[Falco]: 14th, 13th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Present. Vice President Caraviello. Present. Councilor Knight. Present. Councilor Marks. Present. Councilor Morell. Present. Councilor Scarpelli. Present. President Falco.
[Falco]: Present. All seven members present at this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, so if everyone can just bear with me for a few minutes. I'm actually working with Patrick to see if I can get this pre-recorded for the next meeting, but I have to read a number of meeting notices. So the first one, here we go. The agenda is a revised agenda. The original agenda was posted at 119 p.m. on April 16, 2020. This agenda was last revised on April 17, 2020 at 10.02 a.m. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18, In the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we aren't able to do so, despite best efforts, we will post it on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website in audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. All messages from the Governor of Massachusetts, Charles D. Baker. Order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 20. Whereas on March 10, 2020, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting pursuant to the powers provided by Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 and Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Law, has declared that there now exists in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a state of emergency due to the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus COVID-19. And whereas many important functions of state and local government are executed by public bodies, as the term is defined in general law chapter 30A, section 18, in meetings that are open to the public, consistent with the requirements of law and sound public policy, and in order to ensure active, public engagement with contribution to and oversight of the functions of government, and whereas both the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, DPH, have advised residents to take extra measures to put distance between themselves and other people to further reduce the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, the CDC and DPH have advised high-risk individuals including people over the age of 60, anyone with underlying health conditions, or a weakened immune system in pregnant women to avoid large gatherings. Whereas Section 7, 8, In 8A of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, authorize the governor during the effective period of a declared emergency to exercise authority over public assemblages as necessary to protect the health and safety of persons. And whereas low-cost telephone, social media, and other internet-based technologies are currently available that will permit the convening of a public body through virtual means and allow real-time public access to the activities of the public body. And whereas Section 20 of Chapter 30A in implementing regulations issued by the Attorney General currently authorize remote participation by members of a public body subject to certain limitations. Now, therefore, I hereby order the following. Number one, a public body as defined in section 18 of chapter 30A of the general laws is hereby relieved from the requirement of section 20 of chapter 30A that it conduct its meeting in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public, provided that the public body makes provision to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body for interested members of the public through adequate alternative means. Adequate alternative means of the public access shall mean measures that provide transparency and permit timely and effective public access to the deliberations of the public body. Such means may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite-enabled audio or video conferencing, or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body while those activities are occurring. We are allowing for active real-time participation by members of the public is a specific requirement of a general or special law or regulation or a local ordinance or bylaw pursuant to which the proceeding is conducted, any alternative means of public access must provide for such participation. A municipal body The municipal public body that, for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, is unable to provide alternative means of public access that will enable the public to follow the proceedings of the municipal public body as those activities are occurring in real time, may instead post on its municipal website a full and complete transcript, recording, or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as practicable upon conclusion of the proceedings. This paragraph shall not apply to proceedings that are conducted pursuant to a general or special law or regulation or local ordinance or bylaw that requires allowance for active participation by members of the public. A public body must offer its selected alternative means of access to its proceedings without subscription, toll or similar charge to the public. Number two, public bodies are hereby authorized to allow remote participation by all members in any public in any meeting of the public body. The requirement that a quorum of the body in their chair be physically present at a specified meeting location as provided in general law chapter 30a section 20d in 940 CMR 29.10 4B is hereby suspended. Number three, a public body that elects to conduct its proceedings under the relief provided in sections one or two above shall ensure that all party entitled or required to appear before it shall be able to do so through remote means as if the party were a member of the public body and participating remotely as provided in section two. Number four, all other provisions of section 18 to chapter, 25 of chapter 30 a and the attorney general's implementing regulations shall otherwise remain unchanged. If fully applicable to the activities of the public bodies, this order is effective immediately. It shall remain in effect until it's rescinded or until the state of emergency is terminated. Whichever happens first governor of Massachusetts, Charles D Banker.
[Knight]: Mr. President motion to suspend the rules to take communications from the mayor.
[Falco]: I have a motion to suspend the rules, to take communications from the mayor, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are now suspended. Communications from the mayor, 20-316. April 16, 2020, to President John Falco and honorable members of the Medford City Council. From Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn regarding loan order citywide sidewalks, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following loan order. City of Medford loan order citywide sidewalks, be it ordered that the sum of $500,000 be in hereby is appropriated to pay the cost of repairing, constructing and reconstructing various sidewalks throughout the city, including engineering and design services and for the payment of all costs incidental and related thereto. that it meet this appropriation, the city treasurer with approval of the mayor authorized to borrow said sum under and pursuant to Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 7, one as amended and supplemented or pursuant to any other enabling authority in to issue bonds or notes of the city therefore. any premium received upon the seal of any bonds or notes approved by this order, lest any such premium applied to the payment of the cost of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this order in accordance with Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. In further order, that the city treasurer is authorized to file an application with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Municipal Finance Oversight Board to qualify under Chapter 44A of the General Laws, any and all bond or notes of the city authorized by this vote or pursuant to any prior vote of the city in connection therewith. to provide such information and execute such documents as the Municipal Finance Oversight Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may require. Very truly yours, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Council on nine.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. If I do recall properly, I do believe this would be phase three of a three-year plan for sidewalk restoration that we have funded previously, but I may be mistaken. I was hoping maybe there'd be a representative from the administration here to discuss a little bit further as to this loan order.
[Falco]: I was too, and actually, I don't think anyone is here with us tonight. I was thinking someone from the DPW or the chief of staff, but no one seems to be on the line from what I can tell.
[Unidentified]: I'm sorry, sorry. Councilor Knight, did you make a motion?
[Knight]: I'll allow my other council colleagues to type it.
[Falco]: Okay, Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Marks.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, if we could ask the administration if this $500,000 includes part of the pilot program that you and I had suggested back in January with the company that repairs the sidewalks for a third of the cost of replacing some of them. I know they would, I saw the email chain with Commissioner Kearns and the company, and I know they were doing some work in Malden this coming spring. And if you can find out if they reached any kind of agreement to do some of that work here at Medford, hopefully we can defray some of that cost and get more work done. uh for less money so we get a little bit better bank for a buck so if we if you can make that and uh form of a question to the administration in the dpw okay i got the motion vice president carabiello i i need more i i need to get that that uh amendment again or the uh the request again okay uh back in january uh president falco and myself uh requested that the mayor and the dpw look into a pilot program with a company that we We gave them that repair sidewalks for less money than it does to replace them. And, um, I saw that, uh, commissioner Karens, uh, had, had been talking to him because they were doing some work in Malden. And I don't know if they ever came to an agreement to do some work in Medford. So if you could ask if, uh, if that had come to fruition. Okay. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. We have Councilor Marks, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. For previous phases of the sidewalk improvements, this council has requested if the administration is working from a current list, if so, what percent of the list will be accomplished through this 500,000. So that was one of the questions that was asked in the past. And I was asked that that be re-asked again, Mr. President. Roughly how many sidewalks do they feel will be accomplished with this 500,000? What priority, if there is an existing list, will the sidewalks be done? Is there a priority list that is already established? And when will the work start to take place, assuming it's approved.
[Hurtubise]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Marks, I didn't get every one of your questions. I can read back what I have, and you can give me what I don't have, if that works for you. First one I have is, is the administration working from a list? Second one is, what percentage is being done, what percentage of the sidewalks are being done from the list? With this 500,000, correct? Okay, with this 500,000, hang on. Next one I have is, is there a priority list? And the final one I have is, when will the work take place? You hit them all. Okay. All right. Thank you. And you want that as a question to the administration or as an amendment?
[Marks]: However, I mean, if you could do it either way, it doesn't matter to me.
[Falco]: Why don't we, if you wouldn't mind, Councilor Rhoads, why don't we offer those as amendments from you? You'll have an amendment, Vice President Caraviello as well. Is that? That's fine. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Council President. I, uh, when I first saw this, I was a little alarmed. I said, well, $500,000. I said that this is, uh, this is, you know, it's like, you know, Groundhog Day all over again. And I think that one of the things I made a motion for in the past few years of budget time is looking to see it incorporate a full-time cement sidewalk and pothole crew. And because we keep on putting money into these bonds, into these type of payments for contractors. When I did talk to the the director of DPW, Mr. Cairns, he did inform me that this is something that we did talk in phases and he refreshed my memory about where this is. The company for Council Marks, the company is already in the city. They already have the, there is a list, they're working off that list. They're already in. This will just have them continue what they're doing. So there is a list. They have their feet already, their boots on the ground, ready to work. And as soon as this is approved, the money's there, they will then follow through and continue with the sidewalk projects that were in place when we first initiated this process with the last regime. So again, wish somebody was here to talk to us, but I think that, you know... I also want to piggyback with what future resolution that's in, that Councilor Beaz is in, that we really need to know what our funding is going to look like after this pandemic. So, but again, I think that what Mr. Karens did tell me when I did my homework, he did say, George, this is something that we've already proved, brought me back to the place where we did prove this. And this is, he was a little confused at the time, because it was broken up into two payments. But the contract was awarded, I believe, Adam, for two years. It was a two-year project. So that's what Mr. Cairns told me. So again, I know that Councilor Knight has something to offer maybe, and we can revisit this next week. But I hope that helped. But that's the conversation I had with Mr. Cairns today.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. I just received a note that actually Aleesha Nunley was supposed to be with us tonight. She's not feeling well, but I believe the chief of staff is going to join us maybe in a few minutes. So let's keep the conversation going. I know there are a number of questions. So Councilor Morell is up next and Councilor Bears.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, just echoing a lot of my fellow councilors questions and thank you to Councilor Scarpelli for providing that information. Just some basic questions related to this that I think the administration can easily address. I'm curious, it's phase three out of how many phases, and understanding, will there be another request for money? Is that going to be the next fiscal year? Does this $500,000, when does that carry us to a future request? Is this it? So simple questions that the administration can address when the chief of staff comes on or when we revisit this.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Yeah, just quickly to add to what my fellow councilors have said. I think I would just like to know, can we continue at the $500,000 level? You know, what is the impact relative to the, of the COVID-19 crisis on our finances and how does this fit into that picture?
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council? Any other questions from the public? Anybody have questions? Anybody have a question they'd like to ask?
[Unidentified]: Okay. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, motion to report the questions out to the administration for an answer so that we can address the people next week.
[Unidentified]: Let's see.
[Falco]: That's an idea. If we do, uh, if I may, uh, do we know if the chief of staff is going to be joining us?
[Hurtubise]: I just, I just sent him a text. Cause he said he was going to be on in 10 minutes. I just sent him a text saying it would be great if you could join us, but I haven't heard back from him on that text yet.
[Knight]: Okay. Commercial break and after these messages, they'll be right back.
[Falco]: Do we have any emails on this? I don't believe so.
[Hurtubise]: We have no emails on this. I don't have all of Councilor Morell's question if she wants that as part of the council records.
[Morell]: Yes, so I was just seeing, it's, I believe, I mean, it being called phase three, I just got from the fellow councilors, so understanding what the phase is, and when does this, is there, are we anticipating another request? Is this the final request of something like this? Yeah, I think those two cover it.
[Hurtubise]: Okay, and the council bears had a question. What is the COVID-19 impact on the city finances?
[Bears]: How does this fit into that conversation? Or what might we need to pare back from $500,000 to a smaller amount?
[Falco]: Let me know when you have that. I got it. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. We have a subcommittee of public works and a schedule coming up soon. Maybe this is something that we can discuss there. And also, if Mr. Kearns can come, we could take into consideration Councilor Scarpelli's motion about putting on a crew. I mean, it's something that I, that supported in past years. But again, maybe during that subcommittee meeting, whenever it happens, this issue can be talked about so we don't have to continue going out for $500,000 every year. I mean, this is something I think I've ordered almost every year that I've been on the council. So I think it's time that maybe we move on and actually look into really getting a crew getting started on this. Thank you, Council. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[Hurtubise]: Clerk Urnabes. Dave Rodriguez just said he got on and I'm going to unmute him right now.
[Falco]: Okay. Chief of Staff Rodriguez, good evening.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me. I apologize that I wasn't on earlier. No worries.
[Falco]: Thank you for joining us. There are a number of questions asked by Councilors regarding the loan order for the citywide sidewalks. I'm not sure if you want to read the questions maybe one by one to the Chief of Staff and he can take a shot at answering them.
[Hurtubise]: Sure. Vice President Caraviello has asked if the mayor and Commissioner Currens will look into the pilot program to repair the sidewalks for less money than it costs to replace them. Apparently there was a negotiation with Malden at some point, and Vice President Caraviello wanted to know if Medford had reached any kind of agreement with Malden.
[Dave Rodrigues]: I have not heard about the negotiations with Malden. I can look into that and get some further information. The 500,000 that's before the council tonight is actually to backfill an existing contract that was begun last year. So in order for us to change gears like that, I'd have to look into that from a procurement standpoint because there is an existing contract in place with a contractor. So I can certainly look into that. And I certainly would like to get some more information regarding the negotiation with Malden and see what the details of that are all about. So I can look into that for you, sir.
[Caraviello]: or President Caraviello. If I can play a bit for a second. David, I was on the email chain with Commissioner Karens and the company that we had brought forward. And the company had reached some type of agreement with Malden. And they were looking to come over here to Medford to stop, maybe to try some sidewalks here. I don't know where that conversation with Commissioner Karens went. But maybe if you can look into that and see if that ever came to fruition.
[Dave Rodrigues]: certainly will.
[Falco]: Thank you.
[Hurtubise]: These next several are from Councilor Marks. The first one is the administration working from a list.
[Dave Rodrigues]: A list that isn't currently in development. So we are undergoing a pavement management indexing program through the engineering department. We're utilizing chapter 90 money to do that. So last that I had spoken with the city engineer, Tim McGivern, the scope of services for those for that was currently being put into place. We have been a little bit sidetracked regarding the current crisis and a lot it's been all hands on deck. even in engineering, especially with the work safety plans that have been put into place regarding horizontal construction. Engineering has been doing a lot of work ensuring the security of those work safety plans and making sure workers and the ancillary services are safe. I will follow up with Tim, figure out exactly where the payment management index programming is, and if a vendor has been secured through that. There was a couple of questions about conflicts and some other folks that we had currently on call, but I will follow up with Tim. I can answer that question offline, or if you wanted to, I can come back at the next meeting and address it then.
[Hurtubise]: This next one is related to that. If there is a list, what percentage of the work is being done from that list with this $500,000?
[Dave Rodrigues]: I don't know. I certainly don't know. I'd have to check and see what the scope of work is, but I can check on that for you.
[Hurtubise]: Okay. Another question from Council Marks. Is there a priority list?
[Dave Rodrigues]: That would be, that would be set by the payment indexing. That's not where streets would get done first.
[Hurtubise]: Final question from Council Marks, there's a couple more from Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, but the final one from Councilor Marks, when will the work take place?
[Dave Rodrigues]: It'll begin as soon as the construction season begins, is set to begin immediately. So it's ready to go. Okay.
[Unidentified]: Councilor Morell, I have a question. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Just if I could, because I know some of my other colleagues expressed concern. Over the last several years, these particular requests for sidewalk repairs have been pretty consistent, as Council Vice President Caraviello mentioned. And the consistent question back from the council has been, what is the list we're working from? Because that's always been a moving target. And I think members that have served for a number of years were never able to get a working list of what sidewalks are on the list. Are they prioritized? And then to accomplish some of the goals, I think, like Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears mentioned, is that when you hear phases, you assume that at some point this will be over, this phase one, phase two and phase three. However, since I've been on the council, it's never had an end and there's never been an end game. And I'm glad that we have a new administration now. So I think these are important questions that we know what the list is, what is comprised of, and what we're going to get for the money. I realize we're in the second half of a contract, but that way it'll give us an understanding that, you know, after we do this phase, there's another phase, or this is the last phase, and then everything coming in will be new requests. We've yet to get that over the years, and that's extremely vital so we can get a handle on it, like Councilor Scarpelli mentioned. You know, we probably could have hired three, four, five people with equipment and a crew to do it internally and get much more bang for our buck by now. However, we're at where we are right now, but I think moving forward, you know, I think we have to get these answers so we can make a financial decision that's good for this community and good for the taxpayers.
[Dave Rodrigues]: And certainly, and that was among the first conversations that the mayor had on her first day at office was, where are we with payment management? How do we do this the right way? How do we rank these things? How do we make sure that the worst streets and sidewalks get done first? And you're 100% correct that it is consistently a moving target. And I'd hesitate to say that it's phasing because we're always gonna be chasing bad streets and sidewalks. They're always gonna be in a state of disrepair. And it's one of the constant sources of maintenance that we have to do. It's why chapter 90 money is so vital for us. to be able to use on that. So as long as we can rank them, get the worst streets done first, help work with it. There's always emergencies that have to get done, but we're gonna try to use a scientific method and use a data-driven approach in order to index these things to make sure that the worst streets get done first and we're addressing the needs as we need to.
[Marks]: Thank you. And just one last point, if I could, Mr. President. Yes, please. Not to belabor this, but because when you talk sidewalks, most people think, Oh, it's the replacement of a sidewalk panel. But many times the work goes into curbing, goes into the removal of tree stumps because they may be the hindrance why you can't put a sidewalk and there may be a catch basin that's located near the sidewalk. And that starts to expand the scope of the project. And before you know it, rather than doing 500 panels or sidewalk panels, you're doing 50 with other related work. These are the questions I think that we have to have answered. And I know you can't tell sometimes until you get into a situation and say it involves much more than we anticipated. But these are the type of things we have to know because 500,000 sounds like a lot, but when you start to do work, it doesn't go very far at all. So I just want to put that out there.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, if you would like to continue with the questions that were asked.
[Hurtubise]: Two more questions. This one is from Councilor Morell. She asked about phase three. She wants an understanding of what phase three is, and do we anticipate another request for funding for sidewalk repairs?
[Dave Rodrigues]: I think the phase three is just for this contract, but I can get the exact information on that for you in terms of, I'm not familiar with the term phase three as it was included within the order, but I can put my finger on it for you, make sure I get you that information. It's not a problem.
[Falco]: Okay, thank you. Clerk Cardavis, would it be possible to pull the previous papers from phase one and phase two so our new councilors can see what we've done what we've appropriated and approved over the last couple of years. I know since I've been on, and I've only been on myself and Councilor Scarpelli have only been on for four years, but I think we, you know, we definitely approved two phases and, you know, we're closing in. I think I want to say we're probably close to a million dollars now because I want to say the previous two were like at least 250, but I can be wrong. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but.
[Hurtubise]: Yeah, we can take a look at that.
[Falco]: Okay, thank you.
[Morell]: Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of the questions, as we're trying to piecemeal get to an overview of this whole project, as Councilor Mark said. So I think if there's another phase or something like this comes up again, just an overview would be really helpful in understanding what we're being asked to approve.
[Falco]: Clerk Hardin, did you have any more questions on the
[Hurtubise]: There is one from Councilor Bears. He can jump in or I can read it, whatever Councilor Bears prefers.
[Bears]: Sure. Just, Dave, when discussions about this were happening, was there any discussion of whether we'll be able to do this given the coronavirus crisis and the impact on city finances?
[Dave Rodrigues]: There has been, and there's been a lot of talk about that. Recently we have been on the phone with our financial advisors regarding the best way to borrow money, and the best way to structure, structure our borrowing going forward and this was determined that this was something that we would be able to afford in terms of the contracting in the existing contract. Unfortunately Aleesha Nunley was unable to join us tonight. But as soon as she's back on her feet, I can't get you a detailed financial analysis on this particularly. So it was a little unexpected. We were hoping that Alicia would be able to join us on this. But as you know, she is under the weather. So as soon as we're able to get more detailed finances, we can get that for you. But this is certainly something that we think the city can afford.
[Unidentified]: Okay. David, if I may, for a minute.
[Falco]: So is the $500,000 coming from the capital budget?
[Dave Rodrigues]: No, it would be settled to bond. It would be borrowed. Okay, it's going to be borrowed. We got it in the bond market for it. I'm sorry. Yes, you're right. Okay.
[Unidentified]: Any other questions from the council?
[Dave Rodrigues]: Oh, Councilor Knight. Do we know what the bond rate is? Our bond rate hasn't changed. We do have a bonding bond rate meeting in the third week of May this year.
[Knight]: No, I mean the rate on the loan, the $500,000 loan that we're looking to.
[Dave Rodrigues]: It's a moving target. So it'll be put up for competitive bond. So the bond market is in flux right now. So if I told you what the bond rate would be today, it could very well change tomorrow. So when these go out for sale, they will be out for competitive bonding. Our financial advisors have said Most recently, the bond market is starting to get more competitive. In the opening days of the economic issues that we're facing right now, it was not very good, and things were shifting over to the note market. But the bond market has started to become more competitive, so rates are certainly more competitive right now.
[Knight]: And who are our financial advisors, are these the same entities that we've been using in the past, or is this a new entity or a new consultant that's been brought in?
[Dave Rodrigues]: It's Hilltop. Yeah, it's Hilltop. It's the folks that we've had for the efforts used for years and years. Okay, thank you very much.
[Marks]: While we have the Chief of Staff, have you looked at any other funding sources other than bonding?
[Dave Rodrigues]: So there's only, it would be extremely limited. It's either free cash or bonding for this, for the amount of money that it is.
[Marks]: Right, and we have what, at least four or five million in free cash or maybe even more?
[Dave Rodrigues]: I believe it's more, but that's certainly something that we'd want to preserve for the future. The bond market where it is right now is probably going to be our most favorable financial option for this particular kind of project.
[Marks]: And that decision's already been made.
[Dave Rodrigues]: That's when we proposed it. That's why we proposed it as borrowing instead of a transfer from free cash.
[Marks]: Thank you. Can you give us next time to just what we have out there for free cash?
[Unidentified]: Sure. Any other questions? Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Just along the same note, maybe what we have in bonding capacity as well.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Our bonding capacity is very robust. So as a matter of law, we're allowed to borrow 5% on the equalized value of the community. And where I, the last time I saw our bond load, it was about $38 million, which is far below our debt limit. So we're not really approaching that at this point.
[Hurtubise]: Thanks.
[Unidentified]: Any other questions? Oh God, it's all night.
[Knight]: What would the term, of the loan B for the 500,000. I believe 20.
[Dave Rodrigues]: I think 20 years is the bond. Thank you very much.
[Unidentified]: Any other questions?
[Falco]: Okay, the chair awaits a motion from the floor.
[Marks]: Motion to table, Mr. President, until we get answers from the administration. Until next week.
[Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Marks the table until next week, so we can allow time to get some answers from the administration. Second. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Still writing it down, hang on just a second. That was Councilor Marks' motion to table for one week until there are answers from the administration. Seconded by Councilor Morell. You are correct. Okay, to table for one week. Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion has been tabled till next week. We want to stay with, let's see, should we revert to the regular order of business? Is there a motion on the floor?
[Knight]: My intention was to take up both papers under suspension when I raised the motion.
[Falco]: Okay. You want to take the second paper from the mayor?
[Knight]: Yes, but yeah, community preservation papers.
[Falco]: Okay, perfect. 20-319, the electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155 regarding the Community Preservation Committee. Yeah, Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following on recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. Number one, requesting the appropriation of $250,000 from the CPA Community Housing Reserve to the Action for Boston Community Development, ABCD for the ABCD Rental Assistance for Medford Residents Program. Number two, requesting the appropriation of $20,000 from the CPA Community Housing Reserve to Housing Families Incorporated to provide rental assistance as part of the Pro Bono Legal Services Program. All projects will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund by category. The category is Community Housing Reserve and General Reserve. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: The first question that I'd have, Mr. President, is whether or not these appropriations and programs that we're funding would service 100% Medford residents. Because community preservation funds are generated through an assessment on our property taxes, I think it's very important that we make sure that these funds stay within the confines of our community. So I ask that question.
[Unidentified]: Okay. Let's see. Oh, Roberta. Thank you.
[Roberta Cameron]: Yeah, I can speak to that. We are required, but under fair housing federal fair housing law we cannot limit it strictly to only Medford residents however we can place a priority on Medford residents. and given the amount of need that's anticipated and the fact that other communities who are working with ABCD are also putting funds on the table, it's highly unlikely that Medford's funds will be utilized supporting residents of other communities, that these funds are very highly likely to go entirely to Medford residents.
[Knight]: Mr. President, From the presentation, Ms. Cameron referred to limit it. And when you say limit it, limit what? Limit the expenditure of CPA funds or restrict the expenditure of CPA funds under this program?
[Roberta Cameron]: We cannot have housing pro publicly funded housing programs under federal fair housing law that are entirely restricted to residents of one community. So the funds have to be applied in such a way that they allow for fair access to housing to people from, to all kinds of people who are protected classes. Now, since Medford's population is already representative of protected classes under fair housing laws, Medford's, The funds that Medford puts into programs like this, or any community preservation, or any publicly assisted housing, can very likely support Medford residents. And in the past, I've provided a worksheet showing what the who is supported by a local preference in housing programs. So if we were to apply a local preference to Medford residents only, for example, the That would exclude people who, say, have roots in Medford but have been displaced already and then don't have the opportunity to move back to Medford. So that's an issue with requiring people to be Medford residents already before they can benefit from from publicly funded housing programs. In this instance, I believe that all of the units, that all of the residents who are going to be assisted are people who are already living in Medford because the type of assistance is emergency rental assistance for people who have come on hard economic times and are having difficulty being able to pay their rent and mortgage. But I'd like to allow our applicants to speak to how the programs will work in their particular programs.
[Knight]: I certainly can appreciate that, Ms. Cameron. Like I said, my concern is that because these funds are generated from an assessment on property taxes from residents here in the community, These funds really should stay within the confines of our community. I don't see why we should be sending them out. If we were going to be producing housing inside the community, and other people were going to be eligible to have access for it, that's one thing. It's another thing if we're taking money and funding a program that's going to be servicing people that don't live here. And I think that's what my concern is.
[Roberta Cameron]: Well, we don't have the ability to help residents at all, Medford residents, without leaving the door cracked open. And as I said, this program is by and large going to benefit Medford residents primarily, if not entirely, but we're required if we're going to help anyone at all to leave the door open.
[Knight]: So there's no guarantee that this money is going to service Medford residents?
[Roberta Cameron]: There's a guarantee that if we don't spend it, we can't help Medford residents.
[Knight]: That's the only guarantee we have. If we spend it, there's a guarantee that Medford residents could be left out, and they won't be able to have access to this, and it could go somewhere else outside.
[Roberta Cameron]: I'd like to let our applicant speak, actually. Thank you.
[Falco]: There are a number of councilors that have questions first, so continue with the council. Councilor Knight, are you all set?
[Knight]: Apparently, Ms. Cameron is going to let other people answer the questions, so that's fine with me, absolutely.
[Falco]: Okay, we'll come back to the questions after, but Councilor Scarpelli had a question.
[Morell]: George, you're muted.
[Scarpelli]: I appreciate it. Thanks, Council President. I tend to understand with all the applicants that are here tonight that we'll be speaking on, and I can totally understand what's going on. And I've been in, like most of the councils, I've been talking to Medford families that are in dire straits right now. But I tend to agree with Councilor Knight that there's a possibility that Medford taxes that make up our community preservation money that will be left out because we have to do this through the federal government. I understand that. But if I can't, I see that Dave's still here, Mr. Rodriguez. I could tell you, I think if we really try it as a community, there's got to be a way that we can fast track an application to a Medford partnership with housing or method family network that you we can give I'm Guaranteeing we could find $250,000 to go to housing concerns of guaranteed method residents And has that been discussed at all? Has that been an avenue? Is this something that this is the the only way that it's it could be funneled through? because I think I think if there is another way, I think that we spend a little bit more time looking at different avenues that we know that 100% of the Medford tax payers' money that make up the preservation funding, that it goes directly to Medford residents. So nothing against any of the applicants that are on tonight that don't live in Medford. I completely, I understand how difficult it is. And the people that are here, that offer Medford can apply in a different avenue. and we can support them, what they need to survive this horrible time. But I hate to see that there's going to be a Medford family looking out when the money might be going somewhere else, because we didn't do our due diligence to see if we had other avenues in filtering that and funneling that money toward the people of our community that need it 100% of the need. So thank you.
[Falco]: Yeah, thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, was that a question for the chief of staff or?
[Scarpelli]: Yes, if we can't make it a motion, if we can, the chief of staff can, if he can answer it or if we can go back to his staff and find to see if there's, we've exhausted, because I know other communities have other partnerships in place to help the residents of their community with rent and survival. And they're not using the community preservation money. So if I can hear that, that'll help me make my decision whether I want to vote for this or not this evening. So thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you.
[Dave Rodrigues]: Thank you for the question. This is one thing that we're doing in terms of many. So we are attacking this. The CPC is taking one tactic in order to do this by funding these organizations. We received close to a million dollars in additional CDBG funding that we're looking for the federal government to give us some guidance on how to program that money out. and they've relieved the us of the obligation to the limit of the 15% cap of providing those services to public service organizations. So this is one of many things that we're working on right now. Alicia Hunt has been the running point on the CDBG process. If there are specific questions regarding how we're looking to program that money. She would certainly be the best person to talk to her and her staff up at OCD who have been doing a lot of work to try to work on it.
[Scarpelli]: I don't want to cut you off, Dave, Mr. President. We looked at avenues within our community that have the ability to take that money and give it to the families of Medford that need it, that have been identified. I'm talking about this $250,000 that's being asked to go to possibly, that I understand that many Method families will get it, but if there's one family from Method that doesn't get it, but someone in a neighboring community does get this money because it has to be dished out this way to the federal government, I think that's unfair. So the question is, With this money, is there another way that we can make sure that the people that are in our meeting tonight that are from Medford that need this assistance, that we can guarantee that they're going to be one of the applicants that are going to be helped? Because one of these people that are asking for assistance tonight, they might be one of the people that don't get it because it's gone somewhere else. So I would hate to see that. So that's what I'm asking. My question is, did we do our homework to see if that $250,000 can go to another city partner to assure that 100% of that money that's raised by 100% taxpayer money goes to Method residents that are in need?
[Dave Rodrigues]: Because this is CPC, a CPC ask that just funneled through them. The asking, although the communication does come from the mayor, is largely ministerial in that sense, is that we received the request from CPC and we forwarded right to the council, that's just a process issue. In terms of the actual substantive questions about how these choices were made, those are choices that are best asked to Roberta and the rest of the CPC in terms of which applicants were, which applications were received, and what due diligence was received in order to program this particular money. The administration does not have any oversight over CPC in that regard.
[Scarpelli]: Just to follow that up, is there a venue, is there an avenue that the city administration can work with the CPC to take that money other than ABCD that we can then bring it directly to. I know that Roberta's come to us in the past of an emergency application that's, so let's say fictitiously, Marie Cassidy from Method Family Networks comes in and asks for $250,000 from CPC that we can approve that so 100% of the money goes to Method residents. Is that something that can be done?
[Dave Rodrigues]: The CBC, the CBC, CBC money is controlled by CPC. So it's, it's, that's, that's, I think that's the answer to the question. Um, and then Roberta and how that, that money's program is best asked her.
[Falco]: Thank you, Roberta. Can Roberta answer that question, John? So I'm going to call on a number of people. So we have Andre LaRue with us and we have, uh, Roberta Cameron and I, and we also have some, uh, Dana Stafford. So I'm going to let them speak. I think they'll be able to tell us more, give us more background. And then I think at that point, we'll have better questions to ask. So if I'm going to allow them to speak right now.
[Scarpelli]: Point of information, Mr. President. The question is pretty simple. Someone could tell me that money can go to a Method entity through CPC to get up to 100% of Method residents. Can someone just answer that yes or no? If it's no, it's no.
[Falco]: And that's what I'm getting at. So that's why I'm going to let them speak now so they can answer your question. I'd love to. Thanks. Thank you.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you. First of all, a short answer to the question is that both federal and state housing law says that we cannot discriminate with public funds. we can prioritize, and the chances are that the funds will be utilized entirely, if not almost entirely, to serve Medford residents, and it will go to serve people who are living in Medford right now, given the nature of the types of programs that we're funding. But I really think that we can't continue to have the conversation without allowing the applicants to present what it is that they're going to be doing with the funds, because a lot of the questions that we're raising would be answered if we gave the applicants a couple of minutes to explain what their program is about, and they may be able to speak better to their programs than I've done so far.
[Scarpelli]: Point of information, Mr. President. Roberta, all I'm asking is, I can appreciate what they're going to say, and I can appreciate, but what I'm saying is, before they even say anything, my answer could be answered if you could tell me that if the Medford Family Network or if another entity in Medford came to the CPC with an emergency application for $250,000 to help the families of Medford, could that be possible? It's nothing with an applicant's note. If you could tell me that, it'd be great.
[Roberta Cameron]: They could not provide a program that would match what these programs are doing, and they could not use public funds to discriminate. Whether it's a Medford-based organization or an organization from outside of Medford who is helping Medford residents, if they are public funds, we cannot discriminate with public funds. But I'd really like to hear from, if you may, Mr. President, if we could allow the applicants to explain how their program is going to work, because they may be able to answer the questions better than I have.
[Falco]: Robert, everybody's going to get their turn. The problem is everybody has questions all at once, okay? So I want to try to get some of the housing, you know, people with housing backgrounds to kind of talk more about the issue. Then councilors have questions and the recipients, everyone will get a chance. So if you just give me a couple of minutes, I'll now recognize Andre Larue.
[SPEAKER_19]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you to the city councilors for discussing this. My name is Andre LaRue. I'm the chair of the Medford Community Development Board, and I am that board's representative to the Community Preservation Committee. And I worked on helping to put this proposal together so I can explain a little bit about where it came from and the research that we did and why we feel that this is a strong proposal and a way to spend this money. So, Councilor Scarpelli, I think the simple question, the answer to your question is no. We could not We could not do anything more than what we're doing right now with any other organization, even if it was a local Medford organization. So what we did is we looked at what other communities have rental stabilization programs and which organizations administer those programs. We narrowed it down to a short list of organizations that have great experience in surrounding communities doing this work. And we figured that the best way of responding to this crisis around rent that people are going to be suffering from would be to ask an organization that has a staff capacity and existing program to just expand that program into Medford and to prioritize with this funding Medford residents. So for example, ABCD has, although it's ABCD Boston is the official name, They basically took over the organization TriCap that serves Medford, Everett, and Malden, and has its office in Malden a number of years ago, and their rental stable is funded in large part by Malden CDBG funds, which means that Malden residents are prioritized. So when we, so we could have a Medford resident right now apply to that program, but there's so many Malden residents who need that help that they will be on the priority list. And the de facto effect is that no Medford residents can really access those funds. So we would be doing the same thing with this funds, these funds but for Medford residents. So the priority would be given to Medford residents and there would probably be so many Medford residents that would need this that no other residents from other communities would be unlikely, very unlikely to be able to tap into any of those those funds. And that's probably the best that we can do because as Roberta mentioned, federal law prohibits any further restriction than that. So That answers that question. And we invited ABCD to come in for this funding in part because They're a large organization. They have the staff capacity to ramp up a large program quickly. And the other reasons that were very attractive to us is that they provide case management to families for six months after receiving any assistance. So they will get documentation from the renter, from the landlord. They will try to work out an arrangement with both of them together. so that an adequate amount of money is given, so they can serve these resources, they steward these resources appropriately and conservatively, so that they can help as many families as possible. They have a range of other services that they offer out of their Malden offices that people can access, so like food access, and they can make referrals for legal assistance and other kinds of assistance that they have. So then they'll check on the families for, I think every month for six months down the road to make sure that those families then later don't fall out of housing stability. So those were some of the things that I think we found as we were doing our research that was attractive to us. And I'm sure that, you know, Jaina and Tabitha can answer further questions about how this works, but we were impressed with their their experience. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you very much. Councilor Scarpelli, is your question answered now? I just want to make sure.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. I appreciate the response. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. So we have a number of councilors up next. Councilor Caraviello, did you have your hand up before?
[Caraviello]: I did, Mr. President, but I'll wait to come back. I want to hear what the other people say before I ask my question. So maybe my question may be answered before then.
[Unidentified]: Okay. Councilor Marks, you are up next. Councilor Marks, are you with us? He looks like he's frozen.
[Hurtubise]: Very intense.
[Morell]: Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. I just had a question regarding what priority means. Is it time bound? Is there a certain amount of time that Medford families can apply and then it would go down the list to other families? I'm just curious for clarity on what priority signifies.
[SPEAKER_19]: Yeah, I think Jaina really has to answer that question because I'm not as familiar with how they handle it internally.
[Falco]: Jaina Stafford. Let's see, oh, hi, Jaina.
[SPEAKER_10]: Hi, hi, everyone.
[Falco]: Can you just give us your name and address for the record, please?
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes, Jaina Stafford from Housing Families in Malden at 919 Eastern Ave. It's nice to see you all again.
[SPEAKER_19]: And actually, I'm sorry, Jaina is from Housing Families, the ABCD folks, it's Alexia and Tabitha.
[SPEAKER_10]: Okay, thank you. They may want to answer those questions first. I would defer to Tabitha and Alexia. If they want to speak about their program, it's much larger.
[Unidentified]: Alexia, would you like to speak first?
[Falco]: Or Tabitha?
[SPEAKER_00]: I can speak.
[Falco]: Okay, Tabitha, why don't you talk about your program, please?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, Tabitha Gasson, Director of Housing for ABCD, 6 Pleasant Street, Malden, Mass. So basically, to answer that direct question, I think priority, we will prioritize, we have, first of all, let me just say we do have funding from other cities and towns. And so the monies that we are servicing to help families in Medford would be for Medford families specifically. When we take in the applications when we look through our different various funding sources We look for people who have an address that's in medford. So we in in their properties in medford and so Um, that's how we will take on the priorities. We have money from cpc and and in malden We have money cdbg money in malden and other everett is reaching out to us with the same type of funding so I don't think that um using Medford money would be an issue during this time. And so we will prioritize that. And I think Andre did an excellent job speaking about the components of our program. I mean, the stabilization, you know, rental assistance in itself is a band-aid, but comprehensive case management, following up with the client, following up with the landlord. We send out a landlord reference form every month just to see if the tenant's paying their rent. to see, you know, if there's any issues with the tenancy. We connect our tenants with, we connect the clients with fuel assistance resources, food pantry. We do a comprehensive budget with that. We'll help them with job search if they lost their job. So there are a lot of components that we put into our package that makes that tenancy sustainable. If we just threw money at it, it would just be a band-aid. But I'm quite sure that Medford families, if that's the concern, The priority would be this money will first go to people who have an address in medford the only time that that would be a That would be something different is if we're not getting the numbers in medford and we're going to do a broad outreach to community partners in medford Because they know where the population is they know what the need is and that's going to be our number one priority to reach out to um community partners in medford So they can identify the families or the households that are in the greatest need so that we can service them.
[Falco]: Thank you very much. And Jaina.
[SPEAKER_10]: I'm happy to speak a little bit about our program too. So we see this as more of a compliment to the services that we're already offering. So we've been very fortunate to receive Medford CDBG funds. for a number of years. And that puts us in the community doing legal services. So we would accept of course, any referrals from ABCD for clients that need these legal services in the Medford community. And we would want to access these funds as a compliment to our legal services. So if we find ourselves negotiating in court or trying to work out a Medford case that's already progressed further than just the initial stages of having a smaller rearage then we would be able to access the money, particularly for these cases. We saw it as kind of a streamlining where we wouldn't have to, we'd accept the referral from ABCD, we'd work on the case, and then we wouldn't have to send the families back to ABCD for rental assistance because we'd have a small amount of money that we could access directly. Okay.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Did that answer your question? Yes, that did. Thank you.
[Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have a couple of questions. First of all, how did the CPC arrive at this dollar amount?
[SPEAKER_19]: I can speak to that. We have been putting, well, first of all, the community preservation funds can only be used for three, kinds of projects, affordable housing, parks and playgrounds, and historic preservation. So we, since, for the last few years, while CPA has been in effect, we've gotten a lot of project applications for historic preservation projects and for parks projects. But we have not gotten very many for affordable housing, even though we know that affordable housing is a huge need in the community. So we've been setting aside funding every year to go into an affordable housing kind of account. So that when we got some projects and applications, we'd have funding there to use it. So we have about half a million dollars in an account right now for affordable housing. And given the scale of the crisis right now, we felt that we should make half of that funding available to try to help Medford families during this short term crisis. But we didn't wanna spend down everything because we still wanted to have some funding available for actually an affordable housing project when it comes to us.
[Marks]: So if I could, so it doesn't sound like you had any game plan. When I say you, I don't mean you in particular, but it doesn't sound like there was a game plan on why 250,000 was selected. I realize you had a half a million, but why was 250,000 selected? Is it based on a number of families we believe that may be able to take advantage and that number would suit what we have the need for? And the reason why I bring this up is from what I'm hearing is there's a potential that if we do prioritize method residents, And just say that we overestimated the amount of need that could be out there. And for instance, only $75,000 of Method residents came forward. The other amount, according to what was stated, would have to go to other people that may be outside this community. we can't withdraw the money, right, once our priorities of method families are done, say, okay, now we want to opt out of the program. So, I'm just wondering how we arrived at that 250.
[SPEAKER_19]: Well, what I can say is that, I mean, it's not scientific for sure, I agree there, but it is, you know, if we assume that it's going to cost you know, between one and $2,000 per family to serve. And that's what we're hearing from organizations is generally what they need to help out a family. And given that this is a short-term crisis, we're hoping that most of the families that are being served by this just have, you know, are experiencing one or two difficult months. And we just need to get them through this crisis so that hopefully they can go back to work on the other side of it. and maybe a temporary unemployment situation. So that's what we anticipate. Now, we also anticipate that there's probably gonna be a lot of people that need this. So if we estimate that 125 families will be helped with this $250,000, just $2,000 each, that's not a ton of families. And we feel pretty confident that we'll be able to find 125 Medford families that need the help. Um, you know, I think there's, we're more concerned that there could be, you know, thousands of families that need the help. And if that's the case, um, we may need to, uh, to dig deeper and use other funding sources. Maybe some of the CDBG funding that could be coming from the federal government from the stimulus bill. The problem with that money is that it won't be available for, Probably, you know a couple of months anyways, because there's a lot more regulations around the federal money What we felt is that if we act quickly now, we could make this available This funding available for action for people who are suffering on may 1st when they can't pay their rent bills And so this is like the first money that we can get out the door and in fact, um, you know tomorrow there's The Mass Housing Partnership is hosting with CHAPA a webinar for communities around the state that are interested in doing the same thing using their community preservation funding. And there's 400 community, like, well, 400 people signed up for that webinar. So the interest is huge. We're actually, like, we'd be one of the first in the state to do this. So I think we're where we need to be.
[Marks]: Mr. President, I also think it would be helpful maybe just to get an overview of eligibility requirements by the different programs. And I think that would be very helpful. And my last point is, will the full amount be used towards rental assistance or is there an administrative cost associated with this?
[SPEAKER_19]: Yeah, there is a small amount of the money that would be used for staffing and administration, but I believe that like $225,000 would be direct assistance to families. So it's a fairly small amount for staffing. And I don't know if Tabitha maybe could speak a little bit more towards how the income guidelines and how decisions get made on that side. I think she's unmuted.
[Marks]: So that's a 10% administrative cost? Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. So we do have a 10%, 9.7, I think, administrative costs. And we're not using any for staffing. We're using a little more for outreach. So we're using existing staff to fund this. So the majority of the money, the goal is that the majority of these funds go directly to the people who need it. So administrative costs and some money just to help with some outreach. So it's very little that we're using, you know, for anything other than direct assistance.
[Marks]: Okay. And just what, what about basic eligibility?
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, eligibility, again, it's based on what the funding required, but I believe it was up to 200% of the poverty. They have to be Medford residents or, you know, I mean, that's part of our requirement.
[Marks]: But we just heard that's not a requirement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I apologize, Medford priority, but it's up to 200% FPL. One of our goals is that they'll be able to sustain the tenancy after their rearage is paid. So their landlord has to be willing to participate. Hopefully after their rearage is paid, they have a job or something else that's going to sustain the tenancy. So that's the basic requirement.
[Marks]: You don't look at income, you don't look at anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so they have to have the income that's going to make them able to sustain their tenancy. So after a rent is paid, they should be able to have the income or proof that they're going to have, if they're furloughed from a job, they'll have a job that will be able to continue to pay the rent after we pay their rearage. Um, so yeah, we do get we get we get proof of income We get you know, we get a copy of the lease proof of income. We get proof of ownership from the landlord We get w-9s. Uh, we do a budget with the families And we work on you know, the goal is that they'll be able to sustain the tenancy after we pay the arrearage we we do the budget because we also want the the household, if they can't, to participate and pay back part of their, their rearage. So it gives them some ownership towards this debt. And, you know, and they have to be willing to participate in the stabilization program.
[Marks]: So if they don't take part in stabilization, they can't take part of the program.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nope, that, you know, they will agree up front, of course, and you know, I mean, that's 22 people agree up front to participate in stabilization. Um, you know, we pretty much know when we interview somebody, if they're, if they're going to be compliant, they'll sign off on it. It's different when we have a court order that says, okay, in order to get this money, you're going to participate, but we have to take people at face value. You know, I mean, these are hard times. Um, you know, chances are they're going to need the support, they're going to need fugal assistance, they're going to need future assistance from us in the past. So we try to leverage other opportunities that we have. So we give you this assistance, you know, you're going to be part of this whole, this network, and we're going to provide these supports to you. You're going to have to continue to pay your rent. They're going to have to sign an agreement with us that says, we're going to check in with your landlord, make sure you're able to pay your rent. We're going to connect you with services. And so we'll check in with them every month. We have them sign off. Not much else we can do other than have them sign and agree that they will participate in six months of stabilization services. We'll have a few that will fall through the cracks who will sign and not participate, but at least we put the good faith effort forth. We do a complete service plan with them.
[SPEAKER_19]: And Councilor Marks, they do require documentation from the tenant about if there's a loss of income, for example, or what their current income is if they're already under the 200% of poverty line. And then they also have to get documentation from the landlord. So it's not just, you know, somebody coming in saying I need the money.
[Scarpelli]: Point of information, Mr. President? Point of information, Councilor Scarpellillo. First of all, thank you, Andre, for clarifying that. But you said something that intrigued me, and I understood it. But the point of information is, everybody's talking about sustainability, but when Council Marks asked, you know, how do we get to this point? How do we choose this? The response was there were families that need one to $2,000 just to get by this period. So are we really, is that truly what we're looking for? We're truly looking for the sustainability or is this just something that, like you said, just to get them through the next couple of months? Because if that's the case, do we truly need ABCD to divvy up this money or could we find, do a little bit more work to find another organization within our community that can use, apply for this money and then do that?
[SPEAKER_19]: Well, from, I mean, our research, I would say that that would be very difficult to do. I think that, um, you know, we did, there are a short list of organizations that do this work. Um, but, having the experience to be able to evaluate whether somebody can, um, you know, how much money to give somebody, whether, uh, it's going to be used well, um, avoid fraud, uh, all, you know, this organization has a lot of experience with that. And so I, I would not want to just be trying to, you know, get it out the door without somebody who has that experience. And Tabitha, did you want to say something else to that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think you hit on the point exactly. I mean, we're a community action agency. So our address is in Medford, I mean, in Malden. Medford is part of our service area. We could very well have an address or take a boat in a community center in Medford. It's just logistics at this point. The key is that these people that have the need is being served. And yeah, we said 1000 to 2000. It's not just to get them by but you know, to get them out of their rut. The sustainability pieces, you know, we don't know what COVID-19 is going to do. We don't know how long this is going to be. But Let's get you on your feet, let's get your rear-edge behind you, and let's look forward and work together on a plan on how you can sustain your tenancy going forward. Are you going to get your job back? Do you need to do an additional job search? Do you have any difficulties with unemployment? I mean, there's a lot of factors. I could take the whole meeting up talking about the different components of doing this work, but it's not writing a check and forgetting we sent the money out or we put the money out the window. It's comprehensive and it's very strategic.
[Scarpelli]: Like I said, the question that was mentioned earlier was that we're just trying to get through the one one month, two months here and there. That's what I just want to know. Thank you, Andre.
[SPEAKER_19]: And actually, the other thing, Councilor, is that the state just approved and the governor signed a bill preventing evictions and foreclosures. So that's frozen for right now. So nobody in Medford who's watching this should feel like they're being pressured to get out of their homes during this time of emergency. The problem is that eviction and foreclosure freeze doesn't solve the problem. Tabitha was mentioning that the arrearage is still going to be there. The rent is still going to accumulate during these months that they can't pay. This program is an opportunity to put some money on the table where ABCD or Housing Families, Inc. could mediate a negotiation between the landlord and the tenant so that they can put some money on the table and say, hey, maybe this isn't all of it, but is this good enough to get through these months? And then a couple of months down the road, hopefully they're employed again and off and running.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, so thank you, that's why, because what was said earlier, it was a little contradictory. I just wanted to make sure that was the case. So thank you so much.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Before Councilor Scarpelli's point of information, Councilor Marks, you had the floor. Were your questions answered?
[Marks]: They were, and I just had one follow up if I could. Sure. Because we're talking one to 2,000, and I realize every case is different. I realize that, and I realize there's all different circumstances and so forth. But we're almost close to two months into this. And from what I'm hearing, this could last another month or two. And so you're potentially talking three, four, five months. And when I hear $1,000 or $2,000, believe me, every little bit helps. But rents in Method are no longer $1,000, $1,200. They're $2,000, $2,500, $3,000. And I'm just curious, if someone did lose their job or there's no income at all in the household, what is one or 2,000 going to do in a situation that you may need tens of thousands of dollars to keep someone going and functioning? And, uh, are we underestimating this? I'd hate to see this go to, uh, you know, I liked the more the merrier in my, in my opinion, I'd like to help out a vast number of people with the two 50, rather than just maybe a handful, uh, with the money. So I'm just wondering how, how do we work this, uh, to make sure that we spread it out and knowing that, um, we're spread thin already because. you know, $250,000 is not a lot to help a city of this size. So I was just wondering if I could throw that out there.
[SPEAKER_19]: Right. Well, you're absolutely right, Councilor. I think the $1,000 to $2,000 number that I threw out there is an average. So some people are actually going to maybe need a very small amount of money, maybe only $500. Other people are going to need maybe $4,000. And so I think there's When you say, you know people who have like a twenty five hundred dollar rent, they lose their job And they don't have any prospects of getting it back. I'm, not sure whether You know, they're going to be a really strong candidate for this for this program and i'm not sure how abcd uh, you know would handle that but I think that uh, You know, they need more help like this. This program is not going to be like paying their rent forever right for anybody um, but but you know if they could they might be able to say their rent is $2,000, and maybe they can only come up with $1,200 this month. Maybe they can put some of their stimulus check or some of their unemployment into it, but they need $800 to make the rest of it. Then I think that's what we're hoping will kind of get them, keep them going. Thank you. And yeah, Tabitha, you probably wanted to step in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and so Andre is exactly right. And what we do is we pool resources. I mean, we sit down with them, we identify what their resources are, what they can contribute. And again, sometimes, you know, we look at other resources like RAP and CDBG, other funding sources. that we may have access to in order to help this family to sustain. And again, there may be those families that won't get a job back, and it's unrealistic to think that they're going to pay $2,300 a month. And then we have a different conversation with them. It's a harder conversation. But again, we work together. Our goal is not to leave anyone high and dry. we work with them on finding out what other options are available to them. You know, the hardest thing is to ever counsel somebody to go into a family shelter. The hardest thing is to say, maybe you could consider living with family and friends, you know, but our goal is not to do that. So we pool as much resources as we can together to help that household sustain where they are.
[SPEAKER_19]: And if we get these families through, you know, a month or two with this program, then there may be more funding to tap into through the CDBG funds coming down in a couple of months. Thank you. Thank you.
[Hurtubise]: Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I have two questions. The first one is, I'm not sure who said it in their presentation, but I believe the term was we invited them to apply. And I'm wondering if that is, you know, there's an open enrollment period or an emergency enrollment period and they're saying, look, if these resources are available, please apply. or if this is a, hey, we know a great organization, let's call them and tell them to apply for this money, because this is a program we need, I guess. Is the community and the community-based organizations driving the request for the program, or is the CPC driving the request for applicants?
[SPEAKER_19]: Yeah, I can answer that, Councilor. It's the CPC extended an invitation to these organizations. So we put together and really Roberta took the initial lead on the research, put together a list of organizations that does this kind of work in the area. And then I conducted interviews of all of the organizations and really probed what their staff capacity was and their perspective on managing these programs and how they would use the money and get them out the door. And then we extended an invitation to a couple of them to come in for funding. And the way that this works is we see this as really complimentary, you know, ABCD has the staff capacity, they're a large organization, they can ramp up and serve a lot of families in a short period of time. but they don't necessarily have the attorneys in-house. Some of the families that need help may a few months down the road be dealing with kind of legal issues with their landlord. And so Housing Families, Inc. really has a very strong legal services program. They already have an ongoing contract for like $12,000 of CDBG funds from the city of Medford. So they have experience here. They do monthly, um, like kind of, uh, office hours at the senior center and, but $12,000 is not going to go very far at all in this crisis. So we invited them to come in and, uh, and kind of supplement that funding as well. So that's why you have the two. So the folks at ABCD encounter, they're going to do like the primary case management and, uh, when people coming in the door, but if they need, specific legal help, they will refer them to Housing Families, Inc. for that side of the program.
[Knight]: I don't want to be misunderstood, Mr. President. I certainly understand the work that these organizations do and I appreciate the work that they do. My biggest concern is taking property tax dollars and these monies that are generated through an assessment on a property tax here for a homeowner and them having the opportunity to be used outside of the community. That's my biggest concern. That's my biggest issue. But it seems like a lot of those concerns have been addressed with the presentation. One question I would have for our CPC administrator or CPC staff is, does the council have the right to reduce the appropriation and allow this applicant to come back at a later date for further funding? Councilmarks made a great point. If the need's not there, then these funds could go somewhere else. Why release $250,000 when we could release $75,000 now, $75,000 later, and then $100,000 at the end if that need needs to be met? Is it in our best interest to appropriate 50% of our CPC funds that are in the affordable housing bucket at this time, or should we give less money and allow them the opportunity to come back and ask for more if the need is there?
[Falco]: Roberta, Danielle, would either one of you like to take that one?
[Unidentified]: Oh, Danielle.
[Evans]: Hi, good evening.
[Unidentified]: Hi.
[Evans]: I guess there's a variety of ways you could do it. I guess what we're trying to figure out is what kind of list of potential applicants we have. You do have the power to reduce the award at this time if you wanted to. even though the CPC is recommending 250,000, but you have the power to say, no, we're not going to do that, we'll reduce it down. Or we could potentially table it and see if we get, see who applies for it and then decide on the award size. I mean, we're trying to kind of like figure this program out as we go along. But I understand the concern, it's valid to try to make sure that these go to Medford residents. I don't know, Roberta, do you have any ideas of
[Roberta Cameron]: It seems to me that since the committee has already recommended $250,000, that if the council wanted to approve a portion of that now and a portion later, that would make sense. One of our concerns was that a certain economy of scale is helpful in being able to use these funds efficiently. So a, starting with an amount that's too small to make a difference might make it more challenging for them to be able to ramp up the program and to be able to provide the outreach that will be effective in helping Medford families. So maybe it could make sense, for example, to disperse the funds, to approve the funds in two halves, giving us a chance to come back and report to the council after say a month of how the funds are being utilized and what the volume of demand is, applications is for utilizing the funds.
[SPEAKER_19]: Yeah, and if I may, one thing that hasn't been mentioned, but the CPC did put a requirement on this funding request that they would have to give us monthly reports on who they were serving and where, you know, how much money was each award, and things like that.
[Unidentified]: Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: The last question I have, I think the chief of staff is on the call, if I'm not mistaken. What's the mayor's position on this? Is the mayor supportive of this appropriation, or is this something that the mayor doesn't see as appropriate? Does this fall within our housing needs and use plan that we have in place? Those are the questions I'd have for the administration if they can answer that.
[Falco]: I think Dave was on the call. I don't think he's on the call any longer, but Adam, would you know for sure? That is correct, he's off the call.
[Hurtubise]: Okay, thank you.
[Falco]: Okay, so we have a number of, so up next is Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Roberta, Andre, Danielle, Tabitha, Jayna, everyone who's been working on this. I think this meets the early scope Of this crisis. I think the point of getting money out the door, um to try to help people who are in need right now is really well taken. Um I would be fine with if we wanted to do a half and half but um disbursement, but i'd really want to Make sure that if the need is greater than you know if we're running out in in a week or two weeks and not in a month that we can come back and discuss it sooner because just from the discussions that i've had and the calls that i've been getting, you know, i've talked to 30, 40 people who are having trouble. And if we're talking $1,000 to $2,000, that's 125 to 250 people. And I'm sure that I'm not speaking to nearly even a small chunk of the folks who are in need right now in our city. I really think this is a great effort. I'm really glad that you've all been working on this, and I really hope we can move it forward as quickly as possible because the need is there. And as a lot of the conversations around housing have been happening, you know, people were feeling okay for March and maybe okay for April, and now it's really, you know, we're getting into week six, week seven, week eight. The other side of it, too, is that the unemployment benefit systems have not been working quickly. And if you combine the calls that I'm getting and the work that I'm trying to do on that side with the people who are concerned about housing, it makes me to think that we're going to need to go beyond this, hopefully. And hopefully we can. And hopefully the federal and state government are there to help us with that. Because I don't think, even in Medford, we're going to have the resources to meet the need. So I just want to say thank you, and I strongly support this.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Morell, and Councilor Scapelli.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. A lot of good information going around here. One of my questions is, who is going to be the watchdog for the city of Medford on this? Anybody have a question? Anybody have an answer to that?
[Evans]: Danielle. I would be monitoring the program. Um, CPA projects, I'm sorry. As I do all of the CPA projects I monitor them all to make sure that they're spent in accordance with the with the awards and the grant agreements.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you. And my another question is, my other question is, I would support, I can probably support half of this going on right now, because I would think within the first week or two weeks, you're gonna know what the demand is almost immediately. So I think if the demand is there right away, you come back right away and you get support. But the biggest question I get is outside agencies telling the city of Medford how to spend taxpayer dollars. uh, and that's where I get the concern on that because again, um, Especially if it's not going to city of method residence, uh, that that's where the bad rub comes in, uh with a lot of with a lot of people so that's really what my biggest concern and so if if you start out with half and the demand is there fine, uh, then we then you then we support the rest of the of the of the money, but uh, let's see what the demand is before We go out and put all the money out there. And then like Councilor Mark says, what if there's not the demand that we think is there? I mean, hopefully this situation doesn't go on forever. And let's just play it by ear. But I say, I would support half the money being appropriated this evening with some kind of, with some kind of documentation coming back within a week or two weeks saying that there is more need, and could we have the other half of the money?
[Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell is up next, then Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Bears, and Councilor Marks.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I want to thank everyone who brought this forward. I know this was put together with some amount of speed because this is what's necessary at these times. This crisis is happening in real time and people's needs are happening in real time and different levels of government can act at different levels of speed. And I think we need to respond to this as much as we can. This crisis impacts people differently. A lot of us are fortunate enough to be able to work from home. We continue our work and we don't notice it. There are people that this is making a huge impact on. 22 million people applying for unemployment throughout the country. These are incredible numbers. And I think we're going to see the demand. And I think there's been a lot of questions about an agency like ABCD facilitating this. And I think those questions have been answered and addressed in the sheer scope of the challenge and the fact that ABCD goes farther to follow people and help them really in the ways they need to be helped when they do qualify for these programs. My father led one of the sister organizations to ABCD for the entirety of his career. And I've seen how this impacts communities, how it impacts people who need these programs. And I have all the faith in programs like ABCD to facilitate these things and to help people and to do the vetting and to make sure that Medford is put first. And to the point that has been made before, if we don't do this, nothing's happening. Of course, there is a small amount of risk as we kind of build the plane as we're flying it, but we're in unprecedented times. And I think this is something that we do need to move forward with to help Medford families and to offer something for people who are really struggling right now. So I look forward to supporting this. Thank you, Councilor Morell.
[Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, everybody involved, Roberta, Tabitha, Andre, Danielle, I thank you all. I think that we need to do something. I agree that something has to be moved forward, but I think that the questions that are asked aren't in a negative fashion, in the sense that we don't want to help people. I hope you understand that. I think that it's making sure that we cross our T's and dot our I's. And I think you've done a great job. And I think that, you know, Andre, thank you for answering those questions. For me, it made me understand. I also agree with my fellow council, Councilor Marks, when he looks at the distribution. And I think that doing it in in to and doing it enough like Roberta said that it reaches enough people but then shows us Again, and I and our constituents that listen there are people here and we all know they're gonna need I know that council bear said earlier I've been filled in phone calls in a daily basis myself and you know, so I know Tabitha I could tell you right now the method family network Mike Durham who's our veterans affairs director our immigration you know, uh, uh, offices and reaching out to those families. We all know we're going to hit, hit that number easily. That's not going to be, that's not going to be the concern. I think that right now is making sure that those questions were answered. And I, I appreciate all your hard work to this because I think Nicole, uh, Councilor Morell is right. If we're not doing something, we're not doing anything. So, um, uh, this was thorough in the, the answers, but. I also agree with Councilor Marks. I think that showing us the process, I think will be very helpful. So thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Yeah, and I think just along the same lines, hopefully, you know, it's trial by fire and it's not the circumstances you ever want to be doing this, but building that relationship with you now, you know, if we had had this relationship before, some of these, we'd have more understanding, we'd have some answers to the questions. I think it speaks to the need, we needed this before, we definitely need it now. And building those relationships and connections will help us all going forward. And again, I do hope it's not, as long as many of us think it is right now, but we gotta prepare for that.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Yeah, Councilor Marks. Sorry about that. This question is for Tabitha. Tabitha, currently right now over the last six, seven weeks, I'm sure ABCD has fielded phone calls regarding Method residents that have concerns. Is that not correct?
[Falco]: To be there, if you could start again, I'd share that with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, thank you. Yeah, we have, I mean, we've received calls, we have received calls from different residents for a variety of things. Food has been one of the major things. I mean, I don't think they know right now that we have the resources for financial assistance. But once they know that, the calls will come in directly for that. Fuel assistance, food, help with taxes, there's various calls. We've received, when I talked with the community network partners, we received about 70 calls from the Medford area with varying needs.
[Marks]: What about regarding housing assistance?
[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't not for rental assistance. We haven't received any specific calls when we got in rental assistance yet.
[Marks]: And why is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they don't know that's what we do. And so we have a housing department in Medford. It's been really uncharted territory. I said that during my interview. But I think once they know that we are up into speed and we're doing housing and have rental assistance in Medford, I don't think that's going to be an issue. We did get, and let me take that before we even apply for this, we did get a few calls regarding homeless families because of our mobile homeless outreach program, but nothing specifically for rental assistance.
[Marks]: Right. And I'm just curious, what percent of ABCD's budget is state funded?
[SPEAKER_00]: Alexi, are you still on? Can you answer that?
[Bears]: I think we lost her.
[Falco]: No, I'm here.
[Bears]: Oh, there she is.
[Falco]: Alexi is here. Um, so let's see, can we just have your name and address for the record for the clerk, please?
[Jean Nuzzo]: Yes. Alexi Lane Lowman, one 58 Brown Ave. Um, Roslindale, Massachusetts.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Jean Nuzzo]: Um, so the question was how much is state funded particularly correct of your program? How much is state funded of housing or of the agency as a whole?
[Marks]: Either one. I'd like to know how much of your housing program is state funded, um, of the housing program.
[Jean Nuzzo]: I'm one of our contracts just ended. So I'm trying to do math quickly in the moment. Um, just a ballpark, just a ball.
[Marks]: What percent of housing is funded through the state?
[Jean Nuzzo]: I would say about half, but it's, it's, I'm sorry to say it this way. It's kind of complicated math because, um, the majority of housing funds come through the department of, um, housing and community development, but they originate as federal funds.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our program is CSBG funded, which comes through DHCD, which is basically...
[Jean Nuzzo]: federal funds. Right. It originates as federal funding, but it flows through the state. Um, so if you're asking particularly like similar funding as the CPC funding, um, we've just started, um, two new contracts with the city of Malden that are for this same type of programming. Um, we are seeking this contract right now.
[Marks]: Um, yeah, my, my, my, my question is, cause it reaped my tweak. My curiosity is that, um, It was just mentioned that Method residents really don't know that maybe rental assistance money may be available to ABCD. And I know for years, your organization has received either federal or state money. And I'm wondering why that outreach hasn't been done over the years, so that Method residents would know, hey, if I have a concern, let me pick up the phone and call an agency that's right next door in the city of Malden, and I may be able to get some assistance. So that is my curiosity a little bit. why it seems to be new to the city of Medford where there's been federal and state money for many years.
[Jean Nuzzo]: So that, I think that maybe it's a matter of nuance in the conversation. So we're particularly and specifically talking about rental assistance funds. Since we took over for TRICAP, we've been serving Medford residents and providing the same housing counseling package of programming that Tabitha described earlier that involves budgeting, stabilization, case management, access to other services, and really maximizing the benefits that are available to somebody. particularly rental assistance is one of the least funded categories of benefit that folks are really in need of. And so when we're talking about calls for specifically rental assistance, folks who are in need know often Go to ABCD for this service go to housing families for that service. And when there aren't rental funds available, period because it's not within the system. Folks know that they're not available. So if this were to be granted very quickly The word would spread that there are rental assistance funds available I know that with our work in Boston that most of the calls that we get have a need for rental assistance rather whether it's large or small and And so it is a little chicken or the egg, unfortunately, in the conversation right now, but it's not that ABCD and our services are not known to Medford residents. It's that this particular aspect is not known because it hasn't existed before.
[Marks]: Okay, so the COVID-19 RAF money that was just made available, do we have any Medford residents taking advantage of that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you say the RAF money?
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't administer RAF, Metro Housing does, but if someone was to come to us with an enrerage or we would refer them to RAF for RAF services, but we don't administer RAF. We refer to, we send referrals into a RAF.
[Marks]: So have you sent method referrals into RAF?
[SPEAKER_00]: We have not to date.
[Marks]: And why is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: It could be that another community partner, as Alexia said, it could be, you know, ABCD is known for specific services. A RAF referral could be put in through any community-based organization. So they may be seeing another organization, they could see a social worker at a clinic, and they could put through a RAF application. You know, since we've been in the Tri-Area, I would have to say we do see Methodist residents. Mostly we get calls regarding homeless people who have been noticed in the area because of our mobile homeless outreach. But most Methodist families or households come to us through one of our other services, Head Start, through our fuel assistance program. through one of those services. And so housing may be addressed in that area, and they may be working with other entities. What existed before in Medford related to housing before we came in the Tri-Area, but there's a lot of components. We've been a little slow up getting into Medford and really developing a stronghold. I mean, tomorrow, if we could, we could put an umbrella up in Medford, but it has not been. housing rental assistance that they've been seeking. They've been seeking other services. And where we do a one-door, one-stop shopping, if they go to fuel assistance and they have a need for housing, it could be addressed that way. If they go to our neighborhood service center, it could be addressed to a case manager there. If it's something that's really complicated, like they need access to shelter, or they need something that one of our other arms cannot deal with, then they will refer them to us for more comprehensive services. So any one of our doors is like a general practitioner. And if they have a heart condition, or if they have a housing condition that can't be fixed by a general practitioner, they'll refer them to our housing department for a specialty. So, yeah, we do have some work to get in there and say, hey, we got rental assistance money here, and we are more than fuel assistance. We're more than our food pantries. We're more than our Head Start. And since we've been in a tri-area, Method's been slow in coming on board, but it's coming. It's there. And our reputation precedes us. I mean, people are starting to learn that ABCD does more than those core key programs.
[Marks]: That's good to know. And the success of this particular program we're talking about tonight will be based on the outreach that's done by your organization. And as you know, I think we have a lot of outreach to do to make residents aware of what's currently happening. And the only reason why I brought up the other state funding or federal funding is that I want to make sure that Method residents, they may not be aware, but that they're getting a piece of the pie as well. And I know the government is throwing a lot of money into this COVID now. and there's a lot of money being dished out, I want to make sure that Medford residents have a seat at the table as well. And I appreciate all your efforts.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guarantee you in three months, we'll be having a different conversation. We're going to go full force into Medford and make our existence known and help as many people in Medford that we can help with comprehensive services, not just rental assistance.
[Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you, Tabitha. Councilor Knight, you're up next.
[Knight]: Mr. President, I'd like to second Councilor Caraviello's motion for a 50% funding and then upon review of the usage statistics, a further conversation on appropriating the additional 50%.
[Falco]: So is the motion from Councilor, Vice President Caraviello to reduce it to 100% Is it 50% of the 250?
[Caraviello]: Yes, Mr. President. Then they said these people should know within a week or two weeks how big the need is and come right back. And I don't see a problem appropriating the other 50%. But like Councilor Mark said, let's see the need. And like Debita said, currently the program isn't that known out in her area. with her group. So let's see what the demand is, and then we'll appropriate as we go.
[Falco]: Okay, so I want to make sure I get this clear, and Clerk Hurtubise, please see if you agree. There's two points to this paper. The first one is requesting the appropriation of $250,000. Is the motion to reduce that by 50%?
[Caraviello]: That is correct, Mr. President.
[Falco]: And what about the $20,000 on the second point?
[Caraviello]: I don't have a problem with that, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Okay. Councilor Bears, one minute, please. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to reduce the line one to $125,000, seconded by Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: I just, and this is more technical. I don't know if the clerk or Danielle could speak to it. Instead of, by doing it this way, it makes me think that the CPC is gonna have to vote again on another $125,000. Is that accurate or not?
[Caraviello]: I would hope not.
[Knight]: They made the recommendation for the funds of 250. We're just giving them half and saying, come back and ask for more later. They made the recommendation for 250.
[Bears]: Okay, so essentially we're releasing half.
[Caraviello]: Yeah, depending on the need. If the need's there, we'll give the other half comes right out. Got it.
[Hurtubise]: Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Okay, before I call the roll, any other questions from the council?
[Falco]: We have a question from the clerk.
[Hurtubise]: I just want to make sure I've got Vice President Caraviello's motion, because I was copying down what he said. His motion is to approve $125,000 in funding now and reevaluate after demand is known. That's correct. Okay. Okay. And second to that motion.
[Bears]: Is that also 10,000 for the second
[Falco]: No, the 20,000. That stays the same. Line one will be reduced in half. Line two will remain the same. Clerk Hurtubise, have you received any emails?
[Hurtubise]: I have no emails, there was a resident who was on the meeting earlier who had to get off and he expressed his support for the resolution. Okay, thank you. So are you gonna vote on the 125 now and then the 20 later or are you gonna take the 20 in the same vote?
[Caraviello]: We could do it in the same vote. We could do it in the same vote, that's fine.
[Knight]: We can't. Two separate appropriations, keep in mind.
[Falco]: That's right, two separate votes, although it's, okay. There should have been two separate papers, but Council Member Marks had one question, I believe.
[Marks]: Mr. President, just that we'd be provided with any statistics, documentation of what currently is going on over the next couple of weeks. And if there is a need for an additional appropriation, that that information be provided.
[Falco]: So you'd like to make an amendment to the main motion, correct? Correct.
[Hurtubise]: I'm working on it, hang on. Mr. President? One second, Councilor Scott Bell. Let me read Councilor Marks' amendment. Councilor Marks wants the wants the council to be provided with the information on the funding, on the funding tracking, if there is need for additional funding?
[Marks]: The reporting. So any statistics reporting, number of families, the dollar amount each family got from the first, if you want to call it first allocation. OK. So then we can make an informed decision if additional money is necessary. OK.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Scarpelli. If I can, I don't know if Roberta can help, or Tabitha. How can we share this information? Can we give the people, the organization that contacted us, can we help this by offering an email or phone number? What's the best way that we can help as a council to spread that word, to get those organizations to come to you, to expedite this?
[Unidentified]: Tabitha, one minute, please.
[Scarpelli]: Tabitha, that's great. If you can email us all maybe contact information and we'll get the word out ASAP.
[Falco]: If you want to give us the information out too, that's fine. I just unmuted you. Sorry about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I can give you my telephone number. You can call 617-348-6347. And my email address is my first name, T-A-B-I-T-H-A dot G-A-S-T-O-N at BostonABCD.org. Okay, thank you.
[Hurtubise]: Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Unidentified]: Okay. On the motion.
[Falco]: Vice President Caraviello. to update the amount in point number one here, requesting the appropriation of $250,000 to change that $225,000. That's seconded by Councilor Knight and amended by Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks.
[Unidentified]: Councilor Marks?
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Thank you. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the second portion of the paper, number two, requesting the appropriation of $20,000 from the CPA Community Housing Reserve to preserve, I'm sorry, Housing Reserve to Housing Families Incorporated to provide rental assistance as part of their pro bono legal services program. On that motion by Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marks]: Mr. President. Councilor Marks. Just before we call the roll. Now, the services that are provided by housing families, are they also providing some of the tracking that's necessary over the six months, is that part of their responsibility?
[Unidentified]: Some of the stabilization?
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you. We would provide tracking in an ideal situation if we had a prevention case manager. We can certainly do that with these funds. We do that as time permits, but we're happy to also do that here.
[Marks]: So I'm just trying to figure out. So the 20,000 that's going to your organization is for what purpose?
[SPEAKER_10]: So this would be to compliment our legal services. So for people that were involved in a rental or rear edge situation, we take referrals from lots of different places, from other attorneys, from housing authorities. We would take them from ABCD, of course. And then a little bit of money to resolve the legal situation that is unfolding for the families. So we, the $20,000 would go directly back into the community. We don't have any administrative money attached to that. We're already receiving money to do the legal services through the CDBG.
[Marks]: So is the 20,000 tied to the 250 in any way?
[SPEAKER_10]: It's not other than we would receive referrals from ABCD if they had them for us.
[Marks]: Okay, thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you. Thank you everyone for participating. educating us tonight on a lot of the housing questions that we had. We appreciate all your hard work. And thank you to the CPC as well for putting this together so quickly. We appreciate all your time and effort. I motion to revert back to the regular auto business. I motion to Councilor Marksley. Second. A business seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. Vice President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes and we will now revert to the regular order of business. motions orders and resolutions to zero dash three one seven offer by console night. Here is all a member of City Council congratulate Evelyn and Henry Miller and on the momentous occasion of the 50th wedding anniversary console night.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Many of us know the Miller and family, they've been. fixtures in the city of Medford for as long as I can remember. Very dedicated community advocates in their neighborhood at the West Medford Community Center, in the state working for individuals with developmental disabilities, and also very active in the Democratic Party here in the city of Medford, Mr. President. Henry and Evelyn have become great friends over the years. I first met them working in Charlie Shannon's office when they'd come up and lobby for state funding for certain programs in Madison at that time. I'm very happy to have seen the friendship grow, and I'm very happy to see them have 50 years of wedded bliss under their belt, and I wish them 50 more, and I ask my council colleagues to join me in offering this resolution.
[Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks. Mr. President.
[Marks]: Mr. President. Yes. I'm a little confused. The Millerons are only 45 years old.
[Knight]: It was an arranged marriage.
[Marks]: I agree with Councilor Knight, Mr. President. They're two outstanding citizens and I wish them well on their 50th wedding anniversary.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. I have the opportunity to thank, uh, uh, congratulate Helena's wife in person. Uh, again, uh, two salt of the earth people, staunch members of the West Medford community, and congratulate them on their 50 years, and hopefully we'll see them in 50 more years. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Peers?
[Bears]: Just want to extend my congratulations to Evelyn and Henry as well.
[Falco]: Thank you very much. We have Councilor Scarpelli is up next.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Henry is a very special person, very close with my dad back in the day and the days in youth soccer. And this is a great accomplishment and a great example for all of us and how to be husbands and great husbands. And Henry's a great example. So we want to congratulate them on a momentous occasion. So thank you.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I just want to also extend my congratulations. Like anyone in the city, if you've had anything to do with politics, you have to go through Henry. So I've been fortunate enough to establish a relationship with him, and I want to congratulate them both. Thank you, Councilor Morell.
[Falco]: And if I will agree with my colleagues a thousand percent, Henry and everyone, great people, very active in our community, very involved, very nice to talk to, very approachable. And we wish them a very, very happy 50th wedding anniversary. On the motion of Council on Light, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. I get it. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Congratulations to the Malorians. 20-318 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a meeting of the Subcommittee on Auditing, Finance, Budgets, and Taxation, and invite the city administration to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 emergency and economic crisis on the city's finances. Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was quickly schooled by the clerk that I do not have to put forward a resolution for if I'm the chair of the committee, but he thought it was going to be a light agenda.
[Hurtubise]: So he said leave it on.
[Bears]: But I wanted to, it seems like folks have questions. I'd be happy for that to be committee of the whole instead of the subcommittee. It seems like that might be the better venue anyway. I don't want to put that out there. I just want to put that out there and be more than happy for that.
[Falco]: get everyone on the same page. This budget is probably going to be more interesting than most. A lot of tough decisions will have to be made. I had mentioned it to her and she thought it was a good idea. I'm glad you put it on the agenda. I definitely agree. I think committee as a whole would be the better venue because all of us are going to have a major role in the budget. We're all involved in it. But so I would agree, I think Committee of the Whole is the better avenue for this. But I thank you for bringing this forward and recognize Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, I believe. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was going to ask Councilor Bears to change it to Council of the Whole. Again, this is, like you said, it's a very important matter. I don't think we even know the scope of where it is. I've talked to the state delegation already. They've already told me that our cherry sheet is going to be light, probably by at least 25% going forward. Probably, if you saw the T report that came out the other day, how much they're bleeding, our share of the T is probably going to be going up higher than it's been in the past. Schools, I mean, again, I think this is going to be probably the most toughest budget that any of us on this council has faced in many, many years. Maybe Councilor Marks was only, I don't know if he would, he might've been the only one that faced a budget that was this difficult. So again- During the Great Depression. Yes. That was very difficult. But let's say there was some tough times, but yeah, the city, again, I don't think we know the scope. We're going to be a shortfall in our meals taxes, hotel taxes, school rentals. I think we're gonna have to have an overview of where we go. So if Councilor Villes would like to amend that to Committee of the Whole, I would appreciate it.
[Unidentified]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Villes, you're okay with that?
[Hurtubise]: Yeah.
[Falco]: Okay, perfect. I don't want to speak on this. Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Morell. Thank you for bringing this up.
[Scarpelli]: full-time capacity, per se. This was our big meeting today and it was scary to hear. Maybe my fellow council can help me, but are we up for, is the trash collection, is that contract up too? Is that something that we have, and that's a big nut too. So there's a lot that's happening. And I think that really sitting down with the administration getting our arms around everything right now is gonna be imperative to make sure that everybody's custom living, it doesn't change. And that's teachers, police, fire, DPW, everything we need to survive in our community. So thank you for bringing this up Councilor Bears and thank you.
[Falco]: Councilor Scott, Councilor Bears, did you want to say something?
[Bears]: at the end, after everyone else.
[Morell]: The grand finale. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I just want to echo my fellow councilors, thank Councilor Bears for bringing this up. I know we had talked many months ago about the budget coming sooner, but obviously these are kind of extenuating circumstances where we need a bit of a heads up before we get to that point, not only as a body, but I think the general public, you know, deserves to kind of know a little bit more about where we stand. Obviously, we're down on meals taxes, receipts and hospitality tax receipts and things like that. And we operate on pretty tight margins in the first place. And as Medford has never done an override, our margins and our budgets are pretty tight. So I think just understanding what we're operating with as a body and also so that our general public can understand what kind of things we're looking at in these dire times. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks, did you want to speak? No, I'm good, thanks. Okay, thank you. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I do think it's important that we continue to keep on track with the pre-budget hearings. And the reason I say that is because statutorily, we still have to produce a budget, you know, by the 1st of July. And I do not believe that the governor has extended the period of time in which the municipality can put together its budget. So I think by law, The mayor would have to give us her budget by the last day of next month. So I just hope that we can keep on a tight schedule with this, Mr. President, because there are going to be a lot of tough decisions that need to be made.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thanks. And I think just something to tack on that we're going to need to have as part of these discussions. is working with the state delegation and maybe even the federal delegation to say this is what our need is. This is the impact of this crisis. This is the amount of money that we're looking at cutting. How much of this can we get through a federal stimulus package? And I think joining together with our state and federal folks on that is going to be important as well. We know some money has gone out. More money looks like it's going to go out. So having that conversation and being able to say, you know, we're gonna need something there too, and get as much as we can, because I think when we're talking about the fears that we're all having, I don't think anyone's prepared to make the kind of cuts that, and the numbers that have just been thrown out here, and feel in any way okay with it, so.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers.
[Caraviello]: Vice President Caraviello. Mr. President, if I could just request that the mayor be invited to the meeting along with the budget director. Absolutely.
[Falco]: Okay, thank you. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, that we have a committee the whole meeting with the mayor, budget director, to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 emergency and economic crisis on the city finances. On that motion. Councilor Knight, did you have something to say?
[Unidentified]: Did you have? No, sir. Okay.
[Falco]: On that motion.
[Hurtubise]: Please call the roll. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Bears]: Yes.
[Falco]: There are a number of reports that we received on the April 14, 2020 committee, the whole report.
[Hurtubise]: Mr. President, you also have two tabled motions from last week. I believe there was a memorial resolution for Senator Shannon from Council Knight that was tabled because he lost his internet connection at the end of the meeting. Correct. and there was also a condolence motion for Paul Brogan, which was also Councilor Knight's motion. But again, he lost his connection at the very end of the meeting.
[Falco]: Councilor Knight, do you prefer to take these up at the end of the meeting, or do you want to take them from the table now?
[Knight]: Go to the meeting, sir.
[Falco]: OK. Let's take the committee reports first, and then we'll close with the moment of silence to memories that we lost in the community. OK. Reports of committees 20-310, April 14, 2020 committee, the whole report. This meeting, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the year 46 annual action plan of public services applications for the community development block grant funding. Alicia Hunt gave an overview of the CDBG process. She said that all the proposals before the committee tonight were submitted before the current health emergency. She anticipates another round of CDBG funds related to COVID-19. There were 12 organizations that came before us during this meeting, the West Medford Community Center, Housing Families Incorporated, Mystic Valley Elder Services, Immigrant Learning Center, Incorporated, Community Family, Communitas, Malden YMC, Mystic Community Market, the Council on Aging, SCM Transportation, Medford Public Schools, the Consumer Advisory Commission, and Bread of Life. Let's see. Councilor Knight moved to accept the recommendation to the OCD and to adjourn the meeting. It passed on a roll call vote, seven in favor, zero opposed. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to accept the committee report, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Please call the roll. We're online to all votes and roll call votes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. There were two other, another committee report, 19-659 and 20-098, April 15th, 2020 subcommittee on zoning. And actually, Vice President Caraviello, that was your meeting, that was the subcommittee meeting on marijuana. Do you wanna talk about that? The brief synopsis?
[Caraviello]: Yes, Mr. President, we've held a couple of meetings in regards to the marijuana zoning. I think we've got it down to a C2 industrial area. We're hopefully going to have the finishing touches put on tomorrow night's meeting and hopefully report it out to the council in the week coming. Okay, thank you.
[Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to accept the committee report. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Barras. Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Council Knight? Yes. Council Martz? Yes. Council Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the report is accepted.
[Hurtubise]: March 31st, Committee of the Whole.
[Falco]: 20-042, March 31st, Committee of the Whole report. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the senior tax deferment program for the city of Medford. This is a resolution I believe that was brought forward by Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell said that the deadline to apply was April 1st. Let's see, she said that the income cap can be adjusted for fiscal year 2020. The cap is 57 for 2021. The cap is $60,000. Councilor Markswell moved to raise the gross receipt limit to elderly deferrals for fiscal 2021 to $50,000. That was seconded by Councilor Knight. It passed on a roll call vote. Seven in favor, zero opposed. Councilor Knight moved for a favorable committee report passed on a roll call vote. Seven in favor, zero opposed. On the motion of Motion to accept the committee report. I'd like to accept the committee report, seconded by? Second. Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmers, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The committee report is adopted. Can we have two papers that were on the table? These were tabled to a date certain, right?
[Hurtubise]: We're tabled to a date certain, they do not require a vote.
[Falco]: Okay, perfect. 20-311 offered by Councilor Knight, whereas April 5th, 2020 commemorates the 15th anniversary of the passing of the late State Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. represent a method with integrity and compassion in the state legislature from 1990 to 2005. Be it so resolved that the Medford City Council hold a moment of silence in his honor and be it further resolved that the meeting tonight, the meeting of the Medford City Council will be dedicated in his memory. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I had the opportunity to work with Senator Shannon at a very young age. My first foray into politics at age 19, my first big boy job, working with Senator Shannon up until his passing in 2005. I remember walking into the office on my first day and as an intern and sitting at the desk next to me was Consulate Kaviello's son, Richard. So, you know, I go way back with the Caraviello family. Richie and I were in kindergarten together, and we interned for Senator Shannon together. Councilman Mox worked for Senator Shannon as well for a period of time. But he's someone who I give a lot of credit to for helping me professionally and personally, and he is sadly missed. So I'd ask my council colleagues to join me in offering condolences to a gentleman that offered so much to this community. He served in the state legislature, elected in 1990. passing away in 2005. He had served quite a bit of time for the residents in the city of Medford. He did an excellent job, Mr. President. Senator Shannon was probably one of the best constituent service providers in the state legislature during his time as a state senator. And that is something that is a legacy that you will want to be remembered. So with that being said, I'd ask my council colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this up. I first got involved with Senator Shannon way back in my younger days when I was involved in the youth hockey organization. And then the MDC then was going to demolish the building. I went to then Senator Shannon. who helped secure the funding to keep La Conte Rink open, and it's still open today, thanks to the funding that Senator Shannon got to keep the building open. Going forward, we end up becoming good friends, family friends, and he was a great senator, and again, probably taught me a lot of things that I've learned to make me the councilor that I am. So I thank him, and thank council for bringing this forward.
[Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Knight for putting this on. Charlie was truly a great man, a great advocate to the city of Medford. And a little known fact, uh, Charlie was a former, uh, public safety officer and, um, you know, he was very instrumental in moving forward many public safety initiatives, uh, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of which, uh, the Shannon bill, uh, was named after Charlie Shannon. Um, and, uh, you know, he, uh, as, uh, uh, Councilor Knight mentioned, uh, was a big constituent person. Uh, you know, the first thing that came to Charlie's mind was always how can I assist the city of Medford and how can I improve constituent services? And I think many of the local politicians took advice from him because that was his number one concern, addressing constituent, the local level. Everything else was secondary. And he was a master at what he did. And again, I want to thank my colleague for putting this on. Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[Falco]: Actually, so let's see, if we at this point, why don't we all rise for brief moment of silence.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Falco]: We're on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, could you please call the roll? Councilor Bears?
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-312 offered by Council and I being resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Paul Brogan on his recent passing, Council and I. Mr. President, thank you very much.
[Knight]: Yes, just recently we have lost Paul Brogan. Mr. Brogan loved the city of Medford. He had the blue and white running through his veins as they'd say. The father of our cemetery commissioner, Steven Brogan, grandfather to Haley Brogan in our clerk's office and also grandfather to Stephen Brogan in our DPW, Stephen Brogan Jr. in our DPW. The gentlemen, the Brogan family, Mr. President, has long and deep roots in the city of Medford, a great family made up of public servants, people that'll be willing to give the shirt off your back. But one thing we can always say about Paul Brogan was he loved the city of Medford. He wouldn't be afraid to tell you about it and that he will be sadly missed. So I'd like my council colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution and offering our condolences to the Brogan family who have been involved in the governance in the city of Medford for quite a long time.
[Unidentified]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[Falco]: Thank you. A motion to count the night, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Thank you. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. I believe the records are the only thing remaining, correct?
[Hurtubise]: I think that is correct.
[Falco]: Okay, records. The records of the meeting of April 14th, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[Caraviello]: I reviewed the records and they're in order. Mr. President, if I could ask, indulgence is one thing. If we could close this evening's meeting in memory of all the many people who've passed on with the COVID virus. Again, The great majority of them are seniors. And again, there's just too many today. I mean, they're dying every single day. So if we could close the memory and the meeting in memory of those who've passed away from this virus, I appreciate it.
[Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to approve the records seconded by Councilor Bears, can you please call the roll?
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears. Yes. Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Martz. Yes. Councilor Morell. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. President Falco.
[Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. And Vice President Caraviello, why don't we have a brief moment of silence actually for everyone that has passed away in our community to COVID-19. So at this point in time on the motion, Vice President Caraviello, would everyone please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. And on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, that we adjourn the meeting tonight in honor of those that have passed away from COVID-19 and in the memory of our late State Senator Charles E. Shannon, Jr. On the motion that we adjourn the meeting, clerk, please call the roll. Mr. President? Oh, Councilor Marks?
[Marks]: Before we adjourn?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Marks]: I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Captain Brennan and Latitu along with the brave men and women of Latitu. They were at the Glen Ridge nursing home just recently and brought up some food, which I thought was a great gesture in this time, Mr. President. And members of the Medford firefighters also did a tour. I don't know if you saw it online, but they went by Wegmans in some of the stores, beeping the engines, horns, and thanking the workers that are out there very unselfishly, you know, doing the business to make sure that Medford residents have food and all the essentials. And I just want to thank our brave men and women of both the police and fire department and all the other offices in the community, Mr. President, from people at City Hall to the public schools that are stepping up and answering the call, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Marks. And thank you, like Councilor Marks said, to all our first responders and our volunteers and everywhere in our school community for all their hard work and volunteering and all the effort that they've made. So on the motion to adjourn the meeting, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Yes. Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight?
[Unidentified]: I think he already left.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight? Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco?
[Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you and good night.
|
total time: 30.51 minutes total words: 4597  |
total time: 8.81 minutes total words: 1619  |
total time: 9.61 minutes total words: 1546  |
total time: 13.74 minutes total words: 2165  |
|
total time: 12.65 minutes total words: 2090  |
total time: 4.25 minutes total words: 839  |
total time: 4.92 minutes total words: 950  |
|