AI-generated transcript of City Council Committee of the Whole 02-28-23

[Nicole Morell]: to zero committee, the whole Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 is called to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. present, four present, three absent. The meeting is called to order. There will be a meeting of the Medford City Council Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 at 6 p.m. in the Medford City Council Chamber on the second floor of Medford City Hall and via Zoom. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the proposed food truck ordinance, paper 20-020. The committee has invited Interim Economic Development Director, Victor Schrader and a representative of the Office of Planning, Development and Sustainability to attend this meeting. For further information, aids and accommodations, contact the city clerk at 781-393-2425. Sincerely yours, Nicole Morell, Council President. So we had met on this paper a few months back, and I think it was a few months at this point. We had a number of resolutions and questions, and then asked Economic Development Director Schrader if they could come back with some proposed language for an updated version of this ordinance, unless Councilors have any questions to start? I can hand it off to Victor to give us an update of responses to those past questions and motions. Seeing none, Victor, if you wanna share with us the changes that you've proposed in response to the discussion we last had.

[Victor Schrader]: Yeah, thank you, President morale. Thank you, Councilor sorry I'm not able to be there in person tonight. As the President mentioned the last time we met we reviewed a draft ordinance that was proposed in 2016. And we use this as a starting point to incorporate the feedback that we received from council. The Chamber of Commerce was also in attendance and a couple of members of the public. So we did our best to incorporate that feedback and have a draft for you to review tonight. Do all of you have the draft that we sent over? No.

[Nicole Morell]: Okay. If you are able to bring it up on your screen, or if you send it to me, I can also bring it up on my screen.

[George Scarpelli]: I'd like a copy of that present, to be honest.

[Victor Schrader]: Absolutely. I can bring it up and walk you through it. Just in summary, The review that we've done as staff since we last met is to incorporate some of the experience we've gathered processing applications over the last couple of years. Those proposals have been running through our office, and then we've been presenting them to you all for consideration. incorporated some input from the health director, who raised some concerns that I think we'd like to address tonight. And we have shared the draft with the Chamber of Commerce as well, and they've provided some feedback that is helpful and relevant.

[Nicole Morell]: In general, the approach- On the 20th, I missed that, I apologize. So I didn't get that after the council, that's on me. I just sent it to the clerk. I apologize. I missed that in my inbox.

[Victor Schrader]: OK. I'll pull up a draft, a copy of it, so we can walk through it together if you'd like. Just in general, the approach we've taken with this draft is to establish an administrative approval process for one-day mobile food vendor licenses and special event mobile food vendor licenses. So those are two types. And that's really based on what we heard from council and really the chamber to limit the license types to temporary, but also be able to accommodate special events and provide the option for mobile food vendors to operate in the city on a limited basis. The ordinance, as it's written, this draft does not allow for ongoing long-term food truck licenses, mobile food vendor licenses, and does not allow mobile food vendors to drive through the community. They have to be stationary in a specific location. And the approval process will be The license application will be reviewed and approved by the Department of Health on behalf of the Board of Health. And this part of the ordinance, I believe, needs some further legal review. And I'll point out some areas, some language that we think is important to review with legal counsel so that it's clean and clear. Any questions so far? Thoughts? I can continue.

[George Scarpelli]: Madam President, if I can. Victor, thank you for all your work. We appreciate it. But again, I need to show my displeasure in the fact that this isn't hurting us right now. Going through the process right now, with special permits by this council, I think it's okay until we have legal representation. Because again, this has to go back to KP law. And KP law is going to be spending more money. We still haven't gotten an update of what what's being paid out. We still don't know what our budget looks like. And we have a bunch of money papers coming on after this. I just think we need to slow down And the ordinances that we have in place right now, I think we need to put a hard stop on this, Madam President, for the fact that we keep sending things out to KP Law. This is something that a city solicitor does as part of their salary. This is something that started in 2016, seven years ago. Now here we are, we're still sending paperwork, we're still sending work to KP Law. We don't know if we're getting murdered in our finances, we don't know. So I really, my recommendation, I'm gonna have a motion that we table everything until we have a city solicitor and continue with what we have. I appreciate Victor doing the work and coming back, but when I hear the first comment that this has to be reviewed by legal counsel again, guys, this is, when it's enough enough, when are we gonna stop? We're bleeding and we don't know how bad. So again, please, this is getting to be redundant now with my dialogue, but I'm at the point where I'm begging for my fellow colleagues to understand that we need to stop. There's gotta be a point that we stop until we get what we need. We're making decisions financially We're knowing nothing, not understanding anything, not having any paperwork in front of us. And these low-hanging fruit situations, we can wait. We've been doing it. It hasn't hurt anybody. We know that, but the brick-and-mortar businesses don't want food trucks near their establishments, and nor should they be. But here we are, again, gonna be reaching out. And what I've been told, every time they pick up the phone, KP law, because you know, $700, because I guarantee you, this doesn't fall in the $6,800 plan that we made a few years back. This wasn't, the ordinances went through our city solicitor. So again, I apologize for my negativity, but I can only hold in so much. I'm at the point right now that the frustration is unbearable. So Victor, again, I apologize. You do amazing work. We appreciate everything you do, but I hope you understand my frustration. This is something we can hold on. I'm looking at resolutions night after night now. to do right now. Starting ordinances looking at ordinances putting ordinances through these ordinance. We don't have to do right now. Thank you.

[Nicole Morell]: Uh, please

[Victor Schrader]: And I guess just, if I may, through the Council President, respond briefly. Staff was asked to review this by Council. So we're doing most of this work in-house. At some point, if it gets to a final draft, it should be reviewed, but I am not.

[Adam Hurtubise]: I'm sorry, Victor.

[George Scarpelli]: I thought you said that next step is going to have to be reviewed by legal.

[Victor Schrader]: I did, yes, it should be reviewed by legal before it's voted on.

[George Scarpelli]: Asking for ordinances to be read and reviewed. This isn't just to you, Victor, or to the city administration, this is to my fellow councilors. We need to stop it until we know how bad the bleeding is. So we know this council asked for it. In 2016, we had two city solicitors. Thank you.

[Nicole Morell]: Victor, if you want to go ahead.

[Victor Schrader]: Okay, thank you. Some substantive changes that we've made to the draft since the last committee of the whole are to simplify the definitions. There were a number of overlapping definitions, and this was mostly just language cleanup. We changed permit to license in all instances. We changed the There were references to the Director of Public Health, and we changed that to the Board of Health, per the recommendation of our current Director of Public Health. We updated some of the application requirements based on health department input. We added a special permit provision. This would allow unusual circumstances to come before city council for review. That's the idea here. There are unforeseeable situations that may not be covered under the ordinance, so we thought it was appropriate for there to be a process for those applications to be heard and reviewed and a determination made. And then we added a penalty for one year suspension if trucks are operating without a license. So we thought that was an appropriate clause to include as well. And then there's a clause in there allowing the Board of Health to promulgate additional rules and regulations, which is pretty typical in these ordinances. If you remember from the outdoor dining ordinance, we actually separated some of the rules and regulations from the ordinance and gave authority to the building department to establish on an annual basis. Would it be helpful at this point if I brought up the ordinance so we could all look at it together? What's the best way to do this, Chair?

[Nicole Morell]: Yes, that would be great.

[Victor Schrader]: OK.

[Adam Hurtubise]: One moment.

[Victor Schrader]: This is a clean copy. Maybe I'll pull up the redlined version.

[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, if you could, that would be appreciated.

[Victor Schrader]: Okay, so if you were to do a side-by-side of the 2016 draft in this draft, it would look very similar. As you'll see, some small language changes. We really wanted to make it clear that this ordinance is for allowing for one day and special events only. There's some language here with the definition of mobile food vendor that probably needs some adjustment to account for carts and other types of apparatus. Under the special events mobile food vendor license section, we added some language to make it clear that the duration of the license may be for more than one day, but no longer than the event itself. So there's clarity there. License fees would be established by the Board of Health. The application requirements section is largely the same, some minor language changes. This section was added by the Department of Health requesting some additional information from applicants. I think we want to get some input on whether this is the general liability policy requirement and whether $1 million per claim is appropriate. In some cases, a mobile food vendor will require a state hawker's license, so we included a section referencing that. And then this section is a carryover from the 2016 draft, asking for advisory reports from a number of departments, city departments. We know that our departments have a lot on their plates. And in some cases, this is appropriate and others maybe not, not necessary. We'd ask for some additional time to go back to these departments. We haven't really had a conversation with them. I wanted to get input from the council as to whether you thought this was important or not. And then we can go back and have a conversation with them about this. And similarly, the background check requirement. I think this is something that legal will have to weigh in on at some point, because I know there's complexities to background checks, and I don't know that this language is necessary or is constructed properly. Any feedback so far?

[Nicole Morell]: I see Councilor Collins.

[Kit Collins]: Thank you, President Morell. And thank you, Vic. Just a couple of clarifying questions for now. So I understand that this updated ordinance, this would not cover any seasonal permits at all. This would only be a structure for daily permits or food truck permits for like special events. Is that correct?

[George Scarpelli]: Correct.

[Kit Collins]: Thank you. Maybe you're getting to this a little bit later in the ordinance, but given that this isn't for any type of seasonal permit, I was curious if there was still a requirement included in the ordinance for an amount of length or footage from brick and mortars from which food trucks can set up. I know that that might kind of be irrelevant if these permits are now limited to special events or festivals that are sort of limited in space as well as time.

[Victor Schrader]: Great question. That provision is in here, and it's 200 feet from a common vitriol holder. So that's actually in the operating room requirements section. And as I mentioned, we did share this with the chamber. I think they're probably the most appropriate group to get input on this. And I think they at least Their thoughts that they shared with me were that, you know, given that it's temporary and for special events only, they felt that the 200 feet was appropriate. But if they're here this evening, I don't know if they are. I think their comment on this would be appreciated.

[Nicole Morell]: I do not see anyone on the call and there's no one in the chambers except for, if that would be yes. Councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: some of the permits that we did over the years. Most of the time we approved permits. These people never even showed up. And then I've gone to many events, and there's food trucks there. I'm saying, I didn't approve this. So again, We have a lot bigger things on our plate that we should be doing than worrying about spending, we spent a lot of money on the right of an ordinance that we were doing okay with in the past. So I just don't know, I just don't see the quick need to get this done this quick when there's very little call for food trucks in this community.

[Nicole Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Vice President Bears.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Madam President. I mean, I think mass noncompliance with the existing policy is an indication that we should update the policy. I have specific questions. First being, in the current process, Victor, do we require reports from police, fire, and engineering?

[Victor Schrader]: We don't, no. The way we've been operating is when a food truck would like to come into the community for for an event, they will submit essentially a summary of the event and to our office, PDS, and through the mayor's office, we'll present that to council for consideration.

[Zac Bears]: And do we currently require a quarry check or a background check?

[Victor Schrader]: I do not believe so, no.

[Zac Bears]: Okay. I would be comfortable amending those two sections to, you know, instead of speaking at an official report, have the board of health coordinate with police, fire and engineering to address any issues that stand out to those departments within the application. And that's a motion.

[Nicole Morell]: Could you repeat that, Vice President Bears, or if you haven't written it?

[Zac Bears]: It's a motion, I don't have it written. It's a motion that instead of whatever the section is requiring reports from police, fire, and engineering, and the CORI check, that the Board of Health coordinate with the police department, fire department, and engineering department to highlight any issues that those departments see with an application, with any application.

[Nicole Morell]: So on the motion of Vice President Bears is seconded by Councilor Collins. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes. Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Collins. Yes. Councilor Nunes is absent. Councilor Scarpello. No. Councilor Tseng. Yes. Councilor Morell.

[Nicole Morell]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, one present, one absent, zero in the negative. Motion passes. Any other questions from councilors at this time? I do have one question, Victor. I forget what section we were scrolling through, but where it mentioned that the permit can be longer than one day, but not longer than the event itself. I would assume that this is for, and I do not believe Medford has this, but like, you know, a fair or something that is in town for multiple days in a row. Is that the thought there?

[Victor Schrader]: Exactly. Yeah, if there was an event, a three-day event, long weekend.

[Nicole Morell]: Thank you. And then, yeah, I just wanna know, I know I get emails every year, the same people email me every year saying, I can't remember how to apply for a food truck permit, I have to go find the word document on the website, then that goes to the mayor, and it becomes like a circular who presents this on the agenda. So I think it's just streamlining and operate, the hope, as I understand, is to streamline and operationalize this process, so it's a bit less onerous for those folks who are applying. And this is something that I, that was actually the last council session, that it was one of the council priorities that we talked about just because it has been a sitting paper for so long. Councilor Tseng, did you have?

[Justin Tseng]: Yeah, and so I've also heard, gotten some emails along those lines, and I wanted to also note that I've heard from residents, maybe this is just, it could be a specific subset of the population that's kind of asking where a city is on food trucks versus other cities. They wanna see more food trucks at fence and stuff like that. And so I have heard, even during the last election, people ask, you know, where, where the winner the updates coming. And as you've noted it's been a city paper for so long and I think a lot of residents, a decent number of residents have been clamoring for action, which I think is important to note. And also I think the point about non compliance that's vice President Bears, but it's really important because, you know, that hurts restaurants as well. It hurts businesses when we don't go through a proper procedure. And so right now we're kind of stuck in the limbo where perhaps food trucks, you know, aren't benefiting from this complicated process, but we're also hurting restaurants as well.

[Nicole Morell]: Thank you. Vice President Ferris, is your hand up again or still?

[Zac Bears]: Still, my apologies.

[Nicole Morell]: No worries.

[George Scarpelli]: Madam President, if I can.

[Nicole Morell]: Councilor Scarpellilli.

[George Scarpelli]: In all the years that I've done this, I think I recall one food truck that's based here in Medford, and they're gone now. So I've been doing this for a long time. We've had one food truck that tried to rob our most needy community by increasing a grilled cheese by 200%. And then, every other came from the main office, the mayor's office, for our approval, which hasn't been daunting at all, I don't believe. So again, it's the brick and mortar, that was what the protection was from the beginning, and that's what we were doing, this council, because of the, especially during the pandemic, what the concerns were, and the hurdles that our brick and mortar establishments were going through. Again, like I said, I've been in this community a long time. I haven't heard one person come to me to talk to me about this ordinance that hasn't been completed because there's never been a hurdle to get a one day permit. There's never been an issue. So thank you.

[Nicole Morell]: Councilor Caraviello.

[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam President. For people who don't know about the food truck business, I've talked to many people who have food trucks The problem with food trucks is they need people. The reason food trucks don't come here, they don't park here, they don't look to come here is because they can't make money on 50, 60, 70, 100 people. There's the, we don't have a business district where if they want the park, but most of the events that we have don't draw that kind of crowds. I mean, other than maybe the festival of the book school has several people, but most of the events that we have don't draw enough for a property for these vendors to stop the truck and make money. They have to come down here with two or three people pay whatever they have to pay, and they don't make any money. Like I said over the years, we've done, we've approved many food trucks for one day licenses, and they don't show up because they know the kind of crowd that it's like so I don't know who's making these calls to all these people are with the clamoring for these food trucks because food truck people aren't clamoring to come in here.

[Kit Collins]: Thank you, President Morell. And Vic, I was hoping, and I mentioned during your presentation that there were a couple aspects of the ordinance that we were still waiting for outstanding feedback from city departments like Board of Health on promulgating, getting their feedback on the fee structure and promulgating additional requirements for permitting. I was just hoping if you could just revisit kind of the next steps as they pertain to the feedback you're still trying to get from city staff for continuing to finesse this draft. Thank you.

[Victor Schrader]: Yeah, absolutely Councilor. There are some things that I think we need to talk internally about with with health as they'll be overseeing this ordinance and not the ordinance but the, you know, the establishment of the process and approval of licenses. It's, I think we're largely in agreement with internally at the staff level with how this has been developed. It's just language at this point. And there's one concern by the health department about their ability to regulate events on private property. And I think it's pretty clear how this will operate, these ordinance will operate. public property in the right of way, but if someone wants to have a food truck on private property, we just wanna make sure that the ordinance is clear about the health department's oversight and authority. So that's one area. The background checks was another. The general liability requirement is another, the size of that. The chamber brought up a couple of points after reviewing the draft that I think it's appropriate to share with you, if they haven't already. So I'd be happy to run through those as well, but I'll pause.

[Nicole Morell]: Sorry, I don't think we're if you want to know other questions at this time.

[Victor Schrader]: Okay, keep going. Great. Yep, the the Chamber of Commerce. asked whether boards or commissions should be included in the review process. Our thought is that the Parks Commission and Hormel are probably the two most likely to potentially have food trucks licenses in front of them. They have events, and food trucks have attended those events in the past.

[Nicole Morell]: And then just for clarity, that's the thought of them weighing in on the development of this ordinance.

[Victor Schrader]: No, the, the approval of licenses.

[Nicole Morell]: Okay.

[Victor Schrader]: Yeah.

[Nicole Morell]: Yeah. I think, um, I appreciate that comment. I mean, just speaking, um, from the chair, I feel like that's kind of the opposite direction of the intent of this ordinance as far as just like being able to move them through at the speed of where the people need them approved, as opposed to getting them, you know, being on the schedule of,

[Victor Schrader]: when um you know commissions committees and so yeah and with respect to the boards and uh and the chamber we staff agrees you know it is it's difficult to to it would be difficult to add an additional kind of you know, level of monthly approval schedules to this process. So I think in the case of a special event in particular, the commissions would be aware of those events, we believe, and would have input. And they may not have input on the particular truck that attends the event, but they would have input on the event schedule, et cetera. Thank you. And then the chamber had a concern about whether the special permit process could be seen as kind of a workaround for the ordinance. I mean, that's not our intent. Our intent is for the Department of Health to to administratively review and approve these. And we think it's pretty clear in the ordinance that these one-day licenses and special event licenses are the two options, and they're pretty well-defined. point of including a special permit option is just for very unique circumstances. So if I could bring that language up if the board, the council would like to look at it again. But that's our thought. It wasn't included, was not included in the 2016 draft, but we thought it was good policy to have that in there just as an option for folks.

[Nicole Morell]: Councilor Collins.

[Kit Collins]: Thank you President Morell and thank you that it's great to just make sure I have an updated list of the next steps for internal review. And I appreciate also that the chamber has been reached out to another important perspective on this. And I'm glad to hear that the special review process is very, you know, sort of limited in circumstance so that won't it won't be an either or, you know, pick which is more convenient but rather just, you know, the appropriate process for the appropriate permit that's being sought. I mean, I would motion to keep the paper in committee and awaiting further update from Board of Health and other city partners on these items that are still pending, unless there's other key updates or questions from my fellow councilors on this draft.

[Nicole Morell]: Any other discussion from the council? So on the motion, of Councilor Collins to keep the paper in committee until we have further updates that we're waiting on from Board of Health and some other departments, seconded by Vice Mayor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Any further discussion? Anything else you'd like to add, Victor?

[Victor Schrader]: No, not at this time. We really wanted to make sure we're headed in the right direction.

[Nicole Morell]: Thank you. Do I have a motion to adjourn? On the motion of Councilor Tseng to adjourn, seconded by Vice-Chair Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes, meeting adjourned. Thank you, Victor, much appreciated.