[Bears]: Second regular meeting, January 11th, 2022 is now called to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Vice President Bears. Present.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins. Present. Councilor Knight. Present. Councilor Scarpelli. Present. Councilor Tseng. Present. President Morell. Present.
[Bears]: Please rise to salute the flag.
[Caraviello]: 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.
[Bears]: Motion for Councilor Knight to suspend the rules, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[NqJnNNyD4Uw_SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: What would you like to bring up?
[Knight]: Move to take up petitions, presentations, similar papers.
[Bears]: All right. 22-032, petition for a common victor license by Ruben Pierre, 44 Norfolk Road, Holbrook, Massachusetts, 02301, for Sunrise Cuisine Incorporated, 285 Middlesex Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Councilor Scarpelli is the chair on licensing. I will give the floor to you.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. Is Mr. Pierre here? Hi, Ms. Peer, if you can come to the podium. Thank you for coming here this evening. We have all of your documentation. Mr. President, we see everything is accounted for and in order and approved. So I know before we vote in favor of moving this forward, if my colleagues have any questions.
[Bears]: Any motion to approve by Councilor Scarapelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Any questions for the petitioner or for the Chair of Licensing?
[Knight]: Hours of operation, Mr. President, if I could just ask what the hours of operation would be.
[Scarpelli]: 9 a.m. to 10, 9 a.m. to 8 on Sundays. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10, correct? Yep. And 9 a.m. to 8 on Sundays, Council Member.
[Knight]: Excellent, thank you very much.
[Scarpelli]: I think my concern is- Everything's in order for approval.
[Bears]: Any further questions? Would you like to say anything? All right. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Councilor Collins? Yes. Councilor Knight? Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morell? Yes. Vice President Bears?
[Bears]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Congratulations, Mr. Clerk. Congratulations. 22-033, petition for a conventional license by Muhammad E. Massoud, 40 Doonan Street, Medford, MA, 02155, for Pinky's Famous Pizza, 165 Main Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Councilor Scarpelli, the floor is yours.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Is Mr. Massoud here this evening?
[Hurtubise]: I believe he's on.
[Bears]: Yes, we have him out. Mr. Masood, I'm going to unmute you right now. If you could please give us your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good evening. My name is Mohammed Masood. My business address is 165 Main Street, Metcalfe, MA 02155. My business name is Pinky Starbucks Pizza.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. President. Again, I see all the paperwork in order. Just the hours of operations, they're not changing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing changed, everything is the same.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, but with the new Councilor Knight, it's 11 to 11, so everything's in order. Again, I find all the paperwork present and in favor of the petitioner, so I move approval.
[Bears]: Motion by Councilor Scarpelli to approve, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Do any councilors have any questions for the petitioner or for the chair of licensing? Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: As I drive by these times, I would hope that you'll do a better job of the rubbish. than the previous owner did, so that's my only request of you. Your mic just went out, could you repeat that? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, it's on now. Mr. Mahoon, as I drive by there many times during the week, I would just hope that you do a better job with the rubbish than the other, than your previous owner did, because they say the trash is out there all the time and not very attractive for the neighbor, so that's all I ask you is, is to get that trash situation under control there. Mr. Masood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, we try to do our best, what he said. I'll do my best.
[Bears]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you. Any further questions from the Council? Seeing none, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to approve. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. Councilor Tseng.
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: President Morell. Yes. Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations, Mr. Matsui.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good luck. Thank you.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. Mr. President, can we, No. 22-022 communication from the mayor.
[Bears]: Yes, thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. 22-022 communication from the mayor to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall. Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding budget amendment. Dear Mr. President and councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that the city council approves the following amendment to the fiscal year 2022 budget. Line item 0101515032, contract legal services, FY22 budgeted amount, $26,600. proposed amended about $81,600 following the passage of the fiscal year 2022 budget by the council I engaged in conversations with Council President Caraviello, City Solicitor Kim Scanlon, and KP Law to develop a process where the council can avail themselves of KP Law's services and counsel as needed. In those discussions, it was agreed that requests for council attendance or advice will be submitted by the council through the council president, who will coordinate with the city solicitor, who will schedule meetings with KP Law to get whatever legal resources are needed to address the council's requests. Respectfully submitted, Brianna Lumgo-Kern, Mayor. This was on the agenda last week. It was postponed for one week on rule 20. I saw Councilor Caraviello and then Councilor Scarpelli.
[Caraviello]: And Mr. President, I'll just reaffirm for people who didn't see this last week, in my discussions with the Mayor last year, for KP Law to represent the Council, it was the Council's request that we have a direct contact and not a go-between, and I think that was the holdup between on the $26,000, and it hasn't changed since then.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. So if we could, I have the same question. I think that if we can table this and call for a Committee of the Whole meeting before our meeting next week, a regular meeting, and ask the city solicitor and maybe the chief of staff, just to clarify, I think that this is important for the fact that what we asked for is a representation. So we, at the time when this all occurred, didn't look like uneducated buffoons and dog chasing his tail when we had legal issues, not to battle against our own administration, but just to guide us on legal terms and legal movements as we had some concerns. So, I don't wanna see this, if this could be rectified in a committee of the whole meeting where, we can iron this out and make sure this is defined a little bit better. So it does appease both parties and we could have someone that represents the council. I think that would be amazing. I just don't want it to fail this evening and then sit again for a few months. So my motion would be to table for committee of the whole meeting next week with the chief of staff in the city solicitor.
[Bears]: excuse me, we do have a committee of the whole already scheduled for next Tuesday at 5.30. Kim Scanlon will be there. It is regarding the elections commission. So we will have her, we could discuss the process. She is scheduled to be before us on the day.
[Scarpelli]: Okay, well, I think it wouldn't be, I think it would just be a defining evening for this. I don't think this would take too long, but if we can add that.
[Hurtubise]: Gotcha.
[Bears]: There's a motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Ntuk-Table. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you. Before we vote, I'd just like to voice, you know, one thing that I heard from Chief of Staff Nazari in our discussion on this proposal last week was a concern that failure to quickly pass this budget amendment would leave the administration short on legal counsel in the short term or maybe for the rest of the fiscal year. So that is a concern of mine because I could see a lot of circumstances where having, you know, any department in the city having insufficient access to legal counsel on a variety of matters could really hold us up and, you know, any numerous important issues that we're trying to work on. over the next five, six months. So that is a concern of mine. And that's why I'm leaning towards trying to pass this expediently, because I totally agree. I'd like to see us lobby for independent counsel for this council going forward. But I do have pretty strong reservations about, you know, delaying passage of the amendment and ripple effects that that could have for the administration in the short term. If I can point information with that.
[Bears]: Actually, the clerk has reminded me that a motion to table is not debatable. I'm still getting up on my council rules. So we will have to vote on that before we have further debate. So, Mr. Clerk, on the motion to table, if you could please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins?
[Collins]: No.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Knight?
[Collins]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Stroud? Yes. Councilor Sanders? No. President Morell?
[Collins]: No.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Ferris.
[Bears]: No, three in the affirmative, four in the negative. The motion is not tabled. Councilor Snider.
[Scarpelli]: No, it's disheartening for my fellow councilor, who's new to the process, who just shared some insight, those fears that we're leaving the city without legal representation for one week, when we wanna make sure, until you're sitting in this council, and I'm shocked with my veteran Councilors that sat here and watched our dogs chase the tail and how embarrassing it was for us to sit here for two meetings because we didn't have representation and how hard we fought during the budget meeting to get a line item that represented what we asked for and then to come back and something disingenuine to say that we're asking for, we're getting money, but it can't be used for what we're asking for. It's just giving the city more money the negative ramifications we've seen with the assistance from KP law and different city functions. So it's a little deciding to me. I understand everybody has a vote and we've spoken. So I will not vote for it because I think we needed a week to get better understanding with the chief of staff and the legal representation from the city to guide us when we have questions. Okay, so if that, it is what it is. So thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any Councilors? Mr. President? Yes, President Morell.
[Morell]: I do see Chief of Staff, Ms. Aaron, she is on the call right now. I don't know if Councilors have questions at the moment. I just want to point that out.
[Knight]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. Again, I will reiterate my statement from last week. This matter presented itself when the Medford City Council at a meeting where it established its priorities for the term said that a priority for this council was to retain independent legal counsel for the Medford City Council, to get a lawyer for the council, an assistant city solicitor to represent the council. Now, I believe by statute, the city solicitor is required to represent both the council and the administration impartially. When KP Law was before us and Jonathan Silverstein was before us, he posed the question and the question was, if in fact you're retained by the city of Medford, who do you work for? Do you work for the Medford city council, the city of Medford or the city administration? And his answer was, I work for the administration. So here we are, the council asking for independent legal counsel. We have a letter from the mayor, a communication from the mayor that says, it was agreed. It was agreed that request for council attendance or advice will be submitted through the president. It wasn't agreed. The council president at the time is sitting right here and he's saying it wasn't agreed. On face value, this paper is untruthful, because it was not agreed. It was not agreed. Now, here we are, and this issue first came up, and it first came up in July, June, June. It first came up in June of 2021. And I find it curious that this paper never found its way to the council agenda, Mr. President. Never found its way to the council agenda until Councilor Marks and Councilor Falco were gone. The administration had plenty of time to bring this paper to the table and to negotiate with the then-council president terms that would be satisfactory to the council that set those priorities. And instead what they did, shockingly, was sat on their hands for three months and waited for the weather to change, and then brought the paper forward. And I think that's shameful. I think it's shameful. So here we are in no further or better of a position than we were back in June when we cut this item out of the budget because the council was not satisfied with the services that we were receiving. But the paper's back on the table and we've not moved one inch closer to a positive resolve. Councilor Collins makes a point. She says, there might be a disruption in services. You're gonna hear that a lot, Councilor Collins. You're gonna hear that a lot. You have to pass this tonight, or Rome's gonna burn. We want it now, we need it now. If not, Medford's gonna fall apart. It's a sell, that's all it is, is a sell. Medford's not gonna fall apart if they don't have these contracted legal services in this budget. This is an increase to the budget, another increase to the budget. Week two of the new term, Week two, we've already seen this year's fiscal budget increased twice. In two weeks, two proposals to increase the fiscal year budget. $191 million, $191 million isn't enough. More, spend more with no plan. Piecemeal, week by week, let's come over here in dribs and drabs and see how much we can get out of the council. It's not right. It's not right, it's not proper. The council voted to set a list of priorities. One of the list of priorities was to be able to retain legal counsel to advise it in matters. Because we haven't received that advice in the past. And we've seen what great progress we can make when we have the tools in the toolbox. We've seen what great progress we can make when we have Mike Wabrowski sitting there running meetings for us that take on the first comprehensive zoning reform that the city's seen in a number of years. That's not from the court of office. That's from the council chambers. That's where this is coming from. That's where this work product coming from. Give us the tools to succeed and we'll succeed. This negotiation is not negotiation. This paper is untruthful on its face. There was never an agreement made. There was never an agreement brought back to this council and voted on by this council. The council set a priority. They said the priority was gonna be to have legal counsel. We cut this item out of the budget because we didn't have it. There was no negotiation, there was no settlement to the issue at hand. The council is once again, get him pushed aside and get him bamboozled. For that reason, that reason alone, I will not be supporting this paper and I support Councilor Scott Cowie's motion to table it. If in fact we're going to have a constructive dialogue, let's put everybody in the room together. Let's talk about it. All right, the mayor thinks she has the keys to the car now because she has two new councilors over here. that don't have the institutional knowledge or the level of frustration that some of us share from the lack of responses that we receive from our office when we're trying to move the city forward together. And for those reasons, I will not be supporting this paper this evening.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: for the funds that we allocated to them. Lawsuits and everything. I wanna know where the money we spent last year went to. We're fighting lawsuit after lawsuit on zoning. We lost, I don't know how much we spent to lose the zoning case on Boston Avenue, which we knew we were gonna lose. We're fighting a 40B that was supposed to start this week. It's not happening. We're gonna fight that, we're gonna lose that too. I mean, are we just running, is KP Law just running up the bill on us? I mean, what kind of advice are they giving us when we're losing lawsuits? I, again, this isn't what I agreed to. What I agreed to was that we would have direct contact, not a go between. And they could not agree to that. So I can't support this either.
[Hurtubise]: Mr. Clerk, do you have the amendment? Councilor Caraviello would like a detailed explanation of all the legal services performed by KP law last year.
[Bears]: It was last year, 2021 calendar year.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. These guys are just giving us bad advice and now we're fighting the case against the city of Everett and they're representing Everett and they're leaving us out in the lurch. And you wanna give them more money. God, what is the matter with us?
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Any further discussion from members of the council? Councilor Tseng.
[Tseng]: I've shared my reservations about this last week. I've been thinking about it, and I do agree with my fellow councilors that our city needs a better plan. Our city needs, our city council needs its own direct legal counsel to go to. But again, I believe that we've been pushing this back and pushing this back. There's so much in action in the city.
[Bears]: Mr. President, Mr. Councilor Caraviello, if you could start.
[Tseng]: Thank you. And in this case, I will vote to move this forward. But again, I would like to express that I have strong reservations about passing a budget this calendar year that doesn't have a direct legal representative for us, for the city council.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng. Any comments from members of the council?
[Morell]: Mr. President, if I could. Yes, President Morell to the chair if Chief of Staff is Aaron could just explain a little how these funds support solicitor Scanlon the work she is doing for the council and past papers and opinions that have been requested, or how it would.
[Bears]: Point of personal privilege on that, Mr. President? Point of personal privilege, Councilor Knights.
[Knight]: I'm just wondering if when Chief of Staff Nazarian gives her presentation, she can give me an estimate as to when the requested draft ordinance that I put forward back in 2020 with KP Law would be forthcoming relative to establishing a $15 minimum wage for all city and school department employees while she's giving her presentation to the answer.
[Bears]: Councilor Nazarian, if you could answer Councilor Morales' question and Councilor Knights.
[Nina Nazarian]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you, Madam President, for the question. I want to make sure I'm answering the question. this this work. The city has a tremendous amount of legal service needs this work, and I think I might have said this at the last meeting where this was this matter was discussed. But you know it. There's various different topics and disciplines in which the city solicitor is being supported by KP law to ensure that we have the discipline specific counsel who covers matters relating to contracts. There is specific counsel for matters relating to, you know, additional counsel for matters that relate to additional work. There was counsel that was consulted with regard to election-specific questions. So we speak with multiple different counsels who have various expertise, niche-specific expertise in their own disciplines, like you would expect to find in industry with regard to attorneys, you wouldn't necessarily be able to go to only a general counsel and get discipline specific expert advice. And so that's where this relationship, this agreement with KP Law to provide services to the city on both a retainer basis and on a billing per hour basis as far as I apologize, Vice President.
[Caraviello]: One second, Nina. With KP Law. Where is that? Could you repeat that? We originally agreed for KP Law to have a budget of $5,000 a month. Where is that now? $81,000 is well above the $5,000 we agreed upon. So I'll be going back. All they're doing is running up the bill on us.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. The floor is yours, Chief of Staff Nazarian.
[Nina Nazarian]: Thank you. So, I mean, I'm happy to answer any specific questions. I hope, President Morell, that that answered at least your question. If there is further question on that, I'm happy to answer it. And if Councilor Caraviello, if that was a question that you'd like me to answer, I'm happy to do that too.
[Caraviello]: Yes, please.
[Nina Nazarian]: you, Mr. Vice President, Councilor Caraviello. The present retainer is actually $6800 per month, um, based on the level of work and based on the agreement. That is what is presently the going rate for the amount of work that we're putting before K P law. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that that retainer is being very well used. Of course, there are other, um, that are outside those billing retainer hours with regard to litigation, but I can tell you there is not a single month that we do not maximize that $6,800 from the standpoint of general counsel, from the point of labor counsel and from the standpoint of contracts. Those are all under the retainer and there are other categories that fall under that as well. And we're gonna be utilizing their services with all of the categories in which that are part of the retainer.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam Chief of Staff. Councilor and I did have a question as well. We had requested that KP Law help draft an ordinance for a $15 city minimum wage in 2020.
[Knight]: It was 21 months ago, maybe 20 months ago we made the request.
[Bears]: In a year, yeah, in 2020. Do you happen to have any specific information as to if KP Law plans to present a draft ordinance to the council?
[Nina Nazarian]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President for bringing that question back up. My apologies, Councilor Knight, for not responding to that. It fell off my radar for a second. I don't have the answer to that question, but I definitely would be happy to look into it and follow up with the whole council.
[Bears]: Thank you, Madam Chief of Staff.
[Knight]: If I may, Mr. President?
[Bears]: Yes, Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: I find it very interesting that, you know, KP Law has been given such control of this community. model that we're adopting really provides the city with lack of control direction and retention. And it also really puts us in a position where we're becoming overreliant on the outsourcing legal services here in this community. You know, we'll sit here and we'll talk about all the niche laws with a niche law that we can have expertise on. I mean, ultimately, we have people from the administration going to sick people's houses and checking up on them as part of a labor dispute, we have union busting going on. All right, we have labor charges being filed against the city left and right. Okay, we're in with there's over 20 labor charges filed against the city right now. over 20 labor charges. So I'm not too sure what type of advice we're getting, but it doesn't sound like good advice to me. When I hear that the chief of staff is going to sick people's houses on a Friday delivering them lettuce, I don't know what kind of advice we're getting, but it doesn't sound like good advice to me.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any further discussion?
[Collins]: from the chair uh oh sorry councillor collins sorry i was a late breaking hand raised yeah um i just wanted to to also note that i really appreciate the discussion around this and to my fellow councillors i hope that my willingness to approve quickly i would never want for that to come across as indifference to the frustration that's been built up over the years and i've want to acknowledge and respect the fact that there's been back and forth on this issue for years that I wasn't behind the rail for, and I want to know that that's heard. And I'm glad that Councilor Tseng earlier brought up the need to advocate for a fiscal year 2023 budget in which these concerns are really taken seriously. So I think I'd like to motion to approve. But, you know, again, want to reiterate, um, you know, I have a concern that this could ripple out into a interruption in service for the residents of this city that's behind my position tonight. But, you know, I'm hoping that as a council we can advocate for independent legal counsel for going forward is obviously that's very important.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Collins. It's a motion from Councilor Collins to approve, seconded by
[Morell]: Second, Mr. President, if I could as well.
[Bears]: Sure, President Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I just want to note that like my fellow Councilors, this is not, this is less than ideal. As I said last week, my desired outcome of the, you know, my desired setup of this would be having that assistant city solicitor position that has existed for a long time. This is not my ideal situation, but my vote for this is a vote to support solicitor Scanlon in the office where it's, Again, not my desire. It seems like it's rather bare bones. This is a vote for right now. I absolutely have the same concerns as my fellow Councilors, and I do not see myself voting for something like this again in the next fiscal year. But this is something that I just see as a need for right now, but not something I want to see continue. So thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, President Morell, if I may, from the chair, and I'm trying to avoid doing this tonight, as I, again, read up on my Robert's rules, but I think we have a disagreement on process. I do not think we have a disagreement on substance. I'm hopeful a collaborative and good faith approach can get the result that we all share, the desired result that we all share. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Collins, to approve as amended, seconded by? Seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? No. Councilor Collins? Yes. Councilor Knight? Councilor Scarpelli? No. Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morell? Yes.
[Bears]: Vice President Ferris? Yes. Four in the affirmative, three in the negative, the motion passes. Motion to revert to the regular order of business by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morell? Yes. Vice president bears.
[Bears]: Yes, 70 affirmative zero and the negative the motion passes motions orders and resolutions 22-026 offered by Councilor Knight be it so resolved that the city chief financial officer slash auditor and necessary consultants provide the council with a quarterly presentation on the city's financial health, including but not limited to forecasted versus actual revenues and ARPA spending Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much, as indicated in my lengthy soliloquy on the previous matter relative to my concerns relative to the spending in this community. I've raised this issue in the past, and I put it on the agenda again. Before Anishal Natalie was moved on to greener pastures, she would appear before us quarterly and provide us with a presentation on our fiscal health and wellness. And part of that would include, Mr. President, discussion about our forecast of revenues versus our actual returns, where we are in the budget right now in the process of spending, what our debt service obligations are, so on and so forth. We now have had this great influx of money coming in from the federal government. We have ARPA money. We're looking at what about $49 million I believe was the figure to be spent over the next three years we've already spent about a quarter of that with no federal funds manager. So my concerns really focused on being sure that we act as fiscal stewards, and that we are aware of what direction we're going and how much spending we're committing to, and what position we're going to be putting ourselves into the future. And I'd like to see our chief financial officer, as well as the necessary consultants that seem to be providing a great deal of services to this community, to be here as well, to answer the questions that we need to address, Mr. President. But this is something that we did last term. It was something that proved to be very successful, and I'd ask my council colleagues to support it.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Is there any discussion? If I may, from the chair, just add an amendment that we put this resolution under reports due in addition to approving it tonight, put it under reports due so that we can invite the chief financial officer down to a future meeting to give us that presentation. Well, the title. Right now, there's an interim person in that position. I believe the position has been posted for a permanent position.
[Knight]: Ultimately, Mr. President, I don't think that the city council's ability to be updated and be filled in as to what's going on in this community should be subject to the personnel disasters that are going on across the hall.
[Bears]: Oh, certainly not. I would invite whoever's in that position right now.
[Knight]: I don't care who the CFO is or auditor is, but that's the person that should be here. And if they don't have the answers for us, then that's going to be very indicating as to what direction this community is going in financially.
[Bears]: That is the intent of my amendment. Let's just keep it on because it's quarterly. So we can keep it on it. Yeah. Any further discussion? On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by myself. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Collins. Yes. Also night. Yes. Also Scarpelli.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Tseng yes. President Morell. Yes. Vice President Bears.
[Bears]: Yes 70 affirmative zero the negative the motion passes 22 027 offered by Councilor Knight, be it so resolved that the city chief financial officer auditor provide the city council with a copy of the war articles on a monthly basis and be it further resolved that the item be added to the reports due section of the council agenda. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. As you're well aware, we pass a budget every year and that budget says we're gonna spend money on this and we're gonna spend money on that. But then we sit here and we say, how much money did we give KP Law? The Warren articles are what will tell us that. The Warren articles are what we spend our bills on every month. In other forms of government, sometimes the Warren articles have to be approved by the city council on a monthly basis. That's not the case here in the city of Medford. However, the Warren articles are very telling as to what direction this community is going in, where our money is being spent, whether or not we're meeting the obligations, the goals that we've established through the budget process. So with that being said, Mr. President, I'd ask that this practice be reinstated. Again, this was an item that, And Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin was providing us with previously before her departure from this community. And it showed us quite a bit of information. I do believe when we reviewed this information last time, we found that there were a number of lawsuits that were settled that were over the sum of $2,500, which require council approval that were never brought before the council, for example. So there's a lot of spending practices that are going on here that I think we need to take a closer look at. And the Warren articles will be very telling to us as to what direction our communities going in and whether or not we're adopting the generally accepted accounting principles that are so recommended in municipal government. So with that being said, I asked my council colleagues to support this resolution.
[Bears]: Any discussion? Is there a second? On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Seeing no further discussion, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll, or Councilor Tseng. Oh, no. Oh, okay. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins? Yes. Councilor Nikes? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. Councilor Tseng?
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: President Morell?
[NqJnNNyD4Uw_SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Paris?
[Bears]: Yes, 70 affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes. 22-028 offered by Councilor Knight. Whereas the City of Medford has adopted provisions of Mass General Law, Chapter 59, Section 5K, allowing for the reduction of property tax obligations of persons over age 60 in exchange for volunteer services, also known as the Senior Workoff Program. And whereas the same benefit may be extended to veterans and in certain instances their spouse with the adoption of a local option, being further resolved that the City Solicitor and City Assessor appear before the Council to outline the required process for our Medford City Council to adopt the provisions of Mass General Law, Chapter 59, Section 5N, allowing for the reduction of property tax obligation of veterans in exchange for volunteer services. The text of Chapter 59, Section 5K is, for Chapter 59, is below for reference purposes. Councilor Nay.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Under the Burke administration, the city of Medford a very successful senior work off program and the senior work off program provided senior citizens in this community with the opportunity to volunteer their services here for the city in exchange for an abatement on their property taxes up to I believe it was 1000 or $1500 per person. This program, I believe has been discontinued. in light of probably COVID and a number of other factors. But this is a benefit that with the adoption of a local option, we can extend to veterans here in this community as well. And I think that that would be a good thing, Mr. President. We have a number of veterans in this community, over 2,000 veterans reside in the city of Metro. And I think if we can take the appropriate steps to adopt a provision like this and then request that the administration implement, I will be able to provide some property tax relief to a number of people that served our country. So I'm asking if the council support this measure and I'm hoping that we can move post haste to have a meeting with the solicitor and the assessor to determine what steps we need to take to appropriately implement. Thank you Councilor Knight, Councilor Stroud.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. Thank you Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. I think that with the senior abatement program, it works so well for so many residents that need that support. And I know that Councilor Caraviello works so closely with veteran services and realizing how many talented veterans we have in this community and the ability for them to come out and use their expertise to maybe work with our kids at the vocational school or work with the recreation department, programming, or even here at City Hall. So especially what we're seeing in today's society, I think it would be important that we give back to the people that gave us so much. And I would second the motion, Councilor Ioannoni. Thank you for bringing that forward.
[Bears]: Just to clarify, Councilor Knight, is your motion to approve to refer to Committee of the Whole?
[Knight]: I think if you read the text of it, because it's wicked long, I don't blame you for missing it. The solicitor and the assessor appear before the Council without lining up for upper steps.
[Bears]: In a regular session.
[Knight]: Yeah, in a regular session. I mean, that's fine. Either way, it's fine with me. I'd like to do it in regular session. If there's no, doesn't sound like there's going to be much opposition to it. If there's no opposition to it, we can do it in regular session.
[Bears]: Certainly no opposition from me. All right. On the motion, Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[Tseng]: I want to thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward and thank both Councilors Knight and Scarpelli for what they've said so far tonight. Again, this I think would be a great program for veterans in our city. I also think that this is about giving back to those who served us. I think this is also about justice and equity as well. We know for a fact that those who serve our country are disproportionately working class, disproportionately people of color, disproportionately marginalized. We know that when they come back from service, that we as a society don't always treat them the way that they should be treated. Our government isn't always there to support them, to give them the support they deserve. And so this, I think, is a step in the right direction, and I will be voting in favor of this. Thank you, Councilor Tseng.
[Knight]: Nice for the veterans to get the support in City Hall.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, thank you, Councilor, for bringing this forward. You know, the senior program has been a great program for the seniors in our city. Not only helps them with their tax bills, but, you know, it gives them a chance to be productive in the community. You know, they work here, they work at schools, they work at the senior center. It's a good thing for them. And now to bring our veterans into this is also a good thing too. I mean, these are men and women who served that country and they have skills to give back. So, you know, again, give them the same opportunity as everyone else gets, you know, some of them aren't working, some of them are retired, but again, they have skills. They want to be involved in the community. And I think we should continue to involve them in the community. And I will support this program tonight.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. President Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thanks, Councilor Knight, for bringing this forward. I think this is a great idea, and I appreciate your research and awareness on this. I just want to check procedurally if this is something we want to address in a regular session, would this be something that would be reintroduced or tabled until those representatives can join us?
[Knight]: Well, the paper before us would be the disposition of the paper would be asking them to appeal before us and give us a presentation. So we dispose of the paper, send it to the administration. We're ready to come back to you with the answer.
[Morell]: Okay, great. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure this doesn't get lost in the process. Okay, thank you for that clarification.
[Bears]: Great. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Is there any further discussion? Any discussion from members of the public? Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[NqJnNNyD4Uw_SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[Bears]: Yes 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 22-029 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council have the DOT slash DCR clean route 16 from the Meadow Glen Mall to the Condon Shell of all rubbish and debris. Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. President, something I bring up a couple of times a year. You drive down route 16, as soon as you cross over the bridge, All you look at the side of the road you see rubbish all over the place mattresses things, and it goes like that all the way down to the cotton show. I asked over the summer that they at least trim the trees on me that the bushes and things on on the credit bridge and then none of that ever happens. Again, disappointed with them. Again, I say, again, you just drive down this filth, filth all on both sides of the road. I don't know if it's the DOT, DCI, whichever one wants to take responsibility. They don't do it. They'll come down, they'll clean up a little section, and then they stop right there. But it continues all the way down. All on that whole medium ship is crap all over the place, crap on the side of the road. I would say also, amend this to, send this to our state delegation to get them to come out there and clean this. It can be cleaned now, that I say, I mean, the amount of rubbish that sits on the side of the road is an eyesore. It should be cleaned up, and our city deserves better than what we're getting.
[Knight]: Mr. President, I do believe that that area would be referred to as a sleepy hollow. And if it's my understanding, there is a maintenance agreement between the DCR and the city of Medford, where the city of Medford actually agrees to maintain and control the cleanliness of that area, if I'm not mistaken.
[Caraviello]: I see the DOT down there cleaning it, but they've been down there. But right now, no one's cleaning it again.
[Bears]: are, just for my clarity, this is a, are you referring to the park across the footbridge behind Medford Square?
[Knight]: Is that when you say sleeping on the condon shell?
[Bears]: Right, right, right. I think that this is actually about the, expressway for lack of a better word.
[Caraviello]: I'm sorry. Okay. I got to look. All right. Yeah. And it goes from that part of the road that goes all the way down to there. There's crap all over, there's crap on the islands. So you go by, there's mattresses on the side of the road. I mean, it's, it's.
[Bears]: Yeah. You're, you're talking about exit 31 and then.
[Caraviello]: Yeah. Yeah. As soon as you cross over the bridge there, it's a mess. From the middle of the mall to when you get off the exit, crap all over the road.
[Bears]: Yeah. Yeah, and I think it's both sides, it's the side behind the police station, DPW, and the other side of 93. Yeah, it's a total mess.
[Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Any further discussion? Councilor Tseng?
[Tseng]: Just wanted to agree, and just note that this is also an environmental issue, the amount of pollution that's out there.
[Bears]: Absolutely. Any further discussion? I said I would not do this, but I'm gonna do it. It's a pet peeve of mine, the condition, especially with state controlled roads in our community. I'm not gonna, in previous times that you brought this up, I've amended this to list eight other places that we need cleaned or maintained. And as a resident of a DCR road as well, I understand it. And what I'm about to say is not meant to be an excuse at all, but I was just reading today a report that DCR's funding has been cut almost 20% since 2009. And we're really seeing the impacts of that. I used to work with DCR workers through their union. They're seeing the impact at state parks and recreation facilities, on the parkways that DCR maintains. It's a severe issue, a severe budgetary issue, the austerity that's been imposed on DCR. So I'm not gonna file any amendments or anything to that effect tonight, Our DCR needs support, and I hope that MassDOT and DCR can come down and do this right now, but in the long run, unless the state takes action, which I'm glad you're referring this to state delegation, those budgets need to go up if we're gonna have the level of services that we deserve. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by? Seconded by Councilor Tseng. Mr. Clerk, as amended by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes 70 affirmative zero and the negative emotion passes 22 to 030 offered by Councilor Collins and Councilor Tseng.
[Bears]: Whereas our city is in the process of moving forward from the December, 2021 holiday extravaganza, where an inaccurate and offensive image meant to depict the Hanukkah menorah was displayed. Whereas City Hall and all public venues must be spaces where people from any and all faith, cultural and ethnic backgrounds may feel an equal sense of welcome, inclusion, safety, and belonging. To be a resolve that the Medford City Council affirm the administration's renewed efforts to cultivate robust community engagement and the planning of municipal events and strengthen relationships with our city's many faith, cultural and ethnic community groups in order to make City Hall a more inclusive and welcoming space for all. Be it further resolved that the administration provide the Medford City Council with an update on its plans to improve community engagement and strengthen relationships with groups that are underrepresented in City Hall, including, but not limited to, Medford's Jewish communities. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you, Vice President Bears. Thank you for reading that whole thing. So this resolution is not intended to point fingers or rehash an incident that we already know about. This resolution is intended to follow up on the work that the administration has begun in the wake of the offensive menorah display. at the holiday extravaganza in December. We're aware that the administration has taken some good first steps and to move forward from that event, including starting the conversation with representatives from Temple Shalom da Marion Ryan, the anti defamation league and city hall staff and beginning to plan some trainings. My intent is to affirm that the goal here should be to create a culture of inclusion and broad community engagement within City Hall, and with the planning of city events specifically, so much so that offensive incidents like the menorah display are just not possible to happen anymore. aspire for this administration to have such strong relationships across our many faith and cultural and ethnic communities and be so and get so good at inviting people into City Hall and to our event planning processes that this kind of unfortunate yet human error wouldn't ever make it into the final version of a city event. So I'm happy to see that the work to move forward has begun and we want to confirm that this work is really necessary. not just because of the menorah display and to heal ties with the Jewish community members who were alienated by it, but rather that, you know, to say that it's necessary in any case to make this city hall a place where people from any background can feel represented and feel belonging because that's what a city hall really needs to be to be successful. So finally, you know, we want to request that update from the administration on what the next steps are to continue improving inclusion and engagement with the community. Thank you.
[Tseng]: Thank you, Councilor Collins. Councilor Tseng? It's difficult to follow up such an eloquent explanation of this resolution, but I just wanted to give a little bit of anecdotal experience about growing up here in Medford. As someone who came from a different faith and cultural background, it wasn't always easy. And you know, you would never, you You wouldn't always have accurate depictions of your culture or the culture in which you grew up in. But I am happy that our city has been making progress on this front over the last decade, especially. And I just wanted to acknowledge that there's still a lot of work to be done. And our, you know, communities of faith or cultural communities, ethnic communities here are counting on us to be the leaders in making sure that we get this right and that we build a city that's as inclusive as possible. There's a lot that we haven't talked about as a city that I think merits discussion. Antisemitism is one of those topics. We've had recorded incidents of antisemitism in this city, of antisemitic attacks, violence, depictions. Very unfortunately, we've had swastikas carved into fence posts and public spaces here. and it's time for us to step up and address all these issues. And so I'm, you know, we're, Councilor Collins and I are here today to make sure that, to reaffirm the work that our city is doing so far and to make sure that we are moving forward and we're challenging ourselves to move as inclusive a direction as possible.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng. Seconded on the motion of Councilor Collins, seconded by Councilor Knight. Any further discussion? Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Real quick, thank you for bringing this forward. I think it's important that what Councilor Collins mentioned that people have to realize that this building is for everyone. And having the opportunity for this building to represent everybody and that it gives everybody an opportunity to come here and express how they feel or what they feel what's going on in the city, how they can, how we can make it better. And, you know, this past holiday event where unfortunately, There was some unfortunate misrepresentations. I think that it's good to see that the city moving forward and openly discussing it and sharing it with the community and the plans and how we can correct this so it doesn't happen again. So thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, councilor Scarpelli. Any further discussion on the motion of councilor Collins and Councilor Tseng seconded. Well, technically the motion of councilor Collins seconded by councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Bears]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Bears]: 22-031 offered by Councilor Tseng. Be it resolved that the city council ask the city administration for an update on COVID-19 response plans for city senior living facilities given the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Councilor Tseng.
[Tseng]: Thank you, Mr. President. Last week we hit in our state record highs in terms of COVID-19 cases. And even though we know that the circumstances are different from where we were two years ago, there are still community concerns about on the spread of COVID-19 and the risk that this poses to our senior citizens living in senior living facilities here. And so, especially given previous records, both in the city and nationally. And so I propose this resolution to make sure that we are all informed as a community as to what our city is doing to make sure that our senior citizens are as safe as possible. Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: If my fellow council would like, would amend that to also include the nursing homes that we have in the city of Medford. My dad happens to be one of them and I just got an update from one of them this afternoon saying how many people are sick in there. So if you wouldn't mind amending that to bring in the nursing homes that are in the city of Medford also.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Yes, Mr. President, I too would like to amend this further, just by asking that the administration respond to the Council in writing and then post it on the city website as well. So this information can be readily available to citizens in the community have concerns about their loved ones and such facilities.
[Bears]: That was to respond in writing and post on the city website. Any further discussion. just for my sake, I definitely support this. And I noted today that governor Baker extended a booster mandate to people working in facilities like these. So that is one thing I heard today, but definitely a lot of concerns from a lot of folks around this issue. On the motion of councilor Tseng, seconded by councilor Scarpelli, as amended by councilor Caraviello and councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes.
[NqJnNNyD4Uw_SPEAKER_06]: Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Bears]: Yes. Yes, 70 affirmative. Sir, the negative emotion passes. 22034 offered by Councilor Tseng whereas public health experts continue to recommend masking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and whereas numerous public health experts now recommend that people wear KN95 and N95 masks given the spread of the Omicron variant, be it resolved that the Medford City Council ask the city administration to acquire KN95 masks approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and to develop a plan to distribute KN-95 masks to priority groups, including municipal and school workers, individuals at a higher risk for severe COVID-19, and residents to whom purchasing masks presents a financial burden.
[Tseng]: Councilor Tsai. Thank you, Mr. President. We know that Omicron is a more transmissible variant. We're seeing the results of that in our case count today. We also today, the CDC officials have confirmed that they are looking at updating mask guidance to recommend N95 and KN95 masks be worn. And experts at top medical institutions have raised this issue that we should be we should be distributing more KN95 masks to everyone and making sure that we are wearing these more protective masks. You know it's given given all of these all the recent recommendations and given the possible change in guidance from the CDC. It's going to be harder and harder to secure masks. I mean, it's already difficult for many people to figure out what's a counterfeit mask and what's not to secure those orders online. And I'm proposing this because I think we need to keep our workers safe. I think we need to keep us all safe. I think we need to mitigate the financial burden that mask buying can pose to a lot of working class families in this town. And I also believe that if we are asking people to mask as a city, we should give them the means to do so. And again, we need to address the problem of counterfeits, which is why I added the line about the National Institute for Occupational Safety. We, I left out N95 masks because currently CDC guidance does not recommend that we stockpile N95 masks because they are, they should be treated as priority for medical staff. I just wanted to be transparent about that point and explain why this resolution focuses on KN95 masks.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng. Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you and thank you councillor saying for bringing this forward. I think that this is a great thing to see the city lead on. I too have heard the recent guidance about how it's true, and 95, but you know more to the point KN 95 are more protective and surgical masks they're certainly more protective and cloth masks. And I think at the point that you know we're trying to the administration is trying to do all it can to keep our residents, safe, correct masking is a huge part of that. And we have to evolve our guidance with the evolving nature of the virus with the infection levels in our community and I think Councilor Tseng brings up a great point that it's increasingly difficult to find masks. And I think people are feeling kind of out in the wind when it comes to being able to source masks that will protect them, that will help them not keep the virus, not bring the virus home to their families, you know, kind of regardless of vaccination status, because that's where we're at in this pandemic. So I think if there is a, if there's a way for this administration to source masks so that we can better protect the people in our community, that are most in need of them, people who can't work from home, people who work for the municipality, work for our schools, people who are disproportionately likely to be in infection prone scenarios. We need to be doing all that we can to help protect those community members. So thank you, Councilor Tseng, and I'll be strong in support of this today.
[Bears]: Any further discussion, Councilor President Morell.
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Tseng for bringing this forward. I actually raised similar concerns about access and costs way back when, with the original mask mandates being put into place. And I thank him for leaning on the administration to see what they can do here. As with many things, unfortunately, it seems like the city and municipalities are the last line of defense with the least amount of funding. So I would hope that our state leaders and our leaders at the federal level are looking into this as well, as they have vastly more funding than the city of Medford. I appreciate the assay administration and I really hope this is something we can do. So thank you.
[Bears]: Thank you, President Morell. Any further discussion? I'm just gonna put one more piece of information out there. There's an incredibly helpful chart published in the Wall Street Journal last week. If you have one person who is infected and one person who's not infected, standing about six feet apart, if neither of them are wearing any sort of mask, it will take about 15 minutes to transmit a infectious dose. If they're both wearing cloth masks, it would take about 27 minutes. If they're both wearing surgical masks, it would take about one hour. If they're both wearing a non-fit tested KN95 or N95, it would take 25 hours to transmit. So it's a significant increase in protection if, you know, with a little bit of a change to the mask that you're wearing. If you're using a tightly sealed fitted N95, if both people are using that, you would have 2,500 hours of protection. So it's a really significant difference between the different types of masking. So that was just really a helpful way for me to learn about that. Seeing no further discussion on the motion of Councilor Tseng seconded by Councilor Collins. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Bears]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 22-035 offered by Councilor Tseng. Whereas Mayor Loco Kern and the Medford Board of Health have declared racism to be a public health crisis, and whereas the Center for Disease Control cites more COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and mental health challenges in areas where racial and ethnic minority groups live, learn, work, play, and worship, explained through discrimination, limited healthcare access and use, occupational, educational income and wealth gaps, and crowded housing conditions, be it resolved that the Medford City Council ask for an update from the city administration on its plans to achieve an equitable response to the current COVID-19 surge, and be it further resolved that the Medford City Council ask the city administration to increase free COVID-19 testing, vaccination opportunities, contact tracing, and public information efforts in the neighborhoods and communities that are disproportionately lower income and or non-white. Councilor Tseng.
[Tseng]: Thank you, Mr. President. Where our statements give much of the reason for this resolution, we know that when we look at the effect of COVID-19, when we look at the spread, the severity, when we look at numbers such as vaccination rates, we see that working class communities and non-white communities have been suffering disproportionately from the COVID-19 pandemic. Medford is no exception to this rule. There is unfortunately a vaccination gap in town for the BIPOC community. We also know that there's more that we can do as a city to address these issues. The city council and the city government labeled racism as a public health crisis. I think this is following up on that action back last year or back then, I believe that we need to be consistent in our actions and that by uplifting the working class, by uplifting BIPOC folks, by uplifting marginalized folks, we are uplifting us, all of us, and keeping all of us safer, keeping every single one of us safer. I that's why I'm putting this forward. I'm aware that the city has taken a few measures on this front. We, the city administration's let me know that they have, they've increased some public public health information campaigns in neighborhoods of color, they have been working with faith leaders and community leaders to make sure that we are vaccinating as many people as possible. But I think many of us have the question of what what comes next, how are we responding to the surge? How can we? How can we help as a city council? How can we help as a community? And how can we do better? And how can we evaluate what we're doing? So this is why I'm putting this forward today.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng. Any discussion? Councilor Collins.
[Collins]: Thank you, Councilor Tseng. And, you know, I think some of the last points that you raised really speak to the heart of this, which is, you know, what being able to track and assess what are we doing, what's left to do, how can we help more? And I also want to echo a comment that President Morell made on the previous paper. regarding how truly tragic it is that so much of the pandemic response has been left to local governments. And I certainly hope that we can take these lessons forward as a nation for our next, God forbid, public health emergency. But as the case is that a lot of responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of our local boards of health nationwide, we still need to be saying, how can we bring up the baseline? How can we make sure that we're achieving an equitable response how much more can we be doing? So I'd love to see this administration look into keeping up the vaccination clinics, continuing to reevaluate our mask mandates, ability to share and distribute medical resources, looking into PCR testing for our community, the things that are very, very hard for residents to find on their own. So thank you again for bringing this up, Councilor Tseng.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Collins. Any further discussion? Seeing none, motion by Councilor Knight to approve, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, motion passes. Is there a motion to take papers in the hands of the clerk? Motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight to take papers under suspension. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins? Yes.
[NqJnNNyD4Uw_SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[Bears]: Yes, 70 affirmative zero and the negative motion passes 22 036 offered by Councilor Caraviello be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate the Elliott Pearson Children's School at Tufts University on celebrating its 100th year. The Elliott Pearson School has served countless children and families in Medford. and the Elliott Pearson Children's School is one of the first nursery schools in the country and soon became a training school for new teachers. The school has served as a high-quality laboratory and demonstration school, serving children from diverse backgrounds in Medford. The school also serves as a teacher training and research site for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students applying for scholarships to practice, being so resolved that the Medford City Council thanks the faculty and staff at the Elliott Pearson Children's School and congratulates them on 100 years of outstanding service to the children and families of Medford best wishes for the next 100 years, Councilor Garavaglio.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, Mr. President, I would guarantee a lot of people don't even know the Elliott Pearson School even exists in the city of Medford. This is a school that's been run by Tufts University for all these years, and again, Touch being the institution that it is, has put out high quality teachers, and this has been a study group for teachers and things like that. I was lucky to have a couple of my kids get to go there. That was maybe 30 years ago, but maybe a little longer, 40 years ago. And again, I'd say it's a good program. It's a quiet program. If you ask so many people, they probably don't even know that the place even exists. So again, I just want to thank Tufts and the students that go there and the things they learned there and their continued success.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Any further discussion? Motion approved by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes. Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Bears]: Yes.
[NqJnNNyD4Uw_SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[Bears]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Public participation. Is there anyone in the room or on Zoom who would like to participate? Seeing none, we'll move on to the records. Records of the meeting of January 4th, 2022 were passed to Councilor Collins. Councilor Collins, how did you find those records?
[Collins]: I found them to be in order.
[Bears]: And you move?
[Collins]: And I move to approve them.
[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Collins. I move the motion of Councilor Collins, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to approve the records of January 4th, 2022. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins?
[Bears]: Yes. Yes. Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Before we motion to adjourn, I just want to remind everyone next week we will be meeting at 5.30 in committee of the whole to discuss the conversion to an elections commission. We'll have our regular meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m. And on Wednesday at 5.30 p.m. we will be meeting in committee of the whole to discuss applications from the community preservation committee. And we also have a meeting tomorrow night, Wednesday this week on the issues with flooding at Woburn and High Streets. Is there a motion on the floor? Motion to adjourn. Councilor Caraviello, seconded by. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Collins? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Morell? Yes.
[Bears]: vice president bears yes 70 affirmative zero the negative the motion passes and the meeting is adjourned.
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