AI-generated transcript of Medford City Council - April 28, 2015

[Fred Dello Russo]: The 15th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso? Present. Councilor Caraviello? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Vice-President Alan Kern? Present. Councilor Marks? Councilor Penta? Present. Vice-President De La Rosa?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Present. Six present, one absent. Please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[Clerk]: Next. Commendations 15-298 for the Greater Boston League champions

[Fred Dello Russo]: Boys Hockey, Medford High School. This was offered by Councilor Knight, so we'll invite Councilor up to give the presentation, to welcome the team, and to have you all up for your citations.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Tonight we have some very important guests joining us this evening. 2014, 2015 greater Boston league champion Medford high school boys hockey team. Um, at this point in time, I'd like to ask coach Bates to come up here and join me to help pass out the citations. The council commendation clearly reads the Medford city council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Andrew Cronin. Number four, Medford High School varsity hockey in recognition of winning the Greater Boston League title and a playoff berth in the MIA Division I North Hockey Tournament. Andrew, come on up.

[Clerk]: It's yours.

[Adam Knight]: Jonathan Haley, number 30. Number 29, Matt Santos. Number 19, Billy Crowley.

[Unidentified]: Number 13, Ryan Donahue.

[Adam Knight]: Number 16, Liam Cullinane. Number 5, Gino DeSimone. Matt McCarthy, number three. Number 17, David Welch. Number 20, Harry Welch. Number nine, Jack Lonergan. Number 14, Brian Ciaroloni. Number seven, Gino Romaschi. Number 21, Brendan Sheehy. Number 15, Max Perazzo. Number 10, Joe Vano. Michael Cecchini, number 11. Number six, Captain Justin McDonald. Number 18, Captain Ryan O'Keefe. And lastly, we have number eight, Captain Brendan Hussey, who was also the greater Boston League MVP. I'd like to take a moment to allow Coach Bates to say a few words here. Coach Bates is a MHS Hall of Famer. a four-year starter at Boston University in the hockey program, had a very successful career in the NHL as a member of the Bruins and the Islanders, and most recently was honored by the New York Islanders just a few weeks ago as a member of the Raw Decade team. So, Coach, please.

[SPEAKER_03]: On behalf of the team, I want to thank Adam and members of the council for having our team up here. It was an up and down year for us, We won the GBL and that was our main goal and also to get to the state tournament and they did both. So very proud of these guys and again, thank you for having us.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Folks, next we have 15-314. Two Medford athletes were awarded the Boston Bruins Sportsmanship Award, Adrian Perrazzo and Andrew Cronin. So if we could have both of you come on up.

[Adam Knight]: Again, Mr. President, thank you very much. Adrian, congratulations. Andrew, congratulations. It's my pleasure to present this award to you. First of all, I'd like to thank you both for being such a great representation of the city of Medford. It's quite an honor to have the Boston Bruins recognize you and all the hockey players in the state of Massachusetts to bestow this award upon. So congratulations. The city council commendation reads that the Medford city council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Andrew Cronin and Adrian Perrazzo in recognition of representing the greater Boston hockey league as the recipient of the 13th annual MIAA Boston Bruins ice hockey sportsmanship award. for best exemplifying the highest standards of fair play and sportsmanship in high school hockey. So congratulations. Is there anything you guys would like to say? Avery, you've been up here before. This is all bad for you, Adam. Come on.

[bq-gVu-g8qk_SPEAKER_00]: I'd like to say thank you very much to Coach Bates for nominating me and Adrian. And I'd like to say thank you to the community and the boys hockey team. It was a pleasure to receive the award with Adrienne. She's a class act. And I think everybody in the program represents the city very well. So thank you very much.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd also like to thank my coaches, who unfortunately aren't here today, Dave McCarthy and Rayann Forbes, because they've been a huge part of my life since I started in this program six years ago. I'd like to thank them. They've been supporting me through the whole thing, along with my parents. I was so honored to receive this with Andrew because, like I said, he's a great class act, like he said about me. And I just feel honored. And it's a great way to end my high school hockey career. So thank you.

[Adam Knight]: Congratulations to you both.

[SPEAKER_08]: I didn't even notice he was absent until so would you like me to do that? Sure. No, it's not implied.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Folks, just for your announcement, Councilor Marks is not with us tonight due to a personal illness. We're going to continue the meeting with Public hearing 15-416. Notice of public hearing. City of Medford five-year consolidated plan, year 41 community development block grant application, July 1st, 2015, June 30th, 2016. A public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council in the Howard F. Alden Memorial Chambers, City Hall, Medford Mass on Tuesday, April 28th, 2015. The purpose of this public hearing will be to invite the general public and representatives of public service agencies to express comments regarding the city's consolidated action plan for community development and planning. The action plan contains the proposed use of community development block grant funds for year 41, which extends from July 1st, 2015 through June 30th, 2016. The Office of Community Development will be requesting that the Medford City Council authorize Mayor Michael J. McGlynn, official representative of the city of Medford, to submit the five-year consolidated plan, one-year action plan, application for funds, and all other assurances and certifications to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city is applying for $1 million $433,774 in block grant funds. Additional information and review of the draft action plan can be obtained at the Office of Community Development City Hall, room 308, Medford during regular business hours on October 13th, 2015 for public review and comment. Comments may be sent in writing by May 13th, 2015 into this office. The final consolidated plan, action plan, and application will be submitted to HUD on 15 May, 2015. Call 393-2501 for any accommodations, aids, et cetera, et cetera. Edward P. Finn, city clerk, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. So we'll open this portion of the meeting public hearing for those who are in favour. And we invite Lauren DiLorenzo, the Director of Community Development, to make her presentation.

[Laurel Siegel]: Thank you, Mr. President. Lauren DiLorenzo, the Director of the Office of Community Development here at City Hall. So there's two items really tonight is one is to conduct a public hearing to get any input. If anybody would like to speak on a proposed application of plans and the second is to request the council submit, uh, allow, authorize the mayor to submit the applications, the five year plan, the one year plan, and any of the assurances and certifications that are typically required by HUD in order for us to apply for and receive our annual community development block grant. Very brief overview for people who aren't familiar with the program. Community Development Block Grant is distributed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. City of Medford is considered an entitlement community. Basically, that means that we have a population of over 50,000 based on the age of our housing, our citizens, and poverty. There's a formula application and the city's eligible to apply for that money. Part of the requirements of submitting and receiving that money is to do an annual action plan, and then every five years to do a five-year plan. So this year we're doing both. We did a five-year plan, and we also are doing the one-year action plan. We've had a process that's been a little bit different this year, and HUD is a little bit slow, but it's moving toward entering the digital era. and has basically required us to use a new, it's called the econ planning suite. So we'll be submitting that in addition to using our normal financial software that we use through HUD. We have done a regional planning process on housing with the North Suburban Consortium. There have been some regional meetings on that. And in addition, we have also done consultations with a number of agencies to identify what their needs are. A lot of public service agencies that you're familiar with and general information meetings. We also had the council meeting committee of the whole to allow the public service agencies recently to speak about their needs and their requests for applications that they funded. So I won't take too much of your time, but I will come back and answer any questions that you have. And in general, the city's identifying their housing and community development needs. It is fairly specific because the funding source is specific. So we're really focusing here in HUD on benefits to low and moderate income citizens. And that's the primary purpose of this program. It's not, you know, general use of government funds. It's targeted and to attempt to revitalize neighborhoods that are not deteriorating and to assist low and moderate income people with jobs and social services and housing needs. And that's what we do here in this plan. And the city council, the past five years, we have worked together to fund and implement over $7 million worth of public projects and facility improvements and public service agencies. So we've had quite an accomplishment with our joint efforts to serve the citizens of the city of Medford who are low and moderate income and we're a working class community. The funds are very important to us. They also supplement the general city budget in terms of the delivery of services. So we've been very successful in forging this partnership, and I hope that we can continue to do that. This year, we're applying for $1,433,774. First time we've had really a nominal cut in CDBG funds. It's approximately $6,000 less than we got last year. So that's good. We've been having a steady cut in federal funding. So this is a nominal decrease, which has been great. Generally, we've developed some housing goals, and our one and five-year goals are fairly consistent. We address housing. Now, there's a small amount of money that we're proposing in this budget for housing, but we do have some money for prior years, about $250,000 of prior year money in housing. And we are also eligible to apply through the North Suburban Consortium. And generally, what we do in that case is we use some of the money for administrative costs when we're working with developers who have received, for instance, Medford Community Housing as a local group who has applied for funding through the consortium and we've assisted them with CDBG funds in the past and with getting home funds. So we do regional housing and we also do some local housing efforts. The general goals on housing are to enhance the conditions and quality of life for low income residents. We also work with public housing residents and with the housing authority in order to make sure that there are proper referrals for people so that they find themselves in a situation where they are approaching homelessness or they're on a waiting list, we try to work with them also to coordinate the efforts to make sure that they're properly housed. We assist and potentially fund non-profit housing developers in identifying development sites. I gave you an example of that with Medford Community Housing. They have no project this year. They have one currently with Main Street. We have no specific project identified for next year. But if they come forth with a property and we're able to assist them, then we will try to do that. And we administer general housing activities. We also have, you know, we have the ability to work and coordinate with all of our public sister agencies that are working on housing. We do a lot of referrals to people who have housing needs. We're not experts, but we will find an answer if we can. And we'll work with people who have the resources to address people's problems, housing problems, I should say. The second area that we fund as a goal is physical improvements to city systems and public facilities. And that's a broad area, but generally those are all of the facility improvements that we do. This year, we're proposing $906,953.10 toward public facility improvements. And generally, the activities that we're proposing are, this is general water, sewer, street, and sidewalk, and I'll go through that specific budget item for that. We're also including a removal of architectural barriers, so these are general activities if a project comes up that we can possibly do. We are hoping to implement some improvements at South Street and Winthrop Street. There has been public safety issues. Public safety is not an eligible HUD activity, but removal of architectural barriers is. So we're trying to work with the Department of Public Works to do a joint combination of Chapter 90 funds and CDBG funds to address access and safety problems over at South Street and Winthrop Street. So we're working cooperatively on that, and hopefully that will be completed this year. The senior center is an activity that I think everybody has seen that it's very well used. It's in a great location to the downtown area and close to two senior elderly developments, but it needs some work. It's getting tired. There's been some leaks in the building, and we've been working with Pam Kelly on actually a very thorough feasibility analysis of the exterior roof. Started with floor replacement, and then it mushroomed into You can't really replace the floor if you haven't replaced the fundamental problems with moisture and water entering the building. So I am proposing that we fund, and this year I was trying to get this budget here. I know it's here. That we are funding $641,953.10 toward the Medford Senior Center. Now, I have about $500,000 allocated from this year. Approximately, we have right now a general estimate. The design plans have not been completed, but about $1.1 million. And if we fund this allocation here, what we'll do is two separate projects. One will be the roof replacement, and there's also the, you know, the area that's in the front of the building. that basically has had a rubberized surface that's put on it. There are problems with the exterior masonry. It basically needs to be waterproofed and patched, patched and waterproof, I should say, in that order. The windows are leaking. This would include window replacement in the exterior. Any doors that are leaking would be repaired or replaced. any handicap accessibility improvements that are required to be done because of the work that we're doing will be done. And then the second part after that is done would be a separate bid specification that would include the interior work. And right now, the scope that we're looking at, once we go further into plan, sometimes, you know, when costs are really identified, we have to trim back some things. But I think we're going to be able to do all this, would be the flooring, making the auditorium stage handicap accessible. It's not currently handicap accessible. The seniors have, the sound system is very poor there. When we conduct meetings, the room is so big, it's very difficult for people to hear. That should be corrected. It's just the right thing to do, and that should be taken care of. It shouldn't be too much money for that. There is some repair to some walls because of leaking. And generally, that's about it. So that's a lot of work. It's a comprehensive list of work. But I think at the end of it, you'll have a safe and usable building that should last for quite a long time. So that's really the biggest investment that we have right here. Medford Housing Authority has asked for $15,000. Now, this is the first request they've had for physical improvements in several years. working toward a new and a better relationship with the housing authority and setting expectations as to how we'll move ahead on any projects. I think this is a good amount of money for us to start with and this is basically to replace a heat pump and air conditioning pump at the community center at Wapping Court. So it does, again, serve seniors and that is in here as a recommendation. $250,000 toward streets and sidewalks, that would include that South Street and any additional Money that is available would be for identified streets in the new low mod areas. So they have changed somewhat from the last time with the new census information that's been provided. We're finding generally that some of the areas are getting very poor and other areas are not. And I think that a lot of that has to do with the construction of housing that we've had a lot more high rise. developments that have predominantly higher income people living in them. And it's having its impact on the makeup of the neighborhood. So we're finding more a trend toward more pockets of poverty rather than general neighborhoods that are low or moderate income. Economic development, we have just generally $20,000 in here. And this is really the HUD limitations on economic development are pretty strict. In the past, we used to do things like storefront improvements, which is a great program. And they generally don't allow that anymore unless you can show that you're creating for a five-year period, essentially, a low-moderate income job. Or you're doing slums and blight and only handling the public safety issue, which would be something falling. So they've really gotten restricted on this. But this money here, we're going to try to do some activities. I want to find a way to do some increased communication activities and coordination, especially with the Medford Square businesses. We have a lot of projects that are going on in Medford Square. bridge is up and coming, and it's a need in the city. I don't know how else we would pay for this, but we're committed to trying to improve the communication with businesses and retain jobs in Medford Square. And I think that it's going to be a challenge over the next few years with the bridge being under construction. And I don't have any blanket solution, but it's something that we should keep our eyes on. We need to work toward job retention, if not job creation. Public service agencies, I'll briefly go through those, if you don't mind. We had a couple that funded that are not in here. So we had a very small cut from last year. It was about $933. There were a few applications. I'll just run through those agencies, and then they're not being proposed for funding. One was Medford in the middle, which was an after-school program. They really weren't prepared for the block grant program. I don't think there was quite an understanding about what was required, what the eligibility components were, and what an agency was required to do for documentation. So they withdrew that application. They may come forward in the future, I don't really know, but that application was withdrawn. Just to Start applied for some money. It was duplicative to another effort, which was the pro bono legal services. They're not being recommended for any money Just to Start. And the final was Medford Housing Authority. While they spoke about the great need of providing social work, a social worker over at Walkland Court, quite honestly, we just can't afford it. And we'd have to cut other agencies they asked for. They ask for $11,648 for a part-time schedule, and we just have to cut that from another agency to give them, so we're not making that recommendation. We think it's a worthwhile service, but I don't see how we fund that without hurting another agency that we've had a longer-term relationship with. So I'll go through those briefly. A better tomorrow, we are recommending, and these are just nominal cuts from last year, little tiny cuts, less than 0.1%, like half a percent, less than half a percent. $3,778. Boys and Girls Club, $1,937. Bread of Life, $1,048. Community Family, Inc., $1,745. Consumer Advisory Commission, $6,802. The Council on Aging, $60,028. EMARC, $4,533. Heading Home, $3,778. Housing for Families, $5,441. That's a new agency here basically taking over the pro bono legal service project that TRICAP was running. TRICAP dissolved and actually it's the same staff. So they've been hired by Heading Home. So that would be the continuation, excuse me, Housing for Families. That would be continuation of that program. Immigrant Learning Center, $3,778. Medford Public Schools, it's an after school program, $8,505. Mystic Valley Elder Services, $8,161. Salvation Army, $1,162. SEM Community Transportation, $83,885. And West Medford Community Center, $20,485. Those are the recommendations for public services. I think I will stop there, and maybe there are others who want to speak in favor and opposition, but I will ask, I would ask the council if they would tonight authorize that submission of that application. I would appreciate that.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So to continue the public hearing, anybody else in favor, please present themselves to the podium. Anyone else in favor? Hearing and seeing none. We open up this portion of the meeting to those in opposition to the proposal. Anybody in opposition, please present yourself to the podium. Anyone in opposition to the proposal? Hearing and seeing none, I open up the floor to my esteemed council colleagues and recognize the Right Honorable Paul A. Camuso.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you very much for your presentation. Certainly, I think this is a very fair and equitable plan that gives much needed funds to the human service community that directly gives a positive impact on the families that utilize them on a daily basis. So I am in support of this. I'd like to move approval, Mr. President. And if I could just ask one question, just because there's a little, it's a little bit off topic, but I know Lauren's been handling it and it's not putting you on the spot. The anticipated completion of the Christopher Campbell Peace Guide. Is it this calendar year or next calendar year? Do you know?

[Laurel Siegel]: We certainly hope it will be this calendar year. It's a little bit out of our control, and I only say that because the state is actually, MassDOT is the agency that will put the project out to bid. Okay. So the execution of contracts, the actual award of the contract is out of the city's control. So our schedule has been actually, the city of Medford's schedule would have been that it started already. Okay. But I hope so, and I can update you once it's out to bid in the the bids are received.

[Paul Camuso]: And the reason I ask that is because I think it's a very good project. And I was under the impression that it was going to be this year. But as we approach May, construction-wise, I just wasn't sure that we could get it done.

[Laurel Siegel]: That's right. So I mean, generally, the project is mostly ground improvements, and then some basically landscaping, and there's some furnishings. So it depends on when it's awarded. If the worst comes to worst, you know, The big factor is really when it's awarded, when the contract is awarded, the contractor starts. And the other is whether or not it will be too cold to plant landscaping materials. So the worst case scenario should be that the plants are planted in the spring when it's weather appropriate to do that. But this should really be, from a construction standpoint, no reason why it can't be completed. It's more dependent on the timing of the state to move this process ahead and get it completed.

[Paul Camuso]: And I'd like to recognize Council President for giving me the leeway to ask that question, because I know some people were asking, and as we got later in the year, didn't know if it was actually feasible to get it done by the end of the year. So, yes, thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Councilor. Camuso. Vice President Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. Lauren, can I ask a quick question? The public service funding, you said the half a percent was cut. Is that across the board, or were there?

[Laurel Siegel]: I think we generally did it across the board. I just don't have last year figures. So there's no public agency that got more than half of a percentage cut? Was there anybody that we gave more than half a percent on this one? No. Last year we had a little cut, and we kept anybody who was under a couple of thousand dollars didn't get cut. But this year everybody got cut again across the board. It was so nominal it came out to like $30 or $40 for some of these small agencies, so that's what we did.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then with regards to the Mitford Senior Center, do you have a breakdown of, I know you named about five different projects. Do you have a breakdown of what's actually where?

[Laurel Siegel]: I can give that to you. I have a preliminary estimate. When I tell you it's not fully designed, it's a very rough estimate, but within that it shows the components of the work.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So all the work is listed.

[Laurel Siegel]: Yes, I can provide that to you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: City Clerk, can we just put that in the record?

[Fred Dello Russo]: We're gonna add to the record, Mr. Clerk.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Just a breakdown of preliminary estimate with regards to the Medford Senior Center. Of the scope of work. Scope of work, and also with the, obviously, where are we? The Housing Authority.

[Laurel Siegel]: The Housing Authority, what they proposed to do? Yes.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'm going to keep good track of what the housing authority is doing.

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, we'll definitely do that. I mean, already, you know, they'll provide a scope of work. We've already talked to them about it being under federal compliant with the federal regulations, not state regulated. Normally they use state funding. So the real regulation is completely different. We'll make sure that they're using federal wage rates and it's done in accordance with the federal guidelines.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And we planned on expending the $500,000 from 2014 and the $641,000 on the senior center this year.

[Laurel Siegel]: It was a big decision whether to bid it all as one or do it as two projects. We made the decision to do it in two separate projects. The one type of work on the exterior really is independent than the interior. You know, we may get two contractors working there at the same time. Plus, we have to work with the senior center to make sure we're not disrupting programs. And if we do, that it's done on a limited basis. So the interior work is a little bit harder to coordinate with the operation of their program. And when will be the hope to finish both projects? I would say by next June 30th. So in the program, yeah. June 30th, 2016. The roof should be done. There's really no reason why the roof wouldn't be done by fall.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then the same thing with the housing programs, you mentioned this 5,000 in this year's budget, and then there's 250,000 left over from last year's. Yeah, probably from a bunch of years, you know, actually. So the balance there is $250,000. So after this year, it'll be $255,000. Do we plan on expending that? with it?

[Laurel Siegel]: You know, I don't know if it will all be spent. It really depends on whether or not there's one or more projects that come forward. We generally have been using that for assisting nonprofits to do housing projects. And normally what will happen is they need money with like a down payment or something like that, you know, where they need. So it depends on what they find for prop properties and how costly it will be to, uh, to move ahead on it.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So you can, um, so there may be more than one applications throughout the year. Is that correct?

[Unidentified]: Yes, exactly.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then I think one of my last questions, the South Street in Winthrop, what exactly, I know that was brought up last year, they were going to possibly put a speed bump?

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, I think what's going to happen, HUD won't pay for anything. So we have engaged an engineer. They really haven't started the design yet. It is going to require some work with Conservation Commission because of its proximity to the river. Which makes it a little bit of a longer process. But essentially they came up with two ideas. One was to put this little island in the center. And the other idea, which I think is probably a better idea, is to bump out the curb on the... Let's see, what side would that be? That would be the south side. On the side of the river. On the south side, yeah. So where the houses are. Bump out the curbing. So across the street from where the bridge is and the grass trim, across the other side where the houses are. On South Street, they would bring that curb out to narrow down the width of the roadway and slow the traffic down.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Slow the traffic down so people would have to actually use their blinkers rather than taking the quick turn. Exactly. And that is mainly, I mean, that has to do with people crossing to go to Memorial Park.

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, it's a public safety issue. fly and take that corner. They don't slow down at all. It's very wide open. I think the cars move through it quite well, but the people don't. So yes, it's to just improve pedestrian safety and allow people to access the park who have disabilities. Right now, there's no curb cuts, so that needs to be done.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Curb cuts will be added? Yes. So what's the process? Once you figure out option A or option B, you'll request proposals?

[Laurel Siegel]: What will happen is there's an engineer on board, so now we have to, we really have to decide what alternative is going to go ahead, and I think there needs to be a little input from some residents on that. There'll be a notice of intent that has to be filed with the Conservation Commission, and they'll basically, you know, say whether or not a full environmental review is going to be required for this and have to go through them for that. I hope not. I mean, it's all pavement now. It's not like we're taking green space. We're actually making, you know, we're decreasing the, impervious material, so it should be a benefit from an environmental standpoint, not a detriment. So we have to do that kind of coordination first. The engineer then will move ahead with whatever the preferred alternative is, do full engineering plans. We'll submit those to the state if the Chapter 90 ends up being the other funding source. We'll submit the scope of work to the state for its approval and also to HUD to see what items they'll say we can pay for. And then that will go out to bid. And then once the bid's received, the lowest bidder will be awarded the contract if they are a responsible bidder. So that's going to, you know, that'll take a little bit of while. I think that will, you know, be through early fall, I would say.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And you will have a public hearing for the neighborhood?

[Laurel Siegel]: You know, an input meeting, you mean? Correct. There'll definitely be a public hearing at Conservation Commission, but yeah, we can, yeah, yeah. I think there'll be some kind of input meeting so they can see the two alternatives.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: If we could just put that as part of the record, just the council requesting a public meeting before the work on South Street and Winthrop Street is started. I grew up in South Street, so I know a lot of people on South Street that would be interested in, I think, input from the residents who are traversing the area all the time.

[Laurel Siegel]: It'll definitely be a change from what's going on today. Some may see it as positive and some may see it as negative.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: That's all the questions I have for right now. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Madam Vice President, thank you. So on the motion of approval by Councilor Camuso, as amended, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Lauren, you sent us a letter on April 24th, and in that letter on the second paragraph, you state as follows, for communities that are part of a regional housing consortium, the entitlement community must participate in a regional consolidation plan, which must describe and address the community development plans of all community development block grant entitlement communities that are members of the consortium. So my question to you is, are we a member of the consortium, number one? And number two, where are the monies, or are we giving monies to other communities that are in this consortium, unlike projects?

[Laurel Siegel]: OK. So the consortium is a separate application in order to be eligible for housing money through the consortium, home money. It is individual communities. If you didn't meet a certain threshold, you had to combine with other communities. And so small communities like Bedford, Arlington, Melrose, meet that threshold, so we have to combine with other communities to apply. So we are part of a READS. It's a whole separate plan. It's submitted through the lead agency, which is the Malden Redevelopment Authority. They do the administrative responsibilities, so like what I do for the Community Development Block Grant Program, they do for the HOME Program. and they coordinate the activities of eight member communities. And there's a little bit over a million dollars of home money that will be available this year. And the way that goes is basically the communities or any nonprofit can apply for home money. And also for-profit developers can apply for it. But it's all for the provision and the creation of housing for lower income people that's about 60% median income or less. So yes, the money can't, we don't get our own share, we get a regional share. And we're eligible to apply for it, and those other communities also can apply for it. And so can't other developers in those communities. Did I answer your question?

[Robert Penta]: No, not really. Are you saying that we are or we are not eligible?

[Laurel Siegel]: We are eligible.

[Robert Penta]: So since we are eligible, are we going to be taxed at any point in time from another community development plan because you're part of this consortium?

[Laurel Siegel]: Are we going to be taxed, so to speak?

[Robert Penta]: Are we going to have to give up some monies that benefit the plan and another community?

[Laurel Siegel]: Oh, OK. So sometimes, for instance, I'll give you a for instance. So not for any other community. But I'll give you, for instance, Medford Community Housing. They applied for home money, and they applied for block grant funds. But that was a project that was in Medford, so that benefited the city of Medford. But we will not give up any CDBG funds to another community to implement our home project. Any CDBG funds will be used within the city of Medford. Now, are they eligible to apply for home funds? Yes, they are, through the regional consortium, if they're a member community.

[Robert Penta]: Second question is this. This idea of giving the housing authority $15,000, of all the people that have applied, they are sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues. Why would you be doing that? I mean, I'm not worried about trying to develop a relationship with them. They never even got back to us after the feds went in there and did an in-depth investigation. And we were supposed to get a report back as to whether they were or were not adhering to the rules and regulations of not only federal practices, but also accounting practices. for which, again, we have yet to receive anything back. That's number one. But why would you give money to someone who sits on hundreds and thousands of dollars of revenue that they receive both from federal and state when you have so many other small little agencies who are trying to work their butts off to offer services in a myriad of ways within this community? I can't buy that. I'm sorry.

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, they have a long history with us. I've been here for all of it, and I've suffered through it, too. And I will say this. Number one is, this is a state agency. This is a state-funded development. It's the only state-funded development left, so they cannot spend any of the federal money. And the federal money is really where the money is in for modernization activities. State is very limited. They have, I know, I'm sure if you've been down to walking court, they have a lot of needs there. And the reason why it would go, first of all, the public service agencies can't use this money. We can only fund 15% of the total grant for public services and we've maximized that funding in the list that you have here tonight. So this is more like a physical improvement. So it comes out of other money that we could use for physical improvements. And so the reason is for the elderly people who are living there. That's the number one reason, is because they're the ones who are living in poor housing conditions.

[Robert Penta]: Well, maybe they should transfer the monies that they just approved for parks and recreation and for new courts in the same area and use it for the air conditioning and make that the priority.

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, there are a lot of other sources of funding that the city could suggest through its budget. The primary purpose of the funding here that we have tonight is to benefit low and moderate income people. I understand your concerns about working with them, but like I said, it's a small amount of money, and it's air conditioning for elderly people who are in a community center. And I assure you that I will be monitoring the use of this money.

[Robert Penta]: Lauren, you may say it's a small amount of money. It's $15,000. That's not a small amount when you're taking less than $1,000 away from other benefactors who are looking for the money. Mr. Clark. I'm going to move to eliminate the $15,000 from the house from this budget for the housing authority. Also, you, you talked about planning and administration for $286,000 in that $286,000 there is a comment that says whenever possible, the city will make every effort to attract discretionary and formula grant funds from federal and state sources to meet community development objectives. Now, if I understand that correctly, that's telling me that either A, you're going to hire somebody, or B, you're going to hire a consultant who has the ability to go out there and get additional monies, either through a grant or through some type of discretionary fund for me.

[Laurel Siegel]: Okay. Well, first of all, I'd like to believe that we have the ability to do that in-house with our current staff.

[Robert Penta]: So why the wording is in there is- Well, maybe the next mayor coming in will take a look at all of this and understand that a two-person office can't do this, and I understand that. But I'm more concerned over if this is what the objective is to hire someone.

[Laurel Siegel]: No, the statement in there is because we do planning activities. We pay for planning staff in the office. We pay for Rachel's salary, who's the housing and CDBG administrator. We pay for a portion of Chloe's salary, who's the economic development planner.

[Robert Penta]: And that's what's not in here. No. That's what's not described here as part of the 286.

[Laurel Siegel]: Right. Well, it is general. But this is basically because what it's saying, you know, HUD wants to be the funder of last resort. They don't want to be the funder of, everything that the city should be doing on its own. So basically that's in there to admit, let them know when we, so for instance, if there's a project that has multiples like the chapter nine in South street, I mean that will be, we'll call that leverage funds. And that's basically says we're using some of our planning efforts to also work with and coordinate with other agencies. So it's a general description. I understand what you're saying, but it's a general description and it's been there every year.

[Robert Penta]: Mr. Clark, you who Mr. Clark, Is he paying attention or not? Mr. Clark, the council has a question, right? If you ran the meeting like you're supposed to, I'd like to put an addendum on there that we get a complete breakdown of the $286,754 for the purposes of any and all salaries. Well, it's more than that.

[Laurel Siegel]: It's any planning activity.

[Robert Penta]: Any consultant that has to- No, I'm talking about employee salaries in this building.

[Laurel Siegel]: Oh, you'll get that. I can give that to you as part of our regular budget when there's a separate- No, it should have been here for tonight, okay? But that's not 200. I mean, that's a supportion.

[Robert Penta]: I said any part of the $286,000. That goes towards salaries. That goes towards salaries by name and by title.

[Laurel Siegel]: Yes, I can provide that.

[Robert Penta]: And the office of security development. Do you have that? Who? Yeah. No, I'm talking to him. Mr. Clerk, did you understand that?

[Clerk]: Did you get it?

[Robert Penta]: Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Is the council through for the time being?

[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. And Ms. DiLorenzo, I want to thank you for your time and effort and energy, as well as Ms. Powers for putting this plan together. I think it's rather comprehensive. In looking through the public service agencies, I noticed that there are about eight agencies that will service close to 1,500 families here in Medford. And the other seven agencies of the clientele that they service is 100% Medford residents. So I really think that the plan was given some consideration and some concise review. I think we're going to get a lot of bang for our buck in looking at the proposal and the requests for applications versus what was funded. I see that a number of the agencies that didn't service as many Medford residents have actually been not so lucky this time around to receive funding. However, those agencies that do provide the majority of funding to residents that are from our city is included in here. So, you know, I just want to commend you on your work. I know this isn't an easy job. you know, we're on year 41 of an action plan. And the big question I have is, you know, are we meeting our goals and objectives that are established from the action plan? Um, we want to develop strong partnerships to develop, to develop low and moderate income housing. Um, what percentage of our housing stock at this point in time would be low and moderate?

[Laurel Siegel]: So the there's, that's a complex answer, so I'll give it to you. So in the, you know, everybody uses the threshold of 10%, which is a state guideline. And that 10%, how they define affordable housing, are basically projects that are long-term restricted and have some sort of subsidy in them. So they're not, if Mrs. Jones has a tenant downstairs and she gives her a discounted rent to live there, that's not counted. A group home that was not deed restricted and people who live in there or maybe on a transitional basis, they're not counted. So, in general, we have, honestly, in real truth, we have a lot more than we're actually counted on the state inventory. But the state inventory is generally about 7.9%. I do think it's going to decrease because we have a number of multiple family housing in there. So but we have been imposing 10%, so that basically means we're keeping status quo on those. So it's going to be difficult. I mean, we'd have to almost produce about 1,000 units of almost all of our housing, and the next couple of years would have to be low and moderate income to make that threshold. But the city has, you know, a good number of units that are available. It's just that we live in a dense city, and the way that the state guidelines go, they look at land areas, say, of your low and moderate projects, what we might have, You know, 150 units on, you know, 40,000 square feet of land, but you're only getting credit for 40,000 square feet of land or the units that meet the state. So we do have room to improve in that area. There is a housing need, documented housing need, especially with rentals and first time home buyer. It's getting very difficult for people to find housing in this area. And when they lose their current housing that is affordable, It's very, very difficult for them to find a place in the city. So we are working toward that. And we're really reliant on a lot of nonprofits to develop this. And they're smaller agencies, and they're maybe doing a couple of units a year. So it's very slow moving. OK.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thanks for your work.

[Fred Dello Russo]: All set, Councilor? Yes. Thank you very much. Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. Now that the $15,000 to the Medford Housing Authority is on the table to be eliminated, you mentioned it's the last state, I know we learned this in the meeting as well, the Committee of the Whole meeting, it's the last state housing within Medford. And the federal dollars, obviously, there's more federal dollars. Do you know how much savings the Medford Housing Authority has for state dollars?

[Laurel Siegel]: No, I don't know how much they have. In reserves, you mean? Basically, how much unexpected money? No. How much? What are they getting for next year, do you know? They're only getting $50,000? Okay, so Rachel's basically saying the current reserve in state housing is $30,000, and next year they expect $50,000. I mean, it's pitiful. It really is pitiful, what the state is expecting to be done for housing conditions.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Now, how do you know that? figures from the state.

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, we had conversations and meetings with the housing authority in developing that plan, so I just didn't want to cite it unless I just want to confirm that with Rachel, but we can get that in writing from them if you want, ask for it, but I think if we're not giving them the money, then they're, I don't know how they're going to feel about that, but it's public information, we'll request it if you like. But you see $50,000 in all those units is nothing.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I know, I agree.

[Laurel Siegel]: It's just not enough money.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I see both sides to it. That was in my... years on the council that was probably the most disturbing set of issues that has come before the council or that we've spoken about. So, I mean, I probably feel the same way as your office does and the rest of the council. So I'm apprehensive in voting for it unless obviously you're on top of it, which you will be. depending on the reserves, I guess, is where I'd make my decision. Now, is there any way to hold that portion of it until next week so we can get those figures?

[Laurel Siegel]: If you want to make, if you want to give some guidance that if they have under whatever amount of money, if they don't expect to receive, if they're not going to receive more than, say, $50,000 in state funding next year that you approve that, then I'll just leave it in there and I'll work with them on it.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I would feel more comfortable with that than, you know, eliminating it entirely. maybe put some parameters on it, then you'd have my vote.

[Robert Penta]: I just... They've never been refused money by the state, have they?

[Laurel Siegel]: By the state?

[Robert Penta]: They've gotten money each and every year for their state projects.

[Laurel Siegel]: They have, but you're just hearing the magnitude of money that's available, Councilor. And I think if you, you know, I'm not going to say if you go down there, I'm sure you've been down there and you know people living there, that it's a lot more money than $50,000 needs to be done in improvements over there. So maybe they should tackle that rather than other issues that they have over there. They got concerned. Would you be willing to vote on that part separately than the rest of the application? I'd like to just lay that portion on the table for a week until we get an answer. OK. Well, I've got to get this application moved. I mean, I want you to vote on the application. You can amend it at the last minute if you have to. Because you'd be submitting it at the end of the week? I'll be submitting on the 15th, but I really don't want to come back for it. I don't want to open the public hearing back up. I want to get that paperwork in, because we are working with a consultant on this, and we are working with all the other cities. And the electronic submission now, this year, is going to be with all the communities at the same time. So it's just working with HUD and the software programs is not a picnic. What's your actual deadline? The 15th. It has to be submitted by the 15th.

[SPEAKER_24]: The 15th of May. Yes. This is only the 27th of April. You can't find out within a week? Well, we just told you what the amounts were.

[Laurel Siegel]: I mean, I just, I think it's... You don't have to fund it, and they can not do another project over there, but I mean, it's up to you if you want to do that or not, but... Medford residents are in those buildings, too, so it's tough, it's tough, yeah.

[SPEAKER_24]: Seeing since it's Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Can you tell me how many residents live down Markland Court?

[Laurel Siegel]: I think it's 144, right? Is that 144 units? 144 residents. Yeah, it's 144 units.

[Adam Knight]: And none of the units in that facility are air-conditioned, are they?

[Laurel Siegel]: I don't think so. I think that's why their argument at the public service meeting was that this was the centralized place for them to go.

[Adam Knight]: This is the area where they'll congregate.

[Laurel Siegel]: Yeah, it's not that big either.

[Adam Knight]: But we vote there, I think. But there's been some improvements there in recent years where they've done some upgrades to make the place a little bit more hospitable and livable for the residents. Yeah.

[Laurel Siegel]: No, they're not going to the individual units. Councilor Knight, do you still have a floor?

[Adam Knight]: We were told that they do not. I do, but I'm satisfied with my questions being answered from Mr. Lorenzo. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Does Councilor Penta wish to be recognized?

[Robert Penta]: Why are we spending money into a center that was already rehabbed before when you're leaving the 124 units still without air conditioning? I think they need to answer that question.

[Laurel Siegel]: I think what their argument is, because they said this in the public meeting, was that that's, first of all, it's not a lot of money. It's a small amount of money. I know $15,000 is a lot of money, but in general, with a project that size, it's not. that the investment in the community center at least gives them a place to go during the day, a centralized place that is air conditioned, which obviously is a lot less expensive than installing air conditioning into individual units.

[Robert Penta]: So then maybe they are, if you looked at the minutes of their last meeting, you can look at the parks and the developments that they're doing on the outsides of pieces of the property. If I was a senior citizen and I was living there, and I haven't had air conditioning for all these years, and I all of a sudden your air conditioning and community center that I don't sleep in at night time because I'm going to have to go and during the course, I'm not going to spend all day in the community center. Maybe they should be putting a program together to show how they're going to air condition those units that the people live in day in and day out. They give them heat in the winter time, we'll give them air conditioning in the summer.

[Laurel Siegel]: The housing authority is required to do their own planning processes for the public housing division of HUD. They have a public housing plan. And perhaps that's maybe what you would like to request of them, is a copy of their proposed plan.

[Robert Penta]: Maybe they should come before us, Lauren, before the council. I'm going to stick to my issue. If you want to lay it on the table for a week, let the council go over it.

[Laurel Siegel]: I really don't want to lay it on the table.

[Robert Penta]: No, I mean, let the council go over it, subject to whether they get the money in on the issue.

[Laurel Siegel]: If you want to take it out, and then you want them to come back, and you want to find it later on in the year? We'll put it back in later on in the year. Fair enough. I can, you know, at this stage it's, but I, I believe that you should fund it, but I'm separate that from the main paper.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. So a request for roll call on the motion for approval and sever the question of the 15 grand. The sever has to come first. Whatever. I just, I'm for it. And if I can state, I have the floor, Mr. President. This is for the Alfonso Caro Center. It's the common area of that development, and it's where most of the things take place down there. It's where election day is held. So this is definitely a common area, and this is where you're going to get the best impact for the best dollar, and I support it. The improvements that were made over the last few years were significant. There were squirrels and raccoons living in the building. prior to the last improvements. So I certainly do support this as a quality of life issue, and it's coming from the federal government. So rather than get rid of it, I'd rather see it funded here than in Milwaukee or Nevada or somewhere else that we'll be putting in for funds as well.

[Robert Penta]: That's a point of further information, clarification. When the dedication took place at the Fond du Carreau Center, the place was air conditioned at that time. So what happened to the air condition from then until now? Yeah, I think the heat pump, is that what they call it, the heat pump? I have no idea. But they should have been better prepared when they made their presentation before the city council. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President.

[Richard Caraviello]: I don't know if you know, but at walking court, it's all baseboard heating. There's no vent. There's no vent system. So even if you wanted to put it in air condition, they'd have to pretty much tear the whole building down to put a vent thing. It would probably be cheaper for the city to go out and buy an air conditioner for every window. Precisely. And then do that. But you know, I say, having a relative lived in there, there's just no way of putting air conditioner in there. And I would support. You know, the other said that heat pumps have a lifespan of about 15, 20 years anyway, so they go. Exactly.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion to sever the motions, to sever the reduction of the 15,000, all those in favor?

[Paul Camuso]: Present a question please to the council, and yes, vote is one 15,000 stated or?

[Fred Dello Russo]: The question is to sever the two votes so that we sever the question of the 15,000 from the main motion of approval. Well, then it's self contradictory in the, to, to support, to support the paper would be to include the 15,000 in it. Motion to sever. All those in favour?

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. The only other way, I see Councilor Pinter's point, but the only other way would be taking a yay or nay vote on the entire paper as approved. And from listening to the council, I don't think that the votes are there to take the $15,000 away from the Medford Housing Authority. So in essence, if we vote yes, as it, as it's on our agenda, it's approval for the whole paper. That's so I was doing the sever out of respect for you, Councilor, so that we could take a separate vote on that piece.

[Laurel Siegel]: If you want to, if I may, Mr. President, madam, thank you. I'd ask you to sever it because when we submit the application to HUD, there are a lot of worthwhile agencies and projects in there. And I like to see that you get to have them have an indication that the city council is behind all those other projects. So I would ask you, to not have any negative votes on the submission of the application if we don't need to, not on something like this.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So on the motion to sever, all those in favor of severing the two, aye. Roll call on the sever. On the vote, please. So on whether to remove the $15,000, a yes would be to remove the $15,000. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penta. Warren, you made the comment that we could vote to take it out and always put it back in. Correct?

[Laurel Siegel]: Well, I mean, it'll... That's what you said. It can be revised to eliminate that, but I've got to tell you, you know, it's, what month are we in here now? We're at the end of April.

[Fred Dello Russo]: We're in May.

[Laurel Siegel]: May.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Effectively.

[Laurel Siegel]: The project should be done and it should be done soon. The more we wait in time, then that means it doesn't happen for the summer. And if it's a worthwhile project, it is. And if it's not, it's not.

[Robert Penta]: And I don't think it's a matter of waiting in time. I think your assistant there just got through saying that, you know, you're probably getting $50,000 more from the state this year.

[Laurel Siegel]: And if you're getting that kind of money, they have other activities that they're going to do with that money. If we give them this and they can do other projects over there, other improvements.

[Robert Penta]: See, that's the whole thing. When they came before us that night at that meeting, they were so ill prepared. to talk about where they were going with the projects. They just wanted our money. They just wanted the community block grant money. They're sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars. They have grant writers over there. They have specialists that could do this. And to take the money from other deserving projects here in the city, I think it's wrong. That's my opinion. I hear you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. So a yes vote would be to eliminate the $15,000.

[Clerk]: No. No. No. No. The vote of one absent one in favor and five in opposition. Now, before you call on the main motion,

[Robert Penta]: Laura, let's go back and ask the question again. If in fact we go back to this $50,000 number at that point in time, could you pull this money?

[Laurel Siegel]: I, what I will do is I will find out from them how much money they're going to get. And I will give you a, I will tell you what that is. And I will ask them if they've identified their projects and I will submit that to the council.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information Councilor Camuso. Um, in all due respect to Councilor Penta, that may be the druthers of one councilor, but there may be other councilors here that are in, in, favor of it as presented so that the $50,000 that's non-encumbered right now for a specific purpose can be utilized for the senior citizens within a development and not necessarily that development. If we fund this money, some of the federal money can be used at other developments in the city.

[Laurel Siegel]: The federal money that the housing authority gets can only be used on federally funded projects, will not be used on Walkland Court. So I will ask them what their intended use of the funds of their capital improvement money is from the state at Walkland Court. And I'm sure they will report on what their proposed projects are.

[Paul Camuso]: And if they do get money, and it's more than anticipated, they can do an additional project down there. And quite honestly, Walkland Court's a lovely community, but it's probably the building that needs the most upgrades out of them all. And that's from walking and traversing in all of them over quite a few years. So I understand where the council is coming from, but to have the OCD director do that, when it may not be the druthers of the entire council, if he wants to do something like that, then let's take a vote on it. That's basically all I'm saying.

[Robert Penta]: All we're doing is securing information, Paul. We're not asking you to take the money out. All she's going to do is report back if they're getting the money, and if they are getting the money, whatever the council so chooses.

[Paul Camuso]: If the members of the council, once again, support asking that question.

[Robert Penta]: Why would you not want to get information?

[Paul Camuso]: Because I know that over the years, that has been one development that has for lack of a better word, not receive some of the other upgrades that other developments have. You go down here to 121 Riverside Avenue, they spent a lot of money in the lobby over the years, they spent a lot of money in the grounds. Now I understand some of them are federal and some of them are state buildings, but the one you hear the most complaints about is Walkland Court.

[Robert Penta]: That becomes the whole issue, Paul. So let's give them as much money as we can. That becomes the whole issue, because all they're going to be doing is keep putting Band-Aids and Band-Aids and Band-Aids. They need a complete rehabilitation down there.

[Laurel Siegel]: The Walkley Court development was not, all the other projects were federalized, a few of them were federalized, but the Walkley Court project was not federalized because it needed so much work. But there should be a long-term plan for Waukling Court, and it probably includes some type of a new development, you know?

[Paul Camuso]: That's a long-term plan. And very well possibly in the future, too. It could be something where, with the Green Line coming into that particular area, that there may be other housing options where they can build a new development somewhere else within our community or in a neighboring community that's state-funded. than possibly a whole new development. I mean, we don't know. That's going to be a hot area.

[Laurel Siegel]: There are solutions with a lot of communities, bosses doing it where they have mixed income.

[Paul Camuso]: Precisely.

[Laurel Siegel]: If they keep the percent of the low income and they add some market rate units also.

[Paul Camuso]: Absolutely. And that's what's keeping the units affordable.

[Robert Penta]: But I think one of the issues, you're talking about the Green Line. That's not a definitive thing, number one. Number two, that's not even looked upon by the president administration to spend another $150 million.

[Paul Camuso]: The president administration is another six months.

[Robert Penta]: Talking about the State House administration, that's where the money is going to be coming from if the Green Line extension is going to come forward. So you're going from the post office in South Medford all the way to Route 16. That's not a done deal. Then you have the area metropolitan area planning council.

[Paul Camuso]: Point of information. Point of information, Councilor Camuso. I'd like to ask the council, where the post office in South Medford is. I'm not familiar.

[Robert Penta]: The Tufts University, Tufts University, Tufts University.

[Paul Camuso]: All right. The hillside. All right. I was thinking more South Medford square.

[Robert Penta]: So you take that. I believe there's also a report, Lauren, that came back from the metropolitan area planning council that has itself supposedly at the end of route 16 for 165 units of affordable and low income housing for which the public hearing on that particular night that took place in room 207, there were many, many residents. from the West Method area that were very upset about that because of the traffic, the congestion, the cars that would be parking there. So there's a multitude of issues that are going on with this whole idea of the screen line extension. I'm more concerned about your housing authority, the housing, not yours, the housing authority that has not come forward with any type of a game plan for that walkway court. And all I see is patchwork, patchwork. patchwork and I think it's totally unfair.

[Laurel Siegel]: I'm sure the council could request the housing authority director to come and give an update to the committee of the whole meeting or at the regular meeting of the housing authority and his plans for improvements. I, I think that's a fair request.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. So on the question, motion of approval by Councilor Camuso, uh, Mr. Clerk, please. Motion of approval as presented to the council. Presented to the council. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso. Yes. Councilor Calviello. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Vice President Long and Kern. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Penta. Yes. President De La Rosa.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With the vote of six in the affirmative, one absent, the motion passes.

[Clerk]: Thank you very much.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Director. The motion of Councilor Knight for suspension of the rules to take a paper out of order. To hear from a citizen. To hear from a citizen. Yes. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes.

[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight? Yes, Mr. President. Mr. D'Antonio approached me before the meeting this evening, and he asked if the committee would indulge him so much as to allow him to make a brief informational presentation.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. D'Antonio will present his name and address for the record and make a brief presentation.

[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. 40 years ago today, and tomorrow, and on Thursday, We had a Medford resident, who is now a 30-year member of the Medford Police Department, standing on the rooftop of the embassy in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. This evening at 9 o'clock on the PBS station, public broadcasting, they're going to have a documentary called The Last Days of Vietnam. We have a hero amidst us again, as we do quite a few times in the city of Medford, and that person is John Galane. And he's over there in Saigon right now, commemorating this occasion. John was one of the last to get on a chopper from the rooftops. He was getting on a chopper as he saw the tanks coming down the street. The North Vietnamese were coming down there. It's similar to what Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore did in La Trang, Vietnam in 65 in November, when he was the last man off of the first major battle we had. However, the difference was that the 1st Battalion, 7th Calvary had decimated the enemy. John Ghislaine was facing the enemy coming down the street, and he was one of the last two or three. And I'd also like to say that at that attack and before the attack that we lost two Marines over there, Darwin Judge from Marshalltown, Iowa, and Charles McMahon from Woburn, Massachusetts. I think it's a good piece of living history for the people of Medford to see what this gentleman did, John Ghislaine, as a Marine over there in Vietnam. It's just something that we cannot forget. I get so dismayed with seeing things that are being taught to our students today, and it's revisionist history, and nothing is being brought up like this. But I think that John and all the guys, all the Marines that are over there deserve our appreciation for what they did 40 years ago today. And Semper Fi, John. Thank you.

[Adam Knight]: If I may make a motion that the council adjourns this evening in recognition of Attorney Galeen's service. I mean, I'm Officer Galeen's service, Mr. President.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. D'Antonio, you may not know, but next month in this room, we have a lunch for all the veterans of this community. which Mr. Galan has come here many times, and I'm sure that Mr. Galan will be recognized on that night. I assume he'll be on that afternoon, but I think the date is May 22nd. And I say it's an afternoon lunch here. All the veterans in the community are free. We have about 120 veterans that come here every year. I know you guys do that, but I wanted people to see what actually went on back then. And his story will be told that day. And I say, you're more than welcome to come here that day also.

[Anthony D'Antonio]: Thank you.

[Richard Caraviello]: But I say, you know, spread the word to the veterans. That's a good, that's a, that's a good day in this room where all the veterans get on it and there's pictures on the, uh, on the board. Uh, all the veterans that are here and not here. So again, good. We don't do enough for other things that happen in this room. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: 15-four 23 be resolved that the city of Medford examined the potential purchase of a marquee for Chevalier Auditorium in light of the temporary one that was used during the recent filming of a movie at the auditorium. Councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I don't know if any of the council members went by Chevalier Auditorium a couple weeks ago when they were filming the movie there. The movie company put up a marquee on the face of Chevalier, which lit up Forest Street and did a complete facelift of the building. It made a building that many people don't even know that's there look like a new thing. It was like a whole new business or a whole new entity that had popped up on Forest Street. I asked about maybe keeping that marquee up there, and I was told that it was only a temporary thing. But from what I was told, the neighbors didn't complain about the lights. And I think if we were to have something like that, um, purchased by the city that would give that building a major facelift and recognition that it will be needed. So, and I know there's some people here from the commission, but I say, I would, I would like to, uh, have the, uh, the mayor or whichever commission, uh, does that seriously look at, look into putting that up there.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Seconded by council.

[John Costas]: So sir, you wish to address the council. Yes, please. John Costas, 25 Salem Street. I don't know how many people actually got to see the Marquis, but can I just walk you around?

[Richard Caraviello]: And I said, Mr. President, I think that would give that building the facelift that's much needed, and people will know what it is. I mean, you'd be surprised the amount of people who live in this community who don't even know that's there.

[John Costas]: Okay, and a couple of things. There's going to be a great article in the transcript regarding this. Thank you. Okay, so what's really unique about this, and I know funding is always the issue. But what you've got to realize is we have a marquee that was designed by the people at 20th Century Fox. Now, how many theaters could claim their marquee as 20th Century Fox? At the time, they repainted the front doors from the green to this really great maroon color. We left it with that color, because the color that they chose accents the building well. Their accent lighting they put in, I know it's all make-believe, but it really worked. So what we've done is we kind of have a design, which is something that we, one of the things that always held the commission up from wanting a marquee is putting something in that neighborhood that the neighborhood's actually going to want, because you don't want something big, bright, and gaudy. It was impressive because the neighbors across the street thought it was wonderful. People walking up the street thought it was wonderful. And I'm glad Councilor Caraviello is bringing this up because it's something that we've been wanting to do for a very long time. We're also on the, we're in the middle of a residential and business district. So everything we do in and outside of that, that theater has to fit in with the neighborhood. And again, this is going to fit in with the neighborhood because we do get residents just on the other side of us, behind us and next to us, not to mention, We still got the business where you've got to attract attention without being too obvious about it. The movie, did anybody know what the movie was about? It was called Joy, and it's directed by David O. Russell. It was about Joy Mangano. She created some of the Miracle Mop and a few other items and became famous. And it's a documentary about her. And there's a lot of famous people, but I don't want to go into all the details. OK, one final thought, too. June 6, we have Frank and Ella celebrating 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra. We have tickets available if anybody's interested in seeing the show. It's going to be really, really a great show. And something that we also want to do is, and this This should be in the transcript. The commission is looking for some input from the community of what we want to see in Chevalier Theatre. You know, type of programming, what kind of programming. And we did this once before. We didn't get a lot of response with it, but we would like to have some input on what the community would like to see there. I know since this movie, the interest that's been generated has been, you know, very positive for us. So thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you, Councilor Caraviello, for putting this resolution on the agenda this evening. I too thought that the facade looked beautiful refurbished, and I also like the color of the door. And I think that this, Mr. President, is a perfect example of how the Massachusetts film tax credit's working. for not only the residents of Medford and its local businesses, but also artisans in the community. You know, we brought artists to our community. They put up a new facade. They did a little bit of work. And now we have a proposal on the city council floor. So, you know, I think this is a very important illustration, Mr. President, that shows how the arts and government can invest together, and good things can happen. And I really think that this is a great success for Medford, seeing the film tax credit be put to work and actually seeing a movie being filmed here in Medford once again, Mr. President. With that being said, I wholeheartedly support the resolution, and I would absolutely, positively think that a public hearing would be in order for us to continue to get some feedback from the residents. Thank you very much, Councilor Knight.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I'm just sad, I guess, that I didn't see it live, because that pitch is pretty remarkable. It's something that I think would bring so much interest, not only to Chevalier, but the square. My only question with that being said is, have you researched pricing and how much that would cost? Just so we get an idea of what we're voting on.

[John Costas]: It's not going to be cheap. Part of the expense was the design. So now that we have a design, we don't need to create a new one. So we don't need to hire a architect for a design. However, it does require some engineering to have electronic Right now they had a backlit fluorescent light, you know, and they hung mechanical letters in the slots. Our idea would be to update it and it would be electronic wood so that you wouldn't have to add manually add letters up as a marquee. So we would need to bring in an engineer, a sign company. Now, I think what, if there's some, if we can get the funding for this, that we bring in several different sign companies and do some proposals. and have the sign companies design something for us and quote it. And that would give us the best way of the best price and how to do it.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So it would be similar to what you showed us on your phone and what we saw?

[John Costas]: If we have our way, it will be identical.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Identical.

[John Costas]: To what we have. Because that's what everybody seemed to approve and like without any reservation. So I think when you have something that works that everybody's happy with, I don't think we should change it.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: No. Are we talking, I mean, so if it's light up signage, it's got to be at least 25,000?

[John Costas]: Oh, I'm going to say we're probably close to 30,000 or 40,000. Oh, OK.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: But we're in that bar range. Oh, absolutely. So 25,000 to 35,000.

[John Costas]: Because it's the, well, I don't want to take up too much time. But originally, they were going to drill holes in the cast stone to support that sign. And that sign weighed over 1,000 pounds. Well, the building, it's not going to take the weight on holes. So they did it a very unique way that only Hollywood can do it, and it worked. So we'd have to bring in an engineer just to lay out how they can actually attach it to the building, which is part of that $35,000 to do that. So the next step here is to talk to some companies that do this for real, put out some proposals. And I think what we can do is if we can find an architect in the city that can actually take what we have And using the pictures I took, I had a lot of pictures, they can scale it down. They can scale it to put it on a drawing and actually give us a size of the letters. Because when the letters were in the lobby, I took pictures of the letters against the wall. So we can look at the pictures of the letter against the wall and measure the height of the wall, and you get the height of the letter. So there is work to be done.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I would just add an amendment that there is a neighborhood meeting before any RFPs go out, obviously, just for I know you said the neighbors were very supportive of it, but we definitely want to get their input.

[John Costas]: Oh, absolutely. Again, it's a residential neighborhood. So we don't want to put anything that anybody's going to have any objections with. And it's not going to be lit at night all the time. I mean, it's going to be lit probably during the day all day. But at night, there's no point in really lighting it all night long, unless it's the night of the show. And then, of course, it would be lit up. So it wouldn't be something you'd be stuck blinking like a neon sign. all night long in your window.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then just another suggestion, when you look for input on, you know, a program that people would like to see, I know the paper is One Avenue and obviously the paper puts it online, but also social media, that can be huge, you know, getting the Councilors involved and, you know, everybody's on Facebook nowadays. I mean, I would really get input from all generations and maybe try to— There's no age limit on the input, you know.

[John Costas]: If there's a, you can email the input to Chevalier Theatre or jcostas at chevaliertheatre.com. And I think that'll be in the newspaper also. So it's letter jcostas, C-O-S-T-A-S, at chevaliertheatre.com. Ari.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I mean, we have such a population of families and just the younger generation too, which would, I know you've spoken in subcommittee meetings just because people have requested that before, programming for children where families can go on a Saturday afternoon. Even as simple as putting up a movie screen and watching a movie with popcorn with your kids. I think that a couple bucks a person, there's so many different things you could. the community can come up with. So I think that getting the input is great and hopefully we can, Council can help in any way we can.

[John Costas]: I mean, we requested this before and we got some input, but maybe that was four or five years ago and times have changed. We've got new people in the city, new families coming in the city. So we may get some great ideas that we didn't know about.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: We should take that picture and then start the ad with that because I think that people would be amazed at how that looked and maybe people would spark an interest.

[John Costas]: We can hope.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you.

[Robert Penta]: A quick question, John. You had indicated some time back that the City of Lynn, I believe, fronts shows with money and the shows produce the money back.

[John Costas]: Yes.

[Robert Penta]: To the community.

[John Costas]: I did say that. Has the City of Medford ever offered that to you folks? No. Well, the mayor at one time did offer to help do a revolving fund to fund shows. But the problem with doing shows is that there is no winner. I mean, you never know what the show is going to do. You don't know if it's going to make money. It's going to lose money. What Lynn did is they went through a series of shows where they lost money. But eventually, it turns around. Because once you get the name out there and the shows are out there, they kind of just snowball. And then they start investing some more money. So for example, our smaller shows, though, like we had John Denver last Friday night, it was a great show. We had over 300 people in attendance, but it's very tough to make budget when you don't have sponsorships. The budget of that show was around $15,000. It's not an expensive show to do, but because of the type of show it is, it doesn't attract 1,000 people. If we bring in a $100,000 show, we're more likely to make a budget of $100,000 show if you brought in Natalie Cole.

[Robert Penta]: So how could you make your argument successful for the city administration to front the money up front to get repaid back? And there might be some losses in the beginning, like you said, until it gets to the point that it's repaid.

[John Costas]: Well, it's called the investment. And at one time at the city council, when we have the live shows, for example, Rick Springfield, financially, I think we lost five grand, but the hotel was packed. So the city of Medford made thousands of dollars in hotel tax. Every time we have a show at the theater, Carol's, the Chinese, the Blue Fuji, Salvatore's, they're packed. So $1,000, you know, more money in taxes, the meal tax. And the way Lynn looks at it, and even lower, is that it's not a loss, it's an investment. Because if you lose a million dollars here, but you gain four or five million dollars in revenue to the city, The city gains, because obviously if somebody wants to be in business, to have a restaurant, you can increase property tax. So everybody is a winner. So you can't look at it so much as a loss. Because yes, we may take a loss, but if we lose $5,000 and the city makes $10,000 on taxes, on hotel tax, we win. If Carroll's and Salvatore's, same thing. So my argument to you is, yes, we'll lose money, but we win. We'll make money.

[Robert Penta]: We're not really losing. We can win in the long run.

[John Costas]: Well, eventually, if we have enough, well, like, for example, Stoneham Theatre does really well. But they have a mailing list of probably 5,000, 10,000. We don't have a mailing list that large yet. But every time we do shows, we add another 200 or 300 people to our mailing list. I think everybody's on the mailing list and you all get the emails. I think we have 2,500 emails now and every show we generate more emails. So the more shows we do, the more interest we can generate, the more people we can have access to because they're on our mailing list.

[Robert Penta]: You know, real quick, you just mentioned the Stoneham theater and you know yourself, they were struggling in the beginning to get themselves going. And it was the type of shows that they brought in that's basically saved them. And now they're, They're for profit.

[John Costas]: They're doing well. They're doing really well. And so isn't the region in Arlington. Same thing. They're a smaller theater, self-promoting theater.

[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Ma'am, please state your name and address for the record.

[May Marquebreuck]: My marquee work at 16 Glenwood Ave, Medford, Mass. I've been on the board of directors of the Friends of Chevalier for 22 years, a little bit longer than my age. And I've been on the board of the Chevalier Theatre, organ society, since its inception, which I think was about 15 years ago. I would like to thank Councilor Caraviello for introducing the proposition to install a marquee at the Chevalier Theatre. Because I'm always pleased when this subject is on the council agenda, because it provides an opportunity for public conversation. And I am definitely in favor of your support and recommendations to enhance the theatre with a marquee. that would be an attractive and visible improvement on the building. We still have people living in the city, especially new families, for which there are very, very many coming into the community in the last few years, who have no idea what's in that building. And over the years, I have participated in many discussions about the Chevalier Theatre. I've written many stories. press releases, newsletters. My basic concern is that even though the building is owned by the city of Medford and many, many and costly studies have been conducted that have consistently said the Chevalier Theatre has the potential of being a destination in the city and creating a vibrant district that's pedestrian-friendly and attractive for downtown businesses. The most recent study was the Sasaki Master Plan, which was issued in December of 2004. I guess that's sitting someplace here at City Hall on a shelf, collecting dust, along with the other studies. Because unfortunately, the recommendations that came out of that study and the previous studies have all fallen on deaf ears. Why is taxpayer money being spent over and over again for these studies, but the citizens are not seeing any results? We're all aware that in this past year, Medford has been considered a very hot in the real estate market. And as a result, it has received a lot of positive publicity. Many young people, families, small children, professionals are moving into Medford. These new residents are looking for a community offering good schools, transportation, open space, safe neighborhoods, arts and cultural programs, to mention a few. In short, a quality of life. We have many assets here in Medford that other communities do not have, and the Chevalier Theater is one of them. In addition, we have our history, the Mystic River, open space, just to mention a few, But I feel that the city needs to do a better job in marketing itself. As an advocate of the theater for more than 20 years, it has been obvious to me and many other residents that while the Chevalier has undergone major renovations, at the cost of probably $3.5 to $4 million, which has come from both private and public money, And in addition, as well as the money, hundreds of volunteer hours by the Chevalier Auditorium Commission and the Friends of Chevalier. It has not had a return on that investment. There have been people who have been very, very faithful and supportive of the Chevalier Theatre for many, many years, and I would like to publicly thank John Costas, who has been with this effort since the very beginning, and the late Geraldine Grandy and Dick Oba. If it were not for those three people, possibly the Chevalier Theater may have become a parking lot, which would have been disastrous. I would also like to make a few more observations. The commission of five volunteers, in my opinion, should not be expected to manage the theater, oversee major renovations, raise funds for physical improvements to the building, which of course belongs to the city of Medford, and essentially do everything that is needed to make it successful with very, very little support from the city. The commission has done an extraordinary job in bringing Chevalier to the level of a first class facility. Recently, here in March, we observed the 75th anniversary concert. We had a concert, which was very successful. It came on the heels of 108 inches of snow. And it was really a wonderful occasion, a great coming together of the community. And many people who came there, because it was somewhat of a different show and it drew a different audience, they were amazed to learn of its existence in the first place and how magnificent the theater is, especially the acoustics, the elliptical ceiling, and the unobstructed view of the stage. Secondly, the commissioners do not receive stipends or other benefits, except for providing annual fuel assistance in the winter, which amounts to about $48,000, and occasional emergency funds when a piece of the building is falling off. The city has not demonstrated interest in the potential of the theater as an engine for economic stimulus in Medford Square. The city budget is about $145 million. $145 million. Why can't we allocate more than, and this figure is not even 1% or half a percent, it's .0003% of the budget for the theater. There has to be a few dollars somewhere that can be allocated for Chevalier. The demographics and diversity of Medford are changing rapidly. We all know that. and residents are welcoming a growing arts and cultural movement in the city. Today, with the population that we have and the diversity that we have in the community, there is a greater range of artistic talent to share with all our residents in Medford and beyond. Unfortunately, arts and culture are often thought of as frivolous and unessential. This is not true. Studies are emerging that are quantifying the value of arts and culture to a community. In June of 2004, a report titled The Arts Factor concluded that arts and culture are as essential and fundamental to our identity as the American Revolution that innovative and inspiring cities place arts and culture among their greatest assets, and that arts and culture is an economic engine for the community. I am in favor, and thank you, Councilor Caraviello, for your proposal. However, I would like to say that without the support of the city, and without a vision or a plan, for the future of Chevalier, which this council can very, very well initiate and participate in. We are in a cycle of going nowhere. Change in our community is blowing in the wind. And we all need to work together to meet tomorrow's challenges. Thank you.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, May, I agree with you 100%. You know, the people in this community are changing. There's more and more younger families that have moved here. And you're right. There's hundreds of many families that have no idea what goes on in that building. You know, every morning, if you go down Forest Street, the traffic is backed up to 93. That would pay for itself just in advertising alone, that people would get to see that. As I say, there's cars that are there that sit at Forest Street for an hour, cutting through to go. And I would hope that the new administration coming into this building next year will see the benefit of that building. And I say, I mean, all one has to do is pick up the newspaper and see the lineup that Lynn puts out every year. I mean, every week and every month. And I talk to people, why can't we have that here? There's no reason why we can't get some of the talent that Lynn gets. I mean, they had Natalie Cole there not too long ago. I mean, there's a woman who has Medford roots. No reason why we couldn't have had her. I mean, State Representative Donato went and got state funding for all the new seats in that building that don't get the use that they should be. Those seats should be worn out from all the people going in there. And the other thing that that building lacks, the building should have a concession stand. That would be a major generator of money for that building if they had a full-time concession stand. So every time you have an event there, You'd make money on your whatever you happen to sell there. That's all profit. So again, I would hope that the new administration takes a different view than the past administration has in that building.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. And, um, you know, I, I certainly support this this evening, but, um, I think this council has been very supportive of the arts, uh, just within the last few years, the line item that was offered by Councilor Marks. for arts in our community was put into the budget. I believe it was $25,000 at the time. And it's something that we've made sure that it was put in year after year. Now, I look back a few years ago. OK. I look back a few years ago, and at the time, it was President Stephanie Muccini-Burke who was the chairperson of the council. And we did have a proposal for an art center here in our community. And the only three councilors at the time that supported it, for whatever reason, was Councilor Carr, Councilor Marks, and myself. Now, all the councilors have their own reasons why they didn't, and I respectfully understand their reasoning. But there's been proposals over the years that have come up, so to say. But with that being said, as Councilor Caraviello just stated, too, I think, and I brought this up in the past, I think the Chevalier Commission has to look in the direction, too, of allowing Councilor Lungo-Koehn mentioned a few minutes ago about having a nice movie with popcorn and sitting down with the kids. But unfortunately, unless you change your rule, popcorn's really not allowed in there during the show. Is that correct? Correct, yes or no? Yeah, right now. So right there is part of the problem. Concession stands is what's keeping Lowell alive a lot, as well as Lynn, because people are going up to the concession stands, and they're buying a 12-ounce beer for $5, and it's costing the place a nickel. So the city has been supportive over the years of putting some ideas and stuff out there. And the management company, and I understand, you're in a commission role. And that's certainly different than being an actual manager of a theater. And the city maybe should have taken a bigger investment on the management side of bringing in somebody that's paying and that's their whole entire job is getting behind the shows to come in and all that. But I think we have to change with the times as well. I think the marquee is a wonderful idea. Hesitant to the fact to have some advertising going on it other than the shows that are there Because I think that would essentially be another billboard type thing on Forest Street, and I wouldn't be totally for that to be honest with you But as long as we keep the integrity of the building as long as the Historical Commission signs off on it the Chevalier Commission of course who is in the custody in control of the building and as well as I believe it would be the city council for a signed denial permit. As long as it goes through the proper channels and gets vetted properly, I'm for this 100%. But I just think that this council, particularly the council that's here today and not ones of six, seven, eight years ago, have been very supportive of the arts, including the $15,000 that was, I believe, unanimously supported by myself and the other six members of this council. over the past few years. So, I'd just like to say I support your endeavor and move approval.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Councilor Camuso.

[Joe Viglione]: Sir, please state your name and address for the record. Joe Villione, 59 Garfield Avenue for Mass. Thank you, May Markerbrook, for that excellent input, excellent work. I have a question through the Chair. Is there air conditioning in the Chevalier for summer shows? So there's no air conditioning right now, and I think a marquee is a great idea, Councilor Caraviello. I think it's a great idea. I think the first step is we need the air conditioning, because that means four or five months later, you've got a marquee and nothing happening in there, or very little happening. So air conditioner is the first thing we need for the Chevalier Theater. Now, I offered a show to the Chevalier for May 23rd, and it would have fit in nicely with the John Denver Tribute. It's the actual members from Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper's group, Dennis Stunaway, I've been in touch with Mr. Dunaway today. Now, unfortunately, as of today, I've moved the show to the Regent Theatre in Arlington. So where the Chevalier is asking for input, I went to the Chevalier first because this is where I live. This show would have cost about five grand. It will do well because I saw it in Shirley. The room was absolutely packed. They do all the hits of Alice Cooper, all the hits of Blue Oyster Cult, plus we have a Lou Reed tribute with Nelson Slater, a dear friend of Lou Reed's. that this tribute show with these original members for $5,000 is a lot less than $15,000, unless the 15 grand included the police and everything else. But still, it's a minimal amount of money for a great show. And Dennis Dunaway has a book released June 9th on St. Martin's Press, which means St. Martin's will be promoting the region show. Medford lost that. Medford loses again. I also have other acts that want to come in, a Led Zeppelin tribute from Berkeley. These guys are phenomenal. So all these acts are coming to me because I am a calendar. I manage a calendar for a nightclub. So all I do is the management of the calendar. The booking agent is another guy there. But I'm in touch with a lot of resources that could benefit the Chevalier. Now, this is something we mentioned again. And Father Chip Hines and Fred Lasky and Allison Goldsberry went with us to the Chevalier for TV. The access station should be there. And even if it meant putting a van in the parking lot, or using the back room, the synergy of the money we have for AXS TV, using a city-owned building, this is just picture perfect. And I know that the commission has their reasons, but their reasons have resulted, all due respect, because I like the commission of the Chevalier, but all due respect, we have an empty, vacant place, and there are people that want to give input, people with talent, qualified people that have been kind of like, oh, great idea, Joe, but you know, well, you know, we have nothing there. I've reviewed concerts at the Stoneham Theatre, at the Lynn Theatre, and they're all flourishing because they put some hard work into it. We could have a huge mailing list in a heartbeat, just like we could have a public access station. So the three points were that. The key thing here is this access station, which we will now have because the issuing authority is moving on to parts unknown, we will now have the stumbling block removed from access. And he's probably the same stumbling block that kept shows from the Chevalier. Have a good life, Your Honor, Mayor McGlynn. It's time for Medford to rise like a phoenix, and the Chevaliers should be part of that rise.

[Paul Camuso]: Hey, for the gentleman. Thank you. Do you say you were going to put your own money and funding behind the show and they turned you down?

[Joe Viglione]: No, that's not what I said, sir. I didn't say that.

[Paul Camuso]: Well, no, no, because normally a promoter comes in.

[Joe Viglione]: I'm not a promoter. I didn't say I was a promoter. I offer the show.

[Paul Camuso]: All right, well, I'm just a little confused, because if you brought it to them, As a conduit, what is your role in it?

[Joe Viglione]: My role in it is I have a rock band, and I want to be the opening act for this event.

[Paul Camuso]: OK, with that being said, you have your own private capital to put on a show.

[Joe Viglione]: No, no. I offered to the Chevalier that I know these people because I interviewed the band for my TV show, which is called Visual Radio, which in case you don't know, Councilor, I've been doing it for 20 years. And I'm in touch with all sorts of people. So I have information and contacts that I brought to the Chevalier. And I talked to the Chevalier about the city funding it, because if the city put up 15 grand for a John Denver tribute, $5,000 is an investment, and all due respect to Mr. Costas. But some shows are turkeys and some shows are winners. And the Chevalier and the city backed some shows of great talent that you knew wasn't going to draw. But again, when there's not input from the public and people that are in the trenches that actually know this stuff, that know about Polestar, And, you know, as a further thing, since Mr. Camuso brought this up, if we have a management company there, the management company should be required to bring in two shows a month. If we have these people on commission, they should be doing two shows a month.

[Paul Camuso]: Just to follow up with the gentleman again, first of all, his facts are wrong, as occasionally they are. The city did not put up $15,000 for John Danva. That was a private entity that went to the Chevalier, correct? A promoter?

[John Costas]: Well, no. On John Denver, like the Alan Frank show, that was commissioned. Okay. It was the... What happens is... But the city did not put up the money. The city did not put... Yeah, the taxpayers did not put a penny in that at all.

[Paul Camuso]: Correct. And the gentleman said the city put up the money. I know that wasn't the case because otherwise you would have to come through here through the general fund and the budget.

[John Costas]: You're correct, yeah. The taxpayers didn't fund that show.

[Paul Camuso]: Okay.

[John Costas]: They don't fund any of the shows that we do. Either the commission funds it out of the revenue we generate from our rentals, or like we have next June 5th, we have Matty B. We had him last year. He's a 12-year-old hip hop star. And without any advertising locally, he sold out 1,300 seats at 12 years old. And now he's coming back again this year because he did so well last year at Chevalier Creek.

[Paul Camuso]: And I remember, too, it's very easy to get up here and say, I'll bring this guy in and that guy in. But if you don't have the funding to back it up, I'll give you a perfect example. A few years ago, Representative Donato put his own capital behind it, had an outstanding show, Michael Amante, right down here in Medford Square. The place was packed. The local limousine companies were busy, the livery services, the restaurants. But Representative Donato took a leadership role and put up his own private capital in order to do that. So Medford Kiwanis did it with Lou Rawls. Lou Rawls. Lou Rawls. So to say that they're just going to come, I mean, that's a fragment of people's imaginations.

[John Costas]: Well, the last Irish show, the Friends of Chevalier, the Friends of the Chevalier Theatre Organ Society, another group that commissioned, they put up all their money to do a show. And they had, what, 800 people? We had a great turnout. It was a fantastic show. So yes, you're correct. They put up their money. All right.

[Paul Camuso]: I think we have to be clear, because it was a statement that was made that the city of Medford put up the money. And as much as we'd like to, that's not the case at this at this point.

[John Costas]: Well, I agree, because I think it's important that taxpayers know that these shows that they see in there, whether they make money or not make money, it is not taxpayers' money that came out of their pocket to fund the show.

[Paul Camuso]: It's a big difference being a groupie with the people that play at nightclubs and tavern-type things, and actually being a promoter that brings in shows, writes a check to the Chevalier Commission for $25,000, $30,000, and then works off commission and other things. It's a huge difference, and I've witnessed it firsthand through the likes of the Kiwanis and Representative Donato, so.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Camuso?

[Paul Camuso]: Yeah, no, I just thought that was important, because I didn't want the taxpayers to think that we were just fronting money for shows at the Chevalier Auditorium.

[Joe Viglione]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Camuso. As a response to Mr. Camuso, Joe Villalon, 59 Garfield Ave.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Sir, the woman is next.

[Joe Viglione]: I need to respond to this, because he called me a liar. I have facts and figures. I do public records requests. I do my due diligence. The commission put up the money. I made an error. Sometimes when we're speaking, we make an error. But this individual, this Councilor, antagonizes me every week with lies and innuendo when I come up with facts and public records requests. And he should be censured for that. Thank you very much.

[Fred Dello Russo]: My apologies.

[Paul Camuso]: Like I said, the gentleman, I deal with facts. I'm certainly not going to go low and talk about the judge's order that was written and basically talked about the caliber of the individual that was here. That's for another day. But facts and figures are important when you're at the people's forum.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. Ma'am, would you wish to speak and address the council? If you could, please state your name and address for the record.

[Jeanne Martin]: I would love to. I'm Jean Martin, 10 Cummings Street. And I'd like to thank everybody for giving me this opportunity to speak. I too have gone to the 75th anniversary of the Chevalier Auditorium. I too went to the John Denver. And this is a wonderful, wonderful asset to the city. I know you guys are just like, where did I wake up? Because I'm supporting the arts. This is fantastic. This is a fantastic asset.

[Paul Camuso]: If we're going to have a gentleman that walks around here just screaming and yelling, I mean, you may want to do something as the presiding officer, because it's certainly disruptive to the entire group of people that are out here. If he has to be escorted off the grounds, then so be it. But I'm actually a little bit nervous with the behavior that's being shown by that gentleman right now.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Mr. Councilor Camuso. Ma'am, if you would like to continue.

[Jeanne Martin]: Absolutely. I'm also a proponent of all city buildings having a 5% building line item for maintenance. And since this is such a beautiful presentation that we had professionally done by Hollywood, that should be replicated and it should be part of that 5% building line item for maintenance for this building. It should be awesome, and it would be wonderful because you don't know when you're driving by, and you're absolutely right. In the morning, Forest Street is backed up all the way to 93, and they sit there, and you know what that building holds, and it's fantastic. And I like your idea with the concession stand, because it is missing, you know, and you go downstairs and you have... Yep, it is. And so I like that. The other thing is about rock concerts, the only thing I have to say is Rick Springfield. I heard some stories about stuff that went on in the bathrooms because they rock concerts. And I was a kid once too. And so you want to be careful. And I grew up with Rick Springfield. But I mean, things go on in bathrooms, like drug abuse and other things. And you kind of want to stay away from that. But the John Denver thing was awesome. And the 75th anniversary, that Irish band that played was fantastic. And also, we can have plays, we can have comedians, we can have the diversity of shows, the movie theater, it's fantastic, and it will bring in money to all the restaurants in the area, it'll bring in foot traffic, and our Fridays and Saturday nights should be at least lit up until 11 o'clock on a Friday night, okay? I mean, why this city on a Friday or Saturday night doesn't have the lights on and people walking around? I'm not talking about maybe Monday night could be dead, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, but, you know, Thursday should pick up. People should get off work and go and hang out at Method Square. And Friday night and Saturday night should be bustling until at least 11 o'clock. It wouldn't kill us, and it would bring business and money and tax revenue. And that could be the center key, is the theater, because it's just awesome. The location, the building structure, it's just beautiful. And it should be. And I support this $50,000 or whatever it is, and I'm going to give the guy $20 to make it $20 less tonight. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Jean. Good evening. Just state your name and address for the record, sir.

[UdTpFX1NL7M_SPEAKER_04]: John Veneziano, 65 Crocker Road. Thank you very much for your time and patience regarding the Chevalier Theatre. A lot of you have heard this before. I'm on the board of Chevalier. I joined John Koster about three years ago, appointed by the mayor. Susan Fairchild just joined the group as well. I've worked with the friends of Chevalier and they all do a great job. We all know the asset of the theatre, but we don't realize the asset until we actually fund that asset. Medford Square is a big part of revitalization going on. We have a lot of action going on. It's amazing that when we talk about what we want to do, that a lot of us don't have the visual aspects of seeing something first, such as the marquee. We talked about a marquee at our board meeting about a year ago at Chevalier, and we talked about funding, and like air conditioning, it's very difficult. And then someone goes and puts up a fake marquee, and everyone gets excited about it. So let's just say that everything that we're trying to do is positive for what we're trying to revitalize. The bridge is coming. The theater is now becoming a topic. And so what do you need to do? You need to get serious about the aspects in these properties that the city owns. This theater is 1,800 seats. You put 1,000 people in there, things are going to happen. So do me a favor. Don't just talk about this tonight. Rick, thank you very much for the opportunity of bringing this to the forefront today. But think about how we can fund this. We have a new mayor coming. The mayor did a lot of things that he felt was very important for the city to take care of what he needed to do. He never dropped the ball on the theater, but I know there are a lot of things that are coming up. May made a good point about funding the budget. If you can find some money there, we could use a professional group. I mean, John Costa, myself, and Susan We volunteer, we're three people. There are actually two seats open for the commission. With the Medford Chamber of Commerce, I'm on the, I'm chairing the governor committee, and we have some great ideas that we'd like to do at Chevalier for the election coming up. And also with Susan on board, she has some great new ideas for new exciting things that we want to happen. Popcorn, we talked about having popcorn. We talked about having drinks in theater. We're figuring out how to make that work. And the only reason why we can't do it because we have to clean the place, right? So you have popcorn and you have your drinks and then you leave and then we have to clean it and we don't have the money to do it, it's a shame. So again, do me a favor, make this a reality for the city, you bring people to that theater, you fund that theater, and then you'll fund down Medford Square and we'll get the square going too, thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Mr. Veneziano. So on the motion of approval by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Vice President Lungo-Koehn. All those in favor? A roll call has been requested. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice-President Leocur? Yes. Councilor Miles? Yes. Councilor Penta? Yes. President Dello Russo?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With the vote of six in the affirmative, one absent, the motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Cavillo, that while we're under suspension to take 15-422, petition for common Fitchler's license by Jose A. Pazos, 19 Irving Street, number two, Revere Mass, 02151 for Annie's Pizzeria, LLC, 213 Middlesex Avenue, Medford, on file, all the appropriate endorsements from the various departments in City Hall. So to take this out of order, All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. And to the Chairman, Councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: My apologies, Councilor. Mr. President, I have reviewed the gentleman's documents. I find them all in order. And a motion for approval. A motion of approval by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor?

[Fred Dello Russo]: All those opposed? Motion carries. Congratulations. Thank you. Good luck in your new business.

[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President, one more while we're on the suspension. While we're on the suspension, one more, Councilor Caraviello. Mr. President, 15-420, if I could recommend tabling that, Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On motion 15-420, petition by Asha Patel for Spring Street, Super Red, Medford, for Keno to go, monitor to be installed at 88 Spring Street, Medford, Mass. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, Chairman of the Licensing Commission, to table. All those in favor? All those opposed? Thank you, Mr. President.

[Adam Knight]: While we're on to suspension, Councilor Knight. Can we take paper 15-337 off the table, please? Appointment of Mr. James Tarani, the Board of Trust Fund Commissioners. Very good.

[Fred Dello Russo]: 15-1337. And we have that as part of the committee of the whole report, reporting it favorably out of the committee. Committee of the whole met last Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015, 6, 545. Attendees, President Dello Russo, Vice President Lungo-Koehn, Councilors Mox, Knight, and Mr. James Tirrani. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the confirmation of James Tirrani for reappointment to the Board of Trustees. Recommendations upon motion of Councilor Knight that the meeting be taken out of unfinished and the motion to confirm Mr. Tirrani's appointment passed. Councilor Knight, motion that the paper report out of the committee is passed. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Yes, Mr. President. I couldn't have said it better myself. The committee was properly, took a look at Mr. Tirani, had an opportunity to sit down and speak with him, ask the questions that they weren't able to ask when he was before the council the previous Tuesday. It's my understanding that he works Tuesday nights with clients and was unable to meet with us on a Tuesday. So he came the next available day, which was the week after. And it looks like everything's in order, Mr. President. I was very happy with his appointment. I think he's doing an excellent job. And with that being said, I move for approval.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for approval, Councilor Knight, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Mr. Torani is appointed, reappointed. On the motion of Councilor Penta to return to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Orders and resolutions. 15.4.17, offered by Councilor Penta. Be it resolved that the position of Mayor of the City of Medford be discussed.

[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penta. Mr. President, this is a very important position. As we all know, this will be the first time in so many, many years that this office is going to be vacated by the incumbent mayor, Michael McGlynn. As I said before, I wish him well for whatever endeavor he so chooses. And I would hope that he would be finishing out his term and not leaving ahead of time. But be that as it may, that's not the issue. Right now, the second highest position in this building, which is the Director of Budget and Personnel, has made an announcement. that that individual is going to run and seek the office of mayor. I believe that was done some seven days, six days after the mayor made his announcement. And I believe that was on April 20th. And as a result of that, a further announcement has been forthcoming as it relates to that individual now going to relinquish that position on May 15th. And today, I believe we received another press release, which was dated April 21st. as it relates to the fact that the Director of Budget and Personnel is going to be leaving effective May 15th, even though the announcement was made on April 20th. In the second comment of the letter that states, I would not want the Office of Mayor to encounter any appearance of any conflict of interest. And I think there is a, a, a miss there. It's not the Office of Mayor. I think it would be the Office of the Budget Director because unfortunately, This individual is the one that presents the budget to the city council and goes through all the finances to make the city's council's budget come forward. At the same time, it's also the person that's in charge of personnel. There's only been one person that I've been able to find in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the person comes from the city of Medford. And when this person, many, many years ago, made his announcement that he was running for attorney general, he resigned his position as vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the State House, that was George L. Sacco, former representative George Sacco. And that always stuck out in my mind when somebody running for jobs of such high authority, if you're going to be that committed to it, they relinquish their position, at-present position. In that time, vice chairman of Ways and Means was a very important position. But when he resigned that position, that was the day he made his announcement. And I would personally believe, and I would think, and I would hope, that a budget director would reconsider her position and resign immediately. To have the luxury of reviewing a budget right now ahead of time or getting prepared for it, and I believe that the new person taking the budget director's place is now the procurement officer, and she will be assuming the budget director's position effective three days after May 15th, I think the conflict of interest is sort of like outstanding. That's an undue advantage ahead of time of any other candidate that might be running for that position, and in all fairness to all parties concerned, I think May 15th doesn't serve any purpose. I think it needs to be done immediately in all fairness, because if in fact, if in fact, that person were to become elected mayor of the community, and that person would be working with a mayor, I would strike that, would be working with a budget in advance that no one else would have had that advantage, advantage point two. So with that being said, with all due respect, I understand the position she's in. I understand that she's the budget director, and also the budget director in charge of personnel. And if I'm looking at the second press release that was offered here today, it says that the procurement officer will only assume the position of a budget director, but not of personnel. So I guess there'll be an addendum. Someone is going to pick up that position in the future. So with that being said, I would like that position to be made loud and clear, and all fairness to all candidates, whoever they may be, he or she, that if the second highest position in this city has that authority for which that person has in here, I think in all fairness, they should be resigning immediately, not till May 15th, to get their ducks in order, just in case that person does, in fact, become the mayor of this city. And you know something? I've spoken to members up in the State House, and they have basically said the same thing. Judge Sacco set the precedent. of resigning his position when he decided to run for Attorney General, because that's how committed he was. He was willing to give up that for which he had to go forward and campaign for that position of Attorney General. And that's what stuck out in my mind all these years. And then when I saw the situation taking place here right now, and reading today's press release, I just thought that that would probably be the fair way to go. And fairness to the person herself, to just leave and move forward because you've already committed to a date. Why did you commit on May 15th? I don't know if it's to get the budget in order and hands it down to the next president. Again, totally unfair and big advantage and a big conflict as far as I'm concerned. Councilor Camuso.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Mr. President. I respectfully disagree with Councilor Penta. I have had the honor and the distinct pleasure to serve with the lady in question on this city council and have been through several budgets with her. She has the utmost integrity of high caliber. And I am sure that she's doing what is right according to the law. And if she feels that resigning on May 15th is the way to go, then I support it wholeheartedly. I just, like I said, I just, the utmost integrity this woman has. So I just respectfully disagree with my council colleague, and I'll leave it at that. Thank you, Councilor Camuso.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So, we have really no motion before us except that there be a discussion. Mr. President. So, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Yes, in response to Councilor Camuso, I didn't challenge her integrity and I didn't challenge her high caliber. What I'm saying is the potentiality of a conflict of interest existing. I have, I hear what you're saying and I don't disagree with you. But I'm more concerned about the appearance of a conflict. Second highest position in this building. That's how I'm looking at it right now.

[Paul Camuso]: Well, as just a little quick follow-up, and I'm going to let it go, Mr. President. I'm sure, and I haven't had any conversations with her since she announced to be a candidate for mayor. And I am sure, knowing her and the input and just the way she goes about her every day doing her job, she is doing it within the confines of the law. And I have no question about anything as it relates to this matter. I'm not ready to take any type of vote on this other than to just say, I'm just letting my feelings be known. Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President de la Rousseau. I just don't believe this is in our purview either. I feel like, I think she did announce that she was going to resign this Thursday. We don't know the reasoning for staying on two more weeks, but there has to be some sort of reason, whether it's to train somebody who's going to be taking our place or at least taking our place for the June budget. There has to be a reasoning that we're not aware of. I think it's up to those running for mayor or for elected office or for taking a vote individually to protect their own conflict of interest. It's really not in our purview.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you, Councilor Lungo. I too feel as though Ms. Burke is taking the steps that are appropriate to ensure that she is not posing a conflict of interest. If we take into consideration the election calendar, nomination papers don't even come out until May 28th. So until those papers come out, she might have announced for mayor, but until those papers come out, she can't even pull them. So I really don't see the big issue here, Mr. President. I can certainly understand where Councilor Pente is coming from, A lot of times the appearance of impropriety is in fact much worse than actual impropriety. However, in terms of the situation where the nomination paper's not even out, I have no problem with Ms. Muccini-Burke continuing in her position until the date that she decided to withdraw and resign. So with that being said, I thank the gentleman for bringing the resolution forward and for bringing the topic to the table. However, I too feel as though this is way outside the scope of what this council can do.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. While I agree with Councilor Penter, I mean, as the parents of conflict, I do agree with Councilor Knight. Anybody can announce anything, and until you actually go out and you at least get your papers, you're not a candidate for anything. And with any job, it's customary to give a two-week notice. You just can't pick up and leave, especially a job of that size. So just giving a two-week notice, something that you would give with any job that you had. Very good. On the motion of Council Penta to receive and place on file.

[Fred Dello Russo]: All those in favor? Opposed? 15.418 offered by Councilor Penta. Be it resolved that the matter of Snappy Patty Restaurant and its latest activities be discussed.

[Robert Penta]: Councilor? Mr. President and anyone who might be watching, but more importantly, business people in this community. that have to abide by the rules and regulations set forth by the council, the billing department, and the liquor commission. I observed something that's written in the local news food blog issue he made on March 16th, 2015. It says snappy patties will get a whole lot bigger with the new patio. And then it goes on to say that snappy patties in West Method is going to expand with 50 more seats. And they're going to put an outside, upscale, contemporary American food of world influence, which they'll be putting outside for a service. And they're going to more than double their capacity with the addition of a 50-plus seat capacity, including an outside bar, according to the job postings for positions on Craigslist. Now, the unfortunate part about this, I think both for Councilor Caraviello and myself, on two separate occasions, weeks apart from each other, were informed that Snappy Patty's was serving alcohol, not beer and wine. And such reports were submitted to the Liquor Commission and for which on both times, the Liquor Commission had to tell the Snappy Patty people they couldn't do that because they wouldn't be in jeopardy of their liquor license. Well, after the first occasion, they should have been fined because they knew that they wouldn't, they shouldn't be doing it. That's number one. I believe last week at some point in time, they were out there in the backyard with the backhoe or whatever, digging up the backyard. That in and of itself prompted the building department to go down there and tell them that they had to stop, whether cease and desist, or they were going to be fined. They continuously are just being obstinate to the rules and regulations as to what's going on in this community. There are many businesses here in this community that abide by the liquor license laws. As a matter of fact, I think most recently during, I would say early December or thereabouts, there were, I think, eight restaurants in this community that the Liquor Commission went in to make sure that the folks were doing what they were supposed to be doing. And I think two of them unfortunately got warnings because of the serving of the alcohol. And I believe in those situations, they were to minors. But this one here, they brazenly are serving hard alcohol beverage. at Snappy Patty's in total violation and total violation of the liquor laws here in the city of Medford. Now, if we all remember, we had a discussion most recently regarding Bertucci's wanting to expand and go with an outside dining capacity. And by doing that, I believe they gave us a demonstration and they gave us a schematic of the tables that were going to be in the restaurant needing to be at least two to three feet apart to allow a wheelchair to get by and also to have the accessibility of a handicapped bathroom. I strongly suggest that now Snappy Patty's has put themselves into a spotlight. I think their present location needs to be looked at as it relates to, is there room wide enough for a wheelchair to make an accessibility way in and out of their floor arrangement to a handicapped bathroom? And at the same time, this sole proposal for this expansion of 50 plus seats which I think takes into question, is it even going to go on city property? And if it is going to go on city property, for which we all know we're still waiting for the results, for the report to come back on the contamination of that particular parking lot that's back there. So I'm going to ask, Madam President, that the building commissioner report, well, they gave us an initial report here tonight, that they put things down for which Snappy Patty's needs to do. I believe what they need to do is first, before they do anything, They have to commit construction documents to the building department. They haven't done that. They have to apply for a building permit, for which they haven't done. They have to send in a certified plot plan, for which they haven't done. They have to submit a floor plan showing the detailed description of the proposed work area, for which they haven't done. And they haven't applied before the council for an outside permit to have their business. So how does this business take it upon themselves to go forward, start construction, start digging up, advertise what they're going to do in total violation of the rules and regulations of this community. If that's the case, Mr. President, and they continue to go forward, and they don't submit the appropriate paperwork and do what they're supposed to do, then I think the council needs to—and if I—Mr. Clerk, you can correct me if I'm wrong—do they have a common vigilance license from the council? They do. I think the council should have a show cause hearing on their common vigilance license for a violation of how they're operating, and at the same time, the request would go to the Liquor Commission as it relates to their violation of the liquor laws of the city of Medford, and it's quite obvious now, dated April 28th, that the building department is well aware of what they're doing and what needs to be done. You know, this is absolutely unfair to every other single business person that's had to come into this community to go by the rules and regulations as outlined by the building department and by this council, if in fact they have to come before the council. But to let this one particular business just do what they want to do advertise what they want to do, don't have the right proper documentation, that's wrong. So, Madam President, I'm referring this both back to the building department, to our liquor commission, and to our council waiting for a report back as to what they're going to do resulting from the building commission sending them their notices that they're violating without proper authority.

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

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, and I certainly agree with my colleague, Councilor Penta. The gentleman's just going about doing things on his own. We have a piece of property that abuts that, directly behind it, that is, we're going to be doing a multi-million dollar clean-up down there at some point, and there's been excavating equipment out there, moving the dirt around, and the dirt is touching buildings systems, at least they're monitoring for the chemicals that are out there. I mean, this isn't environmentally... If they're taking dirt out, where's the dirt going? We don't know. So I think we have to send this to the Board of Health as well, Councilor Penta, to find out what's going on with that. And the other thing is, too, you know, you have people in this community, city employees, that do their due diligence and take their jobs very serious. After city employees have done their jobs and inquire, what's the equipment for, and this and that, and asking where your permits are and all that, one of the gentlemen that's in this particular establishment is going in and basically threatening other businesses, saying they called the city on them. I mean, this guy's a vigilante running roughshod down there. And it's just totally unacceptable. And the business owners are basically looking at him like a deer in the headlights. Like, what are you talking about? It's in the West Medford Municipal lot. It's the West Medford Municipal lot. You're underneath the, you have 300, 400 cars pulling in and out of there during the days, I assume, between all the different venues down there. So with that being said, I think the city has to actually get a handle on what's going on down there. Interesting enough, I know the gentleman has the proper seating for the beer and wine license, and I quite honestly don't know what the definition of a cordial is. I know bigger restaurants in the community that have gone out and put the proper seating in to have full liquor licenses. and made an investment in the pay and higher insurance bills and everything else due to those licenses. I mean, are they at a disadvantage if they're serving stuff that doesn't conform with the particular license? I really don't know, to tell you the truth. So this is all things that our department heads have to get back to us on, I think. and then move forward in the appropriate manner. Because the biggest thing that disturbed me the most, though, like I said, with everything aside, going in and basically yelling at other business owners when there's a full store full of customers. You called the city on me and this and that. Well, you know what? If you do things right, you don't have to worry about anyone calling the city or a building inspector coming on your property and making sure you're doing things right. Just do it the right way. I mean, Councilor Penta just read an advertisement talking about the seating and this and that. It hasn't even been before this council yet. I have a serious public safety issue I'm going to be looking at. What if a car pulling out of a parking spot? puts the car in drive and goes right through this patio with 30 people eating on it down there. I mean, I don't know. Is there going to be bollards? Is there going to be some barrier in place? Is it the border health an issue where the diesel trains are going by and out there eating? I don't know. But this is where our department heads have to give us the answers. And as long as the gentleman's doing everything right, good luck to him. But as far as I can see right now, from what I hear, and I know early on, There was some questions with the way the liquor license was written up. Is that correct? Councilor? Um, and the way he was approaching his business, but serious, uh, disadvantage to businesses that are conforming to the rules and standards like counsel Penta stated. So, uh, I support having this sent to our department heads.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Point of clarification. Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: I forgot. I mean, and the Craig list announced, uh, it basically says, They're doubling their capacity with an addition of a 50 foot seating capacity, including an outside bar. I mean an outside bar. Okay. So put that all together. And how do you advertise like that on, on March?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: If I may, where was the advertisement?

[Robert Penta]: March 16th. It was on Craigslist in the food service blog.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, you know, um, I, you know, I, I was privy to some of the things councilor Pinto went out with. I actually had the opportunity to talk with the gentleman, one of the owners of the place. And I nicely tried to explain to him that no one wants to throw out your business or stop your business or we welcome the patio, whatever you want to do. But I said, you need to understand that we have a process. And I said, we approved patios a few weeks ago for some other restaurants. I said, they came in here with plans before they started the project. I said, please don't come in here. thinking you're going to come in here with a fully done patio and we're going to approve it. I said, this is not going to happen. I said, go out, get your proper permits with everybody. But I said, before you start, I said, start at square one with your plans. And he said, well, I've been to the department heads and I've talked to the commission. I said, talking to them and actually getting a permit are two different things. I said, so please, I said no one's not in favor of what you want to do. Again, just get the proper permits, do the correct thing. Don't put the cart before the horse here, because again, if he comes here with a completed patio, no one at this council is going to vote for it. So I think I tried to make them understand that, and I know the owner of the property. I conveyed it to him, and he's tried to make him understand. What it is that we're looking for. We're not looking for you to do anything different than anyone else has. And I don't think people understand, but he doesn't need a permit to put a patio in the back on concrete. But he does need a permit if he wants to see people out there. I mean, all he's done right now, he's dug up the ground and he's planning on putting either some pavers down there or concrete, which does not require him to have a permit. But anything else he does, if he wants to, if he's planning on building a patio, if he goes much further than that without coming before us, I don't know what support he's going to get, Madam President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Point of clarification, Councilor Panto.

[Robert Penta]: When you say you don't further, we don't know where the city property begins or where the city property ends. And I think the city's engineers got to get down there and figure out what belongs to us.

[Richard Caraviello]: I don't know if he's on the city property or not. None of us know. None of us know, but again, I see it's been dug up to the curb, and I'm assuming that the owner of the property owns up at least to the curb, but we haven't even got into the issue of the other businesses you're going to be blocking.

[Clerk]: If I may, from the chair, he does have a... He does have an outdoor dining application in. There has been. There is an application in. The two that haven't signed off yet are obviously building in health, and they are looking at the concerns that you have, but the other ones, police, I mean, it's all plans are in sketch, you know, it's before the 88 coordinator. And now, uh, for her to look at her and prove it. So throughout the steps are still being there. Now, whatever permits, that's a different story, but the outdoor dining application is in. right now.

[Richard Caraviello]: I would hope that his construction doesn't continue until he gets, other than, you know, putting down a concrete slab until he goes further on, until he gets further on the process and he gets to this, gets to this board.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Madam President, thank you very much. Um, you know, Snappy Patty's is a new restaurant. It's, it's, uh, one of the newer shops down in West Medford square. It's gotten some positive reviews and I think it's certainly a nice addition to our downtown and west Medford square. However, not at the expense of, you know, the rules and regulations that are put in place that make sure that this community is kept safe, that health standards are met, that certain engineering standards are met. And, you know, there's a process that must be adhered to, Madam President, and ignorance of that process takes no excuse to move forward. And Councilor Camuso was absolutely right. You know, I had a neighbor that wanted to put in one of those wood-burning stoves in their garage. And he said, I'm just going to do it. And I said, I don't think that's a good idea. You might want to talk to the building department. And they went to the building department, and they got all the appropriate permitting, and they got the appropriate measurements and the appropriate equipment and put it in. Well, it's inside their garage, and it goes out of the roof. Sure enough, the first day they turned it on, 7,000 people in the neighborhood thought there was a house on fire, and they called the police. And because they permitted it the appropriate way, everyone was aware of what was going on. And I think that that's the most important thing here, Madam President, is that there's a process in place. The process is in place to keep us safe, to keep the community safe, and to protect the quality of life of the residents and the people that want to use those businesses. So, you know, I think what we need to do is take a look at Councilor Camuso's resolution that he put forward, which would streamline the permitting process, because I think what this is is really it's just someone, a business owner, who's frustrated and wants the process to move faster than it really is. And because the permitting process is taking a bit of time, he's getting himself a little bit ahead of the gun. You know, I certainly want to portray a business-friendly attitude when people come before the council for common victuals licenses. But not at the expense of public safety and not at the expense of the established rules, regulations, and ordinances that are in place. Madam President.

[Michael Ruggiero]: Name and address for the record. My name is Michael Ruggiero. I live on 18 Pembroke Street. The question I have, it seems like this issue might be a little larger than Snappy Patty. How can a business be doing work construction without the building inspector posting a work stoppage order on his permit? I don't understand.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah. Clarification, Councilor Camuso.

[Richard Caraviello]: All he's doing is putting down either blocks or a patio floor, which does not require a building permit at this moment. So that's all he's done at the moment. He hasn't gone any further than digging it up and planning on pouring a layer of concrete or putting pavers down or whatever he plans to do. So that does not require a building permit at the moment. Oh, okay. Thank you for the clarification.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Okay, so on Councilor Penta's motion that the Building Department give a further report, Liquor Commission look into the licensing. And amended by Councilor Camuso that the Board of Health look into this. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health.

[Unidentified]: Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health.

[Unidentified]: Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Liquor Commission, and Board of Health. Building, Offered by Councilor Penta. I'll read it and then we can switch. Be it resolved as a matter of this present year's operating budget that includes a $2 million increase in the school department be discussed. Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Madam President, we all know, and I guess at the beginning, I thought it was to the great betterment of the school department that they got a $2 million increase on their side of the ledger. for the 2014-2015 budget. But after doing some initial investigation, it appears like those monies did not find their way into something that I'm going to revert back to Councilor Caraviello. When you first came on, I believe it was at the end of your first term, you indicated there was $1.2 million worth of corrections that were needed in the Medford public school system. And I don't see any report coming back on that, number one. Number two, the $1.2 million in corrections, having been talked upon, it's only been talked, if they've done something, it would be nice to get a report. But approximately 27 positions have been involved or impacted as a result of this $2 million increase, which I believe, if my numbers are correct, is approximately seven new positions. And these seven new positions have jobs that are in the $90,000 range, if not more. And I don't think that's what the people of this community are looking for when they see increases in the school department budget, when there is a lacking of teachers in certain specific classes, in the classroom looking for whether it be books or supplies or things of that nature. Just because you haven't had an assistant principal in some school for years, now all of a sudden because you got the $2 million, you're going to go back and put an assistant principal in, which could be nothing more than maybe a political job, a favor to give to somebody. I don't know. But I just think it's kind of like wrong that these 27 positions or thereabouts that have been impacted, of seven of which are probably brand new or thereabouts are brand new, with $90,000 salaries, if not more, represents the $2 million increase into the school department budget. I don't even know if the city can afford another $2 million this year. to sustain the $2 million from last year. So, what I'd be asking for, Mr. President, is — Mr. President, I'd be asking that the superintendent of the school department — oh, let me tell you another story. I went up to the high school the other day, and I walked into — walking into that high school in the front. It's a war zone. It looks like that school has gone through a war. The cement is all broken. The bricks are — The bricks are just shuffled. There's loose pieces of concrete. The door's walking into the front entrance. It's an embarrassment, if you were a taxpayer to this community, to walk up to that school and say, this is my high school, and this is the high school where I want to send my children to. I don't understand it. I just can't understand what they don't understand. The young lady who came up here a little while ago, she talked about taking 5% of the budget for each building. Well, if we remember correctly, on the new school buildings, there was supposed to have been 5% on an annual basis until those buildings were paid off. But of course, the State Department of Education didn't have auditors to come in to check and see if 5% on an annual basis was being reinvested each and every year on those school buildings. And now all of a sudden, whether it's a million two, could it be up to a million four? I don't know. Maybe we should get a review of that also, Councilor Caraviello. Just what are the damages that need to be corrected in these buildings? But it's quite obvious that this $2 million has now become a political football in the school department wherewithal for the purposes of jobs and whatever it might be. I thought and I believed that the $2 million was going to be for educational purposes, teachers, books, supplies, things that are desperately needed, and maybe monies to be used to repair some of the buildings that have been so delinquent for so long and not getting repairs. And that's not happening. So I'd like to report back, you know, I don't know where the school committee is on this. You know, I think they have an obligation to explain this. And also, and also, and I don't know where we're going with this, but the scuttlebutt now is, and I'll wait one more week before I put this on the agenda, but the scuttlebutt is now, and it would be nice if we were told about this, that the high school is trying to merge the vocational school with the high school and only leave three or four certain classes that are certified and make the other classes nothing more than electives. The Medford Vocational School has been a wonderful asset to the community of the city of Medford for students who just are not college bound. There are students that want to be plumbers, auto repair person, auto mechanics, workshop folks, whatever. whatever the trades people are looking for. And now for the school department to be talking and thinking of merging and only leaving three or four certified positions up there as it relates to these type of work entities and have the rest become nothing more than, you know, electives that kids in the high school can go back and forth. It defeats the whole purpose of a vocational school education. So I'm going to make this in three counts, Mr. President. I think maybe we should just meet with the school committee. Maybe we should have a joint meeting with the school committee for the purposes of investigating not only the $2 million, but discuss the $2 million, discuss the problems of the city, and discuss the makeup of that, and also to discuss just what are they trying to do with the vocational school. Merge it? End it? I don't know. But you have teachers that are very confused. You have students that are really upset. You have parents that are upset, because when they talk to me, I have no idea what they're talking about, because apparently this has been going on, and it hasn't been advertised, and nothing's been written about it. So this is a major change to our public school education, if the vocational school is now going to be transformed into some type of community school within the high school. That's not what vocational education is all about. Absolutely not. So I'm going to ask, Mr. President, that over and beyond having a joint meeting with the school committee, I'd like to have a report back as to A, number one, the $2 million that have been spent for this year's budget, names of individuals and salaries attached to it. Two, the repairs that Councilor Caraviello brought to the council, I think it was some three years ago of approximately $1.2 million that we get a list of all the repairs and the projected costs. Three, What are they doing about this vocational school as it relates to changing the purpose that it presently operates under as to merging it with the high school? Fourth, why is the front entrance to Medford High School in such a terrible state of affairs? And lastly, to have a joint meeting with the school committee on all these matters.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the five-fold resolution of Councilor Penta, Councilor, Vice President, I'll go current.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I thank Councilor Penta for putting this on the agenda. I think we do need some answers, and I know the school committee has to be involved, but I think we do need some answers before the budget in June. From what I understand, there have been at least seven new hires at 94,000 to $15,000 per year in salary. So I just, I think that's pertinent information for the June, going over the school department budget in June, because I think we need to look at the big picture here. I too did not know these new positions were going to be implemented. We were told, you know, I think minimal information when we should have been told probably more information of the bigger picture back back in last year in June 2014. We have people who are being hired, 94,000, 115,000. Then we also have people who jumped from 77,000 to 94,000, 82,000 to 94,000. We have people that jumped, you know, minimally 8,000, 5,000, 6,000. But I think it does a disservice to give an administrator, you know, a $20,000 raise when we're talking about giving our fire and police and teachers you know, the one to 2%, you know, an average increase in pay salary based on the cost of living. We also have aides in our kindergartens. They got a 13 cent per hour raise. 13 cents. That equals, I mean, if you do the average, some aides in the kindergarten classrooms aren't even allowed to work a full day. They work about three hours per day. That being the case, it's about an $85 raise for the year. I think it's something that we need to pay more attention to this at budget time. And I know we meet probably six, seven, eight times during the budget. We go over the whole city budget. But I think we need to dedicate more than an hour, an hour and a half to the school budget. And if that's sitting down with the school committee, so be it. But the main issue here is that we were given minimal information. I mean, we don't have a day-to-day, you know, we don't have day-to-day access of who's hired and who's fired in the school department. Well, nobody's fired. who's hired and for what salary and who's going to get what raise. I mean, we don't have that information on a yearly basis. But it's something that we need to definitely dig into a little deeper come June. Because I think that the city should be consistent throughout the board. Like I said a couple minutes ago, fire, police, teachers, aides within our classroom. That's disgraceful. It's absolutely disgraceful.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Vice President. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. I agree with Councilor Longo-Kearns. We should have some numbers before the budget, and I think this year we need to spend a little bit more time with the school budget, and all the budgets, not just the school, but the budget in general. I think we got to sit down and make some hard decisions, and not wait until November to say we need to cut the budget. A budget needs to be cut or added to. We need to speak up when the time comes now, not wait six months later. And also, when Councilor Pentland mentioned the front of the high school, when was the last time you walked into the front of the police station where their stairs are crumbling? I went in there the other day, the first stairs almost all gone. We're crumbling all around.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Crumbling out front here too. That's right, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Well, all you have to do is look up at the ceiling over there and you wonder what's taken so long to get that fixed, whether it's the stairs in front of the police station, the stairs in front of the high school. This is the whole idea. How would the priorities are set? Just reverting back to Councilor Longo-Curran when she talked about, you know, look at the lunch mothers who haven't received diddly in years for a pay raise. And they're there every day taking care of the kids in the school. And if I understand some of these bumps that the $2 million afforded, they gave people in management positions pay raises or they escalated their pay. But I don't understand how you can do that if you've already had a budget that was voted upon, which your salary is supposed to be. And I don't know if you can turn around and do this. I mean, that's what needs to be explained to us. This is kind of like crazy. If you're getting paid $60,000, $70,000 a year, then how can you turn around and get another $6,000 or $7,000 or $8,000 out of this $2 million? Whether you're an administrator or rank and file, it doesn't cut the mustard. This $2 million was supposed to be for education. not for personal engrangement for certain people that work in that building. It should have been for teachers, classrooms, books, supplies, and maybe at the outset it should have been for repairs to the school buildings, because that's what's desperately needed. You spent $112 million for new buildings, And as of two and a half years ago, there were a million two in need of repairs. God knows what the amount is right now. But they know how to feather their own nest, their own pocketbook with their own pay raises without acknowledging this. I think this is a very crucial matter. You have people on the school committee wanting to run for the city council and not acknowledging any of these issues. These are the issues that are every day that are confronting the city and the taxpayers and the students that go to that school. You have whether they're the lunch mothers, who sometimes say they're the lowest ones on the rung because they don't get acknowledged, or you go all the way up to the superintendent, who gets the highest pay of anyone in the entirety. Something's got to be understood and explained, and not just at the budget time. And we have asked so many times ahead of time to have these joint meetings between the school department and the council and vice versa. So you have four separate issues here, Mr. President. And then you have a fifth issue to have a joint meeting with the school department, so it would be great to get all these answers ahead of time so we could have our joint meeting, so we could have some sense of understanding to know where we're going, rather than walk into a meeting and just look at each other like a bunch of dopes. Thank you, Councilor Penta. Councilor Langley-Curran?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Just to resolve, I know Councilor Penta, we'd like a list before June of all new hires in the last 12 months with salaries and amounts, and then Just also a list of all those who received raises over the last two years, over the average of 1 to 2%, which the rest of the city seems to get. So if we could have that before June, that would help with our budget deliberations. Thank you.

[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. And I can certainly appreciate the concerns. However, I believe it's important to point out that our school committee holds their own budget hearings. Anybody who wants to go, can. They're open to the general public and we can ask those questions there. I'd move to sever the questions, Mr. President.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion to sever the questions. Councilor Penta, point of information.

[Robert Penta]: Yeah, on the point of information regarding the motion to sever, and Councilor Knight can do whatever he wants as it relates to that. Fact of the matter is this city council makes the final vote on the city and the school department budget. And this city council was informed that the school department was given a $2 million increase during our budget with absolutely no explanation as to what and how. And now that this has now been surfacing and people are asking questions and there are some concerns as it relates to how and why the $2 million was spent and now which precipitates all these other issues, whether it be the vocational school, whether they're merging, they're not merging, whether it's people getting raises, schools are getting raises. whether the entrance to the high school is gonna be, it is our bailiwick, it is our responsibility, and it's the school department's responsibility to talk about it and acknowledge it, and they haven't.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Penta, for that point. Councilor Naira, you all through?

[Adam Knight]: That was interesting, Mr. President. However, you know, I think that the council have professed that there were certain members of the school committee that are gonna be running up the city council, and it sounds like it might be certain members of the city council that wanna be on the school committee. But ultimately, looking at the issue, you know, we approved a budget, We approved a budget, all right? And I have no problem asking questions, Mr. President, but I think that we have to ask them in the appropriate form. And if we're concerned about what's going on at the school department, then let's go on their turf and let's ask them what's going on over there. I don't have a problem with a joint meeting. I don't have a problem with that at all. But what I have a problem with is us trying to tell the school department what they need to do, us telling the school committee that this is what you need to do. They're the committee. They're elected to make those policy decisions, Mr. President. And I feel as though we're overstepping a little bit when we're starting to demand things from them and tell them what to do. They're elected into that office to vet that budget, to put that budget together and to issue that budget. They issue that budget to this council and this council looks at it. We either accept it or we don't. That's the fact of the matter. So to talk about the budget and to talk about what the school committee is including in their budget, I think the appropriate time to do that would be when the school committee is putting their budget together during their budget hearings.

[Fred Dello Russo]: to sever the five-fold motion by Councilor Penta, Councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, Councilor Penta made a comment about the $112 million that was spent on these new schools. Well, you know, one of the good things that Mayor McGlynn was able to do was he was able to go out and get federal funding, and we sold the other schools. So, geez, you know, just imagine if we were paying the taxes on the $112 million in these schools. The least we could have done, seeing that we got the schools for nothing, which is what we did, we could have at least maintained the buildings, seeing that you got your schools for free, which has been a sore point of mine.

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Penta. Councilor Camuso. Thank you, Mr. President. And I've been a member of the school committee in the past and a member of this council. And I certainly respect the clear delineation of the roles of each particular body. The school committee puts together a budget. They come to the city council with that bottom line number, and we either say yay or nay on the overall funding package. A lot of good stuff has been going on in the schools, but there's also some questions, like Councilor Prentice said about the vocational school. That's the first I'm hearing of it. I know that they're going to be bringing some new programs into the vocational school. in the very near future, and I'm not so sure. I just haven't heard what you're saying, and I'm sure there is probably some truth to it. Somewhere in the middle, there's something going on. But I really believe that this is a school committee issue, Mr. President. We have school committee members that do a great job getting into that budget during the budget process, so I will not be supporting this. Just for the mere reason that this is a school committee issue, as far as I'm concerned, And I respect the budget that they put together. And in most of these positions, too, are subject to some sort of collective bargaining agreement, I would think. There's very few employees that are at will employees. I know there's some confidential secretaries, but most of the people are in the administrator's union or the teacher's association. So that's the majority of the staff. And then the rest is the nurses and the paraprofessionals, things like that. But most of them are under a collective bargaining agreement. So for those reasons, I wish the school committee well as they prepare their next budget.

[Michael Ruggiero]: Michael Ruggiero. I live on 18 Pembroke Street. I agree with Councilor Penta. I think that these issues are better served before an up or down vote that's addressed with all the pressure of having a budget. If it doesn't get filled, all of those students are in trouble. The sooner we talk about these issues and the sooner we, and the more we participate in the budgeting process, whether it's school committee or also city budgeting, I think the better the program will be when it's finally released. and the more transparency that will be in the program.

[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion to sever by the five-fold resolution of Councilor Penta, offered by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Madam Vice President.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President De La Rosa. I just want to add that I think very well that the school committee did their due diligence and have probably talked about this in their own committee meetings a number of times, I think it's just time for us as a council to get the information before the June budget. So I agree with Council Penter in respect that we'd like to see this information and be able to deliberate on it. But I obviously disagree with regards to the fact that I think the school committee is doing their job. And I just wanted to make that clear. And if you could just read the motions before we actually vote on them, that would be fine.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. First, we're going to take a vote to sever or not sever. So all those in favor of severing? Aye. All those opposed? Opposed. The chair is in doubt. Mr. Clerk, call the roll.

[Clerk]: This is to sever?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion to sever.

[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Long and Kern? Yes.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. So six in the affirmative to sever with one absent. Uh, the, uh, motions will be seven. So Mr. Clerk, if you would, from a one to five motions and we'll vote on them singularly.

[Clerk]: Okay. Well, the first one. increase, uh, the names of the individuals and salaries, uh, the people that were hired.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on the motion to, for the school, uh, superintendent's office on that motion, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Let's be clear about this. When we were presented a budget and we were told that the school department had an increase of $2 million, there was nothing presented in the budget as in the entire other part of the budget of the school department budget. Each department was broken down. with the names and the salaries of each and every individual. So this is on and after the fact. So this information that's being requested is nowhere to be found in the budget. And I think it's our, I think we're entitled to have it as we were getting everything prior to the budget. So on that motion, all those in favor.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Aye. So in opposition of councillors Camuso, Knight,

[Unidentified]: That's it.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So the motion passes. Number two.

[Clerk]: Listing of all raises.

[Fred Dello Russo]: A listing of all the raises. All those who received raises over the

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: over the average of 1-2% within the last 24 months.

[Clerk]: So on that motion, all those in favor? Aye.

[Fred Dello Russo]: All those opposed? So the motion passes. Opposed? Opposition.

[Clerk]: Number three. Number three is the front entrance of Medford High School. Walkway, is that it?

[Robert Penta]: Yeah, the front main entrance, the front entrance, you know, an update on this, an update as to, you know, how they intend to fix it, when. and how it's gone into such poor repair.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So all those in favor? Aye. Aye.

[Clerk]: Those opposed? Motion carries. Number of? Status of the possible merging of the vocational and high school. On that motion, all those in favor? Excuse me, can you say that again?

[Fred Dello Russo]: The status of the possibility of merger of the high school and vocational technical school. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? Motion carries. And number five was for a joint meeting of the school committee and Medford City Council. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Councilor Camuso is recorded in opposition. Motion carries.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: If I may?

[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes, madam.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: This is not on the agenda, but if I may, I meant to put a motion under suspension, just to notify the city council that the school committee is having a meeting on Thursday night at the high school. I believe I can find out more information at 7 p.m. with regards to the drug prevention within our schools. That's something that city I brought forward in the city council supported seven to nothing a few weeks ago. And I want to thank the school committee for going forward and having that meeting. So hopefully, Anybody that can attend will be there. We're going to get some updates with regards to what is in the schools presently and hopefully round table debate the topic. So I want to thank the school committee for that.

[Fred Dello Russo]: And hopefully we're going to get back some ordinance language soon. I think it's still on the desk of the solicitor. I'm going to check to get an update on that so we can have a committee of the whole on that discussions. And then hopefully move approval on that.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Great. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. Councilor Camuso. Very good. That the superintendent of schools update the city council on a police matter that occurred within the school system. Possible. On 4-28, that would be today? April 28th, today. We have Councilor Knight wishes to be recognized. No, that was on from before. Thank you very much.

[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penta. Yeah, just reflecting back on what Councilor Lungo-Koehn alluded to on this Thursday coming up in the high school on the continuation of the drug issue. Today there was a forum that was held publicly outside here in front of the city hall. at three o'clock with some 50 plus individuals as it related to NACAM and the fact that they're still waiting from the police department and the fire department for coming forward and whether they're going to allow or whether they're going to use NACAM. Um, the unfortunate part is there's still no response back. Supposedly it's a union issue that they're waiting to negotiate. Um, you know, there's nine cities and towns around us that haven't, um, what the negotiation entails or includes, I don't know, but, We all know from the vigil that took place about a month and a month and a half ago, um, that we were led to believe that by the end of March, um, and this, uh, it was March or April, excuse me. It was going to be, um, set in motion. Let's put it this way.

[SPEAKER_08]: And the gentleman from Armstrong ambulance, the gentleman from Armstrong ambulance informed us that Armstrong ambulance administers that drug. No, you're not.

[Robert Penta]: Let me finish. The gentleman from Armstrong ambulance indicated that they have administered it. but the surrounding, the nine surrounding cities and towns who have police and fire that likewise administered, sometimes they are there before the Armstrong ambulance, and sometimes they're in a position that no one else is in where they could possibly save someone's life. So what the detail and hanging up is, I don't know, but I think we need to get a report back from both the fire department and the police department on just where are we on allowing them to, or allowing them to have NACOM on their persons, so to speak, on their property when they're on duty for the purposes of an overdose. I guess you can't use that. Part of the clarification.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you for that. I just, I did request an update from the chief of police probably the end of last week. So if you don't mind, it's very, you know, it's not too long. He did write back. The patrol officers association is in agreement with carrying and utilizing Narcan. At this time, I have the policy almost complete. I need to identify a medical control physician to sign off on this and provide training. I am working with Penny and Armstrong Ambulance to identify the MCP, which is required. I recently received 10 free doses from the Middlesex DA. Obviously, we will need more and we will get it. We are very close. The union was very agreeable. It is the other red tape that has been problematic. So the chief of police is working on it. I know the overcoming addiction and the city council and the rest of the city is hoping that it comes sooner rather than later. But at least the chief is being extremely responsive, and it's good that the Patrolmen and Women's Association is agreeable. So I thank the chief for that update. Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. First of all, I think that the Police Patrolman's Association needs to be commended for being so receptive and willing to take these steps. Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Narcan is certainly something that's important. It's important for our first responders to have. It's important to keep people alive who are battling with opiate abuse. However, Mr. President, narcan is not going to solve the problem. And if people are not provided with better access to care and better treatment options here in the community, We're going to see the same situation over and over again, where history is just going to continue to repeat itself. Someone's going to use, someone's going to overdose, someone's going to be administered Narcan, someone's going to survive that overdose. Then what? The system just starts all over again. The cycle just starts all over again, Mr. President. So, while I agree that Narcan is a very important component to an overall and comprehensive plan to battling opiate addiction here in our community, I think that one of the major focuses that we really need to make is on treatment and access to it. Thank you.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion to go back to the regular order business. Councilor Camuso, did you need to be a regular before we go?

[Paul Camuso]: Yes, just real quick on the Narcan and just want to thank Councilor Lungo and Councilor Penta for bringing this up. As well as just send another thank you to Janelle Rocco, who was working hard to put this together. And also Councilor Penta. Councilor Penta was one of the main speakers today at the event out here. Many people didn't know what was going on when they seen Councilor Penta in front of City Hall with a bullhorn today. Many people were questioning whether it was your announcement for Mayor or not. So, with that being said, I want to congratulate the Councilor for partaking in it today.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. The bullhorn. The bulls. On the motion of Councilor Knight to revert, Councilor, Vice-President Leglecurt to revert back to the regular order of business. All those in favour? All those opposed? 15-421. petition by Matthew Page Lieberman, 15 Canal Street, number 15, Medford Mass, to give the City Council an introduction to participatory budgeting. Sir, please state your name and address for the record.

[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: My name is Matthew Page Lieberman. I live at 15 Canal Street. So quite a few things have happened here the past few months. There's been a big outrage about the meters. Similarly, there was a vigil here in this room. There were apparently hundreds of people just last month about the opiate problem. While it's really unfortunate what's been happening, there's also some hope that it gives me because I see so many people here in the city coming together in reaction to things that are horrible that are plaguing the city. Something that I wonder a lot about is how do we get people to be involved in civic processes when there's nothing that's really plaguing us? Like, sometimes I wonder, like, what is the kind of world I would like to live in? What is the kind of world that other people would like to live in? And it seems to me that the way that our political process goes today is just, in our city at least, we vote once a year. And the options are very, they're very slim about, I mean, what we can vote about. So I was really happy to find out last year about something called participatory budgeting. It started in Brazil in 1989. And it's spread to 1,500 countries around the world. What it's really about is people, just citizens or residents, being able to vote on where money will be allocated to. Now, it's only really a very small amount. It's not for operating expenses, more for capital expenses. So these are projects that should be implemented within one year. And it's also just not excluded to people who have registered through the traditional process. It's open to anybody who's a resident. So frequently this includes students as well as schools up to sometimes 12 years old. Um, I spoke to Michael Marx last year about this, or actually a few months ago, and I wanted to know how the process would go. And he said I should speak to the mayor. But, um, you know, then the mayor announced that he's resigning. So I figured that I should speak to Stephanie Burke. He's not running for reelection. Yes, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Thank you. Thank you for the correction. So I was thinking it would be reasonable to speak to Stephanie Burke. So I went to her office last year and I figured because she's the budget director and she may be our next mayor. But I was told by one of her assistants that she doesn't really do that when I asked to have an appointment with her. Um, which is, is, is really unfortunate. Um, but, um, yesterday I did speak to one of the budget analysts from Cambridge. And we spoke on the telephone for half an hour. And she was part in rolling out participatory budgeting in, in Cambridge. And she told me just so much about how the process works. Um, what they did is one of the city councilors in November recommended that, um, They consider participatory budgeting. And they did this very intense process of going to the schools and the community centers and taking so many ideas from people. They even put this thing on the website where people can say where they want projects to be done. And they took input from a lot of people as well as meetings. So they started by asking for volunteers to be part of a steering committee that was 22 people. And then the steering committee basically had to make certain determinations about all the logistics, like how much it would cost. You know, and after they did some of the big main decisions, then they just made determinations. They broke them into four budget delegate committees based on what kind of a project was. And what they eventually got were 380 submissions from all the different citizens of Cambridge. And over months and months of this process and people voting and a lot of input, they brought it down to 30, because each committee can say whether or not it's applicable. Like there's a Parks and Recreations Committee, and then there's a Streets and Sidewalks Committee. And so after they brought it down to 30, 30 options for people to vote on out of 380, then it went to the city manager, and they took a look at how much each one of the things would cost. and what could actually be done. And they also actually have to look at what was already in the city's budget, you know, so that there's no overlap. But one of the things that's really wonderful about processes like this is that they increase citizen engagement. And time and time again, more people get involved in this process than actually do in voting. Now, a lot of that is because these elections are done online. And in a city like ours, I don't have any delusions that we'd be able to roll out an election on our city website. However, it does bring a lot of people involved in these meetings who had never really ever considered having input. about where money should be spent in the city. And there is a lot of discussion about things that aren't working in our city, about things that need to be repaired here and here, but a lot of times it's just a sole voice. So what's really great about something like this, and in Cambridge's election, there were 2,727 people who voted. What's really nice is it really is, it reflects what the community actually wants. So if people want to fix the sidewalk, then, you know, that's really resolved. One thing I forgot to explain is that there were 20 options, and people were able to vote on their top five. What I really, to me, I don't really understand the budget and everything like this. And it's not really clear to me about where these decisions are made. So what I'm actually looking at, what I really want, is just some input for the city council about what they feel about these ideas. Yeah, sure.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. Did you say Cambridge, there was 2,027 that voted?

[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: You know, 2,727 people voted on 20 different options, and each one could select up to five. So there were six winners. Go ahead.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I mean, I think it's a great idea. I always say when I get e-mails with regards to maybe a bond that's coming on the table, and I get e-mails, I always respond, thank you for your input to all our citizens. Thank you for your input. I like to know what the citizens want to see money spent on, or I like to know if they want me to vote, you know. up or down and the reasoning why. So, I mean, if we could get it done, I think it's a great idea. You do need the administration on board. You need to be able to put it on the website, like you said, and have online voting. I think that's going to be huge. And you need the support behind you. But I think it's a great idea. I also like when the transcript or the local papers do—they sometimes take tallies on projects that you know, are on the forefront and try to get, you know, input. I know the last time it was, you know, the police station came in at 20% and so on and so forth with regards to what people think is the top priority. So I did read that article and I like to see, you know, what the city of Medford wants, what the citizens want. So I think it's a great idea.

[Paul Camuso]: Nope, I'm all set.

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. And Matthew, thank you again for coming up this evening and presenting. You and I had a brief discussion on this last week, and I looked into it a little bit myself. And the way that I look at it is any time that we can engage a greater base of citizenry in our community to participate in government, we're doing a good thing. And I think this is, it makes it easy. It makes it easy for our elected officials to determine what projects people want to see happen in their community. And it also allows us to get a great cross section of our residents. So I certainly appreciate the work that Matthew's done. I find it unfortunate that he can't get a meeting with the administration to discuss it. However, maybe after May 14th, you can call back again and get a meeting with Louise. But I question whether or not the city really has the capacity to do it at this time. Like you said, the ability to get the election up on the website is something that might be a struggle in itself. However, it's certainly an idea that I think that's a good one, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss it further with our budget director. Mr. President, maybe we can send this paper to the budget director for her response in terms of what her feelings are on it and where she stands on it.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So on that motion by Councilor Knight, all those in favour?

[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso? Thank you. And just to refresh everyone's memory, probably within the last month and a half, I had brought forward a proposal and it was, I believe, unanimously supported by the council, but I'm not 100% sure on that, for the mayor to go out and solicit input by using a poll or something like that for data so that we can make decisions based upon data and statistical driven decisions. So maybe if we can incorporate that into something like this, maybe, because basically you're reaching out to people in the community, but you want to get a good idea of what's important to them. And I believe Cambridge just did this. And the biggest thing, like you said, was they let the younger kids participate, whether it was a skate park or this. And this was within the last few months. I remember reading it in the Globe South, I believe it was. So it's a pretty interesting concept.

[Matthew Page-Lieberman]: I was interested when I met with the mayor last year in this idea of polling citizens, residents, to see what their biggest priorities were. But he just, based on some of the answers he had to other questions I asked him, he just really didn't seem interested in that. One thing that I wanted to explain about the website is how to administer the election is something that I believe would be determined by the steering committee. If Medford felt it was within our interest to actually can conduct part of the election on a website or none of it on the website. Because, I mean, it's all, it's really up to every city how, and I don't think anything like logistics of how it would be put on a website should keep us from considering this idea.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, amended by Councilor Cuso, all those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 15-335, this is a report on the Committee of the Whole meeting April 22, 2015. In attendance, President De La Ruzo, Vice President Lungo-Koehn, Councilors Marks, Knight, Caraviello, Lauren DiLorenzo, Director of Community Development, Chief Leo Sacco, Police Department, Felix Blackburn, Traffic Commission, Ron Nash, Republic Parking, Mike Ruggiero, Anthony D'Antonio, Mark Rumley, City Solicitor Louise Miller. Procurement today, budget tomorrow, Chris Capri, hairdresser, Andrew Castagnetti, citizen, and Ms. Jean Martin, citizen. The purpose of the meeting was also to amend this record to show the presence of Councilor Penta. The purpose of the meeting is for the traffic commission to update the council on the status of the new parking management enforcement program. Request from the committee. The mayor's office supplied the committee with revenue analysis to date for the meeting. Representative for public parking be prepared to present statistical analysis of the program with regards to enforcement that the traffic commission through their secretary forward to the council, all requests and responses from and to the council, as well as updates regarding the program since its implementation. The recommendations that were voted out of committee analysis of the city administration, from the city administration that will allow for 15 to 30 minute free parking. Two, enforcement through existing signage with existing technology. Three, Republican Traffic Commission established a survey data collection program that will outline the successes and faults of the parking program. Upon motion by Councilor Knight that the paper be reported or the committee passed, the meeting adjourned at 7.45 p.m. On the motion of a council night to accept the paper. All those in favor on that motion, Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: We also received a paper that was requested. Um, it goes back to, I think council Caraviello's original original request to summer 23rd asking for a report regarding the finances as to what they have taken in, um, for the period of time. So for the month of January, February, March, they have taken in $223,964. Um, citations issued in January were 1,035 and February was 1,834. And in March it was 2,396 expired meters were 41% permitted zones was 19% snow bands is 13% and over time on the meters was 4%. The one thing that seems to be very telling here in their description notes, it says changes in the meter enforcement hours. from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 8 to 6, significantly reduced meter and citation revenue potential. And unfortunately, that's okay as far as I'm concerned, because these bounty hunters need to leave this town anyway. Chris Cappe. Point of information, Councilor Knight.

[Adam Knight]: I believe that the Committee of the Whole that was represented that Republic was actually the body that made that recommendation to reduce the hours as opposed to the Traffic Commission.

[Robert Penta]: Thank you. I believe also, Mr. President, I believe also that, um, Chris Capri, um, who was a hairdresser in Medford square also has in her possession in excess of, I believe over 225 signatures, mostly all method people who come to her shop who are not only opposed to this, but it doesn't serve in the best interest because again, the signage is still yet to be posted, um, as it should be. We also know that the chief was there. Unfortunately, the mayor or his representative was not there. Our budget director, who was also a part of this, was in her office during this whole meeting and left the building after this meeting took place when, you know, she was one of the people that orchestrated this whole parking program. And this is the problem with this administration. They don't want to own up to the things that are taking place in this building that they were a part of. Defend it if you want, or not defend it. But the fact of the matter is, the purpose of this meeting was to have an intelligent discussion, hopefully with the people within the administration that could either make the right decision or correct the decisions that need to be corrected. The unfortunate part to all of this, Mr. President, I don't know where we're going. I think the council has been pretty adamant, and they've acknowledged, you know, where they want to go as it relates to this. And the clue that doesn't seem to — they didn't tell you, and I believe it's — they have 600. citations that they had to negate because of the wrongness of the citations being issued. Over 600 — that's 200 a month, if you average it out. That's a phenomenal amount. And I believe, also, Mr. Nash acknowledged at the time when I asked him the question, they were supposed to have a job fair, and they didn't have no job fair. They were supposed to advertise over the Internet, and they didn't advertise over the Internet. They were supposed to publicly advertise, and they did. The only thing they did was advertise and the local press. So that was amongst other major breaches to this contract that relates to Republican, the city of Medford, for which the council voted five to two, two weeks ago to have them time for them to leave the city. And I, and I, and I stick by that, Mr. President, it's time for them to leave the city. They're serving no purpose, but to cause aggravation and concern here, the bounty hunters coming in here, sucking off the taxpayers of this city, to make a 68 to 70% profit on the returns, leaving the city with a diddly amount of money.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, all those in favor? The committee report as amended to show Councilor Penta's presence. All those opposed? Motion carries. Paper in the hand of the clerk. Be it resolved that the Manifest City Council extend its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Rayanne Conway on a recent passing offered by Councilor Knight

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Rayanne Conway Forbes, assistant coach of our girls hockey team, recently lost her mother. And Rayanne's a great person. She's been certainly traumatized by this loss, and her mother will be sadly missed. I offer my condolences to the family, and I ask the council to join me in doing such. Great family.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Please stand for a moment of silence. Offered under suspension, 15-424 offered by Councilor Penta. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council go on record supporting H2847, a bill sponsored by State Representative Ruth Balzer, entitled An Act to Support Community Access Television. Councilor Penta.

[Robert Penta]: Madam President, Ruth Balzer is a State Representative from Newton. And she filed this bill after consulting with other local folks and communities as it relates to local access. The bill requires that any monies received by municipalities for PEG access cable television be distributed to PEG access cable television. That's it. If a municipality fails to forward the funds, then it must provide an accounting, and the accounting has to go public. The bill requires cable TV providers to locate PEG channels in close proximity to broadcast channels. It requires cable TV providers to provide PEG channels with access high-definition or other technology. It also requires cable TV providers to provide proper mapping of channels. Now, this seems to be kind of interesting, because last week, as you know, I introduced some information disclosed by a group of individuals, legally chartered, called Stop the Cap. And Stop the Cap is a group of people throughout the country. It's a Broadband Comcast, it's a broadband watchdog group promoting better broadband, it fights data caps, usage-based billing, and other internet overcharging schemes. That for which Comcast is presently doing here in the city of Medford. As a matter of fact, Comcast, if you read it now in the Better Business Bureau, is now being regarded as one of the worst corporations in this country for the purposes of public service and for its charges. Two weeks ago, I believe, we introduced before the council our State's Attorney General going after the community of Lynn for their misappropriation of money, lack of keeping proper records and minutes, and a host of other issues. Most recently, as of April 26, the city of Lynn now has asked for a receiver to go in and take over the channel the public access chase in following months of turmoil and alleged financial breaches that have triggered lawsuits and the arrest of the husband on the board and a description of the use of the monies that have gone to people working there and the misuse of salaries coming out of the funding from the local access station. Similar, quite similar to that for which is taking place here in the city of Medford, for which the mayor has been not only dilatory, but he has failed. He has failed in recognizing that the sham of a filing of a dissolution by the Channel 3 board back in, I think it was October or September of 2013, has never been completed, has never taken place. And as a result of that, what we have here is a combination of now coming up next Thursday, an ascertainment hearing. Two weeks ago, last week, this council, I asked this council to vote to change, to make the, change the meeting from 2 in the afternoon to 6, 630 at night, because who the heck can go at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The mayor re-advertises the hearing for next Thursday to be held at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. So nothing has been accomplished as it comes to that. But the fact of the matter is, in Somerset, in another locality, like I said, in Belmont, in Somerset, having these ascertainment hearings, these ascertainment hearings are done in advance, well in advance, before the renewal of a contract takes place with the cable provider. We are operating here in the city of Medford with no contract. We have no contract right now because the contract time has come and ended as of April 20th. And with that being ended yet, we're having an ascertainment hearing well after the fact. So Comcast is nothing more than a tenant at will, so to speak. The unfortunate part about all of this is when we were led to believe that for whether we agreed or disagreed, public access was going to find its new home up at the high school. Come to find out that the new home at the high school, for whatever it might be worth, everything has now been put on hold. So the monies that allegedly are sitting in the coffers at City Hall in excess of $300,000 that ratepayers have paid to access is now not going to be used for a facility up at the high school, number one. Number two, the mayor is now not going forward with the public access station for the purposes of saying, you know, we're going to have public access here in the city. This would make two elections in a row that this mayor has intentionally denied the taxpayers of this community and people who might be running for office the ability to be on public access and to tell your story for whatever it might be. And it's also denying taxpayers and rate payers in this community the use of public access for educational and social purposes, because that's what public access is all about. Now, when Comcast went before, and I think it was this past week, Comcast was denied its merger with Time Warner by the Federal Trading Commission. because they felt there was too much of a conglomerate, that they would have too much of a control taking place. But the mayor was one of 52 mayors in this country that signed the letter supporting Comcast. And in the commentary in the Broadband News Journal, the mayor and the 51 other mayors were considered to be shills, shills for Comcast to have this go forward. And they have a delineated description of what these mayors got as perks particular parks. From the best of knowledge that we have right now, the mayor got on an annual basis $2,500 for his golf tournament, and he got an annual $10,000 a year for his lights and whatever he wants to do in the city. No other ratepayer gets that privilege. They don't get these privileges when they buy their Comcast privilege, or their Comcast, you know, whatever you call it. Internet service or whatever it might be. Why should the mayor get this personal park for himself? for signing a 10-year contract, a 10-year contract, that now, if you go into it and reading about all the advances that are out there and all the technology that's waiting to be served, Apple started with it, Amazon is into it, and there's a whole host of other ones that are telling you, not only through streaming, but through the way that they can bring cable television into the communities. We don't need another 10-year contract getting ourselves locked in. And the fact of the matter is, It's the upstreaming of the rates that we're going to be saddled with for another 10 years. It's bad enough you got a 10-year contract that was renegotiated for the waste management. You got a 10-year contract that was negotiated for this stupid republic from Tennessee. And now we're looking at possibly another 10-year contract. And I would hope that this mayor does not sign this contract. He is going out of business. He is retiring. He is no longer the mayor. The same way he is holding off hiring a public works director and letting a new person come in, he should likewise do the same thing on this particular issue. This ascertainment hearing is nothing more than a dog and pony show. It's just a sham because the fact of the matter is there is no public access. The public access that was recommended by his three-member committee was to have a local front door place where people could actually see it, not to be putting it up in the wildernesses up at the high school where at nighttime when it's dark, you go into the back of the building. And now God knows what's going on up at the high school. Like I said, I hope we get this answer back if there is some kind of Something going on, that there's some kind of a merger between the high school and the vocational school, and this isn't even going to be a part of it, I don't know. But the fact of the matter is that needs to be discussed, as we know, as a separate issue. But Representative Bowser, I would hope that she gets in touch with Representative Gobley, and Donato, and Christine Barber, and also Senator Jalen. and seek their support for this. Public access is on the throes of being challenged throughout the country. There's 1,800 locations throughout the country right now that Comcast and Verizon are challenging whether to accept them or not because they feel it's a cost demand upon them. They're not realizing what the value that public access has. The unfortunate part that we have a 5% charge here, this city has a 5% inclusion in Comcast payments. Three percent goes to the city's general funds, one percent goes to public access, and the other one goes to the high school for educational, and the other one goes to the police department, which is the old Channel 16, which is now, I think it's what, Channel 22. Maybe the review needs to take place. Get rid of the three percent. Keep your public access. Give a chance to have the rate payers have a reduction. and absolutely give no perks to any one individual that signs this contract. I don't see any one councilor over here getting a perk, getting a perk as the mayor has for his years of serving with Comcast and the perks that he gets maybe with waste management, I don't know. But I know that there is a $5,000 inclusion in the waste management contract that the mayor has to use at his leisure at any part of the city for whatever he wants to do. He's only signing that contract because he's supposed to be looking out for the best interest of this community, not for the best interest of him or her or whoever it might be in the future. That's what these contracts offer. These are the inducements that these big guys come in and offer for whatever it might be. I would hope next week, when we have the ascertainment hearing, folks do come. Unfortunately, it's going to be next Thursday, the 7th. I believe it's going to be 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And my recommendation is to make the issuing authority the Medford City Council. not the chief executive, because the Medford City Council hears the pulse of the people, they can understand what's going on, and there is a rationale of reason that can take place without having the singular person, he or she, make that singular decision on behalf of 18,000 ratepayers between Comcast and Verizon.

[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much, Mr. President. That was quite a presentation. And as I sit back and I look at House Bill 2847, I see that half of that stuff that was just discussed will not be addressed by this piece of legislation. I'm very cautiously optimistic about moving forward in support of this legislation, Mr. President, reason being that the paper was just assigned to committee recently. No committee hearing has been held. And if we take a look at the first item on our agenda this evening, we'll see that it came in one way but came out with six different amendments to it. So I'd be very cautious in this body's deliberations in moving forward on this. I think it may be in the best interest of this body to wait until the committee reports out a paper favorably. before we decide to take a position one way or the other on it. The reason I say that is because we don't know what it's going to look like when it comes out.

[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. We're in receipt of a paper this evening from the city solicitor who basically says that the mayor is the only, it happens to be on the parking question we asked. But it basically says that all contracts involved in the amount of $5,000 or more shall be in writing and no such contract shall be deemed to have been made or executed until the approval of the mayor under plan A. So clearly this is a function of the mayor and him being the issuing authority. With that being said, I think we have to find out where the city is going as far as the public access component. Because if it's going up at the high school, I think people have to, I would be very cognizant of the fact that we have to have people quarry cleared. So that to make sure if they're in the same areas and buildings as youngsters in our community, that we want to make sure that the proper People are vetted for that, for less of a better word. I really don't know much about this bill. This is something that was put on under suspension this evening. I don't even recognize any of the names of the people that signed on to this. If I saw a name like Donato or Garbally or some of the other reps or senators that I'm familiar with and are familiar with some of their policies, I would be a little bit easier to at least support it this evening in its infancy stages. But for those reasons, I don't think we should be taking a vote on this at this particular point, not knowing where it's going. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Briefly, thank you, President De La Rosa. I just would like at least a week just to digest it, read the legislation, and get some questions answered. It's almost 11 o'clock at night, so I just want to read the language over the week.

[Fred Dello Russo]: That would just be my request. So we have a motion for approval by Councilor Penter on the floor.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Lay the table, if you want to do it. Well, let the citizen speak, and then I'll move to lay it on the table.

[Fred Dello Russo]: So we have a motion to lay it on the table.

[Joe Viglione]: Sir. Good evening. Joe Villione, 59 Garfield Ave, Medford, Mass. Yesterday in Springfield, this document was the first thing that attendees of the Mass Access Conference received. 160 mile trip from here, round trip. And the networking was great yesterday because You had access people from all over the Commonwealth converging on the Basketball Hall of Fame out in Springfield. Now, consider the bill a guideline that people want public access. So, let it go through committee and all that, but right now, take a look at it and see what it says and see how it applies to Medford. So, forget that it's a bill going through the Statehouse and look at it as a guideline for Medford, which has no public access. At the conference yesterday, I looked at the vendors and I spoke to all of them. There is new technology. For example, we could put this $11,000 unit, two of them, at each head end. And what happens is you can now put the programming over the cellular devices to broadcast or cable cast on Channel 3 and on the Verizon channel. So this means that Verizon doesn't have to lay down an expensive material if, in fact, they have to change anything that's up there since the days of TV3 two or three years ago. I'm going to give everyone a quick timeline. I know it's late and I want everyone to go home, but July 24th, the city solicitor said he would look at TV three, November 20th. I put in the public records request for the comp cast December 18th.

[Adam Knight]: The comp is the resolution that we're looking at, whether or not the council should support house bill 2847 or am I missing something?

[Joe Viglione]: I am staying on topic, sir. I'm giving the lead up to this whole bill and how I obtained it. And it's very important. And if these two councils want to just harangue me every week, it shows why people aren't going to come to the council anymore. I was trying to be brief. I was concluding. And one of these councils, again, harasses me. I'm a man over 60. Mass General Law says you can't harass a man over 60, but they ignore it. Very quickly, December 18th, Comcast media contract arrived at City Hall. December 19th, the mayor had his press conference. And this week, we find out, through the Office of Procurement, the mayor has now put her on hold. Okay, I had a lot more to say, but I want the good people on the city council, the three good people on the city council to get home early. Everyone else tearing up the resolution and being obnoxious, go back to.

[Paul Camuso]: That I put forward to find out about where we're going with access and the Corey piece. Want to make sure that everyone's Corey clear.

[Robert Penta]: On the motion, the legislation, I think, is very succinct where it gets to the second page. It basically says, whereas residents across the Commonwealth wish to keep in touch with their local government by viewing their city council or selectmen meetings, school committee and other commission meetings, chamber events, high school sports, regional and statewide legislative affairs shows, groundbreaking ceremonies, retirement dinners, dance recitals, school plays, and much more. And whereas the culture and definition surrounding Cable television is changing rapidly, and community media is only supported through the cable television franchise agreements. That's in essence what this is, whether it's amended up or down. Wait a minute, can you let me finish? What, are you in a rush to go home? For God's sakes, just slow down. This is part of the thing before we have our motion to table.

[Fred Dello Russo]: It's a motion.

[Robert Penta]: You know, you guys are really a class act. You know, people want to talk. Just let us talk. If you don't want to vote, you don't have to vote on it. Just cool your jets, will you? This is what the legislation is about. This is just a scenario. This is the gut of it. If they want to amend it, if they don't want to amend it, add or subtract or go right ahead. There's nine people already on, that's why I said, hopefully our local legislative body and our state senator will jump on board with this. They are the ones that have been talking about public access. Here's a perfect example for them to be part of it, and I respect Councilor Lengel's concern to lay it on the table. I got no problem with that. But, you know, just listen it out, that's all. Just because it's late, that's what your job, that's what we're getting paid $25,000 a year to meet once a week for, okay? Just be a little courteous to your colleagues, all right, Councilor Dello Russo? And to you, too, Councilor Knight.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion to table, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion is tabled. The records of the last regular meeting. Councilor Knight?

[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, I find it very interesting how a resolution that starts out as talking about a piece of legislation in the House of Representatives that has yet to have been even heard by their committee would turn into this. And I really feel as though it's been laid on the table. Now, here we go.

[Robert Penta]: We're going to follow the rules or not, but it's been laid on the table. Yes. A little bit. We don't never get stopped. I don't understand this.

[Fred Dello Russo]: I really don't understand. City council will pass to councilor Penta Councilor. Do you have a motion?

[Robert Penta]: Yes, I do. There's one correction that needs to take place. It's on paper 15 three 95. The word kiosk should be plural wise. It's kiosk. Should be an S. You have it as singular. Yeah, pluralized.

[Fred Dello Russo]: Pluralize the word kiosk.

[Robert Penta]: No, it's plural.

[Fred Dello Russo]: And now a motion to approve once they're collected, corrected?

[SPEAKER_24]: Yes.

[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion, all those in favor, all those opposed? Motion of Councilor Knight to adjourn.

Fred Dello Russo total time: 17.85 minutes total words: 1365	Adam Knight total time: 17.49 minutes total words: 1565	Paul Camuso total time: 20.68 minutes total words: 1481	Breanna Lungo-Koehn total time: 13.85 minutes total words: 1327
Robert Penta total time: 48.45 minutes total words: 2356	Richard Caraviello total time: 9.95 minutes total words: 852	Michael Ruggiero total time: 0.87 minutes total words: 88