[Unidentified]: Predict 2 a.m. and maybe it won't.
[Adam Hurtubise]: People are already in, so what do we have to make? Let's go here. Booth. A lot of people together. Hey, Rob, how you doing? One second. I just got to do something. I'll be done in one second. Yeah. Enjoy it if you can. Has the chambers vibrated? Yeah. It's here.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: 21st regular meeting, Medford City Council, November 18th, 2025 is called to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Callahan? Vice President Collins? Present. Councilor Lazzaro? Present. Councilor Leming? Present. Councilor Scapelli? Present. Councilor Tseng? Present. President Pierce.
[Zac Bears]: Present. Seven present, none absent. The meeting is called to order. Please rise to salute the flag. Announcements, accolades, remembrances, reports, and records. Records. The records of the meeting of November 12th, 2025 were passed to Councilor Tseng. Councilor Tseng, how did you find those records?
[Justin Tseng]: I find the records in order and I move to approve.
[Zac Bears]: On the motion of Councilor Tseng to approve the records, seconded by. Seconded by Councilor Leming. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Callahan? Yes. Vice President Collins? Yes. Councilor Lazzaro? Yes. Councilor Leming? Councilor Scott Peli.
[Zac Bears]: Yes.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Tseng.
[Zac Bears]: Yes.
[Marie Izzo]: President Pierce.
[Zac Bears]: Yes. I have an affirmative and a negative. The motion passes.
[Justin Tseng]: Councilor Tseng. I'd like to motion to suspend the rules and take. Yeah. Could we take the paper under suspension at 25-178 communications from the mayor and petitions presentations and similar papers.
[Zac Bears]: On the motion by Councilor Tseng to take the paper offered under suspension by Councilor Scarpelli, the communications from the Mayor and petitions, presentations and similar papers out of order, seconded by Councilor Leming. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Callahan? Vice President Collins? Yes. Councilor Lazzaro? Yes. Councilor Leming? Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Tseng. Yes. President Bears.
[Zac Bears]: Yes. I'm in the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion passes. Operator suspension by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city council sends our deepest condolences to the family of George Sacco. Mr. Sacco dedicated himself to public service as a member of the Medford School Committee from 1959 to 1962 and as our state representative from 1963 to 1974. Councilor Scarpelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. I apologize for not putting this on sooner, but When I heard just recently that Mr. Sacco had passed, I wanted to make sure that this council recognized a gentleman that really gave his life to public service. And he's someone that when he fought against you, you knew it. But when he worked with you and supported you, you knew that too. So he's definitely going to be missed. We want to thank his family. for giving, letting him be part of the process for so many years here in Medford. And I know that he battled at the end of his life, but we just want to send our condolences and our respect for everything he did for our community. And may he rest in peace, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Callahan.
[Anna Callahan]: Thank you. George Sacco really was quite a gem. I know when I was knocking on doors two plus years ago, he answered the door. He was incredibly excited that a candidate was knocking, was talking to residents. He immediately made a tiny donation, which was so lovely, like right there, just handed it to me. He just was a very supportive person, understanding of electoral politics and supportive of people who were willing to put themselves out there. And I am very supportive of this.
[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Callahan. I also had the pleasure to help connect my cousin, Ian Koss is a Medford resident now who made the Big Dig podcast with, he's the host of that podcast. If folks have listened to it, I connected him with George a couple of years ago, and he was incredibly helpful to him on some of his research around the Big Dig, and I think also a little bit of maybe on the lottery podcast that came out a little later. So, you know, a great resource and a loss to our community.
[George Scarpelli]: Very prepared.
[Zac Bears]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Callahan, to approve. We'll take a vote and then we'll take a moment of silence. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Callahan? Vice President Collins?
[Jennifer Yanko]: Yes.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Lazzaro? Yes. Councilor Leming? Councilor Scarpelli?
[Zac Bears]: Yes.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Tseng? Yes. President Bears?
[Zac Bears]: Yes. I'm in the affirmative. None in the negative. Please rise for a moment of silence. really quickly.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you. I just wanted to say he was a consummate. He was one of the best gentlemen I've ever known in the city. I am shocked to hear it, but he was up there in numbers. I'll miss him. Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Indy. Communications from the Mayor. 25177 submitted by Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Proposed wage adjustment for police, patrol, and superiors union. Dear President Bears and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that City Council approve the following amendments to the revised ordinances, Chapter 66, Article 2. Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Medford in Chapter 66, Entitled Personnel, Article 2, Entitled Reserve, the City's Classification and Compensation Plan, formally included as Article 2, Sections 6631 to 6640, to amend the figures as they presently appear next to the following title by adjusting to reflect the following percentage wage increases and effective dates. Police Patrol and Police Superiors, effective July 1, 2022, 2.5% increase to the base salary of all patrol and all superiors union titles for a cost of living adjustment. Effective July 1, 2023, 3% increase to the base salary of all patrol and superiors union titles for a COLA and 1.5% for implementation of body-worn cameras and the requirements placed on the members of the association due to police reform legislation and the implementation of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. Effective July 1, 2024, 3% increase in base salary, 1.5% for implementation of BWC and post-commission. Effective July 1, 2025, 2.75% increase to base salary, 1% for associations agreement allowing city to petition the legislature to remove positions of chief and deputy chief from civil service. Effective July 1, 2026, 2.5 increase to the base salary. Effective July 1, 2027, 2.5% increase to the base salary. Human Resources Director Lisa Crowley will be available to answer any questions. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Respectfully submitted, Breanna Lingle Kern, Mayor. We have Director Crowley, I thought I saw earlier. Anything you want to present on this?
[Lisa Crowley]: This is on.
[Adam Hurtubise]: It's on.
[Lisa Crowley]: Okay. Thank you. Through you, President Baez, to the council. That cut out three quarters of my speech, so I can just kind of go over. Through the dedicated efforts of the mayor and the union presidents and the negotiation team, we successfully reached a fair and equitable compromise. As part of the agreement, we secured a six-year contract rather than a standard three-year term. The extended duration provides significant stability, as a three-year agreement would have placed us in evergreen status almost immediately. With the six-year agreement, we will remain current with these unions through June 30, 2028. Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you. I first want to It's been a long time coming, and I think that both leaders and our patrol men and women deserve the right that we waive the three readings tonight, and I would approve this, Mr. President, moving forward in favor. Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: We have a motion from Councilor Scarpelli to waive the three readings and approve, seconded by, seconded by Councilor Leming. Is there any further discussion by members of the Council? Seeing none, is there any discussion by members of the public? I do see some representatives from our patrol and superiors union. You guys want to say anything? All right.
[George Scarpelli]: Yeah, if I can. I know that we want to thank our police officers because I think that it's tough when it's funny when you have people fighting and protecting our community and sometimes you don't feel like you are given the respect that you deserve. And I'm hoping this is just a little bit to make sure that everybody's spirits are high and we're moving forward in a positive direction. I love the fact that it's six years and we don't have to worry about that. And you just have to worry about your families and taking care of yourselves and being safe. So thank you for everything you do. And we appreciate you. Thank you.
[Zac Bears]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Lazzaro.
[Emily Lazzaro]: Uh, thank you. I agree that this is, uh, an important move. We have to pay people in the city if we, would like to keep our strong employees here and we want to attract strong employees in the future. And that's true across the city. Good contracts that make our employees feel valued is very important. Of course, having a police department where we can enforce our laws, where we can have traffic enforcement, where we can have safety across the city and enforcement of the things that we value. We have to make sure that we're paying people what they deserve. So I support this and I appreciate the work that went into negotiating the contract. Thank you.
[Matt Leming]: Thank you. Councilor Leming. Just echoing what my colleagues have said, I appreciate everybody who's taken the time to come out here tonight. Sorry that it took so long, that really shouldn't have happened, but I'm glad that it reached a resolution and I'll be proudly voting yes on this. Thank you very much.
[Zac Bears]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Leming to waive the three readings and approve. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Marie Izzo]: Councilor Callahan. Yes. Vice President Collins. Yes. Councilor Lazzaro. Yes. Councilor Leming. Yes. Councilor Scarpelli. Yes. Councilor Tseng. Yes. President Pierce.
[Zac Bears]: Yes. Having the affirmative, none of the negative, the motion passes. Petitions, presentations, and similar papers. 25175, petition for amendment to common victuals license extended hours, Raza's Grill. To the Honorable City Council, City Councilors, the undersigned respectfully request an amendment for operating hours for our common victors license, Monday through Saturday, Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., brief explanation to extend food and beverage service to late night patrons, reestablish late night patrons, which we had for many prior years. Business name, KLME, Inc., DBA, Razo's Grill, business address, 209 Mystic Avenue, business telephone, 781-396-2001. Business owner, Richard Razo. I think we have Mr. Arrazzo here. I recognize Councilor Scarpelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. It looks like everything is in order. And I know that before I move forward or ask any questions, I know Mr. Arrazzo might, if we can, I think what we talked about is I did talk to Mr. Arrazzo and looking at the process, to be fair, what we've done with neighboring establishments, like Mr. Razo's, I think that he would amend to, I believe it's Sunday to Wednesday until midnight, and then Friday, Thursday. Is that okay, Mr. Razo?
[Zac Bears]: Mr. Razo.
[Richard Raso]: Go ahead. I'm sorry. I missed it. What did you say?