[Fred Dello Russo]: Are you ready, Mr. Clerk? Yes. Can I proceed? Get your roll call.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Several short weeks ago, I filed a resolution asking the city assessor to take a look into third-party lodging websites such as Airbnb and HomeAway. The assessor had reported back that the Department of Revenue does not have any mechanism to define these residents as short-term lodging facilities at this point in time, and the burden falls back on the local government to establish an ordinance that would, in effect, create this type of designation for a property so that the city would be able to, number one, capture some of the revenues that are associated with these short-term rentals, but also, number two, and more importantly, ensure that these units are safe for habitation, Mr. President. So I'd ask that my council colleagues support me in voting for this resolution so that we can have an ordinance on the books that will allow us the opportunity to capture revenue from third party lodging websites.
[Robert Penta]: On that motion, some years ago before council and I came on the council, this was an issue that was brought up at that point in time. And I believe one of the concerns we had was that our building department were getting complaints from people who were renting out rooms, if not spaces, within the homes. And some of them went to college kids, some of them went to transients, and some of them were just for the purposes of, you know, raising some money. I believe then, at the time, when Councilor Burke was on the council, she had offered a resolution as it related to the fact of maybe going forward in addressing this particular matter so as to make it a revenue-producing part of the real estate that the rental properties were on. Now, the comment that you made, Councilor Knight, is basically the same thing that came back then when the conversation took place. I believe there was a side mechanism that could be involved in that, and that would be through zoning. If the zoning does not or does allow for it, then I believe it becomes an issue that you don't need the Department of Revenue to indicate whether it's legal or not. We were supposed to then at that point in time get an answer back. I don't know, we might even have something in our law department on that. But I'd like to amend your motion to go one step further to have a report back. If we were to do this, can we do this through our zoning ordinance change, make a change specifically in the zoning ordinances, that would either allow or disallow that type of a, of an issue to take place.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Repeat that amendment to the main motion, a Councilor again, courtesy to the clerk.
[Robert Penta]: I would like to amend counts and nights resolution to look into having a law department look into the legalese, so to speak, of whether to allow or whether we can allow or disallow depending on which way you want to use this mechanism. to be included within specific or particular zoning areas in the city of Medford. So that way there, let's just say someone has a two-family house, or they want to rent out a room, whatever it might be. I believe if you look at our zoning charts, it'll not be allowed, or it is allowed, or whatever it might be. But if it has to be included in there to make itself regulatory for the purposes of taxation, you can do that through zoning.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, I just want to be clear that this isn't resolution that I'm putting forward to discourage or impede the use of these third-party websites. I think that, you know, Airbnb and HomeAway provide a great alternative to hotels. They're also very pet-friendly, so individuals who like to travel with their pets are able to use these type of services as opposed to going to the Hyatt or the Hilton or the Marriott. So, you know, I want to be very clear that I want this resolution that gets authored to actually define the same parameters relative to public safety and also define some parameters relative to registering the unit that they have for sale or for rent rather. And this isn't something where someone goes in and says, I want to sign a lease for 12 months and live in the unit. It's, I want to come and stay at your condo on 28 ninth street for a week and pay you $800 instead of going to a hotel downtown. So, you know, I have no problem with the resolution provided the Councilor and I are on the same page. I certainly think we are in terms of asking the city solicitor whether or not this is something that's legal, and we're asking the treasurer, collector, and assessor to work in concert with the solicitor. So I think we're on the same page in this regard. I just want to be very clear that this is not a resolution that I'm putting forward to impede that actual commerce, Mr. President, but rather embrace it and figure out ways that we can capture the revenue and ensure public safety.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. Council Penta.
[Robert Penta]: One particular addendum to that. One of the concerns that were brought up at that point in time when this was discussed some years back was if, in fact, you are renting out that room or a particular part of the house, the parking situation as it relates to cars and within the neighborhood. And I think that's something that, again, through the law department, I think that's one of the things you need to have addressed.
[Adam Knight]: Yeah, that's the criteria that I would speak up when I see a criteria in place. All right.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So on that motion as amended by Councilor Penta, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. 15-388 offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that the administration and Office of Community Development update the Medford City Council with regard to any updates they may have on the Malden Hospital redevelopment. Be it further resolved that we become apprised of any recent discussions between Medford personnel and Malden personnel regarding the redevelopment. Councilor, Vice President Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. There have been The city councillors in Malden held one meeting that I was in attendance for with regards to the Malden redevelopment. They spoke to the citizens of Malden. Really didn't give the citizens of Medford, you know, too much time to speak and throw out their concerns. And then there's also a group that is having meetings with regards to how they see the Malden site being redeveloped. Three acres of the property is in So, you know, and it abuts our neighborhoods up in the heights. There are a lot of people that are concerned on this. I know Lauren DiLorenzo from Office of Community Development was at the first meeting held by the City of Malden. I was at that meeting. I was also at one of the two meetings from this private group. So there is a lot of talk going on. There are developers, I'm sure, working on their plan. But it's been a while since, you know, Lauren was involved at that one meeting. And I just want to get an update from whether that's Office of Community Development and or the city administrations to see where we stand. I just want to make sure that our mayor and city administration are on top of what is going on and definitely have a say in the development. There are a number of things that Medford residents are concerned about, obviously opening up that gate. We discussed it at prior meetings. They're concerned about traffic flow on Salem Street and up in the Heights and people cutting through the neighborhoods. There's already enough traffic around that area. So I just want to make sure that the City of Medford stays on top of this. We have to, you know, obviously be vigilant in getting in Malden's ear, saying, hey, you know, we have a stake in this too. It's, you know, partly our property as well. So just any updates the City of Medford can give us, the City Council with regards to that, because I know there are a lot of, There's a lot of Medford residents that reach out to the councillors about this proposal. Obviously, it's very dense. They want hundreds of units from townhouses to apartments. And that is just a site that probably cannot take that type of density. And this other group would like to see some parkland, some public buildings, and where does the city stand is my question.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So on that motion of Vice All those in favor? Those opposed? Motion passes.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso? I'd like to move suspension of two papers, 15-307 and then another one in the hands of the clerk that Councilor Penta submitted regarding the parking kiosks.
[Fred Dello Russo]: 15-307, do we have that?
[Paul Camuso]: Yeah, the revenues. Unfinished business.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion of a suspension of the rules to take two items by Councilor Camuso, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. 15-307. Revenues from parking kiosks after hours. Whose motion was that originally? Councilor Penta. Does Councilor Penta wish to speak on that? Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, members of the council, and also our citizen taxpayers. I think the resolution goes a little bit deeper than the highlight that's basically saying there. I know tomorrow night we are supposedly having a meeting as it relates to the parking meter system here in the city of Medford. And we all know what's been going on as it relates to this mayor's parking program here in the city. Just a couple of things. The meeting is going to take place at six o'clock tomorrow night. Allegedly, our chief of police, the mayor, The people from Republic, from Tennessee are going to be there, and hopefully any and all interested citizens who have a concern as it relates to what this is all about and how they've been impacted. But during this past week, and then once again, I don't know where we begin and where we end with all of this, because it's becoming a nonstop issue. I'll jump on to you, Councilor Caraviello. On the issue with the meters. They still say 7 in the morning to 7 at night. OK? And as a result of them saying 7 in the morning to 7 at night, the fact of the matter is, I still see people trying to put the money in the machine. They were supposed to correct it. That's nothing more than simple terminology. They haven't changed the screens, and that's another issue. Speaking with the folks down in Riverside Avenue today, just today, because I unfortunately haven't been around for a while, speaking of the fact, the rudeness of the individuals, the rudeness of the individuals, and how they talk to the patrons utilizing that. They finally, from what I understand, just finally highlighted the back of the van that basically says, this truck makes frequent stoppings, and that's all to be included here in the contract. I want to thank one of our citizen taxpayers, Michael O'Jerry, who comes up here almost every week And he's been very insightful, and he's been very helpful to me, because in my discussions back and forth, we have labored over conversations as it relates to contents within the contract. But the contract has very specific sections as it relates to performance duties and responsibilities that not only the city has, but more importantly, the operator has. And those duties and responsibilities do come within the first 90 days of the contract, or within the first year, depending on how you want to read this. and take advantage of it. But we all know what took place yesterday, which is absolute disgrace. These people, these out-of-town bounty hunters from Tennessee, yesterday were tagging people all across the city. City Hall was closed yesterday. There was no rubbish picked up yesterday in the city. Nowhere in government was there to be operating. And what do we have? We have out-of-town bounty hunters going around, tagging people and making their lives miserable here in the city of Medford. I think we all received, if not all of you, at least I received, Three of them, through the email today, would pitch us not only of the tickets, but of the tags, and the people saying, I'm not even going to appeal it, I'm going to pay it, but I am not going back to that place of business again, because it's just absolutely wrong. If this is what we have denigrated our community to, I just think it's wrong. It's absolutely wrong. I had made a resolution, I believe some four weeks ago, and then I had brought it up again at another time. And then I was asked not to force the council or put the council in a position to take a vote until we have this meeting tomorrow night. You folks as Councilors, you can have this meeting all you want tomorrow night. But I am moving here right now, tonight, as a result of this resolution. And I believe you have my paper up there too, as it talks to under suspension. I am sure you can introduce it now. Yeah. Put it in there. Yep.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Enter to combine his paper under suspension offered by Councilor Penta. be resolved that the matter of Wednesday's 6 p.m. meeting regarding the mayor's new parking program be briefed upon?
[Robert Penta]: Right. And this is what we're briefing upon it because right now the briefing upon this is very, very brief as far as I'm concerned. I am not going to go any further with this. And before I go over to my colleague, Councilor Camuso, I just want to say to Councilor Marks, I mean, it was his insight dating back some five years ago with the committee that he served on that basically said we should have nothing more than a traffic enforcement program. Let's start it. Let's see where we're going. When my resolution came up, I think it was three weeks ago, and you asked to lay it on the table, which I did. I believe at that point in time, It was your druthers council's marks that said, you know, maybe we should, if we're going to get rid of it, maybe we should think about having a traffic enforcement program, set it small, keep it in house. And at that point in time, take it to go forward. I am, I want to, I'm going to move on my resolution as I had. And council Camuso, he can speak on it as well because we've discussed this. I am going to move that the city of Medford drop out whatever the proper terminology might be to cease its operations with Republic. because of their multiple violations, for which I won't acknowledge here tonight. I'll put it in writing if the clerk wants it or if the city solicitor wants it. The multiple sections of the contract that have been totally violated by the operator and for which the city and for which our own chief of police has publicly acknowledged that he has warned them, advised them what to do, what to change. I have brought in here week after week with pictures. I have brought in the fact that they haven't honored their contract for lettering of their trucks. They haven't honored their contracts for the kiosk, for the Times, the collections of the money, and after yesterday, I think that was the ultimate straw. So I'm moving, Mr. President, that the council take official position to A, terminate its contract with Tennessee, and B, to support the resolution offered by Councilman Marks, which basically says that the city look at and investigate its own traffic enforcement program for the purposes of the parking, the signage, which is two hours, 30 minutes, whatever it might be, at least take that position and then begin to go forward.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Penta, the City Council has no contract with that company.
[Robert Penta]: No, I said advising the Mayor to terminate the contract.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Penta, Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Mr. President. And it was a few weeks ago when Councilor Penta brought the paper forward to get rid of the contract. And at that point, I had stated that I'm getting very close to supporting his resolution, but I wanted to see it take take a few more weeks and just to see if they could get things straightened out. Obviously, at this point, the mayor and his top officials have not held this company accountable, as far as I'm concerned. So, in light of that, I have a resolution I'd like to submit on behalf of Councilor Pinter and myself. basically that says that in light of the recent actions of Republic Parkins job performance and the failure of the city administration to hold them accountable Be it resolved that the mayor and his top administration officials remove the pay-to-park kiosks throughout this community It's to the point now where it's loud and clear. Mr. President. This is a complete failure of This is a complete failure. And I understand the mayor's very busy, but he had his top people put this thing together. This wasn't the new schools they built. This wasn't the DPW yard that looks so great. For whatever reason, this has been a complete and utter failure. And I just think it's time that we move forward with doing in-house parking enforcement. And I asked a question. I'm going to actually have it up a little later. A few weeks ago, I actually asked, and the council supported this unanimously, for a copy of all the transfers that have taken place from July 1st to now, because I wanted to see what money out there they're transferring around within the budget, because obviously that's overtaxing the people, and everyone talks about how fiscally stable this community is. It's only because they overbudgeted, and at the end of the year, it gets certified and put into the free cash accounts. It's obviously what they're doing. You don't get $6 million in a rainy day certified free cash account if you're not overtaxing the people during the year. And they're not too quick to give us that information. So once again, I'd ask Budget Director Burke to send us this information forthwith. And at that point, look and see if we have additional funding so that we can either purchase some of the equipment to do it in-house, whatever has to be done. But the public outcry from the citizens of this community, it's, I'm done. Yesterday, Mr. President, yesterday, people parked their cars on streets in the whole West Medford area. The whole West Medford area, they parked their cars so they could go down and watch Paul Revere ride. And they came back to tickets on their cars. And the signs clearly said, parking certain hours, excluding holidays, Saturday and Sunday. If Patriot's Day is not a considered holiday, the mayor doesn't have this building open to come down here and pay your water bill, or to come down here and get some information that you may need from the city. you're going to get a parking ticket the same day. The trash is put off by a day. And I just don't get it. I brought this to the attention of the budget director yesterday afternoon. She was gracious enough to take my call on a day off, and I explained to her the situation. But to have the city administration and The parking company, not on the same page as far as what consists of holiday. Are we going to go through this every Bunker Hill day, every evacuation day, everything else? It just, it doesn't make sense. And once again, I'm asking, I'm asking to support Councilors Penta's motion. from a few weeks ago and get rid of this evening. And like I said, if I can just read it again, and this is offered by Councilor Penter and myself.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If you would, Councilor, so we've taken 15-307 off the table, which the revenues from parking kiosks after hours to be discussed. And I'm going to amend it. We've combined that with be it resolved that the matter of Wednesday's 6 p.m. meeting be discussed tonight, or briefed upon, I think was the terminology you used, Councilor. You've, Councilor Camuso has amended that to make a second request of the Mayor's Office to provide us with a update of free cash exchanges.
[Paul Camuso]: No, I get another paper, I'm gonna discuss that later.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Okay, so we'll withdraw that, and we'll now add this amendment, which we'll read into the record, Councilor.
[Paul Camuso]: Yes, it's going to be an amendment, excuse me, an amendment from myself and Councilor Penta that in light of the actions of Republic Parkings, recent job performance and the failure of the city administration to hold them accountable, be it resolved that the mayor and his administration remove the pay to park kiosks for it with. And, uh, I would request a roll call vote on this.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. Councilor fuel. I have the, uh, this is messenger present that to the clerk for its accuracy.
[Paul Camuso]: And, uh, as I said, I've been very, very patient, trying not to get to this point. But after yesterday, and just when you call the office too and ask them, they really didn't have any answers. I know Councilor Penta mentioned earlier, he called the office and they were rude. They weren't rude, they were very nice to me, but they just, well, I have to call another guy here and there. Somerville, Somerville, as Councilor Marks often says, they jump out of the trees to give you tickets. Somerville wasn't giving out tickets yesterday. And they bring in $8 million a year with their program. So something's wrong here. And at this point, let's get these kiosks out of here. Let's get the city back to some sort of sense of normalcy. And last but not least, as far as I'm concerned, I still think there should be strict parking enforcement. But do it in a manner that's not so disrupting to the community and with a company or a department here within City Hall that can actually get the job done.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Camuso. Point of clarification, Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Councilor Camuso, it wasn't the people I spoke to. It was the people working the streets, not the people at the office. That's number one. Number two, I believe inclusive of that resolution that you have in there, there is also a request for my resolution for a roll call vote. And that's the thing that was laid in the table. Now we have two of them. So if you get to the, if you look at the official minutes and if you look at the record on the resolution, there was a request The one that just took off the table, Eddie. The one that came off the table. The one that came off the table had a request for a vote.
[Paul Camuso]: Council President, if I can finish. Sorry, Councilor. If I could just finish.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Oh, yes, please, by all means.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Penter alluded to the fact that we're having a meeting tomorrow night. I know I spoke with you earlier today, but I think this meeting should be postponed till when the carnival's out of here. There's no way to park. Based upon the last few meetings on this particular matter, based upon the public outcry with this particular issue, To have it on a Wednesday night where City Hall is open and we have this carnival out back here, I just think it's, I think it's doing an injustice. We got, we got seven of us here tonight, elected members of the City Council, and I think only two or three of us got parking spots on City Hall property. It's, I just don't think we should move forward with it tomorrow night, but that's my humble opinion and whatever the Council sees fit.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I'm going to agree with Councilor Pantera. In Councilor Camuso, I mean, this company's had four months to get their act together here. And instead of getting better, it says they've gotten worse. They've done nothing to improve their job performance at all in this community. I mean, these are simple things that shouldn't be going on. You shouldn't be taking them to holidays. Getting cars mocked and everything. Again, simple things. And I say, for a company of this size, Not to get their act together after four months is just a disgrace, and I'll support my two councillors on this. And I also agree with Councilor Camuso for tomorrow night with the carnival here. I mean, I'm parked on Oakland Street. And if there's going to be a large amount of people there tomorrow night, I don't know where they're going to park. So I'd be in favor of moving the meeting to after the carnival also.
[Fred Dello Russo]: May I take this opportunity to point out that it's been advertised at the council's request for two weeks.
[Richard Caraviello]: I don't think we knew about the carnival at that time, Mr. President. Well, it was carnival, but, you know.
[Michael Marks]: Why don't we have the meeting and then a follow-up meeting, if necessary?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think that's the advisable thing. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I agree that it's difficult to find parking, but at this late stage, to cancel a meeting that's been scheduled for several weeks, I think would pose a larger hardship on people that have already made it part of their calendar. I would ask that we meet tomorrow night and also set up a meeting for the next few weeks after that to have a follow-up meeting also, Mr. President. Just if I could add my opinion, and I've been very consistent on this mayor's proposed parking plan from day one. And it was actually myself and Councilor Penta, when the mayor presented his plan to us, asked for a plan of doing this in-house versus outsourcing. And the mayor came back with a shoddy plan, in my opinion, that showed that it was far more expensive to take this parking program in-house than to outsource it. And from the start, Mr. President, I, as one member of the council, thought that we could do this in-house. We have the ability to do it. We have crossing guards that already have uniforms and familiar with working on the streets. We have retired police officers that have expressed interests to me and other members of this council. Our original view of this parking proposal was just to enforce existing signage, nothing more. Pay for parking was never a subject that was brought up to institute in this community until the mayor got hold of that particular idea and felt that the revenue, which we all want additional revenue, was the way to go. in this aspect and I believe firmly revenue is secondary when it comes to parking enforcement and the primary objective is to move cars along in the business districts and also to enforce resident permit parking in our neighborhoods. So, you know, from the get-go I have not been in favor of this particular program. On the flip side, and I stated this a couple of weeks ago, there are aspects of the program that currently exist, not to pay for parking aspects, but other aspects that are underway. A lot of time and effort went into them, and I think we can keep portions of the parking program without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. So I have been supportive from day one, taking this in-house. You lose all local control, as we found out, And I said this seven months ago, actually even longer, eight months ago, even before the mayor signed a contract. Once you hire an outside contractor, you lose all local control, Mr. President. And we're seeing that now. We're hearing from the public saying, well, how can they give out a ticket on a holiday? And how come they're giving out tickets when I have a permit sticker and they're still giving me a ticket on my own street? How come they're enforcing after hours? How come they're taking my money when the kiosks aren't supposed to accept money? So we're here on all these issues, and partly based on because we're dealing with an outside entity. This council also asked for financial reporting. And I don't know if anyone else has received any reporting, but we have yet to receive one iota of financial reporting on this particular program. And that's a major concern, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Can I just take this opportunity to point out, if you notice on the call for the Committee of the Whole meeting, I asked for a number of reports from a number of different constituencies within City Hall. and without and the clerk to date has received nothing to attach to our packets for tomorrow night's meeting.
[Michael Marks]: Right. So we have not received it. So, so at this point, uh, Mr. President, um, I, I support, uh, the, uh, resolution brought forward, uh, not only cause it's the right thing to do, but the fact that councilor Camuso and council Penter are both, uh, on the resolution as offering it, to me, is a milestone in this community. And that is another reason why I will support this tonight, Mr. President. And it makes sense on behalf of this community, on the residents that I've spoken to, the hundreds of residents that have sent us emails, stopped me at Stop and Shop in the street, saying that they don't agree with this particular program. The business owners that are struggling now, hearing that customers are not going to come back because of this program. What does that say to a small business? What does that say to a small business that, you know what, we don't care if people don't come back to your business. We have a parking plan in place, and according to the mayor, it's working. Well, I would suggest to you, Mr. President, that it's not working. People in this community are struggling now with the program, and let's go back to the basics and move forward. And the basics would be, Mr. President, enforce the existing signage, look at the permit parking, and move forward after that, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their comments, but once again, One of the issues that were brought up in this thing is the parking spaces in the permit parking. And on page two of the contract, one of the things that really, I think, have riled some of the neighborhood folks is, A, maintain and update permit database. B, redo, hold, revoke, and reinstate, reactivate permits. C, update all permit files. D, inquire into permit data. and E, billing and payment for permits. And all of those issues, those five issues, have been really bones of controversy with the parking program and the contract. I mean, we have folks from South Medford. We have people from Medford. We have people on streets that have permit parking that are getting tickets, and they have the stickers right on their cars. We also have the fact that into the contract, it basically says that the city has its exclusive right within its initial time period, which I believe is the first three months, for the purposes of, hey, taking an investigation and looking at and reviewing. And by looking and reviewing, we're not going anywhere. The fact of the matter is, Councilor Marks, you just hit something on the head that probably we should have brought up before, and that's this. People said there are more spaces now available than there was before. Where those spaces that are available, go to the stores, go to the merchants in front of the stores where those spaces are, and ask them if those spaces are helping or hurting their business. And I think the answer is very pronouncedly, no, it's not helping their business at all. You know, this is, you know, on page four of the contract, in the event that the operator terminates the agreement or, quote, ceases to perform its obligations herein prior to the completion of the initial term, that's the beginning, that's it, they're out. And I think with that being said, and I'm not going to rehash it, I'm moving to terminate it, thank Councilor Camuso for being part of it. And the resolution, I believe, speaks for itself, Mr. President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I was going to ask what the actual resolve is. So the resolve is to pull the kiosks and terminate the contract? Yes. Just from my perspective, I feel the same way. I feel very frustrated with regards to, you know, the amount of emails we get. Yesterday was almost the last straw, and I think it was for the council, with regards to tickets going out when it was a holiday. I mean, I specifically asked the chief of police, are they ticketing today? And he said no. And then all of a sudden we get e-mails that night that people are getting ticketed, not only in our squares, but also in our residential streets. People are upset. People do not like this program. And I think part of it is the way it was rolled out, when it was rolled out, and how it was rolled out. But it's also that they're just not following the contract. They're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, even though week after week after week, we're pointing out errors. We're pointing out mistakes. We're pointing out violations. And we're pointing out reason after reason after reason of why the public hates the program, on top of the fact that most people didn't like it. I guess where I'm confused is we have a meeting tomorrow night that's probably going to lead to another meeting. if I could suggest, make a suggestion that we ask the mayor to terminate all dealings, have them get off our streets. Let's figure this out. If they're not going to do it the right way, I agree. Let's pull the plug. Let's figure out. For some reason, the mayor didn't want to do it in-house. I remember the discussions. I remember asking, why not meters? Nope, kiosks. The mayor wanted kiosks. That was it. We had no say in what type of machines were going into our city. But to me, I want to hear what they have to say. I have, you know, probably 10 questions that I have to ask for public, information that we need from them. You know, they're not doing it right. I would just suggest that we ask the mayor to have, until we resolve these issues and figure out a way that we can do it the right way, whether that's free half-hour parking, free parking, and have, you know, the city lose some portion of the intake that we were supposed to get, because I agree, this isn't about the money. This is turning over our squares This was creating more business, not less. That was our goal. That was the city council's goal. So changes do need to be made. Questions do need to be answered. I would just ask that we have the meeting tomorrow night. Maybe in the meantime, whether it's tomorrow night and next Wednesday as well, we ask the mayor to have them cease giving out any type of tickets, cease the program, and then we can decide after we meet with them what to do, what is the right answer. Will they make any changes? Will they amend the contract?
[Paul Camuso]: contract where they haven't you know, there's just so many unanswered questions and Just just another thought Thank you, and I thank councillor lungo current for her thoughts and like I said this this resolution didn't come easy but it's at a juncture where They just keep every week. It's something new. It's something new. It's something new Street sweeping has not started yet. We tick it in and toe, well, it has started, but like in full force, tick it in and towing. And just enough is enough. You know what? We're having a meeting tomorrow night. You're going to have to park at Representative Donato's office down on Salem Street to walk here because there's going to be no parking in the immediate area. Obviously, and that's why I still say that we should cancel this meeting. I'm only one of seven, but to give people the opportunity Councilor Caraviello this evening is parked up behind Tony Lucci's. I'm parked down in an adjacent parking lot. Other members of the council are parked far beyond the area of this building. I just think it's not fair. And we don't have City Hall open this evening. City Hall is closed for all intents and purposes tonight except the Medford City Council members, a few people from the administration that were here earlier, as well as the few guests that are here. But to do it tomorrow night, and I respectfully, I understand what Councilor Marks says, but we're not going to get the administration back at the table in two weeks or four weeks to discuss this. So I just, that's my thoughts and I would like to see it canceled and move forward to a date that, and you know what, if no one shows up at that point, then so be it. But it's incumbent upon us to get the community feedback. We're the people's forum and that's why If yesterday didn't happen, I would have been bringing this up tomorrow evening with Councilor Penta. But after yesterday, you know what? I'm done. I mean, I'm not going to be changing my mind on their performance. The mayor and his senior staff, they're holding this company accountable.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. First of all, I certainly think that This program has been nothing short of a disaster since the rollout. I was supportive of it. I felt as though it was something that was going to work. And boy, was I wrong. The rollout's been done poorly. There's no signage, no loading zones, no striping. And there's a huge competing interest between the needs of the residents in the residential communities and the needs of the businesses in the business communities, Mr. President. And I was always a firm believer that the residents should come. Residential enforcement should be done first and foremost. I think that that's really where we need to focus our efforts at this point in time. So I'm glad to see that the police department is investing some money into the same technology the republic is using. However, in terms of the job the republic is doing in enforcing our business districts, I think it's come to a point now where, I mean, I think it's safe to say that Paul Revere's horse got a ticket yesterday out in front of gappy funeral home, Mr. President. They were everywhere. They were all over the place. And my major concern is, This program and this plan was pitched to the council as having an objective to turn spots over and to keep all day commuters out of our business districts. And there was going to be a residential component on top of that. And I think that we've certainly met the objective of keeping commuters out of our business districts all day. But I think we're also meeting an objective of keeping 50% of the people that were comfortable utilizing our business districts out of our business districts as well. You know, I'm a little bit less concerned about the financial cash windfall side of this program, and I'm a little bit more concerned about the fact that the stated objective is just not being met at this point in time. We've been very vocal and outspoken in our displeasure with certain aspects of the plan. We've had individuals from Republic come down and talk to us and give us nothing but lip service. We've realized and come to the realization that Republic's only doing what they're told. The Traffic Commission governs traffic policy here in the city of Medford, and the Traffic Commission needs to be before us. And I certainly share the frustration that Councilor Penter and Councilor Camuso and Councilor Marks has. However, I think that we do need this meeting. for any other reason but for to have the traffic commission explain itself as to why the program's been implemented so poorly, why it's going in the direction that it's going in, whether or not they've actually had their finger on the pulse of what's going on in the implementation and rollout of this plan, Mr. President. And more so, I think, one of the glaring factors that leads me to find that I think it's time that we really take a long, hard look at scrapping this plan is the fact that We've continuously requested information, and we just don't get this information. So, either there's something going on that they don't want to share with us, or there's some reason why this material is being withheld from us. We want to have a good, productive meeting tomorrow night. We can't, because we don't have the information that we requested, for which we felt was going to help us to be productive, Mr. President. So, you know, at this point in time, I'd like an opportunity to hear from the Traffic Commission to see what they have to say as to why they're being so ineffective in the implementation of this contract. and what the reason is for the holdups. But at the same time, it doesn't matter at this point. It's been eight months, five months, four months, however long it's been. It's been far too long. And the people are suffering, and the businesses are suffering. So Mr. President, I'm really torn at this point in time. I think we do need an opportunity to speak with the Traffic Commission to hear what they have to say. But that's what it's going to be. It's only going to be say. I'd like to see more do and less say.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Vice President Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Just quickly, if I could also amend this and request, I've already emailed the chief of police, but request that any tickets that were given out yesterday, which was a holiday, it's Patriot's Day, be wiped out. That people don't have to go down and appeal these tickets. I mean, it was a holiday. Republic should not have been out tagging anybody on a holiday. So just ask my council colleagues to agree with me on that and hopefully wipe out those tickets.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Penter.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, in regards to Councilor Knight's remark, I'd like to refer back to our city clerk, Ed Finn. I think it was last Friday. I had called Mr. Finn up and I asked him for something that the council included in the resolution that we brought up. I think we had asked for all the resolutions that had been sent to the traffic commission for the purposes of their action and those that have not been acted upon. Did that ring a bell, Mr. Finn? Okay. And the request was to have it for our packet this weekend so we could review it. The chief responded back, said, it's not ready yet. Then the second letter went out and asked them if we could have it before or on tonight's meeting so we do not go to tomorrow's meeting ill-prepared. And that's just symptomatic of what you're talking about. I don't know what it takes for people to respond to resolutions and requests, but every part of this program is just not working. It's just a disaster from day one.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Penta, Councilor Camuso?
[Paul Camuso]: Just one more thing. If we also could get an update, I believe when the budget was put together by the budget director and the city administration, anticipated receipts from this anticipated program is in the budget. So that may be why they don't want to pull out of this as quick. So if we could ask that question, because they factored this year's budget, I'm assuming based upon the income from this program. We've asked for the data, and we still don't get it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Further, further amended by Councilor Camuso, that the question be asked of the budget director was the projected income from this program factored into the budget?
[Paul Camuso]: FY 2016 budget.
[Fred Dello Russo]: FY 2016 budget. Thank you, Councilor Camuso. Sir, you wish to speak? Yes. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Michael Ruggiero]: My name is Michael Ruggiero. I live on 18 Pembroke Street. My first suggestion is I'm also frustrated by the carnival being here and the lack of parking. May I suggest that the city provides a shuttle that ferries people from Riverside, the parking lot on Riverside, which would be available at 6 o'clock, to this building? There are numerous different agencies that would be able to do that. So perhaps that would be an option, rather than having people hunt for parking all across town. My second suggestion involves the wording of the resolution, and it involves the word, I think you should involve the word breach, due to breach of contract. The reason why I suggest this is that there's numerous places in the contract where you can terminate, but those terminations also have some consequences for the city. Well, let me read you off this particular section. It's off page 15 of the contract, section 23. In addition to other termination rights here under, with party may terminate this agreement upon breach by the other party of any covenant, term, or condition wherein provided the breaking party first releases written notice, which you have in multiple resolutions, of such breach and fails to remedy same within 10 days if a monetary breach or 30 days if a non-monetary breach. After receipt of written notice thereof and any breaching party fails to commerce remedying such non-monetary breach within said 30 days, period, if such breach cannot be reasonably remedied within 30 days. That's a lot of lawyer speak, but the idea is this. If they've broken the contract, which they have seemed to on multiple accounts, some of which you all have pointed out, some of which I've handed to Councilor Penta and highlighted points, they haven't responded within 30 days, they haven't remedied these points, they're under breach of contract, there are no consequences for canceling this contract under the city.
[Richard Caraviello]: Uh, the city can, we don't know if they've been responded to. That's the problem. You know, the mayor may have asked them and, but they just haven't been conveyed to us. So that's, so that's part of the frustration that we've, that we're having here is he may have them. We don't know. Right.
[Robert Penta]: I, Rick, we've had multiple conversations about the cars not being properly signage, the back of the cars not being properly signage. the kiosks themselves not having proper signage, people putting money in the meter after 6 o'clock at night up until this past week, OK? These are multiple issues that have been ongoing. Well, that's their problem for not doing it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You've both made your points. The citizen can continue speaking.
[Michael Ruggiero]: So in conclusion, I think you should, due to breach of contract, those words might sound trivial and maybe legalistic, but if a judge agrees that Republic is under breach of the contract, there are no serious consequences for the city, where if you just cancel, there may be some consequences. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If you wish to speak, please present yourself and state your name and address for the record. Jim.
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_22]: Thank you, city councillors. I'm Jim Bilodeau of Guild Street, Medford. I want to say first that I'm 100% in favor of all the city councils of our fine city in regards to this disastrous parking situation that we now have ourselves into. All the discrepancies that they've been committing, all the crimes, collecting money on a holiday when the signs specify holidays are exempt and Sundays, Sundays and holidays. This is illegal, that's a theft. They're thieves, that's what they are. They're just common thieves. They're stealing people's money. You can't have that, not in our fine city. So, you know, and all the other problems that we've had, they're collecting money before hours, before they're in effect, and after they're in effect. That's thievery. That's theft. I can't commit a theft and get away with it. How are they? So these are the things that we have to think about. And I want to say, too, any one of our city councilors that want to be the mayor, if they make this one of their topical programs on their, you know, what they're going to do for the city, you know, I think they'll be elected if they say they're going to clean up this parking mess that Republic has, if it drags on to the point for the new mayor to come into office. I think if you run on that platform and you tell the people of Medford that you're going to get rid of this program for us, you're going to be elected mayor. Thank you. And God bless you all.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Jim. Good evening, sir. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Joe Viglione]: Joe Filione, 59 Garfield Ave, Medford, Mass. Last September, I videotaped the meeting to inform this public. Three councillors had the foresight, Councilor Marks, Lungo-Koehn, and Penta, to vote for the public to see it. It's so interesting to see this Mitt Romney flip-flop. It's refreshing. I'm so happy the guys that were adamantly in McGlynn's pocket fighting for it, denying residents to be able to talk about it because they kept doing point of information to shut people up. Finally, they've got religion. Well, a leader, 195 days from now, when it's election day, a real leader is someone who has the vision, like Councilor Marx, like Councilor Penta, like Councilor Lungo-Koehn, the vision to see that this was wrong in the beginning and to let the public speak and to maybe put the video on the air so that people could see Mayor McGlynn in all his glory, the prima donna, telling us how it's going to be, not working with us, but working against us. That video is still there. I worked hard. I worked very hard because I was moving my company from one space to another. I was dead tired. I videotaped it, and three councils shot me down. One was absent, driving for his own company. Disgraceful. Well, guess what? The flip-flop is here. We were right. They were wrong. But they want to be mayor? I don't think so.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You. So on the motions of Councilor Penta, Camuso, as amended, and Councilor Lungo, as amended by Councilor Lungo. Councilor Knight?
[Adam Knight]: I'd ask that you read that back, because we have been going for a little bit of time. And Mr. President, it's been amended on multiple occasions. So I'd ask if the clerk would read it back in its current form.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If Mr. Clerk will kindly read back to us in current form. the resolution as amended so many times.
[Adam Knight]: If I understand this correctly, it's paper 15307 was taken off the table combined with a paper that was filed on suspension. That language has been replaced with what the clerk said.
[Fred Dello Russo]: An additional and an additional amendment or an additional motion that was in hand by, co-sponsored by Camuso and Penta. So the paper that was taken off the table, introduced it into discussion. Uh, the paper that was in hand to the clerk under suspension was absorbed into 15-three Oh seven and further amended by the paper presented by Kumuso and Penta, which the clerk will read. Thank you.
[Clerk]: All right. 15-three seven zero offered by council path to be resolved at the intentional failure of the mayor's revenue enhancement parking program not monitoring why the reprogramming of the parking kiosks in their continued collections of revenues not entitled to revenue collection totals after operating hours be discussed. A, amended by Councilor Penta, that the city terminate its parking contract with Republic from Tennessee pursuant to the contract section 56II in the interest of the taxpayers of the city, small businesses, and city as a whole. amended by Councilor Caraviello, that a meeting be called with the Mayor and Republican Committee of the Whole or in the Council Chambers within 14 days. Amended by Councilor Knight, that a meeting be called with all parties concerned as previously requested in 30 days prior to the meeting within 14 days to the Council meeting to share their concerns, complaints, and recommendations to present to the 30-day meeting. Amended by Councilor Martin, that the Mayor report back if the individual enforcement part of the contract can be eliminated from the contract and enforcement done in-house. Of course, we end up tabling that. And OK, now in conjunction with that. Yeah, now you took it off the table. Now, yeah.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So that's all off the table and before us.
[Clerk]: Yeah, in conjunction now. with that paper. I'm not sure how to word it, but, uh, be it resolved that the matter of Wednesday, 6 PM meeting regarding the mayor's new parking program be briefed upon. Okay.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Now then we have the Camuso Penta.
[Clerk]: Camuso Penta in the light of amended. Okay. In the light of actions of the actions, and breach of contract obligations of the Republic parking recent job performance and the failure of the city administration to hold them accountable, be it resolved that the mayor and his administration remove the pay to park kiosk forthwith. Okay.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And we have several additional amendments that were given off the floor tonight.
[Clerk]: Some of these a little bit redundant because, uh, from the past, but Council Penter also is to terminate, advise the mayor to terminate the contract. And Councilor Kern amended that any parking tickets issued on Patriot's Day should be voided. And amended by Councilor Camuso. uh, their report back on the fiscal 15, 2015, uh, budget on anticipated receipts, uh, from the parking program.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The question has been moved. Roll call has been requested. Uh, did Councilor one question?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Well, thank you, President Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Madam Vice President?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I feel like some of the—it's a lot of language to digest, but I feel like some of it is almost contradictory. To terminate the contract, that's fine, but then to enforce—the enforcement be done in-house, I'm assuming with the kiosks, because to terminate the contract, we quite possibly have to pay for the kiosks anyway. But then we have another resolve that we remove the kiosks. Yet, so how are we going to enforce the kiosks in-house, yet terminate? You know, I feel like we need to sit down and figure out a plan going forward. Because I agree, it should probably, it should have been done in-house. It shouldn't have been a moneymaker like it is. It should have been for the businesses. But I feel like we need to throw around this language, whether it's, we have, we're all going to sit down tomorrow night and we need to discuss going forward. Are we just, do we just want to go back and remove the kiosk and go back to where we were before? Because then we'd have to ask the mayor to, like we did in the first place. And I believe, I truly believe it's a few Councilors that said no parking garage, let's enforce our streets. That didn't happen. This plan came out. Now we're stuck with these kiosks and we have bounty hunters, as Councilor Penta will put it. I feel like we need a plan. Do we all feel that we should go back to where we were, not enforcing anything and hoping or asking the mayor to put enforcement in with or without kiosks, with or without in-house enforcement? I mean, I feel like we need to sit down and really talk about this and become unison because I agree, maybe the contract should be terminated or maybe the kiosk should be taken out and we should do it in-house. But we need the administration on board so that we don't go back to the same old, same old. Because people didn't, we had people on us all the time. You need parking enforcement. And we have people still now who want our streets, their own streets, enforced with permit parking. There's people that sat at this meeting begging for permit parking enforcement. So I just, I agree, I see where the councilors are going. I understand it's a disgrace, it's frustrating, and it's, things need to change, but don't you think one, you know, we should sit down for more than, you know, just a council meeting and sit down and talk about it. We're meeting tomorrow night. Maybe we should come up with a plan. Hey, Mr. Mayor, we don't want Republic in this city anymore, but we want A, B and C. We want the kiosks to stay. We want it to be free parking. We don't want the kiosks to stay. We want it to be free parking, but we want enforcement. I mean, I think we need to have a better idea of what direction we want to lead in, not just saying, let's terminate the contract, because it sounds great.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's been a call to move the question. Councilor Penta. Mr. President. Oh, I'm sorry, Councilor. Yes.
[Robert Penta]: To clarify the point that Councilor Longo just alluded to is, number one, I believe what we're referring to was Councilor Marks's suggestion, is that if, in fact, we were going to terminate or eliminate, correct me if I'm wrong, if you're going to terminate or eliminate the Republic Company, then we should look into having our own in-house with signage and whatever it might be. If the confusion is taken away and we just stick to the resolution itself to eliminate and terminate the contract, the first one, the second one is offered by Councilor Camuso and myself because of the breach of the contract, I'd be willing to let everything else go. Because you know something? One of the things the mayor said in his newspaper editorial is to One of the reasons why he is no longer wanting to serve is because of his inability or his lack of getting along with this council. He's never sat down with this council. He's never discussed our concerns relative to these issues. He's made the outrageous statement that he's never received one complaint about this program. Well, I mean, if he hasn't received one complaint, Where's everybody, blind in City Hall that they don't know what's going on? Of course, of course it's an issue that it's outstanding. And if he wants to leave office magnanimously, and he could stand up here and say, you know something, we all make mistakes, and I made a big mistake by bringing this company in, but I'm going to rectify it. I'm going to listen to you, Council, or I'm going to pull the plug, and we're going to sit down. Because if he said something correctly, Councilman Didn't he say that he's been working on this for five years? He's been working on this program for five years. And you people put a report together. You people put a report together in September of 2009. This is now 2015. What did it take him five to six years to put together? An out-of-state bounty hunter country company to come in here and disrupt our community? I'd be willing to forego all the amendments to the resolution, stick to my original one, Councilor, Councilor Camuso, if you want to stick to yours, vote on both of those resolutions, and everything else will work itself out. Because whether he's going to sit down with us or not, it's immaterial. He hasn't even called us up. He didn't even give us the courtesy that he wasn't even going to run anymore to bring his legislative body in, the council who approves his budget year in and year out. whether we agree or disagree. We've had many good days. We've had, I think, more bad days as of late because of the lack of communication, the lack of conversation, the lack of the wherewithal to put eight heads together instead of one. And that's why we're in the problem that we're in right now. And I believe it was you, Councilor Camuso, who said right from the beginning, you would have favored meters. And I think if meters were in, people would have absolutely understood a meter, instead of this crazy, outlandish parking kiosk that you can't see at nighttime, You've confused every single senior citizen in the community. You've had people falling down in the snow, having to get an emergency ambulance to go to a hospital, and everything else that's been associated with it. So if you're willing to do that, I am willing to forego all of my amendments there, stick to my resolution, Mr. Fenn, as it relates to terminating the contract, and then subsequent with Councilor Camusos, for the same reason, and move on the question. And let the chips fall where they may.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President? Thank you. If I may, as well, too, we have to send a loud, clear message to the mayor. He's done so many great things for this community. This thing has not been done the way it could have been done. But at this point, we have to move forward. So I agree with Councilor Penta. At this point, we have to make the statement that we think that this was a complete and utter failure, done under different circumstances. Maybe it would have worked. But obviously, it's not. I hear about this particular issue everywhere I go every single day. So I think that this vote, it's not long overdue. For me, it's about 24 hours overdue. Because as of yesterday, when the frosting on the cake was people going on a holiday and parking and getting citations, and it's time to just move forward. And I think, as I stated in the resolution, as a result of the breach of contract, remove the kiosks and have enforcement. And I, as one member of this council, and I believe all the councillors chimed in at the Committee of the Whole meeting when we were there, there were several meetings with the budget director, Stephanie Burke, as well as the mayor, who instituted the program. Loud and clear, we said we preferred meters. Single head or double head meters, where people would just throw a quarter in, No one could say they didn't know how to work them, didn't know how to use them. People, you look at some of the old pitches in Medford Square, they had the meters way back in the day. So with that being said, obviously, they didn't take our recommendations then. We have to just go upon the past precedents and the past practices of what happened around here. We send recommendations, very few of them get acted upon. There's gonna be no different with this one. Let's take a vote as a council. And if you feel that you're at the point where this is out of control and it should be terminated, vote yes. And otherwise, vote no. But to say that we're going to meet tomorrow night and we're going to get this all straightened out, it's not going to happen. We're four months into this. We've got a carnival going on here. We're not going to hear half of the stories. People are going to drive here not knowing there's a carnival. They're going to keep going because they can't get a parking spot. We had a lot of senior citizens that came to the last meetings from different parts of this community. They're not going to be able to find a spot. So I really believe I'm just one member. I'd also like to make another amendment to take a vote on holding the meeting tomorrow as a result with a roll call. Because if we get the mayor and the administrative team in here tomorrow, they're not coming back at a later date. They're not coming back at a later date if they decide that they are not going to agree with the council if we do vote to terminate this. And I want to thank Councilor Penta because, as we said, we are in unison with this. It took me a while to get here, but the fact of the matter is It's not going to be straightened out. It's not going to be straightened out.
[Michael Marks]: The Press Thank you, Mr. President. As far as I'm concerned, a vote tonight to terminate the contract for breach of contract acts as a shot across the bow to this administration. And I agree with the comments. We're not going to solve all the issues tonight. However, Mr. President, when the mayor was rolling out this plan, He didn't look for any advice, input, suggestions from any member of this council. So what would lead anyone to believe that when we sit down with the administration tomorrow and say, you know what, we're not happy with this plan, Mr. Mayor, we'd like to take it in-house, that we're going to get any different of feedback than we already received four or five months back saying, we don't need your involvement. And that's what it was, Mr. President. It was the mayor stating to us that our input didn't matter. And I think what we're seeing now is that our input would have mattered because our input was talking about in-house. Our input was talking about potentially no pay for parking at all or meters. Our input was talking about having kiosks in parking lots, not on the streets. That was our input, Mr. President. And it all fell on deaf ears at the time. So I think this vote is critical tonight. And honestly, I was prepared to take this vote eight weeks ago, along with my colleague, Councilor Penta, because at the time, Mr. President, you know, one incident doesn't sway me one way or another. I realize tickets were issued on a holiday, but this is compounded over weeks after weeks after weeks of running a program that, in my opinion, was not well thought out. So it wasn't one particular isolated incident that triggered me off. It was a systematic neglect of running an appropriate program that led us to where we are. And it's a shame, really, that the city of Medford has had to put so much time and effort. And eventually, if we do get out of the contract, you know, and if it's not breach of contract, there's going to be a sizable amount of money that this community is going to have to pay Republic. And that's going to be a whole other issue, Mr. President. But I'm willing, at this point, based on what I've seen out of this particular group, Republic, and based on the current plans that the administration set forth for this parking program, I'm willing to sit down and listen to what the alternatives are and listen to potentially what it may cost this community. Because, hey, no one wants to talk about it, but there may be a financial cost to get out of this contract. But I'm willing to listen to it. I'm willing also to keep aspects of the program. So I think there could be some give and take on this. There are certain things I won't give, but there are other things I will give. So I think if we all get together, we can work on something that's amenable to the business community, residents alike, this council, the administration, and devise a program that will be suitable for our community. Not Somerville, not Cambridge, not Malden, but for the city of Medford, and how we want to see our community operated, and that is not aggressive enforcement, Mr. President.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I've really tried to approach this issue with an open mind, Mr. President, because I truly believe we need residential and business district enforcement, as this was really a nonexistent aspect of our local government prior to the kiosk plan. However, at this point in time, the hardship is certainly outweighing the benefits of any type of parking management plan that's been put into place. With that being said, Mr. President, you know, we have a five or six part resolution before us at this point in time. The language is contradictory. Councilor Penter has made a suggestion to eliminate some of that language. I think Councilor Camuso and Councilor Marksley are both 110% right. This meeting tomorrow night is not going to solve any problems. It's not going to change or fix anything. But one thing it is going to do is it's going to give us a peace of mind and an understanding as to why these shortfalls are occurring, why this breach of contract is in place. And also, I think that, you know, we're all close as a body right now to scrap this project. I'm right there, Mr. President. I want an opportunity to hear from the Traffic Commission, because they haven't been before us yet. They've sent the chief up here. as their sacrificial lamb over and over and over again to express to us what their public policy is and how they're implementing it and why they're implementing it. However, I think that we're going to have a very productive session tomorrow night, regardless of the traffic and parking problems that we're going to have outside. And regardless of the fact that we haven't been provided with the information that we've asked for. And the reason I feel that way is because everybody behind this rail is very passionate about this issue. And I think everybody behind this rail wants to come up with a solution to the problem. Ultimately, we're all here. We're all here to help people. We're all here to protect the integrities of the neighborhoods. We're all here to ensure that everybody has a strong quality of life, Mr. President. And right now, based on the current plan, we certainly do not have that. We certainly do not have that based on the current plan. Because the hardships that the business district is feeling and the hardships that the residents in the community are feeling are not outweighing the benefits, are outweighing, are not outweighing the benefits that we're seeing here in the pay-to-park program or the parking management program. With that being said, Mr. President, you know, I think that we're all right there. We're all right on the cusp of all being on the same page. I need one more meeting and I have some questions about language, but I think that Councilor Lungo was right on the ball when she said, okay, so we vote to get rid of this and we vote to return it in-house, but what's our plan going to look like? What's it look like? What do we want? What do we expect? And we've said it time and time again, and we've sent resolutions forward time and time again. Maybe it's time we sit down and we put together a comprehensive plan upon a review. of the contract that's in place as well as what we see in terms of our constituents calling us and expressing concern and what we see based upon the meetings that we have had here, what it is this council can live with and put a plan forward. I certainly don't think anybody wants to see these kiosks around the city anymore. I certainly think they're too far apart. I certainly think the signage is a nightmare. I certainly think that This council has done a good job of confusing people as well as to what's going on because we discussed it so much because we have so many questions because, in fact, the plan was rolled out inappropriately and improperly, Mr. President. So with that being said, at this point in time, I'm not comfortable with the language of the resolution or the message that the resolution sends. We've tabled it once or twice before. We've asked for the Traffic Commission to come before us. This is the first opportunity that they've had. I'm right there, Mr. President, and if my The responses to my questions aren't satisfactory. Tomorrow evening, I will join in and I will happily vote to remove these kiosks. But at this point in time, I think, at the very least, we should hear what they have to say. Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello, and then we'll take our vote. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I think what we're going to find out once we start this meeting is, you know, we've sat here and we beat up on Republic a lot. Republic had made a lot of suggestions for the parking plan that were not taken. I mean, our Chamber of Commerce had meetings with them. And the plan that was rolled out was not the plan. Most of the plan wasn't the plan that was offered by Republic. One of the major things Republic offered was not to roll this plan out in the middle of the winter. These guys who do this as a business gave the city suggestions that weren't taken. So I think you'll see that coming out once these guys come up here and they explain that to you. But then they say, maybe this plan might have worked if their suggestions were taken right down the line, because they do this for a business. But let's say, their plan wasn't implemented.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Penta, so you withdrew for clarity. You withdrew.
[Robert Penta]: I'm leaving my original motion on the indeterminate in concert with Councilor Camuso's joint resolution with me. For the breach of the contract and to, what's my resolution, Mr. Clark? Right.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. It was the combined resolution.
[Clerk]: Potential failure of the mayor, that part of the resolution?
[Robert Penta]: We're the one that asked to eliminate, Wait, that's the... No, it's right there.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Right. So they're all withdrawn. If you would, Mr. Clerk, show us the one that... Where's the two? Point of clarification, Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: I think that the most important amendment to that resolution was Councilor Longo's, which would authorize the evacuation, I guess, for lack of a better term, of all the tickets that were issued yesterday. So that would have to be included. On Monday, rather, yes. So that would have to be included.
[Clerk]: All right. Well, let's positively start from the beginning. So let's go back to the tabled paper with all the amendments.
[Robert Penta]: 15-307. On the tabled paper, take my resolution to terminate the contract, and then take Councilor Camuso and Councilor Penta's resolution for the breach of the contract.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Well, you can't withdraw other people's amendments, Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: I made that as an offering if everybody's satisfied. I'll withdraw mine, Mr. President.
[Clerk]: You can take that paper that's tabled and receive and place on file, and then that whole thing goes away, and then you start this as your resolution. What's the resolution?
[Robert Penta]: What's the resolution that you have there of mine that was tabled?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Camuso, point of information.
[Paul Camuso]: The original paper that was brought forward, 15-307, by Councilor Penta that was on the table, If we withdraw that whole paper and approve the new one with the language that you just added to, in breach of contract, because I like that language, add Councilor Lungo Kearns to that, I think we all get what we're looking to do here. Which is, and here's the other piece too. Oh, leave the kiosk only? It's clear in the resolution I submitted. Remove, and Councilor Penta, remove the kiosks. We could have in-house enforcement tomorrow. People do not like the kiosk approach. They hate it. They absolutely hate being able to go to the kiosk and do it. They don't know how to do it. I'm pretty computer savvy and it was a hard time the other day when you use your credit card and you're trying to add time to it. How much time do you want to do max, this, that? It's overwhelming to people, these kiosks, the user side of things.
[Clerk]: Thank you, Councilor Camuso, for your point. So if you take the paper.
[Paul Camuso]: That's my recommendation.
[Clerk]: As it existed, not what was entered tonight. It's the same thing, Bob. And you just receive and place that on the front. That whole thing goes away now. And now you just enter this as just a new resolution in light of it.
[Robert Penta]: That can be the substitute language for that resolution. On the motion of Councilor Penta,
[Clerk]: You don't want to use the same number. You want to get rid of it. You want to reintroduce this paper. Receive yours in place on file and move for the new one.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Was it 15370 on the table? We took that paper off the table. Why don't we just strike the language from that paper? We have 15370 as the number for the paper.
[Fred Dello Russo]: 307 rather.
[Adam Knight]: We strike the language from that paper in its entirety and replace it with the language that we've discussed right now. Now what I've come up with is be it resolved. The kiosk be removed due to contractual breaches, parking enforcement be handled in-house, and all tickets issued on 4-2015 be vacated. Well, that's what you have.
[Robert Penta]: He already has them.
[Clerk]: That's the resolution. The crux of it.
[Robert Penta]: That's the resolution.
[Clerk]: You could just start it over again, like I said, and just add the other two things and you'd be done. All right. If you start, if this was a resolution, you'd probably be whereas, because you started with this thing yet in the light of, you know, whereas in the light of light of the actions in the breach of contract breach and breach of contract obligations of the Republic Parking's recent job performance and the failure of the city administration to hold them accountable, be it resolved that the mayor and his administration removed the paid to park kiosk forthwith. Now you have the termination. You want to advise the mayor on terminating the contract. Council Longo should have the amendment. And. Mr. President, may I be so bold to suggest that
[Adam Knight]: Maybe the individual sit down and write something up and we can move on to another item and then come back if in fact we can have some language.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Recess for five minutes to recraft.
[Adam Knight]: Yeah, we can move on to the next item on the agenda.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We're going to recess for five minutes. The 14th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will reconvene. So we have a motion from Councilor Penta to take paper 15-307, receive it, and place on file. On that motion, Councilor Penta? All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passed. The paper received and written under suspension, offered by Councilors Penta and Camuso, whereas that in light of the actions and breach of contract obligations of the Republic parking for the City Parking and Traffic Program and the failure of the City Administration to hold Republic accountable, be it further resolved that the mayor and his administration remove the pay-to-park kiosks forthwith. Roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Does the word terminate the contract in there? Wait a minute, where's the word terminate at? Wait a minute, where's the word? Wait a minute. To remove the kiosk and terminate the contract. Put that in the end edit.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Be it amended by Councilor Penta that the words and terminate the contract.
[Robert Penta]: Fourth with. Remove the kiosk and terminate the contract fourth with. That's the key, right? That's the key. That was going to be a key paper or a separate motion. Why do you want it to be part of this?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion to sever.
[Robert Penta]: You have it, Eddie? All right, read it now.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Forthwith.
[Robert Penta]: And to terminate the contract forthwith.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Forthwith.
[Robert Penta]: No, no. After the word, read the last sentence.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please read the last sentence. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. This is the motion that was main motion introduced under suspension.
[Clerk]: Councilor Knight. Vice-President Levin-Kern. Councilor Marks. Yes. Council Penta. Yes. President Dello Russo. He was the first one that said it. Caraviello, did you call Caraviello? Yeah, Caraviello, yeah.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Just you. No. And let the record show that I'm voting no, because the consensus was that we not address this matter until after the meeting with That's been called for tomorrow. On the B paper, so on the vote of five in the affirmative, two in the negative, the motion passes. B paper, offered by Vice President Lungo-Koehn, that all citations issued yesterday on Patriots Day 2015 be, what was the word used, Madam Vice President? vacated and wiped out in the interest of that it was a holiday and in the interest of patriotism. All those in favour? Roll call vote has been requested.
[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Knight?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Vice-President Long and Kern? Yes. Councilor Marx? Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes, on the vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Penta to return to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? Back to the regular order of business. 15-390 offered by Councilor Knight. be resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Roy Belson, Superintendent of Medford Public Schools, on his recent appointment to the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Financial Literacy Trust Fund, Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. The Financial Literacy Trust Fund is a trust fund that is governed by the State Treasurer's Office. And the purpose of this trust fund is to support public and private institutions that have displayed success in advancing financial education and empowerment to certain underprivileged communities. And Mr. Belson is the sole public sector educator that's been appointed to the board, Mr. President. So I think that's a testament to his wherewithal, his experience, his knowledge, and his standing in the educational community. And when I saw this on the Internet, I wasn't too familiar with the Massachusetts Financial Literacy Trust Fund, so I did a little poking around, and it's quite a big deal. The treasurer of the commonwealth has the power to appoint, and she used her divine wisdom to select our superintendent of schools because he does such a great job, Mr. President. And I think it's very important to highlight when people in our community do good things, because that builds social capital and it builds community. and make sure that the next generation of kids from Medford have that blue and white running through their veins. So I'd ask my council colleagues, Mr. President, to support this resolution. On the motion of approval by Councilor Knight, Councilor Camuso.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Congratulations offered by Councilor Camuso, and seconded by Councilor Camuso. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Petitions, presentations, and similar matters, 15-389. Petition by Mr. Matthew Page Lieberman, 15 Canal Street, Metron, Mass., to discuss online council meetings. Mr. Lieberman, please state your name and address for the record.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: My name is Matthew Page Lieberman. I live at 15 Canal Street. So it's been six months since I've been here, and I want to congratulate Councilor De La Rosa and Councilor Loyola for presidency and vice presidency. Last time I was here, I spoke, I wanted two things. One, I wanted the price of archive meetings to be decreased. And the other thing is I wanted the meetings to be online. So I passed out some of the work that I've been doing. Last year, I spoke with Ed, who suggested I speak with Allison, Allison, the webpage person. And then Allison suggested that I speak with the mayor. So I met with the mayor in November. and he said he would talk to Alison, and he didn't. And then I saw him again in February, and I asked, have you spoken with Alison? And he asked Mary to write down a note to remind him to talk to her, which at that point, I basically figured nothing's going to happen. So I've just been uploading the videos on my own. I've put up about 20 of them. And so at this point, I sent another email to Allison today. I don't really want to force anybody's hand, but I would like to kind of formalize this. I've made it really easy at this point. I'm hoping the city can perhaps suggest to the mayor to just ask Allison to just put on links of all the videos that I've uploaded onto the city website. I mean, it's very, very little work. Other than that, I think, I just wanted to give an update that, yeah, I think Councilors Marks and Councilor Knight, you both sent my thing to the Rules Subcommittee, and I really appreciate the work that happened in March when the price of the archive meetings went from $20 down to $5. So, I mean, I really thank you very much for that. That's about it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Mr. Lieberman. Marks, yes.
[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, Matt, can you tell us what type of data you want entered into the city website?
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: Well, I put the videos online. All that Allison really has to do is, I mean, she uploads the agendas and everything like that. And she has all these different pages. I mean, there's a page for the city council. There's pages for all the different commissions. So she could just have like a page for meetings and just put on a link. I mean, I can send her the link. or I can send her the embed code, and she really just has to put it on a web page, and then everybody can watch it online. I mean, as it is right now, you know, there have been some problems with Comcast when they rebroadcast the messages. It's very distorted. There have also been some scheduling problems. So, I mean, this just makes it a lot easier for everybody to access them at any time. You know, I figure I've done, you know, some of the work, and I figure, you know, as a citizen, I mean, we should do a little bit, and then perhaps the government can meet us halfway. Um, one thing, one thing is that, um, I know that there's a concern about the official city stuff that it, uh, online that we don't, we don't have like, it's very, it doesn't become unprofessional where a lot of online trolls are bickering. So the way that I uploaded the videos is they're all unlisted. You know, people won't kind of stumble upon them. I could just pass a link. The other thing is I've, I've cut off all commenting, so it can't really turn into any kind of bickering. So really all I want is just, I'm hoping the city can just kind of pass a recommendation for whatever it's worth. Just ask a mayor, just say, or just, you know, and I'm not trying to push Allison's hand. I'm just, you know, it would be nice if we just said, you know, it's really not that much work. Just accept the links from Matt and just put them on the city website. So that's about it. Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Penter.
[Robert Penta]: Did I hear you correctly? Did you said that you would want to edit what goes onto the city website rather than getting the actual true content?
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: I don't edit anything.
[Robert Penta]: What did you say? Maybe I misunderstood.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: What I said is that I deactivated comments so that it doesn't break into people bickering. I also said that they're unlisted so people don't stumble upon it. One thing that I try to get them done the night that they are live, but depending on how long the meeting lasts, it can take me a little bit longer to have these deep links where you see on the second page I put in a calendar so people can click, and it'll go directly to that particular resolution being discussed.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. Councilor Caraviellollo.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I did ask Alison Goldsberry about putting the city council meetings on the website, and she explained to me that the website is not large enough. It doesn't have the capability of putting it. But on the other side, I've been on other cities' websites, and they have six months' worth of meetings on there. I mean, I don't know what it takes to get a bigger website or do whatever it is. I mean, you know, I'm not a computed person, but many, many other cities have it. So I can't think it's that big of a deal to upgrade the site so you can put on even a month's worth of meetings on the site.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: Well, Alison had told me that we needed a new TV station before it could happen. which also I think is not correct. When she says that the website isn't large enough, she's talking about space to store everything. And what I've done is I've just uploaded them. It's all stored free.
[Richard Caraviello]: I said to her, I'm not saying you store the whole year, but if you at least have the last four meetings, at a time. And then if people want to get them, they can get them after. But like I say, I've been on other cities' websites, and they've got up to six months worth of meetings on them.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: That's what I put up. I put up the last six months. The only ones that are missing are two from February.
[Richard Caraviello]: I mean, I don't know what it takes to upgrade the website, to put that on. Maybe you know better than I do. I certainly don't know.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: All she really needs to do is copy and paste a link. Mr. President, on floor nine.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. And Matthew, thank you for your work. I've spoken with Matt a little bit about this in the past. And one of the things that this council spoke about was not only the rebroadcasting of these council meetings, but also live streaming of the meetings as they're going on. And I don't think that that's too much to ask as well, Mr. President. So I'd certainly be supportive of a resolution going forward requesting that provided the IT department can go through and make sure that there are no viruses and no materials that'll corrupt our system, that this be, you know, maybe referred to Mike Ferretti for a review to see if that's something that we can do possibly. Please.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. And I just have a little problem with this where, and this is no disrespect to you, Matt, where Matt is uploading these and it's not an official city employee that's actually doing it. And the reason I say that, I've been very consistent with this. When other people wanted to put stuff on the webpage or on something, I think it has to be, should be done by a city official in some sort of a capacity that could be held accountable if indeed they went a little haywire and put something on there or the wrong link was, you know what I'm trying to say? Certainly I don't think you'd ever do anything malicious. But with that being said, I just think it's more of a city function. It seems like you got this all into a compact area where at least it's all the data and the videos are collected. But this is something that really the city IT department, not Mike Ferretti, but the website management, Alison Goldsberry and whoever else runs it. I know at one time the city webpage was done by Councilor Burke. She did a great job with it, getting it to this new platform. But at this point, At this point, I think what we need to see is this done by a city employee that, like I said, in no disrespect to yourself, and this is something the council called for of a Ponya recommendation, actually, but I definitely think this should be done by a city official and not an outside entity. If the city wanted to enter into a contract with the gentleman to do it, maybe for a small stipend or something, but where he's held accountable and it has to be done on time and everything else, I could see something like that, but that certainly up to the mayor's office, but I just, the next precedent would be what if someone else wants to upload something and they're not as credible as you. You follow me?
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: I certainly do, but I mean, this is a situation. I mean, when the mayor's office doesn't respond.
[Paul Camuso]: Well, they're the ones that are going to have to respond to put the links on the webpage, so.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: If they're not responding about... I've made the job really easy. I mean, there was a debate last week about, you know, how to handle outstanding resolutions. I mean, ideally, I mean, I remember, if I remember correctly, Councilor March, you were saying that it's basically letting the mayor off the hook. My opinion is, like, we kind of, we live in the world as it is, not in the world that we'd like it to be. I agree. I'm just, ideally, certainly the mayor's office would do it, and Alison, she wouldn't tell me information that was incorrect. You know, but until, and, you know, I wouldn't, like I said six months ago, you know, I'll work for like a dollar a year, whatever. I also said I would volunteer. You know, Mike has been really helpful. I talked to him and I talked to Ed as well to make sure that there aren't any conflicts about me uploading the videos. You know, like if some of them I don't have, Mike lent me three and I uploaded them. you know, so I just, yeah, I mean, I'll sign anything. I really, yeah, I'm not, I mean, I have my, I'm not really interested in editing these videos to make anybody look bad or put any kind of message, you know, but I wouldn't mind, you know, I wouldn't mind signing anything. It's just my understanding is there's just so many hoops to jump through before the mayor will say, okay, you can do this.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And, um, if I'm not mistaken, prior to, uh, Channel 3 going off air, they would also have on their website the last several months of the council meetings. And they started that towards the end of when Channel 3 went under. But it was very helpful. Residents can go on and view any meeting and so forth. I think the issue, Mr. President, naturally we're not going to give anyone, Matt or anyone else, access to the city website. I don't even have access to the city website. That's by the web master and whoever has that dedication. Um, and that's the way it should be. Uh, but what I think Matt is saying, he wants to volunteer. He wants to get active in the community. He wants to do something in the community. And, uh, he's finding a hundred obstacles in order to do something. And you know, the, the, the one thing that I have to say about this administration is The mayor has failed over the years to tap the number one resource we have, which is our residents. And that's a big failure because we have a lot of people out there with a lot of different job experiences that could help in this community. For instance, one thing that comes to mind, just even the restroom here at City Hall. You know how many plumbers live in this community? that if you approached him and said, hey, would you like to do something for the community? Would you like to donate your labor? We'll buy the pots. You'd be surprised how many people would come out of the woodwork to say, you know what? We'd like to give back to the community. But you'd never hear of a volunteer program. And what Matt is trying to say is he'd like to do something. Whether he's the one that puts those on directly or so forth, that's all semantics. He wants to give you the time and effort. And as a community, we should be welcoming that. And our administrators should be reaching out to them and saying, Matt, this is what we'd like you to do. But instead, every door is a closed door, which is unfortunate. But I honestly think that this needs to move forward. And I think any avenue of transparency, and one is providing another avenue for our council meetings, is a great avenue. And I don't think we can go wrong in doing that. So I think we should take a vote here tonight, asking the administration to look into the volunteer services that Mr. Lieberman wants to offer, and have them devise a program that safeguards the city website. No one wants to jeopardize the city website. No one's looking to put videos that make someone else look bad on there. And I don't want to see that. I'm sure no one else behind this railing. But there's a way to do it that I think makes sense and also involves people that want to get active in the community. And once we start here, this is just the first step in the process. And then we can open it up to volunteerism throughout the city, which currently we lack right now, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: I don't think you can put it much better than that, Mr. President. He's a gentleman who is willing, able, and ready to volunteer his time. He has a plan. He has a template in place that we could adopt. I think it would make sense for our IT department and our webmaster to take a look at it to see if they can come up with any glitches or any problems that they see might corrupt our system and then move on it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So I just want to- Motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Marks, that the city administration, the mayor's office coordinate to engage the volunteerism for the purpose of transparency in adding the city council meetings to the city website into conjunction or with the assistance of Mr. Ferretti and, uh, uh, the city webmaster to, um, uh, be in consultation with that. So on that motion, yes. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Labor. You know, the council is one open meeting. There are other meetings that are held at city hall here. Uh, that would be great. Um, information for residents of this community, Office of Community Development. You can have the Board of Appeals meetings. You can have the Board of Health meetings, the Park Board meetings. There's a lot that goes on in this city.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The Parking Commission meetings.
[Michael Marks]: The Park League Commission. There's a lot that goes on in this city that I think would be a tremendous asset. I know Councilor Camuso has offered this before, that these meetings be televised. So I wouldn't just limit it, and I don't think that's what we're trying to do, but I would say that this would be open to any board, commission, that would like to have meetings taped, that they can have access to this as well, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So admitted by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? Do you need the Councilor?
[Adam Knight]: Moreover, Mr. President, I think that Councilor Marks makes a great point, and maybe for these boards and commissions that meet during normal business hours, that the broadcast or rebroadcast could become a requirement in the near future, because I know it's very hard for me to get to 2 o'clock meetings here at City Hall when I'm engaged in my day-to-day workplace activities.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Lieberman. Congratulations.
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: I cannot add anything?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I'm sorry?
[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: Go ahead. He wants to say something. He just wants to say something. With the suspension of the rules, then? As far as the volunteering, that's what I met with the mayor in November about. I just wanted to kind of get a feel from him about how he felt about perhaps a time bank, you know, where people volunteer. I'm disabled. I used to work in IT. And I said, well, I don't want to keep going out to Cambridge and Somerville when my city is right here. I agree with you completely. I mean, that's what I talked to him about. How can we kind of tap on all these people who really want to work? There are a lot of people who leave the city. They want to do. And I mean, this is just kind of a general thing. I haven't only seen it from the mayor's office, but a lot of people in City Hall. I offered to volunteer, and they just seem almost to feel uncomfortable, like it means more work for them. I mean, whatever that means. But anyway, I thank you very much for what you've voiced.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, maybe under the next administration, there will be an office of volunteerism, and we'll be able to tap our residents and our resources that currently exist and really bring some community pride back to this community, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Penta to take papers in the hand of the clerk, all those in favor? All those opposed? Offered by Councilor Penta. Be it resolved that the One op, the cable ascertainment hearing be discussed. Was that one op? What does that word? Oh, the, I apologize. The issue of the cable ascertainment hearing be discussed. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: I want to thank counsel a night. You just lead me into my conversation. This ascertainment hearing that is scheduled for next Wednesday at two o'clock in the afternoon. makes absolutely no sense at all. Number one, the contract that the city of Medford has with Comcast Cable has already now been terminated. It ended on April 20th. April 20th has now come and gone. An ascertainment hearing, if anybody follows it, is for the purposes of gating information that one would have within a community as it relates to a forthcoming renewal to a contract. For example, in Belmont, the Board of Selectmen, who happened to be the issuing authority, and I would hope next Wednesday at that hearing, and I'm going to make the request tonight that the hearing take place at 6.30 at night rather than 2 o'clock in the afternoon, making it available for people. But the ascertainment hearing, which was offered by the Board of Selectmen, because they were the issuing authority, had a whole bunch of people who came forward that explained what they felt was needed in the community, for example, Some people complained that their reception was poor. Other people complained, was it possible to get channels without commercials? Another one complained, can senior citizens have a special break? Movie channels were also taken into consideration. They also talked about cable subscriptions and the lack of some cable subscriptions. Another resident complained about the unavailability of people to respond to their phone calls instead of a voicemail message and requesting people to leave messages. Another resident complained about the lack of a food channel and the Fox channels. And another resident complained about continual increases in the cost for cable services. And another resident complained about... And we can go on and on and on. The idea, if you're getting it, is the fact that people had an opportunity to come. And for the purposes of them having that opportunity to come, they would be able to explain what was wrong within the cable system within their community. Now, hunting all of this down, in some of the contracts that Comcast has, There are provisos in the contract that says within a 15-year period of time that a contract takes place. So that would give you a span of either one or two contracts. A public survey needs to be done or should be done by Comcast, in this particular case, because we're talking about Comcast, within the community for which they are securing their renewal to the license. And in that survey, They would be asking all kinds of questions as it relates to the needs within the community. What would you like to see? What do you think that Comcast could do better? How do you believe that they could be a better provider within the community? And with that being said, and I don't believe Medford has ever had it, and with that being said, Philadelphia is a perfect example. The city of Philadelphia did it. They had a great response from the rate payers within that community, and they got a better reception as it relates to you know, the services that Comcast was going to give them. Also, this merger taking place, the proposed merger to take place between Comcast and Time Warner is really a deadly issue. There is a group of a non-profit organization of individuals, it's called Stop the Cap, and these are a citizens-activated watchdog group. They promote better broadband, they fight data caps, usage-based billings, and other internet overcharging schemes. And in this particular case, only 52 mayors, only 52 mayors throughout the entire United States of America signed off on this merger. And who do you think one of the two, one of the 52 mayors was? It's our mayor and the city of Medford, Mayor McGlynn. And what he and the other 51 mayors did, they brought together and they signed a letter And in this letter that they signed, that they sent to the FCC, they unfortunately made a big mistake. Because what they did is it was a terribly misleading letter. Because what they did is they took facts and figures from the Comcast proposal that was used as part of their press release. And the letter was signed, and the text was taken almost, quote, almost entirely from Comcast's own talking points, and the letter was misleading in the parts because the facts were inaccurate. Now, one other thing a lot of people don't know about, that Comcast and Time Warner have what they call cross-marketing agreements with Verizon. And right now, the three of them do work together, and especially in the western part of our country, and California, and so forth. And the 52 mayors, which includes Mayor McGlynn, advocating for this multi-billion dollar cable merger is not good for the cable subscribers. Because if this merger succeeds, rates will increase, your delivery and your service will increase or decrease, depending on how you're viewed it, and you'll have no place to turn because you're going to be involved with what they call compulsory user allowance. And what compulsory user allowance means that whatever Comcast decides to make a decision on, and if this decision goes through with Time Warner, and Verizon, because they're all working together on this, rate changes and rate charges. And if they get into this term called compulsory usage allowance, that is going to precipitate the rates and the charges that people are going to take place. Now, we here in the city of Medford have a very unfortunate circumstance. We're dealing with a contract that's already been signed. And if I understand the contract that's already been signed, that's presently existing, not its renewal, it's part of a three year lapse over from the original contract. So we're dealing with the contract that is 13 years old here within our city of Medford, 13 years old. And what have the rate payers gotten out of this? Personally, they've gotten rate increases. If you notice on the second box and the second, third and fourth box of the rooms, they've now gone up from 199 to 299. If you look at the building, They secretly went up. But what's interesting here, there's only one person who's had a political gain out of all of this, and that's the mayor of this community. Because each and every year, while this contract has been in effect, he has received $2,500 for his annual golf classic, for the mayor's golf classic. Now, does anybody in this council, in the school committee, is there any rate payer out there that gets $2,500 from your cable provider for your golf classic or for whatever you want to do? And if, according to the records under the Freedom of Information Act, disclosed, he also gets an additional $10,000 a year for his celebrations committee. And what he does with that money and how he celebrates, we don't know. But isn't that interesting? We pay our cable rates, and this mayor gets $2,500 a year annually for his golf tournament, and he gets an additional $10,000 for his celebrations committee. Now, I ask every member of this council and anyone who might be watching at any rate Do you have that luxury and do you have that privilege? Because the mayor of this community under the present contract is the issuing authority. Why should he be given that luxury? And more importantly, how bold and brazen can he be to let a contract be signed and then he now calls for an ascertainment hearing for next Wednesday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in the dead of day when people are working Who are going to be able to come here? And then what are you going to do? Have the poor people come and park behind City Hall and not understand that there's a kiosk there, and you're going to give them a ticket for coming to an ascertainment hearing that relates to their cable bills? I don't think so. So, with all due respect, Mr. President, I just think it's — we have two big issues here. We have one of 252 mayors throughout the entire country Only 52 mayors signed off on this merger because maybe those 52 mayors, maybe those 52 mayors were getting special privileges like our mayor was. I don't think he or anyone else deserved to get a special privilege because he signs a contract in behalf of ratepayers. That's number one. And on the other part, Mr. President, the ratepayers have no vantage point here. I think we need to know what does Verizon, what is Verizon giving to the city of Medford? What special perks, if any, does the mayor derive from Verizon toward any of A, his charities, or whatever his wants need to be? Because they're only enhancing his political background and his political career. And it is an interesting, because this year here, he normally gets this money midway through the year. But this year, I believe he got it early on, because he probably knew he was retiring or getting out of office. And he took that money as a use for his you know, for his political wherewithal, wherever he wants to put it. I think it's wrong. I think Mr. Peter Epstein, who's the attorney who represents the city of Medford for cable issues, whose failure to tell this council when asked if there's going to be a hearing, I don't even know if he's going to be here to do the ascertainment hearing. But how do you ascertain something after the fact? Can you tell me that? I don't think you can answer that, because in your profession, You can never ascertain anything after the fact, because your clients are already, unfortunately, deceased. But these people, who are alive and well, don't have that ability. They don't have the ability to know why and how. I strongly suggest that anyone who wants to come to the meeting next week, and I hope this council votes that it takes place at 6 o'clock at night, not 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but they eliminate any special perks and privileges associated to the issuing authority, whether it be the mayor, the city council, whoever it might be. The fact of the matter is, over $300,000 right now is still sitting in the city's coffers because there's been no public access, I believe, since September of 2013 because of the mayor's failure, and I say intentional failure, to do his job to make sure that the board of directors of Channel 3 performed what they were supposed to perform in their motion of dissolution. I got to give Martha Healy, the new Attorney General, credit because she went right after the town of Lynn. And she put together an absolutely beautiful document going after them for failure of records, failure of minutes, inappropriate spending. in basically lying about their jobs. And that's what took place here in the city of Medford. And Judge Jackson, who was paid almost $15,000, wrote that in her report, that if those guys and girls did not get their act together, they should be removed. And the mayor is yet, and he has never removed them. He's been afraid to confront them. So with that being said, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Is there a motion? Yeah, there is a motion.
[Robert Penta]: The motion is this. Relax. Don't get nervous. The motion is this. The next week's ascertainment hearing be changed from 2 o'clock in the afternoon to 6 o'clock at night to give every single Medford taxpayer who was a rate payer to Comcast Cable an opportunity to speak.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Penta that the ascertainment meeting be moved from 2 in the afternoon to 6 in the evening. On that motion, sir, you wish to speak. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Joe Viglione]: Joseph Villione, 59 Garfield Ave. The ascertainment hearing is very important for everyone in this city for a number of reasons. Customers purchasing internet, television, telephone, all the services you get from these cable providers. It's not just public access TV. It's not just your cable. It is all the services. You must attend this ascertainment hearing. That's because it's a lot stronger than going to the Department of Telecommunications and Cable. Now, the DTC, they do a good job. They're very informational. But they don't have much teeth. People think they do. And I'm going to give you one example. When Comcast faced competition, when the mayor finally brought Verizon in, the rates were reduced. So you, anyone out there in the audience, would sign a two-year deal to get a reduced rate. Now, when you signed that contract, it was so that the rates wouldn't go up. Suddenly, we got one of those little attachments from Comcast so that a third TV, we bought two boxes, but Comcast would give you a thing for a third TV a little attachment where you could get the basic cable. Suddenly, we were being charged $2.50 for this attachment after we signed a contract that was supposed to be firm, 89 bucks a month. So I went to Comcast, and they said, well, that's not in the contract. I went to the DTC. They said they were getting purportedly thousands of complaints. This is the way the cable providers act. When they get together, and they're all one combine, and they make an agreement with you, you, you're stuck with a two-year deal. This ascertainment hearing, is where you can come and put on public record, and here's where I advise people. I have a letter from Mark Rumley. He's already received it. You Councilors have received it. I will be going to Ed Finn's office and to Mark Rumley's office and getting it time-stamped. I will be bringing it to the ascertainment hearing. You bring it to the city clerk. You bring it to the city lawyer. You bring it to the ascertainment hearing. You make sure it's on public record. Did you have a problem having the Comcast guy come to your house? Was he three hours late? Did they move the meeting? The appointment. This is all incredibly important. Incredibly important. In fact, when you look at that document, the public records request, and you see that the mayor gets these perks. Who made him the issuing authority? The issuing authority is the city or town. In Belmont, they have the selectmen. In Winchester, they have the selectmen. Not Richard Howard, the town manager. In Winchester, it is a body of five or six people that actually get to vote on it, not the town manager. So, Mayor McGlynn finds himself as the issuing authority and he makes precedent. This city council, I would trust seven people voting on this rather than one. Because if seven people are voting, no one's going to get a $10,000 Maya celebratory fund for the lighting of the Christmas tree. Now, how long has that been going on? $10,000 a year for 15 years we know of. But Nick Lucci of Comcast was with Time Warner. So I would suspect this May's celebratory fund has probably gone the entire length of McGlynn's career, 28 years. Correct me if I'm wrong, Your Honor. Feel free to come here to the city council next week, Your Honor, and talk to us about this. The golf tournament. Fifteen years, the public records request, $2,500. So we don't have public access, but on top of that, the issuing authority takes $800,000 from the million or so and gives $200,000 to three teachers and $600,000 to the general fund. What is this general fund? Where does this money go? Can we get a line item on it? Can we see that it fixes roads? Can we see that it brings stores to the empty storefronts? Can we see what this money, this second tax, this additional tax, that's not delivering public access? In fact, this city council couldn't even get a $400 piece of equipment if memory serves me right. Now, we can upload the government meetings up on Made in Medford. They've given us this breadcrumb called Made in Medford. It's just YouTube. You put your stuff on YouTube, and then you can upload it to Made in Medford with a simple link. Video-on-demand Comcast gave us customers, please come down here and say, why didn't we have council meetings on video-on-demand? That would have been the first thing to do. I agree with the council is that, you know, a city official should be uploading the government channel materials. You have Made in Medford, you have video-on-demand, you have the contiguous channels on Verizon, but none of this stuff is being used because this mayor doesn't care to use it. Now, I want this city council to grab ahold of the situation, to say to the mayor, hey, you're a lame duck. You've resigned in April. And yeah, why did you get the tournament fund, the monies, March 31st? You usually get those monies in June, but March 31st of this year, he's got his check for the tournament already. Wow. It's like a lottery ticket for this guy. This council should be the issuing authority. And as the issuing authority, then you can look at all the problems with cable TV and see where we go and see about public access TV. make it a deal for the residents, not a deal for one guy who's leaving office. Now, what's very, very important here is this. In 2002, the contract expired. The mayor didn't sign a new one until 2005. So he's had a 13-year deal here, a 13-year deal. And if we, this council, and the residents didn't come up here and look for this Comcast letter, you better believe they were going to have another three years before they signed the agreement. So why should a lame-duck mayor sign this agreement next week? Because what they usually do, if you people aren't aware of ascertainment hearings, they have the hearing quick, quick, and then they sign the paper, and it's done. They never expected that we'd be talking about this week after week. They just thought they'd have a little quiet meeting, signed the contract, it's all done, another 10 years. Well, that's all changed. I agree with Councilor Penta, this should be at six o'clock at night, seven o'clock at night, it should be in an Alden Chamber, it's not in room 207. This ascertainment meeting's important. The mayor, who's now stepping down, should say, hey, you're right, I'm not issuing authority, I can't make a decision for the next 10 years. You guys wanna do three years? Let the city council handle it. We've been talking about it, the mayor hasn't been talking about it, it's our issue. This meeting is very important. People of Medford, you've got to come out here next Wednesday. You've got to come out here and talk about the appointments you have with the Verizon and Comcast guys, both cable providers, and Dish Network as well. All of your needs, AT&T, everything, talk about it at the Comcast hearing, because this is your opportunity. And hopefully, the mayor will be here. Hopefully, Peter Epstein will be here. Hopefully, Mark Rumley will be here, and we can all discuss this. But people, you need to come out, because this is your one window of opportunity, one window of opportunity for this city. Thank you, people.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Penta, all those in favor? Roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll to move the meeting from 2 to 6. 6.30, as amended by Councilor Penta, 6.30. Councilor Newton? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Mack? Yes. Councilor Blum? Yes. Councilor Martins? Yes. Yes. A vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Motion passes. Offered by President Dello Russo, be it resolved that the mayor's office update the council on the status of the environmentally friendly golf carts caged in the southeast corner of City Hall amidst the stacks of recycling bins. On the motion of Vice President Lungo-Koehn for approval, All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Offered by Councilor Caraviello, be it resolved that the DPW Director inspect some of the recent repairs to our streets from different utilities and their subcontractors. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, our streets are, you know, because of the winter, we're in pretty bad shape anyways. But, you know, Mr. President, I drove around the last few days, and I saw some new work that has just been completed. The job that the subcontractor did for the utility company, I mean, this is part of the reason our streets are in deplorable condition. They're doing them, they're shoddy, and they're sinking, and no one's ever coming back and fixing them. I'd like the DPW director to go out and look at some of the new work that was just done and see if that meets his approval. Specifically, Arlington Street was just done this week, and some of it's already coming up. I know, I know. But I say, you know, this is the reason our streets are in the condition they're in, because the National Grid and all these companies come in, they rip up the streets, and they put a little thin coat of tying down, and we never see them again. And they sink, and then it just keeps getting worse and worse.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It would be helpful if there was a person whose job was follow through on all of that.
[Richard Caraviello]: I would think that would be a nice job if it was available, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good.
[Richard Caraviello]: I don't know if we have one.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Knight?
[Adam Knight]: Yes, Mr. President. In correlation to Councilor Caraviello's resolution just several weeks ago, I believe this council approved a resolution unanimously that was tied to a permit for national grid to tear up Columbia Road. And we asked the city engineer, who in her public hearing documents, frequently closes with, be it understood that the contractor will have to close the street up and leave it and meet city of Medford standards, I believe is the language that's used. And we've asked for a copy of what those city of Medford standards are. And to date, we have yet to receive them, Mr. President. So I'd like to ask that the resolution be amended to include an update as to where we are on top of the city of Medford standards for public utility operators and tearing up our streets.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. So on the motion of Councilor Cavillo as amended by Councilor Knight, Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Yes. If we could also, um, once again, I brought it up, uh, about a month or so ago to send it to the mayor and the director of budget and personnel, the DPW commission position. Um, the personnel director posted the job on the webpage. Then it came down. Now I'm hearing they're not filling the job. So this is another example of us funding a position within a budget. for over $100,000 a year, and them not doing what the intent was. And this is why I asked for the transfer list.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It could be. So as amended by Councilor Camuso. So on the motion of approval by Councilor Carapiello.
[Paul Camuso]: The status of the DPW job.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion passes. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for longtime Medford resident Bob Delfino on his recent passing. Bob served as a member of the Board of Assessors for many years here in the city of Medford. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I believe everyone behind this reel and many residents of this community knew Bob Delfino. He was a family man, someone that dedicated his life to his profession and also to improving the quality of life in this community. He will be sorely missed, Mr. President. And at this point, I'd like to dedicate this meeting also in memory of Bob Delfino.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The motion of Councilor Marks. All those in favor? Those opposed? Please stand for a moment of silence.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President. Upon reviewing our resolutions that we've had in the past, and I don't know, you know, where you go with this, I don't know who has a sense of priorities around here or not, but going back, I believe it's the first week in March, and this is now almost getting to the last week of April, those lights in Medford Square are still out. That public safety issue still is looming, and I don't know what it is that this administration doesn't see about the issue of public safety. We heard the chief of police say that the biggest sense of priority and security for a business person is to have a light in front of his. There's eight of them out. There's eight of them out and all within the close proximity to each other. And it just doesn't make any sense. Beside not having any lights on the Route 16 parking lot, for which this is now the 16th time that we're talking about it. You know, I don't understand why the mayor was getting out. Maybe I do understand. He doesn't want to deal with these issues. because he maybe doesn't know how to handle them. He doesn't know how to tell people to go down there and change the street light in a matter of public safety. But it's OK for us to talk about it and talk about it and talk about it. As you've acknowledged, Mr. Council President, when you were sitting on there, on the 13th time we talked about the lights on Route 16, and they're still not done. So I don't know what it's going to take. And I don't even know if a new administration can make these changes unless there's a completely new attitude where it's directly people-oriented, not me, myself-oriented, people-oriented, taxpayer-oriented. You know, we just spent—we increased our school—we increased our budget last year by over $2 million for the school department. And what did they do? They went out there and hired administrators, more administrators. You know, you're looking for quality education, sound education. You're looking at the herculean issue of Common Core, where it's going here in Massachusetts, and how it's affecting families, and the whole educational process. What are we going to do this year when the budget comes in? If we don't have that $2 million extra, where's the cut going to be? You know? So, with that being said, Mr. President, you know, lights are a very important issue to me because they signify public safety, you know, at a minimum. And, you know, this is now going on two months for those eight lights to be out. And maybe the mayor didn't pay the electric bill this month. I don't know. He got his $2,500 ahead of time from Comcast, you know, for a golf tournament. So, I don't know when he's going to have that one. You know, I just don't know. I don't know what goes through that guy's mind anymore. You know, maybe you do because you talk to him because he doesn't, you know, didn't he make one of the comments, the reason why he's getting out because he can't get along with the council. There's no communication. Well, the reason why there's no communication, he doesn't want to talk to us. I'd be more than happy to talk to him anytime. If he came before this podium right now and indicated that I'm going to do that, I've been a little bit remiss. Okay. Mr. Mayor, if he acknowledged that he made a mistake with the kiosk, I would be perfectly happy with that. If he turned around and says, okay, I've been a little dilatory on having public access, but this is what we're going to do. You're right. It's a real need. I would be okay with that, but we don't have that. We don't have that. What are you thanking me for? You thanking me for my comments? Thank you, Mr. President. I know they're good comments, and they're made on behalf of the taxpayers of this community.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Councilor. On the motion of Councilor Knight to take and amend paper number 15-313, tonight in Committee of the Whole, the Council met to discuss and revise the election calendar of the year. It became aware, the City Clerk became aware via the Mass Municipal Association of the issue regarding primary scheduling in September vis-a-vis the observance of certain religious holidays, the use of polling places, and other contingencies. So on the approval of the City Council, after a vote in Committee of the Whole, the municipal election calendar is amended as follows. Tuesday, May 26, nomination papers available from the Registrar of Voters' Office, Room 102, City Hall. Tuesday, July 7, 5 p.m., last day and hour to obtain nomination papers from the Registrar of Voters Office, Room 102, City Hall. Tuesday, July 14th, 5 p.m., last day and hour to submit nomination papers to the Registrar of Voters Office for certification. Tuesday, July 28th, 5 p.m., last day and hour to file certified nomination papers with the City Clerk's Office. Thursday, July 30th, 5 p.m., last day and hour for filing objections to or withdraw from nomination. Wednesday, August 12th, 8 p.m., close of registration for the primary. Tuesday, August 25th, 5 p.m., first campaign finance statement due. Tuesday, September 1st, preliminary election, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 8th, 5 p.m., last day and hour to withdraw from nomination or petition for a recount of votes at the preliminary. Wednesday, October 14th, 8 p.m., close of registration for elections. Monday, October 26th, 5 p.m., second campaign finance statement due. Tuesday, November 3rd, general election, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, November 13th, 5 p.m., last day endowed to petition for a recount of votes at election. Friday, January 22nd, final campaign finances due, 2016. On the motion of Councilor Knight for approval, all those in favor, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed, do we require a roll call on this? Took one in committee. So on the, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Records of the previous meeting were passed to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, how did you find the records? Councilor Marks, a motion's approval for the records. All those in favour? All those opposed?
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