[Scarpelli]: 2021 Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Present. Councilor Falco.
[Knight]: Present. Vice President Knight. Present. Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks is absent. Absent at the moment. Councilor Morell. Present. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli is going to be late I believe. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, if I have an affirmative, two absent, please rise and float 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]: will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of 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 contained herein. No in-person attendance of the 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 by a technological means. In the event we're able to do so, despite the best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community website, an audio video recording transcript or other comprehensive recordings of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting.
[Bears]: Mr. President, motion to suspend the rules to take paper 21-202 updates from director of public health, Marianne O'Connor.
[Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco?
[Falco]: Yes.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight?
[Falco]: No.
[Knight]: Councilor Marks is absent, Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent, President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Three in the affirmative, one in the negative, two absent. Four in the affirmative, one negative. Good evening, Mary Ann.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Good evening, how are you?
[Caraviello]: Mary Ann, if you can give us a little update on what's happening.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: sure. Happy to. Thanks for having me. Good evening, everybody. Um, so we have good news today, our Metro North collaboration, regional collaboration with the other communities are dispensing site at the Tufts Gansher Center is going to be live and ready to go this week. So as of tomorrow, and Thursday, there will be appointments available. Um, kind of limited tomorrow and Thursday, but we will be building up. Uh, so that is kicking off and that's great news because, uh, as a collaborating community, we get a certain allocations. So because of that, we get an allocation of doses that we can use and we are going to be able to offer a, uh, a clinic at the high school, uh, Thursday afternoon, um, for Medford High School students ages 16 plus, because it is the Pfizer vaccine. Certainly kids ages 16 and 17 will need parental consent. They don't need their parents to be with them, but they actually do have to bring in the consent form. The school is putting out information today and will again tomorrow. And that's really exciting because we've seen, you know, luckily we've seen our cases Finally starting to decline a little bit, where we've been seeing single digits for the first time in a long time, as far as daily case counts go. But it's really interesting in that the majority of our cases are under 20 year olds, or 20, I should say 20 and under year olds, and split really half and half. So we wanna get our students, our kids vaccinated We're hoping that next week, the FDA goes forward with the EUA approval for Pfizer to actually be able to vaccinate 12 to 15 year olds. And again, with this collaboration, we believe going forward, we'll have doses. We'll be able to actually continue to do some clinics that we can move forward with our students and our children. So that's really exciting news because that's what we're seeing now, the majority of our cases And that's good news. We're not seeing a lot of cases in our, I think we had two cases in 80 year olds and under five at 70 years old. So we know that the vaccine has been out there. We've done about 4,000 doses since the board of health for the city of Medford. So that's about 2000 plus totally vaccinated. That's two doses, right? So about over 2000 folks we've been able to vaccinate And the majority of that was our elders. So we're glad to see that. We're seeing less hospitalizations, less severe illness. So it's a good thing, but we're not out of the woods yet. And even though the state is loosening up on some of its gathering limits and requirements for vaccinated or not, we're still asking people, wear your masks, socially distance. Let's keep this up until we get it done. but certainly things are looking better. So.
[Caraviello]: All right, Marianne, how are the nursing homes doing?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Very well. I know I haven't heard any cases of them. Most of their clients have been vaccinated. They do take on COVID positive people, but I know like the Medford Rehab has not seen a positive case in a long time. and the same with Glen Ridge. And so, so we're doing, they're doing much better. Oh gosh, so much better.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Any questions for Marianne? Mr. President.
[Viglione]: Council Member.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for being here, Marianne. So just to confirm for the, the vaccination site at Tufts is the, the way to register for that is still through that state website.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, thank you. Thanks for bringing that up. Actually, there's a chat function here that I can, I will put in the chat. You can go through the MassFact site, the typical, on the website, the MassFact site. It's a little harder to find, but you can do, you'll find an exact link for the Gansher Center at Tufts if you put in your zip code. but I'll put the chat, the specific one, because it does say Metro North, and that takes you right to the Gancho Center. So that'll be operating 11 to four right now on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully we'll be able to expand that going forward, but as far as the doses go right now. So out of this collaborative, we have three sites. We have the Encore Casino is offering, we have the Gancho Center at Tufts, And as of next week, we will have what's currently the Cambridge Health Alliance used to be, I believe a target in Somerville that they're using now. That'll come online next week, but this week it's the Gancher and the Encore are accepting appointments tomorrow and Thursday. So I will put that in the chat, but yes, you go through the MassFact site, you'll be able to find it as well.
[Morell]: Okay, thank you. And are all of those sites are appointment only, none are walk-in, those are all appointments only?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Working towards walk-in because access is important, and I know people are intimidated by the process of even going online trying to find an appointment. So our goal is to be able to accept walk-ins. We're just starting this week, so we're gonna get staffing up, but walk-ins, I think, is definitely our goal going forward. Last week, we were lucky enough, Tufts had extra doses that they had purchased for their students, And when they didn't have them all fulfilled, they put it, we put it out there. And I think on that Thursday or Friday last week, they had 300 appointments and 400 walk-ins. So they did 700 in that day and 400 of those walk-ins. So we do have, we can do it, but we want to make sure that, you know, we're able to, to publicize it the right way. So walk-ins is definitely our goal.
[Morell]: Okay, great. Thank you, Marianne. Thank you for being here. There was a story recently in Kaiser Health News about what local directors of public health have really been dealing with for the past 14 months above and beyond just the actual work, kind of the stress of the job. So I really appreciate just what you've done and what your team has done. So thank you again.
[Caraviello]: Marianne, CBS is doing them also, I think.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, CVS and Walgreens are there, and I believe they're working towards walk-ins as well. That's pretty much everyone's goal right now, as far as we wanna get folks who have a little bit of hesitancy or a little bit of nervousness about accessing and trying to use that registration site. So everyone's goal is going really towards walk-ins, but Walgreens and CVS, yes, and they're pretty easy to get appointments at this point.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. Maryann, when you were last here, we spoke a lot about how busy your office was. And at that time, you indicated that your office was working about 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and you had about between nine and 11 employees. Is that still the case?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: It's better. We're not working as much weekends now. And Things are getting a little bit easier. The contact tracing is, you know, again, we're in single digit cases, which is nice to see. And we are gonna be able to hopefully keep offering clinics, but certainly that it feels better. It feels better that we're not putting in as many hours as.
[Knight]: as was required earlier. Loosen the restrictions on outdoor gatherings. What impact does that have on the rental of our public facilities here in the city of Metro?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So outdoor events, as of May 19th, you're going to be able to have 250 folks at outdoor gatherings. Indoors, they're talking 200. That will be as of May 19th. They have already loosened the restrictions and rescinded a lot of the guidance on certain sectors. But we're expecting a lot of that to change. Like even as of May 10th, they're talking about like the pool restrictions will be changing. They rescinded the beach restrictions. So when you're talking about Tufts pool and Wrights pond, like things are definitely opening up.
[Knight]: as really with the fields, because the fields are a revenue generating entity that we have here in this community. And when we were last here, we discussed a little bit about how the permitting process has changed. You know, ultimately those fields do about $215,000 a season each. So, you know, we're approaching close to $700,000 in the rental of those fields. They're a revenue generating entity. And my concern is that we're not missing out on applicants that are seeking to rent our fields when there are vacancies because of bureaucracy and bureaucratic delays.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: So as of right now, their safety plans are still in, the guidance is still in place for sports. I've been reviewing all of the rental requests. I haven't denied any of them. They have their safety plans and that's all we've been requiring that they tell us they're gonna, you know, fulfill the guidance and adhere to their safety plans. Um, so nothing has been denied. Um, and as restrictions loosen up as far as spectators and that type of thing, which has not changed, the sports guidance will probably change, um, by the end of the month. But as of right now, it's still in place. So it's just where we're going with the safety plans, but nothing's been denied. They're still applications are coming in daily for soccer and on that point, have applications not been acted upon. No, they've all been acted upon.
[Knight]: I don't know. So I've spoken with a number of entities that have requested to use field space that have said, you know, on a Thursday afternoon, they find out that there's a vacancy at Medford and then they ask them to use the field space and then they never get a response and then they don't get to use the field space that weekend. Oh, I don't know who they're asking. I can't speak to that. A very popular ultimate Frisbee group, the Whitecaps actually, if you remember back a few years ago, the city of Medford was, actually featured on ESPN's top 10 moments when someone at Hormel stadium made an amazing ultimate Frisbee catch. I don't really know what that means, but, um, there was somebody that made, you know, a great play and they were on ESPN. Um, that was recorded at Hormel stadium and that group, the whitecaps, um, which historically used the field, um, in my experience, they've never had a problem until recently. Um, do we know, um, so in terms of applications that come in per week, how many applications are you looking at?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Um, Not, I haven't seen any this week, but I think we're up to date with all the applications we've gotten. The last one we did was we had jumbo soccer. I think I did an ultimate frisbee one, actually. I did an adult women's soccer. So they've all been, they're up to date. So whatever applications are in-house have all been processed and they've gone on to the whole middle stadium commission.
[Knight]: And how does it work now? So an application will go into where?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: It comes into the mayor's office. There's a checklist. It comes to me next for approval as far as the safety plans are concerned. And once I approve that, it goes on to the whole mail commission. And we're up to date as far as I know.
[Knight]: Sure, it goes to the mayor's office. What's the mayor's office do to send it to your office?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: There's a checklist, they have their own checklist around, I believe, insurance requirements and those types of things. I'm only involved in the safety.
[Knight]: The field administrator handled that for a hundred years. Usually the way it would work would be that the application would go into the field administrator, the field administrator would check for availability. If the availability was there, they'd secure the field for the applicant. The applicant would then fill out the paperwork. If the paperwork wasn't completed and the payment wasn't attached, then the applicant wouldn't get to use the field. It seems like it was a little bit more streamlined and it was a little bit more of a guarantee that we were getting some money in our coffers. My disappointment with the process is well known and well publicized, Madam Director, and I'm hoping that with the restrictions that are being loosened by the administration at the state level that they will also be loosened at this level.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I think there was just a problem that they were being able to be scheduled before their safety plans were approved. So now that's been, but yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.
[Knight]: It could be micromanaging as well, but I just think that it's a really, you know, over bureaucratic and unnecessary stuff.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: It's requirements from the state that we have to follow. So that's what we do.
[Knight]: I don't think anybody hasn't.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Now it is, but that's okay.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Marianne, thank you very much for your update and the hard work of you and your department. A quick question regarding the vaccination clinics at Tufts University. So is that indefinitely every Wednesday and Thursday?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Going forward, we're hoping we'll expand it to more days than just Wednesday and Thursday. But as far as vaccine availability right now from the state, it looks like Wednesdays and Thursdays at least are definite. But we're hoping to expand to more days going forward. Thank you.
[Falco]: And with regard to mobile vaccination, we talked about that before. Can you give us an update? Are we still or is the city still have a mobile vaccination program?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: As far as a homebound goes? Correct. Yeah. So we've, we're still taking folks if they're interested in needing a homebound vaccination, they can certainly still contact us. Um, but we, we, we completed our list. I think we have three people maybe left this week to do. Um, so we've done pretty close to 200 people, um, have been completed as far as homebound vaccinations go. Uh, but again, if people still need, um, they can still contact our multi resource, uh, line multi, uh, legal resource line and, um, be happy to put them on a list and get them done. We do have, um, J J vaccine for homebound if folks are interested in it. So certainly please call us.
[Falco]: Thank you. And last time we talked, we talked a little bit about, I believe there was about populations that were not maybe hesitant towards getting the vaccine. We were working, I believe you had mentioned that we were working maybe with the state or there was another program that the city was working with to get people that were hesitant, vaccine hesitant, vaccinated. Is that still in play?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, we are launching that campaign very soon. We have, so there is vaccine hesitancy we found among different groups. We have information, we're kind of targeted by sectors, so faith-based business info. And we will be holding a town hall on May 19th. We're hoping to access the ambassadors that the state have already hired and have in place that speak multi languages and culturally aware and they can come out and depending on where we're holding our events, they can come out and speak to people with specific issues, but there will be. We're planning on a town hall on May 19 to hopefully address people's fears and issues around, you know, vaccine hesitancy.
[Falco]: Would that be via Zoom?
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, via Zoom. We're looking at a couple of different options. We may be able to hold it in different locations and then also via Zoom.
[Falco]: Great. Thank you very much.
[Caraviello]: Any other questions? Thank you, Marianne.
[0SdCkR9KuqQ_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. Have a good night.
[Caraviello]: All right. Motion to revert back to regular business. On motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Falco, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: To revert to the regular order of business. To revert back to the regular order of business. Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent, President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, six in the affirmative, one absent. Motion passed. Hearings. 2145, legal notice, City of Medford. CBBG annual action plan, public hearing, and 30 day public comment period. A virtual public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council on Tuesday, May 4th, 2021 via remote video conferencing. Conferencing details will be posted on the city clerk's office prior to the hearing. The purpose of the public hearing will be to invite the general public and representative of public service agencies to express comments regarding the city's annual action plan for community development and planning. The action plan contains proposed use community development block grant funds for the program year, which extends from July 1st, 2021 through June 30th, 2022. The office of community development will be requesting that the city, that the Medford city council authorize Mayor Brian McLaren, official representative of the city of Medford to submit the annual action plan application for funds and all other assurances and certifications to the U.S. departments of housing and urban development. The city is applying or $1,546,980 block grant funds. Beginning April 12th, 2020, the annual draft action plan will be available for review and comment and can be obtained by contacting the Office of Community Development at 781-393-2480 or OCD at MedfordMethod.gov. written comments must be submitted no later than May 12th, 2021 to Ashley Williams, City Hall 85, George P. Hesse Drive, room 308, FMS 0255, or abwilliams at medfordmass.gov. Okay, do we have a, where this is a public hearing, do we have anyone here speaking in favor of this? Mr. President, if I may.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight, I think it might make sense that we just give a brief breakdown. I have the paper in front of me, actually, of the agency that's applied for the funding and the recommendation for the upcoming CDBG fiscal year block grant that's being made by the Office of Community Development to the administration. That recommendation would go to the mayor, and then the mayor would have the opportunity to either say, I like the recommendation or she can use our executive authority to change that recommendation, Mr. President. But in looking at this, I think it's important that we do inform the general public about what it is exactly that's being appropriated. So if we look at Bread of Life, they'd be recommended for the fiscal year, $2,603. For Community Tasks Incorporated, $5,045. For Community Family Inc., $5,000. For the Medford Council on Aging, $34,200. For Housing Families Incorporated, $13,000. For the Immigrant Learning Center, $6,200. For the Medford Consumer Advisory Commission, $15,000, Mr. President. For the Medford Public Schools, $10,000. For the YMCA and Mystic Community Market Boys and Girls Club, $10,000. For the Mystic Valley Urban Services, $5,000. For SCM Transportation, $105,000. And for the West Medford Community Center, $21,000, Mr. President. We have a total award for FY 21-22 of $1,546,988 with a 15% cap waived, allowing the public service entities to be afforded $232,048. Thank you. Alicia Hunt, you had your hand up.
[Hunt]: Thank you, Mr. President. As the Community Development Director, I am here to present the paper if necessary or to answer any questions. I also want to acknowledge that Ashley Williams, who is the staff person that administrates this grant, is also here this evening. She's the one that comments would be going to. this was advertised starting in mid April. To date, Ashley informs me that we have not received any public comments outside of the meetings that we had with the city council on this. And shortly before the public comment section time opened, we had a public meeting and we received comments at that public meeting. Those have been incorporated into this plan already. So if there are further questions.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Is there anyone else in favor of this petition? Hearing and seeing none, we close this portion of the hearing. Is there anyone here that is in opposition to this plan? Hearing and seeing none, we close that part of the meeting. Mr. President, Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Speaking as a citizen out of 9200 Rubin Street, I'd like to see an increase in the funding for the metric consumer commissions. I think we have an opportunity here to really build upon some of the successes that we've made and the strides that we've made over the past years. And this represents a reduction in benefits and an award from last year. And I think that that's something that should be looked at a little bit further. The individuals that are employed in the Medford Consumer Commission work right here out of City Hall. They provide a valuable service to many of the residents here in this community, especially our senior citizens who have been falling victim to many of these COVID-19 scams, Social Security scams, and the like. So with that being said, Mr. President, I would like to speak out in opposition of the current protocols that are – the current recommendations that are in there and request that the Consumer Commission be afforded additional funds in line with at least last year's award.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I have received several calls from people that have used that office and we're happy with the results of that office. So I do support the additional funding if it is available.
[Marks]: Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Vice Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I wholeheartedly agree with Vice President Knight, but I remember at the public hearing and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, the mayor was gonna supplement the decrease in funding and the community block grant money with money in the FY22 budget. Is that not correct, Mr. President?
[Viglione]: You are correct.
[Marks]: So we did receive a commitment and maybe Alicia can speak to that. Was that a commitment that was made by the city administration?
[Caraviello]: Alicia?
[Hunt]: Mr. President, thank you. Yes. So to be clear, last year, we were allowed to not follow the cap of 15% of CDBG funds. So we were able to provide additional funding to several communities, or to several organizations, including that organization. organization is actually receiving an increase from the amount that they had been. Every other organization was level funded from previous years, from multiple previous years. And this is the one public service agency that we were able to increase by actually decreasing a different public service. This year, in order to increase that agency, we would have to decrease one of the other agencies funding on the list. because there is a cap this year. There was not a cap last year because of the pandemic. The mayor has committed to increasing the funding. So this office has not previously received budget funding for personnel and salaries in the city's budget. The mayor has informed me and has informed the director of that office that she will be supplementing that budget this year in the city's general fund budget, which is new this year. In the past, they've only received a budget for office supplies.
[Marks]: Mr. President, do we have an indication of what the dollar amount will be?
[Caraviello]: I do not have, Alicia, do we have an indication of what the dollar amount will be?
[Hunt]: She did not tell me specifically, so I don't want to misrepresent it. She did indicate that she would make up what we couldn't provide, but she didn't use numbers.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. We will close that part of the meeting in opposition. Do we have a motion on the floor to accept the plan? I think Mr. President, it's a 30 day public comment period. Yes, yes. When we vote on this, it will be put in the paper for the 30 day commentary.
[Marks]: So it requires a vote tonight to put into it for a 30 day comment period?
[Hunt]: No, no, it doesn't. The 30 day comment period closes on actually the May 11th. Sorry, that number was the date was just in the hearing that you read. Our hope would be that you would vote to approve it this evening so that we could submit it the day after the comment period closes, assuming that we don't receive any further comments. The one other thing, I actually have a request. Several Councilors commented that they received comments about this amount and that they went directly to the Councilors. Please, please direct residents to send public comment to Ashley or to OCD as is in the public comment in the hearing notice. Because this is a federal program, we need to receive the comments with names and addresses directly in order to technically take them into account. We're happy to take the Councilor's request into account, and that's why we're here to do that, but we really need the residents to contact our office directly so that we can include that information when we do our filings with the federal government. They prefer not to get hearsay.
[Knight]: On that point, Mr. President, what's the purpose of us having a public hearing, then, if the people that come here and make comments in favor or opposition aren't counted towards the decision-making process?
[Hunt]: So tonight, your name and address will go on that list of public comment, but all the residents that you have heard from, we don't have their names and addresses on our list. They're not here making the comments. And we'll just submit it. We'll submit it with the comments that we have, but we do submit the public comments to the federal government. And I don't, I'm gonna submit a comment that says that the councilor received comments from residents making this request. I think that those voices would be louder if we also had their names and addresses.
[Knight]: That's what I'm concerned about. I spoke as a citizen in opposition and asked for an increase in this funding in this line item. Now, if my, voice isn't gonna be heard or recorded. I haven't talked about that.
[Hunt]: I just said that your name and address will be recorded. But there was a comment that you'd heard from many residents. I'm just asking that residents be directed to send us their comments for the record.
[Caraviello]: I have told residents to call. Once you call me, get asked them to call your office and the mayor's office.
[Hunt]: Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Okay, any further questions? On the motion by Councilor Marks for approval, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. Motion passed.
[Hunt]: Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Motions are as a resolution to one, three, four, six office by vice-president night. We have so resolved that the Medford city council requested DPW address the following items. One sidewalk hole in front of Highland development on Winchester street and Albion street. Two, deep pothole at third street and Bradbury across from Harris park baseball basketball court. sidewalk trip hazard at 436 Riverside Avenue. Four, sidewalk trip hazard and tree inspection at 32 Walker Street. Five, bicycle frame attached to the pole on Bradley Road near the credit union. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. As you can see, one might guess that opening day for Medford Little League has happened and I've been spending a lot of time down the fields and also a lot of time in our various neighborhoods in our community. And through my travels, I have been approached by a variety of our residents here in the community requesting service requests. Some of these requests, I did direct the citizenry to go on to C-Click Fix. Some of them I didn't, but you'll see some of these on C-Click Fix right now, Mr. President. Sidewalk hole, you know, majority of them are public safety issues, trip hazards. The bicycle frame attached to the pole on Bradley Road is something that I think should be addressed immediately. It's been there for about, oh, month and a half, Mr. President, it's been stripped down now to just the bicycle frame, no tires, no seat, no pedals. It's just literally a frame of a bike attached to a pole, and it's been there for an extended period of time. So I'm asking that these items be addressed by IDPW or the appropriate department to rectify the situation. Sidewalk Hole in front of Highland Development is a trip hazard, Deep Pothole and 3rd Street in Bradbury across from Harris Park is a trip hazard as well as the trip hazards on Riverside Avenue and Walter Street. Riverside Avenue and Walter Street are the result of tree roots, Mr. President, uplifting the sidewalk. So I'd ask my council colleagues to support these measures and request that the DPW or the appropriate department take necessary impromptu action to rectify the situation.
[Caraviello]: Okay, any further questions? On the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Marks. To collect, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice president Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent, president Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, six in the affirmative, one absent motion passes. 21347 offered by vice president Knight be it so resolved that the Medford city council extend a deep and sincere congratulations to Rita Lennox on the momentous celebration of her 90th birthday. Vice president Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Rita Lennox is a lifelong Medford resident. She resides in West Medford with her husband, Peter. And there was one point in time when it could be argued that Rita was the person to call if you wanted to get anything done in the city of Medford. If you called Rita Lennox and you put Rita Lennox on it, you better believe that Mike McGlynn was getting a phone call every single hour until it got taken care of. Rita's been a great person. She's been someone who's been committed to her community, to her family, and most certainly committed to service, Mr. President. She's been a lifelong resident in this community and because of her methods without a place. And I just like to take this opportunity to wish her a happy 90th birthday on this momentous occasion. She was surrounded by friends and family and was able to celebrate it wonderfully. And I hope she has 90 moments. I'd ask my council colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.
[Falco]: Second.
[Caraviello]: The motion by vice president seconded by councilor Falco council locks.
[Marks]: Rita Lennox has been a fixture in this community for a number of years, and Councilor Knight is absolutely correct. Rita was very involved in the community and someone that was instrumental and volunteered our services for many years. I had the opportunity to work with Rita at the Registry of Deeds back some years ago, and indeed, she ran the Registry of Deeds as well, Mr. President. So Rita, in whatever capacity, was always a leader and still is a leader. and I wanna congratulate her reaching her 90th birthday, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: So on the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Box. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli-Thompson, President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, six in favor, one absent, motion passes. 21348 offered by Vice President Rice, it's so resolved that the Medford City Council extended Stephen's sincere congratulations to Nancy White on the momentous celebration of her 80th birthday. Vice President Rice.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Happy birthday to Nancy. Nancy White has been a long-time resident of Medford, very involved in the the Massachusetts Democratic Party, the Medford Wooden City Committee. But she was also a wonderful educator, Mr. President, worked in the Medford public schools for a number of years and touched the lives of many students, mine included. So with that being said, Mr. President, Nancy White's someone that's really been a asset to our community, someone that has provided troubled youth with guidance. She's been willing to dedicate her time for progressive values that we all share. And she's someone that has truly made a difference in the city of Medford, Mr. President. So with that being said, I'd ask my council colleagues to support this resolution, wishing Nancy a happy 80th birthday, and hope she had a great day.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. And I would also like to wish Nancy White a very happy birthday, as Councilor Knight stated, and have some very nice memories of Nancy. When I was in the school committee, working in the school system, always helping out and always helping out with the method democratic board and sitting committee. We choose a vice chair for the longest time and always ran a good meeting and very nice person and I just want to wish her a very happy birthday. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Vice President Knight for putting this on. I don't know how he gets all the birthdays but But truly, Nancy White, Mr. President, touched so many lives of students in this community for many, many decades. She was a star worth within the school department. I consider Nancy White someone that has always been behind the scenes and the person that makes everything happen. You know, you always have the person out front that takes the credit. But Nancy White, when it came to the school department, she was the one That was behind the scenes, Mr. President, making sure the school department operated appropriately. But with the Democratic Ward and City Committee, Nancy White was the one that put together all the meetings. She was the one that sent out all the minutes. She was the one that was really driving it for so many years. And then you had a face of the committee, but we all knew where the work was taking place. And that was Nancy White. I want to congratulate her on her 80th birthday and wish her many, many more to come, Mr. President.
[Bears]: Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Best.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also just want to say happy birthday to Nancy. I knew Nancy for many years as part of the Medford Democratic City Committee and I would definitely agree with Councilor Marks. She was the one pulling everyone together, making sure the meetings got done. So happy birthday, Nancy.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And I, myself personally, want to thank, wish Nancy a happy birthday, both as a friend, an educator, and one of the driving forces behind the Democratic Party in the city of Metro, which many of us are involved in. Again, Nancy, happy birthday, and I wish you many more. So on the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Balco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Tocco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent, President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes, six in favor, one absent, motion passes. 21349, offered by Vice President Knight, being so resolved that the City of Medford City Council request copies of the letters of appointments from incumbents holding the titles of city solicitor, director of human resources and diversity, And Director of Community Development, Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. This was a resolution that was derivative of the conversations that we recently had over the employee classifications to Committee of the Whole as we've had the past two weeks on Tuesday nights. I'm asking that the administration provide us with copies of the letters of appointment for the incumbents holding the titles of City Solicitor, Director of Human Resources and Diversity, and Director of Community Development, and I guess that would be Energy and the Environment. the administration in our earlier meeting and the meeting last week has indicated that they have these letters available. They're a public document that I'm asking now that the council be provided them so that we can include them in our records, Mr. President. As we begin our discussions for the budget, I think it'll be very interesting to see where these go with these positions. But with that being said, it's something that I think is necessary for us if we're gonna move forward to be sure that we have all the documents in front of us to make a fully vetted and viable decision.
[Caraviello]: I know the motion by vice-president seconded by second. Second by councilor Falco, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice-president Knight. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Is absent. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. motion passes. 21350 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell being so resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Max Hennig on winning the inaugural Paul Nemzer book prize for his poetry collection, Good Harbour. Councilor Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm going to defer to Councilor Bears to go first on this one.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. purpose of this resolution is just to congratulate Max Heining, he's a longtime teacher at Medford High School. He was my 10th grade English teacher, and a really active community member through Medford Brewing Company and now through his successful and award winning poetry so thank you to Max Heining, who I always want to call Mr. Heining, and I would like to ask the clerk to send a certificate of our congratulations. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I think echoing Councilor Bears, I think it's important that we recognize our residents for their vast contribution to the arts. And Max Heinegg is just one person doing this among many in our community. And I just want to read a few sentences from the award commendation. So it says, Max Heinegg's Good Harbor is one of those rare collections of poems in which a confidence emerges almost immediately that we are in the hands of a poet who creates the sensation that life is writing itself. It goes on from there, but I think if people can look that up, it's a great note on one of the artists in our community. So I just want to extend my congratulations. Thank you.
[Viglione]: Thank you, Councilor Morell.
[Marks]: Councilor Baxton. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Beaz and Councilor Morell for putting this on. As they stated, Max Heine has been an outstanding teacher, exemplary teacher for a number of years. He's a brewmaster and now a poet. I never knew he was a poet. And I'm thinking he may have got much of his inspiration from Method Eel to write some of his poetry. So maybe I might try some Method Eel and maybe give me a little inspiration, Mr. President. But I wanna thank him for all he does in this community, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to also thank Councilor Morell and Councilor Piz for bringing this forward and congratulating Max on his achievement. As everyone has noted, Max is one of our very dedicated volunteers and a teacher in our community and we wish him well. I just want to say congratulations.
[Caraviello]: Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. President. Myself, I want to thank Max for being a teacher and a businessman in the community. And congratulations on this poetry collection, good hopper. Nico, did you have your hand up? Nico, did I see a hand up for you? Okay, none. All right, on the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Tocco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent, President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, affirmative one absent motion passes. 21321351 offered by vice president.
[Knight]: Whereas I'm gonna ask that this matter be placed on the table till Councilor Scarpelli's arrival. I spoke to him earlier in the day after the agenda came out. He's requested that if he wasn't able to make it here in time when it came up that I table it for an hour. to give him an opportunity to speak on this matter. Councilor Scarpelli this evening is at the National Armed Society dinner, where his son, John, who's the president of the Medford National Sahana Society, he's giving the commencement speech. So I think he's on his way to the council chambers as we speak, Mr. President. So I'm asking to be laid on the table until such time as Councilor Scarpelli is able to join us.
[Caraviello]: Second. On the motion by Vice Mayor Slate to table this, seconded by Councilor Marks. So clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight, Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli is absent, President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Six in the affirmative, one in the absent, motion passes. 21352 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate long-time Medford resident, Detective Lieutenant Richard Mahoney on his recent retirement from the Massachusetts State Police. Lieutenant Richard Mahoney has shared with honor, integrity, and distinction the residents of Massachusetts for the past 34 years. be it further resolved that Lieutenant Richard Mahoney receive a council accommodation, recognizing his dedication and commitment to all he served. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I rise tonight to honor one of our very own, Mr. President, and that is Detective Lieutenant Richard Mahoney, a lifelong Method resident, someone that if you know him, Mr. President, you'll know that he loves this community. He loves his family. And, you know, he's a gentleman that served with distinction for 34 years to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was a gentleman that served in very trying times, Mr. President, and has had an unblemished career for 34 years. I think that speaks volumes on the type of person that Rich Mahoney is, Mr. President. He finished his illustrious career as detective lieutenant with the Massachusetts State Police. Every day, Mr. President, going to work, putting his life on the line to protect and serve the residents of this commonwealth. And he did it with honor and respect. And I think that says a lot about his character, Mr. President. Rich was also very highly respected by his peers. And as he rose through the ranks, Mr. President, he got there through hard work and dedication. And his commitment to this commonwealth, I believe, goes unmatched. And in this day and age, you hear a lot about police, about defunding the police, about police this, police that. And it's fair to say that Rich Mahoney is one of the 99.999% of police officers that get up every day, serve the public, Mr. President, do a tremendous job, put their life on the line every day. There's not many professions you can say that. Police, fire, are a few that come to mind. And that's every day, not knowing if you're gonna come home, Mr. President. And, you know, I really believe that, you know, when our officers retire, Mr. President, they shouldn't just go out with a thank you. They should go out with a warm welcome and thank you from the residents. And I wanna thank Detective Lieutenant Richard Mahoney on behalf of the residents of this community, on behalf of the residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And I wanna also thank him, Mr. President, for being the family man he is, because with Rich, family comes first. And I wanna thank him for all his years of dedication and ask that the city clerk send a citation to honor his career on behalf of the Commonwealth and the residents of this community.
[Knight]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Marks]: Thank you, Councilor. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: I certainly second Councilor Mark's motion and also his thoughts. I don't know Richard personally, but anybody that's served on the Massachusetts State Police for 34 years and has rose to the rank of lieutenant is someone that's a by the book type of person. who understands fairness, who understands what it means to be a public servant. You don't last 34 years in the Massachusetts State Police and rise to the rank of lieutenant, unless you have that type of character and that type of integrity. I just wanted to echo Councilor Marks' sentiments and second the motion, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward and also echo the sentiments of my colleagues. You know, being in law enforcement, it's not an easy job, especially now more than ever. And you know, when you leave to go to work in the morning or whatever shift you're on, you don't know if you're coming back. And to work to do that for 34 years is an amazing commitment, an amazing commitment. And I just want to congratulate him on a long career, wish him well. And I thank Council of Ops for bringing this forward.
[Marks]: Thank you. Mr. President, I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention his lovely wife, Marianne. And Marianne's the one that got him up for work every day, combed his hair, laid out the clothes on the bed, laid out his uniform, and got him to work, Mr. President. And I want to thank Marianne, Mr. President, as well. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: So on the motion by Council Member Marks, seconded by Vice President Knight, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli has just arrived. Councilor Scarpelli, do you want to vote on this commendation for Lieutenant Mahoney? Yes. Thank you. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Assembly affirmative, motion passes. 2-1-3-5-3 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the city administration notify Medford City Council, whether it is still involved with looking at exception reports as they relate to water and sewer bills. And if the administration still has the capability to run the exception reports or run count of water on behalf of the residents and homeowners of this community. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Mr. President, I'll be brief on this. This was what was brought up last week under community participation by former city councilor Robert Penta. I think it speaks for itself. We're asking for whether or not the city still looks at acceptor reports, which are reports that show a spike in the usage of water throughout the community so we can notify residents if they do have a leak within their home or on their property that they're unaware of, Mr. President. and being charged, so I move approval, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Second. All right, a motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Falco. Good evening. Pat, if you could put the mic on, on the podium. Good evening, and name and address of the record, please.
[Castagnetti]: Castagnetti Andrew, Cushman Street.
[Caraviello]: I'm gonna- Is that it, Mr. Chair?
[Castagnetti]: Yes, sir.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Castagnetti]: Thanks, Councilor Marks, for bringing this on your agenda. And I believe last week, Councilor Penta was right when he said back when we installed these meters in 2002, thereabouts, that as Councilor Penta says, they sold us a bill of sale. It's more like a bill of goods. I believe back then it was stated by the department heads in the water and Mr. Geer, that if there's an unusual increase in our water meters, that we would be notified through the computer system. And I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it's probably 18 years ago. So a friend of mine received a bill instead of the usual bill, it was like six times per bill. And she owns Bell Raviolis, it happened in her home. And she was very upset about it. I guess she used the bathroom downstairs in the cellar and went upstairs and probably didn't go back for two more months until she received the bill. Probably six times the usual bill. And it's hard for her to make the steps. So, very sad. She went to pay the bill or actually question it. And I guess she just paid it, period. As they say, it counts by city hall.
[Caraviello]: There is an abatement process for people that have water bills that have spiked. All she has to do is ask for an abatement with the Water and Sewer Commission. They will listen to her request.
[Castagnetti]: I'm glad to hear that. So therefore, since the city has approximately $5 million in the so-called water fund account, Basically, in my opinion, it's like an overcharge to all us rate payers. So therefore, the money's just sitting there. Maybe I'm thinking outside the box that the city could figure it out or the city council to give us a one strike, one time only shot. If it is increased by double and triple or better, that you could forgive it through the $5 million overcharge fund. Just a thought, if you want to take it on the committee as a whole, because sometimes you face City Hall, if you appeal it, you probably, maybe you don't have any requests after the fact. So that's all I wanted to say. You might want to consider something like that with the $5 million, but the commission, that's what you're hiring.
[Caraviello]: The Water and Soil Commission does have the authority to listen and to say they make, whether you have medical condition or a senior citizen or whatever you need, they have rules in place now for people that do have water problems and they do work with them to help them out of this situation. So I do suggest you do that. And again, they do help people out that do, if they have financial means they can't pay it, they do help them out. It's nothing to do with me at the moment. You can inform your friend just to apply for the abatement with the water source. And they have a meeting and they can discuss it. She completed a case there and they usually, she's maybe a senior and couldn't get down there to do it. There's a lot of conditions where they are allowed to give them an abatement on the bill.
[Castagnetti]: All right, because please urge you to do that to receive a bill that's like five or 10 or 20 times your usual. That might hurt a lot of people who are having struggles in these times. Thank you, sir.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, just if I could follow up. I appreciate Mr. Castagnetti. He always brings reason to a conversation. Mr. President, I think that was the whole, if we recall back so many years ago, as Mr. Castagnetti mentioned some 18 years ago, the whole intent for this system was to draw out any exceptions that we have throughout the community. And it's not that, you know, that we're waiting till something happens and then after the fact say, okay, we just throw money at it. This was to be proactive and say, we're aware that this spike spikes within your account. And there may be a leak because ultimately what happens is we don't just forgive a bill. So even if someone gets an abatement, guess who's paying for that? It's the rest of the rate payers that are paying for that. So the whole logic behind this was to get these spikes ahead of time so we don't have to pay, whether it's through the surplus money, as Mr. Castagnetti mentioned, over 5 million, or not approving the abatement and having the resident pay. That was the whole anticipation. And I think what was brought up by Councilor Penta was 100% correct. If that's a service that we pay for, we want to know, indeed, is someone looking at this daily? If so, how many people have been notified in the last year regarding spikes in their water? How many snowbirds may be in Florida and don't realize they have a leak for four or five months? This is very costly. And if we can work on behalf of the residents through this reporting, then I think we're obligated to do so, Mr. President. and I appreciate Mr. Castagnetti coming up. Thank you, Councilor Markswell.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Markswell, seconded by Councilor Scapello and Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Bears.
[Knight]: Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Yes. 7 affirmative motion passes. 2-1, 3-5-4 by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the administration report back to the Medford City Council the status of the water meters systems in our community, including when and if these meters are being looked at for replacement. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. This was another issue that was brought up by Councilor Penter under community participation last week. We couldn't take a vote on it, Mr. President, because our new rules require that it appear on the following agenda for proper notification. So that's why it appears tonight. Mr. President, I support this wholeheartedly. I believe from what we were told that the current city administration is actually looking at the life expectancy of our existing meters. As I spoke last week, we purchased meters back some 18 to 20 years ago because the city was estimating over 50%, 50% of our bills, water and sewer bills, were being estimated. And that's not a way to operate a city, because your bill could either, you could be good and get a lower bill, or you could be on the other end where they're charging the extra of water that you're actually not using. And the best way to do it, Mr. President, is to have an accurate and fair bill. And that's why we went to new meters. And we never want to go down that path again where we had hundreds, I think it was 750 in a year span of abatements that residents, 750 residents came forward and said there was a problem with their water and sewer bill, the way it was being tabulated. And we never want to experience that again. So I'm hoping that the city administration moves forward with notifying this council on what the next steps are to look at our aging water meters to make sure we never experienced what we did back some years ago.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you. On the motion by Councilmarks seconded by anyway, Council felt almost the correct is called the role. Mr. President on that.
[Knight]: Vice President night, I think Councilor Penta did make some good points when he spoke last week. When he got to around the year 2015 or 16. I think we started a little far back in time and then it made our way into the present day. You know, but one of those things that he was speaking about that I was concerned about, really concerned about, was the inflow and infiltration. And I think Consul Max has been an advocate for this for a long time. I mean, he's been speaking on it for years now at this point. I mean, decades. I think it's been a decade at least that he's been speaking on this. And it's something that I think does warrant some discussion, or at least recommend some commentary from the Chairman of our Water and Sewer Commission, just to see what's going on. So I wholeheartedly support this resolution. I thank the Council for bringing it up. You know, I think sometimes Councilor Penta does a great job giving us information and providing us with initiatives in the community. And you know, sometimes I don't think that, but in this one, I do think that this is something that we need to take a look at. And I certainly think that it's a worthy cause, so I support the measure wholeheartedly, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Marks]: Mr. President. Council Box. I can't miss an opportunity to speak about INI. And the council vice president's right. It's been two decades that I've been speaking about inflow and infiltration. And it's not a sexy issue. Underground, like I always say, out of sight, out of mind, unfortunately. But Mr. President, over the years, we've talked dating back so many years ago that someday your water and sewer bill will be higher than your tax bill. And we're approaching the point where it's getting in that realm. It may not be that close, but it's getting in that realm. And residents will always say, how can we lower our water and sewer rate? And there's really not many ways, Mr. President, other than looking at the infrastructure. And INI is all it is, is water that's seeping. This is rainwater that's seeping into the ground and then finding its way into our sewer system, through cracks, through holes and so forth. That water, which is just rain runoff water, which typically goes into the Mystic River, now is going out to Deer Island and being treated as raw sewage at a great expense to the taxpayers and rate payers of this community. Multi-million dollars a year. goes to INI. I lost check. I think it was about 45 to 50% of INI in our community is through infiltration. And it's a major concern. It's a major concern to the taxpayers. You hear very little talk about it, but it's happening every year and it's costing us, Mr. President, every year. So I appreciate Councilor Knight bringing that up. And I think these are the conversations that probably aren't going to be brought to us, but we have to keep on speaking about them, saying what's happening. And I have to say over the years, the city has made some headway on INI. They reline pipes. There's a system where you don't even have to dig up the pipe, you just reline it. And it's a real cost effective efficient way of relining our pipes. There's another system, Mr. President, we have right now, we have catch basins, which are supposed to catch rain runoff water and send it out to the mystic. These catch basins are hooked up to our sewer system. So that we know every time it rains, it's going right into our sewer system. And we have ways of indicating where these catch basins are. They drop what they call a smoke bomb into the catch basin, And if it comes out the manhole cover, the sewer system, you know they're connected. So we're aware of at least, last I heard was probably 10 to 12 of these catch basins. Every time it rains, you can imagine the gallons of water that are pouring into our sewer system and going out. Is it expensive to take these catch basins and reline them and make them go where they're supposed to? Absolutely. But is it worthwhile in the long run? Absolutely, Mr. President. So these are the issues I hope We continue to discuss in our community on behalf of the ratepayer.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Falco.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Vice President Nye. Yes.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Seven affirmative motion passes. 21355 offered by Councilor Marks. be it resolved that the submission of the city budget to the city council procedure for approval, rejection or alteration be discussed.
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. I put this on the agenda because our budget process is coming up soon. And I wanna make sure that this council is aware of our role during the budget and aware of what we have as recourse when the budget is presented to us. And last week, Mr. President, I was told by an administrative staff that this council has a line item cut authority, which over the years, I guess, depending on the administration, I've been told otherwise. I won't speak for my colleagues. And I think we should set the record straight. I looked at chapter 44, section 32. I looked at some old opinions from former city solicitors. I looked at a letter from the Department of Revenue that was submitted back in 2014. This council over the years, not many occasions, has offered cuts to the budget. I remember back some years ago, and this was what I referenced last week, there was a motion to cut the then assistant director of DPW, because we're in tough budget times, and the motion passed, and the administration decided not to make that line item cut, but cut somewhere else within the budget. There was a motion a while back to take money and cut the water and sewer budget, Mr. President, by over $600,000. This was back in 2014. And the council voted to cut 600,000 and use, if we remember, use the water and sewer surplus account, which you can only use it for two purposes, One is to use it for infrastructure improvements. And the other one is to offset water and sewer costs and rates. So the council said, you have 5 million in an account. And I can't remember the exact dollar amount at the time. Why do we keep on raising the rate? So we thought within the budget that slashed this line item by 600,000, take it out of the enterprise account. The mayor at the time, Mayor McGlynn, didn't like that idea. And he vetoed our cut, Mr. President, And then we overrode the mayor's veto and that stood actually. But I think it's so crucial now that we understand what our role is, Mr. President, and what our abilities are to make cuts. And I ask that we either contact the Department of Revenue, or we ask for an opinion from the city solicitor, what our responsibilities are on the budget. Do we just make bottom line cuts to departments? Do we just make bottom line cuts in general? From my reading of the Department of Revenue in chapter 44 of the general laws, it states if we do make bottom line cuts, we also have to indicate where the cut, what lines will be cut. So I think this would be very, you know, I've been on the council a lot of years. When I received conflicting information, one administration saying you have zero authority over line items. And then another administration saying you have the ability to cut a line item in the last budget. That's conflicting to me. And at the very least, I think we need clarification. So I would ask under your leadership, Mr. President, that we seek out that clarification. And I would put it in the form of a motion that we ask the city solicitor what role the council has in the either approving, rejecting or cutting line items within the city budget.
[Caraviello]: Thank you very much. And I agree with this. This is a very important thing with the budget coming up soon. I think this may be something we should discuss in our community the whole with the with the semester, and maybe the director of finance and and whoever else we deem necessary. So I'd like to get someone from the department or maybe somebody from the Department of Revenue the Department of Local Services that joined in the meeting. So I will make some calls tomorrow and see if we can arrange that very soon, sooner than later. Any further discussion?
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. I kind of think that Councilor Marks and Director Nunley are saying the wrong thing. I mean, the same thing, not the wrong thing, the same thing. I think that Director Nunley's saying that we have the ability to reduce by department, but not necessarily line it. So when I read her email and I look at the general block, I think what you're, what she's referring to is exactly what counsel Knox is saying. And it's just really an interpretation issue. Um, you know, my understanding was that we didn't have the right to do line items, vetoes, and that's from the division of local services where because our budget is presented to us by department for ordinary and personnel expenses, we have the right to cut the department saying we want to cut ordinary expenses by X or personnel expenses by Y and take that from the bottom line out of that department. And I think that the division of local services language, if you look at their briefer on it, it would say that the reason that they do that is because that would leave the If you didn't do it by department, it would leave the authority up to the mayor to determine where to make the cuts, and the council would, in essence, just be reducing the bottom line of the budget, but not focusing on the department. And I think if we're going to take that steps, the way that we would have to do it is the way that was done in the past when it came to the assistant director at DPW's position. That was the proper and appropriate way to do it. So when it comes to the line item veto, I think that the finance director understands it the same way that we understand it, but she's just saying it differently. I may be saying it in a way that we're not necessarily interpreting it to be the same, but my discussions with her over the week seem to be in line right with what Councilor Marksley said. So I'd be interested to have a committee of the whole as well, Councilor, President Caraviello, because I think that this is something that needs to be done.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Well, on the motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello? Yes, I move the affirmative, motion passes. 2-1-3-5-6, offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the Traffic Commission re-evaluate the permit parking policy on Mystic Street off of High Street. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I get into this resolution, I want to thank my colleagues and apologize for my absence in the meeting earlier and for being tidy for a couple of meetings. Sometimes family issues take precedent and my mom was going through a health crisis and my brother and sister and I are trying to do the best we can to make sure that she's in a good place and we're working through some health issues. Again, I appreciate the professionalism and the caring of my fellow Councilors and understanding and giving me some leeway. I apologize to my constituents, our constituents in the city of Medford that I have been a little tardy and a little absent. So be sure that I'm still involved with everything that's going on. It's just that I'm doing it bedside and that's something mom loves to hear Council Mark say, Mr. President, Mr. President. That's when we know she's getting better. So I thank everyone for that. So the resolution is very simple. It's the residents from Mystic Street and High Street are really getting beaten up with their public parking. And for what was intended for that area is to eliminate the illegal parking for non-residents to come in and, you know, and park in front in that neighborhood, we're seeing that park, Metro Republic parking is now going in and writing these outrageous tickets for the most outrageous reasons. And for elderly neighbors in that area, if they're parking what is a supposedly a curb, but is not a curb, somewhere where they parked forever, that's just a level land. they're getting ticketed for something simple as parking on a sidewalk. And so it just seems like they're trying to fill a quota and going out to those areas and really affecting that neighborhood in a negative way. So I'd like to send a resolution to the parking commission, traffic commission, maybe to set up a meeting with the neighbors just so they can share some concerns and maybe invite them to the next traffic commission meeting that they can really, they can understand what's going on to maybe say, put in some changes in that in that area of Mystic Street. So thank you for your time. Thank you.
[Knight]: Vice President. On that, Mr. President, how long has Mystic Street been in public parking?
[Scarpelli]: I appreciate Councilmember Council Vice President, I bring this up. This is the confusion with the neighbors that public parking has now they, everybody should know that they can go into any neighborhood now. And They've been, you know, if you parked outside the driveway that you parked for many years and your back, your end is sticking out a little bit, they're ticketing you overnight for parking on the curb or, you know, even if they're ticketing for police action where a sticker might be expired. So these are the things people don't realize that is still happening with public parking, so. Like I said, if we can at least look at that neighborhood and if we have to go neighborhood to neighborhood, I think this is a going to, it'll be a bigger issue than it is. I think this is just scratching the top and I'm glad that we heard the mayor talk about today in the early meeting that looking to bring in in house traffic and parking which Um, I think it's a great idea. It's something that council max worked on for years to make that come to fruition. So, um, but again, thank you. Council, uh, council night.
[Knight]: Sorry, Jim. Thank you. Uh, council Scarpelli. Um, the reason I bring it up is because I'm thinking back now we've got a lot of construction going on high street right now. And it wasn't too long ago that, uh, several members of this council stood up and tried to secure some parking spots along that stretch of high street. when this construction project was going in. And the response that we got from the administration was that the traffic engineer did a dashboard survey and feels as though there's adequate parking in that area for the residents, and that this would cause no disruption whatsoever. Now we're seeing the construction started, what, last Monday? And now Park Metro is in the neighborhood tagging all the secondary streets off of High Street, which leads me to believe that Maybe the dashboard survey that was conducted might not have been the most accurate assessment of the parking needs of the neighborhood. But that horse is out of the barn, Mr. President. That project is underway. We've accepted the funding, a million dollars from the state, and that project is underway. A little bit about the project. With the Eversource project that's going on along Winter Street, and the High Street project that's going on along High Street, Every street in between Winthrop and Hyde that run parallel to each other looks like a loading yard for a construction group, whether it be the Eversource project or the High Street project. There's just trucks parked all over every single neighborhood. I mean, I drove down a street today, Mystic Street, the street that Councilor Scarpelli is talking about, up on Mystic in front of Tile Park. And there was like a rig that took up 19 parking spots, you know what I mean? All heavy equipment that was there all day long. There has to be a better way, Mr. President. You know, if we wanna put these improvements in, that's one thing, but can we do it in a way that's maybe a little bit less detrimental to the neighborhood? Maybe a little bit, you know, kinder to the eye, because right now, it seems like that winter street stretch, these residents are getting croaked. I mean, it's between the rotary, the Ebbersworth project, the water pipe replacement project, They've been under construction now for eight years. Eight years. So there has to be some relief in sight, Mr. President. I thank the council for bringing it up. And I'm hoping that the administration, as she said, hears it loud and clear. She hears the council loud and clear when we talk. So I'm hoping that this makes it to the corner office. that, you know, we need to come up with a better plan when it comes to engineering and permitting, ground opening and construction projects that we need to come up with a better plan that doesn't impact the neighborhood so much. Because what I feel like is happening in this community is someone gets a permit from the engineering department, and then they can do whatever they want. They can dig wherever they want, park wherever they want, leave their equipment, their debris, their materials, wherever they want. And it's starting to take an effect, Mr. President. The weather's getting nicer. People are opening their windows. People are spending more time outside. This is what they want to see in their community. I'm sure with that being said, I think the council will bring the measure forward. I support all of it. Mr. President.
[Scarpelli]: If I can, I know that you triggered something, Councilor Knight, that I found fascinating. So what we're seeing with the Winthrop Street project with Ebersource, this past week, driving back and forth to see my mom in Woburn, I go through Winchester and often get trapped by the construction workers. What I found that's amazing is, all of the construction trucks that are in Winchester drive all the way down, they pull into the T parking lot, and they park all of the utility trucks and all the apparatus for the construction in that parking lot on a daily basis. But Councilor Knight says in Medford, they just leave all their trucks and their apparatus and their metal plates that we're going to be able to get that. Cones and everything up and down with the tree. So I think that you know that brings up bring us a huge point that you know to mend the paper that we asked again. That ever source looks into cleaning up that area. With eliminating all of the, um, debris. Uh and machinery. That deals with this construction. So again,
[Bears]: I wanna thank Councilor Scarpelli, Vice President Knight. If you wouldn't mind a further amendment, Councilor Scarpelli, I'd also like to ask that the city engineer and traffic engineer try to determine a lot where potentially we could do the same thing that Winchester's doing.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Bears, if I can answer that for you, the construction company runs a lot in Midford currently. They do have a lot in Midford where they do park their trucks. So they should be driving this, not that far. They should be driving the trucks back there.
[Bears]: I agree with that. I had one further comment, Mr. President. Yes. Have you received any update from the city engineer or Eversource as to expediting the Eversource project as we discussed several weeks ago?
[Caraviello]: We have not, I think it was up to the police chief because Eversource wanted three crews. And I think the chief has told them that they don't have the manpower to put three crews of policemen on the three crews that Eversource is requesting.
[Bears]: And it's still, I know that we had asked that they try to come to an agreement.
[Caraviello]: I only see one crew working at a time. And if I could put a comment on this, I want to thank Councilor Scott Perry for bringing this up. That's my neighborhood where I live. They've been working there for the last two weeks, and they're parking cars, trucks on both ends, and other side streets, and they leave them all night, and in the school parking lot. And if you live on Mystic Street, there's very few sidewalks there. There's only maybe one or two sidewalks, mostly all grass lot. and things. So it's a shame that they just continue to do whatever they want. And what's happening also is they're directing the Shetland High Street down at different points and just sending it through the neighborhoods. And now these guys are rolling through neighborhoods and just not even paying attention to the law. And if I could say one more thing on what Councilor Scott probably brought up about the construction between Method and Winchester, I'm appalled that they're using our cemetery to lay down all those plates and ruin the grass. And I'd like to amend this paper that those plates be removed immediately and the grass be replaced. Mr. President. Should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely. Councilor Tonko.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward and Councilor Knight for mentioning the Eversource project. If I could amend the paper further to specifically look at, I believe it is at the end of Lorraine Road, there was a piece of construction equipment that has been there. I know it was there pretty much for like the past couple of weeks that they park it there on the street after hours, which is completely against the agreement that we struck with them when this went into effect, this construction project many years ago. From what I remember, there was supposed to be no construction equipment on the road after hours. That has been violated. So if we could, if I could please amend the paper ask specifically why that piece of equipment is there. And I also thank you for bringing up the point about the metal plates. The metal plates have been there for a long time. And I believe we inquired about them many times and they still haven't removed them. So I thank you for adding that amendment. And I look forward to hearing a response soon from Eversource. Thank you.
[Knight]: Thank you. On that point, Mr. President, thank you. I do believe when the council at first met with representatives from the city administration in ever so us at the suggestion of Council of marks. One of the items that came up was that as a condition of permitting, they not leave equipment materials, or use city property for state. and that they agreed that they were going to take everything at the end of the day and get it out of there. The trucks weren't going to travel alone if they weren't a licensed vehicle. The backhoes and excavators were going to be escorted with a truck in front of it and behind it so that no one would get hurt because we remember what happened in Mississippi and Doreen and one of our crossing guys as well I believe right down in West Medford Square where they got hit. during a construction project, when they were doing some work down there, I believe it was the Complete Streets Project, Mr. President of the Brooks School, where two residents were struck by construction vehicles because they didn't have proper safety protocols in place. So then I believe the Eversource project was put out to bid, and I think Feeney Construction got it, right? The Feeney brother construction firm got it? McCourt. And then Feeney backed out of the bid, and then it ended up getting awarded to McCourt. But the discussions that we had initially I think we're all with Feeney brothers. And I'm wondering if those restrictions and requirements that the council asked me to put in place on the permits carried over when the entity that was performing the work had changed.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for putting this on. He's 100% right on all these issues. Council Vice President Knight is correct. We put a laundry list of conditions and the staging I think was your condition. I remember you speaking about having a staging area set up so they can put the equipment in trucks. I think it's vital, Mr. President, that we find out who the clerk of the work is on behalf of the city of Medford. We also should be asking this person if they're adhering to all the conditions, because let's be quite honest, I'm not looking and I'm not on that job site every day. to make sure that they're adhering to all these. But clearly, if you take a ride by, you're seeing the equipment left overnight. Clearly, I forget who brought it up last week. I can't remember if it was Councilor Bears or Councilor Scarpelli about sweeping after every day's work. And we were notified and then the Councilor Falco, I apologize. And these things aren't happening, Mr. President. When we also discussed, we made a recommendation about having the three crews be put back. When you have the area residents on Winthrop Street reaching out saying, we've already had to put up with this for the last year and a half, two years. And if you want to extend the project, by not having enough crews, that just makes my life more miserable. So we're already hearing this from residents. So it's unacceptable for the chief, Mr. President. And if he was on the line, I'd say it right to his face. It's unacceptable that the chief unilaterally is going to make a decision to slow down a project that we've been working on for the past five years, Mr. President. And that's impacting residents now. It's unacceptable. unless he can tell me it's a public safety concern. If you can't get enough offices on the detail, Mr. President, go outside the community. They do it every day. Go outside the community, find some offices, Mr. President, that want to fill the detail. But to slow down a project of this magnitude and have residents put up with this, it's unacceptable. It's extremely unacceptable. So I agree with Council Vice President Knight, we should find out what that laundry list of conditions are from the Clerk of the Works, find out who the Clerk of the Works is, first of all, and have a discussion regarding that. Regarding the parking program, Mr. President, I believe the parameters within Park Method, their contract only states that they can operate on resident permit parking streets. They cannot operate outside of that contract. So if indeed they are going around giving out tickets on non-resident parking, permit parking streets, then we should be notified of that and find out when this change took place, why it took place, Mr. President, and maybe this was their decision and they want to increase their revenue. I don't know, but that's not the way we should operate. If we have a signed contract, we should operate within the four walls of the contract. And that's my last impression of that contract, that it was only on resident, permanent parking streets. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: So on the motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Falco, as amended by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Caraviello, and as amended by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, you have all those amendments, correct? Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: President Caraviello. Yes.
[Caraviello]: I'm in the affirmative motion passes. The motion by Vice President Bates to take paper 21351 off the table. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Vice-president.
[Morell]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Yes. 70 affirmative motion passes. 21351 offered by vice-president Knight. Whereas the voice of our city's youth has been restricted throughout COVID-19 pandemic end, whereas the youth in the city of Bedford represent not only our future, but our present ends, whereas our youth deserve every opportunity to flourish and be provided with the resources and services necessary to meet the challenges and problems they face. Be it so ordered that the Medford City Council adopt the provisions of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40, Section 80, enabling the establishment of a youth commission for the purpose of carrying out the programs which may be designed or established to meet the opportunities, challenges, and problems of youth in the city of Medford, and be it resolved The Medford City Council requests that the city solicitor provide to Medford City Council with a draft ordinance. The language of section 8E can be found below for the following reference purposes. Section 8E, a city- Mr. President, you don't have to get into that.
[Knight]: I'm sorry? I have it all highlighted out so I can read it for you if you'd like.
[Caraviello]: I'll read it. A city or town which accepts this section may establish a youth commission, herein I recall the commission, the purpose of carrying out programs which may be designed to establish, meet the opportunities, challenges, and problems of youth of said city, town in conjunction with any similar or related programs of any agency of the Commonwealth or any agency of the federal government. It shall keep back your records of its meetings and actions. It shall file a name report, which shall be printed in the case of the towns in the annual town report. Commission may appoint such clerks and other employees as they may from time to time require. Commission shall consist of not less than three No more than 21 members in cities with cities. The members shall be appointed by the mayor subject to the provision of the city charter. Some of the cities that having or operating on the plan D or provision of the city charter. Such appointments shall be made by citizens subject to the provisional charter and the towns. They should be appointed by the selection, accepting towns, having a manager or form of government. Which towns appointments shall be made by the town manager subject to the approval of the selection. Commission is first established, the terms of the members shall be for one, two, or three years, so arranged that the terms of approximately one-third of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for a term of three years each. Any member of the commission so appointed may, after public meeting if requested, be removed for cause by the vacancy occurring otherwise by the expiration of a term, and the city or town shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment. Said commission may receive gifts of property, both real and personal, in the name of the city and town, subject to the approval of the city council, and the city council, where the selectmen in the town, such gifts managed and controlled by the commission for purposes of this selection. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. So what this paper is, is it's a request. for the city council to adopt a local auction provided by the Massachusetts state legislature to establish a youth commission. And I wouldn't expect the council to adopt the provisions of chapter 40, section 80 this evening. I'd be happy to send this to a committee in the hall to be further discussed with the city solicitor. However, Mr. President, the intent of this is to give the youth in our community a voice. We have commissions for everything, but we don't have a commission for probably the most valuable asset in this community, our youth. So with that being said, I think this is a step in the right direction, Mr. President. I'm looking at the language that you just read. I appreciate you going through that. Ultimately, what this would do is establish a commission from not less than three and not more than 21 persons that serve for a term of three years, appointed by the mayor subject to the provisions of the charter. The city council can also create an ordinance that will go along with that, that would outline the defined parameters as to who's eligible to serve, similar to many of the other ordinances this council has passed. relative to the creation or establishment of boards and commissions. So with that being said, Mr. President, this will be a statutory commission. It's something that I think is necessary in this community, especially based on the high levels of isolation that you have seen across Medford over the past year. Just finally, we're finally getting out to the ball fields. We're finally getting out of the house with the vaccination moving along in the right direction. But I think it's important, Mr. President, that we create a mechanism for us to actually hear directly from our youth and don't let them be a voice. We've seen what great work the CCSR has done up at the high school. Great work it's done in getting youth engaged in the government processing and getting them to be civically responsible. And I think that this is just adding to that, Mr. President, to step in the right direction for us to continue to build upon the many successes that we've already had in engaging our youth and getting them to be involved civically. So in looking at this, Mr. President, I think it's a great opportunity for us to move forward and create something that could make a difference here in the city of Michigan. So with that being said, Mr. President, I rest my case. I asked my council colleagues to support this. The motion will be to send it to a committee of the whole for further review and discussion and for us to also ask the city solicitor to be present so that if it is the council's intent to move forward with this, she can draft a ordinance that would support it. With that being said, I would arrest my case, Mr. President referred to before the councilor, Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. And what an unbelievable resolution because it's funny because I've been searching and trying to figure out in our subcommittee with recreation youth and what we can do to try to have this city council step forward to give the youth their voice in a way that they can be heard. And with today's social justice issues and the outcry of our students and children in our community, the city truly doesn't allow an avenue where they can come to this forum or have an avenue with this forum in the city side to really express their concerns, their issues and their wishes. Councilor Knight, typical Councilor Knight, studies every day, looks at what every single community does, finds what best fits the city of Medford and how we can help our constituents and our most important constituents, our children. So I wanna applaud you again for finding this topic to push forward a very important agenda. I remember when I first started in Somerville, we had set up a recreation commission. a commission that really focuses on doing some fundraising through the city with the recreation department that would allow kids that couldn't afford different sports or different participation fees for programs and made sure everybody had an opportunity to participate. Not only that, they work together. One of my first years there, I thought was amazing. We were having some serious issues in Somerville with some social justice issues and some suicide issues. And they worked together with the school department and the commission and Tina Palman to have a round table forum for our youth to come out and speak of what they wanted. And to be honest with you, it's one of the reasons why I love my position in Somerville as a program developer where my door's open. I can't tell you how many times a young man, a young lady came to my door and sat down in front of me in my office and said, you know, coach, I really want to do this now. What was important is the typical recreation people think of what's traditionally recreation, sports, you know, games, activities, what came out of that, those conversations and having the ability to have a commission, our kids that needed other outlets, whether it be music, whether it be arts, whether it be band, whether it be, you know, um, different social issues and having different type of clubs arranged through our commission. So this is something our community needs. This is something that Councilor Knight said, did his homework. This is where we can put people that are invested in our youth and want to work together. And I'll tell you what, there's 100,000 fundraisers that go out there, Something simple as having a commission that works together that will hold a golf tournament. This is what we did in Somerville, held a golf tournament. Then they did a road race. And not only did they bring the community out, they raised valuable funds for kids at risk or youth that wanted to do something different. And there was never a no. It was always an avenue to do something positive. In today's climate, where our kids really need a voice, And, you know, I'm so glad that they have the, you know, the teachers to reach out to and the CCSR, because I think, you know, our advisors have done an amazing job. But this is a piece where if we sat in a round table, when we talked about race issues in our community, one of the things that came out of those meetings is really putting our foot forward and really putting things into action. You know, we talked earlier about the diversity director, and I think everybody says we need that as a full-time position, and we all support that. And I'm glad to see my councilors stood strong with that to make sure that's a standalone program. You look at something Councilor Knight just brought up with the commission, these are the types of initiatives that really lend to what people are asking for. So I know I'm a little winded, but I'm really passionate about this. This is what I do in my life. I wanna see kids succeed and find avenues to help them succeed. And Councilor Knight, again, one week it's Councilor Marks, another week it's yourself. And I appreciate your commitment to this community and your professionalism when it comes to this committee. This is spot on and I second the motion and love to see this move forward. So thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you. I actually saw Councilor Morell, so I'm happy to defer to her.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think Councilor Bears is first, and I'll just go for the sake of being quick. I thank Vice President Knight for raising this. I think this is a great opportunity for the youth of Medford and really for the city of Medford itself. And I agree with what's been said that the students in CCSR do such great work and are so engaged and have come before the council many times with many great ideas that they've really pushed for and presented in such a great way. So I'd expect nothing less than them and the rest of our youth in the city who might want to take part in this. And I would hope that this commission can really reflect the diversity of the city, which is something that I know is also hope for the Gender Equity Commission that has been in the works for some two years now. So I would love to see both of those come to fruition. Thank you.
[Bears]: What's the best? Thank you, Mr. President. I really appreciate Vice President Knight bringing this forward and what Councilor Scarpelli said, and I think it's a great way to link the great work that's being done in our schools. with the city government and hopefully, you know, I think these students actually have some policy ideas that hopefully we could consider as well. But I did also want to lift up. I would hope that we can advance the Gender Equity Commission promptly as well alongside the Youth Commission. And I will put a plug in for the pilot commission on payments in lieu of taxes that I proposed last January. I think all of these commissions are worthy efforts that would really benefit the city.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Vice President Knight for bringing this forward. This is a key resolution and Councilor Scarpelli you're right. It gives the youth of our community a voice. And that's really important. If you take a look at CCSR, remember when that first came about when we were on the school committee, that program has grown tremendously throughout the years. And you look at the good works that the students have been doing throughout the years, the programs, the things that they've come to propose to us with regards to ordinances and whatnot. And it's a great way for them to be involved in public service and giving back to the community. So I support this a hundred percent. I look forward to discussing this further in committee the whole. Vice President Knight, I thank you for bringing this forward and I would also second the resolution. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanna thank Council Vice President Knight for bringing this up and Councilor Scarpelli for his passion on this issue. He's been dealing with the youth of our community for many decades and I think has his finger on the pulse You know, anytime you can expand the seat at the table where decisions are being made, I think is a positive step. And to have youth involved in decision making, I think is a very positive step in this community. I remember the days back some years ago, Mr. President, the council, under the leadership of the president of the council, would allow members to invite a business owner behind the reel, invite a student behind the reel, invite any one of your choice per week, Mr. President, and they would sit right next to you and they would have input, naturally they didn't have a vote, but they would have input during the meeting and be able to discuss and give input about how this may impact their business or impact their life or impact their family or whatever it might be, Mr. President, And I just thought it was a great way of all too often you hear people saying that they don't have a seat at the table or they're left out of the process. And that was just a nice way of including members of the community. And I really would like to see us get back into that, Mr. President, and maybe under your leadership, we can once again reignite that and allow the council members to invite someone behind the real of their choice, Mr. President, to partake in city government. But getting back to this, I support this wholeheartedly. I support anything that would bring additional people to the table and therefore get additional opinions on how city government should operate. And I support this wholeheartedly.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, I'd love to get some bodies in here and be more than happy to bring someone up here. The room is open. If some students want to come in, we'd be more than happy to have them in here. Vice President Knight. Mr. President, thank you.
[Knight]: I just wanted to point out there's some differences between this commission and the commissions that were mentioned. This commission is statutory in nature. So this will be adopting a local option that's been provided to us by the state legislature. And because it's statutory in nature, there is a defined framework and parameters that are already in place that we have to work with. quite frankly, this might be one of the easiest things we've ever had to do in our life, because the law pretty much says what's required in the ordinance and at the local level. So when we're talking about the Gender Equity Commission, which started out as, I believe, a Women's Commission, and then turned into a Gender Equity Commission with investigatory authority and all this other stuff, quite frankly, I think that during that discussion about the gender equity stuff, I think a lot of the message got lost in the process, Mr. President, what it was we were trying to accomplish. We got, I think, a little bit too involved with the minutiae and the details, bringing it down to the lowest possible level when we could have been able to put a framework together in a much more timely fashion. So I can certainly appreciate the frustration that Councilor Morell has expressed. However, this is a little bit different than that situation, because this is something that's statutory in nature. By adopting the enabling language, we already have the defined parameters and frameworks that's necessary for us to move forward. So with that being said, I do thank my council colleagues for their kind words, and I move for approval.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Okay, on the motion by Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. To refer to a committee of the whole. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Vice President Nights. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Knight]: President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in support of the motion passes. Communications from the mayor. 21357 to the all present members of Medford City Council, City Hall MFMS. Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request to recommend that your own body approve the following recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. requesting the appropriation of $62,500 from the CPA General Reserve to action for Boston Community Development for the remainder of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The project will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund by category affordable housing. Sincerely, Brianna Montgomery, Mayor. Do we have somebody from the CPA? Roberta, are you gonna be speaking? Mr. Clerk, if you can unmute Roberta Cameron for a brief presentation.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you. So the council had previously approved all but the 62,500 of the 250,000 that the CPC recommended for an emergency rental assistance program last year. in response to the COVID-19 crisis. So the ABCD has so far spent close to 100 or they've expanded close to $160,000 of the funds toward, um, paying assisting Medford residents with their rental payments and have an additional, um, set of applications in the pipeline that would bring them up to about $170,000 that they would have spent toward, um, paying for the rental assistance. So they are running close to the end of the funds that the council has approved to date. And so we are coming back to ask that the council approve the remaining funds to enable them to finish the program that we recommended for them last year.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Any questions for Roberta Cameron? The motion by Councilor Scarpelli for approval, seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Knight]: President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, seven affirmative. Motion passes. Let's suspend the rules and take paper 2086. two zero zero eight six, I'm sorry. On the motion by Vice President Knight to take paper two zero eight zero zero eight six off the table, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Lococo. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: President Caraviello. Yes.
[Caraviello]: I'm in favor of the motion passes.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much.
[Caraviello]: 2-0-8-0-6, 90-day review report on El Tecuba, Cochina and Tequila Bar for petition for a special permit hours granted by this council as amended to require the 90-day report to begin on the opening of the restaurant. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, El Tecuba, Cochina and Tequila Bar is probably one of the most frequent questions I get asked when I go through Medford. When is this place opening? When is this place opening? When is this place opening? I know we've had a tough year, Mr. President, in terms of the economy, the shutdown, the pandemic, and the like. But with that being said, from what I can see, they have a building permit on the windowsill, the windowsill wrapped up like there's some construction going on inside. And I'm hoping that we could just shoot off a correspondence by authorizing the city clerk to do such, asking for an update on the status of their expansion from Tanaka to Alta Cuba, Kachina, and Tequila Bar, Mr. President. I know that a lot of that business plan was contingent upon the reopening of Shibahia Auditorium. And from what I heard this morning, or earlier in the meeting, I should say, from the Director of the Board of Health was, it seems very promising that we're going to have events there at some point in time in the near future. So with that being said, hopefully we can kind of get a little update as to what's going on with El Tecuba and also with what's going on at Shibahia Auditorium, Mr. President. So I'd asked the city clerk to send off an email provided that my council colleagues support this resolution to reach out to the business owner and just ask what's the status. This was a license that was granted by the council and it was placed on a list for a 90 day review, 90 days after opening. The 90 days, the summer of 2020 maybe, June of 2020. Yeah, it's been a while. So it's been a bit of time and you know, that's okay. But I'm just more curious than anything else, Mr. President, as to what the status is. If nothing, then maybe this is something that we refer up to a new Director of Economic Development. If in fact there are some hurdles or some problems that this business faces in expanding because there's so much community excitement for it, there might actually be a resource there in City Hall that can help them cut through some of the red tape or find some creative ways to meet some of the needs that they have. I think that was, you know, the whole goal and purpose of us creating the position of Director of Economic Development. So with that being said, Mr. President, maybe this can be the first project that he gets assigned, and now we can see if Delta Cuba can open.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I do remember the mayor going in there sometime during the year. I think I saw it on Twitter or somewhere. I know she did a little walkthrough there. And I think it's been some time. I can give you a little bit of an answer on Chevalier. I know they are planning some things in the very near future there, but unfortunately, with their limited capacity, and they're going to have, I think, just comedians at the moment because of the cost of the acts and the amount of people. But I think you will see some stuff coming out there, some announcement in the next few weeks, Vice President May. Thank you, sir. So on the motion by Vice President Knight, that we get a report on this and Shavia, seconded by Councilor Falco. Scripps, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in the permanent motion passes. Motion that we bring back to regular business. I'll move Mr. President. On the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in favor of the motion passes. Reports of committees. 21018, April 21st, 2021 committee of the law report. This was on the classification of report, which was tabled to this evening. So, and we should be on the same one, April 29th. I will do one at a time. Motion to accept the report on April 21st. Motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in favor, motion passes. 2-1-3-2-4, April 27th. Committee to hold the report. This is for the CBDG grant funding. Motion by vice president for approval, second by councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice president Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Knight]: Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Motion passes. 2-0-3-0-0 and 2-1-0-5-3, April 28th. Subcommittee on elderly housing affairs. Councilor Bears, would you like to report on that?
[Bears]: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilors marks and Falco. We had two great subcommittee meetings. This first one is on elderly and housing affairs. We discussed housing stability, um, and I got an update from our folks in our health department about how housing is being incorporated into the social work that they are doing from Alicia and Penny. We reported out in motion from the subcommittee to recommend that the mayor include $50,000 in the fiscal year 22 budget to continue emergency rental assistance. And it'd be possible that the city administration could pursue additional grants as well. We also discussed Councilor Falco's proposal for a housing stability notification ordinance. We will be getting a red line copy from the city solicitor and discussing that at our next meeting. and I move approval.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. President. Councilor Matz.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just one clarification, and I want to thank Chairman Beers and Councilor Falco. I think we're making some real headway on housing issues within our community. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, the 50,000 that we asked to be in the budget was for housing assistance and not rental assistance. I just want to clarify because I know there was some contention around why not just make a general statement regarding housing assistance and not rental. So I just want the record to reflect it's, I believe it's housing assistance.
[Bears]: Yes. And that is reflected in the actual report. I apologize. I just used the wrong word.
[Caraviello]: Oh, that's fine. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, motion passes. 20573, April 28th, 2020, Public Works Subcommittee. Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, once again, Councilor Marks, Councilor Falco and myself met this time to discuss snow removal with the public works subcommittee. We did have a discussion again of the priority sidewalks list, and we did make a motion to recommend that the city administration issue an RFI or find another way to determine the cost of a city priority sidewalk to include that in the next snow and ice removal plan. We also had extensive discussion of the ordinance language. We did make some motions to accept changes, and we will be looking at a red line copy at our next meeting with the solicitor along with Commissioner Moki and code enforcement to discuss the enforcement section of the ordinance.
[Caraviello]: Thank you on the motion by
[Knight]: Vice President, bye. Mr. President, thank you very much. I was contacted with some concern that the sidewalk snow removal processes would be something that would be privatized or subcontracted. Is that the intention or the desire of the direction that the committee is going in? I had brief conversations with Councilor Marks. He seemed rather indifferent. He doesn't care who does it as long as it gets done. But I didn't know if this was something where we were looking at get a private group that will go out and do it or if this is something that you would try to adopt in-house. I know this council in the past voted multiple times for us to purchase a bombardier to go and clear our sidewalk. So I was just wondering if there was any focus on having this done privately or having this done as a government contractor, as part of the normal and regular DPW operations.
[Bears]: If I may, Mr. President.
[Knight]: Whether or not it's all up in the air for discussion. I think that's the question I got a call from Steve South who had some questions about how this was going to play out. And I'm just hoping I can get some answers.
[Bears]: Councilor Best. Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, we discussed both them looking for a contract to do it and also did mention that, I believe Councilor Marks mentioned, and we were all supportive of the idea of doing it in-house, purchasing the machines and identifying the manpower to do so. So we are waiting back to hear from the city administration what their determination is on cost for both of those ideas.
[Knight]: Excellent. Thank you very much.
[Marks]: Appreciate it. Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Chairman Beers and Councilor Falco. I have to say we've been working on this ordinance for a period of time, but we're finally making some serious headway. And I think, Mr. President, it's not going to be just a knee jerk reaction. It's a very thoughtful process. And I think, you know, the ordinance itself, which has some accountability within the ordinance, which I think will go a long way for pedestrian improving pedestrian safety. But secondly, Mr. President, I think adding a component of city responsibility, you know, the ordinance originally was a focus on residents, residents have to clear the corners, residents have to clear the sidewalks, they have to clear the front of the hybrids, residents have to do this, residents have to do that. And I think the subcommittee after digesting some of this said, you know what, in order to get a buy-in from the residents, we need the city to also step up and take responsibility. And I think what we found is by offering this priority sidewalk, where we're looking at 26 miles of Ontario roads. So every road that's currently being swept right now in our pilot program will now become part of, over a certain amount of inches, will now become part of an automatic plow that goes on the sidewalk and plow the sidewalk over a certain number of inches. What that does, as we've discussed, myself, Councilor Falco and Chairman Beers, is create the connectivity that we're talking about from business district to business district from school to school, from elderly housing to elderly housing, from bus stop to bus stop, and it creates that automatic connectivity. And for the amount that we're looking at for upwards of $3,000 to $4,000 on an average snowstorm for a city this size, I think we all felt that this is our biggest bang for our buck to implement such a program. How it gets implemented, whether we outsource or see if we can handle it in-house, still remains, and still a work in progress. But I think we've made a lot of headway in improving pedestrian safety. And I would welcome Steve South to any one of our open meetings. They've all been open. We've had members of the Chamber of Commerce. We've had members of WOC Method. We've had members of WOC Boston attend our meetings and give input. And we're always welcome to hear input, Mr. President, on how we can better improve this process. You know, the big issue that we've been struggling with is the crossings. So right now, the ordinance states that the homeowner that lives at the corner would be responsible for clearing out the crossing. And as we all know, many of the trucks plow to the corners, and in a big storm, you could have four, five, six feet of ice. And how do you have a homeowner that's gonna be responsible for clearing that out. So part of the process for the priority sidewalk was to have 26 miles of these corners cleaned out automatically with these bombardiers. And we're still trying to create a process that we can have snow counted off, or we can have a better policy on the city side where they don't plow directly to corners. So there's some administrative stuff we can work on, some ordinance stuff, and maybe some contractual stuff to help improve pedestrian safety in this community. And I just want to thank my colleagues. We've put a lot of hours into this, and I hope eventually when we present it to the council for their input, that they'll see the amount of hours that we put into this and, you know, have their input as well, but see that really, I think this makes a lot of sense for our community. And again, I want to thank Chairman Beers and Councilor Falco for their input on this. And the DPW commissioner as well, he's been instrumental in this process, Mr. President.
[Bears]: Mr. President. Thank you for the clarification.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Baxter.
[Bears]: I just want to thank Councilor Marks and you know, my usual intention around these is to keep them short, but I think I might get in touch with Councilor Marks next time so I can do it the full justice that he just did. So thank you. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks and Councilor Peters These subcommittee meetings have been very, very productive. Like Councilor Marks mentioned, there's been a lot of input from business owners, the community, the department heads, and different organizations. And I look forward to working with them to resolve these issues and bring them to a future Committee of the Whole meeting. But they've been very productive meetings and I look forward to working with them to bring everything to fruition. So thanks again to the Councilor Marks and Councilor Bears for their hard work on these issues.
[Caraviello]: Thank you Councilor Falco. On the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marks]: Mr. President, if I could. Councilor Marks. Just for the identification, you know, Councilor Bears gave a great explanation. I just don't want anyone to think that we didn't share the information as we go along. So at no time could someone say, geez, I didn't know they were working on that. We laid it all out on the table, what we've been looking at. If anyone wants to give input at this particular stage, they're welcome to do so. This has been an open and notorious process, and we welcome input at any time. Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[Caraviello]: Let's call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Peers. Yes. Councilor Falco.
[Viglione]: Yes.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Scarpelli, President Caraviello. Yes, I move the motion passes. 21018, April 29th, Committee of the Whole report. This also was a classification meeting and this was tabled to tonight, which there was a vote on, which will be on next week's committee report. On the motion. On the motion by Councilor Knight. My best friend is still receiving a place on file. I'm in approval, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Bears.
[Knight]: Yes. Councilor Keohokalole. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello. Yes, I'm in the affirmative, motion passes. Public participation. Joseph A. Vignelli, 446 Charles Street in Malden.
[Viglione]: Good evening, name and address for the record, please. Good evening, City Council, Joe Viglione. The night police report is what I want to discuss.
[Caraviello]: Excuse me, name and address for the record, please.
[Viglione]: Oh, 446 Charles Street, Montgomery.
[Caraviello]: Mr. Viglione, I have reviewed the petitioner's application, and I have determined that this is not the forum for this paper, and I am going to rule it out of order. Of course you would, I knew that. And this will be referred to executive session. And I base this on rule two way of the city council rules, the open meeting law in discussions with our city solicitor.
[Viglione]: Okay, great. May I come to that or what's exactly your papers? I do appreciate you doing that, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Have a good day. You have a good night.
[Caraviello]: Okay, do we have any further business this evening? The records of the meeting of April 27, 2021 were passed to Vice President Knight. Vice President Knight, how did you find those records? On the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Viglione]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Motion to adjourn. Motion by Vice President Knight for adjournment, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Knight]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Motion to adjourn. Good evening.
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