AI-generated transcript of Medford City Council - October 21, 2014

[Paul Camuso]: The 31st regular meeting of the Medford City Council will be called to order. The clerk will call the roll.

[Clerk]: Vice President Caraviello? Councilor Dello Russo? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Councilor Lungo-Koehn? Present. Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Penta? Present. President Camuso?

[Paul Camuso]: Present. Seven members present, zero in the absence. Please stand to salute our flag. Item 14-712, petition by Emily Stein, 177 High Street, Medford, Mass., to address the council about distracted driving. Your name and address for the record, please.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: Emily Stein, 177 High Street. Thank you. So I'm here as a resident of Medford, as a parent, as a nurse, as a road safety advocate, and as a victim to just address the issue of distracted driving. It's not just simply texting, using your phone, but it's everything. I feel it's an epidemic across the country. It goes across every age group, every race, every other demographic and region, whether it's in the city driving or out in the country. I have been involved in this work for the last two years. I know Mayor McGlynn is active in supporting what we've been doing. For the last two years, we've gone to Medford High School to give a presentation on distracted driving for the high schoolers. But I view this as more of a societal problem. It's not just teenagers. Everyone says, oh, it's a teenage problem. They're always on the phone. It's every age. And what I'm trying to do is say, let's start with Medford. Let's have this be a community where we not only have gone to the high schools for several years, you know, on board, but to have a community-wide commitment to say, let's stop distracted driving in our community, whether we're putting up signs, whether we're having, you know, more local businesses, community members aware of it and supporting it just to build the visibility. I think so many people aren't aware that just talking on their phone, they could actually cause a fatal crash. It's something that the public needs to know a lot about. I've been doing this for two years because my father was killed. And this is why I'm here. And I've been doing this work. This is what I'm dedicated to. And everyone says, oh, start with your family, start with your friends. And this is why I'm here, because I thought, let's have Medford be a place that could be a stand-up community to say, we're against this. I'm getting the law enforcement involved. I'm going to try to go to some police meetings and see what they can do. I mean, if you stand out in front of my house during rush hour traffic, everyone is on their phone. Everyone is looking down. And it scares me to be on the road. It scares me to walk down the street because I've seen a lot of bad driving and most often it's due to destruction. So I'm just putting it out here. This is my first time here. I just wanted to say what people think. I'm trying to pair up with a Gannis driving school now that they're located in the square. And I was talking with the owner to say, let's have a free evening session with adults. Anyone in the community can come. They can bring their child, even better. So that way, the family, it can be like a family agreement to say, we're going to sign a ban against phone use in the car. We're going to agree to do this together. So that's one thing we're doing. And then on January 7, we will be presenting at the high school. Mayor McGlynn, I know he's tried several times to be there in the past year, the past two years, so hopefully he will be there. But that will be the high school. I'm teamed up with the Mass Academy of Trial Attorneys, and they have been working with the mayor, and they're taking this to as many high schools across the state as they can to give a presentation that's been designed to educate on distracted driving. So that's pretty much it. I am new to Medford. I've been here for about a year and a half. But I feel like this, it is a community that could take this on. So that's.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you very much, Emily. The chair recognizes Councilor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Camuso. Thank you, Emily, for coming. Do you work for a specific organization or you do this on the side as like, just to raise awareness, volunteerism?

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: I mean, it's unpaid work right now. I am partnered with NDD.org. It's an organization that was founded by a father who lost his daughter due to a distracted driver. And he's taking this nationally. So he's been giving presentations for the last three years across the entire country. And he's training lawyers. He was a lawyer himself. So he's training lawyers to give this presentation to as many schools as they can. I know in Massachusetts it's been about 7,000 presentations that have been given to high schools.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Is there anything in the middle school or grade schools?

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: No. And I have my three-year-old trained to say, you better put that phone down, or she looks at other cars and notices it. So I believe that the younger you go, they have the power to change their parents' behavior as well as just, you know, they grow up with that awareness.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, I mean, just having two small children that are, you know, walking age, When we walk to school, even just from parking and walking to school, there's distracted drivers everywhere. So something in the grade schools would be great just to teach children to look both ways when they cross the street. They'll think they're OK because they're running on the sidewalk, but they're not because people are backing out of their driveways without looking. So I applaud you for your volunteerism and feel awful for what you've been through. But I think what you're doing for the community is great. do some personal injury work, and it's a horror story. It's very scary. I drive on 10 and 2 because I just read about what goes on and the accidents that take place. So we take it very seriously, I'm sure, as a council. And anything I personally or the council can do to help you, we're on board, absolutely. OK, great.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: Thanks very much.

[Paul Camuso]: The chair recognizes Councilor Pettis.

[Robert Penta]: Ms. Stein? You represent the unfortunate part of what happens in society. Some people don't get involved until it happens to them. And unfortunately, it's with you and your dad. But this is a huge issue. And I'm glad you brought it up. And I agree with Councilor Lungo-Curran. These kids go to school, and they're not worried about who's pulling out of a driveway or who might be coming down the street at a record speed. But if you thought of going to the State Department of Public Safety, and they have a belief It's kiddie grants. I could be wrong with the name, but I think it's something like that. And they promote, through financial aid, having somebody maybe even come up to the school and go through sample demonstrations as what to look out for. You know, you can talk to the kid or the children, but if you demonstrate it right in front of them, you know, it's live and it's real. And, you know, and I think that could possibly, you know, it's just another avenue to get more exposure, but at the same time, increase the liability that you don't really want to have anyone else go through such as yourself, unfortunately. But it did happen, and I'm glad you're doing what you're doing, and you should be complimented. But to keep this thing going, and keep it alive, and making a presentation. I would suggest that you go before the school committee too, and make the same suggestion to them. because they have the onus responsibility of making sure those kids get to school correctly.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: starting with the elementary school.

[Robert Penta]: And this is one of their obligations and their way of representing you, the taxpayers and the children of this community. So I think you have two viable options to go to, to make your case here and at the same time get some more help.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: So the Department of Public Safety?

[Robert Penta]: The State Department of Public Safety.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: You're welcome. And also if you would reach out to the superintendent of schools, he has a public educational access channel. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to get your message out there.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: That's a great point. I've met with him. He's great.

[Paul Camuso]: So, uh, he's very, um, very amenable to doing that on important, uh, issues. The chair recognizes vice president Cara Viello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Emily, again, I want to commend you for coming up to it. Um, as someone who drives all day, uh, I think I see it more than anybody. I mean, people would just, I mean, it isn't so much, you know, the talking and people have Bluetooth sound, they're talking to Bluetooth, but the texting is, I mean, it's just ridiculous. And I see it constantly. People just texting, driving around. You know, people talk about distracted driving. We should be talking about distracted walking.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, I agree.

[Richard Caraviello]: Which is just as bad as you see. When you're downtown, people are just obsessed with their phones and they're walking on the streets and don't even, I mean, it's bad enough people aren't paying attention to the cars, but now you're not even paying attention, walking out into the streets of the cities. And again, I commend you for your work. I think the next thing should be distracted walking.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: I know London has put up cushions, like football cushions around lampposts because so many people have injured themselves walking into them.

[Richard Caraviello]: You see the people with the headphones and they're just walking, just not paying attention or anything.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: That's something that we are taking on as pedestrian safety as well because I think so many so many incidents are happening because everyone's looking down. And then no one knows they call it an accident because no one's at fault because they were looking down. They don't even know. So what I do is when I went to speak at a medical center and I said, everyone, I'm challenging you for the next week, put your phones away, watch where you're going. It doesn't look at everyone out there. We're obsessed.

[Richard Caraviello]: We're obsessed with our phones and people have to understand we're not that important that we need to be in touch with everybody 24 hours a day. Right. Thank you.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: The chair recognizes council night.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much, and Ms. Stein, thank you very much for coming down and welcome to the city. We're glad to see that you're willing to be an active participant in the government. I think this is a worthwhile endeavor, Mr. President, and I think that it might make sense for this council to send the paper to the Traffic and Parking Commission for them to maybe conduct an investigation and report back to this council what their findings are and what steps they feel is appropriate for us to take as a community to ensure that we actually address the issue.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to send this to the Traffic Commission, the Chair recognizes Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Is there any current legislation that you're tracking now or something that maybe we as a Council can review to get on board to support?

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely. Massachusetts, I think, since 2007 has been a texting—you know, there's a texting ban. They keep shutting down the hands-free ban. I know AAA is behind it. There are a lot of agencies who are behind it. But again, it does come down to the local, the reps. I think it was the Senate passed, but the reps didn't. I forget where it was held up. So yes, absolutely. I mean, again, that's a step. Like I know in Canada, they have complete ban on all phone use. But we're a little behind. So a hands-free ban would be a huge help for law enforcement to at least catch people. Because right now, if they see someone texting, they might pull them over and they say, oh, I was just dialing a number. So it's hard for the law enforcement to catch people. So if there is a hands-free ban that passes in Massachusetts, that's one step, a big step, towards putting a stop to a lot of the incidents out there. As far as who to influence, I don't know. I can do some legwork and get back. I know AAA is really behind it. Mary McGuire at AAA has been trying to track all the politicians who need to be more educated on this issue. But that's one step.

[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, just a thought. I wonder if we, as a community, can enact our own hands-free ban. or does that have to be done on the state level? I'm not sure if that's possible, but maybe we can ask a city solicitor. I agree with you a hundred percent. And I think everyone behind this reeling, uh, that, that, that drives a car. Um, that's all you see people on the phone constantly. Um, and they're not paying attention. Um, and, and that goes for, you know, you hate to say it, but it's not only on the phone, I see people putting makeup on while they're driving. I see people doing a host of things while they're driving. And sometimes I'm in my car saying, please just drive your car because they'll be in the middle of the road, not moving while traffic's going around them. It's, it's just, it's, it's unbelievable in my opinion. And, uh, I read an article, I think it was a month or two ago in the globe that the number of tickets issued, uh, we would think because we have the texting ban that there's a lot of tickets being issued. It's minimal, if many at all, in this commonwealth. And one of the reasons is, like you mentioned, it's hard to pinpoint and catch someone in the act that could be dialing the phone, make a phone call, or so forth.

[UJBcHvzH4YE_SPEAKER_06]: And they have every excuse in the book.

[Michael Marks]: I like the hands-free ban, although when you're talking, you can still get distracted. But if you're talking to a passenger, you can be distracted. So I think it's a step in the right direction to provide the safety we need on our streets. So Mr. President, if I can make that in the form of a motion, if we as a community can implement our own hands-free ban within the perimeter of our city.

[Paul Camuso]: Okay. Thank you very much. And I'm going to take a vote right now on the two motions. One is for Councilor Knight, from Councilor Knight to refer this to the traffic commission. And that was amended as well by Councilor Marks to ask the city solicitor if the city of Medford can put their own ban in to make it hands-free only while driving a vehicle. The clerk will call roll call vote. Please. The clerk will call the roll. Thank you. Yes, by a vote of seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes as amended. And thank you very much for your presentation this evening. Just a quick announcement, if the council will indulge me. The DPW this evening dropped off a package to the members of the city council to notify the residents of this community about the upcoming street sweeping, which will take place between November 3rd and November 24th throughout the community. The following places, publicly notifications have went out So if you have any questions or concerns, you can check one of these media outlets. The Medford transcript, the Medford Mercury, the Medford page on the Boston Globe, the patch made in Medford. It's been posted in the library, the Council on Aging, City Hall. It's also on the city website at Medford.org. It's on the city of Medford's Facebook and Twitter page. Channel 15, which is the educational channel. Tufts University has been notified regarding all four of the students, the faculty, the graduates, and the staff. We'll be getting an email, as well as the Senior Sounds, that is the local newspaper. for our senior citizens. The flashing signs will be out as well as the A-frames. And Captain Clemente will be putting together a reverse 911 to notify different areas of their street sweeping. So all these different venues you can go to. If you have any questions, you can call the mayor's office at 781-393-2408. Item 14-713, petition by Jeanne M. Martin, 10 Cummings Street, Medford, Mass., to address the Council about parking enforcement. Ms. Martin.

[Jeanne Martin]: Thank you. Jeanne Martin, 10 Cummings Street. Let's see. Parking enforcement should be a uniformed program throughout the city without exception. This city has seen enough favoritism and it needs to stop. All sections of the city should be mandated to abide by the parking rules in order to keep the streets free and clear for public use. A car on a public way is a privilege, not a right. I want to repeat that. A car on a public way is a privilege, not a right. Should this city find itself in a power outage, lockdown, or major snowstorm, DPW and emergency vehicles have the right of way, and no one should argue that their vehicle was destroyed if they are not abiding by the parking rules of the city. It also assists the national grid, telephone companies, and the like to provide services to you. Discontent among the masses will occur, and people with more influence in the city will ask for ticket forgiveness. This cannot stand. If you tweak the program, tweak it for all, not just for the well-connected in the city. As for the money that comes from the tickets in the squares, this revenue needs to go towards signs in all sections of the city as the expansion of the program continues. We will need to hire ticketing personnel, and this will pay for itself. The mayor has In other words, spoiled all the citizens, but the business districts as well, because we should have had meters 10 years ago. And now they are balking. Most cities our size have had parking restrictions years ago. I am sorry that the mayor has indulged them, but the time has passed for free parking. A new day is dawning and a cost of business is inevitable. This is only the beginning. The people will be in this hall complaining once the broader city starts being tagged. I don't believe that the judicial piece of the enforcement should be in the hands of the mayor. He is clearly biased and will forgive his political friends. It should be someone outside City Hall. Sadly, poor sections of the city will be fined more frequently and pay a higher cost of living, but this cannot be avoided. The least we can do is administer ticketing in a fair as possible through all sections of the city to decrease this tension the best we can. Commercial vehicles in front of fire hydrants, wheelchair spots and the like need to be ticketed in the nicer parts of the city so that everyone buys into the plan. it will mitigate some dissent and resentment. And I have a question for those that have read the report. Does this report deal with the issue of the people who already got permit parking? Like, I pay $10 a year. Is that part of this contracting situation, where they're going to have personnel go around and check all the permit parking streets? OK. Thank you, Mr. Mark. OK. And that's my statement. Thank you very much.

[Robert Penta]: What did you say? Councilor Penta. Jeannie, can you ask that question again?

[Jeanne Martin]: No. For those people that pay $10 a year, I paid $10 a year for, I don't know, five, six, seven years or whatever. My parents have been gone since 2008. So I've been paying since then $10 a year for parking enforcement on my street. And we don't have parking enforcement in the city of Medford. Nobody comes around to take it on a regular basis. I have a corner. I have a dead end street. The corner has a person parked on there that shouldn't be there because it makes it narrow for emergency vehicles to come in and go out. It should be 100 feet from the corner, the sign, but it's not. So I'd like to have that removed so that there's nobody on the corner because there's only one way in and out of the street.

[Robert Penta]: So that was your question?

[Jeanne Martin]: Oh, my question is, with the ticketing, are you going to have personnel actually coming around? I know that the meters are going into the squares. But are there going to be people going around and giving tickets to the people who already have paid permit parking?

[Robert Penta]: From the way I understand it, in reading the addendums that we were given last week, there's anywhere from 2,500 to 2,600 stickers that have already been issued. And I don't think they've been reissued as of July 1 of this year. That's a question, I believe, that needs to be answered because nobody's got the answer for that. I think she's talking resident permit parking.

[Michael Marks]: Yeah, resident permit parking.

[Jeanne Martin]: I paid $10 a year.

[Michael Marks]: It's going to be enforced under this proposal. Say it again, it's what? Resident permit parking is part of the enforcement.

[Jeanne Martin]: It is. Okay, so who's going to come around? The people from the contract.

[Paul Camuso]: The contract people and the police department. They remain the right to give out tickets.

[Jeanne Martin]: Okay, thank you.

[Robert Penta]: but there's two parts of that permit parking. One is residential, one is commercial. So I just didn't know.

[Jeanne Martin]: Oh, okay. I didn't understand that. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. So I, my, my point is, is that I want this parking program to go citywide and I want it to be in all sections of the city so that there, that, um, it doesn't cause discontent among certain parts of the city up against other parts of the city. Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you on the motion of council night to receive and place on file. All those in favor, all those opposed, the ayes have it. Item 14-714, petition by Matthew Page Lieberman. Suspension of the rules has been requested by Councilor Lungo-Koehn. For which paper? 14-715. 14-715. All those in favor? All those opposed? The ayes have it. To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, from Michael J. McGlynn-Meyer, paper 14-715. This is an expenditure from the law account request, and the description is as follows. The claimant, State Farm Insurance, as a sub-rookie for its... Motion to waive the reading and just give a brief synopsis, Mr. President. Motion to waive the reading by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. The claimant is State Farm Insurance, and they're representing Mrs. Knoffs. Her motor vehicle was struck while parked on Edison Avenue by a DPW sander. The city has received all releases. Our legal department, which is represented this evening by our assistant city solicitor. And the claim has been brought before this council for $4,498.94. The chair awaits a motion. On the motion of approval by Councilor Dello Russo, seconded by Councilor Lungo-Koehn and Vice President Caraviello, the clerk will call the roll.

[Clerk]: Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Dello Russo? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Lungo-Koehn? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Penta?

[Paul Camuso]: Yes. President Camuso? Yes. By a vote of seven in the affirmative, the paper passes. Thank you very much for coming this evening.

[SPEAKER_16]: Thank you, Mr. President.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion to revert back to the regular order of business, all those in favor? All those opposed? The ayes have it. Item 14-714, petition by Matthew Page Lieberman, 15 Canal Street, number 15, Medford, Mass., to address the council about community access TV. Name and address for the record, sir.

[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: My name is Matthew Page Lieberman. I live at 15 Canal Street, apartment 15, West Medford. OK, I have not been here in four and a half years. And since then, there have been some changes. So I want to congratulate Adam Knight for being elected. and Councilor Caraviello too, as well as Paul for you being president, and Caraviello for vice president. It's a really nice change. I'm here tonight because it's not actually about community access, but about government access. I'm working on a project in which I'm trying to create transcripts of city meetings. And I would like, because I'm disabled, and that's why I live in 15 Canal Street, so I also have a lot of sympathy for those who are disabled and hearing impaired. I also have a bit of sympathy for immigrants who do not speak English as a first language. So I'm creating a project to create transcripts of meetings and translations of them and captions of the meetings. As I said, I'm disabled, so I don't have a lot of money, but I did a couple weeks ago, I turned on cable in my house just so I could get these city council meetings, and I bought a device so I could record them. What I would really like is if we could have the archives of our meetings be available online. Currently, we charge $20 to get an archive of a city council meeting. This is something that I don't think we should be charged for. If we go to neighboring Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville, it's completely free. You can go online. I've talked to quite a few people about this. And one person told me, I will not say the person's name, but I was told that it's extremely expensive for these long meetings and that there are no services that we could really use. I suggested Made in Medford. And there's also this service called Screencast. that the school board uses. But I was told, it's just too expensive. These videos are too long, which from the person who told me this, I was kind of left with the impression this person isn't really knowledgeable about the state of technology today. There's Amazon charges about $0.03 for each gigabyte. And Google as well charges a little bit under $0.03 for each gigabyte. Our meetings sometimes go for about two hours. That would come out to be about $0.06 or $0.07. to store a video each month. And then there are about 20 cents or so for people to download a whole thing. So this is something that would be... You know, it'd be not even like, you know, $20 a year, I think, when we consider this. Now, I'm currently working on archiving these things. Oh, I should get back to something. I was told by somebody that YouTube, if we were to upload videos to YouTube, that they just do not accept videos that are that long. But there are people who upload videos to YouTube that are a day and a half long. And if we have interests about, you know, concerns about privacy, There's also a way that we can kind of configure YouTube so that nobody would be able to see city council meetings except for people that visit from a city site. We can make that private. So I mean, there are really quite a few options. Some are free options, and then some are only a few dollars a year. So we could store archives of city council meetings. So I have much interest in having these archived going forward, as well as archives of the previous meetings. As far as previous meetings, I think that the city should remove the $20 fee for previous meetings, and I would perfectly be willing to volunteer to archive meetings, perhaps 10 a week. It only takes about 15 minutes to take a DVD and turn it into a file. And if the city has any problems about privacy, you know, because I'm not a city employee, I'm just volunteering, you know, I could lobby the mayor and say I will work for a dollar a year.

[Paul Camuso]: Matt, can you just step back from the mic a little bit? It's coming over muffled. Sure, sure, sure.

[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: Yeah, I did get that feeling. But, I mean, that's about it. You know, I would like, I'm doing a lot of this as a volunteer, and I would just kind of know how the city feels about this. I think by, you know, kind of catching up with some neighboring cities, we can perhaps increase citizen interest and participation. The reason that I record meetings also is that I go to something that's every Tuesday at 7 o'clock. So, I mean, if there are any questions, that's about it.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you very much for your presentation.

[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Through you to actually the city clerk, why is it so expensive to get a copy of the meeting? Is it $20 to get a copy? So that was set by this council? How far back?

[Clerk]: Probably back when we started to

[Michael Marks]: 2000 maybe. What would the actual cost be for the actual CD itself and the time?

[Clerk]: I think it's mostly the, uh, it's not the actual material. I think it's the time that the person has to invest because in a public records, if you're requesting public records, a lot of times you've charged, um, if someone has to copy something, you assign that person, um, to do the copy and the labor. And so that particular person is on a public records request. Whatever that salary per hour, that's what you kind of make your basis on. So if a person's making $18 an hour, it's almost kind of like if it takes an hour. And you got to remember, this person was set, I think, when we were doing VHS originally. Because VHS was a slow process, where if you had a two hour meeting, you actually had to pop in a tape. and sit there for two and a half hours, you know, transfer it and take it.

[Michael Marks]: It just seems $20 seems a little excessive for someone to get a copy of a meeting. Um, also the meetings used to be, uh, copied onto the channel three website. Uh, and they did that for, geez, that's probably say close to a year. And then as we know, when channel three closed, that stopped. Uh, and I'm thinking Mr. President, if there's a way to get it onto the city website, uh, the council has an area for, the city council that list all of us and our email addresses and so forth, and why can't we get a copy burned into the city website of taped council meetings? It's a great way for access to residents, and we always talk about open government, and I think that would serve well for our community. So I would offer that, Mr. President.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Marks to look into uploading, I think is the proper word, our meetings onto the City of Medford's webpage. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Before the roll is called, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much, Mr. President. And I've had some conversations with Matthew about this very same endeavor that he's looking to spearhead, and I think it's a great idea. I, too, have some concern about the $20 fee to be charged to get a copy of the tape. And I think that it might make sense for our rules committee to take a look at the fee structure that we use for providing an archived copy of the tape to a member of the general public who wishes to have a copy, Mr. President. So I'd like to add that to the paper as well. We refer the issue of the cost of a copy of the tape to our rules committee for investigation and to maybe establish a fee structure.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: I don't want to complicate matters at all by sharing this piece of information, but if one were to go to the town clerk of Winchester for a piece of paper this big with a raised seal, a certified copy of a death certificate, which takes eight minutes for the secretary to produce for you, costs $18. Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Marks, as well as amended to send this to the Rules Committee to review by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? The ayes have it. On the motion of Councilor Knight for suspension of Rule 33, all those in favor? All those opposed? For the items in the hands of the clerk. Item 14-711, offered by Vice President Caraviello. Please discuss the upcoming street sweeping program and the different types of announcements to the public. I did this earlier. I did not know we had a paper under suspensions. I apologize, vice president. Suspension of the rules. That one rule. Yeah, rule 33 is the rule to take different papers out of order. That's the specific rule.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I brought this forward to, rather than being reactive, after the sweeping is done, everybody's coming down and screaming that they weren't notified. If we brought this up tonight, we'd be a little more proactive and let people know. I mean, there's 18 different avenues of advertisement for our residents to find out about the street reporting. The only suggestion I have, on top of the 18 different ways, is to have the police cars drive in advance of the street sweeping with the sirens on, like they've done in the past, and on the bullhorns. So this way, for the people who Because you always get the people saying my mother just came over for ten minutes and the car got towed. If the chief would have the officers driving up and down the streets, maybe about ten or 15 minutes before the sweeper, with an announcement and siren, hopefully that will alleviate some of the problems too. And if you also, if you look back, all the cars that were towed last year were cars of non-Method residents also, Mr. President. So let's hope this year, There'll be less towing, and then hopefully everyone will get the message about the program.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. On the motion of the Vice President Caraviello, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the administration provide the council with the details regarding handicapped parking under the new parking plan. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received an email a day or two ago regarding the mayor's new parking program. And the woman asked me if the handicapped spots that are in our business districts and throughout our cities that are on also resident permit parking areas will remain the same. Will they be the same number of spots in the community? And this paper is to ask the administration, where they are the ones that signed the contract and are most familiar with the contract, what is the proposal call for regarding handicap parking and are there any changes to the number of existing spots that currently exist in our community, Mr. President?

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: I'm grateful for the Councilor to bring this up. And we just had another presentation by a good citizen regarding this parking thing. Now that it's been signed, we know it's coming. One would think that there'd be some degree of public announcement saying, we've signed this contract. Stay tuned. The second week of November, we'll have a preliminary explanation of what this is going to be like for the citizens. Don't worry yet. The parking plan will take effect on exit date. We've received no information from those responsible for this. And I think that's what the citizens deserve, Mr. President. And if I could amend, if Councilor Marks agrees to it, amend his resolution that the city administration offer a preliminary a word to the public of announcement and explanation of the parameters of the parking policies so that people can be prepared in fears that are well-founded can be allayed.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion as amended, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, I can appreciate both Councilor Marks and Councilor Dello Russo and their issues, but once we take paper 14-701 off the table, and talking about the contract, which we were given last week. Unfortunately, you weren't here. You were sick. I think we can get into, I think we can get into what you're talking about because there's a way to have this not only explained, but there's some issues in here that I don't believe that the council is aware of. And so I'm glad we did get the contract and after reviewing it, there's some issues we'd like to talk. Are we still on the suspension?

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. So could we take, Okay, let's take a vote on this paper, and then we'll take that. On the motion as amended, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

[Robert Penta]: And which paper, Councilman? It's 14701. It was tabled last week.

[Paul Camuso]: Do you have that paper? 14701, City Council's official position on the pay-to-park contract. On the motion?

[Robert Penta]: To take it off the table.

[Paul Camuso]: To take it off the table. All those in favor?

[Robert Penta]: Aye.

[Paul Camuso]: All those opposed? The ayes have it. Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, last week we were received because the council had asked for a copy of the contract. We were given a, a disc copy, which talked about the five addendums to the contract. Then we were given the hard copy contract. Um, and I read the contract twice and then I went back and I read what was given to us on September 10th twice. And there's only, One, one, two. There's only five words that made a change in the whole contract, under the whole proposal. And it comes under the procurement of meters, equipment, and vehicles. And at the very end, it basically says the cost of the vehicles and the required accessories, x, x, x, x, x. That was in the September 9th. In the October 7th, the cost of the vehicles is going to be provided by the operator. That's the only change in language that we have from September 9th through October 7th and what we got. We were also told and we were given, we did receive as public information provided by the mayor himself that he sent out a press release on October 7th indicating that he had signed it. And there was one, two, three, four, there were four inclusions in that recommendation page. where he indicates after deliberating and discussing concerns raised by the business community, the mayor is recommending the following changes to the plan. And the four issues that were raised are nowhere, nowhere to be found in the contract, no by reference or otherwise. So the contract proposal as preliminary on September 10th and the final one that was signed by the mayor on October 7th does not have those recommendations that he supposedly put in his public press release that, you know, again, it gives a false representation as to what's going on. Also, Mr. President, we got in this disk there — strike that. Let's just go to the contract first. In the contract, there is some representation — and I don't know how this got by anybody — but there's some representation that says, this contract includes, but is not limited to, the 987 metered spaces that exist at the commencement of this agreement. There is no metered spaces in the city of Medford right now. So how do they determine 987 metered spots? I have absolutely no idea. And I think that needs to be explained further. Also, as you continue on, it should go to, I think, under the rent, under the section rent in the contract, it says years eight, nine, and 10. provided the city exercises its option to extend the agreement, as stated herein, operators shall continue to pay the city the guaranteed rent in continuation of paragraph 1A, which is the contract. So if you're looking and you're reading this, is this a seven-year contract or is this a 10-year contract? Because 8, 9, and 10 are option years. And as we all know, under option years, under the law, the city's procurement officer has to demonstrate by giving to the council a comparison of not only the figures that we presently have, but the difference between they doing it, X, or the city of Medford doing it. That is not explained in here, other than the fact that eight, nine, and 10 appears to be option-type years. So the question is, is this a seven-year contract, or is it a 10-year contract? I don't know. These are questions. Also, the contract, as you continue on, has some questions as it relates to, once again, liability regarding certain issues. And the liability questions that present itself, I think, directly go to what Councilman Knox was alluding to in the issues of handicapped accessibility, who's going to be responsible, and the placing and the locations of the handicapped accessibility. Also, I believe, as Councilor De La Ruza just alluded to, I don't think it's the responsibility of this council to explain anything to anybody. This is the mayor's proposal.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: I didn't suggest that the council do an explanation. I suggested that the city administration have the burden and the responsibility to make an explanation.

[Robert Penta]: Well, I apologize. I misunderstood. Thank you. I thank you. I thought you had.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you for your kind apology, Councilor. Thank you, Councilor.

[Robert Penta]: Thank you. That's in the contract. I think if you go now to the addendums that were given to us in the video of last week, this is very, very telling. If you go to addendum number, let's do them one at a time. From addendum number three, question is the following. If the city, wait a minute, excuse me. The question is, how many residential permits are issued annually and what is the cost per permit? First answer is between 25 to 2,600. 1,000 is a huge difference. If it was 15, 20, or 100, I think that could be understandable. How could you have 1,000 and a discrepancy such as that, unless the figures haven't been calculated to be more accurate? I don't know. Also, the real big question, and this was one, Jeanne Mutton, This was one that was brought up at the meeting over and over again. Okay, and it says the following. Will all existing parking signage need to be replaced or will existing parking signage be permitted to remain? The city's answer, existing signage will be permitted to remain. It is in good condition and reflects all the information necessary for notice of parking restrictions. Now, show me a parking, identification that even talks about kiosks, nevermind the meters, that's existing. We don't have it because they don't exist. And I don't understand how the city can go forward and make that kind of a thing. It reflects all the information necessary for notice of parking restrictions. I just don't understand that. Then you go a little bit step further when from addendum number two, It says, who is responsible for the upkeep of the municipal lots including sweeping, cleaning, snow plowing, pothole, maintenance, lighting, and re-striping if necessary? City's answer, the city will continue to maintain the municipal lots. My question is this, when it snows, and we've seen it on numerous occasions, and some of those sidewalks are inundated with mounds and mounds of snow, is the city going to be responsible to go out there and shovel out the kiosks? Are you going to tell the business people that you've got to go out and shovel out the kiosks? I don't understand why nobody had the idea to think into this and to get to that point, because that is going to be an issue. When there's a serious snowstorm in this city, it's bad enough that the city has to go out there with their plows and do what's necessary to make sure that the streets are open for public safety. But when you're dealing with kiosks throughout the city, and you have almost 1,700, 1,800 of these that are going to represent parking spaces for, I don't know, how many kiosks that they're going to have, who's going to be responsible? City?

[Michael Marks]: I don't know if my colleague misspoke, but I believe there's only gonna be 85 kiosks.

[Robert Penta]: I didn't finish, you know, let me finish.

[Michael Marks]: Okay, you said 1,700.

[Robert Penta]: No, the 1,700 spots for which 85, allegedly 85 to 89 kiosks are going to be managing those 85, those 85 kiosks will be managing the 1,700 or 1,800 spots. Get it? On the street? Yes.

[Michael Marks]: It's only a thousand spots.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of clarification, Councilor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Page two of the agreement says there's 987 spots.

[Robert Penta]: Well, then you know something, the numbers, there's something wrong with these numbers then.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: 3,700 parking permits for business commuters and residential.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Dello Russo, point of information.

[Fred Dello Russo]: I'm wondering if, since we've asked for an explanation from the city authority to explain this program, our discussions might be more fruitful if we had a person here rather than speculate.

[Robert Penta]: Well, we were asked to review this council Dello Russo last week, and that's what I did. The next question is, does the city have any other studies that provide projected revenues for paid parking? And if so, the city, please provide the studies. And the answer is the city does not have any other studies. This council asked to have its own independent study and all we were told It would be more expensive than that, because we got that as part of, quote, a confidential piece of paper that we weren't supposed to disclose to anyone that had nothing that verified that the facts that they were presenting were right. Also, in the RFP that went out, the question was asked of them if, in fact, they would submit or produce two references And two references that were the closest to the city of Medford for which this company, this company, Republic from Tennessee worked for. And that's no way that I don't know where it is. It may be in city hall someplace, but it would have been nice for the council to have had that as backup to the fact that if mayor thinks this is such a great company and it's just a wonderful job, these are the two backups that were asked for and that were acknowledged. Also, I think that what needs to needs to be understood is Last week we were also told, strike that, two weeks we were also told when the President of the Chamber of Commerce were here that the Chamber, Government Affairs Committee, and the Chamber's Board of Directors presented to the Mayor that they were in favor of this pay-to-park program. The letter dated September 26, 2014, by the President, Mr. White, in a four-page, five-page, I mean, five-paragraph, doesn't indicate that at all. It indicates of their interest in it, but it indicates very clearly. We also recognize that from business center to business center, our members have different parking needs and varying concerns with the enforcement plan. We would like to provide a forum for our members to voice their concerns. It is important that the chamber be involved with any additional planning or public meetings in distributing such information so that we can serve our members appropriately. That letter is not an endorsement of a pay-to-park program.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: I believe the letter that Councilor Penta refers to was sent to the administration prior to the recommendations being made that the Councilor referred to at the beginning of his soliloquy.

[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you, Councilor.

[Robert Penta]: My answer to that is the letter that was sent to the administration by Mr. White, Mr. Call, and Janet Donnelly never was presented to the entire membership. And this was presented on September 26th. So, as Mr. White indicated when he was at that forum, that the Government Affairs Committee and the Board of Directors endorsed the pay-to-park program. The pay-to-park program wasn't even signed. So that's number one. Number two, it's quite obvious that this coincides to the commentary that was represented in the Medford transcript that the business community and the business squares are concerned and they have varying indifference of opinions. Now, you can agree or disagree with what's going on because the commentary subsequent to that, which was issued on October 7th by the mayor of this community, says he met with the chamber, and they agreed, and they come up with these four recommendations. These aren't four inclusions in the contract. These are only recommendations. And if they're only recommendations, and they're not going to be effective, because the council, strike that, because the contract in and of itself says, that's it. This is the final terminology. I don't know how a recommendation can come into play, number one. And number two, if it's not included in the contract, and not even incorporated by reference, that's number one. It doesn't even talk about how many people even bid for the contract. Speaking with folks who are professional in public bidding contracts here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we were led to believe in our executive session on May 20th that we had to choose this one particular individual, because that's what the mayor was recommending at the time. But we had three legitimate people. who had submitted to the RFP. We never got those figures from the three people in their bidding process to make an intelligent decision to make the final decision or make the decision who we're going to take.

[Paul Camuso]: So this was only... Point of information, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: I do believe, if I recall correctly, that the only matter that was before the council that evening is whether or not the council was going to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract that would be 10 years in length. The actual contracted entity was not up for discussion. That was not within our purview that evening.

[Robert Penta]: I'm going to respectfully disagree with my colleagues because the meeting did take place with the fact that we were going to be informed as to where we were going on the RFP. Uh, Ms. Louise Miller was there and unfortunately she didn't have an opportunity to speak why they didn't let her speak. But there were three people who submitted bids. The mayor decided to choose only one. The mayor's request to the council was at that point in time, do we go forward with this one? I needed your opinion on that. So none of us had any of an opportunity. any opportunity to even understand who the other two people were if they were legitimate because they satisfied the RFP that the city sent out. You know, if this is going to be an open and transparent process, and we're supposed to get the biggest bang for our buck, who knows that maybe one of the other two that wasn't chosen or didn't submit couldn't have given a better deal, or at least offered something for some of us to say, well, wait a minute, let's take a comparison. That for which we never even had the opportunity, didn't even have the opportunity, to getting one from the city. You know, how do you turn around and hand someone on October 7th to the council, the contract that was signed, have a press release go out that day, which is exactly the same thing that was given to us on September 10th, minusing out five words, but identifies allegedly metered spots in the city that we have. There is not one metered spot in the city of Medford. And that would be crucial to this contract, because if it's a meted spot, it needs to be identified. And having no meted spots to be identified tells me, or at least reads it, I'm not the lawyer, we have lawyers on the council here, that basically would tell you if it's an unidentifiable location as stated in here to be identified, Well, that presents a difference of opinion as to what are we signing in for and what are we getting. But more importantly, the fact of kiosks, snow, responsibility. Is it 987? Is it 2,600 or 2,500 permanent parking stickers? How many actually is it going to be? Who's going to maintain the parking lot? For example, the parking lot up on Boston Avenue. 90% of that parking lot, even though the city has its signs, is privately owned. So what are they going to do with that? Put kiosks on somebody's privately-owned property? I got calls this week from folks who want to know, who are business people, and I won't mention their names, who's exempt and who isn't exempt, because there are a lot of commercial pieces of property in this city that people are going to want to know. Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who?

[Paul Camuso]: Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? We were told in our subcommittee meetings that any clearly marked spot that is currently in the city of Medford is going to be a spot that's going to be metered. They're not creating new spots. They're not taking away any that are clearly marked. But if you have a clearly marked spot in one of our squares or downtown districts, those are the ones that are going to be metered.

[Robert Penta]: But to get them meted, they need to be identified. This contract says they are already identified. They're not identified. We do not have one metered spot here in the city of Medford.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: But clearly marked, if it has a sign, 15 minutes, two hours, half hour, anything that's clearly marked as a parking spot within the city of Medford is going to be metered.

[Robert Penta]: Then maybe the terminology should have been changed. Instead of metered spots, identified spots, identifiable spots as city of Medford spots. You know, contracts are usually very specific. And it's going to be very specific because they're going to be basing their money and their profit on a lot of the specifics that are in this contract. And with that being said, Mr. President, I just really think that, especially with that press release that went out by the mail last week, I mean, none of us can answer the question because, you know, it can't be fact if it can't be found in the contract. And even by reference, anything subsequent to that could be written. Sure, it does say in here that the traffic commission will be the group of individuals who's going to set the fees and do whatever it has to do. and that the city administration basically is going to be the reviewing authority for appeals, and they're not going to do that. And it talks about trying to employ 50% Medford people to be part of the program and blah, blah, blah, and all of that. But there were certain specifics in here that are just left out there, you know? And maybe it would have been nice if we got all of this information before anything was signed so we could have a full-blown discussion, and taxpayers and ratepayers and business folks throughout the entire community would have had an opportunity. You know, this has been hanging around since 2009, Mr. President. This was a quick rush from September 9th to October 7th. And that's kind of like, you really question, what was the quick rush since you've been waiting five years to discuss this? Even if it took another four or five or six months, who cares? Eventually, we know it's going to come. Because this council asked for traffic enforcement, not revenue enhancement, traffic enforcement. And there is a big difference.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Councilor Husso. I just beg to differ to a point because this council, I think all seven of us have discussed the possibility for income that is out there. I think each councillor has discussed how much money Somerville brings in, how much money Cambridge brings in, and how much the city of Medford is missing out on that opportunity. I believe I've spoke about it, Councilor Caraviello, I mean, all of my colleagues have. So, we knew this was going to be contract. I mean, I don't know how to get around, how anybody can get around that.

[Paul Camuso]: We'll be back to you, Councilor. Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Just a response back to Councilor Langel-Curran. You know, we never engaged in a revenue enhancement program to find out just how much money that could bring in. And now once folks out-of-towners realize that they're not going to be able to stay here and park here all day long, that money that you think you would be getting and generating from those folks, that's not going to exist because they're not going to come here anymore. So you're basically dealing with your in-town and maybe every now and then out-of-town. But when you think of what's going on, your water bill, It just goes up. Your food tax, your gasoline tax. And now, this past week, if you all read the newspapers and understood that the electric company will be raising your electric rates 37% this winter for heat, for whatever that's going on. How much more can you keep banging away and telling the taxpayer, you gotta pay for more and more and more? If we had a very simple program that recognized, let's start off slow. Let's start with an enforcement program. I don't think, let me just cut this. I don't think anybody would argue the fact that if you want to put meters a kiosk and parking lots, that isn't it. It's the on street parking. And that's the issue that's presenting itself. And because of that, You have to realize all these other taxes and these fees that people are paying, it's just going to end. It's almost like looking at some of the questions that are on the ballot. You know, they want to force you into a forced deposit on certain bottles, and every five years it'll just go up automatically. I mean, how much are you going to keep telling the people you're going to have to pay for something with no question? Same thing with the gas tax. You're not going to be able to question it because it's just going to be automatic. People have a right to discuss these issues and to know how they have been determined. That's why we're the legislative body here. And that's why we have, and we should have had that right to make the vote, not the vote that was okay in May to make the mayor go out and negotiate, but the council should have had that final vote to say whether we're on board or not on board. That's where the mayor, I believe you served his authority, went forward and he took that May 20th vote as for him to go forward and do that. And that was not my intention for vote. And it was as clear as a bell. If you watch them, the minutes of the meeting of May 20th and as recorded in the minutes as well.

[Paul Camuso]: The vote that was taken is similar to the trash contract and other contracts that are beyond a three-year period that needs this council's approval to negotiate. And the only negotiating authority under this form of government is the current sitting mayor, who happens to be Michael McGlynn.

[Robert Penta]: On the trash contract, Mr. President, with due respect, the trash contract can be signed by the executive authority. You didn't need the legislative body for that. It's one of the very rare contracts that can be signed like that.

[Paul Camuso]: But I'm going to refresh your memory. You were sitting on this council when the city administration came to this council to do an extended contract. If it's over that threshold, you need to get the council's approval. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I don't want anyone out in the viewing audience to believe that the meters are where we're going to gain a lion's share of our revenue. If you look at the revenue calculations that were presented to us, ticketing will derive two-thirds of the revenue. So it's not the meters that are driving the revenue. It's the ticketing that's driving the revenue. And, you know, I agree with my council colleague, Councilor Penta. When we asked, when I say we, it was us and the Chamber of Commerce. and residents of this community asked for enforcement, our vision was to enforce existing signage throughout the community. That was the vision that was out there. And then eventually, if you wanted to expand the program, you know, we refer to Somerville all the time. Their program has been in existence for 30 years and has been tweaked and revised over 30 years. We're starting off with a program that they want, the administration wants to be comparable to a program that's been in existence for 30 years. So we're going from nothing to something. It's like going from zero to 50 in a matter of minutes in this community. And I think there lies the problem, Mr. President. I would ask, because I don't think a lot of people in this community are aware of the revenue calculations, that if we can get a revenue comparison, Mr. President, on right now, if you want to feed the meter, it's a dollar for an hour. It's 25 cents for every 15 minutes. If we were to lower that to 50 cents for an hour, what would the revenue projections be based on that? with a look at, as Mr. Pompeo mentioned, Stephen Pompeo from Pompeo Insurance and West Method, that we provide free parking citywide for the first 15 minutes or first half hour, how that impact the revenue. and if we can get a comparison on that. Because if we're looking at ticketing driving two-thirds of the revenue, then if we were to provide 15-minute free parking citywide, the first 15 minutes, so if you want to run in and get a sandwich, or if you want to run in and get the newspaper, or pay a bill at a store, whatever you might want to do would cover a lot of people the first 15 minutes. And in my opinion, based on the revenue calculations that I saw, that would not hamper revenue at all. And it would provide a service to everyone in this community. It would address the business owners throughout the community, Mr. President, that have concern with it. And I think it makes sense. So I would ask my council colleague if we can amend his paper or add this, that a revenue calculation be done to compare parking for 50 cents for one hour as opposed to $1 for one hour. and first 15 minutes free citywide. How does that impact the proposal, Mr. President? A cost analysis comparison, I think, would be helpful. And just my last point, Mr. President, you know, we all push for this, and, you know, we can be critical and so forth, and something needed to be done. And as I stated from the top, I'm not in support of a lot of these initiatives. But I think a telltale sign, Mr. President, A telltale sign is last week, the mayor had a State of the City speech before the Chamber of Commerce. And during his speech, he did not mention one word about parking enforcement, one of the biggest things to hit businesses in the last 50 years in this community. He did not make one mention of it. And that to me is a telltale sign of this administration And the fact that this administration, I don't even think, supports the plan, Mr. President. And what we're going to see when this plan finally gets implemented, and I agree with Councilor Dello Russo, there's not enough notification now, there should be public hearings and so forth, that when this program eventually hits, people in this community are going to be shocked. They're going to be shocked, Mr. President. And no matter what we do for the first couple of weeks and give out fake tickets and so forth, people are going to be shocked because the way of life in this community, the way of doing business in this community is going to be altered, in my opinion, negatively. And I think this should have been addressed in a different manner, Mr. President. It could have been addressed in-house, and it could have been much more thoughtful to take into consideration how this community works and the way of life in this community. And then we could have proceeded from there, Mr. President.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. On that motion, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, as I understand it, the motion before us right now is from Councilor Dello Russo, which would be to request that info sessions be held, as I understand it correctly, Councilor, and as well as a cost comparison be conducted regarding 15 minutes free and 50 cents for the first hour. Is that correct, Councilor Marks? compared to the dollar, no free parking. Mr. President, I don't have a problem with either one of these amendments to the resolution. I think that if in fact we were going to request the traffic and the parking commission to hold an info session relative to the parking enforcement program, that they would do such and hold meetings in each business district to make it easy for the business operators to come there, to have less of an impact on their day-to-day operations. and to allow everybody an opportunity to understand what's actually going to be unveiled.

[Paul Camuso]: OK, on the motion. Councilor Penta. Did you want to speak, Jeannie?

[Robert Penta]: Let her go first.

[Jeanne Martin]: Mr. Kirby, I'll go.

[SPEAKER_06]: Go ahead.

[Jeanne Martin]: Oh, thank you. Hi, Jeanne Martin, 10 Cumming Street. I just want to reiterate that you can't look at this parking enforcement program in isolation from the greater city. And when you start ticketing in the residential areas that have permit parking, guess what? Where are those cars going to go? They're going to go into the next streets. Same thing's going to happen in the business districts, especially in West Medford. If you start ticketing, or having signs, those side streets are going to get filled up. In Haines Square, same thing's going to happen. Side streets are going to get filled up with cars, and they're going to walk down to the store because they don't want to pay or whatever. But I do agree with you, Mr. Marks. I think the free 15 minutes or half an hour, that's fine. But it's already signed in the contract. So believe me, you're going to hear from the people. When this thing goes in, you're going to see them here. They will be here, and they will be talking to you about the problems. So you don't have to worry about that. But again, I just want the money from the ticketing that's going to go on in West Medford Square or Medford Square or Haines Square to go towards new signage because there's no reason why we shouldn't have regular sweeping. Why should we have to have cops and bullhorns? We should just have signs that say, you know, street sweeping twice a year, whatever, here's the time, here's the date. Why don't we have a uniform system for snow emergencies and whatnot? So I think that you can't look at it in isolation. Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, and just as a reminder, Councilor Penta, earlier you brought up parking and who's gonna be shoveling. Designated snow emergencies, there's no on-street parking on any of these major arteries already, so that issue is moot. Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: A few other comments. First of all, Councilor Knight, you just alluded to the fact that maybe having meetings in these separate district areas, I mean, the council asked for that, and again, plan's going to be unveiled. I understand the info session, but it's all after the fact. It would have been nice to have it ahead of time. And Councilman Ox, you alluded to the fact that the mayor gave his state of the art speech or whatever. Sponsored by the chamber, correct? Was the chamber, Ricks? I was not at that meeting. But it was the chamber's meeting, correct? It's an annual meeting. The annual meeting that the chamber had.

[Paul Camuso]: One at a time, please.

[Robert Penta]: Councilor Caraviello was asked a question. Vice President.

[Richard Caraviello]: It was an annual meeting of the chamber, yes.

[Robert Penta]: Well, I guess what appears to be now really preposterous. I never thought of it until you just said it. The chamber, who allegedly had so much input into this thing, didn't even get an ounce of recognition for being part and parcel of a new program that was going to be taking place. I guarantee you there wasn't even a mention about the Craddock Bridge.

[Richard Caraviello]: I was not there.

[Robert Penta]: Well, I guarantee you, because from people that were there, there was no mention of the Craddock Bridge. I wasn't there.

[Richard Caraviello]: I can't say that.

[Robert Penta]: You know, that's the sad part about it. If we're going to be talking about businesses in this city and how they're going to be affected and and the people that are supposed to be representing them, and the leaders of those businesses, and nothing takes place that said, where are we going with all of this? You can have all the meetings you want. You can tell the mayor to do this and that. He signed it. This is the mayor's plan, lock, stock, and barrel. Whether the council agreed in part or in total or 100 or 90, that's not the point. This all started off as a small little revenue, strike that, a small little enforcement, an enforcement appetite to possibly get the people back on track. Possibly, and I think it was you, Councilor Camuso, who asked the question, maybe the people coming and parking on Placeda Road from Winchester, can we charge out-of-towners more than can we charge in-towners? And we waited to get an answer on that, and that would have been a great help if we could do it. No, but that would be a great help if we could do it with a great disparity in the cost. Maybe charge someone $500, $600 to park in Medford, rather than a Medford resident parking even the $100, and that's a bargain, too. So you can go to all these little side streets and talk to the people. They'll tell you. They have all these cars parked in there. They see people go and take the train. Who goes and takes the bus? If you don't have resident parking, it's still not going to work, because people are going to be still parking in those particular neighborhoods. The mayor can send out all the press releases he wants. Contractor doesn't have it. Kiosks, what's your issues and concerns?

[Paul Camuso]: The question has been called. Vice President Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, we can sit here all night and go back and forth and speculate on what's in, what's not in. Why don't we just have a Council of the Whole meeting with the Mayor so we can get the questions that we have answered and go from there. Like I said, because everything we're talking about tonight is just speculation and guessing. The Council Hall meeting isn't public.

[Paul Camuso]: All Council meetings are public meetings.

[Richard Caraviello]: It is a public meeting. Rather than go here and guessing what's good, what's not good, where the bargains are and that, I make a recommendation that you ask the Mayor for a Council Hall meeting to discuss this issue. Council Hall, well, I would like to have a Council. My resolve is Council Hall. If you want to make it a public meeting, that's up to you, but I'd like to have a Council Hall with the Mayor. So we, as our seven councils, can ask the questions that we have and hopefully they get resolved. Then, again, I'm going to stick to my issue that I made earlier, that all revenue that's derived from this parking go toward the police station. If it's going to generate the number that these people say it is, let's take that money and put it toward the police station so we don't have to wait seven years to get a station.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: That's a great suggestion, but unfortunately the mayor already allocated $250,000 back to the business districts, so your resolution is moot right now. You said all revenue. He already allocated money, so.

[Richard Caraviello]: That's why we needed to be at the table when this took place.

[Michael Marks]: I agree with you.

[Richard Caraviello]: I'm in agreement. Take that money and put it toward the police station rather than wait seven years for us to take out a bond for the police system. At least pay the bonds.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much, Mr. President. In looking at the issue, there's a number of questions that need to be answered. A number of questions should be answered. And as such, we have a subcommittee structure that's in place. And I think that's the appropriate area and appropriate arena for us to get these questions answered, Mr. President. So, you know, I wholeheartedly support Councilor Caraviello's idea to keep this in either the Committee of the Whole or the Committee on Transportation to get these questions answered. Once we get the questions answered, then we'll be more informed, and then we can move forward. But the underlying paper that's before us is the council's official position on paid APOC. Now we have a series of amendments that have been added to that. We've asked a number of questions. I really think the appropriate place to ask these questions would be in committee, so that we all have the answers, and then we can all make an informed decision as to what direction we as a council want to move. Then why is the paper on the table? Well, if there's no direction for us to move, then why are we I don't think anybody in this table is precluding them from doing that counsel.

[Richard Caraviello]: Exactly. Mr. Clerk, if you could read the amendment back.

[Clerk]: and all revenues going forward go to the police station and refer to the committee of the whole.

[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: I'm going to put my resolve on there too, my commentaries. Number one, I want to know who's going to be responsible for the kiosk during snowstorm. Well, we might as well go through them. If we're going to make these all amendments. Are you making amendments?

[Richard Caraviello]: Yeah, I'm making the amendments now. I think these are all questions that can be answered at the Council of the Whole meeting. Why don't you refer the entire paper to the Council of the Whole?

[Robert Penta]: The contract and the amendments that were given to us in addition. Rather than one question at a time. Addendums, not amendments. Addendums. There is a difference.

[Richard Caraviello]: The motion is that we defer all addendums. Motion by Councilor Markswell, approval.

[Robert Penta]: All in favour? Wait a minute. One last thing. One last thing. If we're not referring all of that, then we refer the mayor's press release, which he identifies four specific issues that are not found in the contract. How are they found in the contract? How does he intend to implement these in the contract?

[Clerk]: I mean, to let you know how the paper works, it gets referred to the Committee of the Whole?

[Robert Penta]: No, no, no. This is going to be part of it.

[Clerk]: Right, but he won't see any of these things until you get to the Committee of the Whole.

[Robert Penta]: No, no. You're going to be sending him the request for the Committee of the Whole. And also- No, no, no.

[Paul Camuso]: This council calls Committee of the Wholes. The mayor doesn't call Committee of the Wholes. I understand that. You just sent him a request for the Committee of the Whole.

[SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, but the paper itself gets referred to the committee.

[Paul Camuso]: The paper either goes, if I may, Mr.- The paper's either going to the mayor or to the Committee of the Whole. Whatever the council wishes.

[Adam Knight]: Point of clarification, Councilor Knight. Point of order, rather. I think it might make more sense, instead of us throwing questions at the City Clerk to have him jot down, that we set a Committee of the Whole meeting, we set a deadline for us to actually email the questions that we want answered to the City Clerk. The City Clerk can put them together in a packet for us, if he's so willing, and we can send that packet to the Mayor's office, we can get the answers that we want answered, we can call the people in front of us to clarify these questions at the Committee of the Whole meeting, and then we can move forward as a body.

[Paul Camuso]: So the motion to send all papers and questions to the Committee of the Whole. Yes. And a roll call has been requested.

[Robert Penta]: But on the motion to also include the mayor's October 7 press release, where he identifies four specifics recommendations. Have him explain how this is part of the contract. We will do that at the Committee of the Whole. No, but he has to have the paper so he knows.

[Clerk]: I don't have the mayor's press release.

[Robert Penta]: Well, we'll give you a copy.

[Clerk]: You want to refer the mayor's press release that he has? Okay.

[Paul Camuso]: What is four recommendations?

[Clerk]: Four recommendations.

[Paul Camuso]: Name and address for the record.

[Anthony D'Antonio]: Excuse me. Anthony Antonio, Yale street number 12. Um, just a couple of comments on the parking enforcement program, revenue and revenue program. Um, I was never in favor of going out to a third party or a subcontractor to do this for the city of Medford. I always felt very strongly that we were capable enough to do it here. I always felt that within the city of Medford, this would have been handled with a lot of respect for the citizens and the store owners in this city and with common sense. And I see that this is somewhat lacking in this particular contract. I am still waiting, unless I missed it somewhere along the line, for the analysis between in-house versus outside contracting as far as the cost analysis on that. I think that an implementation of a parking program where we're going to capitalize a particular company with equipment, and I don't mean that we're going to pay for the equipment, but it's a lot easier to get into a contract than it is to get out of a contract. And if this thing is not working properly, and if this thing is not realizing the money that we think that we're going to get, how do you get out of the contract? And you brought up a very good point. There's been snow. on curbs and on the sidewalks until end of March. I can't understand how people that are handicapped, people that have elderly people like myself, you know, I mean, really, how are you going to get up and put the money in the slot, put the money in the kiosk? That's an important part. You've got to clean these parking lots and you've got to clean the sidewalks. We need the people to do that.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Vice President Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Maybe this is an incentive for the city to go out there and now plow all these spots out, because obviously this company is going to say, hey, we're not making any money here, because all the spots are plowed in. So maybe this is the incentive to plow the sidewalks and to plow all the parking spots out. Because if there's nowhere to park, then there's not going to be any parking revenue.

[Anthony D'Antonio]: And I agree.

[Richard Caraviello]: And I just want them to become elderly.

[Anthony D'Antonio]: I feel like it. No, but I mean, I just want it to work right, and I want it to benefit everybody in the city. And I want it to benefit the people that are coming into the city, to patronize the shops and the schools and whatnot. But maybe, you say, maybe republic will get out there on them now to get it done. Well, it should. And I hope that it is done. It is done, because it's an important part of it. Well, good luck. Thank you. And I'm looking forward to a public meeting.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion to send the entire paper to the committee of the whole, roll call has been requested.

[Clerk]: Mr. President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Dela Russa. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Kern. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Penta. Yes. President Camuso.

[Paul Camuso]: No, by a vote of six in the affirmative, one no, the paper passes. Next item, 14-719, offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the South Medford Neighborhood Safety Walk be discussed. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Last Friday, October 17th, members of the South Method residents together, better known as SMARTO, organized a public safety walk within their neighborhood. I just would like to thank Jim Silva, who is the organizer slash founder of SMARTO. And as we all know, behind this rail and many residents of South Method, that particular group has been instrumental in getting many initiatives from public safety, to streets and sidewalks and a host of issues accomplished through togetherness and through unity. And on last Friday, Mr. President, there was roughly 30 residents that showed up for the walk. The walk was roughly a mile and a half through many streets in South Method, starting from the Yield Street parking lot and ending up at the Columbus School. and back to the South Medford Business District. The meeting was attended by Chief Sacco, who was instrumental and lent his expertise on many of the issues that were raised that night by residents that joined the walk. We were also joined by several police officers who were assigned to the night shift in the South Medford neighborhood area so residents could see who's actually patrolling the streets, meet them and say hi to them and see a familiar face, which was nice. I attended the walk along with Councilors Caraviello and Councilor Dello Russo. As I mentioned at the beginning, the issues that were raised were public safety in nature. There were issues of concern with speeding on our streets. There was issues of break-ins. There were issues of different activity drug activity, criminal activity taking place on our streets, Mr. President. The talk also went not only to public safety, but there was issues regarding DPW, the streetlights, many streetlights that were either dim or out altogether, which was brought up before this council several weeks back to improve lighting in that particular area. We witnessed a number of double poles up and down the streets. that we took and wrote notes on. There were also many, many tree stumps that still strewn throughout the sidewalks in South Method. And again, we witnessed firsthand traversing the sidewalks with curbs that are raised higher than the sidewalk or a little lower than the sidewalk, which is a trip and hazard. We witnessed streets that were in awful deplorable condition. to walk on and to drive on, Mr. President. And at that meeting, we took down a list of what you would refer to as a punch list of issues that needed to be addressed. This is not a solve-all by any means, but a way of addressing individual needs from residents that showed up and neighborhood concerns that were in to Chief Sacco. Tonight, I'd like to go through some of the punch list. residents from Salt Method here that would like to also speak. And in addition to the punch list, which I'm going to go through just briefly, and the residents can speak on it, I would like to personally propose, Mr. President, where this walk was such a success, and I think my colleagues would agree with me, and the neighbors would also agree, that we imitate this particular safety walk in other sections of the community. And I reached out to Chief Sacco already, and he said he'd be willing to do that, Mr. President. I also mentioned to Chief Sacco that it was great to have the chief there, but because the issues involved other department heads also, and I didn't want the chief to be, you know, wearing too many hats, that we also invite for these particular walkthroughs in different neighborhoods, the police chief, the DPW commissioner, code enforcement, and the Board of Health. I think that probably covers the gambit of issues that were raised. And if anyone would like to invite anyone else, the chief so far, Sacco, said he was on board. And I would like to implement these through Mr. President. And the one thing I'd like to try is that the city has the reverse 911. It's a great tool. As we all know, we receive two or three calls a week now. in notifying residents on what's going on, different things in the community. And I would ask for the administration, in cooperation with this council, to set up these particular meetings, because we can use the reverse 911 to contact neighborhoods. So if we wanted to, in a month from now, say we want to contact the Haines Square area and do a walk-through in that particular area, it would literally take a five-minute phone call that's done by the police department to send out thousands of phone calls notifying residents. I think it's probably the most effective way of reaching everyone in the community that would have an interest. And I would ask, Mr. President, that we establish neighborhood safety walks in every segment and every section of this community with the heads of the different departments. And that be done by a reverse 911 call. And if we want, we can meet with the administration to figure out a process to set this up. But in my opinion, until you walk the street, until you hear from the neighbors, I mean, we all get phone calls and emails, but it's really an eye opener. when you actually walk the street, and you see the different things, and you feel it. You know, I don't live in the Salt Method neighborhood. And you know what? When you go down there and walk the streets, it's very different. You know, I'm in my neighborhood a lot, and I traverse the city. But until you actually get into the neighborhood, I think you feel the very foundation of what that neighborhood is all about, and hear from the residents firsthand on what their plight is, and what they're going through, and their issues of concern. And I heard from several residents, which is troubling, Mr. President, that night that people are looking to move out of the community because they're disappointed with the lack of response from the city when they call on an issue, because they're disappointed that nothing seems to take place. And that's very troubling to me. And I think it's something that we as a community have to work on and different initiatives, as Councilor Longo offered, with the 3-1-1 program and other initiatives to involve the community in a direct link into the city. But if you would just indulge me, Mr. President, I'd like to just walk through the list briefly. And I was hoping that we, as a council, some of these might be initiatives that we can push forward, and other initiatives maybe the SMARTO group will have to follow up and follow through with. But the first punch list was an issue with a curb cut at the corner of Yale and Main Street. As we all know, I think we've all received phone calls from residents and so forth, and this has been an issue of contention. There's trucks that are going over the curb, which is now a curb cut, an extended curb cut, I might add, and they hang out onto the sidewalk. It poses a real public safety concern. I'm not sure, and the chief agreed, how this took place, when it took place, who approved it. There seems to be no record around of this particular curb cut. But the recommendation that I'm making tonight based on Smato's recommendation is that we close the curb cut at the corner of Yale and Main to prevent cars and trucks from parking next to the building. So that would be the first one, Mr. President. And I would hope that we as a council, can send that to the traffic commission with support of the council to close off that curb cut in regards to public safety for the neighbors of that particular area. The second one, well, the second one was the bollards, to install bollards on Main and Harvard Street. And as we all know, that's on the other end of where the Oasis Bakery is. That also has been an issue. We were there last Friday night, and when we were crossing the street, some of us had to jump out of the way because there were cars coming up onto the sidewalk or backing out trying to get off the sidewalk. And it really was a public safety concern. So the second request, and we can send this to also the Traffic Commission and the DPW, is to install bullets at the corner of Harvard and Main next to and along that corner where the Oasis Bakery is, Mr. President. Another issue is in front of the Oasis, there's a bus stop that takes up several spots. Many residents of the community thought it would be a great idea if we were able to move the bus stop. I know it's highly used. Some of the residents say, you know what, we really use this. And we said, we're not going to eliminate it. We're just going to shift it slightly. And we're going to shift it to the north corner of Harvard Street. So right now, it's in front of the Oasis restaurant. We're going to shift it to the north side, where the dry cleaner and the yoga establishment is. And that will open up the section for delivery trucks. which currently is one of the major problems in that area. There's nowhere for delivery trucks to park, so they're going up onto the sidewalks, parking. And we witnessed it firsthand, and the residents witness it on a daily basis. And it's just a matter of time, honestly, before there's a public safety concern or a death in that area, and I hope we can prevent that, Mr. President. So, my suggestion would be to move the bus stop from its current location, which would be a vote of this council, of the Oasis, which is in front of Oasis, and put it on the north side of Harvard in front of the dry cleaners and the yoga place. And in my opinion, that would lend itself to an area where trucks can park for delivery and also keep the bus stop in a reasonable manner. It's only maybe 30 feet or 40 feet from its existing stop. So I would ask that, Mr. President, The next one is to designate times for the loading zones. It's done in other communities. If we can have maybe loading zones between the hours of whatever it might be, 9 and 10 in the morning, or pick a particular time. Because now trucks are coming, as we heard from residents, they're coming at 11 o'clock at night. They're coming at 6 in the morning. And when you hear the beeps and the backup noises that go on when trucks back up, it's a disturbance to the neighborhood. So, the neighborhood would like to designate times for a loading zone in that particular section that I just referred to, which is hopefully the new truck delivery section, Mr. President. The pole five number of pole number 513 in front of Arthur's Bakery looks like it has a bird nest inside. It's completely dim. And as we all know, Arthur's Bakery is one of the central businesses on Main Street, and that light needs to be fixed immediately in the interest of public safety. So I would hope that we could send that to the head of wires, Mr. President, as a recommendation from this council to have that light fixed immediately. Also, and I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing the cafe right, Daya, which is at the corner of Alexander and Main Street, They own the first, I think it's four or five feet, like all the businesses there, of sidewalk in front of their establishment. And they have an area which is used for eating, which I think we all agree with. It's a nice addition to the area. But they built a little curbing around their eatery where you would eat on the sidewalk. And if you go there at night, it's a trip and hazard. There's no courting. off right now. It's not fenced off at all. It's just the curbing. They may be in the process of putting that there, but that definitely needs to be looked at. And as a council, maybe we can have the administration or compliance or someone send an email or a letter to this particular establishment about

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: That was a result of gradation changes in the sidewalks due to the repairs on Alexander Avenue. The owner of the building is aware of it and there's a plan under effect to make a remedy of that situation that was created because of the change of gradation of the sidewalk.

[Michael Marks]: That's very important, thank you Councilor. So maybe if we can get an update for the area residents on what's gonna happen There must be a plan on file with the city, and that's good news that it's being reviewed. Also, the sidewalk in front of LaCoste's Bakery, we stopped there. It is completely crumbling and needs to be paved over in the interest of public safety. The trimming of bushes and improved lighting at Tufts Park entrance is a public safety concern. The bushes are overgrown and high and It lends itself for a difficult area to traverse. And also, when we're up at Columbus Park, the walkway at Columbus Park has period lighting, like in the square, and many of the light fixtures are tarnishing and turning yellow, and they're not letting off enough light, and it's very dark in that particular area. So, I would ask, Mr. President, we have members of SMARTO in the neighborhood, South Medford neighborhood. They'd like to come up and speak. And again, I'd like to thank all the neighbors and Jim Silva in particular for setting this up and for organizing it, Mr. President.

[Paul Camuso]: Vice President Caraviello, and then the esteemed gentleman and young lady at the podium.

[Richard Caraviello]: I'll yield to the guests first.

[Paul Camuso]: Name and address for the records, please. One at a time.

[Anita Dantonio]: Anita D'Antonio, 14 Yale Street.

[Jim Silva]: Jim Silva, 115 Yale Street.

[Anita Dantonio]: I'd like to thank Jim for putting this together, and the piece of paper you have tonight, the outline. He organized this at the initiation, I think, originally of Anne Fretz, and then Jim took it the rest of the way. I'd like to thank the chief. He was terrific that evening. He listened to us all. City Councilors Dela Russa, Caraviello, and Marks came with us. It was great cardiovascular exercise. It was a wonderful evening. It was just right temperature-wise, so we were able to walk and actually see. I'm not going to repeat all of what Councilor Mark said because he hit all the high points, but once you do walk it, you see it, and it's much easier to understand what the problems are when you're confronted with them by experiencing it yourself, whether it's a crumbling sidewalk or cars overhanging the sidewalk. was quite a success. We had quite a number of people as well, so it worked out well. With all of these punchless points, we haven't left the business owners out in limbo. There is a flexibility to this, and when we asked for the curb closure and no cars or trucks being parked next to buildings overhanging or traversing sidewalks, our thought was to create a loading zone slash delivery vehicle area expressly for the businesses who use it most frequently. I understand that you can't always get provisions at the same time from a company. There has to be some flexibility. And if we do establish a loading zone where that bus stop was, that may lend itself to solving the problem for us, or at least ameliorating it. For the owners of the businesses who are spending 8 to 10 hours there, we have the parking lot on Yale Street. It was in part built for their benefit. And it would be great if they took their cars, whether they're going to have a fee for it or not. I don't even know whether there's a fee structure now for commercial vehicles in that public lot. But to leave their cars and their vans there, keep the sidewalks clear, And it's a public safety issue at the bottom of it. I mean, if we can resolve that, it would be great. That really is one that needs to be done, because particularly on Yale, and then again with Oasis, I mean, neither one of them should be parking where pedestrians are trying to traverse the sidewalk, and you're putting pedestrians in danger. Point of information, Mr. President?

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: But I say this with all due respects. isn't every driveway that crosses every sidewalk interacting with the place that people walk?

[Jim Silva]: It is, but these cars are sticking out onto the sidewalk and it's a safety issue. Yes.

[Anita Dantonio]: And in the case of Oasis, they're driving over handicap access. I mean, we're not, it's just a matter of walking down the street after parking your car at the Yale street lot. And allowing for some place on Main Street for those delivery vehicles to park rather than having them park up against the building and having to go over the sidewalk or over the handicap access or overhanging. I mean, I think it's a fairly fair solution, but we're not leaving them empty handed by any means.

[Jim Silva]: Aesthetically, having cars on the sidewalk, it's not a very nice sort of view when people are coming down the street or visiting you, and there are cars parked all over the sidewalk.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Oh, I'm not in favor of cars being parked on the sidewalk at all. That wasn't my point.

[Anita Dantonio]: Well, yeah, in the winter in particular, it's very dicey to come down Yale, toward Maine, and try and make your way around vans that are hanging out into the, I mean, it would resolve that issue. And maybe something nice could be put there instead, you know, some potted plants, green space, something. And yet they'll still, we don't want to put them out of business by any means. And I think they would be glad to have a place on main street where they can just leave the store, get in the car and deliver the takeout. And by the same token, the big trucks that deliver, to be able to pull up on Main Street in front of the businesses and deliver that way, whether it's Bocelli's across the street, or Oasis, or Mays. Those are really the three. I guess the convenience store as well. But I mean, it would be in use all day long for them. I wouldn't want to confine deliveries to a certain hour of the day, because that's not possible. Different businesses deliver at different times. But just to have it open for the businesses, if we move that bus stop, And of course, the lighting, once you walk in the evening, you see all of the lights that are out. It was amazing. And we were going to take the poll numbers.

[Jim Silva]: We ran out of paper.

[Anita Dantonio]: If we had had the supervisor of wires there that evening, he could have maybe marked down. This is where we spoke to the chief about the safety issues with regard to the recent shooting. He gave us the information that he could and that he had, and people expressed their concerns. But when it got to issues of lighting and the sidewalk draw and the broken side, you know, the chief, that's not his milieu, that's not his bailiwick. So, it would be great to have people on board who actually handle these particular issues. And the Councilor went down.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of clarification, Councilor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. We were just speaking about that. On September 30th, the Council voted. I put a resolution on for the superintendent of wires to go down and look at the lighting, and he did respond to us. He said, after a review of the street lighting at the intersection of Harvard and Maine, I found there were four street lights at the corners, two on Maine and two on Harvard. These are owned by National Grid and are 250 watt sodium vapors and deliver 27,500 lumens. He has asked National Grid, and National Grid, it seems like, has agreed to change them to 400-watt sodium vapors, which deliver 50,000 lumens. So Superintendent Wires is on board. And that's Joe Hurley, if any other questions need to be asked by him.

[Anita Dantonio]: I think, as a matter of fact, there was one that was out completely. I mean, at the corner of Harvard, on the side where Arthur's Pastry is, it was really very, very dark in that area. And that would be a great improvement there. I think I saw you interrupt. I just figured that was a good time. No, no. So Councilor Marks expressed all of the other issues that we noted that evening. And hopefully we can proceed from here and actually get something enacted because it is frustrating. It's been sometimes in some circumstances years waiting for something to be resolved. And that's why we keep returning to the city council chambers. instead of watching the mystery on PBS this evening. So at any rate, go ahead if you'd like to.

[Jim Silva]: I just want to thank everybody who came out, all the citizens who came to our group and Ms. Motto members who continually give me information and I'm able to dispense that out to the community. So thank you.

[Anita Dantonio]: I'd just like to say this is a mutual admiration society, but Jim really, I mean, he dispenses all this information to us, whether it's about the green line or a street closure. I mean, he really is a resource and I really want to thank him for all his hard work. And again, I thank all of the city councilors who came and the chief. He was really terrific. Really, really a very nice evening was had by all. I hope we can do it again. resolve these issues and find some more problems that we can resolve. Thank you very much for listening.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Knight.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Um, you know, I agree with Councilor Marks that, you know, this was a, this was a, a great evening for all the neighbors to come out. And, uh, you know, like you said, until you get out there and walk the little side streets and all the little, uh, little parts there, you just never get to see all these small things. You know, what started out, as a safety walk, and they're going into a code walk, and health walk, and multiple other issues. So if we do this again in another neighborhood, the council is right. We have the DPW head is there, maybe Mr. Mavuso is a code officer, and other departments that this way, these people can see this firsthand. What we're talking about, rather than, you know, we call on the phone, yeah, I'm going to get down there. This way, they're there, they see it first hand, and there's no question about, I didn't understand what was going on there. But it was a great night. It wasn't that cold out. And I'd like to see it done in every neighborhood in the town.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much, Mr. President, and I'd like to thank the South Medford residents together for putting this event together, as well as Chief Sacco for being so willing to attend. I think this is a great way to get things done in the community. It brings people together. It allows people the opportunity to meet their neighbors and meet some people in the city that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with. I was unable to attend, as you can tell. I've been hacking pretty hard over here. I was a little ill over the weekend, and I would have liked to make it. And I do have a question. And one of the major problems that I see is I drive through South Medford a lot of the time vehicles traveling, say, down Main Street towards Alexander's, then we'll have a car double parked in front of Bocelli's, and we'll have a car trying to take a left-hand turn across the double line into slanted parking spots that are slanted the wrong way. And I didn't know if this was something that was raised during the meeting or if this was a topic of concern for the residents there. I understand that that's a little bit heavier of a lift than some of the things that are on this list right here. I think Councilor Marks did an excellent job in and making a concise and precise punch list for us to take a look at. And I certainly wholeheartedly support the majority of the recommendations that have been made here. So with that being said, I was wondering if someone could enlighten me a little bit relative to the parking issue and the vehicles that take the turn across Main Street into the slanted parking spots that don't really seem conducive to that type of turn across the double yellow line.

[Anthony D'Antonio]: That is a very difficult situation over there. You have the cars on the opposite side heading towards Medford Square trying to get into the parking spots on the opposite side, and it is at a different angle than just going diagonally into the spot. You do have the double parking. You do have the trucks, the deliveries when you have the liquor store getting whatnot. They have no other place to go. One of the concerns I have is when people are trying to back out of that spot where they're all head in parking, there are no mirrors that you can see. They have the convex mirrors, and you can see the cars coming down the street. Right now, if you're familiar with it, you know how to play the traffic off the store windows if you can see down past the Airstreet. But I mean, it's a gamble. It's a gamble. There have been a few fender benders, but thankfully nobody's really gotten hurt there, but it is. I always learned that you can't take the left turn on a double yellow line, okay? So if there's an accident, I don't know who's at fault, you know? But yeah, it is difficult when it double parks and when they try to take that turn because what happens is it starts to back up traffic at the intersection of Main and Harbord. And then you've got people stuck in the light and the light changes and then, you know, everybody's beeping horn to it and all that. But the thing would be nice if they did have some, one or two mirrors when you're backing up. You can look at the mirror and see traffic coming from up, down from the Princeton Street area. So, but yes, that is, that is a problem. That is a problem.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, vice president.

[Richard Caraviello]: What was good was that, uh, the chief was there to see these problems happening as, as we were there. Uh, he saw, he saw people parking in the, in the, in the spots that weren't there. He saw cars speeding down Yale street, you know, cars parking in front of residents homes. So, I say these walkthroughs are good because you actually get to see the problems as they happen. And I say I commend the chief because I had walked that area with the chief 10 days prior during the afternoon where we had gone in and spoken to many of the businesses about the parking issues down there also.

[SPEAKER_16]: Hi. Mary Briley, 106 Alexander Ave. I just want to thank everybody. It was really good to be out with the neighbors and get everyone together with the city officials and GSACO. I just want to know, like down the end of street on Bonner Ave, crossing Mystic Ave, that's still a nightmare. It's a huge nightmare. The cars don't stop. I mean, I cross the street every day to go to work. Between the cars coming around the corner and coming out of the Dunkin' Donuts, going in and out, and then a lot of times the big trucks, which are not supposed to park on Mystic Ave, the huge trucks, they just park on Mr. Gap, taking the view of the pedestrian, not to be able to see which way. And then they run in to get coffee and run back out. But they're not supposed to be on the... These are big trucks. It has nothing to do with Dunkin' Donuts, I'm not getting them in trouble. It's just people who are working, picking up coffee and going their way. So you can't cross the street. And then someone is like, you go this way, they tell you to go this car behind you, just doesn't want to stop, and they just swirl. So you really got to go stop what you're doing. You can't just think one lane is going to stop, the other lane won't. Because the person behind this car, you probably have seen it. They just swirl out like this. So that's amazing, too, that it's not an accident. I know sometimes that's a hard one, because the city will say it's the state, and the state will say it's the, so maybe together, maybe the state highway and the city of Medford can get, police department can work together with something. Okay, but thank you everybody for coming and it was really good. It was great to be out with the neighbors and meet everybody and work together. So, and I think the rest of the MedFed, it would be good for them to get out. All right? So, thank you. Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion, sending all these amendments. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, Mr. President. Maybe if we can just go through them and take a vote by the council to refer them somewhere now. Some of them and some of them we can decide what we want to do. The curb cut closure at Yale and Maine, can we take a vote of the council to refer that to the traffic commission? The chief thought that was the appropriate place for them to review it. So if we could take a vote of the council. To the traffic commission. Send it to the traffic commission.

[Paul Camuso]: And then what other ones?

[Michael Marks]: So we'll want to take one at a time. Yale and Maine, the curb cut to the traffic commission, the bollards. The bullet's installed on the corner of Main and Harvard Street. Same thing, send it to the Traffic Commission. Traffic Commission.

[Paul Camuso]: The bus stopped being moved. We do want to refer that to... It is, but we want to get public input from businesses and residents before we move it. I got to remind people too, not all members of the council could attend this meeting because it wasn't a public meeting. We would have been in violation of the open meeting law if more than four members were there talking about a specific issue. So in the future, I was advised that by an attorney. We all met on Saturday. Okay. No, it was where the council actually took action on some of these items. It could constitute an open meeting law if a quorum is there. So in the future, we may want to post this as a public safety meeting or a meeting, and then everyone can participate. Councilor, your next item.

[Michael Marks]: So those two will be sent, the curb cut and closure yield, and the bollards at the corner of Main and Harvard Street will be sent to the Traffic Commission. The merging of the bus stop, I think I agree with that. Maybe we should have a committee of the whole meeting. Transportation. At least have one meeting that's a major moving of a stop. Transportation.

[Paul Camuso]: It's always been on the council agenda, though, when people had the opportunity to come down and talk about it. We got a public outcry in Medford Square. You want to have a committee of the whole or transportation?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Whatever the council feels.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Dello Russo.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Did we not have lengthy discussions about moving bus stops in Medford Square and be told by the MBTA that they would not do it?

[Paul Camuso]: In certain instances, the construction particularly affected the move in Medford Square. We've moved other ones. Yeah. That was one particular circumstance. So we'll move that to the Committee of the Whole of Transportation, whenever the council sees fit.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: committee of the whole where you can invite the actual businesses that it's going to affect, because I think that's the way we did it. We moved the bus stop Richdale, and there was the salon where Saibot was. We did end up moving that.

[Michael Marks]: Actually, it affects the commuters more than the business owners.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Commuters and the business owners, right.

[Paul Camuso]: And the particular location that's being proposed to, it's actually blocking an egress to a household which is set back behind Pallotta Oil. So we definitely want to make sure the MBTA is all right with that.

[Michael Marks]: We'll take a look. We can always tweak it. We can always tweak it.

[Paul Camuso]: So Committee of the Whole or Transportation? Committee of the Whole would be fine. Committee of the Whole. The Loading Zone? Traffic Commission? They have to post it. They're the only authority that can do that, the Loading Zone.

[Michael Marks]: I think we should wait. If we move the bus stop, then we can talk about the Loading Zone. Does that sound all right? Committee of the Whole discuss it. If one doesn't happen, the other one's not going to happen.

[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, if I could mention

[Fred Dello Russo]: In past meetings we've had with my neighbors in businesses that the chief has recommended a couple of spots, if I remember correctly, different spots for loading zones. And it was he who actually shortened the length of the bus stop there to accommodate for more parking.

[Michael Marks]: Councilor Marks, your next item. Next one is poll number 513 in front of Arthur's Bakery. The light is dim or out. Can we refer that to the superintendent of wires? Poll number 513 on main street in front of Arthur's bakery. Uh, the fence at the corner of Alexander and the calf council Dello Russo was gracious enough to let us know that the city administration along with the businesses are working on some something in that area. And maybe if we can just get a report back, who's ever just report back to the administration. It was an OCD project. OCD. Okay. If we can get a report back from OCD, that'd be great. Thank you. Councilor. Um, the sidewalk crumbling at the cautious bakery, if we can refer that. And also the trimming of the bushes, uh, and improved lighting at Tufts park to the DPW commissioner and, um, the lighting issue at Columbus pocket. If we can refer that to the superintendent of wires, And then, Mr. President, if we could take a vote on a proposal that would be in cooperation with the mayor and this council to hold these public safety walkthroughs throughout the entire community, along with the appropriate department heads, and the use of the reverse 911 to notify residents. I think that would be worth its weight in gold if we could set something up like that.

[Paul Camuso]: And we'll do it as an official council meeting so that it's publicly advertised and that all members can participate. Is that OK? So I'd like to set that up as a separate B paper, a vote to get that proposal.

[Michael Marks]: All right.

[Paul Camuso]: So all the amendments, one second, I'm sorry. So, uh, all the amendments referred to the appropriate authorities that Councilor Marks just, um, uh, notated the B paper will be under the jurisdiction of the council to call these meetings in cooperation with the mayor in the pertinent department heads. That's the B paper, right?

[Michael Marks]: So, create a proposal where the mayor works with the city council in cooperation. Who's going to create this proposal?

[Paul Camuso]: Would you like to send it to a committee or a committee of the whole?

[Michael Marks]: Well, we could do it in cooperation with the mayor so we can do a committee of the whole, however we want to handle it. But, um, I think it would only work with the administration being on board also.

[Paul Camuso]: Can I make one recommendation? Absolutely. We have an intergovernmental affairs committee. I think this is a perfect one for that. That'd be fine with me. And then report back to the entire council. Is everyone okay with that? And that's a B paper.

[SPEAKER_19]: Name and address for the record, please. Marie, Senate Andre, 92 Bull Street, Medford, Mass. I feel a little bit disappointed because I live in south of Boston, south of Medford, and I know nothing about this gathering. And I know nothing about shooting in my neighborhood. That's why it's very important that we do get a call to tell us what's going on in our neighborhood. I have young kids. It's really sad that I didn't know about it. And it's also, to me, it's very disappointing. Every time I attend these meetings, I'm the only black person here. There's no one. I mean, it seems like no one is involved in the city enough, and it just drives me crazy. There's so much issues going on in the city. And to see that no one is doing anything about it, it's just so disappointing. I've been here for hours, and I just don't want to sit here all night and find out if they're going to talk about the 14, 599. That's why I'm here. Will that be talked about? 14-599.

[Paul Camuso]: Hold on one second. Why don't you take a seat, and we'll get back to you in one second while he looks it up. We're going to take these votes. OK. And then we'll. We'll let her speak.

[Michael Marks]: No, no. Do you want to speak more on this item? No, no. After.

[Paul Camuso]: She wants to speak on water and sewage.

[Michael Marks]: Yes, I do.

[Paul Camuso]: Okay.

[Michael Marks]: Okay.

[Paul Camuso]: Water and salt. We'll bring it up if any counts. 14 dash salt. Any more on the South Medford neighborhood meeting? Ms. Senate, do you have anything else at this point for the South Medford meeting? And I have to say, Mr. Silva has done more public output on this particular meeting. I apologize. You weren't notified, but in the future it's going to be a public meeting of the city council. which will be publicly advertised, but they're very welcoming if you give them your contact information.

[SPEAKER_19]: And I appreciate the hard work that you all did. Like I said, I just did not hear about it. And for me who read newspaper a lot and get trying to be educated, not knowing. So, you know, there are a lot of people in Medford, out of Medford who didn't know about this. So I just want to be part of what's going on in the city.

[SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_19]: And Mr. Silva, right there.

[Paul Camuso]: I did. We exchange information. All right. I'll tell you, I get more emails from him than everyone in the community.

[SPEAKER_19]: Keep it up.

[Paul Camuso]: Keep it up. Thank you, Jim. OK. And we're going to get back to you on the 14-599 in a minute. On the motion, as amended, on the A paper with the amendments. All those in favor?

[Unidentified]: Aye.

[Paul Camuso]: All those opposed? The ayes have it unanimously. On the B paper, for the Council Intergovernmental Affairs Committee to gather at a public meeting as a subcommittee. Before the roll is called, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you, Mr. President. Ms. Briley did come up and speak a little bit about the issues that she's had down at the end of Bonner and Mystic Avenue in the past, and it seems to me that some of these issues still persist, so if we could include that as part of the B paper that's going to go to the Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, I'd be appreciative.

[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, I appreciate Councilor Knight bringing that up on behalf of Mary, who's been very involved in that area. But because it's Mystic Ave, I think we should also notify our state delegation. There's been a lot of issues, as you know, in that particular area, the crosswalks unpainted, the lighting's poor, the median strip. You know, there's been a lot of issues. So if we can involve our state delegation in that particular area. The ironic thing is this the state DPW yard right on Mystic Ave over there. That's the ironic thing. And unfortunately we can't get things resolved next to their own yard.

[Paul Camuso]: Okay, so Mystic and Barna. Okay. On the B paper, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. The next item on the agenda.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President. May we take, uh, from the table item number 14, five 99.

[Paul Camuso]: City clerk is grabbing the paper right now. Item 14 dash five nine nine. This was a transfer request by the mayor for 159,340, which was passed. Uh, section B $62,500 was tabled section C, $55,500 was tabled. And just to refresh the council's memory, this was a negotiated contract with the DPW Union. Everyone has received the increase, but this was the funding portion that was out of the Water and Soil Enterprise account to fund the employees that are currently assigned to the Water Department and the Soil Department. On the motion of approval, this is Water and Soil. Would you like to speak before we call the roll? On the motion of Councilor Dello Russo for approval, name and address for the record again.

[SPEAKER_19]: Marie Sanat Andre, 92 Bull Street, Medford, Mass.

[Paul Camuso]: I'm sorry, on the motion of Councilor Dello Russo to take this off the table. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. The paper is now before us officially. In a motion for approval once again by Councilor Dello Russo, name and address for the record, please.

[SPEAKER_19]: Marie Sanat Andre, 92 Bull Street, Medford, Mass. Before I make my speech, I would like to make sure I understand what I see here. The amount of the money that is listed, is that money that's like a surplus in the water and sewer?

[Paul Camuso]: It's money that is currently in the water and sewer account. So it's a profit, correct?

[Michael Marks]: That's not all of it.

[SPEAKER_19]: That's just a little bit of money.

[Paul Camuso]: And the only thing this can be used for is something that is directly related to the water and the sewer in the community, whether it's improvements, infrastructure improvements, as well as paying the employees that are assigned to that division.

[SPEAKER_19]: And this money, how is it become? Is it something that is from the budget or is it money that we, the landlord, pay for water and sewer that they have this money left? I would like to understand that. It is the money.

[Paul Camuso]: It is the money that is brought in. The MWRA assesses the city of Medford. City of Medford then in turn sets the water rates through the Water and Sewer Commission. Any money that comes in after bills are paid, it goes into this account, and right now it's in a positive.

[SPEAKER_19]: So right now it's a profit. Why do we have a profit in the water and sewer? That means we are overpaid. We are... Should I continue? Everybody's talking. Okay, so to me, as an accountant, when I see money left over in an account, that means we are overcharged. You guys, there's a profit. So if there's a profit, that means the rates are too high. They need to come down. And it was very upsetting when I see there's a subcommittee on October 28th, which I called to find out, well, may I attend? I was told no, it was closed on October 28th meeting. I called City Hall and asked, and I was told, first the person didn't know what what to tell me, and then they put me on hold and came back and said, nope, it was a closed meeting, October 28th.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information.

[Richard Caraviello]: I think I was told today by one of the water commissioners that the meeting had been changed because the make that move. He can make that move.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Lungo currently is the chairwoman.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. I have this actually the notice for next week's meeting up here because I was going to talk to Clerk Finn about it. It's scheduled for next week at 6 p.m. but Woodcock, Chris Woodcock is one of the commissioners could not make it. I believe we're going to do it on the 18th of November where all the commissioners can make it and that's a public meeting. That is a public meeting. Absolutely.

[Paul Camuso]: The original one was a public meeting, too.

[SPEAKER_19]: 6 o'clock. But someone gave you that. Well, I was not told that.

[Paul Camuso]: All right. Go ahead. Continue.

[SPEAKER_19]: Now, living at Medford for 15 years, I was here when the engineer said to us that our water meter was no good. It needs to be replaced. Therefore, your rate will go up. So the water meters were replaced. sold to another city. Now, those water meters were not good, but they weren't thrown away. They were sold to another city, raised our rates, OK, because we need new meters. We paid that. We get no credit. Meters were not working well. We're paying a lot of money for water and sewer. We received no credit. As a matter of fact, what they do here, if you have a balance, for water and sewer in December, it is thrown into your real estate tax. Wish your mortgage goes sky high. Now, who voted and gave the right for the mayor or whoever to do that? It wasn't me. I didn't vote for something like that. Okay? Because what happened when your mortgage goes so high, you could lose your home if you cannot pay the mortgage. Now, how is it the city has the right to move a water bill to a real estate tax? That I don't understand. Second of all, if you have money left—oh, I know what I'm talking about. If you have money left into your account, why are they asking for a rate increase again? That makes no sense to me. Why am I paying $1,600 a year for water and sewer when other cities are paying $200 a year? What is in our water? Why am I paying so much? What happened to the meter that was changed? We see no difference. And then they change how often we pay for water and sewer. My bill remains the same. There's no difference. It's still high. And they want more money? This city, all it's about is how much can we take from the landlord? And we get nothing back. We get the street cleans twice a year. That is ridiculous. Somerville cleans this street every week. And I've been talking about this since I live here. I'm the one cleaning my street. I'm the one cleaning my sidewalk and I'm paying taxes. What do you guys do for me lately? Nothing. I come here and you know, it's going to continue because people are not organizing and making noise and it drives me nuts. And you know, the mayor, he's smart. He's controlling everyone here. Why? We can't watch this on TV no more. We don't know what's going on. We don't see these meetings. I have to constantly print these out to see what's going on. And I'm paying taxes.

[Paul Camuso]: These meetings are publicized on Verizon and Comcast weekly.

[SPEAKER_19]: I don't see it on Channel 3 no more.

[Paul Camuso]: Like I used to watch it. With all due respect, Ms. Sennett, it was never on Channel 3. If it was on Channel 3, it was a replay of a member of Channel 3 that may have played it during their time. So they still show these on TV? That's correct. And what channel is that? It's Channel 16 on Comcast, 22 rather, it used to be 16, and 42 or 43 on Verizon. It's either 42 or 43 on Verizon. Comcast is channel 22.

[SPEAKER_19]: So please, I'm still trying to figure why I'm paying $1,600 for water bill a year. And why is it that city have the right to send my bill towards my real estate tax at the end of the year? Mr. President.

[Robert Penta]: That's OK. You have a lot of questions into this resolution. So let's do the first one first, OK? The council resolution that's here right now is regarding salaries to be paid in part from the water and sewer account. And this is allowed by law to do. Now the part that I'll agree with you is that we're presently sitting on $8.4 million as a surplus in the water and sewer account. that the mayor does not want to give back our program for any construction projects because it hasn't come before us.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, I think Maria is here to speak about her water bill. Yeah, we're going to get to that. No, I know. No, but I think she's here to speak about her water bill. She saw the paper that was listed as unfinished business and it dealt with water and sewer. But I don't think you're here to speak on that particular paper. You were here to speak on why your bill is so high. Let's take the vote on the paper. I think you're better off taking the vote on the paper and suspending the rule so she can... I mean, you already gave your statement. Good point, councillor. But it's not regarding this paper. It's not here regarding this paper.

[Paul Camuso]: Give us one second, Murray. On the motion.

[Robert Penta]: On the motion. Let's go back to the motion. The reason why this paper is laid on the table so long is because of the vote that took place by the council regarding the $600,000 that the council voted to take out of the budget this year, and we wanted a report back from the mayor as to how he was gonna offset the $600,000 in the budget. Council voted unanimously to lay the paper on the table till we got that answer. We still haven't gotten that answer. So I'm gonna move that the paper lay on the table till we get that answer.

[Paul Camuso]: All right, there's a motion to lay this on the table. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Aye. The chair is in doubt, please call the roll. Motion to lay this on the table. A no vote is to keep it in front of this body this evening. A yes vote will be to table it. And this was for the salaries, Mr. President? For the salaries. For the salaries.

[Michael Marks]: Salary only. Yeah.

[Clerk]: Okay. Vice President Caraviello. No. Councilor Dela Ruzzo. No. Councilor Knight. No. Councilor Lungo-Koehnan. No. Councilor Markswell. No. Councilor Penta? Yes. President Camuso?

[Paul Camuso]: No. By a vote of six nos, one yes. The paper remains before us. On the motion of Councilor Dello Russo for approval. All those in favor? Aye. On the motion. Councilor Penta?

[Robert Penta]: It's kind of ironic when the council can vote seven to nothing waiting for a response to come back from the mayor and you don't get it back. And this goes back to when we voted for this in June. This is now October and that's number one. And number two, you're taking the money out of that account for which, what happened to the $600,000? Are we going to get a request to make all kinds of transfers from one account to another? Are we going to have like $600,000 automatically going to come from the water and sewer account to balance the budget again? I think this is wrong. If the council is going to take votes, you should stick to your votes. You voted seven to nothing, every single one behind this rail to get a report back.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: As I understand it, the money that would be transferred from these retained earnings would be used to fund a contract. And the money that they're taking out of these retained earnings to fund this contract is an appropriate use, because it's going to be used to provide the salaries for people that work in the delivery of our water and our sewer system.

[Robert Penta]: So with that being said, why did you vote before in June? 7 to nothing to lay it on the table to get a report backwards to it.

[Adam Knight]: I'm not so sure.

[Robert Penta]: Well, I think, I think you should go back and check it out. What date was it? Can you tell me? Whenever we voted in June. Whenever we voted in June. Okay.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion of Councilor Dello Russo for approval. This does, this does require a roll call vote. The clerk will call the roll. John is dead.

[Clerk]: The clerk will call the roll. Vice President Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Dello Russo. Yes. Yes. Yes. No.

[Paul Camuso]: Yes. By a vote of six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes on the motion of Councilor Marks for suspension. Rule number 33 to hear the young lady at the podium. All those in favor. All those opposed. Name and address for the record.

[SPEAKER_19]: Marie, Senator Andre, 92 both street Medford mass. Again, I apologize. That's why I asked if I am reading this correctly. I'm not a politician, so I don't know all the rules. But my main reason, again, for being here is the amount of money we are paying for water and sewer in Medford. I'm suffering. It's really too high.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Dello Russo. Did we not ask for a committee meeting at the last city council meeting or the council meeting before to address this specific issue with the Water and Sewer Commission?

[Paul Camuso]: That is correct. Council Chairwoman Lungo-Koehn has a meeting scheduled that we just notified that it was requested.

[Fred Dello Russo]: It's Tuesday, October 28th. Thank you.

[SPEAKER_16]: That's canceled.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: That meeting, TR ratification is for the purposes of the new tiered system that the city is engaged on and the water rate increases as it's built into the system. Now getting to your point, did you just say you were a landlord?

[SPEAKER_19]: Yes, I am.

[Robert Penta]: Is it a two family house?

[SPEAKER_19]: Yes, it is.

[Robert Penta]: Okay. You should be getting at least six bills a year from the city. And if you're getting six bills a year, and if you're only paying $1,600, not only, you're paying $1,600. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. If you're paying $1,600, and they're attaching that to your, you said they're attaching that to your real estate bill?

[SPEAKER_19]: If I have the balance, if I can't pay it, they send it to my real estate tax.

[Robert Penta]: So are you saying that the very last water bill you got was for $1,600, or is this an accumulation? Accumulation. Oh, it's an accumulation.

[SPEAKER_19]: Right. But that's $1,600 a year for water and sewer, where other cities are paying $200 something for the year. I know, but that's. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, how many kids do you have in your house? Me? Yeah. One.

[Robert Penta]: She's about to go to college. And what about your tenant? Two. Two, OK. So what's going to happen is, I don't know if you'll get your particular resolution resolved, You'd be better going to the Water and Soil Commission meeting. They meet in the afternoon once a month, and just explain to them that if you have a problem paying your bill because it's too much, you can go into a payment agreement downstairs in the Treasurer-Collector's office, and they will be able to do that. But if you just keep going and not paying for your bill, they will put that attachment on there.

[SPEAKER_19]: And who gives them that right?

[Robert Penta]: Pardon me?

[SPEAKER_19]: Who gave them that right? Oh, they do. You have to pay your bill. I understand. I have to pay my bill. But who gave the city the right to put it on my real estate tax?

[SPEAKER_20]: State law allows them to put it onto your tax bill. I don't think it's happening elsewhere. It's Massachusetts state law. That they can't do that?

[Michael Marks]: Yes. If you contact Fred Pompeo in the Treasurer's Assessor's Office, he'll refer to the site section of the law.

[Paul Camuso]: The best way to avoid this is to pay the bill. if you can afford it when it comes.

[SPEAKER_19]: Otherwise, I don't have a problem paying my bill when the board cannot explain to me how they come with the rates. I don't care. You could work. I work at MIT. I could bring a mathematician here and they would not understand how the heck they come with the rates. Okay. Those rates make no sense. And for them to have so much money, 1.8 million, and then they're going to- No, no, no. 8.4 million. Oh, you see, you guys are making it worse. They have so much money and they want to raise our rates again?

[Robert Penta]: Well, that's the mayor. This is the mayor's proposal, not the council. This is the mayor raising the rates. part of the new DPW yard.

[Paul Camuso]: So why do I vote?

[SPEAKER_19]: Tell me, can you please tell me why I vote?

[Paul Camuso]: Marie.

[SPEAKER_19]: Why do I vote?

[Paul Camuso]: Miss Senate, part of the new DPW yard is being funded through this.

[Robert Penta]: Wait a minute, slow down. That is not true. We have nothing in front of us that says that.

[Paul Camuso]: We haven't yet, but we were told all along, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Yeah, but we don't have it.

[Paul Camuso]: It's just existing. Existing. Yes. No, no, no, no, exactly. I'm not talking about the rates, but we did all along know that the DPW yard was in part being funded by the water and sewer accounts. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: In taking a look at the records for paper 14-599, no roll call vote was taken.

[Paul Camuso]: You get that, Councilor Penta?

[Robert Penta]: Listen, all I know is in that night, seven members of council agreed, because you laid the paper on the table. How do you lay the paper on the table without taking a vote? The ayes have it. Continue.

[Paul Camuso]: I don't know where to go. I think you should go back and watch the tape. You were talking about the mathematician.

[SPEAKER_19]: This is unbelievable. Mr. President? You all set? Is there a choice, really?

[Paul Camuso]: No, no, no. You can have the floor, Councilor Marks.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: She wants to know when the next meeting will be.

[Paul Camuso]: The next meeting will be?

[SPEAKER_19]: November 18th.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Hopefully, if nothing's scheduled, Clerk Finn, November 18th at 6 p.m., room 207, which is right next door to this room. The public's welcome. We're going to discuss the water rate increases, because we agree with you. And then new tiered system, I guess we can add to that.

[Paul Camuso]: And what time is that, 6? 6 PM. 6 PM.

[Adam Knight]: Point of information, Councilor Knight. Ms. Andre, I do also believe that the Water Commission does meet monthly. I don't have that information in front of me right now as to when the Water Commission will meet again, but I know it's posted on the city's website.

[SPEAKER_19]: They used to meet in the morning where I would have to leave work or be late for work.

[Adam Knight]: It's in the afternoon now. I think it's in the afternoon now.

[SPEAKER_19]: Now they changed it to the afternoon because a lot of people used to complain. But afternoon, I still have to leave work because I work.

[Adam Knight]: I don't work in the afternoon only. I'm in the same shipyard, believe me.

[SPEAKER_19]: Right. So they make it very difficult. And I know that's how what I used to know is the board was elected by the mayor. It seems like everything is done by the mayor. And I don't know how the city is run. It makes no sense to me. I feel seriously, if I could move, I would move. I'm so disappointed, so disgusted with the way the city runs. I'm sorry. That's how I feel right now. I don't get anything for buying a house here. Everything is going up. Everything costs more money. And no, it's not that I don't want to pay my bill, but why am I paying water and sewer? $1,600, $1,800 a year for water? Makes no sense. I have one kid in the house, and she's in high school, going to college. I don't have a lot of people in my house. I work all day. And my tenants work all day. They're grown. They're not kids.

[Paul Camuso]: So it makes no sense.

[SPEAKER_19]: How many people are in the tenants unit? Two. Two, OK. So four people, $1,600 a year.

[SPEAKER_06]: That's it.

[SPEAKER_19]: That's it. That makes no sense. It just makes no sense to me. And I don't know. I'm just fed up. And that's why people, I feel that the Councilors, you guys try, but there's no power. I'm sorry. That's how I feel. And I've said it before. And I, I take my voting seriously and I go and I vote and then I come here, I state my case and you guys listen to me. You try to get the mayor to attend meetings, he doesn't show up. What does that leave me? I'm just disappointed.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. Councilor Knight, you all set? Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Marks.

[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And Marie, if I could, I know you, I remember it has to be eight years ago that you came before the council. And at the time, uh, I believe it was right around when we were changing the meters and, um, you had a giant water bill that you got. Um, and you disputed it, I believe at the time with the water and sewer commissioners. And, um, I believe they replaced your meter back then.

[SPEAKER_19]: Was that my meter? My meter was fine. And then I guess they finally gave me some credit, but As I stated to you, I remember you were still a Councilor. I could have lost my home because my mortgage went way up. I mean, you add $1,600 into someone, and they keep it for the whole year, the new rate of your mortgage. They don't just add it for a few months. So that whole year, I had to pay more money on my mortgage. And then they gave me a credit, which didn't mean any, you know what I mean?

[Michael Marks]: I understand that. But at the beginning, you questioned why we bought new meters as a city. Yes, I did. And if I could just state to you that back some 10 years ago, roughly half the meters in the community were being estimated because they were malfunctioning. So when you estimate a meeting, it's someone at city hall saying, I believe based on what I'm looking at, that they consumed this amount of water. Now I, as a rate payer and a taxpayer, I don't want someone estimating my bill. I want actual usage. So we as a community knew that we had a problem with these meters that were 25 and 30 years old because they were the meters that were installed in our homes. Thought it was best to move forward with meters that would be accurate. So if you use X number, you pay for X number. There's no if, ands or buts about it. That's what you pay. So that's why the city had to move forward because we were estimating more than half the residents of this community that water bill. And in my opinion, that was unfair. The second point is that this council has been pushing for an outside meter. So when you water your lawn, you don't have to pay a sewer cost. Uh, when you wash your car, you don't have to pay a sewer cost. And that was implemented back a few years ago. We also, which we're going to meet under council longer current shortly, is we're going to create a new tiered system in the community. So you're going to pay not the one water and sewer rate that you currently pay now. So you pay the same water rate that Tufts University pays. You pay the same rate that the Budweiser plant pays. Not the same bill, the same rate. And what we said is it should be based on your consumption. So if you're a high end user, you should pay more because you're taxing the system, you're using the system more. You should pay a higher rate. So the mayor hired a consultant. He sat down with the Water and Sewer Commissioners. He's been meeting off and on with the council, giving us some, how the project's going to work. And we're going to meet finally on this within the next couple of weeks. But what that's going to do is it's going to allow someone to conserve. So if your issue is that your bill is too high and you're paying too much, we know your meter's probably accurate now. It's a new meter, and it's, you know, quite frankly, it's probably accurate. You'll be able to have a direct impact on lowering your bill by doing whatever you can to conserve. That has never happened, really, in the past. And your rate will be based on that. So you'll end up paying a lower rate than you currently pay. You may have a savings. And just if I could, Mr. President, because you brought up so many valid points, I agree. The $8.4 million, that's a surplus. It's excessive. Members of this council have asked to offset the rates. So whatever the rate goes up, Like this year, water is going up 9%. That's not us. That's the MWRA charging us 9% more. We wanted to offset that rate so you would not get hit that additional 9%. So we as a council recognize that with this surplus money, it should be used to offset rates. It should be used to do infrastructure improvements that could eventually lower your bill. You know, right now, the infrastructure is crumbling under the ground. You don't see it. If our sidewalks and streets are crumbling, can you imagine these pipes that are 90 years old under the ground?

[SPEAKER_20]: Back then, they did mention some pipes were leaking.

[SPEAKER_19]: Right. Oh, I remember.

[Michael Marks]: Right. And it's called I&I, inflow and infiltration. And we're still dealing with that today, because we don't have a program in place to address this. So every time it rains, we have water that's going into our outdated sewer pipes. And it's going out to Deer Island, and it's being treated as raw sewage. That's rainwater. And you're paying for it, and I'm paying for it. We're all paying for it. But this is what we need to use the surplus money to address. And in my opinion, the administration has fallen short to make these improvements. The administration is at fault.

[SPEAKER_19]: And we're talking like, since I've been here 15 years, I've always had issues with the water. always have issue with water and sewer. So far, that's the main reason I've been to these meetings, is my water bill. I mean, street cleaning, yeah, I'm upset. Twice a year, that's not enough.

[SPEAKER_20]: And you mentioned other communities that pay $200 a year. Yes. I would love to hear those communities. Woburn, you know why they, well, maybe because they're Wilmington.

[SPEAKER_19]: Those areas don't pay us.

[SPEAKER_20]: Do they have their own water supply and supply?

[SPEAKER_19]: Right, they have their own water.

[SPEAKER_20]: Yeah, yeah, they do. Right, and what about their sewage? I don't think they pay sewage.

[Michael Marks]: They may not have sewage. Right. So, I mean, I think you have to compare apples to apples when you look at something and say, well, they're paying less than we are. You know, as I stated last week, believe it or not, it costs one cent to get a gallon of fresh drinking water to your house. One cent. When you state that, people are amazed. That's what it costs. But I'm paying. That's the best buy in the world. One cent to get a gallon of fresh drinking water to your house. Can they do better low in the rate? Absolutely. I agree with everything you said. But until the administration's changed, until something happens in this community, we're going to be seeing. It's going to be Groundhog Day. We're going to revisit the issue over and over again.

[SPEAKER_19]: And meanwhile, they have a surplus. That doesn't leave a great taste in my mouth. That's all I'm saying. Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I was going to ask Marie, did they have a check to see if you had a leak?

[SPEAKER_19]: They have come to my house. I have no leak. They could come back again and see.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: It sounds like you might have a leak. I mean, Councilwoman Knight just figured out how much usage you were using.

[Adam Knight]: I just did some figures. It looks like you're using like close to 6,000 gallons of water a year. And I'm sorry, yeah, 6,000 cubic feet of water a year.

[SPEAKER_19]: And mind you, I don't even have a washing machine in my house.

[Adam Knight]: And each cubic foot's the equivalent to eight gallons. I go out to the laundry.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Let's see if we can have the appropriate department look at the, once the new meters went in, they were supposed to have a system that could detect a leak. Let's have them check 92 Bow Street. specifically to see if there's any leaks through the system that we're told we're going to be able to use to help situations like this.

[Paul Camuso]: Being fresh, I'm asking a serious question, because we've had this problem in the city before. Do you get along with your tenants? Because some tenants... I'm a great landlord.

[SPEAKER_19]: My tenants love me.

[Paul Camuso]: The reason I ask you, and the Jeannie Martin behind you, I know people that have ran that water and have got the alerts. Oh, I know. Just because they're fighting with the tenants.

[SPEAKER_19]: Of course, of course. No, I'm very lucky. I have two Great young, you know, no problem. Leaky toilet though, you've checked their apartment? I go in their apartment, I checked my apartment. So, but they do have a way of seeing where the water is being used more. I know the city can't see it. Yeah, let's check their house.

[SPEAKER_06]: So I wouldn't mind that.

[SPEAKER_19]: Thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. Name and address.

[Jeanne Martin]: Gene Martin, 10 Cummings Street. I'm glad that this woman came up to speak on this topic, and I'm glad that she's here, and I encourage her to get her neighbors to come out because this is a big issue. You can do, through a cumbersome process as a landlord, have a separate meter put into your apartment, but it's very cumbersome. to have a separate meter for your tenant so that you have a separate bill from them. But ultimately, according to the law, you are still responsible if they don't pay their water bill. So it really didn't make much sense for me to go through that process.

[Paul Camuso]: In Massachusetts, I don't think you can charge for water a tenant. You can't physically call it for the water. They can raise your rent, but you cannot charge a tenant for water in the state of Massachusetts.

[Jeanne Martin]: Right. So anyway. I just want to thank her for coming up, and she made a good point about comparisons to cities, apples to apples. I think what we should do is see what Melrose pays, or whoever else is on the MWRA list, and see what they pay, you know, and how much overage they might have. The rate from MWRA. The rate structure, yeah, or whatever. Because we do have an overage of $8 million, which is absolutely ridiculous. We know that the mayor is doing that because he wants his bond rating to be low. We know that he's misusing the money. He should be returning that money back into the infrastructure of the city so that the water rates will actually be lower, and he's not doing that, and that's on him. And so, thank you. Move the question.

[Robert Penta]: One quick thing to get back to what Councilor Marks was alluding to. With this new, where's Marie, is she still here? You're still here? With this new tiered rate system that you should have gotten in your last bill, it was very hard, it wasn't even addressed, it didn't have the right time or the date, it wasn't stamped, and it gave zero to 800, 800 to 1,600, and 1,600. Those were the three tiered sections. Councilor Marks alluded to it, getting after those people who use the most amount of water, they would be paying more. Unfortunately, the way the Water and Soil Commission has set this up, the people who use the most amount of water, which would be commercial, in the commercial section, they're going to be paying one stationary rate. That's the middle rate of the tiered rate system. So if you own a home, as you do, and you use more than 1,650 cubic feet of your house altogether uses more, you're going to be paying at a higher rate than someone who uses a lot more water. And these are some of the questions that need to get addressed and discussed at the commission coming up, because it's a little bit unfair. I mean, they're saying you average it out. If you have one person living on the first floor, and five people living on the second, and three people living on the third, they're telling you to get the number, average it out, and divide it by three. And that's what everybody should be paying. It doesn't work that way. And that's what we need to address. I think they probably came out with this a little bit too early. It should have been discussed a little more. But these are some of the questions that need to get resolved. Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: You're welcome. Thank you. Motion for approval.

[Robert Penta]: To send it to the

[Paul Camuso]: Water Department, 9092 Bow Street. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Offered by Councilor Lungo-Koehn, be it resolved that the casino issue be discussed to update Medford voters on the harm that a casino in Everett would do to Medford. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Councilor Camuso. I know it's a loaded discussion, but I think it has to be brought up. We have two weeks till we are making a huge vote on question three. And when you talk to people around town, especially at my businesses in the Wellington area, especially in the Wellington area, South Medford area, I mean, people are a little nervous that we are going to have a casino in Everett before long. So I just wanted to at least bring this up, let the voting public know. I know it's late, but people do watch. Question three is a big deal. You're voting to repeal the 2011 vote, which allowed resort casinos to operate within Massachusetts. There is obviously the brochure where you can read about all the questions on the ballot. And I have question three here. I also did some research with regards to pros and cons. And it seems like, to me, You know, there's an issue back and forth, pros and cons to the job, the positives about creating jobs, but even that can be rebutted. If you go to this number of myths and facts about the jobs in the casinos. So what I am concerned about is that Trump's anything is the crime. Crime is number one. I mean, we see what's going on in the South Medford neighborhood the last few months. And I truly feel that a casino is going to increase crime within our neighborhoods. It is going to trickle into the Wellington area, the South Medford area. North Medford is going to feel a hit. I know one thing when you read the ballot question when it talks about crime. Indiana prosecutors needed an additional court just to handle casino-related crimes. We are going to have one of the largest casinos in Massachusetts, if not, you know, one of the biggest in the country, and it's very scary. You know, people who are raising families do not want a casino near their children, near their schools. And the types of crime, we've been over that, but I think it's going to bring a whole—we already have it, you know, the drug issue is another debate, but drugs, prostitution, I can go on and on about the crime that the casino is going to bring. Number two is the traffic. The traffic is a disgrace in Wellington Circle. And again, it trickles into Medford. It's only going to get worse, and it's going to get a lot worse. You also have the issue of businesses. A casino will kill the economic base in Medford. It will kill our businesses. It will create layoffs and closures of our small businesses that can't afford that, and we don't want that to happen. We are going to bear the burden to the fruits of whatever it is going to take and however much money Wynn is going to give Everett per year. We're going to bear the burden, the city of Medford. So I really wanted to put this on. I know some people are in favor of casino, but I truly feel that it's going to hurt Medford. And I have three young children, and I don't want to see this happen right in our own backyards. I could go on. I did some research today, but I know it's late, and I'm sure a couple other councillors want to speak on it. I just wanted to let everybody know, question three is on the ballot. If you vote yes, you will repeal the law. Could it be something that could go down in Springfield and in other communities? Maybe, but right in Everett, in this thickly settled area, I don't think we have the street capacity for it with regards to traffic, and I don't think Our law enforcement should have to bear this burden, nor our residents.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Belarusso.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Councilor Lungo-Koehn, for bringing this matter up. I did want to speak tonight not on this issue in particular, but remind voters we've seen in recent years a decrease in lack of interest in elections and voting, and you bring up one particular ballot issue that's on there, a referendum issue, but we have to elect a new governor, lieutenant governor, all the state offices, a representative to the great and general court, a senator, So we have to, a United States Senator and a Congressperson, and we have to address all these referendum issues. And I just want to echo Councilor Lungo-Koehn's urging to the citizens to get out and vote.

[Paul Camuso]: And to do- If I may, just real quick, as the Chair, I think this is going down a slippery slope where it's a political question, so I would just ask Councilors not to because this body has sometimes went down this in the past, and... I'm just asking the councilors to... It's a political question.

[Fred Dello Russo]: It's no different than getting up here and saying support candidate A or candidate B. So I understand the president's concerns, and my point maybe was a little long to get at, but I urge citizens to use that resource that the councilor has in her hands, maybe if she can hold it up and show it, that it's a guide to the ballot questions. And so that we urge, as a councilor, all the citizens to get out and vote and to be well informed by using these resources that are available to them from the Secretary of State.

[Paul Camuso]: Name and address for the record.

[Jeanne Martin]: Gene Martin, 10 Cumming Street, and I can talk about it, thank you. And of course, as you know, I'm against having a casino, but the casino is coming.

[Paul Camuso]: Gene, Gene, we're not taking stances on this issue. You can talk about... Oh, I can't do that? No, no one can. This is a government forum, it's not a political forum.

[SPEAKER_16]: Really? What? All right, let us speak. Wait a minute.

[Paul Camuso]: Wait a minute for me. Council, if you want, we could put this off for a week and ask the Ethics Commission for guidance.

[Robert Penta]: No, no, no. This has an impact. She's giving her opinion as it relates to the question. On a ballot question. On a ballot question. That's OK. There's nothing wrong with that. But I'm a citizen. This council voted seven to nothing on three separate occasions.

[Paul Camuso]: For the issue, not on a ballot question.

[Robert Penta]: She can discuss the ballot question if she wants.

[Paul Camuso]: I would ask that we table this for one week and get guidance. This is a political question.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You can speak, just don't talk about the ballot question, then, if that's the issue.

[Jeanne Martin]: We're going to be getting sued by Atlawin tomorrow morning if you allow this to come up. Well, you know, he's got a point there. No, seriously. The man is a very powerful person. No, we're not worried about that.

[Paul Camuso]: We're worried about following the mass general law.

[Jeanne Martin]: Oh, OK. Just in general, it's... She can speak about casinos.

[Robert Penta]: Speak about casinos.

[Jeanne Martin]: If it comes in, We need to be prepared for if it comes in, let's put it that way. Because I've talked to a lot of people that live outside of this area, and they're all voting. They're all just loyal. And so it's going to come. And if it comes, what are we going to do? How are we going to prepare for what? How are we going to prepare Wellington Circle for the traffic? How are we going to prepare law enforcement? and firefighters and everybody else that's involved, DPW workers and everybody else. We need to prepare for what is inevitable. In my opinion, it's inevitable. It's coming. So we need to prepare ourselves as a city for what is coming to hit us. And it's going to be a big hit. socially, economically, you name it. It's going to make a cultural change in that whole region, Wellington Circle. It's going to make a huge cultural change for that whole region, including me, because I'm kind of like not far from that, up Route 16. Route 16 traffic is going to get backed up, and it's inevitable. So I just wanted to say that, that we need to be prepared for it. We need to have a master plan. We need to get everybody on board with what we're going to do when it comes in. I'm against it, but it's coming. Thank you.

[Robert Penta]: Mr. President. Today I was at a conference down in Plymouth, and this was one of the concerns that were brought up. And so we won't get into the subject matter of each ballot question other than the fact that people have a huge responsibility to vote. And by having this responsibility to vote, Councilwoman, if you don't mind, this ballot question has gone out to each and every person in this community. They should read it, make their own decisions, There are a lot of constitutional offices up for grabs. You can't complain about something wrong with government if you don't pick yourself up and get involved and go and vote. And that's the bottom line. You can't say it any other way. I don't think the council's here. Maybe individually a councilor can express their own opinion off the record. Not at a council meeting, that's one thing. But more importantly, the fact of the matter is that you can go and vote. These questions are there to be asked. There are candidates running for office. And they have to be taking positions when they're asked. who are running have to be asked. But the underlying theme to this whole commentary is basically this. Don't complain if you're not going to be involved by voting or actively participating in some shape, mean, or form, whether it be in a discussion, supporting a candidate, not supporting a candidate, supporting an issue, not supporting an issue. Because that's what government's all about. And that's the problem with this country is right now. The apathy that's out there, the complacency that's out there, it's terrible. And unless people start to relook and think that this country can find itself again, you're not going to do it unless you go out and vote. And that's the bottom line. Thank you.

[Michael Marks]: Two weeks ago, Mr. President, I asked for a complete audit of the finances that have been received to date regarding the dog park. And we have yet to receive a response on that. Should we send another question again? Or I'm not sure how long it takes. Yeah, I'm not sure what the secret is of what the finances are on the dog park. The mayor has already publicly come out and said that J.F. White gave money for mitigation for the park. There's been fundraisers held in this community where residents have donated money towards a dog park. And I don't understand why we can't have transparency when we ask a question of where is the finance and how much money is in the account, Mr. President. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It shouldn't take several weeks to get that answer. So, again, I ask respectfully, Mr. President, that requests go back out to the administration.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. The tabled records of October 7th were passed to Vice President Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: I review the records, Mr. President, and I find them in order.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion of approval of those records, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Item, the records of October 14th were passed to Councilor Dello Russo. How do you find those records?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President, upon inspection of those records, I found them to be in order and motion for their approval.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion of approval, all those in favor?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Aye.

[Paul Camuso]: All those opposed?

[Unidentified]: Aye.

[Paul Camuso]: On the motion of Council Appendix for adjournment, all those in favor?

[Unidentified]: Aye.

[Paul Camuso]: All those opposed?

Paul Camuso total time: 20.14 minutes total words: 2115	Breanna Lungo-Koehn total time: 8.69 minutes total words: 627	Robert Penta total time: 32.43 minutes total words: 2447	Richard Caraviello total time: 6.47 minutes total words: 619
Adam Knight total time: 6.34 minutes total words: 643	Michael Marks total time: 34.75 minutes total words: 1647	Fred Dello Russo total time: 5.27 minutes total words: 394