[Fred Dello Russo]: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The 24th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. And by motion offered by Councilor Penta, we resolve tonight, as members of the Medford City Council, that the meeting be dedicated to the memory of the late George Kahan, who recently passed away. George was a dedicated community volunteer and a longtime board member, and a National Lions Club lifetime member. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso? Present. Councilor Caraviello? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Vice President Mungo Kern? Present. Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Penta? Present. President Dello Russo?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Present. Seven present, none absent. Please rise to salute the flag. Aye. flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. President. Chair recognizes Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, move suspension of the rules to take three papers combined, 15-562, 15-563, and 15-568, and they all pertain to the Craddock Bridge construction project.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso for suspension of the rules to take those three aforementioned papers out of order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. So before us are these three motions. If I could read them, if you would indulge me. 15-562 offered by Councilor Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council discuss and contact the Department of Transportation pursued to the proposed detour during the shutdown of Main Street off route 16, 15-563 offered by Councilor Penta be resolved that the now ongoing construction work at the credit bridge be discussed. And, uh, under petitions, presentations and similar matters. Um, this was a request by the Medford city council 15-568 petition that the Massachusetts department of transportation to address the city council on the credit bridge reconstruction project. So at this time, I'd like to invite forward the members of the Department of Transportation to make the presentation. And if you would introduce yourselves to us, and we'll have your presentation. Part of it is an audio or a visual presentation with the screen. So I'll be vacating the podium, but still be chairing the meeting. Please, welcome.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Good evening. My name is Scott Kelleway from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. With us is Paul Malloy, who is the construction engineer, and also Mike Winnick, who is the resident engineer on this project.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Could you just speak into the microphone? I'm sorry.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: We're addressing us. I apologize.
[Fred Dello Russo]: That's OK.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Again, Scott Kelleway. I'm an assistant construction engineer with the MassDOT District 4. Paul Malloy is also with us, who is the district construction engineer. Mike Winnick is the resident engineer on the project. And standing to my right is Andy Greenlaw, who is with Zoppo Corporation, who is a contractor on the project. We've prepared a PowerPoint presentation that Mr. Greenlaw is going to kind of walk you through, kind of lay out the project. entertaining questions afterwards. Very good.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Good evening. Andy Greenlaw, as Scott said, with Arzapo Corp., with the general contractor for the Craddock Bridge project. And thanks for inviting us to speak about the project. We don't get the chance to do this very often. So this is the Craddock Bridge repair and replacement. And we're going to first go through a little overview so you can see the project from beginning to end, and then we'll discuss some of the particulars. Okay, we're here to repair the bridge. It's structurally deficient. I think you're probably all aware of that. You see it in the center of town. Increase the hydraulic opening for the Mystic River flow. Studies have shown that removing The old parts of the dam is going to increase the flow, thereby mitigating flood upstream. Improving the bridge aesthetics. If you've looked at it, that's not going to be difficult. But we're going to make it a nice-looking bridge. There are a lot of utilities in the bridge, and we're going to take the opportunity to upgrade those. And during our construction, We're going to maintain the existing traffic flow and we're going to keep two lanes in each direction open all the time, except during the middle part of the day when we can take lanes to do work in the middle of the street, most of which we've done. We're going to keep the pedestrians safe. We've got a plan to move them around and public safety response, once again, two lanes in each direction, so that the emergency vehicles that are located close by can get through the project. The existing condition of the bridge, it's in pretty tough shape. Sidewalk wheelchair ramps are almost difficult to use, especially for wheelchairs. There's no travel lanes, no shoulders, no bike paths. There are some guardrails that are protecting the pedestrians that are in need of replacement. And once again, all the utility work. This is kind of what the utilities look like right now. You can see there are fiber optic, gas, and telephone conduits. There's also a water pipe. and some electrical conduits under the bridge, all of which are going to get upgraded. The environment, we talked a little bit about the flood mitigation program and so as we do the demolition, we're going to improve that situation. This is what we're going to produce in the final condition. This is upstream and we're gonna make it look like downstream. We're gonna use granite cladding on the surface so that it resembles the actual granite of the downstream. And this is the downstream and we're gonna, the existing stones are in the arches and we're gonna try and match that for the remainder of the bridge so that the appearance will all be the same. On the phasing, we're gonna maintain the number of travel lanes, maintain existing access, accommodate traffic, pedestrians, buses, and give ourselves room for construction around the utilities. All of that's gonna be accomplished with the construction of a temporary bridge, which is gonna go from where the closed ramp is over behind the dentist's office. And that will be carrying the northbound traffic. This is the first construction phase. This was actually put into place Monday morning, and that was to close off the ramp westbound off 16. Next phase will be to construct the temporary bridge. As we go along, we'll be able to move traffic onto the bridge and then divide the existing bridge and use two lanes of traffic while we reconstruct the other two lanes. We will be using temporary signals over where the traffic splits. There's gonna be signals there for pedestrians, and when we get to the pedestrian routes, you'll see why. All right, the first, the phase three was construct the west side of the bridge, reconstruct it. Now we go to phase four, move the traffic over to the new side of the bridge. and the east side of the bridge will then be reconstructed. Once we get the bridge completely reconstructed, we'll be able to remove the temporary bridge and reopen the ramp from Route 16. For pedestrian traffic, you can see in each phase where we have plotted where the pedestrians will go, and at the south abutment of the temporary bridge, that's where the traffic signals are going to be with the PED signals to allow people to cross in front of traffic. When we move and finish the west side of the bridge, then we'll move the pedestrians to the west side and we'll reconstruct the east side. And the final condition is just an upgrade of what's there with a nice new bridge. We're still in conversation with the MBTA. Right now it looks like we're gonna move the bus stop from its present location to probably underneath the Route 16 overpass. but we'll do that in conjunction with them so that their drivers are happy with the location. Oh yeah, and it'll be relocated. When we're done, we'll put it back where it was. Schedule, that one's a little hard to see. In fact, it's a little hard to see unless I put my glasses on. So phase one, which is we're in the middle of now, finishes up at the end of July. The temporary bridge with all of its elements to be constructed will be finished and in place the beginning of November. Phase three, the west side of the bridge, demolish and reconstruct. runs from November of 15 to August of 2017. There are a number of phases in the construction of the west side of the bridge that extends that out for that long. During the course of that work, we've got some utility work to do. And then we come to phase 3B, which is the western portion of the bridge. And 3C is the inner western portion of the bridge, if you will. And phase four is the eastern portion of the bridge deck. And that finishes at the end of July in 18. Phase 5, remove the temporary bridge, restore the traffic signals, surface courses, markings, signs, et cetera, through September. And also, post-construction survey, lomacy, and landscaping. And that will all finish up in the fall of 18. Thanks.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Any questions? Is that all for the presentation? Yes. Very good.
[Adam Knight]: The Chair recognizes Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you very much for being here this evening to the folks from the DOT. That's greatly appreciated. Is there going to be any disruption to boat access going under the bridge from the Mystic Lakes down to the Boston Harbor during the construction phases of the project? No.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: No? The Coast Guard prescribed limits for both overhead height clearances and how much we can encroach with coffer dams so boats will be able to use the- I mean, no disruption whatsoever?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We are going to have to- we're going to be required to move the channel around a little bit. It has to move, but we've got to be able to get through.
[Adam Knight]: OK. All right. Excellent. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Very good. Uh, Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, during this construction, you know, all the, all the cars are being rerouted around different ways. Um, they'll be going down high street now and down, uh, Riverside Avenue. Um, is there any plans are, I know you people don't pay, you know, any mitigation, but, uh, for maybe, uh, uh, repaving of, uh, uh, Salem street where all the traffic's going to be headed to, which is kind of in bad shape as it is. As you can see, there's all ripples on Riverside Avenue and on those streets. And with the increased traffic for the next three years, is that something that will fall under the scope of your work of possibly repaving those roads to handle all that increased traffic that's going to really make the road a lot worse than what it is?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: That's a question better answered by the department. It's not within the scope of my project.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: It's presently not part of the scope of this project. I'm sorry? It's presently not a part of the scope of this project.
[Richard Caraviello]: I know it's not a part, but as part of helping the city out during this time, that's where I was asking the question, if they could help out with maybe repaving that road at some point. It's not a question I can answer. I know it's not a question.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I'll second, Councilor. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Regarding the phase one, the move of the Verizon conduits, other than the conduits and the electrical conduits, what other wiring is currently underneath that bridge? Can you speak into the mic? Oh, I'm sorry.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, there's a large quantity of fiber optic cable under the bridge. The town also has a water line. under there, which for a time is going to be disconnected, and then we'll replace it during the course of the construction. MCI business lines, telephone lines, electric lines, there are some empty ducts under there that the owners want to keep, so we're going to even replace the empty ones so that for the future, if the owners of those ducts want to use them, they'll be there.
[Michael Marks]: The reason why I ask is when we were first presented the conceptual design and project back some time ago, it was stated to us that many members of this council asked why it would take so long to build a bridge, first of all, because of the impact to the business owners and also to the residents. And we were told that due to the extensive cabling that runs underneath the bridge, that alone was roughly about a year's worth of work. And some of us questioned why it would take a year to move wiring or temporarily relocate wires. And when I look through the different phases, it doesn't appear to be that extensive. Is that portion of the project changed?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: No, it actually hasn't. But for the sake of brevity on the schedule, I didn't want to try to keep it to a page. Within our contract is a utilities form that has all the movements of all the utilities, and the utilities assign values for the time it takes them to do this work. Now, I'm contracted to do a little of it directly with them, but for the most part, they're going to perform the work. So in my schedule, I have to give them the time they requested. because they're working for the department.
[Michael Marks]: So you're saying then their work would take preference over your work? Is that, is that?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Well, it has to happen in order for me to complete my work. It has to happen within the construction phasing. So there are going to be times when I'm going to have to give over the bridge to a specific utility. and let him come in and do his work, and then I can resume my work.
[Michael Marks]: So for instance, when you look at phase one is to move Verizon conduits. Then it jumps to phase two, which is to install a temporary bridge. And phase three is the demo and reconstruction of the west side of the bridge. Right. There are no other water or other fiber optics under the west side?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. Can you get that back on that slide, Scott? There's a fairly significant amount of moving that we have to do on the west side. And it entails moving from present location to temporary location and then to permanent location. So where does that fall within the phases? That part that I just spoke of is in phase three. You know the one that shows the cut of the bridge? There it is. It's, is that the one?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, it is.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: There we go. All right. I don't know how well you can see that slide, but if you look on the left-hand side, you'll see that there's a water line there. That gets removed and eventually gets replaced. There are electric conduits. Those electric conduits have to be initially moved to a temporary location, also within this phase, but not underneath the traffic. Then when we reconstruct that section of the bridge, those have to be moved into their permanent location.
[Michael Marks]: So just if I can interrupt, so the east side piping that we're looking at, telephone gas, is going to be moved to the west side temporarily?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yes. And in the gas pipe, we're going to even have to run a bypass in order for the work to continue through the wintertime so that they can maintain gas pressure for everyone.
[Michael Marks]: OK. So if you look at phase three, November of 2015 to August 2017, that demo that says demo and reconstruction of the west side also includes the moving of any underground utilities.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: That's correct. I should also point out. take a little time to explain that the utilities are part of the reason that this project takes so long. The bigger part of it is we are only allowed to occupy a very small footprint in the river at any one time. So we can reconstruct a single pier. That means demolish it, drive the piles, reconstruct the pier, put the new granite cladding on it, and then we're done, and we can disassemble that cofferdam, and we can move that to a new location, but only one at a time. So we have to do complete construction of one element, and this is a Corps of Engineers requirement. It's part of the water quality certificate for the river. That takes up a great deal of time. Those restrictions have a great deal of impact on the project. And I can't do any work in the river from March 15 to July 15 in accordance with the permit. So. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not used to this. So there's four months out of every year that we cannot perform any silk-producing activities at all in the river. In other words, we can't install a cofferdam. We can't take a cofferdam out. So if we get seasonally stuck, we can't move. Now, we've planned our schedule so that we make it fit into the windows that we can work. That drives the schedule more than the utilities do. OK.
[Michael Marks]: And I just have a few questions regarding when the bridge is demolished. What plans are there for pest control in the area? Is there any plans laid out by your company?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yes. The contract contains pest control requirements. The baiting has already been done. They're checked on a regular basis. I'm given reports on a weekly basis from the pest control company, and those are forwarded to the department when I get them.
[Michael Marks]: Have the surrounding buildings been checked internally for any type of existing cracks or damage to foundations or so forth?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Not yet, but it's coming soon. That's coming soon. We have a program as part of our contract where we're going to put deformation monitoring points, crack monitors on the buildings, on the river wall structures, and we're going to monitor those on a regular basis. And we have limits as to how much movement we can see in those. If we see any small movements, we actually have to stop and refigure what we're doing so that we're not affecting the structures.
[Michael Marks]: and the owners of the property and also tenants will be notified?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Oh yeah, and we've been in touch on a preliminary basis. But yeah, we're going to get right of entry forms. We'll have them fill those out. Inside and out, we're going to videotape their structures. We're going to have a structural engineer walk through the buildings and make notes and fill out a report that will be submitted to us. We in turn will give that to the department, and that will be on record, and when we're all done, we're gonna do it again.
[Michael Marks]: Okay, and what plans do you have for access to the businesses that'll be open during the construction period? I know you're gonna be removing sidewalks and a lot of construction in the area as well, construction equipment. Is there any plans laid out to make sure people have access to the businesses? Yes.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: And we're mandated as part of our specification to keep access to those businesses at all times. I mean, is there going to be some disruption? Yes, there is. It's unavoidable. It's very difficult to put a new sidewalk in front of a building and not disrupt it to some degree. But we do wooden walkways. We do what we have to do to make sure they can stay open.
[Michael Marks]: And that leads to my next point about construction debris and also dust and dirt during the construction phase. Will there be power washing of buildings and windows? How frequent would that be?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: I don't intend to get them dirty.
[Michael Marks]: You don't intend to get them dirty?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We try to do a very good job with our dust control, and that's part of our contract with the department requires that we medicate dust by using water, by using calcium, by using other mitigation measures to keep the dust down.
[Michael Marks]: But in the event, for instance, a restaurant, if their window becomes so dirty that patrons don't want to go inside, Are you going to provide that type of pressure washing and daily maintenance of... Oh, I can't commit to that, no. You can't commit to that, but you said you're not going to have any dust.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: That's the way that we're going to prosecute the work, is to work as cleanly as we possibly can.
[Michael Marks]: Right, but in the event that doesn't happen, you're saying that you're not willing to do it?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: It's not part of the specs. I think this questioning is getting a little, we came here to present what we're going to do to construct this.
[Michael Marks]: Well, as part of the construction, there's also a process of cleanup. There's also a process of heavy equipment.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We keep our job clean.
[Michael Marks]: We don't let debris collect. OK, so can you provide a number that someone can call if there's a concern?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yes.
[Michael Marks]: OK.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We do that routinely.
[Michael Marks]: Do you have that now?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: I don't, but I can certainly make sure you have it.
[Michael Marks]: If you can provide that, that'd be great.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Our superintendent is open to conversation with everybody. And if they have a problem, they can talk to him and we'll resolve it.
[Michael Marks]: And just my last point, when will the typical hours be of construction?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: To the extent that we can, we're going to run the job during the day, but I'd Our hours are 10 o'clock at night until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. 10 to 4 in the afternoon. And the nighttime hours, I have every reason to believe you're going to see us out there. Because of the tightness of the schedule for this project, That's our cushion. The nighttime hours, if we have to make up to meet certain milestones within the schedule, then those nighttime hours will be used.
[Michael Marks]: And is there any penalty if you don't meet your required deadlines?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: There's liquidated damages at the end of the project, yes.
[Michael Marks]: That's already been established?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yes, that's established prior to even the bid.
[Michael Marks]: Can you also pass that along to the council?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Um, yeah, that's, that's actually a standard.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: It's a standard department liquidated damage policy. It's in our standard specifications for highways and bridges. There's not an incentive disincentive specific to this project.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. Cause I know what the fast 14 project there was well aware of that.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: It's not independent. There's not specific language to incentive disincentive with this project.
[Michael Marks]: And is it seven days a week?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Nope. Monday through Friday? That's our schedule right now. And if we need to make up time, we intend to use nights. We'd prefer to stay away from weekends as well.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you. Mr. President, just if we can get a copy of the contact number for local businesses and also residents that may have a concern. Will that be manned around the clock, that particular line?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: just during working hours? It's going to be the superintendent's cell phone.
[Michael Marks]: His direct cell phone?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yep.
[Michael Marks]: OK.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yep.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: And I'll give you my number, too.
[Michael Marks]: You can pass that along to the city clerk.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The clerk has that, and also Mr. Daley's made note of that as well. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Vice President, Margo Kern.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. So if I understand it correctly, the only time that work will not be done is from 4 in the afternoon to 10 at night. that all other time is a fair game?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: That's correct.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: What do you have with regards to signage for, you know, I see the different plans, there's different pedestrian routes and obviously different traffic patterns. How is the signage going to be laid out so that people know the safest way to traverse our sidewalks and drive our streets?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We didn't bring actually the the signage plans with us. You probably wouldn't even see them very well up there on the board. But there are, during the different phases of the work, the signs get moved around to direct the pedestrians, and we'll also move crosswalks. So we'll eradicate a crosswalk, paint a crosswalk, put up new signs, and actually barricade the sidewalks that are closed so people can't use them. And they will find direction from those barricades to where they need to go.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So I guess I can take a look at the plans too. But for example, on phase three, you have different patterns of how you want the pedestrians to walk. For pedestrian purposes, how many signs will be located? So it looks like you have Main Street from under 93 all the way down, down Riverside Ave, Ring Road. How many, about how many signs there for the pedestrians?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Typically the way they're laid out, and I'll let Scott find the plan, but typically the way they're laid out are at what you would call decision points. You come to a spot in the sidewalk, well where do I go now? well, there's going to be a sign directing you where to go and there'll be markings. Uh, so if we do it right, you shouldn't be able to walk where you don't belong. Okay. That's, that's the point. So at every one of those points where you have to stop and say, well, where do I go now? There's going to be some direction there as to what you can do.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, just for safety reasons, obviously, and efficiency for pedestrians, I think that's necessary, and for drivers, obviously. My next question, just with regards to the Route 16 West off-ramp, when will that be closed, and is that going to be closed for the full three years?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: It is closed now as of Monday morning, it was closed. And yes, right through till phase five when we take the temporary bridge out, it's three years.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So that will be closed for the full three years till September 2018?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Yes.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Is there ever, it doesn't look like it, but is there ever gonna be a situation where traffic is completely closed down at all on Main Street?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Not that I'm aware of. It's part of our mandate to keep two lanes of travel, north and south on Main Street, except for small windows at midday, between 9.30 and 2, I believe, where we can actually take a lane and cut it down to one lane of traffic when there's not much traffic out there. work to do in what we've designated as travel lanes.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: It's from 930 to 2. One could possibly go down to one lane in each direction, you mean?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Right, and that's already happened out there. We've done that, and we've actually done pretty well in conjunction with the police department. They've been great. They know how to handle the traffic around the square, and they've been really helpful.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: With regards to equipment storage, is that always going to be in your work zone? Will you ever have equipment being stored on the sidewalks or any other location besides the work zone?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Our equipment will be in our work zones. If we have to get out in the middle of the street, we'll do a lane closure within those acceptable times. But we have Our lay down area is the closed ramp. We'll keep equipment there. And once we get the temp bridge in, when we close one side of the bridge, and there won't be any traffic, there won't be any pedestrians, there'll be overnight equipment stored there as well.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So the only time it may be somewhere on the work area is from that 9.30 to 2?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: And that's always, if we're out there, we have police details with us, and we have the protection of barrels and signs and indications to the traveling public that we're out on the road working.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I guess one of my last questions is, you mentioned the structural engineers are going to go put in a few type of monitoring devices. How far of a range, how many feet around the actual construction zone will that take place? Are we going to get into the homes or is it mainly just the businesses very local to the construction?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: The plan calls for us to actually monitor the two buildings that are right on either side of the north abutment plus the river wall, that those two buildings sit on top of. So we have to monitor that structure plus the two buildings. Those are, are the critical structures, and those are the ones that the department picked out for us to monitor.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: OK, so that's the only thing that will be monitored, those two buildings?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We'll also be monitoring the MWRA sewer, which runs right down the ramp there on the westbound ramp. They have a large diameter sewer line that runs down through there, and we have to monitor that, too.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And part of that process of filling out the reports before the actual construction takes place, the monitoring, and the work the structural engineer is going to do, that we obviously taking reports and taking pitches of those two buildings to make sure there's no issues?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Oh, yeah. Obviously, we need the building owner's permission. We can't enter without his permission. And that is kind of a whole separate story. But with their permission, we go in and document the condition of the inside of the building and the outside of the building.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you.
[Robert Penta]: A few questions. Um, there was a discussion early on dating back maybe some two years ago talking about the sewer line from the bridge to the square. Is there a sewer line from the bridge to the square?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Not that I'm aware of. You're not aware of it? I believe there's one in the street that stops prior to the bridge. Prior to the bridge?
[Robert Penta]: Right. But there's nothing that goes across the bridge. Okay. Second question basically was, coming over the bridge, there was talk about putting a light at the intersection right there where you could take a left to go up to High Street. Is there any further discussion on that? In other words, moving the traffic.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: There's going to be a temporary one there.
[Robert Penta]: No, no. I'm talking about a traffic light.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: I know. But during the course of construction, there's going to be temporary traffic.
[Robert Penta]: So is there going to be a traffic light that's going to take a left on High Street?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: At the final build, I don't believe so, no. The temporary traffic signal, there will be a signal there just during construction. And it's going to go back to a flash signal.
[Robert Penta]: The question is this. You go over the bridge. And you can go right into the square. Go straight, or can you take a left to go up High Street without having to go all the way around? That was one of the concerns.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: I don't believe that's going to be addressed as part of this project.
[Robert Penta]: That is not? Correct. You indicated your reconstruction project goals, opportunity to upgrade existing utilities over the bridge. How and what are they? What are these upgradings you're going to be giving?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: fiber optic lines, telephone lines, they'll all be new services. Water lines, all those utilities will be.
[Robert Penta]: So you're saying that all these utilities are going to be upgrading a long overdue? Is that what we're saying? I mean, I mean, it would be nice. I mean, these are questions I'd like to know.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah.
[Robert Penta]: Okay. Do you know when the first time was when this whole issue on the Craddock bridge came about? I was not present. It was in 2002 and it was offered by council long ago regarding the safety and the concerns of the Karatek Bridge. This is now 2015. That's a long time to wait about all these concerns, if safety is an issue as it was back then. Let's go to... You talked about under construction on the traffic management plan, you talked about accommodating traffic, pedestrian and buses. And you indicated, quote, it looks like it's going to go underneath the bridge. You folks have no control over bus routes. This Medford City Council controls where the bus routes go. And I think that's something that really needs to be considered, because this council has maybe different ideas, maybe the same. But to say that you're going to put it underneath the bridge, where a lot of seniors at 99 and 121 now will have to not only walk down to that ring road and then cross over the bridge to get to it, it would be a lot closer and easier for them if they went to Medford Square and they put it temporarily on River Street, turn that into a one-way. I believe it's nothing more than a three-and-a-half-minute change in a route that accommodates the people, when, in fact, your construction is completely disrupting the entire business community. I do not believe the temporary relocation has been finalized yet. Well, we had asked for someone from the MBTA to be here tonight. Is there somebody in the audience from the MBTA here? Is there any reason why that was not communicated to them? This is an important part. This is a very important part of this project. The bus route. It accommodates, according to your information here tonight, 300 bus trips a day go through Medford Square. That's an awful lot. That's an awful lot of people that need to take a bus to get to work or go to whatever they need to do during the course of a day. And there are options out there. And I wouldn't want anyone in this room to think, and anyone who might be watching, that you folks are going to change that bus route, because you're not. This Medford City Council will make the recommendation to the MBTA, because we're the only ones that have the power to make and change bus routes. So I would hope that you go back and you review that as a very serious component. Also, talk about, and this is really mind-boggling. We can go back to 2011 when you said the project was gonna cost 2.5 million. Then in 2012, it jumped to 8.5 million. Then in April of 2013, it jumps to $12.7 million. Then in June of 2013, it goes down to $10.7 million. And now here we are in June 2015. It's approximately $11 million. Does anybody know what the real number is? The bid price is $11 million. So that's the bid price. That is correct. So all this in the interim from 2006 coming forward was just speculation. Those were estimates. Estimates. It's a hell of a jump in estimates from 2006 $2.5 to almost $11 million. That's a big change. Also, one of the concerns, and I believe you're the contractor, correct? You are, but I mean, he's the contractor. Has there been any discussion about mitigation here for any damages or anything to help and offset the business community that might be affected by this? Has mitigation been discussed with either one of you or through the Department of Transportation?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: I know nothing of any of those discussions.
[Robert Penta]: Do you, sir, know anything about this?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: When I get the documents, I bid on the documents that I'm given. If it had required me to offer mitigation, I would have. Could you please speak into my microphone? It's not a requirement of my specification to provide that.
[Robert Penta]: So I would have to say no. So you're saying a project at this scale of $11 million that's going to disrupt tie up the city of MidFitness downtown area for approximately three years, and nobody's going to have any empathy, so to speak, toward any type of business or any one business or multiple business that might be either disrupted or put out of business because of this. We have a great deal of empathy for the people.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We have a great deal of empathy for the people.
[Robert Penta]: But there's no mitigation.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We've done it for many, many years, pretty successfully.
[Robert Penta]: Sir, we're talking about three years. This isn't a one year project. You're talking about three years. I understand that. That's a long period of time. Yes, it is. You also indicated that you clean up after the fact. I think it was Councilman Mox who asked a question about dirt and dust and disruption and this and that. Have you folks been before the city's Conservation Commission?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: They were out on the job today, yes.
[Robert Penta]: Pardon me?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: They were on the project today.
[Robert Penta]: Today? Yes. But when other businesses have been working in abutting the Karatek Bridge, straight down the river, they had to go to the Conservation Commission first to be told how and what their construction would be and the effect it would have on the river itself.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Those permits were already in place when I did the job. They were part of my contract documents and I have the duty to follow them.
[Robert Penta]: Okay. But while the construction has been taking place so far, nothing has been, you folks or whoever you're employing have done nothing the same as other businesses that had to make sure that anything that fell off the building, any dirt or any rubbish or anything did not go into that, did not go into that river. It has not taken place yet.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: I disagree. Well, I disagree completely. You need to know what's going on on the job. Pardon me? You need to know what's going on on the job before you make statements like that. I see it every day, sir.
[Robert Penta]: I see it every day.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Well, you should have been there this morning when the Conservation Commission came.
[Robert Penta]: But you've been there before this morning.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: You've been working there before this morning, sir. Yeah, and we made the appointment long ago. They made their visit today.
[Robert Penta]: Today is when they first came. You should have done this before, when you first got the job and you was first awarded. And you should have known the rules and regulations were on any type of work that abuts that river, that affects the birds and the fish that are in there. Like, last weekend, there was tons of fish that were dead in that water after your work took place.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: The President Oh, I — please.
[Robert Penta]: Secretary Nielsen Well, don't tell me please. Second of all — and lastly, Mr. President,
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: I'm not going to stand here and be insulted anymore.
[Robert Penta]: Well, you don't have to be insulted.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: This is insulting.
[Robert Penta]: Well, I'm sorry, sir. I'm telling you what I'm saying. So are you telling me I'm not seeing it correctly?
[Paul Camuso]: No, you're insulting.
[Robert Penta]: Well, I think you're insulting too, OK? If you can't stand here, if you can't stand here and answer the questions. Councilor, thank you. Yes, sir. Now, one last question, and that's this. And maybe you can answer it or someone from the Department of Transportation can answer it. Can you explain why it's taken almost three years to do 121 feet?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: I can't speak for the past three years, sir. We just had an NTP that came out a couple of months ago.
[Robert Penta]: No, the bridge is only 121 feet.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[Robert Penta]: And to do three years for what you're saying.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Oh, I'm sorry. Why the project's going to take three years? Yeah, I think he walked through it. It's very, believe it or not, in that three-year time period, it is a very compressed schedule, believe it or not, the way that the work has to be sequenced. As he said earlier, because the in-water restriction During each phase, we can only work on one pier at a time. So we got to build one pier, pull that coffer dam, then we got to wait until the next in-water window, and we can start the next pier. That's two years right there to do two piers, where normally we could do both during one phase, we could do both at the same time. And then we have the utility work to work around, Again, it's going to be hard to meet that schedule, even with the three years on this small bridge.
[Robert Penta]: I'd just like to make one last comment, Mr. President. I appreciate the fact that you folks are here. But this council has asked for a long period of time to be updated as to where we're going on this. And it's unfortunate that you've started the job, and now we're getting the information after the fact. But I do appreciate the fact that you're here. I think you hear what all the concerns might be — public safety, road, displacement, business displacement, if in fact that be the case. And if the gentleman that walked away from the podium is insulted, I apologize, but I'm not apologizing for my comments because my comments are what I've seen and heard. So with all due respect to that gentleman, I don't know what to say to you because I would have never walked away from a podium. Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. Thank you. My first question is, is there going to be the temporary construction trailer up where people can actually take a look at the plans? And there's people at home now that couldn't be here this evening. Do you plan on doing that or not?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: I can't speak for the contractor, and he's set out the trailer. But if anybody wants to make plans available, you can contact us. We'll make plans available to review. Well, not just the plans. Either just ask us with the department. We can make plans available to whoever. Can you talk into the microphone?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We have an office just off the square. I'll send you the address. But it's very close by. That's where my staff is going to be. So if anyone needs to go find them, typically they'll find them on the job. I'll give you the address to our office.
[Paul Camuso]: Okay.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: And we have an office phone number there too with an answering machine.
[Paul Camuso]: Excellent.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Forward all that information to you.
[Paul Camuso]: Now, uh, I've taken upon myself to go to other communities that similar projects were done to see what the impact was on the downtown area. Uh, one in particular was the town of Winchester, uh, similar project. And it took about two and a half, three years. And it got cut down to one lane, most of the, um, project and, uh, the businesses, other than the fact that it was a pain in the neck to traverse the area, with police detail, stopping the traffic, that one. They said as far as the impact on their businesses, they really didn't see much. Just the ones that I happened to talk to. With that being said, are there any projects that you've done similar to this one in the general vicinity?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Probably the last one that we did that involved a great deal of interface with businesses was We reconstructed almost a mile of a cushioned avenue in New Bedford and that street is lined on both sides with restaurants, businesses, a lot of local bars.
[Paul Camuso]: Okay. Um, the second thing, um, I have a question about is the, uh, the maritime conditions and the locks and things of that nature because, um, The boating community is concerned about the locks being opened and manipulated for this project. Do you know if there's going to be an impact on the riverway, as far as that goes?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: The locks are no longer in operation.
[Paul Camuso]: No, not the locks here, but the Amelia Earhart Dam. Is the water level going to stay the same and everything, or are they going to?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: That's the plan. Right now, they control, certainly, the level. I will tell you that It mentions in our permit that the increased flow that's created by our demolition work is going to require a new pump down at the dam so they can handle the additional volume.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: That makes sense.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: So that's already been thought through.
[Paul Camuso]: And that leads up to my next question. The DCI vote can certainly help out your cause by slowing the flow up at the upper and mystic lakes because that's brand new. It was done over in the past few years. Members of the DOT that are here, I'm sure, are familiar with that project. So it's actually good that that was done. And interesting enough, the Winchester Bridge was a result of some of their downtown flooding problems as well. So there's a lot of moving parts to this whole project that we don't necessarily see. The other thing is I'm confident that the direct abutters will be appropriately represented given the fact that you're putting the monitoring systems in. And I would hope that they all take part in it and have an independent insurance person take a look at their conditions prior to this process starting. And last but not least, Councilor Pentland hit on it a little bit. but the environmental impact on the river. We have a lot of stuff. As you said, the city has water lines under there. Is there going to be any negative environmental impact during demolition? Is there going to be booms set up and everything that contain everything right there, or netting under the bridge that's going to catch stuff? What's in plans?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Actually, all of those things for each pier that we demolish. There will be a steel sheeting cofferdam around it, along with containment curtains. When we do the decks, we have to put shielding under the bridge to catch anything that may fall. Now the demolition's going to consist of actually saw cutting the bridge in big sections, lifting it out with a crane. It's not going to be normal. you know, demolition where you break the whole thing up and just let it fall. Sure, you can't, otherwise the bridge will be gone.
[Paul Camuso]: We're going to lift these large pieces right out and set them on a truck and take them away. Okay. And at any time does this job call for a barge under there as well to either rebuild or demo?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: There may be, but it's probably more likely just small floats for men to work from. barges get a little ungainly in a small river like this.
[Paul Camuso]: My last question is just to follow up on that. Actually, from the drawings and the research that I've done with this particular project, going under the bridge there, it actually looks like it's going to be a lot better. Naturally, it's going to be more aesthetically pleasing. but it's going to be more open and voluminous when you're on the west side of the bridge looking down river towards Medford Square. It's actually going to improve the image in the sites. And I know that's a very, that's a big area where a lot of people throughout the community utilize to take pictures, whether it's wedding pictures, this, this, this and that type thing. And it's, it's more open right now. People that haven't seen it or been up close. There's only a small area where boats go through and everything else. It's going to be like the Longfellow Bridge almost, but much smaller, naturally, the arches.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Well, in a sense, the west side of the bridge is going to look a lot more like the east side of the bridge.
[Paul Camuso]: Correct.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Two arches and a rectangular opening.
[Paul Camuso]: OK. And last but not least, I know this is very nerve-wracking for residents. I mean, the traffic the last two days has been very bad, but that was because of the Winthrop Street project going on. That's because, um, this project that's, that's just getting underway. But, um, I, I tried to look back to some of the complaints, um, that the city received years ago when they did the route 16 bridge over down near metal Glen mall. And that was a bigger bridge and, um, it actually took, uh, took a substantial amount of time. But, uh, overall, It wasn't directly in the business community, but it was close enough that it could have an adverse effect on the Metal Glym Mall and Century at the time, and Mystic Valley Tower was north. But it was pretty good overall. And that was the Department of Transportation slash DCR joint venture at the time. So I'm confident that if we all work together that this can be done, and it has to be done. And that's the part that people are failing to realize throughout the square and throughout the community. If this doesn't happen now, the price is just going to go up. And inevitably, there could be someone resulting in injury or fatality down there. I mean, when they're putting up yellow caution tape for people not to walk over a bridge, something has to be done or cordoning off certain areas of a bridge. But this is being done for public safety and no other reason, quite honestly, because I know the state wouldn't want to be spending the money either. if it didn't need to be done. But I want to thank you for your presentation and look forward to working with you on this project.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Musso.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, yes, thank you very much. In terms of the traffic mitigation plan that took place, first of all, I'm hoping that you'd be able to provide the Council with a copy of the traffic mitigation plan. And secondly, is there any retiming of the lights that's going to be conducted or performed so that we can ensure the free flow of traffic through these detoured areas? You know, today has been pretty rough. And I know it's a new thing that people are going to have to get used to. And I think that once people realize Route 16 is closed, they're going to get off at Route 60 or they're not going to try to go the detour route. But in terms of retiming of the signals, is there any type of discussion or documentation that we can take a look at to see what you guys are doing in that regard?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: we're putting in a temporary traffic signal as part of the project.
[Adam Knight]: But in terms of Forest Street, Riverside Ave, Salem Street, because this is our center of town, this is our hub, so most of the main roads.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: That's presently not part of the project, but if we can do any minor adjustments to timing, we'll certainly look at that.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you. I rest, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Karafiello. Thank you, Mr. President. Touching on what Councilor Knight just mentioned, for the foreseeable, for the near future right now, I'd like to see some more state police presence, at least on Route 93, because you're seeing cars that are now backing up off of Route 16, off the ramp there to get off, because they're getting on, they're seeing this traffic. I saw multiple cars doing that today. You know, I'm not saying forever, but maybe for a couple of weeks, a little extra police presence there. And on the Route 16 side, over by where Route 16 goes into Mystic Avenue at that end. We're going to be posting a state police detail. Especially on the 93 side. The last couple of nights, until people actually get used to it, cars have been backing up back onto the highway.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: We have to take a look at locations when and where, but anywhere that we could. do something for, like you say, a few weeks to help traffic adjust to the traffic pattern, we'll certainly do that.
[Richard Caraviello]: And my last question is, in the event there's a question of damage of the property, is there a vehicle in place between your company and the owner to get it done on a quick basis? So if the owner of the building says something is happening and your guy says nothing is happening, Is there a vehicle in place to mediate?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Could you speak into your microphone, please?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: This is the reason why we have our inspection and monitoring program.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, I think what I'm asking is, say my guy comes in and disagrees with your people on damage. Do you have a vehicle in place to help the business owner or the property owner? Say, if the owner of the property goes out and hires their own person and they disagree with a damage that's caused, do you have a vehicle in place to resolve the damage problem or the question?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: If we do cause damage, that's why we carry heavy limits on liability insurance. That's what that's for, and it's why we want to establish a baseline, so that we know exactly what those structures look like when we start it. So it should be very easy to determine that, oh, this happened.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: It is in the contract that the insurance is provided by the contractor. He has to have it bonded.
[Richard Caraviello]: And there will be regular meetings with the people, the building owners, that are immediately impacted?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: They've been reaching out to the building owners, and they'll continue to do so. If there's any claims that can't be resolved, just bring them to the department, and we'll make sure that they are. OK. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. There are some citizens that wish to ask questions. We remind you to address your questions to the chair and that the representatives will answer them the best they can. And please state your name and address for the record.
[sEpbONopS5E_SPEAKER_03]: Dr. William Wood, 25 Bussell Road in Indiana. Well, we aren't in Indiana anymore. Medford, downtown. Most people know when I come to the, oh, by the way, I wanted to also say, I'm not here to insult you either, and I talk awful loud because I'm deaf. So I hope to God you don't walk away from me. My questions are more on the issue that I bring up over and over. The disability issue. Now, I heard a lot of signage. But if you're blind, you can't read it. I heard that you have some kind of cost or mediation. I heard them say that through the president, I'm saying. Mr. President, I'm saying that I heard this. But I didn't hear whether there was a pedestrian insurance. Because when you put blind people in a walkway where there's no way they can move, or someone with a cane and there's a piece of stuff and they may not be able to see it, or someone with a walker. And especially if they're trying to get to the bus station, Or if they want to go eat from the other side of the bridge to the other side of the bridge, they might fall down. That means they might get hurt. I'm suggesting strongly, Mr. President, they answer the question, is there pedestrian insurance, at least for the disabled community? And is there going to be, other than signage, which, by the way, I'm proud to hear that they're putting signage. And DOT someday can answer the question of why there's not enough signage in Massachusetts, so we who live here can find out where we're going. This signage is not the only thing. If you all remember, and I think one of our illustrious city councilors, Ms. Lunger, was on that committee at the time that put in the walk, the signs that said walk, walk, and then went tweet, tweet, tweet in Medford Square. We actually did something that a lot of people had never thought about. Now we're saying we're going to put signs Again, I will caution you that there are ways to do that. There are ways to direct people who are blind or have walkers and stuff like that. And I think one of the ways is also have somebody out there watching it. But a better way is to build it into the temporary walkways so that it can, and then into the regular walkways. You know, you're talking about building walkways that are for bicycles, but you're not talking about building walkways for blind people, for people who have to use canes. Mr. President, I think somebody should answer these questions.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Does anybody have from the group some information?
[sEpbONopS5E_SPEAKER_03]: I think it's a dark question, not a developed answer.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: It's difficult. There's a few questions presented. All I can say is that the project will be, the limits of work will be fully ADA compliant when we're complete. During the interim condition, it is admittedly difficult at times when you're demolishing portions of sidewalk, et cetera. But the final condition will be fully ADA compliant.
[sEpbONopS5E_SPEAKER_03]: There's two types of fully ADA compliance. There's what's called the minimum, which does legally, that's all they have to do. That doesn't protect the blind person who's trying to work, or the person with a cane, or the person who's trying to walk over there from the 99, which is the elderly project. And then there's maximum. And Mr. President, DOT has done, and I have been on DOT's argument side, arguing with them about most of the time they do minimum. Minimum standard is ridiculous. The Attorney General has made, and the President of the United States, and the Congress of the United States' intent was not to do minimum standard. It was to do maximum standard so that all disabled people are helped. Disabled vets, that means people who can see well but can't hear, and it also means people who can't read and stuff like that. I would like to see you, the council go on record as saying you support that DOT consider strongly putting in maximum standards so that all disabled people are equal in this city. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Doctor. Hi, please state your name and address for the record.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Bob Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I got just two brief questions and then a brief statement. Number one, my first question revolves around this temporary bridge I want to know the safety of its construction, what its weight capacity is. I mean, we just had a winter and nine feet of snow. Is it plowable? What's the tonnage it can take? My second question, Councilor Caraviello and Knight touched on it, is police. How many Medford police are going to be used over the course of these three years? Because as we know, we have a shortage of staff in the police force. Or maybe Chief Sackle can answer. I saw him in the audience tonight. Are there going to be any attempts from this council or the mayor's administration to maybe even hire more police? And finally, I mean, I'm 45 years old next month. Grew up my whole life in Massachusetts without bringing up the big dig. I mean, we've seen now the estimates of costs go from $2.5 million to $11 million. I mean, what assurances are we the citizens and the taxpayers and the businesses that are going to be sharply affected that there's not going to be cost overrides, another big winter of snow. We're going from three years now to four, to maybe five. And finally, and with all due respect, I want to thank these folks for coming here with this presentation. But you elected city councilors. are the representatives of Medford. You're our voice. If some of these questions are too tough and you get offended by them, well, these are the taxpayer dollars. And quite frankly, if you get offended by these questions, I'm sorry. With all due respect, that's just too bad. And you should please stay and answer these questions. Thank you very much.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: In answer to his first question about the temporary bridge It will be it is being designed to carry HS 20 loading which is normal traffic loading includes trucks buses Everything that rides up and down the road. It will carry a full complement of two lanes. It's certainly plowable and They're used extensively throughout the state successfully. So although it's temporary, it's constructed to the same set of standards that a permanent bridge would be. Very good.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: What was the second part? How many pulleys? How many of your averages?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Typically, these details regarding police details on construction projects like this are worked out in preliminary phases with the input of the police chief. And so we'll allow the chief to address the matter.
[Leo Sacco]: Leo Sacco, 227 Elm Street in Medford, chief of police. Regarding the details, the company and MassDOT have been very good to work with. We've had various numbers of police details during the course of each day, depending on the nature of all the work that's going on in that area. Today was a particularly difficult day. There were a lot of projects going on in the city. We had probably 10 or 12 offices on the Winthrop Street paving project that went the whole stretch from Route 16 up to Lawrence Road, including the rotary. We had a number of offices tied up on that, but we did have out-of-town offices assisting us on details. Yes, we're short on personnel. We're in the process of attempting to hire seven, but we won't have the benefit of those offices until the middle of next year. It's a work in progress. I think as this project goes on, the continued good working relationship with the company and with MassDOT, we'll have whatever we need out there for offices, depending on the nature of work that's going on. I just think that, again, it's a situation where people just have to be patient. And there's traffic. No matter where you go, there's traffic. You drive in Everett, you drive in Somerville, there is just a lot of traffic. And now with the construction, I think it's a great thing that that Route 16 ramp is closed. I was one of the proponents for that from the very beginning. And when that ramp does open up three years from now, I hope no trucks or buses are allowed to make that turn into Medford Square, because it is listed as a truck route. I think it's absolutely absurd to have that. So I think as we go along, we'll see greater improvements. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chief. Hi. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Michael Ruggiero]: My name is Michael Otero. I live on 18 Pembroke Street. Could you bring up the slide with the phase three pedestrian circulation? Right now, as you know, on the, right where the exit is off 93, there's a blinking light, and pedestrians can cross at that point. There's no light that allows it to stop and then the pedestrian to cross safely, but now you can't really, oh, okay. Right now, this pedestrian circulation route, you can't really see it on the slide because of the lights, but is it possible, gentlemen, to put a crosswalk right in front of the river. Do you see? That's a long way to go to cross. Yeah, yeah, sure, right here. Right here. Because that's a long, because this area is a pedestrian area as well. You can cross up and there's a nice little park that comes over this way right here. That's a long way to go for a pedestrian or someone who has a handicap. to cross the street, to make it from one side to the other?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, I see what you're saying. But this is the work zone. Oh, because you have to coordinate. This is the work zone. So you'd be crossing them into a work zone.
[Michael Ruggiero]: I see. So it's just something. OK. Thank you. I have a couple of other concerns with this project. My biggest concern is I thank you gentlemen for arriving today and providing me this packet and to provide this PowerPoint presentation. It'd be much more helpful in the future. if all projects, before they start, we actually get to see the full details of these projects. It helps companies and businesses plan their activities. So that's one concern. The other concern I have is the, and it's already been voiced by Councilor Pensa, the time scale that we're talking about here. We're looking at over 1,200 days, 1,200 days for a bridge that's 121 feet. What does that work out to be, like an inch a day? That's a concerning figure. I have a feeling like we can do better. I haven't looked at the project, and I know you gentlemen have a lot of challenges to overcome, but I really wish we could have seen the bidding process and there could have been more communication earlier in the project. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Hi. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_34]: Mary Ann Ashcraft, 77 Fountain Street. I'm here on behalf of Dr. DeMonteverdi. She owns the building right on the river, 30 Main Street. Her father passed away last night, so she could not be here. She has a lot of questions. Before the project started, no one had spoken to her at all. No one went through the building. About a week and a half ago, MassDOT came out and talked to her for about 15 minutes about parking. She has 7 to 10 employees every day. They're taking her parking lot, and they're going to give her a couple of parking spaces. This question has been asked at other meetings we've been to right from the beginning. And they said she had two parking spaces now where they've taken the island out. They need seven to nine parking spaces. No one talked to her till the week before last. And I think that is kind of disgraceful that nobody has talked to these people that own the building. She has a lot of concerns. There are a lot of elderly people from the housing that go to her. That dentist's office has been there. I believe Dr. Zitzer opened it in 1971. People from the elderly housing are not going to walk into a construction site. Her other concerns are losing patients, number one, the building. It's a very, very old building. It's a four-story building, unlike Carroll's, which is not a four-story building. And that's in danger, too, of damage, we know. She was led to believe there was no mitigation. They came in and they said, we did tests, we did boring, everything's fine. That's kind of hard to believe, with a building of that age and the weight of four stories. And she's very concerned about the parking. She also has Medford Auto School upstairs in her building. They need parking spaces. And we're looking at a lot of people that have been going out of business in Medford. And her concern is she may be another one of them. So we need some questions answered about her parking. This is crucial to her business. The dental office has been there, like I say, since the early 70s. And she's worked hard at her business. And people are already starting, because of the kiosks, not to come to Medford Square, when they can go to a number of surrounding areas, to dentists. There's a zillion dentists around. So the parking is a big issue for this dental office. And we still don't have an answer. And what I've heard tonight was, there are places we can call, but we don't have a phone number. She'd like to talk to these people about her parking. So is there a number that she can call and talk to somebody?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think the representative of Saupo Construction needs to, and somebody from MassDOT needs to sit down with the doctor and iron out these details. Obviously, the path of the construction is going through the doctor's parking lot, and that needs to be addressed. And we hope you can set up a direct line of communication.
[SPEAKER_34]: The egress in the back of her building, where the ramp will be going over her parking lot, that's the second egress. So if at all that front sidewalk is closed off for any reason, her patients cannot get in the building. And I don't think anybody has addressed any of this with Dr. DiMonteverdi.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, both access and egress will be accessible throughout the project. Even the emergency fire exit, they have to keep that.
[SPEAKER_34]: Well, the fire that goes over the wall, that goes over the wall, goes up to the auto school.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: Correct. That'll be, that has to be maintained throughout the project as well. Right. Right.
[SPEAKER_34]: But again, elderly people are not going to put themselves in the danger of even walking down to that area. But she needs the parking address. And we need a phone number, a contact person.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_08]: We'll contact you tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_34]: OK. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. On that point, Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Diller. So the lady makes a good point. I'm sorry, blanked on the name. Just with regards to a phone number, they have a phone number, but they don't know it now. And then, same thing with an address. You have an address, but you won't tell us, or?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: I don't. Really, it's not that I won't tell you. I'm going to be glad to share it with you. I just don't have the information.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: If we could just make that part of the committee report, that we get the address and the phone number. That way, if people come to us with concerns, questions, need answers, that we can direct them. We've done that.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And Mr. Daly's made note of it, too.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: OK, thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please state your point of information, Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: The unfortunate part about all of this is the council's asking the questions. There's no one here from the city administration. There's no one here from the Office of Community Development. And if they are, would they please stand up? This is very important. And that's the part that I think is a little bit disturbing right now, because this information, whether it be for public safety, whether it be for the bus routes, whether it be for the parking, or just the fact that I have a telephone number to call, this meeting didn't happen overnight. Thank you for your point of information, Councilor. This meeting was pointed out. Councilor, can I just ask one more thing, please? You made his point of information console Sir Councilor yes, you asked for point of information And I would appreciate it and I think would have been appreciated by anyone who watching would have had either the number Officer community development or somebody here from the city administration That's how important I believe this issue is. Thank you console console longer current are you through?
[Sorrell]: Thank you. Please state your name and address for the record. Mr. Sterello, 20 Metcalf Street. Thank you, Mr. President. I have a very short question. Will there be any lights on the bridge?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: We, during the various phases of the project, are required to provide temporary lighting, which we will do. And that's to maintain the level of lighting that there is there now. And in the final construction, there will be brand new poles and luminaires both on the bridge and on the ramp. So everything will be well lit.
[Sorrell]: How many of those will there be? There are four lanes.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: Off the top of my head, there's either five or six of the decorative type lights that the city uses on the bridge, and there's another five or six along the Route 16 ramp.
[Sorrell]: Up to what height will the lights be?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: The ones on the bridge, I believe, are either 16 or 18 feet tall, and they have two luminaires. The double luminaires that the big lights come out on both sides? And the ones on the ramps are about 25 feet tall, and they have a single luminaire.
[Sorrell]: So there are four lights altogether?
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: No, I think there are five or six on the bridge, and another five or six on the ramp.
[Sorrell]: That will be appreciated, because we do need better lighting there.
[IK8caXY8nKg_SPEAKER_05]: And in the interim, we will be providing temporary lighting. And in all of those cases, a little feedback is always helpful because it is, after all, temporary. So if we have some dark spots and we know about it, we can fix them.
[Sorrell]: Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please state your name and address for the record.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street in Medford. One quick question. At the end of the project, will we finally have working pedestrian lights at the end of South Street, which leads to Main Street, across the street, on the ramp that goes to Route 93, and on the ramp that jumps onto Main Street off of the parkway? We've had those relics there for years. All they do is blink yellow. It's very dangerous. There are many people, women, men, children, carriages trying to make it across the street. It's a race against time with them. And I just want to know, is there, I haven't seen anything with that here, but I know that somebody had mentioned that that problem was resolved. So I don't know. Do you know about that? No. And it'd probably be a different contractor possibly through the state to do that, but I don't see it on the plans. And I don't think if we're going to spend this kind of money that we don't wind up with pedestrian lights. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Chair recognizes Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: I believe Mr. President, In the past legislative session, Representative Donato was able to secure money in the transportation bond bill for that initiative. Senator Jalem was able to secure it in the House side, and the matter was non-conferenceable. So this council actually passed a resolution sometime back to meet with them once this construction project started to see if we can coordinate the release of these bonded funds to ensure that when the project is completed that all this work is done at the same time. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's all the, that's all the money that he bought at 200,000, 275,000. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you all very much. The chair awaits motion.
[Clerk]: Okay. We have questions.
[Robert Penta]: I believe there was some questions asked by the council. Can we move that we get an update on this bridge process on a monthly basis? And can we have a phone number that we would be able to have in a project person as a contact person? So if anyone were to call us or the city clerk or any citizen, um, and they can't get ahold of anybody because they close here at 12 o'clock on a Friday. So for the weekend when it's closed, if they want to call a Councilor on the weekend, and if emergency happens, they can give any one of us a call. So the number will be made available. I think that's important. Mr. President on that motion. A monthly update, the phone number, and the location of where the office is going to be, and the contact person.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Go ahead, Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. And just that we recommend that maximum standards for disability purposes be implemented when the project's finalized, especially.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion as amended, all those in favor?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Aye.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The motion passes. Thank you for coming. While we're under suspension, Mr. Daly, thank you very much for bringing this group down. We're entirely grateful to you and for your ability to answer questions. While we're under suspension, the swim team has been treading water for an hour and 25 minutes. So we welcome them. 15-567 petition by May Judge, Medford High School varsity swim coach, to address the council on the Medford High School swimming pool refurbishing varsity swim team, a swim-a-thon fundraiser and charitable donation and check presentation to the Buddy Coholan Adult Daycare Center Community Family Incorporated, Ms. Judge.
[b-cJrtai7oA_SPEAKER_21]: Mary Judge, 17 St. Mary Street, Medford, Mass. We, the swim team, would like to thank city council for allowing the refurbishment of the swimming pool for the whole city of Medford. And with our, what we did this winter was we had a swim-a-thon to raise some money for, you know, something for the team, but we also decided to donate 30% of what we raised to the Buddy Cajon Memory Center. We would like to give that to them, and we'd like to thank you wholeheartedly for all you've done for us. We want the community to start using the pool. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you so much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you all for coming down. Thank you for your gratitude. Thank you for putting that pool to good use. It was a great investment in Medford's life here, and you're right. We need to use it. Thank you all very much. On the motion of Councilor Knight to receive and place on file, and on the motion of Councilor Knight, revert back to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? 15-569, offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council refers the matter of body work establishment to the Medford Board of Health for further review and discussion. See attached Town of Plymouth ordinance. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I know we talked about this last week in regards to these type of establishments moving into the city of Medford. Over the last few days, I was able to talk to the town of Plymouth and their town manager. And the woman was very helpful in providing me with some information, which I provided to all of our people in the packets this evening. And what it is, it's an ordinance that they have crafted in order to stem the tide of these body work establishments that come into the community. And I think people get confused with the term massage parlors and body work parlors. And I think the ones we're talking about, that I'm talking about, are called body work establishments. And currently we have several in the community that are operating right now. And two of them are in residential neighborhoods, along with one that's in, right now, a square. I was able to meet with our city solicitor this week and Karen rose of the board of health and I provided them information. But I think that going forward with this, I'd like to see, I know the chief is doing some investigative work here in this, but the package that I gave to the solicitor, I would like to see if we can craft an ordinance similar to that, so in the future, these establishments will hopefully not want to come to Medford in the future. And what it is, it's not so much licensing the establishment. It's licensing the workers who work in these establishments. And I think that's kind of a way to get around some of the rules. So that's it. So if we could refer to the solicitor, Randy. Board of Health for further discussion of that rule. I appreciate it. Very good.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello to refer the matter to the Board of Health and the City Solicitor. All those in favor? Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: I'd like to thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this up because when he discussed this last week, I don't think anybody really knew the magnitude of the impact that this could have on neighborhoods, and especially if you're abutting this particular situation. And through his follow-through with the community of Plymouth, I think he just highlights the fact that sometimes, unfortunately, when pieces of legislation are written and they're enacted, one little word can just change the whole agenda of what somebody might have to offer and what they want to do. I want to thank you, Councilor Caraviello, for going forward with this, because I think what it does, I think it's a safeguard into our community, into our neighborhoods, into the little children who might have to be exposed to this, because this is an enterprise that's going on. This is a scandalous for-profit enterprise by people who have no care about our community and the concept of morals that our community should have. So with that being said, and I know our city solicitor is here, I'm quite sure you're going to be looking into it, and I'm quite sure that we can come up with something.
[Richard Caraviello]: If I can follow up, we have one particularly in Central Avenue, which is right beside a park.
[Robert Penta]: It's a residential.
[Richard Caraviello]: It's a residential area, and there's homes right in that area. And it's here. We have another one right up on Main Street. Right on, all homes surrounding this.
[Robert Penta]: And the sad part about this, as we're talking about it, the one that's on Central Ave, if you were to drive by, the windows are all covered. You'd have no idea what the heck's going on over there. And some of the individuals inside, some of the people that are running it may not be that nice to you if you were to ask them questions. Why, and what are you doing, and what are you asking questions for, why are you taking pictures, and whatever it might be. So thank you. This is a good move. This is what you call a good neighborhood protection move. It's a good public health and public safety move between our chief of police and our city solicitor. I'm quite sure that we can manage, as plummeters manage, to write something that, unfortunately, until the state decides to change its law and its state statute, we can do it here in our local community. So, thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Vice President Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I just want to thank Councilor Caraviello also for putting this forward. did speak to somebody else who mentioned the town of Plymouth and it was just random. It seems like they're getting something done and they're bringing back the control locally.
[SPEAKER_18]: Yeah.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And I think it's something we definitely need. I mentioned that last week that we need to bring control somehow to the city. Um, with that being said, we know, I know chief Sacco has responded to a number of us on email that the police department is doing what they can do. There was one establishment shut down a year or two ago. So we thank them for that, but obviously we want to keep up the investigations and keep up closing down these establishments. Especially, I mean, all over the city, but in a residential neighborhood, in our square, it's not what you want people to know our square has. I don't even know how to put it, but we have families who traverse these areas and we just don't want it within our community. What this ordinance would do is it would bring back the control to the health department and the police department to be able to regulate this, to provide quarry checks for anybody who wants to open such an establishment, massage, Thai massage. I mean, it covers a whole host of different things, some that I can't even pronounce. But I think it's a zen shutsu. All kinds of stuff, but it's definitely something that's needed. We need to bring back this so we have local control over it so we can begin shutting down even more or making sure they don't reopen. Because we had this problem two years ago, now it's back. We're going to get really on top of it now, and then it's going to just come back in different locations. We want to make sure we end it and we put a stop to it. And this is one way. So hopefully we'll have a committee of the whole meeting and thank our city solicitor in advance for working on it. Thanks.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I think the one thing we can do as a community is what you've seen over the last several weeks and what happened roughly a year ago and some other locations is these businesses want to stay under the radar. They don't want anyone to know what they're doing in these businesses. And that's why you see many of them with windows that you can't see through and, you know, shady activity going on. And it's very helpful when the community unites, like we're seeing now. The question I had, Chief, and I know there's ongoing investigations and so forth, but when you go onto a particular website of an establishment or on Facebook, and there's reviews about a particular business, and the reviews mention things that are against the law and so forth, what type of information do you need in order to really move this to the next level? And why does it seem that And it's not a reflection on our police department. It's probably happening everywhere. Why does it seem to take so long to investigate and move these businesses out of particular areas?
[Leo Sacco]: Well, I can tell you as far as, you know, looking at Facebook and looking at other, uh, other areas for advertisement, uh, we don't have enough people that monitor all of the social media that's out there. Uh, we work on complaints that we get from the public, obviously, The same thing that was mentioned, I think, you know, as a police officer for a number of years and all of our police officers, the same thing, any business that opens up and their windows are covered already causes us some concern, some suspicion that something's going on in there. It's not good crime prevention. I mean, they could be getting robbed and we can't see inside the store as we drive by. Why does it take so long? Because there's a process that needs to be followed. Just, just comments. whether it be in an ad, in a newspaper, or whether it's in social media, isn't enough for us to act on. Of course, it's helping us to go in that direction, because that tells us possibly something is going on. But what we've done in the past, having undercovers go in and actually get the massage, and then the person who's providing the massage offers a little additional service for a fee. That takes time to happen, and we did that one today. We did every location in the city, and we shut down three locations that time. But there's other crime that's going on in the city, too. So, I mean, it's just a process that needs to be followed. We work with the state, and there's one inspector from the Board of State Licensure, and when he's available. I mean, he's covering pretty much, if not all of the state, at least the Eastern portion of the state. So, uh, they need to ramp up their staffing as well, but it's, it's something that, that we're working on. And I can tell you that, uh, there are every one of the locations that's operating in the city right now is under the microscope.
[Michael Marks]: Uh, is it within your powers to pay visits? even though there may not be anything substantial at the beginning?
[Leo Sacco]: We have done that, quite honestly. We've had that Captain Fowler, who heads up our detective division, has, with another detective and also with the state inspector, actually gone in, asked to see the license, kind of look around to see what the operation looks like, and try to make a determination whether it appears to be legitimate on the face. That's happened on a few occasions. And it happens more regularly than the sting operations. But it is being monitored. And I know that, just look around some of these locations. They're not the franchise business. It's that immediate hit. And we had a location on Salem Street, Spring Street actually, the block of stores by Magoon Ave. Those people were in there once we got word that they were operating. Captain Fowler and a couple of other detectives paid them a visit. They shut down that night. About a month later, they were operating in an apartment they had rented off of 9th Street in a condo building. And how we found that out was other people were calling in the building about the amount of traffic coming and going. It was the exact same crew. So we're on top of it, but we're working with a number of different agencies. The AG's office, as far as human trafficking, covering every aspect of it, because we don't want to just go on one front and fail. We want to make sure when we go in there, we're going in there equipped with all these different entities. And like we did that time a year or so ago, where three places were put out of business and a number of people were arrested.
[Michael Marks]: Well, thanks to your department and thanks to the vigilance of our residents, who are unbelievable. The output that I'm seeing just through emails and phone calls now is remarkable. And I think that adds a lot. I stated it a couple of weeks ago, and I still believe it strongly, Chief, that, you know, when you have a downtown business district, not just Medford Square, many of our business districts right now that have a lot of vacancies, it doesn't look like there's much activity after 7 o'clock, and they become a welcoming zone for establishments like this. And I think the best thing we can do as a community It's not just to be vigilant and let the police department know when we see this happening. It's also to promote our business districts, also to look at the revitalization of our business districts. And, you know, when you start seeing places like Best Sellers and Forest Street Art Studio go under, and you see pawn shops and massage parlors open up, it's a concern. And it should be a concern of every resident, as well as this administration. And, you know, it's unfortunate, but I think as long as we stay ahead of the curve, we'll be all right. But the revitalization of our business districts is key to keeping these type of establishments away and attracting businesses that are going to attract the type of clientele that we want to attract that's going to come around and spend money in our community and treat our business districts with the type of dignity and respect that it deserves.
[Leo Sacco]: So absolutely, and I totally agree with those comments. I think all of the business districts, we'd like to see them flourish. We'd like to have the city of Medford known for the right things, not for these types of attractions that come in. And all I want to say is thank you to the public. I got a number of emails. I just want to assure the public that we're not sitting around waiting for another entity to do our job. We are actively investigating and hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant future, they'll see some results. But I can tell you that there have been some interesting things happening in a couple of locations.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Ma'am, if you wish to speak, please state your name and address for the record.
[Melanie Raelin]: Melanie Raylan, 20 Stanley Avenue. Hi there, I'm part of the Medford Community Coalition. I'm here with my co-founder, Laura Brereton, as well as our board member, Frank O'Leary. We have other board members in the audience. We have almost 1,000 likes on Facebook and a very strong community outpouring of support for our mission, which is to revitalize Medford Mass. And that's why we're here today. We are first, thank you, first of all, Councilor Caraviello for bringing this very important issue up. I don't know how to start this except to tell you what happened to me as I walked to Borealis Yoga today before coming here. There was a woman in front of a, that store, and she was looking like this. She was doing this with a little bit of that. Another woman in my yoga class who is of Asian descent was catcalled. So this is what's happening to our downtown area, one that lost bestsellers, one that has missed it. Coffee Roaster's a lovely gathering place but may lose business now because it's down the street from a place that is, best way to say it is sketchy. So the big question I have here, I have many questions, but I want to keep it brief. First of all, why is everything reactionary and not proactive? We're finding issues again and again. This question really begs, where is the attention to what kind of businesses we are fostering? Not just in the square, but in Medford as a whole. Why isn't community development given more staff to do their job? It's very easy to point a finger, but is there one full-time person in community development? Whereas in other towns, there's usually 12, 15. That's a lot to put on one person's plate. Was this business fully permitted? That's the big question I would love to have answered right now. And who's responsible for letting it in? Can anyone answer that question? And yeah, I would love to hear that answer.
[Fred Dello Russo]: State your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_12]: Hi, I'm Laura Brayerton, 270 Winthrop Street. recently paved, thank goodness. I'm also, as Melanie mentioned, a co-founder of the Medford Community Coalition. I, too, would like to thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this up. And I would also like to thank Chief Sacco, because he seems like he's on board and obviously taking some very serious steps to address this. So I want to echo Melanie's sentiments. I think we're trying to, of course, hold back some real serious frustration and some strong feelings that are going on in the community about this particular business. I am curious how it got licensed, how it got permits to open up. I'm curious how it's going to affect the other businesses in Medford Square. In addition to my role with the MCC, I'm also the programming coordinator for Circle the Square. And as, hopefully, if you've been to Circle the Square before, hundreds of people come to Medford Square, many of them families. Riverside Avenue is a huge destination. We have a ton of programming at Burying Ground, and now hundreds of people, including many families, are going to be walking past this particular establishment at 34 Riverside Avenue, which, at the very least, is sketchy. I'm also curious, of course, in the larger picture of things, if this is a human trafficking situation, that obviously is a very serious issue, one that we can't necessarily completely solve within Medford City Council, but this is obviously the larger issue at hand. And I'm also curious what can be done to keep these businesses from coming back In doing a little bit of research, it seems like some of our neighbors and surrounding communities have changed their ordinances within their towns to not only prevent these types of businesses from coming in the first place or to severely restrict them. And so I think that Medford should take those same kinds of steps so that we don't have to continually, as you mentioned, year after year or every couple of years have to sort of readdress this situation. It sounds like it can be done. within each town and community that there can be changes made to prevent these from opening. Thank you.
[Oj3ns4r1Qn4_SPEAKER_04]: Frank O'Leary, 85 Arlington Street. I'm also on the board of the MCC. Just have a basic statement. The Medford, as I see it, is beginning a huge transition period. We're on a border where We can go one way or the other way by allowing businesses in that foster a wrong idea, make the square itself feel unsafe in the evening for families to come walking through. Recently, the square has been decimated. We're losing valuable businesses. Everybody talks about how we want the square to be a place for people to come and enjoy themselves in the evenings. They're not going to do that if they have to worry about you know, the type of businesses that are coming in. You know, if there's things that can be done, permits that need to be viewed, or even just in general, look at Elements Massage. It's a reputable place. Those people are certified, individually trained. They spend years doing this type of stuff. What message do you want to send? Anybody come in who's going to have, who can put up a shingle or we appreciate accreditation. We appreciate businesses that are going to give back to the community. They're going to foster the right image that we want to present. Now it's, it's, it's not just the council, it's everybody. Citizens need to pay attention. Everybody needs to be a part of this. We're together in this. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you.
[6YHU7Hws2SA_SPEAKER_20]: Mark Crowley, 59 Boynton Road. I've got to have to say, you know, congrats to the MCC for really making a lot of this happen. I really appreciate that. And, you know, I think it's unfortunate that, you know, the notion of being reactive is exactly what we hear a lot. And unfortunately, it's, you know, you sow what you reap in many ways. And that, you know, the efforts by the city towards economic development in our business districts, you know, has been completely inadequate. And, you know, certainly today we're going to be talking about Medford Square. But, I mean, this is a problem that we see across the city, you know, whether it be the vacant storefronts on Salem Street or anywhere else. You know, you look at the roads or anywhere in Boston Ave, Winthrop Street, or around the Hillside area. You know, if you're not trying to attract, as Councilor Marks alluded to, and support those desirable businesses, you're going to get the less than desirable ones. It's like maintaining your front lawn. If you don't water, you don't fertilize, you don't care for it, you're going to get weeds. And that's what we're getting. We're getting weeds in Medford Square. We need City Hall to be at the forefront of attracting new businesses. And sure, we can say, gosh, you know, the Office of Community Development, you know, doesn't have enough resources. That's true. The city can find resources. We've got a $155 million budget. The mayor miraculously found $250,000, much to his, you know, applause, to fund the, you know, the library. But why aren't we making the investments at something that actually will generate additional tax revenues for this city? Where is that investment being made? And this isn't a new problem. This isn't something that, you know, we just woke up and say, oh, gosh, look, there's empty storefronts in Medford Square. Or, you know, now we've got a pawn shop, and it is a pawn shop right next to a questionable salon. Back in 2004, there was an effort, a Medford Square master plan. It's a great document. I remember attending a lot of public hearings and listening to things about it. Lots of really great ideas in there. Unfortunately, it seems no one in this building has actually read it. Because the challenge is, it's a beautiful document. It's got a blueprint. It tells this city what it should be doing. Put a marketing plan in place. Start investing in these abandoned lots that are parking lots. You turn those into private development, build new buildings here, start to incite and be that catalyst for this eastern side of the square. Put in facade improvements and other ordinances that mandate and even support and even help maybe provide tax incentives or even low-interest loans so that buildings along Riverside and Salem Street can make the investments necessary to replace the chipping paint, to replace the torn awnings, to replace the chipping concrete in each of those buildings. No reputable business wants to come into those spaces. I congratulate and I applaud folks like Mystic Coffee Roasters and Carroll's and Tinosh and Salvatore's and unfortunately, as of recently, Best Sellers, but these guys can't do it on their own. They need this city. to make the investments and make the priority decisions that need to be done. You know, other cities are doing it. Boston has it. Cambridge has it. Somerville has it. God, even Malden has it. And God forbid we compare ourselves to Malden, but they've got a redevelopment authority. Where is Medford? Where's our marketing plan? Why aren't we out there banging on the trees? Where's the mayor talking? You know, sure, maybe Office of Community Development can't do it by themselves, but there's a lot of other people in this building. Where's the Chamber of Commerce? Who's out there trying to advocate for the city of Medford? Why does it have to be citizen groups like the Medford Community Coalition and CASH that are holding cash mobs and cleanups and concerts and street fairs trying to breathe life back into the square? It needs to be this building that leads the charge. And let's not think that, you know, businesses aren't just simply about, you know, profits and business owners. They're about, as we're starting to see here with respect to the pawn shop and the spa, they're about public safety. But they're also about generating diversity in terms of reflecting the diverse needs of the city. They generate tax dollars. They improve the opportunities to invest in other things. They bring jobs to our neighbors. It's time the city gets serious about economic development. We've been talking about it for years and years and years. We've got a plan. We've got the ideas. We just need people to actually start doing their jobs and make it happen. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Hi, please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, Margaret Weigel, 64 Forest Street. And so I would like to say that I've heard a lot about these businesses. I'm really tall. Coming into quote, unquote, residential areas. Really? Can you hear me now? OK, good. Great. So talking about it coming into residential areas, but Medford Square is my backyard. This is where I live. This is where I get off the bus to walk to home. I walk off the bus sometimes at 8 o'clock and everything is closed except Asian Body Works. It's become a very different place in recent weeks since it opened. I'd like to reiterate the comments that I've heard from my citizens about being a little bit more proactive about the kind of businesses that come into the square. I think Medford has adopted either accidentally or just by default a program of benign neglect in terms of the business development, and I think it's one of those things. I know money is hard to come by and nobody wants to spend the money, but it's the kind of investment that will be paid back tenfold once it's implemented, it will attract new revenue, it will attract other attractive businesses. Medford will be the place that people choose to come to instead of being the default city because they are priced out of other communities. I think other people have said everything that I want to say, but I did want to reiterate that Medford Square is home to a lot of people too. That's all, thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Hi, please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_23]: Hi, I'm Sharon Hepburn, 228 Governors Avenue, and also owner of Mystic Coffee Roaster at 30 Riverside Avenue, just two doors down from the new establishment. I want to echo what has already been said. This is the result of no city planning. We really need a strong community development office. We need you guys to all work together. The city does need to be leading the charge on this. And we as a community are trying to come together, to do something about it, but we can't do it all, and you guys need to help us. And whoever's running for mayor needs to be listening, because you guys are on notice. We're watching, all right? I would also like to explore maybe the idea of if anything illegal is happening in these places, are landlords culpable for the illegal activity going on? I really think the city needs to work with the landlords in the square. A lot of places are going out of business because the rents are being jacked up, and we have empty storefronts. is working to bring in new businesses. And I have to tell you, I have been approached by other community development offices from other cities to locate in other cities. But this is my city. I want to be here. And like I said, we really need the city to be leading the charge on this. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Hi, please state your name and address for the record.
[AXh4iBqkQq0_SPEAKER_00]: Hi, my name is Jay Campbell. I live at 707 Fulton Street. I'm really just myself a resident. So I just want to give my two cents on the whole thing with the massage parlors and everything else. I think it's great that you brought it up. I think it's a great point. I also think that a lot of people don't realize that you cannot legally tell a business not to come into the city. But what you can do is create zoning. And I think that's something that MedFed lacks. Right now, myself, any of you, anyone here, could open up a strip club next to Bistro 5, because it's a legal business and you can. What you do need is adult zoning in the city of MedFed. I haven't seen, oh, I was talking to other people. Point of information, Councilor Penta. You do have that?
[Robert Penta]: Yes. You made a comment about next to Bistro 5, you could put a strip joint. City of Medford has what they call an entertainment zone. There's only one spot in the city and that's on the end of Mystic Avenue. That's the only place that something like that.
[AXh4iBqkQq0_SPEAKER_00]: That's great. So I was on the stand that we didn't have it. So that's fantastic. And it would be great if we could maybe take that and add some of these other businesses that might be cropping up. into that same category, like zone it that way. So that way you don't have this issue. Because you can't say to somebody, we think you're sketchy, we don't really want you here, but you don't really know. And the other thing is, chief, if you need someone for social media, give me a call. I'll be happy to help. But I just want to bring that up. I'm glad to know that Medford does have that zoning, because I wasn't aware of that. So that's great. So thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[sEpbONopS5E_SPEAKER_03]: Mr. President, I haven't changed my address, so do I necessarily need to give my name and address? I'm probably the only person here that's going to ask some interesting and technical questions. Excuse me, but this is ringing in my ears, and I can't hear it. I'm trying to do two things at once with it. One, hear from it, and the other one, make sure it doesn't ring in your microphones. Number one, the gentleman before me is right. You can't actually not let some businesses in. Now, I've been hearing it as a pawn shop, the business. Well, you'll have to excuse me, but the pawn shop TV show is one of the most popular TV shows in the United States. It keeps a station on cable TV. Hence, there are probably as equal many people out here on the pawn shop. I've never been invited to the circle of the square things, nor somebody my age. probably, or have been too often. Two, there are more 50-year-olds in the city than there are under 50 who do the voting. How do I know that? Because as at least several of you have worked on your campaigns, and we've proven that. The other thing is, the pawn shop is a secondary market for products. Just like Morgan Memorial, just like Salvation Army. Now when I got out of the Army, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross helped me with my disabilities. And when I got out of the Army, and that was in the 60s by the way, I'm an old man now, The only one that pawn shop type business that helped me was the Salvation Army. Now, I've bought clothes and products in the so-called pawn shop. I didn't know it was a pawn shop. I thought it was a secondary shop. And I don't think it has a pawn shop license, so I wouldn't call it a pawn shop. I think what you're doing is saying we want the square and the people in the square for one group of people. By the way, I also made Medford my home. I didn't come here because it was a dirty, rotten place. I thought it was quite good. That was 30 years ago. But the people in Cambridge, as these people say, are fighting to stay in their homes because of the developers and because of the kinds of things, stores, that you're talking about. And they're trying to get back to the community again. The African-Americans were thrown out of Cambridge. How do I know that? Because I lived there when it happened. I also argued at 20 similar arguments than I am arguing today. I think you need to, yes, I agree with them. You need a development, some development. But I also think taking pot shots by candidates who come up here at groups is not the way to settle a problem. Some of the way to settle a problem is to be a more unified city and invite people to come who they don't normally invite. Talk to their neighbors, all their neighbors, not the specific ones that are friends of theirs. All their neighbors, like the West Medford Community Center. How many times have they gone down there and said, since some of those people probably, and I don't know how many, go and use that pawn shop? Because the cost of whatever x is as a product is $10, $20 higher. What you're saying, and what I heard, was inequality, economic slavery, for only the wealthy to come into Medford. Now, I happen to own a business since 1982. I happen to not rent anything in Medford Square, but though I know a lot of them, because I happen to also be a member of the Chamber of Commerce. I think they do an adequate job in a time, in a place, when there was no money out there for anything. We forgot we just went through a recession. Have we forgotten so quickly that only one group of people gets to run the city? I don't think so. I think we need to sit down. Of course, after my conversation, there won't be unity with me. But that's exactly the problem. The problem is we put groups together who are, by the way, flip houses so that they can make lots of money. We put people who are developers, and we let them come up here, and they're the only ones that speak. Well, I own a mortgage company, and I'm going to tell you one thing. The poor and the working people are just as good as the people who call themselves the circle of the square. And the next time, maybe they should invite some more people for the circle of the square. I've never seen them in my neighborhood. I've never seen them give a flyer in my house. I've never seen them make a call to my wife. I've never heard anything except they do do events. And I've also seen some of them take credit for events that the Kwan and hims did. So I think it's kind of a class warfare that you're having in here tonight. And you ought to stop it. Because I'm one of the wealthy people in the city too. I'm one of the people who grew up around this community. And there are a heck of a lot of us out there. And I think that there's some of you on the city council right now who own businesses in this camp. Rick Caraviello, the president, Ms. Lungo. And you ought to take a look at what's going on here. You don't want a city of only young people or only bar rooms. You don't want that kind of city. You want a city that is inclusive and that it's not economically driven by one thing, profit. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please state your name and address for the record, Senator.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Cappucci, 71 Evans Street. I'll just be as brief as I possibly can be. I think this problem is actually a little bit larger And I would only respectfully ask this body to maybe bring in our state representatives and state senator into this, because other than these massage parlors, anybody with a smartphone or a laptop can go to craigslist.com or Backpage. I know in recent years, they do like these sting operations for these massage people that are operating out of hotels. These are people that are coming in out of state staying here a week, a weekend, and there's just a lot of this, and it's rampant on the internet. So maybe we can engage our state representatives to maybe have the Massachusetts State Police to look in this beyond what's being offered here tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Please state your name and address for the record, please.
[acqgxK4yhEM_SPEAKER_16]: Good evening. Mario Martin at 198 Harvard Street. I just wanted to sort of echo a little bit of some of the comments that were mentioned earlier in terms of economic growth and development here. I think Mark Crowley really nailed it in terms of how we look at opportunities to see growth. But if we actually take a second to apply that same principle to the current situation, which is this massage parlor and the pawn shop, Typically, if you think about it, when a business starts up, they consider many factors in terms of how they're going to operate their business. One is an opportunity. Two, they develop a marketing structure, a basic analysis of how they're going to push this product, whether a product or a service. And then lastly, they look for a demographic. A pawn shop. and a massage parlor, these specific types of businesses only look for certain types of demographics. And it'd be really, really sad to have that conversation about whether this is that type of demographic that they're looking for. So, you know, that's something to really, really consider. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. Hopefully tonight some of the comments and questions that the coalition and other people have made We'll echo into City Hall. And I would hope that going forward that the new mayor, whoever it may be, would consider opening an office of redevelopments to help the people in the city. And again, please, when you're addressing these establishments, please note that they are not massage parlors. And that's where the confusion comes in with people. They're body work establishments. Massage parlors are licensed by the state. These people are not massage parlors, and they give the legitimate massage parlors, like Massage Envy and all these other places, they give them a bad name. So when people reference them, you reference them as bodywork establishments. And that's where the confusion comes in. Thank you. Hi.
[SPEAKER_18]: Please state your name and address for the record, sir. Yeah, sure. Carlson Claudio, 2 Yeomans Avenue in Medford. I'd like to thank you, Councilor Claviello, very much for bringing this to light. I believe that everyone in their packet has received from the Councilor, the paper article that was in the Herald, explaining in detail everything that's gone on previously with these places. And he's absolutely right. You know, massage parlors, as well as therapeutic, all around. And they have open windows. And they're in places like 101 Main Street, where you go there and they're helping people. They're not blacked out windows. I've had this conversation with our City Solicitor before, and I've also had it with the people up at City Hall. We've had a runaround for over 10 months with this. Nobody seems to have any jurisdiction whatsoever over these establishments and these people. If you go to the Board of Health, they're telling you, oh, it's been out of our hands. It's been out of our hands. The state took it out of our hands. And that's the end of it. So that means to say that they have no recourse to go in to see if there's anything that shouldn't be going on. Never mind in terms of the activity, but maybe the health, the cleanliness, the codes that should be enforced in any business. You go to the administrations, and the administrations tell you the same thing. I've spoken with people in our state delegation, and they turn around and say, well, it's out of our jurisdiction. You should go back to the Board of Health. Believe it or not, this has happened. Robert Capucci was absolutely right. This needs the work of all seven Councilors, the administration, city solicitors sitting out there, this police department to work together solidly and to get to a state delegation. In that article, for people that don't know, you people have had it and you've read it, you definitely need to go and change statutory law. That's probably number one. In the meantime, they can keep an eye on these things and put out what's needed in order to deter some of this. The establishment that's on Central Avenue just this week had an orange poster put up by, I believe it was the Department of Taxation. I'm not 100% sure of it. Within a few moments of that being up and the light show turned off, they were told to close their establishment. People within themselves put a piece of paper over that. They didn't want it seen from the street. Totally illegal to do. I think anyone here understands that. And they know it. I wished I had been home at the time. My neighbor next door went to take pictures of that. The people came out and literally chased her away and actually followed her in her car. Wanted to know what right she had to take pictures, talk about harassing neighbors. Had I been there and I seen that, I would have called the state police, not Medford police. because that there is something that the state police, that was an enactment from the taxation department, probably out of the jurisdiction of the regular police. That's what should have happened. These are some of the things that go on. I've also spoken with John Brabuso many a times. Look, we've got an illegal sign out there. It's just a sign that's hanging four feet up. It's electrical. It's just a wire. They close the door on the wire. Every day it gets put out, puts back open. He did contact them. did his due diligence and asked them not to have the running light. That's against our sign ordinance. Councilor Penta, you and I did legislation on that. Two and a half years to write that up, along with the Chamber of Commerce. And it's a good policy that we put in place. It needs to be looked into. He told me about the possibility of jeopardizing, you know, investigatory work that might be going on. You know, that's all well and good. It's taking far too long, in my view, to begin with. This just shouldn't be happening. We're talking about these places. There was one of them on Chipman Street. People know the city, know where Chipman Street is. There are no stores. There's no con or anything. You couldn't even say it's in a mixed zone of allowable mixed use, strictly residential, SF2. And they've been there for some time. They go out on their own volition because, you know, it just isn't profitable for them anymore. It comes to my understanding, they really don't care whether it's profitable or not. The bigger picture is, is that it's alleged. We have to say that, that there's human trafficking going on with this here. That there's larger people involved in what goes on, and they're bringing in these young women. And they're doing it, and they're putting some of these establishments here, there, and everywhere in their names. not in any consortium, not in any large picture. There's a much bigger issue over here. I'd like to challenge this city council, all seven members, and the rest of the administration. What are we going to do about this here? Where are we going to go with this here, with the state? That young lady's question from the coalition was never answered. Can anybody here answer as to what jurisdiction that comes under? Through the chair, I would like to ask our city clerk, do you know if any of these establishments have come to you and registered, as every other business in this community does, have they had to register? Have they gone through your office, Mr. Clerk, through the chair?
[Clerk]: Well, obviously, there's two options to go. You can incorporate.
[SPEAKER_18]: What's that again? I'm sorry.
[Clerk]: Two options to go on this thing. You can incorporate your name to establish a business in City of Medford, or you can do a DBA, which is a business registration. But the business registration doesn't tell you types of business it is. So it could be Carl's, and I wouldn't know what that business would be.
[SPEAKER_18]: But is there any way that you would have, whether it's an address or a person, what have you? I know that, you know, when my boys had a business down in Medford Square, they had to go through the clerk's office, you weren't at the time, and register their names, their addresses, their phone numbers, and everything else that had to go along with it. And actually, it does state what type of a business on their slip, which they still hold, as to what was going to be taking place on that particular business. I still have that. I'm wondering. The other thing that goes on is we come to find out there's really been nothing up at City Hall. I believe we've investigated, we've looked into it somewhat in terms of are there electrical permits pulled? These people are doing major remodeling in these, whether it's a little place or the one open up down the square. There's walls going up. There's obviously electrical work being done. There's probably some plumbing work being done. Are the toilets handicap accessible? Because they're usually not in those particular buildings. They're up steps. They're down in the basement. I know that stretch of building. It doesn't come under coat. And they are. Now you've got your sign ordinance. We have a 35% rule that we increased from 25% to 35% when the sign ordinance was reviewed and passed. Well, to block a window completely with a spray paint is certainly more than 35%. That's another against the city ordinance that's there. Regardless of any other investigations go on, and I asked John DeRusso that, and he did act somewhat. He says you still have to maintain the ordinances that are there. Clearly, when it comes to those, those are visible, blatant violation. There's an awful lot here that's just slipping by the fingers because, and we've heard, I don't want to single out any agency. Well, we really haven't heard a lot of complaints. Yeah, you know, guess what? Most of the people in this city don't even know what these are. Unless you're living immediately around it, or like this has come to fruition now with Councilor Caraviello's initiatives, and because it's down in our main square, all of a sudden the light bulb goes off. People, this is a serious situation. And I challenge everyone in this council and everyone up at this government ahead of us to get the ball rolling on this and to get a state delegation together. And let's get some laws changed and close the loopholes, as that article states. Loopholes were closed, and their ordinances are adhered to. And that was in the city of Plymouth.
[Robert Penta]: I think Mr. Sincardi asked the clerk. There's only there's two ways you can record yourself here in the city as a corporation or What was the second one? But if you get a business certificate it has to have an address on it and has to give you the name of the person Okay, so apparently our index at City Hall does not go by name It doesn't go by it. Can it go either way by name or address?
[Clerk]: Well the business certificate It's really, it's a state function for the cities and towns, you know. Yeah, but the city charges $30 for somebody to get a business. It doesn't give you any rights or privileges.
[Robert Penta]: No, no. I think what he's saying Eddie is the fact that is there any record that shows that somebody either is a business operating or.
[SPEAKER_18]: Well, exactly.
[Clerk]: Are they registered? Are they registered one way or the other? Yeah. I wouldn't know the type. No, no. Again.
[Robert Penta]: It's not the type. It's the name of the business and the street location. So if you don't, if you can't get it out by the name of the business, can you go by, if you went into our office right now, could you put up a two, uh, what's the name? What's the address over there? Well, it's, it's 34 Riverside and your business and your business thing. Would it come up? Can you get something come up on your computer?
[Clerk]: Our software will come up, come up with the name. We can pull the name up. We can pull the name up. You know, pull the name or we can pull the street up, you know, and it now will lead us to it. So as in just recent investigation by the police, you know, they, they got that information.
[Robert Penta]: And do they have a name on, do they have anything at that address?
[Clerk]: Yeah. Yeah. The owner's name, where they're from.
[Robert Penta]: No, the owner, that's not the owner of the building. That's the renter of the rent, right?
[Clerk]: But the owner, you know, the renter or whatever, you'll tell them where they, you know, he, if he's a, sole proprietor of that business, right? And he lives in Malden. He's going to have to put his name in his address from Malden doing business at this particular address.
[Robert Penta]: Then the question is, is there a city solicitor? Is he still here? Mr. Mark. I know you came in after the fact, but we went through with the chamber some years ago, painstaking to change all these ordinances. The covering of the window, 40% was max.
[Mark Rumley]: You mean for the sign ordinance?
[Robert Penta]: The sign ordinance, excuse me, 40% was max. I don't know if you've been down there, but this is completely sprayed. You cannot see nothing on this one here in Central Ave. Is that in and of itself enough of a public safety issue and a violation of our municipal law?
[Mark Rumley]: Well, this is a cursory answer because I'm just going off the top of my head. First, I don't think, unless I'm looking at the definition of a sign and I'm not so sure it would qualify to blacken a piece of glass and then say that's a sign. I'm not so sure that fits into the definition. Secondly, public safety issue is different. I've seen windows that have been covered by brown paper or that sort of thing during construction or repair. That's not so unusual, but you're talking about windows which are darkened in order to secrete the activities which are behind there. That may well be a public safety issue. I don't jump it immediately to signs, because I'm not so sure it would fit into the definition. But I'd have to have the definition in front of me to be definitive.
[SPEAKER_18]: I could give it to you, actually, because we've worked on it. I know you could find it. Well, I'm going to give it to you right now so everyone else can hear it. Because it is a purview of the sign ordinance. It was part and parcel of it. And it's 35%, by the way, just to set the record straight. The reason for that was that you couldn't cover with paper or other types of signage your store windows more than 35 percent, not only for safety, so the police can look in, whether it's in the — in fact, they suggest that people leave lights on. But they can look in, see if there's something going on, or a robbery in place, or anything like that. And it is part of the sign ordinance.
[Mark Rumley]: It's not a sign. I get that. All I'm saying is that I want to look at the definition of a sign to ensure that the blackening or darkening of glass would fit into that definition. The purpose of having that, public safety and all that, I very much understand. What I have to deal with is the parameters of definition and to make sure that it fits into the definition so that the prescribing aspect of the sign ordinance would then apply to a docket window.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President. Councilor, the gentleman was speaking. You made a point of information, which is now concluded. And Councilor Knight has the floor next.
[SPEAKER_18]: So I mean if there's any other questions that anyone has that I could possibly shed some light on, some of the, now let me tell you another aspect what goes on here. And there's people that are in the neighborhood that are really fuming about it. The one in particular that's down on Central Avenue of course is right around the corner from Morrison Playground. Very important to use that playground, it is not a park. Many, many young children, many people are in there day and night. There's a lot of young people coming in with carriages and small children and babies. They need to go by that establishment. The other thing that happens is that, and there's no other way to put this, you can't sugar coat it, but the Johns that come in to use that establishment are parking all around the neighborhood. They seek the inner streets and just in from the corners, because obviously they don't want to be seen on the main avenue and they don't want to be seen getting out of their cars basically and walking into that establishment. So this way it would appear that they're just walking across either coming from the park or some other location. So they infiltrate the home based addresses that are all around, you know, and it's kind of wrong. Those of us that live within those areas, you get to know all the cars that are there. whether there's someone coming from an adjacent street, you get to know the regular parkers that are there. It stands out like a sore thumb. The lights light up on the phone because that's the call for them to come in. Put a little levity on it. You'd enjoy this there, Mr. President. I call that the confessional box. There's a light fixture that's outside. I used to manage that building when I was a kid for many years. I never knew that that outside light ever worked. Well, these people come in, they're screwed in a light bulb, there wasn't even that in there. And every time that there's something in session, a light goes on. I say, that's the kneeler in the confessional box, there you go. The light's on, we're busy in there. When they're out, light is off, constantly, all the time. So the signals are there as well. And you get to recognize them. It's a seedy thing that we just don't need to have in this community, and we need to do whatever it takes So augment the laws, change them, and make sure that that happens. And I'd like to know if this city council is on board, if everyone in this city council is on board. I'd like to hear that. You know, with that, I'll just relinquish, and I'd like to hear your comments, please. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Mr. Sincardi, thank you for your presentation as well. I've taken a look at this article that he refers to, and one thing that the article does fail to mention is the fact that Prior to the enactment of state law, we had local control. We had local control over the licensure of massage parlors, body work parlors and everything else. And that was taken away from us. It was a bad bill. It was a bad bill. And I think Robert Cappucci was absolutely right when he said that we need to get our state delegation in here because I think local control is really where it's at. I don't think we're going to be able to beat back this problem unless we have to have all the tools in the shed to be able to do it. One of the best tools that we have is local control, where our Board of Health actually governs the responsibility of massage parlors. Now, we don't have a body works ordinance in the city of Medford. That's the problem. But we had a massage parlor ordinance, and that was taken away from us. The rights and responsibilities to enforce that were taken away from us. And I think that local control would really be the best option and the best solution, Mr. President. So, with that being said, I'd like to request that our state delegation sit down with our Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. President, and maybe come up with some recommendations as to how we can modify or amend the state law to ensure that we can gain some local control over these issues.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Councilor. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: No, I just agree with Mr. Sincarly because I've been over there to see and I saw it in Medford Square and I don't understand where the state legislators are on this. I can't understand. This is something that would take it out of their bailiwick and they wouldn't have to worry about it as a state piece of law. It'll come back to the local community and the local community. would make its decision. You're right. And then it would be on the back of every one of the seven councils or nine or 11, depending on what the form of government might be and the legislative body might be. I mean, this has no redeeming social, economic, financial, no value at all to any community for whatever it might be. This is not Las Vegas if you want to go out there and engage in this type of business and pay for it. So with that being said, I think the council is quite uniform on this. I think the council should send a vote to our state senators. and our three representatives that are part here of the city of Medford, and ask them to file a bill, take a leadership position on it, file a bill to eliminate this particular clause that's in the state law, and for whatever the terminology might be, just bring it back here to local control, and maybe whoever the other gentleman was that came up here and talked about changing our zoning ordinance, maybe we need to take a look and revise the wording in our zoning ordinance that not only addresses this, or any other type-like businesses that might appear in the future, because they may take the word Asian out, and may call it international, Who knows what it could be? And if they do that, they beat around the law, and they don't have to do it. So I think this is one issue that completely belongs in the control of the local community. And you can't say it any other way. That's where my vote would go. Move approval, Mr. President. Roll call vote. Have it forwarded to our state senator and our three state reps. I move the motion to make a motion by Councilor Gabriello, as amended by Councilor Penta,
[Fred Dello Russo]: Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, sorry, not to belabor the point. I just wanted, not to put City Solicitor Mark Rumley on the spot either, but it looks like from what I've read, 15 communities across the state have already passed this bylaw that was given to us by Councilor Caraviello. Obviously more probably in the works of being passed. Have you read the bylaw or do you think it's something that we could work on within the next few weeks, maybe try to get that passed at our next meeting?
[Mark Rumley]: Councilor Caraviello brought that to me last Wednesday. We were lucky enough to have Karen Rose come right downstairs from her office and we had a meeting about it for about 40 minutes or so. And then the suggestion was made that it be brought to the council agenda. Karen felt that the Board of Health would like to look at it and have some input on it, and so that would follow tonight's meeting. So I did look at it. I looked at a couple of ordinances last week. That's among them, but what I wouldn't do is to say just on the basis of tonight, yes, take this, pass it, because that's not prudent. Every ordinance has to be looked at, not only by this body, but in this case, by the Board of Health. So I think things are moving along pretty well since last Wednesday, and they'll continue to move with all deliberate speed.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I just recommend that maybe we have a committee of the whole meeting before our next scheduled council meeting to review any work that's been done by our solicitor and board of health and hopefully review a proposed ordinance to be passed by the city council to move this along and not wait months and months and have these establishments linger. I think the sooner we can get these establishments out of Medford, the better. And it sounds like cities and towns that do have the bylaws and the books, These establishments are deterred from even establishing in those cities and towns, so let's be one of those cities and towns, and hopefully at the same time the state will work on what they need to work on, get completely out of Massachusetts entirely. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ma'am?
[Melanie Raelin]: Hi, I'm just going to do a reading of the ad. It says, wow, all new girls, brand new, sweet and sexy baby, try now. It gives the number, it gives the address, and it gives pictures of women. I also want to just reiterate something that one of our Medford Coalition supporters have said as a way to address this issue, and pretty much it's to be an informed consumer, and social media is a real thing. We all know in town what's going on. We don't want to just hear us talk about it. We want to see actual deadlines. I'm totally with you, Brianna. I would like to see what is gonna happen, if this is here next week, if this is here in two weeks, in a month, you know. This is, we're trying to revitalize Medford Square. If you guys don't do this, you know, I'm a mother of a two and a half year old, I'm gonna move. And I'm not just the only one, you know, I want a reason to stay, you know. Penta, if you become the mayor, which would be very interesting and wonderful, you know, we'd love to, and same with Stephanie Burke, I'd like to see what you guys will actually do in real time, and you were bringing up some of those points now. Perhaps it is bringing professional licensed masseuses and people who are actually in the field and having them advise you on this council so that you actually know what you're looking for when you're talking to people. This is from Sharon Bisson, so I want to make sure I'm crediting the right person. I just want you to know that we are listening to everything, and by me saying we have 1,000 people behind us, that's a lot more people than just 1,000. There's so many people in Medford, and we're not just going to sit back and listen anymore. We want to see action, and we're going to figure out ways to make it ourselves. So please, you know, you guys are all running, except for a few of you. I mean, you're all running, and we are paying attention to everything you're doing. So please, make us proud. Thanks.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion by Councilor Caraviello as amended. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello for suspension of the rules to take petitions for licensure. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? 15-572, petition for cleaning and dyeing license by Hong Truong, 121 Florida Street, number one, Dorchester, Mass, 02124, for Forest Street dry cleaners, 15 Forest Street, Metro Massachusetts, on file, business certificate number 147, et cetera. Councilor Caraviello, Chairman of the Licensing Committee.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have reviewed these documents, and I do find them in order, and I motion for approval. Sir, please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_14]: Yes, sir. I'm here for, you know, taking a business license. Are you Mr. Hong Truong? Yes, I'm her husband and we are partners.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And you are here for the forestry dry cleaners?
[SPEAKER_14]: Correct, sir.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. On the motion of council, uh, councilor Caraviello for approval. All those in favor. All those opposed. Congratulations. Thank you very much. 15-570 petition for cleaning and dyeing license agent by GWO Inc by Sung Yul Park, president 20 Amherst place, Metro, Massachusetts. doing business as New Way Cleaners, 471 High Street, Medford, Mass., on file, business certificate number 098, et cetera. Is that you, sir? Yes. Yes, this is you also?
[SPEAKER_14]: New Way Cleaners? Yeah.
[Fred Dello Russo]: New Way Cleaners, is that you also? What is your name, sir? Please state your name and address for the record. My best friend.
[SPEAKER_14]: Your name is? My name is Danny Nguyen. I'm, you know, it's, you know, like my spouse, and I'm just, I'm a partner. We cooperate.
[Richard Caraviello]: You're his business partner? Yeah, I'm his partner. For New Wake Leaders? Yep. Mr. President, I have reviewed these documents.
[Michael Marks]: There are two different places?
[SPEAKER_14]: No, there are only one, like 15 forests. Is this you? Is that you? All right. Mr. President, if we could table 15570 and 15571.
[Richard Caraviello]: The owners are not here this evening.
[Michael Marks]: On the motion of council approval to table 15570, all those in favor? Those opposed?
[Richard Caraviello]: Pass the table. On the petition by Councilor Caraviello to table 15571, all those in favor?
[Fred Dello Russo]: table. Chair recognizes Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Motion to take 15-460, the fiscal year 2016 budget, off of the table.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On motion of Councilor Camuso to take 15-460 off the table. All those in favor? All those opposed? It's before us. 15-460. Motion for approval. On the motion of Councilor Camuso for approval. All those in favor? Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President DeLaRusso. My first question has to do with the debt service. Oh, let's see. I'm trying to figure out what the name of this document was. From Ian Baker, we got a document dated June 25th. It had to do with the Hormel Stadium revolving account that we had asked for figures on. And if you go to one of the last few pages, the swimming pool, community schools. I just want to make sure I have these numbers accurate. It's a complex document. But for me, it looks like Hormel and the pool, obviously, in the are the two projects that we went out to bond on and also the Failed to Dream. So those were the three that I think we asked for the breakdowns on. For me, it looks like Hormel is profiting. Do I have that correct? That is correct. So we have about $93,000 in revenue, $37,000 in salaries, $7,350 in other expenses, and then $26,000 goes to the debt service. That's in April, which I believe is the only payment that I could see. So am I correct, we're profiting about $22,000 from HOMEL? That's correct. So then if I'm reading the figures right and you go to the pool, it looks like when I calculated the numbers a little differently than how they put out in the sheet, salaries are about $127,000. Ms. Judge already left. I would have liked to have asked some questions. But other expenses of about $15,000, totaling between those two figures, $142,000, $88,000 in revenue. So the pool at this point is about $54,000 in the whole? That is correct. And that does not include anywhere that any of the Those expenses just have to do with salaries and supplies. So we are not calculating any type of debt service in those numbers. Is that correct?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: There is no debt service reimbursement for the pool project out of the pool fund. That's correct. The debt service for the pool was included in the operating budget. in the debt service sheet, not as a separate line.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: It's part of the operating budget. It's part of the operating budget on the city side. That's correct. Yes. I guess my concern, I'm not even sure if you were present at those meetings because you were the... I was the chief procurement officer then. Right, I'm not sure if you were at the council meetings when the bond was being approved. I was not. I mean, I myself specifically asked because it was about $3 million for the pool. It was the 1.925 plus another 1.2, so I'm sorry, over $3 million. And at the time when we first approved the $1.9 million bond, I remember specifically asking what type of fees were going to be generated and will the fees be able to pay back not only staff and personnel, but also pay back the bond. We were honestly told that it wasn't going to be full reimbursement for the bond. And I can't recall exactly, but I could have sworn it was about 75% would be paid back. So I don't know if you or Superintendent Belson can maybe enlighten us a little bit. Where are we at now? I know we're just in the first year since the pool's been rebuilt. Where are we at with regards to moving forward and trying to generate more than $88,000 a year to pay for at least the salaries and hopefully at some point, whether it's two or three years down the line, start paying back some of that bond through the pool revenues. Because I myself personally have had a hard time getting in contact with the pool. The pool temperature is fine, but air temperature is extremely cold. There is minimal information online. There is no phone at the pool, which is no fault of anybody's, but, you know, I don't think it's fault of the pool, but there's no phone line. There's no sign-up online. I mean, you can barely get the classes, and the summer schedule is not up there. I just don't feel like we're doing what we need to do as far as marketing, advertising, bringing in the revenues that we as a council were told were going to be brought in from this pool. And again, I know we're probably down the line. Hopefully more is done. But changes need to be made in order to even give the pool the ability to do so. So not to have a phone for me. I personally took my kids there. I want to take swim lessons. It took me three weeks to get in contact with the pool. So I as a councilor, I as a, you know, speaking on behalf of the residents, families who want to use this pool have a problem.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: with what I see in the figures and how I see it being operated and... Well, the information that I have for you today is that first, the pool was not operational for a full year yet. So as things were starting up, we should have a full year of operation. Hopefully by the end of the year, we'll have better numbers in terms of what revenue can be generated. Also, looking at the expense side, some of the expenses are going to be addressed differently now that we have some experience with operating in a pool, and there should be some reduction in the annual expenses. And going forward, obviously, advertising would help so that more revenue can be generated from the pool. I know this summer, there will be summer programs, and the pool was not open last summer. I would, you know, I would just say it needs a little time to get going.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I would just make a B paper that, you know, whether it's advertising or marketing funds or phone system, online sign-ups, things be implemented to make this work. You know, we have a successful Hormel, we have a successful Field of Dreams, but for some reason, this pool, I hope to see it, you know, obviously get better, and I hope to see what we were told back in, oh, geez, when did we, yeah, two years ago, you would hope that this is going to improve. So I would ask that phone system be set up, online sign-ups be set up, more explicit online advertising and outreach, as well as, you know, my kids want to take swim lessons at the mall. And why? Because it's, you know, the pool's, not only the pool's heated, but the air quality is heated. And I understand it's a big, big area, You want to make it friendly for families to go in and be able to enjoy their swim lessons. You're paying $17, $18 a class, which I think is completely fine, but we don't seem to be doing what I feel should be done. And since we did approve that $3 million for the pool, I as one Councilor want to see it as a success. I want to see the revenues being generated that I know can potentially be generated, because you call the Malden Y, you have to go on a waiting list. That's all the swim programs around here. You have to go on a waiting list to be able to use the pool at these, and that's how I can, I see the potential there, and I want to see that happen. So I would just recommend that as a B paper, that we allow more resources or, you know, just simple, simple strategies to generate more income. That's going to take some work, but I know it can be done. So that was my first question. I know other councils have questions, but that was my first thing that came up in my research this week.
[Adam Knight]: On that topic, Mr. President, I think it might make sense to figure out what strategies they're going to put in place as opposed to asking them to put strategies in place. I think we're going to get a new certified pool manager. very shortly, if we haven't already.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the beginning tomorrow.
[Adam Knight]: Beginning tomorrow, we'll have a new CPO. That's correct. So it might make sense, Mr. President, to talk to the new CPO and see exactly what type of vision they have for the pool, what type of plan they have for the pool, and see if we can make some positive suggestions to help them along.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Madam Vice President, are you?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'll keep going. Does anybody else have questions?
[Fred Dello Russo]: No one's asked for the floor as of yet. You have the floor, Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'll go one more question. I have a few. With regards to the correspondence from the OPM with the work at the fire stations, the work was very well detailed. It was broken down by each station, and that was very well detailed. What I do kind of have a problem with, I guess, is what was written. You know, nobody has contacted the OPM with regards to issues that have not been complete or, you know, with regards to things that came up considering that we have only six more months with the warranty. I don't understand how we have The union, the firefighters union, and even the chief of fire, I won't verbatim say what has been brought up to us. I mean, I've been called separately. We had a meeting on this when the fire department met with us in committee. The union was there, and they pointed out four or five different issues within these four or five stations where $2 million was put into all this work. And we had the fire chief say that he was the one that was responsible for recouping or, you know, going after this warranty period and making sure things were fixed. So it's something that's written. The fact that we have a warranty, the fact that we have this answer where the OPM says he was not called, the fact that it was $2 million and things were done blatantly, admittedly wrong, and our own firefighters have to point it out to us, I find that a real issue. Because it's the taxpayers that this bond was put on their backs. It's a $2 million bond. And a large amount of money is going to be paid back on that with regards to principal and interest. So I can't find it directly. 1.8 million in 2012, I mean, we're paying back 240,000 in interest alone. I just, I feel like I have to reiterate that we need somebody to go in and review all the work that's been done. make a list, and go after what we can with regards to this warranty. And I just have to reiterate that, especially after we get the response that we did. That's a lot of money for our taxpayers. So I wanted to reiterate that. Go ahead, Councilman.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Are you all set, Madam Vice President? For now, thank you. Thank you very much.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: Could I just address that for one minute? I did follow up with the chief. regarding issues, and as of today, there are only two issues that he has brought to my attention. One, and I apologize, I can't remember whether he said it was a humidifier or dehumidifier that needs to be adjusted in one of the stations, and the other was possibly the pitch in one of the station floors. Those are the only two issues. that were brought up. And I had also asked the president of the fire union to provide me with information, and I understand that he was on vacation, and so I have not received any information from him. The owner's project manager, his work ended when the project ended.
[Unidentified]: If I could just request that.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Madam Vice President. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Miller. If I could just request whatever you're provided by the fire union, if you could forward that to us so we can get an idea, because I remember a couple more things on that list. Whether it was air conditioning and heating is still an issue at one or two of the fire stations as well. I remember that being another problem. So if we could get that list from the fire union as well. Thank you.
[Robert Penta]: Councilor Pente. A few questions. Louise, one of the things that we had asked for was our electrical department. that the superintendent wise, um, contact national grid to address the lack of lighting at Wentworth street rotary. The response is that the lack of lighting is due to the removal of one street light for construction reasons and will be reinstalled. The other answer was one street light was struck by a truck and has been struck on more than one occasion. National grid is evaluating, evaluating whether or not to reinstall due to this location. Now, have you ever gone to Wentworth circle at nighttime?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: I have not.
[Robert Penta]: Okay. Well, if you go there at nighttime, you think you're in the woods, because there's absolutely no lights. It's as dark as can be. It's a huge public safety issue. We had asked Mr. Randazzo for whatever it takes to put additional lighting in there while this whole construction is going on. Now, I know that they're repaving part of the street in Winthrop Street, but they're still working over there. And to have National Grid tell us that they're going to evaluate whether, in fact, they're going to put a new light up, that doesn't make any sense. And that's the type of an answer I would have not responded to by saying that. I would have went out of my way to make sure national grid did put the light up there. It's a public safety issue. It's a huge factor over there and that needs to be addressed. Also, there's some concerns that I had in this budget from four particular departments, engineering, the library, the building and the police department. And I think we were all educated, at least I was immensely during this past budgetary process, that these four departments in particular, when asked about their wish list, for which we've been asking each and every year, well, judges knew, as you're aware now, they were all very enlightening to turn around and tell us that they did ask for certain things. The engineering department in particular, when the engineering director was asked what her wish list was, and she had been asking for this for four years, and how was it done, two times it was verbal, And two times it was in an email, and she was told by her predecessor not to include it in the budget, because you weren't going to get it. Well, how do you deny having four people use one telephone call, one telephone? How do you deny giving them an extra table to work on, file cabinets, and a computerization system to bring them up to date, or at least to keep them up to date, for a $30,000 to a $40,000 hit? I don't know. Paul Mulkey from the building department, when he came up, he was asking for something very simple. He wanted to become modernized and more computerized. And that was costing him maybe $30,000 to $40,000, asking. Is the chief still here? I don't want to put him on the spot. But the question was asked of the chief relative to his wish list. He had never been asked. And when it was asked of you on the night of the budget, you indicated that you had just heard it that morning from the chief. And here is the department. that has cars and a building and a whole gamut of issues still not being addressed. The library, for four years, the poor librarian, and including myself, have been all over him because he's not putting these things into the budget. And it took a cast of characters from our community to say that they wanted that library fixed and they wanted their recertification to come forward. And what had happened? When Mr. Bryan was there, he was told not to say anything and not to put in his library by your predecessor. For six years, we went without being certified. We kept getting these variances and these special privileges from the state. That, to me, did not represent what a true budget is all about, because that $225,000, $30,000, or whatever it should have been, should have been part of the daily operating budget that that department needs to have. And then lastly, I think the question was asked to you. And I don't think I was the one that asked the question, but I believe the question was asked to you. Would you have presented the budget the same way you got it to be presented? And you said no, you would have presented it different. Because I think you heard about our wish list, a page that had about expensive, a page about salaries, and a page about the whole operation. To me, that spoke volumes. Taking a quick look over to the school department, whether Roy wants to agree with me or not, for whatever it might be, we had a conversation about the Curtis Tufts School. Now, the Curtis Tufts School, to some degree, has been a little bit of a bone of contention. But our own superintendent at that meeting indicated they had to make some changes because it wasn't going in the right direction. You can correct me if the words are wrong, but I think that's what you said. It wasn't going in the right direction. So you had to bring in somebody new. That's okay for 19 kids that are there. I believe between 11 administrators and teachers. But you reward the fellow that's been there for 32 years with a $97,000 brand new job up at the high school. To me, that's not right. I don't think that's fair. That's $97,000 that could have gone toward education, to a teacher, to books, to materials that teachers probably need. Maybe you have a difference of opinion with the superintendent, but I wouldn't have done that. I look at it an entirely different way. I also look at the fact that when these new school buildings were built, there was a 5% annual supposed to be in there for each particular budget. Now, Councilor Caraviello, I believe it was three years ago going into his first year, produced a document, not from him, but the school department that showed $1,203,000 of repairs that were needed in that school. The reason why the schools got themselves in trouble in the first place was because they never kept maintenance up. And at the rate we're going, we're going to find ourselves in the same situation. All I ask for each school, to be broken down individually to have a 5% inclusion of each school rather than all the schools together and try to figure out how this thing is going to work. And the other part for which I, again, disagree with my superintendent, and I consider him to be my friend, but we have a difference of opinion, I just think the entrance to Medford High School does not present itself very good for an educational purpose. If I'm bringing my child up there from the eighth grade going into the ninth, and I look at that front entrance of that building, And I'm not going to accept the fact that it was a poor winter. It's been like that for a while, with bricks that are broken, door handles that are off the thing. And you walk into the, it's not very welcoming. Medford High has a huge talent pool of students and teachers. It gives a good education to the people in this community. But of all the schools that Medford has, that high school gets the bad rap for its appearance. And as we all know, an appearance can tell a huge story. I just don't think right now, the way this budget's been presented, and knowing and seeing these department heads tell their particular stories, I don't feel that we're really getting what you call an accurate budget, especially since we just went two weeks ago to have over $1,200,000 in transfers from one department to another. Are some transfers needed? Absolutely. No question about it. But when one, two, three, four, five department heads come in there and tell you that they couldn't put in their budget what they really wanted so we as Councilors could understand it. Maybe we wouldn't have accepted any of them, but all we've asked for for the past many years is show us what your wish list is, tell us how much it's going to cost, and maybe explain to us how you think we can fund it. But when your predecessor tells them not to put it in there and they don't put it in there, that to me is wrong. And because of that, I'm having a hard time right now telling you You know, Louise, whether I'm going to vote for this budget tonight or not, because I don't think it reflects an accurate presentation of what department heads need. I don't see anything coming back here that says the electrical department's going to get its $40,000. So every single employee has its own phone rather than one phone for four people, and a table to work on, and a file cabinet to store things. Okay? That's number one. I don't see anything in the electrical department that makes me feel satisfied that that one circle is going to be safe. All I'm getting is a report back that somebody's accepting somebody else's opinion. Well, that opinion isn't good enough for me when public safety is at issue. When I hear a librarian tell me that for four years he's been stifled from putting in what he wants, and you hear the people from this community who brought the charge back, which forced Amir to automatically, mysteriously find $250,000 from a construction job, when we're sitting on $6.5 million in free cash, I have a problem with that. And when Paul Moki from the building department tells me all he needs is about 30, 40,000 to upgrade his department to computerize it, that's great. But we didn't hear that. And when I hear our chief of police tell me as of the morning of the date of the budget, that's the first time you and prior to you, your predecessor never had the opportunity or being invited to talk about these things. That's bothers me because I think a lot of the times through the past, this council was led to believe, When the budget was presented, okay, all the department heads agreed upon it, and maybe we should have asked more detailed questions. But this year's budget was very enlightening. So enlightening to the point that I honestly feel that what you were given for a budget to serve is not a true and honest and accurate budget, because if you're transferring a million dollars at the end of the year, as we've had for so many years in the past, and you just keep adding to your free cash, there is something wrong. I'm not worried about the bond rating of our community right now. What I'm worried about is how the taxpayers are going to be continuously taxed and taxed and taxed. And I'll just leave you with this one thought. We have so much development taking place in this community. We were told that when in Wellington Circle, when stations landing in there, that was going to be such a boom to the city of Medford and to the taxpayers of this community, we would probably not be looking at a tax rate increase maybe for a few years. We've had so much development since then, and again, we are taxed and taxed, increase, increase. So maybe development for the sake of development is not working in this community. Public safety, public works, public accommodations, plowing, all municipal services being put on the backs of the taxpayers to accommodate all this development and their taxes are not going down. So I thank you for taking on your new role. I know it was thrust upon you. But unfortunately, I can't buy what's in front of me right now. That's just my opinion.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: Mr. President, if I may, I just want to say that in terms of looking at the budget, I think the council should feel comfortable that this budget is providing level services for all the departments. So you will be getting the same level of services that you are getting in the city right now today. There are a few additions to the budget. The library budget was increased and that was increased out of new growth. It truly was based upon certain building permits that were brought into the city and the assessor looking at what new growth could be and would be generated in the coming year. One of the concerns with some of the wish list items is that they are one time or they would add a substantial amount of expense to the budget. And in order to cover those types of recurring expenses, we do need recurring revenue. So when we look at free cash, it really can only be used for non-recurring expenses, those one-time expenses. It can't really be used to fund the recurring expenses of the budget, or next year we will end up behind the eight ball before we even start. So from where I stand and having been here for a number of weeks, now I think maybe six, eight weeks, I do think that the budget is a level service budget that will provide the citizens of Medford with at least in almost every department the same level of services and enhanced services in some of the other departments. And the other one, in addition to the library, the other budget that was substantially increased was the fire department budget. where there had been a, I believe they called it a safer grant, that had funded a certain number of firefighters who then had to be absorbed into the budget this year. And that is where most of the new growth was directed to, the funding of those firefighter positions. So I hope that that answers and alleviates some of the concerns of the council.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. You had that on from before, Mr. President. My apologies, Councilor. Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Mr. President, and I want to thank you as well as Mayor McGlynn as he presents his final budget to the Medford City Council. Once again, this is a budget that is going to provide city services at a level that I think is sufficient. I've been a member of this council when times were really, really tough and when times were really, really good. Right now, we're basically at a point or a juncture that Things in the city are moving forward. And I'm proud to say that that was a collaborative effort, Mayor McGlynn and the city council, the school committee, the superintendent, and all the magnificent department heads and employees that we have here in this very building. But as I get ready to vote on Mayor McGlynn's final budget favorably, and I'm only one of seven members, One thing that did stick out to me was the statistics on the parking program. And it looks roughly about there's about 34 to 33,000 transactions at the meters throughout our community a month. And that's a pretty impressive number. And when you go to look at the citations and the citations collected, the number seems to be going down in the last few months. And I think that's another interesting piece of data that we were presented from Mayor McGlynn and his staff. With that being said, this is a good solid budget. I'm very, very happy that the mayor agreed with this honorable body and funded the substance abuse prevention coordinator for the city of Medford. I think it's a position that is much needed. I think everyone on this council supported it when I first brought the idea forward and the mayor took it to one One step further, another level, and he made it a full-time position. So certainly, I'm proud of that, and I think that that's a legacy on this entire council, because we initiated it here, and hopefully it's going to be a position that turns out to be a lifesaver when people are ready to utilize the person that's awarded that job in the very near future. But with that being said, I think the school department budget is a very solid budget, too. The superintendent pointed out the money that's being spent in maintenance and in repairs. The superintendent also pointed out that the lump sum checks or the lump sum raises that some were saying were $60,000, a significant amount of money, were actually bonafide employment opportunities where people took new positions, is that correct, superintendent, that were publicly posted and things of that nature. So just to clear up some of the confusion on that, because I get some phone calls from people in the school department saying, where did these jobs that are referred to on TV, where are they? And so I'm thankful the superintendent gave us that in-depth report as well. But like I said, I think that this is a solid budget, Mr. President. I was prepared to vote on this budget last week. after the final budget deliberations. But, Louise, you did a fabulous job on your first budget, your first of many budgets, hopefully, here. Either that or you'll be doing purchasing, I guess, because you have your contract as our purchasing agent for the next several years. But, like I said, we're at a juncture in our community right now, Mr. President, where we're, in a very short period of time, the faces and names of A lot of elected officials in this community are going to be changing. That's factual at this point. And it's really a good opportunity to keep the city stagnant and moving backwards or forward or wherever the voters may see fit. And with that being said, I think that this is a solid, solid budget. And I support it. And hopefully it gets voted on favorably. And the personnel throughout the community can get back to work tomorrow knowing that the budget is in place. And I really don't have anything else to say about it. But I want to thank the department heads, and particularly Louise Miller, Superintendent Belson, and Mayor McGlynn. You know, he's been around, and this isn't a Mayor McGlynn, Ra-Ra speech at all, but he's been around when times were tough around here and when times were good. And the city services were always a priority. And the city services, where they are, 28 years ago and a lot added and not cut back. So for that, and it was really good to always support a budget too with no trash fee. Like our neighboring community of Malden, we were still able to get through another budget cycle without that. So there's a lot of positive stuff happened over the past couple of years under Mayor McGlynn's watchful eye. Thank you, Councilor.
[Michael Marks]: Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. And, you know, as one member of the council, I'm glad we waited the one week to get responses. We did get a lot of responses in the last week to questions that we've asked during the countless hours we had with the budget director and also the department heads. And I think it was only appropriate that we took the time to make sure that every single question was answered, so I'm grateful for that, and I'm grateful to all the responses. You know, I see it a little different. You know, when you hear words like, we're gonna provide the same level of service we did last year, I don't know how that's supposed to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling. We're gonna do what we did for you last year. We're not gonna improve, we're not gonna advance, we're gonna do what we did for you last year. We're going to charge you more taxes but provide you the same services we did you last year. And then when you look at the service, we talked about the Office of Community Development. We've talked about that office for 10 years now under this administration. Ten years. They have one and a half person in that office. We talked to the director of community development. It was one of the first times she actually opened up to us. And we asked her, what are your needs? I believe it was Councilor Penta that asked, what are your needs? And she said, you know what, in order to revitalize the square and do what we need, our office needs to do to move the city forward, it'd be nice to have a transportation planner. It'd be nice to have a community planner. It would be nice to have a grant writer. Those are the few things that are a staple in an office of community development. in order to look at revitalization and attract new business and new growth and new spending in our community. That's what's needed. This budget does not accomplish any of that. So to sit here and say we're moving forward, where are we moving forward? Same level of service we're hearing, same departments. Yeah, have they sprinkled a few things here and there by osmosis? Yes, something's bound to happen. But other than that, really, You know, we talked about a 311 system, a way residents can electronically report concerns for city services. We have yet, Somerville has it, Malden has it, Boston has it, Cambridge has it. We as a city have yet to implement any logical way residents can submit a service request in our community. And it also helps the administration during budget time when you're able to take all these requests and say, you know what? We had 3,000 requests for forestry and only 50 requests for parks. Let's take the budget and let's increase our budget for forestry based on the requests we're receiving. There's no tracking mechanism in this community. Honestly, I don't know how it operates. And we're going to find out come January how this city operates, because it's been a lot of smoke and mirrors for many years in this community. The 311 system works. It works in every other community, but except Method can't find the time. I don't know if we don't have the brainpower to implement it, or we don't have the will to do it. I don't know what it is. But every resident suffers because we don't have 311 in this community. You know, we talked about the engineering department. The engineering director came up, and she mentioned that they don't have data collection software. They have files and files of of data that's not electronic. They can't find what's in these cabinets. I believe she said it was about $30,000 to implement a system where they can have a tracking mechanism for all the electronic documents they have. That's a small fee in a $150 million budget. As was mentioned earlier, there's one phone for four employees. And forget about voicemail. The mayor's against voicemail. That's how progressive we are in this community. He's against voicemail. They're still using drafting tables as desk. How would you like to write on a drafting table all day? It doesn't make any sense. But these are the small requests that for some reason we can't get a handle on in this community. You know, during the budget, um, we had the council on aging in and I offered a motion to the budget because of the involvement I see at the senior center across the street, we were told that there were 24,796 sign-ins by seniors for programming activities at the senior center. It ranged from bingo, to dinner movie, to Zumba, to chair yoga, and the list goes on and on and on. They only receive state funding for their programs. We asked that we set up, similar to what we did for the art community, $5,000 to provide for additional programming. The director told us she could use it. Then we were told, well, they also wanted the Council on Aging gave back money, transferred back money to the city. I don't know, when I'm talking to a department head face to face, and they tell me $5,000 can go a long way for senior programming in the city, I tend to trust the department head. I tend to trust the department could use that money. And I think it's a shame that we got a response back that the mayor will take that under advisement in a program that's so utilized by thousands of seniors in this community. You know, we heard from the chief of police. This budget does not contain any money for new police vehicles. Although we have vehicles that have 250,000 miles. These vehicles operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Try running your vehicle seven days a week, 24 hours a day with multiple drivers and see what happens to your vehicle. They don't last long. The chief asked for six marked vehicles and six unmarked vehicles. That is not going to be part of this year's budget. So I don't know how excited I'd be about this budget. It doesn't include the very fabric of a community, which is public safety. Vehicles. You can have as many officers as you want. If you don't have the vehicle to take them to a scene or answer a call, then what good is it? Talk to the men and women in the police department. They'll tell you about the vehicles. Take a ride in the cars. I challenge you to take a ride in the cars. They're smelling exhaust fumes from some of these vehicles. Then we heard from the chief of the fire department. He asked for $2 million in station repairs. We still can't get a repair list of what's needed from the last repairs that were done with that bonding money that Councilor Wongo just mentioned. You know, it seems to me when you're talking about level services and complimenting the fact that level services are good news, then it seems to me the status quo is what's prevailing in the city. And that's what's taking place in this community. It seems to me the status quo is fine. Hey, look, we're doing what we did last year. That's unacceptable in my opinion. And, you know, there are a lot of positive things. We heard from the superintendent of schools, and a lot of positive things are going in there. As a former graduate of the vocational school, I'm happy with the direction Heidi Riccio's taking the vocational school. They're adding a lot of program offerings to the vocational school, state-of-the-art offerings, which will attract kids back from Lexington Minuteman, which is costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars to send these outside placements. We're adding textbooks in the social studies department. Our guidance department added an additional Councilor. We're looking at additional desk and chairs throughout the elementary schools. As Councilor Camuso mentioned, The city is providing a prevention outreach program coordinator. We recently put on a code enforcement officer that Councilor Caraviello has been talking about. So there are positive things happening. I just don't think it's enough to outweigh the current status quo in the way this city is operating, to be quite honest with you. I am appreciative of everything that was sent from the administration. I think this budget process overall went rather smooth. We got our budget packages. well ahead of time, so it gave us ample opportunity to view them, which has always been a bone of contention with me and I know members of this council. I will support the budget here tonight, but I'm hoping going forward that the status quo and the fact that we're going to provide level services is no longer bragging right in this city. And it should be something we frown upon. And I think it's a sad commentary when we have to say, we're providing the same services we did last year, knowing that in my opinion, a lot of those services are not accurate enough as is. And I really think it's a sad commentary, but I will support this budget here tonight. And I look forward to next year's budget and the discussion and dialogue over how we can improve our community have a vision of community development, look at some of the needs, infrastructure needs that we have, discussion on a new police department, discussion on revamping our old fire departments, and looking at the roads and the sidewalks and everything else. The list goes on and on. The public library. These are the things that really I think we have to look at as a community. And I look forward to those discussions next year.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penter. A couple of things pop out. The issue on the kiosks in the square, citations have gone up. They haven't gone down. January was 590, February was 1,800, March was 2,393, April was 2,689. Just in the month of May, it went down by some 300 citations, but they're still issuing over 2,000 of those a month. That's an awful lot. It's an awful lot of citations. And as the chief has indicated, and I believe in his report back to us, that some 400 of the 1,100 citations that were appealed were either reduced or they were abated to some degree. This kiosk program, as we all know, has been a handicap, in my opinion, to businesses throughout the community as it relates to not being business friendly, when in fact we could have engaged in a revenue, I mean, strike that, a traffic enforcement program rather than a revenue enhancement program. I hear what some of my colleagues are saying, but the hard part about supporting a budget like this is the following. Louise, you were there because you presented this budget and worked on it with us. Is there any reason why in the electrical department for their $40,000 that they were looking for, not to strike the electrical engineering, the building department probably almost around the same amount, at least the police department, even if he got a couple or two or three cruises, you had a fight for the $5,000 and the Council of Aging budget, you had a fight to get the $227,000, and you added on to make it $250,000 for the library. Is there any reason, since you knew that these were concerns from the Council, and before this came back tonight, that you couldn't have come back and added this in the budget, and some shape me in a reform, because the budget did increase by $4,800,000 from last year. This is almost two years in a row that this budget's increased by approximately $5 million. So an increase in the budget by $5 million are close to it. You're maxing out 2.5% to the max. And as Councilor Marks just alluded to, what you're doing is, well, we don't want to see this next year. But I've heard that rhetoric before about not seeing it next year. I'm seeing it here right now for the first year. And this is not to put it on you, because this is what was handed to you. But if one, two, three, four, if five department heads are all saying the same thing, and even if you increased each one of these departments by $30,000 each, that's what, $150,000 that you can't find in the budget? When, in fact, you just transferred over $1,200,000 at the end of the year? I just don't buy into that. And just what's happened, unfortunately, with the kiosks and the business people in the community and the last horror show of a lady yesterday with the kiosks and the machine and being yelled at when she went to Park Medford. And tonight, getting a report back from someone who had to wait two months to get his appeal answered, when I thought the appeal was taking place in this building and Park Medford is still doing the appeals. I don't know how this works, Chief, but if Park Medford is doing the appeals, when we were told it was being done in this building, there's still something wrong. I just don't think I'm going to vote for this budget, because to me, it does not represent a budget that represents the quality of life that the people of this community need. That's just my opinion. I think I'm going to stick to it, because, like I said, this has been very insightful to me. to talk to you and tell you things that we never heard before, that bothers me. It bothers me. And it should bother you, too.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: If I may, Mr. President. So with regard to the requests that were made by the department heads, the fire department and police department really had capital requests or large one-time expenditures, with the exception of the police cruisers, which They're a substantial amount of money in order to start some type of replacement cycle with regard to the police cruisers. With respect to the building department software, we need more information before we fund anything in the budget. There has to be some research done into what type of software, how it would be implemented, and some type of implementation timeframe. We don't have any of that information right now. And the engineering department was, did have some funding available this year and was asked to get quotes on some of the items that were asked for. Some of them will be able to be purchased and others, I believe the city engineer did respond. She did not have prices with respect to the document management program, but for a small amount of money could get a study to figure out what document management program her department would require. And there is money available for that. It was only to the order of $2,000 to get the study completed. So all of, I mean, these items are items that certainly require further study. But we're not right, I would say at this point, to put into this fiscal year 16 operating budget. And the capital items can't be.
[Robert Penta]: But in all fairness to you coming on late in the process, had these wish list issues been discussed? Now, you just got through saying in the building department, you needed more info. So if this was brought up in February, which I believe is when the building department, why would the questions asked then of him? Why should he have to come up with it? If he's telling you what he'd like to have, then isn't that what the budget director does or an assistant to the budget director going into the engineering department? She's been asking for this for four years.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: I can't answer for the prior budget director, and also I can't answer to any conversations that they had. I can only answer the question, you know, today based upon what was said in the budget hearings after she was gone.
[Robert Penta]: But when all these department heads indicated that they made the request and they were told not to include it and not to talk about it. Point of information, Mr. President. Point of information, Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: These are all proposals that were brought through the chain of command, and ultimately the decision was made with Mayor McGlynn. If he wanted him in the budget, he would have put him in the budget. This is, and just, I'm going to wrap up, but it's kind of ironic because the council wants to keep adding to the budget, adding to the budget, adding to the budget, but every time we have a paper before us to add something good, he votes against it. So it's, it's just, I'm finding it kind of ironic right now.
[Robert Penta]: Louise, on the library issue of getting ourselves certified, for the last six years we've been getting waivers. If the money had been included in the budget not to get away, it's good for the first, second year, okay, maybe there was a problem. But why wasn't the $225, whatever the appropriate dollar amount, included in the budget as part of its operating cost of doing business in the budget? Why did it have to be a group of concerned citizens coming forward that finally put the pressure, and with the help of the council, put the pressure to make sure They got their money, their certification, and they got more employees, and more of an upgrading in the building.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: I could only answer a certain revenue was, I mean, the revenue figures were put together, and the budget was developed based upon that revenue. The revenue figure changed after the budget was presented to the council, and that is how the money was able to be funded.
[Robert Penta]: But that's the whole thing. I mean, if we're supposed to be operating according to laws or rules and regulations, We shouldn't be looking for a waiver each and every year and just go on a wing and a prayer, because eventually it's going to come to an end. A true, actual, factual operating cost of that library is its recertification, whatever it might be. Not depending upon a waiver. And not to have a department head be worried about saying anything, because he's going to get in trouble. That to me is wrong. And I think you know it's wrong, too.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. Council Marks is right. Seeing a level from the budget is not really what we wanted. There has been a lot of improvements made in the schools and other things, and I'm grateful for that. But I hope going forward and for the short time that I've seen you as budget director, I'm very happy with the job that you've done and some of your suggestions going forward. I would hope that when next year's budget comes around, it's a lot different than this year's budget. to be more detailed so at the end of the year we're not transferring money around so we can have a true indication of what we need for each particular department so we're not overspending or underspending. Again, I will support this budget tonight because there are a lot of good things in it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Camuso. Thank you. Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I'm going back and forth on this one, so I'll just leave my comments with bullet-pointed positives and negatives. I think there's some great positive things in the budget with the opiate addiction specialist, obviously the library funding that was desperately needed. We're hiring fire and police personnel, which is definitely a positive. new code enforcement officer. Our tree warding has gone full time. She does an amazing job. On the school side, I'll echo the sentiments of my colleagues. The vocational school, I'm very impressed with how it's evolved, how we discussed it a few years ago. We need to add programming, and now programming is being added. I find that a positive, and I find that only helpful for our students and keeping them in Medford rather than sending them out of town. I also, you know, looking through the budget, class size is at a great level. I think there's one class out of the, you know, 25 or 30 that maybe has over the 20, 21 mark. So that's, besides that one class, I think that's an extreme positive. What I do find concern in is, you know, the level fundedness. And I feel that the level funded portion falls mainly on the city side. I feel like the school side has added a number of jobs within the last year or two. Five new jobs created. That total is about $500,000. I see people did get raises, but the way it was worked, I understand positions were changed. But you're talking some people $6,000, $7,000, $20,000 raises. $1.8 million on the school side, mainly to personnel. Although some good hires, and there's a lot of people that work very hard there, I feel that the school's almost getting a little top heavy, especially when you hear people comment about how some people don't even know what a few of the administrators really are doing with their time. That extremely concerns me. With the city side, I've mentioned it a number of times, the warranties on the buildings are a concern of mine. We were blasted with regards to the girls' locker room, with regards to the police station. It's been five years. I thought that was taken care of. It's been five years that the female police officers haven't had a facility, a locker room. I have grave concerns about the building. That's been discussed two, three, four, five years in a row. Grave concerns about the building the police personnel are working in. and the lack of funding we've put towards that. I have concerns with regards to, we under-budgeted the MWRA water and sewer accounts by almost a million dollars. We under-budgeted, well, snow and ice, understandably, we had a tough winter, but we are one point, you can correct me if I'm wrong, 1.7, 1.8 in the hole on that. Hopefully with the state aid, that will bring that down 400,000. We have leaks in the police station. I'll echo my sentiments. I've asked repeatedly for a 3-1-1 system, and I don't know how else to ask for it. I think I've put on four or five resolves on the importance of a 3-1-1 system for accountability and a record outlining when somebody calls on an issue, what steps are taken, when it's going to be resolved, and how long it's going to take for accountability. You can't just randomly fill potholes, or you can't just randomly fix a curb. It needs to be documented. Our residents deserve that. They can't just be told they'll be placed on a list. So how we can get that done, is that me not voting for the budget? That's an extremely important aspect that works wonderfully, wonderfully at the City of Somerville. They have it down to a T. And I hate to compare us to the City of Somerville, but it seems like in so many respects, whether it's the Green Line or the 311 system or the personnel they have in their departments, they get it right. They really get it right, and we really need to follow the lead. But when you have the administration completely not doing something that's been recommended four or five times, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. I have the issues with the pool. I have issues with the fact that these raises are going on, yet the kindergarten aides, the paraprofessionals, I mean, they're getting $0.13 raises. I just don't think that's fair. Someone can't work more than three hours when they want to, when it's so necessary in the kindergarten class. I've been in one, believe me. It's tough. Aids are needed. And to say you're worth a $0.13 raise, I just don't find that adequate. You know, maintenance is another huge issue. We did what we had to do because we were, you know, and the administration did what they had to do with regards to the library, but, to get accreditation, but what about the maintenance of the library? What about, you know, I've already said the maintenance of the police station. We've talked about a million, you know, probably a million dollars that needs to go back into the new schools. We've got a response, but I brought up the issue with regards to the Columbus School roof is coming off. I mean, some, Something needs to change with regards to maybe doing a little work on our buildings versus the hiring that's happening, I believe, on the school side, where the city side needs more personnel. OCD department, definitely understaffed. The engineer had issues, which I was very happy with her openness. One phone in the whole department. I mean, I think I could go on and on. I am torn, but I'm going to stop. I mean, I'm very thankful for you, Louise. You've done a great job. I wish you had more time and, you know, got more information because it was very hard hearing that, you know, you kind of just got on the job six weeks ago, but you did a great job with what you were given. And I'm, you know, happy that we waited the one week. I'm happy to have five department heads answer the questions. on top of what we needed. I just feel like the city needs to move forward a little differently. I always say that we can't tax to the max. We seem to have a levy that went up, was able to go up $4.8 million, and guess what? The budget went up $4.8 million, not a dollar left over. We have underfunded accounts, which Not having the actuals for accounts is the wrong way to present a budget. We talk about that every year as well. That needs to change, but obviously we need to make a stand for that. For Fire Department in 2015, $1 million was budgeted for overtime, and the actual was $1.5 to $1.6 million. For DPW, $75,000 was budgeted for overtime, and the actual was $700,000. I just have a problem with that. Overtime, snow and ice, all these numbers are always way too low. Way, way, way too low. And then we're overspending in other areas and we're left shuffling around money or left with a deficit every year. And I guess my last comment is the no emergency preparedness plans. We went over that with civil defense, there is no emergency preparedness plans, which concerns me for a city our size and what goes on in the world today. So a lot of positives, a lot of negatives. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to do four hours of reading yesterday. I thank my colleagues for allowing us to do that. And my last comment before I forget, I do have to disclose I have family that works in the school department. I know that I'm allowed to vote on the budget. But I do have to disclose that, so I wanted to do that. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. In looking at this budget and in looking at my philosophy, I think our schools are really vital to the future. success of Medford and the ongoing success of Medford. And this is an excellent budget for our schools. You know, I can go through the list like everybody else has. Adjustment council is a facility manager with a preventative maintenance plan and money to use, low student to teacher ratios, compliance with state mandates relative to teacher evaluations, the evolution of the vocational school. But more importantly, it's the addition of technology in our schools that was something that really excited me about the school budget, Mr. President. the use of Chromebooks and going digital and actually reducing the cost of materials by embracing the cost of technology. And I think that that's really something that we need to look at here in the city side as well as Medford continues to move and progress. You know, on the city side we have several new positions that have been created. We've put, you know, a quarter of a million bucks into the library. We have a code officer, an additional code officer. We have the Substance Abuse Outreach Coordinator that's coming on. We have a clerk in the veteran's office finally. We've added staff to the police and fire departments, full-time pre-warden as Councilor Longo said. And one of the other things that's very vital and very important is that capital investments at Hormel and Edgeley Field, they're actually paying off, they're working. So we're generating non-tax revenues that are reoccurring, Mr. President, that are going to be able to pay for some of these capital projects that everybody keeps talking about. So with that being said, Mr. President, I was prepared to vote on this budget last week and vote for approval on this budget. And with that being said, Mr. President, I'm prepared to do it again this week, and I'll move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So on the motion of approval by Councilor Camuso is seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: Quick point. Well, I do, you know, but Councilor Longo just enlightened me about something. Roy, are you here? Are you still here? Quick question for you. These are the lowest people on the totem pole, and they haven't had a raise in over eight years, the lunch mothers. You said you were going to check into it. Yeah.
[Roy Belson]: The school department has any number of different units that are in collective bargaining. At one time, the lunch mothers had a collective bargaining unit. That dissipated. And as a result, there wasn't any real exchange between the different groups. But you raised it the other day, and we're looking into it, and we're going to have a meeting with them now that the school's closed. And we'll look to see what kind of adjustments can be made that are intelligent with regard to their current status. So I think it was a good point, and we'll look into it.
[Robert Penta]: Louise, thank you. I want to ask a question to Louise. Because I didn't find it. I just went through everything. Is there going to be increase in the water and sewer rate? And I believe you didn't have an answer for us and I haven't received an answer from anybody.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: We still don't have an answer. Um, I believe you should have received a letter from the chair of the water and sewer commission.
[Robert Penta]: Last year at this time, when we discussed our budget, there was an $800,000 additional monies in the budget to pay for the increase from the MWRA water and sewer rate. So are you saying now that the city,
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: hasn't received, but the cost is... Oh, I'm sorry, you're asking for the MWRA... Yes. The assessment. I do have the assessment. I'm sorry, I misunderstood your question. Yes, the increase was included in the water and sewer budgets. And today, I was told the final MWRA assessments for FY16 came through and it's actually this water stayed exactly the same as in the budget that was presented to you and the sewer is being reduced by a hundred and seventeen thousand dollars from what was in the budget that was presented to you and I just received this information today so I have made no adjustments so if I understand this correctly you're saying that next year there will not be a taxpayer increase in their water and sewer rate that's not what I'm saying because It really depends on the revenue projection. And the Water and Sewer Commission wanted to review where they were with water consumption. With the tiered rate, there was some reduction in the water consumption in Medford. And the top tier is where the reduction occurs, which is where the biggest hit to revenue would be. There was also a lot of, as I understand it, there was an installation of quite a few irrigation meters. And when customers are assessed their sewer bill, it is based upon water consumption. So if someone puts in an irrigation meter, that reduces what they pay for sewer. So there may be an adjustment required to the rates.
[Robert Penta]: So you're saying that the water rate, I want to get this straight, that the water rate in the budget that's projected to pay the MWRA is the same? The sewer is being reduced? by $117,000?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: What I'm saying is the assessment from the MWRA to the city is the same as in the budget. But whether that affects the Medford residence rates, I can't answer.
[Robert Penta]: OK, wait a minute. But you also said the sewer portion has been reduced by $117,000. That is correct, from the MWRA. So it's not the same. So the water is the same, but the sewer is $117,000 less than what's in this budget. That is correct. OK?
[b-cJrtai7oA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah.
[Robert Penta]: So as we speak right now, According to this budget, if it's passed, there's $117,000 that we haven't been apprised on because we're voting on a budget that's going to have a dollar amount that's $117,000 more than what you're saying right now.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct. OK. I just got this today.
[Robert Penta]: So right now, then that's an inaccurate budget. The total amount is inaccurate by $117,000 because you just got saying it was reduced.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: Correct? Yes. Point of information.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Camuso. I assume, as in years past, this will be funded out of the water and sewer account with a vote of the Council.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct.
[Paul Camuso]: This is very much done. It's rudimentary. It's done all the time. It's been done in years past.
[Robert Penta]: The vote of the Council has only been predicated on last year, for example, of the rate increase. We right now are voting on this water and sewer portion of the budget. not knowing what the fee is even going to be, if there's going to be an increase or a decrease. So that would mean you're going to have to come back at another time if there's going to be an increase, because the Water and Soil Commission don't set the rates. They're only giving you the dollar amount what's necessary. So even with your $117,000 reduction here, if the city decides, after reviewing its consumption and its getting rid of the water, there's going to be a $300,000 increase to pay. Okay? You're all going to have to come back to the council and ask this council, whatever the dollar amount might be, for an increase.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: The budget will not go up. The budget as it is presented to you in your budget books for water will be exactly identical. The budget for sewer will be reduced by $117,000. The question that remains open is whether the revenue based upon consumption for the most recent year will be sufficient to cover the budget that is in your book.
[Robert Penta]: So now let's just say it doesn't cover it and you need more money. You're going to then have to come back to the council.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct.
[Robert Penta]: And right now we're sitting on $7.5 million of surplus money in the water and sewer enterprise account. That is correct. Council can still choose to recommend that that money, whatever the increase comes out of that. I would move, Mr. President, that the budget as presented with the dollar amount attached be reduced by $117,000.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We have a motion for approval of the budget as presented already on the floor. Motion to sever.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. One thing that anybody that's a good manager would look at at this point would be if there's been any changes in the system that we've used. And there's been a major change. as a result of this council advocating for a tiered rate system. The tiered rate system started how long ago?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: It started actually during the course of this past fiscal year.
[Paul Camuso]: So that's, I'm assuming where we don't know where we're going. Is that correct? That is correct. And that's a direct result. But this is Management 101. This is something that we have to learn from this because we don't know at this point. We don't know at this point. So I'm very comfortable knowing that we've funded this in the past out of the Water and Sewer Enterprise Accounts, which has certain regulations and standards that the money can be used for. And this is certainly an appropriate use when necessary. But to say that it's 117, I assumed right off the bat it was because of the tiered rate system, and that's why I wanted to pose the question to you. Thank you.
[Robert Penta]: So on the motion for approval. Did you or did you not just say that the sewer portion is being reduced by $117,000? You just said it from there, correct?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: The sewer operating budget will be reduced by $117,000.
[Robert Penta]: And that would be $117,000 less than what was given to us in that budget. That is correct. So the dollar amount the budget is coming forward with needs to be reduced by $117,000 to accurately reflect the water and sewer in this budget. Is that correct? The sewer portion only. Yes, the sewer portion. Thank you. Motion to sever.
[Fred Dello Russo]: There's a motion to sever. We have on the main motion for approval.
[Paul Camuso]: And we only have authorization to cut the budget, not line items.
[Robert Penta]: Very good. Mr. President. We're not cutting the line items. I believe the budget director just indicated, and again, she can correct me if I'm wrong, that you just got these figures now, correct?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct.
[Robert Penta]: And the dollar amount in this book that represents the budget is now $117,000 less, correct? That is correct. And for this budget to be accurate with its numbers as presented now with the 117 before this vote, this total dollar amount of the budget of $150 million needs to be reduced by $117,000. Is that correct, Louise?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct.
[Robert Penta]: Thank you. It needs to be reduced.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: It doesn't need to be. It could be reduced by $117,000 at this point.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The budget doesn't need to be reduced.
[Robert Penta]: That dollar needs to be deducted from the total.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: I'm sorry. I think I caused some confusion.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think you did. If you could clarify this, please, because there's no need to change, is there?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: You could vote the budget as it was presented, There will, I am sure I will be back here before the council with the final assessments and then if you want to make the adjustments then as to where the water and sewer budgets are, we can do it then.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, if I may, this particular line item, I don't feel comfortable reducing it at this point. That money that's in the budget, could be used at a later time for other accounts if the city council sees fit. Money from the water and sewer enterprise accounts could not. So let's say we have another real bad year, like we've had this last winter, where the snow and ice was outrageous, just based upon the climate that we had. Right now, when it's in the budget, it can be used to offset the snow and ice, correct? It cannot. It cannot, even if it's the budget line item.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: It's the water and sewer budget. So they can only be used for incidents that occur with regard to water and sewer. So you are correct that we had a very bad year and that there were an unusual number of water and sewer calls. They had to be paid for out of these budgets. And you are correct that the sewer budget this year was stretched as thin as it could be.
[Paul Camuso]: OK. So I apologize. I had the wrong understanding on the budgeted side of things compared to the account that the money is in. Right. Exactly. It was, I apologize for misspeaking on that. But with that being said, I still, the tiered rate system, it's great. We've advocated strong for it, this council, and we may have to make up money on the water side because of the assessment with this new tiered system. I mean, we got the answer from Mr. Kamara, who gave us a very detailed response last week in our packets. So I'd just like to sever those votes, that's all.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you, Councilor Cluso. Councilor Knight. Thank you very much. Ms. Miller, if I remember correctly, I believe that when we were at our budget subcommittee hearings relative to the issue of water and sewer, it was represented that we're not meeting our forecasted projections at this point in time, isn't that correct?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct, but we don't have the final revenue numbers yet.
[Adam Knight]: You don't have the final revenue numbers. And do these numbers that you received today represent the final revenue numbers? No, they do not, correct? because they're not revenue numbers, right? That's what you have to pay, so they're not the revenue numbers. We really don't know what our final revenue numbers are going to be, but we're not meeting projection at this point in time, correct?
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct, yes.
[Adam Knight]: OK, thank you.
[X_nYXZZ4ChY_SPEAKER_04]: That is correct.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Cavanaugh. Thank you, Mr. President. I feel more comfortable leaving it there, seeing that we don't have enough history from the new water and sewer rates. And like Louie said, we can come back and readjust it at a later date, rather than have to come back and ask for money.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion for approval by Councilor Camuso, I think a couple citizens want to present.
[Sorrell]: John Sorrell, 20 Metcalfe Street. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to begin by saying that I'm aware that the president of the city council understands this budget. And I think that every single member of the City Council understands this budget. But my notion is that the people who are going to pay for it don't know anything about this budget. So I would like, Mr. President, through you, to address the people out there who are actually going to pay for this $155 million budget. My sense is that This council loves this budget. They always have. They voted for it for 28 years. They'll vote for it and approve it tonight, with maybe some minor exceptions. But the budget will pass. It will pass as has been proposed by the mayor. It always has. This budget is for $155 million. Of that, the school budget alone is $53 million. Now that is one third of the whole budget. Am I too loud here? No, not you. Well, that is the school budget alone is one third of the total budget. It's $53 million. And so that comes to, um, one-third of the whole budget. And it's actually 34 percent if you do it out. Now, 80 percent of the school budget is for employee compensation. That's $42 million. Can you imagine that? Imagine trying to run an enterprise where labor alone costs you 80 percent. That leaves you only 20 percent left to run the schools. I don't know how it's done. You can't run any business. You can't run anything in the economy with only 20% of the income spent on the enterprise itself. Now, this $42 million really is 28% of the total city budget. Imagine that. We're spending 28% of all of the income in the city, of all the revenue, on the compensation salaries of the employees. There's something wrong with that. It ought not be so. I wish it were not so. But I want to explain to the people how they paid $155 million in the budget. By the way, the budget last year was $150 million. It's been increased by $5 million. Well, here's how the people pay for it. The home tax levy is $100 million. Local receipts, which is really fees and penalties, which is really another tax, the people pay this, is $14 million. Local state aid nets out at $14 million. They really give us $22 million, but we subtract $8 million in assessments. So that comes to another $14 million. The state gives us $3 million for the new schools. And the water and sewer taxes, I call them taxes because that's what they are, actually. We're paying money for a service, comes to $24 million. That total is $155 million, and that is a 2016 budget. From this, you can actually project what the budget's going to be next year. You take the $100 million, multiply that by the 2.5% a 2.5% tax levy limit, and you get $102.5 million, plus there'll be probably another $1 million of new growth. And here you are again at $104 million or so. So next year, we're going to be in the same situation. This cannot be changed. The only way you can change anything here is with a charter change. A charter change is a long way off. unlikely to happen. There are all kinds of hurdles. There are all kinds of obstacles. The government in power does not want you to change. Why should it? They love the status quo. How can you go wrong with it? Everybody's happy. Everybody's making money, except that people have to pay for it. They're losing money. That's the taxpayer. We're back to that again. As a matter of fact, Any government that's ever in power tries to perpetuate itself. The people in power love to stay in power. Why shouldn't they? It serves them. It does not serve the people. That actually is not the purpose of government, to serve the people. It's to serve the governors. So we'll have to live with the situation as it is. The laws allow it. According to the city solicitor, you have to change the state laws in order to change the Medford City government. Thank you very much.
[Joe Viglione]: My name is Joe Villione, 59 Garfield Ave, Medford, Mass. I want to thank Dr. Stirella, one of the great citizens of Medford, fighting for people. I wish this room had 150, 200 people here. Every year approximately 600,000 goes into the general fund as a second tier tax from access cable TV subscribers. Since that money is essential for the Medford City budget, why approve a budget when, A, we don't know where that money goes, 600 grand a year, say about 10 years, 6 million, and B, there's no access at all for the cable subscribers who are throwing another 600 grand or so into this budget. irresponsible budget. It's irresponsible to hide that money from the people paying it. This is the one time each year this council can hold a plan a mayor accountable. $33,000 or so is unaccounted for from the old access TV station. Our esteemed city solicitor told us July 24th was the deadline a year ago. It's almost a year. We do not know what happened to that 33 grand that TV3 said there's no money left. But there was 33 grand in Alex Ruppenthal's article. I don't get it. I don't get why 33 grand is nothing to this city, or 600 grand is nothing to this city. I've been fighting here since what? You know, I first met Mr. Rumley and Diane McLeod early 2003. So I put 12 years of my life into this, which is about a fifth of my life. For what? For what? I'm trying to help the city out. I don't expect to get yelled at because I'm helping the city out. I'm helping the citizens out. So fiscal responsibility. 124 days away from a monumental election. Fiscal responsibility. It is irresponsible to pass this budget tonight if you can't hold the mayor to plan A, this plan A mayor, to telling us where Access TV is and what he does with the $600,000 or so a year. Please, City Council, this is your one moment. Do not vote for this budget until we get answers. Otherwise, in 124 days, the candidates that are sitting out there won't be on AXS TV, and Dr. Stireller is so prophetic. It is status quo. People in power don't want to let go.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso for approval of the budget as presented. Roll call vote. Roll call has been requested. Do we take the severed one first? So on the motion of Councilor Penta and your motion was?
[Robert Penta]: The 117,000 that represents the actual numbers of the budget presented.
[Paul Camuso]: He's going to cut the budget and then vote against the budget. It doesn't make sense. Couldn't run a lemonade stand.
[Robert Penta]: Ms. Miller just got through telling us that she just got today, for which none of us knew about this, $117,000 is a number less than what's in the budget. So to have these numbers to be accurate as presented, it needs to be deducted by $117,000. Right. Take the vote.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Paul Camuso]: A yes vote is to strike. A no vote is to leave it in. Correct? Correct. I just want to make sure. OK. Councilor Camuso? No. Councilor Caraviello?
[Clerk]: No. Councilor Mann? No. Vice President Lamont-Kernan? Yes. Councilor Marksley? Yes. Councilor Panda? Yes. President Dela Ruccia?
[Fred Dello Russo]: No. On the motion for approval of the budget by Councilor Camuso, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Paul Camuso]: What was the roll call on that, on the first item? 4-3. 4-3, and it failed?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Oh, on the motion of, on that motion previously, with- The amendment. Of the amendment, 3-4 in the negative. Three in the affirmative, the motion failed. So on the main motion of Councilor Camuso for approval of 15-460, the budget as amended, all those in favor, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Robert Penta]: Wait a minute, wait a minute. It can't be an amendment because the amendment lost.
[Leo Sacco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you for all your hard work.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. Superintendent, I must say, as president, it's been a joy working with you on this budget and with Ms. Miller.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you, Mr. President, councillors. Thank you very much. I appreciate the support. I realize that many questions get asked and illegitimate questions that have to be answered. We'll try to keep answering them for you, but we appreciate the support you've given us. There's a lot of nice things happening in the school and a lot of the investments have been made by the council supporting bond issues and other matters. So I just want to say thank you and appreciate it. It's been a long night, but it's always interesting.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Uh, while we're, uh, taking papers out of the, uh, off the table motion by council, Camuso, to take item number 15486, Outreach Agent for Substance Abuse, which is eligible for the third and final reading. Motion for approval by Councilor Camuso. All those in favor? All those opposed? We received today an outline of the job description, definition, supervision provided, supervisory responsibilities, job environment, essential functions, et cetera. for this job that we've approved in the budget and just ordained. So, on the motion for approval by Councilor Camuso, roll call has been requested.
[Robert Penta]: We just got this. We just got this tonight. We just got it. Yeah, so how can you vote for approval if you just got it? We didn't get it just tonight.
[Michael Marks]: I just... No, Mike, we're talking about the substance.
[Paul Camuso]: This is the outreach coordinator.
[Robert Penta]: We just got this tonight.
[Paul Camuso]: We just voted for the position. We got it earlier today.
[Robert Penta]: Just got it now, handed it on my desk tonight.
[Paul Camuso]: Well, maybe you just didn't keep up to the times. I just got it tonight, Paul, all right? Well, we all got it earlier. You're the only one that always has problems.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We have a motion for approval by Councilor Camuso for the third and final reading. Roll call vote. Roll call vote has been requested.
[Robert Penta]: On the motion, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion, Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: I think it would be beneficial if you reviewed it to the public so they'd have an idea of what this prevention coordinator is going to do. It's been long overdue. People have been waiting for this, so I think you can hit the highlights of it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I'd be delighted. The prevention and outreach program coordinator. Definition. The prevention and outreach coordinator will have day-to-day responsibility for the coordination of all substance prevention grant and non-grant activities. The goal is to provide and coordinate all substance prevention efforts in the city of Medford. This position will also develop and deliver in coordination with Medford Police, Fire, and EMS, as well as the Medford School Department, evidence-based programming to decrease the use of all substances. The coordinator will develop tracking of overdose cases to enable timely provision of information referrals on treatment, and support in recovery to assist those with substance abuse disorders and families. The coordinator will report to the director of public health for the city of Medford, will maintain confidentiality when assisting with public health functions and when exposed to public health department work, and will provide advocacy for the protection and advancement of the public health within the community. The recommended minimum qualifications, five or more full-time related work experience, five or more years full-time related work experience with substance abuse disorder, master's degree in public health or a related field preferred, grant writing experience preferred.
[Robert Penta]: Job or salary?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Salary is your salary is not listed in this piece, but when we went through it on the budget, it was a, uh, uh, department level head.
[Robert Penta]: So it was in the sixties.
[Paul Camuso]: Same as Ernest Lindsay.
[Robert Penta]: Yeah. Could you just read at the end, um, the physical requirements?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Cause that was the physical requirements, minimal physical effort required when performing functions under typical office conditions while performing the duties of this job. The employees frequently required to walk, sit, and talk or hear may spend several hours sitting or standing. Do I need to go on?
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, only for one reason. The one thing I'm, it doesn't talk about driving to a destination. And I'm just wondering, is this particular job going to just be completely in-house or is this job going to allow somebody to go to a different location or
[Fred Dello Russo]: whatever it might be to... I think in other parts of the job description, it's inferred that travel, interaction, and other forms of human intercourse will be required of this person, while the physical requirements oftentimes in the job description mean physical requirements. Will the individual have to be able to lug a 500-pound duffel bag up the center stairs of the rotunda of City Hall, will the individual be able to climb scaffolding outside of a building? So those requirements are not there, but the regular requirements of one in an administrative position of this position seem to be required of them.
[Robert Penta]: Move the question. And I want to thank you for passing this up tonight, because this is the first time I see it. Chief, I'd just like to ask you one question in here. It makes reference to the police department.
[Fred Dello Russo]: personally point out in my conversations and I think Councilor Camuso will also agree, the mayor went through great lengths in interviewing many constituencies collectively and individually regarding this matter and putting together this job.
[Paul Camuso]: The job is going to be filled very, very soon.
[Robert Penta]: Chief, do you have a copy of this or not?
[Leo Sacco]: I have it. I haven't had a chance to read it.
[Robert Penta]: Okay. It's section over here. It says develop jointly with the police, Programming to decriminalize and foster relationship with those with substance abuse disorders and their families using evidence based upon principles and practices. Support police on programming and any grant activities related to substance abuse. What was your interaction with this for this to be included? In this program.
[Leo Sacco]: I've had very little discussion on that with anyone, quite honestly, the job description. I know that there have been members of the police department that were involved along with the ladies that work with the Board of Health, Penny and Brooke. And I know that they've spoken with people that draw up the job description. But personally, I was not actively involved in it, but I did have people involved that are doing that work on a daily basis in the department.
[Robert Penta]: So for the purposes of this position, are you going to oversee these particular police officers who might be designated? How is this going to work?
[Leo Sacco]: I will oversee the offices that are involved, but I mean, it's going to be more of a collaborative effort between police, fire, EMS, board of health, and the substance abuse coordinator. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion, do you need to counsel?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Just with regards to the supervisory responsibilities, focus will be to coordinate all substance prevention efforts. So I didn't see anything, because I just got the hard copy tonight. Anything with regards to creating an atmosphere or working in collaboration with school officials. Okay, I just stepped out. Sorry. Are we approving just the second reading, so then we'll have another third reading in a few weeks?
[Fred Dello Russo]: No, this is the third reading for which it's eligible tonight. The second reading took place in the posting of the matter.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: If I may ask the city solicitor a question, then. If we hold off this vote until our next meeting, just so we can digest. Is this the job description?
[Paul Camuso]: Yes.
[Mark Rumley]: The next meeting's the end of July. It's mid-July. It'll be about two weeks, I'd say, right? So what does this vote entail?
[Clerk]: This is the classification.
[Mark Rumley]: This is a personnel classification.
[Paul Camuso]: It's already in the budget.
[Mark Rumley]: The, the, the, the, the item, I believe that the salary is the salary not already approved in the budget. This is the job description, but oftentimes duties and job descriptions are part of an ordinance. My job description is part of an ordinance. And if we don't do this, the mayor can just do it anyway. Cause it's in the budget. I imagine that there's a process of, going out to advertisements.
[Paul Camuso]: We've all been advocating for this, putting it off for longer. I mean, the overdoses just keep going up and up and up in the city.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Maybe they shouldn't have gave it to us at 7 o'clock.
[Paul Camuso]: Hey, I agree. But the fact of the matter is, it's a position that we all advocated for.
[Mark Rumley]: I think that the next council meeting is July 23rd. No, 14th, I thought. It got changed to July 21st, I believe, yeah.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Move the question. On board for what? I don't have information on that.
[Mark Rumley]: I agree with that. There would have to be advertised for solicitation that people would be interested.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We have a motion for approval on the floor. Roll call vote. Roll call has been requested. So on that question, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Robert Penta]: How long does it take to advertise? Was it three weeks, ma'am? After the third reading. After the first reading.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We had the first reading.
[Robert Penta]: So it can be advertised.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The ordinance was advertised for the creation of the substance abuse person.
[Clerk]: It came out May 19th. May 19th.
[Paul Camuso]: Council has been sitting on it. June 16th, we've been sitting on it, dishonorable bodies since June 16th.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: But through the chair, we just got this tonight. I don't understand. I mean, it goes back to what we fought for last week, just having time to digest something. And obviously we were concerned only to pass the first reading. This council decided we wanted to take part in making sure we liked the language of exactly, especially with the prevention side of it.
[Paul Camuso]: But we don't approve job descriptions. We're overstepping our boundaries. Job description is administrative role. Whatever. If you guys don't want to support it, don't support it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We have a motion for approval.
[Paul Camuso]: There's a motion for approval. Yeah, that's the only role we have is putting it in their classification personnel table. Take the vote if you don't want to support it.
[Robert Penta]: Eddie, you're saying you have the chair. You're saying you're putting this in a classification program, but just the case, just the headline are all these words. The headline we had, we don't even understand this.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We voted an ordinance. We started the process 15 four 86. I respectfully request and recommend your honorable body approve of the following amendment to the revised ordinances. entitled Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances, Chapter 66, Personnel. City of Medford Amendment to Revised Ordinances, Compensation Plan and Leave Ordinances, Chapter 66, Personnel, be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Medford in Chapter 66, entitled Personnel, Article 2, entitled Classification and Compensation Plans, Section 66-33, entitled administrative, managerial, confidential personnel is hereby amended by adding the following after Director of Veteran Services, grade CAF-12, title Outreach Agent Substance Abuse. We had a first reading. The second reading was affected by the posting of this ordinance publicly in the appropriate time. We now have a motion for approval of the third reading of which this has been ready for some time. We approved in the budget process the funding of this by the affirmative vote of this body just moments ago.
[Robert Penta]: But we're talking about the classification, not this description, correct?
[Fred Dello Russo]: But the vote before us is for the ordinance.
[Robert Penta]: Can this be added or subtracted to it? We're going to vote for the classification, but can recommendations be added or subtracted to this?
[Fred Dello Russo]: That's a product of the administration.
[Paul Camuso]: Of course it can.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's not a product of the legislative body.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Lungo-Koehn asked to this be tabled until we got the description. That's how we're at now.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I know, just for the first reading, I never voted for it to be tabled. I just voted to only take the first reading. Yeah. Moved.
[Clerk]: Motion for approval, Mr. President.
[Robert Penta]: Roll call vote. For the classification. Marks. For this to be classified in the city's compensation plan.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Robert Penta]: We don't have anything.
[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso. Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Knights. Yes. Vice President Long. Yes. Councilor Martins. Yes. Councilor Patu.
[Robert Penta]: Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, none negative. The motion is ordained. 15-574 offered by Councilor Camuso. Be it resolved that the purchasing agent give an update for the Medford Cable Access Television Studio project. Furthermore, that Architect Scott Payette, the winning bidder, provide detailed drawings when completed. Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Mr. President. As we all know, the city- I have a point of order, Mr. President. Talk about it next week.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We'll talk about it next week. We'll talk about it in the future.
[Paul Camuso]: Sounds good. Mr. Villion won't have his TV station.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We're trying to get a motion of council. So, uh, to take paper 15, five 73 out of order. All those in favor, those opposed communications from the mayor to president Frederick Dello Russo and members of the honorable Medford city council from mayor Michael J. McGlynn. 3 amendment to chapter 94 of the revised ordinances of the city of Medford entitled safe access to medical marijuana. Dear Mr. President and members of the honorable medical city council, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approved the following amendments to chapter 94 of the revised ordinances of the city of Medford. The following is a full text of the proposed amendments. As you are aware, since the amendments pertain to zoning, The next step would be for the city council to forward this paper to the planning board, respectfully, Michael J. McGlynn, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_14]: Motion to send it to the planning board.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso to send it to the planning board. All those in favor? Aye. Councilor Knight on that motion. The solicitor would be so good as to give us a brief synopsis of the actual text that's going to the planning board.
[Adam Knight]: I'd appreciate it. Appreciate that.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please welcome Mr. City Solicitor.
[Mark Rumley]: Thank you, Mr. President, members of the council. I'll be very, very quick. I think I should be because of the hour. So I'll just give you a short description of what this is so that the viewing public, those who are still listening, will get some understanding of this. As everyone knows, in 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed the act which deals with the siting of medical marijuana facilities. And it's up to localities to decide in what zoning districts that might be. The licensing, the vetting, and the background checks and all that is done at the state level. We really have nothing on the books right now which covers this, so we wanted to get a launch pad going on a possible zoning amendment. This is simply a suggestion which would have to go to the planning board for a hearing. And basically, I'll say this as briefly as I can. On the very first page, you have two definitions, which under this prototype would be added to section 94 of the revised ordinance of the city of Medford. The first definition is medical marijuana treatment center, also known as an RMD, and that's the place where a company would acquire, cultivate, or process marijuana. The second one is an off-site medical marijuana dispensary. That would be the place where a person who is approved to acquire medical marijuana would go to purchase it. So I think the best way to look at it is one's a place where it would be grown, cultivated, et cetera. The other is where it would be sold. After meeting with the building commissioner, Karen Rose, also Brooke Hoyt, Penny Funoli, and Kim Scanlon, we were going through different alternatives. And we had suggested along with the, um, it was the building commissioner too. I mentioned him that the best district zoning wise to have such facilities in would be a C one C two or the industrial district in our city. And I can describe those a little bit, but rather than to go through all that, there are other restrictions on location. And one of the restrictions which you'll find on the third page of this proposal is that neither one of those facilities could be located in a building that has daycare, neither one of those facilities could be located on a parcel which is within 1,000 feet of a parcel occupied by a public or private elementary, junior high, middle, vocational, high school, college, university, daycare, or childcare facility, or a park or a playground, or any other place or any other use in which children commonly congregate or are organized on a formal basis. 1,000 feet from that. So you have those three zones, and then you'd have to be 1,000 feet away from those particular facilities. Also, as you see on the next page, neither one of those facilities could be located on a lot, even if it was within those zoning districts, which would be a lot that abuts a residential use, including what's known as a transient residential use, such as a hotel, motel, or dormitory. Those are the location prescriptions in this particular prototype. Now, when it goes to the planning board, they would have their own public hearing. We all intend to appear, of course, and to give our input. And then the planning board would have to get back to this council as to its recommendations. So what you have tonight is the launching pad, but it's not a landing pad. It has to go through the planning board.
[Robert Penta]: Question, Mark.
[Mark Rumley]: Yes.
[Robert Penta]: Quick question. Are we as a city advocating that we want these things, or can somebody just come in here and set themselves up?
[Mark Rumley]: It's a fair question, because if we have nothing, one of the risks are, and I talked about this with my colleague, Mr. Moki, one of the risks would be that they'd come in right now under the zoning ordinance that we presently have, and they'd say it's a horticultural use. And if that were the case, there may be some, we would lose some discretion in where these facilities could be. So it's... Point of information, Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: I don't know if the Councilor may have forgot, but didn't we as a council vote on a moratorium for this particular reason?
[Mark Rumley]: We did, but that moratorium has expired. I think that was six months? Yeah. But we did that for this particular reason. We did that for a number of different reasons, of course. But one of the reasons we want to get this launched tonight is that this would put, not in limbo, but if any prospective company were interested in coming here, they would have to wait until this process took its course if you send it to the planning board tonight. And I would say to this council that a week ago Friday, I received a call from a representative of the company that's operating a medical marijuana dispensary in Salem. And the gentleman, whose name I don't have in front of me, I spoke with him for about a half hour or so. And he said to me, well, what if I apply to come into MedFit? Is there any zoning ordinance that deals with this? And I said, well, we've talked about one. We don't have one quite yet. And we went on to talk about medical marijuana. It was a very good conversation. very intelligent and mature gentleman, but it is time that the city took the time to look at the possibilities of appropriate zoning restrictions for these facilities if they ever wanted to come into Medford. Now, I'm not saying that anybody has or that I have knowledge of that, but if we do nothing, then we're at the peril of somebody coming in, trying to find their way, kind of walking a fence through the zoning ordinance that we presently have. And that's not very prudent legislative process. Mr. President. I'm sorry.
[Adam Knight]: Council night. Mr. Solicitor, would it make sense for us to expand or extend the moratorium until this piece of legislation goes through the planning process?
[Mark Rumley]: Well, actually, you'd actually be having a new moratorium. And I would say that it would be better to begin this this particular endeavor for this reason. If you simply say we're putting a moratorium on this, meaning we're taking no action now until the legislation passes. Oh, well, if this If this goes to the planning board, this essentially acts as not a moratorium, but it stays matters until the zoning process is complete.
[Adam Knight]: Same effect.
[Mark Rumley]: There's a certain amount of days that Mr. Finn would have to send this to the planning board. Then the planning board has a certain number of days in which to schedule a hearing. And then it has to come back to the city council, which has an additional 90 days in which to take action. The best route in order to have, appropriate discernment on this issue, which does have some complexities to it, is to begin this process with the knowledge that what's in front of you right now as a prototype is like clay. It can be shaped and reshaped not only at the planning board level, but also when it comes back at some juncture to this city council with the recommendations of that planning board. And it also means that there would be a hearing before the planning board which would be publicly advertised, and the input of the citizenry would be secured that way.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion to send this to the planning board by Councilor Camuso, all those in favor? Aye. Yes, sir.
[Robert Penta]: This is almost like a preemptive strike for what we were talking about earlier with the folks about these massage parlors or whatever you want to call it. Yes. You know, we're preparing for it, and I would hope When you get this information, the same energy will go forward so that we can come up with an ordinance that basically we don't have to deal with folks in residential neighborhoods, unfortunately, that won't have the same luxury as something like this. So with that being said, I've got no problem having us go forward. But my only other question is, you suggested that they could maybe come in under the term horticultural.
[Mark Rumley]: I would say if we did nothing, we might try to now. This is sales. What about growing it? Oh, growing would be under the first definition. Medical marijuana treatment centers includes the cultivation or possession of marijuana. That's why there are the two elements.
[Robert Penta]: But when you say the word cultivation, is that going to mean growing? Yes, it does. Having a hothouse and all of that? Yes, it does.
[Unidentified]: OK.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso, all those in favor? Aye. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, while we're under suspension. While we're under suspension, Councilor Camuso. I'd like to take 15-424 and talk about community access.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso to take 15-424 off the table. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. 15-424, support community access television H2847. Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. Thank you, Mr. President. As we all know, we're getting the new Medford TV station up at Medford High School. And it's going to be pretty exciting that the city is going to be moving forward finally over the next nine months or so with the project. And if we could just ask the school department to get an update, not on the building, because I'll speak about that. That was section 22 a few minutes ago. But I would like to ask the school department to see where they're at as far as getting the station up and running. I know it comes after the construction.
[Michael Marks]: Point of information, Mr. President.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: I think it's a shame that we're not talking about having a local access in a centrally located area where residents of our community can attend. I just think it's a real injustice to even discuss this issue. Point of information, Councilor Musil, you may continue.
[Paul Camuso]: And I certainly agree with Councilor Marks, because there's going to be people that can't go to this station because of their quarry, because it's in the school, where if it was in Medford Square or somewhere else, it might not eliminate them. But with that being said, if we could get an update from the school department on how's it going and who they plan on putting in charge of it, and just basically an update on the new station.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion, all those in favor.
[Robert Penta]: Yeah. On that particular motion, number one, we talk about local access. It's got some access alluded to. You're looking at a location that's centrally located. Medford high school is not centrally located. And from my most recent talking and understanding, I believe that the whole project is on hold right now because they don't have a, they don't have anyone that, submitted a bid that would be acceptable to the city.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Mr. President? Point of information, Councilor Poulos. It's not on hold. The paper that was section 22'd a little bit earlier was to get an update on the moving forward, but we can't talk about it. So it's not on hold. That's incorrect.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, from the information that I've been able to ascertain, It's on hold, number one, for the time being, because I don't believe that they had more than one developer who made a request to go up there, number one. We're not talking about the architect. We're talking about the tax-exempt non-profit that would be making the bid on the program.
[Paul Camuso]: A developer wants to go up there, you said? I'm confused.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, the tax-exempt non-profit, I believe that they only had one bidder at the present time, but that's not the point. The fact of the matter is simply this. It's not centrally located. It's not a place where somebody can go and take a bus. It's not a place where you would want to send an adult at nighttime to have them traverse up there and walk an extension part of the building. That's number one. Number two, the fact of the matter is, if it would be in a centrally located place, it would be easily accessible to not only students, but professional people. And those folks would want to be educated and have the high school become the satellite to the central location somewhere in this community. We've talked about two locations possibly. One at Cheviro Auditorium, the other one, as Councilor Caraviello alluded to, at the public library. A great opportunity. The city is sitting on over $350,000 of that money. But the real fact of the matter is this, there is no public access operating right now. Whether you're a council running for office, whether you're running here for re-election, for whatever it might be, the mayor is intentionally stifling public access by not having it. And at the present time, that is absolutely not fair because each and every rate payer on every single month in their bill, Verizon and Comcast, is being charged for public access for which they're not getting. It's going to take some time. If you read the report that the three-member commission that the mayor empowered in February this past year talked about it being centrally located, easily accessible for people to get to, and to be educationally and technologically available to students and for business people and for residents and for taxpayers. We had six people come here on a particular night and talk about the value of what public access could be if, in fact, it was an operation. But it isn't an operation. And this administration, unfortunately, has not only fallen asleep on this matter. When you had the public access here in June, the public meeting on the 10-year contract with Comcast, not one person from the city administration was here to talk about, never mind public access, but to defend the ratepayers of this community for being charged for something. Where do you have it? Two o'clock in the afternoon when people are working. That's not the time to have it. That's not being open and communicative. And what does the city hire? They hire an outside attorney, pay him $350 an hour to sit here and take notes for the 10, 12 people who came and spoke on that particular day. I spoke on that day because I think public access, and more importantly, our cable access bill is very important. And to have a 10-year contract go out with the lack of amount of public interest and input, that is wrong. That's wrong. And that's what public access is about, having somebody have the opportunity to come up, whether you agree or disagree, to express their opinions. That's what we don't have here in this community. Not worried about what's going to go up in the high school, that's so far out into the future, way beyond an election coming forward, way beyond whether we have. July 3rd is right around the corner. This mayor has up until July 3rd to make his decision whether he's going to sign another 10-year contract with Comcast. And he was asked on that particular day, not only by myself, but other people, not to sign it. The same way that the mayor is not going to hire a new director of public works until the new mayor comes in in January of this year. Well, he should be doing the same thing as it relates to Comcast and to find out where we're going. The contracts now that are being extended go anywheres no more from three to five years max. And after the third year, There's supposed to be community input. There's supposed to be a community survey, for which never took place, as to what do you think about Comcast. You know, the aliquot and the specialty programs. None of that has taken place, for which if you read the contract, it was supposed to take place. And if you read the guidelines from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Public Utilities say those are the ingredients that are necessary in each and every one of contract renewals. This city did not follow any of the guidelines, none of the renewal quotes, and as it relates to that, and as a result, that's why we don't have public access. Because if this mayor was so interested in having public access, he could plaster himself all over it, like he does in Channel 15, and let everybody have an opportunity. It's not his station. It's not Comcast. He doesn't own it. And that's what's wrong.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President. Thank you very much, Councilor Penta. Councilor Camuso. I'd just like to remind the viewing public that it was Councilor Penta that fought the charge to shut the access station down. So it's kind of ironic, once again, There's many emotions he brought forward, and the record doesn't lie.
[Robert Penta]: Mr. President, the reason why, you know, lying is a strange word around here, because I think sometimes the maker of the commentary should review his comments. The reason why we wanted to get rid of Channel 3 was because it's despicable actions. It's a lack of accounting for money. It's a lack of keeping minutes of records. It's a lack of allowing people to come and speak, and it's a lack of doing the community work. And for the people who were running it at the time, their complete abuse and misuse of their 501c3 prerogative, that's what is wrong.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President, if I may just conclude, as I stated, The Councilor wanted to get rid of public access and now he's a proponent.
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, enough with these personal attacks. They're personal attacks. Enough with the personal attacks. We're here to do the people's business, not with the personal attacks. personal tax. We don't need that. You're a lame duck councillor.
[Paul Camuso]: We don't need personal tax. You're on your last leg here, councillor.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You'll be joining me in January.
[Joe Viglione]: State your name and address for the record. Thank you, council president. Joe Villion, 59 Garfield.
[Paul Camuso]: It's only begun.
[Joe Viglione]: I just want to say one thing, council president. The motion that was tabled was Ruth Bowser's bill, and we're not discussing Ruth Bowser's bill, so I would ask the city keep it on the table because that was about Ruth Bowser's bill, not what this Councilor made it about. The motion to table is undebatable.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those in favour? On the motion of Councilor Camuso to receive and place on file. Roll call vote has been requested.
[Joe Viglione]: Thank you very much Councilor Marks for the chair. Ruth Bowser had a bill which I got at the Mass Access Springfield Convention. I spent a lot of money to go out there to be part of that convention and bring information back to this city. Ruth Bowser's bill is about saving public access TV. I feel it was hijacked tonight because we didn't talk about Section 22 was called, and a person took my petition about Ruth Bowser's bill and hijacked it. It's not fair. People have to follow rules. We follow decorum, but there was no decorum here tonight, President, except for you. So thank you very much when it comes to this individual. Thank you all.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, America. And we're going to wrap up tonight's meeting. So on the motion of Councilor Camuso's motion to receive in place on file, all those in favor? All those opposed? 15564, we have a couple of condolences here. 15564 offered by Councilor Caraviello be it resolved that the Medford City Council offer condolences to the family of Merle Lindsay, who passed away after a lengthy illness. Merle is the wife of Ernest Lindsay, the Director of Veterans Services for the City of Medford. she will be missed by her family and friends. Offered by Councilor Knight, 15566, be it resolved that the Medford City Council offer deep and sincere condolences to the family of Vincent Guerra on his recent passing. Offered by Councilor Marks, paper in hand of the clerk, be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for long-time Medford resident Dennis Figalski on his recent passing. Dennis served with the United States Air Force in Vietnam was also an employee of the Medford Engineering Department. And finally, we dedicated this meeting at the request of Councilor Penta in memory of George Kayon, who was a tireless community activist in the city of Medford in a period when community activism meant something, involved people through cross-sections of the population in the city. when things were sort of at their height of community involvement. And the Bicentennial Committee, as a member of the Lions, as a member of, he was on the Parks Commission, as he was on several other boards. Wonderful and great member of our community. Councilor Camuso wishes to speak? No? It's on something else. So then if you would all stand for a moment of silence for all these citizens. for whom we remember at this moment. Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The records.
[Paul Camuso]: Before you read the records, Mr. President. Yes, Councilor Camuso. I'd like to wish a very, very happy 40th anniversary to our council colleagues, Adam Knight's parents. excuse me, Dee and Jerry Knight, 40th years of wedding bliss and marriage and two great kids, grandchildren, and I just want to wish them well. Happy anniversary.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The records were sent to Councilor Lungo-Koehn for approval on her recommendation for approval. All those in favor? All those opposed? Records are approved. on the motion of Vice-President Leclerc for dismissal of the meeting. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned. We meet again on July 21st here at the Howard F. Alden Memorial Gym.
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