, we were able to get a list of sidewalk repairs. And by a number of criteria, the date it was requested, the type or condition of the sidewalk, when it was reported, uh, when, when it's scheduled to be done. So there was a list that it was, uh, you know, available in the past. I'm just trying to get a handle on, uh, knowing that in 2019, we did roughly 232 sidewalks. Um, what percent of, uh, this year's money will get us through what list we have. So if we have a thousand on the list, is it safe to say we're going to do a quarter of the sidewalks or roughly?
[Dave Rodrigues]: Well, it's hard to tell because when we get out there, we take a look at what the surroundings. So we take a look at the sidewalks next to it, the sidewalks to either side. We took a look at the driveway, we take a look at the curbing. So different sidewalks can take, can cost different amounts of money. So chewing through the money, it could, that number could go up and it certainly could go down depending on conditions on the ground. So we certainly try to stretch the money out as far as we can to get as many sidewalks done as we possibly can. But it's hard to tell until we actually get out on the ground and we start evaluating the exact conditions that we're going to face when we start replacing.
[Marks]: Right. So based on the criteria information, one of the criteria is the age of the sidewalk and the other is condition. And I think there's a couple of other criteria. So are all these sidewalks that are currently on the list I'm just trying to pin down exactly what you're saying.
[Dave Rodrigues]: you're looking for, and I want to give you the best info possible. But the list in itself is about 117, 120 pages of sidewalks throughout the city. And they are very, very in condition.
[Marks]: Right. So as one member of the council, it would be helpful to find out, first of all, the number. And that could be sent to us in an Excel spreadsheet very easily.
[Unidentified]: Sure.
[Marks]: the number of sidewalks that are on the list ranked by condition. So just say it's one through four. If four is a very problem trip hazard safety concern, it'd be interesting to know we have out of a thousand sidewalks, 800 of these compared to a level three or level two or level one. So that way, to me, it would be easier to make a judgment on whether or not we're actually moving forward on our sidewalks. Because after 20 years of doing this, I don't see us moving forward. And that's not a reflection on the current administration. But to say how we've handled it over the years, we've never really gotten ahead of the current. And I want to make sure whether it's the request of which Councilor Scarpelli and many Councilors have talked about, creating our own sidewalk crew, or just to continue the way we've done business with throwing a half a million dollars at a time at the problem and never really getting to a point where we can say, you know what? We'll make it some headway. Because I've been on the council 20 years. I don't know if we're making headway. I'd be surprised if any other councilors could tell me otherwise. I could tell you from residents' standpoint, they don't believe we're making any headway. And a lot of them that have been on the list for five, six, seven, eight years feel the same way. So I just want to make sure we're moving in a direction. And I know this administration's interested in doing so. Provides results for us and gives us a clear direction Whether or not we're making some headway and I don't think I've been able to accomplish that over the many years Start now And say hey, you know what moving forward. Is this the direction we want to continue? We want to keep on throwing money at this or do we want to maybe take this in-house? And I think this is gonna be the year for me to make that decision
[Dave Rodrigues]: Sure, and I don't think we'll ever run out of sidewalks to fix, but I do agree with the sentiment of trying to make headway. What you described in ranking condition of sidewalks is exactly what a PCI will do. And as you index them appropriately, you're going to be able to say that we were able to do 55 level 4s, 50 level 3s, 25 level 2s, and be able to work through your list that way. The problem with you have to do that classification first. I don't know if we have them classified in that ranking yet. but that's part of what that program is going to do. So we have, we do have a list and we know certain conditions and age of requests. So we're basing it on the best criteria we have. And I can certainly get you that Excel spreadsheet from DPW. I have it as a hard list, but I can, I have to track it down for as an electronic list that I can share with you.
[Marks]: That'd be helpful. Thank you, Jason. Thank you.
[Morell]: Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. So just clarifying that the 232 pieces of sidewalk that were accomplished in 2019, that is with the 500,000, that was the amount of money?
[Dave Rodrigues]: That was from the first half of the $1 million contract, so yes. Right.
[Morell]: So $500,000. OK. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I support Councilor Marks on this. I don't think we'll ever make any headway by throwing $500,000 in the whack at this. I mean, I've been there for several years now, and 200 sidewalks a year isn't very many. Again, I would think half a million dollars would get us a crew that would work from April to November nonstop doing sidewalks. Like I said, you'll never run out of sidewalks to fix. And you can take those crew once you're able to stop doing the sidewalks, you can take them and you can put them onto the city side for powering or whatever else the city needs on that end. So again, going forward, I don't know if I'm going to support another money thing to fix sidewalks again. My next question is, I don't know if this is for Chief of Staff Rodriguez or Treasurer Pompeo. What is the rate we're borrowing money at right now? I know it's fairly low. Dave, is that a question you can answer? Is that a question for Fred?
[Dave Rodrigues]: Yeah, Fred can answer as well. I do know that these are competitive bonds. So then the bond market isn't currently in flux. So we won't really know what the rate that we'll borrow it until we go into market to sell the bonds. But Fred can also expand on that as well.
[Caraviello]: Fred, what is the rate like right now?
[SPEAKER_14]: We're 2.6 and 3.4, so we're probably still in that same range right now. I don't have an exact rate. You don't get an exact rate until you actually issue it, but I would say that's a comfortable range right now in the twos to the low threes.
[Caraviello]: Are we doing this at a 10-year or a 20-year?
[SPEAKER_14]: Well, that hasn't been decided yet.
[Caraviello]: I mean, where it's not that much a big amount of money, would a 10-year be more feasible?
[SPEAKER_14]: Well, but you also look at the budget, you know, you're looking at your future budgets. How do you want to spread out your money over the years? So, yeah, that would be, we were working with Alicia on that until, you know, she took health, but, so we haven't really finalized that.
[Caraviello]: Yeah. And I understand the money's going to be a little tight this year for some stuff. So I understand that'll be a decision you'll probably make at budget time. All right. Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_14]: Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you, Treasurer Papio. Adam Knight, did you have a question, Councilor Knight? Okay, it looks like we lost Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thanks for your answers, Dave.
[SPEAKER_10]: I know you said- I did, John Falco, Mr. President, I did. This contract was put up to be correct.
[Unidentified]: Correct.
[Falco]: Councilor Knight, are you still there? Okay, it sounds like Councilor Knight might have a connection issue. Councilor Bears, if you could please continue. I'm still here.
[SPEAKER_08]: I don't know what's going on. I can see everything you've got doing.
[Falco]: Okay. Are you ready to speak, Councilor Knight?
[Caraviello]: He has been.
[Falco]: Okay. Councilor Knight, are you ready to speak?
[SPEAKER_10]: I think so, Mr. President. My first question was whether or not this contract was put out to bid and when.
[Dave Rodrigues]: It was put out to bid prior to the 2019 construction season.
[SPEAKER_10]: It's my understanding
[Unidentified]: We can't hear you, yeah.
[Scarpelli]: Mr. President, can I make a suggestion?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Scarpelli]: Maybe Councilor Knight could call in on his cell phone, or his house phone, where he can ask a question and still watch. It might be easier for him.
[SPEAKER_08]: I might just hang up and just say this is not working for me anymore, and I'm not doing it anymore, and we can get back to reality sometime soon too. I hope so. I'm sorry, buddy.
[SPEAKER_09]: But so I get the question I have is if this contract was put out to bid contract supposed to be appropriated and funded when signed.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Correct. It was correct and I was a budget decision that was made last year. We're filling in the gaps from last year's last year's contract signing.
[Falco]: Councilor Knight?
[Knight]: That's it for now, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Bears, thank you for waiting patiently.
[Bears]: No, no worries. So two questions. Given that this was a, would this be the process that would be followed going forward? Is this the, would it be issuing, putting out to bid another contract in the future? Are you planning to do this differently?
[Dave Rodrigues]: So this will probably be built as part of a larger capital investment program. It's currently underway. So we're doing a bridge CIP for 2021 that's currently under development. And then we'll have a five-year plan to issue after that. Generally, this will be put onto that list that'll say, we want to do X amount of money in sidewalk replacement. This is how much we're going to spend, and this is what our funding source is going to be. So you'll be able to map it out a little bit more. You can use bonding, you can use free cash, you can use some other cities and towns use capital stabilization funds or budgeted line items for this. Bonding or bond anticipation note or some sort of other borrowing seem to be the most prudent way to move forward on this. Working with Fred, working with Alicia, working with our financial advisors, that was the decision that was made.
[Bears]: All right, and just one other question. I know you answered that this is doable. You think the team thinks this is doable given the COVID-19 impacts? I guess the only other kind of the side question to that is, are we planning on issuing bonds for any other emergency expenditures related to COVID-19 and would this impact the potential to issue those?
[Dave Rodrigues]: No, we wouldn't have to issue bonds for any emergency funding. So we've been tracking our expenses very, very closely. A lot of that's gonna be reimbursable through the state and federal governments. So we have been tracking that. If we do run into deficit, we are able to amortize our debt that is incurred as a response to COVID-19 over the three subsequent fiscal years. So I'd like to have the outside auditor or Alicia kind of explain what that means a little bit more. They're way smarter than I am when it comes to that. but we were not anticipating doing any, you know, revenue anticipation notes or any borrowing that's directly related to COVID-19. We think there's gonna be other mechanisms for us to fund that response.
[Bears]: So if there was an expense like needing computers for distance learning, that kind of thing, this would not crowd that out is what you're saying?
[Dave Rodrigues]: No, absolutely not. Yeah, all that is being accounted for separately. We did have to purchase some technology on the city side for the Board of Health, for contact tracing activities, our RUOK program, masks, PPE, all sorts of stuff we had to purchase, you know, linens for emergency housing, cleaning for emergency housing, cleaning for the public facilities. This is all being accounted for and will largely be reimbursed by the state and federal governments.
[Bears]: Great, thanks, and I'm looking forward to that meeting too.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, and I hate to keep beating a dead horse, Mr. President, but I appreciate Mr. Rodriguez talking about the capital plan. But again, I would love to make an amendment that we ask the city director of DPW to do an analysis to see what it would cost to start a crew. I know I worked with the former commissioner who's now passed, God bless him, stand Cody who helped me put together a plan where it was three full-time employees, the truck and the equipment, plus what the cement would look like, a hot top would look like. And I tell you, other than the upfront costs of maybe $500,000 the first year to get that going, it really started a program that even if it is part of the capital plan, and we do correct 80% of our sidewalks, which is great, and streets, let's say that's you know, if that works, but the hope is we still need a process moving forward that we're not going to fall back into that. Always maintaining. I think that's one thing we haven't done here in a long time with our infrastructure and our buildings and our facilities, that once we once we correct something, having a maintenance plan in place that we're correcting things before a $1,000 problem turns into a $15,000 problem. So I think this is what, like I said, I hate to keep beating on it, but I think it's something that I need to see from the director of DPW that can tell me, George, no way, this is why. Because the way I run my home, if I needed to fix something, if I can patch it for $2,000 for 10 years, instead of an upfront cost of $10,000, I'll find a way to do that at $10,000 if the means say. At least I weigh it. I don't think we weight this. We keep talking about it. This is now year five and we're saying the same thing in my time here on the council. So I appreciate everybody's hard work. I think the questions were well thought out. I thought that the biggest issue I have is that this was a contract from last administration. It's a two year contract. There was confusion when I talked to administration about how it was separate and why it was separated. There was some confusion there, but I can understand where we are right now. So thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions?
[Hurtubise]: Mr. President, Mr. Rodriguez has his hand raised.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Missed that, sorry. Just an FYI, Neil Osborne has jumped on the call if we want to return back to the census item. He can provide some insight to that, just FYI.
[Falco]: Thank you. We'll finish up with this here.
[Scarpelli]: If I can, Mr. President, can I make that amendment to B paper? Sure, we can do that. Thank you.
[Falco]: Okay, any other questions regarding this issue? Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: What, as this is a contract that's been signed, what would be the impact if the vote were not to be in favor?
[Dave Rodrigues]: I don't know. That's a legal question. We'd have to circle back with the solicitor as to the legal ramifications of that.
[Unidentified]: All right. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: I think it works better with my camera off, Mr. President. I, as one member of the council, am a firm believer in getting the shovels in the ground. I think we do need to get this sidewalk work done and I think we need to live up to our contractual obligation that we made some time ago. So I certainly have no problem supporting the funding for this paper this evening. I've continuously held true to my position that I do believe we need to focus on eliminating the extensive use of private contractors and really turning this work in-house because I feel as though what we're doing is we're really in a race to the bottom. We're not investing in our own personnel and our own institutional knowledge. We're giving all the control and direction to a private company that we're throwing money at. We've all spoken at length about when a private company gets a public contract, how they feel as though they've hit the lottery. and the work product sometimes isn't as good as we'd like. And we've also seen that there's not much pride in workmanship. When you have an individual that comes to work every day, 365 days a year, like our DPW workers have been doing, especially during these trying times with COVID-19, I think we understand how valuable a resource our DPW is. So, with that being said, I do think we do need to take a long, hard look at continuing to reinvest these privately spent funds, these bonded funds especially. I mean, ultimately, if you look at it, we're going to spend $500,000, we're going to pay it off over 15 years, and we're going to get 200 sidewalks out of the deal. We could save $500,000, and we could hire employees, and we could have them work for us for the next 30 years, the same amount of time we paid off the bond for just these 230 sidewalks. So I do think it's important that we do look at that issue, but this evening I am prepared to vote in favor of funding the contract.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Light. Any other questions? Okay, so what we'll do is first we will take up the B paper. Clerk Hurtubise, can you please read back the language to the B paper?
[Hurtubise]: Yes, Councilor Scarpelli's B paper is to ask the DPW director to see what it would cost to start a crew to do this work.
[Falco]: Okay. On Councilor Scarpelli's B paper, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. I have the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the main paper, for the request for the bond of $500,000. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Mr. President, I just want to clarify, this is for first reading, correct?
[Falco]: Yes, correct. This is for the first reading pertaining to this bond. Who had the original motion for approval? The motion of, I'll make the motion. Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[Hurtubise]: Okay, for first reading. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Caraviello]: Mr. President, while we're under suspension, reports from committees?
[Falco]: Yes. While we're under suspension, reports from committees 19-659 and 20-098, which was a subcommittee on zoning that occurred on April 22nd, 2020. That was Vice President Caraviello's subcommittee on zoning. Vice President Caraviello, could you give us a brief synopsis of the meeting?
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. We had another meeting Wednesday night, which we presented the final draft to the committee and to the administration to have KP law just go over and to make sure that we are compliant with all state regulations pursuant to the marijuana ordinance. And we did report it favorably out to a committee of the whole meeting. So hopefully you can schedule that soon and maybe we can get this done before the summer and this will bring some needed funds into our city coffers right now.
[Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by
[SPEAKER_08]: Second.
[Falco]: Second. Councilor Bears to approve the committee report. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[SPEAKER_14]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-300 and 20-302, April 22nd, 2020. There was a subcommittee on elderly and housing affairs, and that subcommittee is chaired by Councilor Zach Beers. Councilor Bears, can you give us a brief synopsis of that meeting?
[Bears]: Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. I wanna thank Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Marks for a great meeting. We were able to hear from residents on what they'd like the city to see the city do regarding housing stability. And we were also able to hear, I think, which was helpful, some of the great work that city officials, members of city boards and commissions and others were doing. So that was good. We agreed to keep the paper in committee and also request that the acting city solicitor write a draft ordinance for a housing stability task force. And we also are planning to hold another subcommittee meeting to discuss, hopefully, a draft ordinance as well as some of the actions that we could potentially support at the state level.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by?
[Unidentified]: Second. Councilor Marks, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Falco]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Okay. On the motion of Motion to refer it back to regular business, Mr. President. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to report back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. I heard a yes there. Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. We will now revert back to the regular order of business. 20-322. So what I'll do is these are a number of condolence resolutions. So what I'll do is I'll read them. If anybody wants to speak on them by all means, please let me know. We will take a vote and then we'll take a moment of silence at the end. 2-0-3-2-2 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of State Representative Sean Garberlee on the passing of his father. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. As we all know, Representative Garberlee, his dad passed away this week from the COVID virus, another victim of the dreaded disease. And I'd just like to send a note off from the City Council and the City of Medford uh, to Sean and, uh, and his family and, and, uh, in his time of need, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you, vice president Caraviello. On the motion of, uh, vice president Caraviello seconded by council night, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-323 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Maurice Del Vendo on the passing of his mother at the age of 102.
[Caraviello]: Thank you again, Mr. President. Thank you again, Mr. President. Many of us know Maurice from the community. He's one of the liquor board, ABCC, a lot of volunteer in the community, a lot of thing. His mom also passed away at 102 this week from the dreaded disease again. And again, the numbers just keep growing and growing and hopefully we'll see a downturn at some point, Mr. President. But again, my condolences to Maurice's family and their time of need also.
[Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by?
[Falco]: Councilor Marks, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell?
[Falco]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council sends its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Christine Spencer, mother of long-term, long-time law department secretary, Janice Spencer. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Again, thank you again, Mr. President. I don't like putting these on, but you know, again, they just keep, they just keep seeing the coming these days. Again, Janice has been with the city for many, many years. And I got to meet her mother a couple of times, nice woman. Again, she passed away this week also. So my condolences to Janice and her family during their time with me too.
[Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. If I may, there's two other condolences that are under suspension. And they're basically for the same person. They're offered by myself and by Councilor Knight.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli has asked to join Councilor Knight's resolution as well.
[Falco]: We'll take them all at once if that's all right.
[Hurtubise]: It's for the same person, correct?
[Falco]: Yes, you are correct. So 20-325 is offered by Councilor Knight and Councilor Scarpelli. 20-326, if you don't mind, from the chair that's offered by me, President Falco. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council extend its deep and sincere condolences to the family of James Maturana on his recent passing.
[SPEAKER_10]: Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. We all know that the Maturanas are a great Methodist family. They've been around for a long time, whether it be with Pop Warner or right now with our very own licensing commission. Jimmy comes from a great group of people and a great family, and he will be sorely missed. However, Mr. President, I think that I would be remiss in speaking before Councilor Scarpelli on this, especially whereas he and Jimmy grew up together, when Morris and Park played around kids together. So with that being said, I defer to Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Well, thank you, Council Knight, but I think that Jimmy was a little, a few years younger than me. I graduated with Dave and grew up with David and hanging around the Taft Street home and being around the Maturana family, you realize that when Mr. Maturana died, when Guy died, you realize that a true legend left Medford and you could feel it. But what he did is he left a legacy of great, great, great children and, you know, And Jimmy was no different. Jimmy was just a great young man. If you remember Jimmy, when I started coaching and Jimmy was still playing football in Medford High School, you realize what kind of an aura he brought. People loved to be around Jimmy. And Jimmy was the type of kid that loved everybody. When the world loses somebody like that, it really hurts. I know that Jimmy's left. And as I talked to David this week, and we've read multiple Facebook posts and videos being sent from all over the world, sending their condolences, you realize what a real impact he's made. And he has two wonderful young boys and a beautiful wife that have sent out some really moving memories. and words and Jimmy's behalf. And Jimmy left a little note for everybody and telling us to keep smiling and keep moving forward. And you realize how great Medford is when you see the people that are coming back and supporting the Maturana family. Jimmy will always be missed, but Jimmy will never be forgotten. You know, everybody talks about what kind of a great athlete Jimmy was and what an impact he made in Medford High School sports. And they were huge, but what he did leave He's left an empty hole in a lot of people's hearts, and he's left nothing but a positive memory. I know he graduated my sister Lisa, and as soon as she heard the word, it was instant tears, because you knew that we lost a good one. I know that losing someone has been very difficult, especially today in society, but losing Jimmy Maturana is a huge, sad loss. something that I will do moving forward is always keeping Jimmy in light here in Method and Mustang country and keeping his memory alive for his sons to understand his legacy. And we send condolences to the family, the whole Maturana family and his wonderful wife and kids. So again, thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Ioannidis, I'm sorry, did you want to speak further?
[Knight]: I don't think I could do any justice compared to what Councilor Scarpelli just said, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, I think all my councilors have said it all, you know, the Moderanos are a family that bleeds blue and white in the city of Bedford, right from the father all the way down to all his kids. They all have a legacy in this community. And like I said, another one, a sad death at this time.
[Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank Councilor Scott Pell and Councilor Knight and yourself for putting this on. As was stated, the Maturana family have been in the city for many, many decades. One better than the next, to be quite honest with you. And, you know, Jimmy fought a terrible illness So for a long time, and not many people knew about it cause he kept it to himself and he didn't pity himself. Um, and, uh, you know, he will be as council Scarpelli mentioned, uh, truly missed. And, uh, I hope, uh, all the siblings, uh, can. uh, take some solace from the fact that, um, he led such a great life with such great family men. And, uh, as Councilor Scarpelli mentioned, we'll leave a legacy in this community, uh, not just as a sportsman, which they all were, they're all great athletes, but as a family man and as a person. Um, and that I think goes much further than anything else. Um, so, uh, I'd like to dedicate this meeting, Mr. President, in Jimmy Maturana's honor. Absolutely agree.
[Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Got so much. Um, and if I may, uh, you know, I, I remember Jimmy is, so I'm a couple of years older than Jimmy, but I remember, uh, my earliest time playing baseball at the car park. And, uh, Jimmy was a few years younger than me, but he was the best kid on the team. He was just such an amazing athlete and amazing talent. Um, and I played little league with him at car park and Gillis park. And he was just a great, I would say great kid. Um, but I remember playing high school with him at football, playing football with him at Medford high years later. And I was a junior at the time. His brother, Dave was the senior. He was a quarterback. Jimmy was a sophomore and he started, he was that good. And he came in as a soft. Actually, I think he might've started as a freshman. Actually, he was that good. I mean, he was always a talented athlete. great athlete, but more than that, he was just a great person. Someone that was always fun to be with, always great to talk to, and he comes from an absolutely fabulous family. All the moderators have been, they're just fabulous people. They're all great, they've all had a lasting impact on this community. I graduated with Jimmy's wife, Suzanne and she's another fantastic person. And it's really tough to lose Jimmy. He's such a, just an amazing person and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family tonight. So at this point in time, why don't we all- Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: If we could also have a moment of silence for the people that have passed away and admitted that we don't even know about the many, you know, the many, many seniors that have passed. So we could also hold a moment of silence for the people that we don't even know that have passed away, but that passed away to this disease. Thank you.
[Falco]: At this time, why don't we all rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. And on the motion of council, and I seconded by Councilor Kelly, Clerk Hurtubise, do you please call the roll? That was in the final condolence.
[Hurtubise]: Yep. Councilor Bears. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Falco]: So at this point, we have a member of the public that would like to speak under public participation. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, that we suspend the rules to move to public participation. Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[Knight]: I believe it's the next item on the agenda, isn't it, Mr. President? Do we need to suspend the rules, too?
[Falco]: Actually, no, we don't, you're right, because that was the last resolution. So at this point, we'll take up public participation. Is Eric on us? Mr. Von Berg?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Falco]: Okay. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_17]: Okay. It's Eric Von Berg, 369 High Street. Thank you for giving me a chance to speak tonight. I hope all of you councillors are healthy and well at this point. I want to talk about the use of face masks in the city of Medford. As I watch people walking, running, bicycling past my house on High Street, I see that there's less than 50% of the people are wearing face masks. I feel the suggestion that we wear face masks is not effective enough in slowing the spread of COVID-19. As the numbers keep rising in Medford, Middlesex County, and Massachusetts, we need to take more serious action. We need to institute an order making it mandatory for everyone to wear masks when they are out in public, whether you are in a business or out on the street. This should apply to all above the age of two, walkers, runners, and bicyclists. Without compliance, we will be extending the shutdown endlessly. We need to mandate the wearing of face masks for the safety of all Medford residents. And I hope that the city council will consider acting in favor of mandating the wearing of face masks while out in public. Thank you for the chance to speak.
[Falco]: Thank you very much. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Bromberg, for bringing this up. You know, I don't know what to say to people anymore. I mean, you go out there and you see people all over the place without masks and And you say, do you not watch television? Do you not listen to the news? I mean, I just don't understand people. It isn't just Medford, it's like everywhere. And I say, I don't know if people just, maybe they just don't get it. I mean, you're not, just because maybe you're a younger person, it doesn't make you immune. I mean, the city has it, where everybody has to go in stores, wear it. And I've been in stores and I see people come walking in, no mask. Again, I don't know what to say, people just don't understand, they don't get it. I mean, we're trying to get a handle on this and every little thing that we do helps it. But, you know, you're right, 100%. I mean, I don't know if we can force people to wear them. I know some of them have just done it, and some other cities have done it. And even over there, I've driven through some of them, and I see people walking around with no masks on. Again, you just can't understand people, you know. They have all the information. No matter where you go, you're seeing it. It's on the news. It's everywhere. I wish I had an answer for you to the way people think.
[SPEAKER_17]: Okay. I think that a lot of people, you know, think their freedom is being impinged upon by this. But I think, you know, freedom comes with responsibility. And I think that we really need to look to find a way to get this to happen. Because this is a danger to all of us and even more heavily to our elder citizens. So I think that we need to dig into this and try and find a way that we can do something about this.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I mean, I think one thing that's clear is that if one person's wearing a mask and one person isn't, the effectiveness goes down significantly. But if both people in an interaction or in a space are wearing a mask, it significantly helps to reduce the transmission rate. I'm really glad that we're doing this in the businesses. But I agree with Eric, I think, you know, setting this as you know, we're never going to get everyone I think Councilor Garviela is right about that, you know, but if we can say as a city, this is what we should do. Set the example be the role model and say, you really need to be wearing a mask out. I think we should do that.
[Falco]: Thank you Councilor Peers.
[Morell]: Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Mr. Rundberg for bringing this up. I have heard from other constituents having the same concerns. I think there's a number of factors, obviously, to Vice President Caraviello's point. Some people just maybe don't care. They're not thinking. They don't think they're in danger. But, you know, there's access to masks. Not everyone has the financial means, the access. I know anything can be a mask, but not everyone has that. privilege time to even think about that when they're running out the door. And I think it's also just a challenge for our local businesses that have had to pivot so much. And I see the signs in West Bedford Square requiring people to wear masks, but I think there's just a challenge there as far as now they're pivoting their business to adjust to these closures. And also now they have to act as a sort of police to kick people out of their store, ask them to do certain things. perhaps it is going that full extent to have this further requirement that if we go this level, perhaps we'll catch at least a little bit more people trying to put these, getting these masks on for the protection and so that we can continue to flatten the curve and, you know, ideally reopen and get some sense of normalcy back in the future. Thank you.
[Falco]: Councilor Morell, thank you very much. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I was in meetings all day today. I work in Somerville and, um, you know, I would hope that, you know, as I talked to our administration, I know we had put in place, uh, some order of, um, masks, but can you hear me?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Scarpelli]: for some order of mass, but where, um, and we, unfortunately we can't make any amendments or resolutions off this because it has to be posted. But I think it might be something that we look into and, uh, moving this and more of a, um, um, strategic way in asking the city administration to assist some of our residents that can't afford to find the masks, that we can help. I know that in Somerville, we're distributing over 100,000 masks first to our senior citizen population. So I think that, unfortunately, the way of the world, being in the recreation world, being in the world of grouping and stuff, We've talked about today, the state's going to be mandating that we're going to have employees and kids coming to our camps and clinics that it looks like they'll have to be wearing masks. And unfortunately, I think that's just the way of the world. So the quicker we as a community understand how serious this is in the sense that it's needed to be safe for yourself and others, I think that we need to make a move as a council, hopefully by next week and working with the city administration and our health department that we put some mandates in place. So I thank Mr. Von Berg again for bringing this forward. And I know that I've had some constituents, you know, as we're talking, I was getting texts by one constituent who we love and know, but he's, you know, we're nervous. And I think that again, One thing that as we're going in my field, a lot of it is education and communication so we can go forward with making sure as we live our new life. coming forward when we get into phase two and phase three, we all have to understand there are going to be mandated changes that people aren't going to like. And whether their freedom has anything to do with it, we have to have mandates in place and rules in place that people have to do it. And again, with the sensitivity that Councilor Morell spoke of, uh having the means to assist those constituents that really don't have a means to get to have them get a mask and um you know as we talked to some of our low-income constituents and What one resident told us is easy. She actually downloaded a Facebook post to our recreation site and how to make a mask with her T-shirt into elastic. So there is effort. I think there is a way to really accomplish this, but I think this is something that sounds simple, but this has to be a monumental task by all the stakeholders here to start changing our thought process. So thank you, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Vice President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I've noticed that the biggest violators of this seem to be the food service delivery drivers. I see them. They're all walking into stores and picking up their orders with no mask and walking right out. And that's really where I've seen the biggest amount of violations when I'm in these places. And these guys just walk in. They think because they're only in there for a second that they're OK. And again, I would think that was to be something that the stores need to clamp down. It's all these guys, you're not picking your order up until you get a mask on.
[Scarpelli]: One information, just so I don't forget, Mr. President, I just did get a text that thanks to the mayor, they are providing our seniors with masks. So they've already taken steps in that direction. So kudos to the mayor and the city administration. This is the direction we have to go to. So thanks. Apologize, Councilor Bears.
[Falco]: No worries, no worries. Actually, if I may really quick, since we have our chief of staff on the line, is there any,
[Unidentified]: Thought of mandating this across the board? Mr. President, unmute him. I did. He's still muted. He wasn't a second ago. It says mute. It says he's unmuted on my side.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Yeah, I mean out.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Okay. So, we spent an enormous amount of time spot talking on this issue today with the board of the director of public health internally within the mayor's office about what the next step should be because we all talk among cities and towns. among what each other are doing. The decision was, we were one of the first, the mayor was one of the first mayors around to sign an order that required face coverings within essential businesses and for essential workers that are there. That's been in place for over two weeks. And we do encourage folks to follow the CDC guidelines. that say if you cannot engage with social distancing that you should have a face covering on. But we're not quite at the point yet where the mayor wants to step into the mandated 100% universal wear policy. Councilor Scarpelli is right. We do have an order of masks that are on route. We're waiting to receive them. probably tomorrow where we did a regional buy with some other cities and towns in order to supply those, and we're working on a system in order to get those to vulnerable populations as soon as we can. Although I do like the clerk's mask. He's taking the wear policy very seriously, so kudos to the clerk.
[Falco]: Thank you, Chief of Staff Rodriguez. Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: I'm good, thanks.
[Morell]: Okay, Councilor Marra. Thank you, Mr. President. If Chief of Staff Rodriguez could speak to as far as enforcement of the current orders.
[Dave Rodrigues]: That's the hardest part. So universally, and that's one of the real sticking points when it comes to a mandatory wear policy is enforcement. And generally these orders are all enforced by agents of the Board of Health. So the Board of Health has taken the extraordinary step of like spanning their agents making code enforcement agent, building inspectors, all agents of the Board of Health to be able to increase. We did that for different reasons. We're involving more safety plans and construction sites. But expanding that, the enforcement of these orders is extraordinarily difficult. And you have to, we get 100 calls and emails a day about people not wearing masks in places. You have to see them do it. You have to actually engage with them as it's happening. So it's very, the enforcement is the most challenging part. And we don't want to necessarily put our orders for the sake of putting out orders. We'd rather put out guidance, focus on education, tell folks that this is in their best interest instead of mandating orders that we can't necessarily enforce. So our focus, and just like Councilor Scarpelli said, a huge focus on education. You will see this as every part of our messaging going forward, is make sure you have a face covering when you go into a central business. and make sure that you're following CDC guidelines, that if you cannot engage in responsible social distancing, stay more than six feet apart, you should have a face covering on. And that doesn't necessarily have to be a mask. Save the medical grade masks for the first responders.
[Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Mr. Varnberg for bringing this issue up, because I know we've all been contacted by Medford residents that are equally as concerned. I need to say over the last three or four weeks, this issue has evolved many times. And I think originally, if we all remember, the issue was don't wear mask. Remember when it first came out, they said mask won't help you. And don't wear mask and leave the mask for the health care professionals. the first responders, and then it evolved into, as more information came in, that it is helpful to have a mask and to reduce the risks like Councilor Bears mentioned. I think there's a lot of misinformation out there that people believe if they, as long as they stay a social distance of six feet, in particular outside, there's no need for a mask. And I think that's where a lot of the misinformation lies. that now that has also evolved and your footprint, so called footprint is left behind. And that's critical. I just want to say to that mask is one aspect of PPE. There's also gloves. The disease is transmitted through droplets and so forth, but it's also transmitted through touch. And you could be somewhere with a mask on, touch a surface, and then put that fingers to your eyes, to your nose, to your mouth after the fact. and catch to the disease. So if you don't protect your hands as well as your face, you're equally as vulnerable. So whatever we do, I think we have to look at all aspects. And in my opinion, I think it should be the wearing of gloves as well, the rubber gloves when you're out in public for now. So I think education, as the chief of staff mentioned, is extremely important. The fact that Councilor Morell and Councilor Caraviello mentioned that not everyone, I had to make homemade face masks. And it took quite some time to do it. Everyone says, oh, look online, you make a quick, easy one. They're not quick, easy, at least for me. And I consider myself pretty handy. They're not quick and easy. And they don't fit right, they push your nose in, you can't breathe. So there's a lot more than just making a quick homemade mask. And I think if we can get these masks out to the general public, like was mentioned in Somerville and so forth, I think that'll go a long way for people that will have them near their front door, like I do. Every time I go out, boom, it goes on automatically because it's right there. But if I didn't have one in the house, who knows? So I think the first thing for prevention is to make sure that these are out there. And I don't know what we can do to get these masks and rubber gloves out there. But I think that should be our first thing. I don't like the concept of penalizing people, to be quite frank. I know some communities of 200, 300 old fines for not wearing a mask. I don't like that concept. I think you have to get people to comply in a way that you reason with them and say, hey, you know what? This is a concern for safety, concern for health. Now we're hearing over in England and so forth that they're saying that kids are coming down with some sort of disease from the COVID that they didn't think they were susceptible to. This is brand new and they're starting to get cases over there. You hear animals now, dogs, cats, you know. So this is something that we really have to take the initiative. I personally think it should be done through an executive order, because I think that's the way it should be initiated from the governor on down. If the governor decides not to do it, then it's up to local cities and towns to take the responsibility. So I'd like to see the mayor take, I know she's taken a lot of leadership on this, but I think the next logical step is to mandate that if you're out, that you should wear a mask. And then if you're talking about enforcement, do we have the capability of enforcing it? Probably not, but I think you'll see people comply. if, you know, they're reasoned with and provided the mask. So that's my two cents, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Councilman Knox, thank you very much. And Mr. Bob Byrd, thank you for bringing this forward tonight. A very important issue. I know myself, I carry a mask wherever I go, you know, and I would recommend the same for everyone and anyone that's out there. always have a mask nearby, extremely valuable to have to prevent the spread. Councilor Scott probably would like to speak.
[Scarpelli]: Just real quick. I know that Councilor Marks brought it up with the gloves. I think that, I also want to, let's educate the public in understanding that those people that are wearing the gloves and then they discard it all over the streets, have a little compassion for the people that are cleaning those, picking those gloves up because You're putting their lives in danger and catching the virus too if you can't do something simple as take the gloves off like I do and as you leave, put them into a dispenser or take them home and throw them in the garbage. But we're seeing too many left all over the streets. If you don't care about what it looks like in your community, at least have a little compassion and understanding that the people that are picking those up, you might be putting them in harm's way. And that's how you have to look at things. So I just wanted to add to that. That's my two cents, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarapelli. Let's see, Matt Hughes.
[Hughes]: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to speak on a few points. In response to Councilor Mark's proposal that gloves should potentially be required, I wanted to oppose that. Gloves are substantially like To tie this back to something that Councilor Morell said earlier in the evening, the accessibility of gloves is substantially less than facial coverings. So it would be much, much harder to be able to provide folks gloves. Additionally, gloves are really helpful for preventing cross-contamination of different different things, but hand-washing may be a better way, and educating the public about the importance of hand-washing may be a more effective means of preventing the concern that you bring up around surfaces. I also wanted to address Councilor Karygiela. I sympathize with your having seen uh folks who are who are delivering food and having to experience that really counterintuitive like Really? You're not gonna protect uh protect other the people who you're delivering food for uh by keeping yourself from uh by wearing a mask yourself um I also wanted to to bring up that i've i've also seen uh members of the medford police department uh out directing traffic and not wearing masks and that I had a similar reaction of saying like really? Is this actually promoting public safety? So the third point that I wanted to make is that if we wanted to act on this like more quickly or more concisely, like focusing... What information, Mr. President?
[Scarpelli]: I appreciate Mr. Hughes bringing that up, but I think the police are a little bit different when you're talking about if they're in a traffic situation where they need to direct people in a safety situation, that they have to know who they're directing. the conversation, too. I think it's important that we understand that, too, as a community. So thank you.
[Falco]: Matt Hughes, please continue.
[Hughes]: Yeah, I just wanted to propose that requiring the use of masks among public safety personnel may be a quicker and easier thing than doing a full mandate. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you. Okay, any further comments on public participation? Okay.
[Bears]: Mr. President, I see John Costas.
[Falco]: Yeah, I'm making my way with it now. John Costas.
[9W26eEllQ8Y_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hey, good evening. Hey, just a quick note about the gloves. I'm not opposed to them. But I think if you want to have gloves on anybody, you need to do the proper training. Because I've been watching people with gloves. And they're kind of useless. I was in a restaurant, and I'm not going to tell you which restaurant I was in. But they were handing money and product and dealing with customers with the same set of gloves. I see people with gloves outside and they just touch everything. They touch their car and they take their gloves off and they touch the car again. So the transfer or whatever is kind of like, what is the point of gloves? Unless you're going to touch something, take them off, throw them away, put on a fresh pair of gloves, touch something and get rid of them. I agree with somebody that said, Why don't, what I like to do is when I'm handling food and stuff is I just have the clean, the disinfectant with me. And every time I want to touch something, I clean my hands first, touch it, then clean my hands again. I mean, it beats some gloves away. So if you're going to push gloves onto people, I think you need to push the education, the proper use of gloves. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. Okay. Well, Mr. Von Berg, thank you for bringing that forward tonight. We appreciate it. Okay. Next item on the agenda is the minutes, I'm sorry, the records. Of course, I misplaced that page of the agenda once again. The records of the meeting of April 21st, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[SPEAKER_08]: In order to move for approval. Second.
[Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll for the approval of the records.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell?
[Falco]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the records are approved. Before we adjourn, I'm just gonna read a quick announcement that came in just as we started the meeting from the DCR. It's a DCR traffic advisory for Fellsway West. Starting on Monday, May 4th, 2020 and continuing through June 11th, 2020, excluding weekends, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the DCR, will implement lane closures and parking restrictions along Fellsway West in the City of Medford from Salem Street to St. Francis Street outbound in I-93 and Salem Street inbound to accommodate paving operations During this time, work will fluctuate between day and evening operations. Additionally, a police detail will be on site, traffic patterns will be marked, and signage regarding parking restrictions will be posted. This will be from Monday, May 4th, 2020 through Thursday, June 11th, excluding weekends. Bellsway West. the city of Medford from Salem Street to St. Francis Street that's going outbound and inbound it's going to be I-93 to Salem Street inbound. So just to let everyone know that came in just as we started the meeting tonight. Let's see, so as we adjourn this meeting tonight, we're going to adjourn the meeting in the memory of Jimmy Maturano who passed away recently and those that have passed away to the COVID-19 virus. Mr. President?
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Mr. President, we do have Neil Osborne that's joining us and maybe he can give us just a brief overview of the census.
[Falco]: Yeah, Neil, if I may. Neil, are you there? I mentioned earlier in the meeting when this came up that we had tried to schedule a committee of the whole to discuss it, and then all of a sudden COVID-19 happened. So I'll probably still schedule a committee of the whole just because I'm sure there'll probably be plenty of questions once you get going. Amy, if you want to make a quick comment, that's fine. I think the Committee of the Whole will probably be better for a more robust discussion, I guess.
[SPEAKER_01]: Perfect. I guess the quick comment I will make is it's helpful for you as city councilors to mention to residents the importance of getting it done early, because if people fill it out early, no one comes to knock on their door. But please invite me back, Committee of the Whole, when we have a chance to answer questions and let you know how we're doing.
[Falco]: We'll do it sooner than later. I'll send you an email tonight and we'll coordinate a time and we'll move forward on this as soon as possible.
[SPEAKER_01]: Perfect.
[Falco]: Great. Okay, thank you. Clerk Hurtubise, if we could please take the vote to adjourn the meeting.
[Hurtubise]: Yes, Mr. President, we need a motion and a second to adjourn.
[Falco]: Yes, we do. On the vote, Vice President Capiello, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: This is to adjourn. Councilor Bears. Yes. Vice President care of yellow. Yes, that's a night. That's a night. I think he's dropped off. Okay, Council marks. Yes. Council Morell. Yes.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Council. Adam did text me, he lost his service, so. Okay. Apologizes, yes. Okay, President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, that's six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, meeting adjourned. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a good night, stay safe. Stay safe, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Good night.
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