[Caraviello]: The 23rd regular meeting of the Medford City Council. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Present. Councilor Falco? Present. Vice President Knight? Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Morell? Present. Councilor Scarpelli? Present. President Caraviello? Present.
[Caraviello]: Seven in the affirmative. Please rise and salute the flag. Okay, pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, chapter 38, section 18, and the Governor's March 15th, 2020 order, imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information, general guidelines for the remote participation by members of the public and the parties with the right of 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 members of the public will be made, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the meetings in real time by a technological means. In the event we're able to do so, despite past evidence, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Okay. Mr. President, motion to suspend the rules to take paper 21396 out of order. On the motion by Vice President Knight to suspend the rules to take paper, what was that, 21396? That is correct, sir. 21396 out of order. Seconded by? Seconded. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears? Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Osanic? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Martins? Yes. Councilor Morell?
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Kerby?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in favor of the motion, passes. 2-1-396 offered by Councilor Marks and Councilor Falco. Be it resolved that Medford High School student athlete, Kaylee Layla be recognized for her hard work and determination for being the first female player on the Medford High School JV baseball team. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor and a pleasure to rise here tonight to recognize one of Medford's finest that we have in the audience tonight. Kaylee, can you stand up, please? Mr. President, as early as age five, Kaylee used to play baseball, T-ball, in the backyard with her grandpa, Papa. And that's Richard Laidlaw. And as early as age five, Kaylee used to say to her grandpa, someday I want to play baseball for Medford High School. And her grandpa, like every other grandpa, would say, OK, maybe someday you'll play baseball. And he used to tap her on the shoulder and say, maybe someday you'll play. And then Kaylee, knowing that she was ambitious and wanted to succeed, spent countless hours practicing and honing in our skills at Gillis Park. While other kids were out doing different things, Kaylee was down there with an instructor, learning how to catch, hit, run, the fundamentals of baseball, Mr. President. It was her dream to play baseball at Medford High School. Through hard work and determination, Kaylee earned a spot on Medford High School baseball team, breaking the glass ceiling for many other young women becoming the first female to play Medford High School JV baseball. I'm offering a motion tonight, Mr. President, requesting that the city council recognize Kaylee Laylaw for her dedication and commitment by issuing a formal council accommodation recognizing her first of a kind accomplishments in this community. Also, Mr. President, I would like to recognize at this time, we have not only Kaylee here, but we have the entire baseball team. How often do you see an entire team, Mr. President? I think it speaks volumes for the camaraderie and the feelings that all the players have for each other and the fact that they have these same feelings for Kaylee and honor Kaylee. So if the baseball team could please stand up. Come on, everyone stand up. I was also told, Mr. President, from Gino DeSimone, who's the coach in the back. And the one thing he said, please don't have me speak. So I know he's a man of few words, but carries a big stick. I understand that. So we're not going to have Gino speak. But Gino has done a tremendous job as coach of the JV team. He's done a tremendous job bringing in this group of kids, Mr. President. Their record's two, three, and one. And I know they can only get better as the year goes on. But on a good piece, Mr. President, they just had a game against Lynn Classical. And Kaylee hit a double, bringing in two runs, Mr. President, which won them the game. So I think, Mr. President, what we see here tonight is really a group of kids getting together, banding together, being able to accomplish goals, Mr. President, goals in which unite everyone as a community. And now more than ever, I think we need to look to this team, as leaders, Mr. President, in a community that I believe is currently divided over a lot of different issues. And here we have youngsters that are saying how it is to work together. No matter who you are, let's work together. Let's unite for a common goal. And we're seeing that tonight here with these players, Mr. President. I want to thank the coach. I want to thank the team. I want to thank Kaylee. And last but not least, Kaylee's family, Mr. President. Because without that support at home, and the parents that drive, a lot of the parents are here tonight. I see them in the back row. They're the ones that get the kids back and forth. They're the ones that go out and get the equipment when needed. They're the ones that take the Saturday nights, the Sundays, the Monday practices, the Tuesday, the Wednesday. They're the ones that put in the hard work as well. So this is truly a family effort, Mr. President. So on behalf of this council, I'd like to personally, I know my colleagues have things to say. I'd like to personally thank the Laidlaw family. I'd like to congratulate Kaylee. I'd like to congratulate the team, the coach, Method Sports in general, Mr. President, all the student athletes. And I would ask that we send out a council accommodation and also take a team picture as well as a picture with Kaylee and her family once the council is done giving their accolades, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Marks, as a co-sponsor of this resolution. I'm very proud to be part of this offering a resolution. And I'm really, really proud of Kaylee and this accomplishment. I've known Kaylee for many years. She lives a few doors down from my house. I remember seeing her in the neighborhood as a little kid and my son, Jack, played baseball with Kaylee throughout the years. And to see her, uh, progress, uh, over time, you know, playing at Gillis Park, where I feel it was like a second home for many years. Uh, it's remarkable to see, you know, the commitment, the energy, the dedication, the perseverance, and always wanting to do better. And I saw that firsthand and you really knew, uh, from early on that she was, she was a remarkable baseball player and still is. And to see that firsthand was really something special. And I want to congratulate you on this accomplishment. You know, Councilor Marks hit it on the head. You know, it takes support from everyone, especially supportive family to get you to practices, to help you practice, to always be there for you. But you take a look at the greater baseball community that is here tonight and coming together and supporting everyone. That's what it comes down to, comes to support. You're right, this community is fractured in many ways, but this here is nice to see people coming together, supporting one another, being there for one another, and take a look at all these baseball faces that I haven't seen in quite some time. And it really brings a smile to my face to see what we can be as a community. And Kaylee, thank you for all of your hard work, your dedication. I wish you well, and congratulations. Thank you.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. President, and I congratulate Kaylee. I think this is an unbelievable accomplishment. I've watched Kaylee play as a coach and member of North Medford Board and Medford Little League, and watched the commitment of her mom and her family, and it's amazing to see. This is what Medford's all about. This is why people move to Medford. Coach Vonnegut, Coach Pazzarello, Coach DeSimone, Coach Quinlan, Coach Bell that's not here, I know that. Coach Nesta when he was here, one thing you knew about the baseball team, they always took care of each other. If one of their kids passed away, one of their grandparents or teammates' grandparents passed away, You know this team would always rally around each other. What you're seeing tonight is exactly what Councilmarks brought up. This is what we need, a diverse group of kids that love each other, love Medford, and want to support each other no matter what. As a former softball coach at Medford High School, I'm sure, Kayla, you've gotten the phone calls, right? Jeez, you should be playing softball. it takes a strong person to do what you're doing. You stepped up, you had a dream, you've had coaches that believed in you, teammates that believed in you, parents and grandparents that believed in you, and the biggest, most important piece of this, Kaylee, you believed in yourself, and you went out and did something special. So this is what it's all about. This is what makes Medford great. And I'm proud to be a parent of a baseball player. I'm proud of a lot of these young men and women that are here because I've watched them all grow up, and to be there, is so important. Don't ever forget that because that's that's important. Always support the people around you when they need you. So congratulations and keep up the good work. Method Mustangs. That's amazing. Thank you.
[Knight]: Vice President Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. First of all, Kelly, congratulations. Although I didn't have the opportunity to be on the board of the North Method Little League or watch him play with football in the backyard with your grandfather, I did have the opportunity to watch him coach my son in T-ball last year. And you did a hell of a job. The Orioles were the best t-ball team in Medford Little League last year because of Kelly and her mom. So let me tell you, we did it. We had a great year. We had a great season. But it's very flattering and quite humbling to see someone at such a young age pursue something that they love against all odds and be so successful. And really, Kelly, this is a great achievement that you should be proud of. And I just want to say congratulations. And we hope to have you back on the t-ball field next year coaching.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, Taley, I just wanna echo my colleagues and say that this is a tremendous accomplishment that you should absolutely be proud of that you've really earned. And I'm so heartened to see your whole team here to support you and of course your family. And it's really incredibly admirable to pursue what you're passionate about regardless of the barriers. And I think that's something everyone, a lesson we could all learn. So I hope you will keep chipping at that glass ceiling for all of us and congratulations on this accomplishment.
[Bears]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I don't think I could say it any better than my colleagues have already, but it really is a fantastic accomplishment, and it's especially great to see the team spirit and see so many people here tonight with you, supporting you. So I'm excited to see what you continue to do as you continue to grow as a player. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Council President. For myself, being the parent of a student athletes in the past. I know the dedication it takes for the parents that do this every week and for a young woman like Kaylee to overcome the odds of doing what she did is an achievement in itself. So again, I want to thank you for myself, but again, thank all your team players who are here to support you, your parents who will put in the time, take you to practice every week and drive you here and there. And thank you to everybody. Again, thank you to the team and the coaches, everybody for the support that you've given this young lady. Yes, we're on the motion by Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Yes, motion passes on the motion by Council box for a brief recess for a brief recess seconded by Councilor Belco. So could please call the roll. Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes. We revert back to regular business. Okay. 2-1-397 offered by Councilor Marks, be resolved that Medford's heroine of the American Revolution, Sarah Bradley Fulton, be recognized for her courage and outstanding achievements, and be it fully resolved that the city of Medford declare a day in early October as Sarah Bradley Fulton Day. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, it's with great honor that I rise here tonight to bring up a former resident of this community, Mr. President, Sarah Bradley Fulton. Sarah lived from 1740 to 1835 and was Method's heroine of the American Revolution, often called the mother of the Boston Tea Party. as she came up with the idea to disguise the Sons of Liberty as Mohawk Indians and helped her Boston sister-in-law outfit them. Sarah was appointed leader of the Daughters of Liberty, who oversaw the boycott of the British goods. She organized a makeshift hospital in Medford for the injured American soldiers. Following the Battle of Bunker Hill, Famously, Sarah Bradley Fulton acted as a spy, delivering dispatches from General Washington behind enemy lines. President Washington thanked Ms. Fulton for her heroics by making a personal visit to see her at her Method Farmhouse, located in the vicinity of Fulton Street, which is named after her following her death. The Marquise de Lafayette also visited Sarah at her home to say thanks. It's also fitting that the city of Medford follow the lead of George Washington and Lafayette by honoring one of their own, by declaring Sarah Bradley Fulton Day in early October of 2021. Mr. President, we have the distinct honor, if any one of the council has any questions, we happen to have Sarah Bradley Fulton herself here tonight in the audience. And if any members of the council have any question why we should recognize Sarah, I think the only appropriate person to answer would be Sarah herself. So Sarah, are you in the audience?
[Caraviello]: Yes, she is.
[SPEAKER_25]: Good evening.
[SPEAKER_23]: I'm Sarah Bradley Fulton. I'm residing at my farmhouse on Fulton Street. I'm delighted to be here this evening. I see all you gentlemen. The lady, too. Very good. Very good. Methinks Medford needs a day in my honor. Do you agree?
[SPEAKER_23]: In 1835, it was so very nice of the officials of Method Town to set aside a street in my honor. And I'm so delighted by that, but don't you think we now need a day in my honor so that people will know what that street was named for? Do you agree?
[Unidentified]: Yes, we agree.
[SPEAKER_23]: Thank you so much. And if you have any questions you may ask me, otherwise I have to make my way back to the farmhouse. As you may recall, I do have nine children to take care of.
[Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I may, thank you for joining us tonight. And we also named a schoolhouse after you too.
[SPEAKER_23]: You did? Yes, you did.
[Falco]: I graduated from the Sarah Bradley Fulton Elementary School.
[SPEAKER_23]: How wonderful.
[Falco]: Back in the 1970s.
[SPEAKER_23]: When? Oh, yeah, that's very interesting, yes.
[Falco]: Yes, yes, at the top of Fulton Street.
[SPEAKER_23]: Very far, very far.
[Falco]: Many of my aunts and uncles, many of them, they're not with us any longer, but they graduated from that same school back years ago, as did my father.
[SPEAKER_23]: So you live in Medford then?
[Falco]: I do, yes, I do live in Medford.
[SPEAKER_23]: Oh, very nice, very nice.
[Falco]: I actually live on Fulton Spring Road.
[SPEAKER_23]: Oh, you do? There's a Fulton Spring Road now also?
[Falco]: There is, you are correct.
[SPEAKER_23]: Oh, that's wonderful. I must say I'm quite pleased.
[Falco]: But I'm definitely in favor of having a day to recognize you.
[SPEAKER_23]: Thank you so much, sir.
[Falco]: I'm very happy that my colleague, Consular Marks, brought this presentation forward.
[SPEAKER_23]: I want you to thank him very much. Thank you so much. And do come by the farmhouse and we have a wonderful rum punch that we will share with you. Medford rum, of course.
[SPEAKER_09]: Let's see. The story goes that when Judge Washington visits Sarah, that Sarah offered Judge Washington this method punch, and he accepted, correct?
[SPEAKER_23]: He seemed to like it quite a bit, yes. He did indeed. So he was a teetotaler then? Not that night he was. No, no, no indeed, no indeed. Okay, let's move on. Thank you so much, and I must take my leave. Councilor Scalzi.
[Scarpelli]: Oh, yes. Thank you, Ms. Wilk. Maybe you should talk to the mayor. Is that the budget? You're very persuasive. On all serious notes, I think this is a very good resolution. The fact that when you talk about the Mefford history, a lot of people focus on the Brooks estate, the royal house. The focus is really on one side of Mefford. But you realize how important that the north side of Mefford historical sites and landmarks and people that reside in that neighborhood and how important that is. So I appreciate Councilor Marks bringing this forward and I too will support a day named after you.
[SPEAKER_23]: I thank you so much. It's nice to have a woman remembered during the Revolutionary War, because we were there. We may not have been written in the books, but we were definitely helping. And it's so nice of you to acknowledge all of that. And I thank all of you with my heart. Thank you so much.
[Caraviello]: Oh, don't go away. Don't go away. Oh, I have to go.
[Bears]: Not done yet. And I'm happy to let you know, I've been a lifelong resident of the Fulton Heights neighborhood. So the whole area around your former farmhouse, we call the Fulton Heights today.
[SPEAKER_23]: Fulton Heights.
[Bears]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_23]: That's so nice. Yes.
[Bears]: And I fully support this. I think it's incredibly important that we recognize our history. And a little bit, I think, after your first work with the Tea Party, Abigail Adams said, remember the women. So I think it's very apt.
[SPEAKER_23]: She did indeed say that. Right. Remember the women. Right?
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, the theme of the night sponsored by Councilor Mark seems to be remarkable women. So I am all for it, past and present. And I think we need to honor the contributions of many, many more women. So I'm fully in favor of this day and I thank you for coming out.
[Caraviello]: Your mic's off. Pat, the mic and the podium is off. One second, your mic went off, Laura. There you go. The mic's back there.
[SPEAKER_25]: It's a mechanism to speak.
[SPEAKER_23]: I'm so sorry. Yes.
[Caraviello]: Are we all done? No. As president of the council, I thank you for coming down this evening and thank you, Councilor Marks, for putting this forward. And I am in full support of naming a day after you also. So again, thank you for coming here.
[Marks]: Mr. President. If I could, just for the edification of the viewing audience, there's a great story that's on Medford Community Media. You can go on at any time. It's the story of Sarah Bradley Fulton, which is the heroine of the American Revolution. I believe it's 33 minutes long, and it's a great depiction of what Sarah did for not only the city of Medford, or the township of Medford at the time, but also for the entire country, Mr. President. And I think anyone that wants to read up on Sarah or view, I think that would be an excellent idea. I also want to thank, you probably don't know her, Laura Duggan. Who? Laura Duggan. Oh, she is?
[Marks]: She's a local historian that does tremendous work on local access and keeping up with Medford history. And you know, you really should pay a visit to her as well.
[SPEAKER_23]: Well, I'll make a note of that. Thank you very much, sir. Yes, very much. So, okay.
[Caraviello]: On the motion by Vice President Knight. Seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[SPEAKER_07]: Motion is to create the date, Mr. President. Sarah Brown, the full date. Early October of this year, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. We appreciate it. Is that the same rum that Bill Cummings used to sell? What's that? Is that the same rum that Bill Cummings made his fortune on? The method rum? The method punch?
[SPEAKER_23]: Oh, the method rum.
[Caraviello]: The method punch that Bill did?
[SPEAKER_23]: Yes, it's quite tasty. My husband's a distillery, works for the distillery. That's why we had a good supply. And then we use my grandmother's recipe. It's the best. So if you want to visit me on the farmhouse on Fulton Street, I would be delighted to give you a taste. Maybe more, if you're good.
[Hurtubise]: Mr. Clerk, call the roll, please. Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes. Councilor Morell?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. Yes. So moved and seconded the motion. Passenger Sara, thank you very much for coming.
[SPEAKER_23]: Thank you. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: 21-399 offered by Vice President Knight being so resolved that the Medford City Council recognize the American Legion Post 45 for its hard work and dedication in the annual coordination of hundreds of volunteers decorating the final resting place of over 8,500 Methodist veterans in honor of Memorial Day. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I think we'd be remiss in not pointing out the hard work and dedication that our friends at American Legion Post 45 have put forth year after year to ensure that the city of Medford is in compliance with General Logan's order. This year was the the first time we were able to convene since the pandemic. And this is one of my favorite events that we have every year. And I think it's very important, Mr. President, that we point out the hard work that our friends at The Post do. And also a familiar face that was missing this year, John Granara, someone who has led the charge in ensuring that these graves get decorated annually, was someone that used to run our annual Memorial Day ceremonies. He's had some health issues that have rendered him unable to participate in the way that he used to. When I went out to decorate flags with my family, Mr. President, the first person I saw there working out of the trunk of his car was John Granara with a set of maps. a list of names, who the people were, where they're supposed to go, how many graves they're going to be decorating, how much time it's going to take. He'd have chaperones and proctors there to make sure that the work was getting done correctly. Um, even a small little training, uh, before he allowed people to go out to, uh, to, to put flags on veterans graves, Mr. President. Um, so I think it's very important that we point out the work that our friends, uh, have done over there at post 45, um, anytime that the city of Medford calls on them, they're there to deliver. If we remember back just a couple of years ago, we weren't able to have the local elections at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. And the first people to step up were our friends at American Legion Post 45. The veterans in this community are very active, and they deserve to be remembered, Mr. President. And in that regard, I invite here this evening our Veterans Service Director, Mike Durham, to say a few words on behalf of the Memorial Day ceremonies and the efforts that went into getting the city prepared and the cemetery prepared. for that event. So, with that being said, Mr. President, I rest my case and thank my council colleagues. I'd ask them to support the resolution and also offer Mr. Durham an opportunity to speak. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Good evening, Mike. Name and address of the record, please.
[Caraviello]: Tim, Todd, put the mic on. There we go.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_11]: Michael Durham, 85 George P. Hassett Drive. I'm the Director of Veterans Services for the City of Medford. Thank you for inviting me here tonight to say a couple words. I think Vice President Knight knocked it out of the park. The American Legion Post 45 bends over backwards every year to mark those graves. You know, our surrounding communities, Somerville has as little as 12 flags that they have to put down. The average is maybe 500 at most. Medford is close to 9000. We're actually at 8700 this year. And without the dedication of that nonprofit and those key individuals, it couldn't be done the way it is. We don't have the capacity in-house, and they really supplement us every year. They reached out in April, like is normal, just to start the planning process and reach out to the community to get volunteers and coordinate them. And it couldn't be done without those key individuals and that nonprofit. So thank you. That was very well said. If it's okay, may I say a couple words about the 77th anniversary of D-Day? Because that went by on June 6th, and I think it's something that maybe we should say a couple words on. So I jotted down a little speech here. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the 77th anniversary of D-Day and to thank all the World War II veterans living in Medford for what you sacrificed and what you accomplished. You secured the continuation of our freedom as a people, and preserve the existence of democratic governance across the globe. 22,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded on June 6th alone. I had the opportunity to speak with former Command Sergeant Major Rock Marin, who parachuted into France prior to the D-Day amphibious landings with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. He was a private in his company, and by the next day, he was the first sergeant due to losses. He described the fighting as so intense that he and his fellow paratroopers ran out of ammunition that night and resorted to fighting the enemy hand to hand with bayonets in the darkness. He has since passed, and I was lucky to be able to hear his firsthand account of the war. This opportunity is fleeting for our community. There's still a handful of World War II veterans living amongst us. If you know your neighbor is one, stop to speak with them before it's too late to do so. They are truly the greatest generation. The scope and scale of what they accomplished has never been replicated, and hopefully it will never need to be. But that depends on us as a people. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. There are nations and non-state actors across the globe whose ethical foundations are diametrically opposed to our nation's ethical values of liberty, justice, tolerance, and inclusion of all under the law. They will not stop until our nation and way of life has perished from this earth. I have seen this hatred of our nation and of our culture firsthand overseas, and it is unwavering in its commitment to our destruction. We cannot squander what was won by our greatest generation. It's fine to have disagreements and differences of opinion, and that is healthy for our country and our democracy, and competition breeds excellence. However, it is vital to remember that we are all Americans, and we, as a people, have the same fundamental values based off love of liberty and justice. We cannot be blinded by our perceived adversaries when there are so many legitimate and capable foes across the globe who would take advantage of our internal strife. Families fight, but at the end of the day, they're still family, like it or not. Let us honor the sacrifices of our D-Day veterans by remembering that we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. As long as that remains true, their sacrifice will continue to be honored. Thank you very much for inviting me.
[Scarpelli]: So, Durham, I'm going to be honest with you. My children were in the back watching the celebration the other day. And when you typically go to a celebration to honor our veterans, you hear a lot of warm and fluffy stories, and deservedly so. But your speech resignated. And I hope if people can see that, if it's played back, I think it's a true understanding of people like yourself and your colleagues that gave their lives for this country. I think Councilor Falco, myself, when we started in school committee, one of the first things we want to do is bring civics back to our community, back to the city. And what we're seeing is the basic irresponsibility of us as Americans and educators at the time to teach our kids what the flag really means, what the Pledge of Allegiance really means, and why it's so important. and that celebration of the 9000 flags that put that and the work that Mr. Granada has done year after year. I think it's something that has to be honored, cherished and also our Children should be educated because it is important because we don't know where we're going unless we know where we've been. And if people don't understand what our military, what our veterans have done, um, we can't move forward. So I really think that we talked about the separation in our community right now, and I think that's one of the pieces we need to bring together. And I think that your words spoke volumes of why we do what we do here. So I think that I just want to Thank you, and thank you 1,000 times over, not just for your service, but also for the effort that you're putting into making sure that the community and the people of this community understand how important the flag is, what the POW flag means on that pole, and how important it is to this country, and the basic rights that everybody has in this country because of the work that you and your colleagues have done. Thank you so much. We should never forget our veterans. And again, people should really take time to watch a retape of that speech because it speaks volumes. So thank you.
[Knight]: Thank you. Vice President Knight. Mr. President, if we look at our packets this evening under suspension, there's also paper 21405, recognizing June 6th as the anniversary of D-Day and requesting that this evening's meeting be dedicated to the honor of our World War II veterans. And I just ask that these two papers be combined.
[Caraviello]: What number was that, Councilor? 21405. We're going to combine those two. Councilor Pietrangelo, do you want to speak? Yeah.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Director Durham. I want to echo what Councilor Scarpelli said about the words that you, the speech that you gave at our Memorial Day remembrance. And, you know, luckily was able to get part of a transcript, share it out with some people that I know, because I think all too often we forget that we've been in the longest war that we've, you know, this is the longest war we've ever been in the war that we're still fighting right now. And I really also appreciated you bringing to light that there are people coming back who wouldn't have come back before, that, you know, we aren't doing the work to reintegrate them into our society and make sure that they're welcome and they're getting the jobs that they need. So I think that's just a really important thing to put out there. But I also want to acknowledge our World War II veterans. My uncle Bill fought at the Battle of the Bulge. My Grandfather was part of the occupation of Japan and I'm lucky too, that they were historians themselves and they shared those stories with us. And I hope that for the World War II veterans who are still here, people can really hear their stories because that was a fight for the future of the world. And I don't think people really understand what was at stake and what they sacrificed to make sure that we can have elections and we can have democracy and we can have a civil culture where we can have those disagreements. So thank you for the work that you're doing and thank you to post 45 as well for the work that they did to put the flags down.
[Marks]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And I just have to say, Mike, Mike is a pretty intimidating, intimidating person. And you know, when he speaks, Mr. President, I think, as Councilor Scarpelli mentioned, his words really resonate with at least with me and I know with the community. And since he's taken over the Veterans Affairs Office, there's been a renewed interest in this community. And I really mean that. And I think it's partly due because of your interest and your enthusiasm and your ability to speak on behalf of those that can't speak for themselves. You know, when you think about Veterans Day, we hear about the many volunteers and there's a lot of great volunteers that do it without any fanfare. And as the council has mentioned, they'll be out there in the morning. Council Vice President Knight mentioned working out of their trunk and not looking for, you know, to speak to a reporter or get accolades. They're doing it because they believe in it. And they believe that we should recognize those who made the ultimate sacrifice, Mr. President. But Mike not only deals with, you know, putting flags out, Mike deals with veteran benefits all the time. Mike deals with veterans that are suicidal. Mike deals with veterans that are homeless. Mike deals with veterans that have mental illness. There's a host of issues that people probably aren't aware of, but the Veterans Office is out there to assist and assist those in need, Mr. President. And I truly, from the bottom of my heart, want to thank you for your action. as the veteran affairs coordinator, administrator, and whatever we can do as a community, I hope you're very vocal. I hope you come out and let us know what we can do on behalf of the veterans in our community, any way we can assist. It would be helpful to hear directly from you. I appreciate that.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_11]: Thank you very much, Councilor. So you're aware, three years that have been here, we've stopped three veteran suicides, active veteran suicides. Jail diversion is an option for veterans, drug rehabilitation, dozens of people. So these issues exist in the community in great numbers and we are seeing them. A big thank you to the Medford Police Department. because they're constantly assisting me and assisting veterans in those mental health crises and jail diversion. Um, thank you.
[Marks]: I was not aware of that, and I want to thank you. That's that's honorable. Thank you very much. Coach buckle.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank director Durham for all his hard work. I think a lot of people when we're talking about it now, truly do not realize how much work happens in your office and the different programs that are available. And there's a lot of work, a lot of hard work. And I know you're very busy and I thank you for all your hard work and for the speech that you made on Memorial Day. It does resonate with a lot of people. I think it does touch a lot of people and it's important that people hear that. you know, and thank you to, you know, thank you for Council Vice President Knight for bringing the resolution tonight. Thank you Post 45. And it's important that those 8,700 veterans are remembered. And I had the opportunity to, I was actually with Vice President Knight and we did, you know, put the flags down at the cemetery. And it's quite humbling as you walk, you know, among the graves and you're putting them in the ground and it's, you know, literally you have bags and bags of flags, you know, you know, that represent, you know, the many residents that, you know, volunteer, you know, that were in the Army and Navy, Air Force, Marines, and you name it. And in many of them, you know, making that ultimate sacrifice. And when you see that, and you see that the graves and you're walking, you know, row by row, it's, it's amazing that the dedication and commitment to our, to our country into, you know, many of the freedoms that we enjoy today, we have because of that. And you think about the 77th anniversary of D-Day. And I had the opportunity about 20 years ago to visit the D-Day beaches in France. And you walk down the beach and you turn and you see the cliffs in front of you. And you try, I mean, you can't even imagine that people walking into that and all that fire coming off, you know, all the, you know, you know, just, the fire from the machine guns and whatnot coming. I mean, they were just walking into pure hell. And you think about the sacrifice and the commitment that they made. And it's amazing. It's just, I mean, to be there and to see it firsthand, I mean, you see it in the movies, you see it on TV and the different documentaries, but to see it, you hit on the head, the greatest generation. I mean, to make that sacrifice, It's just amazing. And, you know, it is truly the greatest generation. They should be remembered. They'll always be remembered. And you can never thank them enough. And I think, in the end, if you know a World War II veteran, if there's someone in your neighborhood, it's important, I think, that you really talk to them and hear it firsthand, if you can, because the sacrifices that were made, you know, you don't see a lot of that today. And it's really a special generation that will, you know, I think always have a special place, you know, in our country. So I thank you so much for all your time and your effort that you put in day in and day out. I know you don't have an easy job. It is very busy. And I thank you for your commitment to the city. And I thank you for your service. Absolutely. Thank you for having me here tonight. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President, Director Durham, like everyone, every Councilors mentioned your speech on Memorial Day really struck me and stuck with me. And I think you have, you know, I've heard you speak a few times before, and you have such a way of delivering, you know, the commitment, the challenges, the reality of your experience and the experience of many other veterans that I think is really impactful to people and you highlighted unprecedented challenges that are being faced by today's veterans. And I think it's so important as you said that as you're saying now just, you know, the mental health issues and really addressing those the unprecedented on employment crisis, you know, worse than our Vietnam veterans when they were returning so. Highlighting that and the work that we can do today to support today's veterans I think is so essential and I thank you for bringing that up. Both of my grandfathers are Navy were Navy veterans they both passed away and knowing that there's someone like you, helping out people like them in the current generation, I think really means a lot. You know, even just looking at the, the budget narrative and the budget book, the incredible amount of work you do in such a small department, not just for Medford, but beyond beyond is something that is so needed. We're so thankful for and something we should be really proud of. I thank you for raising, you know, talking about Post 45. I live near the cemetery and there is no corner of that cemetery where you don't see those little flags. And I think it really demonstrates just the people of Bedford have fought and, you know, fought for our freedoms in every single war we've been involved in. And the work that Post 45 and the volunteers do to honor that and mark that is so important. And lastly, you know, I thank you for taking the time to really talk about D-Day on the anniversary. It's, you know, what, again, what everyone else said, what more can you say about the greatest generation, but I think it's just tremendous sacrifice. And I think as we talk about the realities of coming home from war today, it maybe gives us a different framing on what people were facing them that maybe didn't get talked about or often didn't get talked about. So I just I thank you for your time. And I thank you for really speaking so eloquently on all those topics.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_11]: Thank you. And thank you for remembering some of the details of my speech. It really moves me that somebody took that away. The Vietnam fact absolutely blew my mind. I couldn't, I had to double check it. I was like, this can't be true. But thank you for remembering that.
[Morell]: Of course.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Mike, 10 years ago, then President Mayarco made me Chairman of the Veterans Subcommittee. And shame to say, I knew very little about what your office did. The following week, I went down there and introduced myself to then Director Ernest Lindsay, who gave me an overview of what the office did, and I got involved. But one of the best things I did, I got involved with a good friend of mine who's probably one of the, both from Post 45, Dominic Marcellino. who set me on a path to do good things for veterans. And over the years, him and I have done some pretty decent projects for the veterans. With him, myself, and other people in the community, we got a house built over for a veteran's family that was on Channel 5. They came down and did a story on it. Mr. Bloomberg, a World War II veteran, who hadn't been out of his house for three years. We found an elevator for the guy for free. And Chad Murphy and those guys, they helped, they put it in. So again, and then you came along, and I've tried to help you out in anything you can do. And again, I thank you for the work that you do. And again, I'm here for you and anything you need from me to continue to serve. Because again, veterans matter in this community. They mattered then, and they matter now, and they'll matter in the future. Again, thank you for your work.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_11]: Thank you very much. Um, if I could say one thing, the, uh, there are VA grants to adapt homes, but sometimes, well, oftentimes they fall short. Um, one off the top of my head, a VA sharp grant. If you're an amputee, They won't adapt your property unless you're a double amputee. So those are the VA rules. Our community has a donation account, and we're able to step in. So if you're watching this on TV right now, and you want to donate, you want 100% of your donation to go to Medford Veterans Only to adapt their homes, buy their medication, bail them out of terrible situations. We do have that here in the city. So contact my office. I can walk you through the specifics. We supplement outside of what the state does and outside of what the federal government does. And we try to take care of our, our veterans and their survivors here in the community. Thank you for all for what you do. I know veterans are proud that, you know, batons in our hands as a nation. as a state, as a community. So now we look to you to provide us the leadership and the mayor to come together as a community and move in the right direction. So thank you for what you do. And my door is always open for any help that's needed in any facets. So thank you for having me here tonight.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mike.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_11]: OK.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you. So on the motion by Vice President Knight to merge 21399 and 210405, second and by. Seconded by Councilor Falco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll to merge the papers.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello. Yes. Seven in favor of the motion passes. On the original motion offered by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli. Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello. Yes, I mean affirmative motion passes. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the Method Chess Club outdoor Riverside Avenue Park Sunday club meetings be discussed. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. We have a unique opportunity, Mr. President, to join with the Method Chess Club, which began over two years ago. And they're looking to restart its Sunday outdoor chess club at the Riverside Ave Park, right on Riverside Ave, Mr. President. And the first chess club meeting is Sunday, June 13. And the club expects anywhere from 20 to 40 people will participate over the next few Sundays, bringing in additional foot traffic, which we all know we need to help assist our local economy and our local businesses. Methodist placed, Mr. President, to become a chess haven. for New England if and when we can get these chess players, the best in New England, to come into our community. But we need a little assistance from the city. And originally when this started a few years back, the city was gracious enough to assist But now the Chess Club would like to move this into a more advanced atmosphere, Mr. President, where we're welcoming people from other communities. We're welcoming the general public. The Chess Club is looking for four new concrete chess tables, Mr. President, to help assist that could be used for multi-purposes, not just for chess. They're looking for three inexpensive sunshades, Mr. President, for a day like today when it's 95, and I'm sure we're going to get some hot Sundays. And they're looking for new two-foot-tall, family-friendly chess pieces. to be available for public use. So this is truly a family type atmosphere, Mr. President, and welcomes all Method residents to come down. And if you don't know how to play chess, there'll be people there to teach you. There'll be ways that you could join the club, Mr. President. There'll be all different ways you can participate. And if you just want to watch a friendly chess game, I happen to love chess. I don't play it often, but I happen to love chess. And it is a great, game, Mr. President, for those to play. They're also looking if the city could pitch in and provide a water spigot on that particular piece of property for larger events. And one person I do want to recognize that got this off the ground and actually got a number of initiatives in this community off the ground. He's always working on some great initiative. It's Chris Donovan, and he happens to be here tonight. And I'd like to ask him if he'd want to just say a few words. He was instrumental in getting this up and running, Mr. President, and know the needs firsthand on how to attract to make this really a mecca for chess, which I think would be a great attraction to our square.
[SPEAKER_22]: Chris Donovan for Lorraine Road. I think Councilor Marksley wasn't prepared for this tonight but it was some some messaging I sent out to the city and an advocate for the chess club which is to me an economic engine social connection for people. It came out of the wonderful Riverside Plaza that they redesigned and put into chess tables on their own. cognizance they put in two chess tables I thought was the initiative to get more people into the square because my real goal is historic tourism in our square and our Salem Street Burying Ground is a fascinating and incredible place and thank you for Laura Duggan and people like that are putting together some of these initiatives to try and bring Medford some notoriety from this great history narrative that we have it's been kind of buried so I appreciate that and again for the Medford Chess Club It was a vehicle because I kept seeing international families walking through Salem Street burying ground, looking, looking, looking, and we have a wonderful memorial to the Royal House and the slave families that were buried there and noted as well as John Brooks, a New Hampshire militiaman, Sarah Bradley Fulton, and many, many more. And it's the vehicle when people come off the highway, it's the first thing that they see. Well, Salem Street, Bearing Ground, Lydia Mariah Child, and Chevalier. We have the opportunity in the next couple of months and years to showcase that to all the people that will be coming through Chevalier. And the Medford Chess Club could be one of those components where as they're coming through, we've had chess sets in some of the storefronts. We have games. We had a simul where one player played 20 different people at the same time in one. We have chess grandmasters around our community that are willing and interested in playing. But the word on the street is it's kind of a difficult place to bring family and friends into Riverside Plaza. So there's a little bit of a safety concern down there sometimes with people coming out of the community. We've had over 10,000 hits on our Facebook page, people from all over the greater Boston community. have come to join us, and they stay. Colleen's has been a fantastic sponsor. Mr. Coffee Roasters, everybody wanted to get involved. Kumon had chess sets in all the different spots, so it was a groundswell of volunteerism. Jack Esley has been one of the mainstays down there, one to three on Sundays, provides chess sets for the community. We'd just like to expand it a little bit more. So thank you for bringing this initiative. I don't know how it develops. Kevin Bailey has been a great helper in the past. they did purchase recently some large size chess pieces which is going to be family friendly fun when they figure out how to bring it down there and keep it safe. So there's a lot of new things coming out from the Medford Chess Club but it is a volunteer ad hoc group but it's an opportunity to bring chess and diversity and inclusion into our square through the families and friends that come are young and old, all colors, all shapes and sizes and they intermingle so beautifully. So thank you for the initiative. We hope so if any of you happen to drive by that Riverside Plaza, you will see on a regular basis that everyone goes to the shady area. It's brutally hot. There's no sunshades at all. So everyone just takes the metal chairs, which are better than the plastic chairs are there. They're really great. The metal and the setup is wonderful. It's just so hot. So everyone goes underneath the shade trees and pulls the chairs there. Why not put four chess sets, four chess tables, still food tables. I see the elderly there in the daytime, multi-use, but it could be redesigned. the way that's being used day to day. So that's the initiative and thank you for bringing it up. I just don't know what direction would group who's gonna foster that, but that's we're trying to do ad hoc, but the tables would be a great investment for the city.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Scalabella. Thank you. Councilor Markswell. but that's gonna be a conduit. I'm gonna make a motion that we ask the director of recreation of the city administration to have the director of recreation reach out to this organization and truly start a partnership because this is what recreation departments do. around the Commonwealth. It's just not the old recreation days where you're doing park league or you're playing games, but it's more now. It's theater driven, it's music driven, it's driven with STEM and chess. So there's so much more we can do. And I think that that's what makes Medford such a great community. There's different avenues. And I think that in Kevin's budget, you're talking about simple pieces that even right now you're looking at a few tents that they probably already have, you know, that they can set up for tournaments all the way down the line, you know, chess tables, chairs that are comfortable. If it gets big, why wouldn't we close off that area of Medford Square and celebrate it? Why don't we do it, you know, in my community, I work and we had a group come in and we were doing tango. We realized tango blew up. So we decided to close off an area of Union Square and we started the biggest tango event in the neighborhood. And that's now triggered another aspect of what our community can do. So this is Medford, and if that's a piece that people love, I think we should celebrate it. And again, I think it's the person that's got to bring that together has to be our director of recreation. I've talked to Kevin multiple times. Kevin's a great resource. We love Medford Square, but why wouldn't we do something at Wright's Pond? Why wouldn't we do something at Tufts pool, let's, if it's something that's, you know, creates revenue and generates, we have different areas that we open up for restaurants, you know, in the street, safety is an issue. We look at certain times that we do something special for chess activity that we can really celebrate in the community. And that brings, like we said, that brings people into the stores. That brings people that play into the restaurants.
[SPEAKER_22]: Colleen's is booked on Sundays regularly. It's filled with just our chess players as a regular thing. And when we have different events, it's really, again, 20, 40 people, always different, always changing. And Kevin Bailey has been a wonderful asset to this community. He's really been interested in any opportunities.
[Scarpelli]: But this is great. This is coming from a resident. We have a communications director who's amazing. She's done great things. She can do great things. Why wouldn't we partner with the communication department, the recreation department, and really start something at Groundswell that we started, you know, we all celebrated, didn't we? We talked about Chris Donovan and starting the chess program. We first opened Riverside Park and this is great. And then, you know, the ink dried and everybody forgot. So this is something that's sustainability wise, we really need to get the recreation department involved. So my recommendation would be to reach out to the administration, that they can. contact Mr. Donovan and the Method Chess Organization so we can really assist in what they really do. I know everybody was talking about budget time, everybody gets nervous, but this is low-hanging fruit.
[SPEAKER_22]: This is something that- And one, maybe a communication to the DPW, this water spigot's down there and the grass is starting to fade and we waited so long for it to kind of come up. If we can just get them to turn it on regularly and make that part of the routine, because people are hanging out under those trees. It's beautiful, but it's gotten to get run down a little bit. So a little push from a DPW would be a great as well. Thank you all. Thank you. Councilor.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And so if I could amend the resolution just to have the DPW look into the water spigots to see if they're working correctly just so we can hopefully save that grass if it's possible. But I also want to thank Mr. Dunn for all his hard work and collaborating with Medford Recreation and with the business community. That's- Yes, absolutely. It's great to see that you're going from business to business, and actually they have chess sets, I think you said, in each of the- I think we've had a dozen people donate chess sets, and they went to different restaurants.
[SPEAKER_22]: We pull them all back in, but we were trying to make it available everywhere for free, and then swap them ad hoc as we could, but that was really, the businesses dove into it.
[Falco]: And it's great. It's great to see that I give you a lot of credit. I know you do this in your own time. And I think that that commitment is really something special that, you know, more and more people get that that just go out and try to do things on their own and try to, you know, make, you know, just make improvements wherever they can. It's great to see Riverside Plaza being occupied and being used. I've gone by a few times and I've seen people playing chess and that's always good to see people sitting and enjoying the space. I do have one concern. You had mentioned briefly something about safety. Can you comment a little bit on that?
[SPEAKER_22]: Some people are concerned about the environment down there. There's a lot of yelling and arguing and fighting from different people there, and it's uncomfortable. But we've had a good success at Colleen's because of the heat. Again, go to Colleen's. get a break away from the heat, and it's not that situation. So when we are down at the plaza, there is some kind of extracurricular craziness kind of going on there that's noted in the community. So have someone maybe sort of check in. We're planning on Sundays, but it may change according, if we don't get the weather figured out, people are looking just to be cool when they come down. But we've really had the most diverse intellectual group of people I've ever met down the square from all countries, all races, all, And they've heard about it, and they've come to that point. And I think if we develop it a little bit more, it will turn into the new Harvard Square.
[Falco]: Thank you. If I may amend the resolution again, Mr. Donovan, thank you for that feedback on that. But as far as the safety goes, if we can amend the resolution to have, could you send the Metro Police just increase patrols in that area, maybe just to make sure that People, I don't want people to feel that they can't go and enjoy the park.
[Caraviello]: I mean, I've been by the, I understand what Mr. Donovan is talking about.
[SPEAKER_22]: Especially with this family friendly chess set that's going to be out there soon. It's going to be a joy, but we just don't want it broken. Do we leave it out for the public? Is it coming in on a time schedule?
[Scarpelli]: So that's not difficult to do. So that's a good recommendation to take that contract.
[Knight]: Point of information on that, Mr. President as well. Mr. President, when we voted to repurpose Riverside Plaza, one of the things we did was we turned Riverside Plaza into a parkland. And the reason we turned Riverside Plaza into a parkland was so that we had the opportunity to permit it.
[SPEAKER_17]: Correct.
[Knight]: So I think this could be something that's as simple as being taken care of with a permit as well.
[Scarpelli]: Right, without recreation. because they can enforce, if I can, Mr. President, I take point of information with that. The big reason was that they couldn't enforce a public, an open area, but because it's classified as a park now, we can now, they can police that a little bit different. We have a little power with that, so.
[SPEAKER_22]: We'd welcome them at the chess table too.
[Scarpelli]: Unless they win.
[Caraviello]: Thank you all. Thank you. Council Member Rowe. Council Member Rowe.
[Morell]: I also think just point of, I guess, parliamentary procedure, since this came under suspension, we can't vote on it tonight. It would have to be submitted another meeting to vote on it since it just came under suspension. It wasn't under the agenda.
[Caraviello]: I'm fully in favor of it, but just... Of course, do those tables have holes in it for umbrellas? Say that again? Do those tables have holes for umbrellas? They don't, but an umbrella, simple umbrella for the summertime could solve. No, if there was a hole in the middle where you can put a leaf, there's no hole in it.
[SPEAKER_22]: Yeah. beautiful ones that some of these developments, they're just spectacular. Some of these umbrellas- So you're looking for like a pop-up tents? A sunshade is just a tarp over connected to a couple of poles, just to break up the heat. But you all know if you kind of sit down there at midday, it's brutal. It's brutal, there's no break from it. A couple of shade trees are coming, but they're five, 10 years away from that. But whatever this administration's suggestion would be, I just may see them commercially, it's pretty common. But we'll get more people in the Riverside Air Plaza midday. Whether it be chess or not.
[Morell]: I did have one question. Also, I have a sunshade. I will happily donate if it is needed. I'm just curious, have you guys, I know you said you guys have a lot of interest already, a lot of people engaged. Have you seen an increase in people reaching out since everyone was trapped inside watching the Queen's Gambit and like buying the chess then?
[SPEAKER_22]: I think if you build it, you'll come. People see it. It's on different social media sites, and it's something to do. It's an activity. And again, you would be surprised at where people come from to come and find other chess players to do that. And then families of middle schools are getting involved. The high school has a program. Medford's not involved in the scholastic tournament, which is called the Spiegel Cup, which is the state's championship. It's not even on the radar in Medford. And I go to other cities. It's part of their curriculum. It's part of their programming. So we'd love to just kind of bring Medford into the fold with some of that. So we do include families and reach out, but it's mostly social media and word of mouth right now.
[Morell]: And thank you so much for coming out to just kind of explain some of the challenges, but also some of the exciting stuff coming up. Thank you.
[Knight]: Mr. President, I'd like to amend Councilor Caraviello's recommendation also to request that the Recreation Department apply for a determination of eligibility grant from the Community Preservation Committee to see if there's a funding mechanism available there. Every so often, we have the ability to apply to determine if we're eligible for certain projects. And this might be either through the Chess Club or through the Recreation Department or in partnership, file a joint application with the Community Preservation Commission and see if you're eligible for funds through that.
[SPEAKER_22]: that we're an informal ad hoc group. So anything I think would be done through the city, but thank you, but there's no mechanism for receiving funds, so to speak, but.
[Knight]: Well, no, I mean, it's just an application to see if the city would perform the project per se, you know what I mean? And you guys could propose the project in partnership with the recreation department. The recreation department would be the one that promotes the plan and then the oversight and stuff would be handled through. whoever the project manager is that gets assigned to the project. I don't think this is going to be something that's overly expensive. I mean, you know, a couple of tables and a tent. I don't think we're looking for rocket science over here to make sure the water works. You know what I mean? So if the funding is a problem, I know we got a lot of money coming in from this ARAPA that they're talking about. Maybe that money can be used for that as well. But I think that, you know, the community preservation grant would be a great opportunity for you to plant a seed and then build upon it, let it grow, water it, because if it works once, it's going to work twice in a different location, work a third time in a fourth location. So I think it might be worth pursuing. So with that being said, I'd just like to add that as an amendment to the council's recommendation.
[Caraviello]: Any further questions? So on the motion by Councilor Marks, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Falco twice and Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Falco.
[SPEAKER_09]: to put this on the next week's agenda. So moved.
[Morell]: Because this was under suspension.
[SPEAKER_09]: It was offered under suspension.
[Caraviello]: Okay. All right. So Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marks]: I think it's just a table of, yeah. I almost put it on the age of recommendations tonight, but I was told to make recommendations because the president went out of me. you know, someone from the administration's watching this meeting, we made a number of recommendations and we wouldn't need a formal vote, but if, you know, we can take a formal vote next week.
[Hurtubise]: I can, Councilor Marks, I can put it on with all the amendments, put it right on the agenda with all the amendments. That's fine, that's fine. And then it'll be tracked. Yeah, that's fine.
[Caraviello]: We'll take a formal vote next week? Yeah. Okay. Chris, thank you very much for your service.
[Hurtubise]: Thank you, Chris.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. 21389 offered by Councilor Scapelli, be resolved in the Medford City Council requested administration. Mr. President, I would hate to drop to just withdraw that motion.
[Scarpelli]: I think that resolution, I think the, my absence last week, a lot has been done. It looks like the chambers is open for business and we're moving on to some sort of normalcy. So thank you.
[Caraviello]: Okay. 21398 offered by Councilor Markswell. Whereas City Clerk Kirby's three-year appointment by the Medford City Council ends September 1, 2021, be it resolved that the Medford City Council meet in the Committee of the Whole to discuss the reappointment of the City Clerk. Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Marks]: As we all know, when we hired Clerk Kirby, that we gave him a three-year appointment. That appointment is coming up this September, September 1st, to be precise. And I think where we have so much going on with budgetary and so forth, I would respectfully request that we meet Mr. President and the committee of the whole within the next week or two. Next Tuesday night. Next Tuesday night, that's perfect to discuss the reappointment of the city clerk, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Scapelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in favor, motion passes. And we will discuss this on Tuesday before the budget at six o'clock p.m. 2-1-4-1 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council and the city administration provide a monthly written report regarding the expenditure of the approximately $37 million allocated to the city of Medford through the American Rescue Plan Act. Be it further resolved that this report include a breakdown of spending in the four main categories of eligible expenses. One, response to the public health emergency or its negative economic consequences. Two, revenue replacement, three, investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, and four, provision of premium pay to eligible workers. Be it further resolved that the senior administration outline any process underway to encourage public input into the use of the ARPA funds. Councilor Baerz.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I mean, I think most of the resolution speaks for itself. The funds coming to the city from the American Rescue Plan Act are a significant investment from the federal government and the city representing almost a quarter of an annual budget that we would pass in a year. And I think we should have a clear accounting from the administration as to how they're spending those funds, that they're being spent within the, how they're being spent within the four for main categories of eligible expenses per the Department of the Treasury. And I think something that many communities are doing with this money, or at least with a portion of it, is having a public input process to determine what are the needs that the public would like to see this money expended on. And I'd really like to hear from the administration if they are planning to engage in any sort of public process around this funding and what Medford residents would like to see it spent on. I do have one amendment for the clerk after the words city of Medford in the first paragraph, and you can let me know when you're ready. And it would be, and any additional funds provided as part of the Middlesex County allocation. And that amendment reflects the 37 million is what was allocated directly to the city of Medford, but because we do not have a county government, we will also be getting a portion of the funds allocated to Middlesex County. So I just wanted to make sure that that was part of this.
[Caraviello]: Okay, the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by? Second by Councilor Falco.
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Just if I could, and I am supportive of this, Mr. President. The question I had was I was approached by a number of first responders in our community stating that there was also grant money available for those that worked as first responders during the pandemic. And I would respectfully amend this to ask if the city has filed for any grants that would be out there for increasing salary for first responders during the pandemic. I know there's money in this particular narrative, but there's also other funds out there that other communities, Mr. President, are applying for. And I would hate to see us not apply on behalf of our police, fire and EMS. Mr. President. Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I could just, I believe that those grants are separate from the 50 million that would come to the city. There are additional money we can apply for. So I just want to make that, you know, Because they very well could possibly use the money within here around premium pay as well. So I think we should apply for the additional grants. Hopefully we can have even more money coming into the city. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: So on the motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Falco, as amended by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Marks. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco?
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks?
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Morell?
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Scarpelli?
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: President Caraviello? Yes. 7 in favor of the motion passes. 21400 offered by Vice President Knight being so resolved that the Medford City Council extended steep and sincere condolences to the family of Ralph Scopa on his recent passing. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. For those of us who know Mr. Skoper, he was a retired city employee from the city of Medford, a longtime Medford resident, very active in both our community and in politics, Mr. President, and was a devout supporter of President Emeritus. Robert Amiako, I can remember standing at the Columbus School holding a sign with Mr. Scopa on one of the coldest days. He must have been 80 years old and he was there from the minute the polls opened until the minute the polls closed, Mr. President. An unbelievable campaigner, just an all-around good guy. And he's going to be sadly missed in this community. He was someone who put his money where his mouth and wasn't afraid to go volunteer, was someone that would go out there and get behind the candidate that he loved and supported as opposed to crying and complaining on the internet. He was a throwback to the old days and just a good person, Mr. President, that dedicated a lot of his life to the city. So I ask that he be remembered this evening.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Scappelli. Thank you, Vice President Knight bringing this forward. I think the scope of family, again, fits that mold that we've been talking about this past year. And it's been a tough year. It's the people that unselfishly given themselves to this community, no matter what, no questions asked. I remember there were concerns when I was overseeing the recreation department years ago, when it was just a summer program, that the traffic and the safety of the people going to Tufts pool They were in jeopardy, but unfortunately it was tough times financially. Well, the Scopa family, if you know Mr. and Mrs. Scopa, they made sure that that area was safe for everybody. And they tell you too, that they then took their passion of Medford, they moved out to the high school and started making sure they always saw the high school on the grounds when it's being rented. And I still remember in the school committee talking about security in Medford. I said we don't need security in Medford when you have bulldogs like the Scopus because that passion and love in Medford really shines. So again, I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward, Vice President Knight bringing this forward. And again, It's the challenge to our community who picks up that torch from the scope of family and then carries on that tradition of community and unselfishness and pride that the scope of family has shown. So we appreciate everything they've done, and he will be missed for sure. So thank you.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. As my colleague stated, Ralph Scopa was a dedicated employee for many years in this community. I believe three decades. And, you know, he treated every street, every road, every area of this community like it was his backyard. And really, when Councilor Scarpelli and Vice President Knight talk about him, he really had Medford pride. And that's shown right through him, Mr. President. And, you know, I think in this day and age, you know, it's nice to have people to step up and say, you know, I care about this community. Even though he was a city employee, he did many other facets in this community. It wasn't just regarding his DPW service. He stepped up to the plate each and every time. And the Scopa family truly are one of the great families in this community. And Ralph will be sorely missed, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you.
[Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I remember Mr. Scopa from my days working for the city as a teenager in high school, and I remember his dedication, his commitment, and the dedication and commitment of the whole family. And my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, and he will be missed. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. And myself, you know, I think Councilor Monk said it right. Ralph took care of the city like it was his own house, or his own yard. And again, you saw him everywhere, a dedicated employee, again, another icon of community that has since passed away. So on the motion by Vice President Knight. Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Vice President Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Please rise for a moment of silence. 2-1-4-0-2, offered by Councilor Bez, be it resolved by the Medford City Council and that the administration urgently outfit the Alden Chambers, Richard Lee Room 201, City Council Office Room 207, and at least One other public meeting room at Medford High School with the technology upgrades needed to maintain remote participation via Zoom and public meetings on a permanent basis. Be it further resolved that the city administration provide additional staff training or other resources needed to allow the City Council School Committee and any and all other city boards and commissions to conduct meetings with remote participation on a permanent basis. Be it further resolved that these urgently needed technology and infrastructure upgrades are eligible for use on the ARPA funds based on treasury department guidance. Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. As I think, I was hoping Councilor Scarpelli's resolution we'd talk a little bit about first. We do have a lot of bodies and boards and commissions and the school committee and city council coming back into this right now, just this room as it's the only room outfitted for a hybrid meeting to allow participation by the public remotely. I think we've seen the great advantages that's had in terms of engagement. and people being able to attend our public bodies. And, you know, we still have many immunocompromised people, people under the age of 12 and other folks who can't access vaccines who are still going to need to be able to access all of our public meetings. So the intent of this resolution is to really push the city administration to make sure that this is not the only space where we can have a Zoom hybrid meeting with the body meeting in person and members of the public participating remotely. I have spoken with Patrick Gordon from Medford Community Media about the, you know, intense amount of work that goes into just making this room work with the current technology that we have. But we also talked about there being technology out there or at least partially out there that would allow rooms like room 201, room 207 or the room at the high school where the school committee often meets to have the hybrid technology needed to allow these meetings to function more smoothly. I've also reviewed the treasury department guidance and spoken with the city administration and they agree that the ARPA funding, which does allow for technological upgrades, this would qualify under that. So really just trying to put, you know, fire under the administration to get this done. One of the concerns that I know is out there is that now everybody is trying to get this technology. It's the same issue we faced last year when we were trying to set this room up for hybrid meetings. So we really need to get the funding out the door and make sure that Medford Community Media is able to set this up and that there are folks who are adequately trained to run these meetings going forward. And that's the intent of the resolution. Thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think Councilor bears are introducing this and I fully support this resolution. I talked with representative Garber Lee today and I believe because this is this permanent zoom participation or remote participation is something that Governor Baker is interested in. Representative Garber Lee said it's something that they're actually going to be taking up this week so legislation may be coming out so I think it makes perfect sense to try to get ahead of this and really outfit our spaces to enable people to engage in this way that I think it says in our budget book that community participation in public meetings went up 300 to 400 percent during the pandemic and with the ability to dial in via zoom and you know to the to the groups of people that Councilor bears mentioned but also just people that you know are in caregiving positions don't have childcare, can't come out to city hall, just making sure we're doing everything we can to keep this remote participation option. So I just want to say, please support that. And I think we're just trying to be ahead of the curve at this point, because I think it is something that is, it's coming.
[Knight]: On this piece with the state legislation, are we aware if there's any funding attached to this or if this is going to be an unfunded mandate that will go through the legislature?
[Caraviello]: When I came in, Pat had mentioned that there is a bill going through the state house currently right now. I don't know if there's any funding that attached. I didn't see the actual bill. There's no money in that bill.
[Knight]: May it be so bold as to make the suggestion that we send this to a director of community media to come up with maybe a cost estimate as to what this will cost to retrofit these rooms. If we're really serious about it, we got to know what it costs before we go any further than that. Find out what it costs, put out an RFP or something, you know, but. So you want to amend that? I mean, I think that that's probably the, if we want it to happen, that's probably the way to go about it, in my opinion.
[Caraviello]: community media come up with some type of cost estimate
[Scarpelli]: Scott. So I know I appreciate council and I was going to say the same thing. I think that what we did realize is that through the pandemic, you know, the difficult what was what was difficult for some people was a success for other people. So to get people involved to support it, I, you know how I feel. I'm a strong supporter of making sure that the first priorities in person meetings but having that option, making sure that it's cost efficient. And I think sending that to Patrick and as a professional coming back to us and telling us what it looks like and even and that's a little homework to council bears. And I know that the software that's needed really isn't developed truly yet, but seeing what other avenues we can we can work with to make this happen. So I would support, I appreciate your resolution, but I would support Councilor Knight's motion that we get a report from Mr. Gordon, so we can move forward with some teeth and that's it.
[Knight]: Thank you. Also, Mr. President, I know that there are certain criteria outlined in the open meeting law relative to remote participation that, you know, may need to be looked at by our boards and commissions should they wish to adopt this measure in the form of probably a training because I know that there are certain steps that need to be taken by the public body in order to authorize such should the state legislation not pass.
[Bears]: Yeah. And I did talk to Patrick around the cost estimate. Patrick was able to ballpark it for me. I said, is this going to be a million dollars? He said, absolutely not. He said 500,000. He said less than that. So just in terms of a ballpark, tens of thousands of dollars, it seems to be just so. Oh, that's good. Yeah. And I'm fine asking Patrick to provide a cost estimate. If we could do that at the same time that we're telling the city administration that this is important to us, I think that would be valuable. So that's just my own request. Councilor Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilor Villes for bringing this forward. One of the things I'd also like to know is, you know, in addition to a cost estimate, I mean, how long is it going to take to get all of this in place? And the reason why I ask is I know I worked with Patrick when I was president of the council and I knew it took a lot of time, effort and energy just to set this up. And I'm sure it's probably perfected it by now, but it'd be good to just get an estimate as to how long that will take. So if I could add that as an amendment, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
[Bears]: Sure. And just if I may, that's part of the intent here. It will take time. The more cities and towns around us that start to do it, the more time it'll take. So if we can be out front, I think that's good for us in the long run.
[Caraviello]: Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: You know, what's crucial to make this work is in-house training as well. And I know that's part of the resolution. You know, to me, tens of thousands of dollars to set this up doesn't sound like a realistic, you know, and we haven't seen anything that doesn't sound realistic. This is going to take far more staff than we currently have. And when you add in all the boards, the 40, 50-odd boards and commissions that meet, along with the council and the school committee, you're not going to have one person like Patrick running all this. You're not going to have two people, Mr. President. You're probably going to need a half a dozen people to be actively involved. And I'm just throwing that number out there. This is a much larger endeavor than just tens of thousands. I think you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars to have this established, Mr. President. It's something we need to look at. We're going to be discussing budget soon. If we're serious about that, then maybe that's the time to have the discussion as well during budget. We just found out what our authority is as a council, Mr. President. And if this is not an item that's currently within the maids budget, and I don't remember seeing it in the budget we just received yesterday, that we can add this as a line item, Mr. President, if need be. So if this is something we're interested, we can definitely have it added as long as we have the facts.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Any further discussion? So on the motion by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Falco, and as amended by Councilor Knight, and Councilor Oosterhof, do you have an amendment too? No. OK, seconded by? Seconded. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in the affirmative, the motion passes.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hearings.
[Caraviello]: 2-1-0-1-8, Councilor. 2-1. 2-1-0-1-8. The motion by Vice President Knight. on this suspension. 21018, amendments to the revised ordinances personnel. It's eligible for its third reading. Excuse me, sorry, it's taken its third reading already, correct?
[Hurtubise]: No, it's taken first reading, it's been advertised.
[Caraviello]: So this is the third reading, am I correct? Yes. So on the motion by Vice President Knight to let this take its third reading, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. I can't hear you with the mask. I don't know.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Yes.
[Marks]: Yes. Yes. Mr. President, while we're under suspension, we have members of the public that would like to speak on the public participation.
[Caraviello]: Okay. The public participation. Okay. Public participation, who would like to speak? Good evening, name and address of the director, please.
[Penta]: My name is Robert Penta, Zero Summit Road, former member of the circus party. I'd like to read a three-page prepared commentary that I find and feel to be very important. It's a message from Memorial Day to Flag Day, and it's a commentary to our Medford residents. Memorial Day, why is my speakers off? Memorial Day was never intended as a celebration to remind us of the ugliness and the ravages of war, but rather to honor in some solemn observance, our men and women, their survivors, and our allied comrades who sacrificed their lives to protect our liberty and our freedoms here at home and around the world. Likewise, our Flag Day observance on June 14th is but an annual reminder of some 244 years ago when the Second Continental Congress, along with George Washington, took a break from their writing of the Articles of Confederation to establish a standard bearer to be the unifying symbol of our colonial fighting forces and for our freedom. As our fledgling nation was moving forward in its quest for its independence, that is how Old Glory was commissioned to be our American flag. From Memorial Day remembrances of lives given up to protect our America, to the flag day birth of old glory, both symbolizing the embodiment of our right of free speech, we are here today. But in the interim of many years, what has happened to our country, state, and local cities and towns nationwide, especially over the past 30 years in particular? When the politically correct crowd of progressives and liberals began complaining that our public displays of patriotism is offensive to others, and we have to back off such displays, and that we are a systematically racist country as well as a city, and that we need to practice cancel culture, wokeness, defund the police, teach systematic race theory, and being a white supremacist, and accept revisionary history as history's new truth, I take offense to such broad universal commentaries, especially by Washington politicians and self-serving proclaimed educators who have made their living by espousing race as their financial and social calling card for more than the past 20 years. With crime running at an all time high, illegal immigration crossing our borders, causing ongoing social welfare, educational, security, and uncontrollable medical problems, we have now become the victims of today's liberal and progressives agenda of inclusion without requirement or responsibility. Also, if God offends anyone, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because our good God is part of our American inheritance of religious freedoms secure from governmental intervention. And if our American stars and stripes offend you, or you do not like or believe in our Uncle Sam, and you don't have the tolerance for free speech, then you should seriously consider exporting yourself to another country. In conclusion, Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his or her opinion. But for those who complain, whine, or gripe, or dislike our American way of life, as well as our city of Medford way of life, don't let the door slam you as you leave, because you do have the right and the opportunity to leave. We are not a perfect society. but there is no other country that offers more freedoms than our America. So from a Memorial Day remembrance to a Flag Day observation, let not our freedom of thought, speech, and expression ever be challenged by some ideology that bears no fruit but hatred, division, and racism. Thank you and let our method never be a part of any such movement or agenda. I felt Mr. President and Councilors, I had to say that because after being at the Memorial Day service and listening to our veterans director emotionally present before our community that for which a veteran is all about. I feel as an American. I am a white Italian American. I'm proud of it. I am not a racist, and I don't intend to be a racist. I encompass anyone and everyone who wishes to express their opinion, and I would hope that our city of Medford does not go down any path that disrespects the fact of who we are as individuals. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. The gentleman from uh, east medford would like to speak.
[Castagnetti]: Mr. Castagnetti Yes Councilor. Can you hear me? Councilor president? I can hear you Thank you very much Um, I just wanted to ad lib a few words. I wanted to go back in the meeting and thank The director of the veterans affairs for his wonderful words of of thankfulness to our veterans usa and because of them we still uh speak the English language mostly, and also we still have the Constitution and I believe first, second amendments and more. Hopefully we have all of them in place. Also, he was very well spoken. He wrote a great speech. He sounded good at Memorial Day at Oak Grove last Monday, and it's great to hear someone of his stature speak up for these veterans, including my father. And come to think of it, I don't recollect President Biden talking on Memorial Day, anything to this effect to thank our veterans. And I want to thank Mr. Durham, especially. Thank you all, Councilors.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Any further discussion on this? Hey, uh,
[Giglio]: Good evening, name and address of the record, please. Bill Giglio on Winthrop Street. So I am both saddened and upset that the high school, that at the high school, the POW MIA flag at the front entrance has been replaced with a rainbow flag. The POW MIA flag represents over the 87,000 soldiers who have still never made it home while protecting this great country. While the rainbow flag represents someone's sexuality they get to enjoy the freedoms that these same soldiers fought for. I wrote to the entire school committee, the mayor and the superintendent on this, and I only heard back from one of them. I do realize that you guys as a committee have no say on what flies on the flagpoles at the high school, but I'm just using this platform just to use my voice to whomever makes the decisions to please do the right thing and put back the POW MIA flag. One of the suggestions from the person I did hear back from was that another flagpole would be needed to correct the situation. Well, it's a good thing they were in luck because there was an empty flagpole sitting in the courtyard with zero flags flying from it. So I don't know if the committee can do anything about it, but I just find it totally disrespectful that on May 31st, we had a great celebration. June 1st, that POW flag came down and another flag was put up. And before anyone thinks anything about me, just because it's a rainbow flag, that's not the case. Like I said, there was an empty flagpole in the courtyard. There's zero flags flying from it. I really don't think the POW flag should ever come down. And this is probably the third year in a row that this, that the flag, the POW flag has been replaced by the rainbow flag. There's many other flags out there that would never be hung. You know, we just lost two officers over the weekend and a thin blue flag would never, the thin blue flag represents foreign officers. A thin blue flag would never be hung on any of those poles at the high school. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Any further discussion in public? You have a new topic you want to speak on? You have a different topic? Okay.
[Richard Orlando]: Yeah, come on up.
[Caraviello]: Good evening. Name and address of the record, please.
[Richard Orlando]: My name is Richard Orlando, 13 Winford Way. I wanted to just update you because I know on May 18th, you had a number of people who spoke on a subject, which typically would be the responsibility of the school committee. But this body was gracious. I think Michael Marx, uh, pointed out that this is a venue for the public to speak. And it was good discussion, different opinions, but discussion was had last night. I attended the school committee meeting. Um, and there were a lot of people there who I believe wanted to continue that discussion. The meeting started after about a 30 minute executive session. It then proceeded for approximately three hours. There were programs, um, the strategic plan for the school, some proposals for software, for personnel, et cetera, all of those things, all worthy topics. But the discussions went on, excuse me, for about three hours. And as you can imagine, the people in the audience, as time progressed, began thinning out. There were a number of people still left, myself being one of them. As the meeting got past the three hour point, There was a brief discussion on a controversial subject we've heard in the community about the Columbus school. It was a brief discussion on forcing a vote next week at the school committee meeting on the 14th. Immediately after that, the mayor and school committee adjourned the meeting without opening up the session for public participation. As you can imagine, I was dumbfounded. And there were people who, the few people that were still there were very frustrated, but the meeting was ended. And we heard certain explanations from protocol point of view and so on, but I just wanted to give you an update. And I think just for you to understand the plight of people who want to speak on issues regarding our schools and school committee, that they're really not being heard or allowed to speak. And that's very sad, given what we've just heard about America, freedom of speech, and things of that nature. So thank you very much.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Anything else on the public discussion? We haven't got that far yet. And no more public discussion.
[Marks]: OK. Mr. President. Council Max. Just if I could, and I think I'm obligated to say something on behalf of the residents of this community. I appreciate knowing Rick Orlando for a lot of years. I know Rick as a level-headed person, someone that speaks his mind, Mr. President, but also equally listens and hear what other people have to say. And it's very disheartening, Mr. President, when you have a resident that's been in this city for a number of years, active in so many aspects of this community, that feels that his voice is being left out of a process. especially a process, Mr. President, of a public body. That really, really enrages me, Mr. President. I understand they have rules and regulations, and they can follow, Mr. President. But when a resident comes up to the podium, whether it's school committee, city council, board of commissions, every resident should have the right, the taxpayer, to ask a question, Mr. President, of their elected officials or their appointed bodies, whether they're boards or commissions. Everyone has a right to do it respectfully, Mr. President. And to cut out people, to not allow them to speak because they may be saying something you don't want to hear is an outright disgrace, Mr. President. An outright disgrace. And that's what's happened for the past year with this circus that's going on in this community that's dividing us, Mr. President. I've never seen so many executive sessions in all my 26 years of elected office in this community. What's the cloak of secrecy that's going on that you need that many executive sessions, Mr. President? That's what the discussion should be about. If you feel strongly about an issue, own up to it, and also allow people to talk. It's when you run from an issue, Mr. President, that makes people believe something's going on that's rotten. And that's what people believe in this community, whether it's true or not. And I don't want to be part of that. And anyone that wants to come up to this podium, whether I agree or not, they have the right to do so. And if we have to take hours like we've done in the past to listen to people, that's what we're here for. And the school committee should be doing the same thing. Shame on all of them, all of them, the whole bunch, for not allowing someone standing up and allowing people to speak at a meeting. And not even a common courtesy, Mr. President, when you know there's a number of people on the same issue, to make them wait three or four hours. Shame on them, Mr. President. The people have the right to speak. And they should have the common dignity to say, we have a lot of people on an issue here, let them speak at the beginning of the meeting. Because Mr. Orlando is 100% correct. That's just an attempt to stifle people and weed people out, Mr. President. Shame on them. And people that show up to a meeting, we just talked about tonight, about having Zoom and the increased participation on Zoom. What about the participation when someone shows up at a meeting? Physically takes the time and comes down, and you don't want to hear them.
[Hurtubise]: That's all I have to say, Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. Good evening. Hold on. Thank you. Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. Through the chair, thank you, Councilor Marks. Last night's performance by the school committee was abhorrent. It was terrible. It was disrespectful that we people sat out here to make a point. Nobody was going to get crazy or yell or scream or anything. We had questions. We had suggestions. We needed to know. We were read the public participation guidelines, and then they went right to this other agenda. for over three hours. What an embarrassment this school committee is. I hope in the fall that they're all replaced. Thank you. Any further public participation?
[Caraviello]: Thank you. All right. 21-404 offered by President Caraviello. Being so resolved, the Medford City Council will discuss the report submitted by Traffic Engineer in regards to high street, it'd be a further resolve that the traffic engineer and city engineer be available to discuss the issue. We have Tim McGiven I see on the call here and we have Todd Blake. Todd, you would issue a report that I had sent to the other Councilors and if you'd like to go over that report and explain it to them, I'd really appreciate it. Mr. Clerk, can you unmute Todd, please?
[Todd Blake]: Sure, thank you for having me.
[Caraviello]: Thank you for coming. Yeah, Todd, you would send me a report and I in turn forwarded it to the other councillors. If you could give us a brief synopsis on that, it'd be appreciated.
[Todd Blake]: Yep. So it's my understanding that there have been some concerns about safety perhaps and the ability for trucks and others to make navigate the new turns on High Street, particularly at Woburn Street but maybe at the other end sections as well. And I had reached out, based on those concerns, reached out to MassDOT and their consultants who designed the project to confirm that all the maneuvers at all the intersections, including Woburn at High, will be able to accommodate trucks. Specifically at Woburn and High, WB40 trucks, which are typically know the typical size semi-trailer and then all the other intersections fire trucks and SU30s would be accommodated. SU30 is a term engineers use for kind of a standard box truck. It's a 30-foot truck, but the typical box truck you would see delivering a lot of types of goods. And those turns will be able to be made at times. You might have to encroach onto the oncoming lane in certain situations on the side streets, not on the major street. So I do want to reassure the council and residents that these maneuvers can be made with the current design. I know it may not appear that way now just because it's still somewhat under construction. So after the curb was set and the drums were there, once it's finally paved and finally marked, it may become more clear. The yellow line on High Street, is currently the old yellow line. So once the new final markings are there, that yellow will shift over a little bit and it will become more apparent.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. I know the fire chief had gone by there yesterday to take a look, see if he thought the fire trucks could make it through. I didn't hear back from him, but I have heard from waste management, they're saying they're having a hard turn. I had time making that turn on the Woburn Street also. So again, in a 10-mile department, I understand what the actual intent of it was, but we also have to take into consideration the people who don't drive speed limit, drive correctly, and that's That's where my concern is, the people, the speed on that street, the trucks that get on there at a higher rate of speed. Again, you went to traffic engineer when the truck rolled over down on Route 60, a little further down, and spilled 30,000 gallons of fuel into the Mystic River, because it hit the curb and rolled over. So again, I'd hate to see something that tragic happen early in the morning as those oil trucks get on there, to deliver gasoline to our gas stations. I would hope that maybe at the worst, there'd be a light there, so people can see it, especially coming up there, it comes up on you quick. And like I said, you know, you went by the rotary, that rotary gets hit half a dozen times a year on Winter Street, and that's 10 times the size of that small island down there. So again, I'll open it up for questions from my fellow Councilors. Vice President Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Growing up in the area, I grew up on Whitman Road, Essex Street, Winthrop Street, Essex Street, Whitman Road, Woburn Street. There we are, two streets away from Woburn Street, Mr. President. I was looking at the number of signs that go, it almost looks like Yale Street, High Street right now, they got so many signs on it. But ultimately, Mr. President, if I were driving home from Medford Square, and I lived on Hastings Lane, Austin Road, Walcott Street, Well, Mystic Street, how do I get home? I can't take a left turn down any of those streets. So the answer would be, well, go down to the Parkway and then turn up from the Parkway onto the street. But Hastings Lane has restrictions on it. Mystic Streets, you do not enter. You have to go down to Auburn Street. You'd have to go all the way down to Auburn Street, all the way down to the school. Does this make any sense to divert traffic from people that live in the neighborhood to go all the way down to the school, number one. Number two, Mr. President, We are seeing the changes that we made at the South and Main intersection. We are seeing now these changes along High Street. We have a significant problem with Route 16, the light timing, Mr. President. So every single morning, every single morning, the stretch of Winthrop Street between the Parkway and High Street backs up almost all the way to Lawrence Road, sometimes past it. On the other side, it backs up almost all the way to the Woburn Street split, Mr. President. looking at these changes that we're making to traffic patents, we need, we need, we have to study the impact that it has after the fact, because quite frankly, the light changing cycle on route 16 is not fast enough. to, it doesn't happen frequent enough, to promote the steady flow of traffic through that intersection, Mr. President. So what you see is someone driving down Winthrop Street, and they get to the Winthrop Street Rotary, and they say, well, I'm not gonna make the light, but I'm not gonna sit here either, so let me pull up and block the intersection. Or you see someone coming down High Street that doesn't wanna turn down Winthrop Street and keep going Winthrop Street to Tufts University, they wanna go onto Winthrop Street and then turn left onto Route 16 to get on the highway. But what happens is, The current high street blocks the passing traffic lane, so nobody from Winthrop Street can go straight down Winthrop Street. It's a nightmare. It's an absolute traffic nightmare, Mr. President. I don't want to get into the last 10 years of traffic nightmares that the people in this area have had to deal with due to the simple fact that we've had construction going on between the Craddock Bridge, the Winthrop Street replacement, and the other source project. So with that being said, Mr. President, I'm glad we have 12 on the phone because I'd like to see what the plan is in terms of looking at the timing of the light cycles throughout this whole stretch. I mean, ultimately we make these changes, but then there's never any follow-up in terms of what impact it has on the traffic flow as a whole in this community. You know, for a very long time, we've been making knee-jerk reaction responses to the traffic situations in this community, but to put a no left-hand turn sign on the five streets coming up High Street, Those streets, all the people that live on them, it's crazy to me, Mr. President. You're one of them. You're one of them, Mr. President. So with that being said, Doug, maybe you can shed some light on that. I might appreciate it if you could. But I definitely think that we need to perform some type of traffic study to look at the impact that these changes have made, number one. And number two, figure out a way that we can lessen them so that people in the area that have to get places can move down the roadway and not be trapped through an unpassable situation.
[Caraviello]: Inside we also lost the bus stop to the bus stop they took a bus stop out of it.
[Todd Blake]: Yes, so the no left turns I believe was massive way of trying to simulate what measure already had in place was already existing on those side streets. So the side streets. Before this project came around, had do not enter except residents seven to nine from high street down to missing Valley Parkway.
[Knight]: So point of no return, which is different than do not enter because we may have Burke put those signs up.
[Caraviello]: So if I'm coming down route 16, I can't turn out to any one of those streets either from route 16. Those are all do not enters there. So I, so again, you have to go all the way down to Auburn street, no matter which way, whether you're on route 60 or you're on route 16, you gotta go down to Auburn street, the turn to get out the high street, I'd get, get to one of those side street where particularly where I live. So again, councilor Dice, right?
[Knight]: To do not enter is one thing, but the no left turn is another. Because when Mayor Burke erected those resident only signs, there was a lot of discussion about who's considered a resident and who isn't. And that was addressed and discussed. Same thing when it happened up at Jim's Market, when they put those signs up, that was addressed and discussed. And it was residents are residents, residents can go down the street. Now, you can't even take a left turn as a resident on the street. Nevermind a resident in the city, a resident on the street to go home. So I think that that's a problem. And quite frankly, I've spoken with people that live in the neighborhood, not Councilor Caballero actually, but I've spoken with people on Hastings land, I've spoken with people on Austin road, I've spoken with people on Walcott street, and all of them say the same thing. How am I supposed to get home?
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, so it's probably a nuance between the way the city would handle something in the state. The state doesn't necessarily support or endorse the accept residents. So that's what their equivalent restriction would be, the no left turn seven to nine, instead of the do not enter.
[Knight]: What's the solution, I guess is the question. That's all well and good, but what's the solution? None of these residents have been contacted about this. All of a sudden, they're just getting it. So what's the solution? Can the science come down?
[Caraviello]: Can the science come down at some point until we get a resolution on this?
[Todd Blake]: The answer is I guess we could revisit it and see what we can do working with our state partners once the project's complete.
[Knight]: So in essence it sounds like we sold our soul for this million dollars and we have no control of what's going to happen on the roadways that we that these residents live on?
[Todd Blake]: Well, we have control of the local side streets that are outside the limits of the project, so I do hold hope that we'll find a solution for everyone involved. In terms of the other aspects of the project, I think it has a lot of benefits to improve pedestrian atmosphere, bicycle atmosphere, and things like that. And it is actually supposed to improve safety and hopefully encourage slower speeds to get to the points earlier about the high speeds. By narrowing the lanes and areas, but still able to accommodate trucks, the hope is that the safety will improve for all, for vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. So those are the true intents of the project. And we do believe it will be successful in that regard once it's all said and done.
[Knight]: Mr. President, if I may, what I see happening is people are going to come up High Street, and they're going to get to the fork in the road. And they're going to say, all right, I can shoot down moving street now, and then I can catch the top half of Walcott, and then I can shoot across High Street. Because going straight across isn't a left turn. So now what we're doing is we're diverting traffic into the residential neighborhood, as opposed to keeping it on the main state controlled trucking route.
[Caraviello]: So was there any discussion of removal of the bus stop also? I don't remember any discussion or any notice of the bus stop being deactivated. on the part of them.
[Todd Blake]: Mr. President, the project and the MBTA reached out to us regarding the potential removal. The MBTA claims that they have the authority to remove versus move to remove on their own. But we had pushed back saying that we wanted to notify the public to make sure that there's anyone that particularly anyone with needs that needs that stop versus another stop. Based on ridership, the MBTA made the argument that, or the case, the reason why they're removing it is because the nearby stop has a lot of ridership in terms of ons and offs. And that stop had much fewer and they were so close together. But we did push back and say, we want some notifications. So they posted a sign on the post itself saying, you know, please contact either the city or the state regarding, you know, if you have any questions or concerns about this removal.
[Knight]: What information, Mr. President? What information, Councilor Maitland? Is that considered a reduction in service? The removal of a stop for the DOT, for the MBTA.
[Todd Blake]: So, some of their policies suggest that consolidation of stops actually helps this I'm just repeating what they say it helps on time performance by not requiring the bus to pull over every block or so in their in their, in their preferred bus stop spacing, they prefer to be roughly 1200 feet between spacing. So in some cases like this it may be more like 500 feet or less, and it may be, you know, one block versus several blocks. So, in terms of on time performance and, you know, adhering to schedules. they have this thought that the more the bus pulls over, the more delay, which will make it not on time. So they look at ridership and ons and offs at each bus stop. So if one bus stop nearby has 100 people getting on and off a day and another has less than 10 people, they'll sometimes look to consolidate the one that has the less than 10 people, especially if it's very close to one another.
[Knight]: I understand that, but does that correlate to what would be considered a reduction in service?
[Todd Blake]: I guess I would be open for interpretation. I don't believe so that, uh, one silver lining here is that you gain a parking space or two back when they do remove the stop. So I, you know, uh, I thought there was going to be no parking in that side of the streets, the North side, uh, in that the one that I know of that's being removed, there is parking on the North side in that area.
[Hurtubise]: Thank you. I know Todd, thank you for answering these questions.
[Scarpelli]: I know that I like to make a motion that we contact our partners, the MBTA. I didn't get one, I didn't get two, but I got a few more phone calls from residents in the neighboring streets that have brought this issue. They wanted to know why MBTA buses are driving down side streets in that neighborhood. And I didn't believe it. I said, no, maybe there was a detour. Well, this past week I was driving, uh, coming home and it was about six, seven o'clock at night. A little bit later, it was dark. And I realized coming down Lawrence road, there's an MBTA bus in front of me. And he, that, that driver was, they were going pretty quick out of service bus. But I think this, I think it's time that we call, I know that as a chairman of subcommittee transportation, we could do subcommittee, ask for a subcommittee meeting, but there are some issues that we're seeing right now, especially in that area with the MBTA and our community that we need some answers. So I make that form of a motion that we call for a subcommittee or committee of the whole meeting, whatever this council prefers, because before somebody gets hurt with what's going on in that area with the changes, and MBTA buses going down side streets, pretty narrow streets, by the way, before somebody gets injured.
[Caraviello]: Public safety should have some answers. Thank you. Councilor Scott, while this is under suspension, this will be put on next week's agenda. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Mr. President.
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Mr. President, I wanna thank Todd. You know, I know there's a lot he's working on in every part of the city, So I really want to thank him. He's like a one man team. But Mr. President, every year this community pays an assessment to the team that comes directly off our cherry sheet that comes from the state. Millions of dollars we pay for MBTA services. And as Council Vice President Knight mentioned, when they start eliminating bus stops, when they start eliminating bus routes, like the 325 and the 326, that, in my opinion, is a diminishing of bus MBTA services in our community. Nowhere else, Mr. President, would you get a diminishing service and pay the same or more for an assessment. It makes zero sense, Mr. President. Right out here in back of City Hall, They have bus stops where they idle their buses, the MBTA, on city-owned property. City-owned parking lot, Mr. President. The MBTA has practical use of that parking lot out there. I don't know what's going on, Mr. President, but this community needs to stand up. And if it's a matter of holding back some money from the T assessment to get them at the table and to negotiate with the MBTA regarding what's going on regarding service and so forth, that's what needs to be had, Mr. President. This has been going on far too long. We need leadership in this community to stand up and say, we're not going to tolerate this anymore. And that project on Winter Street's no different. When that project came out about a year ago, Mr. President, I know we were all vocal, but I mentioned that a year ago, that we're going to lose control of what happens on that particular road. And when we said we're going to lose parking, Mr. President, then when they talk about putting a bike path to nowhere, those were questions that we raised that fell on deaf ears, Mr. President. And now you see a project that we have little say in, right? I mean, we heard, uh, Todd Blake mentioned. This is a state project. We have very little say. The chief executive officer has to bring these state agencies to the table. We can't allow them to roll over us on behalf of the residents. And Council Vice President Knight's a thousand percent correct when he said you're diverting traffic into the neighborhoods. And that's exactly what's going to happen. You're taking them off a major thoroughfare that's set up for this type of traffic, and you're putting them into neighborhoods, Mr. President, that's not set up. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Beall. Mr. President, I'll be brief. I just want to thank Councilor Mark for his comments. We have, I think, many issues with the MBTA. I know I received, in addition to the issue that's going on on High Street, you know, we have issues with the 325, 326 that I receive calls on constantly. So if Councilor Scarpelli wouldn't mind, if we have a committee in the hall instead of a subcommittee, I just think it should be a broader discussion with regards to the MBTA and the services that they provide here. Well, I should say the lack of services. So I would appreciate that. We'll make that a committee in the hall.
[Bears]: Mr. President, Councilor Best, if we could have the 710 bus as well.
[Caraviello]: That's right.
[Hurtubise]: Correct, yes.
[Caraviello]: That was also canceled. That's an important part to the people living in Fulton Street. That's their only means of transportation. Good evening, name and address of the record, please. Pat, if you put on the podium. Good evening, name and address of the record, please.
[Penta]: Robert Penton, Zero Summit Road, Method Mass. I have some, Mr. President, this is our third time we've had this discussion on this high street project. at the corner of Woobin and Hastings Lane. And I'm a little bit disturbed and recognizing that Mr. Blake, who I've never met, I'm quite sure that he's proficient in what he does, but he makes a comment in his response to you by saying fire trucks may have to use the entire opposite lane to make the turns. And by doing that, Mr. President, what you are doing, you are exposing the city of Medford to a tremendous amount of liability. And if the city is going to go forward and leave that island there, then it should be part of the official record here that the Medford City Council does not support, but rather condones the fact that that island can now cause a potential hazard to the city of Medford's liability. We've spoken to MBTA buses, there's no mention in here on the extra long tankers that carry gas. The other day coming down high street toward the charter circle, there was a bicyclist there. And you know those trucks once they have that weight, they're moving. And he was people in the home because the bike was just taking his time going through that little pathway there. So all I can say is, It's there, it's in writing. And the city council now has enough, if you're really strong in this position, and I think you are, you have an affirmative position to make by way of a vote that the city of Medford, the Medford city council opposes that particular island that's put there because the acknowledgement from your own traffic commissioner says, The fire trucks might have to go on the complete opposite lane to make its turn. What about a car coming the opposite way? What about the bump out that's over there? What about the second island? What about the bump out that's in front of the house, in front of the man's driveway, in front of the Brooks School? It makes no sense at all. And go further down into West Method on the corner of High Street and Sagamore Ave. Look what they already have penciled out there. It's on to the middle of the street almost. These aren't traffic calming. These are traffic accidents just waiting to happen. And you've got to understand the route traffic and the type of traffic that's on those routes. I think you brought it up last week, Mr. President. A truck going up the hill, they've got to pick up the speed to get up the hill. Look at the buses. What are you going to do? And right there at that intersection, there's a bump out there, which makes further no sense. So I don't know, Mr. Blake. Like I said, I've never met you and I don't know you. But I don't know how you can put in writing that a firetruck can go in the opposite lane to make its turn if it has to because of an emergency. You are now indicating that the city is exposing itself to a liability. And if that's what the state is going to be doing throughout the rest of the city, with these locations, with these prompts, causing problems with side streets because of buses, and cars cannot be going down there. What are we getting all this money for the state for if the city has no input into providing common sense use of the money? It's a damn shame. that we have to be discussing, you folks have to be discussing something that common sense tells you by just going there and looking at it. And you can paint and stripe the streets all you want with your yellow lines, you're not gonna get rid of those islands. And you're not going to get rid of the fact that coming up or going down in a winter's day storm, and if there's ice in the road, and if there's an emergency that has to take place, somebody is gonna get killed there. And you already have it now in writing. Your traffic supervisor has now told you in writing that a fire truck can go on the opposite lane if he can't make the turn. What does that tell you? What does that tell you about the Commonwealth of Massachusetts coming in here trying to tell the city of Metro, we know what's best for your streets. Tell them to take their money back and mind their business and let the city of Metro to its engineering department and through citizen input, take each section one at a time to realize what it is. It's all right for somebody to come in here and tell you what to do, but it isn't all right for you to tell them, possibly you maybe made a mistake. You haven't thought this out correctly or possibly. Mr. President, you're the president of this council, the six of you, you make seven. I would strongly, I strongly advise and suggest that some one of you, if not all of you put a resolution on indicating that you do not, you are against, and you don't accept the fact that that island in the middle of High Street, Reuben, Hastings Lane, serves in the best interest of the city of Medford. If anything, it does not serve in the best interest. And you have the letter from your own traffic supervisor who says the same thing, traffic consultant, excuse me.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Tim, did you want to weigh in on this?
[McGivern]: I believe Todd has said what needs to be said, and I believe he's muted as well. I said I believe Todd has said what needs to be said. I don't have much to add, but I believe he's muted at the moment.
[Caraviello]: Todd, did you want to add anything to this? Todd? Hold on one second.
[Todd Blake]: Hey, how's it going? Yeah, I was muted again. Sorry about that. I had a mute on my end, then I couldn't unmute. So I just wanted to clarify something. I appreciate whatever anyone says and, you know, and wants to add to the situation, but I just wanted to clarify something. So what I read earlier was a quote from an email received by the traffic consultant that designed the project for MassDOT. And I just wanna clarify because it's a little bit, I think a little bit confusing at Woburn. So Woburn, this is a quote now, Woburn Street was checked and can accommodate WB40 trucks for all turns. So WB40 truck is an 18-wheeler, a 45-foot 18-wheeler. So in that case, it does not need to encroach. all the intersections all the other intersections can accommodate fire trucks but may have to use the entire opposite lane all turns and bumpers are checked to accommodate vice president night is the intention to divert 18 wheeler trucks down woven street No, not at all. So people are saying that they believe it's too tight, correct, with the median and the new bump out there. But with the consultant and everyone else saying it's not too tight, a truck could go east-west on High Street as it should. And if a vehicle of a large size needed to go on Woburn like a trash truck or fire truck or whatnot, it would be able to make it because it's a smaller truck than an 18-wheeler truck. So the turns can be made at Woburn. Is that more clear?
[Knight]: Thank you for your clarification.
[Caraviello]: All right. All right. Well, again, this, this will be back on the agenda for next week because it is under suspension and we will, uh, any further discussion will be had again next week. So thank you. All right. So we have a hearing left in the budget. Yes. Earrings to one one nine zero legal though. City of Bedford, Medford city council chapter 94 zoning. I'm glad that we got this. The Medford City Council shall conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021 at seven o'clock p.m. via Zoom remote video conferencing relative to a petition by Mayor Brianna Lundgren to amend Chapter 94 zoning, a revised ordinance of the City of Medford, Section 94-35A, to change the structure of the Medford Zoning Board of Appeals from three members and one associate member to five members and two associate members. The full text of the amendment may be viewed in the office of the city clerk. I'm going to say over 103 or on the city's website. Our current CD board file and Zoom link will be posted no later than June 4th. So Mr. Clerk, but this is a hearing. We, I think, I think we missed the date on this. We did. We're gonna have to refer it back up to the OCD board for them to send it, re-approve it and send it back to us. That is correct. Okay, we have to make a motion to do that.
[Marks]: Motion to refer back, Mr. President, to the Office of Community Development.
[Caraviello]: The motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Mr. President.
[Knight]: Vice President, I just ask that we also simultaneously send this paper to the city solicitor and ask her to provide us with an amendment that would outline the creation or establishment of term limits for members of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
[Caraviello]: Okay, so on the motion by Council by Council Marx is amended by Council Vice President seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Mr. Clerk please call the roll. You want that done before we send it?
[Knight]: We can do it simultaneously. It's going to come back to us anyway. So I'd like to have a, cause we're going to have to open up a public hearing. So I'd like to have the paperwork from the city solicitor when it's time.
[Hurtubise]: They're going to come back pretty quickly with their recommendation, right? Cause they've already voted on it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So I'd like to send the paper to the solicitor as well. So we can get it back. Okay. Provided that my colleagues agree. Wow. They're going to have, they're going to have to, well, I, it's, it's too late to advertise it for the June meeting, they're going to have to advertise it in July. So that's something we call the role. Councilor Bears. Yes. Council Falco. Yes. Vice President night. Council marks. Yes. Council Morell. Yes.
[Caraviello]: Communications from there, 21403. Dear Mr. President and members of the city council, pursuant to national law, chapter 44, section 32, I respectfully request and recommend that the city council approve the proposed fiscal year 2022 budget as submitted. Total submitted appropriation for all departments, including schools is, it's gonna be 191 million, $779,642. Account details are included within the budget presentation, which is available electronically in an interactive and searchable.
[Knight]: We have the remainder of the reading, whereas we have budget hearing scheduled for Wednesday and Saturday.
[Caraviello]: The motion by Councilor, by Vice President Haynes, that we waive the reading.
[Knight]: And refer the paper to Committee of the Whole. We'll make it a double motion so we only have to vote once.
[Caraviello]: And refer the paper to Committee of the Whole. Third, I'll give it a third. So on the motion by Vice President Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, we refer this to Committee Hall which will be starting on Wednesday. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Motion passes. Reports of committees. Mr. Clerk.
[Knight]: I think so, yeah.
[Caraviello]: Reports of committees, 21392, June 1st, 2021. Committee will hold the report. This was the review rate of the meeting law complaint. Motion to approve this. Move approval. Motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morocco. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes, I'm in favor of motion passes. Two zero five six eight, June 3rd, 2020. Committee of the whole report to vote. This was the continuing zoning report with Mark Hrabowski. Second. Motion by Councilor Scarpelli to approve, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Yes. Motion. I think I got everything. I'm Mr. Clark records. The records were passed.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the record. They appear to be in the order.
[Caraviello]: Second seconded by the motion by Dr. Falco. Second, I'd like to take it up by council beds. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: Yes. Motion passes. Motion by Councilor Falco to adjourn. Seconded by Vice President Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Councilor Falco? Yes. Vice President Knight? Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello? Yes. Motion passes.
[Caraviello]: Enjoy and see everybody tomorrow night.
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