[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I just want to touch base a little bit on this one situation. I have traveled just about every business district in Medford, as well as a lot of the residents, and I think that this is, I actually agree with Adam Knight that this is a systemic problem. This is not a singular problem in specific areas of the city. And what I mean by systemic is that I really firmly believe that it's time to take Republican, kind of put their feet to the coals at this point and decide what it is that we want to do with this program. It does not behoove the city to not have somebody that's working with this program that doesn't have a vested interest in the city. And I think that's what's happening. On a customer service level, I think what we've done is unfortunately we've made a lot of people unhappy. whether they're traveling from downtown to downtown or even some of the businesses. I beg to differ in one area in the respect of talking to the business owners. If you talk to a lot of the business owners, a lot of them will blame their current business status on the parking. And perceptions are realities. When someone's perception is that, you know, their business is down, that's their reality. And I think we have to take that into consideration. Number two, what we've also done in creating this situation, again, going back to Adam's, Councilor Knight's point, is that we've actually forced, yes, there are extra parking spaces in the downtowns, but we've forced those commuters into the neighborhoods, even further in, deeper in. So it really hasn't helped it's actually hurt tremendously. So it's either we put Republic on notice And let them know that this contract is not a contract that we're all excited about anymore that we need to kind of put their feet to the fire and make something happen for the for the downtown communities for the for the citizens and allow them to be able to go in and out of their downtowns feeling good and about what they want to accomplish. The kiosks, my personal opinion, do not work in downtowns. They just don't work. They're better in parking lots and garages, but they're certainly not good on downtown streets. That's just my opinion, and I think it's time. I actually feel bad that the city council has to address all of these issues when it actually should be an in-house program for the city, created by the city, controlled by the city, not another outside entity. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Dave McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I think this just goes back to a testament of having a yearly comprehensive strategic plan in place for these processes. To actually sit down and actually have to vote on something at midnight on something that needs to be acted on relatively quick is absurd. It makes no sense for a city to work that way. When you want to sit down and come up with a comprehensive plan for the following year, that discussion should have already taken place in the month of August. It should already be ready for the following year as to what we are going to do as a city and what actions we are going to take and what monies we need to do that. That is a proactive plan. And I think that, you know, Council of Cohen's suggestion to at least have seven days is admirable But I think it really has to be something that the council should really come together on Team spirit wise and say hey from this point on we will not accept anything. That isn't a comprehensive plan that gives the city And the budget enough time to plan for this and move forward And feel comfortable that it can be done and can be done on a timely basis So the citizen citizens can feel good about the projects that are in front of them Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. My question to Councilor Knight is, does this also include in the initial part of it when they actually put the bid out, they usually put in a labor amount. That labor amount could be ballooned. In the respect of an hourly versus an hourly wage, so in I'm not sure if a contractor city contract is the same But in general contracts when contractors come out and they do work The labor amount is based off of what they're charging for a labor amount some some places could charge 45 some places could charge 75 Some places could charge $80 per hour. It's irrelevant to actually what they're paying the employees Does that also encompass that?
[David McKillop]: So that protects the actual employee. That protects the employee from having to wait. It does not protect the city from a ballooned rate.
[David McKillop]: For the employees. For the workers. I'm talking about the actual bid itself. There's nothing in there that would actually help.
[David McKillop]: OK, that's what I understand. So in other words, we couldn't come in and say, you cannot go any further than 15% above the actual rate that you're paying per employee. So basically that's where the companies would actually take the additional amounts and funds as opposed to that area.
[David McKillop]: I guess the reason why I make that point is because if they're being Enforced which is great, and it's it's it's an absolute important point Then the the contractor themselves will find their way to make their money anyway And that's kind of where they're gonna find their way is the labor ballooning actually in the The thing that they like to say in the industry which would be called the change order.
[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I do want to speak on this point because I was the one who was actually trying to get my hands on a budget. I did go in two consecutive weeks in a row to try and get my hands on a budget towards the end of July and was met with a little confusion as to why it wasn't available throughout the actual city hall itself. I know that the city clerk tried really hard to try and figure out how I could get my hands on one. The city assessor did put a little effort into it and was reverted back to the mayor's office to find a copy not available. I did ask if I could get it online. the young lady that actually tried to help me with I don't know anything about that. All I know is that the budget is out to print. Now, in my impression, you want to talk about transparency. If you have passed a budget and that budget is enacted the first week of July, every single citizen, not just candidates, every single citizen should be able to get it at any point immediately because if you're working with a budget and that budget is operating, That means it should be in our hands period. That is not transparency. That is not what this administration is showing in the regards of one of the most simplest documents for that reason. So I strongly suggest that this time next year when a budget is being presented and passed, it is ready to go July 1st because everyone should have it in their hands.