[Fred Dello Russo]: The 18th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso? Present. Councilor Caraviello? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Vice President Leopold? Present. Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Penta? Present. President De La Russa?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Present. Seven present, none absent. Please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A public hearing will be held in the Howard F Alden Memorial Chambers, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, on Tuesday evening, May 19, 2015, at 7 PM, on a petition by Incident clear LLC doing business as Medford truck and auto repair to operate an automotive repair shop class for license at 11 Hall Street in an industrial one a zoning district Petitions and plans may be seen at the office of the city clerk room 103 City Hall Medford, Massachusetts 7 8 1 3 9 3 2 4 2 5 Call 7 8 1 3 9 3 2 5 0 1 for any accommodations, etc City Medford by order of the city council. Uh, public hearing is opened. All those in favor, anybody speaking in favor of this matter, uh, please present yourself to the podium and declare yourself, uh, as in favor of this, uh, matter.
[SPEAKER_24]: Flying for the permit.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So you're in favor of this matter. Yes, very good, thank you. Anybody else in favor? Anybody else in favor? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the public hearing closed and open it up to anybody in opposition. Is there anybody present in opposition to this matter before us? Hearing and seeing none, I declare that portion of the meeting closed and turn it over to Councilor Caraviello of licensing for recommendation.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I have reviewed the papers, and I find them in order, and I recommend approval. Seconded by Councilor Camuso.
[Robert Penta]: On that motion, Councilor Penta. Judge, what's at 11 Hall Street right now?
[SPEAKER_24]: It was the old method breaking wheel. Bobby Maloney's on the building. Are you renting or buying? We bought it. You bought it? Yeah. So we're just going to continue the same uses as they did.
[Robert Penta]: So this is nothing more than a change in name? Correct. Change in name to the same location, right Mr. Park?
[Clerk]: Right. The license is on transferral, so.
[Robert Penta]: Okay. Very good.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello-Viello, seconded by Councilor Camuso. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Congratulations. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good luck. On the motion of Councilor Camuso to take items out of order, petitions, all those in favor? All those opposed? To take petitions, presentations, and similar matters. Petition by 15488, petition by Eversource Energy to address City Council on a brief presentation on Mystic Station 250 to Woburn Station number 221, KV transmission line project, questions and answers. Folks, please come forward from Eversource. Folks, just so you know, we discussed this through Councilor Marks last week. Before Councilor Marks had an opportunity to address the matter with us, I had received a communication from Mr. Zamparelli of Eversource to address the council. And so I asked him to place a petition before us. And he has done so, so they're here to do this. Also, I should have announced at the beginning of this meeting, and I apologize, we are not broadcasting on Comcast right now. We are, however, broadcasting on Fios. A request for work to repair the matter has been submitted to Comcast, and they need to get out here. I suppose, as we all know, waiting for the cable guy can be a challenge at times. So it is being recorded for rebroadcast. and it is broadcasting on the Fios channel. So please state your name and address for the record.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Yes, my name is Bill Zamparelli. I'm the Community Relations Representative with Eversource, and I actually represent the gas company. We do have a number of gas customers in Medford, but I also represent this project. Let me introduce my counterparts. This is Jack Lopes.
[SPEAKER_06]: Jack Lopes, also with Community Relations on a project. Very good, Jack.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: And David Velez. David Velez, lead project manager with Eversource. I'm the project manager for the project we'll be discussing tonight.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Great. Well, if you could just give us a brief presentation on the project. And I know the councilors by way of motion last week presented a number of questions and I'm sure Councilor Marks, he'll be first to speak and he'll be able to make those questions known to you so we can address them once you've made your preliminary presentation.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Our project manager, David Velez, will actually make the presentation and then we'll handle questions afterwards. Great. Any time during, if there's questions that arise.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Members of the Council, thank you very much. speak quickly and briefly on this, but please do feel free to interrupt and pull out any questions. This project is a new 115 kilovolt underground transmission line project that we are proposing. To give you some background on it, the need for the project comes from a study done by the independent system operator of New England, or the ISO. The way I refer to them, they're sort of the air traffic control of the electric system. They say where the power comes from, where it's needed, and how the system is behaving, essentially. And looking out into the future, when they assess load growth, new customers, businesses, et cetera, what they see is that there are deficiencies in the overall New England system, particularly in the greater Boston area, where there could be situations where if one line were to go down and perhaps another line were to go down, we could be in a situation where many customers would be out. I need to stress here that this is not a distribution line where we're talking about one or two houses or businesses or a street, but we're talking about regional impacts, multi-thousand customers per line, which is why the ISO gets involved in that. So they put out there that there is this need that needs to be addressed, and then various entities come forward with solutions to that need. Eversource, formerly NSTAR, your local utility in the region, came up with one package, or another entity from New Hampshire came up with another package. In the end, they were weighed and judged, and the ISO determined ours was the preferred solution. That allows us to take a forward, do more work, and eventually submit a petition through the permitting process. So that brings us to this project. I should say this particular one is part of a suite of projects. When you go to page three, you'll see that. The Mystic to Woburn Line project is a 115 underground line going through the cities and towns of Everett, Boston, Somerville, Medford, Winchester, and Woburn. In addition to that, it's complemented by other projects like the Woburn to Wakefield project, and also a Merrimack Valley project that goes from New Hampshire into Mass. Altogether, these multiple projects comprise the Greater Boston Solution we're referring to. But today, we're talking about the one specific piece that goes through Medford. Moving on to page four. Underground line going from the Mystic station we're all familiar with to our station 211 at Woburn by Pond Street. The project is approximately eight miles going through the towns I mentioned. What's interesting to note is that we actually have an existing underground transmission line along the route we're proposing. So while it's a new piece of infrastructure we're talking about, we actually intend and propose to build a new line parallel to the existing, approximately 10 feet away from it, the whole length of the route. The idea being that we'll have two lines side by side, the ends will be tied together, if you will, we call that bifurcating. They go to their breaker terminations at the same point, and you have a line that is doubly strong as the original. Page five, you'll see the project map from end to end from Everett Station to Ruburn. And on the next page, we have a zoom-in of just Medford, where you'll see that we're coming in from Somerville on Route 38, going down the length of it up to South Street, down South Street, across the Mystic River, up Winthrop Street to the Rotary, and again, 38, the whole way down to Winchester. Again, this is paralleling an existing line that is already there the whole way through the route. The next page, page seven, talks about the project schedule, which I think is a key point to address based on some of the questions we saw. We are just in the beginning stages of this project. We did hold a series of open houses over the last couple weeks, including one in Medford at the high school on the 11th. The next step for us is to take our petition and file it with the Department of Public Utilities, specifically their Energy Facilities Siting Board. We hope to do that very soon this month, actually. That will kick off a long public process with the EFSB that we think can go at least 18 months. Part of that will be public participation from members of the public, from various cities and any other stakeholder group. There will be notifications sent to abutters and those within 300 feet, notifications sent to all the various municipal entities, and any other stakeholder wants to be informed. That comes directly from the DPU, not from us. But as you see, we're doing a lot of outreach efforts on our own, and we're glad to push out that information on our own as well. So with that 18-month period of review as a minimum, we're thinking construction starting as early as 2017. And the entire eight-mile project would last roughly until the end of 2018 when we could put it in service. That wouldn't be the entire eight miles construction the entire two years, but bit by bit, section by section. Next steps, as you mentioned, we have been, for the last several months, collecting input from the towns. We've met with the mayor's office. We've met with the DPW here in Medford, as well as all the other towns. We've conducted open houses. The third step is filing that petition, again, which we hope to do soon, and then the DPU process. The proactive project outreach, talking about the various stakeholders involved here from municipal officials, planners, property owners, residents, all are going to have an opportunity to reach out, learn more about the project from us, provide their input either directly to us, to the DPU directly. They will hold their own public hearings as part of their stakeholder process, and then that all goes through the hearings through the state agency in Boston. And last, we have contact information. There's a public hotline, 1-800 number, where we are collecting any questions and input that might come, also an email. Also, a website right now that gives some general information, not just about this one specific project, but the entire Mass. New Hampshire solution, as the website implies. You have all of our contact information for city officials to use as well. I'll leave it at that and take any questions. Very good. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership in having Eversource come down on this very important issue. And I'd like to thank the gentleman for coming tonight. You just mentioned the project itself, 18 months, I guess, which is going to start now of public involvement. And the actual project is two years. Did I hear that correct? We anticipate construction lasting roughly two years. Two years. So, if it's an eight-mile route and Method is 3.2 miles of that eight-mile route, can we figure out roughly how long You will be doing construction in the city by that, or is that not a good estimate?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: It's an excellent question. I can't give you a reliable answer to that right now, because what we are in the process of doing today is the engineering, specifically the underground engineering. We've figured out our route, which was easy because we're following an existing line. What we need to figure out is all the underground infrastructure, whether that be our own electric lines, water, sewer, gas. We all know there's a lot of that in the area. We have engineers. going through records, actually lifting manholes to collect inverts, figuring out what is in the street, and their job is, as we call it, threading the needle to find a way to place our pipe and also the various manholes that will be required to do this. If it was smooth sailing and we had no interruptions, I would say construction would go very quickly through Medford. If we encounter a lot of utilities that need to be relocated, a lot of conflicts, then it would take longer. I can give you a much better answer to that question once I've seen the engineering, which I expect to be in the middle to late July.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. And I assume from what I understand of the project, it's going to be a 24 inch wide trench. Six feet deep? Five feet deep. And if you were going to install a manhole cover, we are able to, I guess, monitor this line and so forth. What size of trench is a manhole cover, roughly?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: The manhole is much larger than the trench itself. The manholes are roughly 18 feet long by, I believe, 10, 12 feet wide. I can get back to you on that. 10 wide. They're quite larger, so they're not built as part of the trench. They are their own excavation that interrupts the trench, as it were. Typically we like to do a precast manhole where the area is excavated. The manhole gets dropped right into place and gets built into the duct system. If for some reason we can't do that because of other conflicts, we can form and pour it in place. The purpose of those manholes is not just to monitor and to do maintenance, but actually for the splicing. Again, this is an eight-mile stretch. The cable itself that will go inside the pipe only comes and reels about 2,800 feet long. So roughly every 2,800 feet, you have to do a splice, which is where the manholes come in. That's where the splicing operation takes place. Okay.
[Michael Marks]: And according to the website, it said the manholes We're going to be placed approximately 2,000 to 2,400 linear feet.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: That's a very rough estimate. Again, that's in a perfect world. If you take these, it's a little bit more, I'd say it's more like 24 to 28 hundred feet. Again, in a perfect world, if the line were going straight, you would stretch out that 2,800 foot cable and put a splice at every one. As we know, it's not a perfect world. There's going to be bends and turns. We may have utilities that are blocking and we may have to move the manholes closer together. That's why there's really no way to give an accurate number of the manholes today until we see the engineer.
[Michael Marks]: Not accurate, but we should be able to get a ballpark.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: I can tell you that roughly we're anticipating in the neighborhood of 17 manholes throughout the 8-mile project.
[Michael Marks]: And method, roughly?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: I haven't even seen that to count that, to be honest. I would hate to.
[Michael Marks]: You should be able to give somewhat of a ballpark. I mean, if you're going to put them 2,000 to 2,400, and I realize it's not a perfect world, but based on 3.2 miles roughly out of the 17, are we talking maybe seven, eight?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: We could take, no, we could take the eight mile route, you know, the 17 manholes divide by eight, but don't ask a communication major to do that math on the fly. But, you know, you could do it that way, but I would not say that's an accurate assumption. We have to do the engineering first.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: It really depends on where the turns are, I think. Right. So they may need an interim manhole at some location.
[Michael Marks]: Right, but you understand the concern. The concern is that it's one thing to dig a two foot wide, six foot deep, five foot deep trench, and then to have an 18 foot by 10 foot manhole, which to me is a pretty sizable project, which leads to my second question. I know you said it's gonna be in the proximity of the existing line. Whereabouts does this fall on the street?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Again, that's the question that the engineering will have to answer. I can't tell you right now if we're on the sidewalk, on the side of the road, on the middle of the road.
[Michael Marks]: That's huge.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: That's why the engineers are getting paid a lot of money. They have a big job to do to figure out where that's going to go for the entire model. And it won't be consistent. It might be on the sidewalk in some parts. It might shift to the middle of the road here. We're trying to avoid impacts to existing utilities. So if we have to snake and move around, if that's... Have you brought an engineer on board? Yes, we have power engineers. And is there a reason why they're not here tonight? They're based out of Minneapolis. It's their home office, although they do have a team working in South Attleboro. But frankly, they just look up plans and records and pull manholes.
[Michael Marks]: Right. This can't be the first project of this nature that's being done in the area, correct? No. So there must be other... I mean, the towns that have had this done, would you say in your best estimate that, and I realize you're not an engineer, but are we looking at disruption to the roadway?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Certainly, this project will be in the roadway, so the excavation we're talking about, whether it be the trench or the manhole, the majority of it will be in the public roadway.
[Michael Marks]: Including the sidewalk?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Potentially.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. My next question, and I'd like to have those questions answered, Mr. President. I'm sure maybe you can fire off an email to the engineer to find out exactly where this falls on the street as this project gets a little closer. I think that's very important from a public safety standpoint in the community. And if you're familiar with our city, our city in the morning and at night turns into a cutthroat from everyone leaving and going into Boston, vice versa. and our streets are packed in the morning. I'm very familiar. I'm one of those people that's driving through them. You're probably right. So you can imagine. Now, you mentioned that this project will be phased in. Will the project 3.2 miles in the city of Medford, will we be doing a quarter mile and then filling up the area and moving on? Or are we going to dig 3.2 miles and then go back and fill? Maybe if you could just explain how
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: We want to do it in the most efficient and least impactful way. And what I mean by that is, again, once we get the engineering and we see where we're going to be, we don't have to build this from point A to point B. We can do it in phases. So for instance, the line goes right in front of a high school. We might decide it's a good idea to not do construction. during the school year and save that for the summer. We could save that piece to a point that's less impactful. We can likewise solicit input from the towns that, hey, we really do not want you here in the middle of the summer. We'd rather you go into the winter. We can take all that input and phase the project as there is a lot of work to do in different parts. For instance, one of the things we have to do is cross the Mystic River. We have a solution that we're working on for that involving a HDD, a horizontal directional drill. It might make sense to do that in the winter months as opposed to the peak parkland use in the summer. These are all the considerations that we'll take into account when we make our construction and traffic management plan, but I'd say we're at least a year off from that.
[Michael Marks]: Is it anticipated construction will take place during the day?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I don't think that's the case at all. I think we would look at the, if it's a business area, we may want to do it from, you know, 7 or 8 at night to 6 in the morning. Something that wouldn't affect their business operations. If it's residential, we'll probably be moving it to daytime. because we wouldn't want to affect anybody's sleeping habits.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay. Speak a little on the construction. Typically we work, we have an open trench of 200 to 400 feet maximum. And it's kind of a revolving trench. So where someone is digging it up, the crews are behind putting the conduit in and they're right behind paving. So it's a continuous, we don't go in, do a 3.2-mile trench. And so we work on a specific area, and we move right along. And then at night, for the areas, we'll plate them for the night, come back the next morning, and just continue picking up. So the impact on a certain area should be one to two days outside of the manhole installations, just on the duct tank.
[Michael Marks]: Now, with all this digging, I realize the trench is not that much, but the manhole may be some considerable digging, especially within neighborhoods. Do you go into homes and surrounding areas to see if there's any possible damage done by the construction work? To what extent do you ensure the safety of area residents and their property?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: As far as surveying of foundations and properties, that's typically not done unless we're doing blasting, which is not anticipated here. While this is a big impact to anyone who sees this from the outside world, this is relatively straightforward utility construction. And we employ, you know, very experienced contractors who do this every day, day in and day out. So we don't anticipate any ancillary damage or impacts to residences outside of the construction zone. Obviously, in terms of safety for the construction zone, We employ best practices, OSHA standards, we keep our sites very safe. As far as alerting residents, that's where Community Relations comes in and they have a robust program from speaking with folks like you to advertising and local media to hanging door hangers.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: We'll have a community relations program to address all of that. We'll advise them when we're coming through. They'll understand our schedule. We'll have it on our website, and we'll have contact numbers available to the community. If anybody has concerns, we want to hear it so that we can address it. It's our intention to try to be proactive and address any concerns.
[Michael Marks]: So you mentioned you have a hotline. Will that be manned by someone, or is that where you just leave a phone message?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Right now it's, I believe it's a phone message, but we do have, we follow up the following day. I mean, that's typically the process that we've used at this point, but as we get more into construction, I think you'll find that this becomes much more engaging. You'll find that there'll be a conversation going on.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. And, and as many method residents are aware with the fast 14 project that took place right out here in front of city hall with the the bridge construction, the City of Medford entered into a comprehensive mitigation program. And has there been any discussion about mitigation and what the impact may be on this community and how we may be able to benefit from mitigation?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I think we've had some discussions with Ma'am McGlynn, not specifically, because it's pretty early in the process. Typically, once we have it engineered, we'll have a better idea. As we start to move toward permitting, we will be seeking grants of locations. We will actually have a host agreement with the community, and we'll address all of that at that point. That will probably be sometime in the fall of this year.
[Michael Marks]: And will equipment be left on the street? or will equipment, will you have a place to house your equipment?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: I don't know. That's something that we have not developed yet. We're very early in the stage of construction plan will be developed, but not developed yet. That's something I think we'll have to address community to community. Obviously, if we're in the middle of a trenching operation on the street, we would not want to demote that every night if we can't avoid it. But if we were, say, in the middle of a town center, or if we were in a highly congested area, We're not going to leave our equipment there, clogging it up further when we're not working.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: We would try to find a staging area and we would arrange a leasing arrangement or something to ensure that that's addressed.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, just if I could, if we could make part of the committee report also that we get responses back from the engineering department and also from the city administration regarding any dialogue that has taken place regarding potential mitigation with this project. And I appreciate the gentleman for coming tonight.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Yes, and the clerk is taking those down to make those part of a ongoing resolution. If I may, from the chair, there's an extensive ongoing construction project going on now in the Winthrop Street area between Mystic Valley Parkway. You may have seen it in some of your preliminary work. They've run into a lot of obstacles there with relation to It's also been a tremendous burden on the community and people who traverse that area, both local people and just people who make their way periodically through Metfit. It's been impactful and it's gone on a long time. Although it's going to result in a great improvement on the aggressive wastewater and runoff, nonetheless, the impact of the project has been hard on people. My sense is that you're going through that neck of the woods, which will perhaps be repaved and pristine once you start digging again, and that's gonna be a tremendous concern for people. Can you address that at all for us?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Well, we'll leave it in better condition than we find it, I can assure you, and if these are all new streets, we will address that, we'll pave it curb to curb if that's the case.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Well, thank you, thank you. So next is Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. Thank you for coming, gentlemen. I think Councilman Marks asked a majority of the questions, but I just had a question with regards to your public open house on May 11th. Was that for the administration? And what type of meeting was that? Just because I was unaware of it.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: We had a series of tables set up with different aspects of the project, and we had subject matter experts that were available that evening. We had actually invited people from Medford to join any one of those open houses. And I actually spoke with a couple of Medford residents at the Winchester open house when we did hold it. But I think that process was available so they could see a demonstration of the project. It was actually a taped video.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: We had a video.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: A video and a tape message actually drove the entire route. And so we could see what the extent of the project.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: We had photographs of what the trenching and manhole excavation looks like. We had video explaining the horizontal directional drill technology. We had a layout of a timeline for the public process. And we had basically people stationed at each one of those tables to speak to those matters.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Who was invited?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Everyone who was on either the preferred route or the alternate route, anyone who lived on those routes, 300 feet on either side. So we had something in the vicinity of about 4,000 attendees that were invited.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: 4,000 people invited. We did not have a large turnout at the Medford event.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I think it was about 17 or 18. But I think the point was that they did attend some of our other venues. And we understood that- Notified via local newspapers.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Oh, but you sent out 4,000 letters? That's what- Oh, wow. Okay.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I believe we sent the entire council an invitation via email. Oh, via email.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: as well as other city officials. And I think our intent was to widely advertise this as much as possible.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Yeah, no, I'm glad you invited so many people, especially the people on the route. I grew up on South Street, so I know a lot of my neighbors would be concerned, prior neighbors. With regards to when you start the project, will you be leafleting, you know, the sections as you do them with contact information, if people had questions or concerns or, okay. So we're leaving something at everybody's door. We're going to be working near your home in the next week.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: And we'll have an active website that will advise people of what the schedule is and what the most recent activities will be.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. ask that that definitely take place, that residents know, you know, a week in advance of when work will be, where and when work will be scheduled, because those will be the brux of the calls we get from concerned residents, what is going on and what's being done up in front of my house right now. So it would be good if they can have a contact information, your contact information with any questions they have. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. My glasses kind of aren't strong enough to read your picture, but can you detail where the project will be starting and the main road that's going down? It looks like. In Everett? Where you're starting, in Medford.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: In Medford, okay. Basically on Mystic Avenue. Okay. You're heading from Mystic.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mystic Avenue down to Route 16 and then. or into Medford Square?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: To South Street. To South Street. And then we go under the river.
[Richard Caraviello]: So it's going to go Mystic Avenue. Mystic to Main. Correct. To South. And then up 38.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Under the river.
[Richard Caraviello]: Under the river and through the woods.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Up Winthrop Street.
[Richard Caraviello]: And all the way into Winchester.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, and then 38 all the way to Winchester.
[Richard Caraviello]: And like the President said, that's going to be all newly paved road. and Councilor Knight won't be sleeping for a few more nights because he lives at that corner there.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: We're aware of all the work that's going on and if we had the flexibility to get on this quicker and to go ahead and say install while that was being opened up, whether that be next week, next month, we would. We are bound by the DPU process.
[Richard Caraviello]: We are not allowed. That route is a major route in the morning and the afternoon during the rush hour time. I mean, even with the traffic that's there from the projects that's ongoing now, it's been a disaster for the last two years. And especially when they closed it on a Saturday, that's been bad. So do you have a timeline? Do you have a date you're looking to start in Medford?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: We're talking about starting construction in the first quarter of 2017, assuming that we receive approvals from the FSB. And then we would have an 18 to 20-month, 24-month construction period, all of which wouldn't be in Medford. The 18 to 24 months would be the entire project. So there would be phases going on.
[Richard Caraviello]: Now, will the bridge project that's going on in Medford impact you also?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Credit bridge project? Yeah. No, we're not on that.
[SPEAKER_06]: We just also looked at the construction phase on the beginning of the 24 month. The first phase is the civil work, where we'll install the duct bank and the conduits. Then we'll have to come back later on, which is still part of the construction. But that's when we will need just access to the manholes to pull the cable and to displace it.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: That's actually a good point. So of those two years, it's not a two-year civil construction project with excavation and such. It is half civil excavation, half electrical wire pulling and splicing.
[Richard Caraviello]: And like I said, a good part of that does encompass the route that the buses take to the school in both ways. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Could you explain what a kilovolt is as compared to what's there now?
[SPEAKER_06]: So a kilovolt is 1,000 volts. So the usage in your own house is a 120, 240 volt system. And so it's a very low voltage compared to these systems. This is the system. the regional system that delivers the majority of the power into the area is at a much higher voltage, which is 115,000 volts. So when we compare that, then from that point, the electricity is transferred down to what we call street level. It goes from 115,000 volts to 13,800 volts. And that's what you see on the street at the very top of the poles if it's an overhead system. And then you will see the transformers on the poles. And those transformers then will reduce it even lower to the 120, 240 for your home, or 120, 208, 277, 480 for the commercial or industrial customers.
[Robert Penta]: So by having this upgrade, you're improving what?
[SPEAKER_06]: What we're doing is what was mentioned earlier that the ISO New England did some studies, and they noticed that there was some deficiencies in the area. So when there's faults, when there's a fault in the system, they came out that the existing line that's there right now would overload, and it could cause additional problems. If a line is overloaded, it could trip out, and when that trips out, it causes further out problems, and they could escalate the issue and cause kind of a domino effect. So what they're trying to do is to alleviate that. So if you lose what we call an N minus 1 minus 1 condition, where you lose two pieces of equipment at the very high level, at the high voltage, we can still maintain the whole region running up and running without any deficiencies.
[Robert Penta]: What's the cost of the project?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: The cost that we've estimated right now, and I will stress that the way that the ISO petition process goes is in this early stage, we're in what we call the conceptual phase of the project. And so the level of accuracy they ask for us is a plus or minus 50% budget. And we are estimating the project at $75 million. That's what we put forward to the ISO. And again, that is before engineering happens. The next level from the ISO process is to go from the conceptual level to the planned level, where we go to a plus or minus 25 percent. And we expect to be doing that in the fall. We'll have a better accuracy of estimate with the benefit of engineering and having done more study with it. But the estimate that is out there today is $75 million.
[Robert Penta]: So if it's $75 million and whatever the cost is going to be in the future, What portion of that $75 million is coming into the city of Medford? Do you have that broken down yet?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: We do not.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: If the question is in regards to personal property tax, et cetera, that's something that could... I think that would be something that we would have to calculate once we know what the real numbers are. We typically file a form of list with the city, which is a list of all of the personal property that is in service in the community. And they would calculate the value of that, and that would be the basis for the property taxes.
[Robert Penta]: If I understand this correctly, National Grid is part of Eversource, correct?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: National Grid is part of the other two projects that we have. There's three projects associated with the Greater Boston Solution. They are actively involved in both of those. We have a project that runs from from the Rubin station, which is an Eversource station, to Wakefield station, which is a 345 national grid station. They're partnered on that particular project.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: But on this particular project, this is a solely Eversource project, which is formerly NSTAR, so not involved with national grid on this particular component of the overall solution.
[Robert Penta]: So during this past winter, the electric rates went up approximately 39%. because supposedly they can't find the energy, or the energy costs more, or whatever. What's this going to cost the city of Medford? Because somebody's going to have to pay for this.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I think I can speak to the cost issues. The cost issues are really a pipeline issue, a capacity issue coming up from the Gulf for available gas. I think what people need to understand is that the power generators have to buy gas on the spot market. They cannot buy secure pipeline capacity. If you're a heating customer, you do have secure pipeline capacity. But if you're a generator, you have to buy available pipeline. and this winter was very difficult for them. That's why we saw such spikes in the cost of electricity this year. I have heard, and I can't say this for sure, but I do know that we will see a significant reduction as of July 1. They're expecting that the cost of a kilowatt hour may come down to the 10 cent range.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: But to address the question specifically of this project and who bears the cost, it's important to note this is not strictly an Eversource project going through the five or so particular towns here. Because this is a regional grid reliability project, the cost gets regionalized not just to Eversource customers, but to all New England rate bearers.
[Robert Penta]: But method will bear a cost, right? Method rate payers will bear a cost.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: As everyone in Oman, yes.
[SPEAKER_06]: But you're already paying those costs. Out of your bill, there's a transmission charge, and that charge is for these types of projects to be built.
[Robert Penta]: But it's going to go up now.
[SPEAKER_06]: No, no. There will not be any change on the rate on the tariff.
[Robert Penta]: He just said the cost is going to go up.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: That specific element.
[Robert Penta]: Well, I don't want anyone to think that this is going to be, you know, we're getting a freebie here because we're not. So is there any way that maybe you can figure out approximately what the cost can be once you get going?
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, for Medford. If I could suggest, I don't mean to interrupt,
[Fred Dello Russo]: Why don't we make that part of the ongoing resolutions, is that your office get back to me to, in the overall scope of the project, what would be the community per community expectation or the customer's expectation of the cost to the average rate payer for their electricity?
[Robert Penta]: The issue that I have with that, Mr. President, is this. You just said $6 to $9 million per mile, and we had approximately 3.2 miles, you said, in the city of Medford. But I think is that going to be fair enough to say that the entire community pays the cost, or is it just the location that it's going to serve? I mean, is this going to serve the entire city?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I think this is a regional issue. project, and it's intended to actually address the New England region, ISO New England's regional requirements. So this will be a charge that will be spread across the region. It won't be just the community of Medford or Winchester or some of them. It will be the entire rate base in the system that will bear the cost of this project, as well as the other two projects that are associated with the Greater Boston
[Robert Penta]: But somewhere along the line, you're going to have some kind of an estimate of what this is going to be.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Yes, it will be. And again, I think it's a little preliminary for us to come up with an answer right now, but we'll be certainly happy to respond to that.
[Robert Penta]: And the last question, Mr. President, is you have this section from here to here that you're going to be resolving because you're trying to make it regionalized and all of that. Right. What about the points getting to it from both ends? Are they all regionalized or are they going to have to be done?
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: I don't know. Well, no, that to the point that I was making earlier, this one particular eight-mile route is one of three unique solutions to this project. Again, there was a one from Wakefield to Woburn. There's a one from New Hampshire to Tewksbury. And that's just the three unique ones for Eversource. To address all the needs that were brought up by the ISO, there's actually something I think 42 various projects that could go from a very simple, small line reconductor to new transformers and substations. Throughout the entire New England region, various utilities will be doing various projects. They all come together to solve this problem. I mean, you know, again, using that air traffic analogy, I don't know why that works for me, but I would just say that this is to solve, you know, air traffic on the East Coast, and we are looking at specific airports and specific routes, but it affects the entire region.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: But to your question, I think we can provide you a better answer. And I think we will. I don't know whether we're there yet to have that information. Yeah, whenever you do.
[SPEAKER_06]: When I was talking about the $69 million per mile, that's a cost for us to install. It's not a cost that residents will pay. That's the cost that we'll be using to come up with the personal properties for the town.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you. Thank you, councillor Penta. And councillor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you to the folks from Eversource for being here this evening. I think this is a great opportunity for us to get some questions answered. But more importantly, this is the beginning of a long relationship from the way things look. So, you know, thank you very much for taking the time to be here for us this evening. It looks like we had an open house in May of 2015. Now there's going to be a filing in the second quarter of 2015. a public hearing. When do you anticipate that public hearing would occur? I know that you guys aren't the ones that control it or that are going to hold it, but I know that you also have experience in this.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I believe it will be this fall.
[Adam Knight]: This fall.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: But again, that's a public utilities energy facility siting board decision, and they will control that process. We will certainly be available and work with them, but it's really their process, but we'll be involved all the way through.
[Adam Knight]: So in terms of a timeline, we're looking at a filing in the second quarter of 2015. In the fall of 2016, there'll be a public hearing. And then we won't see construction start until the fall of 2017? That's right.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: In the fall of 15 for the first. In a couple months this fall, we would see potentially the first open house from DPU.
[Adam Knight]: The first open house in the fall.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: and public hearings.
[Adam Knight]: Public hearing. You guys do the public house, right? Right.
[SPEAKER_06]: I've seen them where they do them when they're from three to four months after the petition is filed.
[Adam Knight]: Three to four months after the petition is filed. Right.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: I think the issue is simply that the agenda for the Energy Facilities Signing Board is pretty packed. They have a number of projects that are pending. And so we don't know where we'll fall in that schedule.
[Adam Knight]: So that's my concern is that we have a public hearing on the issue and then six, 12, 18 months pass and then construction starts and the residents forget about the public hearing that we had and what was discussed.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: And also I would point out that a butters list that we use to notify everybody that's 4,000 plus invitees, that is the same list that the EP will use for their hearing. So there will be proactive reaching out to all those people.
[Adam Knight]: This public hearing, when it's conducted, is this a public hearing that's exclusively for Medford or is this a regional public hearing for the entire pipeline project?
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: The public hearing, I believe, will be regional, but we don't know that yet. We'll have to wait to see what the EFSB decides. But I think what is important to note is that all of the abutters that have been notified as certified by each city and town, we provide a full list, and they tell us who, if properties have passed hands in the interim, they'll tell us if there's new residents, and they will have been addressed in that process.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, I'd like the committee to report reflect the council requests that the public hearing be held in the city of Medford.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So that will be an amendment to the ongoing resolution.
[Adam Knight]: And again, gentlemen, thank you very much for your time. And I appreciate you coming down here. Like I said, I think it's important that we start this project off on the wrong foot. Councilor Caraviello alluded to the fact that I reside right there in the neighborhood where the pipeline is going through. And if you repair the streets in better condition that they're in now, we still might need some work. The way that things are right now. So I can certainly appreciate you guys taking the time down here, and I thank you for that. I think this is going to be the first of many discussions that we have. So with that being said, Mr. President, I rest.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you very much, Councilor Anais. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. I was going to ask the same question that Councilor Pantera asked, where does the consumer fit into this project here? But I think you've answered that. My only other concern is I would hope that you'd be coordinating with the city especially when you get down to that South Street, Main Street area, that you're not going to be working at the same time that we're working on the bridge, because the city is going to be all constructioned out for a bit, for the next four years.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Well, we've been in touch with the city engineer and the EW director, and we'll be working with them closely to try to work out the traffic management plan.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, I mean, not so much traffic management, but that South and Main Street area is going to be bogged down with the bridge project that's going to be happening there for the next two and a half years.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: So, yeah. Yeah. Will we affect that?
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, I mean, you're going to be working, you know, like 50 yards from it, you know, at some point when you make that turn there.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Okay. On main to south.
[Richard Caraviello]: When you turn on the south there. So, like I said.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: We'll certainly work with them closely. It's not our intention to.
[Richard Caraviello]: No, I know it's not your intention to do it. But I say that would be a major concern because now you'd affect the traffic going in. Bad enough where we're affecting the traffic that's in the square now. But Route 16 right now is a horrible road to ride on for the people that are going to be in. At some point when you cross over and you're going to continue up, I really feel bad for the people They've been living in that section for the last two years, construction. Now they're going to have to put up another year or two of construction.
[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_12]: Again, I want to stress that our construction in any one specific area is not going to be a year or two years.
[Richard Caraviello]: I know, but you're going to be back in front of the house again where they've been the last two years. They've been jackhammering and I mean, their yards are ruined, their cars are ruined, their roads are ruined. Now they're going to get a nice new street for about a year, and then they're going to come up and dig it up again.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Well, I guess the only thing I can say is that we will leave it in better condition than we found it.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, you'd have to go curb to curb.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: If it's a brand new street, we will go curb to curb.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President, can you make sure that's in the paper, that they will go curb to curb? Duly noted, Mr. Councilor.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you very much, and I want to thank you guys for coming here this evening for this presentation. And I also want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward last week. I realize that it's a few years away from actually putting the shovel into the ground, but the City Council wants to make sure that the citizens know what's going on and what the timeline is. So I want to thank you, Councilor Marks, and also President Dello Russo for getting them here so quickly. Within seven days, we're here with a great presentation, so look forward to the additional communication over the coming years, and we'll see where we go. And I do agree with Councilor Knight that we should have a public hearing here in the City of Medford, even if it's on top of other ones that may be mandated throughout the region that the project is taking place in. even if it's separate and distinct, at least for our residents, to get the opportunity to be heard on this critical matter.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Camuso. Motion to receive and place on file. So on the motion, we'll require some action. Oh, I'm sorry. So on the main motion of Councilor Marks as amended by the several councilors, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? So done.
[W1Pcx_tDASA_SPEAKER_18]: Thank you very much for your presence here, all of you. Mr. President? Thank you. We look forward to that.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Mr. President.
[Paul Camuso]: While we're on suspension, Councilor Camuso. I move to take paper 15-486 for the young lady in the audience from the Mystic Valley that is here on a paper.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So, paper number 1586. To the honourable President. May 13, 2015, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, dear Mr. President and Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable Body approve of the following amendment, the revised ordinances entitled Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances, Chapter 66, Personnel. City of Medford amendment to revised ordinances, compensation plan and leave ordinances. Chapter 66 personnel, be it ordained by the city council of the city of Medford in chapter 66 entitled personnel article two entitled classification and compensation plans. Section 66 dash 33, uh, adding the following after director of veteran services grade C a F 12 title outreach abuse Outreach Agent Substance Abuse. This ordinance is in response to City Council Resolution 15-294 and is funded in the fiscal year 16 budget. Very truly yours, Michael J. McGlynn, Mayor.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, if I may. Councilor, please do. If I may, real quick on this particular matter. Mayor McGlynn actually gave me a call this afternoon. This is the paper that initiated here at the Medford City Council, and it's in direct correlation to the other stuff that Brooke and Penny are working on. We will be one of the first communities in the area to have a full-time Office of Substance Abuse and Treatment Opportunity slash education, I'd like to assume. This is a full-time position, I believe Boston, under the leadership of Mayor Walsh. has a full-time position as well, but the mayor clearly worked with the council on this, and it is coming to fruition, so I wanna move approval on this, and it's a department head position for this particular matter before us, so I'd like to move approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion of Councilor Camuso for approval, and I spoke with the mayor also this afternoon, and he'd like me to uh, inform you all that, uh, he's moving forward on this, uh, and, uh, at our request and that, uh, just a couple pieces of the job description of being tidied up before it's, uh, uh, being, uh, advertised. So we're, um, uh, grateful for this measure. And, uh, I think, uh, the council, uh, can congratulate itself.
[Paul Camuso]: And I'd like to motion to waive the three readings on this where it's.
[Fred Dello Russo]: With a motion to waive the three readings. Ma'am, do you wish to address us? Please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_22]: Good evening. My name is Brooke Hoyt, 120 Brookings Street, and I'm also a city employee through the Board of Health. I just want to just give support for the position. It's a much needed position. Substance abuse in the city of Medford and throughout the country is an ongoing issue. So establishing this type of position will just continue primary prevention outreach and recovery efforts. And again, it is much needed. We have the data to support it. It'll be a position that we can continue to monitor the data. I have not seen the job description, so I'm anxious to read the job description and know that the mayor and yourselves will provide the best opportunity for our community.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And thank you for your good work on this matter.
[SPEAKER_22]: Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: President de la Rousseau. The mayor or mayor's office state when the job description will be ready?
[SPEAKER_22]: They did not state when it would be ready. The personnel director can speak more about the position, but I know she's away on vacation at the moment. The mayor does want to have conversations with families and other people within the community about the job description before putting it into motion.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And this will be 40 hours a week?
[SPEAKER_22]: Did he say how much this was going to be funded for? It would be between $75,000 and $79,000.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: CAF 12. How much?
[Paul Camuso]: $75,000 and $79,000. Yeah. CAF 12, step one, and then right through step five, I believe. Department head level. Department head level. Same as the Director of Veterans Affairs.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And do we have any idea of when when the job will be advertised?
[SPEAKER_22]: I assume once it's approved that it would be advertised immediately. I mean, I would give a couple weeks to put the description together and then it would start as soon as possible.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thanks. Thank you so much for coming, Brooke. Thank you, Councilor Dello Russo. My only concern would be waiving the readings. I would like to have some sort of reason for the administration to come back and maybe discuss job description with us, you know, maybe discuss when it goes out for advertisement, maybe possibly find out who's applying. I would like the council to be involved in the process. I mean, it's a concern that each one of us have discussed week after week, month after month, especially, you know, going through this epidemic. So my only concern would be waiving the three readings and giving up full control. and allowing the administration to just do whatever they want. We've discussed it, whether it be school committee meetings or city council meetings or here at the floor. There are so many prongs to the problem, whether it be prevention in our schools, lack of treatment, helping families get through what they're going through, helping the police and giving them the help they need. I mean, there's so many different things. So I don't want to get lost on one or two of the probably 10 prongs that there are. I want to make sure that we have a say. So I would say move approval tonight, but let it come back before us so that we can hopefully. And with that, if we could get the job description when it's complete, if we could make an amendment that we get the job description so we can review it and make our recommendations and be able to help with that. I think that's probably the best avenue.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, I will withdraw my motion, but just to be fair and full disclosure for the viewing public, this is only to put the title in the personnel ordinance. Without us doing our job and approving this, there is no job. So, I mean, the description may not even be done until after the mayor knows that there's full support of this council, but I'll withdraw the three readings and see where it goes. Point of information, Mr. President?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: So if it's only for a description, is it safe to say that the money is already appropriated in this year's budget?
[Paul Camuso]: It says it right at the last line. The money is funded in the fiscal year 2016 budget.
[Michael Marks]: Right, so once we approve it, then the money's there to fund it, so.
[Paul Camuso]: Yeah, according to what the mayor says.
[Michael Marks]: Right, so I would agree with Councilor Longo.
[Paul Camuso]: I withdrew it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Penta, you were all set, Madam Vice President.
[Robert Penta]: Yes, I apologize. During today, I don't know if you've read in today's globe in the city and the town of Plymouth, huge epidemic down there. They've had over 101 people I think have passed on. I think the governor was down there and I believe there's something that's going down there with the sheriff of that particular County and it's, it's, it's vastly spreading throughout the Commonwealth. You just made an indication that who is the personnel director? Yeah, it was Mila. No, she said she wasn't.
[SPEAKER_22]: Then I'm not aware.
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, because when I spoke to her, she said she wasn't. So we don't know. Can we get Mr. Quirk on this as a side note? Can we find out who the personnel director is? Who is the new personnel director? At this point, it would be Louise Miller. No, in my conversation with her, she did not get that title.
[Paul Camuso]: She told me that she was too, personally. She told me she was the director of personnel.
[Robert Penta]: So can we just find out officially if she is?
[Paul Camuso]: And her salary was commensurate with that position. Also- Just to let you know- Pardon me?
[Clerk]: You withdrew the three readings. Okay. All I'm really doing from here is you're passing you to take the first reading, right? Yeah. So you're going to have to find out all this other stuff. I mean, you can amend, you know, you're going to amend the first reading. Is that what you're doing? So you can ask, you can ask, you can ask some other questions, but that's just, you know, that's all you're doing for Mike. Cause I have to go. I'm advertising the first reading.
[Robert Penta]: If we can get the information that also comes back and if it is a CAF 12, um, as we usually normally get in our budget, it puts the dollar amount next to it. So I agree with council Lungo. And I think we have never passed having an audience without knowing what the description is for. So I just think it makes sense. And no, no, on this one here, we have its first reading. And when it comes back to the next reading, they can put the salary, what the salary is going to be in the description, salary description.
[Clerk]: I'm just saying you've got to, you've got to create your separate resolution because this is, I'm advertising the first reading. That's what I'm doing. You know what I mean? So create just, you want a salary, you want a, you want a personal director, you just make the resolution that, uh, you know, that we request the salary and the job description for this position.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You want the personal scope of responsibilities and, uh, for the information of the council when and timeframe for that.
[Robert Penta]: And also on the D paper, who was this personnel director? Yeah.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And secondly, on the B paper, who is the acting personnel director?
[Robert Penta]: approval for the first reading.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the seconded, we have Councilor knight next.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Thank you very much for your work. I'm very happy today. I feel like this is very rewarding. This council came together and we all agreed on an issue. We worked together on it. We petitioned the mayor for The mayor was in agreement that there is a problem in the city. The mayor is in agreement that this problem is a crisis and the mayor acted promptly. So with that being said, Mr. President, I wholeheartedly support the paper. I feel as though this is a step in the right direction and it just shows what this council can do. We work together and we work with the administration to move towards positive results, Mr. President. So with that being said, you know, I support this wholeheartedly and I too move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good, Councilor Knight. So on the motion approved by Council, seconded by Councilor Pinter, Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: If I could, and thank you, Brooke, for coming up on all your work on this. Is there going to be a dedicated space within City Hall for this new position? And if so, where will it be? I'm not aware of a dedicated space at this point, but... Would you say the nature of this type of position would call for an area that... Absolutely. You know, that provides some privacy and confidentiality and so forth? Correct. Okay. If we could make that part of the paper, too, Mr. President. Just where this office will be located. I assume there will be an office, if there will be privacy and so forth, because of the nature of what's involved, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So as an amendment to the B paper, where will the office be located within the structure of City Hall? City Hall. So on the motion of approval, seconded by Councilor Mr. Penta, Mr. Clerk, this requires a roll call as a matter of ordinance, no? No. No? Very good. So all those in favor? The paper, which was amended by the paper on the final council along with the current, which requests a job description. And I suspect a time frame for hiring. And also, amended by Councilor Marks, a request for the location of the office in City Hall. So that motion is one more thing that the Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Quickly, what qualifications the administration is looking for, you know, degree of education, courses that, you know, this position will be required to have taken.
[Paul Camuso]: just so we get an idea of... Every city job description that goes on has that.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Scope of requirements. Okay. Thank you. I did, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Based on the timing of the release of this paper,
[Adam Knight]: I do have concerns about the matter being held up because of the summer schedule of the council. So I'd ask that if in fact when the paper becomes ready and available for us to vote on, then we hold a special meeting immediately to take care of it. If in fact it falls during the summer schedule.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And we make that as an amendment to the B paper as well. A call for a special meeting to vote on it. The paper will be back before us in three weeks. Very good. So we'll still be in a normal session. If we have such a thing, Councilor Marks, you're all set. So on the motion of approval, all those in favor, uh, Councilor Penta, I'm sorry.
[Robert Penta]: I passed the chief of question. Are you aware of this position?
[Leo Sacco]: I am as of today, or actually a couple of days ago, I did, did understand this would be on the agenda for this evening.
[Robert Penta]: Is this particular individual, whoever he or she might be going to have access to police files and vice versa, because apparently this is going to be part of it.
[Leo Sacco]: We expect to work very closely with whoever is in that position, as we do right now with the substance abuse agents here at City Hall, Brooke and Penta. So they will provide them all the access that we can legally.
[Fred Dello Russo]: That's it. Thank you, Councilor Penta. So on the motion of approval, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: While we're into suspension, can we take paper 15485?
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, while under suspension, we're going to take all these communications from the mayor. So on that motion of Councilor Knight, all those in favor, all those opposed? The motion carries 15-485. To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford Mass, dear Mr. President and Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable Body approve of the following amendments to revised ordinances entitled Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances, Chapter 66, Personnel, City of Medford, Amendment to Revised Ordinances, Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances, Chapter On a motion of Councilor Camuso to waive the reading, and if I could offer a synopsis. This was regarding a compensation plan for our library employees, and it was, is requested due to the recently negotiated agreement with the Medford Library Staff Association, Local 4928, MLSA, AFT, MAF, AFL, The contract will expire on June 30, 2018, and this is a routine result of contract negotiations with this particular body, and it tidies up, I think, this year's raise and then is effective for the next three years at 2%. equally each year for all those. Mr. President. Mr. Councilor.
[Robert Penta]: On this particular paper, you know what it shows? It shows something that seems to be pretty consistent here for the next three years. There's a 2% raise, 2% and 2%. And from my understanding, as it relates to contracts that are forthcoming, I believe there's a whole host of them. I think it bodes well for the community to know that If employees all working for the same government, they all work for the city of Medford, they all work for the taxpayers. And I think we had this conversation many years ago. It would be nice if we could all step in line to the same amount on the percentages. The other entitlements, the other benefits is a different story. But at least it puts the house in a much better financial order to know that every employee is going to wind up getting the same amount of money by percentage because that's all the city can afford. That's number one. Number two, I believe there was a lady here a few weeks ago and she was talking about the Method Public Library and the possibility, because they haven't reached a certain dollar amount, that a waiver could be attainable. I believe that they just received their waiver from the Commonwealth of Mass, and they are one of 75 libraries that did receive that, and we're also in the Minuteman category. So with that being said, Mr. President, not only do I move approval, but I think it's a good step forward, and I think it's a step that we really need to sit down, and knowing the fact that we had to get a waiver to get into that category, I think we need to talk about that, and maybe, Mr. Clerk, put that as part of the resolution of approval when the budget time comes, as it relates to the waiver that the Medford Public Library has now gotten, because they've been trying to get this for a few years, and they now got it. What is the situation that dictates the waiver and what needs to be done so we can maybe go on the road, so to speak, without having to apply for a waiver. I mean, what's the necessary ingredients to stay out of the waiver category? So this is the waiver for the accreditation, you're saying? No, the waiver to, there is a dollar amount that's a criteria that they have to be in. And I don't know if the proper word is certification or qualification. But that we did, wasn't that last week's resolution? That was a few weeks ago. Point of information, we did ask for that last week. But they got it. They got certified with the waiver.
[Paul Camuso]: No, we asked for the dollar amount. I specifically asked for it.
[Robert Penta]: No, no, I understand that. But that's what I want to find out. When they come in here to do the budget, let them come in to explain this. So a lot of people ask the question, why does the library need a waiver? What do they need the waiver for? What's the dollar amount involved? And how do we stay away from going into the waiver if something needs to be done? Is it because of the building that's in desperate need of help? between the roof leaking and the bathrooms that are desplicable and the books and some of the books, I don't know, but I think we need to discuss this.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, you never shut my microphone off from when you took the paper out of order. I move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President. Seconded. Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Yes, I would just like to go on record that although Councilor Pentlander's our motion, our thoughts regarding the same exact increases across the board. It sounds good. I think it's unrealistic. We have lunch mothers, we have paraprofessionals that are making $11,000 a year, and then we also have other unions that are across the board that are making $100,000 a year. So to say that there should be parity amongst every single union, I just think that at this point, that's what the unions do, as well as the other side of management sitting at the table, and that is called negotiations. If you just look at the past several years, too, there's been situations where the city has gotten back language from contracts that were put in in 1980s and 1970s, taken six days back, or personal days, and things of that nature. And when that happens, usually the other side gets something back. It's called negotiation, so although I agree with Councilor Penter, it sounds great, I just think that it's a little bit unrealistic where you can't compare the maxed out city worker and the maxed out lunch mother. There's no equity when it comes to that. The 3% raise on $11,000 is not paying the gas bill increase each month. But with that being said, I'd like to waive the three readings on this paper, too.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion for approval by Councilor Penta is seconded by Councilor Knight. And the motion to move the three readings by Councilor Camuso. On that motion. Councilor Penta, on that motion.
[Robert Penta]: I hear what Councilor Camuso was alluding to. But you just mentioned somebody, a group, that hasn't received a raise in, I think, eight years, if not more. That's the lunch mothers. Correct. OK. They haven't received anything. They're like the forgotten school and the whole school department budget. And when you talk about percentages, whether it's 1%, 2%, or 3%, my idea was just looking at it from the point of view, what would the dollar cost be? A lot of these contracts go from zero to six months, and six months to 12 months. So it's a barometer. It's a starting point. For those that don't remember, many years ago, I think John Golony, when he was the city manager, had indicated that that would probably be a pretty good way to start. So you'd have an idea where your money would be going on an annual basis rather than every six months. But if we're going to get into that, I would hope, The city administration this year recognizes loudly the lunch mothers in the method of public school system who have dedicated themselves for year in and year out for the measly, um, dollars that they make per hour for which they love it because they're around the kids, but they've been the forgotten souls. And it becomes very tough as council along alluded to, and we've just got a $2 million increase this past year. to hire seven new individuals making an excessive $90,000 a year. That's not right. So you need to take care of the people that are there that have paid their dues year in and year out, instead of hiring people at $90,000. We don't even know if we can sustain them this year in the budget. The politics will certainly go around this budget.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mrs. Jufri, Mrs. Diciara, Mrs. Szymanski, Mrs. Cermia. Mrs. Gargold. Mrs. Basinati. All my lunch mothers, I loved every one of them. So on the motions for approval, Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Just to follow up with that, I think Councilor Penta just proved the point that I was trying to make. If you have a bargaining unit that hasn't got raises in eight years, like the lunch mothers, then the, uh, raises should be commensurate with the length of time that surpassed since the last raise. So I want to thank the councilor because I think we agree that my way is better on this particular matter.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Knight, we're all set. Move for approval, Mr. Mayor. On the motion. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? And we waive the three readings. So the matter is approved. 15483, communication from the Mayor to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council. Dear Mr. President and Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable Body approve of the following amendment to revised ordinances entitled, Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances, Chapter 66, Personnel. City of Medford amendment to revised ordinances, Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances. Chapter 66, personnel be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Medford in Chapter 66, entitled Personnel. Article 2, entitled Classification and Compensation Plans, Section 66.40, entitled Public Safety Personnel, is hereby amended by adding the following. Grade PS1A, title Student Officer, Step 1, $40,000 effective upon passage. The purpose of this ordinance change is to create a new classification for candidates attending the police academy. Upon graduation of approved police academies, the student officer will have successfully completed the prescribed course of study for basic police training. and to exercise police powers as mandated by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 96B. Very truly yours, Michael J. McGlynn, Mayor. And with us tonight is the Chief to address this. And we have a motion for approval with the waiver of three readings for Councilor Camuso. Mr. Chief.
[Leo Sacco]: Good evening, Mr. President, members of the council, Leo Sacco, police chief. I live at 227 Elm Street in Medford. I want to thank you for hearing this this evening, and hopefully we have your support. This is something the state had made an amendment to the law back in around 1995, so it's about 20 years ago, where they mandated, in addition to a number of things, primarily, Before an officer could exercise police powers on the street, they had to attend and successfully complete a police academy first. Back in the day, it was a thing where they could put officers to work and then wait for an academy to open up and then schedule them for an academy at that point. So when that change was made, the state also recommended that communities adopt a student officer category. because they really do not have police powers until they successfully complete the academy. And right now, the academy, basic recruit academy, is somewhere in excess of 800 hours of curriculum. So it only makes sense that they be appointed as a student officer first. Right now, we appoint them as police officers or patrolmen, as they are called in the ordinance. And they were appointed as police officers. the day that they're sworn in, that their police powers do not begin until they successfully complete the academy. It could be a problem that hasn't presented itself as a problem for us, but it could potentially be a problem with someone's attitude. actually go out and affect an arrest because they felt as though they were sworn in as a police officer. That's the category that they're sworn in as. So it's safer for us to have them sworn in as student officers. And during that six month period that they're in the academy, they are student officers. When they complete and graduate, they'd be the badge pinning in their full uniform here at City Hall. It'd be an actual swearing in ceremony at that point as police officers once they successfully complete the academy.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Chief.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Chief, what's the step one patrolman receive at this point in time?
[Leo Sacco]: Right now, it's significantly higher. It's between $56,000 and $57,000. There's a 2% pay raise on June 30th. So I believe it's $57,000 and change as of June 30th this year is the step one for patrol officer.
[Adam Knight]: And presently, the individuals that have been selected as officers but have not completed the academy would be compensated at a rate based upon the $56,000?
[Leo Sacco]: If they are sworn in as police officers, yes.
[Adam Knight]: But they can't be seen as a police officer until? Until they graduate the academy successfully. So at this point in time, there are no student officers and an individual that was going through the academy wouldn't be compensated at all? Or would be compensated at a rate of $56,000? at the $56,000.
[Leo Sacco]: They would be compensated at the higher rate right now. While they're in the academy. While they're in the academy, but if the ordinance were to pass, the ordinance change, the title would be student officer and it would be significantly lower. And they are considered employees of the city of Medford while they are in the academy? They are, but they are not covered by civil service. They are not covered by the unions. until they successfully complete. They do not earn sick time. They do not earn injury. In the line of duty, they'd have to be on worker's comp if they were injured while attending the academy. So they are a different category. If they wouldn't be considered a police officer, they'd fall under the civilian status?
[Adam Knight]: Right. Mr. President, I move for approval. And I'd ask that the three readings be waived. Very good.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Diller.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I think you answered one of my questions. So currently, or in the past, those attending the police academy have been paid, but they've been paid at this rate. That's correct. And you mentioned something about in 1995, there was an amendment by the state at that time. It was when we should have accepted this.
[Leo Sacco]: Well, I know there was some discussion at the time. And almost any time there's something going on, there's always another issue that takes your eye off of the prize. It was sidetracked at the earlier date. It didn't seem to be that important at that point in time.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, so do we have anybody in the academy currently?
[Leo Sacco]: No, we do not, but we are in the process of screening candidates to place on the reserve list, and it is hoped that before the end of the year, we're supposed to be screening seven candidates for the reserve list. We're hoping that with the new fiscal budget in July, that we'd be able to maybe appoint four of those as permanent offices, but starting out as a student officer for an academy.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And how many retirees do we have this year, do you know?
[Leo Sacco]: Four.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I know that was off topic. I just figured that was a question that I wanted to get answered. I agree that this is something that probably should have been done a while ago. So I think it's definitely time to do it. And I think a separate category for those that are in the academy is probably necessary. So you have my approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Chief, you said this came out in 1995. That's almost 20 years ago.
[Leo Sacco]: Well, there was a lot of change. And at that time it was a recommended practice and many communities over the course of the past 20 years did change their ordinance to reflect that. Um, we were just, a little later than others in getting this to the table.
[Robert Penta]: Now, this title of student officer, since we didn't have this before, what were these trainees called?
[Leo Sacco]: Policemen. Patrolmen, actually. That was the title, patrolmen. We tried to call them patrol officers, but the title in the city charter says patrolmen.
[Robert Penta]: So you're going to be going from the $56,000 or $57,000 range down to $40,000. That's the recommended figure.
[Leo Sacco]: And the benefit for that would be, depending on where we are in the fiscal year and where our budget is during the fiscal year, it may mean that we could appoint maybe one or two additional because of the lower starting rate, which would allow us to budget appropriately at graduation time for bringing them up to step one.
[Robert Penta]: Then let me ask you the next question. I don't know if you can answer this. You're calling it student officer. Is this going to have the same implication for the fire department?
[Leo Sacco]: I don't think so. They're not covered under the same regulation. But do they have a law similar to this? I don't want to speak for the fire chief, and I could be totally wrong. And I'm probably going down the wrong road on this. But my understanding is that the fire department city could hire a firefighter and wait for an academy to open. And I believe they end up probably dispatching or working in the firehouse with some training at the initial step. I could be totally wrong on that, but I believe the law is somewhat different for firefighters. Police officers are not allowed to exert or exercise any police authority until they successfully complete the academy. Right now, we swear them in as patrolmen. God forbid we could have a problem, someone stops a motor vehicle, and tries to affect an arrest. And they really don't have that power. But we're swearing them in as police officers.
[Robert Penta]: So in essence, they're only trainees, correct?
[Leo Sacco]: That's it, student officer. That's why we're saying the language, so it'd be consistent with the statute, Chapter 49.
[Robert Penta]: But an officer doesn't give the same implication as a trainee.
[Leo Sacco]: There's a difference. No, once they're sworn in as a police officer upon graduation from the academy, they have full police powers.
[Robert Penta]: So what's the period of time from the time somebody, you bring them on and they graduate the academy? What's the time period?
[Leo Sacco]: It's approximately six months.
[Robert Penta]: So that's what these people are, student officers? Student officers. So why don't they call them student trainees, student police trainees?
[Leo Sacco]: I mean. Well, no, officer. I mean, the term officer, they're student officers, not police officers. That happens upon graduation.
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, but couldn't a student officer mean anything
[Leo Sacco]: Student officer, we're going with the language that's in the statute, 4196B. That's the statute?
[Robert Penta]: That's the general law statute?
[Leo Sacco]: Chapter 41, section 96B refers to them as student officers.
[Robert Penta]: OK.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Penta. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Chief, you could potentially have an academy-trained officer on the reserve list, correct? Yes. And if, I know you said in the past you would not call upon them for any duties, but if you, I guess under the general laws, you're allowed to.
[Leo Sacco]: But we'd have to provide them some degree of training locally before we could do that. Believe me, it's not my goal. It hasn't been my goal. If they're on a reserve list, we're not going to work them. If we have the opportunity to have an academy-trained person on the list that gets screened for the police department, I would be pleading with the mayor to appoint the person as a police officer, not place them on the reserve list, because we get the automatic benefit of being able to put them right to work. Maybe an eight-week field training program, and they'd be able to go right to work.
[Michael Marks]: So let's just say you had a call upon someone that was a trained past the academy. They had some training, and they were on the reserve list, and you had to call upon them for whatever emergency circumstance. Would they get the starting salary of the $40,000, or would they get a police officer's starting salary?
[Leo Sacco]: I wouldn't be calling upon them. Just say you did, Chief. Because there isn't a category for payment for anyone that's on the reserve list right now.
[Michael Marks]: Right, and that's my question.
[Leo Sacco]: They're not police officers until they're appointed as such. If they're appointed to the reserve list.
[Michael Marks]: But the law allows you to use them, Chief. My understanding is if they're on the list, you could use them.
[Leo Sacco]: I could use them if I put them through a training program. If I have an academy-trained individual that's already passed the 800-hour curriculum and is sitting on the reserve list, I would just repeat what I just said. I'd be pleading for him to fill an open void we have in the department right now.
[Michael Marks]: So you don't know what salary they would get if you did use them?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think the chief answered that, that it's not going to be.
[Michael Marks]: You know, if I, if I had to use them, I just thinking of this chief, this chief, you know, you've been around for a while, chief, and you may not be the chief in 10 years from now.
[Leo Sacco]: And I'm just the worst situation. If we had a natural disaster or something, we had to put people to work as a, you know, watching for, you know, down wires, helping, you know, people evacuate a building, get them, get them onto a bus. Uh, if we had a call upon them to bring them in for something like that, they'd probably be getting the starting rate of a police officer.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. So, so they wouldn't fall into the student office.
[Leo Sacco]: They wouldn't, they wouldn't, unless they're attending the Academy.
[Michael Marks]: I'm specifically speaking about Academy trained.
[Leo Sacco]: But if they're already, if they're already Academy trained, You know, the goal would be to appoint them as police officers, not on the reserve list, but police officers, and put them through the field training program, which lasts for approximately eight weeks, maybe sometimes 10 weeks, depending on how quickly they grasp what goes on in the city. But if we had that benefit, you know, in a couple of cases, we've had that. You know, we've had academy-trained people appear on our list, and that's a benefit to the city.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Chief, with all the construction projects going around, would these gentlemen be, these offices be available for details or?
[Leo Sacco]: Not based on the ordinance change that's here tonight, no. And the reserve offices, we would not be utilizing them for details. Absolutely not.
[Richard Caraviello]: Now, we've talked about miles of construction going on in the city. Where are we going to get all the offices to cover all these details?
[Leo Sacco]: Well, if we're able to hire more people, we'll be able to cover everything. But we have good working agreements with the surrounding communities, state police. We'll try to fill as many as we can. We can never guarantee. I mean, I think we've been very fortunate with the number of details that have been out there in the office's response to crimes in progress. It's really been a benefit to us with the work that's been going on.
[Richard Caraviello]: I see the officers every day, but, you know, they say now you're going to have another three-mile project. You can have the British project going on at the same time. You're going to cut yourself thin? And I'm sure these other cities must be thin on opposites too.
[Leo Sacco]: Every community around us are calling every day. So everyone's exhausting their list pretty early in the day for detail work that's out there. But so far we've been able to manage pretty well. There've been some details that have gone uncovered, but it's done on a priority list. what's a low priority, what's a higher priority, and the higher priority details are filled first. I mean, there's a lot of work going on. There's work on Mystic Avenue that's going on now. The ramps have been done on Route 16, and Route 16's been resurfaced on the overnight, so it's fluctuated daytime work and nighttime work, so that's been a benefit there.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. So on the motion of approval by council and night with the, uh, request to waive three readings, all those in favor of those pose carries. Congratulations.
[Leo Sacco]: Thank you, chief. Thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Uh, we're going to do that right now. Uh, 15 four 84 dear Mr. President and Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve of the following amendments to revised ordinances entitled compensation plan and leave ordinances chapter 66 personnel city of medford amendment to revised ordinances compensation plan and leave ordinances chapter 66 personnel be it ordained by the city council of the city of medford in chapter 66 entitled personnel article 2 entitled classification and compensation plans sections 66 and .32 miscellaneous personnel section be amended to add the following lines. Title traffic supervisors. And this is over consecutive years at June 30th, 2016, 17 and 18 2% increase to the monthly payment, bringing it up to 916.44. 934-77, 953-46. This amendment is requested due to the recently negotiated agreement with the Medford School Traffic Patrol Supervisors Union, Local 1599 AFSCME. The contract will expire on June 30, 2018. Councilor Caraviello? Thank you, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Sorry.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Chief, if you would explain this to us, please.
[Leo Sacco]: As you can see, the traffic supervisors recently negotiated their contract with the city. They're entitled to a 2% pay increase on the last day of each of the fiscal years. As you know, we have 25 posts that are staffed every day. We have 20 or 21 full-time traffic supervisors. We have four that have been pretty much permanent reserves who soon will be moved up to permanent to fill the vacancies, but they have been working posts on a consistent, steady basis pretty much since the start of the school year, and then some of them began almost full-time after the December vacation. So I think this council has supported them forever in the past. They're a good group. They work hard. Very little problem. And I can tell you right now, the parents and the children love them. And they perform a great service for the city.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Chief, could you elaborate a little bit on the training programs that a traffic supervisor has to go through before they're appointed?
[Leo Sacco]: Well, it starts out with the application process. They fill out an application for the position here at City Hall. I believe it's room 204. The application is then forwarded to the police station to my attention. We do a form. Once we know that we have to appoint some people, we send out a letter to each of them asking if they're still interested in applying for the position, and if so, we have a waiver of rights so that they'll sign off so that we can actually do a query check on them, do a thorough background check on them, check with employers, check with neighbors, and then beyond that, Once they respond, those that successfully pass that portion of it, the names are passed off to our traffic unit. Sergeant Carroll calls them in for an interview. He does that in conjunction with Officer Brooks. And those that pass the interview level, their names get sent back up to me. And then I send a letter over to the mayor requesting that they be appointed as reserve part-time traffic supervisors to fill vacancies that occur. on a day-to-day, monthly, or for the year basis. And once they serve well in that capacity, and if a permanent vacancy becomes available, then again, I'll send the letter to the mayor requesting the most senior reserve be appointed to that vacancy. And one of the good things in this contract that was negotiated, and actually was brought forward by the traffic supervisors themselves, which is a benefit to the city, If someone is appointed as a permanent traffic supervisor for that first six month period, if they do not perform properly or do not perform well, they can be removed. And that came from the body.
[Adam Knight]: So once they get appointed, is there any training in terms of best practices? What's the safest?
[Leo Sacco]: Ten kids on the corner before you cross? Members of his traffic unit take them out. give them some actual hands-on training, work them with a senior traffic supervisor. The president of the Traffic Supervisors Union works with them as well. So there is some training. It's not a great deal, but it depends on their level when they're monitored out there on the street, how well they're doing. And if it looks like someone needs more assistance, that's provided to them so that they can feel comfortable about it.
[Adam Knight]: And lastly, Chief, have there been any incidents of any accidents, any type of traffic supervisor being hit by a vehicle, or a child being hit by a vehicle, or a traffic supervisor?
[Leo Sacco]: Not recently. There's been a lot of close calls. I think sometimes what they face the most of is some abuse by the motorists. People going by and giving them a lot of grief, but no one wants to be stopped. You know, they're the ones that stand out in front, and they make sure the cars are stopped before they allow the children to cross.
[Adam Knight]: So the actual line of reporting is straight up the ladder, that's Sergeant Carroll? Right, that's correct.
[Leo Sacco]: They're considered part of the traffic unit. Okay, excellent. Move for approval, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Move approved by Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thanks, Chief. What are the current numbers in the reserves right now?
[Leo Sacco]: Well, we have four that are actually working full-time posts. So they're reserves, but they're not available for other assignments because they're filling right now open assignments. There's one long-term. And they hopefully shortly will be appointed permanent in that post. We have one traffic supervisor, reserve traffic supervisor right now that bounces around to the openings, the day-to-day openings. Other times, and the majority of If we go beyond that one, it's all police officers filling them during those time frames. But we have right now a list of about eight people that are being screened, and they're all recent applicants, so that's good. Many times in the past, we were screening applicants that had applied maybe a year and a half prior, and they already found other jobs, so we're kind of spinning our wheels. But right now, we're pretty much up to date with the most recent applicants, so hopefully they'll screen out well and they'll be appointed. Okay.
[Michael Marks]: And we've had this discussion before and just leading to council and Knight's point about any incidences that happen. And I've talked to a number of the traffic crossing guides and a road rage is throughout the community and they're our first line of defense. And I've, I've witnessed it when cars actually will not stop for them. Right. And I mentioned to you chief that I know most people carry cells now, But it would be great for them to have a direct line of communication via the walkie-talkie, like the police have on a dialed station, that they can report something immediately, report a license plate, or something happened, go off a bit, a child gets struck. You know, that may be the best and quickest line of communication. And I don't understand, you know, why we can't arm these traffic Talk about having another set of eyes, like you mentioned, about details, having police on the street and God forbid something happens, they're right there. Why not arm another 15 or 16 people with a walkie talkie that's directly right to the station that can report things?
[Leo Sacco]: Well, we're looking at that right now and actually the radios that were replaced probably close to two years ago now, we still have those radios. They've been tested. They still work. We just have to modify the channels, the number of channels that are on there, and probably just keep it local on the Medford channel, wipe out the other channels, and then provide some training on how to use the radio. So the hope would be, I know it's probably not soon enough, but the hope would be that we'd have these in the field by September when school opens. That's great, Chief. That's good news. We just want to make sure that these radios work. Right now, they're sitting in the blocks. They still work. they're not really good enough to be used on, you know, 24 hour day to day patrol, but it should serve a purpose to fill that void. And that's something I know that you've mentioned numerous times in the past.
[Michael Marks]: So only because they only because they've mentioned it to me, chief saying they'd like to have a direct line of communication. And it's not just to say, Hey, how's, you know, what's the weather down there. It's to report stuff at a time of emergency.
[Leo Sacco]: I think we're in total agreement on that.
[Michael Marks]: Thanks chief. That's good news.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion of Councilor Knight for approval, seconded by Councilor Marks. All those in favor?
[Michael Marks]: Aye.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And so motioned to waive the three readings in addition. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Congratulations to the traffic supervisors. Thank you very much. And Chief, thank you for your presence here tonight and for your leadership.
[Leo Sacco]: I appreciate that. I will stay.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Thank you. So, on the motion of Councilor Camuso to resort back to the regular order of business, all those in favor? All those opposed? I think the chief was waiting around.
[Michael Marks]: Can we take it out of order, one of the papers?
[Fred Dello Russo]: What paper do you want? We're back in the regular order of business. So motion by councillor Penta to take item number 15 of 478 Out of order all those in favor aye all those opposed Offered by councillor Penta be resolved that the ongoing parking ticket actions of the out-of-state Republic parking company be discussed councillor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Thank you. Um, chief, I'm, I'm glad that you're here because the first thing I want to talk about is something that I believe it came up at your March meeting. Um, we'll start with this group of people. You have folks that have purchased permit stickers to park in the governor's app parking lot who are business merchants. Okay. And these merchants, um, two in particular on, any particular day have been unable to go into the Governor's Air parking lot to find a spot. And by not being able to find a spot, the gentleman who supposedly is in the parking lot over there turned around and told them it's okay for them to park on the street on Governor's Avenue. Now, this one particular person has received four tickets since Saturday in the amount of $100, four $25 tickets. That's number one. I believe at the March meeting they come up to you and they asked you about this as it relates to, and I believe that you indicated to them, paraphrasing, that you would be okay to park on Governor's Avenue if there were no spots because you have a permit parking sticker and the cars should be able to pick it up. That's number one. Number two, there's a gentleman who parked his car, put the money in the meter, And the expiration of the media was at 144. He got a ticket, chief, at 104, for which the expiration wasn't even anywhere near it. The gentleman who gave him the ticket turned around and says, if you don't like it, you know what to do. Appeal. The next issue is, is a resident who lives on Governor's Avenue, a resident who lives on Governor's Avenue. And this resident got a ticket after 10 o'clock at night by the bounty hunters that the city has hired to go out there and give tickets to. Absolutely wrong, chief. Question then was asked on this particular individual, parking on the street, resident parking. They told her she had to move her car every two hours. And by moving her car every two hours brings it up to midnight. And this woman is just upset. Next one is in Medford Square, behind the UPS store. Lady goes out there, puts money in the meter, which is good until 10.22. The gentleman comes up to her at 10.11, starts to give her a ticket, and she says to him, what are you doing? He says, well, listen, don't worry about it. I can take it back if you get a ticket. He didn't give her the ticket because she said to him, what are you doing? Chief, you have a lady in Medford Square who is a registered hairdresser who has in excess of 250 signatures because this is killing her business in the square. This is not Elsie, but the other end of the square. This is on Salem Street. This thing with the Republic has not gotten any better. Two complaints from individuals who have out-of-state plates that come into Medford Square They try to put their plate number in, and it doesn't take. They don't know what to do. They go into the store, and they come out, and they get a ticket. This is not making any sense. These things are supposed to be resolved. On High Street, you and I had this conversation. I have the tickets. I have the pictures in my bag. They still have the kiosk in front of a two-family residential house for which people still try to put money in the meter. thinking that they're supposed to, which McCulloch paid to park there. That was one of the very first ones they said they were going to remove as soon as the weather got better, as soon as the snowstorm ended. And we could just go on and on with the telephone calls relative to the people saying they try to put money into the machine. One lady put a quarter in the machine. She got four quarters back. But she didn't get her ticket. She got a ticket that had a different license plate number on it. So unfortunately, or good for her, she didn't get a ticket because she didn't get the right receipt that went to her number plate. This craziness has got to stop. I mean, these people that are giving out the tickets, it's a combination of them not knowing what they're doing. You can't tell someone if you don't like it, appeal it. You can't go up to somebody, and I think it even reflects upon Councilor Caraviello, on one particular day near CVS, they were just waiting to put a ticket in his car. I mean, they're all here. I'm not making this stuff up. And I think it's just wrong. But when it's so blatant, giving a guy a ticket, when he has until 144, and they give him a ticket 104, well, if you don't like it, appeal it. I mean, how do you do this? How do you say it's OK?
[Leo Sacco]: I don't. I certainly don't agree with that. No, I didn't. How do you say, how do you do this? You had two of those that were similar. You had the 1011 in the UPS store, and you had the 104 on a meter.
[Robert Penta]: Then you have the one on Governor's Avenue. At 10.07 AM, she put a quarter in the meter at 10.07 AM. She ran into the UPS store, came out at 1011, and the guy was sitting there waiting to give her a ticket. And the ticket expires at 1022. It's wrong. This is wrong, chief. This is not what the people asked for. This is not what the city expected from it. They've had more than enough time to get their act together. I just think it's wrong. Can I address a few of these?
[SPEAKER_24]: Sure, go ahead.
[Leo Sacco]: OK, the first one, the governor's av lot. Everyone has been told in the lot If you have a business permit, park against the wall, which abuts 15 Governor's Ave. That's the only spot for business permits. I never told anyone that if you have a business permit, you can park on Governor's Ave. I have told them they can park on Governor's Ave up by Terrace Road, which allows for a business permit for two hours. But that's Governor's Ave. But not in the lower end of Governor's Ave.
[Robert Penta]: No, that's Governor's Ave. That's where they park.
[Leo Sacco]: But if they go up there by the wall, by the Terrace Road wall, They can park up there as long as they're registered with the business permit. I think part of the bigger problem that we have, too, is we're not using permits. The virtual permit, their plate number is registered with the company, and there's no decal being given to the person who purchases. They register their vehicle, their plate number. So that's a problem.
[Robert Penta]: It should be a problem, because the fact of the matter is, if the city is giving out too many tickets or too many permits, and there's more permits that are allowed in the parking lot, how do you blame the person that bought the permit, believing that they could use the parking lot, but now have to go up on Governor's Avenue to find a spot?
[Leo Sacco]: Everyone was told that they could only use the back wall for business permits. But you know yourself. The middle section is three hours. But the more- The parallel parking behind the stores It ranges from 15 minutes, I believe, 30 minutes, and an hour.
[Robert Penta]: 15, 30, one hour, and then two hours. But these people pay the $100 for their parking permit, OK? They shouldn't be getting a ticket.
[Leo Sacco]: It doesn't guarantee them a spot, though.
[Robert Penta]: It doesn't have to, but they shouldn't be guaranteed getting a ticket either if they can't find a spot.
[Leo Sacco]: As long as they're not in violation. There are spots, though. There are spots. They may have to hike a bit, but there are spots. If they're going to be in a business all day long, they should park the furthest point away. Because they don't need their car all day long. They shouldn't be parked right there. So I'm agreeable with the wall. That's historic. They have the business permit along that wall. We have the governor's terrace road wall for the business permits. We have business permits in this end of the square as well. They can use the shell parking lot during the daytime.
[Robert Penta]: Chief, what do you do if somebody's handicapped, they have a business permit parking? They have to go out and then they come back.
[Leo Sacco]: If they're handicapped and they want to display their handicapped placard, they could park all day on any spot.
[Robert Penta]: Well, you know as well as I that they've given out tickets to people that have a handicapped placard, OK? These people are pretty rude as to what they're doing. And they're only out there to make money. They don't care about the simple little guy who's just trying to negotiate his day's life, trying to spend $0.25 or $0.50 in a parking lot to do their business. That's wrong.
[Leo Sacco]: OK. Can I go down this list? Yeah, go ahead, keep going. Okay, the meters that we talked about, the 1.44 p.m. and then 1.04, there's no excuse for that. That's been a problem. People haven't received tickets. I believe Councilor Camuso even received, or his wife, received a ticket early on in the program when she still had time on the meter, and that's not right, and that should have been corrected. And I am told by Republic that WestCore, the company who installed these machines, came out and tested every single machine, every single kiosk. There's 85 of them that they tested them for accuracy. Supposedly they modified some of them that they found having a problem. So they've done some preventive maintenance. It's probably time for them to come out again.
[Robert Penta]: How can they test them for accuracy if I put money in a machine and I get somebody else's receipt? How does that work?
[Leo Sacco]: You might've got the receipt from the person before you. I know that there was some difficulty getting the receipt out of the slot. So I, you know, I, I'm only making an assumption that that's the case. The resident on governor's Avenue, she was at our traffic commission meeting last, last month, uh, earlier this month, I should say. And that ticket was taken care of right there because we had a representative from Republic at the meeting and he was told in no uncertain terms that the parking restriction, even though it says two hour parking, It's like all the other on street parking. It's only until 6 p.m. So they could pack from 6 p.m. until 8 a.m. The next morning and not be subject to ticketing. And she got a ticket. It was not a permit parking street.
[Robert Penta]: And she got a ticket at 10 p.m.
[Leo Sacco]: Right. So what are they doing out at 10 o'clock? They took that ticket away.
[Robert Penta]: But what are they doing out at 10 o'clock at night?
[Leo Sacco]: Given people hot attacks over stupid tickets, the signs on governor's Avenue did not have a time limit on them. They said two hours, but didn't say a beginning time and an end time.
[Robert Penta]: Do you know what the contract says about all of this? These people are supposed to be trained, they're supposed to know the streets that they give the tickets on, and they were supposed to have a course in this, okay? And they acknowledged, Mr. Nash, when he acknowledged that they hadn't done it, okay? And we're still dealing with the same problems from a contract signed on October 10th, 2014. This makes no sense at all. This is wrong. People should not even have to go and have a ticket waived. They shouldn't even have to go to give you a call. They shouldn't have to go to a travel. They shouldn't have to be inconvenienced for this, because these people should know what they're doing. And they're not. They're causing a hardship to people.
[Leo Sacco]: We spoke about the UPS store. That's the same thing with the, they still had time on the meter, and they were about to get a ticket. The hairdresser on the square, I know she had generated a petition. She has over 200 of them. But quite honestly, she sandwiched in between the 15-minute spots that are in front of Martin Pastry and pretty much the restricted spots at Dunkin' Donuts. I would think that, and I know, and I've spoken with the lady, I know that she's having problems with patrons because now there's enforcement. Even if we enforce the time limits on the signs without even the meters, she would have a problem with her clientele. I don't know what she did before because there was never a spot to park on Salem Street. from Ashland Street to the center of the square. Never, absolutely never a spot. They were full at 8 o'clock in the morning. So I don't know where her customers parked before this, but Salem Street is open now. The only thing I will grant you is that many of the patrons probably need more than two hours in the hairdressing shop. But I have to say that there's much more parking available. They have to cross the street. She is in between all the 15-minute spots right there. She never was able to have anyone park right in front of her shot.
[Robert Penta]: But the difference between what you're talking about, the patrons that she had before, before these crazy kiosk stuff came in, maybe she got a two- or three-hour person. And she wasn't losing these one or two customers, whatever they might be. This past week, I was in West Medford, and I saw a lady walk out of the hairdresser across the street with the curls in her hair. She was having a foil, just to run out to go in there and to put the money in the meter, which made no sense at all. Because I thought the parking lots were going to be three hours. The signs still have not been changed.
[Leo Sacco]: What are they waiting for? The West Medford lot is supposed to be reconfigured. All the lots are supposed to be three hours. Yes, they are.
[Robert Penta]: So how do they turn around and give people tickets? Tell me.
[Leo Sacco]: The kiosk, well, whatever meters are in the lots right now, supposedly have been programmed for a few hours. This is wrong.
[Robert Penta]: I'm going to just say, if I were the mayor, you know this would be the second thing in this building to go. That would be the second contract of the city to go. I won't tell you what the first one is, but that's the second one.
[Leo Sacco]: It's probably mine, right?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much. Chief, now that the snow is gone, all 10 feet of it, We had a program that Republic was willing to participate in, and I believe they called it their ambassador program. And I think it might make sense to get them out there now that people are actually walking around in the streets as opposed to running to their car, running from their car, and trying to get into the stores as fast as they can to keep out of the elements. So I'm wondering, Chief, if that's something that the Traffic Commission would be interested in maybe requesting.
[Leo Sacco]: That has been mentioned to them several times since the snow has gone, and we're hoping that they will do that. They're being told, basically, that they have to do that. We have to reacquaint people with the kiosks, and they need to be testing the machines to make sure that they're working. I think, by and large, though, I have to say the office staff up there have been very good. Any times that we've had any problems, we've been able to call. PM in the office, and she's been very receptive. Patrick, who is the local person in charge of the operation, he has been good. I know that, you know, we need to reach Dan Nash or maybe people above him to take them to task for some of these things that are just continuous, that are ongoing.
[Adam Knight]: Chief, when you said from Ashland Street down to, you know, the foot of the square, you'd never find a parking spot over there. And before, before the meeting, right. You know, the only time that I think I could ever find a spot was when, when Maddie and Sonya was working the shift before he retired down there, because he was very vigilant, um, in his efforts to ensure that the parking regulations were, were, were abided by. And, um, we're having a lot of problems with, uh, the current officers working for a public in their unfamiliarity with what spots should be enforced in what fashion. Has there been any consideration given to maybe giving some retired officers who work in the traffic division the opportunity to maybe come forward and assist in showing these people the ropes and how it's done, maybe for a per diem or something like that, to get the program off the ground and running smoothly? Because I think we can all agree that there have been a lot of bumps in the road. And maybe this is just one of the ways that we can solve some of the problems that we're facing.
[Leo Sacco]: It's something worth looking at. That would be a call that someone else will have to make. But I know that once school is out, We plan on having the day shift traffic officers work with them a little closer and pretty much itemize where the problems are and see if we can correct them. I'm hoping that people have been hearing an improvement on permit parking streets. I'm not sure, but I'm hoping that you're hearing from the constituents that there has been some improvement on the enforcement there and the consideration for the neighborhood as opposed to just street by street. that at least giving, if someone's on Burwick, they could park on Yale.
[Adam Knight]: It's been very helpful from the constituents.
[Leo Sacco]: I think that from the police department end, I think some of the calls that we used to get have dropped off for the permit parking. I'm just not sure if they've dropped off because people are just totally frustrated or whatever, but I still believe that we have to go forward with the actual decal on the vehicle. for the permits.
[Adam Knight]: Another thing, Chief, if Republic isn't so interested in doing their ambassador program, and when school gets out, we are going to have some of our traffic division officers helping out, maybe it might make sense to allow our traffic supervisors to maybe participate in the ambassadorship program as well. They're already city employees. They're already working for the traffic division. So maybe it makes sense to train them on the machines as well and give them an opportunity to maybe help out and make this work a little smoother.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you.
[Robert Penta]: President council Pender chief. Yes, sir. Page and their operator employees standards on page 13 of the contract. It says the operator shall be solely responsible for the complete training of all its parking enforcement personnel and will maintain training records as prescribed by law or policy as appropriate. This training will include, but not be limited to customer service, conflict management, civil rights law, disability and accessibility laws and procedures, municipal ordinances pertaining to parking enforcement, job safety included but not limited to OSHA standards. Can you tell me, did they follow this contract proviso?
[Leo Sacco]: I know that about a month ago, maybe a little more than a month ago, they did have someone from their human relations unit, the corporate office, come in and do a training for the personnel.
[Robert Penta]: This was supposed to be in October before this contract. This is what the contract says. And this is now what, May?
[Leo Sacco]: I don't know. Well, I know there's been some changes in staff since the beginning.
[Robert Penta]: But before you hire someone, don't you train them? Before you get a police officer, we just had a student school for them tonight, didn't we? You didn't hire them off the street to come in here and aggravate the people and be bounty hunter number one or two or three because you collect the most amount of money. This is wrong, dead wrong. And again, as I said to you before, I like you, you're my friend. This is not your job. This was the mayor's job. You should not be doing this. I'm here to answer the questions.
[Leo Sacco]: I understand that.
[Robert Penta]: And I appreciate it, okay?
[Leo Sacco]: It's all under the same umbrella. I mean, it's all about public safety, parking, and traffic calls to the police department.
[Robert Penta]: Well, maybe we should just abolish it, like I said, and have a nice little, like it was before, start off with a small revenue enforcement program, see how it works, see if that leads into maybe meters if you want to put the court is in in the future, which people can understand, not this craziness. And tell me something. If I'm out of the state, and I put money in the meter, and it doesn't take my receipt, it doesn't take my license, why should I be subject to a ticket? Because I'm out of state. How does this work?
[Leo Sacco]: I have to check that. I don't have an answer to that.
[Robert Penta]: Well, that's the problem here. And that's another way to juice somebody out of $25. Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: We do have a motion by counsel. Is it an amendment? by Councilor Knight. Okay, no amendment.
[Michael Marks]: Councilor Marks. Thank you. Chief, a few weeks ago I put something on the agenda for the Traffic Commission, I don't know if you got it yet, but Placeted Road, I think you're familiar, from Irving Street all the way up to Century Street, on the right-hand side. In front of the homes. In front of the homes. That permit parking doesn't take effect until 10 or 11?
[Leo Sacco]: No, it's permit parking all day. Are you sure? Place that road from Irving Street all the way up to just about Century.
[Michael Marks]: If you could check into that.
[Leo Sacco]: I did right after that. That is, it's all day. There used to be permit parking from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on the park side. and also on Century Street Extension going way back. That was something passed in the 70s. That had been rescinded a while ago. I mean, that a long time ago.
[Michael Marks]: So nothing on Placelift Road then on the house side?
[Leo Sacco]: On the house side, it's permit parking all day. All day. 24-7.
[Michael Marks]: OK.
[Leo Sacco]: I'll check it again. Check it again. But I believe it stops at Century, from Irving Street up to Century. And after Century, there's no
[Michael Marks]: No, no, I am talking from Irving Street up to Century, that area on the house side.
[Leo Sacco]: But I believe it's 24-7. Okay, thank you. Not just 11 to 7. Okay. But we used to, all over the city, around all of the parks and playgrounds, it used to be 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. because back in the day when we had a large number of Children congregating at night, that was a tool to be able to tag their vehicles that were parked there when they were in the wooded part of the parks. But that's been rescinded years ago when I heard that. There might be a stray sign still out there, but I'm not sure.
[Michael Marks]: Do you know if they're enforcing the lot behind the cleaners in the hillside?
[Leo Sacco]: I don't believe they are. I haven't seen any tickets issued there. I mean, I frequent that quite a bit, and I have yet to see any enforcement there.
[Michael Marks]: You see a lot of out of state plates there for hours on end. So you may want to check that out, too. Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. If I may, through the chair, I, too, received calls with regards to the Medford Square business permit issue. The businesses feel that there's not enough spots. I know you say there are. Condon Shell, you're saying, should be the backup?
[Leo Sacco]: Yes, depending on the location and the square. I mean, if they can figure it out. This little lot over here by 64 Salem Street, the electric company, it's amazing how full that is at 7 o'clock, 7.30, 8 o'clock in the morning now. And that used to be empty.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And one question on that, the business permit, if somebody needs to change a car, can they swap plates for a day, call the office?
[Leo Sacco]: I guess that's the benefit for them to register their plate number with the company. It's easier before if you have just the decal. You know, if your car was in the shop and you had a rental for the day, you faced a problem. Now, they can just call up and say, I'm using this car today, and give them the plate number. Hopefully, everything jives on that end, and they can do it.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I've had two complaints from business owners that they've called the office, Republic office, tried to switch the plate numbers for the day because they had to switch cars. And they say they're unable to do that. So if we could just check with Republic on that. One was today, and one was last week.
[Leo Sacco]: Okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And the business owners are being told that they can't, they can't swap plates on the business permit.
[Leo Sacco]: So I know that that was one of the selling points in the, in the beginning, because many times something happens and you can't take the guy that's registered and you have to use a rental or something.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And if you could ask that question, cause I know tissue tickets were issued in those two instances, even though the business owner called Republic asked to switch the plate, they said she couldn't. And then she got tickets. So I can talk to you afterwards.
[Paul Camuso]: Thanks.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. Um, you know, with the parking complaints, um, and businesses claiming that, um, there's not enough spots. I mean, this is probably an appropriate time to start looking at the garage again in Medford square. Um, the money is set aside. State representative has it in the bond bill. And, um, I think that this is the appropriate time to actually start talking about it again. Um, There is a need for longer-term business parking within the square. So, I think the administration should take it under consideration, at least at this point, because the business owners that are complaining about not having spots, if there are additional spots that are allocated for long-term parking, and as I said in the past, the administration, it was another one of those issues that they just never brought forward. They talked about it, and this and that, and the council talked about it, But there has not been a proposal for the garage that's been before us for a vote for funding. And as I said, State Rep Donato has worked tirelessly to get funding in the transportation bond bill for that specific purpose, as well as other money that was set aside by, I believe, the previous administration.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Point of clarification. Point of clarification. Council Penta.
[Robert Penta]: The reason that money got into the bond bill is when the mayor knew that three members of the council weren't going to vote for it, he went to Representative Donato, who never came to us, to explain that they were putting that money into the bond bill. So there was no understanding of that money going in by any vote of this council one way or the other. Did I say that? Yes, you didn't say that.
[Paul Camuso]: I did not say that. All I said was in the transportation bond bill, there's $3 million set aside. $8 million, Councilor Caraviello said. I'm not exactly sure on the figure, but the bottom line is I think as one member of this council, there is a need for it. And we haven't had the opportunity to take a formal vote, whether we're for or against it. And as I said, I'm urging the administration to bring it forward and finally give the people of Medford Square, the neighbors, the business owners, an opportunity to come down here and be heard, as people were given the opportunity to come down in the Brooks Estates, the new science labs, and the list goes on and on and on. Jot the Course, which was brought forward by the McGlynn administration. This was part of it originally, I believe. And it just never came to a vote. So I think that we owe it at least to the business owners to take a long, serious look at it. And unfortunately, the people out there, the farmer garage was built under the old farmer government, where it was the city council and the city managers back in, I want to say the 80s. And I'm sure Mayor McGlynn still has the plaque from the garage when it fell down with the names on it. But with that being said, it's I think it's long overdue. And I, as one member of this council do support it. And I would hope that it at least entertain it and give the people the opportunity to be heard.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Um, thank you chief for answering our questions. Again, some questions resolved Councilor Penta chief.
[Robert Penta]: One last question. And, um, the hours of operation have now been changed from eight to six. That's correct. Monday through Saturday. Correct. Can you tell me why the office is not open on a Saturday?
[Leo Sacco]: I don't know. I think they try to follow city hall hours. City hall is not the parking clerk. They're open late on Wednesday night.
[Robert Penta]: It doesn't work that way. There are people that on Saturday is the only day they can make this appointment or see them or whatever it might be. This is not fair. It's another issue. If you can make a notation, ask them to be open on Saturday from 8 to 6, just like they are every other day. You know, if they're good enough to give out the tickets, they should be good enough to hear their complaints on the same days that they give out their tickets.
[Paul Camuso]: Madam President. If I may too, I'd just like to go on record. I know there is some frustration by some of the members of the Ticket Enforcement Unit, but there are several members of working for that company that are good, long-standing Medford families, Medford residents, and I think they're doing a fine and admirable job. You call that office, we all know who works up in the office. A Medford gal and very friendly, two Medford gals, I didn't know the other one. And then one of the enforcement officers is a Medford young man that grew up here in our community. So the ones that at least live in this community are taking pride in their work. And I just want the record to reflect that.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to receive in place on file and hopefully chief will get us, you know, ask those questions for us, get us those answers. All those in favor. All those opposed. It passes.
[Leo Sacco]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to revert back to regular.
[Leo Sacco]: Could I just ask one question? I'm sorry. I just, I'm just curious. I know you have the year for the public concerns and all the complaints, but I'm not hearing all the complaints. on the parking that I did in the very beginning. I'm wondering, are you hearing anything positive? Because I've been hearing from some merchants that this is beginning to work.
[SPEAKER_03]: I've been hearing some positives. I hear some positives.
[Leo Sacco]: It's obvious that we need to round off the rough edges, but I just want to know, are you hearing any of the good things? Because sometimes I think the silent majority is out there. No one likes someone to come up and put a ticket on their windshield. whether you're a sworn police officer or you're a civilian, they don't want the tickets so they're going to complain.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. The one thing that's been unanimous amongst the people that I talk to is they all look forward to Sunday. The day of rest. I think, on a serious note though, we brought it up a few weeks ago, the holiday has to be straightened out and it has to be a lot of public output because There were people on Patriots Day, and you weren't here for the meeting, but people on Patriots Day were getting tickets. Now, I know the company did write by it, but it has to be unison. Is it the federal calendar, or is it the state calendar? I think it should be the state calendar, because how can you justify having City Hall closed and the schools closed, but still be able to get a ticket? And rubbish delivery doesn't get picked up, like Councilor Pender said. It should be all holidays on both schedules.
[Leo Sacco]: I think it was corrected. Ms. Burke gave them the list of holidays, and I think it was all of them. I'm not sure if Bunker Hill Day fit in that category, but all the others did.
[Paul Camuso]: Bunker Hill Day, though, City Hall is closed, so it should be closed.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I agree.
[Paul Camuso]: All right. Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thanks, Chief. Yes. Motions, orders, and resolutions 15-470 offered by Councilor Caraviello be resolved with the Medford City Council, discuss the proposed Proposed appeal of 198202 Harvard Street to change from a three-family to a non-conforming five-family in an already congested area with insufficient off-street parking. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. You know, Madam President, as the Ball Square station is getting closer to us, completion, people in that neighborhood are going to start seeing more and more of these conversions that are going to want to happen. Property is selling at record prices up there right now. South Medford and the real estate market is on fire. And people are starting to cash out now. But I think the time has come where I think we need to sit down, maybe with the appeals board or somebody, to discuss all these that are going to come in. I mean, here's somebody that wants to go from a three to a five on Harvard Street. I mean, did the chief already leave?
[Jeanne Martin]: Chief left already.
[Richard Caraviello]: I mean, there's barely enough parking for the three-family there. Never mind, you're going to add four more people, which might be four more cars, five more cars in an area that just cannot handle any more cars or any more people. And I say, as these two families continue to sell, people are going to want to take the two, make it a three. Three is going to want to go to a four. I mean, Stern's Ave just sold for $8.90, a two-family. to a person who works up at Tufts. It's only a matter of time before the gentleman's on it, before the appeals board, that's going to want to tear that down, or make that a fire family. So I say, I think the time has come where we need to send a message to the appeal boards that next week, you better look hard and fast on these, As they say, as fast as they start coming, as the train gets closer, they're going to come further. And once it gets over the college, you're going to see the hillside. I mean, can you fit a little car on the hillside? Or can you fit another apartment on the hillside? I mean, these people, I mean, listen, it's good. It's good for the, you know, if you want to cash out, it's good. But we're fast losing our neighborhoods. There'll be no more neighborhoods. There'll be just, we'll be a city of transients. That's why people come in, students, and I say, I mean, There's five generations of my family that have been in this city. That won't be happening much if this continues at this pace.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Would you like to make a recommendation to the Board of Appeals?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes, I plan on going to this meeting next week also during that one.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You want to make a recommendation?
[Richard Caraviello]: I want to make a recommendation that they either maybe look at maybe some type of moratorium or some type of, before they approve, Any more of these, maybe we should be kept more in the loop in this.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Recommend that the Board of Appeals put a moratorium until the matter is discussed with the City Council?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. Thank you. I agree with a lot of the sentiments of Councilor Caraviello, but I also know there are a lot of two and three families that have significant amount of parking right on their own property. And this is a new way of life. People don't want the big homes anymore. They want to buy a smaller condominium. So I just think the Board of Appeals has to look at each individual cases. Similar to a few years ago when the Meadow Glen Mall sign came up, and I'm not far of those big signs. But in certain areas, I think they're actually good and they bring business. But to tell someone that there's a moratorium in place, and if they have 7,500 square feet and they can fit the appropriate parking and-.
[SPEAKER_20]: Maybe moratorium might be the wrong word, but at least we look at the rules that go with the granting of these changes.
[Paul Camuso]: But a lot of times the conversions, I think the conversions and the board of appeals are two separate things. Um, a lot of times you don't even have to go to the board of appeals to convert to a, if you already own a two family, it's more or less just going to the building department and condo eyes in it.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And you have to have converting two to two, two to five.
[SPEAKER_20]: I mean, two is going to go to three, three is going to go to four. I mean, but some of them, a three family is going to could have six cars in there. But I understand that.
[Paul Camuso]: But also, there are some buildings throughout our community that are currently zoned for more than the units that they have. They may have a zoning for a six-family. At the end of Irving Street, at the corner of Irving and Placestead, you've got six or seven units in that building. Now, is it appropriate? But it's conforming use. It's a conforming use. And I agree with you that we have to actually take a long, hard look at it, but I think we have to leave it in the Board of Appeals hands, and they have to look at it individually. Because there are certain lots and properties within the community that take a blighted area, for instance. You'd rather have maybe a three or four family than the one family that's run as a rental place. It's, I think, I just think the Board of Appeals right now is in a total, it's a good, it's a good, not it's a good, it's the only avenue where they can go and look at it realistically, too. They are very, I'd say that they deny more than they approve developments and conversions in the city. I mean, I'd like to know the statistics on it, too, How many of these properties have actually made it to the Board of Appeals and were approved?
[Richard Caraviello]: I don't know, sir.
[Paul Camuso]: I mean, that's something that I'd like to know.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: I agree somewhat with Councilor Camuso, but, you know, the Board of Appeals has a statutory autonomy, so to speak, to make their own decisions. But the council has a right to interject what its concerns might be in a particular neighbourhood or a particular section. We can jump over to another location It's on Winthrop Street, right opposite the gas station, where across the street they want to put 11 houses into a four-home unit area over there. I mean, I don't know how they're going to do it, whatever it might be. So that's a true encroachment in a particular neighborhood. And if the residents don't want it, or they're not even aware of it because They just don't either have the time to be bothered with it or to be involved with it. I mean, you know, we do have a responsibility if something we feel needs to be communicated to any particular board. You know, one of the benefits of getting all these notices when these board meetings are, we see what the agendas might be. And some of these agendas have worked out for the purposes of having a council go to them and find out what's going on or express their interest. Now, I know Councilor Caraviello, this won't be the first time, that he would have an interest at the Board of Appeals because, and rightfully so, he had an interest in a piece of property in the West Medford area where the legitimacy of why the building was being sold and what was going to be proposed to be put there was not one and the same. And because of his interaction at the board and with the neighborhood, it helped resolve the problem. So what was going to originally go up and what became after the fact did not really come to fruition. And this might be a combination of the same thing. I don't think anybody should be dissuaded from going to any meeting. City Council, Board of Appeals, Public Health, Water and Soil Commission meeting, whatever it might be, because if you have your opinion, what difference does it make if you're an elected official or not? And if you're going as an elected official expressing your opinion, but more importantly, people have expressed their concern to you, and that's the reason why you're going, well, to some degree, that adds some weight, I would assume, in any particular meeting. That's what the board members are there for, to listen to all the opinions that people might have. While they might be autonomous to make their own decision, they're not precluded from listening to other people's decisions. I'll strike that. They should not be precluded from listening to other people's decisions. And that's the reason why we're elected, to listen to the people, hear what they have to say, go to a meeting if we want to go, and express our concerns. So I agree with you, Councilor Caraviello. I don't think there's anything wrong with going to the meeting, expressing your opinion, even if it's contrary to all three members of the board. At least you were there to say what you felt.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: I just think it's time that we start protecting the integrity of our neighborhoods because otherwise they're going to cease to become neighborhoods. Just going to become landing spots that people just move in and out.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much. And thank you, Councilor Caraviello for bringing this matter forward. Although I understand your concerns, I do feel as though we need to really respect the autonomy of the Zoning Board of Appeals. and their process should be undue from political interference and influence. With that being said, I think that Councilor Caraviello raises some great concerns about the situation that's going on there. However, I think the proper course of action for this council to take would be to take a look at the current zoning ordinances and then maybe make recommendations to revise the current existing zoning ordinances that governs their operations as opposed to making recommendations to them that fall well within their scope and purview, Madam President.
[Jeanne Martin]: Gene Martin, 10 Cummings Street. Thank you. And I'd like to agree with Mr. Caraviello. I mean, if you go to South Medford, they are crowded and maybe the answer is what Mr. Knight is saying is maybe I don't understand the process, but I do agree with Mr. Caraviello's line of thought, which is that the crowded, the more crowded you become, the more cars on the street, the more stress it puts on the fire department, on the teachers, on the schools, you have more people. more people that aren't related. These two family houses that are getting rented have three non-relatives living in three different bedrooms. They have three different cars per unit. It just causes a lot of congestion, and I absolutely agree. But maybe the right way to approach it is what Mr. Knight is saying, is to go in. But the federal laws came in under 40B, and they get away with stuff anyway. So, you know, the towers, domestic valley towers came in under 40B. You had the 40B over there. And when 40B came in, the towers, it was regulated very strongly for 30 years. Once they got through their contract, now it's open to the general public. And they have three, often three non-related people living in the same apartment. And so, you know, you have a lot of, and they do, they're like roommates to each other. They're not families. In some areas that's okay, they can absorb it. But certainly in certain parts of the city, there's a saturation point at which it becomes a problem. And so I just want to make people aware of that. If you're living in North Medford and you have a couple of houses that, you know, are party central, that's okay because it can be absorbed. But if you have a couple of houses that are party central in South Medford, it's not going to be absorbed because there's already enough congestion. The roads are more congested. The cars make an impact. And I'd just like to say that it puts a stress on the city, so it is a city issue. And also, every week, I get a letter in the mail from a retailer, a real estate person, ready to sell my house. I mean, it is hot. The market is hot. And I know that some people would love for me to move out of the city, but that's another story. I'm just kidding. Oh, thank you. Keeping you guys as honest as I can. But anyway, no, seriously, the market is hot, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have some kind of cap. How we come about that, how we come to that conclusion on how to put controls on that is up for debate. But the sentiment that he's talking about, I'm absolutely positive with. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. As someone who lives in close proximity to the property in question, I have grave concerns for that as well. And I'm intimately associated with the congestion we experience in South Medford. I'm also intimately aware of so much of the change that's happened there and the changing real estate market there. and the possibility that people of moderate to low income will find it difficult to live in that neighborhood, those people who are most in need of use of public transportation. That being said, I'm unclear as to what obligation or restrictions are upon us as councillors when we speak before these boards. And I know that we have to be clear to it and clear about it before we do that. Furthermore, I would want to be very respectful towards the autonomy of that board in particular, which prides itself and by its constitution ought to be free from inappropriate influence and encumbrance. I'm not saying that your motion, Councilor Caraviello, is in any way an encumbrance, but until I am clear on what it is, because for some reason I have in the back of my head from doing those tedious ethics examinations we have to do, that really the examples that they give us, the case studies that they give us to complete really aren't all that clear either. There seems to be something there that when we appear before a board, that there's something attached to that.
[Richard Caraviello]: That's right. As an elected official, I can go to any meeting. I can go there as a regular citizen. I don't think I'm putting any undue influence on them. I mean, it's my right to protect the integrity of that neighborhood. I mean, the term affordable housing over there is going to be nonexistent. I don't think I'm going to say anything, no one's threatening the board. I'm entitled to my opinion as an elected official of the city. I mean, I've gone to those meetings before, and I have the right to speak my opinion as an ordinary citizen. I've gone to many board meetings. That's right, give my name and address to the record. Thank you very much.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Caraviello for offering this resolution. The council is stating, and I won't speak for him, is he sees the neighborhoods in the very fabric of what makes up our individual neighborhoods being changed. And clearly, the market in the city of Medford has changed over the last several years. And I think we as a council have to get ahead of the curve. And we are the legislative body in this community and in charge of zoning. That may be the appropriate place for this to appear. So, I support this wholeheartedly. I also think we have to take one step further and look at illegal apartments, illegal apartments in the community. I think there are more illegal apartments in this city than what we realize. And if you want to talk about having more cars on the street and so forth, and people living in situations that may be dangerous because they fall under the radar of certain ordinances and state laws and so forth. Um, that to me is an issue that has to be examined also. So I think it's about time that the zoning board, uh, actually not the zoning board, the, uh, zoning subcommittee get together and start discussing some of these issues, Madam President. So, uh, if my council colleague wouldn't mind, I think that may be the appropriate first step of this, uh, to refer this to the zoning subcommittee for further action, Madam President.
[Robert Penta]: Madam President, a few weeks ago, we had a little bit of a discussion on the council floor, but firstly, I want to get back to Councilor Caraviello's resolution as it relates to the fabric of the neighborhood, as Councilor Marks has alluded to. I don't think there's anything wrong with going to any board of appeals. I've been there many times through the years. I've been to many boards during the courses of the year. I've gone and spoken as a citizen and as an elected official, and 90% of the time when I've gone, I've been recognized as an elected official in the city. but coming to speak on the matter whether I was pro or con. So what makes that any different than a few weeks ago before this council? We were asked to vote and participate on a private outside contractor who works at Tufts University, their custodial staff, we were asked to take a vote to support them. as it relates to them not losing their jobs. Something entirely different. It's got nothing to do with the Medford City Council. We were led to believe they were Tufts University employees. They were outside paid contractors. And by being outside paid contractors, further removed from the whole issue. And what did we do? We took a vote to support them. And something right here in our own building, something that represents the heartbeat of this community where people live, we're going to be precluded from going to any board or any meeting and talking to them because we're doing something wrong, we're strong-arming them, you're not. What is your opinion? What does an opinion mean? It means to offer what you think in your mind, what the situation might be and what you might want it to be. You want to look at the zoning ordinances and look at the criteria and the priority that it needs to take. If you need some revision, so be it. But to say we're gonna check the zoning first before we even go forward? Absolutely, absolutely ridiculous. It's the most ridiculous thing that I could hear of. You're making it sound like we have to just stay in this particular room and we can't go to before any board, any meeting, any commission because it's undue influence. Well, that's absurd. absolutely absurd. It's just as absurd as the vote we took that night to go out of our way to protect outside employees contracted by Tufts University, not even their own employees who we thought that was happening, and we took a vote to make sure to try to protect them to keep their jobs.
[Paul Camuso]: That evening, I believe the company was, was it DTZ? We were well aware that it was a contracted company. They got up here and represented themselves as a contracted company and members of SEIU, Service Employees International United. No, I understand they're not employees at Tufts Universities, but it doesn't matter. We would try to, we would try to, no it doesn't. So what, if they were Tufts University employees, we don't want them getting laid off, but because they have to work, because they happen to work for an outside entity, we, okay, let them go. I mean, I don't see any difference in that at all.
[Robert Penta]: President, should we be aware of the fact that in our sheriff's department, they may want to lay off employees, and we should take a vote to make sure that the sheriff keeps all the employees? Should we do that in every agency that's going out there? I'm not going to discuss it because that's my place of employment. Well, that's your place of employment. So if you were going to get laid off, you'd like to have somebody be there to support you, wouldn't you?
[Paul Camuso]: Once again, once again, the more Councilor Penta talks, he backs up what I'm trying to say. It's twice this evening you've done what I've tried to say. Earlier in the evening, you contradicted me, and then in the end, you end up agreeing with me. So it's kind of, I find it kind of comical. But with that being said, Madam President, with this particular issue, I would like to, the motion before us is to discuss it. So there's been plenty of discussion. I don't know if the council is going to bring forward a motion other than this. But to go one step further, I know firsthand from going to the Board of Appeals over the years and following the rulings and stuff, and I'm sure you know this as well as a congratulations being one of the top female attorneys in the area, by the way. Vice President Councilor Lungo-Koehn. But with that being said, the Board of Appeals, I'd like to find out how many of these were approved over the years. I would say it's less than 12. So for us to sit here and say it's changing the fabric of our entire community, matter of fact, we had someone, and I'm not going to use the name, but was going for one of these who worked for the United States Senator's office. At the time, it was a congressman's office. And it was denied. And it was denied. So this is not a major problem. Now, this particular one, I don't know where 198 and 202 Harvard Street is. I'm not going to get into that. I'm not going to discuss it prior to going down and maybe looking at the property and everything else. But with that being said, the Board of Appeals, I think it's incumbent upon us. Rather than to sit here and say it's changing the fact the the character of all our neighborhoods I think we have to ask the question How many of these were approved over say the last 10 years and if it's more than a dozen, I will be shocked shocked in a city of our size I'm pretty sure it's less than a dozen because they are very very strict and anyone that knows anything about the Board of Appeals There's only a few criteria that they can actually approve something. One is when it's created a hardship, I believe. And what's the other one, Mr. Clerk? Do you know off the top of your head? It's if there's a financial hardship. That's the main one. I just think we spent 45 minutes on an issue that Councilor Caraviello is probably right. I know he does his due diligence. He drives around more than any councillors that sit here. And he checks out all the properties that he brings up and stuff. So as I said, I'd like to reserve my judgment on that particular matter. But with that being said, I'd like to make a motion, if you don't mind, on how many of these were actually approved in the last 10 fiscal years. And then we can actually tell if there's a major problem in the community, and we should be putting in some sort of zoning ordinance or zoning law. But knowing that board, I will be shocked, like I said, if it's more than a dozen. Because I get more phone calls of the projects that get denied. And sometimes they're legitimate reasons, but just the hardship or whatever criteria that needs to be met is not met. And I know Attorney Arena, he is so tight when it comes to ethical standards. It's amazing, so.
[Adam Knight]: By address, Madam President. If we're going to get a listing from the last 10 years, we want to get them by address so we can see what pockets of the city these changes are happening in as well. I have no problem requesting the information, My concern is the fact that we're the legislative body that actually makes the zoning ordinances. We have a zoning ordinance that gives the Zoning Board of Appeals this power. Now we're telling them, don't exercise that power because we said so? We gave them the power. If we want to take it away, we can take it away, but there's a process to do that. I'm not saying that Councilor Caraviello is doing something wrong. He's doing his job. He's going out there and he's exercising his due diligence, which he does every day. And I understand exactly where he's coming from. And I certainly have concerns for the fabric of the neighborhood, too. I certainly have concerns for the fabric of the neighborhood. But I think that there's a proper process that's in place. And I don't want to run rush out over the process. And I certainly don't want to make any steps that are going to put us in a position to be politicizing an issue that shouldn't be politicizing, or politicizing a process that shouldn't be politicized. So that's where I'm coming from, Madam President. Insofar as the Tufts University situation, The Tufts University is a resident of the city of Bedford. We don't have any oversight control or dictation over their operations. We can make recommendations and we can make suggestions, but the zoning board of appeals and the rules and regulations that they fall under and that they are there to enforce are created by us. We make them up. We're the ones that make them. We make the zoning ordinances. We're the body that creates the zoning ordinances. And now we're going to tell them which ordinances to pay attention to and which ones not to? I have some concern about that. And I certainly do question whether or not it's undue political influence. With that being said, Madam President, it's no criticism of Councilor Caraviello or his efforts. I think that he's raised a good issue and it's a good issue to discuss. I think we as a body have a duty now to sit down and figure out what course of action we want to take in order to ensure that the fabric of the neighborhood is protected and that the process remains a process that's free from undue influence.
[Robert Penta]: Why would you want to sit down and discuss the ordinances now after Councilor Caraviello brought up something that's a concern if you don't think it's a concern until the Board of Appeals? I'm going to disagree with all of you except with this particular issue. One house can tear down a neighborhood. There was a house on Forest Street. I'm going to leave the number and the location nameless. And that house turned out to be a crack house. And that was causing a tremendous amount of problem. So to say that one house or any house, you don't need a quantitative number. It doesn't have to be 12, 15, or 20. It can take just one house to bring down a neighborhood. And this house almost did it.
[Adam Knight]: I requested the addresses of the homes because I wanted to see if there was any type of trend or any type of cluster in a certain neighborhood or a certain area where these requests have been made and then later issued. So that was why I asked that the address should be there, so that we can see and we can track it. Yeah, five requests came in, we approved two of them, and that's it. We still don't know where these houses were. We still don't know where it happened. We still don't know if it happened in a blighted area. We don't know if it happened in an area that was suitable for it. I mean, one area that I think of is right off of High Street, across from Essex Street, where they knocked down a dentist office and they built seven homes. You know what I mean? Seven $600,000 homes, all on the tax rolls. So it's just something to look at. That's all I'm saying, Madam President.
[Paul Camuso]: Obviously, about a month or two ago, we had a detective from the Medford Police Department here, and to say a crack house can pop up, we have these problems in every single neighborhood in this city. Every single neighborhood in this city, we have problems when it comes to people selling drugs out of a certain house. So to say it's as a result of these or that, what's the word, not when they condoize it, when it goes from a two to three, conversion, exactly, I'm sorry. To say that it's as a result of conversion, Forest Street may have been one particular case, but we've had a drug bust on Wareham Street, $40,000, a gun, heroin, and everything else within the last seven days. We have other drug busts within the last three or four months up in North Medford. The detective that was here a few weeks ago, talked about how each and every councillor, and he knows where all of us live, within walking distance of all of our own houses, there's been drug arrests from residents.
[Robert Penta]: You missed the point, because you say I'm following you, so maybe you should follow me. I'm talking about applications that go before the board, not houses that had nothing to do with the board. You just said they turn into crack houses. Well, the application had to go before the board. Talking about applications that went before the board.
[Paul Camuso]: Well, I'll tell you one thing. If I had a situation near my house where my family's growing up and it is a crack house and there was a potential for development to come in and make it maybe a two-family house or something else, I would go to the Board of Appeals and I would support the conversion with the hopes of having the crack house vacated. So in some cases, this is actually good. Look at Boynton Road. We've been talking about Boynton Road, number 56 Boynton Road. If there was a conversion that could take place that would be good in that neighborhood, I'm sure Mr. Crowley would be here and his neighbors to speak on behalf of it. But there is particular cases where you're better off taking a conversion than dealing with some of the nonsense that goes on. I know in Councilor Caraviello's neighborhood, there's a house that there's overdoses in weekly, weekly. People going in and out. I mean, Councilor Caraviello, what was it, two deaths or one death there? Two deaths. I'm sure the neighbors would want that to be converted if someone came in and wanted to clean up the property. Exactly. So there is cases that the Board of Appeals should take into consideration, and they have. So I'd like to get that number, though, because I think we're all going to be surprised by the small, small amount of approvals for conversions from a single family or a two family or a three family. So any conversion higher, what's the question? We got to ask the actual question rather than get it back. We didn't understand the question. Any conversion that added a different, an additional unit, a single to a, a single to a two, a two to a three, a three to a four. So.
[Richard Caraviello]: I, you know, I, I think we, I think this sort of, uh, it's been a little out of control. No one is saying that we, influence and the undue influence over the Appeal Board. Ten years ago, there wasn't two train stations coming in that neighborhood. Now, in the next five years or next few years, there's going to be a train station and there's going to be more people there. And as you can see, the properties are selling and you're going to see more people. They're paying record prices. You can't charge enough money to support the record prices that they're paying. And like I said, before the other one gets there. But again, there was no intent of undue influence on the Appeal Board. It was a matter of that there's going to be more and more of these coming forward in the next year or the next couple of years. And I think we need to keep our eye on it. That was the intent of this, not to influence the Appeal Board.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, in proposing in Putting this question together, I think it would be very important that we clarify that it would be asking the Zoning Board of Appeals how many of those conversions occurred by way of approval of the Zoning Board of Appeals. So matters that were before them.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: By way of approval, correct. Okay. Name and address for the record, sorry.
[Krause]: Thank you. Ken Kraus, 50 Mystic Street. I just wanted to provide some information about the upcoming Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. It was referenced as potentially next week. It originally was scheduled for next week, the 26th of May, but it has been rescheduled for June 10th. That's 7 p.m. here in City Hall. And in addition to the Harvard Street project that was mentioned there are four other projects on the agenda just for anybody who might be interested. Um, the same actually Harvard street, uh, owner has a petition to, um, do some work at the 23 forest street, uh, building, which is across the street from the post office to, uh, convert that, uh, property from, uh, three residential dwellings, I think apartments and offices into, um, five condos and a retail space. There's a proposal to add two residential units to the building at 241 Boston Avenue, which is a commercial building near North Street. There's a petition to add a undersized parking space to 16 Dunbar Avenue, which is in the Haines Square area. And there's a petition to operate a kennel on 168 Mystic Avenue. So again, that's June 10th at seven o'clock here at City Hall for anybody that's interested in any of those projects.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Ken.
[Krause]: The meeting for the Winthrop Street development is before the Community Development Board tomorrow, the 20th here at 6.30. Thank you, Ken.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Name and address of the record.
[acqgxK4yhEM_SPEAKER_16]: Mario Martin, 18 Benton Road. I actually live pretty close to Harvard, so it's actually right on the corner. I wanted to thank, by the way, Councilor Gavriello for bringing up this important issue as a resident of Benton Road and Harvard Street. This does affect me. The question I have for the Council is actually if it's, as Councilor Camuso mentioned earlier, essentially difficult for zoning boards to approve conversions or additions, in this case, especially to a non-conforming home. How do we know that compliance is actually being enforced? Meaning, how do we know landlords aren't actually going out and if they know they can't get it approved, how do we know that they're not doing it behind the back of the city? And how are we enforcing it?
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: I think that that's a good question. And we have a code enforcement department. A lot of times, most of the complaints come from actual neighbors that will see additional vehicles and things of that nature. Unfortunately, as we all know, as city councilors, we don't find out all the time about these illegal units until it goes to sell or they're doing a home inspection or doing the appraisal for the taxes, which we're going through right now. City actually sends someone in the house and they're looking for stoves in the basement and stuff in the basement that would indicate that it's... But I'd say 90% of them, and we've heard this from our building department, comes from neighbors' complaints. So they do take them very serious when it does come up, but if they don't know, they can't do anything about it. Thank you, ma'am.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Mr. Cassidy.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you. Andrew Castagnetti, Cushing Street, Medford, Mass. I'll make it brief as possible. Our city is getting more congested and it's getting worse. Mr. Caraviello, you're right. By right, a real estate owner, the way I understand it, can go do whatever they please and build out within the zoning rights. I believe it's through a Board of Appeals, through a hardship that they would have to prove hardship. and do arrests of some sort that they could get a variance in order to go from a three-family to a five or whatever if it's not allowed in that area. So I guess, Mr. Caraviello, you should go to the meeting and express your concern. And other people should also if they have some issues with that. But most importantly, I would worry about Tufts University. I would make sure that Tufts University is buying all their real estate. through Wild Night Hill Properties to keep the real estate tax bill in place, or else it becomes a non-profit and we lose more and more of our real estate tax base, or some other entity that will pay a real estate tax. I don't care if it's commercial or residential.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: On the motion. Do you want them to request a moratorium, or do you want to So we'll ask for how many conversions in the last 10 years, and then the last year by address, and also how many are coming forward within the next two to four months. OK, we'll take off the moratorium. So we'll be notified when they come forward? Can we be notified?
[Richard Caraviello]: I think the neighbors should know there's going to be more, they expect more, and people should be aware of what's going to be coming down the line.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So by resolution by councillor Caraviello, amended by councillor Kamuso. Motion for approval. All those in favor? All those passed. 15471 offered by Councilor Knight. Be resolved that motion to withdraw. All those in favor? All those opposed? Paper is withdrawn. Paper 15-472 offered by Councilor Knight. be resolved the contractors performing the construction work on Winthrop Street between Route 16 and Route 60 remove all construction equipment, materials and debris at the conclusion of each day. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much and thank you for indulging me once again on this topic. I've gotten a number of complaints, Madam President, from the residents of the area, many of whom are my neighbours, relative to the closure of one lane of traffic going down Winthrop Street and one lane of traffic going up Winthrop Street so that these contractors can store their materials during the day and after the work hours. Now, I can understand blocking off lanes of traffic to ensure their safety and to allow them to have access to their equipment and materials when construction's going on, but at this point in time, with this mini big dig that's been going on for the past two years now, The area is just looking blighted and terrible. And this is a gateway to the city. As someone gets off the highway and they go down Route 16 and take a right onto Route 38 to go up to Winthrop Circle, they're going to drive through an area that's just blighted at this point in time. There's a generator, there's cones, there's curbs, there's piles of dirt, there's old rusted pipes, there's new pipes, there's plastic. There's a port-a-party on the sidewalk at the corner of Winthrop Street and High Street. I mean, it can't get any worse at this point in time, Madam President. I think that we have an opportunity to request that these materials be removed at the end of the day. And I don't think that that's too much to ask. There's ample space for the contractor at their yard. They're keeping two bulldozers out there. They can move the bulldozers. They can put the bulldozers in a parking lot. They can put the bulldozers at the condom shelf. They can put it in a number of places, Madam President, but one of the places that it shouldn't be is sitting in a lane of traffic, blocking a lane of traffic and creating congestion and creating traffic hardships, especially with the current condition of the roadway that it's in. So Madam President, I'd ask for my council colleagues to support this resolution and to make the request that at the end of each workday, the area is cleaned out of all construction materials, debris and equipment. in the interest of public safety and in the interest of, you know, egress into the city. I think it's just a beautification issue at this point in time, Madam President. The residents have been very patient in dealing with this issue. Earlier in the meeting tonight, we had a very long discussion about what these residents are going to have to face again in 18 short months. So I think at this point in time, they need a little bit of relief, Madam President, and I think that this will do it for a short period of time. But, you know, I'd also like to see when this construction project is going to end two months ago. When we made the request of the DPW, they said that there were 18 more connections that needed to take place. And that led me to believe that how many of them had been done, led me to question how many have actually been done if they need 18 more to do. So this project's been taking an extremely long time. I can only imagine what the budget looks like. I think this was something that was supposed to be wrapped up in short order, and it hasn't been, Madam President. So in the interest of mitigation, I'd make this request, and I'd ask my colleagues to support it.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Absolutely, motion for approval. Second. Seconded by Council President Dello Russo. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Paper passes. Paper 15-473, offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved the City Clerk provide a listing of all requests for budget appropriations made by the Council for review in concert with the City Council budget hearings. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, again, thank you very much. We're going to have budget hearings coming up in June. to go over the state budget. I think for the past year, this council has been very active and involved in lobbying for issues and matters that are important to it. And I think that now is the right time for us to take a look at these materials, go through them all, and to develop our position as we go forward to set the budget for the next fiscal year, Madam President. I think that it's very important for us to maybe take a look at what we've requested, prioritize them, and bring those issues to the administration. and make sure that they're included in the budget process, Madam President. So I'd ask that my colleagues support this resolution in order for us to prepare for council budget hearings.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion for approval by Council of the Night. All those in favor? Seconded by Council President Dello Russo. All those opposed? Paper passes. Paper 15-4.
[Adam Knight]: I'd like to withdraw at this point in time, Madam President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to withdraw. Paper 15-474. All those in favor? All those opposed? Paper is withdrawn. Paper 15-475 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved the harbour master and project manager for the Craddock Bridge renovation project conduct an information session for boat owners to determine what waterway restrictions will be implemented during the renovations of the Craddock Bridge. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much. I was contacted by a number of avid fishermen who during previous construction projects had loaded up their boat with their bait and their friends and their barbecue and their food. And they got on the river at 4 o'clock in the morning and tried to make their way out to the harbor to go fishing for the day. And they were met with a roadblock, no access, no access to the harbor. And these same individuals purchase a slip every year to house their boat in the upper lake. And it's a significant expense for them. So in discussions that we've had, one of the issues that was raised was whether or not there were going to be restrictions for these individuals to take their boats downriver to get into the harbor. I've had some discussions with our Office of Community Development and the project manager, and there will be some restrictions. The project manager has changed on the project at this point in time. So I'm requesting that the Harbormaster and the new project manager sit down and develop a schedule. And the schedule can be posted and shared with boat owners, and an information session be conducted so that people that have concerns about this can sit down and can actually speak to the individuals that are making the decisions in the Harbormaster to figure out what best course of action will be.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion for approval by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Paper passes. Paper 15-476, offered by Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, I withdraw.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to withdraw. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion is withdrawn. Paper 15-477, offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved the administration provide the council with a listing of all vacant board and commission positions that are established by way of ordinance, statute, or state law. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much. Early last month I had my office hours and an individual came before me. some concern relative to vacancies in certain boards and commissions and the lack of meeting in a frequency that would be established by statute ordinance or by way of law. So with that being said, Madam President, I took a look at the listing of boards and commissions and noticed that there are a variety of vacancies that exist in those boards and commissions. And I think with the change of administration coming, it would be very important for us to see what positions are vacant at this point in time. what's filled, what's not filled, and then take a look at why they're not filled and maybe make a recommendation to fill certain positions, Madam President. I have no problem with that. Madam President, I'd like to amend the paper to request what the salaries are.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. On the amendment, motion of Council of the Night for approval as amended. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Offered by Councilor Penta. be it resolved that the future of Lawrence Memorial Hospital be discussed. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: I'd like to refer this to next Tuesday's meeting, please.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Penta to table this, to take it up next Tuesday. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is tabled. Offered by Councilor Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council offer our sincere condolences to the family of Warren Ramirez, who is very active in the Grace Episcopal Church and St. Joseph Choir. His presence in our community will be sorely missed. Also, 15-481, if I may, offered by Councilor Penta, be it resolved that an expression of sympathy be forwarded to the family of Warren Ramirez, a former bank official at the Brookline Bank, former Arlington Savings Bank, on his passing, a special expression of recognition be extended to Kathleen Beebe, his special love in his life, and the most wonderful woman who dedicated herself to Warren and his family. Also, if we could, one more condolence offered by Councilor Penta, 15 of 482, be resolved that an expression of sympathy be forwarded to the family of Joseph Callahan, the former city auditor upon his passing. Mr. Callahan was a gentle and caring person who always performed his job with courtesy and professionalism. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, this past week, I can't say you had the opportunity. This past week you haven't been part of the funeral services for Juan Ramirez. And it took place at the Grace Episcopal Church. And what was very different about it was the fact that the choir from St. Joseph's Church on High Street, as well as the choir from the Grace Episcopal Church joined together for this particular mass service, so to speak. Warren, as everyone knows, sang at both churches, St. Joe's and Sacred Heart. And very dedicated to both the churches and very dedicated to the people in both those churches. fine representative. It was an outstanding funeral performance. And Kathleen Beebe, who was the love of his life, there participating with this family, an extremely wonderful lady, strong, who took care of Warren and his mother for many, many years, and just a fine and wonderful lady to be recognized as well. Lastly, anyone who knew Joseph Callahan, who was our former city auditor, He was a very gentle and caring individual. He did his job quietly and with professionalism, and he truly personified a true public employee. So to his family, we offer likewise this expression of sympathy.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Yes. Again, I want to convey my condolences to the Warren Ramirez and Kathleen. I mean, I've known Warren for many years, and you see him in the square all the time, and always there for you whenever you need a good man, good family. He's going to be missed in the area. Yes, yes, yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: 15487 offered by President Dello Russo, be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate the retirees of 2014-15 of the Medford Fire Department for the years of service and protection of the citizens of Medford. The four retirees are firefighter Matthew T. Jewett, retired May 2, 2014, after five years of service. Lieutenant Timothy A. Beckwith, retired June 2nd, 2014, after 31 years of service. Firefighter Timothy M. Powers retired October 5th, 2014, after 34 years of service. And firefighter Michael E. Greer retired February 1st, 2015, after 32 years of service. The retired firefighters will be honored at the annual retirement banquet on Friday, May 29th at 7 p.m. at the Firefighters Hall at 340 Salem Street here in Medford. And the council president will be on hand along with any of the other councilors who are present to present the certificates of achievement and congratulation. Congratulation to the retirees. Motion be received and placed on file, move approval. Councilor Knight, all those in favor, all those opposed? Motion approved. I think we've achieved everything we came to do tonight.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I can remind, tomorrow is the annual veterans luncheon here. So anybody who doesn't know or wants to attend, all veterans are free. 12 o'clock here, there's going to be a couple of speakers. Our own John Galeen will be one of our speakers, just returned from Vietnam a couple of weeks ago. For any veteran or anybody in the community who wants to come, 12 o'clock here tomorrow in the Council Chambers.
[SPEAKER_24]: Awesome.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Not too late to get a ticket.
[Richard Caraviello]: Sorry?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Not too late to get a ticket.
[Richard Caraviello]: If you're a veteran, you're free. Never too late for you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You can come tomorrow and get a ticket. Very good. Councilor Penta, you had something for us.
[Robert Penta]: Next Monday, forthcoming Monday, is going to be Memorial Day. And I just want to remind everyone that you're all invited. I believe it's 10 o'clock in the morning. at Oak Grove Cemetery for the services that will be partaking. And it should be a fine day remembering all our veterans, and at the same time, it's a nice way for the community to get out and see each other and say hello.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's always a beautiful moment there. Always a beautiful moment. It is. Thank you, Councilor. The records of the May 12, 2015 Council meeting were passed to Councilor Knight. Mr. Councilor, how did you find those?
[Robert Penta]: In order, Mr. President. Move approval. Mr. President, I have a problem.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So, Councilor Penta, would you like to discuss that with Councilor Knight?
[Robert Penta]: I'll discuss it with the maker of the motion and resolve it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So, we'll resolve it and have the proper amendation made. So, on that motion, all those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carries. Motion to adjourn by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion to adjourn.
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