AI-generated transcript of Medford, MA City Council - Oct. 11, 2016 (Unofficially provided by MT)

[Fred Dello Russo]: The 31st regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello. Present. Councilor Falco. Present. Councilor Knight. Present. Vice President Lundgren. Present. Councilor Marks.

[SPEAKER_07]: Present.

[Clerk]: Councilor Scarpelli. Present. President Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Present. Seven members present, none absent. Please join us in rising to salute the flag.

[SPEAKER_07]: 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.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Chair recognizes Councilor Knight for the request to suspend the rules. Yes, Mr. President, I request to suspend the rules to take paper 16701 off the table. On the motion of Councilor Knight for the suspension of the rules for said purpose, all those in favor? All those opposed? The rules are suspended for 16-701 appropriations. Did I get that right? Yes. 16-701 appropriation for $165,000 DPW Highway Traffic Commission. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Yes, Mr. President. This paper was brought before this body last week. It was tabled through some procedural action. What it is, is it is an appropriation for $165,000 to do some immediate work in terms of stump repair, catch basins, some sidewalk repairs, um, as well as, uh, some tree planting in the fall and, um, to increase the stock that we have of street signs in our, uh, sign department over in the highway division, Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. And this money was made available to the city as it is slowly but surely coming to us, uh, through requests and petitions to the federal emergency management authority, uh, due to the, uh, lizard, uh, expenses that we suffered, uh, nearly two years ago. Because we didn't carry that debt in the city, we were able to pay down and not run a deficit. We now have this money that if we do not appropriate it towards certain purposes, it becomes in free cash, if we understood the discourse from the Commissioner correctly. So the Chair awaits a motion.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was the member that called for Rule 20 last week, which allows on any spending paper that comes before the council for the first time for the paper to be laid on the table for further review. And as I stated last week, and I still feel strongly, Mr. President, it was back, I believe, in June of this year when the administration came before the city council requesting $500,000 appropriation for the repair of sidewalks and tree stump removals, uh, throughout the entire community. And, uh, some four months later, uh, the bid went out and it came back at, I believe it was a 30 something thousand dollars above the $500,000. It was roughly around 30,000 above the 500,000. And, um, I'm not quite sure the administration just didn't go back and request that the city receive $500,000 worth of tree stump and sidewalk rather than amending the original amount that came out. And we were told last week that there's roughly about three weeks left to pour cement and So I'm not quite sure what we're really gonna get right now. So I know it sounds like this needs to be done immediately. And that's what we heard back in June, that the money was gonna be spent immediately to start replacing sidewalks and remove tree stumps in the community. And here we are four months later, and we haven't done, at least through this appropriation, haven't done one ounce of work yet. So based on that, Mr. President, based on the money that we did receive, is for an emergency snowstorm that happened two years ago. And as we all know, in the past 14 years, 13 years, we've been in a budget deficit with the snow and ice removal. So year after year, we severely underfund snow and ice and come out in a deficit. And here we had money that came back because of a snowstorm. And in my opinion, that money should go towards the snow and ice removal, which I can guarantee it will be in the deficit this year once again. So, for those reasons, Mr. President, I cannot support this additional money here tonight. And I voted for the $500,000 for the original stump and sidewalk work four months ago and refused to add another penny to that at this particular point. And I believe the appropriation should be taken from the Water and Sewer Enterprise account. or some other account within the city, Mr. President. We have over $8 million in the water and sewer account. And so for those reasons, Mr. President, I will not be supporting this motion tonight.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Do we have a motion for approval from Councilor Knight? We sure do, Mr. President. On that motion, do we have a second?

[SPEAKER_07]: Second, Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Second by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice-President Long-Term? Councilor Marks? No. Councilor Scarpelli?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. Councilor Dello Russo? Yes. With a vote of six in the affirmative, one in the negative, the appropriation passes. While we're on suspension, we have our brand new city auditor with us tonight. She's going to present on two papers from the mayor. Yes. So we have paper 16-715 and 16-716. on the motion of Councilor Knight, to the Honorable President and members of the Method City Council, City Hall, Method Masks, dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body appropriate $158,800 from the sale of Lots and Graves account to the Cemetery Department Salary Account, 0104915110. The Cemetery Department Salary Account is reduced each year in anticipation of appropriation from the sales of lots and graves. Sincerely yours, signature on file, Stephanie M. Burke, Mayor. Madam Auditor.

[Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin]: Good evening, Honorable Chair and City Councilors. It's a pleasure to be here tonight and to meet you all for the first time. The reason I'm here is for these two transfers that are before you that are not a part of the budget. The budget is voted in of these two transfers and they are needed to supplement the budget. which is currently right now in a deficit. So I'd like to get these through as soon as I can.

[Fred Dello Russo]: And this is a, uh, this is something that's done every year, uh, with the cemetery monies that come in, uh, these monies from the, uh, sale of, uh, lots and graves are used to supplement the salary accounts. And money is withdrawn in the second paper we'll see from perpetual care, which is collected for that purpose of caring for the graves. And that money is appropriated towards the expenses of caring for the cemetery grounds. Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President De La Rousseau. So you said the account is in deficit. Do you mean perpetual care?

[Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin]: Yes.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And what's the deficit?

[Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin]: I did not take the exact deficit. It's not a large deficit, it's a small deficit, but usually when you have a vote of this kind, it would usually be done in July. It's now October, so they've been operating for a few months now with the anticipation of getting these funds.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: If we can also get an update on the cemetery board, where they stand with the mausoleum I know there's been a lot of discussion and research done by the cemetery board of trustees, and I would ask if we can get it just an update to the council.

[Fred Dello Russo]: If you could amend that paper, Mr. Clerk on Councilor Marks. Is there a motion? Motion for approval by council. Caraviello is seconded by council and I counsel night move approval. On that motion, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. With a vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes.

[Fred Dello Russo]: 16-716 to the Honorable President, members of the Metropolitan City Council, City Hall, MetroMassachusetts 155, and Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body transfer 185,849 from perpetual care to the fiscal year 17 cemetery budget 0104915292 for groundskeeping expenses. The Cemetery Department expense account is reduced each year in anticipation of appropriation from Perpetual Care. Sincerely yours, Stephanie M. Burke-Mayer, signature on file.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, as far as I can tell, this is the companion paper to the one that we just voted on. I'd move for approval.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for approval, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. So the $185, will that cover us for the year? Yes. Do you know what we usually spend per year on that account? I do not, but I can get back to you on that. If we could just get an update on just what we are in deficit in that account and what we've spent year-to-date in that one account and what we spent in fiscal year 2016. Thank you.

[Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin]: If I may add, Chair? Through the chair, I am trying to get to you guys an expense, expenditure summary report, and that will be for the next meeting. I really wanted to have it this time, but I've been working on closing the year and this current year, so I'm hoping to have it to you guys by next meeting.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So for every account, what we've spent and what we're, that'd be great. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. We've been asking for that for quite some time. Thank you. It's good to have you aboard. Mr. Clerk, if you would please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.

[Fred Dello Russo]: President Dolan? Yes. With the vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the transfer is adopted. Thank you very much.

[Unidentified]: Thank you very much.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to revert to the regular order of business, all those in favor? All those opposed, the motion carries. 16-708, offered by Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that the building department update the Medford City Council with regards to how many code violations notices have been sent out within the last year. Be it further resolved that the update include how many of those violations has the city initiated criminal actions on. Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I request this With regards to code violations, I think it will help the council better understand a number of things. I know, um, we've, we asked for more code enforcement all the time. And we also, um, are reviewing a number of things, including ordinances that have to do with enforcement and the need for enforcement, such as the, um, Tufts university ordinance mandating that they give us the, their numbers on a by, by yearly basis. So I think it's important that we see how many code violations are sent out each year and which ones actually have criminal, you know, have been sent to the criminal court. I know that the city of Somerville, after reading an article, obviously, not to compare ourselves to Somerville, but they hired a city solicitor to handle part of that job, I think it was an assistant, to handle all the code violations. And they, you know, within the article, they list the number of code violations since the beginning of the year. And I just want to see where Medford compares. And you know, if we are doing what we need to do to make sure our codes are enforced and being complied with. So if we could get a roll call vote on this, I think it will be very helpful moving forward with different ordinances that we have in the works.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Madam vice president, councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Um, if, if we, if we could amend that, to break down on what violations have been from building, you know, there's different types of violations. Type of violations. If we could have a breakdown, put that in the paper, Mr. President, I'd appreciate it.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion for approval by Vice President Lungo-Koehn, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Clerk]: Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice-President Lungo-Koehn?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[Clerk]: Councilor Montz? Yes. Councilor Staffelli? Yes. President Dello Russo?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With a vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion carries. 16-709 offered by Vice-President Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that the Chief of Police provide the Medford City Council with an update regarding how many speeding tickets have been issued by month over the last 12 months. Madam Vice-President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. This is something that the council has asked for before, and I believe the most recent time we've asked for this, and I could be corrected, stand corrected, but I believe we asked during budget hearings in June how many speeding tickets have been issued over the last year, and then another list of how many have been issued over the last two years. And I think it's important, as you'll see, the next, I believe, three or four resolutions after this have to do with what happened on Winthrop and High Street and Alston Street. I'm sorry, high in Austin Street with two accidents taking place. And I know there's been some work there, but I think overall speeding is one of the top five complaints that I get as a city Councilor. And, you know, I've been really on top of the fact that we don't have a working speed monitoring sign, movable sign that we can put in different places depending on when we're getting complaints or where we see the need. And I really think it's important that we, and the administration make sure that we are doing some enforcement. I know we're low-staffed, but we need to be doing some enforcement. And I just really don't see it being done. And I don't know, you know, what we can do, but definitely keeping track of it and trying to push the administration to push for more enforcement in all areas, especially the speeding, is going to help reduce accidents and reduce God knows what could happen. I would like to see if we could get that roll call vote please.

[SPEAKER_07]: Chair recognizes Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Um, yes, Mr. President. I'd like to amend the paper, Mr. President and request also a breakdown of the number of motor vehicle accidents that have occurred on locally controlled roadways, um, as well as a breakdown of the number of, uh, instances where the driver was cited for speed in relation to those motor vehicle accidents.

[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caffiello. Thank you, Mr. President. If we could also amend that to the areas where the tickets were given out also with locations.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion for approval by Vice President Hunger-Curran as seconded by Councilor Knight and amended and further amended by Councilor Caraviello. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Hunger-Curran? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes, with the vote of seven the affirmative, none of the negative, the motion passes. 16-710 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that Maybrook establish a Medford Pedestrian Advisory Committee which will serve as a forum for citizens to become involved in establishing goals and policies surrounding pedestrian safety in the city of Medford. The mission of the committee is to act as advocates in setting priorities for pedestrian safety improvements by supporting education, community outreach, and developing policy and plans to make our streets safer. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I agree with Councilor Lungo-Koehn that, you know, if I were to list the top calls that I receive, I would say that pedestrian safety and speeding are in the top five as well. And it's a major concern. And, um, you know, I'm not happy to say that over the many years that I've been on the council, that I have seen very little progress, uh, in, uh, traffic calming approaches in this community. Although, uh, recently under this new minute, uh, administration, uh, the mayor signed a complete streets, uh, program that, uh, currently, uh, there's, uh, a complete street stakeholders committee that was set up, uh, I guess several months back. And it consists of a number of department heads as well as someone from the bicycle, um, advisory committee, which I believe is Bruce Kulik and someone from walk method. Uh, Jack's, uh, Jeff Buxom, um, is on that committee also. And their mission is very similar to what I want to set up. A major difference is that I believe there should be more citizen input. And I believe that in addition to a member of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Walk Method, there should be a resident from every section of this community. Because who best knows their neighborhood than someone that lives in the neighborhood and experiences firsthand the situations of pedestrian safety and speeding and which streets may require traffic calming approaches. So my motion tonight, Mr. President, is not to replace by any means the stakeholders complete street committee. I think they're doing yeoman's work and bringing to the attention of the administration as well as the police department areas that are hot spots in this community that need to be addressed. With that being said, I believe there was 70 locations that this complete street committee sat down and looked at a number of spots throughout the community and said, you know, if we had a wish list, what needs to be attended to in this community? And they came out with 70. In my discussions with Jeff, I'd say I said to Jeff, Jeff, I could probably come up with 170. And he says, I agree, but it's a starting point. And I think it's a great starting point. What I'm hoping by this resolution tonight is to draw attention once again to public safety concerns in this community. And I attended last Wednesday night, as well as Councilor Caraviello and Councilor Falco, the police department's public safety meeting, which, due to Councilor Falco, is being held in neighborhoods throughout this community, and it was very well attended. I have to thank the chief, the officers that attended, as well as Councilor Falco for bringing up this very important issue and bringing it out to the community. But the Brooks School, as we know, is on a state highway, and that particular road has been a concern for a number of years because the only true set of working lights from the square on down to West Medford Square is, I believe, in Medford Square. There's a blinking set of lights at Pedestrian Operated in front of St. Joe's Church, but there is no other light all the way down past West Medford Square. And the next set of lights is I believe, another pedestrian control light in front of St. Raphael's. So it's a long stretch of road that really tends to pick up speed and cars, in my opinion, see this as a place where you can pick up speed. But I wanted to throw out some of the recommendations, Mr. President, just so for the edification of the general public. things that are currently being worked on at High Street in front of the Brooks School, and things that will be addressed over time because they involve more engineering study and so forth. But the installation of two rectangular rapid flash beacons to be actuated by push button, the beacons have been audited and expect them to arrive this coming week. So that should be installed very shortly. They're also talking about shortening the crossing using painted curb extensions. And I think that's something that was mentioned at the council meeting a few weeks ago when residents and parents came from the Brooks School. They're going to install a flexible pedestrian yield stop sign in the center of the crosswalk, along with striping to further narrow the road. They're going to paint stripes to delineate the parking lanes on both sides serving to narrow the road and slow traffic. And they're going to clarify much of the existing signage in the area to help with traffic control and pedestrian safety. One of the major recommendations that was made was to lower the speed limit on High Street. And I realize because it's a state road, and I think at the meeting that was brought up at the Brooks School, is the fact that it's a state road that we need the Department of Transportation to act on this request. It's not something we can do internally through our own traffic commission. So it's my understanding that is in the works to lower the speed limit to 25 miles an hour, and with the hopes that if you lower speed, streets become safer. And, you know, it's been said here a thousand times, you can have all the signage, You can have all the traffic markings without enforcement, without strict, consistent enforcement. We're not going to move forward no matter what signage we put out there. And I was a little dismayed to hear from the chief that when residents were concerned for the lack of enforcement, that the chief over and over again said, well, if I had a full complement of police officers, I'd be able to do some of the enforcement. And I can't see why, Mr. President, with the existing amount of manpower that we have in this community, that we can't provide basic enforcement from our current staffing as it is right now. And in my opinion, it's a matter of priorities. If pedestrian safety and taking back our streets is a priority in this community, the police department will find the manpower to accommodate that task. You know, it was also mentioned that the Traffic Division only has four personnel right now. There are four officers in the Traffic Division. And, you know, to cover — don't forget, we're not open nine to five. We're open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, our streets. And it requires a significant input of manpower, not only by the patrol, but also by a Traffic Division. And, in my opinion, we lack the proper personnel to provide the safety that's needed, Mr. President. And again, I would say that's a matter of priorities and shifting of personnel to accomplish that. During the budget, the chief asked, as one request, he asked for CAAS, which I'm hoping are going to come to fruition, which in the capital improvement plan the mayor is going to be offering. But he also asked for some additional civilian manpower. And part of that was to keep crime statistics in the city and also do some basic reporting. Because if you go onto the police website, it's very difficult to get any information on any type of reporting that's been done regarding analysis, crime analysis, pedestrian safety, accidents within this community. And the chief asked for that particular position and it was denied by the administration. But I can tell you firsthand, without the proper reporting, because there were a lot of questions asked Wednesday night regarding how many accidents, where are these accidents located? Are they in this particular area or are they around the city? And we did get some information, but it was very limited. And I think a position of that would pay for itself 10 times over. in regards to a sense of confidence, a sense of peace of mind that it is being looked at, and that problem areas are being addressed. If you don't know where the problem areas are, then you can't address them. So the first step is to identify and isolate the areas that need to be attended to. And without someone that's gathering this data, I think it makes it that much more difficult for our police department to do its job. Then there was talk also about quicker response time when it comes to a neighborhood safety concerns. The Brooks Hobbs or the Brooks School, I should say, there was a quick turnaround, but I think residents expected to see a little more, a little quicker. And some of the quick things that were asked for to put out as maybe a couple of those orange safety barrels on High Street just to let people know that there's something there and something impeding them coming down the street. There was also talk about putting up the electronic speed sign that we have to let people know, hey, we're out here, we're present, we're looking. Even to take a couple of our cars that have been sitting behind the police station unused for a period of time, they may not be in great condition, but they still say Method Police on them, and they still have a set of lights on top, and you park one of those out on High Street, let me tell you, that's gonna deter people. The minute they see it, they're gonna slow down. So these are the few quick things that could have been done, and I think residents were concerned that the response wasn't adequate enough after, first of all, the child was struck on High Street, and secondly, after the several accidents that happened, car accidents, right around the perimeter of the school. There was also mentioned that the lighting throughout the entire community, this is not just within the high street area, throughout our entire community is poor, Mr. President. There's been upgrades to the lighting here in Medford Square, but it's been, in my opinion, not adequate enough. And I know they're doing a pilot, I believe, in front of the old movie theater on Salem Street. If you go by there, I believe they've put some different type of lighting in a few of the lights out there. And they do appear to give off more light, a greater distance, but I think more needs to be done to improve lighting within the community. If I could just briefly talk about the pedestrian advisory committee that maybe will roll up into the complete street committee that's already formed, or maybe it could be another committee comprised of just residents in this community that give input. No different from a police advisory committee that would be set up within other communities. So I would just ask Mr. President that, and I'm sure the mission statement from the Complete Streets is very similar, but I would ask that the mission statement consist of reviewing new projects that affect pedestrians to ensure they meet local and state design guidelines, advocating for safe access for pedestrians, supporting education, outreach, and advocacy of pedestrian issues, Developing policy and plans to better meet the needs of pedestrians. Advise city staff on issues related to promoting pedestrian safety and education. Promote walking as the most environmentally friendly form of transportation. Assist the Medford Traffic Commission, Mayor, City Council, and all city departments in setting priorities for pedestrian safety. Work with law enforcement and other city departments to promote enforcement and education about laws, policies, regulations pertaining to pedestrians. and review and make recommendations on capital improvement projects to ensure that pedestrian needs and pedestrian facilities are given full attention. So like I said, I know the stakeholder committee, Complete Streets, is very similar to this. If the mayor opts not to set up a separate advisory committee, I would ask that she expand the current stakeholders Complete Street committee to include residents, preferably one from every neighborhood and section of this community. Like I said from the outset, what better to have the eyes and ears of someone that actually lives in a neighborhood to give direct input. And as far as I'm concerned, there are more than ample neighbors and residents that want to get actively involved. I receive a lot of calls from people saying, how do I get on a committee? How do I get active? And I'd like to see, it's great to have department heads on these committees, and that's useful because they're the ones that you want to be your advocates when they approach DOT or when they approach other agencies. But it's also helpful to have residents that are driving and living in the community and walking our streets, bicycling on our streets, and walking their children to school who best know the neighborhood and what needs to be done. I would ask Mr. President that, uh, this be approved, uh, based on, uh, the need, uh, throughout our community. And, uh, if so, if the mayor sees fit that the current advisory, uh, safe streets, uh, be included to, uh, include one resident from each neighborhood of this community. Thank you, Mr. President.

[Richard Caraviello]: Chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. I think that's a great suggestion by Councilor Marks. Again, it's better to have people from every neighborhood rather than just one or two neighborhoods to have input. Also, I had asked some time ago about the police enforcing the distracted driving. Because again, a lot of these accidents and things are happening is because of distracted driving. And I've yet to see any action taken on this, other than the high school has a program for distracted driving. But also, Mr. President, along with distracted driving, distracted walking is also a big issue. People have their headphones on all the time, their heads are in their phones. So that's also an issue with safety for pedestrians. If the chief could look into starting something for this, uh, bringing back the distracted driving. Uh, I'd appreciate that.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor chair recognizes Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Um, Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you to Councilor mocks. Um, I think that this council has gone on record multiple times supporting advisory councils and advisory committees that are comprised of citizens, uh, wholly or in part. Um, Mr. President, I think it's a great measure and that's something that I'm going to be supported supporting. I'm just asking, um, that we amend the paper to make a recommendation that, uh, a representative from the disability community, uh, the council on aging and the school department, uh, be considered as, um, advisory committee slots, I guess would be the appropriate term. Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. As amended by council night, Mr. Uh, all those in favor, all those opposed. Oh, we have citizens that want to speak. My apologies.

[pHtJcMxcqAQ_SPEAKER_21]: Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Welcome. Please take your name and address for the record. Joe Pacora.

[George Scarpelli]: Hi Joe.

[pHtJcMxcqAQ_SPEAKER_21]: Nice to see all of you. Your address? 25 Adams Street. Thank you. Really like that idea to put a car out on my street. It's unbelievable, unacceptable. It's just a freeway all day long. Failure to stop at the stop sign, speeding, wrong way travel all day long. Adams, Capon, Emory, Hillsdale, Quincy, all the way up from North to Winthrop Street. Just one way they look, laugh, keep going. Somebody's going to come around Emory, going to come wrapping around. They're going to just collide. It's bad. I mean, it's bad enough that I'm here at your suggestion today. Thank you. But it's really, really bad. You could literally put a lawn chair out there, grab a beer, and all day long you could just watch the cars just run the sign, speed, one way, go the wrong way. It's just all day long. You guys could ticket there all day long. Unbelievable.

[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, Mr. Speaker.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Council Max.

[Michael Marks]: Joe, just if I could, have you ever reported this to the police department? Have you ever made any C-click fix? Have you ever reported it? I have, yeah. And what response are you receiving?

[pHtJcMxcqAQ_SPEAKER_21]: Should I go there?

[Michael Marks]: Absolutely. This is public safety.

[pHtJcMxcqAQ_SPEAKER_21]: Not adequate. I find it unprofessional, inadequate, not a priority. I think you hit on that. I got a suggestion that kind of inferred that the resources aren't there. I think you saw some of the emails. Just excuses. I'm not trying to throw any, you know, all the great work the police do. I'm supportive. You know, I'm not... You know, if they're shorthanded, these guys are shorthanded, they're shorthanded, I understand. But something has to be done about it, whether it's, you know, through enforcement or, I know, signs, these traffic studies. I think there's some overflow as well from Route 16. So maybe getting the state involved somehow. The cars come up, Boston Ave, there's a major, major problem at that light in Boston Ave. Come up, they turn up north, they go up Capen, They take a left on Winthrop and go back down and cross Boston Ave. They're totally trying to avoid that whole intersection. A lot of it, I think, is spillover from overflow from Route 16 as well. So it's a major problem, particularly the neighborhood is starting to see some more kids. It hasn't had kids for years, like really small kids, three, four, five. And a lot of the neighbors are talking about it. In fact, some of the neighbors went out and bought signs and put them on the street. If your kids lived here, drive like your kids lived here, that kind of thing. You know, from what I understand, some of the other neighbors have actually went to the Bedford Police Department and met at maybe some community meeting that the police have, I think, in the last several months. But continues to be a lack of enforcement. And I followed up with Officer Brooks the other day. You know, he was explaining to me that he wasn't around on the weekend and so forth and so on. He was off, you know, and I wasn't, if I found it to be defensive and not really helpful in that, not answering questions, not putting us in touch with, you know, the appropriate city officials to work together to deal with the situation. So it's all great stuff that you guys are talking about. You guys seem to be on it. You're aware of it. And the neighborhood would really appreciate it, I'm sure. I would also appreciate it, but it's a pretty rampant problem with, again, the speeding, the wrong way travel, failure to stop at all those Quincy, Adams, Hillsdale, all the way from North to Winthrop. And it's just, it's obviously most of it's happening during, you know, these rush hours, you know, in the morning, late in the afternoon, but it does happen all day long. It happened tonight on my way here, walking my dog before I came here, just cars going right through. And I saw the biker coming down, coming down Adams the wrong way. The car went up, barely stopped, did a rolling stop, the other car went the other direction down Capeman, went right through the sign, the bike was coming from Adams the other way, and then you had another car coming up Adams, going the right way, you know, going up Adams the way it's supposed to go. I would just like to bring this issue to your attention and hopefully implore you to do something about it, whether it's through the enforcement or these studies or some other avenues that you have. You're supposed to have more signs in the meantime, striping. I don't know, some of these other ideas that came up with this curb, changing the curbs and so forth and so on. But we beg you guys to please have someone do something about it and have someone out there and start ticketing. Give the people this message that you can't be driving in this manner. I'm not perfect as a driver, but I'm far from it. But I just was hoping to bring that to your attention and hopefully you're able to do something about it. And again, not trying to make light of these great guys that do this tough work, policing the city. I'm sure there are many other issues, but it would be nice to have something done about it.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

[Richard Caraviello]: Chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. Joe, I understand exactly where you're coming from because I live on a street that parallels Route 16 in High Street, and my house is right on a four-way stop sign, and I could sit there in any morning or afternoon, and before they would slow down a little bit, now they don't even slow down anymore. And I can see them coming from right in back of the Brooksville, coming down Prescott Street, they go right through Auburn Street sign, and without even slowing down, just keep going, right through it, you know what I mean? Without even slowing down, and the same thing, they come down, at the peak times of the day, they come down Mystic Street, stop sign right there, go through it like there's not even a sign there. Like I said, if I sat there with a ticket book, I'd be famous. And about eight or nine years ago, the chief did put an officer in my driveway, and I think he wrote up about 10 or 15 people within an hour. So I mean, you could, you know, if they want, you know, if they, again, it's, and it's also, it's due to all these, you know, these programs on your phone, Waze and Google, they're taking everybody off the streets, and, you know, so, you know, to get to your point maybe a minute or two earlier, and that's where all the traffic's coming from, and this is just our city, I hear it from every city that we go. The neighborhoods are all getting jammed with cars because these programs are taking people off the main roads and putting them on side roads to get to their destination quicker. But again, I fully sympathize with it because I see it every day. And my street is the street where the kids walk to school. Yeah, and they don't even stop. Most mornings I get the Italian salute when I yell at them. Chair recognizes Councilor Falco.

[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And, Joe, thank you for coming forward tonight. One of the big things that came out of the meeting at the Brooks School last week was just traffic in general. And I know each of us receive traffic calls. I know I get them on a weekly basis. And it doesn't matter really what part of the city you live in. I know in North Medford, I mean, I live on Fulton Spring, and I see people fly down Fulton Street every day and go right through the stop sign. So it's happening everywhere. It's a major concern. But, you know, when I hear stories like this, To me, it really screams at the fact that we need to hire a traffic engineer. I've been saying this since March. I would say a majority of the calls that I've received since I've been elected, and I'm a first term member of the council, I have received a ton of calls on traffic. And we have no one, and the chief even said it at a meeting last week, we have no one in the city that has a professional background in traffic, in analyzing traffic patterns. and seeing how the traffic flows throughout our community. And we really need to hire someone, bring someone on board that can look at the traffic throughout our community, because the issues that we have today are going to be even worse tomorrow and in the months and the years to come. If you look throughout our community, the amount of development that potentially could happen over the next few years is amazing. Take a look at North Medford, the potential development at the old Malden Hospital site. Take a look at Locust Street. Take a look down at Mystic Ave. And these are places where we're talking about major development that could potentially come into our city, and they are going to affect the quality of life that we have in our city. Traffic is a major concern. It needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed now. The traffic engineer, I asked the mayor if he could please reconsider Resolution 16-088. It's a resolution that I put out earlier this year. to hire a traffic engineer. I think it's money well spent. We need to take a look at this issue. It needs to be addressed today. It's long overdue. This is affecting the quality of life in all neighborhoods throughout this community. It needs to be addressed right away. I thank you for coming here tonight. It's important that we hear from residents on issues like this. I know I've received many phone calls, many emails, and I know my fellow colleagues have as well. This is a major concern throughout our community, and it needs to be addressed right away. So I thank you. Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I think we have a number of great suggestions, depending on which area we're talking about, there's even more suggestions. But the bottom line is we need more enforcement. Whether we need to put more men and women on the police force just to do enforcement, or we need to ask the mayor to really push what we have now, Maybe it's time we have a meeting with the chief of police and request that the mayor be there as well. What is the quota? And there must be a reason why we've asked for how many speeding tickets have been issued in the last year, the last two years, and we failed two or three times in the last year or two to get the answer. There has to be a reason. We need to figure this out. We can't wait until there's an accident, or should I say two accidents where there's two people hit before we get to an area and do what needs to be done. Yellow, orange barrels should have been put out after that first accident, but they should have been put out prior to that accident. We know where the problems are. We know where the people are speeding. We know, I mean, where there are kids or families. I mean, it's just happening everywhere, so I really can't say we should, there just needs to be more enforcement. And I fail to see any anywhere. I never hear of anybody getting ticketed or anybody that complains to me about, speeding and lack of enforcement, nobody ever sees it being done. And that's something that we need to address and we need to do it sooner than later because somebody is, I'd hate for Joe or Cheryl or anybody to come before us and say, we spoke about this location six months ago and now somebody's dead. That's the last thing we want and it needs to come from the administration. The administration needs to talk to the chief of police and whether we be in the room or not, it needs to happen. We need more enforcement in this city. We need to make it a priority. It's extremely important so somebody doesn't get seriously injured.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for approval by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record.

[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, my name is Cheryl Rodriguez. I live at 281 Park Street. I attended the meeting at the Brooks School. This is basically, this meeting started from a Facebook post, which seems to be our new way of doing things in this city. And every parent in this city who's on Medford bombs knows that every September starts with, my child was trying to go to the school bus and almost got killed. The first one posted was on the Fellsway. Didn't get much traction. The parents said, yeah, that's happened to me a million times and nothing happened. The one that happened on High Street got more traction. They have a fabulous organization in West Medford that can really rally people to show up in a meeting. And boy, am I jealous. I wish I could have 70 people standing behind me today talking about the problems that we have on my side of the city, on other parts of the city. But the one thing that I got out of that meeting was one of the officers suggested that I go on to the mass.gov website. He suggested that we all go on and that we could get a copy of all the accidents in the city of Medford for the past three years. So I went on this morning. I clicked it in. Within five minutes, I had an email that had three years of accident statistics from Medford by date, had the intersections and everything. I can tell you that the hottest spots are not surprising to anyone. The Fellsway, Salem Street, Locust Street, I was a little bit surprised. A lot of accidents on Locust Street. Spring Street is a big hot issue. Anyone on Medford Moms knows that people are getting hit over there constantly. What else was it? Mystic Ave wasn't too bad. High Street had a lot of accidents as well. The Winthrop Street Circle had accidents. There's a lot of hotspots in the city that are not just on High Street. I mean, I applaud that we had a meeting specifically for High Street. I'm not sure all the other neighborhoods should have to wait the several months for their meetings. What if there were more issues on High Street? Are they not allowed to go to the community meeting because it's supposed to be focused only on their neighborhood? Because that's what's going around.

[John Falco]: That meeting was not geared specifically towards the West Medford neighborhood. I made it entirely clear that it was geared to everyone. We're bringing the meeting to each neighborhood throughout the city. Well, that's not the intention. Excuse me. Anyone can come, and anyone can talk about any problem they have. There were people there that were not from West Medford. They were from Wellington. And they talked about issues that they had. So it wasn't specifically about West Medford. I mean, it was heavily involved with West Bedford questions about specific issues that were happening in that neighborhood. I mean, so the whole point of the thing is to is to bring the meetings to the neighborhoods and actually make it easily accessible for people to get to those meetings, which I think we did. We had 70 to 75, with all the police there too, I think probably close to 100 people in the room. And normally, and Bob, you would know this better than anyone, there's probably maybe 10 people. I'm not sure. There's not that many people there on a monthly basis down at the police station. So anyone could come to that meeting, and anyone could talk about any issue that they wanted to. The chief made that entirely clear. The meeting happened to be in West Method next month. It'll be at St. Francis Parish Center. A month after that, it's going to be at the Andrews Middle School. Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend. The more people that attend, the better. That's what this is all about, getting people involved, engaging the residents, and having them come to the meeting and talk about the things that affect them in their neighborhood. But it's not limited, no meeting is ever limited to just these residents. Everybody and anybody can come. I hope everybody comes. I mean, we have big areas, big, I mean, the schools, St. Francis Parish Center, South Medford Fire Station, these are all big venues where we can see lots of people. So I'd love to fill the place. I mean, but I mean, everyone, and let me repeat this, everyone is welcome to come and talk about anything they want. The chief was, when he came and he opened up the meeting, he said that, you know, any questions, feel free to ask, we're here to help. And I thought it was a very good exchange, very good dialogue back and forth between the residents and the police. And I thought it was very productive. I mean, you know, Council Marks just went through the plan that they're working on and I think it's a good start. Now, is it gonna solve the problem completely? Maybe not, but it's a good start. But I think, you know, I just wanna just make clear that that meeting, it didn't really start on Facebook. That meeting was a resolution that I brought forward earlier in the year, back in the spring. to basically bring these meetings out into the neighborhood, engage the residents, have them talk about what is going on in their neighborhoods. So I just want to make that clear. So thank you, Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Ma'am, if you could continue, please.

[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Thank you for making that clear, because I did attend that meeting. I was late. I was at the South Medford Economic Development meeting, which I had to leave in the middle of the mayor's remarks to come to that meeting. But I did attend the meeting with that frame of mind. I've since been told by others that they thought it was inappropriate to speak of anywhere but their neighborhood. So I hope that people heard. that this is supposed to be community-wide. And I hope that at the end of all these meetings that there'll be resolutions about all of these streets and all the neighborhoods, because I did speak about the Fellsway, which I'm sure you're familiar with the Fellsway. We don't have a crossing guard at all, but I see a resolution on here to add an additional crossing guard to another street. So I'm not sure how many months people are gonna have to wait before they're gonna see this kind of rapid action. I mean, 4 a.m. street lining. and lights being ordered and grant money coming in January. I think we need to look at all these streets and we need to look at them quickly and not wait four or six months to get to other neighborhood meetings because there's danger now in other areas of the city. And I think we're hyper-focused on one street and I hope that that is not going to continue to be the case. Thank you.

[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this discussion to the table. I've attended many of those town meetings. I also want to thank Councilor Falco for bringing these into the neighbourhoods. That kind of a turnout is great. I missed the first two of this year because I just got a new puppy, but I usually regularly attend those meetings. I don't know what the city law is or the state law. But perhaps to alleviate some of these traffic and public safety issues, you know, with budgeting being as it is, perhaps Medford could incorporate an auxiliary police force or a special police force that reserves part-time. They could be armed or unarmed or unpaid. I briefly looked it up before I came up to speak. There's about 10 towns in Bristol County that utilizes an auxiliary force that, you know, if they're youngsters, as Councilor Marks alluded to, there's a lot of people in this city that want to contribute, that want to volunteer. I bet you could find at least 20, 30 people that would be happy to volunteer their time on a part-time basis. to help alleviate some of these concerns. Councilor Mark said something earlier, with all due respect, about, you know, they'll find a way to make it. Haven't gone to these town meetings for pretty much regularly for about three or four years now. It's really difficult. When Chief Sacco says that he needs the manpower, he really means it. You could have some officers that, you know, are working undercover. of others that work in phones. He's very understaffed. He needs about another 25 or 30 officers. Now I know the mayor just freed up a few months ago about 10 dispatches so that they could offset that and hire 10 new police. But at the same time, they lost 10 police officers. So they really didn't gain one more officer from that move. So I'm just up to offer a suggestion. Maybe the city council could, working with the mayor's office, get the advice, of course, of Chief Sacco, who would know more, consider an auxiliary reserve police force that would help ensure all of the concerns that were brought up tonight. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: And one more. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.

[Jean Nuzzo]: Thank you. Jean Nuzzo, 35 Parrish Street. Hearing these numbers tonight here in the hall regarding the understaffing of our police force, Troubles me greatly as a longtime resident. I can remember back in the day when we had a good presence and as children, you know, driving around the city on our bikes or whatever, there was always plenty of officers. So this troubles me. What troubles me even more is knowing that we're going to have 800 new units coming online that are already been approved by our zoning board. They're underway at Wellington Circle and Wellington Woods and a few other areas. And to hear of this deficit of manpower, knowing that we're going to have another 800 some odd families coming online soon, I would really urge the council to include in their motion something that stresses the importance of getting some additional bandwidth for these folks. who work really hard to have them up to speed before these folks start arriving to our city. Thank you. Thank you all.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion of the right of council, not Mars, which was on pedestrian safety, pedestrian safety, and motion for approval was by Councilor Mars, and it was seconded by Councilor Caraviello. And we're going to take a vote on that now? Just if I could. Councilor.

[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, because. Thank you. I've asked for a public safety summit for the last five years. And we had it. And, well, we haven't had a summit that addresses the needs of the community. And I still believe a public safety summit. I know Councilor Lungo said that we should have the chief and the mayor and so forth. That is well needed, Mr. President, and long, long overdue. The second point that I wanted to raise is I have a copy of Walk Method. It's September 2015. And I had the opportunity to talk to a member of Walk Method, and they said back a few years ago under the McGlynn administration that the mayor gave the approval to erect pedestrian neon crossing signs. And for a period of time, we saw a few of them pop up here and there. And I said, wow, this is great. We have some neon signs showing where Pedestrian Crossing is. The only problem is that we got maybe one-fifth of what the mayor promised. And I think what we need to do, Mr. President, is, in addition to, you know, bringing forward the public safety concerns, we also have to hold people accountable in this community. And if there's a commitment from the mayor saying he's gonna install 70 sets of pedestrian crossing signs, neon crossing signs, we as a council have to hold the mayor to that commitment. And the fact that a new administration comes in doesn't relieve all the commitments that were made. Those are commitments that should be kept. We were promised back some four years ago when they created, after myself and many, many members of this council pushing for raised crosswalks in this community as a traffic calming approach, we were promised a pilot program by Mayor McGlynn. He said, we're going to start off with three. Now, was I happy with three in a city this size? No, but I said it's a starting point. Four years later, we got one out of the three. One out of the three. I've asked the administration a dozen times, this new administration, to give us a report on where we stand with the Harvard Street and the Central Ave raised crosswalk. And we have yet to get a response, Mr. President. yet to get to a response. Now, I realize it wasn't this current mayor that created this pilot program, but this current mayor agrees with pedestrian safety. She sent her chief of staff at last Wednesday's public safety meeting, and it seems to be a priority of this mayor. And a priority to me is keeping forward the commitment that was made even by a previous administration. And, you know, so I would ask that this paper also be amended to find out, Mr. President, if we could, these are important issues, find out where the commitment stands with the mayor, with this current mayor, regarding the commitment Mayor McGlynn made with neon pedestrian crossing signs that he made to walk Medford back some years ago, Mr. President. I also would ask again for the 22nd time that the current mayor give us an explanation why that the pilot program for raised crosswalks has only experienced one crosswalk on Winthrop Street. In my opinion, it's been effective. It needs to be painted again because you can barely see it when you're driving upon it. I realize there's signs on both sides of the road, but it's not visible enough in my opinion. But it's an effective way of slowing down traffic. And I don't know why, Mr. President, we were told, well, they're doing work on Central Ave. So as soon as that work's done — that was a year and a half ago — we'll move forward on the raised crosswalk. Then we were told on Harvard Street, oh, they're working on the bridge. When the bridge work gets done, we'll be able to — and nothing, Mr. President. Nothing. So, you know, I'm just tired of talking about the same issue over and over and over again. And I'm hoping we can move forward now with this new administration. But we have to tie up the ends of the last administration, Mr. President. You know, people want to give a lot of accolades, this and that. Well, let's tie up what wasn't done, what wasn't completed. And pedestrian safety is a major concern. You know, I hear time and time again, oh, God forbid, wait till a major accident happens. I don't want to tell anyone, but we've had a number of deaths on our street to date, pedestrian deaths on our street. Mr. President, we've had bicycle death on our street. We've had a number of pedestrian accidents on our roads. So the horse is already out of the barn. We can't say, well, wait till something happens. It's happening. It's happening now. You know, it's not funny when a loved one is lost, Mr. President. We had a woman that was struck and killed in front of St. Joe's not too long ago. It's not, you know, it's a very, very serious situation here. And that incident, Mr. President, as I explained with the poor lighting, If anyone's familiar, when you go by St. Joseph's at night out there in front of the church, it's very dark out there. Very dark. And we've asked for National Grid to go out there and create some additional lighting, but that never happens. So, I don't know, Mr. President. Until we take control of our streets, until we demand more from our police department in regards to enforcement, You know, we know how to give out overtime. We know how to give out details. We know how to give everything out. Let's give out some public safety enforcement in this community. Let's provide some enforcement. You know, I'll rehash it over and over again. There was a spotlight story on Channel 5 or 4 back some four or five years ago. There was a couple of spotlights. But one, they did 10 surrounding communities in this area, north of Boston, and they looked to see how many communities are writing moving infractions, speeding tickets, and so forth. Method was last on the list. This is not me saying it. This was a spotlight investigation. Method was last on the list, Mr. President. So, Councilor Lungo-Koehn, I know you've asked for the number of tickets given, and I hope you get it someday, but in my opinion, Uh, that number could have been given to you very easily, uh, because I don't think there's many moving violation tickets going on in this community. Thank you, Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by councilor Caraviello as amended by Councilor Marks twice. All those in favor. Roll call vote. Mr. President. Roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Caraviello.

[Clerk]: Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Vice president. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. President Del Rosario? Yes. Affirmative. None of the negative. The motion passes. 16-711 offered by Councilor Falco, whereas High Street is a state road and one of the most heavily traveled roads in the city of Medford, whereas the Brooks Elementary School is located on High Street, whereas two pedestrians have recently been involved in car accidents, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send a letter to Stephanie Pollack, Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, requesting that the speed limit on high street be low to 25 miles per hour. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President.

[John Falco]: Uh, and I apologize if this sounds a little repetitive. Um, but, uh, a few months ago I offered a resolution to bring the, uh, monthly meetings at the Medford police station into the neighborhoods. Our first one was last Wednesday at the Brooke school. And, uh, first of all, I'd like to thank chief Sacco for letting me bring those into the neighborhoods. I'd also like to thank DPW Commissioner Brian Kerins. He was there as well and he did a great job at outlining the improvements that they're going to be putting in place in front of the Brooks Elementary School. And also like to thank my colleagues as well, Councilor Marks and Councilor Caraviello were there as well. And it was a nice meeting. It was a good meeting. It was a nice healthy exchange of ideas and possible solutions to what we can do in that area. There's about 75 to 100 residents, many members of the Medford Police Department. And we talked about traffic, but we also talked about other issues, school safety, speeding, lighting was an issue, signage throughout the neighborhoods. But as we had mentioned earlier, over the past few months, there have been two people that have been hit by cars. I believe there was a car accident on the corner of Mystic and High Street within the past couple of weeks. So there are major problems in that area with regard to traffic. I mean, you go from Medford Square down to St. Ray's, as was mentioned earlier, it's a straight shot, and there's absolutely no lights. So what we need to do is, it's kind of like a multi-pronged approach where we need to make improvements to that area, but one of the things we need to do is lower the speed limit. Actually, at the meeting, Representative Garbally was there as well, and he talked about, you know, and the chief did as well, about how it's a state road. And we really have limits as to what we can do regarding state roads. And one of the suggestions was to lower the speed limit to 25 miles per hour. And I think a lot of people are in favor of that. We're talking about pedestrians, bicyclists, that are just trying to get from point A to point B, and it's become very dangerous. Representative Garboly had encouraged residents to actually write letters to Stephanie Pollack, the director of the MassDOT. And I think what we should do here is we should actually be part of this effort. And we should stand behind our residents. And we should go on record as writing a letter to Stephanie Pollack as well. And I think this is an issue that we can all unite behind. uh, in the best interest of many residents throughout this community and the people that pass through our community, that we take public safety serious, that we want to make sure that everyone is safe, getting to where they need to get to. And I think 25 miles per hour will be appropriate. Um, and, uh, uh, you know, I'm hoping that my councils, uh, support this resolution tonight and, uh, move approval on the motion for approval by councilor Falco chair recognizes councilor night.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much, and thank you, Councilor Falco, for bringing this resolution up. I grew up on a stretch of road between the Winthrop Street Rotary and the Brooks School, and I wasn't allowed to cross the street until I was 18. So, you know, I can tell you right now that it was certainly quite a speedy thoroughfare. But Councilor Falco brings up a good point, Mr. President. This is a roadway that's state-controlled. There's dual jurisdiction, and where there's dual jurisdiction in terms of the operations of the roadway, I think there should also be a commitment from our state police um, for a dual jurisdiction and the enforcement of our traffic control laws that are in place here as well. Um, so I'm in full support of Councilor, uh, Falco's resolution. I think it's very important to note, Mr. President, that, um, we have a detour right now that is directing traffic down route 16 and up onto high street right now with the closure of the credit bridge and that's creating traffic and that traffic is causing vehicles that are trying to get through the Winthrop street rotary to get through West Medford square and pass that stretch as fast as they can. Um, so I think this is a great resolution. I'd ask, um, Councilor Falco if he doesn't mind that I amend it to request that the state police also, uh, kick up their police presence in the area to enforce, um, the speed limit, especially during the hours before and after school.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So on the motion for approval as amended by Councilor Knight, Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank councilor Falco for offering this resolution. Uh, at that meeting also rep gob Ali mentioned, a piece of legislation that he co-sponsored, I believe, regarding having local municipalities take local control of roads, and in particular roads that may be dual jurisdiction, as Councilor Knight mentioned. And I guess it made it as far as the governor's desk, and the governor either vetoed it or sent it back, removing state roads from the language. So it really did nothing to accomplish what we were trying to get after. But needless to say, Mr. President, you know, I come from a different train of thought. You know, and I've offered resolutions like this for the last probably 10 years, that there's no reason why any road in this city — I don't care if it's state or city road, Mr. President — that when a resident comes to us and say, I have a concern of a sidewalk on this road, and the road happens to be under state jurisdiction, but we can't touch the sidewalk, we can't trim the tree, but that taxpayer is paying thousands of dollars to this community and property tax, to me, is ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous, Mr. President. So, in my opinion, if I were chief, I'd go out, I'd take DPW, I'd change all the speeding signs on High Street to 25 miles an hour. Knowing how the state works, it'll take them about 10 years to catch up with it. Right, Mr. President? And we'll have public safety for the next 10 years on our streets. So the fact that the state says, oh, don't go ahead and move forward with that, to me, public safety should supersede that, Mr. President. And we're not doing it. We're not putting tollbooths up. We're not putting gates up. We're saying that we need to reduce speed based on reported data of accidents, pedestrian safety in our community. And in my opinion, that should take priority and wait for the ramifications down the line with the state someday, Mr. President. But I thank Councilor Falco for offering this.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. So on the motion of approval, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice-President Lionel Kern? Yes. Councilor Marksley? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Dello Russo?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. The vote is seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion passes. 16-712 offered by Councilor Falco. Whereas the bus stop for middle school students is located on High Street, whereas the traffic on High Street poses a major safety concern to anyone who crosses High Street, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that Chief Sacco and Mayor Muccini-Burke sign an additional crossing guard to cross middle school students. Councilor Falco.

[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So these resolutions, these three resolutions, the one that I offered earlier and these upcoming resolutions, and these are all from basically the product of the meeting that we had the other night. And, um, you know, I received many calls from residents, uh, from in particular for middle school, uh, parents that have kids that need to catch the bus in the morning and they just have a tough time navigating high street. We've been talking about it for the past, probably half an hour. Um, it's tough to cross. And, uh, I'd like to see, um, if we could, uh, add another, crossing guard during the, we already have one during the elementary hours, but it'd be nice to have one, uh, for the middle school students as well when they, um, get ready to go to school in the morning. So if we could add a crossing guard to that, uh, intersection, um, that'd be great.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So thank you. Very good on the motion for approval by councilor, uh, Falco councilor night.

[Adam Knight]: Um, Mr. President, thank you very much. Um, I'd like to amend the resolution and request that, um, the traffic commission look at the location of the crosswalk and whether, or not the crosswalk at the Brooks School would be best located on the corner of Alston and High and the corner of Auburn and High, or if it would be better off if they moved it off the intersection. and almost like into the 50 odd line. So it would line up right with the front doors of the school. Mr. President, that way vehicles that are turning left or right off of those side streets have a longer sight line so that they can see if there are people that are in the crosswalk. And it would also provide, um, the queuing up of cars to those corners so that pulling out and into onto high street would be a little bit more difficult because it would be much more congested.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good on that. Uh, motion of councilor Falco as amended. Uh, chair recognizes council Scarpelli.

[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, thank you. Uh, council Falco for all your suggestions. Uh, one of the few phone calls I did receive is if we could, uh, if we could amend this paper to ask the chief to look at, uh, the traffic commission to look at stop signs on Austin street at Irving street. I think that is a major area of concerns where kids are crossing. And, um, if we can amend that, if that's okay.

[Fred Dello Russo]: and it's amended by councilor Scarpelli. Uh, chair recognizes councilor Falco.

[John Falco]: And another, uh, so, so this is, um, this resolution here is basically to add a crossing guard. What, one of the things that they're actually looking at is actually placing the bus stops. So, so what they've done, and I know this came up earlier from what I've been told is on the fellows way, officer Brooks worked, uh, the bus route, reworked the bus route. So no one has to cross the street. So all the stops are on one side of high and the stops on the other side of high. So I think they're working through that now trying to readjust that. So this is kind of a stop gap measure until we get that resolution. From what I've been told, Officer Brooks has worked with the schools to actually look at those way bus stops. And I believe they've already done that where they have stops on one side and stops on the other side. So no one actually has to cross. So there's just a little piece of information for my colleagues.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. Thank you. So on the motion for approval as amended, all those in favor, all those, the motion carries. 16-713 offered by councilor Falco. Whereas the Winthrop street rotary has been the scene of many automobile accidents. Whereas the Winthrop street rotary is extremely congested. Be it resolved that the city administration conduct a study to redesign the Winthrop street rotary in a regular intersection with street lights. Councilor Falco.

[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Like I mentioned earlier, during the monthly community meeting, this came up as well, the Winthrop Street Rotary. You know, the Rotary is definitely a public safety concern. Over the past few years, there have been many accidents at that Rotary on a daily basis. You know, you have five streets that run right into that one Rotary. And years ago, when there were probably fewer cars on the road, maybe this made sense. But these days, the days that we live in, everyone owns a car. And some houses have three, four, five cars. This is a major concern. I mean, we have all kinds of traffic coming in from Methodist residents, from residents in Winchester, Estonia. I mean, you name it, all surrounding communities that are coming through this one area. The traffic is really bad in the morning. I've received calls on this as well. The cars are backed up on Winthrop Street, High Street, you name it. And it's a major concern. I think in the matter, just looking at public safety, this is something that the city needs to address. I'd like to see them have some sort of a study to look at this intersection. I think the chief had mentioned that the way it presently is today, it's just not good. I mean, this is not good for the community to have a rotary like this. roads flowing in. So I'd like to have the city have a study that actually looks at that intersection and making it into a regular intersection with streetlights. You know, just research it, study it. It's just a matter of public safety. We need to make sure that people are safe. This is a major safety concern and I move approval.

[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion for approval by Councilor Falco, Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. Being a resident of that area, I see that rotary every morning. Thank you, Mr. President. Being a resident of that area, like Councilor Knight, I see that every single morning, every single day. And again, traffic is backed up because of that rotary all the way down past the school and it just doesn't move. I think part of the reason is because There's not a separation of the lane for the cars that want to turn right versus the cars that are going straight, and they back up all over the place. The timing of the light, that's a short light there also on Route 16 for the left-hand turn. So eight or 10 cars go by, and then the light changes, and the traffic just backs up forever. So it's a bad spot. I've seen many accidents there. I seen the pole get knocked down not too long ago. Almost, almost, almost hit a guy walking down, walking down the street. Because again, somebody, somebody tried to go, go over the sidewalk and hit the pole. It is, it is. And as the chief mentioned that night, he'd like to see the rotary taken out altogether if he had his way. So again, I support that councilor Falco's resolution and hope that the chief can get the, the rotary taken out altogether.

[Fred Dello Russo]: I think the city engineer reported to us last week when she was here or the week before that, uh, that's being considered under the complete streets program and examination of that and the topographical difficulties that, uh, that area of Medford, uh, presents. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Um, Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you. Councilor Falco for bringing this issue up. Uh, I look out my window every day and see that rotary and, uh, some days are worse than others. Sometimes the days are worse than others. Um, There'll be certain periods of time when there's no traffic at the rotary, but during the rush hour times, it is absolutely brutal. And I think councilor Caraviello hit the nail on the head. It has a lot to do with the lights that are timing, the timing of the lights down at route 16. Uh, it has a lot to do with the backups at route 16 queuing up, but also has a lot to do with the backups on Boston Ave and Winthrop street. Um, so I certainly can appreciate councilor Falco's resolution. Um, however, I don't want to see us limit our options. If we're gonna study the intersection, let's study the intersection and let's see what works best. Maybe a bigger rotary works best. Maybe changing traffic patterns through right-hand and left-hand lane, only turn lanes works best. But I am reluctant to support a measure that's just going to say, take out the rotary and put in a set of traffic lights. And I think that that's what the language says, but in Councilor Falco's presentation, what he'd like to see, and correct me if I'm wrong, Councilor, is someone to take a look at this intersection and make recommendations into the design thereof. and see what we can do to put some traffic calming measures in there to slow cars down, but to also prevent queuing and backing up through the intersection during these rush hour periods of time. Yeah, so I'd be very supportive of the resolution, Mr. President, if we didn't limit our options into creating a regular intersection with lights, but rather exploring and examining all options that are before the council and before the engineer, I think would probably make sense. And that's something I could support if the gentleman would be willing to amend the paper. I think he will.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Chair recognizes Vice President Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'll be brief. Thank you, President Dello Russo. I'm on the same page as Councilor Knight. I agree not to limit, but to ask, I was going to ask if we could just change the wording in the last sentence. And I think that's what Councilor Knight is reaching, getting at so that we don't come out saying we want a redesign. I mean, there may be other ways we can fix the problem rather than, you know, reconfiguring the whole intersection. So if we could create some language where we're just asking for, you know, whether it be a traffic study or conduct a study to research the possibilities at Winthrop Circle, I would be supportive.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Chair recognizes Councilor Falco.

[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I am definitely in favor of the amendments. No problem. I mean, we need to be flexible. So the bottom line for me is it just needs to be studied. We need to take a look at this. It's a matter of public safety, so I'm fine with the amendments, and I thank my colleagues for bringing them forward.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion for approval as amended, Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think it would also be helpful to find out who has ownership of that particular rotary. I know we refer to it as a Winthrop Street Rotary, but High Street runs right along it too, and if that's a state road, you know, so I would ask that we also find out uh, what jurisdiction the city of method has on that complete rotary in that area. And if we were going to make changes, do we need to involve D O T?

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, can we get them to pay for it?

[Fred Dello Russo]: That'd be better as amended by Councilor Marks Councilor Knight. Uh, Mr. President, I wanted to thank Councilor Falco for his flexibility and I move for approval for approval by Councilor Falco seconded by Councilor, uh, Knight as amended by Councilors Falco and Marks. All those in favor. He amended himself. All roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk, if you would please call the roll. Yes.

[Clerk]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. On the vote of seven, the affirmative. None. The negative motion passes.

[Fred Dello Russo]: 16-714 petitioned by Jean M. Martin, 10 Cumming Street, Medford, Massachusetts, to address the council about police, police personnel, policy, and numbers. Good evening, ma'am. Please state your name and address for the record.

[Jeanne Martin]: I will. Jean Martin, 10 Cumming Street. The macro The macro picture of this is that it starts from the top, and it starts from the mayor's office on policing. You can't talk about policing without talking about the government structure, including you guys. You're not gonna like this, but with no accountability at the top, with no term limits, simple things like term limits, no turnover, there's no incentive to do things. And that's just the top, that's just the macro view. Also, we have 58,000 people in this city, going to grow even more. Wait until this casino comes in. Wait until some of these developments in Malden come in. You can find out how many cars we have because everybody pays an excise tax. Everybody is registered in the city of Medford. You can find out literally how many cars are on the city streets. We need, Mr. Falco's right, We need a traffic engineer. If you don't put in a traffic engineer, it doesn't matter, because you're just doing this. You're just plugging this hole. You're plugging that hole. You're plugging that hole. You're plugging that hole. And you're just going crazy, just playing whack-a-mole. stop them here, stop them there. There is no flow pattern to the city. And this includes, and before you talk about policing, you really do need to look at the macro picture. And the macro picture is, is that we, we have been, we have no regular scheduled street sweeping. Cars are up on sidewalks, seriously. Drive around, you'll see them parked up on sidewalks, half on sidewalks. Fulton Street, places where you can't get through. Riverside Ave, where you can't get through. These are two lane, Highways with the two yellow lines, these are not like little side streets. So you have to look at the big picture. If you don't look at the big picture, then you're just throwing good money after bad. That's all you're doing. And so, priorities. I'm gonna get to the facts about what the police are up to, but you have to talk about priorities. I don't like it when people say, well, we should ask the people what they want out of their government locally. No, you don't. There are certain mandates that a government, a local government, a state government, or a federal government must provide before you get into any of the offshoots, any of the luxuries. And if you don't get in, and if you don't provide those basics, then you have no luxury. You can have all the cupcakes you want. Man, if you don't have any spinach, you're going to die. It's that simple. And so you really need to look at, what the city needs as opposed to what the city wants. So I don't like the idea of sending out a survey. They want this, they want that, they want that. Sure, they want the sky, but they can't have the sky, because there's only so much money in the bank. So I just wanted to put that out there, because if you don't look at the macro, then you can't even get to the policing issues. The police, we have a total of 103 budgeted. We're going to have four more come online to 107. We're budgeted for 107. This is a city of 58. 8,000 people. We are close to Logan Airport. They put on seven new lines, airlines. We have Somerville. I just talked to a guy. They have gangs, official organized gangs in Somerville. It doesn't take much to come over here, folks, okay? The city ourselves have social ills. We have people who they call the police because their son is acting out. They can't take care of their son, so they call the police on their son to get him hauled out of the house. I mean, they're not just doing, they're doing fraud, right? They're doing social, they're doing stupidity. Somebody puts a pizza box in their oven to heat up the pizza, sets it on fire. I mean, they deal with stupidity, they deal with real crimes, they deal with murder, they deal with rape, they deal with all of the ugly issues that we don't want to deal with. Okay? I'm going to talk pros and I'm going to talk cons because, you know, it needs to be talked about. We have two civilian clerks and one halftime clerk. And one of the things the chief told me is that he used to have more civilians working for him, but when the budget cuts came and they had to delete and they had to delete, they deleted from the civilian population because they needed the officers. They need the officers. But they also need the civilians. Because we're farming out everything else. We're farming out DPW. It's completely gone. So why not farm out some clerical, too? We need to increase the budget for the police department. In so many ways, it's not even funny. The DPW used to do snow removal, used to do garbage removal. Now they don't even do a stupid sidewalk, cement, little square. They can't even do that. What else are we going to farm out? Where else? Where does it end where we farm out? You need a government. You need an elected body. Then you need a police force to enforce the laws. And then you need a DPW, even before a fire station. Why? Because if you can't get down that street, because there is no street, no access through the street, you can't get to the house on fire. And that is exactly what's happening. We are not looking at the priorities in this city. You don't have to like me, but you have to listen to me. That's my right. And that's the First Amendment, and God bless it. 911 dispatches, we have nine with backups. Patrol officers, 75. 75, now this is three, this is around the clock, people. This is around the clock, seven days a week. That is Monday through Friday, seven days a week, 75 patrol officers. You do the math and tell me if that's enough for a city this size with as many problems as we have. So close to Boston, I know, I'm lecturing, I know, but it makes me feel good. Get it off my chest. We have 14 detectives. Computer crimes are up, in case you hadn't noticed. There's all kinds of cyber crimes. Sergeants, 16. Lieutenants, nine. Captains, three. The recommendation, be a minimum by the chief, is 115, which I think is way too low. I absolutely think 115 cops, and that's like a huge, they would be excited to get that many. And I think for 58,000, this close, we've got a six-mile radius of people congested. Some certain neighborhoods aren't congested, and others are loaded down, absolutely loaded down. Total vehicles in the department, including unmarked of 45, suburbans have 50,000 to 60,000 miles on average. The Crown Vics have 100,000 on average. And I asked him what recommended, if he had a Christmas list, what would it be? And of course, he said a new building. That's absolutely pie in the sky at this point. Because the city has not recognized that the police should come first. They have not recognized that the police has come first. And that comes from the top, and that comes from you. I know you guys say it. But the people also need to talk. The people out there need to demand that police come first. And as bad as it is, if it wasn't for these accidents, especially in the neighborhoods that they were in, we wouldn't be talking about this tonight. And I'm so grateful that people that actually have political pull in this city are coming forward and talking. As far as training, they need to be doing training. We need to build up their self-esteem. I have issues with the police. We all know that, OK? I don't think they're perfect. But I will tell you that if you want a better police force, you have to train them. You have to give them respect, and you have to train them. And as far as the overtimes, yeah, you have to do overtime. But as far as those details, we are all culpable. Every last one of us are culpable. We make a kickback. We make this salary, they don't make a good base salary in this city, but where they make their money is on those details. And we don't have to pay it out, so we are happy, because then we get another little cupcake someplace else from not paying them out. And we get a kickback, which makes it worse. We get, not only do we rent out our cops to agencies like National Grid, that's what we're doing, we're renting them out for pay, and then we get money for renting them out on top of that. So not only do they pay us, pay our officers their actual real pay, their really hefty pay, We also get a kickback. We get 15% on that. We need to get rid of that 15%. And that's something you guys can vote on. Of course, you're not going to because it's not politically to your advantage. You'll have to find that money someplace else.

[Fred Dello Russo]: You have a minute and a half.

[Jeanne Martin]: OK, thank you. But training, they need to train. We need to get them trained. We need to get them trained for active shootings, bombings, everything else under the sun, because they're not ready. We need to equip them. We need to get them ready, because the world is changing. And standing out over a hole is a waste of their time, unless it's on Riverside Ave or, you know, some major thoroughfare. It's a waste of their time. They can love me or hate me. That's okay. But I really believe I'm not here because I want a Christmas card from these people. I'm here because I believe in this. Because this is the center issue of the city today. And until you get this right, you can't get anything else right. Yeah, you can make some people happy. Some people. Meanwhile, other people will be getting hit by cars. Other people will be getting mugged. Other people won't be able to kick out their son out of their house. Because, unfortunately, the police officer turns into the discipline. The disciplinarian in a family, single mother. She can't control her kid, she calls the cop on him. That's what's going on. I know that for a fact. So, you know, until you deal with that reality, good luck to you. You don't have to pay attention to me. You don't have to listen to me. But when it hits, I'll be there to say, I told you so. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: To receive and place on file, all those in favour? All those opposed? Motion to go on to suspension to take papers in the hand of the clerk by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Mungo-Kern. All those in favour? All those opposed? Offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Metro City Council contact the Department of Conservation and Recreation to repair the lights on Route 16 from Meadow Glen Bridge the Craddock Bridge overpass, they are all out.

[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. President, I drive on Route 16 every single day to go home, and I've been noticing from the stretch where, from the Meadow Glen Mall, we turn on the Route 16 that goes along the river all the way down to the overpass to the Craddock Bridge. Every single light is out, Mr. President. And then they come back on as soon as we get to the Armory. That's where they run again. So if we could contact somebody from the DCR to get that whole stretch of light put on, that would be appreciated. Route 16 is a dark road, especially with the early darkness now. It makes it more of a safety hazard. Very good. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion for approval by Councilor Caraviello, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Offered by Councilors Knight and Marks. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Thomas and Mary Ann Howell on the momentous occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. And if you look at Mary Ann and Tom, you'd never believe they've been married 50 years because they look like they're about 50 years old. Mr. President, they've had a wonderful and very happy marriage. And they've been good friends to me for a very long time. Growing up, running around Placedead Park, the Howells and the Caratis were very welcoming to the kids in the neighborhood. They opened their backyards and their home to us. was fortunate enough to develop a great relationship with Thomas and Marianne Howell over the years, Mr. President. On a side note, one of the first jobs I had as a young kid was working for the Howells at Chisholm's Motel on Route 1 in Saugus, where they used to manage and administer the day-to-day operations there, Mr. President. So it's with great happiness for the Howells and for the Karate family that I stand here this evening and congratulate them. I hope that my council colleagues join me Mr. President, I know Councilor Marks goes way back with the family as well. So, you know, with that being said, I turn the floor over to Councilor Marks. Mr. President.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Councilor Knight. You couldn't meet two gentler, kinder people, in my opinion, and in this day and age to celebrate 50 years of anything is an accomplishment. And, you know, they're a great couple. And I want to wish them well and many, many more anniversaries.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good, so on the motion for approval, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries, congratulations. And offered by Councilors Marks and Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate long-time Medford residents, Bob and Marie Emma, on celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. They have 10 more than Thomas and Mary Ann, and as I stated, Bob was a mail carrier in Arlington for a number of years, just a great guy. And Marie, if anyone remembers, worked for the Medford Transcript back some many, many years ago. She was the office manager and always a friendly face within Medford Square. And I just want to congratulate them. They have three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. And they're truly a great couple. And I know they spend a lot of time in Florida as well. And when they're back here in Method, it's great to see their face. And I wish them well, Mr. President, in their 60th wedding anniversary.

[Richard Caraviello]: The President Thank you, Mr. President. Again, I've known Bob and Marie for many years. More Marie than Bob, because I would see her at the transcript, the Chamber of Commerce things. Always a good woman. And I know their kids. They're a good family, and they've got 20 years on me. And I wish them well. Many, many more years of anniversaries.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Happy anniversary to them. On the motion for approval, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Chair needs a motion. We're required to cancel the council meeting for November 8th due to the election. The chair could have a motion to do so, as is customary in the practice of good government, on the motion of Councilor Caraviello. For that, seconded by Councilor Falco. All those in favor? All those opposed? The meeting of November 8th, due to the national election, a national and state election, the election of the President of the United States, that meeting for the 8th is canceled.

[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello. If I may, Mr. President, for those who are aware, this is breast cancer month. We have our- Pink ties here. Many of us have our pink ties on this evening. I just want to let everybody know, my mother had the battle of breast cancer twice and unfortunately succumbed. I want to make everybody aware of this month and support the issue. And if I could have one more moment. Yes. Today is Yom Kippur and if we could send a happy Yom Kippur to all our Jewish residents, I would like to do that also.

[Fred Dello Russo]: And happy Yom Kippur to all of our residents of the Jewish faith offered by Councilor Caraviello.

[Adam Knight]: Councilor. Mr. President, I was hoping we could take paper one, six, six, three, six from the table, a special permit use kino monitor at NK convenience five, six, two high street in city council, September 20th and tabled on the motion of council night to take off the table.

[Fred Dello Russo]: 16-six 36. All those in favor. All those opposed.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, this was a matter that was discussed and tabled previously following the public hearing on September 20th. I'm here before us. We do have Sean vegan representing the, property owner, and the applicant that's here for a special permit before the city council. I spoke with Attorney Began earlier in the evening. Mr. President, pursuant to state statute and our zoning ordinances here in the city of Medford, we have 90 days from the closing of our public hearing to make a final determination as to whether or not we are going to approve or deny the keynote to go monitor license. Whereas the city solicitor is on a scheduled vacation until the end of next week, Mr. President, I'd ask that this matter remain on the table. However, I did want to have Attorney Biegun have the opportunity to come up here and present the case for his client, and also have this written to the record that we will be willing to take this matter up. It's just going to take some time for us to get back with the city solicitor and get his opinion on a couple of issues that have been raised.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion.

[Sean Beagan]: Sir, welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you. Sean Biegun. My law office is located at 0 Governors Ave. I'm also a resident. of the city at 362 Lawrence Road. This, as Councilor Knight stated, is a matter that was tabled on September 20th. It is before this council for a special permit pursuant to article four, section 94-148D, subsection 56B, which allows for a special permit for Keno facility within the city of Medford My understanding is that back in March of this year, March 8th to be specific, the council did vote in favor of not objecting to Keno to go with a monitor for my client's convenience store subject to the special permit. I understand that the paperwork for the special permit was filed pro se by my client and it is waiting approval. And I'm sure as the council is aware, only certain very specific reasons for that permit to be denied. In my opinion, none of which would apply in this case. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor. Mr. President moved to lay the matter back on the table on the motion of a Councilor Knight to withdraw the motion. Councilor.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. President Delaware. So if we could just go through what the city solicitor is reviewing for us, I think it has to do. I just don't recall the vote of what we asked the solicitor.

[Fred Dello Russo]: believe we didn't ask him anything yet we tabled the matter so we could ask him his opinion because he's been gone he's been absent yeah yes thank you thank you on the motion of council night to lay the paper back on the table all those in favor all right all those opposed thank you thank you thank you on the motion of councillor Caraviello for adjournment all those in favor all the record of the last meeting, which was held on the 4th of October, 2015, were passed to Madam Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Madam, how do you find those records? I found the records in order and I move approval. On the motion for approval of the records, all those in favor? All those opposed?

Fred Dello Russo total time: 13.32 minutes total words: 1116	Adam Knight total time: 6.87 minutes total words: 735	Michael Marks total time: 29.58 minutes total words: 779	Breanna Lungo-Koehn total time: 6.25 minutes total words: 653
Richard Caraviello total time: 6.38 minutes total words: 573	George Scarpelli total time: 0.43 minutes total words: 67	John Falco total time: 12.12 minutes total words: 880	Robert Cappucci total time: 2.51 minutes total words: 64