[John Falco]: Member, I skipped so many, Member Hays, sorry. Member McLaughlin. Member Mustone.
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau here, Mayor Mungo here.
[John Falco]: Do you want me to call the roll? Or do you want to call the roll for each thing? I think I can do it if the audio, I think, is probably better now. But if it doesn't work out, then I'll. Great. Member Graham. Here.
[John Falco]: Member Hays?
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz?
[John Falco]: Member McLaughlin?
[John Falco]: Member Musto?
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Murphy for the presentation. I do hope that when we whatever we send up the city council, at least as it is currently constituted is certainly going to want to discuss food insecurity, that was the resolution came from them as well as the school committee. So those numbers that we just saw on the last slide excluded free universal food. So I think you should be prepared at the meeting for those kinds of questions from them about how you know, how we're as a city going to meet our commitment to this resolution to make Medford, to resolve food security in Medford, it's only going to happen through actual action and spending. And so I think we've kind of beaten it a bit in this meeting in the last couple of meetings to death, but we should be prepared for them to also have a little something to say on the matter, since we're not Those numbers do not include that, and I just think you should be prepared for that.
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau. I'd like to waive the reading of this policy as it's a particularly non-controversial policy and it's printed on the agenda.
[John Falco]: Sure, I'll speak briefly. So we did change the name of the policy. It's sort of the biggest, most noticeable change, frankly. I guess school attorney is a historical, has some kind of historical reasons for being called that. makes me feel like was this back when there was one school in a school district. But the policy that we have before us, our current school attorney, committee attorney, which we're gonna continue to call school attorney, thought it looked great. And I don't really have anything to add to it other than I'd motion to approve the policy.
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz?
[John Falco]: Member McLaughlin?
[John Falco]: Member Mustone?
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau? Yes. And Mayor Longo?
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz?
[John Falco]: Member McLaughlin?
[John Falco]: Member Mustone?
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Mayor Longo?
[John Falco]: I'd like to make a motion to waive the reading of the details.
[John Falco]: Yes, this is when we when we finalized our rules One of the motions we had was to authorize me to go through and look for policies that were no longer up to date based on our adopted rules. And this is an example of that. So in the current policy in the policy manual, it says a bunch of things that are no longer the case. So I won't go through the gory details, but we do not accept public comment as in the form of an email, where the secretary or vice chair reads it out loud. We get away with that. And this just brings the policy up to date.
[John Falco]: Member Graham? Yes. Member Hays?
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz?
[John Falco]: Member McLaughlin?
[John Falco]: Member Mustone?
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau, yes. Mayor Lockhart?
[John Falco]: Member Graham. Yes. Member Hays.
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz.
[John Falco]: Member McLaughlin.
[John Falco]: Member Mustone.
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Leclerc.
[John Falco]: Thank you, mayor. I looked at the calendar, we don't have another meeting in June scheduled. So that's why I added the 13th. And I think when we approved our official calendar schedule, there were some things up in the air. So I'm pretty sure we need to have another meeting in June.
[John Falco]: Member Graham.
[John Falco]: Member Hays.
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz.
[John Falco]: Member McLaughlin.
[John Falco]: Member Mustone.
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Locker. Yes.
[John Falco]: Member Graham?
[John Falco]: Member Hays?
[John Falco]: Member Rossell, yes. Mayor Long-Lockern?
[John Falco]: Member Graham. Yes. Member Hays.
[John Falco]: Member Kreatz.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mayor. This may be causing you all some deja vu. In June of 2020, this was on the agenda and we decided that since we weren't sure anybody was going to be going to school, recess seemed kind of far away as a concern. Excuse me. So I have brought this back as it's very important and recent yet more news articles and more research keeps coming out, making it very evident that taking away recess has the opposite desired effect and harms all the children, not just those that actually had their recess taken away. So that's why I wanna get this work going in subcommittee. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Member Grant.
[John Falco]: I believe this is just one that's continued on here. I don't think there's actually anything to discuss yet.
[John Falco]: Thank you console Scarpelli and Paulette, I wanted to thank you for your many, many years of service. George and I came on to the school committee at the same time and I was in 2010, we served you for six years. And I remember when we first came on. It was always good to actually be able to talk to someone to, to get, you know, to find out, get a historical perspective as to like why we did things the way we did. You always had the answers, you always, you know, you always, you know, had valuable information. And, you know, I want to thank you for your many years of service. And thank your family as well. 32 years is a long time. And, you know, You gave a lot to our community, to our public school system, and we appreciate all your hard work and effort, and thank you so much for your years of service to our community. Thank you. Thank you so much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Nina, if I may, you said quasi-filled. Is it filled or is it not filled?
[John Falco]: It's not filled.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanna share, I agree with my colleagues. This is a major concern. I know myself, I've been talking about this for months on end, and that there is absolutely no plan at all with regard to ARPA from the administration, none $48 million in no plan. We have had, we have not had a CFO for six months. Six months we have $191 million budget we have no CFO $48 million in ARPA funding no CFO, and no one right now is currently managing. I don't even think they're discussing opera in the finance office because I think they're basically trying to just do the day to day activities that that that occur on a daily basis. This is unacceptable. And then they throw it on us to say, oh, we need all these positions. There's no planning. There's a complete lack of planning when it comes to this. And it's unacceptable. I definitely could vote on the federal funds manager because I think that kicks us all off with regard to planning. Eventually we're gonna have to plan to do something with this money. It's unfortunate that the discussion has not happened yet. And if I may, Cat 15 Can you give us the range please.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that is the actual cat 15, but it was just listed as cap 12 on the original document.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And who actually helps determine the actual caps? Is that the chief people officer?
[John Falco]: If I may just quickly. This is a 0.3, so this is 10 hours a week. And Marianne, did you say there's 600 people just in the month of December?
[John Falco]: So shouldn't it be more than a 0.5?
[John Falco]: So, we know we're going into this really not being staffed correctly.
[John Falco]: I don't disagree that you need the positions. I think one of the big concerns is the process. And that is that we've been talking about a pandemic for two years. It's not going away. You know, I think, you know, many of us or some of us are thinking that this would have been planned. And I'm not, this is not on you, but that this would have been planned out by the administration months ago. And we just got this paper a few weeks ago. And this goes back to Councilor Mark saying that there's no plan. I don't, excuse me. You can hop and pop all you want. There's no plan.
[John Falco]: I'm not saying that. I just said, I didn't say that.
[John Falco]: If I may, Mr. President, this is the Steve Smerdy role, am I correct?
[John Falco]: So currently, is he straddling two roles as the COVID person and is he the interim communications director?
[John Falco]: This person is going to be doing just COVID-related, he's going to be the COVID-19 public information officer and he'll be only doing COVID-related activities, correct?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to wish Stella Tanaglia a happy 90th birthday. Her birthday is coming up this Friday, December 24th. She's a longtime resident of the city of Medford and a longtime city City Hall employee and member of St Francis Parish and St Francis mothers club so she's been involved in a lot of things throughout the city and I just wanted to say happy birthday, happy 90th birthday to her and best wishes.
[John Falco]: No problem.
[John Falco]: Thank you so much.
[John Falco]: You know, I will be brief.
[John Falco]: I can't thank you enough all for your very kind words. It is absolutely been a pleasure serving with each and every one of you. Zach and Nicole, it's only been two years, but Adam, George, Michael, Rick. It's been six and it has been an absolute pleasure to serve with each and every one of you. You know, we maybe didn't always agree on everything, but we agree to disagree and we move on. Because we always had the common goal of moving Medford forward. That's what was always most important to all of us and You know, the council always works well when we work together, but there are disagreements, and we've had disagreements, but we move forward, and I think, you know, we've been a really good team, and we've got a lot of work done over the past six years. So I thank you. It's been a real pleasure working with each and every one here. I wanna thank, you know, everyone here tonight, those that are at home, and especially thank my wife, Jackie, in the back, and my three sons, John, Joey, and Jack, for all of their support throughout the years. You know, to be a selected official, to be a successful elected official, you really need that support at home. And Jackie and the boys have always been very, very supportive. So I wanna thank them for their love and their support through the past 12 years. It's been an absolute honor and a privilege to serve the city of Medford the past 12 years as a member of the, school committee and as a member of the city council. And I can't thank you enough for having the confidence in me to be reelected numerous times to the school committee and to the city council. During my tenure in the school committee, I had the opportunity to work with some great people. And to make improvements both inside of the schools and outside of the schools, new science labs, field of dreams, updated technology, updated vocational school, renovated swimming pool. But that comes when you work as a team. And we did that on the school committee. We had the honor of working with some really great people. Paula Van der Kloot, Emery Cuno, Sharon Guzik, Billy O'Keefe, Bob Skerry, Aaron DiBenedetto, and my good friend, George Scarpell. You know, we keep like you said, George, we came into this 12 years ago. And, you know, I remember working really hard on the school committee when we came in. And we had all kinds of goals. And I think we accomplished a lot of those and we left at a better place. But you know, that continues and you know that the next group is stepping up in there, you know, they're making progress as well. And on the city council, I had an opportunity to work with some great talented people in spearheaded some projects here as well. Like I said, you know, Even if, you know, I spare something individually or if any of us had something individual, it always takes the support of your colleagues to move it forward, like cameras in the community hall of the city council office, you know, to televise all of our meetings, you know, support of having our, you know, community police meetings moved out into the neighborhoods. You know, those are things that zoning, zoning reform. And those are things that I like to think that I let on, but you know, it takes support from your colleagues and you've all been very supportive. So I thank you for that. It's been, like I said, it's, you know, it works well when the council works together and, you know, together we moved a lot of, you know, projects forward. And I thank you so much. You know, President Caraviello, we've known each other for years and you're right. I think there were many days I just had to talk to you more than I talked to Jackie, but you know, it's our passion for, City politics and making the city a better place. Council and I. You've been great to talk to probably one of the smartest people I know in city government knows how things work. And, you know, process procedure and you've always been on top of that and, you know, I thank you for all your help and the guidance there. Our friendship goes back a long way. And, you know, there were many times where, you know, we'd have serious conversations, but we'd laugh a lot along the way. And that always helped. Councilor Marks, the senior statesman of the city council. I can't even tell you how many times probably over the past year, I looked at you and I said, well, you know what? He's right. It's absolutely right, just here. I realized just over time, but it's funny, you had the experience, it's been valuable. And I think that's something that we always have to remember, I think as Councilors moving forward, is that there's processes and there's procedures and they're there for a reason. And you always make a good point saying, this is how we're supposed to do this. And a lot can be said for that, because when you don't have processes and procedures, things fall apart. And it's important that we follow those processes and procedures and whatnot. And I thank you. It's been a pleasure serving with you. And thank you so much. Fred DeLaRusso, not here tonight, but he was someone that I truly enjoyed sharing, working with over time. I maybe didn't agree with him all the time. Fred, he was great to work with. We didn't agree on a lot. I shouldn't say we didn't agree on a lot, but there were many things we didn't agree on. But once again, we agreed to disagree. He was someone that I could call, someone that I could talk to. And he was fabulous to work with. Zach and Nicole, like I said, we only worked together for two years, but you've been great to work with. I know if I ever, Nicole's on screen here. But I know it's always been, if I need to call you and talk to you, it's always been a pleasure talking to you. You always take my calls. And it's been great working with the both of you. So I thank you very much for your time. And I thank you. for working with you. You've both been great. And, you know, and I also want to thank Mayor McGlynn and Mayor Stephanie Michini-Burke. You know, I worked with them both on the school committee and on the city council for 12 years. They, you know, leadership starts at the top and they led a lot of great initiatives and did a lot of great work. Representative Donato. You've been a friend for many years, and it has always been a pleasure working with you. I thank you for your friendship and for your advice through the years. You've been great to work with. If I ever had any questions regarding what was happening at the state level and how it was going to impact our city, you always did answer and answer the call, and I thank you for that. And I represent about Lee and representative Barbara and Senate jail and I thank them as well and it's it's it's been an honor to work with with all of you. And thank you to the department heads. Now there are many department heads that we have here at City Hall. There are many that don't work here any longer. I want to thank them, both those that are here and those that aren't here any longer. I thank them. And I thank all of the workers in the City of Medford and the school system that are here day in, day out, making it happen. You know, the policemen, the police officers, the firefighters, like I said, everyone in this in our school system, thanks to them. I mean, take a look at the people that you know, we don't think of that, not that we don't think of that often, but the people that are always there working 24 seven, there's a there's a water leak in the middle of February and someone's freezing water, trying to repair it to make sure that people have running water in their neighborhoods. And those are the people that they're not recognized as often as they should. And I wanna thank each and every one of them for all of their help, all of their support, answering my phone calls when I had questions that needed to be answered. So I wanna thank them as well. And Larry Lepore, Thank you for being here every week. I apologize that you have had to look at the back of my head for the past six years. But it has been an absolute pleasure working with you. You've always had a smile on your face. You've been great to talk to. It's always nice to see you when you drop by with the agenda every Friday. So I thank you for being a good friend for the years. And I want to wish I just didn't get. Good luck. You know, I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. This has been a thrill of a lifetime to represent the residents of our great city, and I want to wish you well in the future years and in the term ahead. On a personal note, I want to thank my campaign committee. In all my friends that have helped out with the various campaigns over the past 12 years, I believe they say it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. And it's been an amazing journey over the past 12 years. I have met a lot of friends that will be friends for life. And I can say that, especially in the past year running for mayor. There's so many people that I met along the way that he did not know prior to that were just fabulous and they're great friends today, and they'll always be friends. And, you know, in, you know, in hindsight thinking back at the 12 years they think about. condolence resolutions that come up every so often. And, you know, you start to think about the many community members that we've lost along the way and the impact that they've had. And, you know, and, you know, I just, it brings back fond memories, the people and the impact that they've had on our community. And, you know, they had a big impact on what we do here each week as well. In closing, I thank everyone. Like I said, it has been an honor and a privilege to represent everyone here in the city of Medford. I absolutely love this job and I hope that I have served you well. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. And like I said, it's been an honor and a privilege. Thank you and be well.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I'd like to thank Michael for his many, many years of service. You've been a great colleague, you've been a great friend. You've always kept all of us on our toes, and that's a good thing. You are amazing when it comes to a number of things, but constituent services, I think, has been your wheelhouse, no matter who I talk to. I talk to Councilor Marks. I talk to Councilor Marks. Just the way you know so much about everything with regard to the issues that are happening in this city. And like I said before, you bring that institutional knowledge of how things have been done before in the past, or maybe if something has changed, and then you point out why it has changed and why it's important to do things the way we're doing things. And that's been huge. And it's been great serving with you. It's been very educational. You come to each and every meeting. ready to talk ready to debate ready to talk about the issues, you're always prepared. Like I have the customer said you always have you know your files you actually I was a few weeks ago you clean out your file cabinet I don't know how many trips you made. A lot of paper there, but you know you've always come armed and with data and you do the research you do the work. You know it's it's been great serving with you, I you know we've had some comical times over the past year, so I know we had a I think back to committee, the whole meeting we had on Sydney street. in the woods behind the Budweiser plant. The trees are going into the residents yard. We had to go back there and have a committee of the whole and we're tripping all over the place. But, you know, Michael had the history with regard to, you know, I think how Budweiser was supposed to be, you know, maintaining the property and they weren't. And, you know, we called them out on it and they resolved the issue. And so, like I said, constituent services has been, You're just amazing when it comes to that, and a number of other things, but you've always been there. I know when I've called and asked you questions, you've taken the time to walk me through that, to walk me through different issues and whatnot, and it's been an absolute pleasure to serve with you. I know you're a great dad and a great family. I wanna thank your kids for sharing your dad with us for the many years that he served here and that he's given back to the city. It's hard to believe it's been 20 years, but I want to wish you well moving forward. I know you're gonna, I know you'll still be involved. I know you love living in the city of Medford and I know you love being involved and I can't thank you enough for the guidance that you've given me through the years. And it's a little story. I'll tell a little story really quick. Back when Michael was first running for council, I got a call from a mutual friend, Dr. Wood. And he said to me, he said to me, I need your help. And I said, what do you need my help with? He's like, I got a friend running for city council. And I said, who is it? Michael Mox. I said, okay. He's like, I need your help with signs on election day. Can you help me out? And I said, yeah, I'll help you out. So I held signs for Michael in his first campaign. And, you know, but like, you know, But things like that allow you to meet people like Ray Cipriani and Bill Wilder, who are friends with Billy, who've been friends with me ever since I helped him run on the campaign that day. But that's the nice thing about community and working together. And I like to think I put Michael over the top and got this started. Michael, I just want to thank you for your years of service. It's been a pleasure serving with you. And I thank you for all your hard work through the years, and I wish you well.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Councilor Felder. Thank you, Mr. President. After this resolution tonight, I received a number of calls from residents on Harvard Street regarding a change that they recently made at the intersection of Harvard and Mystic Ave. And what's happening is a lot of the cars are backing up and the queues going all the way down Harvard Street. It's virtually impossible to get out of your driveway. There's been some, from what I'm hearing, numerous near accidents. And I'm just asking that the traffic engineer just take a look at this and and actually contact the neighbors as well to get their input. I'm not sure how much input was gathered from the residents before they made this change, but it's a change that has impacted the neighborhood. And I just wanted to bring that forward. And I ask that this be moved to the traffic engineer for further review and move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a call from a resident on Wildwood Road regarding, back a few years ago, there was some major type of pipe repair. I believe it was, with the street. And what they did is they actually stored, they used actually wildwood as a staging area where they stored the pipes before they installed them and over time, I guess they were there for a while, over time what they did is they left kind of like a depression in the road, it's not like a pothole, but the road slopes off. in front of 31 Wildwood. So when it rains now, there's a significant say puddle that runs pretty much the length of 31 Wildwood road. So I'm asking that the DPW, if they could go by and just fill that depression in front of Wildwood road in the interest of public safety and to ensure that the city, the street drains properly.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome to Medford. Thank you. Great to have you on board. Just a couple of quick questions. So you mentioned about the budget. So when I look at the budget book, I know that there's a, is a total of $350,601. Maybe a little less by now. I'm sorry?
[John Falco]: I completely understand. That's fine. So the $100,000 for supplies, what's that going to be used on if it's not vehicles, I guess?
[John Falco]: And as far as the, so what's the, do you know what the cost difference is between a three year lease and a five year lease?
[John Falco]: And as far as the two vehicles that we're getting back from Republic to the 2014 and 2016, do you know if they have a, A ton of miles on those.
[John Falco]: They won't give you the mileage?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: I have no further questions at this point. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Falco. I have a personnel expenses, $250,601 and parking enforcement supplies, $100,000. So it's $100,000 in supplies.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, thank you. Thank you very much. I know this isn't easy. And I do share the concerns of the planning questions that were raised. And I think, you know, you're in a tough position too, because you've only been here six weeks and, you know, the decision to bring parking into the city, I had to have a city manager made a while back. And I think that, you know, in between you being hired and that decision, not a lot happens. And I think that's the unfortunate piece, because I think there does need to be a lot of planning for this to move forward, especially for it to be successful, you know, on January 6th. And I think that's going to be the really tough piece is that, you know, you really don't want there to be any drop off on January 6th. you know, but that's got that point of information.
[John Falco]: I will tell you, I will tell you that I paid the ticket that I got a couple of weeks ago. So they asked, so I'll be the first one to tell you that. But, you know, I do have some concerns too. I mean, you know, we talked about vehicles, just a few minutes. Well, when I first asked my question earlier in the meeting, we talked about vehicles and you mentioned about how you're unable to see the mileage on one of the vehicles. And then President Caraviello mentions that there's newer cars driving around. So I have a lot of questions as to why don't we have the correct inventory. Why don't we have the correct inventory of how many vehicles are coming over? When is this all said and done? That number we should have right now. We should know it's two cars, five cars, four cars.
[John Falco]: But we're hearing that, we're hearing that.
[John Falco]: That's all you have. Okay, so still a concern, even though there's two in the contract, it sounds like there might be some more out there, but we don't know for sure.
[John Falco]: And I understand. And as far as the meters and the equipment, have you received a full inventory of what we're receiving back and what condition it's in and how old it is and that type of stuff?
[John Falco]: Oh, you have, okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. And you said you're meeting with Republic Parking, is it next week?
[John Falco]: And have you met yet prior to that?
[John Falco]: You can't talk transition with the current parking company on your own?
[John Falco]: Without the legal team with you. Correct. Which would be city solicitor Scanlon? Or is it KP Law? KP Law.
[John Falco]: So we have KP Law and city solicitor Scanlon?
[John Falco]: I'm glad Faye's here. I think it's... I'm glad Faye's here and I wish you success. I do have some concerns, you know, with regard to the law tonight, the contract, I do have concerns about, you know, when I hear that there could be additional vehicles, even though there's two in the contract, I get that. So, but I thank you for your time tonight and I thank you for answering our questions.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I would like my vote to be reflected the same way, three-year contract. I'm not in favor of a five-year contract. Thank you.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: Hey, quick question. So as far as the media repair person. So, is it, does a, there's two people that do that wrong. My correct. There's three people. So leading to in, just because I Don't know much about parking, you know more than me. Repair people for parking meters busy, is that like a- They would start their day collecting.
[John Falco]: Okay. I was wondering if this was repair all day and I'm like, wow, that's a lot of repair.
[John Falco]: That's fine. I just want to make sure I understood it right. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you and Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. I found this process to be very frustrating. I feel that right now I know myself as a council, I have more questions than answers and that's not your fault. I agree with Councilor Marks. We have an outside entity that's running the show and who's giving them the authority to do this. And Like I said, there's, there's just more questions than answers. It's just incredibly frustrating. I mean, I know what I would like to see is I'd love to see just a timeline of events, literally from when this whole issue came about. when the list got messed up and people were deleted, people added back on. I mean, who gave that person the authority to do that? I have so many questions. I think we'll need more than an hour.
[John Falco]: So I would say this should be a Wednesday night meeting just because I don't think this is a meeting that I don't want to bump into our regular two things. You are correct.
[John Falco]: If you could schedule that on a Wednesday, I think that would be the best bet. Because I know I have a ton of questions, as I'm sure my colleagues do as well. But there are a lot of things, I think, that need to be looked at. It's very frustrating. Here we are a month later, and we're doing this. But we need to do this as soon as possible. It'll be next Wednesday. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward and thank Brian for his many years of service to the community. He was always there, always very passionate about what he did. And I think probably Councilor Marks had one of the toughest departments, I think, to manage because it just involves so much. I mean, the infrastructure, the budget, I mean, it's just, there's a lot there. There's a lot to know, and it's a really, really tough position to replace in a city of our size. And, you know, he's always been very helpful. Same thing when I was first elected I he took me down the DPW yard kind of introduced me to everybody just walked me through the process how things work day to day. That's very helpful, especially when you knew and He was always there. And I think, you know, the thing that I loved about Brian was he's one of those guys you asked him the time and told you how to watch for it. And that was always helpful during the budget because you'd ask budget questions and he would give you all kinds of information that you didn't even ask for. But it led to more questions, which was very beneficial, I think, for the council as a whole. And he will be missed. He was always great to talk to, ask questions to, very valuable. He will be missed. I just want to thank him for his years of service to Council Marks, and thank you for bringing that forward. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I myself have been raking a lot recently and I noticed still in my neighborhood, there's still a lot of leaves, still a lot of trees. And so I think we should at least have another, at least one if not two pickups. So thank you for bringing this forward. This is something that we all encounter year after year. It needs to go later into the season. So I would definitely encourage at least one or two more pickups.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I just received these tonight, so I'll need another week to review these. So if I may ask that these be tabled to the next meeting.
[John Falco]: Is that the minutes from the- Cotting Street and Brook Street. Yeah, the two- Cotting Street and Brook Street.
[John Falco]: Do we know when the Traffic Commission is meeting again to take up those items?
[John Falco]: No, I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: You wanna speak?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I did not receive the records in my package. I checked with a couple of my colleagues, they didn't either.
[John Falco]: You get tabled for one week until I receive a hard copy, then at that point, I'd be able to- Thank you. We didn't receive a hard or soft copy of the records.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank President Caraviello for bringing this forward tonight. I also want to thank Chief Gilberti for his many years of service and commitment to our community. Wish him well in his retirement and also congratulate Deputy Chief Freeman on his new position, his new role and wish him well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Council President Capriolo for bringing this resolution forward. I know I've been on the Council for six years and pretty much this started six years ago and it still drags on today. And this needs to be addressed, this is absolutely these are quality of life issues that need to be addressed in every single day the residents are residents throughout the community are impacted, but especially the residents that live. In and along that route of where the constructions taking place, I mean, if you take a look at the construction in surrounding communities it's been definitely been managed differently than it's been managed here. And I definitely would agree with President Caraviello. There needs to be a meeting, Committee of the Whole meeting sooner than later on this. And I would ask that when the meeting is held or when it's scheduled, if we could send a robo-call to everyone that lives on this route. The residents need to be involved in this and the questions should be addressed. I think everyone wants to know when is this finally going to be finished? The other source project is gonna last my tenure on the council. I mean, really, it's ridiculous. It's been going on for six years now. That's just unacceptable. It needs to be addressed. It needs to be managed. I don't think it's being managed properly. And I would ask that all of the residents along the route be notified of this meeting so they can have their questions answered. And if we could schedule this as soon as possible, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Member Knight for bringing this forward. I just wanna wish the evangelist is a very happy anniversary and many more years to come. Congratulations.
[John Falco]: Now it's on.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I have to, Mr. President, I agree with you. I think you made a very good point. You take a look at Mystic Ave. It is probably one of the most heavily traversed streets in our city. And it's been ripped up. It's been ripped up for a while. We have one chance to get this done and get it done right. And I have some serious concerns now. You know, Tim, I mean, we all knew it was gonna rain Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I mean, is that really the best time to put down hot top or asphalt? I mean, is that the best time? I mean, could we wait another week? I don't understand the rush at this point.
[John Falco]: And I understand, and I understand there's never a perfect time for this, but I guess my other concern now is, you know, we're talking about, it's been resurfaced. Now we're talking about the quality of the resurfacing and whether or not there was enough asphalt put down. And now it's been raining for three days by the time this is all said and done. And now if it needs more asphalt on top, I would imagine that moisture is gonna set in. You know-
[John Falco]: But it sounds like there are pieces of this, of this road that we could possibly dig up to make sure it's done right if it wasn't done right the first time.
[John Falco]: Okay, so I'm just concerned that we're digging up new pavement already. That seems to be one of the biggest complaints I get is when we're putting down new roads and all of a sudden, you know, someone's in there a week later digging up pavement right away. I mean, that's the last thing I think anyone wants to see is that we're going to be digging up roads, when it was just recently resurfaced so that that's definitely a concern, and I always think about the structural integrity after that because I feel like anytime you dig into a road. Afterwards, I mean, it's always just, you just get potholes, it's falling apart. And if you look throughout our community, you know, infrastructure is a major issue. And we have potholes no matter what neighborhood you go to, there are potholes throughout this city that need to be addressed. And I'm really concerned that we're having this road, it's recently been paved, and I feel like it could very, It's very possible that there could be issues already so that that's, that's one of my big concerns I'm also concerned about, you know, the AI engineers, you know, I mean how to do they they will burst and what our standards are here in the city of Medford with regard to paving.
[John Falco]: So when they put down the road and they resurface the road, AI engineers are present and they're evaluating the process and making sure that it meets the standards that are set forth by your office, I'm assuming. So if something's not right, are you notified right away? Is there an engineer in your office notified right away or do you wait for the weekly report? How does that work?
[John Falco]: So with regard to the road surfacing, in this case, was were you notified right away? Or did AI wait a few days? How did that work?
[John Falco]: So what's the process from here on out? I mean, so if you know there's an issue, do you go down right away and check it out so it can be, you know, remedy right away or do you just wait for the report and go from there?
[John Falco]: Tim, last question. Councilmarks mentioned earlier about those sidewalks going from Lorain Road to Playstead. I know you said you're working on that. Do you have any type of a timeframe as to when you think you might have an answer as to whether or not that's something that we can do?
[John Falco]: And I couldn't hear that though. You said that there was a stormwater something. Can you repeat that please?
[John Falco]: Tim, thank you very much for your help. Appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Let's go. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Morell. I have received many calls as well from residents in that neighborhood, because as Councilor Morell said, there are many residents that are impacted on Winthrop Street with regard to this project. And there are students impacted as well. There's many students walking to and from school. It's a blasting area. It's dangerous. And you're right, as far as getting information, you know everybody's trying to get information and it seems like sometimes it's absolutely impossible to get. I would, I would ask you, Mr. President, if you schedule committee the whole week and talk specifically about this development. with regard to the blasting in all, there's many other areas that this impacts. I mean, specifically there's some questions that I like answered. So if I could read them off now, and Mr. Clark, if you wouldn't mind recording these, but first and foremost, you know, the pre-blast survey, what homes were included? I want to know exactly what homes are included in this neighborhood. There's really, there are many, many residents that are being impacted and this needs to be addressed. You know, Medford High School is next door. So, you know, when are the blasts actually occurring? Are they on schedule? Is it, you know, X amount per day? That seems to be all over the place from people that I've talked to in the neighborhood. So it'd be great to get a clear, concise answer as to when these blasts are occurring. Is it limited to so many per day? What are the protocols for, you know, before they blast? You know, I know, I believe you can get text messages, but if we can get clarification on that, I greatly appreciate it. And is there any impact on the school, Medford High School? I'd appreciate if we can get an answer maybe from the high school administration to see if there's any impact with regard to the students. traveling to and from school. That is a sidewalk that's on the same side as a school. We need to make sure our students are safe traveling in that area. In addition to the residents that actually live in that area, we need to make sure everyone's safe, but the students are traversing back and forth to and from school on the sidewalks. We need to make sure that that's addressed as well. And as far as the vibration, vibration can have an effect, I think, as we all know, with regard to rodents in the rodent population. And we've received calls, I think all of us, with regard to rodents throughout our city. I'd like to know from the Board of Health, is there an increase of calls with regard to rodents in this neighborhood with blasting, the grounds moving on a regular basis up there? I want to know, there are increased calls to the Board of Health Department with regard to road, so if you can get an answer on that. And last but not least, the Water Department. When there's blasting, there's pipes underground. I'd like to know if there are any reports of pipes that have been broken. underneath the ground, city pipes, you know, blasts, we have blasting repeatedly like that, it has a toll on the infrastructure, and we need to make sure that infrastructure is safe, and that if there are any issues, we should know about that. So I think Councilor Morell for bringing this forward. I think she's probably received some calls that I'm getting. And it's, you know, to live in that situation like that we're, you know, the company is coming in and they're blasting day after day after day for, you know, months on end, it's, it's, it hasn't. a horrible impact on your quality of life. These issues need to be addressed. We need to know, and the residents need to know, what is the plan moving forward? How long is this project going to take? What's the end point? Should they see an end to blasting soon? These questions all need to be answered. So if you could schedule a committee, the whole TANF, all these questions, and I'm sure my colleagues probably have more, I'd greatly appreciate it. Residents need to have answers to these questions and we should have these answers as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Excuse me, if I may console appears to you, you mentioned the sidewalk, you talking about the sidewalk from Lorraine to place that?
[John Falco]: I was told that there would be I'll go back and read the email because it because city engineer given was it was a He said he was working on it, which this sounds like he doesn't even know about it, which concerns me a bit.
[John Falco]: Who's that from?
[John Falco]: And that's, and that's, I think the reason why we need that community, the whole meeting, so everybody can get on the same page. It seems like everyone, especially the residents, you know, they need to, We need to make sure that the residents know what's happening on a daily basis. They've got the blasting traffic, you know, the police details that are gonna be there or not. You know, there's some really serious safety concerns that need to be addressed. We need to have a meeting on that. And if I may, Mr. Clerk, on my first amendment I made with regard to the pre-blast survey, can you just add in there what addresses were included?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I'm sorry. We just need the signature paper. Okay. 2-1.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. As we all know, as we traverse the city, No matter what neighborhood you go into, there are major issues with regards to infrastructure, potholes, sidewalks, streets in disrepair, and this has gone on for some time. And it's really, it has an impact on everyone throughout our community, a real negative impact. a quality of life. And this needs to be addressed. And like I said, no matter what neighborhood you go into, it's a major concern. So I'm just basically asking for a report back from the DPW as to how the So I'm basically requesting a report back from the city administration as to how the DPW is going about filling potholes throughout the city. Like I said, no matter what neighborhood you go into, it's a concern, it needs to be addressed, and they are all over the place. So what's the plan that the DPW and the administration is coming up with to to fill these potholes and make sure that these issues are addressed. And in addition, I wanted to add the following question answered by our city solicitor, Mr. Clerk, and that's basically how many claims in the past year have there been for street defects in potholes? Got that? Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: I was going through some documents with regard to the Encore agreement. And we have the surrounding community agreement with Encore. That's been in place for many years now. And back in 2019 at the Mayor Burke, there was a committee that was set up. And the committee was basically the Metric Community Fund. And what it did is the casino gives $125,000 a year as part of the agreement. And it's in section five, the Medford Community Fund. The parties recognize the importance of supporting the Medford community and share a mutual desire to utilize this agreement to provide ongoing support to the many important nonprofit organizations throughout the city of Medford. It goes on to in section 5.2a, an annual payment of $125,000 is made from Encore each year to the city of Medford. Back in 2019, Mayor Berk had set up a committee that put it, and that committee put a process in place where they were called AIM grants, A-I-M, AIM grants. I believe it was All In for Medford, All In Medford. And those two nonprofits could apply for those grants, the grants were given out, and we would give out the whole $125,000. And there was some really, some great nonprofits that received money. There's a list of them, Mystic Valley Elder Services, Community Cupboard Food Pantries, Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, Friends of Medford Rowing, Veterans Preservation Project, Medford Education Foundation, Mystic River Watershed, Cache, Trees Medford, West Medford Open Studios, Friends of the Medford Family Network, Medford Farmers Market, and the list goes on. My point is this. That committee has not met in two years and the city has received $125,000 each year. So that means that there's $250,000 that has come in and no process has been, as far as I know, that committee has not met to disperse those funds or to even get that process going where nonprofits can apply for funds. So my question to the administration is what is the plan? What is the plan for this committee to meet and get the ball rolling with regard to giving out this $250,000 that has come in from Encore Casino within the past two years. There are plenty of nonprofits throughout our community that could use this money. $250,000 can go a long way in the nonprofit community. And there are plenty of nonprofits throughout our city. This needs to be addressed. As far as I can tell this, I mean, they haven't met in two years. So what's the plan to me? This money needs to be, like I said, plenty of nonprofits can use this money. There's $250,000 that could go out. It's here, it's with the city of Medford. It's part of the Encore Casino Agreement. My question is to the administration, what is the plan? When is this going to begin? This committee met last under Mayor Burke. I don't think it has met once under this administration. So my question is, what is it going to be? What's the process where nonprofits can apply and receive some of this funding? This is valuable. I mean, this is a valuable source of funds that many nonprofits in our community can use, especially now more than ever. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is just to set the record straight. This is separate. This is part of the agreement. This $125,000 comes in automatic every year. and none of it has been dispersed. That's $250,000 that has not been dispersed to the community. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. We recently received word that the administration has hired someone to run the parking program, which is great news, but I would like to know, we should, I'd like to receive an update from the administration as to what is the timing of the transition process? Is it moving on time? You know, is it, when you think about it, there's only, I think about maybe 72 days or around that period of time before the end of the year. This needs to be addressed. When I talked to someone at the parking company, I believe they said it was going to be, it takes a while to transition this process. It's not an easy process. It's not like you flip a switch and all of a sudden everything transitions over to the city of Medford. The administration just hired someone, which is definitely good news, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We need to receive an update from the administration as to whether or not this is going to be completed on time. At 1231, is this city going to be ready to take on a parking program? The city's never run a parking program before. So I have concerns there. I just want to make sure that those concerns are addressed. I'm sure my colleagues have concerns as well. And I'd also like to specifically know if the Administration has reached out to Republic Parking for an extension. Someone had told me that the other day, that that's what they had heard. I'm not sure if that's true, but they had heard that from someone within the Park Method office. So I just want clarification on that as well. The administration said they were taking it in-house, but it sounds like maybe they're not taking it in right away. So if we can get an answer to that question, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: That's fine with me. And if I may amend further,
[John Falco]: Thank you. If I meant further, you know, is a plan unfolds, you know, how does the mayor plan to get input from residents, business owners and chamber in the chamber of commerce with regard to the new parking program? That's key, you know, the involvement of the community. So if we can get that question answered, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And I thank Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, you have a lot of great questions that need to be answered, need to be addressed. And, you know, I think one of the other questions is ticketing software. I believe that is completely different from, you know, anything that we currently use today. But the bottom line is the best question of all, what is the plan? What is the plan? Council Marks asked it, what is the plan? We need to be made aware of that. If revenues fall short, if this doesn't go right on time and revenues fall short, that's money that the city probably figures they're gonna be getting. If we're not getting all the revenue that we're supposed to be getting, that's a concern when it comes to budget time. So we need to make sure that everything is being addressed. And from what I can tell right now, it doesn't seem like much of anything is getting addressed. So I would actually, I would ask that you please schedule a committee the whole meeting so we can meet with the administration, at least meet through the director of parking and find out what is the plan? What's the plan moving forward for parking? Great questions regarding kiosks, meters, are we switching over? Are we not switching over? If you switch over, it's more expensive. We're inheriting equipment that's seven to 10 years old, I believe. That's a concern as well. These things need to be upgraded over time. Do we have any upgrades that are coming up that need to be addressed? These are questions that need to be asked, and they need to be answered, and the administration needs to provide answers to those questions. So I respectfully ask that you set up a committee of the whole meeting to address all of these issues sooner than later, please. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and if when we have that meeting if we could also invite the parking commission that came up with a report of parking committee and if we can invite them to the meeting. They did a great job. I have no problem with the report. They came back. They presented this to us previously in Committee of the Whole, but I believe firmly that they should be at that meeting as well to make sure that the recommendations that they offered, see if the administration is going to follow through on those. So, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, I had the opportunity recently to take a walk through Hormel Stadium and really take a look at the condition of Hormel Stadium and it seems like there are a number of issues that have that really need to be addressed sooner than later. Among them are the press box I know that there's a hole in the roof. I think there's a hole in the floor. If you walk through the stands there are a couple of issues where the flooring is, they have like an orange cone in the middle of the floor you really can't walk near that so that is you walk through the stadium. The stadium is starting to show its age. And if you walk underneath the stadium in the, let's see, kind of the bays or the locker room areas, that's showing its age as well. Floors are cracked, sinking. So these are issues that really need to be addressed. You know, my question is, you know, what's the plan for Hormel Stadium in trying to, you know, at least refurbish it or bring it into a, make sure it's, suitable for, you know, I mean, they have games here, of course, and everything seems fine, you know, from a game perspective on the field, but, you know, behind the scenes, you know, and underneath where they, you know, you know, it's really starting to show its age. These issues need to be addressed. They're long overdue. I don't think there's been any capital spending on the stadium for many years. So my question, once again, is what's the plan? What is the plan for when they'll stating the future of Cornell Stadium? How can these issues get addressed and repaired? Some of these might be short fixes, but when you walk through and you see that the press box has a hole in the roof, the vinyl sidings falling off the side, I mean, you go outside into the parking lot, the benches are in disrepair. This is a gateway to our community. When you think about Hormel Stadium, there are people that are coming in each and every week, because Hormel Stadium is probably busier than it's ever been. People are coming in from all over the place. This is a gateway to our community. So when they see the stadium and they see, in some aspects, the condition it's in, you know, I think they really start to wonder, well, what does the rest of the city look like? And we need to make sure that, you know, The stadium's kept up, and I know the people that work there, they do a fine job. They're doing everything they can, but there also needs to be an infusion of capital to make sure that this stadium is, you know, kept properly for the long term. So my question, once again, is what's the plan with regard to renovations for Hornall Stadium? If we could get a report back from the administration on that, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This actually is a... So feel the dreams. We've had feel the dreams now for probably about 10 years, 10, 11 years. And the life, usually the life of the athletic field and the councilor Scott probably could probably tell me, could probably clarify this too, is probably around 10 years, I believe. Okay, so we're getting into that range now where you know that field probably needs to be addressed soon. I know a couple years ago we had a number of people that came before us with the same same question. And those people actually did a lot of hard work and, you know, getting the field built, and they had the same concerns as to when is that turf going to be replaced. I know that that has not been addressed in the past couple of years. So my question again, I guess, is what is the plan to actually have that resurfaced? Councilor Knight, you mentioned rentals. And so there is money that does come in, but what is the plan to have it resurfaced? And if we can get a report back from the administration as to what the plan is, greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was up at the Medford High School swimming pool recently and It's really one of the hidden jewels in our community to have a pool that big in our community is, you know, most most communities throughout the Commonwealth do not have a swimming pool like that. And there are plenty of people that swim and they love to swim and they make it part of their day. And I was up there recently and one of the big questions that came up was the hot water, it appears that there's no hot water in for the showers in the men's and ladies room and that needs to be addressed I mean a lot of people go they take a swim they go to work afterwards. They probably don't want to show up to work, smelling like chlorine. So if we could please have, receive a report back from the, I guess it'd be the school administration to find out why there is no hot water in the locker rooms at the high school in the swimming area. I greatly appreciate it. People pay to use this pool. They deserve to be able to take a hot shower before they, or at least have access to hot water before they get home with their day. So I'd ask that we receive a report back on that issue. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilman for bringing this forward and my colleagues for their kind comments. I was absolutely shocked when I found out. I had just seen Billy a couple of weeks ago at a local restaurant. And you're right, Council Member, I mean, someone who is so easy to talk to, just a great person, always gave great advice, and someone who will be missed dearly throughout our community. He served on the Medford Police Force for many years, over 30 years. And not a lot of people do that these days. So my thoughts and prayers to his family and thank you.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Biez for bringing this forward. This has been an issue for many years, and I know we've tried to address this in the past. Crossing at that intersection is dangerous to begin with any time of day. People are racing to get to the highway, and this is something that definitely needs to be addressed. So I am definitely in favor and in support of this resolution, and I move approval. Thank you for bringing this forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank all my colleagues. Everyone had valuable suggestions. And thank the residents for coming down tonight. That's the most important part is you coming down and letting us know what's going on on your street because you're the closest to it. You know the issues, the problems, what needs to be addressed. Councilor Bearson mentioned budgeting and budget issues. And of course that's always a concern, but safety is the number one concern. We need to make sure that that street is safe for everyone that traverses it. Like you said, it's near a school. That's always a huge concern. You have kids coming back and forth up and down the street all day. So you need to make sure everyone's safe. Councilor Scarpelli mentioned the onsite meeting. I am 100% support of that. That's the best way to get something like this done is to have all the department heads on site so you can talk to them, you can ask them questions, and then everybody leaves that meeting knowing what they need to do. and they hear it directly from you. That's one of the most important things we can do. We did that in other neighborhoods and it was very successful. It worked really well. And I second the motion of Councilor Scarpelli for doing that. And I would ask Mr. President, if you could schedule that as soon as possible, that is vital. And there are some things I'm sure that we could probably do right away, you know, looking at the stop signs, you know, painting stops, lines on the ground, stuff like that. That's simple stuff, but the longer term issues like drainage, sidewalks, that might be long term, but we need to make sure it gets on. We need to make sure that the DPW knows about it. I would ask that the city engineer be invited to that meeting as well. That is important that he's invited because when we talk about drainage, he needs to be part of that conversation. We have a lot of drainage issues throughout this community. More and more when it rains, there's more and more flooding. I'm not sure if you have flooding down in that area, but I know surrounding streets, I was down at a playstate in Usher, That was like a three foot swell. So there's a lot of issues that need to be addressed, but that onsite meeting is key. With regard to council, Mark said mentioned ARPA, there are ARPA funds available for infrastructure projects, especially if we're working on, you know, water main type stuff underneath the street. So maybe if it's due for an upgrade, maybe there's funding for that, but we would have to look into that further. And the city engineer needs to be at that meeting. as well as DPW, Medford Police, Traffic Engineer, they all need to be invited. But it's key that they're there, you're there as well to ask the questions. And like I said, everybody leaves the meeting knowing what needs to be done and what department heads need to work on what. I would ask that Mister President, if you could schedule that soon. We also have to remember that we do have an outstanding meeting with the residents on Cotting Street as well. That neighborhood is still waiting for their meeting. So we have a couple of these now.
[John Falco]: The bottom line is we just need to do it sooner than later. This really needs to be addressed. These are safety concerns.
[John Falco]: Yes. So I just wanted to make sure. So as far as the offsite meeting or onsite meeting, I should say, so do we have the traffic engineer DPW met for police engineer? Uh, disability disability. Yes.
[John Falco]: Okay. And representative of the mayor's office.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. There's been many meetings so far with regard to the car park revitalization. And one of the key, I think, know, boards that really should be involved in this is the parks commission. And they have not been involved in it. And I'm basically asking that the group that is actually having these meetings invite the parks commission to the meeting. When you think about at the end of the day, the parks commission knows the needs of the parks, the scheduling of the parks, what the demands are as far as scheduling and so forth. So they really should be part of this process and in the interest of transparency, they should be invited to these meetings. So I'd ask that the parks commission be invited to all future meetings with regard to car park revitalization. Move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanna thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. I was in that neighborhood today and you are correct, it has not been moved and it is a public safety hazard and definitely narrows the road. It's dangerous, it's near the school, it needs to be removed. And I thank the councilor for bringing it forward and I move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may. Ward 2, Precinct 1, Roberts Elementary School. I know that changed for the primary. Is there a robocall that's going to be going out for those people that, basically everyone in Ward 2, Precinct 1, since some people may not have voted in the primary, I would think another robocall should be going out.
[John Falco]: Okay, there will be a robocall going out?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: If I'm correct, this is the first municipal election where the residents in three, one will be, will not be voting at LMH. They'll be voting at. uh, the, uh, yeah. So I would think that, you know, they should probably get a robocall as well, since this is the first municipal election.
[John Falco]: And if I may, they need to be appointed before the election, correct?
[John Falco]: Do we know if she's working towards the second one?
[John Falco]: And how does it have to be separated again? It's bipartisan, right, if I'm correct?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Yano for the presentation. Yano, could you show us slide number four again?
[John Falco]: No. I think it was the slide with all the community benefits. I just want to look at that one more time. I missed the last one, I think.
[John Falco]: Uh, point that was the, uh, bullet number. I went to five. Let's get cut off at the end and sure. Make sure I can see the whole thing. If you want to read it, that's fine.
[John Falco]: Okay. All right. That's all I wanted to see. Perfect. Uh, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank all my colleagues for all their help with this. This actually has been a long process. Like Councilor Marksley mentioned, at least a year and a half that we've gone through this year. A lot of meetings, great team effort. We're not done, but this is a major major piece of the process, passing it on to the CD board. And I believe Mark Obrosky is working on that document, which is definitely something that will benefit everyone that wants to look at the changes that we made. But this has been a great team effort, and I look to definitely work towards a finished product. We're going to be better for it in the end, and well worth the time and effort that we've put into it. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. I've received numerous calls from various neighborhoods throughout the city, and it's consistent. I mean, I've received calls from Wellington, North Medford, South Medford. One person even called me and literally FaceTimed the rats that were in his backyard. And it's a real problem. It needs to be addressed. I know that it's been going on for a while, but I would ask, Mr. President, if you could please schedule a committee to hold a meeting with the health department. I want to see exactly what they're doing to address this situation. Are they baiting the sewers? Are they not baiting the sewers? If they are, what sewers are they baiting? What neighborhoods are they baiting? This is a concern that is throughout the city. Like I said, it doesn't matter. Various neighborhoods and it needs to be addressed. So I would ask you to, if you would please schedule a committee to the whole meeting with uh, uh, health department to, um, get some answers with regards to some of those questions. Yes, please. If I could amend that councilor Scarpelli's resolution as amended by council. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my colleagues for their thoughts on this, because I could definitely see both sides, but I agree with Councilor Knight that this should go to Committee of the Whole for further review and discussion with the city solicitor and the city assessor. So I would second that motion to move it to Committee of the Whole. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Seconded.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Council and I for bringing this forward. I actually had the opportunity to drive by this area a number of times, and this is a major safety concern, especially with the kids in the morning going to school. It needs to be addressed. I think this is a good solution to look at. It's definitely a major concern and a major public safety concern with the children just coming and going from the school every morning. So I would definitely support this motion and move approval.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: May I ask that we merge 21580 and 21581. Yes, I was going to ask you that. If I may, Councilor Knight, if I may, Councilor Knight as a co-sponsor to 21581. Thank you. So, 21580 and 21581.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I just wanted to offer my sincere condolences to the O'Sullivan family on Mary's recent passing. She was a lifelong resident and a very active member at St. Francis Parish for many, many years. Our thoughts and prayers to the family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just asked me if the DPW could fix a pothole. It's kind of almost like a depression in the road. It looks like there was some road repair work that was done previously, and it just kind of sunk over time. So if we could have the DPW go out and repair that sometime soon. in the interest of public safety, greatly appreciate it. It's right in front of the magnificent box. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, especially with COVID-19 still with us and the new Delta variant. It's important that we keep up with the air testing, air quality testing in all our public buildings. It's important that the city has a plan in place to ensure the ventilation systems in the city buildings that they're checked regularly. You know, sometimes they're checked mechanically, other times it's just a, you know, a technician comes in to check the air quality. But I just wanted to get a report back from the administration with regard to how these buildings are being checked, how often they're being checked, and are they being checked mechanically, or is someone coming in and actually physically checking these buildings? So if we could get an update from the administration as soon as possible with regard to all city buildings. So that would be schools and city hall, library, fire stations, police stations, all city buildings.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a call from a resident down in the Cherry Street area recently regarding their student or a child walking to school to the Roberts in the morning. And, uh, from Haines square to the Roberts, there's pretty much crosswalks all the way through that neighborhood with the exception of Cherry street and Salem street, Almond street and Salem street. So in the public interest of public safety, if we could have, uh, the DPW at some crosswalks to those, uh, those sections that I just outlined, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: If I may add, Councilor Knight, to this as well. Recently, Mr. Joseph Cantalupa, a retired Medford firefighter, passed away. When we see Joe, he would always be at Firefighter Sunday. You'd see him every year there. He had breakfast with them. I think actually, Mr. President, you and myself actually had, we had breakfast with him this past, Firefighter Sunday, this past May. And great guy from all accounts, a firefighter's firefighter. You know, he would do anything and it was just thoughts of praise to the family. And of course, thank you to his family for his continuous commitment to the community. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. There have been a number of, let's see, postings recently with regard to open positions throughout the city hall, and just wanted to get an update with regard to where we are, where the administration is to filling these positions. I've been interviewing people. A lot of these are very important positions. We need to get them staffed as soon as possible. So I just want to get an update from the administration as to where we are with regard to having them finally staffed. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I agree with Councilor Knight 100%. We should get an updated organizational chart. I just want to make sure that it includes the names of the people that are serving in those roles. I know we received an organizational chart during the budget. You just have positions that reported to the mayor, didn't have the names. I think it's key that we have all the names within the organizational charts. You can actually know who reports to who. Um, so, uh, as simple as task as that may seem, uh, they couldn't get it to us months ago. Hopefully they can get it to us now.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. We were just talking about Firefighter Sunday, and I remember when Chief Gilberti gave his speech this past year, he had mentioned that it would be his last speech and that he was going to be retiring. I think it was going to be November, the end of November. So this is basically asking the administration to get an update with regard to the transition, how that process is going, and generally just to get an update. We really haven't been given any update with regard to this process whatsoever. I think we definitely deserve an update. approve their budget every year. This is something that we should know about, and we've received very little information so far about this process. So it'd be nice to get an update, or I'm actually asking for an update from the administration that we've received an update with regard to this process in the timeline as to when it's going to take place. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is similar to the previous resolution about staffing in general, but this is specific to message community media. Patrick Gordon, who helped us for so long with regard to council meetings. And he also worked at Medford Community Media. It's just basically asking for an update as to how the interview process is going for the position since he left for another community. Just want to know, have they interviewed anyone? Are they close to getting anyone to replace Patrick? So I'd like to request that update from the administration.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: I do, right here.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: You probably don't answer it.
[John Falco]: We always ask the time, the duration. I never remember approving anything.
[John Falco]: When will this work be taking place if it's approved tonight?
[John Falco]: Do you have any idea on a date? Would it be like in two weeks, three weeks, a month? Do you know what this is besides?
[John Falco]: Aye.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Mr. Marino for coming down tonight and also thank Councilor Nyquist's resolution. I think this is a, I agree with this resolution a hundred percent. It's a good idea when the early stages of actually redesigning this park. I was at the meeting last week and there are a number of different options. All of them are very nice, but. We need to make sure that this park isn't a very populated area. It's in the middle of a neighborhood. And we need to make sure that the neighbors who live around this park 24 seven have some input and their concerns are addressed. So I thank council and I for bringing this forward. This is something that I believe the administration should definitely move on. And I would, I definitely support in a body's advisory committee, like Mr. Marino mentioned earlier, he lives around this property. He's impacted a number, A lot of residents are impacted. It's great to see this park refurbished. I want to see it refurbished. It's been a long time and it's in dire need of refurbishment. So I support the resolution and move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: If I may, good friends with Jean's son, Ray, and the Cipriani family. I just want to wish her a very happy birthday and thank Council of Mox for bringing this forward. I know they've, for a long time, very active in South Medford through the years, and I want to thank Council of Mox for bringing it forward and wishing Mrs. Cipriani a very happy 90th birthday.
[John Falco]: Thank you Mr. President. I brought up this resolution a while ago regarding the $250,000 from the billboard agreement. Back a while ago when this was signed in year 11, The company, the billboard company, the city of Medford, it was a payment of $250,000. It was not included in last year's budget. I found out about it afterwards when I brought it to their attention. I just want to get an accounting of exactly what the $250,000 was spent on. just an accounting of basically what it was spent on, a detailed description of what the $250,000 was spent on. That money was not included in last year's budget, but I'm just following up. They never addressed it in past resolutions, so I wanted to get a complete update, detailed accounting on how that money was spent.
[John Falco]: I think if I remember correctly,
[John Falco]: It was by 630, excuse me.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, President Caraviello. Thank you for bringing this, putting this on the agenda. Happy anniversary to all the parishioners in St. Francis. It's been a hundred years. and hopefully 100 more. I know there are a lot of people in the North Bedford neighborhoods that frequent St. Francis, and I wish them well in the future. Thank you.
[John Falco]: If I may, do we have to vote that out in a formal session?
[John Falco]: We have to vote. We have to vote. We have to vote.
[John Falco]: We have to vote.
[John Falco]: I read the records. I have a quick question with regard to the records. I thought there were a couple of resolutions that came out of that meeting, that special meeting. So if we could just table for one week. I just want to make sure we get it right. I thought there was a couple.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and I want to thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. If there's anything I think that we have learned from the building of the schools down at the McGlynn complex the McGlynn in Andrew schools is that we should never use concrete curbing. If you take a look in the winter they get hit by the plows and they automatically just break up into a million pieces. So it should be granted, it should always be granted. You know, we live in New England, there's salt, there's plows every winter, and it's just a fact that concrete curbing is not going to last long at all. So if we're gonna do it, we should make sure we're doing it right. It should be granted curbing. I thank you for bringing this forward, and I eagerly await a response from the engineer's office. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So we had a meeting on Saturday and no one showed up from the mayor's office to address the issues. Here we are once again, Tuesday night, a full week later, still no one at the podium from the administration to address the issue. An email was sent. We still have no clarification on what kind of coverage is being offered down in the veteran's office. Someone came from Wilmington. That helps, I guess, in some sort of way. But we have no idea how many days a week, how many hours a day, You know, issues come up that might not be timely. Someone might be here in the morning if there's no coverage. I mean, there's no, we have no idea when that office is being covered. I came in on Friday, the office was in darkness, not even a note on the door. I mean, I know Michael Durham dealt with some pretty heavy issues down there when veterans came in and they had questions or they needed help. This issue needs to be addressed. And it needs to be addressed now. I feel that by doing this here, the administration is kicking a can down the road. There's no coverage for that office. There's no coverage for the veterans. There's no plan here. This is not a plan. There's no one here to answer any questions tonight. Once again, this needs to be addressed. Have you had any conversations with the mayor that can shed any light on the type of coverage you're going to be getting?
[John Falco]: So here we are. There's still no long-term solution. We don't know when Michael's coming back. He went on his own to get an evaluation. That wasn't good enough for the administration, but they're still not telling him when he needs to get an evaluation. They're doing just, the city is doing such a disservice. I should say the administration is doing such a disservice to the veterans of this community. It's absolutely unacceptable.
[John Falco]: Thank you, and I thank Councilor Knight for his words, but I agree 100%. This needs to be dealt with. The administration is not dealing with the issue. There is no plan to move forward. There's no plans for coverage in that office. I support the resolution, but the administration needs to get on the ball and get a solution to this issue. This is absolutely unacceptable. The residents of this city, the veterans of this city deserve more than they're getting.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, thank you Mr. President, do we ever get an answer as to If Michael's voicemail has been checked or his email has been checked. I know we asked questions about that during the Saturday session. Trying to make sure if there's any urgent issues that they get addressed.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank Paul McGill for his 25 years of service to our community. That's a long time. He will be missed, and I wanted to wish him well in his new endeavor in Wilmington. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and Julian, thank you very much for your artwork. I'm absolutely horrified that this was not only pulled down once, but twice. Just completely unacceptable. I feel like I'm using that word a lot tonight, but it's completely unacceptable that that was torn down. And it shows you that there is still a long way we need to go as a community. I mean, you talked about promoting dialogue and conversation, and that's what it's all about. Is it easy conversation? No, but we need to have that conversation. And that outwork, I think, is part of that. It's unfortunate that it was pulled down. If I may ask you, and I was trying to take a note while you were speaking, so I apologize if I missed this piece. It was taken out twice. And the third time was when you. told not to put it up or sure.
[John Falco]: It's just it's just listening to the story. It's just it's horrifying. Because here you are trying to do a good thing. You went through the process of getting it approved. It sounds like the park commission knew completely what they were approving. So you went through that process, which is unfortunate. I mean, it's really, you know, you know, I feel like if the administration was truly committed to this, you would have your artwork or to see protection especially not once but having a pulled out twice but you should have as an artist as well receive some sort of support from from I think the administration from the community or that, you know, I mean, I'm glad that you had a pleasant experience with the police department, but it sounds also like there wasn't it you said there wasn't a police reported.
[John Falco]: Aye.
[John Falco]: Councilor Tocco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Beres as well and Councilor Morell for her words as well on this topic. I read through this plan and it actually says this page will be updated regularly as we welcome community feedback and questions. But when I've gone through, I haven't seen, I haven't noticed any updates. And I think it's important that we do receive an update. This needs to be a priority. It's obvious that this needs to be a priority throughout our community. One of the questions I have is who owns this? Who owns this plan? Is it the mayor's plan? Is it diversity and inclusion? Who owns this? Someone needs to own this at city hall. Someone needs to drive this. From what I can tell when I read through this, it doesn't look like there's one particular person that owns this. Someone needs to own this plan. Someone needs to move this forward. Someone needs to drive the dialogue and there needs to be dialogue. And I think that's lacking. I know we've had a number of community forums, not nearly enough. I think we had a handful over the past 12 months. This came out, I believe a year ago, this coming Thursday. I think there's only been a handful of community forums. We want to be serious about this. Money's going to have to go into it. Dialogue is going, needs to happen. It needs to happen sooner than later. I thank Councilor Fierce for bringing this up tonight. We need, we need an update. The community needs an update. And it's a roadmap, but we need to do better. The administration needs to do better on this or else it's a road to nowhere. So we really need to make sure that this is being discussed on a regular basis and that there is programming built around this on a regular basis. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yeah. If, if I may just quickly, I just wanted to say, I, Jen, I completely agree. Everyone needs to own this, but I'm just saying. Everybody's part of this, yes. But one person at City Hall needs to own this document. This needs to be a priority. We're a city of, I always go back to the metrics and about making sure that these departments are separate because, I go back to the metrics, 59,000 residents, 4,000 kids in the Medford Public Schools, 1,000 municipal employees. Diversity, inclusion, and equity need to be a priority. And that's why it should be a standalone department. We've always had a standalone department. In my eyes, merging it is going backwards. You look at other cities and towns. The city of Lynn just got their first diversity, equity, inclusion office. They've been waiting forever. We've had a standalone office for the longest time. We voted to keep it separate because it needs to be a priority. And someone at City Hall needs to own this to make sure that we are, you know, the City Hall is accountable for all the deliverables. There's a lot in here. It's 36 pages. And there's some good stuff in here. But someone needs to make sure it's getting done. Someone needs to make sure there's follow-up. Someone needs to make sure that there is, you know, programming here on a regular basis and not just, you know, three times a year. It needs to be a priority, not just a check the box where we have a policy or a roadmap. So that's why I was saying, someone needs to own it. Yes, everybody needs to own it, but someone needs to be responsible for the document, making sure everything's getting done. So I agree with you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This here is the property at 15 Maple Park Avenue, the former Bridgewell building and the heckner center going back years ago. It's city owns a property. The property I'll say it hasn't really been maintained that well. During the summer, the weeds are five, six feet tall. It looks from the outside like it's in some sort of maybe disrepair. I have not been inside. I believe the police may be using it for training occasionally. And I know that there's been vehicles parked inside. I think they are maybe former police vehicles, but It's an enablement and the city needs to keep up the property. I've also been hearing from residents that there's rodents around the area as well. And this year needs to be addressed. And the city really hasn't made a statement about what's going to happen with this property, what's the future of this property. It's just a vacant for a number of years now and it really needs to be addressed. So I'm bringing the resolution forward to just get an update from the administration as to what the plans are for the property and to also just make sure that it's maintained on a regular basis. Like I said, it's in a neighborhood. Neighbors should not have to look at something that is overgrown every few weeks. It should be on a maintenance schedule. In a previous resolution I had regarding this, I asked for the maintenance schedule with regard to this property. I have not received one yet. I'm hoping that I'll receive one at some point, but I just want to, tonight, this resolution is just basically to find out what are the plans for this building? And at one point in time, I think it was maybe being considered as an art center, but I'm not sure if any progress has been made in that area. I know that there is one resident, I believe, that wants to speak on this tonight, but thank you.
[John Falco]: So that is a great question and that's part of the purpose of this resolution to find out what are the plans, are there any plans? You know, as I said earlier, Councilor Marks had led the effort for years on an art studio there, but we haven't really received an update in quite some time. So really the purpose of the resolution is to receive an update to find out what the plans are because we haven't received any updates in quite some time.
[John Falco]: And I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward and share his sentiments as well. I just want to congratulate and thank General Lasky and Judith Murray for their many years of service to our community and wish them well. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Mr. Clerk, I just have a question. Mr. President, I have a question for the clerk. So with General Lasky and Judith moving on, what are the plans or how does that work with regard to the replacements? And those will have to be, those people have to be sworn in before the next.
[John Falco]: Correct, before the election.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just had a quick question. So what's the range for CAF 3? Do you know the actual ranges?
[John Falco]: If you wouldn't mind, if you could get the ranges for each of these CAFs, we'd greatly appreciate it. I'd be happy to do so. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you very much for all your hard work on this. Can you talk a little bit about the timing of this as far as when people would actually be living in these units?
[John Falco]: So that'll be 12 months from hopefully yeah perfect and as far as the uh is there designated parking for this for these units or is it
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Mr. Irwin for coming down tonight. Thank you for coming down to speak to the council. I'm sure these last few days have not been easy on you, your husband or your family. The most progressive value in the foundation of actions and relationship is a truth. Without it, we can't possibly move forward to the goal of working together to build a new and vibrant method that we all desire. I've worked with veteran services Michael Durham closely during my time on the city council. Mike has repeatedly served the many needs of our veterans with compassion and professionalism. That is the truth. I have witnessed the dedication that he brings to his position on a 24 seven basis. That is the truth. I've heard him as sure as, and I'm sure you have to, to be unafraid to speak. Oh, when he sees an injustice, that is the truth too. I stand with my Durham who has stood up for so many. There's one more truth and that's that our city cannot afford to lose yet another one of its best public servants. We lost a great one just a couple of months ago with Aleesha Nunley Benjamin, a woman of color who left our city after alleged complaints of racism, sexism, and a hostile work environment. This must come to an end. Our employees must be valued, recognized, and respected for their hard work. Over the past few days, I've been stopped walking through Medford Square, I've been called on the phone, and I've heard numerous numerous, all positive stories about Michael Durham and all of the hard work that he has put in, all of the veterans that he has helped, all of the, in some of them during the most trying of times. It might be paperwork, it might be, I talked to someone recently whose husband was a veteran and he had passed away and Michael helped with the burial and whatnot. Michael has always been there for the community. I did say during the budget hearing, he's fabulous. And he is, he's a nonstop constant worker that gets the job done. And everyone I've talked to, everyone that I met along the way loves Michael. He's probably one of the finest people you ever want to meet. He's always giving back. He served his country, he served his community, and he's always been there for the veterans of our community and anyone else that needs help. Thank you for coming down, and I support Michael Durham 100%. He's one of the best we've got.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So do you have a standing daily call with the state to go through any questions that veterans may have? I mean, they shouldn't have to wait to get answers. I mean, is this a standing daily call that you have?
[John Falco]: What about Thursday and Friday? I mean, veterans come in, they deserve to get answers in a timely fashion. If I knew anything about Michael, he was prompt about everything. Everyone had their questions answered in a timely fashion. There shouldn't be a delay with anything here. I mean, there needs to be a process set up where people are getting answers and they're getting an ASAP. I mean, a lot of these are very sensitive situations that time can't wait.
[John Falco]: Exactly.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, uh, who do we want at that meeting?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And if I may, can we also have Darlene come to the meeting as well? She knows what's going on in the office. So it's fitting that she's here.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Is this what's currently reflected in the budget? Yes, these numbers
[John Falco]: If I look at the budget tonight when I go home, I'll be able to see that the assistant, the actually MCM station manager, that number should fall somewhere in that range.
[John Falco]: I just want to make sure it's reflected properly in the budget. It is. Okay. So you're saying it is?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Can we take 21543? 21543. It's on page seven.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I've had a number of neighbors contact me about this issue. They might actually be online tonight, and we have a resident here as well that would like to speak on this. And in that intersection of Cotting, West, North, and Auburn, there are a number of issues going on there with people coming down Cotting Street the wrong way, speeding, the lack of crosswalks in the area. So there are a number of issues. I've also received it and I believe everybody on this council has received an email as well that I'll read. just now so everybody can hear about the issues. This here is from people that live in the neighborhood. So dear city council members, I am writing with the support of 28 neighbors to respectfully ask that the resolution 21-543 that Councilor Falco added to the agenda tonight. regarding a traffic study at the intersection of Auburn, West, North, and Cotting Streets be approved and moved forward rapidly. Ideally also for the bridge just up the street where Mystic Valley Parkway crosses the river and intersects with Auburn. Because of the way Cotting, North, West, and Auburn intersect, it is often impossible for drivers coming up one street to have a clear view of the oncoming cars from other directions. Most cars do not come to a full stop at the stop signs, but even if one does, one's view is frequently blocked by either a parked car or just the angle at which the roads intersect. An example is turning left onto North Street from Cotting. It is not a simple four-way stop with two perpendicular streets and requires additional support to be made safe. No speed bumps are in place to force people to slow down or discourage driving up one-way streets the wrong way. There are not sufficient curb cuts for strollers and wheelchairs, and most importantly, there is no kind of crosswalk in any direction. Cars frequently drive up both Cotting and West the wrong way, despite the signage. This person refers to when her husband in her and politely stopped, asked drivers to turn around, that this is dangerous for many of the kids that ride bikes and scooters in the neighborhood, that they're going down the wrong way, they get yelled obscenities, and there's a lot of unfortunate back and forth between the neighbors or the people that are just driving down the wrong way. Parents with kids often discuss how dangerous the street is when we meet at Cummings Park. Crossing these streets with my two children in a stroller feels incredibly dangerous. One has to be hypervigilant, constantly looking in multiple directions to make sure a car can see us and won't zoom across and hit us. The bridge where Mystic Valley Parkway crosses the Mystic River is equally concerning. Currently, there is debris from a recent accident scattered across the pedestrians' sidewalk. And once again, the guide rail has been severely damaged in a crash. It seems like these crashes occur every few weeks, making making me wonder what factors are making that turn especially dangerous. Lighting, speed, something else, and how can they be addressed? Aside from the risks to pedestrians and drivers, these crashes must be costing the city significantly in repairs every time the guide rail gets fixed and a crew must come out to ideally clean up. I'm including here multiple concerned neighbors who live in the area and cross these intersections frequently. As we are hopeful, a comprehensive plan can be taken up. Thank you for your help and attention to this matter. Gratefully, Sophie Ricks, and she lives on Cotting Street, so she's experiencing this on a daily basis. And then there's also a list of 25 neighbors on the surrounding streets, Cotting, Auburn, Northwest, Winter Street, Martin Street. So there's a lot of neighbors here that are concerned about this. This has become a very dangerous area to get around as a pedestrian, as a cyclist, and as a motorist. So what I'm recommending is that we, I believe it worked last time and I think it can work again, and that is actually an onsite committee, the whole meeting. We did that back last year. I think it was very successful. I mean, as Councilors, we actually all went to the site. We were there with the traffic engineer. We talked about the various issues with the neighbors. They're there every day. They experience this every day, and these are major quality of life issues that need to be addressed. So I would ask, Mr. President, if you could set up a committee of the whole sooner than later.
[John Falco]: On-site. On-site committee of the whole meeting.
[John Falco]: That works for me. I think that, I feel like when we did that last time, we really addressed, we addressed a multitude of issues in the neighborhood that we went to. I feel like, you know, we worked together really well on that with the traffic engineer. And I think we can do the same thing down here. Get everybody on the same page. If we could have it at the intersection of Auburn, North Cotting and West, that would be ideal. There's many, there are many issues that need to be addressed. I'm sorry, I would ask that we have, if you could please schedule that community hall meeting. And I know there was a neighbor that would like to speak as well. So I'd love to, we'd love to hear from you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: We usually do Saturday, because that's when most of the neighbors usually can come to something like that, and everybody can give their input.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Interesting area because there is actually like a small island between those two streets that you really, there's a cut through that can't really be used anymore.
[John Falco]: Let's see if we can get the city to do it first.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I may, is there anyone on the call? Can you see if there's anyone on the call that may want to speak on this? I know there were some people, I think, that were going to log in.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much and I thank Council Knight for offering this resolution tonight. We'd like to congratulate the Leonis as well on their 50th anniversary. Happy anniversary and best wishes. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Knight for bringing this resolution forward. It brings back a lot of memories. Mr. McDevitt, I had him for a long while when I was at Medford High School many years ago. And I still fondly remember him saying every Friday, root for the Mustangs, root for the Eagles, and root for the Patriots in that order. So I just want to wish him a very happy birthday and wish him well.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilman Mack for bringing this forward too. The Bates family has been very instrumental through the years in our community in their various volunteer efforts. And I just wanted to offer my condolences to the family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, thoughts and prayers to former fire chief Larry Sands on his recent passing. He's a member of the US Marine Corps, Korean War veteran, Vietnam veteran. He was appointed to the Medford Fire Department in 1965, became chief in 1984, and was a long-time parishioner at St. Francis, Mississippi Parish, and volunteered many hours there. And I just wanted to offer my condolences to the family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to thank Councilor Knight for bringing this resolution forward. Pedestrian safety is always key. This is a highly populated area with a lot of kids that walk to and from school to the Roberts Elementary School and to the Andrews and McGlynn schools. So I think this is definitely in favor of this and I'd like to move forward on this as soon as possible. So I would second the motion. Thank you.
[John Falco]: and Conway for the many years of service to our community. When you think about it, 70 years combined, that's a lot of time. And I just want to thank them for their continuous commitment to our community and wish them well in their retirement.
[John Falco]: Yeah. had another commitment so you couldn't wait through the evening so I believe you want to come back at another time.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm in full agreement with Councilor Morell. This is a project that's long overdue. It should have been done years ago. It's a station that needs to be made accessible. And I'd like to see this done as soon as possible. I know I've talked to Representative Garibaldi recently, and he took me through some of the funding details, but I think it would be great to get him here to a meeting at some point. Or maybe if you could send us some sort of I think it would be beneficial to have a written response, just giving us an update of where the project is, I think would be beneficial or possibly committee the whole if you see that that's that's necessary as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Piz for bringing this forward. I do like the idea of being able to connect Wellington to South Medford. I would definitely be in favor of that, but I also am concerned with the express routes as well. As someone who has taken the 325 and the 326 for a good 15 years, it's it's had an impact not having it around. I'm receiving calls and actually have an agenda item a little bit later, specifically about those bus routes. I'm getting calls from various people that I've taken the bus with. I'm sure Council Member March, you probably have too. I know you're a commuter as well. And these are concerned, people are concerned about these existing routes, or I should say at one point were existing routes and are no longer available. You can even look at the 710 that runs up into the heights. And that's an issue as well. So, I mean, Silverline, I'm fine with, but I do get concerned that they're taking away routes that were definitely used. And yeah, I wouldn't want to give up one for another. I want both. And, you know, both Silver and the existing routes that are no longer, or have been temporarily taken away, I guess, or suspended. But I thank you for bringing this forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm just trying to get some information. It's simply stated all right here. I move approval.
[John Falco]: Be it resolved that the MBTA provide an up- Mr. President, this was actually merged with Councilor Morell's early motion.
[John Falco]: Oh, he did. You did. I'm sorry. I apologize.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have received numerous calls from residents regarding the 325, 326 and 710 bus routes. They have been temporarily suspended by the MBTA, but I know that many people are starting or at least trying to plan to go back to work at some point. they've gotten, they were used to the convenience of taking the 325 and the 326 where Councilor Knight had mentioned earlier, take it right into Haymarket Station from West Bedford and from North Bedford and Salem Street area. And they were super convenient. Councilor Marks could tell you that firsthand. Clerk Hurtubise could tell you firsthand as he used to take that and Councilor Knight as well. These bus routes are needed by the community. They're in demand. They were actually, pre-COVID, they were packed. people are starting to go back and planning to go back. And we need to know what the MBTA is planning for these bus routes. So it asks that we get some sort of response from our state representatives, state representative Donato. I know he's been working on this. I've talked to him about it and you know, it actually would be beneficial if we could have a committee in the whole meeting with our state delegation and with representatives from the MBTA. We need to know what the plan is going forward. And these bus routes are key to many people in this community. So I'd ask that you please schedule a community hall meeting with our state delegation and our representative from the MBTA. I know we had a meeting before. Do you remember who we invited to that meeting? This has gone back a good couple of years.
[John Falco]: Perfect. Well, if we could start there, that'd be great. But this is a meeting that needs to happen. So I'd ask Council President, if you could please schedule that with the assistance of Clerk Hurtubise to get someone from the MBTA to join us in that meeting to let us know what the future is of these bus routes.
[John Falco]: So North Manfred is, is, is an area of the city that really is not served well by the MBTA. There's the 710 is the only bus that comes through there. I'm not having it does have an impact on many people. specifically our senior citizens. I've seen people waiting for that bus numerous times in the past, and now they don't have an option. So we need to get answers on that. And I appreciate you setting up a meeting. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I've received numerous calls from residents regarding Riverside Plaza down in Medford Square and Riverside Ave behind us. And, you know, when we rebuilt that plaza, it was rebuilt as a plaza or not as a park and it gave the police department I think different jurisdiction over the property. And I'm hearing now that there's been drug use, people have found medications on the ground and whatnot. So if we could please have the Bedford Police Department step up patrols in that area in the interest of public safety. I know there's a lot of people down there that like to utilize that park and we need to make sure it's safe for our residents. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I'm welcome to all the amendments from Councilor Bears and Councilor Knight. They're good amendments and I definitely think Lori should be invited to the meeting. We need to address everything and it'd be good to have It'd be beneficial for everyone involved just to have a good discussion about how we can make these areas safer. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is just a simple request just to receive information from Republic Parking with just revenue metrics from January through August of this year. We're getting ready to transition over, so I just want to see how we're doing from a revenue perspective year-to-date through August 2021. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, and I want to thank Councilor Marks because I share those same concerns. Here we are, it's September, this is going to transition over in January, and there are some major concerns. This isn't, you don't just flip a switch and it goes over. There's all kinds of, you know, implications with regard to software, policies, procedures, who's going to run it, who's going to manage it, what's happening with the cash, what are the policies behind that? There are all kinds of issues with this. And if it doesn't transition correctly, there are going to be some pretty significant ramifications with regard to revenue. I mean, if the city's counting on revenue to maintain revenue, and this doesn't go off without a hitch, that's going to be a problem. So I share those same concerns, and I thank you for bringing that forward to Council Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I was walking through the neighborhood of Usher Road and Pleistead Road last week, and I was talking to one of the residents and they were telling me about the issues that they're having with significant flooding. The water comes down Usher Road during a rainstorm, and it almost floods instantaneously. And it needs to be addressed. He showed me pictures. We're talking flooding that's probably like two feet high. and it goes all the way out into Playstead Road. I would ask, because I have another resolution following this one that's similar, but I would ask that we have a community hall meeting with the chief engineer to see what we're doing to address these issues. This gentleman told me he has to go out when he knows it's going to rain, he has to go out, all the neighbors call each other, he has to go out and make sure that those shores are clean of any type of debris. Because if they're not, it's major flooding. Even if they are clean, it's major flooding. So this needs to be addressed. It's becoming an increasing problem. And it's a real quality of life issue. He's telling me that the water. He showed me pictures actually I can forward them to everybody, but it's probably like two feet, three feet tall in high in some areas. It's a major concern it needs to be addressed. I think it can be the whole meeting because I know there's various flooding issues around our city. This resolution in West Bedford there's one in North the next resolution. We need to get on top of this and see if this is an issue where maybe at one point in time, you know, the system could keep up with the water flow. It can't now. This particular street has two sewers on each side of the street, and it's not keeping up with the water flow. Catch faces. Catch faces, I'm sorry, excuse me, catch faces. And so this needs to be addressed. And I think we should have a committee of the whole meeting to meet with, to make it a chief engineer, just to go over these issues and any other flooding issues that people may have. I know I've received calls from South Bedford a few weeks ago. This next resolution is about North Bedford, but this one here is in West Bedford. Usher and Playstead Road, major problem, major flooding, and even when it's not that bad of a rainstorm, so. Councilor Morocco? Approval.
[John Falco]: These issues need to be addressed. It'd be nice to have a community hall meeting where we could actually point out these particular areas and at least give the engineer somewhere to look and come up with a plan or try to determine what the issue is moving forward so people are not having flooded basements just with the, you know, when it's, sometimes the rain's not even bad and they're getting flooding out.
[John Falco]: Both. Approval in Committee Hall, because I'd like the engineer to get started on it, but I think we should have a meeting as well.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: If I may, can we also add, in addition to the engineer, can we also have a DPW there as well? Maybe Steve Tanaglia, he seems to have a good, talking about institutional knowledge. I know he has a very good background as to where things usually flood and don't flood. And I think he'd be able to add a lot of value in that conversation.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is a similar situation up on Cedar Road recently. They had probably about two weeks ago, three weeks ago, a bad rainstorm and the water, the way that they were situated, they have two roads that, well actually the road just kind of dips at that one point, and there was significant flooding. A number of the neighbors had probably a good two, three feet of water in their basements, and some of it actually went out into the backyard as well. And this is a similar situation where this needs to be addressed. I just want to, if we can add this probably to, if we can add this address to the committee, the whole list. That would be perfect. City engineer can look into that as well. And I think in this situation, this particular situation, this is an area where at one point the road stopped years ago and then they added on, so I don't think the infrastructure can really handle the newer part of the street. and Jim will be able to answer that best. So if we could add this to the list of streets for the community hall meeting and move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also wanted to echo the sentiments of Councilor Marks and thank Officer Leone and Sergeant Bodo for the continuous commitment to the community and thank them for their many years of service and wish them well in their retirement. Thank you.
[John Falco]: So thanks. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Ron and Charlie and all the volunteers that are here tonight. I know a lot of time, effort, dedication, and commitment go into this on a yearly basis. And to be doing this for 25 years, year after year, that's a long time. But as you, as Councilor Scarpelli mentioned, and Councilor Marks, this has been a successful tournament year after year after year. And it's something that you hear throughout the community. Thank you so much for all your time, your commitment to the tournament, to the youth of our community. I can't thank you enough. And I just want to say thank you for your years of service and commitment to our community.
[John Falco]: You didn't have to do that, but thank you very much. That was it.
[John Falco]: We like that. That's perfect.
[John Falco]: I'd like to begin by thanking Desmond Lambert for being here tonight and congratulating him on earning the rank of Eagle Scout. This never gets tired. We have celebrated, we've had a lot of Eagle Scouts in our community that have come through Troop 416, and a big congratulations to Desmond, and also a big thank you to his parents, Tim and Julie Lambert in the back. was at the ceremony last night, and it was described as a journey scouting. And it has taken many years, not just for Desmond, but for everyone that begins in scouting and sees it through to the end. And I've had the the pleasure of knowing Desmond for probably about 16 years now. So I remember when he was just a kid and here he is a young man, he's made it through to the rank of Eagle Scout and he's done a fabulous job. He's someone that is a really, really, I'm really proud of everything that he's done and he's come a long way. And tonight we're going to be presenting him with the council accommodation from the Medford City Council. The Medford City Council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Desmond Lambert. Congratulations on being elevated to Eagle Scout. The realization of this outstanding achievement will undoubtedly lead to success in accomplishments throughout your life. Respectfully offered by John C. Falco Jr.' 's Medford City Council.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And to answer your question, Councilor Marks, Councilor Caraviello, The past 10 years, there have been 17 Eagle Scouts that have come from Troop 416, which is a remarkable achievement for Troop 416, for their commitment and dedication to the community and to the Scouts. And once again, like we said before, it's a journey. It always takes a good support system. So thanks to mom and dad as well. And we wish you well. Good luck. And congratulations.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Let's do that.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I'd like to move approval on that motion.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Marks. She had a question regarding Ward 2, Precinct 2. I know that will be moving voting usually takes place at St. Francis Parish. I'm sorry, 2-1, I apologize, I'm looking at the wrong page. 2-1, usually occurs at St. Francis Parish and now it's at the Roberts. I believe you had mentioned earlier that there's going to be a mailing going out to the residents of that change. Do you know what dates those mailings will be going out?
[John Falco]: They went out today, okay. Yes. Is it just one round of postcards? Are there going to be multiple mailings?
[John Falco]: One round of postcards and two robocalls.
[John Falco]: Per election.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and miss Gail, thank you so much for your presentation and the clerk as well. And we've been talking about advertising elections for a while, and it's it's great to see that this is occurring, and it's, you know, it's I said we're reaching out trying to engage people, and you know being part of the process of voting. I for one, I completely understand the rationale for. reducing the number of days, but for me, I like to see that this flexibility, so I would be in favor of keeping the four days in person early voting as stated here, the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th for the preliminary. That would be I think it's great that we have the flexibility, especially with concerns of COVID and whatnot. If someone's weary, they had the flexibility of coming over a multiple number of days. So I think four days is ideal, and I would be in favor of the four days. Thank you. Through the chair, thank you, Councilor Thompson.
[John Falco]: So the motion is to reduce it to two?
[John Falco]: So this is to reduce from four to two, for the preliminary.
[John Falco]: If I'm correct, though, with this paper here, These are the recommendations for approval by the city engineer.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. It's not a question for Ghalam. I believe last time we In the last meeting, we asked for some guidance on, I think, point number seven.
[John Falco]: Okay, if we could hear from Ellen with regards to point number seven, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: When I look at this here, this is a recommendation that has been made by the city engineer. So the city engineer must know of some community that is taking this type of action currently. So I think we need to either reach back to him and find out what community is going through this process and how do they arrive at the fee that they charge the particular company in that city or town. He must have come up with this somehow. It must be done in other cities and towns. We need to get more information with regard to how much we should be charging. If you guys allow me,
[John Falco]: Mr. President?
[John Falco]: So if I may, Councilor Scarpelli, through you to Councilor Scarpelli. So we're looking for specific recommendations for 0.6 and 0.7 from our city engineer?
[John Falco]: Perfect.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have a couple of quick questions. The first being, if this is approved, when will the work begin and how long will it take?
[John Falco]: How long will this project take? Yeah, less than one day's work. One day's work, okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, how long do you think this will take to complete?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. We do have a pre-ordinance, I think that just got moved to Committee of the Whole, that we reviewed, I think about a month ago.
[John Falco]: It went from the Woodman subcommittee to Committee of the Whole. So it was just voted over, I think it was July 17th.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to thank Deputy Chief Fusco for his many years of commitment to our community, to the fire service, and wish him well in his retirement. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'd like to make the motion to table those resolutions offered by Councilor Knight until he returns.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is a simple request to receive an update as to where the investigation stands and when it will be complete with regard to the allegations that were brought by the former CFO. Move approval.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I could withdraw the next resolution.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. I was down in that area the past couple of weeks at the farmer's market and also at one of the MFN concerts, and it is really overgrown. It needs to be addressed. I saw a parent walking their child on the sidewalk and the weeds were taller than the kid. And that's just unacceptable. And the DCR needs to do a better job of actually maintaining their property within our city. If you go to any of their properties within the city, it's just overgrown, and it has been mowed in ages, and we always have to ask for it to be mowed. It's never mowed on its own. So if I could amend the resolution to get some sort of a maintenance schedule from DCR as to how often they come to our city to maintain their properties, because to me, it always seems like they're not maintaining them unless we're asking, and they should be able to manage that on their own, without us getting involved but I want to see some sort of maintenance schedule so if the Councilor would allow I'd like to amend the resolution.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I'd also like to thank, well, congratulate Michael McDevitt-Falco. It's hard work with the veterans and congratulate him. Congratulate him for being named with the honor that Councilor Scott mentioned earlier, and I wanted to thank him for all his hard work with regard to the veterans in our community. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: But there's no one on the line from the administration to answer these questions.
[John Falco]: Are we continuing to get that information that Councilor Knight referenced?
[John Falco]: I just wanna make sure we're all on the same page. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Tim, quick question regarding Councilor Abuerez had mentioned previously the recommendations of number six and number seven. So do you know if this has been done in any other cities and towns in the past?
[John Falco]: Are you familiar with the structure of what they've done in the past, like the City of Boston?
[John Falco]: I'm looking at this because reasonable is kind of arbitrary as far as what's reasonable. And if we're looking to come up with a fee, you know, it'd be good to have some sort of guidance as to which way to head on that, I guess.
[John Falco]: Exactly, exactly. I mean, is it a yearly fee? Is it a one-time flat fee? That type of thing. I think it's something that needs to be looked at.
[John Falco]: I agree. I think it's a great idea. I'm just looking for in the past, if we've done something like this, and because I don't remember doing something like this since I've been on the council, maybe I could, I don't think it comes up that often, but I'm just wondering, and I'm not sure if some of the senior councilors might have recommendations as to which way to head on this. If we've done this before in the past, what have we charged?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin for her many years of service to our city as the budget director and CFO. She made a number of great contributions here to our city and with the budget process. She was always available to answer questions. It was a pleasure to work with her and I just wanted to wish her well in her new role in all of her future endeavors. So I just want to say congratulations, good luck and best wishes to Aleesha Nunley-Bedger.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And this resolution is related to the last resolution. As we all know, Alicia Dudley Benjamin recently left this position. And my question basically is to the administration, what is the plan moving forward for this role? Alicia held the role of financial director, CFO, auditor, and I know she also helped out with a number of treasury functions as well. And I believe, you know, it's these are vital, vital, you know, roles to the daily operations of our city. And, you know, I think it's our fiduciary responsibility to be asking the questions as to what is the plan moving forward for the administration? Is this going, are they going to hire for this role? We're full time personally looking, is it going to be on a temporary basis, but we need to have this information. I think it's our responsibility to ask these questions. And I know that the assistant that was recently hired just this year is still in training or was in training, just trying to come up to speed when Alicia left. And I know he's doing a good job, but we need to know what's the plan moving forward. And so the question is basically to the administration, what's the plan? Like I said, these are vital roles. This position needs to be addressed ASAP. It's $190 million budget, $191 million budget, and we need answers to these questions. So I ask for my colleague's support and move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to congratulate Amy Orcutt and her family on this remarkable, very impressive achievement being accepted into the West Point Military Academy and also being named the, let's see, GBL Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Amy received recommendations from Congresswoman Clark, Senator Markey, Senator Warren. And, um, you know, this is a great achievement. It should be recognized, and I wanted to recognize it. Um, it's just a remarkable achievement, and I wanted to wish her well. Congratulate her on all our future endeavors and wish you well at West Point and congratulate her family as well.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I may, I wasn't quite finished, but I just wanted to amend, invite her down to a future meeting. I don't believe she's home right now. I believe she's off in a training, but I want you guys, if you could invite her down for a council accommodation. That'd be great. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Recently, I was walking down Maple Park Avenue, just taking a walk, and I walked by the property, the former Hegner Center. It's in really bad shape. I mean, it is overgrown with all kinds of trees, weeds. I mean, it looks pretty neglected. It's not fair to the residents that live in Maple Park condominiums that they have to look at that every single day. So I just wanted to ask that the administration please send by the DPW to clean up the property, it is the city-owned property. It should be on a regular maintenance schedule. By looking at it, it does not appear to be on a regular maintenance schedule. The residents that live in that neighborhood should not have to put up with that. And I'd also like to find out what the maintenance schedule is for this property. So if I could please get that from the DPW and if we could just have the DPW provide some maintenance on that property, greatly appreciate it. And I would ask for my council colleagues support and I move for approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls over the past week regarding people that actually Park the cars. I think it was actually Haines Square area where they were charged numerous times. And I mean, they basically swiped their credit cards and they were charged like 30, 40 times the same transaction over and over again. And it was to more than one person. So I'd like to get a report back to Park Medford as to what the issue was. And just to confirm that these issues were all resolved by Park Medford or Republic Parking. This here is, it's a big concern, especially since the parking operation is going to be transitioning from Park Medford or from Republic Parking internally to the City of Medford. So I just wanna make sure that these types of issues are, have been addressed and resolved before the city takes on this new program. Move approval, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is just to get an update from the Planning Development and Sustainability Department. I know during the budget hearings that the director for the department, Alicia Hunt, I know they're really busy. They have a lot going on, but I believe they lost Annie Streetman, the planner recently. So I just wanted to get an update as to the progress that's been made with regard to replacing her and when they feel that the position will be filled or the vacancy will be filled.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. So, Mr. Clark, so when someone comes into the office, into the school to vote,
[John Falco]: I understand that part. And I just want to make sure that it's as seamless as possible.
[John Falco]: Some people might not know the difference between 2-1 and 2-3. I just want to make sure that it's as seamless as possible. If I'm correct, I was told that that building is being leased. Is it being sold?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just have a quick question while we're under suspension. I noticed we received a number of meeting notifications about, I believe, ongoing marijuana companies that are coming in. And I know there was, I believe it was one meeting last week as well. And when I look at these, it looks like some of these have Zoom links and others maybe don't. Do we, is there any type of requirement? I know we're starting to head more with our meetings and all the public meetings do have Zoom links or a Zoom component to them. Yeah, so everybody can see in the interest of transparency what's going on and if they have questions, they can weigh in and give their opinions as well. And I just noticed when I look at these here, there's two of these that are before us, I shouldn't say before us, they're just notifications, but we've been notified two of these have Zoom links, one of them clearly does not. So I was wondering if there's any type of requirement, or if you know of any type of requirement as to whether or not there is a Zoom component?
[John Falco]: If we could pass it on to the committee. I just noticed like there's a meeting here. I believe it is.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Cause I know there was one meeting last week and I don't think that had a zoom like, and I noticed that some residents have been getting notified.
[John Falco]: So exactly, just people, residents should have the opportunity to attend these either in person or if they can't via Zoom and it should be an option. I know all of our meetings have a Zoom component and just in the interest of transparency, people know what's going on, they can weigh in.
[John Falco]: So. My point is just making sure that everyone has access to these meetings. That's the big thing.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just have a question regarding the payroll director. So is that, I know that's been withdrawn. So does that position still exist?
[John Falco]: Mayor Lungo-Koehn, I apologize. I didn't hear that response. Can you please repeat that?
[John Falco]: No one's in that role, but I believe that role was approved in the budget. Is that role changing? Is this maybe not going to be a director's position?
[John Falco]: Okay, so that'll be addressed in the upcoming meeting. August meeting, yes. Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: I reviewed the records. They appear to be in order and I will withdraw.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, Patrick. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Last year when I was president, we were going through this together and I called you on a regular basis just to make sure that all the technology was working fine. And we made that transition from Zoom back into the council chambers. You were instrumental, be humble, leave. I know it took you many hours to test everything out and to get it working. it was, it was seamless. We came back, you had everything going, everything working absolutely to perfection. And I can't thank you enough for that. And for all of the hours that you've put in in the past year, year and a half, I know you've been working nonstop, not just with our meetings, but with all of the municipal meetings. So thank you so much for all your hard work. Congratulations, good luck, best wishes, and thank you for all your hard work.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this resolution forward and thank Teresa for her 45 years. That's quite a commitment. So I want to thank her for her commitment to the community and her commitment to the Medford Public Schools. When you think about it, 45 years, she has touched the lives of thousands of students and hundreds of teachers that I'm sure she's mentored along the way. And I want to thank her for her commitment in her time and her energy to the community and to Medford public school system and wish her well in her retirement. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks and Councilor Caraviello for bringing this resolution forward. I also want to thank Cheryl for her 42 years of service, like I said earlier, very similar. That is quite a commitment. And you don't see that too often these days. That's the thousands of students that she has impacted throughout the years. And the dedication is amazing. And I know, like Councilor Scott probably stated earlier, if there was ever an issue, Cheryl would be the first one to call you and tell us what was going on and what help was needed. And she was always there advocating for the students. And I want to thank her for many, many years of service to the youth of our community, to the Medford Public Schools, and wish her well in her time. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for being here tonight. Do you know how, so once the contractor gets the okay, do we know how long the project's going to take?
[John Falco]: So we're thinking about it by August?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Over the last 10 days, along with my city council colleagues, I have taken actions to get answers because the residents of Medford and the city of Medford employees deserve the truth. Now more than ever, we must think, have increased awareness about the dynamics of power and vigorously pursue ways to create inclusive and competent work environments. Although personnel issues are not in the purview of the Medford City Council, we have the responsibility to the employees and to the citizens of Medford to maintain a community of equity and inclusion and to advocate for full transparency. In the instances described, Mayor Lungo-Koehn and a leadership team have failed Medford and I will not stand by and allow our talented city staff to be tarnished or degraded. Every single city council have voted to take an independent and impartial investigation into this matter, requested appropriations from the mayor to do so. In a public document from Mayor Lungo-Koehn to the president of the city council dated June 28th, 2021, the mayor denied this request because It, and I quote, is nothing more than a political ploy. For the mayor of the state, the council's request to seek an independent investigation regarding this matter is a political ploy, is an absolute insult, not only to the members of this council, but to the two employees making these allegations. The statement by the mayor downplays the seriousness of these allegations dismisses the integrity and reputation of the employee. It calls into question mayor's integrity and motivation in investigating these matters. During the council's emergency meeting on June 23rd, city solicitor Kim Scanlon was asked to describe the process of how the third party investigator was selected. City solicitor Scanlon stated, and I quote, made a recommendation and listed down to two candidates, and earlier today, the mayor agreed to the first candidate. This is in complete and total contrast to what the mayor stated in the June 28th letter to President Caraviello. In that letter, the mayor stated the following, I did not participate in the selection of the third party then or now. A statement released to the Medford transcript by the city on June 24th, the mayor directed the city solicitor to engage the services of an independent third party selected by the city solicitor. And you wonder why the council sought to hire an outside counsel and an investigator. For the mayor to deny the council's request for funds is simply outrageous. The resolution tonight is basically to get more information with regard to the private investigator that was hired by the administration on or before June 23rd, 2021. The bullets points state exactly what I'm looking for. That's a copy of the signed contract for the investigatory services, a description of the procurement process used for this contract, a detail of funding source, line item and scope of services to be provided and a copy of the city ordinance the city solicitor is relying on as a basis for the procurement and hiring by the administration for this contract. I thank you for your time and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd agree with Councilor Marks as well. I have a quick question through you to the clerk. What's the timing as far as when would you need to have an answer to send a homeowner petition? I would imagine there's a process behind that.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Mayor Long and Clerk, for being here tonight. I do agree with my colleagues. I think I've always been a big supporter of having these services right here in City Hall, with people that are familiar with that community. I mean, I know KP Law has vast experience in different areas. I understand that. But when I look at the way it's been set up in the past, we had a city solicitor, an assistant city solicitor. They were extremely familiar with what was going on in the community, what projects were going on and the institutional knowledge that comes with working for a city for a long time. And I think that's extremely valuable And I mean, I know myself, I like to see a city solicitor, assistant city solicitor, full-time jobs here in the law office. I look at the council now more than ever. You take a look at the last two years, three years, four years, go back and you take a look. We are busier now, helping to draft ordinances and whatnot. And the solicitor's office has been very helpful without a doubt. So I'm not saying that they haven't been, but there's a lot of demand for that one person to be at, like council member said, there's all kinds of meetings that that person needs to be at. And I feel like we need legal help more than ever now. And if you take a look at what we did the discussions on the marijuana ordinance, we had KP law alien camp. So it was almost like a duplication of efforts. So to me, it's like, I'd rather have city solicitors office with the city solicitor and at least the city assistant city solicitor that's helping us out. As far as the, the line item for the legal services. I think, you know, we should have an attorney that helps us out. You know, there's all kinds of questions that we had during our meetings. And, you know, we usually don't have a city solicitor here to, you know, if we want to ask a question about anything in particular. It'd be good to have someone here in advance if we, you know, if we know something's coming up that night, that option would be great to have. You know, the way I look at the way this is written here, and I appreciate the effort, but I feel like, You know, if it's something that we think we need an attorney for, and maybe if you didn't agree with it, you'd say no. And I feel like, you know, if we want an attorney for something, we should, as a body, we should be able to determine whether or not we needed an attorney for a certain situation. That's the way I feel about it. I'd love to see an extra person in the city solicitor's office. I think, you know, I look at what we're paying KP law now, and we're paying KP law now more than we pay camp. And to me, that's a concern. That number keeps going up, and I think it's probably gonna go up over time. And as we go get further, it's everything that's going on with the city, there's always legal things that come up. And I think that that KP law demand is going to be more and more, and I'd rather see money put into the full-time employees here in the law office.
[John Falco]: I think the question was answered, but your original question, I thought you were looking for one attorney.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. Councilman. Excuse me, is the reduction $81,600 or $60,000?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Continuing on Councilor Knight's point. I mean, there are many positions here. We've been asking this for a while. We've been meeting, I think, on the budget for about a month now. If you take a look at a lot of these positions, Director of Parking, Parking Enforcement Officer, Facilities Manager, Recreation Facilities Coordinator, I mean, these here, so there's one, two, three, four, five, so there's at least five different positions that were presented in the budget. So the caps could have been presented by the administration to this council and passed prior to this point. And they weren't. So it's like, I understand the elections coordinator is something that just came up. I understand that. But these here, I mean, these here were part of the budget proposal. And the budget, I believe was first presented, I think, June 1st, maybe. And so these here paperwork could have came before us to prove the cap, or at least get that process started before we were at the point tonight where we're going to be voting on a budget. So, and this could have in some ways, some of this could have been avoided. That's the point I'm trying to make.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, Madam Mayor. So as far as the, these caps here, the ones that we're questioning tonight. So I just wanna make sure I get clarification. So were these deliberately not sent out? Were they deliberately not presented to us, like as far as?
[John Falco]: Thank you. But if I may, still, wouldn't you, I would think you'd still send the caps down. I mean, if this is part of the budget proposal and you know, I have 11 new jobs and I want to put in front of the council, I want to include in the budget, I mean, I would think that that would still come down to us. You'd still send those caps to us for approval. I feel like that's the disconnect. I mean, we got the budget, I think it was June 1st or maybe the first week of June. So I know the budget process is lengthy and you've probably been working on it since February, March, April, May. I mean, so I know it's a long time and I know, I'm sure, You know, you have goals and initiatives that you want to accomplish. And you're like, okay, I want to bring parking in house. I want to make sure I have a new person in recreation. I want to make sure that we have a facilities manager. Facilities manager has been talked about for a long time. So I would think like those there would have definitely been part of a cap package that was sent to this council, maybe in a pre-budget meeting where you say, you know, this is what I want in the budget. I want to work with the council to get this done. And I feel like that's like the disconnect, like these here, It was, in my eyes, there was plenty of time to get these to come to us before we got to the point where we had to vote on this tonight.
[John Falco]: And I want to thank my colleagues. I know everyone has different thoughts on this. But I know with this here, I mean, this is a 305, 306-page budget book. A lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of work goes into this. And the way I look at it is this is the administration's plan to move the city forward. confidence in the plan, it's gotta be a full package and they have to wanna work with us. So it's like, I understand there could be a line item B, I get that. But at the end of the day, it's gotta come with a cap. It's gotta come with a 10 caps, 11 caps, whatever it is. So we can work together, we can know what's the plan and what do we need to do to move the process forward? If you get a budget with no caps, it's kinda like, well, you got a budget but, We're hoping you approve the jobs. So, I mean, the way I look at it is there's gotta be confidence here. This is the budget. These are the caps. This is our plan to move forward. And that's the message I'm not getting. The caps need to be approved before the budgets. I mean, I feel strongly that the caps do have to be approved. I mean, I've only been on a council for six years. That's the process that I know. That's a process I'm familiar with. That's the right way to go about it. I mean, last year when we went through the process with the caps, someone was being paid out of cap. We voted it down and they're still being paid out of cap from what I know. And I don't want to go down that road again. Because every time we mentioned it, that person's still getting paid out of cap. No correction has been made as far as I know, unless my colleagues know of something else. Thank you.
[John Falco]: It mentions such a comprehensive.
[John Falco]: Such a comprehensive review can take place as part of the planned salary study to be pursued through the Commonwealth Community Compact Grant Program, which will assist to untangle this issue. Do we know when that's happening?
[John Falco]: So we qualify, but we don't know if we have the grant yet, correct? That's correct. So we don't have it yet. We haven't received the grant to do this. No, that's just a plan. So it's a plan, we're hoping to do this.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. Clerk.
[John Falco]: Thank you. It's a quick question. Councilor Bears mentioned, I think there was a line item for, was it trees? There was an increase in, was it trees that you mentioned?
[John Falco]: because when we had the budget hearings, I believe Councilor Marks, I believe you've mentioned that, you offered that as an amendment, but was it just trees or was it stumps as well?
[John Falco]: I just wanted that clarification.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I definitely share some of the concerns that my colleagues have mentioned previously with regard to the caps. And street repaving, parking, I definitely have concerns there. I think Councilor Marks hit it on the head with regards to the budget and how it's, in the future, it's gonna definitely need to be bigger than what it is. Because, you know, the parking program to handle this size city, you're gonna need collectors, you'll need maintenance, you'll need hearings. So that needs to be thought of in the future. Definitely some concerns. And I remember asking Marianne O'Connor about this regarding rodents and rodent infestation. That there is a big concern to me. It's budgeted $13,000. And then she was talking about stores that were being baited. I think it was in the George Street area. Just that project alone is gonna cost, I think, 6,000. That's half the budget for the year. So to me, if there's ever extra money, I think that really needs to be addressed because no matter where you go in the city, Wellington, the Heights, South Medford, you know, I know I get the complaints and the calls with regards to rodents and it's quality of life issue needs to be addressed and we need to make sure that we're safeguarding the residents when it comes to rodents and mice and that type of thing. Street and stumps, always concerned about that. I'd like to see more of a plan. Information technology, that came up during our budget hearings when we talked to Mike Ferretti. And I definitely have some concerns with regards to that. I think to guide specifically to the training, because it sounds like there's really no professional development. He mentioned he's paying for his own professional development. I think in this day and age with regards to, you hear about ransom attacks and all that, that really needs to be addressed throughout City Hall. Employees need to be trained on that. and we need to see more money in that area. One of my other concerns is we're hiring new staff members, which is great, but I know that there are employees within the building that did not get raises last year. And that's always a concern and they worked through COVID and they came in day and night, they did all kinds of things, everything that was asked and they should be getting their increases on a timely basis. So I think that that needs to be addressed. I still think that, The council needs a legal line item. Even if it's minimal, there should be something. So I think that needs to be addressed. And like I said before, the employee being paid out of grade, that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. It was good to see the separation of diversity and inclusion in human resources. That's something I think this council has fought for for a long time. So that was good to see. I was happy with the decision that was made there. And last but not least, I want to thank all the department heads for coming before us, answering a lot of questions. And I know we had many questions. And the questions were thorough. Thank my colleagues. I think that my colleagues here asked great questions with regard to the budget and really trying to get to the bottom of the proposed numbers with regard to salaries and expenses and whatnot. I want to thank Alicia Dunlea Benjamin, who I have called repeatedly over the past month for all kinds of questions regarding the budget. I thank you for your patience and you did a fine job, a great job of answering all the questions and preparing this budget. So I thank you for all your hard work and your dedication and commitment to the city. I can't thank you enough. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, can I ask one last question? As far as the, so as far as the setup for the Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Human Resources. Madam Mayor, could you or Alicia just explain the set up. So we have the new role of, I just wanna make sure I have this straight, because then I'll be asked. So you have the new.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I may, before we take a vote, I just wanted to disclose that I have a son that's a lifeguard in the recreation department. So I just wanted to let you know that.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I may, before I vote, I am in full agreement. I think it's a good school budget. I like the school budget a lot. I have some disagreements throughout the rest of the budget, but I definitely like the school budget, but I would be voting against the budget because the other issues that I had mentioned previously.
[John Falco]: Did we just approve all those? 23rd, 24th, 26th.
[John Falco]: Just one, right? There's three different committee reports, am I correct?
[John Falco]: Then what about the meetings with regard to the special sessions that we had?
[John Falco]: So with regard to those, are they going to be voted on? They've been emailed, but are they on the agenda? They're not on the agenda?
[John Falco]: So if I may, on the records for the emergency meeting, are we taking any further action or is it just dying?
[John Falco]: So that means?
[John Falco]: So that means that another few weeks gonna have to pass before we take any action.
[John Falco]: to executive session for the reason that was stated earlier, we would have to give the people that are going to be discussed, individuals 48 hours notice, which means that the earliest we could go into executive session is Friday, Thursday, Friday.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Mr. President. Councilor Belco. Thank you. So could we, if we wanted to make a motion to hire outside legal help tonight?
[John Falco]: And then it would be up to the mayor to secure the appropriation to actually go out and hire.
[John Falco]: So we would, if I may, and I apologize for interrupting. So we would at least be making some progress towards getting to that point. We would have outside legal help to help us down this road. If we did that, at least did that piece tonight. waiting for the appropriation that comes from across the hall, I guess, but I'm not sure how long that would take, but it sounds like we could at least go in that direction if the council wanted to, if I'm understanding that correctly.
[John Falco]: That's correct.
[John Falco]: If I may. Could you tell us how that process began or how that started.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If we wanted to, could we just refer to a government agency?
[John Falco]: Like right here, right now?
[John Falco]: But couldn't they conduct their own investigation?
[John Falco]: I mean, I think that's what, if I'm correct, government agencies have divisions that are usually there for that. That's their purpose. So when I look at this here, we all have the information that was given to us, that was emailed to us. And so, I mean, I look at there, I think a number of options have an independent investigation, which sounds like something like that is already about to begin. That wasn't originated here by the council. I heard there's a lot of talk of doing that, it sounds like. But the other option is just moving this right out to a government agency. To me, that seems like it's an option. And if I may just finish really quick, because when I look at this here, I feel like we have data, we have information, and I feel in some ways we're complicit by not acting on the data that we received. And I do feel that and there is some aggravation that we should have been, not prepared, but there should have been a meeting tonight to discuss all of this. And I understand the open meeting law and whatnot, but I also feel like I do have concerns, ongoing concerns, and I'm trying to be careful how I say this so I don't violate anything with what's going on in the four walls here. So that's why I'm thinking, If that's an option to outsource this to a government agency and that's what they do, we should think of that.
[John Falco]: Can I ask one last question? It's actually for the city solicitor. If I may, I believe you mentioned that there was an attorney already hired to spearhead an investigation. So with that attorney that was hired How do we know that there aren't any conflicts in the hiring, I guess? Okay, so you did the due diligence to just go through the process and make sure that they had no conflicts with regard to what they were going to be investigating and who they were going to be investigating.
[John Falco]: If I may, if I may, Councilor Bears, could you? Councilor Bears, if you could please repeat that question, I didn't quite hear it.
[John Falco]: While we're on the topic of you had just mentioned budget, have we received any responses from the administration yet with regard to any of the questions that were asked during the budget hearing so far?
[John Falco]: Have they communicated anything?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. One quick question. Is that 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week? Yes, it is. Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this resolution forward. And also, uh, thank Brian Cronin for his years of dedication for over 40 years is quite an accomplishment. And as you heard from Councilor Marks, a very, very successful career. I want to thank him for his service to our community and thank him for answering all the questions that we've had through the years. I know he's always been there to answer questions. And he's always done a great job organizing the annual firefighters event at Oak Grove Cemetery. So I want to thank Brian for his many years of service and wish him well in his retirement. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks and Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. And it's great to see someone that grew up in the community decide to open a business here in the community and a successful business at that. So I want to wish them congratulations on their 50th anniversary and also wish them well for a successful future. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank President Caraviello for bringing this forward tonight. I have two received calls regarding this issue, and this needs to be addressed. It's long overdue. I know Councilor Caraviello mentioned previously there was a meeting that the administration held, and I know that it was sponsored by the administration. We weren't invited to the meeting. I wish I knew about it. I would have loved to have been there, but we weren't invited to it. But this is an issue that needs to be addressed. There are many quality of life issues here with regard to noise, safety, when you talk about gunshots, I've heard about drug use, I've heard about trash, grills, the possibility of fire, people swimming where they're not supposed to be swimming. These are quality of life issues that are impacting residents and the residents should not have to deal with this. Not only the quality of life issues, these are public health issues. the people going to the bathroom in the woods from what I hear, this is just unacceptable. It needs to be dealt with. The administration needs to help out with either calling the state delegation or calling the environmental police or the state police at the very least. I'd like to amend the resolution to add that the state police step up their patrols on the weekends and make sure that this is dealt with immediately. I think as far as the ordinance being adjusted to allow resident only parking and allow the police to enforce it, I fully support that. I think it'd be nice to discuss it, you know, as Councilor Scarpelli said, just to see if there's any additional safeguards that we can place in this, but this needs to be dealt with. It's long overdue. And like I said previously, the residents should not have to deal with this. So I second the resolution that was offered by Councilor, President Caraviello. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And through you to President Caraviello. So you were at the meeting, and maybe it's the residents that may want to. Some of the residents were there. If residents want to speak, I'd love to get their perspective. But so when you were at the meeting, could you tell us, did the administration promise any type of deliverables as to what they were going to do?
[John Falco]: No timetables or anything?
[John Falco]: No, I want to thank Councilor Caraviello. I agree a hundred percent. I mean, this is not even July yet. It's still another eight to 10 weeks of summer. This needs to be dealt with right away. So I would agree with my colleagues.
[John Falco]: Correct. I'd love to hear from some of the residents if you want to speak about it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, and the residents bring up a good point, if we could get a report back or maybe some answers from our representative Garbali as to why is the upper lake treated differently from the lower lake with regard to cleanliness and the state being proactive with regard to cleaning that area? There must be a reason, or maybe it's just being overlooked, but it needs to be addressed. It's not fair that only one section is getting clean, but the rest they just don't care about. So if we can get a report back from that, I'd greatly appreciate it. So if I can make that as an amendment, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Aye.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to congratulate the friends of the method family network for their efforts during the pandemic. They had to adjust and they had to usually they have a full range of fundraising activities that benefit the method family network. And during the pandemic, they were limited. but they adjusted and they moved forward and they had a lot of virtual events, virtual trivia nights. It was a virtual ice cream social and they successfully raised money to make sure that there was programming moving forward all the time. And it is always, it's free programming. So I just wanted to thank them for the effort and, you know, constantly raising money and constantly being active in our community to ensure that there is always free programming for the Bedford Family Network and I want to congratulate them and invite them down to receive council accommodations. So thank you.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Chris Donovan for doing this. It's nice to see that space utilized for an event like this, and it's nice to see it utilized on a weekly basis. you know, that space is there and it's a perfect venue for something like this. I just wanted to, I offered an amendment last week on this too. Point number C, or point C, I guess, it's to increase the patrols in the area on Sundays. Could that just be daily? That was supposed to be daily. If there's issues at that park, we should make sure that, you know, that the patrols are increased daily, just to make sure that if there is any type of activity that shouldn't be there, that the police aren't looking into it on a daily basis. So if I could adjust it to daily, I'd appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Vice President Knight. Received numerous calls regarding this issue and would like to receive a response from the management company with an explanation, basically an explanation of what happened and a timeline as well. This is a very dangerous situation. As we know, there are many seniors that lived in that building and many people were negatively impacted by the excessive heat. And we wanna make sure of course that this is, you know, prevent it and it doesn't happen again. So I just want to get an update from the management company to actually find out exactly what happened. So if we could do that, I'd greatly appreciate it. And also we can also get a, actually if we can amend it to see what measures we're taking from the board of health with regard to the residents. I know that cooling stations, I believe were opened, but I believe it was opened They were open on the Monday after this. And if this happened on a Friday, why was there a delay? The city should have stepped in to make sure that our residents are safe. And cooling stations are great, but they need to be open. And they need to be open at hours when people need them as well. And in some instances, an instance like this, this was a really serious situation. It's a situation that's probably 24-7. Some people can't live in that excessive heat. So I would like to amend that to get more information from the airport to help. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Vice President Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I had the honor to play football for Bud Kelly from 1985, 1986, and 1987. And I remember as a sophomore coming to Medford High School and being on the varsity team, it was quite intimidating. You had a lot of juniors and seniors that played. It was a great team in 1985. He was the head coach. But coming in as a sophomore, everyone at this council was really hit upon it. It was family. You came in, it didn't matter where you came from. It didn't matter who you were, you were family. And he preached that repeatedly. And it was about, you know, family, loyalty, being together, having fun, but also being serious too. When he had to be tough, he was tough, but he was fair. He was fair with everyone. It was probably one of the, You think about, you know, you play sports, you're part of clubs or groups. And it was probably one of the most fun moments of my life, you know, young life growing up, being 15 years old and being part of that. And, uh, you know, he was the last coach to win a GBL title in football. It's been quite some time. It's been, uh, almost 30 years now, actually more than 30 years. Uh, but he was, uh, he was, you know, I remember seeing him after graduating and going to high school games, you'd see him as the AD then. And, uh, He was just a great guy, always a good friend, and someone who could really make you laugh. And, you know, he was a great family man. I remember those games in 1985. After we won, we'd always drive through Medford Square, pull up on the bus, and I think his wife worked at the dress shop right behind City Hall. And he'd stop the bus after every win, and everybody would be singing the Mustang Spice Song, and traffic would come to a stop. And literally he'd get out of the bus, he'd run across the street, his wife would come out and everybody that worked at the shop and he'd give his wife a kiss. And then he'd come back onto the bus and we'd make our way to the high school. And, uh, you know, it was just a really fun way to celebrate a victory. He was a great family man. And, uh, there was a lot of pride there in blue and white. If you play Mustang football, blue and white was running through your veins. If you played any sport, blue and white was running through your veins and he would preach that repeatedly. And, you know, the community is, this is a big loss to the community. And my, you know, thoughts and prayers and condolences go to the Kelly, to Judy Kelly and the family. And he will, he will be missed.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Thank you for your presentation. Quick question, you said there were 22 teams in the league? 22 teams in the league. And where are they from?
[John Falco]: And how long is your season? How many games do you play at home?
[John Falco]: Okay. And I'm sorry, how many, how many games do you play?
[John Falco]: It's pretty exciting. Thank you very much. Thank you. What I've seen before is that a city clerk is an ultimate frisbee. Perfect. Our own professional, I guess.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. A quick question. I believe, did you say there were abbreviated hours? Yes. Okay. Can you just elaborate on that? Is it the same hours for each location or does each location have different hours?
[John Falco]: That would be the same for both locations. Okay, so 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. for both locations for the duration of the remodel? Correct. I apologize, did you say the remodel was going to be two weeks?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Morocco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Marks, as a co-sponsor of this resolution. I'm very proud to be part of this offering a resolution. And I'm really, really proud of Kaylee and this accomplishment. I've known Kaylee for many years. She lives a few doors down from my house. I remember seeing her in the neighborhood as a little kid and my son, Jack, played baseball with Kaylee throughout the years. And to see her, uh, progress, uh, over time, you know, playing at Gillis Park, where I feel it was like a second home for many years. Uh, it's remarkable to see, you know, the commitment, the energy, the dedication, the perseverance, and always wanting to do better. And I saw that firsthand and you really knew, uh, from early on that she was, she was a remarkable baseball player and still is. And to see that firsthand was really something special. And I want to congratulate you on this accomplishment. You know, Councilor Marks hit it on the head. You know, it takes support from everyone, especially supportive family to get you to practices, to help you practice, to always be there for you. But you take a look at the greater baseball community that is here tonight and coming together and supporting everyone. That's what it comes down to, comes to support. You're right, this community is fractured in many ways, but this here is nice to see people coming together, supporting one another, being there for one another, and take a look at all these baseball faces that I haven't seen in quite some time. And it really brings a smile to my face to see what we can be as a community. And Kaylee, thank you for all of your hard work, your dedication. I wish you well, and congratulations. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I may, thank you for joining us tonight. And we also named a schoolhouse after you too.
[John Falco]: I graduated from the Sarah Bradley Fulton Elementary School.
[John Falco]: Back in the 1970s.
[John Falco]: Yes, yes, at the top of Fulton Street.
[John Falco]: Many of my aunts and uncles, many of them, they're not with us any longer, but they graduated from that same school back years ago, as did my father.
[John Falco]: I do, yes, I do live in Medford.
[John Falco]: I actually live on Fulton Spring Road.
[John Falco]: There is, you are correct.
[John Falco]: But I'm definitely in favor of having a day to recognize you.
[John Falco]: I'm very happy that my colleague, Consular Marks, brought this presentation forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank director Durham for all his hard work. I think a lot of people when we're talking about it now, truly do not realize how much work happens in your office and the different programs that are available. And there's a lot of work, a lot of hard work. And I know you're very busy and I thank you for all your hard work and for the speech that you made on Memorial Day. It does resonate with a lot of people. I think it does touch a lot of people and it's important that people hear that. you know, and thank you to, you know, thank you for Council Vice President Knight for bringing the resolution tonight. Thank you Post 45. And it's important that those 8,700 veterans are remembered. And I had the opportunity to, I was actually with Vice President Knight and we did, you know, put the flags down at the cemetery. And it's quite humbling as you walk, you know, among the graves and you're putting them in the ground and it's, you know, literally you have bags and bags of flags, you know, you know, that represent, you know, the many residents that, you know, volunteer, you know, that were in the Army and Navy, Air Force, Marines, and you name it. And in many of them, you know, making that ultimate sacrifice. And when you see that, and you see that the graves and you're walking, you know, row by row, it's, it's amazing that the dedication and commitment to our, to our country into, you know, many of the freedoms that we enjoy today, we have because of that. And you think about the 77th anniversary of D-Day. And I had the opportunity about 20 years ago to visit the D-Day beaches in France. And you walk down the beach and you turn and you see the cliffs in front of you. And you try, I mean, you can't even imagine that people walking into that and all that fire coming off, you know, all the, you know, you know, just, the fire from the machine guns and whatnot coming. I mean, they were just walking into pure hell. And you think about the sacrifice and the commitment that they made. And it's amazing. It's just, I mean, to be there and to see it firsthand, I mean, you see it in the movies, you see it on TV and the different documentaries, but to see it, you hit on the head, the greatest generation. I mean, to make that sacrifice, It's just amazing. And, you know, it is truly the greatest generation. They should be remembered. They'll always be remembered. And you can never thank them enough. And I think, in the end, if you know a World War II veteran, if there's someone in your neighborhood, it's important, I think, that you really talk to them and hear it firsthand, if you can, because the sacrifices that were made, you know, you don't see a lot of that today. And it's really a special generation that will, you know, I think always have a special place, you know, in our country. So I thank you so much for all your time and your effort that you put in day in and day out. I know you don't have an easy job. It is very busy. And I thank you for your commitment to the city. And I thank you for your service. Absolutely. Thank you for having me here tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And so if I could amend the resolution just to have the DPW look into the water spigots to see if they're working correctly just so we can hopefully save that grass if it's possible. But I also want to thank Mr. Dunn for all his hard work and collaborating with Medford Recreation and with the business community. That's- Yes, absolutely. It's great to see that you're going from business to business, and actually they have chess sets, I think you said, in each of the- I think we've had a dozen people donate chess sets, and they went to different restaurants.
[John Falco]: And it's great. It's great to see that I give you a lot of credit. I know you do this in your own time. And I think that that commitment is really something special that, you know, more and more people get that that just go out and try to do things on their own and try to, you know, make, you know, just make improvements wherever they can. It's great to see Riverside Plaza being occupied and being used. I've gone by a few times and I've seen people playing chess and that's always good to see people sitting and enjoying the space. I do have one concern. You had mentioned briefly something about safety. Can you comment a little bit on that?
[John Falco]: Thank you. If I may amend the resolution again, Mr. Donovan, thank you for that feedback on that. But as far as the safety goes, if we can amend the resolution to have, could you send the Metro Police just increase patrols in that area, maybe just to make sure that People, I don't want people to feel that they can't go and enjoy the park.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I remember Mr. Scopa from my days working for the city as a teenager in high school, and I remember his dedication, his commitment, and the dedication and commitment of the whole family. And my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, and he will be missed. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilor Villes for bringing this forward. One of the things I'd also like to know is, you know, in addition to a cost estimate, I mean, how long is it going to take to get all of this in place? And the reason why I ask is I know I worked with Patrick when I was president of the council and I knew it took a lot of time, effort and energy just to set this up. And I'm sure it's probably perfected it by now, but it'd be good to just get an estimate as to how long that will take. So if I could add that as an amendment, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Beall. Mr. President, I'll be brief. I just want to thank Councilor Mark for his comments. We have, I think, many issues with the MBTA. I know I received, in addition to the issue that's going on on High Street, you know, we have issues with the 325, 326 that I receive calls on constantly. So if Councilor Scarpelli wouldn't mind, if we have a committee in the hall instead of a subcommittee, I just think it should be a broader discussion with regards to the MBTA and the services that they provide here. Well, I should say the lack of services. So I would appreciate that. We'll make that a committee in the hall.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the record. They appear to be in the order.
[John Falco]: Aye.
[John Falco]: This hybrid thing, should we always have these on
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: thank you mayor. thank you for the presentation. i'm not far enough forward am i? So a couple of things. First off, if we could have this added to policy CMA, which is our annual reports and presentation schedule, I make a motion to add it to the schedule as an annual presentation. Second. And then I'll just go through those things quickly. Also in that policy that we passed in February of this year, I believe, We do have a reference to a definitions page that we were going to set up. And I realize there's a lot of things going on. I would just urge us to have a single glossary or like a mandatory glossary. The superintendent says nobody gets to create their own because, you know, we have definition pages here. We're going to have a glossary in this document and, you know, definitions drift and change and maintenance is a nightmare when everybody has their own copy of what the definitions are. And I just, not a motion, just I would urge us to create this actual webpage on our website and then put all those in there so that everybody has a consistent agreement as to when we say, what's a 504, the explanation I saw in the presentation looked good. No, okay, see, well, I'm not the expert on that, but somebody else can probably come up with a really great definition But if you ask me, I'll probably give you a pretty hacked version. So that would be nice. And then on an equity initiative, E3, there's the word equal. And it's one of those things where I'm not sure in the sentence what is being said. It says, provide equal access to academic support and enrichment. the two completely different ways of viewing that sentence. An equal access, for instance, would be to provide an enrichment activity with a $500 fee. Anybody who wants to can pay the fee, that's equal. And I don't think that was the goal. Equal access presumably would mean anybody who wants to participate can participate in the enrichment activity, whether or not you can afford it or not. And so I just, I don't know that equal isn't the right word. I just feel like there needs to be a little bit more meat behind that word to make it clear when we say equal access. It's sort of been the big problem for a long time is we offer all these things to anybody who wants them. There's all these opportunities with no consideration as to whether or not they are actually accessible to individual students. I'm preaching to the choir here a bit. When I saw that, I just got a little bit concerned that when we say that, we mean we're gonna offer a whole bunch of activities, maybe they cost money, maybe they don't. And the fact that we offer them is in fact equal, like anybody can participate if you can find the money. And that isn't really what I think the intent of that, being on the equity initiative, to me, I read that very, is a confusing state. And you said you were on E3. I'm just trying to find the specific one. The Equity Initiative E3. And maybe there were more E3s. But if you can just find a way to word it or add an asterisk, I don't know what the right way to do that. But when we look at the outcomes later on, we say anybody who wants to go on the middle school field trip can go. But that's not true. because we charge a pile of money and so not everybody can go. So I like the definition of equal where it's sort of an individual, every individual student has the access and that's gonna look different for every student. So other than that, I thought it was really nice. Thank you. I appreciated the details and I know that it's a much bigger presentation, but we can't be here all night. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Member Ruseau. Mr. Murphy may be able to answer this, and you actually probably can too. So I've been constantly trying to get a burn report, like how much have we used of the amount? And it's apparently like a nice request, but without this kind of a system, it's really a huge ask. It should be a click of a button.
[John Falco]: Members some. Thank you. I'm obviously very excited about this entire project. We can use our SOA, but we don't get much from the Student Opportunity Act. It's an understatement. But family engagement is, I think, sort of, it's been a long year. But we have to submit a report every year at what we're doing with our three extra nickels. We can use this completely to satisfy those needs, correct?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Before you leave, you mentioned the person responsible for the statutory stuff around attendance. Thank you. This past year was a very different challenge around attendance. You can be in school one period and not the next, or the next. We had a lot of letters, not a lot, but a number of parents certainly reached out to me about letters that were coming from our district attorney that were quite threatening, frankly. And they are. If I got one at home, I would consider it a very significant threat. And I realized it was because of the fact the systems did not ever anticipate the pandemic and being on Zoom. Do those letters happen automatically out of the state-based connections to our attendance system or do we actually have a hand in getting those letters sent from the district attorney?
[John Falco]: Yeah, that'd be great, because you're right. The reimagining, which I couldn't be more supportive of, It's kind of like, oh, we're all being positive. And then there's this like, feels like an officer at the door is going to take you away kind of thing. Like what is going, the letter is so stark, not the values we're putting forward. And I would say that if we can have a way to, I'm not saying that the regulatory, the statutory requirements are there for, they are what they are. But if we can find a way to, either soften it or deliver it differently, or we deliver it.
[John Falco]: me. I'm sorry. So I motion to move the November 1 to November 8. And I don't really feel strongly about whether November 15 can stay there or not, or whether it should move out. Oh, yeah.
[John Falco]: Motion to approve. Motion to accept. Can I suggest a friendly amendment, maybe? The additional text would be And in light of the fact that the advisory committee has selected their final three names, we will vote on June 14th for the new name, regardless of whether they are able to present to us as anticipated. I will, sure. The very brief thing here is if they're not ready with a presentation, we're voting on the 14th.
[John Falco]: I would suggest we watch the meetings to see what's really going on. I am watching the meetings. I'm not convinced on the 14th of this month or next month they will finish their slides. So if you don't want to accept my amendment, that's fine. And I can read it again one more time in case you all didn't get it. Sure, and in light of the fact that the advisory committee has selected their final three names, we will vote on June 14th for the new name, regardless of whether they are able to present to us as anticipated.
[John Falco]: I certainly agree that they're spending a lot of time. over one hour on one slide. They have 30 slides. So we will be here next January, perhaps. I mean, it's not that they're not putting enough time in. This is not questioning that. But if all that has to happen in that meeting is that some members of the advisory committee can make it take an hour per slide, it'll be the next election before we're ready to have the meeting. So I mean, I've watched the meetings, all of them. every minute. And what I see is happening is that most of the members are absolutely positively working their butt off to get great slides. And I also see people who are not doing that, who seem to be discovering that if we can make an hour per slide the standard, that it's not gonna get done. And I don't know what's in their head, but it's an hour. I timed it. I'm happy to send you the links. I timed it, an hour for a slide. There are 30 slides. They're on slide eight, I believe. So.
[John Falco]: If I may.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We can't just decide on the 14th to vote. It's not on the agenda to vote. So if you come back and say they'd like another extension, one of our options is not to pick a name that night, because that's not on the agenda. So tonight is our only opportunity to decide that on the 14th, we will vote for a name. If they submit to you and don't give you the presentation and say, I want to be in the agenda, then we're not voting we as a committee have no control over when we actually get to vote.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I'm so happy everybody wants me to do it. I know. I just wanted to say, I've already done some research about our communities and nobody seems to do, just take all the community letters and just stick them into the minutes. And I think that it's, the pandemic's been going on, we have certainly received a number of letters, not that many at all, that we should all feel very uncomfortable to have in the official minutes of the meeting. that the Medford School Committee in perpetuity, things that member of Andrew Kluge, for instance, would not read out loud and should not read out loud, should not be a part of our permanent record. So it sounds like there's already plenty of motions on this. So I'll stop talking.
[John Falco]: Second, yes.
[John Falco]: I just wanted to make a motion to send this policy to the rules policy and equity subcommittee for some formatting and all the proper stuff to be added in an update.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: I mean, this is an advisory committee based on the motions we used to create it initially. So I don't have any problem with a bunch of work being done ahead of time so we can get the advisory committee set up. Hopefully it will not be meeting like our last advisory committee set up, but we still do need to do all of the items in our advisory committee policy. How long is the service? How many members? How will they be selected? That's policy. So I don't have any problem with the administration beginning the work to figure out all of that stuff, but the school committee has the sole authority to constitute an advisory committee And so I would support this if the end goal here is that a recommendation from the administration comes on how that will happen, and then we can have our meeting to do it.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry. So there won't be like picking members or anything going on. Okay, thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for opening a business here in Medford. A couple of quick questions. Do you have the hours of operation?
[John Falco]: And as far as, I'm looking at the paperwork for the next hearing to, will you be servicing vehicles at this facility?
[John Falco]: Mid-July. And you mentioned it earlier, I missed this, how many employees at this location?
[John Falco]: And as far as I believe, did you say you were adding on to the existing structure?
[John Falco]: So the section that you're adding on is that phase that you're preparing?
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello, and thank you, Marianne. have a quick question now. So we're going to are we still doing contact tracing?
[John Falco]: Do we do any type of contact tracing at the library?
[John Falco]: So, I mean, it seems like there's a little bit of an inconsistency. I mean, wouldn't we have the contact tracing at the library as well as city hall? I mean, there's people coming and going on a pretty frequent basis. I would think there would be a consistent policy with regards to that.
[John Falco]: So we don't know if there's contact tracing at the library? The administration does not know.
[John Falco]: You don't know, okay. So we have contact tracing at City Hall, the administration knows that.
[John Falco]: The administration does not know if there is contact tracing at the Metropolitan Public Library.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Derek, I just want to say congratulations. I know that earning the rank of Eagle is quite, quite a remarkable accomplishment. If you take a look at just Google, Eagle Scouts, you'll see it's a very, very impressive list of people that have earned that rank. And you're one of them now. You're part of that. It's an exclusive group. And I'm very proud of you. I know that your parents are very proud of you. And of course, it takes a lot of support from your parents and your family. And I just wanted to just congratulate you on all the time, the commitment, the dedication. It takes a lot of hard work and great job. Good luck in the future. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. During my past four visits to get gas for my car, I've looked at the seal on the gas pump. It indicates the date when the pump was last inspected by the city's sealer of weights and measures. Frankly, I've been shocked by how long it has been since these pumps were looked at by the city sealer of weights and measures. In some cases, it has been as long as three, four years. For people who don't know, the City Stealer of Weights and Measures is the city employee appointed by the mayor who checks the accuracy of pumps at the gas station, scales at food stores, in the deli or produce departments, or anything that a merchant uses to measure goods that are being sold to the public. If these pumps or scales are not accurate, the customer will pay more for the gas that they buy for their car or the fruit or cold cuts that they buy for their family. Pumps and scales that have been unchecked or not properly calibrated by the city ends up with people paying more than they should pay. And what is worse, they will never know it. Anytime this happens, it is obviously unfair. But if it happens because the city has not done its job, it shows a callous disregard for a hardworking residents. So Mr. President, in addition to the requesting a full list for entities that zero In addition to requesting a full list for entities that sealer of weights and measures monitors in the date of last inspection and expiration of seal. I also ask that the mayor advise this council who the sealer of weights and measures is, and when he or she began in that position. This is something that, you know, even with COVID could have been done. And as far as I can tell, and I've traveled to numerous gas stations throughout the city, just to do my own research, I went to probably six to eight gas stations and they're all expired. This needs to be looked at. And I also believe that this is a revenue source for the city that they're not taking in. So this is lost revenue to the city, but it is completely just unfair to the taxpayer that actually buys gas on a regular basis. And we all do that. So on that, I'd like to move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: To find out what the fee is for each of the inspections. to gas inspections, scale inspections at the supermarket. If I can amend to include that.
[John Falco]: That's it. Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. A couple of quick questions. When will the work take place?
[John Falco]: And how long will the work take to complete once you're on site?
[John Falco]: Are the poles permanent?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have one additional question. Do we know if there are any plans to put 5G on those telephones?
[John Falco]: I just wanted to know if there are any plans to put 5G on that telephone pole, and if you could get back to us with that if you do not have the answer.
[John Falco]: Is there anyone off of the administration to answer questions?
[John Falco]: I have a question. Tim, where is this located?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Mr. President, thank you. Mr. McKibbin, thank you very much. And I would second Councilor Knights motion to table. to move to a committee in the whole meeting. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Councilor Falco. If I may, Can we have received a response from the administration with regard to KP law and the 40B projects?
[John Falco]: Yeah, so if I'm correct, that's the latest resolution has been referred to KP Law.
[John Falco]: There's no figure, but I mean, the other resolutions, we haven't received any response back, am I correct?
[John Falco]: It's been months, if I'm correct.
[John Falco]: This has been going on for months now. For months. We've asked numerous times and we've got nothing back. I mean, we've asked the administration at least, I think, four times. Yes. We've asked them at least four, I think five- Does they get to pick which tent?
[John Falco]: Well, we've asked at least four times to provide the council with a breakdown of how much the administration has spent with KP Law regarding 40B projects, other projects, I know that other councillors have done. I mean, I've made a number of resolutions myself. I know we had a joint resolution, I believe. Councilor Morell has had resolutions. I think everyone behind this rail has had resolutions with regard to this same matter. We've been told that the budget will be coming to us next week. It'll be coming to us in a few days. My concern is that how can the mayor expect this council to act on a budget which is her plan for the anticipated expenditures for the next fiscal year if she cannot inform the council of the actual expenditures that she has made during the past fiscal year. This has been ongoing, we've asked numerous times. It makes no sense for the council to wait for a response. That experience tells us we'll never come. This council and our taxpaying residents deserve more. Since our request for simple financial information is being ignored, it's my intention to file a public records request for this information. And it's sad, it's absolutely sad that we have to do this. Because we should have had the information by now. You've given them ample opportunity to provide the information and they have refused. I will also request a breakdown of the amount of money that the administration expended to have KP Raw represent us in land court. to take the position that use variances are not allowed in the city of Medford. The mayor is well aware of the 2016 opinion of former city solicitor that use variances are permitted in the city of Medford. I'd like to know how much the administration spent in court in its field attempt to defend a clearly baseless position. By using the public records law, I will either finally receive a response, or we will all receive a response to the resolutions that we have filed. And if not, I will seek the intervention of Secretary of State's office. It's come to that point. We have a budget coming to us, but yet we're getting absolutely no data when asked. We deserve more. The community deserves more. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: No worries. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward and Councilor Marks. I had some great questions regarding the bike lane. I remember when this issue came up previously, we were discussing the bike lane and at that point in time, it was kind of like a bike lane to nowhere. It just kind of just stopped. Mr. McGovern, thank you for your response regarding the bike lane. I was just wondering, you said that you're looking into it or the department's looking into it. If you could just talk about the process a little bit. Is there going to be a meeting with the traffic engineer? Is there any type of timing on that? Could you elaborate a little bit more?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. McGivern. And last but not least, what is the estimated completion date of this project?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward and thank all my council colleagues for the comments that they've made. I've been on that council now, this is my sixth year, and we have been talking about this project since day one. And the residents of Winthrop Street have had to put up with far too much with regard to this project. This is a public safety issue. This is a quality of life issue. You're in plates clanging all day as cars are going up and down Winthrop Street. The dirt that Councilor Marks mentioned, this is ridiculous. It's like, this is like the project that will never end. And it needs to end soon. I know at one point in time, I think it was during one of our meetings, probably about a month or two months ago, we had Eversource on the line with us. And they had mentioned that at that time, I think there was one crew working. Can City Engineer give us an update as to whether or not that has been increased?
[John Falco]: Last time we met with Eversource, I believe they mentioned that the time there was one crew working on the project or working on Winthrop Street, and it had something to do with the police detail availability. Can you just give us an update as to whether or not that has changed? Are there more crews working on the project?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Giver, and I definitely, it's good news that we're having additional crews working on the project, but just going back to the original point, you know, it is a public safety issue. It is a quality of life issue. And if we're going to do it, we should be doing it right. So if we're going to be ripping up the road, then we should be continuing the sidewalk all the way to place that road. I'm definitely in support of this resolution. I thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Mock. Councilor Mock's actually struck upon an important point. If she's not gonna be here to give us an update and no one's gonna be sent from the department to give us an update, we should get some sort of a written update as to what's going on, if there are any changes that are happening, what are the vital metrics that we should know. Because we're being asked all the time. And we should be informed by the administration if Marianne can't come to a meeting. So if you could please communicate that to her and her department that if they can't send someone, at least send us some sort of a written update.
[John Falco]: the main point is clarification because it seems like there are definitely some inconsistencies from what we're hearing yet. So if we could please actually form I guess a motion amendment that we have Marion specifically state towards in writing, if there are any inconsistencies that the city is, if the city has different rules than what are being implied by the state.
[John Falco]: I would like to know, I'd like to know if the city is, if the city's rules regarding COVID are different from what the state guidelines are. Are the city guidelines different from the state guidelines with regard to COVID?
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Morell for bringing this forward. I think most every councilor has actually had a similar resolution to this. And yet we have not received any response from the administration regarding this. And this is a major issue in our community. We're talking about housing and we have got no information from the administration. The administration wants to be transparent. They have to be transparent about this here. If we had these tied up in court, this is costing us, I'm sure hundreds of thousands of dollars. So if Councilor Morell wouldn't mind, I'd like to amend the resolution as I've amended, I think most of the other resolutions that have pertained to this matter to find out how much we have spent so far on legal costs regarding 40 Bs and where they are being charged on the budget. And once again, I just want to thank Councilor Morell for bringing this forward and I second the motion.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Matz for bringing this forward. As I was preparing for the meeting, I was reading through the resolution and it couldn't help but bring a smile to my face because I remember the theater as a kid. I remember going and I actually remember seeing Jaws at that theater. It just brought back some memories of, you know, just being a kid and walking through Method Square and doing those types of things. And I never knew that Mr. Andre owned the theater. So I just wanted to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward and echo the sentiments of my colleague, Councilor Scarpelli. The Andre family has always given back generously in time and donations. And this is a very fitting tribute. And I would also second the motion. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I bring this resolution again tonight. I feel like I bring this at least once a year. And the grass at the corner of Webster Street and Fountain Street, there's a kind of like a median strip there. And as you come out, if you take a left, you can see that the grass is getting really high. It's probably over a foot now. And we can just have someone from the administration, please contact the DCR. And if we can have that mode in the interest of public safety, it's a problem that needs to be addressed. We should be addressing these things sooner than later. And we need to take pride in our community. We shouldn't be letting the grass like this get out of control. So if we could have someone from the administration contact DCR to have this cut as soon as possible.
[John Falco]: Perfect. That's fine, I'm open to the amendment, sir, thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was notified by a resident last week about the condition of the curbing down at the Freedom Way and McGlynn School. And they sent me a number of photos, I took a drive down by myself as well just to take a look. And I know back a few years ago, I believe the prior administration had started a project with regard to replacing the curbing at the McGlynn School and I believe It might be finished, it might be partway finished. I know that there is extra curbing that's on the side of the road, but there's still plenty of curbing around the school that some of it's completely obliterated. It looks like it's just dust on the ground. So I just wanted to get some sort of an update from the administration as to when that's going to be finished or if it's going to be finished. It doesn't look like there's enough curbing to finish the job. but it does need to be addressed and the company needs to be replaced. If someone comes from outside of the city and they see our schools like this, it's a disgrace. It doesn't say much about what we're doing about our city and how we're treating our buildings. We need to make sure we're safeguarding our buildings and our school properties for the future generations of the city. And this is a problem that needs to be addressed. So at this point, I'd just like to move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes, thank you, Councilor, for bringing this forward. And I would echo the sentiments of my colleagues as well. Cataldo has been a great, great partner. Armstrong. I'm sorry, I apologize. I'm trying to ignore it. It's funny, someone asked me all the time. They've been a great partner. Sean's done a lot of hard work there, and we thank them for all their hard work. Like you mentioned earlier, we talk to Marion every week with the COVID update. They're helping out, going to give seniors the vaccinations, and they're doing a great job. They've been a great partner, and I'd like to say thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank the Barry and Sutherland families for coming down today and sharing your personal stories. I had the privilege to know Miss Barry was a member of the school committee. And she was always positive, always smiling. I remember the smile, always smiling. And you mentioned she was a gift. And she was a gift to our community. She was always there, always giving back. I personally did not go to the Columbus school or any of the schools that she taught at, but my nieces and nephews did. And I always heard great stories about Miss Barry. and the work she did on a daily basis. And they would talk continuously about her. And during school community meetings, you'd always hear Ms. Barry's name come up and the great things that were happening at the Columbus School. And I can't thank you enough for coming down and sharing your personal stories with us. I know they mean the world to me because I knew Jean and she was fabulous. And like I said, I never forget the smile and the positive upbeat attitude, which this community could use now more than ever. And I just want to thank you for coming tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Because I am hurt to think of all that Gene Berry did in this school system, in Medford, and some of the rest of us.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Marksley for bringing this forward and Vice President Knight for his comments as well. And both Councilors are right. There needs to be a specific long-term plan for how we're going to repave roads throughout our community. I mean, each one of us, I'm sure year after year, has received countless calls with regards to potholes, just streets being ripped up after the winter from plowing, and you can only patch so long before you need to resurface an entire street. Two streets a year? It's completely, it's just wrong. It doesn't make any sense. You'll never get to a point where you're going to have new streets throughout most of the community. I mean, two streets a year, you're lucky to get a neighborhood done in 10 years. So we need to do better in that area. The capital plan, Vice President Knight is correct. The capital plan, it does not, there's really, there's not too much to address this. It needs to be addressed. I mean, in many ways, these are quality of life issues. When people are in their neighborhoods and they're driving and they have potholes all over the place, it's just not right. The administration needs to do a better job. There needs to be a long-term plan. And if I may, Councilor Marks, if you mind, if I would amend the resolution to find out exactly what streets were paved over the past two years. And if we can find out, get an itemized list of how the chapter 90 funding was spent in the past year. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Yeah, correct. President Caraviello, if I may add an amendment to get an update from the DPW as to if the pilot program for resurfacing streets with recycled asphalt will be put in the budget, in the upcoming budget.
[John Falco]: And if I may continue on that, I think it was back in February this year. And what they basically do is they take the asphalt right there, and they grind the street down, and it goes into a truck and actually put new asphalt down. You are correct. It's half the cost. And even if they had just a pilot program, just try a few streets. It's better than nothing. And there's some streets that are in dire need of repair, and this needs to be addressed now more than ever.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, President Caballero. And I'd like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing that forward as well. I know during this pandemic, I've been trying to do a lot of walking. through various neighborhoods throughout our city. And Councilor Marks is right. If you take a walk through the neighborhoods, no matter what neighborhood you go to, there are stumps everywhere and there are raised sidewalks everywhere. Trip hazards beyond belief. And they need to be addressed. They haven't been addressed. We have not been given any type of a program that's going to address these issues. The residents deserve better. These are trip hazards literally right in front of their house. Someone's going to get hurt. And unfortunately it sounds like someone already did.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much to you and to your staff for all your hard work. With regard to the 12 plus vaccine, I believe you said next Tuesday?
[John Falco]: Would that be in the afternoon or at night? Do we have the particulars?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And how are the how are the kids being notified? Is there a robo call going out or verse 911?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And as far as the talk about the real talk series, that's, did you say that's made 26.
[John Falco]: I was just gonna say, with regard to the home bond program, so you said you're almost, I believe you're almost complete with that. And what type of vaccine was given out for that? I know, I believe at first you said maybe a few weeks ago, Johnson and Johnson, but that may have stopped, right?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And last but not least, when we talked previously, you had mentioned the members of the community that are hesitant to the vaccine. And I believe the state was possibly going to come in and help out with the program where they would almost go door to door. Is that still happening or is that going to happen?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Marion, I have one last question I forgot to ask. So I know we're doing outreach to our public school families. What about our Catholic school or parochial school, St. Ray's, St. Joe's? Are we reaching out to those parents, those populations to make sure that they know? Absolutely.
[John Falco]: But is the outreach being done from your office to St. Ray's and St. Joe's to those schools?
[John Falco]: So I just wanna, so as far as, so is it a robo-call to everyone in the community? I guess it is that, is someone directly calling those schools saying these shots are available? That's my question.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Councilor Falco. So just to try to make sure I have this right. So the motion is to make the diversity director of human resources part of cap 19. So that would be joining the two positions, if I'm correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my colleagues. We've had numerous meetings, numerous Committee of the Whole meetings on this topic. And we've had a lot of valuable discussion. And I still like to go back and look at the metrics. We have 58,000, probably close to 58,000 people in this city. Probably about 4,000 students around there. Hundreds of employees in our school system and in our city. We are one of the largest cities in the Commonwealth by population. We have no one specifically in the school system that is responsible for diversity and inclusion. It's a piece of someone's job, but no one is not a person that's solely responsible for that. Diversity and inclusion within our school system and within our city should be a priority. Sometimes an issue comes before this council that is as much timely as it is important. Diversity is just such an issue. I wanna make it abundantly clear that in my view, it is time to move the diversity issue from talk to reality. Raising the reality of inclusion and equity is not a part-time effort. It requires the attentive focus of a full-time diversity officer who has time to see the issue at every level. This includes hiring practices to help make sure that the faces in City Hall reflect the faces of our community. And it also includes the continual analysis of our municipal contracts. Who are the companies that we have, that we contract with? What is the percentage of contracts that the city has with minority businesses or businesses that are owned by women? We have to move from talk to action. I want Mr. Osborne to know that my objection to the mayor's request is not a reflection on his abilities or his professionalism. It is about what the city needs, and it is time that we meet the need of diversity and inclusion head on. And the mayor's request does not do that. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Marianne, thank you very much for your update and the hard work of you and your department. A quick question regarding the vaccination clinics at Tufts University. So is that indefinitely every Wednesday and Thursday?
[John Falco]: And with regard to mobile vaccination, we talked about that before. Can you give us an update? Are we still or is the city still have a mobile vaccination program?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And last time we talked, we talked a little bit about, I believe there was about populations that were not maybe hesitant towards getting the vaccine. We were working, I believe you had mentioned that we were working maybe with the state or there was another program that the city was working with to get people that were hesitant, vaccine hesitant, vaccinated. Is that still in play?
[John Falco]: Would that be via Zoom?
[John Falco]: Great. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. And I would also like to wish Nancy White a very happy birthday, as Councilor Knight stated, and have some very nice memories of Nancy. When I was in the school committee, working in the school system, always helping out and always helping out with the method democratic board and sitting committee. We choose a vice chair for the longest time and always ran a good meeting and very nice person and I just want to wish her a very happy birthday. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to also thank Councilor Morell and Councilor Piz for bringing this forward and congratulating Max on his achievement. As everyone has noted, Max is one of our very dedicated volunteers and a teacher in our community and we wish him well. I just want to say congratulations.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward and also echo the sentiments of my colleagues. You know, being in law enforcement, it's not an easy job, especially now more than ever. And you know, when you leave to go to work in the morning or whatever shift you're on, you don't know if you're coming back. And to work to do that for 34 years is an amazing commitment, an amazing commitment. And I just want to congratulate him on a long career, wish him well. And I thank Council of Ops for bringing this forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward and Councilor Knight for mentioning the Eversource project. If I could amend the paper further to specifically look at, I believe it is at the end of Lorraine Road, there was a piece of construction equipment that has been there. I know it was there pretty much for like the past couple of weeks that they park it there on the street after hours, which is completely against the agreement that we struck with them when this went into effect, this construction project many years ago. From what I remember, there was supposed to be no construction equipment on the road after hours. That has been violated. So if we could, if I could please amend the paper ask specifically why that piece of equipment is there. And I also thank you for bringing up the point about the metal plates. The metal plates have been there for a long time. And I believe we inquired about them many times and they still haven't removed them. So I thank you for adding that amendment. And I look forward to hearing a response soon from Eversource. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Vice President Knight for bringing this forward. This is a key resolution and Councilor Scarpelli you're right. It gives the youth of our community a voice. And that's really important. If you take a look at CCSR, remember when that first came about when we were on the school committee, that program has grown tremendously throughout the years. And you look at the good works that the students have been doing throughout the years, the programs, the things that they've come to propose to us with regards to ordinances and whatnot. And it's a great way for them to be involved in public service and giving back to the community. So I support this a hundred percent. I look forward to discussing this further in committee the whole. Vice President Knight, I thank you for bringing this forward and I would also second the resolution. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks and Councilor Peters These subcommittee meetings have been very, very productive. Like Councilor Marks mentioned, there's been a lot of input from business owners, the community, the department heads, and different organizations. And I look forward to working with them to resolve these issues and bring them to a future Committee of the Whole meeting. But they've been very productive meetings and I look forward to working with them to bring everything to fruition. So thanks again to the Councilor Marks and Councilor Bears for their hard work on these issues.
[John Falco]: If I may, so the current closing time is 9 p.m., is that what she said?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Morell for bringing this forward and also state that I am in full agreement with Councilor Scarpelli as well. And I thank the task force for being on the call tonight. I think it'd be good to get a synopsis of the work that they've done. And I thank them for the work that they've done. I know a lot of hours and hard work has gone into this, but I do think it'd be very beneficial to have a committee of the whole meeting just so we can look at just this topic and really, you know, take a look at this report and ask all the questions that we need to ask. And I agree with Councilor Marks as well. I think it's vital that someone from the administration is there to, you know, to give us their opinions on the report and to talk about, you know, how this can be implemented if that's the way we go. but I look forward to that and I am definitely in support of the Committee of the Whole meeting. And I wanna, once again, thank the task force for all their hard work. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to congratulate Paul Camuso. He's always been a strong advocate for the youth in our community, and I know he will do a great job in this role. So congratulations to Paul on this new endeavor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you for bringing this forward and thank Councilor Bears and Councilor Marks as well. If you wouldn't mind, could we also amend, just to be really specific, the crossing the police station, kind of like the on-ramps and off-ramps to Route 16 near the police station and near South Street? Yeah. I mean, there are trees, there's all kinds of debris there. and they did a lot of construction there, but there are trees there that look like they're like 20 or 30 years old that are just dead. And they need to be removed. I mean, a lot of people, when they come through the city, that's the only section of the city that they see. And they see that. And they should have been cleaned up a long time ago. So if we could amend that to include cleaning up those locations as well, I clearly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, while I'm at it, if I can make one more amendment, the DCI property across from my St Francis Church. If that could be. Exactly, that can be cleaned as well that is dead trees all over the place. One of them fell down recently. I think it's been there for a few weeks. So if we can. Thank you get that.
[John Falco]: If I may really quick, and I thank former Councilor Patu for bringing this up and Councilor Marks for your statements as well. but they both bring up a very good point. And that's that the city should be proactive in reaching out and the residents shouldn't have to, I mean, the residents wouldn't know. So, I mean, if there's an issue and someone does spike, I mean, it's a report, someone should be responsible on a daily basis to kind of review to see where the spikes are. There's some way to look at that and someone should be looking at it on a daily basis. So it should be a proactive attempt by the city to reach out to the residents. to look for those spikes. So I thank you for bringing it forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the records.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thanks, thank you to President Caraviello for all your hard work on this project. I remember when you first came back from, I think it was the Mass Municipal Conference, talking about a grant for the library, and it didn't seem like it was that long ago, and here we are, where actually there's a building going up and it's in the ground, There are a lot of great things happening there. And thank you for all your hard work with regard to this project, with regard to everything else you do. And thank you for the update. It's always good to get an update to find out where we are financially with the funds coming in. And thank you to Barbara and her staff as well. They've done a remarkable job. and not under the best conditions. I know it's been a challenge the past year or so, and look forward to seeing the library open soon and all the good things and great programming that's going to come out of that. It's going to be remarkable when all is said and done. So thank you to Barbara and her staff. Thank you to President Caraviello, and thank you to everyone that was involved in the fundraising. to this new project that I can cross and mark back in any spirit as well. So thank you to everyone. Thanks.
[John Falco]: Sorry about that.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. I grew up with Bill and went to high school with him as well. Really, really nice guy. And I just wanted to congratulate him and wish him well on his recent election. Thank you.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If you could, and I apologize, before I couldn't get a good view, but could you just show me what the flow would be like going into the driveway for someone that wants to get gas? Yes, sir, of course.
[John Falco]: You don't have any concerns with queuing that way? I mean, to me, it seems like you could kind of get into a bit of a log jam once you take that right to get in if you have multiple cars. I'm not questioning, but just so I'm clear, when you say that way, you're referring to the entrance? Correct. So when you go into the area where you're going to get gas, so you come into the driveway, you take that right. I mean, there are a lot of pumps, which is great, but if you have, I mean, sometimes get a lot of customers, which I guess would be a good thing. I mean, I would imagine you'd get pretty jammed in there, no? No, no, sir. I mean, it's a great question.
[John Falco]: Do you have that same kind of set up at your other locations? Yes, sir.
[John Falco]: If I may, Mr. President, do we have anyone on the line from the administration that's answering questions?
[John Falco]: Alicia, my question will be, you know, when you take a look at the gas tanks that have, you know, proposed for BJs, how do they compare to the gas tanks across the street? Are they same size, same number of tanks? I'm just kind of curious.
[John Falco]: Do we have anything on file that we can look at?
[John Falco]: To me, I'm curious about that. That's just, you know, I mean, to me, there's a lot of I'm not a gasoline expert. I mean, but I know there's a lot of gas in that area. I mean, you're talking, what, I think between the three tanks, there are like 60,000 gallons worth of gas?
[John Falco]: And then I would imagine, if I'm correct, the gas station across the street is pretty sizable as well. I don't know what they have, but I would imagine it might be something similar. So I'm just curious as to what, you know, that gas station has across the street. And I don't know, but I mean, I'm not sure what are the gas stations in the community. I'm not sure how they set up, but I mean, that's, to me, that's just kind of curious about that. With regard to gasoline, so I have questions regarding gasoline delivery. How often will this be, will you be getting gas deliveries? Is that something that you would be able to answer?
[John Falco]: One time per day to fill up? Approximately, yes. And is that coming at a certain time?
[John Falco]: And if it's not at a certain time, is it going to be between certain hours? Will it be coming late at night or early in the morning?
[John Falco]: So is there, So one of my concerns would be, and we haven't heard from the neighbors yet. I mean, could there be a gas delivery at five in the morning? Is that something that could happen?
[John Falco]: Are these large tanker trucks that are delivering the fuel?
[John Falco]: And I'm just thinking with regard to the neighbors, you know, especially if you're going late at night, early in the morning, do these have diesel engines, these trucks? You know, diesel engines are usually louder, so.
[John Falco]: Does that make sense? That makes sense. I'm just trying to think of the impact it's going to have on the neighborhood. And I know, for me, if I lived in the neighborhood, I would have questions like this. how is it going to impact the residents? That's so, you know, quality of life issue, noise, traffic, you know, these are all things that, you know, I have questions about. When I look at a project like that, that's why I ask these types of questions. It does have an impact. As minimal as you may think it seems, I'm not saying that you think it's minimal. Some people might think it's minimal, but if you live in the neighborhood, it's a concern. So that's why I'm asking these questions. Is there a, so as far as the safety devices that are set up, I mean, I would imagine there's all kinds of safety devices within the pumps and whatnot.
[John Falco]: We buy the best that money can buy. With regard to the parking lot and the new plantings, which I think that's the vast improvement. One of the complaints I received is that at times the lot can be dirty, trash. So is there a maintenance plan for that parking lot? Put it this way. You're just saying that I think the plant things on Woodruff and the Woodruff side, they were in tough shape. So to me, when I hear that, that means that maybe they haven't been maintained. They have, you know, so therefore, you know, BJ's maybe hasn't been on the ball with regards to the maintenance. I mean, is there a maintenance plan in place where this is going to be, you know, maintained on a regular basis, cleaned on a regular basis. You know, if you're putting down mulch yearly, can you talk a little bit about that?
[John Falco]: So do you have a maintenance plan? Is there something in writing a maintenance plan that BJ's has for this parking lot?
[John Falco]: We have an internal document. Yes. Okay. Is that something you can send to us? It'd be nice to know. I mean, like I said before, that's one of the complaints I get. I know when I'm walking through there, sometimes, you know, it looks like, you know, I'm not sure how often you have a street sweeper come through. But you mentioned, this is, I mean, for some people, this is their front yard. And they're literally looking at this all the time. So therefore, you know what, it should be clean all the time. That's the way I look
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I also want to thank you for your presentation tonight. I appreciate you answering all our questions. You were just talking about the fence. Has anyone reached out to the neighbors to see what the neighbors would like for a fence? Because I think they're the ones who are going to have to see it every day. Has there been any discussion there with regards to what type of fence they would like to see?
[John Falco]: I would think that, you know, as far as the fence goes, I would think that the neighbors should have, they should weigh heavily in the decision as to what type of fence should go there, because they're going to have to see it every single day. So the way I look at it is they should have a, you know, a major, you know, role in that decision. As far as having an opening, I would say that's a discussion with the neighbors as well, because that is going to create foot traffic. I'm not sure if that's what they want or not. And I definitely want to hear from the neighbors. I know that there's probably, I would imagine, some that want to speak on this tonight. But I would think they should definitely have a role with regard to what type of fence is selected. The other question I had was for the traffic engineer, I believe. And I apologize if I missed this, because I was trying to take some notes. When was it, did you say you put traffic counters on the street? When was that done?
[John Falco]: That was my question. I just wanted to make sure there were pre-COVID pandemic numbers.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I may ask one quick question, how big is the propane tank in the back of the lawn?
[John Falco]: No, I appreciate it. Thank you. I mean, I'd rather you answer that.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, can you put his microphone on? I'm sorry. Pat, can you put his microphone on?
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much for showing us the detailed drawings. Just a couple of quick questions. So do we know when the work will be performed with regard to the rest of the installation?
[John Falco]: And in that trip, maybe Tim McGivin can answer this if he's on the call, but why one crew?
[John Falco]: Do you know when that reevaluation will take place?
[John Falco]: As far as do we know, so do we know why is this going to take place? Do we know how long it's going to take place? I mean, I would imagine it sounds like it's all over the map if we're not sure how many crews that are going to be doing the work. If it's one crew, I'm hoping that the one crew is just short term.
[John Falco]: And is it basically the number of people that can do details or is it actually a budget issue?
[John Falco]: So it is truly a number of people that can never, officers available for details. Are the residents being notified when the work's going to be taking place?
[John Falco]: And will the work be taking place between certain hours?
[John Falco]: Okay, so do you have any type of goal as to when this is going to be finally completed? I know we've been talking about this project, I think for, it's quite a few years now.
[John Falco]: Okay, and so, okay, so it sounds like it's one crew for the time being until we can free up more details to increase the number of crews.
[John Falco]: Please. By all means, yeah.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. No further questions at this time. Thank you. Councilor Biz.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Berco. Thank you, Mr. President. To Councilor Morell's point, if I may, you said it's broom swept, is that what you mentioned?
[John Falco]: At any point in time, is there a source ever sent through a street sweeping crew?
[John Falco]: Maybe it's time to get the street sweeper out there on a more regular basis, especially people are gonna be biking and walking more often. It might be, I mean, I would think in the interest of public safety, it'd be best to have that go through on a regular basis, at least once a week, I would think, just to keep it clean and safe for everyone involved.
[John Falco]: Thank you. If I may, I have to go back to the number of crews. So you were saying, I think, back last summer, at one point in time, you had three crews during the day. Is that correct?
[John Falco]: Would I be correct in saying that if you wanted this job that's starting again, or project, I should say, on April 20th, ideally, would you want to have three crews again? Yes. So I know occasionally when we have a lot of road work going on and construction work, sometimes there are details that if we don't have enough people to cover, we go outside and whatnot. Has that been entertained as an option?
[John Falco]: So sometimes when we have major construction projects going on or various construction projects, we might not have enough people to cover the detail. I believe the city goes outside occasionally to have people cover those details. Has that been an option that the administration has looked at?
[John Falco]: So has that been done when you had your most recent meeting and decided to start the work on April 20th? Was there any discussion to go outside for those details?
[John Falco]: I know this is not right, but I feel like the police chief's running the project now. You know, and I don't mean to say that, I'm not trying to be, I just, to me it seems like we should, this project has been going on for, I think, I've been on the council for, I'm in my sixth year. I think this project has been going on for at least four of those six years. And it just seems like the work needs to get done sooner than later. I feel like having one crew start on April 20th is completely disingenuous to the people that live on that roadway. I mean, they have been putting up with construction on a regular basis for a long time now. And I would think it should be a major priority for this administration to really get this done. And what I feel like when we're starting off with one crew, I feel like the priority is not there. And I'm not sure if Tim, you can address this or Rob, if you can address this. I mean, it just seems like there should be more There should be more crews to really get this done.
[John Falco]: If I may, Tim, does the Mayor sit in on those meetings as well?
[John Falco]: And he's fine with the one crew working on this project?
[John Falco]: And he's fine with the one crew working on this project?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also wanted to send my condolences to the Bruno family. Mr. Bruno is a great person. I'll never forget the day when I first won elections to the city council, my first time running. It was the first phone call I got the next morning. He called me, he congratulated me, he wished me well. and very, very supportive and love to talk about Matthew, love to talk about the issues, but he was just a really, really special person. Someone that is, you just can't replace. I mean, he's just a really special part of our community. You always saw him with his grandkids and he was always having fun. He was always smiling, easy to talk to, and he will be missed. tremendously in our community. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Chief, for being with us here tonight. And I apologize that it's a little bit late. And I have a couple of quick questions, three questions that actually, I think you touched upon some of it when Councilor Scott probably was asking me questions. So I apologize if it's a little repetitive. It's okay. How many firefighters do we currently have? How many are retiring? And how many should we have?
[John Falco]: And is the 124 is how many we should have?
[John Falco]: Hopefully. Without getting too detailed because they know it's not a budget meeting. How many do you feel we should have?
[John Falco]: Chief, thank you very much. And thank you to the men and women of the fire department.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank you for bringing this forward. I was actually out on a walk this weekend and I did notice. that it looks like actually it's already pre-cut and it looks kind of almost like an S going all the way down Winthrop Street. So the question I had and actually Councilor Scott, probably you just hit it in the last part of your comments was basically let's find out what's going on, but let's get the timetable. Let's make sure that we have a timetable that the residents have a timetable as to when the work is going to happen, how long it's going to take and when this job is finally going to be done.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Marks for bringing this forward tonight. And I know Councilor Marks, you brought a number of resolutions regarding 5G before us. And I want to thank you both for all your time, effort, and energy that you put into this, because I know you put in a large amount of time and effort. I think the last resolution you put forward, there were at least nine amendments, which, you know, it was very detailed. And I thank you for your time advocating for the residents and thank the residents for coming down as well. You know, technology is great, but if there are adverse health effects, you know, those need to be looked at and they need to be researched and there shouldn't be a rush to judgment. I myself have someone that I actually have a telephone pole right in front of my house. It's probably about 15, 20 feet from the house. And I know I wouldn't want it in front of my house. You know, I mean, from everything I read, it's questionable. We don't have the answers. And to vote on this, I mean, I don't feel comfortable on it. I mean, I know I wouldn't want to put it in front of my house if I didn't have those answers. And I feel like it's very unclear. The research is unclear. And it needs to be researched more. And like I said, if there's any type of health effects, negative health effects, they need to be researched. You know, I thank you for, you know, standing up and then fighting and I'm here with you and I support your motion, your amendment. So I thank you for continuing this and bringing it forward and I'm with you. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. As our budget season is quickly approaching, it is time to look at all of our various accounts to see where money is and how it's being spent and to make sure that we finish the year in good shape and start off the next fiscal year in good shape. Back in 2010, then Mayor McGlynn signed a billboard agreement with Clair Channel. And the agreement stated that Clear Channel would make a lump payment, an impact fee payment to the city in the year, in the 11th year of the agreement, which would be fiscal year 2021 of $250,000. And I came across this through some research, basically after the budget was passed. And when I asked the administration, I was told that this was not factored into the budget, And that came from the CFO. And then I was forwarded on to the chief of staff, Dave Rodriguez. Dave did tell me that they learned of the payment after the budget was prepared and therefore was not part of the budget. And at that point in time, I asked, well, how's the money being spent? And the explanation I received was that the city's current plan is to use it for one time unanticipated costs and emergency health safety costs that cannot be covered by the CARES or FEMA. For example, let's see, there's an engineer that contacted the mayor's office in a panic that the road work at the bottom of Bedford High School is scheduled to be done. This is back in August, that they didn't have enough, let's see, that the, was gonna be canceled due to not having necessary funds available. And the mayor was able to okay this by using these funds from, that they had from the, from the impact fee. The section of Harris Park did not have fence, which the city staff were concerned about from a safety perspective. And they were able to repair this using these funds. They used these funds for roading control in response to complaints received throughout the community. And they also used it for road and safety, pedestrian improvements around the city, particularly around the schools. So that was a plan for the funds, but as we approach the budget season, I'd like to get a full detailed listing of exactly how these funds were spent and how much was spent on each of these projects. So if we could get, so basically if I could get a detailed itemized listing of how the $250,000 was spent from the billboard agreements, and if we could send that to the CFO and to the chief of staff. I greatly appreciate and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. It sounds like someone's been reading the agenda. I went by yesterday and the speed trailer is there. It is there. So that has been put in place. Hopefully it's effective and hopefully it's going to slow down traffic in that area. As we know, traffic has been a major concern in that Fells Ave neighborhood. And we had a Committee of the Whole meeting there back, I think it was in November of last year that was well attended. And at the conclusion of that meeting, there was going to be a follow-up Committee of the Whole meeting. And I would ask if you could please, if I could amend the resolution to request that we have a follow-up Committee of the Whole meeting with regard to all of the safety improvements that have been made potential of additional improvements. I know Councilor Mark said we've had some amendments in a previous resolution with regard to, I think it was, no through traffic, I think that's on particular streets, if I remember correctly. So if we could have a committee of the whole to revisit this issue. I greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: KP Law has been a point of conversation, I think, since they started doing business with the city of Medford. And I know that there is a, I believe it's a $5,000 a month retainer And it's basically 60,000 for the year. But there's work that they do outside of their general month to month work. We've asked many questions about the 40B projects that they're working on. We don't tend to get too much information, but I know that they've been working on it. Basically, I think all of the 40B projects that have come about. And when I go through the detailed bills that we get from the CFO, I have not found any, KP law invoices that have come through outside of the budget of $5,000 per month. So I've gone through, I can't find anything. And I know that various consulates have had many questions about KP Law since their inception into working with the city. So what I'd like to do is just ask that the administration give us basically breakdown of all the invoices outside of the monthly retainer, a breakdown of all of the invoices that have been paid And basically what's outstanding, it seems like, from what I can tell, they've been doing work with us for over a year. And it seems like there are no invoices. It seems like the administration hasn't received any invoices to pay. To me, that's just, it's ludicrous. I mean, what company does work, it doesn't build a client. I mean, there should have been some sort of invoices that have come in here. I mean, I also like to add to further to find out where, where is that cost spend budgeted in the budget. So it just seems like KPI just seems like there's a really, it's a lot of, it's a big gray area. When you look at the budget, it doesn't look like it's budgeted for and from what I can tell, you know, it doesn't look like there are any invoices coming in outside of the $5,000 per month appropriation that has been made.
[John Falco]: This is vital. We need to know this. We need to know how much we're paying them. You know, what's outstanding. I still don't, I don't understand how a law firm does work. It doesn't build a client. It doesn't make any sense.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: You just went through a 5G conversation, very nicely and tastefully said and done, and respectfully done.
[John Falco]: And move an issue. I didn't mention his name.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Knight and Councilor Scarpelli for the awards. I first met Al when I was a sophomore in high school, 1985. I was on that team that won the GBL championship. And I remember when I first met Al, it was a pretty intimidating situation. He was a captain, but he was a leader. And he could lead both on and off the field. Really nice guy. When you're on the team, you treat it like family. And he was a great guy, a fierce competitor, great football player, offense, defense, he could do it all. He kicked too. He was a kicker at one point. And he was just a great competitor. And, you know, like Councilor Scarpelli said, I remember those days, Coach Bud Kelly, another great person. He would always talk repeatedly. He got blue and white running through the veins, and no one had more blue and white running through their veins than Al McDougal. You know, he was just a great person and he won't be missed. So, Captain Al, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you, Councilor Palacio. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Marianne, thank you for your update. I just wanted to mention that I did have an opportunity to visit the website this weekend. I think I saw the new pie charts with all of the data with regard to COVID and the different populations that hits and basically you split out, I think by ages as well. So I thought that was actually a good addition to the website. It just tells a better story or a very accurate story as to who it's hitting and who it's not hitting. that type of thing. So I want to thank you for that. I also wanted to welcome Sarah Harris and also congratulations to and thank you to Janet who retired. I just wanted to say thank you for, I think you said it's 15 years of service. So yeah, thank her for her service to the community. Thank you.
[John Falco]: They unmuted us, Fantasia's autobody.
[John Falco]: I thank you Councilor Knight for that update. It was just basically an update with regard to the progress that they've made on that campus. I know in our last meeting, I think most of the questions that people have were a regard to final steps. And I think it was the plantings and the landscaping and whatnot. And it sounds like that is underway and the paving of the driveways coming soon. So I have no further questions. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. And if I may add as well, as someone who lives up in Fulton Heights, this is really the only bus route that is really easily accessible to all residents in Fulton Heights. When you look at that bus at 710, it cuts right up, right through the middle of the heights. Easily accessible, seniors want to take it, they can walk to it. If they need to walk to the 100, that's a long way to walk down to 710. you know, the Fellsway or up to Highland Ave. So this is a route that I feel is a necessity, the 710. You know, this wasn't even a service reduction, it was a service elimination, which is the worst. You know, I know with COVID, you know, people probably aren't commuting as much, but there still needs to be options. And I feel that pulling away the 710 or pulling it out of the neighborhood, it just really does a disservice to anyone that lives in that neighborhood. I believe the MBTA is getting, I think about, I thought I heard about a billion dollars in pandemic relief. That's a lot of money. And I know that there's plenty of routes that have been eliminated. I mean, I know 325 and 326 here in Medford have been eliminated, but From what I hear, from what I've seen in the past, anytime a route is eliminated, it's really hard to bring it back. And I feel that the 710 needs to be brought back, and it needs to be brought back sooner than later. You talk about the MBTA assessments, and we've talked about that numerous times. This city is assessed millions of dollars on a yearly basis by the MBTA. and we need to get millions and millions of dollars year after year. It's a service reduction in my eyes, it's absolutely unacceptable. The MBTA needs to bring this line back into service. Like you said before, it really covers, there's necessities that a lot of seniors need. I mean, it takes you to stop and chop, it takes you to Wegmans, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Wellington Station. I mean, these are places where people need to go and now more than ever, this bus needs to be in service and ready for people to take so I just wanted to, at this point I guess move approval. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much for the update. Appreciate it. Appreciate all the hard work put in by you and your department. Just got a couple of quick questions. You mentioned the new, I think, data or metrics that are gonna be on the website. Do you know when those will be on the city website?
[John Falco]: OK, great. And I think that's one of the key points, is that it's put in a way where everyone or almost anyone can look at it and be able to visualize it and understand what it is. So I think that's great. And do you know when that data is there, is it through a certain week? Is that through like last week or through this week or?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And last week, I believe you mentioned the possibility of a regional vaccine clinic. Yes. Is there any update on that? Yes.
[John Falco]: And as far as the you mentioned, the 25% is that 25% of the doses will go to Medford residents or is that regional communities?
[John Falco]: Yeah, absolutely. And as far as the two in a nutshell, who's responsible for like coordinating this and putting it together? Would this be you?
[John Falco]: No, no, that makes sense it as far as the last questioning it. You mentioned I think, you know, working to, I think, trying to just looking at my scribble notes here. As far as I believe you said we need to do more work with reaching out to some of our more diverse community. Did you say you're going that we're beginning to do some outreach or comment more on that.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. And one last final question. I just thought of this one. Right now is City Hall open? Is it? I know City Hall is open. But as far as the number of employees, is it restricted to 50% or something like that?
[John Falco]: Correct. Is that going to be changing anytime soon? Or is that if you could just have any on that?
[John Falco]: Okay, no problem. Thank you so much for your help. And now they can be a hard work to both you and to your department. Appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I'd like to thank my colleagues for asking some great questions. I thank Chief Buckley for his leadership. And also thank the woman and men of the Medford Police Department for all the hard work. I think especially over the past year with COVID, it's amazing. And I know the number of calls that I'm looking through this report, it's really amazing to look at the data, look at the increase. I know there's a slight dip this past year, but I think probably a lot of the calls were a lot more challenging as well. with COVID and it's, you know, it's amazing how, you know, you put your own safety and well-being on the line every day, you know, in a normal day, and then you put COVID into it as well. I know it's been a very challenging year, but I want to thank you for your leadership and all your hard work. And thank you for this report. This is really, I mean, I love to see data and this is great. You can look at this over the past three, four years, and you can really see the uptick in the number of calls and it's, you know, I haven't had a chance to really read it yet. I may have just received it when I came to the meeting, but I know I'll be reading it over and I'll definitely be giving you a call probably with more in-depth questions. I also wanted to thank Detective Stanton, especially this domestic violence piece in the back of the report. It's really good to take a look at this documentation to see what we're doing. And, you know, it helps answer a lot of questions that sometimes people might have. And, but Chief Buckley, if I may, really quick, and I know this is just because, like I said, I haven't had a chance to really digest this report yet, but when you look at this report, do you see, is there like a number one issue or number one concern or top one, two, three list of things that you would be concerned about or think need to be addressed?
[John Falco]: Chief, that was very good. Thank you. I appreciate it. And thank you to Rob for the report. I deal with a lot of this type of work where I work during the day. And a lot of time, effort, and energy goes into stuff like this here. And you can tell. And the report, just by going through it, I mean, it tells a story and, you know, about the hard work that you in the department go through on a daily basis. So I just want to thank you for your leadership and your hard work. And like I said, I'm going to go through this more thoroughly and I'll be calling you with some additional questions, but thank you very much. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Commissioner Kearns. I want to thank you for all your hard work and for the hard working department as well. I know that there's been staffing challenges within DPW, but you always seem to get the work done. I agree with countless car belly I think Steve can actually lives in his truck, but every time I call him I he's working on something, and I know that the DPW is always working hard so I thank you for all hard work. I also wanted to. uh, basically ask you a quick question regarding, uh, you had mentioned the, and I, Councilor Marks touched upon it as well, as far as maintenance of the cruisers. So do you, um, do you know if, uh, or feel that we have enough mechanics on staff to handle the volume?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. And I missed what you said before. Did you say how many police vehicles?
[John Falco]: No problem, thank you. And when did you start, when did the DPW start maintaining the police car, police fleet?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And last but not least, do you have any major concerns? What would be a major concern regarding the DPW that you think might be in the horizon or might need to be addressed?
[John Falco]: Very good point. Good luck with your shot tomorrow. And once again, thank you to you and your department for all your hard work. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Hold on, which one? 21-198. I don't know if Marie's on the call, but we'll put it up there anyways. 21-198 offered by the entire council, be it resolved.
[John Falco]: I will refer to Councilor Falco. Thank you. Is Maria here?
[John Falco]: No problem. Mr. President, thank you very much. I'd like to say happy birthday to Maria Cassidy. I've known Maria for almost about 20 years now. just through my work on the MFA Family Network and being on the advisory board for many years. And I remember meeting Marie some 20 years ago. I've never met someone with so much energy and enthusiasm in all my life. And she is someone that has had a tremendous positive impact on thousands of families here in our city through the years. She has been with the network since it's a beginning. when it started in multiple locations and I would say quartered at the high school. But like I said, she's had a positive impact on thousands of families throughout our community through the years. And she's a very special person. And she's always on the go. She's always moving around. I hope she finds some time to celebrate her birthday with her family and her friends. So I'd like to say to Marie Cassidy, happy birthday. And I hope she enjoys her day. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President. Adam, I know your grandmother meant the world to you, and I just want to express our condolences to you and your family. I know your grandmother, I believe she was 102, just about 102. 28 days away from 102. Just about 102. Okay, God bless her. I know she had the opportunity, I think, to visit Medford a number of times. She lived in New York, and she made the trek a number of times. And I know she told me she enjoyed her time here. And I know this is a tough time for you and your family, and my thoughts and prayers go to you and your family. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Clark.
[John Falco]: Point of information. Is this the second time that they're applying?
[John Falco]: I don't remember.
[John Falco]: We're going to be hiring a Habermaster, David.
[John Falco]: Okay, I mean, is the city required to have a harbor master? We have a river that cuts right through here. So I would think maybe we should have one. I don't know.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to also thank President Caballero for bringing this forward. As we all know, the Senior Center is a vital part of our community, and it's always full of activity. So I thank you for bringing this forward. And I think it is important that we get some sort of a timeframe, you know, from the administration. If you were my consulate, President Caraviello, if we could amend the resolution just to see if there's a possibility with the warmer months coming, if there's not going to be any activity inside the senior center, is there a possibility of some sort of recreational activities that would happen outside? So if I could make that as an amendment to the resolution, I greatly appreciate it. you know, programming is key for the seniors. And if we're not gonna do something inside, there should be options outside, or we should at least be looking at those options. So if I could amend the resolution, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you, President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Bears for bringing this forward. This is a challenging time for Asian Americans and our Asian community. Numerous individuals have been subject to abuse, to attacks, and we need to engage our Asian community with compassion, empathy, kindness, and respect in response to these acts of intolerance and ignorance and hate. So I thank Councilor Bears for bringing this forward, and I also move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank President Caraviello and Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. I had Mr. McKinnon as a teacher in Medford High School, and he was very caring, very committed to our city, and thoughts and prayers go to his family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I also want to thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. I too, I actually, one of my probably earliest memories is losing my cousin to a motorcycle accident. And it's something that's always, you know, affected me personally, that she lost her life in a motorcycle accident. And it's something you never forget. And Councilor Knight, I wanna thank you for bringing this forward and thank Ms. Lister and Mr. Cote for raising awareness. And, you know, we can't speak enough about this. I appreciate you being here tonight. Councilor Knight, thank you for bringing this forward. And I would second the motion, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Marianne, thank you very much for your report. You had mentioned before that they have a vaccination distribution report. Was it by city?
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Do you know where, do you know which website, we could find that information?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Through you to the chief of staff, I think, so we're gonna have pre-budget meetings as well or no?
[John Falco]: So if I may, to the chief of staff, so is it just a matter of finding the time?
[John Falco]: If I may really quick, I think that's true. I think I know from, I think I know kind of what a council appears is trying to say. And I think that's kind of like when we had the Lawrence Memorial update meetings, we passed the original resolution, but that same resolution would come up every time that they were going to be on the agenda. So I'm thinking that You know, I mean.
[John Falco]: But I guess through what Councilor Bears is saying is how would the general public know that they're going to be here?
[John Falco]: I understand that, right? But when they get this agenda on Friday, they get everything that's going to be on this current week. If that information is not on this agenda, no one would know that they were ever going to be here to present. That's all I'm saying. I mean, I agree with you. I want them here, believe me, and I want them to present. But the general public wouldn't know they're going to be here if it's not on here again. That's all I'm saying. I think we're all in agreement.
[John Falco]: Exactly.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: Right, I don't think so either.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I reviewed the records. They appear to be in order and I move approval.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much to you and your department and all the volunteers for their hard work. I just, you just mentioned the homebound, I think it was a homebound plan. Can you talk a little bit more about that.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I also want to thank Mary Ann O'Connor and her staff and all the volunteers for their hard work. And I thank the mayor for bringing this forward, and I thank Consular Marks because I know he has a resolution as well that he's bringing forward. And I cannot thank everyone enough, especially, like you said, Marianne, the staff members, the volunteers, and, you know, There were so many people that volunteered this effort. And this has been a really, really tough year. And so many people sacrificing their own health to help others. And it was nice to see the community come together and still come together to help during these very, very tough times. So I want to say thank you for all your hard work. Thank you, Marianne, personally, for taking the many phone calls I made to you over the past year about COVID. And thank you so much for your help. And I can't thank you enough. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Brian for his interest in the position. I've known Brian for years through his work at the West Bedford Community Center. And he's always there. I know he's always put a lot of time, effort, and energy into program development, really getting getting things running and keeping things moving over the West Bedford Community Center. It's always been a successful program, but he's been involved for many years. I know he's been a real big part of that success. And I think, you know, Brian just hit it on the head when he said it earlier, listening. That's what a lot of this comes down to, listening to what the community wants, listening to what the community needs. And I think he's been a valuable asset at the West Bedford Community Center, and I think he's going to be a valuable asset on the Whole Milk Commission as well. I thank him for his interest, and I definitely support disappointment. So Brian, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, I'm really brief, but to echo the sentiments of my colleagues that just spoke, I also thank Mr. Guiliano for his years of commitment to the position. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes, member Uso. Thank you. Could you just ask that whoever is taking minutes to note that our student representative, Colin Bailey is actually in the meeting.
[John Falco]: Motion to approve.
[John Falco]: So I don't expect that many of these questions have answers yet, but two questions. One, Somerville is finally bringing their students back and they are mandating if you wanna come back, you will be getting COVID tests. And their attorneys have said that that is legal. And as we approach the scenario where One, most of our students are not getting COVID tests, and we may have got quite as many students packed in or more into the same spaces. Have we contemplated mandating tests if you want to remain in any kind of in-person instruction?
[John Falco]: I just want to sort of play that out a bit. I know families, and they've reached out to me and probably many members, that they selected hybrid after much deliberation around the risks that they're willing to accept and the benefit that they get by sending their kid in. That is a completely unrelated to many families, a completely unrelated deliberation to going full-time with all the kids in the classroom. So I would just say that while I understand the need to solve the cohorting problem as described around attendance, and of course that makes sense to me, frankly, you know, the challenges around attendance we've been talking about since before even school started and the fact the systems couldn't handle a lot of the coding that we needed. But I will say that there are going to be families who will confirm hybrid. And then the day we are told that they have to be full time, you can fully expect they will be in Court D or they will be waiting for the police to show up to take their kid to school. And I literally saw that and heard that exact sentiment on Facebook. You know, families that were willing to deal with the risk of being in a class with two or three other kids, because some of those classes at the high school, you know, you've all looked around, sometimes it looks like there's nobody in there at all. It's not the same as being in a classroom with twice or more kids. And I just, I think we need to be prepared that we're going to be looking at a huge bump in cohort D. Yes, a huge bump in cohort D and be prepared for that because I think as certainly as a member, I will support families in their desire to do that because the decision to be hybrid is unrelated to the decision to be full-time in-person with all the classes.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And my second question, whatever it was, was a super easy one, I hope. And as we anticipate having to send more kids in. I heard today from two different parents who send their kids into the high school with their own personal hotspots because the internet is just not capable. So whether it's one and a half or two and a half times as many students that are all gonna be on the internet at the same time, I hope we are already freaking out frankly to figure out how we can have sufficient internet for
[John Falco]: Are we saying that, you know, over the summer as the entire planet tried to buy Chromebooks and other devices, and those of us that had the resources went out and spent $1,000 on a MacBook Air for our kids, so that there were in fact enough devices available for everybody else, that $1,000 investment, if I send my kids a Chromebook to dad, here's a $300 Chromebook instead? I mean, that's really, can't be the message, because I'll be angry as a parent.
[John Falco]: Is my audio really audible?
[John Falco]: I'm understanding this to be the you know the what we did in person, the pieces of paper, where you would write the motion and say who voted for what.
[John Falco]: Oh, sorry, a quick, sorry, more quick question. I just want to make sure we, are we keeping a separate sheet for executive session votes so that we don't accidentally post that to the public?
[John Falco]: I believe that it's really appropriate to read all of the text. I'm concerned that the summarization.
[John Falco]: Thank you, ma'am. I just wanted to, I sent this out to the committee a week ago, which is not the normal procedure, but I wanted everybody to have a chance to actually look it over. I also did wanna say that this resolution that I wrote was an attempt to give us something to work from or to react to, rather than getting us together with a blank piece of paper and trying to draft a frankly technical document from thin air. Many of the elements of this are not things that I feel strongly about and are in fact meant to get us to deliberate and to get to a place where we're comfortable with a final product. So I appreciate Member van der Kloet's alternate version, which takes a different approach to many of the elements. And I look forward to the conversations around how to bring them together. I guess this is what conference committees are like between the Senate and the House. We have to
[John Falco]: And obviously all the members will have all the opportunity to tear them both apart or whatever, so we can get to something we like.
[John Falco]: So, and my hearing apparently Paulette is making the sound that my audio is crappy again, my apologies. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I'm confused if we're going to start doing this now or not. I mean, Wednesday's whole meeting was dedicated to this. So either we do it all now or we do it all Wednesday, but if we're going to dig a little now, then I'm going to keep digging and let's make a motion to send both of these to the to the committee of the whole on Wednesday. Okay.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. It's a resolution that I definitely support. And I think, you know, it's not too early to think about budget. We need to be talking about budget and the sooner the better. You know, we received our Q2 budget update, let's see, a few weeks ago and Councilor Knight's right. The basically a forecasting, I think a five to $8 million structural deficit. Now more than ever, we need to be working with the administration. The administration should be working with us to let us know where the city stands with regard to the budget. The quarterly updates are good. I mean, we get to take a look at the data or some of the data and we get to know kind of where we're going. It's a little bit of a roadmap. but we really need transparency from the administration now with regard to the budget. And we need to have up-to-date information as soon as possible. No, the budget is not only a fiduciary responsibility. It's good government. We need to make sure that we're on top of this. We're coming into a really, really tough budget year. We all know it. And we need to have pre-budget meetings. It's something that everyone on this council supports. The administration was going to work with us last year on this. We need to make sure we're working on this. I know COVID happened. We need to make sure we're working on this now. If you take a look, And I believe the request was, let's just meet with the major departments. Let's meet with the DPW, the police department, the fire department, just to see what is the budget going to look like. If you take a look at last year's budget, which I believe was about $185 million, 36 million was a DPW, 14 million, the police department, 14 million, the fire department. That takes you to about $64 million, I believe about 35% of the budget. We're only asking to meet with four departments. I don't think that's too much to ask for. And if you throw in the school department, which I think is really important to meet with a finance person from on the school side, then you're probably talking about 68% of the budget, but we're only asking for four departments. You know, the pre-budget meetings are really important. To me, I think they need to happen. So President Kavya, I'd like to ask you, have you received any update from the administration as to pre-budget hearings or pre-budget meetings with the department heads? Is there any type of timeline on that?
[John Falco]: at this point, sir. And I thank you for reaching out on behalf of the council. I appreciate the attempt. I find it hard to believe that they haven't, and I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I have a hard time thinking that the administration hasn't talked budget yet and here we are in March. I mean, the budget hearings, when you think about it, they're probably going to be sometime maybe early June. So I would think they need to be talking about budget now, and we need to be part of that conversation. If you take a look at the school side, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Locke, you on the school committee, you remember this, we had pre-budget hearings. We met with the department heads in February, March, April. By the time you got to the budget, there were no surprises. We need to make sure that's happening on the city side as well. So thank you for bringing this forward. I support this resolution. I second the resolution and I would hope that the administration will work with us.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I appreciate you for doing that. And like I said, this is really important and we need to make sure we're on top of it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. And thank you Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. It's something I truly support. I think, especially when it comes to budget, it's good to see data and good to see what's coming in with regard to tickets and how they're being, you know, how they're being resolved. The only thing I would ask if I may, through the chair to Councilor Knight, is it okay if we stagger these so we would get a report at the end of May for like early June, just so we have like data for us going into the budget, would you be amenable to that?
[John Falco]: And I understand because it'd be nice to get something. I just would like to see, if we're looking at budget meetings in June, that means that we probably, the latest report we probably have is something that had much data. And that gives us two months of data that we're not looking at. So that's why I'd like to get, I think from a budget perspective, we're looking at the budget. It'd be nice to see something that as of like May month end in June, so we can kind of, make more sense of the numbers in the budget. So that would be a suggestion that I would like to see or an amendment or a B paper, whatever you prefer, to have, you know, May data going into the budget.
[John Falco]: So if we get, so if we could have like data, you know, so if March could be like a second quarter cutoff.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Biaz for bringing this forward. I agree wholeheartedly with everything that my colleagues have mentioned so far. This is a problem that's been going on for years, unfortunately. When I was in the school committee with Councilor Scarapelli, we were on the school committee for six years, and this is something that we battled with since day one. Every year, the charter school would have a ton of cash on hand. They would literally have cash on hand. They would pay for projects with cash. Meanwhile, we would scrap trying to figure out how we're gonna pay for different departments. We would go with no department heads, no supplies. I mean, this has to stop at some point. and the state really needs to get involved. And what they really need to do is sit down and come up with a permanent solution to this problem. It's not fair that every year, you know, our local schools get hammered over the head because we don't have the funding. We could always use more funding, yes, but this is a key component to the formula, to our funding here locally. And, you know, to lose a million dollars, if not more, And it happens year after year after year, it needs to be addressed. Our state legislators need to do something about this. This is just wrong. And Councilor Biarzi, thank you for bringing this forward. And I support 100% move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Recently, Anthony Bonner, a longtime Methodist resident, probably for about 40 years, lived in the Washington Street Park Street area. And a longtime resident, someone very dedicated, not only to the community, but also to outside of the community. He was a member of the Shriners Club, or he was a Shriner, I should say. He was actually a member of the Fire Brigade Unit, the Aleppo Shriners. He was a Mason, he was someone who loved his family. a very family oriented, had many kids and grandkids, and he will be missed. So I just wanted to offer our condolences to the Bonner family and offer also offer my thoughts and prayers. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. I think it's good to have that option available. And I think if we follow the Board of Health and the CDC guidelines, and if I know Mary Ann O'Connor, she's going to want to make it as safe as possible, it should be an option. Not everybody has to take it, but it should be an option. But I just want to say thank you, Councilor Scarpelli for bringing that forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward I feel like this is kind of like a project that will never end. We've been talking about it for years now. And, you know, it's kind of gone away for a little bit but now it's coming back. And, you know, you need to get an update, you know, from, from every source with regard to the timing, what's going to happen, who's going to be inconvenienced next. And, you know, the, the residents should have the opportunity to basically, you know, ask questions and they're impacted the most. This is a major project and we need to get some answers and we need to get an update from every source. So Councilor Scarpelli, thank you for bringing this forward tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Do I have any questions? Mr. President, colleagues? Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Chief Gilberti. And then you should only as well. A quick question with regard to the lease. At the end of the lease, do we have the option to buy the vehicles?
[John Falco]: You own them outright. Okay. Okay. That was my, that's, that was my big question. So we own at the end of the lease. Perfect.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. Very important issue. You know, Desi's pushing for full-time return to in-school, full return to in-person learning. And this can't be achieved without significant changes in our social distancing guidelines. And we know that adults more often are seriously affected by the coronavirus. And we need to ensure that they, our teachers, are vaccinated before they return to the classroom full time. Teachers want to be in person with their students teaching. Your parents want their children at school. We need to make sure that teachers have the ability to get vaccinated. Teachers are essential. The protection of their health needs to be prioritized and they do need to be vaccinated. If you take a look around our country, there are 28 states that have prioritized teacher vaccination and the state of Massachusetts still has not prioritized teacher vaccinations. It's kind of like almost a recurring theme. I feel like the state of Massachusetts is trailing from behind and usually In most other instances, we're at the top of the pack, we're at the front of the pack, we're leading the way. And I feel like time after time now we're falling behind. And I think this is an issue where we're not, we should be up in front, we should be getting our teachers vaccinated and we're not. So I thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward, and I would also move approval. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Morocco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls over the past week regarding pickleball. Pickleball is gaining a lot of popularity. It's been around for many years, but I think in our area, it's gaining popularity. And from what I've been told, it's gaining a lot of popularity with our senior residents. similar to tennis, but not quite like tennis, it's similar to tennis. And like I said, it's become very popular. But currently our parks are lined for pickleball. So what this resolution is, is actually it's an attempt to basically have our parks lined for pickleball use. I watched a meeting that was held by the administration last week. It was an update with regards to our parks and open space. And I believe one of the courts at Duggar Park is going to be lined for pickleball sometime in the future. And it was also recommended that when Carr Park is reconstructed or renovated, that they will have some sort of a pickleball court for use. know, if you take a look at the city of Medford, you know, we have many parks, many parks throughout our community, and all different sections of the city, all different neighborhoods, and we pride ourselves on our parks and open space. And, you know, so what this resolution is, it's basically a proposal that all of our tennis courts be lined to retrofitted so that they can be used for pickleball. The way I look at it is this would open up use for pickleball and make our our it would give the availability for people to play pickleball in any neighborhood, not just have to go to one particular park. And one of the people that he did talk to, he had also mentioned that, they felt that there should be more programming for seniors. And I think this is a great opportunity to have programming for our seniors and to have pickleball throughout the city of Medford. So when I asked that my Councilors, support this resolution, and I know Councilor Scarpelli has a few words to say about this as well. So at this point, I'd turn it over to my council colleague, Councilor Scott.
[John Falco]: If I may, really quick. I believe there may be a few people that may want to speak on this issue on the call. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So, each of us has received many, many calls I think throughout the years, each and every one of us with regard to potholes, streets that are in disrepair. And this year is a program that President Caraviello and I learned about last year at a conference. And what it is, is it basically takes recycled asphalt, and actually they use it to pave the street again. There are numerous benefits to the process, shorter construction times, it's easier to use around catch basins and manholes and water valves and whatnot. It lowers engineering and traffic control costs as well. Last week we received an update from a CFO for the city of Medford. to say the least, the 2022 city budget is going to be a challenge. So this option that myself and my colleague are putting forth tonight, I think it's just a way to think out of the box to see if there's some way that we can work together to move forward and get some of our streets paved at a reasonable cost. The city is struggling for money and revenue, but I think this might be an option to pave our streets or at least come up with a pilot program, even if we try doing this to a few of our streets, we should at least try. And so it's just a cheaper alternative to paving our streets where we currently pave them. So I actually have additional information for anybody that wants to see it, they can make a copy. But at this point, I would ask for your support and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Happy birthday, Carol.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Councilor Belco. Thank you, Mr. President. I threw you to, the representative from Verizon. If this gets approved, do you know when the work will be taking place?
[John Falco]: Actually, if you could just clarify, what service are they actually providing to the customer?
[John Falco]: Okay, so do we know the duration of the project?
[John Falco]: Two or three days, okay. And what's the impact to the residents that live in that area?
[John Falco]: The residents going to be notified?
[John Falco]: Will they be notified when the work is being done?
[John Falco]: If you could, I think that would be just good if we could just make sure that residents of that neighborhood receive some sort of a message with regard to how they're going to be impacted.
[John Falco]: That is it for now, yes, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor, for bringing this forward. This is important. It's very important. We need to make sure that we get the process that we, but that the administration is doing the process right, making sure that we're consistent with the way we do this. And I just say, actually, through you to Chief of Staff Rodriguez. Is it possible, I just kind of did a little preliminary research this past weekend when I saw the resolution on the agenda. Can we just make sure that the online list of commissions is just updated? It seemed like some people's terms may have actually expired. And we just make sure that's an up-to-date list on the website. And if someone knew, Yeah, someone who took on a role, they should be listed and the terms should be listed as well on the expiration dates. But I look quickly and it looked like there was some that expired back last year. So I just wanna make sure that's up to date so people can see if there's any availability or if there's any vacancies on the commissions. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor.
[John Falco]: And if I could add that as an amendment.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, president. Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. This is something that definitely needs to be addressed. We need to receive some sort of an update, but specifically if I could amend the paper to get the timing of the project and when it will be complete, I think that will go a long way in trying to figure out how we can resolve the situation.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to also thank Vice President Knight for putting this on the agenda tonight. This has been a continuous issue, an absolutely continuous issue that has gone on for years. You're right, we worked out an ordinance. We have an ordinance drafted. It passed its first reading, and soon we'll have something in place that has some teeth in it that can help us manage this. But for the time being, this does need to be addressed. And it's gone on far too long. As my council colleagues have mentioned, it's a safety issue, but I think one of the big things is it's a quality of life issue. For anyone that lives in that neighborhood, this is a quality of life issue. They get up, they have to see this every day. One of our residents sent me a video once, it was on fire. It was literally fire pouring out of the box. You shouldn't have to see that. I mean, you shouldn't have to look out your window and see that. Trash everywhere, things backed up, more outside the box than in the box. It's ridiculous. It needs to be addressed. I asked, I agreed with my colleagues that the code enforcement or someone from the building department needs to contact the owner and really take some action here and make sure that this gets resolved. But vice president, I thank you for bringing this forward tonight. And I second the motion. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, did you say Tim McGivern's on the line?
[John Falco]: Tim, yes, if you could please tell us a little bit more about the position, what the person will be doing, and is this in addition to Todd Blake, or is this... Sure.
[John Falco]: Tim, thank you very much. Appreciate that information. It's very helpful to understanding this. And as far as with regard to the budget, so this here is actually, this is strictly money from the casino special revenue fund that has no impact on the city budget, correct?
[John Falco]: That's correct. So I make complete support of this. I know that I offered the original resolution years ago to bring on Todd. He's done a fabulous job. I know he's super busy. He's always representing the city. It's good to have someone at the table that's representing the city on various projects come in. Todd's done that. He's done a great job at that. I know I've talked to him numerous times just to make various traffic improvements within each of the neighborhoods in our community. And traffic is a real quality of life issue throughout our community, no matter what neighborhood you live in. And I think it would definitely be good to have someone on board that can help out. And I move approval, thank you. I second that motion, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also just wanted to thank my colleagues for all their hard work on this. I know we worked on this for a long time, put in a lot of effort, and far too often behavioral health issues are overlooked just in general. And I think that this is going to hopefully go a long way in looking at a lot of these issues. And I want to thank my colleagues for all their hard work. I know this, this began a while back and we had a number of long, long meetings, but they were very, very good discussions about how to do this and how to do this right. So I just want to thank everyone for their involvement. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Moshe family. I grew up with Mike and I've been to Victor's many times throughout the years. And actually I was talking to my mom just the other day and she was telling me how Mrs. Moshe passed away. just a remarkable woman and I know you always hear about the food and it's just a great place to eat and great family atmosphere and a big part of our community, although it was right over the line at some level. So my thoughts and prayers go to the Mosher family. Thank you. And thank you Councilor Knight for bringing this forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Thank you, Vice President Knight. I also want to go on the record of supporting this. I think this is something that's important and it's about providing access to everyone in our community. I think it will benefit anyone that is hearing impaired, but I think it would also benefit the many people at home that are watching, especially in this day of COVID where we're required to wear masks. it's going to hopefully help with that as well. So, you know, I think closed captioning will definitely benefit many people throughout our community and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. Of course, a very, very important issue. Our community has suffered tremendously. I think we all know someone who's probably had COVID or unfortunately has passed away from COVID. We have a high level of COVID-19 in our community, and we have a lot of senior citizens in our community. And of course, we're getting calls. People want to know what's the plan. And I agree with Councilor Marks. We should be getting weekly updates from the administration. You know, Mary Ann O'Connor has done, she's been working, I know, night and day, probably 24-7. And I know she's come before us before and given us updates. But we really need to make sure we're getting updates. Councilman Marks is correct. People do watch this meeting. A lot of senior citizens watch this meeting. So a lot of times they get their news through this meeting. And we need to know what the message is. We need to know the plan. So therefore, when we talk to people, we can distribute that plan as well, make sure that our community knows what's going on, what's the plan, how are we going to move forward as a community. I have a number of questions, I guess. So if the council wouldn't mind me amending the resolution as well, I greatly appreciate it. And I think Councilor Marks already mentioned, you know, do we have plans to host a vaccination site similar to the one of the first responders that was held at the Andrews Middle School? So I think Councilor Marks already mentioned that. But my next question would be, I guess, You know, has the Method Board of Health or the Health Director been in contact with our local pharmacies or healthcare providers to partner with them to vaccinate residents in phase one, part one of phase two and beyond? Has there been any contact with the Board of Health or the Health Director with these pharmacies or healthcare providers? Have they contacted Lawrence Memorial Hospital and worked through them, Hallmark Health? However, Vanguard, has there been any contact there? And one of the other things that, you know, one of the other questions I guess would be, you know, how many vaccine doses are allocated to Medford each week by the state? But one of the other questions I guess I have is also, If somebody is a city employee, let's take a look at our city employees. If a city employee gets sick, do they have a special sick bank for COVID related illness? I think that's something that needs to be looked at. And then maybe that's something we could get back from our human resource director. You know, when people get the vaccine, a lot of people that next day, especially after the second shot from what I'm hearing, there's sometimes not healthcare effects. people covered under special sick bank time so they can be out. We want to make sure we're encouraging people to get the vaccine. Let's make sure that if they get the vaccine and they get, there's an adverse effect or allergic reaction that they cover. So I'd like to get answers to those questions as well. So I respectfully like to amend the resolution if my council colleague wouldn't mind. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to begin by just saying this is no reflection on our acting city solicitor, Kim Scanlon. Kim does a remarkable job. She's always there to answer questions. I have called her numerous times. So I don't want this to reflect fully on her. It has nothing to do with her. But what I want to do is I believe that we need We need a line item in the budget, the city council does, to hire an attorney. And this is basically to help us with our weekly work. I mean, if you take a look each week, I think more and more when we talk about these issues, we're talking about issues that have legal implications. There's all kinds of legal type questions. And we really need an attorney that's going to be able to help us out with these things. I think anybody that's watched the beginning of the meeting until now, we passed three ordinances earlier tonight. They passed their first reading. Three ordinances, and all of them took a tremendous amount of work and time from Kim Scanlon and our legal department. And they also took the help of KP Law. I mean, KP Law has helped us with a number of different ordinances that we passed last year. With KP Law, you get a different attorney for, you know. all the different issues that you're working on. So we need consistency. We need someone that actually can come in, help us with our work. We do a lot of work. And we need to make sure that it's someone that can work with us week in and week out to help us push our ordinances forward, answer any type of legal questions that come up during our meetings. And I think it's important. We need consistency and guidance. You know, and the city council will benefit from its own attorney. I firmly believe in this, I believe this may have been on last year, I'm not sure if I offered it, but it might have been offered by one of my colleagues as well. But I really believe that this needs to be part of our upcoming budget. So I'd ask respectfully that my council and our colleagues support this, and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello, and I want to thank Councilor Knight for bringing that forward. I think it's important that we get more detail. I did notice that same thing, that the items in those accounts are rather large, and we haven't seen any particular breakdown with regard to those items. So I thank him for bringing that forward. President Caraviello, I just wanted to ask you really quick. So with your amendment, is that specifically an update for current spend for this fiscal year, meaning since July.
[John Falco]: of so many, the pandemic has caused significant financial hardship to so many. One of the basic needs of all people is for housing. And for so many, this basic need has been undetermined by the possibility of eviction. Among the attempts to address this need have included the state's pause on evictions that expired on October 7, 2020. Also, the CDC, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, established a federal moratorium on residential evictions that I believe will expire on March 31, 2021. The purpose of my resolution is to prompt a City Council discussion with an eye on passing an ordinance requiring property owners who are serving tenants an eviction notice to include with it a notice of tenants' rights and resources. This type of notice would include a description of the various rights of tenants and a list of resources that they may be able to utilize. All too often, tenants are unaware of their rights and do not know that there are resources available to them. Stability requires many things, but first among them is knowledge. I ask the council to support this resolution and to focus on a discussion of this subject at a committee of the whole meeting or a subcommittee meeting. I move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is a simple request. We passed the home rule petition on September 22nd, 2020. And I'd just like to get an update as to if the administration could basically provide an update as to the progress of the home rule petition. And if they could provide the following, the date that it was signed by the mayor. the data was sent to the State House, and who the home rule petition was sent to. If the administration could please update us on those matters, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Can you just read back the amendment?
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I wanna thank my council colleagues as well. Councilor Knight, Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. I think Councilor Knight, you hit it on the head in one of the last sentences you made. It's all about raising the bar and I think that this does that and I'll support this 100% and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello. I'd also like to send my condolences to the Fahey family. Mr. Fahey was, like everyone has already said, I mean, very committed to this city, committed to this country as a veteran, and always volunteered, always friendly, very nice to talk to, love to talk to him about city politics and about elections. That was his wheelhouse, and he loved that, and he loved talking about it. And he was also, The picture down at St. Francis, you'd see him at mass every Sunday, and he was just an all around great person who was always giving back to the community. So I'd like to offer my condolences to the family.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And while we're making announcements, first of all, thank you Councilor Marks for bringing that forward. But I also wanted to mention while we're making announcements, that the Friends of the Medford Family Network's annual ice cream social has gone virtual this year since we can't do it in person. I know everyone usually loves to be there to scoop ice cream, but it's gone virtual due to the pandemic. So this yearly fundraise is, of course, you know, is so very important to our community. It is directly supports the amazing work of the Medford Family Network. So to find out more about how you can help and join the fun, please visit www.friendsofthemedford.com. of the MFN.org. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Good night.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. Carr, for being here tonight. A question for you, do you know how As far as the archaeological dig goes, which seems very interesting. But I'm wondering, do you know what size they're going to dig? Is it a certain amount of square feet? Or how do they do that?
[John Falco]: Thank you. If you could get us any additional information, that would be greatly appreciated. I have another question with regard to the artifacts. If you find artifacts, I assume they're going to find some artifacts, what would happen to those artifacts? Did they go to the historical society? Did they go to the library? Is there any thought as to where those would go? Who would own those?
[John Falco]: And that's what I was thinking as well, that it would go to one of those two spots. And if I can make it as part of the committee to report that they either go to the Historical Society or the New History Room within the Medford Public Library. And the other question is, if these funds are approved, when do you foresee the work beginning with regard to the archaeological dig and the work on the the Grove Street Wall and the Slave Wall.
[John Falco]: This calendar year, do you know specifically, would it be around the summertime or?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Mr. Carr.
[John Falco]: You're welcome.
[John Falco]: My correct? If I may, my amendment was to, that either go, the artifacts either go to the Medford Public Library History Room or the Medford Historic Society.
[John Falco]: Either or.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. And I want to thank my colleagues for bringing this forward as well. You know, I think back to when this process first started a while back and it got off to a rough start, but then You know, as a council, we really kind of worked with the hospital and the residents to bring this back on, as Councilor Scarpelli said, back on the rails. And actually, we had monthly meetings. And those monthly meetings were well attended when we had people in the chambers. And it was good back and forth between the residents, the council, and the hospital. And that went really well. You know, and I can't thank enough the members of the CAG, the Community Advisory Group, for all the work that they did representing the neighborhood and for the councils for asking all of their great questions through the process. And it is sad to hear that, you know, maybe things have gone off the rails a little bit. And I think now more than ever, the hospital really needs to engage with the community with the community advisory group. And if there's going to be a second iteration of that group, and there are going to be new members, I think it's important that there is a back and forth, and there is a constant dialogue between the hospital, between the community group, and between the council. Now more than ever, when things, when the project is, you know, nearing its point of completion. And you're really, I think, going to start to see a lot of quality of life issues that impact that neighborhood on a daily basis. And the hospital needs to come to the table and communicate with that community advisory group and the council. And I'm really interested to hear and get an update tonight as to what's going on. But I really, really believe that now more than ever, we need to make sure that the hospital is engaging with the residents to make sure that we can ensure a good quality of life up in that neighborhood when this comes to completion. Thank you, President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Councilor Felkel. Thank you, Mr. President. And I apologize. I had to step out of the room for a minute. So if this question has already been answered, I apologize. But first and foremost, thank you, Mr. Fuller, for your presentation. And I had a couple of quick questions. You had mentioned the soft opening and great surgeons from Tufts Medical and OrthoCare and ENT and Gastro and additional specialists. Do you have a date like when you would think that this facility will be fully operational with all of these new specialties?
[John Falco]: So after this coming March-April, you'll start to see things really ramp up?
[John Falco]: Okay. And I know there was a question earlier about the branding of this site, you know, people calling it Lawson Memorial Hospital, LMH, Circle Health, Hallmark Health. Has there been any progress with regard to the branding? I know we talked about before, I think you mentioned it might be called the medical village. Is there any discussion as to what the end result is or is that still being talked about?
[John Falco]: Do you have any timeline with regard to when that name would change?
[John Falco]: I've received calls from residents in the neighborhood about the traffic at the top of Fell's Ave. And when you approach the top of Fell's Ave, if you're heading down towards Fern Road, that side of Fell's Ave, there are some signs there that say, basically, drive slow, children, school bus, stop ahead. And at one point in time, there was a crosswalk in front of, I believe it was 185 Fern Road. And you can see that. It just never got painted again. It's faded out and it's a section of the road where really you need some sort of I would think crosswalk because that's where the road really widens when you go towards. Fells Ave or if you bear left, you're gonna go towards Hickory Ave and towards Oak Road. So there's a really wide point in the road there that is a... Can be a problem when people cross. So in the interest of public safety, if we could please have a crosswalk installed by the DPW in that vicinity. I think that the police could probably weigh in and the traffic engineer as to where it would be best. But in that section, there used to be a crosswalk. So if we could have a crosswalk installed in that area. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello. And I just also wanted to thank Councilor Marks for co-sponsoring this with me. And Councilor Marks stressed a point that I think is something that we really need to do, and that's the follow-up, and that's the committee, the whole meeting. So I definitely agree that we need to do that sooner than later. Ian, if we could also, I think when Councilor Marks maybe mentioned this a few weeks ago, I just want to reiterate that we need to do robocall as well on that meeting. just like we did with the first one for that same list of streets, same list of residents. It would be great. We had a great turnout at that meeting. It was very productive, and I'm hoping and thinking that this meeting will yield the same results. So thank you.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Seconded by- If I may, Vice President Caraviello? Councilor Felke, I'm sorry. If I may, really quick, and I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward and supporting it 100%. On the B paper, are we asking for any specific information, Councilor Bears? It just says update. Are we looking for a number of properties, total balance? Is it just, do we want to define this more?
[John Falco]: Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, if we could just be a little bit more specific. I just wanna make sure we get back the data that we want and not get something that is convenient for them to pull. So yes, if we could get, let's see. Yeah, if we could just find out the balance, how many properties are late. How many people owe penalties, interest, as much data as possible, but those are some specific things that I could think about.
[John Falco]: Yes, if I may. If Councilor Bears is okay with that.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Cavioli. I also want to echo the sentiments of my colleagues and congratulate Officer Botts and Officer Kelly on their retirement. Wish them well in their retirement and good luck and thank them for their service. I mean, when you think about it, three decades in one job is really amazing, especially a job as dangerous as this. And we thank them for their service, their commitment to our community. throughout the years and thank you to our first responders for finding the woman who was missing last week. So thank you to our first responders and congratulations to Officer Butts and Officer Kelly on their retirement. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. One of the most important responsibilities we have each year is to review and either pass or reject the city budget. You know, tonight I offer this resolution to shed light on a process that I think is somewhat flawed. You know, every year we meet in June with the city of Medford department heads to discuss their budget and discuss the proposed budget for the upcoming year. More often than not, it's our only formal meeting that we have with department heads throughout the year. And I think more often than not, Those meetings become more, we're asking questions probably that are more than just budget related questions. Sometimes they're policy questions and whatnot. So this here tonight is basically a proactive approach that I'm asking President Caraviello if in the upcoming months of February, March, April, and May, if you could schedule pre-budget hearings with each of our department heads to go over their current budget, To take a look at the goals and objectives to see if they're accomplishing what they've said that their goals and objectives are for this current year. So basically, it's a proactive approach, and it gives us an opportunity to ask department heads questions that sometimes aren't even budget related. So it's to hopefully streamline the budget process when we discuss the budget in June. So I think that we have to pass this budget, or actually pass or reject this budget each year. This is really large, and we need to make sure that we have all the information that we need to make that decision. And I think meeting with department heads more than once a year is something that we should be doing. Me meeting them once a year to have a quick budget meeting in June, to me, doesn't cut it. So I think that what we need to do is budget meetings so we can actually have a nice conversation that is full of information. And if there's items that we need to follow up on or they need to follow up on, that's fine. We're not doing it last minute in June. So therefore, I would ask if you could please schedule budget meetings, maybe two or three a month. Starting in February would be ideal. So I would respectfully ask for my colleagues to support this and I move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Recently, I received calls from residents regarding the C-Click Fix program. For many people that might not know, that's a program that we use to basically, the residents can enter into any type of issues that they're having, and then they're assigned to the appropriate department head where hopefully they can be resolved in a timely fashion. Recently, I was notified that The issues that were logged by a number of residents were basically cleared out and deleted. So they no longer appear on the list of outstanding issues. And from what I'm hearing, this is the second time that this has happened. I think when the previous administration crossed over to the current administration, they cleared out C-Click Fix. And then when recently, I think they may have an upgrade or something, and they did the same thing, they cleared out issues again. So what they're doing is basically they're clearing out issues that have never been resolved. And I think one of the reasons why it was closed was because it was a seasonal issue. It may be an issue that couldn't be dealt with because the weather was getting cold. But from my opinion, that doesn't mean that the issue's gone away. And I think that's what's happening now is we're losing, there's really no transparency when something like this happens. Because if you're just deleting issues because maybe you can't take care of them in the wintertime, that doesn't mean that the issue's gone away. That means the issue still exists, it should still be in the list. And then what happens is they get this email back saying that it's a seasonal issue, and then they ask the person, I believe, if it's been resolved. As far as I'm concerned, that's the city's responsibility, is whether or not an issue's been resolved, because the ticket's been assigned to someone in the city. So if we could please get an update from the city administration as to what's going on with CClickFix. If issues are being deleted, why?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, if you wouldn't mind, what time did that email come in at?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. If I may, if I could also amend my resolution to find out what it means when they say fit method and our needs. So I guess C-Click Fix needs to work differently in Medford than it does anywhere else. So I would like to know if they could please specify what that means. Because I think there's a lot of uncertainty right now as to C-Click Fix, how it's managed, how it operates, when you're deleting issues that haven't been resolved, I have a problem with that. Basically, you're saying the issue doesn't exist anymore when it does.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: On the motion by Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello. I just want to thank all my colleagues for their support on this here. And Councilor Knight mentioned, I think, an important part about data-driven decision-making. And if you don't have the systems in place to give you that data, the decisions aren't going to be, you're really not going to be able to use it as a tool. And you're right, Councilor Marks mentioned it before about using it as a tool. It's important to have that tool available. And Councilor Scarpelli, you hit it on the head. With regard to resources, if it's not managed properly, it's not going to help anyone. So if you wouldn't mind, if we could also schedule committee the whole with the administration to actually, if it's training fine, but to learn more about the new system, that would be great. And to find out what we can get out of it. It would be nice to know if there's any type of reporting that we can get out of this system. I know when we first went to see quick fix, I asked about that. They said there was nothing, which I find hard to believe, but I would hope. Well, I would think that there should be some sort of reporting that we can access to see what's being done, what's not being done, what's being resolved, what we can use, how we can look at the data, what type of calls are coming in. And it'll really help with the budget process at the end of the year when we take a look at that and see all the work that's been done. I know there's work that's getting done. But I also know that it needs to be managed correctly and if we're just closing tickets for the sake of closing tickets, it's not very transparent and it doesn't mean that the issue goes away. Thank you everyone for your support, and I move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. This is a pretty simple resolution. It's basically to have Committee of the Whole meeting to receive an update from Republic Parking with regard to the parking program. and have them answer. any questions that we have, but also to provide a financial update with regard to the program to basically see what kind of money's coming in. And I think it might be best, um, you know, basically maybe if people, maybe if the Councilors could send you questions and maybe you could forward them to, uh, before you schedule the meeting so they can come prepared to the meeting. But it'd be nice to get a nice, uh, receive a financial update from Republic parking.
[John Falco]: My goal is to make it, you know, financial update. Yes. And I put answer any parking related questions. So it's, you know, if the Councilors do have questions, because sometimes there's questions about parking policies when they ticket, uh, sometimes there's questions about who they hire, what's their turnover rate. Um, so these, these are questions that I want to make sure that they are, able to answer, so that's why I opened it up to the financial update and the parking-related questions. I want to make sure that councilors have the opportunity to ask any questions that they want regarding the parking program.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I do agree with this resolution 100%. People lost their lives on that day, and these actions should be condemned.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: I believe it's transparency.
[John Falco]: Mr. President Caraviello, thank you, Councilor Knight, for bringing this forward, and thank you for your persistence in getting these reports. I did the same thing, I scrolled through and I did notice that there were a number of large numbers in these accounts. And if the councilor wouldn't mind me amending this, I'd like to know why these papers did not come to us for approval. Once it goes over a certain amount, it's supposed to come to us for approval. We did not see any of these papers. So if the councilor wouldn't mind me amending the resolution, I think that's something that we need to know specifically why these did not come to us.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello, and I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. And I think, you know, hearing all my council colleagues talking about Mr. McGillicuddy, and you hear the words like volunteerism, community, family, and that's what he was all about. I grew up with his daughter, Karen, went to high school with her, and she was a fabulous person. And I never knew Mr. McGillicuddy until later on in life, until I got involved in elected politics. And he's someone that you always found helping out, always volunteering, always doing whatever he could do to help. And he will be missed, and thoughts and prayers to him and his family.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Calvi. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. And I basically agree with all the comments that my council colleagues have made. You're not going to find a better person than Karen. Fabulous, does a great job, very knowledgeable. So I just want to say congratulations and wish her well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: He stepped away.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And if I just may add before we end this meeting, I know we talked about this a little bit in committee the whole earlier tonight. Just a big thank you to the Human Rights Commission for organizing the King Day event yesterday. It was a great event, very informative, great speakers, and I just want to thank them for putting that together. So thank you. And I know a lot of my colleagues were on the line as well listening to that. in watching it on Facebook, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to also thank my colleagues for bringing this resolution forward. Um, this is a project, uh, like councilor Scarpelli said, it started off a little bit rough. Uh, but I think once we got going and we had a ton of community involvement, And that was the key. Uh, we all work together and we have, we have meetings every month with the hospital and, uh, it is long overdue that we do have a meeting with them as well to bring us up to date on everything that's going on the timelines on, uh, various pieces of this project because you know, there is some, most of it's done, but there's still more work that needs to be done in the parish, the parent, the, um, the neighbors should be notified with regard to those timelines and the hospital should be available to answer any questions that the members of the community and the neighbors have. So if my colleagues, Council colleagues wouldn't mind if I could amend this also to, if we could have a robo call and go out to the residents in that neighborhood. I believe that's what we did in the past. We should be consistent. We always invited the residents to this meeting and there was tons of resident participation, especially when we had residents here in the chambers, but they should be, people should be, you know, notified of this meeting, um, like, uh, we were saying, uh, we haven't heard from the hospital in a while and a resident should be, uh, there to ask questions, uh, with regard to the progress of this particular project. And if I may, uh, if I may offer a B paper as well, if we could, uh, uh, get some sort of an update from, uh, from this group with regard to the Malden hospital as well.
[John Falco]: Malden hospital. If you could get an update with regard to the Malden hospital.
[John Falco]: Yep. And I'd offer that as a B paper.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Thank you, Councilor Marks, for bringing this resolution forward. This is before. When President Caraviello and I were going back and forth with regard to issues or meetings that need to be scheduled in January, sent him a list of meetings that kind of were related to last year. And I said, you know, this, in one of these, actually, this was part of the email that I sent to President Caraviello saying we need to make sure we stay on top of this and schedule meetings. So I would hope that that's going to be coming up soon. I, as someone who lives in that neighborhood, have noticed they have made some improvements. There has been some striping that has been done, signs that have been added, but of course there's more work to be done. You know, so it'll be interesting to get an update from the administration with regard to short-term and long-term solutions, what's been done, what needs to be done. And if I could amend this as well to, that we have a reverse 9-1-1 going to the residents, the same residents basically that we sent the reverse 9-1-1 to when we had the original committee, the whole meeting back in November. That meeting was well attended. It was, It was nice to actually have that many residents there and talking about the traffic and the issues that are happening in that neighborhood. And I know we promised them that we would follow up. So if we could have a reverse 9-1-1 going out to those same residents, so they know that we're on top of this. And if they have any questions, they can ask those same questions. And Councilor Marks, if I may, are we going to invite the same people, same department heads as we did last time?
[John Falco]: No, no, no. On the, when we have the updated, when we have the committee of the whole to update. That'd be great. Excellent idea. Okay. So if I could, if I could amend it as well to invite the department heads that we invited last time. And if we could all, if we could have the chief of police was invited last time, but if he, if he cannot make it, If we can have Sergeant Hartnett, someone from the Traffic Enforcement Division. Someone really needs to be there to represent the police department. So if I could amend that to have those people invited, that'd be great. Councilor Marks, thank you for bringing this forward and I would second that motion.
[John Falco]: Oh, no, no, I'm good, thank you. No, no, I'm good, thanks.
[John Falco]: I'm all set. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I have known Steve Puccini most of my life, especially growing up with him close to 45 years ago. And I know he's been active in the community through Medford Community Soccer. So I know he's going to. be a really a positive impact to the CPC committee and I'd move approval.
[John Falco]: 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.
[John Falco]: Richard Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Knight. And thank you, President Caraviello, for bringing this resolution forward. We haven't really talked about 40 Bs in a while, and this is a concern, especially if legal fees are mounting. So I thank you for bringing this forward. If the council or President Caraviello, if you wouldn't mind, is it possible to amend the order of resolution to actually have the, I know you asked if I think it was the total legal costs. The current legal cost, if we could have that by actual 40B, how much we've been charged, and actually how much the city has paid to our representatives, which I believe KP Law is representing the city on each of these. So if we could get that broken down by property, by each 40B, how much the city has been billed and how much we've actually paid out in legal fees to KP Law or whatever legal team is representing the city in this matter.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: It's on now. Is Chief of Staff still on the line with us?
[John Falco]: Yeah, I'm here. Chief of Staff Rodriguez, thank you. Can you just elaborate on who's doing the cleaning, how it's being done?
[John Falco]: So the fire station is being cleaned as well. Next to that.
[John Falco]: If you could, that'd be great. I appreciate that.
[John Falco]: And if I may, is the custodian or the cleaning company, do they come in once a day? How does that work?
[John Falco]: Okay. Yes. If Councilor Knight, if we could, if I can make a motion that we receive a copy of the IRFP.
[John Falco]: very involved. I remember meeting him when I was in high school, actually going to Medford High School years ago, and a very nice man and thoughts and prayers to his family.
[John Falco]: 38th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Herneviz, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: President, all seven members are present. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the city of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen. or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we aren't able to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website, an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Hearings. Do we have time for this?
[John Falco]: Hearings, legal notice 20-673. petition for grant of location, National Grid and Verizon, North Andover, Massachusetts, locations of poles, wires, and fixtures, Medford, Massachusetts, city clerk's office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, the Medford City Council will hold a public hearing via Zoom on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020. A link to be posted no later than Friday.
[John Falco]: Excuse me, excuse me. I have to read the meeting notice and then at that point I will recognize you and we will begin the process.
[John Falco]: No worries, thank you. You are hereby notified of that by order of the Medford City Council. The Medford City Council will hold the public hearing via Zoom on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020, a link to be posted no later than Friday, December 8th, 2020, on a petition of Massachusetts Electrical Company, DBA, National Grid, and Verizon New England for permission to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures along and across the public way or ways, herein named, said poles, wires, and fixtures to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked Mitchell Ave., meant for Massachusetts, and filed in the office of the city clerk. Wherever it prays that after due notice and hearing, as provided by law, it be granted a location for and permission to erect and maintain poles and wires, together with sustaining and protecting fixtures, As it may find necessary, said poles to be erected substantially in accordance with the plan filed herewith marked Mitchell Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, and available for inspection. In the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, room 103-85, George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. The following are the streets and highways referred to. Mitchell Ave, national grid to install one, J.O. pole on Mitchell Ave beginning at a point approximately 14 feet east of the center line. Install one new joint pole P2818 approximately 60 feet northeast of existing pole P3817 near 93 Mitchell Ave. Location approximately as shown on plan filed in the office of the city clerk. This was approved by the city engineer with the following conditions. Engineering Division recommends that this grant of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, the grant of location is limited to this one joint owned J.O. pole as described in the petition. National grid to install one J.O. pole on Mitchell Ave beginning at a point approximately 14 feet east of the center line. Install one new joint pole P3818 approximately 60 feet northeast of the existing pole P3817 in 93 Mitchell Avenue. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify dig safe and shall obtain all applicable permits. for the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other apparatuses are adversely impacted. National Grid shall ensure that all sewer water and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Number four, the new pole location is located within the furniture zone of the concrete sidewalk. Any disturbance of the curb-to-curb concrete backing must be repaired to the satisfaction of the city engineer. The sidewalk panel must be replaced in kind in the pole surrounded by an expansion joint. Number five, the project must be swept daily and shall be kept free of debris. for the duration of the installation. Approved by the superintendent of wires, call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations or aids. Plans can be viewed in the city clerk's office, 781-393-2425, Adam L. Herdeby, city clerk. At this point in time, I would open up the public hearing to those in favor of the petition. Is there anyone with us tonight that is in favor of the petition that would like to speak? So we have, there was someone from Verizon, right? Oh, okay, so let's see. National Grid, I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Abdel, okay.
[John Falco]: Sterling has been unmuted and there was one other person, I believe. Oh, okay.
[John Falco]: Abdel, go ahead. Sterling, can you hear us?
[John Falco]: Let's see, Sterling, can you hear us?
[John Falco]: So now West Coast and Sterling? Sterling? Abdelawad? Sterling, can you hear me? Councilor Morell, can you hear me?
[John Falco]: Okay. So let's see, so we have.
[John Falco]: Yes, we did hear that. So you are in favor of the petition. Is there anybody else in favor of the petition that would like to speak at this point? Okay, hearing and seeing none, this portion of the hearing is closed. Is there anyone in opposition of the petition that would like to speak? Anyone in opposition? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the council regarding this petition? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the council? Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli, any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I do not see him on the call.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Are there any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: I'm sure the abutters were notified as well, correct?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, a motion of console marks to approve. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk her to be. Please call the roll council bears.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Happy New Year. Thank you very much. Motions, orders, and resolutions 20-675 offered by Council of Bears be resolved by the Medford City Council that the updates on the COVID-19 mitigation actions and COVID-19 safety enforcement actions requested at the Council's December 8th meeting be presented. Council of Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, she is. Marianne O'Connor is with us.
[John Falco]: Okay. Marianne, you have the floor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: That's pretty easy.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. We have a number of councilors that have questions. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Marks, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Marion, thank you very much to you for all your hard work and to your department. I know that, You've worked long days, long weeks, and many months on this. I just have a couple of quick questions. So if I'm correct, every morning, is your department notified of positive cases? They're notified 24 hours a day. Okay, and at that point, so if you're notified 24 hours a day, when does contact tracings begin? Well, with 862 cases, it's Thanksgiving.
[John Falco]: And Marianne, how many people do we have making the calls?
[John Falco]: Good. Okay. Thank you. And one last question with, I've got a number of questions on this and I know I watched the school committee meetings and just kind of see what's going on on the school side. And I received questions from residents regarding the metrics that on the method, public schools website. You know, last time I checked, which was earlier today, it looked like they hadn't been updated since November 29th. I mean, is there a reason why it's, taking so long to update those. I know, you know, a lot of parents, you know, want, you know, the latest and greatest data. And I know few, few of the schools have had issues with regards to, you know, COVID outbreaks between, you know, between staff and students. So, you know, I would think that the, I would think that the numbers should be more current than that, you know, November 29th. Are you aware of that?
[John Falco]: That doesn't make sense to me. How often do you think it should be updated? I mean, how often do you think parents should actually see, is it daily? Is it weekly? Is it?
[John Falco]: No, no, I understand. I just, I know I've seen you at some of the school committee meetings. I know you've been called upon to answer questions as well as Tony Vanto. And I just wanted to, to me- I can bring that forward to them now. I'll bring that up to Tony. If you could, I'd greatly appreciate it. I know that I've received calls from parents regarding that. It's, you know, I mean, that data should be more current, I would think, than November 29th. And that's, I think, almost a month ago, so.
[John Falco]: Let's see. Any of the questions from the council? Chief of staff Rodriguez has his hand up. Yep. I got him. I just want to get the council first. Oh, sorry. I do have a question. Okay. Councilor Morell, and then we'll go to Dave Rodriguez. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, great, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. Let's see, Dave Rodriguez, Chief of Staff.
[John Falco]: Okay. So, but ideally, should it be, I mean, that's more current at least, but the last one I saw was 1129. I mean, is the goal weekly? I mean, should it be weekly? I would think, I mean- Every Friday, yeah.
[John Falco]: Okay, because I mean, that there is what? That's- What, almost three weeks? That's three weeks. I think we need to do better than that. I think the parents of our school system deserve better than that as well. So I know everybody's busy, but I think updating the metrics should be a priority. So people know if they're sending their students to school, sending their kids to school, they know what they're walking into. And that's something that we need to make sure everyone is aware of. So, thank you, Chief of Staff Rodriguez. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Cunabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Mary Ann, thank you very much, and thank you to your department.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. We have 20-076 offered by Councilor Bears, and that motion is similar to Councilor Scarpelli's 20-679. And I believe there's a motion to join those two resolutions. Motion to join. On the motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor to join resolutions 20676 and 20679. Clerk, please call the roll. Did we lose the connection? Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmatives, zero in the negative. The motion passes, the resolutions adjoined. 2-0-676 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the Medford Community Media, Patrick Gordon and Cat Darnell be congratulated for receiving an overall excellence award from the Alliance for Community Media and thanked for their hard work to inform the community and 20679 is offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the council congratulate Patrick Gordon for his leadership, knowledge, expertise in public access television and his tireless dedication to the citizens of Medford for winning the overall excellence award for community media in the Northeast region. Councilor Bears and Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. We have Councilor Morell and Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell, can you hear me? Okay, we'll go to Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. And if I may, I want to thank Patrick for all his hard work and dedication. I know when we first started doing the meetings via Zoom back in March, I always knew I didn't have to worry about the technical stuff because he would kind of get us through that, and he did. And coming back at the chambers, he helped with all the testing and putting everything together to make sure that we could roll to the public as smoothly as possible. He's done a great job at that. He's used some of his own equipment to actually make this happen, especially when we were first doing this in August. Brought in extra TVs, and he really got it up and off the ground. And I can't thank him enough for his hard work and his well-deserved reward, both him and Cat. So, Patrick, thank you very much. I'm not sure if you want to put it on autopilot for a minute. The council has a citation for you. The Medford City Council takes pleasure in awarding this council accommodation to Patrick Gordon, for his leadership, knowledge, expertise in public access television, and his tireless dedication to the citizens of Medford, and for earning the overall excellence award for community media in the Northeast region. John C. Falcon Jr., president on behalf of the Medford City Council. Patrick Gordon. Congratulations. Say a few words.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. On the motion of council night, seconded by vice-president Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-678 offered by Councilor Knight. Whereas the Medford City Council has made repeated requests to be provided with monthly copies of the city warrant articles. And whereas these repeated requests have gone unfulfilled by the city administration. Be it resolved that the city solicitor provide the council with a draft ordinance requiring that the council be provided with the warrant articles on a monthly basis. And be it further resolved that the city solicitor send a freedom of information request to the city administration on behalf of the city council requesting the following information. Copies of all warrant articles for the period of January 1st,
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, any questions from the council? If I may really quick, Council Knight, thank you for bringing this forward. I think it's, I like the idea of actually seeing the warrants on a monthly or even weekly basis. Remember when we were on the school committee, that's a report that we got on basically, I think it was twice a month. And it was very informative. So I thank you for bringing that forward. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Correct. On that motion, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Dave, I'm trying to, there you go.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions, comments from the council? Okay, any questions? No hands up. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 2-0-6-8-4, offered by Council and Ite. Whereas City Ordinance 94-35, general provisions relevant to the City Council and Board of Appeals requires the City Council to adopt and file with the City Clerk rules relating to applications for special permits, including but not limited to the procedure for application for special permits in the manner and type of maps and other materials that shall be required. Be it resolved that the city council provide the council with a copy of the current procedure and requirements, and be it further resolved that a committee of the whole be scheduled to review the procedures and requirements. That's all right.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Ike. Any questions, comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the... Okay, no hands up here. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scott Falco, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. 7, 8, 4, 0, negative. The motion passes. Offered by Council on 8. Be it resolved that the rules of the Medford City Council be amended as follows. New section. Public hearings. Matters requiring public hearing before the City Council shall be conducted as follows. Number 1. The petition is read into the record. Number 2. The petitioner provides an explanation of the matter requiring a public hearing. Number 3. The public hearing is conducted. Number four, following the public hearing, a six calendar day public comment period shall commence. Public comments shall be submitted in writing to the clerk. Number five, the council shall neither approve nor deny any public require, I'm sorry. Number five, the council shall neither approve nor deny any matter requiring public hearing until the conclusion of the public comment period and less waived by a majority vote of the council. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Motion to send this to the Rules Committee, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: OK, on the motion by Vice President Caraviello to send this paper to the Rules Committee, that is seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions, comments from the Council? Okay, anyone? No one has their hand up. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, to send this paper to the Rules Subcommittee, which is chaired by Councilor Knight. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Setting the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-686 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration implement an eviction moratorium to protect Medford residents during the severe COVID-19 surge this winter. Councilor Bears, I'm inclined to rule this out of order. And the reason why is, and I'm sympathetic to this issue, believe me. but there's a paper that is currently in subcommittee that I think you offered. I believe it's in the housing subcommittee. It's been there since April. And I believe there may have been a meeting. Maybe the clerk can clarify on that, but it hasn't been voted out. And it's basically the exact same paper. So, so that there, I mean, if it's in subcommittee, it really needs to be, You have to have a meeting on that because it's already been voted to go to subcommittee. And I mean, I completely understand where you're coming from with the resolution. Like I said, I'm sympathetic to it. And I believe the state moratorium has expired, but I think the CDC has one to leave the end of the year. And I know there's, I think a pending bill. I believe there's a pending bill in Congress as well. to extend it. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. So, but, um, I mean, if, if I may, if I may, I also believe that, um, this would have to go, I think it would have to go to the city solicitor as well, because I don't even know if we can do this, because I think, uh, state law probably trumps what we do here in this case. But with that being said, This paper is currently in subcommittee. And like I said, it's been there since April. And it really needs to be, since it's already here, it really needs to be, a subcommittee meeting needs to happen to take action on it.
[John Falco]: I believe, if I'm correct, and the clerk would have to confirm, I believe that that paper is still in subcommittee.
[John Falco]: Okay, the clerk has confirmed that it is still in subcommittee.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Council. Vice President Kavya Longwood.
[John Falco]: Thank you, vice president.
[John Falco]: And... And Councilor Bears, if I may, and I don't mean to interrupt, but this is what I said at the beginning, is this year I'm going to rule out of order because the paper is currently in.
[John Falco]: it's currently in subcommittee. And the subcommittee has done its work. And, you know, I believe you were saying, Councilor Marks, that you've started doing your work. It's there. So, I mean, really, that's the launching pad. That's where this has to take off.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, with all due respect, you put this in on Friday, you could have called a subcommittee meeting for this week or early next. So my recommendation is get the subcommittee together, that you're the chair of, and get it going for you the next week, which you can do. And I would think it'll move really quick from there. I would hope so.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Morell. So I will move this out of order, but I would encourage council to set up a subcommittee meeting as soon as possible. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: That's a good recommendation. Thank you, Councilor. So I'm going to move this resolution out of order, but I would encourage anybody that wants to speak, we'll have a public participation portion coming up later on in the meeting. But I want to thank everyone for attending the Zoom meeting tonight. So let's see, next item is communications from the mayor, 20-687, December 18th, 2020. to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155 regarding Community Preservation Committee. Dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully submit the following recommendations of the Community Preservation Committee to the City Council for their consideration. Requesting the appropriation of $30,000 from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve to the Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust Incorporated for phase three of the restoration of an historic stone wall at the Brooks Estate. Requesting the appropriation of $275,000 from the CPA General Reserve to the City of Medford Public Library for the Medford Public Library exterior space project. Requesting an appropriation of $76,000 from the CPA Open Space Reserve to the City of Medford Parks Division for the rehabilitation of the Placed at Park basketball court. requesting the appropriation of $15,000 from the CPA Open Space Reserve to the City of Medford Parks Division for the playground resurfacing at Tufts, Capon and Cummings Park. Requesting the appropriation of $293,000 from the CPA Open Space Reserve to the City of Medford Parks Division for rehabilitation of Duggar Park Tennis Courts. requesting the appropriation of $40,000 from the CPA Open Space Reserve to the City of Medford Conservation Commission for the Riverside Avenue stormwater improvements. Requesting the appropriation of $322,000 from the CPA General Reserve to the City of Medford Recreation Department for the rehabilitation and improvements at Tufts Pool. All projects will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund by category, open space, historic preservation, and general reserve. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehnman. So I believe we have Roberta Cameron with us tonight. And we have Danielle Evans. I'm going to unmute them just in case anyone has any questions. Council, have any questions or comments on these projects? Councilman Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions, comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Okay, so that's an amendment by Councilor Marks. Okay, let's see, are there any, I see a few hands up. Kelly Catano, do you want to speak about CPA funds?
[John Falco]: Okay, no worries. Jennifer Yanko. CPA funds, do you have questions?
[John Falco]: No worries, we're almost there. Thank you for your patience. Okay, so seeing that there are no questions, no questions or comments from the council, Roberta and Danielle, thank you for all your hard work. And thank you for meeting us in committee hall last week. On the motion of Councilor Scarapelli to approve the paper, as amended by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hertobis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Reports of committees. I think that's the next item. 2-0-680, December 15th, 2020. Committee, the whole report to follow. That meeting was actually postponed due to technology problems we had last week. Not because of Patrick, we had issues with the cable in the building. So that there, we will reschedule that meeting at a later date. President-elect Caraviello.
[John Falco]: 2-0-6-8-1, December 16th, 2020. Committee of the Whole report to follow that 2-0-6-8-1. We had a Committee of the Whole report last Wednesday, December 16th, 2020. And that was to discuss all of the CPA projects that we just voted on a couple of minutes ago. There was a lot of great discussion and these are all fabulous projects for our community. On the motion of councilor, Vice President Caraviello to approve the report, seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk Herneby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Public participation.
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of council on night to cancel the meeting next Tuesday night. Second. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and next week's meeting is canceled. Okay, public participation. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, anyone that would like to email us, please email our city clerk, A Hurtubise, that is A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at medford-ma.gov. So at this point in time, public participation. So we have a few hands up. Let's see, Kelly Catalo, we need your name and address for the record. And I'll give you three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, up next we have Jennifer Yanko. Jennifer, name and address for the record, and you have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Okay, we have Mary Stathos. Mary, name and address for the record, Mary.
[John Falco]: You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, let's see. Kit Collins, name and address for the record. You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: OK, we have Zachary Mabin. Name and address for the record, please. You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Like I said before, I would encourage you to set up a- It's been eight months, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears, like I said before, I would encourage you to set up that subcommittee meeting as soon as possible. And I think that hopefully you can make some progress and move forward. I think everybody wants to move forward on this.
[John Falco]: Okay. We have a number of residents that like to speak. We have, um, Thane H. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Steve Schnapp. Steve, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Does anyone have that number in front of them? I do not.
[John Falco]: Okay, so you have not, Councilor Villescaz, I apologize. With the heater on, I can't hear you.
[John Falco]: We're all in agreement. Thank you, Mr. Schnapp. Thank you. We are all in agreement. This is something that needs to be dealt with immediately. Thank you. Let's see, we have Diane Sullivan. Name and address for the record, Diane. You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Diane. Let's see, we have Jess Farrell, name and address for the record. You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Jess. Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Oh, Councilor Morell, I apologize.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Okay. Let's see. Antoinette Hugley. Name and address for the record, please. You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: We have Doug McKeon, name and address of the record. You have three minutes, Doug.
[John Falco]: Okay. Would anybody else like to speak? Oh, let's see, Matt. Matt, name and address for the record, please. You have three minutes, Matthew.
[John Falco]: It's basically almost the same thing that was mentioned tonight.
[John Falco]: It's a recommendation being resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration implement an eviction and moratorium to protect Medford residents during the severe COVID-19 surge this winter.
[John Falco]: Basically, the paper's in subcommittee. The council has to schedule a meeting to actually move it out of subcommittee, which from what it sounds like, it's- That's all correct.
[John Falco]: Matthew, if a council wants to state that they were in favor of it, by all means they can, okay? Then your answer is yes. Your answer is yes. This whole body can say, yes, I'm committed to this and I will vote for it. Matthew, thank you for your time. Any other questions from the public that would like to speak on this issue? We have one more person. Christopher, name and address for the record, please. You have three minutes.
[John Falco]: Okay. Wilma Barr, name and address for the record please.
[John Falco]: Thank you all. Okay. Okay, I don't see any of the hands. Clerk, did you see any of the hands up? Okay. I want to thank everyone for their patience and for participating in the public participation section of our meeting tonight. If I'm correct, we have records.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Vice President, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, I appreciate that, thank you. And actually, I want to thank- Mr. President? Yes, Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scott Falco. I want to thank all my councilors. This is my last meeting as president and in January, I'll be down on the floor here. And I want to thank President-Elect Caraviello and Vice President-Elect Knight. I want to wish them well next year. And I want to thank all my councilors for all their hard work and dedication to the city. It has been, it's been two years and There's been a lot of hard work here. It's funny, I was looking at the meetings today and today we had, this is our 38th meeting. Tonight was our 50th committee of the whole. 10 subcommittee meetings. That takes you to about 98 meetings this calendar year. And we don't meet a good chunk in the summer. So I know, you know, There's been a lot of weeks where we've met Tuesday night, Wednesday night, sometimes Thursday night. And I know that's a lot of time away from your families. And I thank you for your dedication, your hard work. And like I said, I look forward to being down on the floor and being able to participate more. And I want to thank you for all your hard work and dedication. So thank you so much. So we have the records. The records are Let's see, the table of records in the meeting of December 8th, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The records have been passed. Yes. Council Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks, and happy birthday to Mrs. Silva. Okay, the records of the meeting of December 15th, 2020. We'll pass to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records? Table? Table. I'm sorry. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table those records, seconded by Vice-President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to adjourn the meeting, actually before we adjourn, happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy new year to everyone. We wish everyone a happy and safe 2021.
[John Falco]: Thank you and happy holidays to everyone. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello. Merry Christmas. Seconded by Councilor Knight to adjourn the meeting. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Meeting adjourned. Good night, be safe and healthy.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: All seven members are present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained therein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website, an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email our city clerk, A Hurtubise, that is A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at medford-ma.gov. At this point in time, I'd just like to make a general announcement that we are having intermittent, internet issues here at city hall. And we are unable to actually broadcast the meeting via zoom tonight. So if anyone has questions that may be watching on a TV, we ask you to please email the city clerk directly. That is Adam her to me is once again, that is a H U R T U B I S E at Medford, M-E-D-F-O-R-D dash M-A dot gov. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 2-0-6-7-4 offered by council and I being resolved that the Medford city council requests the discontinuance of the use of asphalt sidewalk replacement panels in the city of Medford. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Is that Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions or comments from the council? Clerk Hurtubise, have you received any emails? I have not. Okay, you have not. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senator the affirmative. Zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2 0 dash 6 7 5 offered by council appears to be resolved by the Medford city council that the update on the COVID-19 mitigation actions and COVID-19 safety enforcement actions requested at the council's December 8th meeting be presented. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears, was that sent late this afternoon or?
[John Falco]: No problem. Okay. Thank you. So there's a motion to table, if I'm correct?
[John Falco]: Till next week? Till next week, right? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears to have this table to next week, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes, seven in favor, zero in the negative, the motion passes. The next resolution is offered by Councilor Bears, 20676, and if I'm correct, Councilor Scarapelli has a similar resolution, that would be 20-679. Request a table, 20679. Yes, and 676 as well.
[John Falco]: Scarpelli and Council of Bears to table 20-676 and 20-679 to next week. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-677 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the city administration provide to the council, provide the council with a copy of its COVID vaccination distribution plan. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the council? Second. Clerk Rodriguez, any emails?
[John Falco]: No emails. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-678.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to table 2-0-678, seconded by? Second.
[John Falco]: table to next week, Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to table 20-678.
[John Falco]: I believe it's a general. Next.
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Turner, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Reports to committee is 20-295, 19-660, and 20-519. There was a Committee of the Whole meeting on December 2nd, 2020, to discuss those matters. The purpose of the meeting was to review and update the collection bin ordinance, the promote, prevent, support behavioral health commission ordinance, and the rodent ordinance. We received updates from our city solicitor, as well as attorney Stein from KP law. And we should be receiving updates back from the city solicitor's office soon. All the motion of council Scarpelli to approve that report. Seconded by councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Okay, 20-643, December 8th, 2020. That was the committee, the whole report regarding taxes and setting a tax rate for the upcoming year. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, to approve, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-568, December 9th, 2020, Committee of the Whole. That was our Committee of the Whole report with our zoning consultant, Mark Fabroski. We talked to him about a number of issues and he will be sending us a draft of our zoning report. updated zoning, and that should be coming, I believe he said right around Christmas Eve, so that would be next Thursday, I believe. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, for her to be, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: I have a motion of Vice President Caraviello to take papers under suspension, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Herter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-682 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the Medford High School Hall of Famer, Brian Branson, be recognized and officially honored by the City of Medford for his several decades of unselfish volunteerism and commitment to Medford High student-athletes and sport programs. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And if I may quickly, I first met Brian Branson when I was 15 years old. I was a sophomore at High School. And like Councilor Marks mentioned, Brian was the team manager for the football team. And believe it or not, I played football. And, but he was, he's just an amazing, amazing person in, you know, people like Brian are people that you want in your community. And I remember being 15 years old and I remember learning, you know, right away from coach Bud Kelly, you know, and he would always talk about, you know, blue and white running through your veins. You have blue and white running through your veins. And that was all about Mustang football and being dedicated and committed and being someone who was committed to the team, but also committed to the city and working hard. And that's someone, and I will tell you something, there is no one that has We're blue and white running through their veins and Brian Branson. He is a remarkable person who just, you know, just very dedicated to our community, dedicated to sports at the high school for years. And like Councilor Mark said, I think at least probably 20 years that he was a statistician at the high school, you know, working with the football team and the baseball team. And I remember seeing him every Saturday when I played. And then after that, I'd come back and he was still there and he was still doing it and he loved it. And he loved giving back and, And, you know, later on in life, he decided, well, I'm going to be an umpire. And I remember saying to him, you sure you want to do that? And he wanted to do it and he loves doing it. And I know he goes out to Cooperstown every year to, you know, to actually the home of our, actually that's where our city clerk was born and raised. But he, Brian would go out there every year to umpire baseball games for the whole weekend. And he loved it, and he enjoyed it, and he always gave back. And so I think this is a very fitting honor. Council Marks, I thank you for bringing this forward. Councilor Scarpelli and Council Marks, you both hit it on the head with the words that you had to say. He's completely committed to our city, to the youth of our community, and it's a well-deserved honor. So on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes under suspension offered by Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate John Giglio from VIP Barbershop. On his recent retirement, John owned and operated VIP Barbershop for over 50 years. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Capiello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: All of it. And if I may also congratulate John on his recent retirement. John watched me go from absolutely full head of hair. At one time I actually had Adam Knight hair, I think.
[John Falco]: It was a long time ago, at least for Kavya. But at one time it was that thick, and that's when I first met John, and he saw me from the beginning to this, so. but I want to wish John well on his retirement. Like my colleague said, John is a great guy, fabulous guy. We'll miss seeing him in the square. I used to always see him in the square. If not, you know, cutting here, we'd be walking around or getting a coffee, but just a fabulous guy, great guy to talk to. And we wish him well on his retirement. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Locks, and Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by? Councilor Knight, Clerk Cunnabees, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. The records, the records of the meeting of December 8th were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records? Okay. Councilor, Vice President Caraviello is still reviewing those records. So motion to table to next meeting by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Urdoviz, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to adjourn the meeting, seconded by- Cancel the meeting. We're going to cancel that meeting? We'll do it next week, just in case if something pops, you know. Okay, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, her to be, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, some of the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you, good night.
[John Falco]: and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to participate. I'm sorry, to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No personal attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website, an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. So you have the motion of Councilor Morell to suspend the rule, seconded by? Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are suspended.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry, 20-672? Yes. This is communications from the mayor. December 1st, 2020, to President John Falco and honorable members of the Medford City Council, from Rianna Lungo-Koehn mayor, regarding licensing of food trucks. Dear President Falco and members of the Medford City Council, I respectfully request that the City Council approve the following list of food trucks for events. that are scheduled for the coming months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the city's temporary policies, limiting events and gatherings, the attached application includes some unique considerations, which have been reviewed and approved by my office, as well as the Board of Health. Method streets updated request. Location dates to be determined by resident request, seeking up to five locations between November and March, requesting one lunch, and or dinner in one dessert truck per location and or date. Thank you for your consideration. Respectfully submitted, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Councilor, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Council Knight, I believe you are correct in that. Um, did you say, I'm sorry, Councilor Morell, did you say someone was on the call that?
[John Falco]: And the mayor has her hand up. So let's see.
[John Falco]: OK, thank you. I don't recall voting in favor of this.
[John Falco]: I don't know.
[John Falco]: Okay. And this paper tonight doesn't provide that either. Um, and I should have a Jackie peaks. Do you want, would you like to speak on this issue? Jackie. Jackie looks like she might be having some technical issues. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: We just lost the audio connection. I'm not here for a meeting.
[John Falco]: I know. So he's working on that. Please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilman Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. We have Jackie Peeks. Jackie, I'm going to try to unmute. Oh, there you go. Hi, is that working?
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President. Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knights. We have Anne Marie with us. Anne Marie, can we have your name and address for the record? I'm going to unmute you right now.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Anne Marie. And if I may, Anne Marie, just as a administrative matter, we just need your name and address. The clerk needs your name.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you very much. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Marks. Okay, we have a couple of hands up here. We have John from the Chamber of Commerce. Name and address for the record, John.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Would anybody else like to speak on this issue that's on the Zoom call here? Okay, I don't see any hands up. Any of the councilors want to speak on this? Okay. Chair awaits a motion.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Naito to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clark-Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 2 in the negative.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry, 5 in the affirmative, 2 in the negative. The paper is received in place.
[John Falco]: One at a time. Vice President Cabral.
[John Falco]: Is it page 16? It's literally the same page as well.
[John Falco]: Okay, 20656.
[John Falco]: Page 16, thank you. Communications from the mayor. November 25th, 2020, to the honorable president and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend The city council authorized me as mayor on behalf of the city of Medford to enter into a tax increment financing, TIF, T-I-F, agreement with Monogram Gourmet Foods LLC in accordance with the Massachusetts Economic Development Incentive Program. and Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 23A, Chapter 40, Section 59, and Chapter 59. I'll be present at the meeting with members of the administration, Chief Assessor Ellen Bordeaux, Jeffrey Monica from Monogram Gourmet Foods, and Maria DeStefano from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development to discuss the agreement as well as Monogram Gourmet Foods' plan for their proposed operation in the city of Medford. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Sincerely, Liana Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: OK, we have Maria Giuseppina. I just need to unmute her. Yeah, I'm trying to. I'll try again. Adam, do you want to try to unmute? We're going to have the clerk see if he can unmute her. I'm not having any luck. was a question about clawbacks.
[John Falco]: She's been unmuted. Maria, you have the floor.
[John Falco]: We have Councilor Bears and Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. So on the motion of Councilor Peers... Would you like to amend that, Mr. President? Okay, so... Is that an amendment?
[John Falco]: It's a B paper.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Morell, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So we have a C paper offered by Council on 8.
[John Falco]: Second by Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Morell, that was to Alicia Hunt.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Rao.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank...
[John Falco]: Thank you, council. Mr. Monica.
[John Falco]: Councilor Matz, who would you like to hear from first? Either one, Mr. President. Okay, so Mr. Stefano is right in front of me here, so I will unmute. I'll try to unmute you. There we go, okay.
[John Falco]: Yes, absolutely. I think Todd, I thought I saw Todd Blake on the line. I got him, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: If I may, Council Members, I think may have a longer hand up.
[John Falco]: May I long occur?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So that will be a D paper on the motion of Councilor Marks and the D paper seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. So we have a number of councils that want to speak. Next up is Councilor Knight, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So on the motion to approve the paper, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: And everyone will have an opportunity to ask their questions, make their comments. I have a couple more councilors that would like to speak on this issue. We have Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: City Engineer, Tim McGiver.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council before we open it up to the public? Okay. Let's see, would anyone like to speak on this issue? We'll start off with John. Can I mute you? Trying to unmute you now.
[John Falco]: John, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Anyone else? Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this matter? So while we're looking for people, we have Mayalongo Kern.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. I'll just check one more time. Would anybody else like to speak on this before we call the roll? Okay, do you see anyone? Okay. Vice President Cabrera. Oh, move the question. Okay. So we have a number of papers before us. Okay. We have a D paper that was offered by Councilor Marks. That was seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Would you like to read the wording to the paper?
[John Falco]: So on that D paper, offered by Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Setting the affirmative, adjourn the negative. The motion passes. On the seat paper offered by Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, do you want to read the language of the seat paper?
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The motion passes. On the B paper offered by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, could you please read the language to the B paper.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. 70 affirmative agenda. Negative. The motion passes. And on the main paper, uh, by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. This is for approval of the main paper.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Thank you everyone on the call. Yes, while we're on to suspension, we have a number of licenses in front of us tonight. Thank you very much. petitions, presentations, and similar papers. 20-670, petition for common vigil is licensed by Ron Yon 6E, 4th Street, Attleboro, Massachusetts, 02703 for Rainbow Rain Incorporated. DBA, Rose's Chinese Restaurant, 321 Boston Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate 185, building department, fire department, police traffic impact. Health Department, letter of compliance, state ID, tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer. Councilor Scarpelli. Chairperson on licensing.
[John Falco]: I believe I did see him. Oh, yes, we do. I apologize. Is it Mayhew?
[John Falco]: We just need your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Second. Motion by Councilor Scott Felly, seconded by Councilor Knight. Any questions for the Council? No one has a hand up. Okay, on that motion by Councilor Scott Felly, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations and good luck. Good luck. Thank you very much. Thank you. 2-0-671, petition for convictual license by Robert Trotta, 73 Bow Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Medford, Sons of Italy, 42 Alfred Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate number 212, building department, fire department, police traffic impact, Health Department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer. Chairperson Scarpelli, chairperson of licensing.
[John Falco]: Yes, he is. I will unmute him right now. It looks like we have Francis Carino as his hand up.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Scarpelli. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Any questions from the council? Any questions? No one has a hand up. Okay, on that motion offered by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you, congratulations, good luck. I'll run the suspension, council at eight. 26.639, no. 643. It's a long agenda, there's a lot of pages. Notice of public hearing, 20-639, City of Medford. Notice of a public hearing. A public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council via Zoom on Tuesday evening, December 8th, 2020, a link to be posted no later than Friday, December 4th, 2020 at 7 p.m. Oh, I'm on the wrong one. I apologize. That's page four. That's okay. I went to the middle of page five. Okay, notice of a public hearing 20-643 tax hearing, legal notice, notice of a public hearing, City of Medford. Public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council via Zoom on Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 at 7 p.m. A link to this hearing will be posted no later than Friday, December 4th, 2020. The purpose of the hearing is to hear the board of assessors on the following items for the purpose of allocation of the fiscal year 2021 property tax. Number one, to determine the residential factor to be used for fiscal year 2021. Number two, select an open space discount. Number three, select a residential exemption. Number four, select a small commercial exemption. Call 781-393-2501 for any aids, and or accommodations TDD 781-393-2516. The city of Medford is an EEO-AA-504 employer. For additional information, contact the office of the city clerk at 781-393-2425 by order of the Medford city council. Adam Hurtubise, city clerk, advertised in the Medford transcript November 26th, 2020 and December 3rd, 2020. And we met earlier tonight. in our Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the tax rate. And we have our chief assessor with us tonight, Ellen Burdell. And Ellen, if you would like to... I'm trying to unmute you right now, Ellen. There we go.
[John Falco]: Good evening, councilors, President Falco. If I may, really quick. Yes. So I kept doing administrative thing, something first. So at this point I would open this hearing in favor of those, those in favor of the petition. Ellen, would you like to speak on this?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. So you're speaking in favor of the paper? That's correct. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of the paper? Will Nevar, let's see. Mr. President. Can we have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Actually Will, one minute please. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay. Ellen, do you want to speak to those points? Certainly.
[John Falco]: OK. I'd be like to give a brief synopsis on each of those points.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, is that good?
[John Falco]: Next point, to select an open space discount, Do you want to talk to that?
[John Falco]: That's correct. It is not recommended. Point of information, Councilor Scott-Belle.
[John Falco]: Yes. Thank you, Councilor Scott-Belle. And Ellen, thank you for that, your comments on the residential exemption. Did you want to speak to this small commercial exemption?
[John Falco]: Okay. So let's see, Will. Will Nevaeh, thank you for waiting patiently. You wanted to speak in favor of this? Will?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Will. Is there anybody else that would like to speak in favor, in favor of the proposal?
[John Falco]: Okay, I believe this is Andrew Castagnetti. Andrew, we're trying to unmute you right now. Oh, there you go. Andrew, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Cassinetti. Would anyone else like to speak in favor? Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Would anyone like to speak in opposition? Would anyone like to speak in opposition of the petition? Okay. Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Councilors have any questions?
[John Falco]: On that motion, by Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Mr. President? Councilor Scarpelli? Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And we discussed in our committee the whole earlier tonight about having a community hall meeting in March to kind of kick that off and talk about different options and to talk about the residential exemption and other issues. So in March, we'll be talking more about those topics. Just to let you know. Okay, so there was a motion on the floor, and that motion was offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, and the motion was, can you read that again, Councilor, Clerk Artavis?
[John Falco]: Thumbs up, okay. Yes. Okay, perfect. On that motion, Clerk Bernal, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Can you turn your microphone, Councilor Knight,
[John Falco]: Got a motion of console night to adopt an open space discount. And that's seconded by councilor Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: No. Zero in the affirmative, seven in the negative. Motion fails. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: And the motion of Councilor Behr is to adopt, to select a, I'm sorry, adopt a residential exemption. Seconded by. Seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Yes, sorry, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: You are correct. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Carter please call the roll.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: No. Zero in the affirmative, seven in the negative, motion fails.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to adopt a small commercial exemption, and that is seconded by Councilor Bears. Clark-Carnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: No. Is there any affirmative? Seven in the negative. The motion fails.
[John Falco]: And before we conclude, I just want to thank everyone for their help. I want to thank Ellen Bordeaux and Alicia and Emily Benjamin for your help during the Committee of the Whole meeting this evening, for answering all of our questions. We greatly appreciate your hard work with regard to this. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Council of Mayors.
[John Falco]: Yes. Notice of a public hearing. 20-639, City of Medford. Notice of a public hearing. A public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council via Zoom on Tuesday evening, December 8th, 2020. A link to be posted no later than Friday, December 4th, 2020 at 7 p.m. on a petition by Adam LaRusso of Last Night Tattoo Studio, 507 High Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155 for a special permit to conduct a body art establishment In accordance with the City of Medford zoning ordinances, chapter 94 of section 94-2 and section 94-148, use 14A to operate its business at 507 High Street, Medford, Massachusetts, a C1 commercial one zoning district. Petition and plan may be seen in the office of the City Clerk, Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 781-393-2425. Zoom link to be posted on the City Council agenda on December 4th, 2020 on the City of Medford website. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations, AIDS, TDD, 781-393-2516. The City of Medford is an EEOAA 504 employer by order of the City Council. Adam L. Herdeby, City Clerk. This was advertised in the Medford transcript on November 19th and November 26th, 2020. At this point, I declare the public hearing open to those in favor of the petition. Would anybody like to speak in favor of the petition? Okay. We'll start off with Adam LaRusso. Adam, I'm trying to unmute you right now. Oh, there we go. If I could just have your name and address for the record. And if you could give us a brief statement as to why you are in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. At this point, I'd ask anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak. Okay, we have Colin Burgoyne. Can I try to unmute you? Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Colin, thank you very much. Okay, those in favor. We have a Reverend Wendy. I'm going to try to unmute you. If you could give us your name and address for the record, and if you could tell us why you're in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to speak in favor of the petition? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Is there anyone in opposition of the petition that would like to speak? Anyone in opposition? Adam, you see anything? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. At this point, I recognize Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Councilor Scarapelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpello. We have Councilor Morell, then Vice President Scarviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. We have Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, so we'll make that, we'll have to do a B paper for that, okay? So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second. Councilor Scott Falco. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We have a couple more questions. Councilor Knight, then Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So that is an amendment by Councilor Knight for a 90 day review. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, any other questions? Okay, we'll share away to motion.
[John Falco]: OK, on the motion of Councilor Knight to approve as amended by Councilor Knight and seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Sorry?
[John Falco]: We have a B paper from you, so we have to go to that first. You had a B paper. We have to vote on that first.
[John Falco]: And that was seconded by?
[John Falco]: On that motion, the B paper by vice-president Caraviello seconded by councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the main paper, a motion of Councilor Knight for approval, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubiseest, as amended by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubiseest, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Adam, congratulations and good luck.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: The motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to revert to the regular order of business. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. We will now revert to the regular order of business. That's a continuation. It's a continued correct. Yep. Hearings two zero dash six zero zero petition for grant the location, national great gas main locations, Medford, Massachusetts city clerk's office. This is a continuation of a public hearing. Uh, we met with, um, It was National Grid back a few weeks ago, and they were going to come before us tonight, and I think update us with a few questions. We had a number of questions for them. And let's see, we have Diana Cuddy with us. Hi, Diana. I'm going to unmute you right now. Good evening. And we also have, let's see, do we have,
[John Falco]: Tim McGiven was here. Let me see if he's... Oh, there he is. Sorry, Tim. Okay. Tim, I'll unmute you as well. Okay. So we have a number of, and I believe we received a memo this week also from the city engineer regarding was it point number 12? Am I correct? Do you want to talk to that, Tim?
[John Falco]: Any of the cops have questions about that? Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you council. Diana, could you speak to that please? Sure.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears and Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears, you had the floor.
[John Falco]: Mr. Councilor Bears, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Tim, would you be able to address that?
[John Falco]: On that motion, I'll provide Councilor Knight. Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarapelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, zeroing the negative. This motion passes and I will schedule a committee to hold If not, it might be President Capiello that does it in the next term, just because we're running out of time in the month of December. But we will schedule a committee to hold on this, hopefully sooner than later. On the main paper, is there a motion to put on the table, or? Okay, on the motion of council, I'll ask to table the main paper, seconded by. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise. Clerk Hurtubise, please come to the hall.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in favor of adjournment, I get the motion passes. It was cut to a mark seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Motions, orders, and resolutions 20-660 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request a briefing on the administration's newly established commission on parking policy and enforcement from the chairs of the commission, Jim Silva and Laurel Ruma, and be provided an explanation of the purpose of the commission as well as the due date for the commission's findings report.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. If I may, one minute. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yes. So if you're going to give us an update tonight, could you also please give it to us in writing? That would be greatly appreciated. Just so we have, I guess, a point of reference as to what we spoke at during the meeting.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell and Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you vice president. We have a council of bears has a question and then we'll go on to Mari. Council of bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council of bears. Okay. We have a, let's see Mari Carroll. I'm trying to unmute you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Keep the kind words, Mario.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Jim O'Neill, thank you for all your hard work with us. And Mario, thank you for your hard work as well. If someone wants to reach out to either of you individually, is there a contact or is there an email address?
[John Falco]: Great, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Yes, we do. Thank you, Marty. If I may, Jim and Laurel, I believe a while back, there was a parking study that was done. I think it was when Chief Sacco was leaving and Chief Buckley was coming in. Is that something that you're looking at?
[John Falco]: Perfect. Sounds good. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you for all your hard work. Any other questions? Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the council? Comments, questions? No. Any comments or questions from the public? Marty, Marty.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Marty. Okay, any other questions from the public? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by? Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Sorry, is the motion to receive and place on file, Councilor Morell? Yes, okay, on the motion to receive and place on file. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7, 8, 4, 0, the negative, the motion passes. Okay. 2, 0, dash 6, 6, 1. Offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Bedford City Council request a report from the DPW commissioner concerning brown water in the South Bedford area water delivery system. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by- Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Great, thank you. On the motion of Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, come in front of me, please come over.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. 2-0-662 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the Anheuser-Busch Corporation located at Riverside Avenue cut back the tree branches overhanging the backyard of 84 Sydney Street in the interest of public safety. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Anybody, any questions or comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Any hands up?
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 the affirmative, 0 the negative. The motion passes. 20-663 offered by Councilor Bears. Whereas COVID-19 cases are spiking across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Governor Baker has chosen to take no further action to protect the health of residents and whereas super spreader events have seriously impacted residents of Medford, including members of our city and school staff. Now, therefore be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration explore any and all options to increase COVID-19 mitigation action actions in the city of Medford and provide an update on any plans to protect residents from COVID-19 community spread no later than the December 15th meeting of the Medford City Council, Council Affairs.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Any other comments?
[John Falco]: You are correct because I remember, I think it was Councilor Morell's paper.
[John Falco]: No, no, no. I understand and I agree. I mean, we should have something in writing. We definitely do. you know, some sort of an update from the administration. We haven't received one. What was it, Councilor Morell, if you don't mind, do you know the last time we actually received?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And if actually, you know, if I could actually vice president, if you wouldn't mind coming up, I just have a couple, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to have met here. Thank you for bringing this forward, because I think it is very important. And I think Councilor Morell, thank you for bringing our resolution forward a few months ago. And I think it's important that we receive periodic updates. Actually, they should be monthly updates, but we should be notified on a regular basis. Because I know I'm getting all kinds of questions with regard to, I think some of the data, general questions as to, and I think a lot of it is education with regard to, You know, I got a lot of questions about, you know, what is the threshold for notifying the community about potential exposure? So if there are, you know, how is a cluster determined? You know, if a cluster is determined, you know, is there ability to contact trace or whatnot? So if we could, if you wouldn't mind, if we, if Councilor Bears, if we could, if I could amend that to, for the administration of the Board of Health to respond as to what is the threshold for notifying the community about potential exposure? And how is a cluster determined? And if there is a cluster in the community, especially in the business community, what types of organizations are subject to public notification? Is it restaurants? Is it retail? Is it healthcare providers? How do they define that? I've been getting a lot of questions about that type of thing, questions like that. How does a communication work between the Board of Health and businesses? Are the businesses given information from the Board of Health as to what is expected? How is this communicated? Are businesses getting information via email? Is it a periodic email from the Board of Health? We need to know how that's being communicated. I'm sure it's being communicated, or I hope it's being communicated, but we need a clear indication of exactly how it's being communicated to the business community. And last but not least, I know there was an event this weekend at the Chevalier Theater. And I think they had about 250 people at the theater. And my question I guess is, did the Board of Health approve that event? I'm not sure how that works, but I think that we need to get answers on that. Did they approve the event? And it sounds like towards the end of the event, it was modified. So it became, I think the person that was performing was supposed to be singing in public, on the stage. And Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, you might be able to explain this further, but I think that last minute- They had them perform in the green room.
[John Falco]: And that's a clarification I'd like to receive. I think if I could amend the paper further to find out who approved the event originally and Who requested the modifications to the event? I mean, from what I could tell from the research I did, I think the tickets went on sale in October, and the event was, I believe it was December 4th, I think this past Saturday.
[John Falco]: Okay. And the event changed, I think, right beforehand. So if we could get some clarification on that, I'd greatly appreciate it. I thank Councilor Bearst for bringing this forward and move approval.
[John Falco]: While I'm on the council floor, it would be okay to suspend the rules and take a few resolutions out of order.
[John Falco]: 2-0-668.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I've received a number of calls from business owners down in Bedford Square regarding the parking on Governor's Ave and how it's become quite dangerous throughout the day and cars just kind of parking anywhere. Just in the interest of public safety, if we could have marked spots, parking spaces on Governor's Ave from the bottom of Governor's Ave and High Street up to Terrace Road in the interest of public safety. And if this could be forwarded to the Traffic Commission for their approval as well. Move approval.
[John Falco]: It's just wide open. There's one, I believe, handicapped spot in front of Zero Governors Ave. Two the most, but I know there's at least one.
[John Falco]: It's basically just, for me, it's just public safety. It's just, from what I'm hearing, it's just out of control.
[John Falco]: Yeah, so cars have specific spots. Right now it just seems like it's a free for all.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much for your support.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. During my walk, I noticed there was a lot of trash in between the addresses. there's a few wooded lots on the Fellsway and it was everything from mattresses to computer parts. And thank you to the DPW. I think they removed almost all of it, but I walked by the other day and I think there's like a small like box spring that's still there. So if that could, if that could be removed. as soon as possible. I greatly appreciate it. It just, it really makes the area look really rundown. So if we could just kind of keep that clean and if the DPW could attend to that as soon as possible, greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Motion to revert to the regular order of business by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-664 offered by Council of Mayors be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration provide a written and verbal update to the Medford City Council no later than the December 15th meeting of the Medford City Council regarding enforcement of the COVID-19 health and safety rules and regulations at local businesses or large private residential gatherings. And generally the city will pursue civil or criminal investigations of alleged violations of COVID-19 health and safety rules and regulations. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. Any questions from the council? Concerns, any comments, anything online? No. So we'll take the B paper first, offered by Councilor Knight on the B paper. Offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by? Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. Unmanned motion offered by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-666 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell be resolved at the Medford City, be it resolved by the Medford City Council.
[John Falco]: Very good. Thank you. If we're putting me at the end, I'm sorry. The note, um, two zero dash six, six, five offered by council appears. Whereas nearly 2000 Method residents have tested positive for COVID-19 in hundreds of sadly died due to the disease. Now, therefore be it resolved by the method city council council that the city administration established a commission for the construction of a COVID-19 memorial in the city of Medford, be it further resolved that the commission, that this commission can begin to meet after the conclusion of the COVID-19 state of emergency, but may meet earlier at the discretion of the city administration. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Would any Councilors like to speak on this? Okay. Anyone here? No one has a hand up. Okay. On the motion of Councilor Peers, seconded by? Councilor Morell. Clerk Carter please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Four in the affirmative, three in the negative. The motion passes. 20666 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the Board of Health and Office of Energy and Environment establish a policy that restaurants and other eating establishments only provide plastic utensils, straws, and stirrers upon request of the customer. Councilor Beres.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the council? Mr. President. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Could the Council please clarify?
[John Falco]: Take-out and delivery. Oh, so OK, it's just take-out and delivery only?
[John Falco]: OK, so first of all, do you want to amend the resolution to say take out only?
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Yes, let's see, Councilor Marks had the floor, and then Councilor Morell had her hand up. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. We have Councilor Knight and Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: He's not with us any longer.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Guidance? So you have guidance and takeout only. Takeout and delivery only. Yes. OK. have a motion to approve.
[John Falco]: Let me check with the clerk. It's buffered by both, right?
[John Falco]: So I have a, the consular morale did move approval, but I don't have, I don't have a second in my notes. So, and the clerk doesn't have a second either. Okay.
[John Falco]: The motion is Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Bears twice. Clerk Herbies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 3 in the affirmative, 4 in the negative. The motion fails. 20-667, offered by Council of Bears, Chapter 49, Housing.
[John Falco]: Please do so.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: It just makes no sense.
[John Falco]: I know that, if I may really quickly, I know that the city solicitor is quite busy. Is that Jonathan? And I know that, I believe Councilor Knight, you were saying you had an ordinance similar to this.
[John Falco]: That's what I was going to recommend is that when it comes back, then reconcile the two and see what's missing and see if there's something that should be put in.
[John Falco]: So Councilor Bears, is your motion to move this to committee of the whole for further review?
[John Falco]: On that motion, seconded by... Second. Councilor Rao. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Which one?
[John Falco]: That's what I'm thinking of. I remember there was one that dated a while back.
[John Falco]: Is the motion already on the floor?
[John Falco]: So, Councilor Bears, are you okay with withdrawing that motion and sending it to the subcommittee on ordinances?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So Councilor Bears has withdrawn his motion to send it to committee of the whole. A motion of Councilor Bears to send it to the subcommittee of ordinances for further review. Seconded by? Seconded by Councilor Knight? Ms. Councilor Knight, did you second? Yes. OK. On that motion, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council night to table the subcommittee reports for the next meeting. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. Subcommittee reports the table to the next meeting. Public participation, Andrew Castagnetti, who was with us earlier. He is not with us right now. But he did speak earlier, so maybe that's... On the motion of Council on 8 to receive a place of file, seconded by... Actually, we don't need to take action on that. Mr. President, you're correct. Okay. Last but not least, the records. The records... On the meeting of September 1st, 2020, we're passed to Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Second. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, to approve the records. We're going to be following along.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: I have a motion by Councilor Bears to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Floor attorneys, please come to the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, adjourned the negative. The motion passes. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe and healthy.
[John Falco]: to clear the public hearing open. Open to those in favor of the petition. Is there anyone with us online tonight that is in favor of the petition? Okay, Mr. Shakes, can we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: That's fine, that's fine.
[John Falco]: Okay, and you are in favor of the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. At this point in time, I'd call upon the Chair of Personal Licensing, Councilor Scott Beall.
[John Falco]: Are there any councilors that have questions regarding this matter?
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, I apologize.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations and good luck.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Have a good night.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Motions, orders, and resolutions 20-647, offered by Councilor Marks, Councilor Scarpelli, and Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the City Council request the presence of Chief Buckley, Chief Buckley, Chief of the Medford Police Department, Chief Gilberti, Lieutenant Mark Rudolph, and Officer Harold McGill to discuss public safety concerns dealing with our 911 system at our next scheduled meeting. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you so much, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: I see both chiefs. I see Harold McGilvrey is with us and Lieutenant Mark Rudolph is with us as well. And both chiefs, yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Let's see, we have a number of people. Mayor Lungo-Koehnan has her hand up. So I'm going to try to, there you go. Mayor Lungo-Koehnan.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Would either of the chiefs like to respond at this point? Councilor Markswell, do you want to hear from the chiefs next or?
[John Falco]: Chief Buckley.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President. Chief Buckley, one minute. Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Chief Buckley.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Do you want to hear from them right now or do you want to leave?
[John Falco]: We will. Thank you, Chief Buckley. Chief Gilberti, did you want to speak before I recognize the union representatives?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief Gilbert. Okay. At this point, I recognize, do you prefer police or fire? It doesn't matter. Okay. We'll go with, let's see, let's go with Eddie Buckley from the local 1032 Medford Fire Department. I'm going to unmute you, Eddie Buckley.
[John Falco]: Yes, we can hear you. Thank you for joining us tonight.
[John Falco]: Council Members, do you have any specific questions that you'd like to ask Mr. Buckley?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I could. Please continue, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, be safe.
[John Falco]: So we'll hear from Harold McGillivray.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. We actually, before I move forward, we got a message. I think Mr. Buckley is actually still with us. So let's recognize Eddie Buckley.
[John Falco]: I apologize. Do you have any further questions for Mr. Buckley?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Buckley. Mr. Buckley, do you have any further comments?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Okay, I see the chiefs have their hands up. So let's go to Chief Gilberti and then we'll go to Chief Buckley.
[John Falco]: Let's see, Lieutenant Rudolph has his hand up. Let's see. There you go. Lieutenant Rudolph.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Lieutenant Rudolph.
[John Falco]: Okay. Any questions for Lieutenant Rudolph while we have him? Okay. Chief Buckley, I believe you had your hand up and Chief Buckley.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief Buckley. Vice President Caraviellola.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief Buckley. Lieutenant Rudolph. Did you want to comment on that as well?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you, Lieutenant Rudolph. Mayor Lungo-Koehn. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Would anybody like to comment on that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Members. We have a number of Councilors that have questions, but we also haven't heard from Harold McGilvery from the Police Department Union. Does Council care if we hear from him and then we move forward with the questions? Just because he was supposed to follow Mr. Buckley, but when Mr. Buckley went, or Eddie Buckley went, then the Chiefs weighed back on, they responded to his concerns. So let's hear from, I'm going to give away from the method Police Department. Union president. Mister Montgomery.
[John Falco]: Yes, we can. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Harold. We have Councilor Bears and Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Mayor Longo-Kurt.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you for your point of information. Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Chief Gilberti.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief Gilberti. Let's see, Vice President Caraviello, did you have any further questions? Okay, thank you. Councilor Layton.
[John Falco]: I believe we have Alicia- In terms of dollars and cents, Mr. President. Yes. Alicia, would you like to take that question from Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: We'll have a committee the whole next Tuesday night, and I believe that will be next Tuesday night's agenda, if I'm correct.
[John Falco]: That sounds correct to me.
[John Falco]: I mean, that sounds correct to me.
[John Falco]: And Alicia, if I may just kind of throw a wrench into it really quick, but I mean, I think there've been in years past where we've not necessarily set the tax rate on that night of the meeting. We've, I think, tabled it for a week before in the past. I mean, so does the tax rate have to be set next Tuesday night? What if it was tabled to the 15th, the next meeting after that?
[John Falco]: Let's see, Council March is all set. We have Councilor Scarpelli, and then Ellen's waving a hand, so we're gonna call on Ellen next. So, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council of Peers. Any other questions from the council regarding this issue? Okay. Any other questions out? Clerk, do you see anyone with their hand up? I just want to make sure I don't see anyone, but. Move approval, place on file. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarapelli. You approve the paper and place on file? Seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Right, 2-0-6-4-7, nothing to do with the table of paper. Yes, correct. So on 2-0-6-4-7, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, Second. To approve and place on file. Seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Suspend the rules, Mr. President. On the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rules, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the rules are suspended. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Communications from the Mayor, 20656, November 25th, 2020, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that the City Council authorize me, as Mayor, on behalf of the City of Medford, to enter into a tax increment financing, TIF, TIF, agreement with Monogram Gourmet Foods LLC in accordance with the Massachusetts Economic Development Incentive Program, EDIP, and Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 23A, Chapter 40, Section 59, and Chapter 59. I will be present at the meeting with members of the administration, Chief Assessor Ellen Bordeaux, Jeffrey Monica from Monogram Gourmet Foods, and Maria DeStefano from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development to discuss the agreement as well as Monogram Gourmet Foods plan for the proposed operation in the city of Medford. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor.
[John Falco]: We have a question, Councilor Morell first, and then Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, we have a number of council questions. We have Councilor Morell, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Marks, Councilor Knight, Council Bates.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Mr. Monaco, would you be able to answer that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Is Alicia not my Alicia? I have the wrong Alicia, sorry. Alicia Hunt.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Point of information, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Point of information from the Vice President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Villescaz, I'll start with your question.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Is that something you want to discuss in committee at all?
[John Falco]: Okay. Okay. Thank you. I thank all the councilors for their questions. If I may, I have a couple of quick questions. And Mr. Monica, thank you very much for your interest in the city of Medford. With regard to the construction, when would the construction begin and how long would it last?
[John Falco]: So would the construction be done by July 1st?
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. And I have another question. This might be for Alan. Seeing it's 2020, anything can happen. I don't mean to sound negative, but what happens with regard to the TIF, if Monogram was to be sold or if you were to go out of business, what happens with the TIF and are there any safeguards to the city? Let me unmute you. I'm trying. One second. Can you try and mute it? Why don't you let me ask my question? Thank you, Councilor.
[John Falco]: And are there any callbacks with regard to the TIF, if that was to happen?
[John Falco]: Okay. And with regard to, Councilor Beeson had a question about, I think it was TIF accountability. And with regard to that, I believe if I'm correct that, monogram would be subject to regulatory filings. Am I correct? Is that?
[John Falco]: Okay. So the annual reporting to the city with regard to, was it the amount of investment they made and to the amount of employees that reside in Medford that were hired? Am I correct in that?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Any other questions from the council? We have Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Simple majority, I believe would. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Okay. Any other questions? Oh, we have a question here. Will Mavar. Hey Will, name and address for the record, Will.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Will. Any other questions? Okay, hearing and seeing none. On the motion of Councilor Marks. Mr. President, if I could just clarify. Please, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: So you want to make that as part of the regular agenda and not a separate committee?
[John Falco]: Did you have that, Clerk Hurtubise? Okay, on that motion, offered by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, adjourned, the motion passes. On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-650, this is on the motions, orders and resolutions offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the City of Medford implement a no trucking ban, I'm sorry. Be it resolved that the City of Medford implement no trucking along Boston Ave between Route 16 and Route 60 until such time as the gas leaks are repaired and the roadway resurfaced. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Any questions for the Council? Any comments?
[John Falco]: Okay. Get a second from Councilor Bears. Anyone online here? No. Okay, the motion for Councilor Wright, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Urnavies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. 2-0-651 offered by Council and I. Be it resolved that the City of Medford apply to participate in the Google Tree Canopy Lab, a mapping tool designed to identify where trees are needed most in urban communities. Council and I.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of council, actually, any questions from the councilors? Oh, yes, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any other questions from the council? Anyone online? Okay, seeing and hearing none. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: There will be a committee of the whole regarding these papers tomorrow night. Okay, 20-654 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration work to establish and promote an internet exchange safe zone in Medford. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any questions from the council? Anyone online? Okay, seeing and hearing none. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Bernabeu, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Great.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. 20-655 offered by Councilor Marks. Whereas the Massport Community Advisory Committee, MCAC requested the FAA conduct an early feasibility assessment on runway 33L departure solutions, and whereas due to the August 14th, 2020 letter sent by the Northeast Regional Administrator for the FAA, indicating the FAA had rejected all eight dispersion proposals for further study, then be it resolved that our state federal delegation continue to communicate a message to the FAA that due to continued noise concentration, which has created a permanent problem in Bedford that will not go away until the FAA commits to address the problem and develop a procedure for runway 33L at Logan International Airport that geographically disperses jet departures more equitably than the current plan. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk, do you have these? Okay, you do, okay. Thank you, council. We have a councilor Morell, councilor Bears, councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, thank you. Any other questions from the council? Anyone has a hand up? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Reports to committees. Reports to committees. 20-625, November 21st, 2020, Community of the Whole report. We had a Community of the Whole on Saturday, November 21st, 2020 at 11 a.m. It was a site visit that was well attended. And there was a really good discussion regarding, it was actually at the intersection of Fulton Spring Road and Fern Road. And the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the safety concerns related to the traffic in the North Bedford neighborhood Councilor Marks, you brought forward that resolution. And it was a really good discussion and conversation about the issues that are going on, the traffic issues specifically with regards to everything that from, and that whole North Bedford neighborhood there. Just to let everyone know, the crosswalks have been installed and the stop lines have been installed as well. So some work has begun on that initiative. So, So we will have a follow up meeting. I think we're going to, I'm sorry. They're all working. Well, that's a good question. Actually. And they actually had enforcement there the other day as well. So the police were there enforcing them. So, uh, there's a number of people get pulled over. Uh, it actually got someone, someone get pulled over tonight too. So, um, with that being said, it looks like they're working on some of these, uh, things. And, uh, I believe we're going to have a follow up meeting on this as well. Uh, just to, uh, kind of see how we'll move forward in the future with some of the other suggestions that were made.
[John Falco]: You are correct, many.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Thank you, Councilor Marksley. Thank you to all the councilors. Councilor Marksley hit it on the head. There were a lot of great questions. And thank you to the residents who came and asked those questions and pointed out the many issues that need to be addressed in that area. So on the motion of Councilor Knight to approve the report. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-641, November 24th, 2020 committee, the whole report. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the small cell telecommunications equipment siting in the city of Medford and the potential litigation stemming from the same I believe the outcome of that was that we were going to, I believe that the... Yes, that is correct. That is correct. On the motion of call tonight to approve, seconded by... Vice President Cabral, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. We have a, okay. On the motion of council of the night, to take papers in the hands of the clerk, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Garnerby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Okay, we have two papers in the hands of the clerk.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. It's offered by the Medford City Council 20-657. Be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for a long time Medford resident and educator Sandra Sacco on a recent passing. Be it further resolved that this meeting be dedicated in her memory. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Scarpell.
[John Falco]: Thank you Our thoughts and prayers going to the Sacco family on the motion of on behalf of the city council clerk her to be as could you please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative zero in the negative motion passes. 20-658 offered by the Medford City Council, be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for a long time after resident Ralph Surrett on his recent passing. Councilor Locks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Marks. Thank you. On that motion, seconded by? It's got the motion of the city council, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. And the affirmative is zero and the negative. The motion passes. At this point in time, I would ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Can we have a hand up here? There you go, Harold. Harold McGill.
[John Falco]: I remember specifically asking that question during the budget because building maintenance has always been a big concern, not only to me, but I think the entire city council. And here we are, we're building new facilities and we need to make sure that they're maintained. and we need to make sure that the preventive maintenance gets done, because if it doesn't get done, you know what happens. So it's a huge, to me, it needs to be a huge focus. It wasn't in the budget. I'm not sure if Dave wants to take that question or answer on behalf of the administration, but to me, and I think to many of the councils, it's a major concern.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay. Carol, thank you very much, appreciate it.
[John Falco]: It sounds like that trash is just piling up. We have a point of information offered by Councilor Scott Peli. Councilor Scott Peli.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Harold McGillivray.
[John Falco]: Very good point. Harold, thank you very much. Okay, so we are on to the records. Records, the records of the meeting of November 24th, 2012 were passed to Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to approve the records, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Is there anyone on that? There's public participation. Is anybody on for public participation? I don't see anybody's hands up, so I'm thinking no. Any further motions from the council?
[John Falco]: On the motion of council, I'd like to adjourn this meeting seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Setting the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe and healthy. Thanks. Good night. Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: The 34th regular meeting in the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clark-Curtabys, please call the roll. Present. Present.
[John Falco]: Present. Present.
[John Falco]: Councilor Feldman. Present. All seven members are present at this point in time. I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. 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. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. The meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties. With the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen and or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email the city clerk, Adam Hertubez at A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at medford-ma.gov.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Knight to suspend the rules to take 20-648 out of order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The rules are suspended to take 20648. That was offered by Councilor Marks. And this was to receive an update on municipal aggregation.
[John Falco]: Yes, we have Alicia Hunt with us. Yeah, I've made her a co-host. Tonight, Alicia, you have been made a co-host, and you should be able to share your screen, and we thank you for being with us tonight.
[John Falco]: Thank you for the presentation. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. OK, so thank you very much. On the motion by Councilor Marks, Clerk Hervez, could you read back the motion? Just make sure we have it correctly.
[John Falco]: And actually, Alicia, would it be possible to forward a copy of that presentation to the council? I'm happy to. Thank you very much. I'll do that after. OK. So we have a number of councilors that have questions about this. Councilor Marks, you're all set.
[John Falco]: Thank you. OK. Thank you very much. The clerk has your amendments. Let's see. Up next, we have Councilor Bears, then Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarapelli.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. And once again, that website is MedfordCEA.com, is that correct, Alicia? Yes. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: I don't see any hands up.
[John Falco]: Okay, Alicia, John, thank you very much for all your hard work. Thank you for the presentation. On the motion of Councilor Marks, as amended by Councilor Marks twice, am I correct?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello? Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmers, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Knight? On the motion of Councilor Knight, 20647 offered by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Marks, and Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the City Council request the presence from Chief Buckley and Chief Gilberti to discuss public safety concerns dealing with our 911 system at our next scheduled meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli, would you like to speak on this? Yes, I'll start. Thank you Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you councilor Scarpelli Councilor Marks
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Vice President Carpio.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Fierce. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. And I, Sue, if I may, to the Councilors that offered the resolution, do you want a committee in the whole meeting or do you want the regular meeting, do you want them to appear? Regular meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Pears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears. The clerk has a question for Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Ioannoni, are you all set? Okay, she'll make sure. Okay, are there any questions on this? Any comments or questions on this paper?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Paris. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Marks, and Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Knight, and seconded by? Councilor Bears. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Oh, I apologize. I'm sorry. Further amended by Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, what was your amendment?
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to revert back to the regular order of business. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. At this point in time, we will now revert back to the regular order of business. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-644, offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Congresswoman Catherine Clark on her recent election as Assistant Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Anyone else like to speak on this? Okay. No hands raised. Okay, perfect. We'd like to thank Congresswoman Clark for her leadership and wish her luck and continued success. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, we can do that. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight as amended by Councilor Knight and seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-645 offered by vice-president Caraviellola. Be resolved that the Medford city council and the Medford police provide information to the community on the three level sex offenders that are being housed in a Medford rehabilitation center that is in a residential neighborhood. Vice-president Caraviellola.
[John Falco]: Well, Councilor Morell, would that be an amendment to the main motion offered by Vice President? Yes, an amendment, yes. Okay, no problem. Thank you. So on the motion by Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Morell. One minute, please. And seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. We have Councilor Bears, and then we have the Chief of Staff. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli, another Chief of Staff.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli, vice-president Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. So let's see, we have on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears, and Vice President Caraviello twice. Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez. I can't unmute him. Can you unmute him?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions, comments? Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, any of the councils, any more questions, comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none, I believe we have a couple of people that want to have their hands up. Does anyone want to speak that is on the call? Does anyone have their hand up? I don't see any hands up on the... Melanie, did you want to speak? Okay. I can't unmute. It's on the- Yes, I'm unmuted.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mallory. Any other questions or comments from the council? Would anybody else like to speak on the issue? Okay. Okay, so on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears, Vice President Caraviello, and Vice President Caraviello again. Clerk, please call the roll. Actually, in seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-646 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council receive an update from the administration on progress on initiatives laid out in the city's social justice roadmap, including but not limited to review of police policies, the Medford snap gap study, and the proposed ongoing community conversations on racism. Councilor Morell?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions or comments from the Council?
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell? Jackie Peek says her hand up. Oh, I'm sorry. Jackie Peeks. Mr. President, if I may. We have Councilor Knight first and then we're going to unmute Jackie Peeks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Is that an amendment?
[John Falco]: We'll make it a B paper. Okay. Do you have that, Clerk Carnavis? Give me a promotion.
[John Falco]: So on the motion by Councilor Knight, we'll take the B paper first. On the motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Carnavis, please call the roll. Actually, I apologize. Councilor Morell, I think you were up next.
[John Falco]: Okay. Jackie's unmuted.
[John Falco]: And I think that Thank you, Jackie.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Jackie. You're welcome. OK. On the B paper offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven. The affirmative zero. And then I get it. The motion passes on the May paper offered by Councilor Morell as amended by Councilor Morell. In seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Carnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Reports to committee is 20-576. On November 17th, 2020, the transportation subcommittee met. Councilor Scarpelli, would you like to tell us a little about that meeting on the 17th of November, since you are the chairperson?
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Scott Crowley.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scott Crowley, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise. Can I address Councilor Marks for just a second?
[John Falco]: Good job.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. So on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight, this is on the committee report. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-568 November 18th, 2020. We had a committee the whole report. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the city of Medford's existing ordinance with the zoning consultant, Mark Wabrowski. We, this is, I think maybe our third or fourth meeting. And uh, This meeting was basically, we talked about the use table and the current use table that we have here in the city, and we compared it to, actually, he compared it a lot to use tables in Haverhill and Revere, which are similar sized cities. On the motion of Councilor Knight for approval, seconded by- Say it, say it. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Bernanke, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Public participation. City Clerk, I heard of you. Do you have any emails?
[John Falco]: I don't see any hands raised here. So we'll say that is none. Uh, we have records. We have records of them.
[John Falco]: On the motion of councilor Scarapelli to take papers in the hands of the clerk, seconded by councilor Night. Clerk Hurtubisee, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Clerk Hurtubisee, could you please read the paper?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Is there another? No more papers in advance. That's it, no more papers. Records, the records of the meeting of November 17th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell, how did you find those records? All right, found them to be in order and move approval. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell to approve those records. Seconded by Councilor Naik. Clerk or enemies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. On the affirmative, zero on the negative, the motion passes. Before we adjourn the meeting tonight, on behalf of the Medford City Council, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving. And at this point, I recognize Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: I mean- The trash can is quite full back there.
[John Falco]: We'll see what we can do on that. I wouldn't mind, but I believe there's a contract cleaner that cleans the building, right?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Marks. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caprio, for your commitment to the community. We're all set, right? Yep. Okay, on the motion of Scott Soledad. Second. To adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Scott Felly. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Happy Thanksgiving. Be well and be healthy.
[John Falco]: 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. Yes. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18, and the governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting in the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information in the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen, or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website in audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email the city clerk and his email address is H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at Medford-MA.gov. That is A Hertubis at Medford-MA.gov. Mr. President, what's the motion on the rules?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to suspend the rules, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hertubis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senator Falco? Yes. Senate affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are suspended. Councilor Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: Okay, communications from the mayor. 20-641, November 13th, 2020. the electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and City Council, as I respectfully request that the City Council meet in executive session with representatives from my administration and legal council to discuss small cell telecommunications equipment siting in the city of Medford and impending litigation stemming from the same. I request that the city council go into executive session on the following topic. Executive session, Mass General Launch Chapter 30A, Section 21A3, to discuss strategy with respect to potential litigation. Celco Partnership, DBA, Verizon Wireless. As an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the city of Medford. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight to go into executive session.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The council will now move into executive session. Communications from the mayor, 20-63. No, we're under suspension. 20-635, November 5th, 2020. To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and City Council, as I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body amends the fiscal 2021 budget to appropriate 740,000 in available funds. to the following departments as follows. $200,000 for union contracts, $100,000 early retirement incentive, $10,000 translation services, $95,000 facilities manager, $200,000 with facilities maintenance. and $65,000 administrative assessor and $70,000 for 9-1-1 supervisor. Chief of staff, David Rodriguez and finance director Alicia Nonley-Benjamin are present to answer any of the council's questions regarding the matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Ioannoni, I'm sorry, did you want, I missed that last part. Did you want? Okay. So Alicia and Dave, if you'd like to speak further to this paper, we'd appreciate it. I'll unmute. Alicia, you have been unmuted. Thank you.
[John Falco]: It might be best to go over each of the positions, just to make sure we're all on the same page, bring everyone up to date. OK. Thank you.
[John Falco]: No problem. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. At this point, I recognize the city clerk, Adam Hurtubise. Clerk Hurtubise. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Moxley. If I may, is the job description already been, is that already set? I know Councilman Moxley had asked.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: So we have a motion from Vice President Caraviello that the position be filled by the second meeting in January. And then the seconded by.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Chief of staff.
[John Falco]: If I may, I thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. He had a point of information. Vice President Caraviello, at the floor. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: That's correct. Vice-President Caraviello, do you have any further questions?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Vice-President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the council? Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Okay. And the motion of Councilor Bears to table this, which is undebatable. Does this have a second? Second. Second by Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Oh, before you call the roll Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I thought you wanted to weigh in again. Okay. I apologize. On the motion of Councilor Bears to table seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The paper has been tabled.
[John Falco]: While we're under suspension, 20-476, which is eligible for its third reading. Second. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: To take it off the table, correct.
[John Falco]: Is it City Council on October 13th, 2020 for its first reading. Advertise November 5th, 2020 in the amendment transcript and it is eligible tonight for its third reading, November 17th, 2020. Move approval.
[John Falco]: I motion Council Knight to approve. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Any motion of Councilor Knight? Seconded by Councilor Villescaz to revert back to the regular order of business. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Setting the affirmative, adjourning the negative, the motion passes. Okay, hearings. 20-600 petition for grant of location, National Grid, gas main locations, Medford, Massachusetts, city clerk's office. This is a continuation of a public hearing from last week. I believe we have someone on the, let's see, we have Diana Cuddy from National Grid with us, if I'm correct?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Diana. When we last left off, I believe Councilor Marks had questions, if I'm correct.
[John Falco]: Diana, if you could please provide us with an update. Thank you.
[John Falco]: And the motion of council on night to table this to the second meeting of November, which I believe is December 8th, seconded by vice-president Caraviello. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent, the motion passes and the matter is tabled until December 8th.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. Okay, so that has been tabled to December 8th. The notice of a public hearing, 20-622 petition for grant of location, National Grid, gas main locations, Medford, Massachusetts, City Clerk's office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, Medford City Council will hold a public hearing via Zoom on November 17th, 2020. 2020, a link to be posted no later than Friday, November 13th, 2020 on a petition of Boston Gas DBA National Grid for permission to locate gas mains as herein after described for the transmission of gas in and under the following public streets, lanes, highways, and places of the city of Medford.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, to waive the reading to have a brief synopsis from a representative from National Grid. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: President Falco. The motion passes. Ms. Cuddy, if you could please give us a brief synopsis of the project.
[John Falco]: Thank you. This here has been approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions. The engineering division recommends that the grant application be approved with the following conditions. Number one, the grant application is limited to approximately 532 feet of plastic gas main as described in the petition. To install and maintain approximately 532 feet of new four-inch plastic main extension from the existing two-inch plastic main in the Whitty Hill Road going on to Medford Street and extending to the service location at 87 Medford. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSAFE. It shall obtain all applicable permits. from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances. are adversely impacted, National Grid shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Number four, the sidewalk and street restoration must be done in consultation with the engineering division and per the requirements of an approved street opening permit. The concrete sidewalk must be replaced in kind and cleanly cut at the control joints. The de minimis concrete pavement over the trench shall be milled and overlaid as described below. A Winter Hill Road includes approximately 130 feet of new gas main. This section of the street also includes trench patches associated with gas service work. Winter Hill Road should be restored with a mill and overlay that encompasses past national grid patches. B, the side of Medford Street with the proposed main includes multiple gas related trench patches that extend to the center seam of the roadway asphalt. It also includes trenches associated with other utility connections for 87 Medford Street. The Medford Street surface restoration should include mill and overlay from curb to central line seam. C, it is the understanding of the engineering division that the owner of the 87 Method Street project will provide the street restoration. The engineering division takes no exception to the owner providing this scope. However, National Grid remains responsible for confirming that the restoration is performed in accordance with this grant of location, the standards of the city of Medford, and the associated street opening permit. Number five, the new four inch gas main appears to be offset with the existing drain line by approximately three feet. This offset should be confirmed and maintained. Number six, the new four inch gas main appears to pass in between two drainage structures near 85 Medford Street. The condition of these structures in lateral must be verified before and after construction with the highway division. Number seven, pavement markings must be restored. Number eight, the project site must be swept daily and shall be kept free of debris for the duration of the installation. Number nine, Medford Street is a highly traveled roadway for vehicles as well as pedestrians. A detailed traffic management plan must be submitted to the engineering division for review and approved prior to receiving a street opening permit. The TMP traffic management plan must include accommodations for pedestrians in addition to vehicles. Number 10, the plan submitted with the petition is not stamped by a professional engineer. National grid must, must submit a professional engineer stamp plan to the engineering division prior to release of a street opening permit. Number 11, only one service is shown 87 Medford street. This project is limited to that one service. If national grid, Plans to provide additional services, especially to the east side of Medford Street as part of this project, the engineering division must be notified and the surface restoration must be curb to curb. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodation. AIDS, TDD, 781-393-2516. For further information, contact the city clerk at 781-393-2425. The city of Medford is an EEO, AA 504 employer. By order of the city council, Adam L. Herdeby, city clerk. At this point, I would declare the public hearing open. Open to those in favor of the petition. Ms. Cuddy, would you just give your name and address for the record, please, if you are in favor?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that is in favor of the petition that would like to speak? Anyone? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone online tonight that is in opposition to the petition that would like to speak? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Do any of the councilors have questions? Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Tim McGivern, I'm going to unmute you. Okay, Tim McGivern, City Engineer.
[John Falco]: Hi, Tim.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yeah. Tim, that was to you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. Any questions from the council? Vice President Caraviello to approve. Seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Motions, orders and resolutions 20-640 offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight. Be resolved. That the Medford City Council send its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of long time West Medford resident, Leo McHugh, whose presence in our community will be dearly missed. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Moniz.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And I just want to thank my council colleagues as well for bringing this forward. Leo was a great guy. I met him when I first got involved in running for office. He was always very encouraging, always willing to talk about issues, and a big, big part of the Democratic Wood City Committee. He will be sorely missed, and our thoughts and prayers go to his family. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Beer, should take... Oh, I'm sorry. On the motion of, let's see, on the motion of Vice-President Caraviello and Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Burnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. And the affirmative. The negative motion passes. On the motion of council Scarpelli seconded by council appears that we take papers on the suspension. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-642 offered by Councilor Marks and Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for a long time, met with President Trieste Silvio on his recent passing. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. At this point, I would ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Marks and Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight, that we have a brief moment of silence and that we dedicate this meeting in Mr. Silvio's name. On that motion, collector to be, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Reports of committees, Tuesday, 5, 4, 5, November 10th, 2020. Subcommittee on ordinance report. Councilor Knight, would you like to speak to that?
[John Falco]: Great news. Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. If I'm correct, it's records, right? Two sets. Two sets of records. So we have the records. The table of records of October 27, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to approve the records, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, how to be, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Councilor Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Excuse me, the records of the meeting of November 10th were passed to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Lateef to approve the records. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The negative motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council appears to adjourn the meeting.
[John Falco]: Council remarks.
[John Falco]: I don't mind. I'll buy it.
[John Falco]: Correct. And I was, I was waiting for department heads to get back to me. So I haven't heard from everyone, but I'll give a final call.
[John Falco]: I would agree with you as well. Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, that we adjourn the meeting. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative. During the negative. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night.
[John Falco]: The 32nd regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. At this time, I would ask everyone to 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. In one minute, we will. Councilor Knight, thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting log. Councilor Knight, thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting log. Councilor Knight, thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting log.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting log. Councilor Knight, thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting in the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting maybe can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the The public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website, in audio or video recording, transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Okay. A motion of council, council make to suspend the rules. Seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 78 members. 7 in favor. 0 opposed. The rules are suspended. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry. Councilor Knight, you said the 20559? Yes, followed by 20634 and 635.
[John Falco]: 20-559 offered by Councilor Knight. Update on the current fiscal circumstances and projections following the close of the first quarter of the fiscal year. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So we have Aleesha Nunley with us. Alicia.
[John Falco]: One minute, we're gonna take care of that. Okay, you should be able to share your screen. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Can you hear it now?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any questions from the council? Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council. Vice President Caraviello, then Councilor Morell, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, if I may, do you want to add that as an amendment to the paper that we receive an update with regard to the HVAC situation at Medford High School or- Yes, if you could add that as an amendment to the paper.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President. Point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: So you have an amendment by- Second the motion. Councilor Scarpelli as well.
[John Falco]: We have that amendment. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Council Morell.
[John Falco]: OK, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli. Talk all night.
[John Falco]: So we have the amendment, the amendment would be to get year-to-date, that's calendar year, January 1st. Perfect, okay, great. Councilor Knight, if you wouldn't mind, if I ask a quick question. Thank you. So let's see, so Alicia, thank you very much for your report, appreciate it. Would it be possible that the council gets a copy of that report?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. And with regard to, you talked about your month being closed. You're closing the month of October still, am I correct?
[John Falco]: Oh, you're closing the fiscal year. Okay, okay. And... I kind of, I guess, have a more specific question because I know we had a lot of discussion in our prior meetings about KP Law. How did those numbers look so far with regard to Q1, what was budgeted versus what was actually spent? I know there's a lot of projects going on. I know we've had a number of meetings for different ordinances. We've had different attorneys from KP Law helping us with each of those projects. And I believe they're also helping out on the 40B front as well. So I was wondering if you could just kind of comment on that as to where we are. Are we in line with what we have budgeted for that specific expense to KP Law?
[John Falco]: So if I'm correct, 40 Bs are outside of the $60,000 contract? The $5,000 a month retainer, yes.
[John Falco]: Okay, so can we get a breakdown of that if someone else wants to offer that? So if I, on the motion of... Vice President Caraviello to seconded by Councilor Knight to get a breakdown of the fees so far paid to KP Law under the $5,000 a month contract and with regard to any work that's done, for example, like 40 Bs outside of that.
[John Falco]: And if I may, more specifically, Alicia, have we paid any claims in excess of $5,000 this calendar year that did not come before the council for approval?
[John Falco]: I apologize. Any claims against the city in excess of $5,000?
[John Falco]: Okay. Could you please actually vice-president. If vice-president Caraviello, if you wouldn't mind, if we could have an amendment to the paper to get a breakdown of all claims that have been paid over $5,000 since January 1st, 2020. Anything pending? Seconded by Councilman. They're all amendments. And if I may, last but not least, and this is for Dave Rodriguez, Chief of Staff. I believe Council Knight has asked repeatedly since January 1st for a breakdown of consultants that the administration has hired. Are we gonna get that breakdown of the consultants, who's been hired, what they're doing, how much they're paid? It seems to have fallen upon deaf ears. I know it's a request that's been made numerous times by this council and we have yet to receive any type of documentation.
[John Falco]: It was a breakdown of consultants that were hired? In what they're doing? Yep. And how much they're being paid?
[John Falco]: If you could resend that, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: A number of my colleagues don't remember seeing that. I know I haven't seen it, so.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Any other council, any other questions from the council? Okay, Alicia, thank you for your presentation. On the motion of council and I, Seconded by Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Knight, Vice President Caraviello, and Vice President Caraviello. On that motion, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmatives, zero negatives. The motion passes. We're under suspension. We have 20-634, communications from the mayor, November 5th, 2020, to the honorable president and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves to partially rescind the appropriation of free cash per council paper 20-464 in the amount of $703,000 that was used to subsidize the fiscal 2021 general fund budget due to the health pandemic and current economic conditions. The balance of free cash before this vote is 5,022,279.90. Finance director Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin is present to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter.
[John Falco]: Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehnbeck.
[John Falco]: I just want to make sure that nobody wants to speak.
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Scarapelli.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Alicia, if you could please give us a free synopsis of the paper.
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions? Oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So if I may, a lot of the questions that are being asked, I think right now are pertaining to the next paper, which is 635. So this is 634, which is for the 703,000. Okay, so on the motion of councilor Scott Peli to approve the paper seconded by councilor Bears. Clerk Cunaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven. The affirmative zero in the negative. The motion passes. All right. A suspension to zero dash six, three, five communications from the mayor, November 5th, 2020 to the honorable president and members of the Medford city council, city hall, Medford, Massachusetts, zero two one five five. Dear Mr. President and City Council, as I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body amends the fiscal 2021 budget to appropriate $740,000 in zero cents in available funds to the following departments as follows. 200,000 for union contracts, $100,000 for early retirement incentive, So 200,000 union contracts, the account description is negotiated salaries. 100,000 early retirement incentives, account description is negotiated salaries. $10,000 for translation services. And that's the description of the accounts translation services. $95,000 for facilities, salary expense facility managers, full-time salaries. $200,000 facilities maintenance, that's for maintenance. The assessor, $65,000 for administrative assessor, that's full-time salaries. And for the police, 70,000 for the 911 supervisor, and that is full-time salaries. Alicia, would you like to comment on this paper?
[John Falco]: Mr. President? Yes, actually, I'm sorry, Councilor Scott Peli, that is for Councilor Marks. Councilor Scott Peli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So just to repeat Councilor Marks, we'd like to invoke rule 20, which rule 20, section four states, any finance paper appearing on the council agenda for the first time shall be automatically laid on the table for one week when such action is requested by any councilor. On that motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: We're not going Councilor Morell, could you please repeat the amendment just so the clerk can get that?
[John Falco]: And that was seconded by Councilor Knight. So we have Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Counsel night.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Counsel Beers.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council appears. Any other questions from the council? If I may really quick, um, uh, I get a question regarding, um, Well, first of all, I want to say support Councilor Marks, you mentioned the election coordinator. I think everyone has through the last few months. It's definitely something that is needed. And I think at one point there was maybe a recommendation that had come from maybe the facilities expense, but Alicia and Chief of Staff Rodriguez, with regard to the billboard agreement and the extra $250,000 that was not included in the budget, has that been allocated yet? Is there any plans for that money? I know I have recommended that it goes to the schools, but if not, I mean, is that something where we could allocate some of that money or some of that facilities money to the election coordinator and then backfill the facilities maintenance with some of the money from the billboard agreement?
[John Falco]: And can you elaborate on those?
[John Falco]: I'm sorry, what's the expectation?
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the council? Okay. So rule 20 has been invoked and this will lay on the table until next week. Okay. On the motion of council tonight to revert back to the regular order of business.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative. Janet, the negative. The motion passes. If you've worked to the regular order business, we will go to hearings. This is actually a hearing, 2-0-6-0-0, petition for grant of location, National Grid, gas main locations, Meffin, Massachusetts, City Clerk's Office. This is a continuation of a public hearing that we had two weeks ago, and I believe at that time there were a number of questions that the council had, and let's see, National Grid was going to come back to us to answer those questions.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council of nine to read and reconvene the hearing seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. The motion passes. And let's see, we have, do we have a representative from National Good on the line?
[John Falco]: Thank you for being with us tonight.
[John Falco]: There were a number of questions last time, I believe. Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Yep, Tim's on the line. Tim McGiven, our city engineer is on the line. Tim.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, can you repeat your question, please?
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Marks, you had the floor. There are a number of points of information, but there are a number of Councilors that want to speak. So I wasn't sure, did you want to continue your questioning or?
[John Falco]: We have Councilor Peers, Councilor Ntuk, Councilor Morell, Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Pierres. Let's see, Councilor Nait, then Councilor Morell. Councilor Nait.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Tim, do you want to talk to that or National Grid?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell, you had the floor.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Morillo. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Are there any other questions from the council before we move forward? Okay, at this point, I call upon the clerk. I believe at the last meeting we had, there were a number of amendments that were made to this. Is that, am I correct?
[John Falco]: And Ms. Cuddy did mention earlier that she would have someone with a cell phone number, people would be able to contact.
[John Falco]: Mr. McKibbin, could you comment on that, please?
[John Falco]: So are you recommending to change the language then, Tim?
[John Falco]: Ms.
[John Falco]: Ms. Cuddy, would you be willing to go back to the people that you would talk to about this?
[John Falco]: I motion by Councilor Markswell to lay it on the table for one week. seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hertovich, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The paper is tabled for one week until our next meeting, which will be Tuesday, November 17th. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Notice of a public hearing petition. Actually, do we have someone off from Comcast? Let's make sure we have that first. Is he here? There he is. One minute. Okay. Notice of a public hearing 20-621. petition for grant of location, Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC, underground electrical, I'm sorry, underground electric conduits, manholes, wires, and cables, Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified. By order of the Medford City Council, public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10th, 2020. A late to be posted no later than Friday, November 6th, 2020 on a petition of Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC for permission to lay and maintain underground conduits and manholes with the wires and cables to be placed therein as requested in the petition dated October 2nd, 2020. Files herewith and available for inspection in the office of the city clerk Under the following public ways and ways of said city of Medford, City Hall Mall, locating the existing conduit in front of City Hall and placing a two by three vault over the conduit. From this newly placed vault, excavating a place one, four inch PVC conduit, 136 plus or minus across City Hall Mall to number 26 City Hall Mall. On the motion of Councilor Knight to waive the reading for brief synopsis by the city engineer. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, you're to please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. The motion passes. Let's see. Did you want to hear from, was it the city engineer? Yes, let's go. Tim McGivern. Tim, if you could give us a brief synopsis of the project and talk about some of the conditions that you placed on this.
[John Falco]: Thanks. Thank you. Dave, would you like to speak to the project?
[John Falco]: Actually, David, if you could just give us a brief synopsis of the project, then we'll open up the hearing for those in favor and those against. So if you could please just give us a brief synopsis of the project, anything that the city engineer left out.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. At this point, I declare the public hearing open, open to anyone in favor of the proposal. Dave, I assume you're in favor. If you could please give me a name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay. Anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak? Okay. Hearing and seeing none. I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition to the petition? Anyone in opposition? Okay. Hearing and seeing none. I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Is that correct?
[John Falco]: Mr. Engineer, if you could please speak to that, that would be great.
[John Falco]: Okay, any other questions from the council? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Okay. This was approved by the engineer with the following conditions.
[John Falco]: Second. On a motion of Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll for approval.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, zero to the negative. The motion passes. Motions, orders, and resolutions.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President. Thank you, President Gabrielo. I just wanted to acknowledge those who protect us by their service to our country. And on behalf of the Medford City Council, just say thank you to everyone. And also, happy birthday to the Marine Corps. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Sorry, I called out of order. President Falco. I was just saying yes to the seven affirmatives.
[John Falco]: President Caraviello, if I may suspend the rules to take a number of resolutions out of order.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I was walking through the neighborhood just about a week ago, through that Tainter Street, Park Street neighborhood. And I couldn't help but notice that the crosswalks in the vicinity of Roberts Elementary School, that particular crosswalk in that location needs to be painted. Looks like it hasn't been painted in quite some time. So I'd like to request that that be painted ASAP in the interest of public safety. And if I could amend the resolution that if the DPW could please just check into the various crosswalks in the vicinity of each of our schools to make sure that they are painted, or if they need painting, painted as soon as possible, since we do have students that are attending schools, and if they need to be painted, we should make sure that that gets done as soon as possible. It should have been done by now, but we just need to make sure it gets done as soon as possible. Move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. As I was walking during the same tour, I was actually walking through the neighborhood, walked into the Roberts Elementary School parking lot, and I was talking to one of the neighbors. And I guess during the summer, parking lot. There was a portion of the parking lot. I believe that was maybe used as a staging area for some work that was done, I believe, in the Salmon Street location. And I believe there was a pile of dirt that was left that was basically in the parking lot. The dirt has been removed, but there's still a layer on the ground there that, you know, It's a bit of a safety hazard. It's blowing into people's yards, windows, if they have their windows open. So if we could please have the street sweeper, if the DPW could send the street sweeper by to clean up that lot in the interest of public safety, I'd greatly appreciate it. Move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Just the Tainter Street entrance of the Roberts Elementary School, it's The trees that abut the neighbors on the side, a little bit out of control, they need to be trimmed back. And the sewer, the Tantor Street entrance is covered over with leaves. I don't think it's been cleaned in some time. So if we could please have the DPW go by and clear the sewer and clean the drain out, clear the leaves and trim the bushes in that side of the parking lot. I greatly appreciate it. Move for approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. 248 Park Street, the panel is raised and it's a trip hazard for anyone that's walking down Park Street. Actually, I'm sorry, that one's cracked and it's got a number of cracks in it. It's right near the, I guess the, It's kind of like right out there on the corner. So there are a number of cracks in that panel that really, it really needs to be replaced. It's definitely a trip hazard to anyone that's crossing in that location. And the panel at 44 Tanker as well, that has lifted up and definitely a trip hazard. So in the interest of public safety, we could please add those to the list of sidewalk panels that need to be replaced or repaired. Move approval.
[John Falco]: On the motion, a motion to Council of Mayors, seconded by Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 1-9-660. On the motion of council night to table the ordinance amending, actually, I'm sorry, to table the promote, prevent, support behavioral health commission ordinance, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Okay. So we will table that until we can get this updated. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Where's that again?
[John Falco]: Do you have that change? On the motion of table offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk here to please call the roll. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. 7 affirmers during the negative. The motion passes. We already took up two zero five five nine two zero six two five offered by consular marks. Whereas public safety concerns raised almost two years ago to city officials by residents living in the neighborhood of Fulton spring road, bells at Murray Hill road and fells out of terrorists have gone without any response or relief from the city. And whereas it's known known fact that many roads in North Medford are used as cut-through, and whereas the Medford City Council requested that a complete traffic study be done of the entire area to help alleviate concerns of area residents regarding speeding and cut-through traffic. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold an on-site committee of the whole meeting on either Saturday, November 21st or Saturday, November 28th, and invite area neighbors, police, Chief Buckley, City Engineer Tim McGibbon, Traffic Engineer Tom Blake, Mayor's Office, and DPW Commissioner Brian Kearns, Catholics.
[John Falco]: I can do that?
[John Falco]: And if I may, I want to thank Council Marks for bringing this forward as I very well know how painful the traffic is in this area. I live on Fulton Spring Road and I think I've told you before. I'm not getting out of the morning. That's how bad the traffic is. Even during the pandemic did a lot of for a while. But even during the pandemic, you know, it's it's an issue in the morning. And I even between the stop signs of and I can speak this person because I live there. The stop signs between Fulton Spring and Fulton Street in Fulton literally the traffic, it's like people race to get from one stop sign to the next. And it, it is, it is a safety hazard. And I've, I've talked to the, um, to, uh, Sergeant Hartman about this before in the past. Uh, so he's, I think everyone's well aware of it, but you're right. These things need to be addressed. And the last time I, because I would get a lot of calls with regard to, um, traffic in the morning because pre-pandemic the traffic literally used to go up Fells Ave and down the other side. It was like a parade of cars. And I think that what happened was at one point they were trying to go before the Malden traffic commission to see if they could shut down kind of the traffic coming in on the Malden side. But I think Malden said no to it, I think. But that's something we could discuss at the meeting. And I think that's why they couldn't alleviate some of the traffic. But we need to look at something. You are 100% correct. It needs to be addressed. So if you don't mind me asking now, is everyone available on the 21st of November? Is that I can get on it right away? No. Okay, we have a no.
[John Falco]: Also, what time are we thinking? The 28th would be an issue. What time are we thinking? That also has an impact. I mean, I would say probably preferably in the morning.
[John Falco]: Okay, so let's do the 21st. Is it 11 a.m. or 10 a.m.? What works best? 11 would be great.
[John Falco]: Yeah.
[John Falco]: No, 21st.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council of Marks second of I vice-president Cobb yellow or Kirby's please call the roll As amended by Councilor Haynes.
[John Falco]: Okay. You said as far as invite, as far as, make sure you get the list of people that we want to invite.
[John Falco]: That's good. I'll put that together.
[John Falco]: Yeah, Fern Road. Yeah, Fern Road.
[John Falco]: Yeah. So you have Fern Road, Fulton Springs, Wells Ave. Westfield.
[John Falco]: Yeah, because then you get like, if you have Rockland, then you want like Vista Ave, Lookout Road. There's a bunch of- Yeah, yeah.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Knight as amended by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yes. So the affirmative is here and the negative, the motion passes. 20-626 offered by Councilor Marks, be resolved that the four-way stop at the intersection of Doonan and Park Ave be discussed in the interest of public safety. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion to cut to 05, Vice President Cabiela.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven. The affirmative zero in the negative. The motion passes two zero dash six, two seven offered by consulate Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford city council request that the city administration installed pedestrian crossing signs at the Winthrop street crosswalks at the intersection of place, Ted road in the interest of safety. Consulate Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears, and seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Ker-Gibbs, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-628 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved. by the Medford City Council that the residents of Medford are encouraged to attend the MBTA public meeting on Thursday, November 12th at 6 p.m. via Zoom regarding service cuts and changes for our area Minuteman Region 2. Registration link and additional information can be found at mbta.com forward slash events. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, thank you, Councilor Bears, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: And this is a very important issue. Councilor Bears, I thank you for bringing it forward, especially if you look at somewhere like North Bedford, Fulton Heights, the 710 bus. Once that goes away, that means North Bedford is pretty much not serviced by any type of public transportation, which is unfortunate. because people do actually use that bus. So thank you for bringing this forward. Councilor Knight, great idea with regard to the robo call because people need to get involved and they need to rally around this.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Marksley, I agree with you 100%. And we've talked about this many times, especially with regard to the 325 and 326. Those bus routes were more popular than ever. And they were still trying to cut them. And here they are, they cut them. Councilor Bearsley, you're 100% right. You have to fight tooth and nail to get them back. And so, you know, hopefully people will get on the call. Hopefully that will help, but from watching the news tonight, as you said, Councilor Marksley, and I watched it before it came down to City Hall tonight, it's drastic. They're cutting everything, it seems like. So we'll have to keep an eye on that, but hopefully residents will tune in. And Councilor Bears, thank you for bringing this forward. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by? Councilor Scarpelli. As amended by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative. Zero. The negative. The motion passes two zero dash six, two nine offered by council appears to be resolved by the method city council that Tufts university remove construction materials from the sidewalks on college Avenue and keep all Jersey barriers in a consistent and stationary position to avoid encroachment on travel lanes and sidewalks. Be it further resolved that Tufts University adjust the placement of the construction sign in front of the Tisch Gantt Center so it is not blocking the sidewalk, consulting with City of Medford staff or Greenline Extension project staff if necessary. Be it further resolved that Tufts University create and share a policy for contractors and construction partners to ensure unencumbered access to sidewalks and to store construction materials on Tufts property, not on public property, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Thank you, Councilor Knight. I have a motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Yes. Yes. 70 affirmer of zero in the negative. The motion passes. Reports of committees, two zero dash zero two four, October 27th, 2020 committee. The whole report that was a report regarding the affordable housing trusts. On the motion of council. We'll seconded by council affairs. Clerk Hurtubise please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-602, October 27th, 2020, City Council Caucus Report. That was, we caucused for leadership for 2021.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight for approval, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Carter, will you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. I mean, the affirmative zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Yes. On the motion of council night to take papers in the hands of the clerk. On that motion clerk Hernandez please call the roll. I'm seconded by Councilor Scarpella.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in favor, reserve the negative. Motion passes. Do you have the papers? You need one minute. The clerk.
[John Falco]: Do you want to?
[John Falco]: There you go, Senior Member Mox. You have the floor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Hoyt. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Happy anniversary to the Crotty's.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President, carry on.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Congratulations to the cronies on the 50th anniversary. On the motion of Councilor Marks and Councilor Knights. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senator the affirmative. Zero in the negative. The motion passes. Our next resolution that is on the suspension is offered by vice-president Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford city council ask the Medford police to look into overnight parking of tractor trailer vehicles on commercial street.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Good point. Why not? Charge them.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second. Councilor Bears, Clerk Hertovich, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Before we adjourn, I'm going to recognize Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. God bless. Scarpelli. So records, the records of the meeting of October 27th, 2020 were passed to Council. And I, Councilor Knight, how do you find those records? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight to table those records, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Second the affirmative. Adjourn the negative. Those records are tabled. On the motion to adjourn the meeting. Second. On the motion of Councilor Bears. Motion adjourned. Seconded by. Second. Councilor Scott-Pelly. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe. Be healthy.
[John Falco]: The 31st regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Board of Trustees, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members of the president at this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: Yes, one minute please. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Manfred City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen. or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website, an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email our city clerk, Adam Hurtubise at A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at medford-ma.gov. On the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rule, seconded by? Second. Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are now suspended. petitions, presentations, and similar papers. 20-616, petition for common vigilance license by Scott Cullinane, 6 Thomas Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. For Medford, Malden, Elks, number 915, 19 Washington Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate number 187, buildings department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer. At this point, I recognize the chair of the licensing subcommittee, Councilor Scarpell.
[John Falco]: Mr. Cullen.
[John Falco]: We just need you to name and address for the record and then Councilor Scarpelli, I'm sorry, did you want a brief?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears. Are there any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Councilor Ntuk, they also have a great free-throw shooting contest every year for the youth of our community, so thank you very much for everything you do. On the motion- Mr. President, before you call- Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Oh, there you go.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions from the council? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Good point, Councilor Knight. Any other questions? Okay. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations and good luck.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Have a good night.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Next item. Key one nine dash six six zero motions under motions, orders and resolutions. This is the promote, prevent, support behavioral health commission being ordained by the city council of the city of Medford. Chapter X of the ordinances of the City of Medford, as most recently amended, is hereby further amended to insert the following after the present article, the following article. Promote, prevent, support Behavioral Health Commission. The purpose, to monitor, track, inform, and make recommendations to city officials and policy makers in the City of Medford about behavioral health data, issues, needs, and efforts within the city. The Medford promote, prevent, support Behavioral Health Commission shall, build community partnerships and collaboration amongst providers, social services organizations, and city government to identify and address the social determinants of health, social, environmental, and economic challenges that contribute to poor behavioral health, poor behavioral mental health and substance use outcomes. Serve as an advisory board to the city on all matters dealing with behavioral health and make recommendations to address needs such as evidence-based practices, programs, and systems. environmental or policy changes to prevent behavioral health disorders and promote behavioral health and wellness. Set overall community-wide goals and create a strategic plan for achieving mental and emotional well-being for all residents of Medford. Be the clearinghouse and repository for behavioral health programming and plans within the city to ensure efforts are purposeful and aligned with overall strategic planning goals. Behavioral health is a state of mental and emotional being and or choices in actions that affect wellness. Substance abuse and misuse are one set of behavioral health problems. Others include, but are not limited to, serious psychological distress, suicide, and mental illness, SAMHSA 2011. Specific goals may be approved by the commission as it seeks to fulfill.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight to waive the reading.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, can I please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. On the motion.
[John Falco]: On that motion by Councilor Knight. Mr. President. On the motion by Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Bears, we have Councilor Scarpelli, and then Council Marks, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: You are correct. That was voted on by the council.
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Council, I think this needs to be tabled until we get, thank you for calling this out. It seems that this here has a couple of edits that still need to be made. I'm wondering if maybe the solicitor maybe made some of the corrections off of her notes.
[John Falco]: Incorporate everything. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Marks to table this, Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. This item is tabled.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Bears to refer back to the regular order of business. Clerk Burnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I mean the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Hearings, 20-569, City of Medford notice of a public hearing. A public hearing via Zoom, remote video conferencing on Tuesday evening, October 27th, 2020 at 7 p.m. on a petition from Luis Rodriguez of Luz Auto Works of 134,000. Mr. Gavin effort for class for auto repair use special permit in accordance with Chapter 94 zoning ordinance of the city of Medford section 94-148 D table of use regulations automobile uses 37 for permission to operate its automotive repair establishment at 134 Mystic Avenue. Medford, Massachusetts, a commercial 2C2 zoning district. The Zoom link for this meeting will be posted no later than October 23rd, 2020. Petition and plan may be seen in the office of the City Clerk. Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts. Call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations and or aids. TDD 781-393-2516. The City of Medford is an EEO AA 504 employer. by order of the Method City Council. Signed by Anna Malher to be City Clerk. This was advertised in the Method transcript on October 8th and October 15th. At this point, I declare a public hearing open. Open to those in favor of the petition. I believe I saw Mr. Rodriguez out here. Mr. Rodriguez, if we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay, and you are in favor of the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak? Mr. Clerk, I don't see anyone in favor. Did you want to make sure I'm not missing anyone?
[John Falco]: Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition to the petition? Anyone in opposition? Is there anyone in opposition that'd like to speak on this matter? Court Kirby's, I don't see anyone on this one either.
[John Falco]: Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Mr. Rodriguez, could you clarify? Councilor Knight has a question.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Chairperson of licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: What is class four, the definition class four?
[John Falco]: Clerk Hurtubise, would you know the definition of class four auto repair?
[John Falco]: No, it's not heavy trucks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the council? None. Okay, any questions here? Okay. No hands raised. Okay, on the motion of Council Knight, seconded by- Second. Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Let's see, Mr. Rodriguez, congratulations. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you. See, Clerk Kurtabees, do we have a representative from National Grid with us?
[John Falco]: Okay. 2-0-6-0-0, petition for grant of location, National Grid Gas Main Locations, Medford, Massachusetts, City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, the Medford City Council will hold a public hearing via Zoom on October 27, 2020. A link will be posted no later than Friday, October 23rd, 2020, on a petition for Boston Gas DBA National Grid for permission to locate. gas mains as here and described for the transmission of gas in and out of the following public streets, lanes, highways, and places of the city of Medford in of the pipes, valves, governors, manholes, and other structures, pictures, appearances designed or intended to protect or operate said mains and accomplish the objective objects of said company in the digging up and opening the ground to play or play sand. The, to install approximately 1,570 feet of eight-inch plastic gas main in approximately 170 feet of six-inch plastic gas main along Riverside Avenue, including all tie-ins and stubs on associated cross streets, as shown on the plans dated August 20th, 2020, and available for inspection in the city clerk's, in the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, room 10385, George P. Hassett Drive, Massachusetts 02155. We afford a praise that after due notice and hearing as provided by law, it is granted a location for in permission to locate gas means as described above for the transmission of gas in and under the above. named streets, lanes, highways, and places of the city of Medford substantially as described in the petition date, August 20th, 2020, and available for inspection in the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, room 103, 85 George P. Assett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, and of the pipes, valves, governors, manholes, and other structures, fixtures, and appearances. designed or intended to protect or operate said mains and accomplish the objects of said company in the digging up in opening the ground to lay or play same and hereby consented to in approved. This was approved by the city engineer with the following conditions. The engineering division recommends that the grant of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, these conditions include minor revisions to the proposed gas main routing. National grid must submit a final revised set to the engineering division prior to release of a street opening permit. This set of drawings must be stamped by a registered professional engineer. Number two, the grant of location, GOL, is limited to approximately 1,570 feet of 8-inch plastic gas main, 170 feet of 6-inch plastic gas main and associated Number three, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSIG and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 94-144 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. At a minimum, the street opening permit application must include a traffic management plan for review and approval. Number four, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances are adversely impacted. National Grid shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Number five, the project site must be swept daily and shall be kept safe of debris for the duration of the installation. Number six, Riverside Avenue is a highly traveled roadway for vehicles as well as pedestrians. A detailed traffic management plan must be submitted to the engineering division for review and approval prior to receiving a street opening permit. The traffic master management plan must include accommodations for pedestrians in addition to vehicles. Number seven, the proposed gas main crosses the stormwater drainage pipes in multiple locations along the route. The drainage pipe shall be video inspected, so the city may evaluate these pipes. Drain pipes that are in poor condition must be replaced by national grid. Number eight, there appears to be locations along the proposed route where the new gas main is laid too close to the... to the Medford 16-inch water main. The new gas main layout should be revised to maintain at least four feet offset from the Medford water main. Isolated locations of reduced encroachment may be allowed with approval by the Water and Sewer Division and Engineering Division. Number nine, the work located at the Locust Street intersection in the Spring Street intersection appears to disturb the traffic detection loops. If the traffic loops are disturbed, they must be replaced in kind and in condition with the superintendent of wires in the engineering division. Number 10, utility relocations that were performed by the MWRA as part of their section 57 project are shown on the plan and appear to be coordinated. National Grid shall confirm utility relocations with the MWRA and revise the plan as needed to eliminate potential conflicts and to provide sufficient offsets. Number 11, at the intersection with Locust Street, there appears to be a gas valve in conflict with the Medford 16-inch water main. The plan should be revised to remove the valve, to move the valve at least four feet from the water main. 12. The scope of the MWRA Section 57 project includes resurfacing and striping this portion of Riverside Avenue. The Engineering Division requests that National Grid contribute the cost of final restoration to other paving in the City. This can be coordinated with the Engineering Division. Number 13, the plan includes work in Linden Street. Linden Street was recently paved. The engineering divisions understood that National Grid completed Linden Street work prior to paving. If this is not the case, then Linden Street must be restored curb to curb for a length of at least 50 feet measured from the near curb line on Riverside Avenue or 10 feet beyond National Grid scope of work, whichever is greater. Number 14, MWR permits are required to perform this work. Copies of the MWRRA permits must be submitted to the engineering division with the street opening permit application. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations. and or AIDS, TDD 781-393-2516. For further information, contact the city clerk at 781-393-2425. The city of Medford is an EEOAA 504 employer. By order of the city council, signed by Adam L. Hurtubise, city clerk. I declare this public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Is there anyone, let's see, I believe is it Ms. Cuddy?
[John Falco]: Is there anyone else in favor that would like to speak? in favor of the petition. Anyone else here that would like to speak in favor of this petition? Okay, Clerk Kierkegaard, I don't see anyone else. Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone in opposition of the petition that would like to speak? Okay, I don't see anyone with their hand up. the hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the council? Yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: There is a, number nine, there's a mention of Locust Street.
[John Falco]: I'm not sure if this helps, but number nine says the work located at the Locust Street intersection and the Spring Street intersection appears to disturb the traffic detection loops.
[John Falco]: That's not that big of an area.
[John Falco]: Yeah, that's 500 yards.
[John Falco]: 1,570 feet.
[John Falco]: Mr. Clark, do you know if the city engineer is on the call? I do not see him on the call.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks, if I may, first and foremost, they're trying to get in touch with the engineer right now. So a call has been made to him, or at least they're trying to contact him. The other thing I wanted to check was with our city clerk. Do you have all of Councilor Marks' recommendations?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So, Councilor Marks, if I'm correct, you haven't officially, a number of Councilors have questions. You haven't officially asked to table this.
[John Falco]: I would agree with you a hundred percent. Okay, we have a number of questions. We have Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Beard, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Clerk Hertoghis, do you have the information?
[John Falco]: Correct. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: And do not think...Clerk Hurtubise, has the city engineer been contacted yet, or has he called in, do you know?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: She's looking into it. OK.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay. And if I may, I just want to let you know, uh, the city engineer has just joined us. So, um, come on down.
[John Falco]: Uh, so let's see. First and foremost, uh, Clark, Carterbies, do you have a council nights recommendations?
[John Falco]: Okay. Clerk, are we all set?
[John Falco]: OK. At this point, I recognize Consular Marks. I believe you had questions for our city engineer. Sure. Let's see. I'm going to unmute Tim McGivern. OK. Thank you, Tim. Consular Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you to Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have all of the updated language from Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: He's on mute. Sorry. MWI is already there.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council? Okay, the chair awaits a motion. Did you get all the answers you wanted to capitalize?
[John Falco]: OK, we have one more question from Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of clarification, Councilor.
[John Falco]: And the memo from Tim McGivern is dated October 2nd, which is almost a month ago. So.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. I would second that. So is the motion to table to a date certain which would be- Two weeks. Two weeks, okay. Which I think would be November 10th, Mr. Clerk?
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion of Councilor Marks to table this seconded by- Second. Councilor Bears to a date certain which would be Tuesday, November 10th. On that motion, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to suspend the rules to take paper 20614. On that motion, seconded by, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The rules are suspended.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Last month we approved a number of papers that came to us from the mayor to funding to fix various HVAC issues throughout the Medford Public Schools. I believe the total amount of the funding we approved was approximately about $800,000. The ongoing problems with the air quality throughout our district concerns me not only as a city councilor, but also as a parent. I have two students, two of my kids are in the Medford Public Schools, two are at Medford High School. And like many kids, many of their peers throughout the district are accessing the curriculum virtually five days a week because our buildings are not ready to handle the entire student body yet. For many students, the schools are a safe place. They get their food on a daily basis from the Metropolitan Public Schools. The emotional support, the health services that they might not actually have at home. And I know that the custodians and the buildings and grounds people at the schools have been working really hard. And I know the teachers have had the literally Herculean task of trying to teach virtually each day. And that's not easy, and they've had that task. We've appropriated the money. I think it's time that we get some sort of an update. It's been almost two months. And I know I did have an opportunity to review some of the air quality reports. And it looks like they've made some progress at, I believe, the elementary schools, which is promising. And to that I say thank you. But I know that there's, it seems to me when I did a quick analysis of the reports that there are, I know I have numerous questions regarding Medford High School and the vocational school. And I know David Murphy from the, I believe he's the new superintendent of finance on the school side, is actually on the call tonight. And I thank him for joining us. And I believe he's new, so I also welcome him to the Met with Public Schools. So if he could just give us an update with regards to what they're doing with regard to the funds that we sent. Give us a progress update as to what's happening. I have some further questions, but I'd love to hear an update from him. If you could please unmute him, that would be great.
[John Falco]: Yes, thank you. If I may continue. As far as the reports go, I've received many calls from parents basically asking where can they access the reports? Now you said they're online. Can you, I'm not sure if you're able to, and I don't mean to fine tune this to death, but I mean, as far as, are you able to share your screen and show us where these reports are? Because I've received numerous calls from parents and they can't find them.
[John Falco]: Um, so, okay. Because I've received numerous calls from, uh, from parents saying they can't find their reports. They want to see the reports and you know, To me, this process really, really needs to be transparent. And I know that word's used a lot, but this here needs to be transparent. I mean, we're talking about the health and the safety of our children, of our teachers, our students, our staff. I mean, we need to make sure that this stuff is out there so people can see it, and they can access it, and they can make their own decisions and ask educated questions. You know, because this is just important. I mean, this is important now more than ever.
[John Falco]: Okay. So I have some further questions. Sure. So when I look at the reports, and I did actually see some of the school committee meeting last night, I noticed I think one of your priorities, which I think is good, is that the vocational school goes back to school sooner than later, especially because the seniors are nearing the end of their, before they graduate, they need to make sure that they're ready to graduate and they're certified to do things they can do and whatnot. But when I look at the reports, it looks like the vocational school, if I'm reading this correctly, It looks like it hasn't been tested yet. Is that true?
[John Falco]: Thank you, I appreciate that. So when I look at the, so I know there were reports that came out previously. I believe it was maybe mid-September. And when I looked at the reports, I believe mid-September, I don't think at that time the vocational school was tested. I don't think that the Karen Theater was tested. And I don't think any of the three cafeterias at Medford High School were tested either. When I look at this report here, the most recent one, it looks like that the, like we said earlier, it didn't look like the vocational school was tested. It looks like the Caron Theater was tested, but it still doesn't look like any of the cafeterias were tested. Can you confirm that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Murphy, so I'm going to go back to the Caron Theater here. So when I look at my report, to me I'm looking at this and it says the required ACH is 4.0 for the Caron Theater and the actual ACH is 2.97. So therefore it fails. Now, I'm under the impression that that space is still being rented every Sunday. have the people that are renting that building have they been notified that they're in a building where the equality is not really up to par.
[John Falco]: When I look at my calendar, okay, it says that these reports were issued on the 20th of October. So if they were issued on the 20th of October, that means that last weekend, the district knew that the county theater failed, it's the equality, but yet there were still people in the building, utilizing the building, renting the building. I mean, is the city negligible for something like that? And to me, it doesn't seem we're putting health first. We're still allowing people to rent the building that maybe technically shouldn't be rented.
[John Falco]: So when you say there's additional, so you're saying that they added HEPA filters to the counter theaters?
[John Falco]: So now the HEPA filters that are there, has the data been tested since the HEPA filters have been added?
[John Falco]: So as far as the, I know it's the local church is actually renting the space. Have they been notified? Have they asked any questions as to whether or not the building is safe or ready to be used? So we have not reached out to them. The school system has not reached out to them at any point in time.
[John Falco]: And we haven't communicated with them anything from MPS?
[John Falco]: To me, I would think that the equality is something that should be communicated, but that's just me. Moving on to the cafeterias. The cafeterias haven't been tested. Where are students eating during the day? There are students in the building. Could you please comment on that?
[John Falco]: So I mean, as we move forward, it is New England, it's getting colder. So I would imagine even when it starts to rain or snow, eating outside is no longer going to be an option. So as far as eating in the cafeteria, we're putting in HEPA filters, which are great, and I'm sure that's going to improve the situation. But how do we know that if the cafeterias have not been tested yet, how do we know that we're putting enough HEPA filters in? I mean, to me as a parent, that's a concern. I feel like it's a gamble. Well, we'll throw three or four and hopefully it does the job. I mean, you know, parents deserve answers to these questions. And I feel like, you know, and I understand it and you're frustrated. I think everyone's frustrated with it, but you know, we deserve answers. And I feel like, you know what? So a lot of these questions really, I feel like we're guessing at, you know, with regard to the answers.
[John Falco]: And the cafeteria is going to be tested at some point?
[John Falco]: I mean, when I look at my report, unless I'm missing it, I don't think I see the cafeteria.
[John Falco]: So as far as, so as I moved to the report, I also noticed that, the nurse, the nurse's office, that from what I can tell, if I look at this report, it looks like it doesn't look like any of that space passed. Am I correct?
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: And have those rooms been retested with HEPA filters?
[John Falco]: Do you think we should be retesting the nurse's office?
[John Falco]: bathroom safe at the high school?
[John Falco]: Did you say many?
[John Falco]: Am I correct in saying that most of the space that's being utilized now by the students that are actually going to Medford High School are in the science wing?
[John Falco]: If I can ask you a question going back to the beginning, why were the buildings tested so late? The very beginning, we knew this was an airborne illness back in April, back in April of this year. And I don't think anyone came in to test anything until August. That's not a formula for success, that's just too late. I mean, there are other school districts throughout the commonwealth that are back to school and they might not have their buildings at full capacity, but they're able to utilize their buildings. I would think that if we're out front, we started testing in the springtime. You know, when a lot of these companies probably had more capacity to, you know, give us more resources, we probably wouldn't have the opportunity to maybe get in front of this and actually, you know, get our kids into school if their parents are okay with that. So can you tell us a little bit about why this started so late? And this might even, this might even, this I think actually predates you, but if you could please answer that question.
[John Falco]: If I may, does the, does the board of health have any type of input as to, you know, the cafeterias being tested or not being tested, the bathrooms, that type of thing? I mean, have they, have they given any input during this whole process?
[John Falco]: I still think at the end of the day, when you look at the cafeterias, I mean, I know you're talking about a formula, but I would think that these things need to be retested at some point in time. You know, as a parent, you want the, you know, the comfort of knowing, okay, you know what, they tested it, they retested it, it's finally up to the point where it passes. And I feel like, you know, I know you're saying, well, they have a formula and it shouldn't pass once we have these HEPA filters in, but I would think that, you know, I mean, You want to retest after the HEPA filters to get the comfort knowing, OK, you've got a good reading. We're ready to go. We can put our kids back in the classroom or back in the cafeteria or back in the Vogue, wherever it is. But I would think that there needs to be retesting at the end of the day.
[John Falco]: I mean, I just, I know at the end of the day, as a parent, I want to make sure that the buildings are safe for my kids to go to school and for everyone's kids to go to school. And I like to see numbers. I like to see metrics. I like to see that the testing is being done and that these areas are actually passing the test. That means a lot to me. I mean, I don't want to just assume that, you know what, they've worked a formula and it looks like you're going to be able to eat lunch today and be safe. And I don't think the option should be in February eating on a snowbank because you've got to eat outside. I mean, we need to make sure that these buildings are tested, the air quality's there, it's at where it should be. And that as parents and as residents and as taxpayers, people feel safe about the buildings.
[John Falco]: Okay so we'll say it's we'll say they're just not ready. As far as the HEPA filters go, do you have enough HEPA filters for the high school and all the other schools? I mean, I have a concern that we're going to be just rolling these things around in and out of rooms.
[John Falco]: Is the goal to basically have fresh air without opening a window?
[John Falco]: As far as the, can you say with any confidence that kids will be back Can you say with any confidence that you think kids will be back at Medford High School by the end of the year?
[John Falco]: Okay. I'm not sure if my colleagues have any other questions.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Alicia, one question. When you mentioned about the CARES money and how some of the funds are reimbursed, some things are reimbursable and some things are not reimbursable and how things have flip-flopped. What's the process? Does the federal government notify you through like bulletins or how do you get notified about that?
[John Falco]: So you like just submit questions back and forth?
[John Falco]: Thank you for your answer on that. And if I get one final question for Dave, Dave, with regard to the Curtis Tufts, is that, I've been told that they're using fans down there. Is that true? Do they have HEPA filters at the Curtis Tufts?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. I thank you for answering all the questions tonight. I know they're not easy, and I know you're all there. But there are many concerns throughout the community. My council has great questions, and I appreciate the answers that you gave. And look forward to hopefully another update soon. So I thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Dave Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Dave. I appreciate it. Quick question. I noticed recently, I think the mayor released an update video with updates that were going on in the city, and there were some good things on there, but there was no update with regard to the schools. I mean, that is part of the city, right? I would think that that should have been part of that presentation. Am I wrong?
[John Falco]: Yeah, well, I would think that a comprehensive update would be comprehensive and involve the school system. And the school, when you think about it, the budget that comes before us is a lot of money. And it's a big part of our city, the Medford Public Schools is part of the city of Medford. And I would think that that update should have been included. Like I said, there were some good things in there, but there needs to be updates on everything. And I mean, sometimes it's bad news, but there should still be an update. The parents of the residents of the city deserve an update. And I think that that should have been included, and I would hope that that's included in the next update.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We have a number of questions. You have Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Roberta, do you want to?
[John Falco]: Is that Ann, correct?
[John Falco]: Okay, I'll try to unmute you, Ann, one minute. Oh, there we go. Ann, you have the floor. I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions? Councilor Scott, do you have a question?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Can you repeat the question, Councilwoman Lox, please? Yes. Oh, I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Numbers are all over the place.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So there's a motion on the floor by Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, amended by Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, if I'm correct, Clerk Hurtubise didn't- Just that the money stays in the community.
[John Falco]: Okay, so Clerk Hurtubise, he sent me a message saying he needed clarification on that. Clerk Hurtubise, are you okay with that?
[John Falco]: Mr. President. One minute, please.
[John Falco]: Slow down, slow down, slow down. Roberto, one minute, please. Point of information.
[John Falco]: Robert, I guess the question the councilor tonight is asking is how much money is in the affordable housing category.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Layton. We have Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: She's right here. She has her, she has her hand up. She's going to be speaking next.
[John Falco]: Okay. Okay. Let's see. Danielle Evans. I'm going to lower your hand here. Let's see.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scott, do you want to hear from Danielle? Councilor Scott?
[John Falco]: Danielle, would you like to answer Councilor? Good evening. Could you answer Councilor Scott Peli's question? Can he repeat the question? Sure. Councilor Scott Peli, can you please repeat the question?
[John Falco]: Please continue.
[John Falco]: I just wanted to add that. Thank you very much for that. Thank you very much for updating us with that information. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Is it the latter?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you very much. Move the motion, Mr. President. Councilor Bears had a question that I believe. Councilor Bears, you had a question, right?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Beres. So the motion on the floor is offered by Councilor Marks to reduce it to 62,500.
[John Falco]: OK. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: This is a motion to change the amount. Approve the 625. It is basically to approve the 625, yes. It's to change the amount and to approve.
[John Falco]: There's a motion on the floor.
[John Falco]: I think we should vote on these individually. I think that's probably the best bet. Keep it nice and clean. So these will be separate. Okay. Separate.
[John Falco]: Yes. Okay. On the motion of council Mark seconded by vice-president Caraviello is amended by council tonight. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: We've already dealt with the paper at hand. So basically the paper has been, this portion of the paper has already been dealt with. Maybe, maybe not. Requesting the appropriation of 2008 35 from the CPA general reserve to the city of Medford department of veteran services to restore the USMC KIA. Lockheed Memorial located in the intersection of Lawrence road and Winthrop street. Is there a motion? Move approval. On the motion of Council Knight to approve seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Part three of the paper, requesting the appropriation of $3,500 from the CPA General Reserve to Trees Medford, City of Medford Tree Warden to undertake an inventory of all existing trees located in Oak Grove Cemetery. Moved and approved. On the motion of council, and I seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Herlovich, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Motion to revert back to the regular order of business. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears to revert back to the regular order of business.
[John Falco]: Excuse me?
[John Falco]: OK. Aggie, are you able to, we have Aggie on the line with us, so Aggie, are you able to confirm that that has been done or?
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks had a question and that was whether or not a tree inventory has been conducted within the past 10 years at Oak Grove Cemetery? Oak Grove Cemetery.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Pizza to revert back to the regular order of business. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Thank you, Aggie.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 in favor, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-609 offered by Council and I, be it resolved that the Medford City Council conduct a committee to hold for the purpose of addressing the complaint filed against the city relative to the contracting of the council zoning consultant. Council and I.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, do you want someone from the administration, I assume, at the meeting?
[John Falco]: Whoever they see fit.
[John Falco]: Sounds good. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council night, seconded by.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears. Does anybody want to comment on this? Okay. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-6-1-0, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the city administration install a flashing pedestrian crossing sign at the crosswalk of Winthrop Street between the community gardens and Memorial Field. Councilor Layton.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Mrs. Reynolds, long time resident of Fulton Heights, passed away recently, 95 years old, and good friends with a number of her family. And just thoughts and prayers go to her family, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I was alerted to this by a resident recently up in the Duden Street area. And I did actually drive by and take a look at this myself. This is, I guess, a storm drain that's been in disrepair for a number of years. And there's an orange cone there planted on top of it, but it really needs to be addressed. So in the interest of public safety, if that could be addressed before the winter. Thank you. That'd be great.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Calvillo. These here, I was alerted by a resident as well with regard to these three tree stumps. I guess these have been here for a number of years as well. And they really need to be removed. They've been there for at least a few years. So if we could have those removed by the DPW as soon as possible, greatly appreciate it. If I could amend the resolution to ask that we get an updated listing from the DPW with regard to just an updated stump removal list. I'd like to see how many were removed in the year 2020 and how many are left on that list. So, thank you.
[John Falco]: 20-615 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council have the DPW replace the safety sign in the island on High Street at the Brooks School in the interest of public safety, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Seconded by Councilor Laurel.
[John Falco]: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. Council night. Um, on the emotion of, so on the motion of vice-president copy yellow seconded by president.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: So on that motion offered by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. On the motion, okay. Reports of committees, 20-573. That was a public works subcommittee. Councilor Bears is the chair of the DPW Public Works. Can you tell us a little bit about that meeting?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. On the motion of Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: OK. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. This is for the approval of the committee report. OK. Councilor Bears. Yes. Vice President Caraviello. Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. 19-312 and 20-577. Committee of the whole meeting on October 21st. There was two parts to the meeting. We had a meeting with regard to the purpose of the meeting. The first part was the committee of the whole to discuss a recent notification from the administration regarding the potential disclosure of current or former employee personal identifying information. The second part of the meeting was with regard to the gender equity ordinance, the number of recommendations were made, and the city solicitor is going to go back and incorporate those suggestions. And then when that is completed, it will come back to committee to hold. On the motion of- Motion approved. Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Urnabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven. The affirmative zero and the negative. The motion passes on the motion of council. Mark seconded by vice-president Caviolo to take papers in the hands of the clerk. We're on to suspension. Clerk please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative, is there any negative? The motion passes. 2-0-619 offered by Councilor Knight and Vice-President Caraviello be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Lucille Tonello on her recent passing.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you councilor. Is present motion that we... If I may, we want to say council Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. My condolences go to the Tonello family, good friends with her son, Mark. And like all my colleagues said, the Tonello family has always been involved in many, many, many ways in our city. And they've always given back and thoughts and prayers go out to the Tonello family. And if I may, before we have a moment of silence, You know, I'll do this under suspension if you don't mind from the chair. I was taking a walk on Saturday and as I was walking, I went into Hickey Park and when I go to the park, sometimes you read the stones in the ground as far as the memorial plaques. And I couldn't help but notice it, which was really odd that Hickey Park, is named in honor of George W. Hickey, who was the youngest soldier from the city of Medford to enlist in the U.S. Army Infantry. Infantryman Hickey was killed in action in France on October 24, 2018, which was the same day I walked by the plaque, 102 years later. So I think if we could also have a moment of silence in Infantryman Hickey's honor on the 102nd anniversary of his passing. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. We have one more thing. Do we have minutes?
[John Falco]: Records! The records of the meeting of October 20th, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: All right. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to pass those impeccable records, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending affirmative zero and the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we adjourn the meeting, does someone make a resolution to cancel the meeting next week? Oh, geez.
[John Falco]: Happy birthday, my friend. Councilor Scott Peli, happy birthday. Thank you, everyone. I wish I had cake. So on the motion of Councilor Morell to cancel the meeting next week due to the election seconded by Councilor Scott Peli, Clerk Gernaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. And the affirmative zero in the negative. The motion passes on the motion of console and morale to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by a console up here. It's clear to me. Please call the roll bears.
[John Falco]: Yes. Some of the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe and healthy.
[John Falco]: The 30th regular meeting in the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: She is not present.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: President, six members present, one absence. Clerk Hurtubise, Council Morell did call me earlier today and she is unable to attend the meeting tonight. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting in the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings of real time via technological means. In the event that we aren't able to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website in audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email the city clerk, ahertubise, that will be A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E, at medford-ma.gov. Let's see, motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-602 offered by Councilor Marks be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a caucus on Tuesday, October 27th at 6.30 p.m. for the purpose of electing a president and vice president for calendar year 21. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears. Actually, I'm sorry. On motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Capiello, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: A motion to table is undebatable. and it needs to be seconded. So on the motion of Council of Bears to table this matter, seconded by. Does this motion have a second? Okay, seeing and hearing none. This does not have a second, so it cannot be tabled. Would anybody else like to speak on this matter? Okay, if I may, before we go any further, if my colleagues would not mind me speaking on this, I'd like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward, especially in the interest of clarity and transparency. I'd just like to mention that the role of the Council President has taken on more responsibilities than ever before, especially over the past year during this pandemic. And while I have very much enjoyed my two terms as council president and take a great deal of pride in fulfilling this role, I have decided not to pursue the presidency for another term. I look forward to returning to the floor as an active participant, which will enable me to pursue the issues that mean a lot to our community, And I look forward to working with the next Council President, whoever he or she may be. So I just wanted to make that statement so everyone knows. And if they decide that they want to pursue the presidency, they absolutely can and should. So on the motion of Council of Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. That is five in the affirmative, one in the negative, and one absent. The motion passes. 20-603 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the DBW Commissioner provide the City Council with a cost estimate for resurfacing Boston Avenue between Route 16 and Route 60. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Would anybody else like to speak on this resolution? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by- Seconded. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli said yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, and one absent. The motion passes. 20-604 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration give the city council the detailed financial report dealing with the spending of COVID CARES Act funding. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Godfrey Scarpelli, council of beers.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Paris, any other comments from the council? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes. 20-605 offered by Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the city traffic engineer share any plans dealing with the crosswalk in front of the new police station. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears. Any other questions, comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. 20606, October 8th, 2020, to Brianna Lugo, current mayor, from Kimberly M. Scanlon, city solicitor, regarding council paper 20-476. Dear Mayor Lungo-Koehn, on October 8th, 2020, the Medford City Council have made a request to include a 3% tax in the draft Cannabis Advisory Committee Ordinance. However, since General Law Chapter 64N, Section 3 is a local option statute, the preferred method is for the Council to accept the provisions of the statute pursuant to General Law Chapter 4, Section 4. For convenience purposes, I have included the following format below. Be it resolved that the City of Medford, through its City Council, accept the provisions of General Law, Chapter 64N, Section 3, and impose a local excise tax on the sale or transfer of marijuana products for adult use to anyone other than a marijuana establishment at a rate of 3%. Respectfully submitted, Kimberly M. Scanlon, City Solicitor.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council night, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Any questions from the council or comments? Anyone have the hand up? No. Okay, on the motion of council night, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes. Communications from the Mayor 20-607 to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves the appropriation from the TNC surcharge municipal distribution receipts reserved account. 124-102-5840-0000-0000-113-0000-0000 in the amount of $136,129.20. In accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 187 of Acts of 2016 to cover transportation related projects and improvements. A detailed list of anticipated projects and improvements is attached here too as Appendix A. The prepared list does not include emergency improvements that may arise and utilize the fund balance of this account. Traffic engineer, Todd Blake, is present to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: I believe we have Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin with us, so she could probably talk to that. I'm going to unmute you, Aleesha. Aleesha, did you have a question for Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, did you have a question?
[John Falco]: If I'm correct, you wanted that during the regular session, right?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Constant. We'll get that scheduled. I'll reach out to Aleesha tomorrow, and we'll get that scheduled. Mr. President, do we have?
[John Falco]: I do not see, you want the traffic engineer, right? Traffic engineer, city engineer, anyone at all.
[John Falco]: Can you just give us a brief
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the language to that motion that was offered by Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks, do you want to make that a beat paper? We'll make that a beat paper. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. On that- That is a B paper. That is a B paper. On that B paper offered by Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes, Aleesha. He's still there to the chair? She is here with us. Vice President Caraviello, please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilman Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Todd, would you like to answer Councilor Scarpelli's question, please?
[John Falco]: Adam, can you please help him out with that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Todd, if I may ask really quick, and I may, maybe I missed this, but you had, when Councilor Scarpelli was asking about the, the various, we'll call them cones or the sticks that we'll put up. And you made it sound like, I think you said if we head in that direction, making it sound like those will be permanent. Am I correct?
[John Falco]: So if I may, I completely understand the vertical element, but will the temporary vertical elements, which are the cones now be replaced by the more permanent vertical elements, which are drilled into the ground?
[John Falco]: Okay, so I understand that. So is the cost for those that are more permanent in nature, are those part of this here, or will there be funding that you'll be looking for in the spring for that?
[John Falco]: Okay. So I thank you so much for all your hard work. I believe Aleesha wants to speak. Aleesha, I'm trying to unmute you.
[John Falco]: Yes, you're still on, Todd.
[John Falco]: I thought it was $0.10. Do we know what the fee went up to? Todd, will you know the answer to that?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion, okay, so there was a B paper, which was offered by Councilor Marks, and I believe that was seconded by Vice President Caraviello. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes. Todd, if I could ask you to please unshare your screen, I'd greatly appreciate it. On the main- I just want to see yourself on TV. Anyone joining us are probably wondering what it is. Let's see here. On the main paper, on the motion of Councilor Scott Falco, seconded by- Second. Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears to take papers in the hands of the clerk. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. Under suspension, 2-0-6-0-8. Offered by council all night. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of William J. Gay on his recent passing. And be it further resolved that the Medford City Council dedicate the October 20th, 2020 City Council meeting in the memory of William J. Gay Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Gaye family. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: I do not, but I have my message.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello, and thank you to Noah Kreatz. Noah has been doing a fabulous job with this. He's very involved with all kinds of veterans organizations, and I know he travels around trying to document stories of veterans from around the Commonwealth. And it's really important that we preserve because this history is slowly going away, and he has served a very important role in this community. And he's very giving of his time, and we appreciate everything he does. And thank you to Noah Kreatz and the entire Kreatz family, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caballero, and thank you for bringing that forward.
[John Falco]: On that motion offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. Councilor Bears, my apologies. I missed you. You had your hand up.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council of Mayors. Okay, any other, anything else? Let's see, we do have our reports of committees. 20-568, October 14th, Committee of the Whole. We had a community hall meeting on Wednesday, October 14th, 2020 at 5.30 PM. And the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the city of Medford existing zoning ordinance with zoning consultant, Mark Bobrowski. That is a continuation. We will be meeting with Mark Bobrowski probably every six weeks to go review the city's current zoning. And we will continue that discussion. On the motion of council, I'd like to approve seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes. If I'm correct, Clerk Hurtubise, the only thing left we have are the records.
[John Falco]: Okay, records. The records of the meeting of October 13th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council Bears for approval, seconded by? Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative. One absent, the motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to adjourn the meeting, seconded by.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe and healthy. Thank you.
[John Falco]: The 29th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: He is present.
[John Falco]: Here.
[John Falco]: Present. She is present.
[John Falco]: Present. Present. All seven members are present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to 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. Oh, actually, let me read the notice first. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted. but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website, an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email City Clerk, Adam Hertubise at A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at medford-ma.gov.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to suspend the rules, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hertubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are suspended. Petitions, presentations, and similar papers. 20-598, petition for comment, vigil, and license by Clodian Quirazi, 94 Birch Street, Peabody, Massachusetts, 01960 for Helen's Roast Beef. and Pizzeria 321A, Boston Ave, Medford, Massachusetts 02155. On file is a business certificate number 175, building department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer. At this point, I recognize the chairperson of licensing, Councilor Schakopiela.
[John Falco]: I believe he is, yes. Clodion, I'm going to unmute you. Clodion, if we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: I'm trying to get him to turn it on. If I may for one minute, we're trying to work on some technical issues. So I'm going to try to see if we can get the volume turned up here in the chambers. So if you could please allow us just two quick minutes.
[John Falco]: So.
[John Falco]: I move approval after my colleagues have questions. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Mr. President, if I may? Any questions? Oh, yes, Councilor Wright.
[John Falco]: The question was, are you going to be taking out insurance? Are you going to be taking out insurance?
[John Falco]: Any other questions? Okay, the motion to consult Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations. Good luck and please contact the city clerk for additional information regarding hours of operation. Thank you.
[John Falco]: While we're under suspension, 20-597. And that is under. 0597. Offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration provide an update on the status of the fiscal year 2021 state budget and its impact on city revenue. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: She is not, but what I can do is I can set up, would you like to committee the whole? No.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Okay, thank you Councilor Knight. Would anybody else like to speak on this issue? Okay. Seeing and hearing none, on the motion of, let's see, no one has a hand raised, okay. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Coonerty, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hertoghies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Motions, orders, and resolutions 20-476.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears for a brief synopsis. Councilor Knight, would you like to give that brief synopsis?
[John Falco]: Okay. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, 0 negative. The motion passes. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Any questions, comments from the council? Anyone online here? Okay, no one has a hand up. Okay, on that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: For the first reading, yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and it passes its first reading. Thank you, Councilor Knight for that brief synopsis. 2-0-590 offered by Councilor Knight and Councilor Scarpelli be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the representatives from Amazon.com distribution branch appear before the Medford City Council to discuss the practices of its drivers in the city of Medford. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scott Peli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Councilors Knight and Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli and seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-591 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the city solicitor provide an opinion on the following question. Does a meeting posted for a certain date that extends past midnight and into a different date create the potential for an open meeting law violation? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Anybody else want to speak on that? No? Okay. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-592 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the hours of Park Method's Main Street office be reviewed to ensure that it is open later than 2 p.m. at least one day per week. Councilor Wright.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any questions, comments from the council? No questions online. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, Clark-Cunningham, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, setting the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-593 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the City Council request from the administration a current list of non-ADA compliant sidewalks in the city and to the extent that it exists, plans to update and bring into compliance said sidewalks. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council Morales, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Council Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay. Councilor Morell, is that okay if that's an amendment? That works. Okay, perfect. Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Vice President Caballero, as amended by Councilor Knight. Clerk Cunabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-594 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the City Council receive an update from Medford's Massport Community Advisory Committee representatives, Peter Houck and Luke Prasner in response to the recent FAA rejection of dispersion concepts to mitigate airplane traffic and the resulting noise and pollution over Medford. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions, comments?
[John Falco]: Okay. Are you amending the paper? Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions, comments from the council? Any questions here on Zoom? Nope. Okay. On the motion of Council Morell, I seconded by second vice president. Caraviello is amended by vice president. Caraviello quicker to be, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-595 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council express its support of H5018, an act to guarantee housing stability during the COVID-19 emergency and recovery. Be it further resolved that the City Clerk forward a copy of this resolution to the Medford Legislative Delegation as well as House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Spilka, and Governor Baker, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Morales.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any other questions, comments from the council? Okay. Anyone? No one has a hand up. Zoom. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: He is locked the room.
[John Falco]: No. That is a no.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: Yes. 4 in the affirmative, 2 in the negative, 1 absent. The motion passes. 20-596, offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the City Clerk provide a brief update on preparations for the November 3rd general election. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Piz. Clerk Hurtubise, would you be able to give us an update?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Arnabes. Any other questions, comments? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Clerk Herbies, I just want to say thank you to you and your staff. It's amazing the sheer amount of volume with regard to ballots that is being mailed out and it seems like everything's going very smooth. So thank you to you and your staff for all that hard work and your dedication and effort and energy with regard to the upcoming election. So thank you for your hard work on the motion of Councilor Bears. Seconded by? Councilor Morell. Clerk Herbies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Reports of committees, 20-295, October 6th, 2018. 2020 Committee of the Whole report. The Committee of the Whole met on October 6th. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and review the draft ordinance establishing a permitting program to support the regulation of donation collection bins in the city of Medford. We met with the city solicitor who is putting the finishing touches, I think, on an ordinance that will be coming before us soon. On the motion of
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to accept the committee report, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 19-660, October 7th, 2020, Committee of the Whole. The purpose of the meeting was for the Committee of the Whole to discuss the draft ordinance of promote, prevent, support behavioral health commission in the composition of the proposed commission. The Committee of the Whole met with a number of members from our school department and our city solicitor as well. And the finishing touches are being put on that draft ordinance that should hopefully be before us soon. On a motion of? Councilor Scott, call you to approve. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, could we please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Signing the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: I have right here, I'm ready to roll. That was the next thing I was going to do. Fantastic. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, Seconded by Vice President Caraviello to take the following reports from the table. 19-659 and 20-042, commit the whole report from July 27th, 2020, August 19th, 2020, and September 8th, 2020. On that motion, Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Yes. Vice President Caraviello. Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 farmers here in the negative. The motion passes and these are committee reports taken from the table. All let's see. So we, the council met and committed a whole on Monday, July 27th, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the proposed cannabis advisory commission. Um, and the meeting from Wednesday, August 19th, 2020. The purpose of that meeting was to review and discuss the proposed marijuana ordinance and the proposed amendments offered by the Community Development Board and the meeting. from the September 8th, 2020. The purpose of that meeting was to review and discuss the proposed marijuana ordinance and proposed amendments offered by the Community Development Board. In addition, the council reviewed the latest updates made to the Marijuana Cannabis Advisory Commission Agreement. So I'll get the motion of Vice President Caraviello to accept those reports. Seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight. Mr. President?
[John Falco]: So we'll put those in with the first three. Okay. So let's do this. Let's take the, let's take the two, the council appears mentioned before, take those from the table. That's two zero five one nine and two zero five four one.
[John Falco]: We'll take those from the table and we'll take one nine three, four, two, one nine, five, two, six. Did you have another one you wanted to take from the table?
[John Falco]: Yeah. Excuse me. They are taped.
[John Falco]: Okay. So let's, let's, let's do this. Let's take, let's, first of all, we'll take the 20519 and the 20541. Let's take those from the table. Offered by Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. And these papers have been taken from the table. 20-519, Tuesday, September 15th, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss various rodent issues throughout the community and the proposed ordinance chapter 71, rodent control. Let's see, so we actually did discuss this with the city solicitor who is actually working on the draft ordinance for this as well. the final copy starts to come before us. And 20, I'm sorry, 20541, Wednesday, September 16th, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the proposed single parcel historic district at the Haskell Cutout, 16 Foster Court, Renfrew, Massachusetts. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to accept the committee report, seconded by? Second. Councilor Bears, Clerk Burnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: That was yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Knight, to take the following papers from the table, 19-342, 19-526, 19-623. Am I taking the remainders too?
[John Falco]: OK, so on the motion of Council on the night to take those three papers off the table and to receive and place on file.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hertovich, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Does anybody else want to take any action on the remaining?
[John Falco]: Seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello to take 20421 from the table. Animal control officer review ordinances.
[John Falco]: Okay. So, Clerk Hurtubise, first I, we need to take the vote to take this from the table. So please call the roll on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Knight. Seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmatives, zero negatives. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: The motion of Councilor Knight to take 20423 from the table, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. I'm the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes 2-0-4-2-3. Thank Belmont Chinese Society. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. I have a motion to counsel light seconded by council Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: The first one was, I'm sorry, you said- 18686.
[John Falco]: for automotive repair and body shop granted by the council as amended to require a 90-day report on December 4th, 2018, report due on March 5th, 2019.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council at night to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Just this one for now. We'll have to take the rest, we'll have to read them off. have a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to
[John Falco]: Yes, we are.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. 20-086 90 day review report on Elta, Cuba, Cochina, and Tequila Bar for a petition for a special permit.
[John Falco]: So we're going to leave this one here. Okay. So that stays 20-084 90 day review report on end bakery for a petition for a special permit hours granted by the council as amended to require 90 day report in July 6th, 2020. Okay. So is there a motion? to receive and place on file, or? Okay, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. 20-562, 30 and 60 day reviews of XSS Hotels Fairfield Marriott for reversal of sign denials for north facing signs abutting residential property granted by council as amended to require a 30 day review on October 8th, 2020 and 60 day review on November 7th, 2020, which has not occurred yet.
[John Falco]: So we're going to leave that one. Okay, so we're going to leave it, okay. So those will stay on, those will stay for now. Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of council, let's see, so going to records. The records of the meeting of October 6th of 2020 were passed to Councilor Scarapelli. Councilor Scarapelli, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarapelli to approve the minutes, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Motion to take papers under suspension, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: On a motion of Vice President Calvillo, seconded by Councilor Bears to take papers under suspension. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Assembly affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules have been suspended and we'll take papers under suspension. 20-599 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its sincere condolences to the family of Mary Byrne on her recent passing. Her presence in our community will be missed.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On that motion, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: We're off to the marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caballero, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I can reach out to her and I will schedule that.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Motion to adjourn. We're under suspension.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: 28th regular meeting of the City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: He's present.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members of the President at this time, I'd ask everyone to 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.
[John Falco]: If I may, I just have to read a quick note. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and general guidelines. For remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. And the motion of Vice President Caraviello to suspend the rule is seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven to nothing, the rules are suspended. Mr. President, 20583 and 20570. Okay, 20-583 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate Stanley Chiozzi on his 101st birthday. 101st birthday. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. And happy birthday to Mr. Chiosi on behalf of the whole Medford City Council. Happy birthday. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. While we are under suspension, Vice President Caraviello, the next resolution was? 20-570. 20-570 offered by President Falco. Councilor Knight, update on Lawrence Memorial Hospital. We have a number of, let's see, Lawrence Memorial Hospital with us tonight, and I thought I saw Ryan Fuller, I know he usually speaks. Sam, would it be? Let's see, we got... Sam, hi, are you presenting tonight, or Ryan, or Sue?
[John Falco]: There he is, Ryan. Name and address for the record, I'm trying to unmute, there you go.
[John Falco]: I'm going to unmute Sue. There you go. Hi, Sue. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey.
[John Falco]: It's much better. So I think you're good to begin. Thank you.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Bears, to take paper 20-476. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-476, City of Medford Draft Ordinance Cannabis Advisory Committee.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to table this to a date certain to our next regular meeting, which will be next Tuesday night. On that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hardaby, please call the roll. This is the motion to table 20-476. Table till next week. You are correct, sir.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 in favor, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the paper is tabled. Let's see, let's check in with Susan Sandberg. Are you ready to present? Okay, she's muted. Can I try unmuting you now?
[John Falco]: Yes, much better. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I'm not an IT guy.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So just if I may really quick, this is 20-570. This is an update on Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Sue Sandberg.
[John Falco]: Okay, Lori, I'm trying to unmute you now. Okay, Lori. Great.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Ryan, it's Jeff. He's here.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: So I'm going to unmute you right now. OK, Susan, you're on.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Yes, Council Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. And if I may, Sue, if I may, you mentioned a second ago, you said Medical Village. So I guess this is more of a branding question. So do we know, is it going to be called the Medical Village, Medical Campus? Do you have any update on that?
[John Falco]: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. And I wanted to also thank you and Sam and Ryan and Laurie and, and the whole LMH team that's been with us from the beginning. Thank you for all your hard work and look forward to working with you in the future. It seems like this project is moving full steam ahead, so it's going to be great to see it when it's done. So we wish you all the luck and thank you for all, Are you helping answering all the questions that we have? Are there any other further questions? Yes, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording on those motions?
[John Falco]: Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Thank you on that motion of offer by console. Mark seconded by a console. Ask our Pelley clerk heard of these, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, and the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Any other questions from the council? No, okay. Clerk Hurtubise, does anyone have their hand up?
[John Falco]: Oh, I think Marsha. Marsha, I'm trying to unmute you. Marsha, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Marsha. Okay. Clerk Hurtubise, is there any more hands? Oh, Beverly O'Reilly, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Laurie Anich, if you wanted to comment on that. Laurie?
[John Falco]: Mr. Clark, you see anyone, anyone, any hands from anyone that has not spoken so far? Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Do you have any LNH? Okay, let's just dispose of this first before we move forward. Okay, is there a, the chair awaits a motion with regard to 20570. Motion to receive in place. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight to reconvene in six months, seconded by? Second. I'm sorry, as amended by Councilor Marks. Apologies to Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, second.
[John Falco]: Correct. Or sooner if need be, Mr. President. Or sooner if need be. And that was seconded by Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: We'll make that a B paper. Is that all right? B paper.
[John Falco]: Yes, Senate affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you everyone at LMH, we thank you for being here tonight. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: I don't think we did because- Okay, so on the motion of and the motion got somewhere off to suspend the rules seconded by Vice-president Caraviello, please call the roll Yes No, he said no
[John Falco]: 20-587, October 1st, 2020, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding COVID-19 monthly update. Dear Mr. President, members of the City Council, in response to the Council's request for monthly COVID-19 updates from the administration, Medford Board of Health Director, Marian O'Connor, will be present at the regular City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th, 2020, to provide an update to provide an update on the city's response to COVID-19. The latest community data and other relevant data and information as available. The updates Mary Ann or designee will provide include but are not limited to. Latest positivity rate. Currently we are posting case numbers daily to www.medfordma.org slash coronavirus dash information, as well as state data on a weekly basis and full breakdowns of positivity and death rates by race and ethnicity on a monthly basis. We can answer additional questions regarding this data, our stage designated color code and what the data means for our reopening plans in Medford. Tufts University updates. We can break down the university's public dashboard with positivity rates, tests completed to date, and answer any questions regarding Tufts-specific COVID-19 plans. Reopening plans and related information. Of particular interest for October, the state has announced that cities and towns may proceed to phase three, step two, as of October 5th. as long as the community is not in the red category. We can provide information about Method Step 2 plans and protocols. Additional updates and information as necessary and available, we will provide updates on programs and resources like the city's RUOK program for seniors, upcoming flu vaccine clinics, and using these to prepare the potential future COVID-19 vaccine clinics, updates on nursing home data and schools and other information. Marianne or another member of my team will be available to the first city council meeting each month to provide these updates as requested, and we will answer any additional questions you may have. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor. So we have, let's see, Marianne O'Connor. I just unmuted you. Hi, Marianne.
[John Falco]: Why don't we do that? If you could give us an update, and then from there, I'm sure there'll be questions, and we can ask those questions as they pop up.
[John Falco]: Please continue.
[John Falco]: Extra seating. Marion, one minute, please. Point of information council night.
[John Falco]: Please continue. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So point of information, Mr. President? Mary Ann, if I may, point of information, Councilor Scarapelli.
[John Falco]: Okay. Mary Ann, thank you very much for the update. We have a number of councilors that have questions. We have Councilor Bears, Councilor Morell, Councilor Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Excuse me, Mary Ann, point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Councilor Bears. We have Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Good.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: A motion offered by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. Vice President Caballero, any other questions? Okay, we will now go to Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the seat paper offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the language of that paper?
[John Falco]: Okay, we have Dave Rodriguez, the Chief of Staff, has got his hand up. Dave, could you please weigh in on that?
[John Falco]: Clerk Carter, did you have the wording of Councilor Knight's resolution?
[John Falco]: Okay, on that, so that is a C paper offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarborough.
[John Falco]: Okay, do you have that, Clerk Hurtubise? Yep. Okay. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senator the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Knight, did you have any further questions?
[John Falco]: Okay, are there any other further questions? Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Scott. Go ahead.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Councilmax, you're at the floor, so I'm not sure if you had any further questions.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scott Miller.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli, are there any other questions from the council? Okay, we have a few people that wanna speak of us. Let's see, we have Shalene Douglas. Name and address for the record, please. I'm trying to, oh, there you go.
[John Falco]: Okay, so if I may, This was tabled previously, so this is, and I apologize, I just came back. Is it open and taken to take this from the table? It has, okay. Okay, thank you. Okay. Okay, so on the roll to take this from the table, did someone make a motion to take this?
[John Falco]: Okay, but did someone make a motion to take it from the table? It was on the, this was tabled previously.
[John Falco]: Perfect, okay. I just want to make sure we're doing everything right.
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. Okay, so there was a motion to waive the reading, if I'm correct? Okay, so on the motion to waive the reading by Councilor Knight. We have the reading and to take the paper up. On the motion of Council and I seconded by Councilor Scott Peli, Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The paper is now before us. Are there any questions? Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: OK, so Amendment 1. So Amendment 1, Section 48, Dish 51 of the Revised Ordinance of the Amendment for Messages. So I'll read amendment number one, okay? Just so we're all on the same page here. Amendment one, section 48-51A of the revised ordinances of the city of Manfred, Massachusetts is hereby amended to read as follows. Under the authority of MGLA, chapter 40C, section three, the following historic districts founded respectively in which are on file in the city clerk's office are made a part of this article by reference are hereby established. Hillside Avenue Historic District, number one, and number two, Mom Simmons Historic District. Amendment two, section 48-51A, the revised ordinances of the city of Medford, Massachusetts, as amended in section one, is hereby further amended to read as follows. Under the authority of MGLAC chapter 40C, Section three, the following historic districts by the respectively in which are on file in the City Clerk's office and made a part of this article by reference are hereby established. One Hillside Avenue Historic District, two Marm Simmons Historic District, and three, uh, 16 Foster Court Historic District. So the motion is by Councilor Bears to sever these?
[John Falco]: Okay. Does this motion have a second?
[John Falco]: Are you looking to vote on each of these separately?
[John Falco]: Do I take a brief recess to read this over?
[John Falco]: Okay. So there's a motion on the floor. That motion is to sever, uh, uh, the amendment one and amendment two. And that is because, um, this was to correct console bears. This is to clarify.
[John Falco]: Thank you So there's a motion on the floor to sever
[John Falco]: I'm not sure if the clerk is following this, but I want to make sure that we have this correct.
[John Falco]: One second, Councilor Marks. One minute, please. Clerk Hervey, do you have the language on that?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, if I could. We have Council Marks, first time we have Council Morales, so Council Marks.
[John Falco]: And I believe you are correct, because that came up actually.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that is correct. So we have consular morale. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, so you have, Dave, do you want to speak to Councilor Morell's question, the intent of, I'm trying to unmute you. There you go.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morales. Your amendment?
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Bears has withdrawn his motion. Okay, let's see. Did anyone have any questions regarding this?
[John Falco]: We have a number of people. So we have Ari Goldschneider here, we have Christopher Bader here. Do you want to hear from anyone in particular? First, Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Okay, let's hear from Ari Goldschneider. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, okay, so Mr. Goldstein, if we may, let's hear from Mr. Bader, okay, from the Historical Commission. Chris Bader, name and address of the record, please.
[John Falco]: Ryan Hayward? Ryan, I'm going to unmute you. Ryan Hayward?
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: And if I may, if someone could please mute the background music.
[John Falco]: The audio is tough on this end, so every little bit helps. I'm trying to unmute Ryan, I'm having a tough time.
[John Falco]: Okay, Fred, I'm trying to unmute you as well. Okay, Fred, you've been unmuted. All right.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Mr. Sewell, are you a structural engineer?
[John Falco]: There was another point of information council night.
[John Falco]: I have not received a response. I knew she was working on one, but I have not received a response yet.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello. And then we'll have Councilor Matz. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Point of information council appears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Councilor Markston, Councilor Bears, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: One second.
[John Falco]: That's fine. I am going to try to unmute Ryan Haywood. I had issues before. Let's see. There you go, Ryan. Ryan? Okay. What can I do for you, Chairman? Did you have a specific question you had for Ryan Haywood?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks, you have the floor.
[John Falco]: Ari, I just unmuted you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Goldschneider. We have a point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Let's see, we have, was it Mr. Glassman? Point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Let's see, Chris Bader, do you want to answer that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Okay, so let's see, I think Adam Glassman was going to speak next. Mr. Glassman.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Glosser. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of council, on the motion of council of bears to approve, uh, the paper, which is the established to establish a, uh, single, uh, I'm sorry to, uh, to, uh, approve a single parcel historic district. And that is seconded by seconded by councilor Morell. Councilor Knight, did you have a question?
[John Falco]: He is not available.
[John Falco]: She could not attend tonight, but would be accessible, I think, if we reached out to her.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, so on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, to create a single parcel historic district at 16 Foster Court. In order to do that, it requires five votes to create a historic district. So it requires five. A yes vote is to establish the single parcel historic district. Okay, yes vote is to create. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Four in the negative, three in favor. The motion fails. The historic district is not approved.
[John Falco]: Can the motion to revert to the regular order of business by Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmatives, zero in the negative. We will now revert to the regular order of business. 20-571 offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the city administration provide the council with a list of unsettled union contracts. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: So do you have, Counsel, I'm sorry, Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the... I'm working on it, hang on, I'll be right back.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks, do you prefer a beat paper? I don't have a preference. OK, we'll call it a... There you go. That is an amendment by Councilor Knight. So on the motion of... Are there any questions before I call the roll here? On the motion of Councilor Marks, as amended by Councilor Knight, seconded by... Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Urbiz, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. 20-572 offered by Councilor Marks and Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city repave the street in front of 69 to 77 Winslow Lab in the interest of public safety. Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Second. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Scott-Pelley.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And the motion of, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: That's at 9 Canal? 9 Canal Street. 9 canals to it. So that's a B paper offered by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: On the B paper offered by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Be it ordained by the Medford City Council that the revised ordinances of the city of Medford, as most recently amended, is hereby further amended by changing the language of chapter 74. Streets, sidewalks, and other public places, article three, sidewalks, section 74-114, entitled Removal of Snow and Ice. said section presently states section 74-114, removal of snow and ice. A, whenever the sidewalk or any part of the sidewalk adjoining any building or a lot of land of any street is encumbered with ice and snow, it shall be the duty of the tenant or occupant and in case there should be no tenant or occupant of the whole of such building a lot of land, it shall be the duty of the owner with a person having care of the sidewalk or to cause such sidewalk to have been made safe, convenient for public use or travel by removing the ice or snow or by covering the area with sand or some other suitable substance. In case such tenant, occupant, owner, or other person shall neglect to do so for the space of six hours during the daytime, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of $25 for the first events 50 for each successive date that the sidewalk shall continue to be encumbered. B, any person shall not throw or put or cause to be thrown or put any snow or ice into any street in the city. The fine for violation of this section shall be for the first offense $50, for the second offense and subsequent offenses $100. The language of said section 74-14 shall hereby be amended to read as follows. Section 74-114, removal of snow and ice. A, whenever snow or ice accumulates on a sidewalk, the owner of any land or building abutting a sidewalk or walking path shall remove the snow and ice to permit safe passage for pedestrians on the sidewalk abutting the owner's property and the entrance to the pedestrian crossing abutting the sidewalk. The owner shall also remove snow at a fire hydrant within or abutting the sidewalk that abuts the owner's property sufficient to allow fire department access to the hydrant. The owner shall remove the snow or ice or treat the sidewalk with sand or any other suitable material to permit safe passage to pedestrians. The owner shall remove snow and ice within six daylight hours after the snow stops falling and the city may extend the deadline set forth above in its discretion. The city's code enforcement officer or his designee or the police department shall notify the owner of the failure to comply and allow the owner 24 hours to comply. For residential properties, if the owner does not comply within 24 hours of receiving notice, the city may in its discretion remove. removal as a lien on the owner's property tax to fine the owner $50 per day until the owner complies. For such subsequent offense within 12 months, the fine or charge shall double. For commercial properties, if the owner does not comply within 24 hours of the receiving notice, the city may, in its discretion, remove the snow or ice and charge the owner for the removal as a lien on the owner's property tax bill will fine the owner $100 per day until the owner complies. For each subsequent offense within 12 months, the fine or charge shall double. B, a person shall not throw or put or cause to be thrown or put any snow or ice into any street in the city. The fine for violation of this section shall be, for residential property owners, $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second offense and subsequent offenses. The fine for commercial property owners, $100 for the first offense and $200 for the second offense and subsequent offenses.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Council, we ask to refer this to the Public Works Subcommittee, seconded by Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: So this is going to, was it Public Works? Councilor Bears? Public Works subcommittee, yep. I don't have my sheet in front of me yet.
[John Falco]: OK. So that would be. Mr. President, is that Public Works? Public Works, yes. So that would be. Mr. President? Yes, Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Yeah, that works.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Yes. OK. So we have a motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Morell, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Clerk, are there any gender wording on those motions?
[John Falco]: Councilman Marks, do you want these as amendments to the main paper or B paper?
[John Falco]: Amendments, okay. All right.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that's a mark. You're all set. Yes. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Consul Scarpelli. Mr. President. Consulate bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, we have a couple of people that want to speak. God's all night. I didn't see your hand. I apologize.
[John Falco]: This is Confederate of Santa Clara Public Works.
[John Falco]: You are correct. We have a number of residents that want to speak on this. So at this time, I recognize Martha Andres. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, Jeff Boxbaum. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Let's do this. Mr. Boxbaum has been waiting for a while. He's on the call. If you could please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Piz, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Morell, and Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to suspend the rules to take papers 20584, 20585, and 20586. On that motion to suspend the rules, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, 280 Merrimack Street, Methuen, Massachusetts, 01844 for Greater Boston BJ's Donuts, LLC. 278 Middlesex Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate number 098. Building department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. So, uh, let's see. Councilor Scarpelli is making a motion that we combine all three of these because they are very similar in nature and it is the same person. So on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by vice president, uh, Caraviello that we combine two zero five eight four two zero five eight five and two zero five eight six. Clerk Herbies, please call the roll council bears. He has stepped out of the room.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative. Zero in the negative one absent. These papers are not combined. Uh, two zero five eight five is a kind of rituals license by David. Methuen, Massachusetts, 01844. For Greater Boston, BJ's Donuts, LLC at 430 Salem Street, Methuen, Massachusetts, 02155. And let's see, in 20586 is petition for a common ventures license by David Cafu, 280 Methuen, Massachusetts, 01844. For Greater Boston's BJ Donuts, LLC 620 Fellsway, Methuen, Massachusetts. And on file for all of these are the business certificates, building department, fire department, police, traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer's forms. At this point, I recognize the chairperson on licensing, Councilman Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: So it looks like it's Nancy La Rochelle, am I saying that correct? I'm trying to unmute you. I know she's been waiting patiently, so. Nancy, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: That is closed?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of- Mr. President. Let's see, the motion approved by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President- If I can, I apologize.
[John Falco]: So put that down as an amendment.
[John Falco]: No worries. So that will be, I'm sorry, a 30 and a 60 day review?
[John Falco]: 30, 60 day review. Councilor, so there's a motion by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Can you have that, Clerk Perkins?
[John Falco]: So on the motion of... Did you... I mean, it's not a motion, it's more that...
[John Falco]: Ms. LaRochelle, do you understand that? Okay, perfect. So on the motion of- Mr. President, can I interrupt for a second? Yes, you can.
[John Falco]: Clerk Herves, let me know when you're ready.
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Herves, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. So many farmers here in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Good luck. And thank you for waiting. Thank you. Have a good night. Okay. Um, on the motion of contest, Scarpelli, seconded by console night to revert it back to the regular order of business.
[John Falco]: Yes. I'm a farmer. Is there any negative motions passes? We will now revert to the regular order of business two zero dash five seven four offered by councilor Scarpelli. Be a result of that. The director of the board of health get the input from our partners in the medical field. Dr. Potter, what's in Dr. Menden with suggestions and strategies in their personal opinions on reopening city hall for in person meetings. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council. Scarpelli, on the motion of council. Does anybody else want to speak on this? I'm listening. Okay. On the motion of council, Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 5 in the affirmative, 2 in the negative, the motion passes. 20-575 offered by Councilor Scarapelli, being resolved that the city solicitor gives the city council an opinion dealing with open meeting law violations for overcrowding due to fire department protocol on maximum capacity dealing with city council chamber. Councilor Scarapelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. Motion passes. Oh, I'm sorry. I missed that. Six to one. I apologize. Was it six one?
[John Falco]: You voted yes. Did you vote yes, Councilwoman? She did, yes. Six to one. My apologies there. Six to one. Motion passes. 20576, offered by Councilor Scott, Kelly, Councilor Marks, and Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the City Administration, Traffic Engineer, and Medford Police Department, Traffic Department, install temporary raised crosswalks on both Main Street and South Street intersection for a temporary period of time to evaluate the long-term safety issues dealing with the horribly dangerous intersection. This horribly dangerous intersection Councilor Sky Pelley, did you want to speak first?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Whatever you just said, I'll second whatever Councilor Scott Peller just said.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilmembers, are you all set?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, would anybody else like to speak? Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilors Scarpelli, Marx, and Knight, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Urdoviz, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-5-7-7 offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council have the administration address the issue of disclosure of potential personal information being disclosed. How many employees were involved and from which departments? Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Councilor, Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Marks and Councilor Scarpel.
[John Falco]: Be it further resolved, whereas this stretch of road is under the jurisdiction of DCR, that our state delegation assist with traffic calming initiatives along with pedestrian and bike friendly crossings. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, Councilor Morell, then Councilor Piz, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-579 offered by Councilor Marks be a result that a moment of silence be held for long time Medford resident Joanne Caputo on a recent passing and that the Medford City Council meeting be dedicated in her memory. Dr. Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. At this point, I'd ask everyone to please rise for, oh, I'm sorry, Councilor, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. And on that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-580, offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council ask that the residents of Medford to join us in acknowledging October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Thank you, Mr. President. In the manner as has done in the past, like the dome of City Hall in pink.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-581 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council look into creating a safe disposable site for fuel, oil, and other waste. Be it further resolved that the City of Medford join the Lexington Consortium that would allow Medford residents to bring hazard waste to the Lexington facility. Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Second. Would you like to speak at this conference? Yes, please. Okay. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council appears in the motion of vice president. Copy. I was seconded by council appears. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. 20-582 offered by Vice President Caraviello will be a result of the Medford City Council as the Historical Commission or the Building Department to notify residents which have had their building permits reviewed by the Historical Commission within 72 hours after the review has been completed and of decision. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight, then Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: I just want to make sure. Cathopia is striking the words Historical Commission?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Bears. Let's see, Councilor Knight, I believe you had a comment.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Can the motion of vice-president Caraviello seconded by seconded by consumer off court.
[John Falco]: Oh, as amended as I apologize. As amended by council.
[John Falco]: There needs to be some follow-up.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Knox, are you all set with your question?
[John Falco]: Wait, Councilman Pierce has the floor.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Seconded by? Councilor Morell, I apologize. Seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, for the affirmative, three in the negative, the motion passes. Reports of committees, 20-541, September 21st, 2020, committee of the whole report. The purpose of the meeting was to conduct a site visit at the proposed single parcel historic district at the Haskell Cutout 16 across the court, back in Massachusetts. We now-.
[John Falco]: Okay, I move the motion of council tonight to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: We met with the city solicitor and Director Marian O'Connor to talk about the open meeting law and meeting in city council chambers.
[John Falco]: I move for approval by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Motion passes to 0-5 6 8 5 6 8 September 23rd 2020 We had a committee the whole meeting the purpose of that meeting Was we met with that? Mr. Bob Roski to review the current zoning ordinance Continuous meetings with them in the future on a second console console a night seconded by consular bears Clark Herbies, please call the roll. I
[John Falco]: Sure, thank you, Mr. Thomas.
[John Falco]: It's the, yeah, it's a committee report.
[John Falco]: Yeah, September 30th, I got it right now.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by... Second. Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: That was a yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, 0 negative, the motion passes. Clerk Hurtubise, if I'm correct, we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 committee reports that are tabled. I have them right here, if we could- Motion to keep on the table, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Okay, we have two under suspension. Two under suspension on the motion of council and I, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to take items under suspension. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Under suspension, 20-588 offered by Councilor Marks, whereas this is the second request of National Grid to report back on the leaning pole, number 4354, located at 41 Mangle Street, being resolved that the head of wires, Steven Rendazzo, reach out directly to National Grid in the interest of public safety. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Marks. So the motion of Councilman Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-589, offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for longtime resident, method resident, Louise Musto-Choate on her recent passing. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears. Thank you, Mr. President, and I just
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And if I may, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: The clerk can make that change, not a problem. Louise was a really, really nice person, and thoughts and prayers go to her family. She was, as Councilor Mark said, active in all the different arts events and organizations, and you always saw her there, and she was always there participating and helping out in creating art, and she will be missed. So at this point, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. On that motion of Councilor Marks and Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtabease, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Let's see, we got... Records, we have two sets of records. The records from September 8th were passed to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: A motion of Councilor Marks to approve the records seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: The records of the meeting of September 22nd were passed to Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell to approve the records as amended, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. I move the affirmative, adjourn the negative, the motion passes. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Good night. Be safe
[John Falco]: The 27th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Present.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to 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.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Oh, yes. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information, and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, please email the clerk, Adam Herdebes at A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E at MedfordMA.gov. That's Medford-MA.gov. At this point, I'll recognize Vice President Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The rules are suspended. 20-561, petition for a common vigil is licensed by Robert Miller, 49 Pool Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. For American Legion Post 45, 321 Winthrop Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file is the business certificate number 163, building department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer. At this point, I recognize the chairperson on licensing, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: Okay, do we have Robert Miller on the call?
[John Falco]: I'm trying to unmute him as well, so I'll let you do that. Okay, Commander Martin, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record, please. We just need your name and address.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. In the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Anybody else? Okay, so on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, Chairperson of Licensing, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you, Commander Martin. Okay, we have, let's see. 20-562, that was the next one, right? Okay. 20-562, petition to reverse sign denial by Heather Dudko for XSS Hotel at 85 Station Landing, Medford, Massachusetts. OCD application 2-A exceeds allowable number of signs. Do we have Heather Dudko with us?
[John Falco]: I see her. She's right here. Heather, I'm trying to unmute you. There we go, Heather. If we could just have your name and address for the record. Heather, we just need your name and address for the record, please. You're on. Actually, no, we can't hear you. One minute.
[John Falco]: OK. Heather, can you try again? Okay, I apologize, we're having some technical difficulties, so we'll just need a minute.
[John Falco]: Let's just. No, she's not muted.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: You cannot. Let me just see. Jackie Peeks, can you, can you? Hi. Sorry, can you repeat the question? I'm having feedback there. No, there was no question. We just, we just wanted to know if we could hear you. So we're just testing. Sorry. Thank you. Thanks.
[John Falco]: Heather, if you wouldn't mind, and I apologize for the inconvenience, could you just try hanging up and coming back into the call? Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Can the motion of councilor marks the table seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, sending the negative, the motion is tabled. Okay, we have, so Heather's up there for two. Okay, so we have Neil Parris. Is Neil Parris with us, Clerk Hurtubise? Okay, Mr. President. Yes. Okay. 20-564, petition to reverse signed and ayed by Neil Paris for RIVS Juice Bar. 56, station landing, Bedford, Massachusetts. OCD application three exceeds maximum projection. Okay, so Neil Paris.
[John Falco]: Yes. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: And let's see, your sign was denied, if I'm correct?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Okay, the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by- Second. Council Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Mr. Parris?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Parris. Any other questions from the council? Okay, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello. Seconded by, Clerk, would you give him a second?
[John Falco]: Okay, so Councilor Morell. Let's see, we have Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that is an amendment by Councilor Marks? And we'll get some, would any of the councils like to comment on that? Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: So is the amendment, I just want to be clear, so is the amendment that the sign gets turned off when the rest of the signs at the stations get turned off?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Clerk, do you have the amendment?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight, did you have a comment? You're all set?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. Okay, with that being said, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Setting the affirmative, zeroing the negative, the motion passes. Let's see, let's check with Heather Dudcoe, see if we can.
[John Falco]: All right, no worries. Perfect. So we'll go to 20-565. Petition to reverse sign denial by Best Price Signs in printing for Prestige Car Wash. 277 Middlesex Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, OCD. Application six, exceeds allowable area of secondary signage. Do we have anyone on the call from Best Practice Signs? We do, right here. Gilmour, if we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: From the sign company, okay. Can you tell us a little bit about your sign?
[John Falco]: Yes, we do have a photo in a package here. Yes, we have a question from, we have Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: If you have a comment, we'll hear from some of the councilors. Councilor Knight, thank you. Let's see, we have Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Marks. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. We have Councilor Marks, and then we have Councilor Bears, and then Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: The second bike was that Councilor Knight Excuse me So one minute please so we have a motion by Councilor Mark seconded by a council night to allow the 13 awnings But only three with signage am I correct correct. Okay quick her to be you had that Yes
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So we have a number of other Councilors that want to speak on this. We have, let's see, I have up next Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Member.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Okay.
[John Falco]: On the motion of. Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Yes, let's see. Councilor Marks, you're on.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Mr. Silva. Councilor Marks, you're all set?
[John Falco]: Okay. Got it. Thank you Councilor Marks. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. So let's see, let's see if we can.
[John Falco]: Heather? Yes, I'm here. All right, perfect. OK, just give us one minute. Oh, good, you can hear me. Good. Yes, we just need one minute. So on the motion of councilor Bears to take 20-562 from the table. Seconded by council. All right, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The paper has been taken from the table. 20-562, petition to reverse sign denial by Heather Dudco for XSS Hotels, Fairfield Marriott, 85 Station Landing, Medford, Massachusetts. OCD application 2A exceeds allowable number of signs. Heather, if you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you for joining us. If you could just tell us a little bit about your sign.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. We have a number of questions. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to combine papers 20-562 and 20-563. 20-563 is petition to reverse sign denial by Heather Dudco for XSS Hotels, Fairfield Marriott, 85 Station Landing, Medford, Massachusetts, OCD application 2D exceeds allowable number of signs. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to merge those motions, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, 0 negative, the papers have been merged. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello. Seconded by Councilor Morell. So we have Councilor Marks and Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Okay, any other questions, comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none. Okay, let's see, so on the motion of... One minute, please.
[John Falco]: There seems to be some concern whether or not, I think, is it maybe the north side of the building faces a residential building, if I'm correct. We're going to take a look right now. One minute, please. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Okay. Can you unmute him please?
[John Falco]: Does anyone, anyone care to comment? Any consuls, any concerns? Sorry?
[John Falco]: Oh, yes. Consul, one minute, Consul Knight. Consul Knight.
[John Falco]: So, Clerk Hurtubise, I'm not sure if you got that amendment by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Do you have that, Clerk Hurtubise? Working on it, Mr. President. Councilmarks one minute, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that is an amendment by Councilor Knight. We have Councilor Bears and Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Evan, are you still on the call?
[John Falco]: Eben, are you able to answer that question?
[John Falco]: So why that is an amendment as well?
[John Falco]: Thank you. So do you have that amendment as well, Clerk Hurtubise? I do. Yes. Thank you. Councilor Marks, thank you very much. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, I don't see anybody's hand raised. I think we're good here. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Knight and Councilor Marks. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you. You too, thanks. Thanks. So I believe.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, what's the next one, the grant allocations? 0447.
[John Falco]: 20-447, petition for grant of location, National Grid, gas main locations, Medford, Massachusetts, City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, the Medford City Council will hold a public hearing via Zoom. On September 22, 2020, a link to be posted no later than Friday, September 18, 2020, on a petition of the Boston Gas Company, DBA, and National Grid for permission to locate gas mains, as hereinafter described for the transmission of gas, and under the following public streets, lanes, highways, and places of the city of Medford, and of the pipes, valves, governors, manholes, and other structures, fixtures, and appurtenances designed or intended to... On the motion of council, I'll ask to waive the remainder of the reading, seconded by council. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion, the reading has been waived. Do we have the National Grid representative on with us? Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: Okay, can you please unmute her?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Yeah, I think you almost had it. Ms. Craig. Good evening, Mr. President. Can you hear me? Yes, can we please have your name and address for the record? And then if you could please give us a brief synopsis of the project.
[John Falco]: So let's see. And if I may, I'm going to just read that this was approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions. The engineering division recommends that the grant of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, the grant of location is limited to the approximately 60 feet of gas main in one service located in Medford that is part of the larger project described in the GOL documents as follows. To install and maintain approximately 650 feet of a new 4-inch plastic main extension from the existing 4-inch plastic main in Williams Street going on to Broadway and to the service location in Medford Street. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DigSafe. It shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Medford Street was rebuilt within the last five. years and is restricted from receiving a SOP without direct approval from the Commissioner of Public Works. At a minimum, the SOP application must include a street restoration plan for review and approval. At a minimum, the street restoration plan must include curb-to-curb paving. The SOP application must also include a traffic management plan. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances are adversely impacted. The National Grid shall ensure that all sewer water and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. There are multiple broken concrete panels clustered at the vicinity of the point of entry for the gas service. This cluster should be replaced as part of the project. Number four, the sidewalk and street restoration shall be done in consultation with the engineering division and per the requirements of the approved street opening permit. Number five, pavement markings including the hatch pattern must be restored. Number six, the project site must be swept daily. It shall be kept free of debris for the duration of the installation. And those are the, basically that was approved and those were the conditions that were put forth by our city engineer. So at this point, I would declare the public hearing open. It opened to those in favor of the project. Ms. Cuddy, if you could just please give your name and address for the record again.
[John Falco]: Okay. I don't see anyone that wants to speak in favor. Okay. So seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone in opposition of the petition that would like to speak? Okay, seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. At this point in time, are there any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: We have a motion of Council of Marks to approve, seconded by- Second. Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: We just need a minute. We're taking a look at the diagram.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Were there any other questions regarding this? If I may, Ms. Cuddy, the engineer mentions in his notes that, let's see, there are multiple broken concrete panels clustered at the vicinity of the point of entry for the gas service. This cluster should be replaced as part of this project. Are those gonna be replaced with concrete? Yes, they will be. They will be, okay. Yes, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I think it's part of the engineers. Recommendations. His recommendation is for which
[John Falco]: That's part of that. Point number 2, at a minimum, the street restoration plan must include curb-to-curb paving. The SOP application must also include a traffic management plan. Great. It's at the top of page 27.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Okay. Perfect. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Mark second, actually no, wait a minute. Yes. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. Let's see, 2-0. OK, thank you, Ms. Cuddy. Have a good night. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Let's see. Notice of a public hearing.
[John Falco]: I'm just going to read the top piece, and then we'll get them. Let's see, notice of public hearing. Legal notice, 20-544, petition for grant of location, Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC, Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office. On the motion of council, I would like to waive the reading for a brief synopsis, and that is seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caballero, first of all, I'd like to declare that this public hearing is open. And let's see, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caballero to waive the reading. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 affirmative, 0 negative. The reading has been waived. Let's see, we have a representative on the line, I believe from Comcast. Let's see, Greg Franks. Mr. Franks, name and address for the record, and then if you could please give us a brief synopsis of the project.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. So this here project has been approved by our city engineer with the following conditions. I'm just going to read the conditions, then I know a number of councilors have questions, and there are quite a few conditions. The engineer division recommends that the grant of location be approved with the following conditions. These conditions include minor revisions to vault locations and conduit runs. Prior to issuance of a street opening permit, Comcast must submit a revised plan with the city clerk and engineering division for record. Number one, the grant of location is limited to the conduit, vaults, handholds, and service conduit as described in the petition. High Street, starting at the existing conduit located in front of number 84 High Street, excavating to place two Let's see, four-inch PVC conduits, 1,094 plus or minus, and two three-by-three manholes in nine two-by-three vaults. Bradley Road, starting at the proposed manhole and the sidewalk, excavating place two. 4-inch PVC conduits, 170 foot plus or minus to utility pole number 5516-1. Main Street, starting at the proposed vault number 9. On High Street, excavating to place 2. 4-inch PVC conduits, 115 feet plus or minus to proposed vault number 10. Continuing. From vault number 10 excavating to place one four inch PVC conduit, 155 feet, to number 32 Main Street, Riverside Avenue. Starting at proposed vault number 10 on Main Street, excavating to place two four inch PVC conduits, 240 feet, plus or minus to number one, Salem Street. And proposing to place a two by three vault, over the existing conduit located in the sidewalk. Number two, the plan indicates that conflicts with other utilities may result in a change in location of conduits and structures. Changes in locations of conduit runs or structures by more than two feet requires the approval of a revised G.O.L. Changes to structure locations less than two feet must be approved by the city engineer. The note on the plan must be revised to indicate this information. Number three, before starting work, the contractor must notify dig safe and must obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. This project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. The SOP application must include a street restoration plan and traffic management plan for review and approval by the engineering division. Sea surface restoration requirements below the TMP must be prepared and stamped by a licensed professional engineer and must include accommodations for pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles. Number four, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances are adversely impacted. Comcast must ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Number five, Comcast must submit a project schedule and sequence plan to the engineering division for review and approval. The project shall be limited to one crew. Number six, sections of work may be required to take place at night due to daytime traffic volumes. This must be coordinated with the Medford Police Department to minimize disruptions in traffic. in the interest of public safety. Number seven, Comcast must submit the communications and notification plan to the mayor's office for review and approval. It must include timely notifications to impacted business and residents. Number eight, the plan indicates a riverfront area jurisdictional line. Comcast must review this line in consultation with the Medford Conservation Commission. Riverfront areas are wetland resources and are under the jurisdiction of the Medford Conservation Commission. If an order of conditions is required, it must be issued prior to the release of ASOP. Nine, copies of the MWRA 8M permit must be submitted to the engineering division with the SOP application. Ten, Comcast may have abandoned utilities in Medford. A map showing the location of Comcast abandoned utilities in Medford must be submitted to the engineering division for record. Number 11, as part of the City of Medford COVID-19 emergency response, there are Jersey barriers set up on High Street and outdoor dining space. If any of these barriers must be temporarily removed, this work must be coordinated with the associated restaurants to take place at a time that minimizes impact to these restaurants. If this work must take place during business hours, there must be paid restitution. Number 12, The contractor must submit a COVID-19 work safety plan with the SOP application. The plan is subject to approval by the Board of Health and must be approved before the release of the permit. Number 13, the sidewalk and street restoration must be done in consultation with the engineering division in per the requirements of the approved SOP. Cement concrete sidewalks must be replaced in kind and cleanly cut at the control joints to extend To extents described below, the bituminous concrete pavement over the trench must be milled and overlaid. In the extents described below and approved by the engineering division, the brick-stamped cement concrete edging shall be replaced in kind. A, in general, sidewalk replacements must include panels from Curb to back of existing sidewalk or right of way line. Expansion joints must be placed at several intervals less than or equal to 30 feet. Less than or equal to 30 feet. Control joints must be placed to best meet and match existing conditions at the intervals no greater than six feet. Hybrids, utility poles, and driveway aprons must receive expansion joints to isolate. All joints must meet ADA requirements. B, Riverside Avenue must be resurfaced curb to curb to an offset of at least, to an offset at least 10 feet. to the eastern trench limits. C, there are at least two monitoring wells in the east gutter of Main Street near the intersection of Riverside Avenue. These wells are related to a remediation project and must be protected. The location in the gutter also conflicts with the granite curb concrete backing. The engineering division recommends that the run of conduit be placed in the sidewalk to avoid these wells and to avoid undermining the curbing. D, the trench surface restoration crossing Clippership Drive must be resurfaced at an offset of at least 10 feet from the trench limits. E, the conduit on the south side of Clippership Drive must be placed beneath the sidewalk. The landscaped area is reserved for tree growth. F, the trench surface restoration crossing Main Street must be resurfaced to an offset of at least 10 feet from the trench limits. G, the trench surface restoration on High Street and Bradley Road must be curb to curb. H, Vault 9 appears to be located in a sidewalk panel that includes a portion of a pedestrian ramp that is in poor condition. The restoration must include a new pedestrian ramp that meets ADA requirements. The vault cover must be located within the ramp wings and level landings. The vault must be located within the furniture zone if possible. The pedestrian ramps at the opposite sides of the crossing must also be replaced and meet ADA requirements. I, a sidewalk panel adjacent to vault 8 on the west side is cracked. It must be replaced. The asphalt patch adjacent to the cracked panel must be replaced with cement concrete sidewalk. J, vault 6 is located in an existing asphalt patch. The asphalt must be replaced with cement concrete. The cement concrete panels adjacent to the location are cracked and must be replaced. K, manhole 2, an associated excavation and conduit will disturb the existing pedestrian ramp on the west side of Bradley Road. The main old cover must not be located within a ramp, wings, or level landings. The new ramp placed as part of the restoration must be ADA compliant. The pedestrian ramp at the east side of the crossing must be replaced to meet ADA requirements. L, fault five is located adjacent to an asphalt patch that must be replaced with cement concrete sidewalk. The sidewalk panels adjacent to this fault are cracked and must be replaced. M, vault four is located adjacent to the building. The vault must be relocated to the furniture zone if feasible. The adjacent asphalt patch must be replaced with cement concrete sidewalk. And vault three appears to conflict with a city trash barrel. The vault must be removed or a new trash barrel location coordinated with the DPW. The adjacent sidewalk panel at the street light in the adjacent panel near the building are cracked. It must be replaced. Vault three must be located in the furniture zone if feasible. O, vault 2 must be located in the furniture zone if feasible. P, vault 1 must be located in the furniture zone if feasible. The adjacent panel in poor condition must be replaced. Q, the surface conduit for 81 High Street passes under damaged curb. The damaged curb must not be reused. A new or good condition used vertical granite curbing that matches the existing curbing must be used for restoration. The sidewalk panels adjacent to the conduit line are cracked, it's spalling, it must be replaced. R, all pavement markings must be restored. Number 14, the project must be swept daily and shall be kept free of debris for the duration of the installation. Number 15, The service conduit must be encased in concrete or flowable fill unless required by the MWRA at the crossings or authorized by the city engineer. Flowable fill must be excavatable. Number 16, the plan indicates the vaults in manholes are heavy duty. However, there is no indication that this to the board of health for approval. This plan must be approved prior to the This has been approved by the chief engineer and those were the following conditions. So at this point, I would declare the public hearing open to those in favor of the petition. Let's see, we had a, is there anybody that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Greg, if you could just give, since you already spoke, can you just give your name and address for the record, please?
[John Falco]: Anyone else, is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Okay, Clerk Hurtubise, I don't see anyone. Okay, seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Okay. Clerk Hurtubise, I don't see anyone in opposition either, so. Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed.
[John Falco]: Mr. Franks.
[John Falco]: Mr. Flewelling, I'm trying to unmute you now. OK, he should be. Hi. Hi, if you could please give me a name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Was that a question? Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. We have Councilor Bears. You had a question? I do. OK, Councilor Bears. Am I good to go?
[John Falco]: The city engineer I don't think is with us.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council appears. Cause there'll be, you're all set, right?
[John Falco]: Vice-president Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions for the Council?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion to approve, motion by Councilor Behr, seconded.
[John Falco]: Second, okay. Well, the motion of Council of Bears is amended by Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes.
[John Falco]: While we're under suspension, to take communications from the mayor. 20-541 communications from the mayor September 3rd 2020 the electronic delivery to the Honorable President members of the Medford City Council City of Medford Massachusetts 02155 regarding the proposed ordinance historic district dear Mr. President and members of the City Council I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body approved the following amendments to the City of Medford revised ordinances ordinances entitled Historic District Commission, Article 3, Section 48 through 51 as described below. The amendments clarify the ordinance to delineate the previously approved districts and at the request of the Methodist Historical District Commission, create a new single parcel historic district. at 16 Foster Court. By way of background, Section 48 through 51 presently states under the authority of Master M.G.L.A. Chapter 40, Section 3, there is hereby established a Hillside Avenue Historic District and Moms Simmons Historic District bounded as respectively shown on the map entitled Historic Avenue Historic District. and Monson's Historic District, which are on file in the city clerk's office and made part of this article by reference. Pursuant to Mass General Law, Chapter 40C, Section 3, the attached report and request has been transmitted to the Community Development Board for the concurrent review. The matter is scheduled to be taken up at the Community Development Board on September 16th, 2020. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor. By being ordained by the City Council of the City of Medford as follows, Amendment 1, Section 48 through 51A of the Revised Ordinance, City of Medford, Massachusetts, is hereby amended to read as follows. Under the authority of MGLA Chapter 40, Section 3, the following historic districts bound respectively and which are on file in the city clerk's office and made a part of the article by reference are hereby established. Number one, Hillside Avenue Historic District. Number two, Marm Simmons Historic District Amendment. Two, section 48-51A of the revised ordinances, City of Manfred, Massachusetts, as amended in section one, is hereby further amended to read as follows. Under the authority of MGLA, Chapter 40C, Section 3, the following historic districts, bounded respectfully, and which are on file in the City Clerk's Office and made a part of this article of reference are hereby established. Number one, Hillside Avenue Historic District. Two, Marm Simmons Historic District. Three, 16 Foster Court Historic District. Method Historic District Commission and Method Historical Commission report on 16 Foster Court. We also received the communication from the, let's see, from the CD board to John C. Falco, Jr., President, Method City Council, Adam Herdeby, City Clerk, from Andre LaRue, Chairman. It's dated September 18th, 2020. regarding the proposed local historic district at the Haskell-Cutter House 16 Foster Court, Medford, Massachusetts. At its meeting on September 16, 2020, the Community Development Board voted to make no recommendation on the proposed local historic district at the Haskell-Cutter House 16 Foster Court, Medford. but encourages the parties involved to pursue preservation of the historic structure either on this site or another site. During the robust discussion, board members expressed their desire to work with the Historic District Commission to prioritize conservation properties for future districts, find additional ways of celebrating Medford shipbuilding history, and support a citywide evaluation of the city's historic assets. Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter. Andrew LaRue, Chairman, and the CC was to Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor, and Kimberly Scanley, the acting city solicitor. Council appears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you console beers. So when you were saying are you advancing it?
[John Falco]: Okay, so make sure Let's see there is there any any other consoles that like to speak on this matter? Well, I'm just constantly I Didn't see a button press. Let me just uh, oh, you know, it's the screens different. I'm sorry. I Councilor Knight, and then Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Ari Goldschneider, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Let's see, Adam Glassman, you've been unmuted. Jennifer Platt, you have been, I'm trying to, you've been unmuted. Everyone's been unmuted. Please continue.
[John Falco]: Council, actually, do you want to speak out tonight? We have a couple of councils with the hits.
[John Falco]: Council Bears.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the Council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Mr. President. Okay, Councilor Marks and then Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Let's see, we have Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And I want to, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And if I may, I want to thank everyone that was involved in the process. I know, you know, I think it was beneficial to go out to the site to actually have a walk through the property and both inside and outside. That's always beneficial. And I'd like to thank everyone for their involvement. But we do have a little bit of an issue. I did talk to the city solicitor today, and that window is getting smaller and smaller as to what we need to do here. With regard to the vote that we're supposed to take tonight, it's supposed to be should this be a historical district, okay? And so tonight would technically be the first reading of this paper. So-
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: So if I want to make sure we're all on the same page. So, so, and I thank you for bringing that up. So if it passes, it would be its first reading and then it would go to the paper for its, so actually yeah, then it would go to the paper for its second reading. So therefore if we didn't vote tonight, What's going to happen is, the next meeting is October 6th. And therefore, the second reading wouldn't get into the paper after the demo delay. Point of information, demo delay. So from what I've been told, we need to make a vote tonight on whether this is actually going to be historic district or not. And then when it comes back to the third reading, if something changes, then we can go from there. But I think that- We don't receive this information.
[John Falco]: I just called today. I made this call at 5 o'clock this afternoon, literally right before I came to City Hall. Because I like to get all, I like to make sure that, you know what, when this happens, I, you know.
[John Falco]: I asked the city solicitor if she was available tonight. She said no. She was busy, but we can try giving her a call if you like, if you want to take a brief recess.
[John Falco]: And I asked the city solicitor today if she could be present tonight. She said she could not. But we can try giving her a call if you want. We can take a brief recess. I can try getting her on the line. Is that what the council would like to do?
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yeah. I mean, if you go to the point of the compromise, I mean, have any plans been brought to the building commissioner? Has the building commissioner seen anything? I would assume he would have to see that as well.
[John Falco]: I mean- I understand that, but you know what, the way I look at it too, it's not our fault we're in this jam right now. I mean, here we are down here. Absolutely. Point of information, Councilor Marks. One second. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: And I appreciate that.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: The only thing I was doing was giving the council information that I got. That's all I was doing, okay?
[John Falco]: So there is a motion on the floor. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, so we'll take the B paper first. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording in the B paper? Clerk Hurtubise, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: On that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hunter, please call the roll. This is on the B paper.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, the motion passes on the B paper. Councilor Knight, did you have another resolution or another? Motion to table? Okay, a motion to table, that is undebatable. Is there a motion to table on the floor offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Well, there's no meeting next week. So it's Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, it's a table to a date certain, which is October 6th. Am I correct, Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Knight, his motion is to table to a date certain of October 6th. That motion was seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: President Falco. No. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes to table six to one. Okay.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council, I'd like to revert back to the regular order of business, and that is seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Oh, I thought it was just the first one.
[John Falco]: OK. Is there any objection to us continuing with the papers from the mayor?
[John Falco]: OK, thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, would you please withdraw your motion?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight has withdrawn his motion. So we are still on the papers from the mayor. Communications from the mayor. And this is 20-566. September 17, 2020, the electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding Home Rule Petition Charter Commission. Dear Mr. President and members of the City Council, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body approve the following Home Rule Petition and transmit to the General Court for their consideration. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. An act authorizing the election of a charter commission in the city of Medford. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives and General Court assembled and by the authority of the same as follows. Section one, notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 43B of the general laws of the provisions of any general law, special law or regulation to the contrary, the city of Medford. The city the city of Medford City Council shall at the first regular city regular city election or a fogging up City election or early occurring special election held On or after the 60th day following the effective date of this act, by order, provide for submission to the voters of the city the question of adopting or revising a charter and for the election of a nine member charter commission. Section two, other than as set forth herein, the provisions of chapter 43B of the general laws shall be applicable to the nomination and election of charter commissioners and to the duties and responsibilities of the city and the charter commission elected here under. Section three, this act shall take effect upon its passage. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Bears. We have Jackie Peeks, who is representing the administration tonight. Jackie.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Thank you, Jackie. Councilor Knight, I'm sorry, did you have a question?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council on this?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other councilors want to speak on this? Yes, so we have a number. Okay, let's see. We'll go with Councilor Marks and then Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Council members?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by- Mr. President. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks. Yes, let me do that, one minute.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have a number of people that want to speak on this issue. So at this point, I'm going to call on Matt H. Name and address for the record, Matt.
[John Falco]: Matt, you said your last name's Hughes, right?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: That is- Matt, one minute please. Point of information, Councilor Marks. Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Matt. Let's see, we have Jess Farrell. Jess, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Jess. Let's see, Will Navar. Will, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Diane Sullivan. Diane, if we could, I'm trying to unmute you now. There you go. Could we please have your name and address for the record, Diane?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Diane. Okay, let's see here. Okay, I don't see any of the hands up. Okay. Any of the councils have anything else that they want to state on this issue? We're missing one. Okay, there's a motion on the floor and that motion was from Councilor Bears. Motion of Councilor Bears. Right? The motion of council Bears to approve, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: He said no.
[John Falco]: Yes. That's four in the affirmative, three in the negative. The motion passes. second on the motion of console right to revert back to the regular order of business. Business seconded by a couple of bears for her to be. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmatives, zero in the negative. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Hearings. Notice of a public hearing, 19-481. Public hearing notice, amendment to chapter 94, zoning. Revised ordinances of the City of Medford, Medford City Council, September 22nd, 2020. The Medford City Council will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 7 p.m. via Zoom remote video conferencing relative to a petition on Council Paper 19-481, Chapter 94, Zoning, Section 94-2, Definitions. Definitions is proposed to be amended to add definitions for brewery, tasting room, tap room, barrel, and brew pub. Section 94-148, table of use regulations is proposed to be amended by adding use 35B, brewery, which will be allowable by right in C2IOA. In the C1 district, breweries operating with seven barrels or under will be allowable by right. If breweries operating with more than seven barrels will be allowable by special permit board of appeals. The full text of the amendment may be viewed in the office of the city clerk, city hall, room 103, or on the city's website at http://www.methodma.org, departments, community development, by clicking on the current CD board filings. A Zoom link for this meeting will be posted no later than Friday, September 18th, 2020.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. So we did receive a paper here from the CD board. And I'm just going to read it quick so everybody can. Listen, it's from the Community Development Board to John C. Falco, Jr., President, Medford City Council, and to Adam Hurtubise, City Clerk, from Andre LaRue, Chairman, dated September 8, 2020, regarding Council Paper 20-481, proposed amendment to Chapter 94, zoning to add definitions and an additional line brewery to the table of use regulations. Following a duly advertised public hearing conducted on September 16, 2020, the Community Development Board voted to recommend that the Medford City Council adopt the proposed amendment to Chapter 94 zoning, as well as in Council Paper 20-481. Board members strongly supported the proposal to allow breweries and brew pubs to operate in the city. Furthermore, given the fact that some other breweries in the region have become social gathering spots, the board respectfully suggests including the following language to provide additional flexibility to their operations. Add the following after the last line in the definition for brewery. The facility may also provide food that is produced on site, produced off-site or produced with food trucks that are located on-site. Thank you for your consideration of this recommendation. Andrea LaRue, Chairman, and that was CC to Brianna Lungo, current Mayor, and to Kimberly Scanlon, City Solicitor, and to Paul Moki, the Building Commissioner. So at this point, I would declare the public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Would anybody like to speak in favor? Okay, John Costas, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Mr. Costas. We'll give everyone a minute and a half, just because there's a lot of people on the call. I'm sorry, I apologize. That's true, that's right, it's just favoring, yeah, I apologize. So those in favor, would anybody like to give their name and address to anyone that's in favor? Okay. Okay, clerk, I don't see anyone else. Do you?
[John Falco]: I just want to double check to make sure. Oh, we got Max Heineck. Let's see, Max. Max, I'm trying to unmute you. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Max. Okay, let's see, anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak? Okay, hearing and seeing none, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone opposed? Is there anyone in opposition to the petition? Okay. Clerk Hurtubise, I don't see anyone here in opposition. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Would anyone in the council like to discuss, Councilor Marks, do you have your? Was that from the last time? Your microphone's on, I didn't know. Yeah, I think it was from last time, but I would like to speak, Mr. President. Yeah, one second, let me just, Councilor Marks, and then we have Councilor Knight after that. Councilor Marks!
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the- So is your motion to adopt with the amendments? Correct. Okay. Clerk, do you have the language of the amendment? Well, basically to adopt the changes recommended by the city board, am I correct?
[John Falco]: Right. Okay. So that is the motion of Councilor Marks and that is seconded by Councilor Knight. And let's see, we have Councilor Knight wanted to speak on this as well. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the council? We do have one person that wants to speak. Let's see. Yes, please. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Nick, do you have a minute and a half?
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, one minute. Let me get your microphone.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Nick.
[John Falco]: No worries, thank you. Okay, let's see, so there is a motion on the floor. Seeing that there's no one else has a hand up, so.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion on the floor, there is a motion on the floor. That motion was by Councilor Marks, and it was seconded by Councilor Knight. And it was- As amended motion, yeah. As amended by Councilor Marks to
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 on the negative. The motion passes. Okay, notice of a public hearing. 20-042, legal notice. City of Medford, Massachusetts, Medford City Council, Chapter 94, zoning. This here is a, let's see, this is a continuation, I believe. Yes, this is a continued hearing that we had previously with regard to the Marijuana Ordinance. We had met actually numerous times. It came back from the CD board. We met numerous times with Jonathan Silverstein from KP Law and We met with regard to the marijuana CAC ordinance and the marijuana ordinance. Now I have to note that in the agenda here, we have-
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, so- Second. Councilor Knight has made a motion to sever the ordinances because they were supposed to be severed. There's a typo in the agenda, and they were included all in one. So on the motion to, so if you go to page four, four through page ten is the CAC ordinance. And then the marijuana ordinance starts from page ten down. So on the motion of Councilor Knight to sever the ordinances, seconded by.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clark Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: OK, on the motion of Councilor Knight, do you have the language to that Councilor Knight's motion?
[John Falco]: So on that motion by Councilor Knight, that is seconded by Councilor Bears. You want to speak up? You good? So on that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. And I don't see any hands up, so I think we're good there. Any councilors want to speak? Mr. President? Councilor Marks, one second please. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Scarpelli, Council of Mayors.
[John Falco]: Yeah, sure.
[John Falco]: October 6th or is that?
[John Falco]: Okay. One second, Councilor, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Villes. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Would any of the councils like to speak on this? Okay, thank you. We just need a minute. The clerk had to step away for a second. So, so thank you everyone for your hard work on this. This was definitely a lot of time, a lot of time, effort and energy went into this, actually into both ordinances. So thank you to everyone that was involved. Appreciate it. So we will, We checked away for the clerk to get back. He should be back in a minute. Thank you everyone for your patience.
[John Falco]: Mr. Clark.
[John Falco]: Okay, so, let's see, Councilor Bierce had a motion to table, bless you, to table this to a date certain October 6th.
[John Falco]: Yes, okay, so the main motion was basically to, Which I think you have. Do you have the main motion as far as sending this to the city solicitor? Yes.
[John Falco]: And the amendment was to table to a date certain of October 6th.
[John Falco]: We can read it when it comes back. Sure. That's probably the best bet.
[John Falco]: If that's okay with everyone here.
[John Falco]: Yeah, because I mean, I don't want to read it if it's rough. I read the zoning. Not the CAC. The zoning only. I read all 17.
[John Falco]: Yes, I remember that. I do too. Scott. OK. So on the motion of, so this is with regard to the CAC ordinance. Can you just read back the motion so we don't have it, Clerk Rodriguez?
[John Falco]: Yeah, we already passed that. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: As amended by Councilor Hurtubise. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. So the motion is to call the public hearing to order by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: He said- Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmatives here and the negative, the motion passes. So this is the continued public hearing that we had previously. Like I said previously, we met with KP Law and KP Law basically gave us the final draft And the draft, KP Long gave us the final draft. Council Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, for approval, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Actually, one minute. Is there anyone that wants to speak? I do not see anybody's hand up, if you can just reconfirm.
[John Falco]: On that motion, by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Correct. Third and final reading.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmatives, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-545 offered by Council and I be it resolved that the city clerk be directed to schedule and post a standing notice for a meeting of the ordinance subcommittee on the second Tuesday of October, November, and December from five to 6 p.m. for the purpose of reviewing the progress of draft ordinances requested by the city council and be it further resolved that the city solicitor be requested to attend these meetings. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other comments, questions from the council? Anyone? Anyone have the hand up? Okay, nope. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Redavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: He's absent.
[John Falco]: He stepped out of the room.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. Motion passes. 2-0-546, after my council night, be it resolved that the city administration provide the council with monthly reports regarding the C-Click Fix program, including the following information. Number one, number of total service requests reported. Number two, number of total service requests resolved. Number three, a breakdown of what classifications of service was requested Stump removal, sidewalk repair, potholes, etc. Council night.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, second by Councilor Bears, I believe Jackie Peeks, did you want to speak on this? We have Councilor Marks. Jackie, then you can.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Jackie.
[John Falco]: Jackie, if I may, is there a list of reports that comes out of that system? Pre-made canned reports?
[John Falco]: No, whether or not the system has the ability. A lot of systems, when you get them, they come with canned reports that give you different metrics each month. I was wondering if you have a list of reports that maybe come with it, so we could take a look at that list and maybe say, okay, these are things that we would want to see on a monthly basis. Sure.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Marks, do you have any questions? I'm good, thank you. Okay, Councilor Knight, did you have any questions?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Knight. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions from the council? I don't see anybody's hands raised, so I think we're good here. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative during the night of the motion passes. 20-547, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the city administration provide the council with a monthly report on the issuance of street opening permits, including the following information. Number one, date of issuance. Number two, location. Number three, scope of work. Number four, date construction started. Number five, date construction was completed. Number six, if the permittee is required to return to the location after six months for final roadway restoration. Councilor Knight. Hang on.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any questions from the council? Any comments? Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On a motion to council tonight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Cronin, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 the affirmative, 0 the negative, the motion passes. 20-548 offered by Councilor Knight, being resolved that the City Auditor conduct an audit of the Treasurer Collector's Office.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Do you want to speak?
[John Falco]: Jackie, I'm trying to, there you go. Jackie, if you could please comment to Councilman Mark's question.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilman, you're amending the resolution to look at the last three years?
[John Falco]: Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording?
[John Falco]: You have a, uh, okay. Thank you. Clerk Hurtubise. So on that motion of console night, seconded by seven seconds. Seconded by vice president Caraviello, uh, console beers, console beers as a point of information, console beers.
[John Falco]: Okay, so point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, so an amendment by Vice President Caraviello to receive an update with regard to hiring a new treasurer?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, do you have an amendment of Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Locks. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Is that an amendment?
[John Falco]: Okay, so we have a further amendment by Councilor Bears. Okay, any other questions or comments?
[John Falco]: Okay, any other questions or comments from the council? Okay. On the motion of council tonight, seconded by Councilor Marks, as amended by Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Bears, Councilor Marks. Did I miss anything?
[John Falco]: OK. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please come along.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, 0 in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-549 offered by Council of the Night and Vice President Caraviello, whereas Razzo's Grill opened on Mystic Avenue, September 5th, 2005, and whereas since that time owner and proprietor Richard Razzo has been an invaluable contributor to the city of Medford through through countless donations and other acts of kindness. And whereas September 5th, 2020 marks the 15th anniversary of Roswell's Grove grand opening, we have resolved that the Medford City Council thank Richard Roswell for his commitment to the community and congratulate Roswell's Grove for 15 years of success. Anniversary and be a further resolve that he be presented with a consultation memorial memorializing this momentous event console night
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. And if I may conclude by thanking my council colleagues for bringing this forward tonight, and wishing Richie a happy anniversary. It's a great place to eat and thank him for his continuous commitment to our community. So thank you, Rich Razo. On a motion of councilors, Knight and Caraviello. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Offered by Councilors Knight and Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council extend its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Teresa Galoni on her recent passing. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpella.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Dr. Scarpelli. And I also want to thank my colleagues for bringing this resolution forward. Mrs. Galoni was a great person, and our thoughts and prayers go to the Galoni family. So at this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. And on that motion offered by Councilor Knight, actually, we'll take the B paper first. The B paper offered by Councilor Bears. And seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 affirmatives, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. On the main paper offered by Vice President Caraviello and Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-551, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold the Committee of the Whole to review the draft ordinance regulating donation collection bins as offered under paper 20-295 and drafted by the City Solicitor's Office. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Knight. It is on my list. I will be scheduling a meeting on that soon. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmatives, 0 in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Okay, 2-0-552 has been withdrawn. 2-0-553 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request a report from the school committee on its plans to address truancy during remote learning. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears? Nope? Okay. Councilor Morell?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell, are you all set? Thank you. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, on, let's see, just make sure you know where I'm at. So on the motion of council, a night, as amended by council, a night, and seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-554 offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the city administration report back to the council on the hiring of an election coordinator to oversee and coordinate elections in the city of Medford. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yeah, there was a response. It didn't say how the funds were going to be spent, but they were not included in the budget.
[John Falco]: No, actually, I was thinking the same thing. We're on the same page, if I may. We're on the same page. The money's there, and it should be spent. The administration should be meeting with the clerk to find out exactly what needs he has with regard to the upcoming election, and then long term, what they need to make sure that their office is stacked properly. And all my colleagues have had great points. We all agree on this, I think 100%, and that is that the clerk needs help. And the demand to the job, I mean, it's always been a demanding job, but it's really demanding now with all the mail-in voting. And early voting, I mean, the role has changed throughout the years. There is money there, and that money should be used. To me, that's a perfect place to actually spend the money, because this is going to have an impact. And we need to make sure that that office is stacked properly for the upcoming election and long term. for the future. And I want to thank the clerk for all his hard work. I talk to him I think probably on a daily basis and I know he puts in a lot of time and a lot of hours and I know everyone in his office does as well. So I thank them for all their hard work. Councilor Knight, I thank you for bringing that forward. Councilor Bears, I believe you had your hand up.
[John Falco]: It needs to be a priority, without a doubt. And I hope the administration looks at it as a priority as well. So let's see. On the motion, make sure there's no one with their hand up. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Marks. As amended by Councilor Knight. Seconded by Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The motion passes. 20-555 offered by Councilor Marks being resolved at the most recent visit to Medford by Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pawlik be discussed. Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Renovies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 the affirmative, 0 the negative, the motion passes. 20-556 offered by Council of Marks be resolved at the Medford City Council. Meet with Chief Buckley, our State Delegation, Building Commissioner Moki, and City Solicitor Kim Scanlon to review local policies and procedures regarding halfway homes within the City of Medford. Council of Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay. Any other questions or comments from the council? Looks like there's no hands raised here. So on the motion of Council of marks as amended by consular vice-president Caraviello consular bears and seconded by Cosco Kelly Clark Artemis, please call the roll Can I ask a quick question before I call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, the motion passes. 20-557 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request an update from the city administration on the status of the 2020 census and how our current response rate will affect future funding allocations to the city of Medford, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any questions, comments from the council?
[John Falco]: On the motion, let's see, no one has their hands raised. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: 7 the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. 20-558 offered by Council of Mayors be a result that the Medford City Council requests an update from the Department of Public Works on the condition of pavement and line painting on Rivers Edge Drive. Council of Mayors.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any questions for the Council? No one has their hands raised. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmatives, negative, the motion passes. 20-559 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council be provided with an update on the current financial circumstances and projections following the close of the first quarter of the fiscal year at the second meeting in October.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any questions, comments from the council? No one has their hands raised. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: 20-560 by Councilor Morell and Councilor Pierres. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration use all available resources to ensure addiction and substance use recovery meetings are supported during the COVID-19 state of emergency while observing state emergency order limitations and by exploring outdoor locations. Be it further resolved that the city administration publish a list of in-person meetings that are currently being held in Medford and surrounding communities for those in recovery and seeking support.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the council? We have, let's see. And that name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay... um, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay. Hendrick, please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: I apologize. My computer died, so I just need to... Are there any other questions or comments?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Scarpelli, we do happen to have the common vigilance paperwork from the meeting on September 7th.
[John Falco]: 20-540. Yes, Clark Hurtubise, can you give me that person's name again for the 7-11 that was waiting for the comment? He's on the call.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council of Bears to take... Councilor Bears, what's the number again?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council of Bears to take it from the table, seconded by... Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Clerk, I just need a second. I'm just trying to get a copy of the paperwork.
[John Falco]: Consul Knight, thank you very much. Petition for a common vigil is licensed by Muhammad Anwar, 2292 Boston Turnpike, Coventry, Connecticut, 06238. For the Anwar group, incorporated DBA 711, 133 Main Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, on file, business certificate number 128. Building department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition and treasurer.
[John Falco]: Mr. Anwar, if you could just tell us a little bit about your business.
[John Falco]: On a motion of council, I order Scarpelli to approve, seconded by council. And I, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Motion to council to table the committee reports, seconded by. Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council, I'd like to approve the council records from August 25th, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative. Zero in the negative. The motion passes. The records of the meeting is September 8th. We're past the Councilor Marks. Council marks. How did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Six. On the motion of Council of Marks to table the record seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the record is tabled.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'm the affirmer. Zero in the negative. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned.
[John Falco]: 26, regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to 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.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. If I may, I just have to read the quicksand. Thank you, Vice President. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made possible to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we aren't able to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Mefford or Mefford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. To participate remotely outside of Zoom, Please email ahertubise, that's A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E, at medford-ma.gov. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to suspend the rules to take 20517 from the table.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, zeroing the negative, the motion passes. One minute please, I just have to get 2051 sent. To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors. I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body reprogram surplus proceeds in the amount of $112,692.73. From the Medford High School HVAC Boiler Replacement Project to Medford High School Improvements Projects in accordance with Master General Law Chapter 44, Section 20. Finance Director Aleesha Nunley Benjamin is present to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Let's see, we had, let's see, I believe Councilor Knight wanted to speak on that.
[John Falco]: My apologies, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: That paper has been taken from the table.
[John Falco]: Do you want to vote on this one first?
[John Falco]: OK. So are you making a motion to approve? Yes. OK. On the motion to approve, 20-517. Second. Mr. President, Mr. President, is Jonathan available, Mr. President?
[John Falco]: Let's see, is John McLaughlin on the phone? Or actually, is he on the meeting?
[John Falco]: We have our superintendent of schools is with us as well.
[John Falco]: Do you have a question for the superintendent?
[John Falco]: Thank you. So let's see. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears. And we have the superintendent of schools with us. Let's see. Dr. Marie Sedgwick-Vincent.
[John Falco]: We have the eye. If I may be a chief of staff, Dave Rodriguez has his hand raised. So at this point, I'd recognize chief of staff Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to amend the paper, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, do you have the wording on that? On the amendment?
[John Falco]: Correct. Councilor Knight, do you have any further questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, I'm about to unmute John McLaughlin. Okay, John, you've been unmuted, and David Murphy has been unmuted as well. David Murphy? I'm sorry, David Murphy, I apologize. Councilman Marks, did you have a specific question for John McLaughlin?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Superintendent Edward. Vincent, thank you, Councilor Marks. We have up next, Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: David.
[John Falco]: If we could have someone from the administration, I'm not sure if Dave or Superintendent Edouard-Vincent, if you could, let's see, Dave Rodriguez, Chief of Staff. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarapelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Would someone like to, would David Murphy or David Rodriguez or Superintendent Edouard-Vincent have the answer to that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. If I may, John McLaughlin, if you're still with us. John McLaughlin. I'm trying to unmute John. John.
[John Falco]: No worries.
[John Falco]: Just let me know when you're ready and I'll...
[John Falco]: OK, thank you. So a couple of questions. So with regard to the roof fans, as a past graduate of Medford High School, are you familiar with the complex? Mr. President, could you say that again? As a graduate of Medford High School, I'm very familiar with the complex. So are we replacing all of the roof fans?
[John Falco]: So when you replace the fans, are you cutting into the roof? Or how does that work? I don't mean to get into that.
[John Falco]: OK. I was just curious as far as I know, like when I was in the school committee, and we always had roof issues. So I just didn't want to solve one problem but create another. So that's what my question was going there.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. Are there any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Yes, Superintendent Ron Vinson, I'm sorry I didn't cut you off, but Councilor Marks had the floor, so if you could please continue with your comments, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Nonson, what's the motion?
[John Falco]: Thank you. I think, Clerk Cardavis, did you mention that there was someone wanted to comment on this?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: If I may, one minute. Mr. Clerk, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: What's the amendment? Can you please read the amendment?
[John Falco]: Okay, was that the only amendment?
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see. So if we could make that in the form of an amendment, please.
[John Falco]: I didn't get that last amendment from Council Mars. Let's see. The last amendment was from, I believe, Vice President Caraviello. OK.
[John Falco]: OK. Do you have that? I have it, yes. OK, perfect. So on the motion of? Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears as amended by Councilors Knight and Councilors Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: That would be 20516.
[John Falco]: I gotta read it really quick. 20-516 to the honorable president and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body reprogram surplus proceeds in the amount of $700,000 $703,489.80 from the Medford High School Science Labs Project to the Medford High School School Improvements Project in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 44, Section 20. Finance Director Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin is present to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter. On the motion of council tonight-
[John Falco]: There's no amendments on this. If someone wants to make amendments- I would second that motion.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears to transfer all of the amendments from the first paper to the second paper. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7-8 affirmative, 0 negative. The motion passes. Vice President Caraviello. Move for approval. On the motion of Councilor Knight, 2 approves. Seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello to take paper 20540, seconded by Councilor Knight. Let's see, petitions, presentations and similar papers. Petition for common vigilance license by Mohamed Anwar 2292, Boston Turnpike, Coventry, Connecticut 06238 for the Anwar Group Incorporated, DBA 711, 133 Main Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155. On file, business certificate number 128, building department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition and treasurer. At this point, I recognize the Chairperson on Licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Do we have Mr. Anwar with us?
[John Falco]: Let's see, if Mohamed Anwar, if you are on the Zoom call, could you please raise your hand? I don't recognize anything but Okay on the motion of Top all night second of a vice-president caveat to table this paper. Clark Artemis, please call the roll Thoughts of bears.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion of the paper is tabled.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks to revert to the regular order of business, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes 2-0-526. Under motions, orders, and resolutions offered by Councilor Knight, we have resolved that the Medford Historic Commission furnish the city council with copies of its annual report filed with the mayor as required by section 48-33 of the code of Medford ordinances compiled for the years 2016 through 2019. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Knight. And Jeff, I may add really quick, that Committee of the Whole will be scheduled soon, as will, I'm working on the scheduling now for that, for rodents and for our big zoning meeting. So I can assure you that will be coming soon.
[John Falco]: Absolutely, so they're all on the agenda and they'll all be coming up soon. So thank you, Council Knight. And let's see, we have Councilor, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Cabrera. Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Orell. Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions or comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. One minute, Councilor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: We have Councilor Morell, and then we'll Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Member. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Piers. Let's see, we have Thompson, are you all set?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Knight. Okay, we have enough people that want to speak on this. Cheryl R., let's see, I'm going to try to unmute you. Cheryl, may I ask you to name and address for the record, please?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Cheryl. Point of information, Councilman Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Cheryl. Let me, I just want to remind everybody you have a minute and a half when you speak or have your question. I will now call upon, let's see, Will Navar? I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Will. Let's see. Next up is Kelly Catalo. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And our zoning kickoff meeting will be coming up on September 23rd, just to let everyone know. Next up, we have Ryan Haywood. Ryan, I'm about to unmute you. If you could please have your name and address for the record, please. You have a minute and a half. Ryan. Ryan Haywood? Okay, we'll skip over Ryan. Clerk Carter Beach, you said someone wanted to speak, I believe.
[John Falco]: Paul, your time is up. Thank you. I apologize for interrupting. I'm not sure what happened to Paul. Ryan Haywood was up next, but I. Ryan Haywood, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. 20-527 offered by Council night be it resolved that the Medford City Council extend its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Edward Tyrantz on his recent passing. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. At this point, I'd ask. Yes, let's see, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Marks, thank you. And that will be added to the resolution as well as an amendment.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Let's see, so we will have a moment of silence in one second. We just have to vote on this first. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Marks, and seconded by... Second. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Morell, did you want to speak on this?
[John Falco]: Okay. So on that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. On the 7 to 0 vote, the motion passes. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tyrantz and Puccio families. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. 20-528 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council recognize the efforts of the community partner Armstrong Ambulance, most notably Gail Armstrong, Richard Armstrong, and Sean Mangan, for their contributions toward the success of the August 18th and 19th COVID-19 screening for Medford High School families. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by- Second. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-529 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council be provided with a monthly report of crime statistics from the Chief of Police. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I second that motion and defer it to a senior member. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight to join the papers, and that would be 20-529 off by Councilor Knight. 542. 542 offered by Councilor Marks. That paper reads, be it resolved that the recent rash of break-ins and home invasions be discussed in the interest of public safety. Clerk Hurtubise, could you please call the roll on joining those two papers?
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the papers are joined. At this point I recognize Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Point of information, Mr. President. Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the language on the B paper?
[John Falco]: I didn't hear that. Did you say it was an amendment? Were you asking if it's an amendment?
[John Falco]: Okay, so let's see. So we get a B paper from Councilor Bears. Is that B paper seconded?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Morell. We have Councilor Marks, did you wanna speak? Nope, okay.
[John Falco]: Okay, I'm gonna shut it off. Okay, let's see. Okay, do we have any questions or comments from the public? Okay, seeing and hearing none. Okay, on the B paper, offered by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell. Court of Appeals, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. On the main paper offered by Councilor Knight and Councilor Marks. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-530 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council demand that the MBTA reinstate bus routes 325 and 326 as they are an essential link to residents of Medford. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli, you didn't want to- Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So that is an amendment to the paper.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. And if I may, I thank Councilor Morell for bringing this forward. And I know a number of councilors, Councilor Marks, in particular, and myself, I've brought up numerous resolutions about the 325 and the 326 bus for years. I've been a passenger on that 325 and the 326 for probably Probably just about 20 years now, and like Consular Marks mentioned, these bus routes have become more and more popular pre-pandemic than I've ever seen since I've been taking them. And one of my biggest concerns is when they said they were going to temporarily suspend service, that they would never bring service back. That seems to come to fruition now, and I did give Representative Donato a call today to talk specifically about this. And he basically told me the same thing he told Councilor Scarpelli, and that is that the MBTA lied to him and to the whole entire state delegation. It's very unfortunate. I know he is. Representative Donato and the rest of the state delegation is fighting to bring this bus service back, the 325 and 326. I know they're working hard at it, but it's very unfortunate that the MBTA has done this. And I think knowing the MBTA, when we try to bring it back, they're not just going to bring it back, they're going to probably want all kinds of proof that ridership is there. And that's a piece I think that's going to be. Probably we had to prove because right now ridership is low due to the pandemic. So Councilor Scarpelli, I like the idea of scheduling a subcommittee to look at this and bring in the state delegation and bring in the MBTA and ask really good solid questions. And really getting them to commit to a timetable as to when they're going to bring things back or when they're going to reevaluate. But this needs to be addressed. And it needs to be addressed sooner than later. So, Councilor Morelle, thank you for bringing this forward tonight. And at this time, I would call upon Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council of Bears. So on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Vice President Caballero, as amended by Councilor Knight, Councilor Scarpelli, and Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise. Actually, are there any questions on this before we call the roll? I don't see any hands raised. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-531 offered by Vice President Caraviello will be a result of the Medford City Council request that the administration immediately provide funding to the clerk's office to hire additional personnel both permanent and temporary for the upcoming November and future elections. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Was that 20560? I'm sorry, 536, okay. So 20536 offered by Councilor Bears, whereas Medford residents had serious concerns about voting during the September 1st. State primary election, including missing materials, incorrect information, limited public statements, enforcing of some voters to vote in person without an effective mail option. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Medford City Council urges the city administration to ensure that the registrars Our voters and city clerk have all resources and staff necessary to conduct the November 3rd general election given the significant increase in demand for mail ballots. Be it further resolved that the city administration provide ballot drop boxes at locations other than Medford City Hall. Be it further resolved that all elections communications be translated into languages other than English in a prompt manner for public consumption. So the motion is by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears to join these resolutions. Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motions are joined. At this point, I call on Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Fierros.
[John Falco]: Everybody wants to talk on this, so keep going.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. We have, oops, we have Councilor, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. We have Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, is that a
[John Falco]: Is that a B paper? Yes, if you want to make it a B paper. That'll be a B paper. It's on the motion of Council Marks' B paper, seconded by Councilor Bearson here. Yep. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the language on the B paper?
[John Falco]: Okay, and if I may add briefly, thank you to everyone in the clerk's office, the registrar voter's office. I know they are very hardworking. I know they go nonstop. They do a great job. Were there some issues? Yes, but I know that the clerk has been working on that. And the important thing is to figure out what those issues were and to make sure that they don't happen again. I know he's been, him and his team have been working on that, and they will continue to work on that. I know that they will do a great job in November, but I think it is also important that the administration look at supplying additional funding to make sure that those offices have the help that they need in November. So I thank the councilors for bringing this resolution forward, and at this point in time, since no one has a hand up, I- Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. We have, let's see, we have, I believe it's Marjorie wants to speak. Marjorie, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Melissa Young, name and address for the record, Melissa.
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Marks. Do you all set, Councilor Marks, just to make sure. Okay, thank you. I wasn't, did you have your hand up earlier or no? Clerk Hurtubise, I wasn't. No, okay, perfect, okay. On the motion, so there's a number of papers here. So on the B paper that was offered by Councilor Knight, I'm sorry, Councilor Marks, and it was seconded by, I believe it was Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, can you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears left the room.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, and Councilor Bears just walked into the room.
[John Falco]: That was a yes.
[John Falco]: 7, the affirmative. 0, the negative. The motion passes on the B paper. On the main motion that was offered by, actually, by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Oh, OK.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I get it here. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Behr, seconded by? Second. What's the second? As amended by Councilor Morell? Yes, as amended by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Who's the second on the motion? Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-532 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council have the DCR repair the guardrail on Route 16 bridge in Auburn Street in the interest of public safety. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: So why don't we amend it to have that paper sent to the correct agency to have the tree taken care of. Thank you. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears, is amended by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-533 offered by Vice President Caraviello be resolved at the Medford City Council. Have the school department have the two collection bins at the Andrews School emptied as soon as possible in the interest of public health.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilmate.
[John Falco]: Okay. Any questions from the council any questions in general? Okay on the emotion of vice-president cabio seconded by a council and I correct her to be please call the roll That's a bears.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, zeroing the negative, the motion passes. 20-534 offered by Councilor Bears. Whereas the new Ball Square MBTA Green Line is designed as a walkable transit station for the South Medford neighborhood. And whereas pedestrian safety and infrastructure conditions. require improvements to support the transit-oriented mixed-use development in multimodal reality of the new station. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the representatives of the Office of Community Development, Community Development Board, Greenline Extension Project, Building Commissioner, and South Medford residents together meet with the City Council and Committee of the Whole to discuss a district plan for the Ball Square-Foster Avenue corridor. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Members. On the motion, any questions? Oh, we have a question. Oh, we actually, let's see, Laurel Ruma.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: So you want to amend it? Yeah. Okay. Yes, let's see. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: OK, so we'll see you on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilors Bears and Councilor Knight. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubises, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-535 offered by Council of Bears be it resolved that President Falco meet with the Board of Health to define what public health metrics will be used to determine the ability of the council to meet in council chambers or if the council must meet in a virtual setting and how often they will be considered. Be it further resolved that President Falco meet with the Board of Health to define what conditions and public health measures will be used to determine whether members of the public can attend meetings in council chambers. Be it further resolved that President Falco and the Board of Health work with the city solicitor to ensure compliance with state law regulations and emergency orders. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Councilor Knight. We have Councilor Morell and then Councilor Scarpelli, I'm sorry. I got the names mixed up on the screen, so.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I mean, that's a false equivalence.
[John Falco]: We have Councilor Morell and then Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Point of information, thank you, Councilor Morell. Point of information, Councilor Scott-Pelley.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scott-Pelley. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: It is on now. One second.
[John Falco]: Yes, correct, correct. So if I may really quickly- Mr. President, if I could.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight, and then Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So just to let everyone know, you know, before we, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: That's enough, okay? That's enough. Okay.
[John Falco]: We've debated this, I think everyone's had three times by now. What I want to say is this, and I'll be the final word on this, and that is that I have met with We've gone back and forth all over the phone with Marian O'Connor, with Kimberly Scanlon, and we're doing everything that we should be doing, okay? I have made sure of that, okay? So what I will be doing now, and I'll tell you this much, is I will be meeting with them again because maybe we'll have a committee in the hall about it. That's what we need to do. But I mean, I have gone. spent a ton of time going back and forth with each of the department heads, making sure that plexiglass goes up, making sure that everybody's seated in the right spot, working with Patrick Gordon to do all the technology piece. This has not been an easy task, but If I go back at the past meetings, everybody was pretty much on board with getting back in chambers. So what we have been doing is we've basically been following the rules that have been put in place. So with that being said, to get us all on the same page, we can meet with our department heads again. But to tell you the truth, there are some cities and towns that are meeting, actually, and having the public here as well. Now, I've been told by our city solicitor that we can't do that. Okay, the room. I do have that, and I can send that to you. But with that being said, the opinion was that the room's got 25 people in it. If 30 people show up to the meeting, we can't kick people out of the room. And therefore, we would be limiting speech and be limiting participation. So it would be a violation of the open meeting law. And that's why we're here tonight, and the public is coming in through Zoom. That is the reason I got from the city solicitor. So with that being said, that's where we are with that, okay? So we have a number of people that want to ask questions on this. I will call on that now. William Navarre, name and address for the record, please. You have a minute and a half.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We'll see. We have Jean Nuzzo. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Give a minute and a half.
[John Falco]: Okay, up next we have Joanna. I'm sorry if I'm saying that wrong. Yes, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Rick Caparo, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Point of information, Councilor Morell. One second. Councilor Morell, one second. Put your microphone on.
[John Falco]: Let's see, we have Laurel Rummel. Laurel, name and address of the record, Laurel. Oops, sorry. Trying to unmute you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, I believe that is everyone. Okay, so on the B paper offered by Councilor Bears, on that B paper, that was seconded by, does that have a second, Councilor Morell? Okay, on the B paper. Clerk, could you please read the B paper back?
[John Falco]: Do you have the language on that paper? I'm trying.
[John Falco]: What was the last part?
[John Falco]: Did I clear everybody? Got it. Councilor Bears made a motion and Councilor Knight has asked that that be moved to the Rules Subcommittee, where that can be discussed. Because to be honest with you, Councilor Bears, I don't even know if I have the authority to do that. I mean, I can't tell. So I think it probably needs to be discussed. So on a motion of Councilor Knight to move that to the Rules Subcommittee, was there a second there? Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. This is to move it to the Rules Subcommittee? Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. That was a yes.
[John Falco]: Correct. Four in the affirmative, three in the negative. The B paper has been moved to the Rules Subcommittee. On the main motion offered by Councilor Bears, and that was seconded by, was there a second on that? Second. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 4 in the affirmative, 3 in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: We'll see, I've got to find time. We'll figure it out. I have to meet with Mary Ann and Kim Scanlon sooner than later. I talked to them today. We will be setting up some time and we can work on that issue as well, so.
[John Falco]: No, I just talked to them today and I told them I wanted to speak to them more about what we're doing here and how we're doing it. Just want to make sure everybody's on the same page.
[John Falco]: Absolutely, so that's fine, we can do that. Thank you. 20-537 offered by Council of Mayors, whereas residents of Medford requested that the city of Medford hang a banner stating Black Lives Matter at Medford City Hall as a statement of solidarity and support to begin to address the history of racism and discrimination in our community. And whereas the Supreme Court of the United States and Rosenberger versus Rectors and Visitors of University of Virginia established The government speech doctrine recognizing that a government entity is entitled to say what it wishes and select views it wants to express. And whereas the government speech doctrine has been affirmed and reinforced by Supreme Court decisions including but not limited to Russ versus Sullivan, Johans versus Livestock. Marketing Association, Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans and Matal v. TAM, and whereas placing a banner on Medford City Hall meets the multi-factor test defined in Summum and Walker of, number one, historic use of building including banners to convey government messages, two, the public's close identification of messages and signage placed on Medford City Hall with the city government, and three, the city of Medford's maintenance of effective control over the messages conveyed, and whereas in 2018 the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Shirtland versus the City of Boston denied the request for injunction of a plaintiff requesting the flying of a specific flag on Boston City Hall using the government speech doctrine and multi-factor test defined in Summum and Walker. And whereas in 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the decision of District Court of Shurtleff with a three-judge panel deciding unanimously to reject the plaintiff's appeal. Now, therefore, Be it resolved that the Medford City Council, that the city administration provide a summary explanation of the opinion regarding banners on Medford City Hall and how it is possible that such an opinion can ignore the U.S. Constitution's government speech doctrine as decided and affirmed by decades of precedent of the Supreme Court of the United States. Councilor Bears. So this same resolution has been offered two weeks in a row. So when the council rules, I have to rule this out of order because it has been two weeks in a row. This is verbatim, the same exact resolution as a prior meeting. Now, so with that being said, the matter basically has already been disposed of because I was ruled out of order in the previous week. There was a doubting of the chair. But with that being said, what I did do today is I made a phone call to Chief of Staff Rodriguez. And he was busy all day meeting, so I did have a conversation with the mayor regarding this very issue. So what I wanted to let you know is during our conversation, what she said is the response is on the way, and that the council should receive it within the next few days. She also went out to say that the administration is also working on a policy with regard to banners. There's no timeline on that, but there is a policy that they are working on. But she said that we will be getting a response, because we haven't received an official response. But we will be getting that in the next few days, okay?
[John Falco]: Thank you. 20-53, an offer by Councilor- Can I ask why it's taking a month?
[John Falco]: Yeah. Yeah, the paper's out of order. I do not know why the administration's taking as long as it's taking, but that is what I was told and I wanted to pass that information on to my colleagues.
[John Falco]: I would agree, but you know. 20-53, an offer by Councilor Morell, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that a representative from the administration provide an update on COVID-19 metrics for Medford in any policy changes related to the pandemic at each forthcoming regular City Council meeting so long as deemed necessary to city operations. Councilor Morell? Give me one second. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Point of information, council appears.
[John Falco]: It could be that. That says one or two. Like, could it be like a report for marrying an honor?
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Any other questions for the council? Any other questions? Okay. Seeing and hearing none. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Morell. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Bears, is your resolution the same as the communications from- Withdrawn. I'm sorry?
[John Falco]: Okay, that's 20539 has been withdrawn. Communications from the Mayor. 20-541, September 3rd, 2020. The electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding the proposed ordinance historic district. Dear Mr. President. and members of the city council, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following amendments to the city of Medford revised ordinances entitled historic district commission, article three, section 48 through 51 as described below. The amendments clarify the ordinance to delineate the previously approved districts and at the request of the method historic district commission create new single parcel district at 16 Foster court. By way of background, section 48-51A presently states, under the authority of Mass General MGLA C40 section 3, there is a hereby established Hillside Avenue Historic District and Marm Simmons Historic District. bounded as respectively shown on the map entitled Historic Avenue Historic District in Marm-Simons Historic District, which are on file in the city clerk's office and made part of this article by reference. Pursuant to Mass General Law, Chapter 40C, Section 3, the attached report and request has been transmitted to the Community Development Board for their concurrent review. The matter is scheduled to be taken up by the Community Development Board on September 16th, 2020. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor.
[John Falco]: On the motion, I'm counseling tonight to refer to Committee of the Whole for a presentation from the owner of the property.
[John Falco]: Mr.. President well on the motion of console night seconded by Council Scarpelli we have console morel. I believe had her hand up yep console morel and that consoles bears and So the motion was to refer to committee, the whole seconded by Councilor Scott, followed by Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: If I may, we actually do have You can blow up my meeting.
[John Falco]: I understand. This is timely. So it'll be either Tuesday or Wednesday next week, OK? Just to let everyone know. So we'll get it scheduled sooner than later. OK, so Councilor Morell has amended the paper. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: OK, thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions or comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Well, I think, I don't formally have a date yet, so I'm aiming for next Tuesday or Wednesday.
[John Falco]: No less than 10, within 10 days, right? We'll meet within 10 days. Okay. Let's see, so, Councilor Morell, did you have another?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. Okay, so.
[John Falco]: Is the amendment to meet within 10 days? Yeah, the amendment is to meet.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Okay, let's see, so, We have a hand raised here. I believe it's one minute, please. Okay. Chris Bader, name and address.
[John Falco]: No, we can hear you.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you, Chris. Okay, any other questions? Okay, hearing and seeing none. Oh, I'm sorry, we've got Jean Nozo has her hand up. Jean, I'm unmuting you now. Jean, name and address for the record, please. Jean?
[John Falco]: Okay, I don't see Jean. Mr. Clark, do you, she's disappeared off my screen. I tried unmuting her. Okay, any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Okay. Jean, name and address for the record, please. Mr. Clerk, I have, she's unmuted. Jean?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. Okay. So it seems like Jean's not with us or she, I think there's a technology issue, but she's been unmuted, but we cannot communicate with her. So on the motion of, let's see, on the motion of Councilor Niter, furthest to committee the whole, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli as amended by Councilor Morell. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative, adjourn the meeting until the motion passes. Let's see. Councilor Scarpelli. Is he back?
[John Falco]: Yes, do you know if Mohammed Anwar was logging in, or if you've seen him?
[John Falco]: OK. I don't see him either. So that will stay on the table. Clerk Carterby, did we dispose of everything?
[John Falco]: Let's see, public participation, did anybody want to speak?
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see. Thank you, Laurel. Okay, it looks like, okay, so we don't have anything on community participation that I can see. I believe we are on to the records. The table records of the meeting of July 28, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, I'm not sure if you got through those yet. I think they're about 75 pages. Hang on. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay. Do you move approval? Move approval. On the motion of Vice President Tom Yellow to approve the record, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yeah, that was a yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The records of the meeting of August 25th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find the records? Motion to table. Motion to table. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table the records, Director Enobis, please call the roll. Is there a second on the motion to table?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Yes. Hang on. I can only have four microphones because I have to be on at once. Thank you. She said yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The records from the 25th of August have been tabled. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay. Anything else? Nope, okay. Is there a motion?
[John Falco]: A motion of Council appears to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Council Paris.
[John Falco]: Yes, and tomorrow's committee, the whole meeting has been canceled. We resolved everything tonight. So that's been canceled. Thank you everyone for tuning in tonight. Stay safe, stay healthy. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Okay, I just wanted to, just make a quick statement regarding these meetings here. So last week we had a Committee of the Whole meeting at City Council Chambers, and the public was able to access the meeting via Zoom. Tonight, the council members are back home, accessing the meeting via Zoom. The reason why we are doing this from home tonight is we have early voting this week in City Hall, and I know Clerk Hurtubise has been working hard at that since Saturday. I know that's been taking up most of his time. They have the tabulation machines behind the rails and they would have to move everything. So this should be, uh, hopefully the last time that the council has to log in from their homes and we can do it, uh, in council chambers. The council can meet in council chambers going forward. Uh, and so that is the plan, but I just wanted to explain that before we get started.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Council of Marks to suspend the rules, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. This is to take a paper out of order.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The rules are suspended. Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: 20-521 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the sidewalks on Judson Circle be replaced in the interest of public safety. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Would any other residents like to speak on this issue?
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by... Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Emily, thank you for phoning into the meeting tonight. Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Can I take 20509?
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion of, let's see, on the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to consolidate the following resolutions.
[John Falco]: Okay. You want to read each of those out then?
[John Falco]: Okay, 20-504 offered by Councilor Neill, Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the method, I'm sorry, be it resolved that the Board of Health and Engineering Department need to strengthen the road abatement policies related to ground opening and other construction related permits and report back to the council their determinations. I'll just read them off to everybody. 20-508, offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the Board of Health Director report back to the Medford City Council regarding what steps the city is taking to address the city-wide rat problem and public's health and safety of Medford residents. 20-509, offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the Board of Health Director attend the August 25th meeting to discuss the problems with rats throughout the city of Medford and what is being done to address this serious issue. 20-514 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council receive an update from the Board of Health on programs and resources available to protect the health and safety of city residents in light of reports of increased rat activity throughout the city. And under communications from the mayor, this will be 20-519.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Council tonight to suspend the reading for brief synopsis by the administration. Let's see, is Dave on the line with us tonight?
[John Falco]: Oh, there he is. Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez, if you could please give us a brief synopsis of 20-519.
[John Falco]: Chief of Staff Rodriguez, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Peters, Councilor Nathan, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Do you want to do that as a B paper, Councilor Layton?
[John Falco]: OK. seconded by councilor Scarpelli to have a committee to hold regarding this. This issue, or more specifically to have a committee to hold regarding 20-519. Clerk, please call the roll. Mr. President. Council Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other councils like to speak on this issue? Councilor Knight and then Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments from the council? Mr. President?
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none, any questions or comments from the public? Yeah, do you see anybody's hands up? I don't see anyone, but I just wanna make sure I didn't miss anyone. Actually, let me unmute you.
[John Falco]: Oh, okay, good. Good job, Councilor.
[John Falco]: Okay, so with that being said, the first vote will be to merge all these papers together under 20-519. So on that motion to merge these papers together, Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: I believe it was Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to schedule a committee of the whole meeting to discuss 20-519. On that motion. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Motion to Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero in the negative. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Motions, orders, and resolutions of 20-503 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council requests the city administration implement beautification standards for establishments granted preliminary outdoor dining licenses under the governor's emergency order. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. We have Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Morell. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: The resolution has been amended by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any questions or comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none, any questions from the public or any comments? Okay, let's see, we have Chief of Staff Rodriguez, and then we have Susan Bibbins. Let's see, Dave Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see. Susan Bibbins, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Let's see, we have Vice President Caraviello had a comment. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Is it Marcia?
[John Falco]: Any other comments or questions from the public?
[John Falco]: Okay, let me find him. Actually, if you find him,
[John Falco]: Rick, do you have a question now, Rick? I'm sorry, I missed that first part.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Okay, I believe Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: So you are amending Council of Heirs?
[John Falco]: Okay. Let's see. Any other questions from the Council? Okay. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello as amended by Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Bears. Clerk Cunabese, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, so the affirmative and the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-505 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the city solicitor provide a draft zoning amendment authorizing the construction of accessory dwelling units for council deliberation. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay. So the, uh, so the B paper, uh, clerk, do you have the language for the B paper?
[John Falco]: Clark, do you have that language?
[John Falco]: Was that the Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: All right. So the B paper offered by Councilor Bears is seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none. Let's see, anyone from the public we have? Let's see. Kelly Catalo, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the public? Oh, I'm sorry, Councilor Morell. Yeah, I think you had your hand up.
[John Falco]: Okay, I see right here. Okay, Marianne, I'm trying to unmute you. Hi, thank you for noticing me.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you for your clarification. Thank you. Okay, any other questions or comments? Let's see, we got Jennifer Kerwood. I'm going to try to unmute you.
[John Falco]: Thank you See we have a Veronica Hernandez, name and address for the record, please. I'm trying to unmute you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Haynes. Veronica, please continue.
[John Falco]: Let's see. Gina Doe, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. May I remind everyone, I apologize, I should have said this from the beginning, my fault. Minute and a half, you get a minute and a half when you're called upon. So if I may, so Kelly. Appreciate the latitude. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Cabral. Kelly Catala, did you have a comment? I do. Okay. name and address.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Mr. Clark, could you read the language to the B paper before we take the vote?
[John Falco]: The B paper, I believe, was it correct me if I'm wrong, Councilor Bears was a committee the whole to receive an update from the city solicitor.
[John Falco]: On that motion, this is the B paper, on the B paper, the motion of council appears seconded by vice president Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Let's see, on the main motion offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-506 offered by Councilor Bears. Where is it, Massachusetts?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to consolidate papers 20506. 2-0-5-1-8. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmers here, the negative, the motion passes, the papers are consolidated. Let's see, 20506 by Councilor Bears, whereas the Massachusetts General Court and Governor Baker agreed to maintain fiscal year 2020 funding levels for two major state aid accounts in current EMPs and budgets of fiscal year 21. And whereas these budget extensions level fund Chapter 70 for public schools at $12,143,306, and unrestricted local aid funding, UGGA, at $12,880,443. Now, therefore be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration provide an update on the impact of the state budget process on the city budget and how the funding increase of $1,089,537 for chapter 70 and $963,457 for unrestricted local aid above the levels projected in the fiscal year 2021 city budget will be distributed to our public schools and city services. 20-518 is a paper from the Mayor to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155. Dear Mr. President and City Council Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body approves to amend the school budget fiscal 2021 from $61,250,000 to $62,339,537, which is an increase of $1,089,537. The governor has committed to level fund chapter 70 at the fiscal year 20 level. The city has budgeted a 10% decrease to chapter 70 for fiscal year 2021 due to the health pandemic. Director, Finance Director, Alicia Dunley. Benjamin is present to answer any questions, to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor. Okay, let's see. Do any of the councilors have questions for Alicia Dunley, Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Move the paper, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Alicia or Dave Rodriguez, do either of you have you'd be able to answer those questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have that amendment? I do. Do you want me to read it back? You can, yeah, sure.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the council? Oh, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none, any questions from the public? Okay. Okay, seeing and hearing none, on the motion of, I think it was, quicker to resume the original,
[John Falco]: Okay, so Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Cunterby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: By the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to suspend the rules to take communications from the mayor, Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Communications from the New York 20-516 to the Honorable President, members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body reprogram surplus proceeds in the amount of $703,489.80 from the Medford High School Science Labs Project to the Medford High School Improvements Project in accordance with Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 20. Finance Director Aleesha Nunley Benjamin is present to answer any questions, any of the council's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Councilor Morell, then Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Right. Excellent.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Council Marks, is that an amendment to the paper?
[John Falco]: Clerk, do you have the language on the amendment?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight, I'm sorry, Clerk Rodriguez, do you have it?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Thank you, Alicia. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Alicia, could you please clarify? Through the chair, correct. Correct.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Lamar, seconded by Mr. President. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I believe 15, if you don't mind me interjecting, yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight. Let's see Councilor Bears and then Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Point of information, counsel.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Is there a motion on the floor to table?
[John Falco]: Okay, because he said hold back, I should have had you clarify. Councilor Marks, your motion is to table, am I correct?
[John Falco]: On a motion by Councilor Marks, motion to table is not debatable. I apologize before that the language is a little different. So I apologize. So on the motion of Councilor Marks to table, seconded by? Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. And this is to table. 120-516. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. The motion is tabled. 20-517. To the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City of Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that the honorable body reprogram surplus proceeds to the amount of $112,692.73 for the Medford High School HVAC boiler replacement project to the Medford High School improvements project.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council, I'll make the table. Seconded by? Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Bernanke, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. The motion passed. The motion is tabled. Is there a motion to revert? Motion to revert back to the regular order of business. A motion to Councilor Marksley to revert to the regular order of business, seconded by? Second. Vice-President Caraviello, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-507 offered by Councilor Bears, whereas residents of Medford requested that the City of Medford hang a banner stating Black Lives Matter at Medford City Hall as a statement of solidarity and support to begin to address the history of racism and discrimination in our community. Point of information, Mr. President? Point of information, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: So rule 21 would be that it doesn't come up for another 90 days, I believe?
[John Falco]: If I may, I'm going to read the rest of this, okay? And then we'll go from there, okay? Okay.
[John Falco]: And I do not think it is out of order because I think this is different from the original resolution was asking for a banner. This is asking for an opinion.
[John Falco]: The policy was asked what the policy was. This here is asking for an opinion. So that's why I don't think that this is, to me, this is not a, doesn't come out of rule 21. That's my, that's how I feel as the chair.
[John Falco]: I was going to, well, I told you how I feel. I was going to read it in. I have questions myself, to be honest with you, but I was going to read it in and take it from there.
[John Falco]: Yes, that's that's fine. Okay. Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States in Rosenberger versus rectors and visitors of University of Virginia established the government speech doctor recognizing that a government entity is entitled to say what it wishes and select views it wants to express and whereas the government speech doctrine has been affirmed and reinforced by Supreme Court decisions including but not limited to Russ v. Sullivan, Johans v. Livestock Marketing Association, Pleasant Grove City v. Summum Walker v. Texas, Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Mattel versus Tan, and whereas placing a banner on Medford City Hall meets the multi-factor test defined in Summum and Walker of historic use of the building, including banners to convey government messages to the public's, number two, the public's close identification of messages and signage placed on Medford City Hall with the city government and Number three, the City of Medford's maintenance of effective control over the messages conveyed, and whereas in 2018 the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Shurtleff versus City of Boston denied the request for injunction of a plaintiff requesting the flag of a specific flag at Boston City Hall using the government speech doctrine in multi-factor test defined in Summum and Walker, and whereas in 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the decision of the District Court in Shurtleff with a three-judge panel deciding unanimously to reject the plaintiff's appeal. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration provide a summary explanation of the opinion regarding banners on Method City Hall and how it is possible that such an opinion can ignore the U.S. Constitution's government speech doctrine as deemed and affirmed by decades of precedent of the Supreme Court of the United States. So with that being said, Councilor Bears, if I may, when I read this, the last sentence, be it resolved that the Method City Council, that the city administration provide a summary explanation of the opinion I incorrectly if I'm wrong, I checked with the clerk. Do we receive an opinion back from the administration on this? Because I don't have any of my emails in opinion on this. And that's the piece that I'm struggling with. So if you could speak on that, I would greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: I'm asking that Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: We still have Councilor Knight, I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Yes, and I thought it was appropriate to move forward with it.
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Knight questions the ruling of the Chair. Is there a second?
[John Falco]: Second by Vice President Caraviello. please call the roll.
[John Falco]: No. Did you get everyone, Councilor?
[John Falco]: Yes, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Yes. The paper has been ruled out of water by, uh, by a vote of four to three. Call for the orders. The name is present. Uh, let's see. Two zero dash five one zero offered by vice-president Caraviello be it resolved. The method city council request that chief Buckley examine the hiring of using recently retired police officers for details that go unnamed in the interest of public safety. First President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I'll find him in one minute. Let's get Councilor Marks has his hand up. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Let's see here. Harold, I'm going to unmute you. Harold, you should be on.
[John Falco]: Yes. Thank you for joining us.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McGilvrey. Any questions? Oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Let's see.
[John Falco]: Yes. Mr. Montgomery, please continue.
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I'm trying to unmute him too and I'm not having any luck.
[John Falco]: While we're trying to work that out, Harold, can I, if you don't mind me asking a quick question or, so as far as, I'm just trying to think from a risk standpoint, is there any risk to the city if, if you had a retired police officer, what if they got hurt doing the detail? Is there a risk to the community there or risk to the city financially?
[John Falco]: Okay. Um, thank you, Mr. McGill. Um, as far as, um, I can't make an amendment as a president about a trip. Someone else does, uh, or actually, you know, Mr. President, I think the chief of staff had his hand up. Okay. Uh, Dave Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief of Staff. Rodriguez, Councilor Peters?
[John Falco]: Is that an amendment to the main paper?
[John Falco]: And I, uh, Mr. Montgomery, um, I think we're all, we'd all like to be back at City Hall and, you know, have people coming to the rail. So we all agree on that. So, so when we had talked previously, you had mentioned that you wanted a meeting with the public safety committee. Do you want to come into the hall?
[John Falco]: If I may, if I may, please don't say there's no interest because there's a lot of interest.
[John Falco]: That's the direction. I, I, I pointed you to that's correct. You pointed to that. That's fine. We can do that.
[John Falco]: And I have them too. And I believe it was public safety subcommittee. So.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see. We have a, let's see on the motion of a vice-president Caraviello. And I was seconded by actually, who's that? That was seconded by a clerk. Did you have a second on that?
[John Falco]: Okay, so I'm in motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Is it a motion with two amendments? The amendment was a committee of the whole.
[John Falco]: Okay. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Knight and by Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 2-0-5-1-1, offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that Medford Public Library Foundation Vice Chairman Caraviello give a brief update on the Medford Public Library Foundation happenings. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any questions, comments from the council? Councilor Newton.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council of Bears. Council night.
[John Falco]: Thanks, Councilor Knight. Let's see, any other questions from the council? Comments? Any other from the public, Mr. President? Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you for all your hard work.
[John Falco]: No, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-512 be it offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the city administration have the DPW immediately repair the two sidewalk panels at St. Rayfield's Church in the interest of public safety. Councilor Caraviello, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any comments for the council? Any from the public?
[John Falco]: Second. Seconded by Councilor Bears, call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-513 offered by Councilor Morell. Whereas the Medford City Council voted to declare systemic racism a public health emergency. And whereas the Mayor of Medford declared systemic racism a public health crisis. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a hearing and invite the Director of Diversity, Director of Public Health, and community stakeholders to identify policies and processes for consideration by the City Council in order to address and dismantle Councilmember Morell. Councilmember Morell.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell, on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears. Mr. President, who's on that committee? Vice President Caraviello. Mr. President, who was on that committee? That committee is made up of Chair Nicole Morell. We have Councilors Marks and Councilor Bears. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. and I think, if I may, Councilor Morell, hearing, you said hold a hearing. I think that's statutory. So it'd be like just a public meeting, but just to clarify.
[John Falco]: Absolutely, but you actually make some good points about trying to find a subcommittee for it to go into. That's probably something that should be looked at. So I agree with you wholeheartedly.
[John Falco]: But thank you for bringing this forward. Are there any questions or comments from the council? Mr. President? Yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell, I believe you had your hand raised.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, seeing and hearing none, any comments or questions from the public? Okay. All right. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-515 offered by Councilor Morell, be it resolved that the possibility of a percent for art program for the city of Medford be discussed. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any questions or comments from the Council? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell, any questions or comments from the public? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Cardinal, will the clerk please call the roll? And this is to move it to subcommittee on cultural arts and history.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 2-0-5-2-0, offered by Council of Mayors, whereas the U.S. Census Bureau is required by the U.S. Constitution to conduct a count of the population every 10 years, and this count provides a historic opportunity to help shape the foundation of our society and play an active role in American democracy. And whereas, Medford is committed to ensuring every resident is counted and Whereas method includes many hard-to-count communities, which are those that face barriers to full and equitable representation in the data collection process, and that traditionally we have undercounted, and whereas the Trump administration recently decreased the time to respond to the census, it instituted a new deadline of September 30th, 2020, endangering a complete count, and whereas census data plays an important role in the allocation of federal and state funding, the determination of representation and redistricting in a full capacity for economic and social science research, and whereas the information collected by the census is confidential and protected by law, now therefore be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city is committed to partnering with the US Census Bureau and Commonwealth of Massachusetts to achieve a complete and accurate count of all persons within our borders. Be it further resolved that the Medford City Council supports the goals and ideals for the 2020 census and will disseminate 2020 census information, encourages all residents to fill out the 2020 census before September 30, 2020, encourages all residents to participate in events and initiatives that will raise the overall awareness of the 2020 census and increase participation and support partnership specialists, census takers, and other U.S. Census Bureau staff as they help our community complete and accurate counts. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the Council? Comments? Okay, seeing and hearing none, we have a number of people from the public that want to speak. Let's see, is that Laura Rotolo? Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you so much. Anyone else? Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this? Seeing and hearing none, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Urdon, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Have we covered all of the, everything under, just to make sure I haven't missed anything.
[John Falco]: Correct. Yes, I can. Clark Carnaby, would you mind giving us an update with early elections? I know that early voting, I know you've been swamped with that and you've been very busy. So if you could please give us an update, we'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, are you all set? Do you have any questions?
[John Falco]: Mr. Clerk, thank you very much. Thanks for your hard work.
[John Falco]: We do, that is up next. So we have public participation and public participation tonight is Kelly Gattalo, 46 Otis Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155 to address the city council regarding the building zoning ordinance in historical demolition delay ordinance.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Rule 38. I'm going to need a minute.
[John Falco]: Public participation. So you are correct, Councilor Knight. So Ms. Catala does have the floor. Okay. There you go. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We have a question from the council. We have Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So we have any other questions from the council? Do we still have Scarpelli with us? He's on my cell phone. Okay. Just please let me know if you do, if he has any questions. Let's see, Kelly Kitalo.
[John Falco]: So we have someone who wants to speak. Name and address for the record. Doug. Turn on the audio.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. We will schedule a committee of the whole soon. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor- Personal privilege? Point of personal privilege, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: And I would agree. I think at this point it's best to just get into a committee of the whole, get all the parties in there that should be there. And then we can discuss it and have a full conversation and make sure everyone's on the same page. Because it sounds like right now... I think there's some inaccurate information.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Council appears to withdraw this motion. Thank you very much. We will be scheduling a committee of the whole soon to discuss this issue, and we'll let you know when we have a date. Thank you. Let's see. Is there reports? Three Committee of the Whole reports. Okay, so let's see, we have... Reports from Committees, 20-482, July 27th, Committee of the Whole. Let's see, the purpose of that meeting was to discuss open meeting law complaint against Medford City Council. We did that, and City Solicitor Scanlon responded to the compliance. On the motion.
[John Falco]: The motion Councilor Bears to approve, seconded by. Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 16-659 and 20-042, July 27th, 2020. Can we do the whole report? The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the proposed Cannabis Advisory Commission. There were a number of recommendations that were made and let's see, Jonathan.
[John Falco]: Okay. Second. Councilor Knight to table, seconded by Councilor Perkins. Clerk Urnevis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: He's on vacation. So I've actually put an email into him to actually see if we can talk tomorrow to actually get an update. He has received an updated copy. I want him to proof it to make sure that It's the actual red line version before it goes out to everybody. So that's, I don't want to waste anybody's time. So I want to make sure that it's a copy that's supposed to be before I send it out to anyone. So- Agreed. I did swap emails with him and he's on vacation, but I did send him another email just to see if he had a few minutes to talk tomorrow.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'm the affirmative, zero on the negative, the motion, the report is tabled. We have another report, 19659-20042, August 19th, 2020 committee, the whole report, And this was the most recent meeting that we had regarding the red line copy of the marijuana ordinance.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight to table, seconded by Councilor Bears to table this report. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'm in the affirmative. I'm in the negative, the motion passes. I believe that is everything, if I'm correct. Records. Records, the records of the meeting of July 28th were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: The motion of Vice President Caraviello to table the record, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Council members, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to adjourn the meeting, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Coonerty, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone for coming to the meeting tonight. Have a good week, be safe, be healthy.
[John Falco]: Mr. Clerk, are you ready?
[John Falco]: OK, great. We'll begin. The 24th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: I am present. All seven members are present. At this point in time, I ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: This is being broadcast live on channel 22 for Comcast and channel 43 on Verizon. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 30A, Section 18 and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. I want to thank everyone for attending tonight. We have a number of hearings tonight. Hearings 20-381. This is a notice of a public hearing, legal notice, City of Medford, Massachusetts, Medford City Council Chapter 94 zoning. The Medford City Council will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at 7 p.m. via Zoom remote videoconferencing relative to the petition by Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn to amend Chapter 94 Zoning, Chapter 94-148D, Table of Use Regulation for Use 18, multiple dwelling not over three stories in height, in Use 19, multiple dwelling not over 75 feet or six stories in height. Will use 18 or 19 is presently allowed by right, yes. The proposed amendment would require a special permit from the city council, SPC, requiring that at least 25% of the total gross floor area of the development contain non-residential uses permitted by right, of which are authorized pursuant to a special permit in the underlying zoning district where relevant overlying zoning where relevant overlying zoning districts. As drafted, the amendment would take effect in the APT-1, APT-2, APT-3, and C-1 in MUZ zoning districts. The full text of the amendment may be viewed in the office of the city clerk at Medford City Hall, room 103, or the city's website at http://www.medfordma.org. slash community development by clicking on the current CD board filings. A Zoom link for this meeting will be posted no later than July 24, 2020. So at this point in time, I would declare the, actually, if I may, this paper did go to the, actually, Let me just read the rest of this, if you could give me a second. To participate remotely outside of the virtual platform, questions and comments may be submitted via email to ahertubise, that's A-H-U-R-T-U-B-I-S-E, at medford-ma.gov. For accommodations, call 781-393-2425. TTY 7813932516 pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18 and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place This hearing of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained contained to be posted not later than July 24, 2020, no in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Meeting website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. By order of the Medford City Council, Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk, this was advertised in the Boston Globe July 13th and July 20th, 2020. We also have received correspondence from Andre LaRue, who's the chair of the CD board. That's dated July 20th, 2020. And I'm going to read that now, that's regarding Council Resolution 20-381, Proposed Amendment to Chapter 94 Zoning, Section 94-148D, Table of Use Regulations for Use 18, multiple dwelling not over three stories in height and Use 19 multiple dwelling not over 75 feet or six stories in height to require at least 25% non-residential uses. Following the duly advertised public hearing conducted on June 18, 2020, in July 16, 2020, the Community Development Board voted to recommend that the Medford City Council adopt the proposed amendment In the commercial 1, C1 in mixed-use zones, MUZ zoning districts, with the following changes. For the proposed footnote to use 18 and use 19, number 3, remove the words 25% of the total floor area and replace with the first floor. Two, for the proposed footnote to use 18 and use 19. Number three, add the following language after the words overlying zoning district or business or professional office retail sales. Consumer service business or eating place as defined in section 94-2 definitions. Following considerable discussion, the Community Development Board made no recommendation on the proposed amendment to the APT apartment one in APT, apartment two zoning districts. Thank you for your consideration of these recommendations. Audrey LaRue, chair. At this point, I declare this public hearing open. Would anybody like to speak in favor? Anyone like to speak in favor of the petition? Yep, let's see, we have Chief of Staff, Dave Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez. Would anybody else like to speak in favor of the petition? Okay, seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Now I open this up to anyone in opposition of the petition. Is there anyone in opposition that would like to speak?
[John Falco]: Yes, Will. Okay. One minute, please. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Navarre. Let's see, we have... Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Anyone else against? In opposition? Okay, we have Derek Anderson. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, Councilor Knight. Derek, did you want to conclude?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, appreciate it. Is anyone else in opposition of this? Anyone else in opposition that would like to speak?
[John Falco]: We have one more person. Let's see you, Roberta Cameron. Would you like to speak?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Roberta. Is there anyone else in opposition? Anyone in opposition that would like to speak? OK. Hearing and seeing none, I will this portion of the hearing close. Now I'll ask if the council has any questions or comments that they'd like to make.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight to reject the zoning amendments.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Any questions from the Council?
[John Falco]: Yes, okay, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions or comments from the council? Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to reject this to reject the zoning amendment. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the zoning amendment has been rejected. Notice of a public hearing, 20-042 legal notice, City of Medford, Massachusetts, Medford City Council, chapter 94, zoning. The Medford City Council will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at 7 p.m. via Zoom remote video conferencing relative to a petition by the Medford City Council to amend chapter 94 zoning revised ordinances of the City of Medford to allow to allow for and regulate adult-use marijuana establishments in the city of Medford with an aim to minimize any adverse impacts that marijuana establishments may have on adjacent or nearby properties and to provide standards for placement, design, siting, safety, security, modification, and discontinuance of central establishments subject to reasonable conditions that protect public health. safety, and welfare. The full text of the amendment may be viewed in the Office of the City Clerk, Medford City Hall, Room 103, or on the city's website at http://www.meffittma.org slash department slash community development by clicking on the current CD board filings. A Zoom link for this meeting will be posted no later than July 24th, 2020. This was advertised in the Boston Globe on July 13th and July 20th. We have actually since received a response from the CD board and from Andre LaRue, the chair, dated July 22nd, 2020. regarding Council Resolution 20-042 proposed amendment to Chapter 94 zoning to allow for and regulate adult use marijuana establishments. Following a duly advertised public hearing conducted on July 16, 2020, the Community Development Board voted to recommend that the Medford City Council adopt the proposed amendment with the following changes. Number one, more specificity be added to the ordinance relative to allowed locations for marijuana establishments, including a revision of section 94-148D table of regulations. And number two, consideration of drafting edits contained in the attached document. Thank you for your consideration of these recommendations. And that's from Andre Leroux, the chair of the CD board, the Community Development Board.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. On that motion, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Yes, that's what I will be aiming to do.
[John Falco]: Okay, do you have that councilor, Clerk Arteries?
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see, we have a question from Councilor Bears, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: I did check with City Solicitor Scanlon today. We have 90 days from when the hearing opens. So today, but this is something that I think really needs to be addressed sooner than later. We've been working on this for a while. So I'll be aiming to set up a committee, the whole, as soon as possible.
[John Falco]: That sounds good to me, which would be- 28th of August. Again, August 25th. 25th.
[John Falco]: That's fine. On that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: As amended by Councilor Marks to continue the hearing to a date certain, which would be August 25th. But we will have a committee the whole meeting before that meeting to discuss the changes.
[John Falco]: On that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-478, notice of a public hearing. Petition for grant of location, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, electrical transmission line. Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office, you are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, a public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28th on a petition of Tufts University for permission to install an electrical transmission line beneath Boston Avenue near the intersection of College Avenue and to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures along and across the public way herein named said poll locations to be located substantially in accordance with the revised plan marked Boston Avenue. Menford, Massachusetts will be filed in the Office of the City Clerk on June 4, 2020. A Zoom link for this meeting will be provided no later than Friday, July 24, 2020. Wherefore, it prays that after due notice and hearing, as provided by law, it be granted a location for and permission to erect and maintain poles and wires, together with such as standing and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary, said electrical transmission line be erected substantially in accordance with the revised plan marked Boston Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, and available for inspection in the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, room 103, 85 George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Also, for permission to lay and maintain underground laterals, cables, and wires in the above or intersecting public ways for the purpose of making connections with such poles in buildings as each of said petitioners may desire for distributing purposes. The following are the streets and highways referred to. Boston Avenue in the vicinity of the new power plant building near the intersection of College Avenue. Location approximately as shown on plan filed in the office of the city clerk. This was approved by the city engineer with the following conditions. The engineer division recommends that the grant of location be approved with the following conditions. One, the grant of location, GOL, is limited to approximately 60 feet of electrical transmission main described in the GOL document as follows. Number two, excavation of Boston Avenue is an installation and maintenance of eight by six underground electrical conduits and wires together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as may be necessary for the transmission of electricity under and across Boston Avenue, a public way approximately 500 feet north of the center line of the intersection of Boston Avenue and College Avenue, said location request. touched athletic utility district, Medford, Massachusetts, and filled, filed in the office of the city clerk the plan. The work consists of installing approximately 55 linear feet of electrical duct bank to an electric manhole as shown on the plan and to connect to conduits of petitioner's property and property of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation. Number three, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSAFE and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. The SOP application must include a proposal for temporary and permanent street restoration to be considered as a condition. Please see additional comments below on street restoration. The SOP application must also include a traffic management plan. Number four, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or other appearances are adversely impacted. Tufts shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. Five, the sidewalk and street temporary and permit restoration shall be done in consultation with the engineering division and per the requirements. of an approved street opening permit. The recent resurfacing of Boston Avenue stopped short of this location due to the anticipated and ongoing construction related to both Tufts University projects and the Green Line Extension project. Also, the City of Medford intends to add a pedestrian crossing in this vicinity using funds obtained from the MBTA related to mitigation for the GLX project. The engineering division recommends that in lieu of performing final street restoration, a contribution be negotiated and agreed upon with the city engineer that approximates the construction cost value of finished street restoration. The cost should take into consideration. in consideration roadway mill and overlay restoration with a curb-to-curb offset of 25 feet, including setting curb stones and sidewalk restoration and mill and overlay restoration encompassing Tufts University utility patches from the intersection of College Avenue to the limits of Dolan Hall. This contribution will go towards final resurfacing of this section of Boston Avenue. This will provide a consistent final pavement surface along this section of Boston Avenue. Number six, pavement markings must be restored. Number seven, the project site must be swept daily and shall be kept free of debris for the duration of the installation. Number eight, a copy of the MWRA permit and associated plans must be submitted to the engineering division prior to releasing a street opening permit. Number nine, the plan indicates open trench construction There is existing concrete barrier structure and cable guardrail that must be removed for the installation of the transmission line. These two elements should not be replaced. The engineering division recommends that the petitioner coordinates sidewalk surface restoration with the Greenline Extension Project as there is sidewalk scope for that project on the east side of Boston Avenue. Any temporary restoration must meet accessibility standards. The sidewalk on the west side is likely to remain and should be permanently restored to concrete upon completion of the crossing. Approved by the Superintendent of Wires, call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations and or aids. Plans can be reviewed at the City Clerk's Office, 781-393-2425, Adam L. Hurtubise's City Clerk. I declare this public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Rocco, I'm trying to unmute you now. Oh, there we go. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Rocco. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of this project? Yes.
[John Falco]: What everyone's like, I'm trying to unmute you. It doesn't seem I gotta go.
[John Falco]: Yeah. Is there anyone else that wants to speak in favor of this project? Erin, I can't get you to, I'm trying to unmute you and it won't let me. Erin.
[John Falco]: I apologize for interrupting, but we need to keep on topic with this project here.
[John Falco]: What information, Councilor Layton?
[John Falco]: Perfect, thank you very much Sharon. Does anybody else that would like to speak in favor of the project?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the council? Yes, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Oh, let me find him.
[John Falco]: That's what I was going to say. Actually, he's right here. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Would you like to add that as an amendment? Okay, yes. Okay, any other questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Let's see, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Carmielo. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: On the motion of council tonight to approve as amended by Councilor Marxie and seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Rocco. Notice of a public hearing, legal notice 20-479, petition for grant of location, National Grid Incorporated of North Andover, Massachusetts, and Verizon New England Incorporated, Medford, Massachusetts, City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, a public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, on a joint petition of National Grid Incorporated and Verizon New England Incorporated for permission to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures along and across the public way here and after name to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked number 29567848 Winthrop Street, Medford, Massachusetts, April 4, 2020, and filed in the office of the city clerk on May 11, 2020. The Zoom link for this meeting will be provided no later than Friday, July 24, 2020. We are for a praise that after due notice and hearing as provided by law, it be granted a location for a permission to erect and maintain poles and wires gathered with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary. Set electrical transmission line to be erected substantially in accordance with the plan marked number 29567848. and available for inspection in the Office of the City Clerk, Method City Hall, Room 103-85 George P. Hassett Drive, Method, MA 02155. Also, for permission to lay and maintain underground laterals, cables, and wires in the above or intersecting public ways for the purpose of making connections with such poles and buildings as each of said petitioners may desire for distributing purposes. The following are the streets and highways referred to. Winthrop Street National Grid to relocate one J-O pole on Winthrop Street near Victory Park beginning at a point approximately 25 feet southwest of the center line of the intersection of Winthrop Street near Victory Park. Relocate number 265 on Winthrop Street, seven feet away to the Package of the sidewalk for the installation of Eversource facilities. No tree removal shall be required. Location approximately as shown on the plan filed in the office of the city clerk. This was approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions. Number one, the grant of location are limited to the relocation of one joint owned pole in the underground services associated with the pole relocation. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSAFE and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other apparatances are adversely impacted. National Group shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. Number four, the project site must be swept daily and shall be kept free of debris for the duration of the installation. Number five, the proposed work is located adjacent to Victory Park and its access points. National Green must coordinate with the Metro DPW Parks Division to maintain access to the park and mitigate impacts to the use of the park. Number six, the work is close to existing bollards and the plan does not indicate removal or replacement of bollards. The bollards shall remain in place. Number seven, There are multiple trees that have canopy that will be impacted by the relocation of the associated overhead wires. The contractor must coordinate any required tree trimming prior to start of work with the Method DPW tree warden. Number eight, the new pole location appears to be within the root zone of the adjacent tree. Protection measures for the tree roots must be coordinated with the Method DPW tree warden. Number nine, shutdowns associated with the service transfer for the pump station must be coordinated with the station owner. This is approved by the superintendent of wires. Call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations, aids. That's from Adam L. Hurtubise. Plans can be reviewed or viewed in the city clerk's office at 781-393-2425. I declare this public hearing open to those in favor of the petition. Anybody that would like to speak in favor of this petition? Do we have Verizon with us tonight?
[John Falco]: Okay, is there anyone here on the meeting that is representing National Grid or Verizon?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other councilors who want to comment on this or make a motion?
[John Falco]: We can, I mean, we can maybe, if you want, and I showed the representative from Verizon or National Grid is maybe having problems logging in. We can maybe table to the end of the meeting. I don't know if the clerk can reach out to him.
[John Falco]: What if they show up in like 10 minutes?
[John Falco]: Okay, so why don't we table this for now and hopefully someone from Verizon or National Group will log in and we can take it up towards the end of the meeting. So Council Member Marks, was that a motion to table? Motion to table, and then we can see if the city clerk can get a hold of someone.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council Member Marks to table, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmatives, you're on the negative. The motion is tabled.
[John Falco]: OK, notice of a public hearing. Legal Notice 20-480, Petition for Grant of Location, National Grid of North Andover, Massachusetts, Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified by the order of the Medford City Council, a public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 on a petition of National Grid Incorporated for permission to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity under and across a public way here and named to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked number 2577-3968 Salem Street, Medford, Massachusetts, May 14, 2020. Resume link for this meeting will be provided no later than Friday, July 24, 2020. We afford praise that after due notice in hearing, As provided by law, it be granted permission to excavate the public highways and to run and maintain underground electric conduits together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity, said underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked number 25773968 Salem Street, Method, Massachusetts and available for inspection in the office of the City Clerk, Medford City Hall, Room 103-85, George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. The following are the streets and highways referred to. Number 25773968, Salem Street, National Grid, to install approximately 25 feet of 2x4 conduit for existing manhole MH478B. on Salem Street Southwest to a 31 to 35 Salem Street. The conduit is for the purpose of providing electrical service to 35 Salem Street. Location as shown on plan filed in the office of the city clerk. Excuse me. This was approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions.
[John Falco]: Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Okay, Council, on the motion of Council marks to table, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Let's see. Let's see, well, before we begin, let's see if we have someone from Comcast with us tonight.
[John Falco]: I don't mind reading it, but I figured I might as well ask. Let's see, Clerk Hurtubise, do you know if anyone from Comcast is on with us tonight?
[John Falco]: OK. If there's anyone from Comcast, can you please raise your hand? Okay, I do not see anybody from Comcast. I'm not sure if you do. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes, the matter is tabled.
[John Falco]: Okay, paper 20-483 has been withdrawn by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, 20487 has been withdrawn by Councilor Knight. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Okay. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-484 offered by council all night. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a committee of the whole to discuss the future of the Medford Fire Headquarters with the representatives from the Mayor's Task Force, Local 1032, and the Director, Finance Director, and Fire Chief. Council all night.
[John Falco]: Did any councilors have any comments or questions regarding the resolution? Does the resolution have a second?
[John Falco]: I believe we have a second. Councilor Scarpelli, okay. Are there any questions or comments from the public regarding the resolution? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, on the, let's see, on the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, zero to the negative, the motion passes. 20-485 be it resolved, I'm sorry, 20-485 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the City Clerk be directed per Section 2-592 of the Ordinances of the City of Medford to provide the Medford City Council with copies of any application filed with Article IV Site Plan Review Sections 94-331 through 94-336 of the Ordinances of the City of Medford within seven days of receipt thereof. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Well said. Thank you Councilor Knight. Let's see on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Are there any questions or comments from the council? Any from the public?
[John Falco]: Laurel, there you are. Apologize. I'm gonna try to unmute you. There you go. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the public? Okay, hearing and seeing none.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, I missed you. Can you say again?
[John Falco]: To sever? Okay. So you want that to be a B paper then?
[John Falco]: Councilman Marks, should that be a B paper?
[John Falco]: Okay. So thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording on the B paper?
[John Falco]: That's accurate?
[John Falco]: OK. So what we will do is we will vote on the B paper first. That B paper was offered by Council Marks. Does that B paper have a second?
[John Falco]: That B paper is seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the main paper, the main resolution offered by Council, and it's seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 2-0-486 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council receive a report from the Chief of Police regarding the events of July 4th. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So that motion is offered by Councilor Knight and seconded by Councilor Bears. Are there any questions from the council regarding the motion? Any questions or comments from the public? Diane, if we could please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments?
[John Falco]: Joanna, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay. Let's see. Uh, any other questions or comments? Okay. Seeing and hearing none on the motion of council and I seconded by Councilor, I believe it was Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-488 offered by Councilor Knight being resolved at the Medford City Council. Extend its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Elaine Honeycutt on her recent passing. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, I'm sorry, I missed that.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you. Any other comments? So as we offer our deepest and sincere condolences to the Honeycup family, I'd ask everyone at this time to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. And on the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Knight, that this meeting tonight be dedicated to the family of Elaine Honeycutt on her recent passing. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-489 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration meet with the Hormel Commission in the leadership of Allentown Catholic High School to establish a plan to allow graduation ceremonies at Hormel Stadium. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Light. On the motion of Councilor Light to receive and place on file, seconded by- Second.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero on the negative. The motion passes. Clerk Hurtubise, if I may, as you'll make sure, I received. So do we have the Verizon representative on the line?
[John Falco]: Okay, I have a motion to suspend the rules to take the Comcast public hearing from the table, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, 0 in the negative. Motion passes. The rules are suspended. And we will now take, I believe it's 20481. Am I correct, Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: Okay, so let me, this one here, I did not, I'm gonna read that now. So, notice of a public hearing, legal notice 20-481, petition for grant of location, Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC, Medford, Massachusetts, City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, on a petition of Comcast Cable Communications, LLC.
[John Falco]: Yes, if you could. Is this Mr. Flewelling?
[John Falco]: If you could please give us a brief synopsis.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. So at this point, I would declare the public hearing open. Actually, before I move any further, I just wanted to note that this year has been approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions. The engineering division recommends that this grain of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, the grain of location is limited to approximately 52 feet of conduit. Proposed vault and service conduit as described in the petition. Starting at the existing Comcast vault excavating to place two four-inch PVC conduits 52 plus or minus to a proposed two-by-three vault in the sidewalk. From the newly placed vault excavating to a place one four-inch PVC conduit, three plus or minus and continue on to private property. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSAFE and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a Street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. At a minimum, the street opening permit application must include a street restoration plan and traffic management plan for review and approval. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances are adversely impacted. Comcast shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Number four, the sidewalk and street restoration shall be done in consultation with the engineering division in further requirements of an approved street opening permit. This must include a site inspection with the permit officer to determine the extent of pavement restoration. The concrete sidewalk must be replaced in kind and cleanly cut at the control joints. The bituminous concrete pavement over the trench shall be milled and overlaid to an offset approved by the engineering division. The brick-stamped concrete edging shall be replaced in kind. Number five, pavement markings- President, if I could stop you on that point for a moment? Yes.
[John Falco]: Mr. Flewellen, could you comment on that, please?
[John Falco]: Number five, pavement markings must be restored. Number six, the project site must be scrubbed daily and shall be kept free of debris for the duration of the installation. Number seven, Riverside Avenue is a highly traveled roadway for vehicles as well as pedestrians. A detailed TMP must be submitted to the engineering division for review and approved prior to receiving a street opening permit. The TMP must include accommodations for pedestrians in addition to vehicles. Number eight, the plan does not indicate drain lines or laterals. Drainage pipes beneath the conduit must be replaced. Number nine, the conduit must cross MWRA infrastructure. Copies of the MWRA permit must be submitted to the engineering division prior to releasing a street opening permit approved by the superintendent of wires. Call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations and or aids. Adam L. Herneby, City Clerk. These plans can be viewed in the City Clerk's office at 781-393-2425. At this point, I would declare the public hearing open, open to anyone in favor of this project. Mr. Flewelling, I would assume you're in favor?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak that is in favor of the project? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Is there anyone in opposition of the project? Anyone in opposition that would like to speak? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Let's see. Are there any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Marks and thank you Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Chief of Staff Rodriguez. Thank you, Council. Any other questions from the Council? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, is there a motion on the floor?
[John Falco]: Second. On the motion of Council, I'd like to approve, seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: I'll motion of Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business. Seconded by? Second. Councilor Marks, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative zero and the negative. The motion passes. We will now revert to the regular order of business motions orders and resolutions to zero dash four nine zero offered by Councilor Marks. He resolved that the speeding and signage on Washington street in spring street area be discussed. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay. I'm gonna try to find them if you could, I think the clerk has a question in the meantime.
[John Falco]: OK, let's continue with this, and then we'll figure out.
[John Falco]: All right, we got Mr. Serino. Could we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Let's see. Paul, Paul, can we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Thank you, Paul. Yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Not so much. Do you want to amend your motion to include
[John Falco]: Thank you. I've got it, Mr. President. So on that motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Marks, we have another comment, I believe. Kelly, did you have your hand up? I'm going to try to unmute. There you go.
[John Falco]: Any other comments? Any other comments or questions from the public? Move approval. Now we have one more. Let's see, it looks like, I believe it's Caitlin Murphy. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Kayla. Let's see. Derek Anderson, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Yes, we have, let's see, Carolyn Morrison. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Any other comments?
[John Falco]: OK, let's see. It doesn't appear that there's any more questions or comments regarding this. So, Clerk Hurtubise, did this have a second?
[John Falco]: Perfect. Okay, great. On the motion of Councilor Marks as amended by Councilor Marks twice and seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-491 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council ask the Building Commissioner to address the City Council on the recent changes to the residential building permit process. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: He's on the line. Paul Mochi, the building commissioner with us. I'm going to try to, there you go. You're unmuted, Paul, if you wouldn't mind.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Let's see, so we have a number of people that have their hands up, but I believe Councilor Caraviello, did you?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. At this point, I recognize Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the Council or comments? Okay, we have a number of questions and comments from the public. So let's see, we have Jennifer Keenan. If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Commissioner Mulkey. We have, let's see, Vice President Carvial. There are a number of residents that want to speak. And we will get to you in one minute. But we have Vice President Carvial.
[John Falco]: Do you want that to be an amendment to your original motion vice president Cavill?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, you have the wording for the amendment?
[John Falco]: Correct. Okay, let's see, next speaker will be the president, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilman, would you like to make an amendment adding basically it would be a member of the administration or do you have someone specific that you'd like to be invited?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Perfect. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Okay. Let's see. Kelly Catalo. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have, oh.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Thank you, Paul. Next up is, I believe his last name is Calbee.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see. Uh, we have, um, Cheryl, Cheryl, can you please give us your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: You know what, I unmuted two people at once. It was a Cheryl and Will. I unmuted you by accident, but you can hang on.
[John Falco]: If you just get Cheryl first.
[John Falco]: No worries. No worries. OK, Will, you're on. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions or comments? One minute.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, next we have Sam Collins. Name and address for the record, Sam.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Okay, up next is we have Jennifer Keenan.
[John Falco]: Sorry.
[John Falco]: Jennifer, thank you for sending that. I haven't had a chance to check email since probably this morning. So what I'll do is I will make sure that I circulate a copy of that to the console so they can see that. But thank you for sending that along. We appreciate your comments. And now I'd like to, I believe Jennifer Crowwood.
[John Falco]: I believe Dave McKillop is on the line. Oh, there he is. Dave, I'm trying to unmute you. Name and address for the record, please. Dave, we can't hear you. I can't hear you still. Let me try, let me try again. Okay, you're unmuted. Can you try again? We still can't hear you, Dave. I'm sorry. Okay, let's see. Any other questions or comments from the public? Okay, hearing and seeing none. Clerk Hurtubise, can you read off the, I believe there are a number of resolutions or there's definitely a B paper and a resolution. Can you name up that? Can you actually read the B paper back?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. It was a main motion, I believe it was offered by Vice President Caraviello and amended by Vice President Caraviello. Were there any other amendments to that motion?
[John Falco]: Okay, so that's the other resolution by Vice President Caraviello as amended by Vice President Caraviello and amended by Councilor Marks. And seconded by... Does anybody wanna second the resolution?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Paul, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Clerk Hurtubise, so before, actually, I think before we started the last resolution, did you say that we had, was it Mr. Jankowski on the line?
[John Falco]: OK, on the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rules to take the two national code of permits, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, 0 negative. The motion passes. Quickly, if I may, was that 20-479 and 20-480? I believe that's correct. Hang on just a second.
[John Falco]: Notice of a public hearing, 20-479, legal notice. Petition for grant of location National Grid of North Andover, Massachusetts and Verizon New England Incorporated, Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 PM on Tuesday. July 28, 2020, and a joint petition of National Grid Incorporated and Verizon New England Incorporated for permission to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures along and across the public way hereafter named to be located substantially in accordance with the plan, marked 295-678.
[John Falco]: You actually are correct, this is the one I did read, so I apologize. We can save ourselves a little bit of time. So let's see, we do have a member from, I believe it was the National Grid or Verizon?
[John Falco]: Okay, so let's see, I declare this public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Anyone in favor of the petition can now speak. Is there anybody that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Mr. Jankowski, let's see.
[John Falco]: Mr. Jankowski, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Do I have the motion of Council tonight to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Council appears quicker to me, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: So we're going to refer it back to the regular order of business. So if you could please call the roll.
[John Falco]: That was my council on 8th, seconded by Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Motion to order is a resolution 20-492 offered by Vice President Caraviello. It was all that the Medford City Council instruct that the mayor, police chief and fire chief address the weekend parking issues in the Pine Ridge Road in the interest of public safety and neighborhood interest. We have further resolved that the city solicitor provide an opinion on private ways in the city of Medford and what rights the residents of these streets have and don't have. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the council? President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Carvialo. Would you like to add that as an amendment? Yes, I would. Thank you. Clerk Herves, if you could please add that as an amendment to the main resolution.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the public? Okay, seeing and hearing none, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Knight, and as amended by Vice President Caraviello, and seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-493 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the City of Medford requests that the DCR add an additional crosswalk on Elm Street where it intersects the entrance for Wright's Pond to increase the safety of pedestrians traveling to and from the pond. Be it further resolved that the City of Medford requests that the DCR repaint the existing crosswalks on Elm Street. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, and the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Peers. Okay, thank you. There were a number of comments. So we have Councilor Peers and Councilor Knight. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any other questions or comments from the council or councilors? Okay. Any other questions or comments from the public? Let's see, we have Marshall. Name and address for the record, please, Marshall.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the public? OK. Councilor Morales, I'd like to thank you for bringing this forward. As someone who lives up in this neighborhood, I think any type of public safety improvements that we can make up on Elm Street should be looked at. As the councilors have mentioned, I know since I've been on the city council, even before that, this has been an issue, but it's something that we need to make sure that we keep an eye on. And hopefully if we can work with the state, I know Representative Donato has been working on this for a while. Any public safety improvements that we can make in this area will benefit everyone. It can be very dangerous. That driveway going in and out of Wrights Pond is in a really difficult position because it's really a blind spot. But we need to make sure we keep it on the radar. We need to make sure that we, you know, really look at every possibility we can to make it safe for everyone to exit and enter the pond. So, thank you for bringing this forward. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-497 offered by Council of Mayors, whereas systemic racism is an ongoing public health crisis that necessitates urgent action and whereas statements of solidarity and support can begin to address the history of racism and discrimination in our community. And whereas residents of Medford have requested that the city take this action now, therefore be resolved by the Medford City Council that the city of Medford will hang a banner reading Black Lives Matter on the front of Medford City Hall. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Let's see, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay, let's see. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, I know a number of people have their hands up, but on the motion of Councilor Bears, instead of a second.
[John Falco]: I am not aware of one.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks, would you mind reading that back to the clerk?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Marks. We have, let's see, we have Vice President Caraviello, then I believe Councilor Peters after that. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Let's see, we have Councilor Bears and then Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President? Thank you, Councilor Bears. Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Let's see, we have Councilor Knight and then Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears, I believe you had your hand up next. Am I correct?
[John Falco]: Any other questions? Point of information, Mr. President? Yes, you got a point of information from Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Councilor Caraviello, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions or comments from the council? Okay. There are a number of people that have their hands raised. So first one would be, I believe it's Matthew Page Lieberman. Name and address of the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have, next up is Kelly Kuna. Kelly, name and address of the record, please.
[John Falco]: Placemakers and caviar. Oh, you've got people that want to speak. Let's see. Marshall, your next name address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay. Uh, Dave, did you want to comment on that?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Dave.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see, Joanna, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, we have I apologize if I get this wrong, Tayani Goulart? Name and address the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Rick Orlando, did you want to speak on this? Rick Orlando?
[John Falco]: Address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: We have Kit Collins. Name and address of the record, please.
[John Falco]: Yep. Sherry, what I'm going to do is I'm going to move on to someone else, and I'll come back to you in a minute. We'll try to see if we can hear you. Let's see. We have Eileen Lerner. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Anthony D'Antonio, name and address of the record, please.
[John Falco]: I want to remind everyone. Everyone's been pretty good. So I want to just remind everybody, you have a minute and a half to speak. So that's just a reminder. Everyone's been pretty good about staying to that. Councilor Bears, I believe I heard your voice.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Let's see. Jennifer Kerwood, name and address the record, please. You have a minute and a half.
[John Falco]: See, Sherry, we're gonna try you again. Name and address for the record, Sherry. You have a minute and a half. I just unmuted you.
[John Falco]: Fire away.
[John Falco]: Let's see, here we have Rebecca Schmeling. Rebecca? I lost Rebecca, sorry. Rebecca, if you could raise your hand again, I'm sorry. Okay, we'll move on to Derek Anderson.
[John Falco]: Rebecca, we'll go with Rebecca Schmaeling and then we'll go to Derek Anderson. Rebecca Schmeling, you're on. You have a minute and a half.
[John Falco]: Derek Anderson, you're up next. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: MC, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see. Okay, any other questions or comments?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Diane Sullivan, name and address to the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Diane. Okay, so Matthew, you have a minute and a half. This is your second time.
[John Falco]: Kelly Kuda, name and address for the record. President, point of information. One minute, point of information, I believe that was Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: And I believe Kelly's the only hand up, so I think she is the last one to go.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Carlos Garapelli. Jessica Zubart, you have a name and address for the record. You have a minute and a half.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Jessica?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Jessica. Let's see, we have Matt. Name and address of the record, Matt.
[John Falco]: Matt, would you like to speak about the sign?
[John Falco]: Let's see, we have Jess F. Jess.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, Will. Will, you have a minute and a half.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Will. Okay. So that is everyone. I thank everyone for weighing in and giving their thoughts and opinions and asking questions. Do the councilors have any further questions before we call the roll on these resolutions?
[John Falco]: Those are two separate resolutions, two separate motions. You are correct. OK, thank you. The first being offered by Council of Peers.
[John Falco]: If I may, I know as the president, I don't comment on too much and I pretty much preside over the meetings, but I just want to say that I believe emphatically that black lives matter. However, I do have some serious concerns about the council's authority to approve or disapprove putting a flag or banner on city hall property. There are no guidelines in place regarding which flags or banners are permitted. And I do need that this I do believe that this needs to be established outside City Hall is a pride flag that went up. I don't think it went up with a council vote. But I want to support that flag too. And I personally understand its significance to the LGBTQ community. as a father of a gay child. But what happens next week if a petition is made to fly a straight pride flag? Because yes, they do really exist. I don't believe it's within the council's purviews to choose which flags are raised without pre-existing guidelines. The city council has no jurisdiction whatsoever over City Hall. We have no jurisdiction, absolutely none. As a city council, we don't even have control over the thermostat in city council chambers. And that's a serious statement. So we have no control over the building. But I just wanted to just issue that small statement. But we do have a number of resolutions before us. The first one was offered by Council of Bears. And I'll read it again. Whereas systemic racism is an ongoing public health crisis that necessitates urgent action and whereas statements of solidarity and support can begin to address the history of racism and discrimination in our community and whereas residents of Medford have requested that the city take this action now. Therefore, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city of Medford will hang a banner reading Black Lives Matter on the front of City Hall. That was offered by Councilor Bears. Does that resolution have a second? Second. Second by Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, I don't think yours had a second because they specifically said- Mr. President, the record still reflects, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Okay, so Councilor Pietrangelo, there was no second when you mentioned your resolution. I asked for a second, there was no second. That has been reflected in the minutes as well. And then at that point, I believe maybe Councilor Knight spoke next.
[John Falco]: The clerk does not have it in his notes. And I don't remember that part either, because I don't, I specifically stated- Mr. President. Excuse me? Gentlemen, point of order.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that means that Councilor Marks' resolution would come up next. Could you read back the resolution, Councilor Marks? I'm sorry, Clerk Bernabe.
[John Falco]: Can you restate that, please?
[John Falco]: I mean, I think that is something that could be done.
[John Falco]: Point of order, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, I have in my notes here that There's, I have nothing, so what happens is my notes here, I usually write down, it says offered by Councilor Bears, and I usually put slash in whoever makes the second. I have no slash, I have no second. And then I have Councilor Marks, he made his resolution and it was seconded by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes, five in the affirmative, two in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Clerk, do you want to read the motion?
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Is there a second on that? There was a second. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes. 5 in the affirmative, 2 in the negative. The motion passes. 20-498 offered by Council of Bears be resolved by the Medford City Council that the mayor and health director provide an update on the reopening plan proposed by Texas University, collaboration between the university and health officials, and how the Medford community will be kept safe with hundreds of out-of-state students returned to the city from COVID-19 hotspots. Council of Bears.
[John Falco]: Let's see.
[John Falco]: Dave, I'm not sure if you wanted to comment on that. Dave Rodriguez, Chief of Staff.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Vice President Caraviello, you had your hand up.
[John Falco]: That's good. Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: OK. Any questions from the public regarding this resolution? OK. Seeing and hearing none. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knights.
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry, missed that.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I'll need motion of Councilor Behr, seconded by, I believe it was Councilor Knight. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry. Was it the motion? Isn't it your resolution, Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Oh, OK. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Arnabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council, I'd like to suspend the rules. Seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Communications from the mayor, 20-494, June 23rd, 2020, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, dear Mr. President and City Council.
[John Falco]: Pam, let's see. Or actually, is Pam giving this presentation?
[John Falco]: Is there a motion to table this?
[John Falco]: Any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Any questions from the public? Okay, on the motion of council tonight, seconded by Vice President Carvialo, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Let's see. Is there a motion to revert back? No. OK. You have another paper. 20-495. To the honorable president and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, dear Mr. President and city councilors. I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following on recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee, requesting the appropriation of $3,083.50 from the CPA General Reserve to City of Medford Bocce Courts Project. The project will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund by category, General Reserve and Open Space Recreation. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn-Mayer. It's not self-explanatory. Dave, I'm not sure if you want to speak to this or if any council, oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion, Councilor Knight. Second by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2020-496, July 22nd, 2020 to President John Falco and honorable members of the Medford City Council, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, regarding licensing of food trucks. Dear President Falco and members of the Medford City Council, I respectfully request that City Council approve the following list of food trucks for events that are scheduled For the coming months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the city's temporary policies limiting events and gatherings, the attached application includes some unique considerations which have been viewed and approved by my office as well as the Board of Health. Medford streets, location and dates TBD by resident request seeking up to five locations between August and October requesting one lunch slash dinner and one dessert truck per location and date. Thank you for your consideration. Mayor Brianna Lockerney. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yeah, the location and dates are to be determined.
[John Falco]: No. You know, why don't we do this? Why don't we, Dave, can you clarify, please?
[John Falco]: Oh, there she is. Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table, seconded by- Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion is tabled. 19-481, July 23rd, 2022, Brianna Lugo, current mayor. uh, from Kimberly M. Scalen, acting city solicitor regarding council paper 19-481. On June 9, 2020, the Medford City Council requested that the proposed brewery ordinance have the following amendments made there too. At the consultation with the building commissioner, Paul Mokey, I have drafted the amendments. I respectfully request that this paper is sent to the Medford City Council. respectfully submitted Kimberley M. Scanlon. An ordinance amending Article 1, Chapter 94 of the revised ordinances of the City of Medford. Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Medford that Article 1, Chapter 94 of the revised of the revised ordinance of the City of Medford as most recently amended is hereby further amended by the addition of two new definitions in Section 94-2 and adding an additional line called brewery to the principal uses set forth in the table of use regulations in section 94-148. The following two definitions are hereby added to section 94-2 entitled definitions. Brewery means an establishment primarily engaged in the production and distribution of beer, ale, and other malt beverages, which may include accessory uses such as tours of the brewery, retail sales, and or on-site consumption of the products For example, a tap room or tasting room. The facility shall hold the appropriate Commonwealth of Massachusetts brewery license, as well as any required pouring license approved by the local licensing authority. This facility may host marketing events, special events, and brewery tours. The facility may only sell beverages produced by and commercial goods branded by the brewery. Tasting room tap room means a room attached to a brewery that allows patrons to sample or consume bear, ale, or other malt beverages that are produced on site in accordance with general law chapter 138. Barrel means a container, usually cylindrical in nature, used for the storage of a malt beverage with a capacity of not more than 31 gallons. A line number 35B entitled brewery is hereby added to the principal uses set fourth in the table of use regulations in section 94-148 as follows. Table of use regulations in off-street parking and loading requirements. Let's see, so use brewery. This is communications from city officers and employees. Actually, yeah, so I'm sorry. So it's not allowed in SF1, SF2, GR&O, Apartment 1, Apartment 2, Apartment 3. C1, yes for breweries operating with seven barrels or under. SPA, for breweries operating with more than seven barrels. C2, it's allowable. I, industrial, it is allowable. O, yes. MUZ, yes. Parking 350.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Paris.
[John Falco]: Clerk, Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: That's an amendment by Councilor Morell. Yes. Okay. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Questions from the councilors?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Let's see, any other questions from the council? Comments? Any comments from the public? Max, name and address the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Max. Let's see, we have a number of people that want to speak. So we have, let's see, Laura Ruma, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello would like to speak. I know there's some residents that want to speak as well, and we'll make sure we get to you. But yeah, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Nick, maybe you want to respond to that. So we have Nick. Name and address for the record, Nick. I'm trying to unmute you, Nick. One minute.
[John Falco]: If I may, if I may. Okay, there are a lot of things that went into that. And it's not full blame on the council because we had numerous meetings on this. And it was basically stated that one of the big things was the Chamber of Commerce was going to come in and wanted to weigh in on it. And what happened was, they didn't they postponed their meeting, which was supposed to be in November. And I think it was after the fact. So that got she wasn't fully on the council that was not fully on the council. But I just want to straight that out.
[John Falco]: Sean Beagan, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, then Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any other questions from the council? Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions from the council? Okay, let's see. We have a comment from Derek Anderson. He's got his hand up. Derek, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. We have a number of other people that would like to speak. Let's see, Benjamin Johnson.
[John Falco]: Great. Thank you, Benjamin. Jim Crott, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: We have, let's see, Carolyn Morrison. We're trying to unmute. Okay, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Any other comments from the council? OK, the chair awaits a motion.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council appears to approve as amended by Councilor Morell, seconded by... Second.
[John Falco]: There's a motion to sever the... Amendment from the main motion. To sever the amendment for the main motion?
[John Falco]: Okay, so there's a motion to sever these on that motion, seconded by... There's a motion to sever, I have a second.
[John Falco]: Second by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Yes, motion to sever.
[John Falco]: Yes. I believe that's seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion to sever is passed. On the amendment offered by Councilor Morell. Seconded by? Second.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six of the affirmative, one of the negative. The motion passes. On the main motion.
[John Falco]: OK, on that motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. The paper will now go to the Community Development Board. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Can we get to one more?
[John Falco]: Okay. 20-472 Memorandum to President John Falco and members of the Medford City Council. CC registrar vote is from Adam Hurtubise, City Clerk, regarding Ward 3, Precinct 1 polling location, July 23, 2020. This is a follow-up paper to 20-472 from last month, as I reported in June. The former Lawrence Memorial Hospital site will not be available as a polling location for the September-November elections because of the ongoing construction and because of COVID-19 concerns. When I became aware that the LMH campus would not be available as a polling location, I began working identifying a new potential polling location for Ward 3, Precinct 1. I sought guidance from the Election Division of the Office of Secretary of the Commonwealth on designation of a new polling place. I reached out to the Commander Richard Martin of the American Legion post at 321 Winthrop Street. Commander Martin graciously volunteered the Legion Post as a polling place for both- Mr. President, move for the Reader's Digest version. On the motion of Councilor Knight to get a brief synopsis from our City Clerk. City Clerk, could you please give us a brief synopsis of the paper?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Actually, if I may, are there any questions from the public or concerns? Okay, seeing and hearing none, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: If I may, we do have Jackie Peeks on the line from the mayor's office who is available to talk about, let's see, it was 20-496, the food trucks. So can we take that from the table and we'll speak on that one? Is that okay with everyone? That's fine.
[John Falco]: Yeah.
[John Falco]: I would like to be able to take 20-496 from the table, seconded by Councilor Bears, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, the motion has been taken from the table. We read earlier that this is a request from the mayor's office. She respectfully requests that we approve the following list of food trucks for events that are scheduled for the coming months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the city.
[John Falco]: Jackie, can you please give us dates, time, and locations and a brief synopsis?
[John Falco]: Motion to cancel tonight, seconded by- Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, any other questions from the council? Any questions from the public? Okay, hearing and seeing none, on the motion of council night, seconded by, I believe it was Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative, adjourning the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Lost the what?
[John Falco]: Okay, well... We didn't pay the bill. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Capiello to revert to the regular order of business. Clerk Herves, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Oh, OK. I'm sorry. So we're going to take those from the table. On the motion of Councilor Knight, to take the National Grid permits from the table, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Herves, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Let's see, this would be 20-479 and 20-480, if I'm correct. I believe that's correct, yes. We do have John Jankowski on the line. So let's see, did we open up the public? We did open the public hearing on this one, right? Yes, we did. On the first one you did, yes. Okay, so with that being said, declare the public hearing open. Open to those in favor of the petition. Let's see, John Jankowski, could you please give us- Hi, good morning.
[John Falco]: Okay, anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the councilors?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions from the Council? OK, is there a motion on the floor?
[John Falco]: I motion Councilor Layton to approve, seconded by? Second. Seconded by, was that Councilor Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: I'm sorry, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Yes, affirmative, zero, the negative, the motion passes. Okay, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Appreciate the update. If I want to hear, the feed is back. It's back on, I guess, just to give everyone an update. Notice of a public hearing, legal notice 20-480, petition for grant of location, National Grid, Incorporated of North Andover, Massachusetts, Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that order of the Medford City Council, a public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 on a petition of National Grid Incorporated for permission to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity under and across the public way herein named to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked number 25773968 Salem Street, Medford, Massachusetts, May 14, 2020. A Zoom link for this meeting will be provided no later than Friday. July 24, 2020.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. If we may have a brief synopsis from John Jankowski, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, John. So at this point, I declare the public hearing open. I'll open to those in favor of the petition. John, is it safe to assume that you are in favor of this petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. Is there anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition to the petition that would like to speak? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the council? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I would agree.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman. I hear where you're coming from. This was a long meeting. This is our first meeting in a while. So I think there was a backlog of granted locations. And there were other issues that
[John Falco]: I understand. OK, let's see. So on the motion of Councilor Knight to approve, seconded by? Seconded. Seconded by Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Oh, he didn't.
[John Falco]: Okay. All it means, I did it too. Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, some of the affirmatives, you're on the negative. The motion passes. Thank you, John Jankowski, for joining us tonight.
[John Falco]: Thank you so much. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to revert to the regular order of business. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, Senate affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes, we'll revert to the regular order of business. 20-499 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell, whereas the reproduction rate of COVID-19 in Massachusetts is hovering above one, meaning that exponential spread of the virus is possible. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the mayor and health director provide an update on the city's reopening plan and whether Medford should slow or reverse our reopening schedule given the COVID-19 surge across the country in the reoccurrence of case spikes in regions that previously brought COVID-19 under control. At this point I recognize both Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell and I should want to go first
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other councils like to speak on the issue? Okay, anyone from the public? Seeing and hearing none, on the motion of Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I'm not sure if his line might be dead. I know he's looking for a charger. I know, I think Councilor Niedenthal, I think one of his kids woke up, so I think he was going to attend to that, so. Okay. So I believe that is five in the- Five zero two. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The motion passes. Two zero dash 500. Offered by Councilor Bears. Beers, I'll let the Medford City Council, that the appropriate city staff be invited to attend a Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the review of the city website mentioned by the mayor during the fiscal year 21 budget negotiations. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other comments from the council? Questions? Any from the public? Okay, here we go.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief of Staff Rodriguez. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: think so there's committee the whole reports and there's records there's public participation as well yes okay so we got um committee reports uh two zero dash four six zero that was uh june 27th um that was the uh fiscal year 21 budget meeting and we met with the uh We had a long day that day. We met with the Police Chief, Fire Chief, Department of Public Works, Engineering, Highway, Cemetery, Parks, Forestry, Water and Soil, Library, Council on Aging, Energy and Environment, Community Development, Finance, Auditing, Treasury and Debt Assessing. We went over their budgets, asked a lot of great questions. It was a long day. Motion to approve. On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caput. Second. To approve, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hennepin, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent, the motion passes. Okay, 20-460, June 29th, 2020. That was also the fiscal year 21 budget meeting where we met with the law department, electrical building, Chevalier Theater, information technology, PEG, executive clerk. Move approval, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Motion of Councilor Marks to approve, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. Motion passes. 2-0-460, Committee of the Whole report. This was the budget hearing. with the school department, with the superintendent, Dr. Marie Sedgwick-Vincent. We basically ask questions regarding the fiscal year 2021. On the motion of Councilor Marks to approve, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The motion passes. 20-476, Committee of the Whole meeting on July 7th, 2020. That was at 5.30 PM. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the open meeting lot complaint filed against council. We instructed City Solicitor Scanlon to craft a response and she did that. A motion of Council of Marks, seconded by Council of Peers. Clerk Cardavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The motion passes. Let's see, at this point we have public participation. We have Matthew Page Lieberman, 15 Canal Street, number 15, Medford, I respectfully pray for to speak on a matter of concerning access to city government resources and accessibility challenges. Matthew's with us.
[John Falco]: Okay. The next one you are respectfully prayed for to speak On the matter concerning City Council agility.
[John Falco]: I appreciate you bringing it up. We have had many, I would say, competing priorities this year. And I'll be honest with you, I mean, I'm looking at my, I have my calendar here that I always keep with me. And it's not that this council has not been meeting. I mean, here we are, this is our 25th meeting of the year. 25th regular meeting of the year. We have had, I can tell you right now, last night we had our 28th committee the whole meeting. So we're averaging basically two meetings a week, which, you know, meet two meetings a week. Yeah, so we're working, and we're working hard, and there's a lot of- I understand, but I mean, nothing's been happening since September 11th. If I may finish, please, okay? And I'm not trying to say that this isn't a priority, because it is. I mean, everything is a priority. We have a lot of competing priorities. Some of the big things that we've been meeting on were the marijuana ordinances. We had a number of those that we had to pass. We're still working on those. We have zoning is a huge priority that as well. And, you know, we've had the budget, you know, that basically, you know, that's a bunch of meetings. And, but I mean, it's not for, it's not like this committee is not working. We're working, we're working hard. Like I said, there's a lot of competing priorities that is on the list. I can assure you that food trucks, I mean, we have all kinds of things that are on the list every week. The council has added new things to community the whole, which is fine. And that's great. We have plenty of things to work on. There's no shortage of things to work on. That's on the list, I can assure you that. And we will schedule a meeting soon.
[John Falco]: That's the only thing that happened in March. That's not my game. And I'm not blaming it on coronavirus, OK? We lost two weeks to coronavirus, this council. This council has met religiously, I mean, basically week after week. So, I'm not blaming anything on coronavirus, okay? We missed two weeks out of this session to coronavirus.
[John Falco]: I understand. I understand. And there's things that come up that we can't control either that have to be met on. Like we had to meet with MassDOT. with regard to issues back in February. You know, CPA projects come on that we have to meet with as well. So, I mean, like I said, there's competing priorities, there's no real intent here, believe me, I can assure you of that, but I will tell you that it will get on the agenda, okay?
[John Falco]: There are certain things that we talked about tonight that actually have to be done by a certain date.
[John Falco]: I can tell you, we've been working on marijuana.
[John Falco]: If I may, if I may. Okay. We have marijuana that's coming before us because that came back from the CD board with changes that has to get done by a certain timeframe by law. Okay. So that has to be done by law by a certain timeframe. So we have to get that in. Okay, and then we have, you know, then we'll get a hit September. And then, you know, I don't have everything written down in front of me right now, but- I'm just asking about city council rules.
[John Falco]: I wasn't stating rules, but what I'm saying is there are a boatload of things that have to be discussed in committee of the whole. I asked, I asked clerk Herbies, I think probably two weeks ago, and he sent me the list of everything that's in committee of the whole. So there's quite a few things in there. We will meet on them. I promise you that.
[John Falco]: Matt, it's not going to be two years from now, but I can't promise you. I don't want to do it. I don't want to basically make a promise that I can't actually keep. I'm not going to, I can't tell you that by September 11th, it's going to be scheduled. I will try my best, but I can't promise you that just because it's, like I said, there's competing priorities. We're gonna get to it, I promise you, okay?
[John Falco]: You said that, I did not. Matt, Matt.
[John Falco]: Yeah, yeah.
[John Falco]: No, Matt.
[John Falco]: On a motion of Councilor Bears to place on file. Seconded by Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Actually, correct. We don't, because it's actually, um, it's participation. So it doesn't have to be received and placed on file.
[John Falco]: On that motion, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. That's five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. Motion passes. Let's see, we've got the records. Records of the meeting of June 30th were passed to Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 5 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, 2 absent. The motion passes. Motion to adjourn. Motion of Vice President Caraviello to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, two absent. The meeting is adjourned. Have a good morning.
[John Falco]: Clark-Curtabese, are you ready?
[John Falco]: Thank you. 22nd regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clark-Curtabese, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: present, all seven members are present. At this point, I would ask everyone to 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. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020, order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 30A, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020, order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information in the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted. but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we aren't able to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-421 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the animals- Mr. President, I'm sorry to interrupt.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry, 20457 has been withdrawn by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion to suspend the rules by Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: No. So for the affirmative, three in the negative, the rules are suspended for 20-461. It was offered by Council tonight. And I'm sorry, 20-459, which is offered by consular marks. So those two papers are, they were often under suspension. Technically, due to the open meeting. If I may, Mr. President, before you start. Yes, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Thank you, Councilor Bears. Did you have a question?
[John Falco]: So the paper, as far as I'm concerned, the paper is not in order. I would ask that it be tabled and put on the agenda next week. As far as Councilor Knight's question about meeting with the administration, I have sent emails off to the Board of Health Director earlier today. I talked to Patrick Gordon earlier today. There were very brief conversations. My opinion is this, I know we need to get this done. We need to pass a budget. We are against really hard time, a tough deadline now. So we need to get this done. We need to work together. But in my eyes, Zoom needs to be a component of this. It absolutely needs to be a component. At the past three budget meetings that we had or attempted to have, this morning I believe, I'm sorry, But an hour ago, we had 189, close to 200 people on the call. Last night, it was close to 90. Saturday morning, 50 people. 50 people jumped on the call on Saturday morning to listen to a budget hearing. I have to be honest with you, in all my years of city government, I've never seen that much interest in the budget. It's nice to see people are involved. They want to be part of the process. That's great. I love it. And I'm happy that everyone attended. It's unfortunate that we couldn't have the meeting, but I'm happy that everyone attended. And so I don't mind personally meeting with Vice President Caraviello, the mayor's office, you know, Marian O'Connor, Patrick Gordon, to see if this is something that can happen. But I will state again, Zoom has to be part of the process. And more than willing to- Councilor Marks, I think I heard your voice.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: We're not we're not done yet council here. So one minute.
[John Falco]: Um Council vice president cabrio.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Mr. President, point of information. Point of information, Council of Peers.
[John Falco]: I haven't touched anything, so I try to keep it simple. Mute, unmute, and that's about it.
[John Falco]: Okay, I haven't shut off videos, so.
[John Falco]: I haven't shut off anything, so just to let you know, Council Appears, I haven't touched anybody's video.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council. Scott Pelle, Council of Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Bears, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. So it seems like all the councilors have spoken. So if I may. If I could, Mr. President. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Can we try to keep this to the budget? Okay, that's the number one focus is the budget. So if we could just try to keep this to the budget, I'd greatly appreciate it. Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you to all the council members. If I may, just a quick, you know, I think a number of council has said sleepless nights, restless nights, the past week has not been easy. You know, making the decision to, you know, have the meetings was made, you know, with the guide to public health. You know, when I talked to Marianne O'Connor that she pleaded with me not to do it. For me, that was it. She's a public health director. When she told me public health, she pleaded with me not to do it. And at that point in time, that's a public health expert. I will be the first to admit, I am not a public health professional, not even close. So I needed to make sure that, for safety's sake, that everybody was safe. I will work my hardest because, to be honest with you, and I've always said this, and I know people laugh at me sometimes, you know, to me it's always like, you know, we need to be one method. We need to come together. We need to work together. And over the years as my elected, as I've been elected official, six years in the school committee, about five now on the council, you know, there's been a lot of teamwork, a lot of working together. And a lot of times, you know what, we would agree to disagree, but you move on to the next issue. I think what we need to do is we need to work together on this. I am more than happy to give this one more shot just to take a look, to see if this is something that we can do. So I will set up a meeting tomorrow with Marianne O'Connor, our public health director, the mayor, or at least a representative from the mayor's office, Patrick Gordon from the cable TV, and vice president Carvial. I will look to see if there's some way to enhance this, I guess. But to me, like I said, Zoom has to be an option, which it seems like everybody's on board with that. Zoom must be an option.
[John Falco]: I was going to say, so the motion to table was offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Second, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: So this is out of order. This is gonna go onto the agenda for next week, okay?
[John Falco]: So that's no to table.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The paper is tabled. It's tabled.
[John Falco]: which is that's offered by Councilor Marks. Can we table this one to next week as well, Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, to combine this with 20-461.
[John Falco]: Be it resolved in the interest of moving forward, a plan be discussed to address ways to increase community participation during the Medford City Council fiscal year 21 budget meetings.
[John Falco]: The motion is to join this paper with the one that was previously tabled. So I have a motion to join these papers, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes, I have an affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to take a- 20449. 20449, actually, so, Clerk Hurtubise, we're still under suspension.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Beard to take communications from the Mayor, 20-449. to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155. Dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves the appropriation of retained earnings in the amount of $1,500,000.00. This amount is being requested to subsidize the fiscal 2021 Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund budget due to the health pandemic and current economic conditions. retained earnings and reserves of the Water and Sewer Fund. Reserves can be used for any lawful purpose, but serve primarily to provide financial security in cases of unforeseen events such as COVID-19 or capital replacement. The balance of retained earnings before this vote is $6,433,552. Council. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. We have Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks, did I hear you?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise is waving his hand here. Everything okay, Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded on the B paper, seconded by Councilor Bears, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other comments for the councilors on this? Oh, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions from the council regarding this particular paper? I don't see any. So do we have any questions from the public about this paper here, this particular paper? Clerk Carnavis, you see anything?
[John Falco]: So we'll take the B paper first. There's a B paper that is offered by Councilor Marks and seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the language to the B paper? You're muted, Councilor. Sorry.
[John Falco]: I have a motion offered by Councilor Marks and seconded by Councilor Bears. This is the B paper. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the main motion, let's see, Move to approve by Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. On that motion, call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Sending the affirmative zero and the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: I'll order the suspension. The motion is to take public participation out of order. On that motion, Clerk Hertovich, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: the motion passes and now we are ready for public participation. At this time what I will do is if you put your hand up I will call on you. This is where I have a tough time managing the zoom but I will try to call on everybody that I see that has their hand up. Be patient please.
[John Falco]: I guess either or. If you can use the Zoom hands, that's great because it's easy to find, but if you can't and you're not sure, just give me a wave and I'll find you. If I may, I know over the past week there have been There's been a lot of talk about the budget and whatnot. I know a lot of people want to speak on that issue. The only thing that I ask is please be professional and courteous. That's all I ask. And when you're called, if you could please give your name and address for the record. That's part of the process.
[John Falco]: Thank you. You bring up a lot of good points.
[John Falco]: Wolk, is it Wolk? I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Okay, Ms. Wolk, I'm sorry, do you have any further comments you'd like to make?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have Susan Bivens. If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see, we have Kelly Catello. If you could please have your name and address. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Sean Began, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Raul. Let's see. Martha Andres, if you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see. Jennifer Sullivan, please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay, we have Dennis. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So we have, oh, I'm sorry, Alyssa.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. If you could make everyone, if you could just, if you make comments through the chair, so if you could just direct the comments to the chair and like I said, just try to keep professional. I understand it's a contentious issue. And we're trying to work towards a solution. And I appreciate it. It's great to see that there are 245 people that are interested in this. And I'm very happy to see everyone online. And I want to make sure we get to everyone. So Alisa, I'm sorry. Are you still here? Yes. Oh, you moved. You moved on my screen. I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have Brock Walsh. I believe you had your hand up. Brock, if we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Not sure if anyone wants to weigh in on that.
[John Falco]: I believe Councilor Knight wants to speak. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: And if I may, Brock, before you answer, at no point in time did I call Kumpel and I a night a liar. So I just wanted to make that clear.
[John Falco]: I don't have it in front of me right now. Uh, but what I did is I did release a statement to my colleagues, explaining them to them how I came up with my decision. Um, you know, for me, as soon as the public health director said, yeah, she pretty much begged and pleaded, don't do this for me. That was all I needed to hear. And that's why I moved it to zoom. Um, if you want, I can send that to you. I think I put it out on Facebook, uh, the other day, but I can, I can, um, Brock if you want I can maybe get you contact information and I'll be more than happy to send it To you or I can send it to the clerk and he can maybe if you want to contact him he can get it to you as well
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Let's see, we have a number of people here.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Christy Avino, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Now let's see, Jean Zotter, can we have your name and address for the record, please? I want to thank everyone for waiting patiently, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you so much. Thank you very much. I was actually someone that had expressed that same thought that you just had one of the employees. So that's something that we do need to consider. Thank you for bringing it up. But yes, that is somewhat actually an employee to bring that to my attention. So I agree. Thank you. Let's see. We have Rebecca Schmeling. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, you're on.
[John Falco]: Rebecca, I'm sorry, you all, I just want to make sure you're all set. You're done? Okay, thank you. Let's see, we have Kit Collins. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Eaton Gleiner, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry, we need name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, John.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Let's see, we have... What did you say?
[John Falco]: Marshall. Is it not? I'm sorry. I apologize. That was fine. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Let's see, we have Jessica Schiller. I'm sorry, Jessie. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Jessie. Let's see, we have Brendan Clune. Name and address for the record, please. Hi, can you hear me? Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, we have Courtney Lynch. Name and address for the record, Courtney, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Courtney. Let's see, Natalie Hill. name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have, I believe it's Erin Farra.
[John Falco]: So if I may just, uh, first of all, thank you very much for your comments. Great job. fabulous. You're a great speaker. Thanks. What did you make fun of today? I'm sorry. If I may add. If I may just, one second. I just wanted to mention that Councilor Caraviello is not on camera, but he's on my phone. So I just wanted to mention that. Okay. Thank you. Sorry.
[John Falco]: Thank you Let's see we okay, um Sam donahue name and address of the record, please Hi, rachel wolfe from 582 fulton.
[John Falco]: You are correct and I'm trying my best. I believe I believe you're the first one to speak twice I and I know people are going to be here for a second time that haven't spoke yet. Mr. I'm trying my best to get to everyone to make sure that you know, they they speak I want everybody to speak at least once before we go to another round.
[John Falco]: So you'll get your personal privilege, Mr. President, personal privilege.
[John Falco]: So if I may set the record straight, you know, originally we set up with this, you know, the original plan was to develop a safety plan in a non-virtual setting. And just to reiterate, you know, what I did is when I reached out to Mary Ann O'Connor, the director of public health, She said no, thinking that the general public was going to be in. And I said, and then I explained to her, it's just going to be the councilors. And she still said no. So I just want to reiterate that, that she was not, you know, at no point in time did she want really anyone to meet. And for me, that was the, I stopped at that point. I said, it's going to be Zoom. So I just want to clarify that. I know there's a lot going around. I wanted to clarify that.
[John Falco]: I'd ask that you reel it in a little bit I want to make sure we get those stories straight. That's all let's see brendan. Shea name and address for the record
[John Falco]: Brenda, thank you very much. I try my best, but I appreciate your kind words. Thank you. Let's see here. trying hard to call people that have not been called yet. So I just wanna make sure everybody has the opportunity to speak. Let's see, Sophie Ricks, I don't believe you've spoken yet.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Sophie.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, are you on the call still? Mr. Clerk, do you have Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: If I may, we'll be talking all the budget related questions regarding the police in anything regarding the police that should be held to the budget meeting, which the budget schedule will come out, most likely. Thursday. So okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. So I'm gonna try to call some other people that have not been called on yet. So we have let's see, Jessica has her hand up. Jessica, is it Ravitchio? If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: No, more than 10 minutes.
[John Falco]: Oh, here we go. Councilor Bears, point of information.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have up next. Can I finish? Can I respond to him quickly? Quickly, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Jessica. We have Nathan going up next. Nathan. Bye. Mr. President, point of information. Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, Nathan Guerin. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I'm trying my best. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I didn't make that other comment, though, when you mentioned about the four Councilors. That wasn't me. But thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it. Let's see. Dean Tognarelli, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Rachel H. I don't think you've gone yet.
[John Falco]: Can you hear me?
[John Falco]: And that is all I have to say, thank you. Thank you, Rachel. A lot of great questions you had there. I have some of those same questions. And I think one of the biggest, most important pieces that you mentioned is time. We're at a point now where we are literally running out of time. So if we can't get answers to those questions, if we don't feel confident that a hybrid type of meeting can occur, then it's my opinion that we would have to go with the current system, which would be Zoom meetings, which I know they're not perfect, but we've been doing them now for three, four months. And you know what? I mean, we've had probably more participation than ever before. So like I said, they're not perfect, but whatever solution we come up with, I promise Zoom will be a component of that solution. So you can rest assured of that, okay? Thank you. Let's see, we have Zach Gordon. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Zach. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Thank you, Zach. Thank you. Did I hear, did I hear Constance Scarpelli? I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: I can count on Scarpelli. Let's see. We have, um, uh, let's see. Sonu Malik Lewis. Apologize if I didn't get that right.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Mr. President? Let's see. That sounds like Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Tom, very much. And thank you, Malik, for those comments as well. Let's see, we have, is it Natalia Reddick? Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: I just want that to be clear. You are correct, Councilor Marks. Thank you for clarifying.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, Eileen Lerner, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Let's see, Will Navarre. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Let's see. Kelly Cunha, I don't think you've gone yet. Let's see, name and address for the record, Kelly.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Kelly.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Giles Hall, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Giles.
[John Falco]: Thank you, John. Paul Rousseau, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you for notifying us. Jacqueline Furtado, name and address for the record. Actually, I'm sorry, you don't have the hand up. I apologize. Paul Camuso, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Good to see you, Paul. Thank you very much. Have a good night. OK, let's see. Rick Orlando has his hand up. Rick Orlando, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Rick. Michelle Scott, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Dr. Scarapelli. Okay, we have, let's see. Diane Sullivan, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Gia, name and address for the record, please, Gia.
[John Falco]: Yes, we can.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is Gene Nozzo. Gene. Gene Nozzo, name and address for the record, please. Okay, uh, maybe gene stepped away for a minute. So we'll uh, we'll find someone else. Um Jake lee name and address for the record, please Hi jake lee 83 damon road Can you hear me?
[John Falco]: Is there anything you want to add, sir? Next. Let's see here, we got Ginozo. Ginozo?
[John Falco]: Yeah, she's unmuted, so I'll come back to her. I know there was one other person, I think it's Buck. Here we go. Buck, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: If I may, first of all, thank you for staying in the meeting as long as you have. I want to thank everyone that stayed the whole time. know I'll be honest I've worked with a number everyone in the city council for a number of years and uh Zach and Nicole um you know I've worked with them the past few months but you know I really feel like and I mean this when I say this this has been a trying time and a trying week but you know I feel you know pretty much do all get along. I mean, we differ on issues and, uh, you know, and that, that's, you know, I mean, we agreed to, I always like to say, you know, at some point, sometimes we agree to disagree, but I think we're all, um, you know, working towards, you know, trying to move method forward in the right direction. Hey, we all have different ways of doing that. We all have different opinions, but I got you.
[John Falco]: But, um, But I genuinely do enjoy working with everyone on the city council. You know, if I may, that's, I just wanted to add that in. So, council.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. We have Councilor Knight and Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. We have a couple, I think two more people that want to speak. We also have Councilor Morell that would like to speak. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Falco, if I can. Yes, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Marks. Thank you, Brian. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you. So let's see. We have Jean Nuzzo. We're going to try her again. We tried to get her a couple of times. Not sure if she stepped away. Let's see. Let me just find her. Jean.
[John Falco]: They supply emails for the emails and text messages for the meetings on Monday and Tuesday, if I'm correct, Clerk Garnabese? Correct.
[John Falco]: OK. Point of information? Thank you. Council member Morell.
[John Falco]: If I may, Councilor, one person, Joyce has been waiting patiently. So, Joyce, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: I apologize for interrupting. Did you want to save this for the police meeting? You seem to be talking about law enforcement, that's why.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Joyce. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Kotzebue, for clarifying. Let's see, there was someone, Is that everyone? I apologize. Clerk Hurtubise, did we get everyone?
[John Falco]: Fire Tablet, name and address for the record, please. Sounds like a personnel decision.
[John Falco]: Please continue.
[John Falco]: Okay, we also have Clarke-Curtavis. I'm sure I haven't missed anybody. Well, I'm gonna conclude by just thanking everyone for participating in a public participation portion of our meeting tonight. It's all very valuable. I appreciate everyone's input. I believe the council's probably do as well, but I just wanted to say thank you, especially those who stuck it out to the almost end. It's 1137, I have on my clock here, we began at 7 p.m. So it's been a bit of a marathon, but I wanna thank everyone for your commitment and for really, just for all your comments. So thank you to everyone. Mr. President, if I can.
[John Falco]: Okay, on motion Councilor Marks to receive those letters and placed on file, seconded by? Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, I have not seen the letters, so I will apologize. But let's see, so the motion was by, was it Councilor Marks to receive a place on file? Yes, Mr. President. Is that seconded by Councilor?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: That is correct, that's what I have. The letters are received and placed on file.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by... Second. We're gonna make Council obey us to revert to the regular order of business. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes and we will now revert to the regular order of business. uh motions orders and resolutions 2 0-4 2-1 offered by council on the motion of council tonight to table 2 0-4 2-1 seconded by councilor scott pelley clerk please call the roll uh mr president are you uh actually can i ask council night council are you tabling for one week you're tabling indefinitely
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. I apologize, I'm having volume problems. Let's see, two zero dash four, two, three on the table. Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight has made a motion to table, seconded by.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative. The resolution is at the table.
[John Falco]: So 2-0-4-5-0 offered by Councilor Knight has been withdrawn. Can we do 2-0-4-2-5?
[John Falco]: OK. So 2-0-4-2-5 offered by Councilor Knight. Motion to tail. Please motion that to be tabled, seconded by? Second. Second. Councilor Scarapelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I have the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-451 offered by Councilor Morell, be it resolved that the City Council advance the ordinance establishing a so named Method Women's Slash Gender Equity Commission. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: It's still in committee to the whole. It has not been forgotten about it just, this has been a busy. We've been kind of meeting non stop since the beginning since the term started so um. Excuse me. So it's still on the list. I promise you that. And I hope that we can bring it up soon. It looks like there's other councils that want to speak on this. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: OK. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: President Falco. Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-452 offered by Councilor Knight. Motion to table. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table this resolution, seconded by. Second. Councilor Marks, Clerk Renovies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion is tabled. 2-0-453 authorized by Councilor Knight. We resolve that the Medford City Council request a report from the city administration relative to the shooting on Salton Stone Road that occurred on 6-13-2020. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor- Second. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-454 by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council be provided with the city's existing free cash policy. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Motion of Councilor Knight to approve, seconded by? Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Urnevis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-455 offered by Council appears be resolved at the Medford City Council, create a subcommittee on communications and public engagement, which will discuss matters relating to how the communication, I'm sorry, how the council communicates with Method residents, updates improvements to council communications procedures, and engaging the public to ensure that public participation with council business occurs in an equitable and inclusive manner for all residents and communities in our city. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, we have a number of, let's see, Councilor Morell, and then Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight to move this to Committee Hall for further discussion, seconded by? Second. Councilor Marks, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-456 offered by Councilor Bears be a result of the Medford City Council. Create a user-friendly... Mr. President, we lost you.
[John Falco]: Table it. Okay. Did you get any of that? Okay, 20-456 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council create a user-friendly guide for public participation that is translated into multiple languages and is easily accessible on the city website. Be it further resolved that the Medford City Council work with the city clerk to improve the resolution tracking system on the city website. be it further resolved that the Medford City Council work with the city clerk to update the manner in file format in which council meeting agendas are posted to enable copy paste accessibility and ensure access to council meeting agendas for people with disabilities, Council of Mayors.
[John Falco]: I motion to Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, having affirmative zero and a negative, the motion passes. 20-457 was withdrawn. 20-458 offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the city of Medford apply for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation shared streets in spaces grant. Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Approved. Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by? Second. Second, Mr. President. Councilor Knight, we have Nicole, Councilor Morell, and then Councilor Bears, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, I'm in motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'm in affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: The motion of Council Knight to table the committee reports, seconded by... Second. Councilor Scarpelli, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. I believe records, right? Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: The table records of the meeting of June 9th, 2020 were passed at Council of Marks. Council of Marks, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, and the affirmative, zero and the negative, the motion passes. The records of the meeting of June 16th were passed to Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Stupendous record. Thank you. I'll be motion of council of morale to approve the records. The stupendous record seconded by. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Yes, we thank everyone for staying to the end.
[John Falco]: Appreciate it. Come back again. the motion to adjourn by Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Councilor Morell, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night.
[John Falco]: Be kind and be safe. Thank you.
[John Falco]: The 21st regular meeting of the Bedford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. This time I ask everyone to 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. Thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law, chapter 30A, section 18, and the governor's March 15, 2020 order, imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information in the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and your parties with the right The indoor requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. 20-420, offered by Vice President Caraviello. Whereas the City of Medford is in a fiscal budget emergency, Be it resolved that the mayor be requested to appropriate with the city council approval the necessary amount of free cash to address the municipal in-school budget deficits. Be it further that the mayor be requested to replenish this account with any budget aid that it receives from the federal government or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Be it further resolved that the mayor respond to this request by next Tuesday's city council meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Morell, Councilor Bears, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Carvill.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have Councilor Morell and then Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Anybody else like to speak on this issue?
[John Falco]: Any other comments from the public?
[John Falco]: Oh, okay. I'm sorry, Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: I'm trying my best. So hopefully we'll have an update for you tomorrow.
[John Falco]: OK, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Seconded by... Does this resolution have a second?
[John Falco]: Well, I think what Councilor Mark said, I mean, to me, the responsibility is of the mayor to come to us. I understand that. I understand that. I understand what you're trying to do. You're trying to reach out. But I mean, I think that the request has to come from the administration as to how they want to kind of bridge the gap. Councilor Scarpelli would like to make a comment. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: So I did hear back from the chief of staff today. So I believe what we're going to do is meet on Saturday with, I think it's going to be police, fire, DPW, and then The next meeting will probably be probably next Monday and probably do committee on Tuesday and maybe next Wednesday. I haven't kind of got that far yet as far as the scheduling piece goes. As far as getting it to City Hall, I'm working on that as well. And as far as budget books, I've been told we should receive a budget book Thursday afternoon. One of my concerns is if we don't get a budget book, until Thursday night, is that going to give the council enough time to review to take up police fire in DPW, which is kind of like the big three on Saturday. So that's my concern. I'm kind of wrestling with whether or not, you know, if we don't get that budget book, I mean, I want to make sure to me, the way I look at it is this, especially if we're going to be looking at a budget, we want to make sure that the council has enough time to look at the budget for those departments that we're going to meet with on Saturday to process the information and ask, you know, good questions and have a good, you know, truthful discussion. You know, if we get the budget book, you know, late, that's not going to be beneficial to anyone that's involved in this process.
[John Falco]: Point of information.
[John Falco]: And that's my concern. So I, to be, to be honest with you, I apologize for interrupting. I don't know yet if that Saturday is going to be police fire and DPW that I think needs to probably be juggled around because of the, uh, the timing of the book. It doesn't really make sense to have three big departments, you know, and we have minimal time to review. So, so I completely hear what you're saying. Thank you.
[John Falco]: All right.
[John Falco]: It's all public all the time.
[John Falco]: Correct. Let's see, we get a number of questions. Yes. So we have Councilor Knight, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Okay. So the, let's see. So, Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: Okay, so it's been introduced, so we want to receive it and place it on file?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears, to receive and place on file.
[John Falco]: Yes, roll call, please.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative and zero in the negative. The paper is received and placed on file.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rules, seconded by. Second. Councilor Marks, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes, the rules are suspended. 20-435, these are communications from the mayor. to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable Body approve a recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee, the Community Preservation Fund Revenues in the amount of $1,746,400. In addition, I respectfully request that your Honorable Body approve our recommendation On recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee, the Community Preservation Fund expenditures in the amount of $1,746,400 as follows. Open space, $174,640. Community housing, $174,640. Historic preservation, $174,640. Administration, $87,320. remainder $1,135,160 for a total of $1,746,400. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor. Let's see, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Motion for approval, Mr. President. Okay, we're gonna hear from Danielle first, and then we'll approve the paper. Danielle Evans, let's see. I'm going to unmute you. Danielle.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Daniel. On the motion of Councilor Harris, seconded by Councilor Knight. Roberta Cameron. Roberta.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Roberta. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, Senator, the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-436 to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $9,050.35 from premium reserved account 124-145-5971 0000000904 to the General Fund Debt Service Account 010-710-5910. Alicia Nunleaf Benjamin, Finance Director, is present to answer any of the councilor's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor. Let's see.
[John Falco]: I second the motion, Mr. President. All right, let's see. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, I believe Vice President Caraviello originally seconded it. I third it. Okay, thirded by Councilor Muntz. Any questions from the Council? Any questions from the public? Okay, seeing and hearing none. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, councilors. Is there a motion to revert?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Motion to revert back to the regular business, seconded by Councilor Knight. Oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So 20421, 20423, and 20425?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, to table 20421, 20423, and 20425, seconded by? Seconded by.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: These will be tabled till next week.
[John Falco]: Yes. Wasn't a Falco motion passes and those suspension Mr. President. Confidentiality suspension.
[John Falco]: Okay, 20424 and 20427 are both withdrawn. Okay. Thank you, Councilor Layton. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to revert back to the regular order of business. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Let's see. 2-0-422 offered by Councilor Knight be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a moment of silence for those service members of our greatest generation who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom on June 6th, 1944. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other comments on this resolution? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes at this point in time. I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. 20-426 offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Brian Rabbitt on his recent passing. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And if I may, I had only met Brian a few times, and he's a very nice guy. But the things that I always heard about him was how he was so dedicated to what he did, his work, and to our community for so many years. And he was just an all-around great guy. So our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and his friends, and we thank him for his many years of service to our community. who was someone who had a hand up, he thought that wanted to speak, maybe, maybe not. Okay, on the motion of, let's see, Councilor, Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of, let's see, Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Marks. and also that we dedicate this meeting in Brian Rappaport's honor. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes at this point. I'm gonna ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: Okay, 20-428 offered by Councilor Knight, be it so resolved that the City Clerk issue a report to the Council providing a list of all Board and Commission appointments under the purview of the Council, including, but not limited to, name of the Council appointee, date of appointment, length of term, and expiration date of current Council appointees in these positions. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Bernabeu, please call the roll. Actually, if I may, before you call the roll, are there any questions from the council or the public on this motion?
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. Michael, you'll be hearing that in a minute.
[John Falco]: 20-429 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council receive an answer from the Historical Commission on the status of 421 High Street, 421 High Street, regarding a Cincinnati funeral home as the property has fallen into disrepair. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion, actually, are there any questions from the council on this issue? Any questions from the public? Okay, seeing and hearing none. Clerk Hurtubise. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Is there a second on the Vice President Caraviello's resolution?
[John Falco]: Second. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: He has no audio.
[John Falco]: Let's see if we can get it from there.
[John Falco]: Zero the negative the motion passes. President copy all what can you please take the chair for the next several resolutions.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I bring this forward tonight. I've spent a lot of time in the Salem Street Business District over the past few months during the COVID-19 outbreak, giving out meals to part of the grab-and-go program, giving out meals, lunches on a daily basis. And as you sit around, of course, you see different things in the neighborhood. And it's one of those, you know, Salem Street and that Salem Street business area is really a gateway to our community. And we really need to take a look at that and hopefully, you know. you know, beautify it in some way. And I noticed they've done some flowers, which is nice. The MBTA finally cut the lawn last week, which is nice as well. It was probably about two and a half feet tall. But the street sign at the intersection of Spring Street Extension and Lambert Street, I'm asking that to be replaced. The pole is practically bent in half and you can barely read the sign. So if we could just have those street signs replaced, I'd greatly appreciate it. Any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. This is similar to the last one, last resolution. Just that there's this tree stump that looks like it's been there forever. It needs to be removed. That's a sidewalk that is heavily traversed. A lot of people going in between Salem Street and the shopping plaza there. So if we could just have that removed in the interest of public safety, we'd greatly appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. President. Move approval.
[John Falco]: President Caraviello. Yes. If I wouldn't mind, I'm not sure if Councilor Marks is agreeable, but would you like to join these last two resolutions? We're doing the crosswalk first. Oh, okay. Perfect. I'm ahead of myself. I apologize.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I just wanted to see if we could get the crosswalks in Haines Square repainted in the interest of public safety. A lot of the crosswalks in that area have faded. It's a high-traffic area, and a lot of people that cross from Spring over to Modern Highway are in that area there. So if we could just have all those crosswalks just repainted in the interest of public safety, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I bring this resolution tonight because I have received numerous emails regarding the 325 and 326 bus routes. This is a, it's actually also a bus route that I take on a daily basis when I'm working. And I know Councilor Mark says too, we're longtime riders and there are many, many people that depend on these bus routes on a daily basis to get to and from Boston, and they're very convenient to the people in our community. And there are many members of our community that depend on these bus routes on a daily basis. Now, I've received messages that they're being eliminated. I also received a phone call today from Representative Donato, who told me they were being temporarily taken out of service. He did tell me, actually he assured me that that they would be reinstated in mid-July, which to me, it felt better about it. But still with that being said, I know the MBTA has been trying to eliminate these bus routes for a number of years. I know they tried to eliminate them twice before. And we fought back actually at one point with the help of the clerk. He helped us out with it and we were able to maintain those bus routes and keep them servicing West Medford and North Medford. And like I said, these are important bus routes. I just wanted to make sure that they're not eliminated completely. I know the MBTA has been trying to eliminate them. I know Representative Donato says it's temporary. But to me, I still have concerns. It's the MBTA. I know they're trying to save money. I just want to make sure they're here for us. And that's why I wanted to hear from a representative from the MBTA that could explain further. I know that ridership has been down during COVID-19. But I still have concerns that they're going to be eliminated. So that's why I bring this forward tonight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Capiello. Reports of committees, 19-659 and 20-042, June 2nd, 2020. Committee of the whole report. Let's see. Let's see, the purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the proposed marijuana ordinance and review and discuss the maps. Let's see, yes, Building Commissioner Moki and Tim McGibbon, our city engineer, went through with us. We talked about the maps and the buffer zones and the number of feet for each of the buffer zones. And we actually, in the end, voted this paper out of committee and the paper took a reading last week. On the motion for approval. Motion for approval. By Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second. Councilor Marks, Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-327 June 4th committee the whole report. The purpose of the meeting was to receive an update from the administration regarding fiscal year 2020 city budget in fiscal year 2021 budget. Let's see, we received an update from Ms. Dunlea Benjamin and Mr. Roselli.
[John Falco]: Motion for approval from Councilor Mark, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, the motion passes. 19-401, June 9, 2020, Committee of the Whole report. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the brewery and tasting room ordinances. I'm sorry, brewery and tasting room ordinance. We conclude the meeting by sending the paper to City Solicitor Scanlon, where she's going to make updates to that and send it back to us. And at that point, we'll move forward with that issue.
[John Falco]: Motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by- Second. Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, and one abstention. The report is approved. Next item is public participation. Let's see, 20-437, and I apologize if I get this wrong. 374 Winthrop Street, Metro Massachusetts, 02155, to discuss police training and reform.
[John Falco]: Thank you, thank you very much for participating today. We appreciate it. Let's see, we have Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: We have a number of, any other comments from the council? We have a number of residents that would like to speak on this issue. The first would be Steve Harris.
[John Falco]: Steve Harris, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: I will come back to Steve. Nate Merritt, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay, any other questions in the council? Mr. Kleiner, we thank you for bringing this issue forward tonight and talking about this. And we appreciate you weighing in and appreciate the comments from the councilors as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes. Is that the next thing left on the agenda?
[John Falco]: Let's check again. Does anybody else want to speak on that last issue?
[John Falco]: Hearing and seeing none. Records. The records from the meeting of The table records from the meeting of June 2nd, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to approve the record, seconded by? Second. Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Caterby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: We're in the negative, the motion passes, the records are approved. The records of the meeting of June 9th were passed to Council of Marks. Council of Marks, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Council of Marks to table the records to next week, seconded by?
[John Falco]: That's Oscar Pelley. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven, the affirmative, zero, the negative. The records are tabled from the meeting of June 9th.
[John Falco]: That is everything. Okay, is there a motion to adjourn?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to adjourn the meeting seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Cunningham, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Stay tuned for the budget schedule, which will hopefully come out within the next day or so. I thank everyone for tuning in tonight. Thank you and good night. Stay safe. Thank you. Healthy, thank you.
[John Falco]: The regular meeting of June 9th. This is the 20th regular meeting of the Bedford City Council. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: President, all seven members are present. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise and 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. Thank you. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. At this point, I want to recognize Vice President Caraviello, who would like to make a statement.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much for your comments. On the motion of Councilor Knight to revert to the regular order of business. Please call the roll. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Yes. The motion passes hearings. This is a notice of a public hearing. Legal Notice 20-389, petition for grant of location, National Grid, North Andover, Massachusetts, joint or identical poll locations, Medford, Massachusetts, City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9th, 2020, on a petition of National Grid for permission to locate polls, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining in protecting fixtures along and across the public way herein named said poll locations to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked Woodruff Ave, Medford, Massachusetts and filed in the office of the city clerk. Whoever prays that after due notice in hearing, as provided by law, it be granted a location for and permission to erect and maintain poles and wires together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may be necessary said, poles be erected substantially in accordance with the plan marked Woodruff Ave. Medford, Massachusetts and available for inspection in the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, room 10385, George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. also for permission to lay and maintain underground laterals, cables, and wires in the above or intersecting public ways for the purpose of making connections with such poles in buildings as each of said petitioners may desire.
[John Falco]: Yes, on the motion of Councilor Marks to get approved, seconded by Councilor Bears. Do we have a representative on the line?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Bears, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. Do we have a representative from National Grid?
[John Falco]: Oh, he is, I see him right here, okay.
[John Falco]: So If I may go on further, this has been approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions. The engineering division recommends that this grant of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, the grant of location is limited to this one JO poll described in the GOL document as follows. National Grid will install one JO poll on Woodruff Ave beginning at a point approximately 200 feet east of the center line of the intersection of Bradbury Avenue and Woodruff Avenue. Two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSAFE and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141A. of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances are adversely impacted. National Grid shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. Number four, the new pole location is located adjacent to granite curbing. Any disturbance of the curb or curb concrete backing must be repaired to the satisfaction of the city engineer. Number five, the new pole location is in a landscaped area with trees. The city of Medford tree warden should inspect the trees before and after construction. Tree protection should be required and coordinated with the Medford tree warden. That's approved by the superintendent of wire. So at this point, I'll declare the public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Socrates, you're in favor, I assume?
[John Falco]: Okay. Is there anyone else here in favor of the petition that would like to speak in favor of this petition?
[John Falco]: Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone here in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Anyone in opposition? Clerk Cardavis, you see anybody in opposition?
[John Falco]: Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Is there any questions for Socrates on this matter?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. We can organize that at some point in time. I think that actually would be a good meeting to make sure that we resolve any issues and make sure that any utility companies that are coming in are basically repairing our roads to the original condition. So I thank you for bringing that forward. Any other questions from the council? Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions from the Council? Any other questions from the public?
[John Falco]: Okay. Clerk Bernanke, do you have that word? I've got it, yep. Okay. So, Shaka Teasy, is that something we can do?
[John Falco]: So it's wires, it's not digging into the concrete or the asphalt?
[John Falco]: Yeah, thank you console box I would agree as well. That is actually nice to add that in console and I for the purposes of.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Is there a motion on the floor? Motion for approval. Mr. President. I'm emotional to approve seconded by console and I caught her to be please call the roll bears.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Socrates, thank you.
[John Falco]: Notice of a public hearing. 20-075 City of Medford notice of a public hearing. A public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council via Zoom on Tuesday evening, June 9th, 2020 at 7 p.m. on a petition from Michael James Coleman of Sacramento Tattoo 475 High Street, Medford, Massachusetts 0215 for a special permit to conduct a body art establishment In accordance with the City of Medford zoning ordinances, chapter 94 of section 94-2 and section 94-148, use 14A to operate its business at 475 High Street, Medford, Massachusetts. The C1 commercial one zoning district petition plan may be seen in the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 7813932425. Zoom link will be posted on the Council agenda on May 29, 2020 on the City of Medford website. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations, AIDS, TDD, 781-393-2516. The City of Medford is an EEO-AA-504 employer. By order of the City Council, Adam L. Herneby, City Clerk, advertise a Medford transcript May 21st and May 28th, 2020. I declare this public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Do we have Michael James Coleman with us tonight? We do. Okay. Mr. Coleman, welcome. If you could please tell us a little bit about your business and if you just, and then questions, I'm sure the councilors will have questions, but if you could just give us a brief overview of why you were in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: So you are in favor of the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. So at this point in time, is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of the petition? Anyone else? Anyone else? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone in opposition of the petition that would like to speak? It should make sure I'm not missing anyone.
[John Falco]: Okay. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. And I'll call upon the Chairperson of Zoning, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Caraviello, I have to unmute you, one minute. All right, I got it.
[John Falco]: Godfless Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: On the motion to approve by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Does anyone want to speak on this in the public? Anyone in the public want to speak?
[John Falco]: Do you have those amendments, Corker?
[John Falco]: Okay, we have, let's see. John Nicholas First, if you could please give us your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much for your comment. Would anybody else like to speak on this issue? Clerk Kurtabese, have you received any emails on this?
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Marks and Councilor Knight. Clerk Kurtabese, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero on the negative. The motion passes. Thank you and good luck.
[John Falco]: I don't think I have the paper in front of me.
[John Falco]: Okay. So we're going to continue on with the regular order of business.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Have a good night.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Notice of a public hearing 20-042, an ordinance amending the revised ordinances of the city of Medford zoning relative to adult use marijuana. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Medford.
[John Falco]: Would you like to give that a synopsis, Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: I understand it's a 17-page document. It is the first time it's being read, so that's why I was probably going to read it in its full context, because it's the first time I think it's been out. So I think the public should actually be able to listen to this. I know it's long, but if the council sees that we should move forward with a brief synopsis, if someone wants to give it, that's fine. But I think there's a lot of detail in here that probably should, that should be read through.
[John Falco]: We can do that. The meeting will never end if we table. Is there a motion to table?
[John Falco]: Okay, motion by Councilor Bears to table this, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Is that a four, three in favor?
[John Falco]: Okay, four in favor, three against. This will be tabled to the end of the meeting.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, does he suspend the rule, seconded by? Second. Councilor Marks, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: No. Four in favor, three against, motion passes. The rules are suspended. Clerk Hurtubise, can you read the motion please?
[John Falco]: If I may, Vice President Caraviello, this has been on under suspension and this year I don't think falls under the. the guidance that we've been given by the city solicitor. I mean, I tend to think of- Mr. President, Mr. President, where this is a number- Vice President Caraviello, and if I may, I believe that a paper that is requesting free cash should be coming from the mayor's office. It shouldn't be derived from the city council.
[John Falco]: And so what I would do is... I think that this is something that we should put on the agenda for next week, because I'm sure there's probably plenty of people that would like to chime in on this, and they're probably not on the call tonight, because they probably didn't know it was gonna come up. So as far as, we have some other, I think, budget-related motions afterwards, but I think as far as bringing this up under suspension, I don't think it's proper to bring this up tonight.
[John Falco]: I want to make sure we're complying with the open meeting law, that's why.
[John Falco]: And I know the administration is aware of that as well, as well as the school department. If you feel that it should be tabled to next week, then... I would ask you respectfully if you could please reintroduce it next week.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Is there anything on the suspension that- Motion to revert back to the regular order of business. On the motion of Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by- Mr. President.
[John Falco]: I'm basically ruling the paper out of order. That's what I'm doing. So I'm asking, I respectfully ask Vice President Caraviello to reintroduce it next week.
[John Falco]: Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you, Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. So I have a motion to revert back to regular order businesses by Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-394 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Manhattan City Council publish the scheduled pre-budget and regular budget meetings for the purpose of establishing a fiscal year 2021 city budget. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Knight. If I may, briefly, I did speak to the mayor earlier today and she did inform me that I guess the state has allowed is allowed the budget deadline to move from June 30th to July 31st. But she knows that we're looking for something sooner than later. I did tell her that I wanna make sure that we have, as last week I stated repeatedly to the chief of staff that we need to have a budget book ASAP. I agree with you a thousand percent. We need to have a budget book in front of us that we have a few days so we can actually go through the data, take a look and formulate, Good question. So when we meet with the mayor, we can have a very constructive conversation. This is a very important budget. I know that they're still working. From what I've been told, they're still working on the numbers. From what I have also been told is we won't get state aid until July. But I am working, or actually I did talk to the mayor. I think she's going to have something for us hopefully next week, but don't know for sure yet. So that's the update that I have from the administration. I know Aleesha Nunley, I think is on the line. She may want to talk to this a little bit more. I'm not sure if Jackie Peeks or Dave Rodriguez is on the line as well, but they may want to comment as well. We have a number of councils that want to talk too. So why don't I, let's see, Aleesha Nunley, would you like to speak on the matter? Sure.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We have a number of questions. Let's see, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Villes, and Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. So, Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the amendment?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other comments regarding the budget?
[John Falco]: Okay, hearing and seeing none on the motion.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry. We're gonna let Councilor Scarpelli go first and then we'll go to Danielle. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Alicia. Councilor Lange.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Ms. Nunley. Thank you, council. We have David Rodriguez, chief of staff and the mayor, David Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: If I may Chief of Staff Rodriguez, thank you for dialing in. Do we know when we can expect the first budget meeting to be?
[John Falco]: Okay, so if we have the 20th, so that would be a Saturday. What can we expect a budget book? The bigger question is the book. We really need the book.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears, you had a question.
[John Falco]: Thank you. The motion of Councilor Peo, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Carnaby, please call the roll. Actually, you know what, I apologize. Did you say there was one person that wanted to speak that I missed before?
[John Falco]: Would you like to speak on the budget? No, thank you. Thank you. We just wanna make sure everybody gets their turn. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Herves, please call the roll. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 2-0-399 offered by Councilor Knight, whereas the Office of Diversity is established to provide oversight of laws and regulations relating to affirmative action, contract compliance, fair housing, disability, human rights, discrimination, hate-related incidents, and or crimes. We focus on outreach, inclusion, and education. We interact with other city departments as well as other cities in local, state, and federal organizations and agencies to ensure fair and equitable opportunity and access for all persons. And whereas the Office of Diversity is established to provide persons with disabilities equal opportunity to access to as well as participation in education, employment, the public and private services in the city of Medford through advocacy, awareness, and enforcement. And whereas the office of personnel is established to help city departments attract, motivate, retain, manage, and develop qualified and productive employees. And whereas the functions of the office of the disability and office of diversity have been consolidated under the director of personnel. And whereas the consolidation as a result in the elimination of the independent disinterested check and balance on personal matters once provided through the Office of Disability and Diversity. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request City Solicitor Scanlon provide an opinion on the following question. Does the consolidation of the above departments create any conflict with the law or liability within the City of Medford? Councilor Layton.
[John Falco]: Anybody have any questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Would anybody else like to weigh in on this? Okay, I don't see anybody else. Let's see, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-400 offered by Councilor Morell, be it resolved that the City Council receive an update on the Bedford Police Department's use of four standards in other policies relevant to de-escalation. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Second. Thank you, Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Knight to move this paper to the public safety subcommittee that is chaired by Councilor Knight with members Councilor Bears, Councilor Scarpelli. Are there any questions from the council? I believe that Councilor Bears, did you have your hand up?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Any comments? Anybody from the public who would like to speak on this issue? Hearing and seeing none, on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Knight, To move this to the Public Safety Subcommittee. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-401 offered by Councilor Scarpelli be it resolved that the city administration and the recreation director report back to the city council with programming plans for summer recreation, Tusk Pool and Wright's Pond. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions from the council first? Any questions from the general public? We have, let's see. Chris Murphy. Christopher Murphy. Could you please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Okay, good. Thank you Chris. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: No problem. Councilor Scarpelli, did you have any further comments on this? No. Any questions from the public? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-402 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration provide the city council with any organized strategies dealing with the possibilities of some youth sports. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Second. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Pierres. Any questions from Councilors? Any comments? Any questions or comments from the general public? Okay, hearing and seeing none. on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, and the affirmative is zero and the negative, the motion passes. 20-403 offered by Councilor Knight be it resolved that the Medford City Council wish Peter Fuccioni, a happy 75th birthday. God's all right.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: I think someone, do you have someone else that wants to, oh, Marianne. Marianne.
[John Falco]: Thank you for that update. We appreciate it. On the motion of Council night seconded by Vice President yellow to wish you a happy 75th birthday on that motion.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 2020-404 offered by Councilor Scarpelli being resolved that the city council congratulate our 2020 Medford High School graduates in the school department for a very successful rolling graduation honoring our seniors, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Scarpelli. And if I may echo the sentiments of my colleague, my son actually is a member of the senior class this year. And thank you to everyone that was involved in the planning of that parade for our senior class. It was a great day, a lot of fun, a lot of involvement from all the teachers and administration at the high school. It was nice. I think the seniors really enjoyed it. They were in their caps and gowns on the side of the road. you know, the administration, the school administration went all out and they did a really, really nice job, especially in these difficult times. So I would also like to thank everyone that was involved in planning the parade and look forward to, I believe they're going to actually have a real graduation. It'll throwback, it'll be at a Hormel Stadium. I believe it's going to be August 15th. So it'll be in the summer, but looking forward to that. But I think it was a great that the, that everyone in the school system could have a part in putting this together. So we thank everyone that was involved. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight, Councilor Pears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. So congratulations to the class of 2020. We wish them well. And on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-405 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell. Whereas systemic racism is a national, state, and local crisis threatening the public health and safety of our communities. And whereas we have a duty and obligation as a city and a community to be actively anti-racist in our words, actions, and policies. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city of Medford declares systemic racism to be a public health emergency that demands immediate action from the city and its residents. Be it further resolved by the Medford City Council that we invite the mayor of Medford and the Medford School Committee to submit a joint resolution declaring systemic racism as a public health emergency. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Member Rao. Is there any councilors that would like to speak on this at the moment? Okay. Anyone from the general public? Any comments or would anybody like to speak on this? Mr. President? One minute.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have councilors at the moment would like to speak on this. We have members of the public that would like to speak. At this point in time, I'll recognize Curtis. Curtis, I'm trying to, there you go.
[John Falco]: Here we go.
[John Falco]: At this point in time, let's see, Natalie Hill, can we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: That's all Thank you very much let's see we have a Mary, did you want to speak on the resolution offered by Councilors beers and console morale.
[John Falco]: Let's see, we have, okay, we have Councilor Knight, and then we have a number of other people that would like this. We'll get to everyone. So I just ask everyone to please be patient. Councilor Knight. Yes, first we'll get to you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I believe. Did you want to comment on this.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Let's see, we have Councilor Bears and Councilor Scott. Kelly, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scott. Let's see, we have a number of people with their hands up. At this point, I'll recognize, we'll get to everyone. So let's see, Christia Vina.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Christy. Let's see, we have... Natalie Hill. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Councilor Scarapelli, did you want to speak on that?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, if I may, I just want to make sure. So that is, if I'm correct, that is an amendment to the main resolution offered by Councilor Beza and Councilor Morell. Could you please just confirm that you have the wording of Councilor Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: It's a B paper. Offered by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay. Let's see, we had a, I'm sorry, Vice President Caraviello, did you have your hand up?
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. Daniel Faluca.
[John Falco]: Danielle, and I apologize to interrupt. The first thing we need to do is if you could just give us your name and address for the record. The club records that and then you can speak. I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. We have Councilor Bears, Councilor Morell, Councilor Marks, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears, Councilor Morell, we have a number of members of the public that would like to speak on this. And I know you've been speaking numerous times, but I'll recognize Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. We have a number of residents that want to speak that have been waiting patiently. So I want to, let's see if we could go to Rebecca Schmielen. I apologize if I have that incorrect. If you could just give us your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Would anybody else like to comment? Philip Kossel, Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions or would anybody like to make a statement?
[John Falco]: So if I may, I want to... I want to thank Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell for bringing this paper forward. I agree with you a thousand percent. And I think Councilor Bears, you know, you hit it on the head when you said, you know, this can't be the end. This has to be just the beginning. You know, it's a continuation. We need to work on this and we need to work on this now. This has to be something that is addressed immediately. It will take time, but we need to begin now. So I thank you both for bringing this forward. I agree with you a thousand percent. I look forward to working with everyone throughout our community on this issue. It needs to be addressed, and we need to do it now. So I look forward to working with the administration, all the elected officials, everyone, the public. We need involvement, and I think Councilor Marchione on the head, we need to listen, and that's really big. So I thank you for bringing this forward. So on the motion of Councilor Bears and Councilor Laurel, seconded by, is there a second?
[John Falco]: Okay. No worries, no worries. So on the motion of Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, seconded by? Second.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Clerk Artebiz, you've called the roll. I have four in the affirmative, three in the negative, the motion passes. Is that what you have?
[John Falco]: Four in the affirmative, three in the negative, the motion passes. 20406, offered by Councilor Bears. Oh, I'm sorry.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli's motion, do you have the wording to that?
[John Falco]: The motion of Councilor Scott Peli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello-Cook. Mr. President, before the roll is called. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, on that motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: You want this separate?
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Marks, Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative motion passes. 20-406 offered by council appears to be resolved at the Medford City Council. Resolved by the Medford City Council that the council and the city administration urgently host a public community forum for residents. to discuss the structural and cultural concerns regarding policing in our community as requested by numerous Methodist residents and community organizations. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Capiello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears. Let's see, any other questions from the council? Any other comments? Okay, let's see. Curtis, we can try to unmute you. Curtis, hi, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Curtis. Any other questions or comments? Okay, seeing and hearing none, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by? Seconded. Seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Bears. Clerk Carnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. So the affirmative zero the negative, the motion passes. 20-407 offered by Council of Mayors, be it resolved that the Medford City Council express a request to 2680 and act relative to municipal governance during the COVID-19 emergency. Be it further resolved that the legislature amend the text of 2680 to allow municipalities to issue state qualified deficit financing bonds to provide revenue to support essential general fund programs endangered by the current economic crisis. Be it further resolved that the city clerk forward a copy of this resolution to the Method Legislative Delegation, as well as House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Spilka, and Governor Baker. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: The paper has been withdrawn by Councilor Beres. Clerk Hurtubise, you have that? Paper's been withdrawn.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So since the paper has been introduced, what we'll do is we'll receive it and place it on file. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight to receive and place on file. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, 0 negative. The paper is received and placed on file. 20-408 be resolved by the Medford City Council that our colleagues on the school committee share with us the assembled list of items designed to improve student outcomes as discussed in their budget meetings which began in February. Be it further resolved that the council express its thanks to the school committee for bringing this transparency to the school budget process, and that we look forward to any information they can share regarding the criticality and prioritization of items on this list as it relates to a traditional school year and or the anticipated 2020-2021 academic year. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Paris. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the council? Second the motion, Mr. President. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Rios, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Knight. Let's see, are there any other questions, or does anybody else want to speak on this matter?
[John Falco]: Yes. So the affirmative, zero, the negative, the motion passes. Communications from the mayor. I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve to partially rescind the appropriation of free cash per council paper 19-671 in the amount of $87,508.00 to purchase APX-8000XE all band portable radios and assorted accessories for the fire department. The radio project is complete and the total amount expended was $195,250. $195,249.18 for the radios and accessories. The free cash needed to fund the radios project was $120,249.18 and $75,000 was funded from a fire special revenue fund. The balance of pre-cash before this vote was $10,431,282. Finance Director Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin is present to answer any questions, any of the council's questions regarding this matter. Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Peers. Any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions? Any questions from the council? Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the public? Anybody have questions on this issue?
[John Falco]: On the motion of council and I second advise.
[John Falco]: I apologize.
[John Falco]: I'm trying to.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions or comments? He's seeing and hearing none. Let's see on the motion of council all night. Seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Second. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion is passed.
[John Falco]: I'm not sure if they're well rested, but I'll try my best. So let's see.
[John Falco]: Okay, so this is a notice of a, actually, so on the motion of, do we need to take this from the table, right, Clerk Hurtubise? Motion to take from the table, Mr. President. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Council Appearance to take paper 20-042 from the table. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Senate affirmative. Is this a public hearing?
[John Falco]: Correct. Just the way it fell on the page, I just wanted to make sure I was doing it right. 20-042 in the ordinance amending the revised ordinances of the city of Medford zoning relative to adult use marijuana. Be it resolved by the city council of the city of Medford as follows. The revised ordinances of the city of Medford. So when I say X, that means it hasn't really been slotted into a position yet. So that'll be renumbered once it goes to, once it gets passed. City Method X, B, and R hereby amended by inserting the following to section X at the end of article X as follows. Whereas by vote of the state election on November 8, 2016, the voters of the Commonwealth approved legislation regulating commerce in marijuana. marijuana accessories and marijuana products, and for the taxation of proceeds from sales of such products. It was authorized cities and towns to adopt reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of operating marijuana business, and whereas currently the City of Manfred Code of Ordinance does not specify the license requirements for persons or entities seeking to operate adult-use marijuana establishments in the city and whereas the legislature, the commonwealth has determined that cities and towns in Massachusetts should not be permitted to outright prohibit adult-use marijuana facilities without a citywide referendum vote. Whereas the licensing commission of the city of Manford may grant local licenses for adult-use marijuana establishments regulated under Section 3 of Chapter 94G of the General Laws in 935 CMR 500. Therefore, be it adopted by the Medford City Council in session assembled that the below listed sections of the Medford Code of Ordinances are hereby amended and created as identified. Section XX, purpose and intent applicability. A, purpose, intent, purpose and intent and applicability. Number one, purpose and intent. The purpose and intent of this ordinance is to provide for adult use of marijuana establishments in the city of Medford in accordance with general law chapter 94 G and its implementing regulations at 930. 935 CMR 500. It is the aim of this ordinance to minimize any adverse impacts that marijuana establishments may have on adjacent or nearby properties and to provide standards for the placement, design, siting, safety, security, monitoring, modification and discontinuance of marijuana establishment subject to reasonable conditions aimed to protect public health, safety and welfare. This ordinance is intended to be used in conjunction with other applicable ordinances of the city of Medford that are designed to encourage appropriate land use and impose reasonable safeguards to govern the time, place and manner of marijuana establishment operations. and any business dealings in marijuana accessories in such as fashion to protect public health, safety, well-being, and minimize undue impacts of the natural environment. Two, applicability. The ordinance applies to all marijuana establishments, including marijuana cultivators, craft marijuana cooperatives, marijuana product manufacturers, marijuana microbusinesses, independent testing laboratories, marijuana retailers, marijuana transporters, marijuana research facilities, delivery only licenses, and medical marijuana treatment centers licensed by The commonwealth pursuant to general laws chapter 94G and chapter 941. Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to supersede federal and state laws or regulations governing the sale and distribution of marijuana. Section XX definitions, A definitions. The following definitions consistent with general law chapter 94G, the general law chapter 941, and the Cannabis Control Commission implementing regulations 935 CMR 500.002 and 935 CMR 501.002 shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement of this section. Number one, Cannabis Control Commission. The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission established by general law chapter 10, section 76 orders representatives with authority to implement the state marijuana laws. Two, Kraft Marijuana Cooperative. A marijuana cultivator comprised of residents of the Commonwealth and organized as a limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or cooperative corporation under the laws of the Commonwealth. A cooperative license to cultivate, obtain, manufacture, process, package, and brand cannabis or marijuana products to transport marijuana to marijuana establishments, but not to consumers. A craft marijuana cooperative is a type of marijuana cultivator. Three, delivery only licensee, an entity that is authorized to deliver directly to consumers from a marijuana retailer or registered qualifying patients or caregivers from a medical marijuana treatment center, MTC, and that does not provide a retail location accessible to the public. Four, independent testing laboratory, a laboratory that is licensed or registered by the Cannabis Control Commission and is a currently in validly licensed under 935 CMR 500.001. Application requirements were formally validly registered by the Commission B, accredited to the most current international organization for standardization 17025 by a third party accrediting body that is a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Corporation Mutual recognition arrangement or that is otherwise approved by the commission. C, independent financially from any medical marijuana treatment center or any licensee or marijuana establishment for which it conducts a test. And D, qualified to test marijuana in compliance with regulations promulgated by the commission. Excuse me. Marijuana, all parts or any plants of the genus cannabis not expected below in whether growing or not, the seeds thereof in resident extracted from any part of the plant in every compound manufactured, solid derivative mixture or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resident including tetrahydrocannabal is defined in general law chapter 94 C section one provided however that marijuana shall not include. I the mature stocks of the plant fiber produced from the stocks oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant Any other compound manufacture salt derivative? mixture or preparation of the mature stocks fiber oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant or sterilized seed of the plant that is incapable of germination Two, hemp, or three, the weight of any other ingredient combined with marijuana to prepare topical or oral administrations, food, drink, or other products. Six, marijuana cultivator, an entity licensed to cultivate, process, and package marijuana and to transfer marijuana to other marijuana establishments, but not to customers. Seven, marijuana establishment and marijuana cultivated, craft marijuana, cooperative marijuana, product manufacturer, marijuana micro-business, independent testing laboratory, marijuana retailers, marijuana transporter, delivery only licensing, marijuana research facility, or any other type of licensed marijuana related business, including a medical marijuana treatment center, MTC. Eight, marijuana product manufacturer. An entity licensed to obtain, manufacture, process and package marijuana and marijuana products to deliver marijuana and marijuana products to marijuana establishments and to transfer marijuana and marijuana products to other marijuana establishments but not to customers. Marijuana Retailer. An entity licensed to purchase and transport marijuana and marijuana products from marijuana establishments and to transfer a sale, otherwise transfer this product to marijuana establishments and to sell to consumers. Marijuana retailers are prohibited from offering marijuana or marijuana products from the purpose of onsite social consumption on the premises of a marijuana establishment. 10, marijuana transporter, an entity not otherwise licensed by the Cannabis Control Commission that is licensed to purchase, obtain, and possess marijuana and marijuana products solely for the purpose of transporting temporary storage, sale, and distribution to marijuana establishments, but not for sale to consumers. 11, marijuana research facility, an entity licensed to engage in research projects by the Cannabis Control Commission. 12, microbusiness, a collected marijuana operation that can be either a tier one marijuana cultivator or marijuana product manufacturer or both in compliance with 935 CMR 500.000 operating procedures for each license and in a receipt of a delivery endorsement issued by the Cannabis Control Commission may deliver marijuana or marijuana products produced at the licensed location directly to consumers in compliance with the established regulatory requirements for retail sale as relates to delivery. A microbusiness that is a product manufacturer may purchase no more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana per year from other marijuana establishments for the purpose of marijuana product manufacturing. 13, special permit. A special permit issued by the special permit granting authority to a marijuana establishment in accordance with the standards set forth in this ordinance and the general criteria for granting a special permit contained in section XX of the revised zoning ordinance of the city of Medford. A special permit issued under this ordinance shall be for a term of five years from the date of the marijuana establishment commences operations unless sooner revoked or forfeited. At the expiration of the term of the holder term a holder may apply for renewal according to the process established by the special permit granting authority. 14 special permit holder the person persons or entity who desires to operate a marijuana establishment in the city of Medford and who is who has received a special permit issued by the special permit granting authority to operate a marijuana establishment in accordance with the standards set forth in this ordinance and the general criteria for granting a special permit contained in section XX of the revised zoning ordinance of the city of Medford. 15, special permit granting authority, the zoning board of appeals of the city of Medford. 16, host community agreement, an agreement negotiated and executed between an applicant who proposes to locate in marijuana establishment in the City of Method and the City in accordance with General Laws, Chapter 94G, Section 3D. Section XX, Special Permit Granting Authority, Special Permit Requirements, Special Permit Granting Authority. A, the Zoning Board of Appeals shall be the Special Permit Granting Authority in the City of Method and may grant a special permit for marijuana establishments in accordance with the standard set forth in the ordinance in the general criteria for breaking a special permit contained in section XX of the revised zoning ordinance of the city of Metro. The B requirement to apply for a special permit shall be set by the building commissioner. B requirements. Number one, it shall be unlawful for any person or entity to operate a marijuana establishment without obtaining a special permit from the special permit granting authority to operate pursuant to the requirements of this ordinance. Two, a separate special permit is required for each different marijuana establishment defined in section XX above. In the case that one or more different types of marijuana establishments are proposed, each establishment type shall require a special permit as defined in the ordinance. Three, an applicant shall be eligible to apply for a special permit upon receipt of the recommendation from the Cannabis Advisory Committee in accordance with Section XX of the General Ordinance. No special permit shall be issued until an applicant has successfully negotiated a host community agreement with the city. Four, the special permit requirements set forth in this ordinance shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any other licensing and permitting requirements imposed by any other federal, state, or local law or required by the special permit granting authority. Five, the issuance of a special permit pursuant this ordinance does not create an exception, defense, or immunity to any person or entity in regard to any potential criminal liability the personal entity may have for the production, distribution, or possession of marijuana. Six, a special permit issued for a marijuana establishment is not transferable nor assignable to a different location or to a different type of marijuana establishment. Section XX, General and Operational Provisions, A, general provisions. One, the following provisions apply to all marijuana establishments as defined above in general law chapter 94G, GLC941 in subsection XX of this ordinance. including marijuana cultivators, crack marijuana cooperatives, marijuana product manufacturers, marijuana micro-businesses, independent testing laboratories, marijuana retailers, marijuana transporters, marijuana research facilities, delivery-only licenses, and medical marijuana treatment centers. Two, marijuana establishments shall comply with applicable state and local laws, regulations, ordinances, codes, conditions, and agreements with the city, including but not limited to general law chapter 94G, general law chapter 94I, 935 CMR 500.000, 935 CMR 501.000, the revised ordinances of the city of Medford, the city of Medford zoning ordinance, all applicable city building fire prevention, police and health codes, regulations and standards. Any conditions imposed, on licenses and permits held by the marijuana establishment, including but not limited to those imposed by the Special Permit Granting Authority in agreements between the marijuana establishment and the City of Medford, including host community agreements. Excuse me. Number three, marijuana establishments shall maintain all permits and licenses required by state and local laws. Any actions avoiding the Cannabis Control Commission's license by operation of law, including including due to cessation of operations, failure to become operational within the permanent time or relocation without Cannabis Control Commission approval and any revocation or suspension of the marijuana establishment's Cannabis Control Commission license shall result in a suspension of the special permit pending hearing or the opportunity therefore afforded to the marijuana establishment and pending further determination by the Zoning Board of Appeals of by the city of Medford. Four, all taxes and charges owed to the city must be paid on a current basis. The city must place a lien, and may place a lien, on the property or any person or entity who has an outstanding balance due. The city, for any fee, charge, or tax, which balance is at least three months past due, the city has adopted the provisions of general law chapter 40, section 57. B, operational provisions. One, security plan operations and management plan and emergency response plan, disposal of odor, disposal and odor control plan. A, security plan. I, an applicant for a special permit pursuant to this ordinance shall at least 30 days prior to the public hearing on the application submit a security plan to the chief of police of the city of Medford describing adequate and proper security at the premises so as to avoid, deter and prevent illegal activities from taking place upon or about the applicant's premises, and to demonstrate that there is limited undue burden on city public safety resources as a result of the proposed business prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy, and two, The security plan shall include the details at all security measures for the site and transportation of marijuana and marijuana products to and from on-site premises to ensure the safety of employees and the public and to protect the premises property from theft or other criminal activity. The applicant shall meet with the chief of police or his designee regarding the applicant's security plan prior to the issuance of a special permit. B, operation of management plan. An applicant for a special permit pursuant to this ordinance shall submit an operation and management plan to the special permit governing authority, which shall include but not be limited to the following elements. Organizational structure, location, property, description, hours of operation and staffing, description and proposed operations, distribution practices, employee safety, general compliance, fire prevention, sanitation requirements, electrical system overview, proposed energy demand, and proposed electrical demand offsets. Ventilation system and air quality, proposed water system and utility demand prior to the issuance of a building permit, and proposed traffic mitigation and parking plans. The applicant shall additionally provide the building commissioner and the director of the City of Medford Health Department copies of all documents submitted under this section for review and comment. The emergency response plan. An applicant for a special permit pursuant to the ordinance shall submit proposed emergency response plan to the special permit granting authority. It shall meet with the fire chief of the city of Medford and the police chief of the city of Medford prior to the public hearing to discuss and identify emergency plans. contingency plans for the site prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The emergency response plan shall include, but not be limited to, a description of the work tasks and activities to take place on the premises and its plan. to implement proper protocols and to take proper steps so as to prevent hazardous activities from taking place upon or about the premises. A written emergency response plan shall be filed with the Medford Fire Department and Medford Police Department pursuant to Mass General Law AC94G section 12. Marijuana establishments shall comply with 527 CMR 1.00 It was Chapter 38 of NFPA Number 1, 2018, as they may be amended and as applicable. D, disposal and odor control plans. An applicant for a special permit pursuant to this ordinance shall submit plans for waste disposal, trash pickup, and rubbish removal that serve the metal water establishment. All trash pickup and rubbish removal shall be provided by a private rubbish removal service and the city of Medford shall not be required to provide any trash pickup or rubbish removal for the marijuana establishment. The marijuana establishment shall comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations, rules and ordinances pertaining to the disposal of trash or refuse. from the marijuana establishment and any other conditions required by the director of the City of Medford Health Department. This shall include, but not be limited to, Massachusetts waste disposal regulations set forth in 310 CMR 19.017. An applicant for a special permit to engage in cultivation or product manufacturing pursuant to this ordinance shall submit an odor control plan that provides for proper and adequate ventilation at such facilities in such a manner as so to prevent pesticides, insecticides, or other chemicals used in the cultivation or processing of marijuana or marijuana-related products from being dispersed or released outside the facilities, all resulting in odors, smoke, vapors, fumes, gases, and particulate matter from marijuana or its processing or cultivation shall be effectively confined to the premises or so disposed of so as to avoid any air pollution and so that no odor or marijuana or its processing can be detected by a person with an unimpaired and otherwise normal sense of smell at the exterior of the facility or at any adjoining adjoining use of property, and to minimize any adverse impacts on human beings, the environment, and abutting properties from odor-emitting activities to be conducted on site. The applicant shall additionally provide the Director of the City of Medford Health Department copies of all documents submitted under this section of for review and comment. environmental impact plan. An impact for a special permit pursuant to this ordinance shall submit a plan to reduce the impact of its intended activity on the environment. The applicant shall additionally provide the director of the energy and environment of the city of Medford copies of all documents submitted under this section for review in comment. to retail marijuana establishments shall not be managed by any person other than the licensee or their assigned. Such licensee or assigned shall be on the premises during regular hours of operation and responsible for all activities within the licensed business and shall provide up-to-date emergency contact information for the city or a city of Medford police fire and building department to have on file. Three, on-site social consumption of marijuana is prohibited at all marijuana establishments as are vending machines and other self-service devices. Four, pursuant to General Law 94G, Section 5B.3, a marijuana establishment shall not be located within 500 feet of a pre-existing public or private school providing education in kindergarten, or any grades one through 12. The 500 foot distance shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest point of the property line in question to the nearest point of the property line where the marijuana establishment is or will be located. Five, all marijuana establishments license operations shall be conducted within a building at a fixed location. A marijuana establishment shall not be located in a trailer, storage free container. motor vehicle or other similar movable enclosure. Six, the marijuana establishment may only be involved in the use permitted by its definition. Retail marijuana establishments may only be located in buildings with other uses, including other types of marijuana establishments, if the marijuana establishment is separated by four walls from other use. 7. All aspects of marijuana establishment relative to the cultivation, possession, processing, manufacture, sale, distribution, dispensing, or administration of marijuana, marijuana products, or related supplies must take place at a fixed location within a fully enclosed building and shall not be visible from the exterior of the building. 8. Marijuana establishments may cultivate, process, test, store, and manufacture marijuana or marijuana products only within an area that is enclosed and secured in a manner that prevents access by persons not permitted by the marijuana establishment to access the area. The hours of operation of the marijuana establishments in all standards or requirements relating to exterior signs and advertisements shall be those that are set by the marijuana's establishment's host community agreement with the city. 10. Marijuana establishments shall ensure that their hours in methods of transportation or products shall not be a detriment or be a nuisance to the surrounding area in nearby uses. 11, marijuana establishments shall not permit any disorder, disturbance, nuisance, or illegality under state or local law of any kind on the premises. 12, marijuana establishment operations shall not result in illegal distribution under state or local law of marijuana obtained from the marijuana establishment or in use of marijuana in any manner that violates state or local law. 13, marijuana establishment. operations shall not create nuisance conditions in parking areas, sidewalks, streets, in areas surrounding the premises and adjacent properties. Nuisance includes but is not limited to disturbances of the peace, open public consumption of marijuana, excessive pedestrian or vehicular traffic, odors emanating from the marijuana's establishment's premises, electrical lighting, illegal drug activity in the state or local law, harassment of passerby, excessive littering, excessive loitering, illegal parking, excessive loud noises, excessive citation for violations of state traffic laws and regulations, and or transportation division rules and regulations, queuing of patrons, vehicular or pedestrian in or other obstructions of the public way, sidewalks and streets, collisions between vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians, lewd conduct or police detentions and arrests. Fourteen, marijuana establishments may be subject to and announce unscheduled periodic inspections of its premises by the building commissioner or designee. including an agent from the building health police and fire departments, which when conducted by the police department shall be by a sworn police officer holding the rank of sergeant or higher at any time during the normal business hours to determine the marijuana establishment's compliance with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, regulations, and codes. 15, marijuana establishments are prohibited from use of the onsite self-service displays. Self-service displays are defined to mean displays from which customers may select marijuana or marijuana products without assistance from an employee or store personnel, including vending machines. 16, all business signage shall be subject to the requirements to be promulgated by the Cannabis Control Commission, the signed ordinance set forth by the revised ordinance of the City of Medford, and is set forth by the host community agreement. 17, no drive-thru service shall be permitted at a marijuana establishment. 18, no outside storage of marijuana and marijuana products or related suppliers is permitted. 18, no outside storage of marijuana products or related supplies is permitted. 19, the consumption of marijuana in the interior or exterior of the premises is not permitted. No marijuana or marijuana products shall be smoked, eaten, or otherwise consumed or ingested on the premises where sold. All marijuana establishments permitted in the city of Medford shall comply with all state and local laws, rules, and regulations governing the smoking of tobacco. 20, A marijuana establishment and the owners of the premises where the marijuana establishment is located shall comply with the provisions of General Law Chapter 40, Section 57. 21, a marijuana establishment shall be required to remove all marijuana and marijuana products by the earlier of A, prior to surrendering its state-issued license or B, within one month of ceasing operations. Section XX, Application Procedure and Submission Requirements. A, Application Procedure and Submission Requirements. An applicant for a special permit shall submit a standard application will form along with all materials as required by the Special Permit Renting Authority. In addition, each applicant shall submit the following materials. One, payment for publication and mailing of notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing of the petition for a special permit before a special permit granting authority to the owners of all property within 750 feet of the property line. of the location of the marijuana establishment as it appears on the most recent tax list maintained by the assessor's office of the city of Medford. The city shall also provide notice generally to the residents of the city of Medford by way of telephone call or text message that uses a computerized auto dialer to deliver a prerecorded message of its equivalent no less than 14 days prior to the hearing on a petition for a special permit setting forth the date, time, and place of the hearing. The applicant shall be responsible for any costs associated with such notice. to the applicant shall submit proof of site control in right to use the premises proposed for the marijuana establishment in making included deed notarized statement from the property owner in a copy of the lease agreement or a real estate contract contingent upon successful licensing or a letter of intent by the owner of the premises indicating intent to lease the premises to the applicant contingent upon successful permitting. Three, in addition to complying with any other state or city requirement related to good character and criminal background, any person or entity proposed to have interest in a license to operate a marijuana establishment shall not have committed any marijuana licensing violation affecting public safety or receiving any suspension or revocation of any other state or local marijuana business licenses. Four, a statement signed by the applicant's chief executive officer disclosing all of its designated owners, including officers, directors, partners, managers, or other similarly situated individuals. If any of the above are entities rather than persons, the applicant must disclose the identity and current contact information for all responsible individuals. Five, a detailed description of the proposed activities to occur on site in relation to the standard special permit criteria set out in section XX of the zoning ordinance of the city of Medford and specific requirements set forth in this chapter. Six, the applicant shall submit a security plan to the Medford police chief to demonstrate that there is limited undue burden on the city's public safety officials as a result of the proposed business prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. excuse me, seven, the applicant shall submit an operation and management plan with an additional copy to the building commissioner and the director of, director of the board of health. Eight, the applicant shall submit a copy of an emergency response plan with an additional copy to the police chief and the fire chief of the city of Medford. Nine, the applicant shall submit a copy of the disposal in odor control plan with an additional copy to the director of health of the health department. Section XX, the special permit findings and specific requirements for various facilities. A, special permit findings. In addition to the findings of the special permit in section XX of the zoning ordinance, the special permit granting authority must also make the following findings. One, the applicant demonstrates that the marijuana establishment will meet all of the permitting requirements of the applicable agencies within the commonwealth. It will be in compliance with all applicable state laws and regulations including but not limited to MGLAC 94G section 12 general marijuana establishment operation. Two, the applicant has satisfied all of the conditions and requirements of this section and other applicable sections of the zoning ordinance in any applicable city ordinances. Three, the facility provides adequate security measures to ensure that there are not direct threats to the health or safety of employees, staff or members of the public in that storage and location of confirmation is adequately secured. Four, the marijuana establishment does not derogate from the purposes and intent of this section in the zoning ordinance. Five, the application information submitted is adequate to the special permit granting authority to consider approving the special permit request. Six, the proposed establishment is designed to minimize any adverse impacts on human beings, the environment and abutting properties. Seven, the security plan provides sufficient assurance that adequate security controls have been implemented to ensure the protection of the public health and safety during hours of operation and that any marijuana or marijuana related products are adequately secured on site or via delivery. Eight, the operation and management plan includes all required components and can be implemented to meet the requirements of this section. Nine, the emergency response plan includes all required components and can be implemented to meet the requirements of this section. 10, disposal in order control plans includes all required components and can be implemented to meet the requirements of this section. 11, the special permit granting authority may require a marijuana establishment to post a bond or other resources held in an escrow account an amount sufficient to adequately support the dismantling and winding down of the marijuana establishment. 12, no special permit shall be issued by the special permit granting authority zoning until an applicant has submitted proof of an executed host community agreement with the city of Medford. B, requirements specific to marijuana cultivation facility. As the cultivation and processing of marijuana is not considered agricultural under General Law, Chapter 128, Section 1A, and is subject to General Law, Chapter 94G, Section 12, the following restrictions to ensure the health, safety, well-being of the public and to limit undue impacts on the natural environment as it relates to cultivation shall apply. One, all marijuana cultivators shall use high-efficiency lights and equipment to limit energy and water usage demand. Two, all marijuana cultivators shall use LEDs for all fixtures except for those that are used in flowering rooms. High pressure sodium grow lights may be used for no more than 50% of the total square footage of the cultivation area to maximize flowering conditions and limit electricity demand. Three, no pesticides, insecticides, or other chemicals shall be used in the cultivation of marijuana. Marijuana cultivators shall be used Marijuana cultivators shall use the best practices to prevent pests and contamination as set forth in 935 CMR 500.1209. Four, marijuana cultivators shall comply with all regulations that may be promulgated by the Cannabis Control Commission. C, requirements specific to marijuana product manufacturers. Marijuana product manufacturers shall be subject to general law chapter 94g section 12 in the following restrictions to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the public and limit any undue impacts of the natural environment as it relates to manufacturing shall apply. One, all marijuana product manufacturers shall use high efficiency lights and manufacturing equipment to limit energy and water usage demand. Two, all marijuana product manufacturers shall comply with all regulations that may be promulgated by the Cannabis Control Commission. D, requirements specific to independent testing laboratories. One, all independent testing laboratories shall use high-efficiency lights and equipment to limit energy and water usage demand. Two, independent testing laboratories shall be subject to the requirements of General Law Chapter 94G, Section 15, and any regulations that the Cannabis Control Commission may promulgate there under to ensure there are no undue impacts on the health, safety, and well-being of the public. E, requirements specific to Manor Water Retailers. Manor Water Retailers shall be subject to General Law, Chapter 94G, Section 12, and the following restrictions to ensure that there are no undue impacts on the health, safety, and well-being of the public. One, as defined in General Law, Chapter 94G, the number of Manor Water Establishments shall be limited to no more than 20% of the number of licenses issued within the city for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages not to be drunk on the premises where sold under general law chapter 138 section 15. In accordance with general law chapter 94g on the effective date of this ordinance the number of marijuana retailers shall be limited to no more than three. All marijuana retailers shall comply with all regulations that may be promulgated by the Cannabis Control Commission. Marijuana retailers shall not sell marijuana or permit marijuana as defined herein to be sold to a person under the minimum legal sales age or give gift or transfer of marijuana or marijuana products as defined herein to a person under the minimum legal sales age. For marijuana retailers, when selling or distributing marijuana or marijuana products as defined herein, shall verify the age of the purchaser by means of a valid government issued photographic identification containing the various date of birth and showing that the purchaser is 21 years of age or older. Five, all retail sales of marijuana or marijuana products shall be face-to-face between the seller and the buyer and occur only at the permitted location. Six, marijuana retailers should only be permitted in the C2 or industrial zoning districts as specified in the table of uses. Marijuana retailers shall not exceed 10,000 square feet in retail floor space. Section XX, unlawful acts compliance severability. A, unlawful acts. Number one, it shall be unlawful for any person to operate any marijuana establishment the city in the city without a valid license issued by the state licensing authority under general law chapter 94 G. Two, when a marijuana establishment has received a renewal license from the state, the business shall submit a copy to the city clerk, chief of police, fire chief, building commissioner, and director of the board of health within 30 days of receipt. Three, it shall be unlawful for any person to operate any marijuana establishment without a special permit from the special permit granting authority. Four, no person shall gift marijuana or marijuana products to a consumer contingent upon the sale of any other products. Five, no person shall accept or redeem, offer to accept or redeem or cause or hire any person to accept or redeem or offer to accept or redeem any coupon that provides marijuana or a marijuana product without charge. B, compliance, a special permit held by a marijuana establishment under this ordinance is conditional on the holder's continued compliance with all requirements and conditions that apply to the special permit into its compliance with all applicable local ordinances, state and federal laws and regulations. A violation by a marijuana establishment that holds a special permit of all requirements and conditions that applied to the special permit in with all applicable local ordinances, state and federal laws and regulations shall be good cause for, it may result in a penalty of $300 per violation. Each day the violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense. C, separability. If any provision of this section is invalidated by subsequent legislation or regulation or held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, then such provision shall be considered separately and apart from the remaining provisions which shall remain in full force and effect.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On that motion offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by, was it Vice President Caraviello? Yes, sir. Mr. President.
[John Falco]: questions. Before I have the clerk call the roll, are there any questions or comments from the Council or the general public? Nate Merritt, name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Yes. So, so, uh, so we can pass it tonight, send it to the CD board and then KP. Is tonight the third reading? Today's this is the first reading. Yeah. I'm sorry. Council on information council night.
[John Falco]: Okay, so there's a motion on the floor and the motion was, I'm sorry, was the motion made by Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'm the affirmative, zero on the negative, the motion passes. Mr. Clerk, we have committee report, your committee reports are just the records.
[John Falco]: Yeah, it's on the agenda. We'll take it up next week.
[John Falco]: I think we should stay a little longer.
[John Falco]: Yes, so the records, let's see here. The records of the meeting of June 2nd, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: It's water. Fine. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table the records, I seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Kurtabese. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. The record's at table. Is there a meeting to adjourn? Is there a motion to adjourn?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, it's in the affirmative. One in the negative. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Okay, let's see, we got seven o'clock, we got seven o'clock. The 19th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Carnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
[John Falco]: I just have to read the message from the governor. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18 in the governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting in the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website, an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to suspend the rules. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The rules are suspended. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Communications from the Mayor, 20-398, to the Honorable President and members of the Metro City Council, City Hall, Metro Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body reprograms Surplus proceeds in the amount of $855,000 for the leak detection system project to the following capital projects. Hydraulic study, drainage system design and pipelining, $460,000. Water meters project, $175,000. Hydrants project, $70,000. Reading devices project, $150,000. DPW Commissioner Brian Karens and Finance Director Aleesha Nunley, Benjamin, are present to answer any of the Council's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Let's see, we have Aleesha Nunley with us. I'm going to unmute her, and we have Brian Karens. Brian, would you like to talk about the project a little bit?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Commissioner Kearns. We have a number of questions from the council. We'll start off with Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording to the amendments?
[John Falco]: So after we get the wording, we have Councilor Bears, then Vice President Caraviello, then Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: That's good. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you, Clerk Arnabes. Let's see. We have Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Alicia. Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Do I make that as an amendment to the paper?
[John Falco]: Does Clerk Hurtubise have that or?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the councilors? Okay, on the motion. Wait for the clerk to get here. On the main motion.
[John Falco]: Okay, so, Clerk Herterich, you have all the amendments, right?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. So on the motion of, let's see, was it Councilor Marks to approve the paper? Okay, seconded by Vice President Caraviello as amended by Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Knight. Did he get everyone?
[John Falco]: Okay, as further amended by Councilor Marks. Clerk Hervey, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Thank you, Brian, Karen. Thank you, Alicia, Natalie, Benjamin. Thank you, councilors. Good to see you tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, you too. Be safe and healthy. Thank you very much for being here tonight. Good to see you both. Thank you, take care. Bye. Motion to revert back.
[John Falco]: Motion to revert back. I motion to Council Mark, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to revert back to the regular order of business. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative is zero on the negative. We will now revert back to the regular order of business. Do we have a representative from national group with us tonight?
[John Falco]: Perfect. Okay. Thank you. Notice of a public hearing. Let's see, hearings, legal notice 20-365, petition for a grant of location, National Grid, North Andover, Massachusetts, underground electric conduits, sustaining and protecting fixtures, Medford, Massachusetts, city clerk's office. We're hereby notified that by order of the Medford City Council, public hearing will be given via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020. on a petition of National Grid Incorporated for permission to construct a line of underground electric conduits including the necessary sustaining and protecting features under and across the public way herein after named said underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked Summit Road Metro Massachusetts and filed in the office of the city clerk. Whereas it prays that after due notice in hearing as provided by law, it be granted a location for and permission to excavate the public highways and to run and maintain underground electric conduits together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity and underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked Summit Road, Medford. and available for inspection in the Office of the City Clerk, Medford, Massachusetts, Medford City Hall, room 10385, George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. The following are the streets and highways referred to, plan number 29568331, Summit Road, National Grid to install at the intersection of Summit Road and continuing approximately five feet in the northeast direction. install one to three-inch conduit off existing pole P1752 approximately five feet towards 19 Summit Road, location approximately as shown on plan filed in the office of the city clerk. This was approved by the city engineer with the following conditions. The engineering division recommends that this grant be a grant of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, The grant of location, GOL, is limited to the five feet of duck bank as described in the GOL document as follows. Install one to three inch conduit of existing pole P1752 approximately five feet towards 19 Summit Road. Number two, before starting work the contractor shall notify dig safe and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appurtenances are adversely impacted. National Grid shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to the excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt, concrete with concrete. Number four, the sidewalk and street restoration shall be done in consultation with the engineering division and per the requirements of the approved street opening permit. Number five, all expansion joint shall be placed between the new concrete sidewalk panel and the existing driveway. approved by the Superintendent of Wires. It's called 781393-2425 for any accommodations to indoor aids. Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk. Plans can be viewed in the City Clerk's office, 781393-2425. At this point in time, I would declare the public hearing open. Open to those in favor of the petition. If we could please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: And you are in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you very much. You are in favor of the, uh, the project. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Let's see anyone else in favor, uh, that would like to speak. Anyone else in favor? Okay. Seeing and hearing none. I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Let's see. Let's see, so are there any questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Second.
[John Falco]: We have a motion on Vice President Caraviello to approve, seconded by, is it Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The paper is approved. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Have a good night.
[John Falco]: Motions, orders, and resolutions, 20-371 offered by Council and I. Being resolved, the Medford City Council congratulate Dorothy and Frank Zizzo on a momentous celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary. Council and I.
[John Falco]: Great news and congratulations to the CISOs. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. Congratulations to Dorothy and Frank Cizzo. 20-390 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the City Finance Director assign any remaining funds to the legislative salary account 010-101-5202 purchase of service and videographer to the Council's special fund designated for zoning consultant services when presenting the end of year transfers. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions? Any questions from the public? Any emails? Clerk Hurtubise, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Okay, on the motion of console night seconded by console appears clock her to be.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-391 offered by Council on 8. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Michael Meehan on his recent passing. Council on 8.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. At this point, I ask if we could all please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-392, offered by Councilor Marks. Excuse me. Be it resolved that the Methodist Massport Community Advisory Committee representatives, Peter Houck and Luke Krasner, update the city council on the recent federal aviation commitment to study runway changes as identified in the MIT study. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Morell. Councilor Peters.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Pearce. Okay, any other questions from the Council? Council Member Marks, thank you for bringing this forward. This is an absolutely very important issue, and we'll definitely schedule some time with Peter and Luke, who are absolutely the most knowledgeable people I know about this issue. So it's always great to listen to them and get an update. So thank you for bringing this forward. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have any emails from the public on this, and is there any public participation on this matter?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, I'm the affirmative, zero on the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-393 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Whereas the city of Medford has appealed the decision that was granted in favor of the petitioner of the 40B project at 4000 Mystic Valley Parkway, be it resolved that the Medford City Council receive answers to the following questions from the city administration. Number one, what is the cost of the appeal and where will these funds come from? Number two, If the city of Medford is unsuccessful in its appeal, what is the next step? Number three, seeing that the state has ruled in favor of this petitioner, is it likely that the state will use the same formula and rule in favor of the other two petitioners? Will the city also be appealing these decisions? Next question, what is the plan to address affordable housing crisis as described by the mayor of the city of Medford if we deny these three 40B projects? The last question is, what is the plan to reach our affordable housing threshold in order to stop 40B projects that continue coming to Medford? Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello, Council of Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Any other questions or comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the council? Any other questions from the public?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other comments? Questions? Move to questions. Yeah, I believe Councilor Bears, you had your hand up. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by... Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, as amended by Councilor Knight, my apologies.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-394 offered by Council and I, be it resolved that the Medford City Council publish a schedule of pre-budget and regular budget meetings for the purpose of establishing the fiscal year 21 city budget Council and I. What do you think, Johnny? Sounds good to me. Just to give you an update. I, so we received a memo from the mayor on, I believe it was Friday, saying that she was going to present the budget to us on the 16th, Tuesday the 16th. I called the chief of staff to ask him when we will be receiving our budget books. He did not have a definitive answer for me. He said things are still in flux. So he was thinking that we would probably get them 15th to the 16th, which I thought was really tight, because I, you know, we need my eyes, we need some time to review the budget, especially before the mayor is going to be presenting the budget. So we're not voting on it that night. But still I would like, I know myself, I like my budget book in advance so we can ask some good questions. So I'm gonna touch base with him next week about this very issue that you're asking me about. And we can probably even talk about it maybe on Thursday night when we meet regarding the budget with Tony Roselli and members of the city's finance team. So Councilor-
[John Falco]: Sounds good. Perfect. On the motion of Councilor Knight to table. Second. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Bernanke, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative zero negative. The motion passes in the paper has been tabled. 20-395 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell, whereas many food pickup and delivery apps and websites charge exorbitant fees and commissions that hurt our local restaurants, and whereas these fees may endanger the ability of local restaurants to survive this economic crisis. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Medford City Council expresses its support for HD, 5-0-5-4, an act relative to restaurant delivery commissions during the COVID-19 state of emergency. Be it further resolved that the City Clerk forward a copy of this resolution to the Medford Legislative Delegation, as well as House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Spilka, and Governor Baker. Councilor Bears with Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Clerk, do you have the wording of the B paper?
[John Falco]: No, I just want to make sure you have it. Yeah, I got it. OK, perfect. OK, any other questions from the council? Oh, yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peters. Any other questions or comments regarding this from the Council?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Mr. Navarre. Okay, let's see. Okay, then it seems like there's no other questions. So on the B paper offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by. Thank you, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Clerk Hurtubise, you're muted for a minute.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. And the affirmative is zero and the negative. The motion to pass is on the main motion offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell and seconded by. Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 in favor of zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-396 offered by Council of Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration take any action possible to ensure that nonprofit daycare and social service organizations have access to small business relief funds being administered or advertised by the city of Medford Council of Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, Vice President Cardinal.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Cunningham, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-397 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a moment of silence for the more than 100,000 Americans we have lost to coronavirus in to mark the June 1st National Day of Mourning and Lament. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: So I thank you all for considering this Thank You councilor Morell council appears Thank You.
[John Falco]: Thank you, council members. Any other comments from the council? Okay, Council Member Earl, you mentioned that someone wanted to speak on this?
[John Falco]: Oh, okay. Well, wait, I apologize.
[John Falco]: No worries. Okay, at this point, would anybody else like to speak on this? Okay, seeing and hearing none, why don't we all rise for a brief moment of silence? Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. And the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. report to committees, 19-287, May 26th, 2020. Committee of the whole report. Let's see. Purpose of the meeting was to discuss the scope of services for the proposed zoning consultants work on recodification. We had that meeting, let's see, May 26th. It was a good exchange. We talked about the scope of services regarding the zoning consultant. Let's see, we talked a little bit about the funding. Council and I moved to get a formal response from the administration on whether the money has been approved in what kind of exists. That passed in a roll call vote, seven, nothing. And we talked a little bit about that earlier tonight, but on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to approve the committee report, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The committee report passes. One nine dash six five nine and two zero dash zero four two. May 27th, 2020, committee of the whole report to follow, We met, let's see, last Wednesday the 27th at 6pm. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the proposed marijuana ordinance. Let's see, we talked about the previous work that we have worked on in previous meetings and we, let's see, we Mr. Silverstein from KP Law highlighted items that still needed to be addressed. We discussed those items and we basically reconvene tonight to talk about the zoning maps. But we discussed a little bit about the zoning maps last week as well. Let's see on the motion to approve the committee report.
[John Falco]: Yeah, the zoning committee's had a number of reiterations through the whole process. Councilor Marks, thank you very much. Appreciate it. And thank you, everyone. This really has been a team effort, but I really feel like we kind of really vetted everything and looked at everything. And I feel like the, you know, the finished product is going to be something that's really good. So I think, you know, we went through all the, like you mentioned earlier, Vice President Caraviello, it's been years and I think a lot of input went into it and a lot of time and effort and energy. And they thank everyone for their hard work on this. So, On the vote for the committee report on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. Let's see, public participation, anybody? Anybody wanna speak or need to speak or? Okay.
[John Falco]: Records. The records.
[John Falco]: Now, records in the meeting of May 26, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Okay, yes. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On that motion, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the records are approved. Then the motion of Council and I to adjourn the meeting, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Councilor Marks, did you?
[John Falco]: Yes. So we have a meeting coming up this June 4th at 5.30 PM. That meeting is with, let's see, It's with Tony Roselli. He is the outside consultant. We're going to have, um, so the people that have been invited were the mayor of Longo current has been invited, uh, Dave Rodriguez, the chief of staff, superintendent, uh, Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent, uh, assistant superintendent, Christine Patterson, chief of procurement, uh, shop con. finance director and auditor Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin, and the audit consultant Tony Roselli. The purpose of the meeting is to receive an update from the administration regarding the fiscal year 2020 city budget, the fiscal year 2021 city budget, and to get an update with regard to receipts for taxes, and to talk about pretty much any type of financial issue with regard to the budget. It's going to be a difficult budget upcoming. Uh, we will have a, uh, hopefully a pretty good discussion, uh, this Thursday, 5 30 PM.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council Marks council appears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Bears for mentioning that. Okay. On the motion to adjourn by Councilor, I believe it was Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Kernan-Beers, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 70 affirmative zero negative the meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone have a good night.
[John Falco]: The 18th regular meeting of the Bedford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All Senate members are present. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to smoke the flag.
[John Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18, and the Governor's March 15th, 2020 order, imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting in the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting.
[John Falco]: Is that Councilor Knight? Councilor Knight, would you like to suspend the rules? Seconded by? Second. Seconded by?
[John Falco]: Yes, sending affirmative, zero to the negative. The rules are suspended. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: memorial day and and the deceased veterans Yes, so we have a Michael Durham with us the director of the Office of Veterans Services.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Durham. We thank you for being here tonight. We thank you for our service to our city and for your service to our nation. So we thank you and now recognize the Vice President of the Council, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, that we dedicate this meeting in honor of the 8,000 veterans that are buried at Oak Grove Cemetery here in our city of Medford. On that motion, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Councilor Haynes.
[John Falco]: Thank you guys, all right. On the motion by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Cunabese, can you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. And the motion of Councilor Caraviello is seconded by Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business. Clerk Carnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Motions, orders, and resolutions 230-271 offered by Councilor Knight. being resolved at the Medford City Council, congratulate Dorothy and Frank Zizzo on the momentous celebration of the 40th wedding anniversary. Councilor Layton.
[John Falco]: On the, yes, on the motion of Councilor Knight to table this. Second. Second by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. And the item, the matter is tabled. Table. 20-372, offered by Council on 9th. I think Council on 9th, is he still with us? Okay. Be resolved that the Medford City Council recognize the contributions and commitment to the betterment of the community of Medford, D.P. The betterment of the community of the Medford DPW in celebration of National Public Works Week held between May 17th and May 23rd, 2020. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight. On motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello? Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Vice President Caraviello, did you have another comment? No comment, Mr. President. Okay, thank you. Before I ask the clerk to call the roll, if I may add, or echo the sentiments of my colleagues as well, our ITVW is always out there. They're working hard. They are civilly understaffed, but they always get the job done. We appreciate all their hard work. I think Councilor Bears had a very good point. Up at the cemetery now, I think that experiencing up to six burials a day, that is a really high number. And I know they're always working, they're always working hard, and we appreciate all their hard work and all their efforts. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clark-Curtabese, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes, seven the affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-373, offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Meckon City Council extend its congratulations to Mae Mockerbeck on the celebration of her 90th birthday, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. And if I may also thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. May has been an unbelievable member of our community, always volunteering. Someone once used the term volunteer extraordinaire, and that's who she is. She is someone who's always volunteering, always giving back. It's someone who's always tells you what's on her mind, which is nice. but I just want to wish her a very, very happy birthday. Happy 90th birthday to Maymar Quebec, and best wishes to her. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Sara Coley, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-374 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the concerns on South Street in the intersection of South Street and Main Street be discussed. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording in the motion?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. To that motion was made by Councilor Marks, who is seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. There are a number of Councilors that want to speak on this. So at this point, I recognize Councilor Scarpelli and then Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. That's okay with me. Okay, okay. Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears, if I may really quick, the clerk has his hand up.
[John Falco]: Correct. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Any questions from the Council? Councilor Scarpelli, I believe you mentioned the Chief of Staff before. Chief of Staff Rodriguez, do you know if there are any updates from the administration with regard to this issue? I know it's a well-known issue. Are there any updates with regard to this?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief of Staff David Rodriguez. Any other questions from the council? Any community participation or emails, Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Navarre. On the motion of Councilor Marks, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Also amended by Councilor Marks. I apologize, amended by Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-375 offered by Council of Bears be resolved by the Medford City Council that the Community Preservation Committee and City Administration provide an update on the Rental Assistance Program and Free Legal Services Program for people facing housing insecurity due to the coronavirus emergency and economic crisis. Council of Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, we have a couple of Councilors that want to speak. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Roberta, could you please have your name and address for the record? Thank you, Roberta Cameron, 12 North Street.
[John Falco]: Yeah, she looked like she's about to unmute herself. This is the, okay, there you go.
[John Falco]: Councilor, do you want this updated in writing? Is that?
[John Falco]: Okay. Any other questions from the council? Council appears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council of bears, uh, do you have the wording on the motion?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Clerk Cardavese, are you- I got it.
[John Falco]: Okay, any other questions from the council? Any emails coming, Clerk Cardavese, or any comments from the general public? There are none, Mr. President. Okay, hearing and seeing none. On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by- Seconded, Mr. President. Councilor Caraviello, Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Cardavese, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Is this an amendment, I apologize. Is this an amendment to the main motion Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion of Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor, I'm sorry, on the motion of Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Knight and seconded by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: By the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rules, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Burnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero on the negative. The motion passes and the rules are suspended. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Sounds good. Communications from the mayor, 20-379, May 20th, 2020. to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts here on 2155 regarding the Community Preservation Committee. Dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body approve the following following a recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. Number one, requesting the appropriation of $30,000 from the CPA General Reserve to the Unitarian Universalist Church for the David Osgood House Historic Window Restoration Project. This project will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund by category General Reserve. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Let's see.
[John Falco]: Doug Carr, name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: A motion of Vice President Caraviello to approve, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, was that? Councilor Bears? Mr. President. Councilor Knight has a question.
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Thank you.
[John Falco]: We have Councilor Caraviello, Vice President Caraviello, then Councilor Marks, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Birthday, Mr. Carr. Uh, let's see. We have Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: I'm trying to, it sometimes takes a few clicks, so. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Okay, Clerk Hurtubise, any emails, any comments from the general public?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to revert back to the regular order of business. Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes, and we will now revert to the regular order of business. 20-376 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council, I'm sorry, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration provide an update on any plans to protect public employee safety, including social distancing measures as Massachusetts implements the base reopening plan issued by Governor Baker. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Chief of Staff Rodriguez, do you want to go through the highlights?
[John Falco]: Thank you for the update. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven the affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. 20-377 offered by Council of Mayors, be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration provide an update on any guidance or other assistance available to local businesses and organizations if they have questions or concerns regarding the face reopening plan issued by Governor Baker. Council of Mayors.
[John Falco]: When I click on mute, it seems to take like 20 seconds before it actually... Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, thank you, Chief of Staff Rodriguez, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Perez.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, is there any emails or would anybody like to comment? Any public participation on this issue? Mr. President, there are no emails on this topic. Okay, seeing and hearing none on the motion of council appears seconded by second is present. Please call the roll. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-378 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved by the Bedford City Council that the city administration provide a written update to the council on any alterations or changes to the design and or construction materials for the new Bedford Public Library before the requested committee, the whole meeting on the library project. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Lennight. Actually, any emails, Clerk Hurtubise, or any participation from the public?
[John Falco]: Okay, seeing and hearing none, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Lennight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Communications from the mayor. 20-380 to the honorable president and members of the Medford City Council. City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding local acceptance, small business property tax exemption. Dear Mr. President and members of the city council, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body take the following action relative to small business personal property taxes. I request that the city of Medford by vote of the Medford city council, accept the provisions of mass general laws, chapter 59, section five, 54 and exempt $10,000 of fair cash value on personal property accounts to be taxed beginning in fiscal year 2021, beginning on July 1st, 2020. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Respectfully submitted, Brianna Ongo, current mayor. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, at this point I'd recognize Ella Burdell.
[John Falco]: Please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, any further questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Motion for approval, Mr. President. On the motion of Council Mark, seconded by- Second, Mr. President. Mr. President, can I be heard? Clerk Hurtubise, any emails?
[John Falco]: Any participation from the public? Hearing and seeing none, on that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Let's see, 20-381, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding ordinance amendment zoning change. Dear Mr. President and members of the City Council, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body approve the following amendment to the City of Medford zoning ordinance offered in accordance with the provisions of the revised ordinances of the City of Method and Mass General Lodge of the 3040A Section 5. Section 194-148 of the revised ordinances City of Method, Massachusetts is hereby amended as follows. Number one, table of use regulations in off-street parking and loading. table of use regulations for use 18 multiple dwellings not over three stories in height. Amend yes to SPC with footnote number three immediately following the word height to read as follows. A special permit shall require that 25% of the total gross floor area of the development contain non-residential uses permitted by right of which are authorized pursuant to a special permit in the underlying zoning district or where relevant overlying zoning district. For use 19, multiple dwelling, not over 75 feet or six stories in height, amended yes to SPC with footnote number three, immediately following the word height to read as follows. A special permit shall require that at least 25% of the gross floor area of the development contain a non-residential uses permit by right or which are authorized pursuant to a special permit in the underlying zoning district or where relevant overlying zoning district. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Respectfully submitted Breanna Lungo-Koehn mayor. Is there someone from the, actually Dave, oh, you got Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: There is a motion on the floor from Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez, if you could please explain this paper or just give us an overview.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So there's a number of Councilors that want to speak on this. Councilor Knight, are you pulling back your original motion and offering a motion to send this to the CD board?
[John Falco]: Chief of staff Rodriguez.
[John Falco]: Yep, let's let's let's let's let Chief of Staff Rodriguez finish then. Chief of staff.
[John Falco]: Chief of staff Rodriguez, you said you were going to move ahead. I apologize.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor, do you have any further questions?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of council, I'd like to move to the CD board, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, we have a couple of questions. Let's see, we have Councilor Bears has his hand up, and then Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears, you go first.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Let's see, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you guys so much. We have Vice President Caraviello's up next and Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarapelli. Let's see here. Any other questions from the council? Any other comments? Okay, no. Clerk Arnabes, any emails come in or any questions from the general public?
[John Falco]: Okay, seeing and hearing none. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to send this paper to the CD board. Clerk Arnabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. This paper will now be forwarded to the CD board. So yeah, reports of committees one nine dash six five nine and two zero dash zero four two May 20th, 2020 committee of the whole report. Let's see, we met in committee the whole Wednesday, May 20th, 2020 at 6pm. This was before the discussion of the marijuana ordinance and we had a number of topics that we talked about and that was medical facilities, types of adult use licenses, priority for economic empowerment applicants, enforcement and sequencing of a host community agreement, special permits as well as the Cannabis Advisory Committee Ordinance. We actually had a very productive meeting. The ordinance did go back out to KP Law for further edits and that has come back to us. Everyone should have received a copy of the new updated ordinance, you would have received it at about probably 5.30 tonight, because that's when they got it to me. The clerk forwarded it out. Clerk, what time did you forwarded that? 530. Okay, I was around 536. So everyone should have a new copy in their email. We will meet again tomorrow night at 6pm. But to talk about the latest red line copy from my KP law and of course answer any questions. So on this committee report, is there a resolution?
[John Falco]: on the motion to adopt the committee report by vice-president seconded by councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: You are correct. It is to discuss the red line copy on the zoning ordinance.
[John Falco]: No problem. On the motion by Vice President Caraviello to accept the committee report seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Carter please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Let's see here. I believe the only thing we have left are the records. Records, the records were passed to But the records of the meeting of May 19th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: The affirmative zero. The negative. The motion passes. Vice President Caraviello to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero on the negative. The motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you, good night. Stay safe and healthy. Have a good one. Thank you for your help.
[John Falco]: 7-0-1. We're going to get started. I'm sure Councilor Morell will be joining us shortly. It's going to take me a couple of minutes just to read this beginning piece. So we'll get started. The 17th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Six members present, one absent. At this point, I ask everyone to 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.
[John Falco]: All seven members are present. Councilor Morell is here. All seven members are present.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Okay, all Senate members are present. So today we're being broadcast live on channel 22 on Comcast and channel 43 on Verizon. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 30A, Section 18 in the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting in the Bedford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. You can join the Zoom meeting, https://zoom.us, forward slash J, forward slash 981-997-08547, meeting ID 981-9970-8547. OneTap Mobile, 1-929-205-6099, 981-997-708547, pound U.S. 13017158559298199708547 pound US. Dial your location. 19292056099US13017158592US. The meeting ID is 98199708547. Let's see, find your local Zoom and find your local number, HTTPS colon forward slash forward slash zoom.us forward slash U forward slash A B Y O S B three O V D. Okay. Motions, orders, and resolutions. Two zero dash three five seven. Be it resolved that the Medford city council request that the city administration examine the benefits of offering an early retirement incentive program and report to the council, its findings, council and I. Mr. President, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, councilor. Vice president Caraviello. Oh, no, I'm sorry, I thought you had your hand up. Any other questions from the council? Second the motion, Mr. President. Any community participation on this? Clerk Hurtubise, any emails?
[John Falco]: OK, thank you. OK, on the motion of council all night, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-358 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request a report from the administration on the following items. Number one, amount of private supplemental funds raised to date for the construction of the Medford Public Library. Number two, amount of the grant received from the state for the construction of the Medford Public Library and whether or not it is anticipated this award will be reduced. If so, to what amount? And number three, the total cost for the construction of the Medford Public Library. Number four, anticipated necessary appropriation by the city council to fund the construction of the Medford Public Library. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Bears. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello for the update. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Mark. Would you like to add that as an amendment?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other comments from the council? Any community participation on this matter? Clerk Hertovich, have you received any emails?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Marks, Clerk Hertovich, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-359 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Director of Substance Abuse Prevention conduct an analysis on the trends relative to substance abuse during the government shutdown and report back to the Council the findings. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other comments from the Council?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Any comments from the community? Okay, on that motion, clerk. Mr. President, no emails. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-360 offered by Council and I, be it resolved that the city administration provide the Medford City Council with a copy of the emergency response plan preparing for an instance of or event where the coronavirus infects our essential personnel.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Marks, one second. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the language on the... I've got it, yes.
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion of... Actually, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Why don't we add that to the original? We'll add that as an amendment to the original motion. Is that okay, Councilor Knight? That's fine.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Any other comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Any other comments from the community or any emails, Clark-Hernandez?
[John Falco]: Thank you. We will take the B paper first that was offered by Councilor Bears and seconded by Councilor Knight. Would you like to read the language back in the B paper, Clark-Hernandez?
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Kurtopis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the original paper that was offered by Councilor Knight, Clerk Kurtopis, did that have a second?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello as amended by Councilor Marks. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-361 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council ask the mayor to install clear plexiglass panels in all the chambers in an effort to safely separate council members. Be it further resolved that the Medford City Council is be administered COVID-19 testing. With the upcoming budget meetings approaching, council members meet on a frequent basis. It must feel comfortable working with each for extended periods of time. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell, no decision has formally been made for us to go back into Alden Chambers to conduct business yet. I know there's been numerous agenda items on the agenda to talk about this. There's been different, I know during our meetings, I know a lot of Councilors would like to get back to City Hall. But no formal decision has been made to actually have our meetings back there yet. I think the big thing was just to hear what Governor Baker had to say yesterday and then try to move forward from there. So that's to give you a little bit more of an explanation, I guess. Right, right. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Councilor Bears and then Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other comments regarding this resolution from the councilors? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I have not. I have not. I will reach out to them tomorrow to see if we have an update, but I have not received anything as of yet. And once I do find out, or if I get any type of an update, I will make sure that the council knows as soon as possible.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilmember Knight. He was raising his hand a minute ago.
[John Falco]: Any other questions regarding the resolution, the B paper or the main resolution? Any other comments from the community? Clerk Hurtubise, have you received any emails? No emails. So on the B paper offered by Councilor Bears. Seconded by? Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero on the negative, the motion passes. On the main resolution offered by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second. Councilor Marks? I second the resolution. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative. The motion passes. Let's see, 20-364 offered by Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council then can congratulate Nancy White, Representative Paltinato on the years of service, chairing the Medford Democratic City Committee. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Oh, Councilor Morell, I apologize.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Oh, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And if I may echo the sentiments of my colleagues as well, Representative Paul Donato and Nancy White have given many years of service to the city in this capacity. We thank them for their time and their effort, their energy, and we wish them well. But they've given a ton of time and effort to this cause, and we say thank you. Let's see. So at this point, are there any comments from the community? Anybody want to speak? Oh, OK. One minute, please. I would speak, Adam. Ms.
[John Falco]: Any other questions for the community? Seeing and hearing none, oh, Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. I would agree. On the motion of Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, seconded by? Thank you, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. At this point I would ask if Vice President Caraviello could take the chair and read resolutions 20-362 and
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. I just wanted to congratulate our colleague, Consular Nicole Morel, on her new role. And Henry Malorin, a good friend of all of ours, and his new role as well. I am sure they're ready to work hard because it'll take a lot of hard work, but I know they're up to the task. They do have big shoes to fill, but I know that they will do well in this new role. So congratulations to Consular Morel and to Henry Malorin in their new role. and we wish them well. So, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. I received a call this week from a resident regarding the lights at the intersection of Spring Street and Central Avenue. and how there's no crossing signal at that light. It's just a regular street light. That is a heavily traversed area. We have a lot of traffic coming from the Fellows Way, going to the Fellows Way, just a lot of traffic going back and forth down Spring Street, Twins Haynes Square, and Riverside Avenue. So in the interest of public safety, I'm asking that the DPW install a crossing signal at that intersection. I think it's long overdue. That is a very, very busy intersection. There are a lot of, you know, kids in the community that do walk in, cross here, it's narrow park. So that really needs to be addressed. So I would ask that this be addressed in the matter of public safety. Thank you. And thank you, Councilor Cavillo.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Reports of committees. 2-0-3-2 on May 5th, 2020, we had a committee, the whole meeting, the purpose of the meeting was to receive an update from the administration regarding the 2020 census. That night we were joined by Neil Osborne from the administration. He actually brought with him a representative from the census, Ms. Marquis. They talked a little bit about the census. They talked about the response rate in our city so far. For Massachusetts, 59.1% of the households responded. And in Medford, it was 62.4%. And we talked about the census, what they were doing to the process they go through to get people to respond and how they have people go out and actually knock on the door if they don't respond by by mail. And Ms. Marquis said that October 31st is the last date to respond as of now. So that was the brief summary of the committee report for May 5th, 2020. Is there a motion to approve? Motion to accept. Motion to accept. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to accept the committee report seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk Herdiby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Mr. President, move suspension of the rules. On the motion, Councilor Marks to suspend the rules, seconded by. Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: So why don't we take the loan order first, Councilor Marks, if that's okay?
[John Falco]: Yes, okay, so this would be the third reading of the loan order for the city side.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll to suspend the rules.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7-8 permanent, zero to the negative. The motion passes. The rules are suspended. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks is correct. This is 20-316, loan order for the city sidewalks. The administration was before us a few weeks ago to present on this matter. It had its first reading on April 28th, 2020. and then it was advertised in the Metro Transcript on May 7th, 2020. Tonight it is eligible for its third reading May 19th, 2020. On the motion of Council of Marks. Second, Mr. President. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. While we're under suspension, Councilor Marks, I believe you had a congratulatory resolution.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, I believe.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in favor, zero in the negative, the motion passes, happy birthday. Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you, council members. Would you like to read just, we'll do one at a time. On the motion of council Mark, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Marks, do you want to tell us a second condolence resolution?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears and Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Caraviello, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. And if I may echo the sentiments of my colleagues as well. I did know Mrs. Prestigi Giovanni through the St. Francis, just the St. Francis family. Just seeing her at church and seeing her, you know, helping out with the food bank. She was always very involved. just like the entire family, all very involved in everything that happens in our city. So I thought some prayers go out to the D. Benedetto and the President Giovanni family. On the motion of Councilor Marks. Seconded. Vice President. Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmer zero the negative, the motion passes at this point in time and ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to revert to the regular order of business. Clerk, you're gonna be on the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Reports of committees, 19-287, May 6th, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to interview the zoning consultant candidates that submitted proposals for zoning RFQ 20-0133. We had a community opportunities group at 6 p.m. and Utile Design at 7 p.m. that night. They actually were very good companies, both of them. The community opportunities group was interesting. They only had two people, but they sounded like they were pretty effective in what they did. And Utile Design had a whole group of consultants that we interviewed as well. we did at the end is we actually listened to the, we interviewed the candidates and then we actually made a decision at the committee the whole of the following week. So on the motion, somebody that can make a motion to approve the committee approval.
[John Falco]: Who made the motion?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Peers, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-327, we had a committee, the whole meeting on Thursday, May 7th, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to receive an update from the administration regarding the fiscal year 2020 budget. in fiscal year 2021 city budget. Let's see. All the councillors were in attendance along with Mayor Lungo-Koehn and also Mr. Roselli, who is a outside auditing consultant who works for the city. He explained the situation that the city is in with a shortfall of about $8 million, assuming a local aid cut of 20%. He explained that the motor vehicle excise, mail tax, rooms excise, and building permits are other major revenue components that make up the deficit. After speaking with the building commissioner, Mr. Roselli said that he's using a $2 million figure rather than a $4 million figure. He basically explained that the costs are already known. There's an $8 million, $2 million gap. That's an estimate. And the city will have more numbers within the next few weeks. But Mr. Roselli did say that the information will get better faster as more information comes in. But he believes that the $8.2 million gap is a worst case scenario. And after asking Mr. Roselli when it will be an appropriate time to meet, again to get an update. He said in early June. So I will move forward and try to schedule that meeting with the administration so we can get an update, so we can get an update.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, that is fine. That's actually on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by... Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, clerk underneath, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. On the committee report to approve 20-327, Scott, it's all right.
[John Falco]: Second, Mr. President. All in motion, council lights. Seconded by Vice President Tabiello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. On the committee report, on the motion of Councilor Knight to approve, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 49-287, May 12th, 2020 committee of the whole report. The meeting was a follow up to the meeting that we interviewed the zoning consultants. Everyone kind of went back and forth and expressed their thought with regard to both companies. In the end, we decided that there were a number of motions that came out of this. Councilor Knight moved to take a vote on whether the next step in the process should be recodification, seconded by Councilor Bears. Passed at a roll call vote, seven in favor, zero opposed. Councilor Knight asked Ms. Kahn, I'll see. I'm sorry. Councilor, I then move to direct the procurement director to reach out to UTILE to inform UTILE that the council wants to work with UTILE on recodification with Mr. Bobrowski leading the recodification effort that was seconded by Councilor Caraviello and passed on a roll call vote seven to zero.
[John Falco]: Motion to accept the committee report, seconded by Councilor Knight. Seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Pizzo, do you have a question?
[John Falco]: I heard back from Mark Hrabowski, and I will be making a call to him tomorrow. So I should hopefully have an update for everyone within the next couple of days.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, we seconded by Councilor Knight to approve the committee report. Councilor Garner, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 19-659 and 20-042, May 13th, 2020, Committee of the Whole meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the proposed marijuana ordinance. We thank the Subcommittee on Zoning for their hard work on the draft copy of the ordinance. Councilwoman Haynes summarized the changes that were made in the subcommittee. using the draft ordinance as a guide. Let's see. Council and I discussed the proposed members of the selection committee. So there's a lot of discussion with regard to the proposed marijuana ordinance. In the end, what we did is we actually sent it out to be updated and to get a new red line copy from KP Law and City Solicitor Scanlon. That has been returned and we will be meeting about that tomorrow night at 6 p.m. on Zoom.
[John Falco]: A motion of council, I'd like to approve the committee report, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. I have any affirmative, zero, and the negative, the motion passes. Let's see, Clerk Herbies, did you get anything, any emails regarding public participation, or is there anyone that wanted to speak?
[John Falco]: Thank you, she spoke earlier, so thank you. Let's see, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you for that update. Let's see, records. The records of the meeting of May 12th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to approve the records, seconded by Vice President Taviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. The records are approved. Clerk Arnabes, do we cover over then?
[John Falco]: Motion to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Lopez. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. Motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Good night to everyone and all be safe and healthy. Thank you.
[John Falco]: The 16th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag
[John Falco]: This meeting is being broadcast live on Channel 22 Comcast and Channel 43 Verizon. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions in the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 30A, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are able to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting, Hearings 20-343 Legal Notice City of Medford Five-Year Consolidated Plan 2020 Annual Public Action Plan Revised Public Hearing. This is a public hearing. A virtual public hearing via Zoom will be held by the Medford City Council on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 7 p.m. The purpose of the public hearing will be to invite the general public and representatives of public service agencies to express comments regarding the city's five-year consolidated plan and annual actual plan for community development and planning. The actual plan contains the proposed use of community development block grant CDBG funds for programming in 2020, which extends from July 1st, 2020 through June 30th, 2021. The consolidated plan includes broad goals and objectives to address priority needs with resources available from HUD, including a five-year strategy for use of CDBG funding for the years 2020 through 2024. The Office of Community Development will be requesting that the Medford City Council authorize Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, official representative of the City of Medford, to submit the 2020 through 2024 Consolidated Plan and 2020 Annual Action Plan application for funds in all assurances and certifications to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city's applying for $1,574,868 in CDBG funds. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations slash aids. TDD 781-393-2516. Medford is an EEOAA 504 employer. At this point, I declare the public hearing open to those in favor of the petition. Is there anyone here that is in favor of the petition? Okay, if you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay. At this point, is there anyone else in favor of the Is there anyone else here in favor that would like to speak at this point in time? Okay. Clerk Hurtubise, has anything come in through email?
[John Falco]: Okay. At this point, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone here tonight that is opposition to the petition? Yes. Are you in opposition to the petition, miss? Oh, no answer.
[John Falco]: No worries at all. Is there anyone in opposition of the petition? Clerk, Hurtubise. Any communication or email from anyone in opposition?
[John Falco]: Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Alicia, if you'd like to present now or make your presentation, please, you can do that right now. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Move for approval, Mr. President On the motion of councilor Knight. Councilor Bears. On the motion council Knight, seconded by Councilor Marks, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Okay. Clerk Hurtubise, any questions that have come in through email?
[John Falco]: And it doesn't look like anybody else wants to speak. On the motion of council and I seconded by Councilor Mark. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. And the affirmative zero and the negative the motion passes. Move suspension of the rules, Mr. President. Thank you, Alicia. On the motion of Councilor Marks to suspend the rules, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll to suspend the rules.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are suspended. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Communications from the mayor, 20-355. Dear Council President Falco, and honorable members of the Medford City Council. As you are aware, the city is working in coordination with MassDOT to plan for safe routes to school project for the Brooks Elementary School. The project involves improvements to sidewalks that directly abut private residential parcels. The federal funding granted for this project requires that the right-of-way be in complete ownership and physical control of the city. The survey prepared for the project identify 12 private properties that contain public infrastructure or require a temporary construction easement. In order to meet the requirements of the projects, permanent easements will alter the High Street, Mystic Street, and Walcott Street layouts to encompass the public infrastructure in temporary easements with will facilitate construction of sidewalks. The written offer was sent to the 12 property owners via certified mail on April 2, 2020, and Tim McGibbon, City Engineer, has been in contact with each owner to address concerns throughout this process, starting from the initial contact letter back in December 2019. easements were appraised by a certified general appraiser and those appraisals were reviewed by a certified general review appraiser to establish just compensation for the easements. I respectfully request that the city council vote to approve the attached order of taking associated with these easements at your regular May 12, 2020 meeting and therefore approve the alternations of High Street, Mystic Street, and Walcott Street. The alternations of High Street, Mystic Street, and Walcott Street are approved by the Mayor and recommended to the City Council by the Community Development Board via unanimous vote on March 25, 2020. Mr. McGibbon will be in attendance to answer any questions on this matter. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Additional documents may be inspected in the office of the city clerk, Bedford City Hall, Bedford, Massachusetts. Okay, let's see. We have a city engineer with us tonight, Tim McGibbon. Tim, I don't know if you want to maybe speak to this a little bit, or if the councillors have questions, we can go with the questions. But if you want to lead off with what we're doing, that'd be great.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Let's see, we have Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Oh, I apologize Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello, then Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: So Councilor Marks has offered in a motion as a B paper to the main paper that has been seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording in that motion?
[John Falco]: That's not what I said. It's not conditional.
[John Falco]: It's not, it's not, that's not conditional. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Carlos Scarpelli. Tim McGibbon has a comment.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: What's the clarification on that on that B paper?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you
[John Falco]: Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. If I may for one minute, let's see, City Clerk Hurtubise, I believe you received a message from our traffic engineer. Could you read that?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I'm going to call on them right now. Uh, so let's see. Is there anybody that would like to speak? Yes. Uh, right here. If you could please press for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Let's see, who else wanted to speak?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Would anybody else like to speak? On the question, Mr. President. Just checking the second page. Can I see anyone else? Let's see, have you received any emails?
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you We have one person Name and address for the record
[John Falco]: Okay, so we will take the B paper first. The B paper was offered by Councilor Marks, and that was to extend the bike lane. And that was seconded by Councilor, let's see, that was seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. So on the B paper, the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative motion passes. On the main paper, let's see, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Carter, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: While we're under suspension to take paper 20-354 out of order. 20-354 offered by Council of beers being resolved at the Medford City Council, that the city administration provide an update on the method rental assistance program including how residents can apply eligibility requirements and information on available services. Council of beers.
[John Falco]: Thank you. That's all, Mark. Thank you for mentioning that. That is a good, great idea.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the council? Councilor Knight? No, it's okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. Any other questions from anyone?
[John Falco]: Clerk Hernebies, any emails on this?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. On the motion of Council of Beers, as amended by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, having the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight to revert to the regular order of business. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. We will now revert to the regular order of business. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-344 offered by Councilor Knight and Vice President Caraviello. Whereas the question was raised at a recent meeting by the Zoning Court of Appeals as to whether or not experiences are authorized in the City of Medford. And whereas on July 19, 2016, the City of the Medford City Council approved paper 166-586. which requested a written legal opinion from the city solicitor as to whether or not use variances are authorized in the city of Medford. And whereas, on August 12, 2016, the city solicitor provided the requested legal opinion to the city council, which determined use variances are authorized in the city of Medford. And whereas, this opinion was not challenged by any entity in any legal form. And whereas, the Medford City Council failed to approve Papers 1-7 and 18-354 seeking the deauthorization of use variances in the City of Medford and whereas on April 24, 2018, the Medford City Council approved 18-376 in a super majority roll call vote, calling for the adoption of the city solicitor's opinion and authorization to amend the codified ordinances to reflect the finding of his opinion. And whereas the Medford City Council in the city of Medford is the city of Medford legislative body enabled as the sole authority responsible for the passage of local zoning law, be it resolved that the Medford City Council requests The city solicitor Scanlon forward to the Zoning Board of Appeals a copy of the solicitor's opinion and other documents deemed necessary at her discretion. And be it further resolved that the city clerk provide copies of Papers 16-856, 17-007, 18-354, and 18-376 to the Zoning Board of Appeals. We have further resolved that the Medford City Council respectively requests that the Zoning Board of Appeals acknowledges and affirm by way of roll call vote the following. Number one, the Zoning Board of Appeals has been provided a copy of the city solicitor's opinion on August 12, 2016, determining use variances are permitted in the city of Medford. Number two, the Zoning Board of Appeals has been provided with council papers 16-856, 17-007, 18-354, and 18-376. Number three, the Zoning Board of Appeals recognizes that the Medford City Council is the City of Medford's legislative body enabled as the sole authority responsible for the passage of local zoning law. Number four, the Zoning Board of Appeals recognizes that the question as to whether or not use variances are authorized in the City of Medford has been addressed by way of the August 12, 2016 legal opinion and council passage of paper 18-376. Number five, the Zoning Board of Appeals recognizes that use variances are authorized in the city of Medford. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. We have Councilor Knight and Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Layton.
[John Falco]: And the decision- Point of information, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you councilman. So there's a motion president point of information point of information Councilor Marks The zba is an autonomous body.
[John Falco]: So there's a motion on the floor by council and I, is that, does that motion have a second? Second, Mr. President. Second by Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, did you have further questions or comments?
[John Falco]: Okay. Councilor Peters, did you have any further questions?
[John Falco]: Okay. Any other questions from the council? No. Okay. Any other questions in general? Anybody from the public who have a question or want to comment on this? Okay. Clerk Hernebies, have you received any emails since we started talking about this issue?
[John Falco]: Okay, so there is a motion on the floor. That motion was from Councilor Knight, and it was seconded by Vice President Caraviello. On that motion, Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Four in the affirmative, three in the negative. The motion passes. Four votes to three. Sorry about that. 20-345 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it so resolved that the Chief of Fire and Chief of Police provide the Medford City Council with a breakdown of minimum safe staffing requirements by job title, a breakdown of current staffing levels by job title, and a listing of budgeted positions that are currently vacant. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilman. So Councilman, did you want to take these all up at once or did you want to individually?
[John Falco]: Okay, so I'm going to read those, I'll read each resolution now and then we will take a vote on this.
[John Falco]: Okay, so 20346 offered by Council night be it so resolved that the Medford City Council request an update on the balance remaining in the DPW Snow and Ice account. 2-0-351 offered by Council on 8. Be it so resolved that Medford City Council request a report from the city administration outlining the number of vacant positions funded in the fiscal year 20 budget, including the job title, department, amount of appropriation for each job title, and account number for which each appropriation is funded. And 2-0-350 offered by Council on 8. Be it so resolved that the Medford City Council request The figures outlined in the revenue forecast presentation made at the May 8th, 2019 City Council Committee, the whole by the, that's May 8th, 2020 City Council Committee, the whole by the city's outside auditors provided to the council in written format. So on those resolutions offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by... Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Peters.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peres. We have Council Marks, Council Knight, the Vice President Caraviello, Council Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: One second, Councilor Scarpelli, you're muted, one minute. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scott. Councilor Morell, did you have your hand up before? I did, yeah.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have Councilor Knight, then Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So we have Councilor Scarpelli, then we'll come back to Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Bears. So there's a B paper on the table, not on the table, there's a B paper that was offered by Councilor Bears and it was actually, can you read the wording of the B paper?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Herveze, please call the roll on the B paper.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes. On the main resolutions which were joined, 20-345, 20-346, 20-50 and 20-351. Mr. President. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Point of clarification, Council on 9th.
[John Falco]: Okay. So there's a motion on the floor. That motion was offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. And that was on the joint resolutions 20345, 20346. two zero three five five one and two zero three five zero. On that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Before the roll, Mr. President, are we voting these all together? They would join. The resolutions would join. They're all papers asking for financial information from the administration. And we're taking one vote on all the papers? Yes, it's just really a request for information, if I'm correct, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So why don't we do this? On the motion of council, I'd like to join all those papers. Is there a second?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. All those in favor? Actually, Clerk Irving, call the roll, please.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The papers are joined together on the motion to approve. Offered by Councilor Knight. Seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative. One in the negative, the motion passes. 20-347 offered by Council of Marks be it resolved that 9th Street be repaired or repaved in the interest of public safety.
[John Falco]: On that motion by Councilor Mark, seconded by- Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Bernanke, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-348 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the administration report back the status of the tough square street project. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Marks. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello as amended by Councilor Mark seconded by Councilor Wright.
[John Falco]: just as you're getting to the good parts.
[John Falco]: Okay so we'll make that as an amendment as well?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Marks and seconded by. Second. Councilor Scarpelli, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-349 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the city administration provide an update on any plans for partnerships or programs that will allow for expanded or universal COVID-19 testing for Method residents Council Member Rowe.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. If I may ask, do you know if those cities and towns that are doing this testing, if they're also doing antibody testing?
[John Falco]: Okay, can we, would you mind, I probably can't as president, but can we amend to actually include antibody testing as well?
[John Falco]: If that's okay with you. Yep, that works. Okay. Okay, the motion by Councilor Morell. Let's see, it's amended by Vice President Caraviello and seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-352 offered by Councilor Knight. We have resolved that the Medford City Council request the Recreation Department expand programming surrounding socially distanced recreational activities and opportunities. For example, citywide Zoom Trivia Nights, maintaining a database of residents in organizations wishing to participate in car parades and assisting in the organization of such events, TikTok video contests, scavenger hunts, and online arts shows. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, it looks like we lost you. I was just going to add in, I know, you know, Councilor Knight, you there?
[John Falco]: This is about a 45 second gap.
[John Falco]: Where was I? If I may. So I've been helping out since coronavirus started. My wife and I have been helping out during lunch hour to go down and give out meals. And the whole meal program that's given out, you know, the meals that are given out during lunch in different locations throughout our city. Uh, that's, that's really, that's operated by the recreation department. So as I go pick up my meals each day, I see Kevin Bailey, I see, I see Danny, Danny folks and Kate Quinn, and they're picking up meals every day and they have their own stations where they're giving out meals. They're even hand delivering meals as well. Um, so they, they're out in the community hand delivering meals and they're, I mean, Unfortunately, it's a recreation department of only three people. It's not like, you know, our neighbors next door that have, you know, you know, probably 10 to 15. But there's only three. So I know they're working hard. They're doing a lot of work. You know, they're trying to maintain the you know, the daily programs and putting in online content as well, as well as, you know, you know, prepping for summer programs and contingency planning as well if those summer programs don't happening, it don't happen depending on what happens with COVID-19. But I know that they are hard at work. I know that they're working nonstop, especially on the meals program. So I just wanted to bring that to light and make sure that people know that. I mean, it's, not a big department, but that department is working continuously each day, especially with the meal distribution during COVID-19. And on top of it, they're refurbishing the gym down at the, uh, uh, down at the Chevalier, uh, the, the, the rec headquarters. So, um, so there's a lot going on, um, and they're doing a lot of work, but I just wanted to mention that as well. Uh, did anybody else want to comment on this resolution? Councilor Caraviello, was that your hand up or were you just throwing something?
[John Falco]: Okay, so on the motion of night second seconded by a conflict Scarpelli Clark Hernandez actually click every year to be Gemini emails on that I Have no emails on this or any other topics remaining on the agenda for this evening. Okay, and is anybody I want to speak on this I Okay, seeing that no one wants to speak on it. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Kernoghese, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-353 offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the city administration amend the waste management contract to include Maple Park condominiums located at 65 Valley Street for bulk pickup service.
[John Falco]: Actually, does someone else want to speak? Councilor Bears. So the motion is by Councilor Marks. It's been seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears and Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Councilor Bears. Just if I could. Yes Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: That very well could be. Who's the chair of that, Mr. President? Here it is, the public works. Councilor Peters. You. Councilor Marks and Vice President Caraviello. The dream team.
[John Falco]: Let's see, so we have any other questions, comments? Let's see, we have a hand up here. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes. So the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Let's see, we have Communications from the mayor. June 0-356, joint resolution to petition the federal government for emergency financial relief. It is hereby resolved by her honor, the mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, the Honorable Medford City Council and the Honorable Medford School Committee that whereas on March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization designated the COVID-19 outbreak pandemic health emergency. And whereas on March 20th, 2020, the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a declaration of a state of emergency to respond to COVID-19. And whereas on March 16th, 2020, her honor The mayor and the Medford Board of Health announced that a local state of emergency exists in the city of Medford. And whereas the public health crisis has precipitated an economic collapse that has affected every sector of the local, state, and national economies. Whereas, following this collapse, municipalities across Massachusetts and the United States are facing a fiscal crisis that threatens the ability for cities and towns to deliver critical services to our community. And whereas, the delivery of these services directly and critically affects the quality of life, safety, education, and health of the Medford community, now therefore be it resolved that the city of Medford by her honor, the mayor, the honorable city council and the honorable Medford school committee. Number one, the federal and state governments by and through the city's elected delegations continue engaging with cities and towns to determine budget needs and solutions at the municipal level. And number two, the federal and state governments consider it an urgent and emergency need to provide adequate financial support to cities and towns to weather the current economic and fiscal crisis in the form of direct stimulus and relief as soon as possible in order to continue to provide the high quality of critical services upon which the Medford community relies. The original paper filed in the office of the city clerk Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts.
[John Falco]: On the motion to approve by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Let's see, so we've covered almost it. We've covered everything, right, Clark-Renovies?
[John Falco]: Okay, so reports of committees. I actually do not have this report in front of me. Does anyone have, does anyone want to summarize the reports of committees and we can table them to the next meeting? Motion to table. Motion to table. Motion by Councilor Knight to table, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero negative. Those reports are tabled. Records. Let's see the records of the meeting of May 5th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: I have a motion of Council of Morell to approve the record seconded by Council of Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor. So on the motion of Vice President Campbell.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello to pause for a moment of silence for everyone that has passed recently due to COVID-19. At this point, let's all rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Anything else? Motion to adjourn. Second. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to adjourn the meeting. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes, the meeting is adjourned. See you tomorrow night. Stay fit and healthy, thank you.
[John Falco]: In the 15th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come in order. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. Seven present. All seven members are present. At this time I'd ask everyone to 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. Okay, pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 orders suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18 and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting in the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. motions orders and resolutions to zero dash 328 offer by console and I be a result that the method city council be provided with the monthly progress reports from the city administration on the status of all draft ordinances requested by the council console tonight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions or comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli, did you have a question or were you just seconding the resolution?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions from the public or clerk or to be is do we receive any emails.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: We have resolved that the Medford City Council requests that the mayor meet with the council president to develop a plan to safely hold pre-budget and budget hearings in a non-virtual setting. Council on the night.
[John Falco]: We had number two, Vice President Caraviello, you wanted to speak on this if you could.
[John Falco]: Council night.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell, did you have any further questions? Did that answer your question? Yep, that covered it. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions from the Council? So I will be more than happy to talk with the mayor to see if that's something that we can do, see if it's feasible. So I can reach out to her to discuss that and we can go from there. Are there any other questions from the council?
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-330 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council address the issues at Oak Grove Cemetery with people abusing the social criteria imposed by the city administration and potential safety issues. Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you councilor Light. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the general public? Clerk Hernebies, can you let us know if you've received any emails?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. 20-331 offered by Councilor Bears, being resolved that the city administration provide an update on how residents can receive masks purchased by the city. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the council? Any questions from the public? On the motion of the Council of Beers, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to receive a place on file.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-332 offered by Councilor Bears be it resolved. Actually, we have a couple of similar resolutions offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Marks. So I will read them both now, if you wouldn't mind. 20-332 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Lieutenant Michael Endicott on his retirement from the Medford Fire Department after 32 years of service to the city of Medford. And we also have 20-334 offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate Lieutenant Michael Endicott on his retirement after an exemplary 32 years of dedicated service to the residents of Medford. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Dean of the delegation, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Anyone else?
[John Falco]: Yes, Councilor Light.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. And if I may add, I didn't meet Michael until I was actually gone out to the city council, but Lieutenant Endicott is a great person, very committed to the community and like to thank him for his continuous commitment to the city of Medford and to the highest service. So we thank him for his many years of service to our city. So thank you, Lieutenant Endicott. and congratulations on your retirement. On the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: If that's okay with my fellow councilors, I'd like to do that.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-333 offered by Councilor Bears be a result that the Medford City Council dedicate this meeting to the residents and families who have lost loved ones during the coronavirus crisis. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Clerk Arnaviz, before we move any further, do you have the language in the B paper? Mr. President, I do. Okay, thank you. There were a number of people that wanted to speak. Vice President Caraviello, then Councilor Markson, Councilor Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council? Any other questions in general from the public? Or Clerk Carterby, are there any emails that have come in on this issue?
[John Falco]: So let's see. Clerk Hurtubise, could you please read back the language of the B paper offered by Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Okay, on that motion, the B paper offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero the negative, the motion passes. On the main resolution that was offered by Councilor Peers, seconded by. Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-335 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that Medford's current fiscal concerns be discussed. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, would you like to, as far as the, would you like to amend the resolution to include the letter to the federal delegation?
[John Falco]: Perfect, thank you. Councilor Bears. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. I believe Councilor Knight, you were up next.
[John Falco]: Chief of staff Rodriguez, do you like to take that question?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, any further questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the council? If I may add quickly, I thank Councilor, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor.
[John Falco]: I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. I am looking forward to, and it's probably not the proper term, and someone else mentioned that earlier, about meeting Thursday night. It's something that we need to be on top of this. This is a huge deficit that we're talking about. When we talk about level funding a budget, level funding a budget is basically cutting. You're starting off by cutting because level funded budget is basically cut already. So it's already a reduction of services. So this is not that we need to be on top of. I'm glad that we're meeting on Thursday night. It's definitely long overdue. I look forward to the meeting because this is something that we need to tackle head on. We need to really take a look at all of our options with the administration. And Tony is going to hopefully be able to walk us through this whole situation. I did call into the meeting last week, and it was interesting to listen to him and to listen to the really dire circumstances that we're under. But we need to take a look at everything, and that meeting will be very important Thursday night. Are there any other questions? Does anybody else want to comment on this? And while I'm at it, Claire Corderby, do you have any emails on this issue? Mr. President, I have no emails on this issue. Okay, and it seems like there's no questions from the public as well. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Okay, Clerk Hurtubise. Let's see, so on the motion of Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: As amended by Councilor Marks and seconded by? Second.
[John Falco]: Oh, Councilor Scarpelli, I'm sorry. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: 2-0-336 offered by Councilor Lennart and Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the Medford City Council be provided with a list of all supplemental appropriations requested by the school department for the period of fiscal year 2017 through 2020 and copies of the city council votes on these papers. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council beers.
[John Falco]: If I may really quick Councilor Knight, I'd like to thank Councilors Knight and Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. And I agree with all the comments from my colleagues. I think this is the time where we need to come together on things. And we need to work together to really move forward, come together as one community. This will be the toughest budget. I don't even know when there's been a budget that's been this bad. So this is gonna be a really tough budget, but we're gonna get things done if we work together. We need to work together as a team, and I'm sure that we will. I feel very confident in that. And we need to work together with the school committee and the mayor as well. But we need to stay positive. We need to work together as one unified body. So I thank everyone for their comments. And actually, before I call for the roll, Are there any other comments from the public or Clark Cardinese, if you could please check your email. Any questions from the email?
[John Falco]: Any from the public? Any questions? Okay, seeing that there are no questions, and there are no questions from the council on the motion of Councilor Knight and Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-337 offered by Councilor Knight being resolved that the Medford City Council be provided a summary relative to what percentage of the city budget was appropriated to fund the school district for the period of fiscal year 2017 through 2020. Councilor Knight? Mr. President, the host is dead. We've beat the death. Move for approval. Second. Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, actually, If we call the roll, any questions from the public or Clark-Kennebys, are there any emails on this issue?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Second. On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clark-Kennebys, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. 20-338 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council be provided with the following information from the school department. Number one, list of all non-contractual salary increases by job title, including salary prior to increase in salary following increase for the period of fiscal year 2017 through 2020. Number two, list of all proposed budget amendments and copy of votes made by the school committee during budget debates for the period of fiscal year 2017 through 2020. Number three, a copy of the roll call vote for approval of the school department budget by the school committee for fiscal year 2017 through 2020. fiscal year 2020 budgets. Number four, a breakdown of annual and cumulative budget increases by dollar figure and percentage of increase from the previous year for the period of fiscal year 2017 through 2020. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight, any questions from the Council? Any comments? Any questions from the public or any emails, Councilor Hernandez? Have you received any emails on this topic, on this resolution?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-339 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the city clerk provide the Medford City Council with the committee reports regarding the school department budget for fiscal year 2017 through 2020. Councilor, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Second. On the motion of Council of Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Any questions or comments from the Council? Clerk Hurtubise, any emails or any comments from the public?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. On the motion of Council of Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. Communications from the mayor. 2020-340, April 30th, 2020 via electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding the Community Preservation Committee. Dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable body approve the following on recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. Number one, requesting the appropriation of $4,000 from the CPA General Reserve under the small grants program to the Medford Historical Society and Museum to make electrical upgrades to the archive and research room of the historic building. The project will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund By category, Community Housing Reserve and General Reserve. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Let's see. Dave or Roberta, would you like to speak on this or? Hang on.
[John Falco]: John? Yes. OK, John Anderson.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, we have a few questions.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: I think we're having a problem with Councilor Knight's connection. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: John, thank you very much for your hard work and your dedication, continuous dedication. We really appreciate it. Roberta, thank you for your hard work as well. Are there any questions that have come in through email, Clerk Hurtubise, or are there any questions from the public?
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of, let's see, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by- Seconded, Mr. President. Councilor Morell, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you. Paper is approved. Thank you. Okay. Clark Carnabies, besides the two suspension items, is that there's no committee reports, right?
[John Falco]: Okay. Uh, so there were a couple of, uh, items that were put in at the suspension. Uh, thank you Clark Carnabies. Um, and the, the, uh, the condolences, um, so in a, I think these were sent late in the day, so my apologies. So if you wouldn't mind, they're both offered by myself. 20-341 offered by President Falco, be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Alice Durant Rapallo on a recent passing. Ms. Rapallo worked in the building department for many years and was a longtime city employee. So our thoughts and prayers go to her family. and 20-342 offered by President Falco be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deepest sincere condolences to the family of Dick Crocker on his recent passing. And he is a longtime, was a longtime city employee and a longtime building inspector as well. So at this point in time, if you could all rise for a brief moment of silence. Are there any other clerk enemies? Is there anything else that? Mr. President, do you want to take a vote on those, on those condolence resolutions? Yes, if we could on both of the, do you want individual votes on these? You can join them if you'd like. Okay, if we could join these on the condolence resolutions. on the motion of the, I guess President Falco seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the council? Any comments? Okay. On the motion, is there a motion to adjourn?
[John Falco]: Councilor Griggs, you had a question. Oh, yeah, actually, you know what? Councilor Griggs, hang on. So let's see, we got the records. The records of the meeting of April 28th were passed to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Motion to approve the records by Councilor Marks. Second. Councilor Bears, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. And the records are approved. Before we adjourn, I just wanted to mention really quick, I've received a, a request from the Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust to appoint someone to be the council representative to M-Belt. And Councilor Bears has expressed interest in this role. So I'm going to appoint Councilor Bears as the city council representative to the Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust. So congratulations. Congratulations, good luck.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council, Vice President Caraviello to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The meeting is adjourned. I hope everyone has a safe and healthy night. Be safe. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Okay, the 14th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will not come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. Can we all please rise to salute the flag?
[John Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020, order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 30A, Section 18. in the governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and your parties with the right annual requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the city of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post this on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website and audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-320 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration give us an update on the policy dealing with public parking during this trying time. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay. Any of the councillors like to speak on this? Okay, Claude Hernandez, do you have any emails?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli. Second, Mr. President. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-321 offered by Consuelo Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration give us an update dealing with the census. Consuelo Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And if I may really quick, Neil Osborne, who is basically the point person, I believe, for the city with regard to the census. We were going back and forth before coronavirus, trying to set up a committee, the whole meeting, just to give everyone an update as to what the plans were with regard to what the city was gonna do and how things were going to operate with regard to the census. And once coronavirus happened, everything kind of went off track. So I'm going to try to schedule a committee the whole meeting. I'm not sure if Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez had mentioned previously that Neil might be on the call. Do we know if Neil's on the call?
[John Falco]: OK, no problem. It doesn't sound like he's on the call. But I will schedule a committee the whole meeting with Neil to set up a Zoom call so we can actually specifically talk about the census. But Councilor Scott, it looks like you
[John Falco]: Are there any questions regarding this resolution? Any comments from the council? Any comments in general? Okay. Chief of Staff Dave Rodriguez, did you have a comment you wanted to make?
[John Falco]: If you could, I'd greatly appreciate that. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions or comments? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by- Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, and the affirmative is zero. Zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: As amended by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to take 2-0, 3-1-6. From the table. All those in favor.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-316, April 16th, 2020, to President John Falco, honorable members of the Medford City Council, from Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, regarding loan order city sidewalks, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following loan order. City method loan order citywide sidewalks, be it ordered that the sum of $500,000 be hereby is appropriated to pay the cost of repairing, constructing, and reconstructing various sidewalks throughout the city, including engineering and design services, and for the payment of all costs incidentally related thereto, that to meet this appropriation, the city treasurer, with approval of the mayor, is authorized to borrow said sum under Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 7.1, as amended and supplemented or pursuant to any other and to issue bonds or notes of the city thereof. Therefore, any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this order, lest any such premium applied to the payment of the cost of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this order in accordance with Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. If further order, that the city treasurer is authorized to file an application with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Municipal Finance Oversight Board to qualify into Chapter 44A of the general laws, any and all bonds or notes of the city authorized by this vote or pursuant to any prior vote of the city and in connection. therewith to provide such information and execute such documents as the Municipal Finance Oversight Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may require, very truly yours, Mayor Brianne Alago-Kern. So last week, this paper came before us. There were a number of questions that the councilors had for the administration. We received some responses earlier today from Let's see he's from my chief of staff Dave Rodriguez. They were forwarded to us by Club her to bees did everyone have a chance to read those or what we can do is I can actually go through the questions and read up the answers so everyone can I see what the responses were from the administration. Vice President Caraviello had the first question. He offered an amendment requesting information on whether the mayor and the DPW have looked into the pilot program mentioned in January to repair sidewalks for less money than it costs to replace them and whether method reached any agreement with Walden. The answer, I assume that this question is regarding the request from the council that the administration explore the option of utilizing a method of sidewalk repair that involves grinding and not full replacement. The requested funding is for the continuation of a previously procured contract with an existing contractor, La Rovere Construction. I'm not aware of any negotiations or discussions that have been had by the administration with the city of Malden regarding sidewalk replacement. We will look into the feasibility of the sidewalk repair method vendor in future contracts. So that was the answer to the first question. Second question was asked by Councilor Marks. Council Marks offered an amendment requesting the answer to the following question. Is the administration working from a list? The answer, yes. While the pavement condition index, the PCI project is set to begin this summer, the mayor has asked the DPW commissioner and city engineer for a list based on their experience of sidewalks that are in the most need of replacement, the sidewalks to be replaced and selected by using the following criteria in no particular order. One, age of the request. Two, condition of the surrounding sidewalks and driveway aprons. Three, geography, an attempt is made to spread it out equitably throughout the city. Part B to the question, if there is a list, what percentage of the work on this list is being done with this $500,000? The answer, it depends on the on the ground conditions for each sidewalk. The hope is to stretch the work as far as possible. Last year, the city was able to replace 232 sidewalks of varying lengths under the current contract in 2019. Part C, is there a priority list? The answer is yes, based on the criteria above. Part D, when will the work take place? Answer, upcoming construction season. Number three, Councilor Morell offered an amendment requesting answers to the following questions. A, can the administration please clarify what phase three is and are there additional phases? B, does the administration anticipate making another request for funding sidewalk repairs and to when does that carry us? The answer is, that this is the second part of a two-year contract. Sidewalk repair replacement is constantly needed and subject to availability of funds. Number four, Council appears off an amendment requesting answers to the following question. How does this project in its funding fit into the COVID-19 impact on city finances? And does this funding request need to be pared back? Answer, the administration is currently working on understanding the extent of COVID-19 we'll have on our city finances for current and future fiscal years. A request has been put forth to complete a current contract. The city's finance team believes that this is within our capacity at this time. Question five, what is the current free cash balance? The answer is approximately $12 million. Number six, what is the city's current bonding capacity? The answer, the city is authorized to borrow up to 5% of the equalized values in the community. City is currently borrowing less than 1% of the EQB. The city's borrowing capacity currently exceeds $500 million. So those are questions that the administration, well actually these are the questions and answers, the answers from the administration. At this point in time, I'll recognize Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you, Treasurer Papio. Adam Knight, did you have a question, Councilor Knight? Okay, it looks like we lost Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, are you still there? Okay, it sounds like Councilor Knight might have a connection issue. Councilor Bears, if you could please continue. I'm still here.
[John Falco]: Okay. Are you ready to speak, Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Okay. Councilor Knight, are you ready to speak?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Councilor Bears, thank you for waiting patiently.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you. We'll finish up with this here.
[John Falco]: Okay, any other questions regarding this issue? Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Light. Any other questions? Okay, so what we'll do is first we will take up the B paper. Clerk Hurtubise, can you please read back the language to the B paper?
[John Falco]: Okay. On Councilor Scarpelli's B paper, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. I have the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the main paper, for the request for the bond of $500,000. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, correct. This is for the first reading pertaining to this bond. Who had the original motion for approval? The motion of, I'll make the motion. Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yes. While we're under suspension, reports from committees 19-659 and 20-098, which was a subcommittee on zoning that occurred on April 22nd, 2020. That was Vice President Caraviello's subcommittee on zoning. Vice President Caraviello, could you give us a brief synopsis of the meeting?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by
[John Falco]: Second. Councilor Bears to approve the committee report. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-300 and 20-302, April 22nd, 2020. There was a subcommittee on elderly and housing affairs, and that subcommittee is chaired by Councilor Zach Beers. Councilor Bears, can you give us a brief synopsis of that meeting?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Okay. On the motion of Motion to refer it back to regular business, Mr. President. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to report back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. We will now revert back to the regular order of business. 20-322. So what I'll do is these are a number of condolence resolutions. So what I'll do is I'll read them. If anybody wants to speak on them by all means, please let me know. We will take a vote and then we'll take a moment of silence at the end. 2-0-3-2-2 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of State Representative Sean Garberlee on the passing of his father. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, vice president Caraviello. On the motion of, uh, vice president Caraviello seconded by council night, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-323 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Maurice Del Vendo on the passing of his mother at the age of 102.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council sends its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Christine Spencer, mother of long-term, long-time law department secretary, Janice Spencer. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. If I may, there's two other condolences that are under suspension. And they're basically for the same person. They're offered by myself and by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: We'll take them all at once if that's all right.
[John Falco]: Yes, you are correct. So 20-325 is offered by Councilor Knight and Councilor Scarpelli. 20-326, if you don't mind, from the chair that's offered by me, President Falco. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council extend its deep and sincere condolences to the family of James Maturana on his recent passing.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Ioannidis, I'm sorry, did you want to speak further?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Got so much. Um, and if I may, uh, you know, I, I remember Jimmy is, so I'm a couple of years older than Jimmy, but I remember, uh, my earliest time playing baseball at the car park. And, uh, Jimmy was a few years younger than me, but he was the best kid on the team. He was just such an amazing athlete and amazing talent. Um, and I played little league with him at car park and Gillis park. And he was just a great, I would say great kid. Um, but I remember playing high school with him at football, playing football with him at Medford high years later. And I was a junior at the time. His brother, Dave was the senior. He was a quarterback. Jimmy was a sophomore and he started, he was that good. And he came in as a soft. Actually, I think he might've started as a freshman. Actually, he was that good. I mean, he was always a talented athlete. great athlete, but more than that, he was just a great person. Someone that was always fun to be with, always great to talk to, and he comes from an absolutely fabulous family. All the moderators have been, they're just fabulous people. They're all great, they've all had a lasting impact on this community. I graduated with Jimmy's wife, Suzanne and she's another fantastic person. And it's really tough to lose Jimmy. He's such a, just an amazing person and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family tonight. So at this point in time, why don't we all- Mr. President.
[John Falco]: At this time, why don't we all rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. And on the motion of council, and I seconded by Councilor Kelly, Clerk Hurtubise, do you please call the roll? That was in the final condolence.
[John Falco]: So at this point, we have a member of the public that would like to speak under public participation. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, that we suspend the rules to move to public participation. Clerk Urnavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Actually, no, we don't, you're right, because that was the last resolution. So at this point, we'll take up public participation. Is Eric on us? Mr. Von Berg?
[John Falco]: Okay. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell, thank you very much. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Vice President Caraviello?
[John Falco]: No worries, no worries. Actually, if I may really quick, since we have our chief of staff on the line, is there any,
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief of Staff Rodriguez. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilman Knox, thank you very much. And Mr. Bob Byrd, thank you for bringing this forward tonight. A very important issue. I know myself, I carry a mask wherever I go, you know, and I would recommend the same for everyone and anyone that's out there. always have a mask nearby, extremely valuable to have to prevent the spread. Councilor Scott probably would like to speak.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarapelli. Let's see, Matt Hughes.
[John Falco]: Matt Hughes, please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, any further comments on public participation? Okay.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I'm making my way with it now. John Costas.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay. Well, Mr. Von Berg, thank you for bringing that forward tonight. We appreciate it. Okay. Next item on the agenda is the minutes, I'm sorry, the records. Of course, I misplaced that page of the agenda once again. The records of the meeting of April 21st, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll for the approval of the records.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the records are approved. Before we adjourn, I'm just gonna read a quick announcement that came in just as we started the meeting from the DCR. It's a DCR traffic advisory for Fellsway West. Starting on Monday, May 4th, 2020 and continuing through June 11th, 2020, excluding weekends, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the DCR, will implement lane closures and parking restrictions along Fellsway West in the City of Medford from Salem Street to St. Francis Street outbound in I-93 and Salem Street inbound to accommodate paving operations During this time, work will fluctuate between day and evening operations. Additionally, a police detail will be on site, traffic patterns will be marked, and signage regarding parking restrictions will be posted. This will be from Monday, May 4th, 2020 through Thursday, June 11th, excluding weekends. Bellsway West. the city of Medford from Salem Street to St. Francis Street that's going outbound and inbound it's going to be I-93 to Salem Street inbound. So just to let everyone know that came in just as we started the meeting tonight. Let's see, so as we adjourn this meeting tonight, we're going to adjourn the meeting in the memory of Jimmy Maturano who passed away recently and those that have passed away to the COVID-19 virus. Mr. President?
[John Falco]: Yeah, Neil, if I may. Neil, are you there? I mentioned earlier in the meeting when this came up that we had tried to schedule a committee of the whole to discuss it, and then all of a sudden COVID-19 happened. So I'll probably still schedule a committee of the whole just because I'm sure there'll probably be plenty of questions once you get going. Amy, if you want to make a quick comment, that's fine. I think the Committee of the Whole will probably be better for a more robust discussion, I guess.
[John Falco]: We'll do it sooner than later. I'll send you an email tonight and we'll coordinate a time and we'll move forward on this as soon as possible.
[John Falco]: Great. Okay, thank you. Clerk Hurtubise, if we could please take the vote to adjourn the meeting.
[John Falco]: Yes, we do. On the vote, Vice President Capiello, seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, that's six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, meeting adjourned. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a good night, stay safe. Stay safe, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Good night.
[John Falco]: 14th, 13th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members present at this time, I'd ask everyone to 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. Okay, so if everyone can just bear with me for a few minutes. I'm actually working with Patrick to see if I can get this pre-recorded for the next meeting, but I have to read a number of meeting notices. So the first one, here we go. The agenda is a revised agenda. The original agenda was posted at 119 p.m. on April 16, 2020. This agenda was last revised on April 17, 2020 at 10.02 a.m. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18, In the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we aren't able to do so, despite best efforts, we will post it on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website in audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. All messages from the Governor of Massachusetts, Charles D. Baker. Order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 20. Whereas on March 10, 2020, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting pursuant to the powers provided by Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 and Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Law, has declared that there now exists in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a state of emergency due to the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus COVID-19. And whereas many important functions of state and local government are executed by public bodies, as the term is defined in general law chapter 30A, section 18, in meetings that are open to the public, consistent with the requirements of law and sound public policy, and in order to ensure active, public engagement with contribution to and oversight of the functions of government, and whereas both the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, DPH, have advised residents to take extra measures to put distance between themselves and other people to further reduce the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, the CDC and DPH have advised high-risk individuals including people over the age of 60, anyone with underlying health conditions, or a weakened immune system in pregnant women to avoid large gatherings. Whereas Section 7, 8, In 8A of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, authorize the governor during the effective period of a declared emergency to exercise authority over public assemblages as necessary to protect the health and safety of persons. And whereas low-cost telephone, social media, and other internet-based technologies are currently available that will permit the convening of a public body through virtual means and allow real-time public access to the activities of the public body. And whereas Section 20 of Chapter 30A in implementing regulations issued by the Attorney General currently authorize remote participation by members of a public body subject to certain limitations. Now, therefore, I hereby order the following. Number one, a public body as defined in section 18 of chapter 30A of the general laws is hereby relieved from the requirement of section 20 of chapter 30A that it conduct its meeting in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public, provided that the public body makes provision to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body for interested members of the public through adequate alternative means. Adequate alternative means of the public access shall mean measures that provide transparency and permit timely and effective public access to the deliberations of the public body. Such means may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite-enabled audio or video conferencing, or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body while those activities are occurring. We are allowing for active real-time participation by members of the public is a specific requirement of a general or special law or regulation or a local ordinance or bylaw pursuant to which the proceeding is conducted, any alternative means of public access must provide for such participation. A municipal body The municipal public body that, for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, is unable to provide alternative means of public access that will enable the public to follow the proceedings of the municipal public body as those activities are occurring in real time, may instead post on its municipal website a full and complete transcript, recording, or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as practicable upon conclusion of the proceedings. This paragraph shall not apply to proceedings that are conducted pursuant to a general or special law or regulation or local ordinance or bylaw that requires allowance for active participation by members of the public. A public body must offer its selected alternative means of access to its proceedings without subscription, toll or similar charge to the public. Number two, public bodies are hereby authorized to allow remote participation by all members in any public in any meeting of the public body. The requirement that a quorum of the body in their chair be physically present at a specified meeting location as provided in general law chapter 30a section 20d in 940 CMR 29.10 4B is hereby suspended. Number three, a public body that elects to conduct its proceedings under the relief provided in sections one or two above shall ensure that all party entitled or required to appear before it shall be able to do so through remote means as if the party were a member of the public body and participating remotely as provided in section two. Number four, all other provisions of section 18 to chapter, 25 of chapter 30 a and the attorney general's implementing regulations shall otherwise remain unchanged. If fully applicable to the activities of the public bodies, this order is effective immediately. It shall remain in effect until it's rescinded or until the state of emergency is terminated. Whichever happens first governor of Massachusetts, Charles D Banker.
[John Falco]: I have a motion to suspend the rules, to take communications from the mayor, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are now suspended. Communications from the mayor, 20-316. April 16, 2020, to President John Falco and honorable members of the Medford City Council. From Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn regarding loan order citywide sidewalks, dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following loan order. City of Medford loan order citywide sidewalks, be it ordered that the sum of $500,000 be in hereby is appropriated to pay the cost of repairing, constructing and reconstructing various sidewalks throughout the city, including engineering and design services and for the payment of all costs incidental and related thereto. that it meet this appropriation, the city treasurer with approval of the mayor authorized to borrow said sum under and pursuant to Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 7, one as amended and supplemented or pursuant to any other enabling authority in to issue bonds or notes of the city therefore. any premium received upon the seal of any bonds or notes approved by this order, lest any such premium applied to the payment of the cost of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this order in accordance with Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. In further order, that the city treasurer is authorized to file an application with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Municipal Finance Oversight Board to qualify under Chapter 44A of the General Laws, any and all bond or notes of the city authorized by this vote or pursuant to any prior vote of the city in connection therewith. to provide such information and execute such documents as the Municipal Finance Oversight Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may require. Very truly yours, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Council on nine.
[John Falco]: I was too, and actually, I don't think anyone is here with us tonight. I was thinking someone from the DPW or the chief of staff, but no one seems to be on the line from what I can tell.
[John Falco]: Okay, Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. We have Councilor Marks, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Why don't we, if you wouldn't mind, Councilor Rhoads, why don't we offer those as amendments from you? You'll have an amendment, Vice President Caraviello as well. Is that? That's fine. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. I just received a note that actually Aleesha Nunley was supposed to be with us tonight. She's not feeling well, but I believe the chief of staff is going to join us maybe in a few minutes. So let's keep the conversation going. I know there are a number of questions. So Councilor Morell is up next and Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council? Any other questions from the public? Anybody have questions? Anybody have a question they'd like to ask?
[John Falco]: That's an idea. If we do, uh, if I may, uh, do we know if the chief of staff is going to be joining us?
[John Falco]: Do we have any emails on this? I don't believe so.
[John Falco]: Let me know when you have that. I got it. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay. Chief of Staff Rodriguez, good evening.
[John Falco]: Thank you for joining us. There are a number of questions asked by Councilors regarding the loan order for the citywide sidewalks. I'm not sure if you want to read the questions maybe one by one to the Chief of Staff and he can take a shot at answering them.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Clerk Hurtubise, if you would like to continue with the questions that were asked.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Clerk Cardavis, would it be possible to pull the previous papers from phase one and phase two so our new councilors can see what we've done what we've appropriated and approved over the last couple of years. I know since I've been on, and I've only been on myself and Councilor Scarpelli have only been on for four years, but I think we, you know, we definitely approved two phases and, you know, we're closing in. I think I want to say we're probably close to a million dollars now because I want to say the previous two were like at least 250, but I can be wrong. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Clerk Hardin, did you have any more questions on the
[John Falco]: So is the $500,000 coming from the capital budget?
[John Falco]: Okay, the chair awaits a motion from the floor.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Marks the table until next week, so we can allow time to get some answers from the administration. Second. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion has been tabled till next week. We want to stay with, let's see, should we revert to the regular order of business? Is there a motion on the floor?
[John Falco]: Okay. You want to take the second paper from the mayor?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. 20-319, the electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155 regarding the Community Preservation Committee. Yeah, Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following on recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. Number one, requesting the appropriation of $250,000 from the CPA Community Housing Reserve to the Action for Boston Community Development, ABCD for the ABCD Rental Assistance for Medford Residents Program. Number two, requesting the appropriation of $20,000 from the CPA Community Housing Reserve to Housing Families Incorporated to provide rental assistance as part of the Pro Bono Legal Services Program. All projects will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund by category. The category is Community Housing Reserve and General Reserve. Sincerely, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: There are a number of councilors that have questions first, so continue with the council. Councilor Knight, are you all set?
[John Falco]: Okay, we'll come back to the questions after, but Councilor Scarpelli had a question.
[John Falco]: Yeah, thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, was that a question for the chief of staff or?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Roberta. Can Roberta answer that question, John? So I'm going to call on a number of people. So we have Andre LaRue with us and we have, uh, Roberta Cameron and I, and we also have some, uh, Dana Stafford. So I'm going to let them speak. I think they'll be able to tell us more, give us more background. And then I think at that point, we'll have better questions to ask. So if I'm going to allow them to speak right now.
[John Falco]: And that's what I'm getting at. So that's why I'm going to let them speak now so they can answer your question. I'd love to. Thanks. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Robert, everybody's going to get their turn. The problem is everybody has questions all at once, okay? So I want to try to get some of the housing, you know, people with housing backgrounds to kind of talk more about the issue. Then councilors have questions and the recipients, everyone will get a chance. So if you just give me a couple of minutes, I'll now recognize Andre Larue.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Councilor Scarpelli, is your question answered now? I just want to make sure.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So we have a number of councilors up next. Councilor Caraviello, did you have your hand up before?
[John Falco]: Jaina Stafford. Let's see, oh, hi, Jaina.
[John Falco]: Can you just give us your name and address for the record, please?
[John Falco]: Or Tabitha?
[John Falco]: Okay, Tabitha, why don't you talk about your program, please?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. And Jaina.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Before Councilor Scarpelli's point of information, Councilor Marks, you had the floor. Were your questions answered?
[John Falco]: Roberta, Danielle, would either one of you like to take that one?
[John Falco]: I think Dave was on the call. I don't think he's on the call any longer, but Adam, would you know for sure? That is correct, he's off the call.
[John Falco]: Okay, so we have a number of, so up next is Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. We have Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Morell, and Councilor Scapelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell is up next, then Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Bears, and Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: To be there, if you could start again, I'd share that with you.
[John Falco]: No, I'm here.
[John Falco]: Alexi is here. Um, so let's see, can we just have your name and address for the record for the clerk, please?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you, Tabitha. Councilor Knight, you're up next.
[John Falco]: So is the motion from Councilor, Vice President Caraviello to reduce it to 100% Is it 50% of the 250?
[John Falco]: Okay, so I want to make sure I get this clear, and Clerk Hurtubise, please see if you agree. There's two points to this paper. The first one is requesting the appropriation of $250,000. Is the motion to reduce that by 50%?
[John Falco]: And what about the $20,000 on the second point?
[John Falco]: Okay. Councilor Bears, one minute, please. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to reduce the line one to $125,000, seconded by Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: We have a question from the clerk.
[John Falco]: No, the 20,000. That stays the same. Line one will be reduced in half. Line two will remain the same. Clerk Hurtubise, have you received any emails?
[John Falco]: That's right, two separate votes, although it's, okay. There should have been two separate papers, but Council Member Marks had one question, I believe.
[John Falco]: So you'd like to make an amendment to the main motion, correct? Correct.
[John Falco]: If you want to give us the information out too, that's fine. I just unmuted you. Sorry about that.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello. to update the amount in point number one here, requesting the appropriation of $250,000 to change that $225,000. That's seconded by Councilor Knight and amended by Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the second portion of the paper, number two, requesting the appropriation of $20,000 from the CPA Community Housing Reserve to preserve, I'm sorry, Housing Reserve to Housing Families Incorporated to provide rental assistance as part of their pro bono legal services program. On that motion by Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you. Thank you everyone for participating. educating us tonight on a lot of the housing questions that we had. We appreciate all your hard work. And thank you to the CPC as well for putting this together so quickly. We appreciate all your time and effort. I motion to revert back to the regular auto business. I motion to Councilor Marksley. Second. A business seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes and we will now revert to the regular order of business. motions orders and resolutions to zero dash three one seven offer by console night. Here is all a member of City Council congratulate Evelyn and Henry Miller and on the momentous occasion of the 50th wedding anniversary console night.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks. Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. We have Councilor Scarpelli is up next.
[John Falco]: And if I will agree with my colleagues a thousand percent, Henry and everyone, great people, very active in our community, very involved, very nice to talk to, very approachable. And we wish them a very, very happy 50th wedding anniversary. On the motion of Council on Light, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. I get it. Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Congratulations to the Malorians. 20-318 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a meeting of the Subcommittee on Auditing, Finance, Budgets, and Taxation, and invite the city administration to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 emergency and economic crisis on the city's finances. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: get everyone on the same page. This budget is probably going to be more interesting than most. A lot of tough decisions will have to be made. I had mentioned it to her and she thought it was a good idea. I'm glad you put it on the agenda. I definitely agree. I think committee as a whole would be the better venue because all of us are going to have a major role in the budget. We're all involved in it. But so I would agree, I think Committee of the Whole is the better avenue for this. But I thank you for bringing this forward and recognize Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, I believe. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. I don't want to speak on this. Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Morell. Thank you for bringing this up.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scott, Councilor Bears, did you want to say something?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks, did you want to speak? No, I'm good, thanks. Okay, thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, that we have a committee the whole meeting with the mayor, budget director, to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 emergency and economic crisis on the city finances. On that motion. Councilor Knight, did you have something to say?
[John Falco]: On that motion.
[John Falco]: There are a number of reports that we received on the April 14, 2020 committee, the whole report.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, do you prefer to take these up at the end of the meeting, or do you want to take them from the table now?
[John Falco]: OK. Let's take the committee reports first, and then we'll close with the moment of silence to memories that we lost in the community. OK. Reports of committees 20-310, April 14, 2020 committee, the whole report. This meeting, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the year 46 annual action plan of public services applications for the community development block grant funding. Alicia Hunt gave an overview of the CDBG process. She said that all the proposals before the committee tonight were submitted before the current health emergency. She anticipates another round of CDBG funds related to COVID-19. There were 12 organizations that came before us during this meeting, the West Medford Community Center, Housing Families Incorporated, Mystic Valley Elder Services, Immigrant Learning Center, Incorporated, Community Family, Communitas, Malden YMC, Mystic Community Market, the Council on Aging, SCM Transportation, Medford Public Schools, the Consumer Advisory Commission, and Bread of Life. Let's see. Councilor Knight moved to accept the recommendation to the OCD and to adjourn the meeting. It passed on a roll call vote, seven in favor, zero opposed. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello to accept the committee report, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Please call the roll. We're online to all votes and roll call votes.
[John Falco]: Seven affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. There were two other, another committee report, 19-659 and 20-098, April 15th, 2020 subcommittee on zoning. And actually, Vice President Caraviello, that was your meeting, that was the subcommittee meeting on marijuana. Do you wanna talk about that? The brief synopsis?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to accept the committee report. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the report is accepted.
[John Falco]: 20-042, March 31st, Committee of the Whole report. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the senior tax deferment program for the city of Medford. This is a resolution I believe that was brought forward by Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell said that the deadline to apply was April 1st. Let's see, she said that the income cap can be adjusted for fiscal year 2020. The cap is 57 for 2021. The cap is $60,000. Councilor Markswell moved to raise the gross receipt limit to elderly deferrals for fiscal 2021 to $50,000. That was seconded by Councilor Knight. It passed on a roll call vote. Seven in favor, zero opposed. Councilor Knight moved for a favorable committee report passed on a roll call vote. Seven in favor, zero opposed. On the motion of Motion to accept the committee report. I'd like to accept the committee report, seconded by? Second. Second, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmers, zero in the negative. The motion passes. The committee report is adopted. Can we have two papers that were on the table? These were tabled to a date certain, right?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. 20-311 offered by Councilor Knight, whereas April 5th, 2020 commemorates the 15th anniversary of the passing of the late State Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. represent a method with integrity and compassion in the state legislature from 1990 to 2005. Be it so resolved that the Medford City Council hold a moment of silence in his honor and be it further resolved that the meeting tonight, the meeting of the Medford City Council will be dedicated in his memory. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Actually, so let's see, if we at this point, why don't we all rise for brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: We're on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, could you please call the roll? Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-312 offered by Council and I being resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Paul Brogan on his recent passing, Council and I. Mr. President, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you. A motion to count the night, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. I believe the records are the only thing remaining, correct?
[John Falco]: Okay, records. The records of the meeting of April 14th, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to approve the records seconded by Councilor Bears, can you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. And Vice President Caraviello, why don't we have a brief moment of silence actually for everyone that has passed away in our community to COVID-19. So at this point in time on the motion, Vice President Caraviello, would everyone please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. And on the motion of Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight, that we adjourn the meeting tonight in honor of those that have passed away from COVID-19 and in the memory of our late State Senator Charles E. Shannon, Jr. On the motion that we adjourn the meeting, clerk, please call the roll. Mr. President? Oh, Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Marks. And thank you, like Councilor Marks said, to all our first responders and our volunteers and everywhere in our school community for all their hard work and volunteering and all the effort that they've made. So on the motion to adjourn the meeting, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you and good night.
[John Falco]: Okay, the 14th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Seven present. At this time I'd ask everyone to 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,
[John Falco]: Pursuant to Governor Baker's microphone. Yeah, I have to read this communication. So if you give me a few minutes, I'll get through this and then we'll move forward with the meeting. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law Chapter 38, Section 18 and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to learn or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website in audio or video recording, transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Thank you for that. And now I have to read one more notification from the governor of Massachusetts. Order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law, chapter 30.
[John Falco]: Chapter 38, section 20. Whereas on March 10th, 2020, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting pursuant to the powers provided by Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 in Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Laws, declared that there now exists in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a state of emergency due to the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus COVID-19. And whereas many important functions of state and local government are executed by public bodies, as that term is defined in general law chapter 38, section 18, the meetings that are open to the public consistent with the requirements of law and sound public policy in order to ensure active public engagement with contribution to and oversight of the functions government. functions of government, and whereas both the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, DPH, have advised residents to take extra measures to put distance between themselves and other people to further reduce the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, the CDC and DPH have advised high-risk individuals, including people over the age of 60, anyone with underlying health conditions or a weakened immune system in pregnant women to avoid large gatherings. Whereas Section 7, 8, and 8A of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 authorize the governor during the effective period of declared emergency to exercise authority over public assemblages as necessary to protect the health and safety of persons. And whereas low-cost telephone, social media, and other internet-based technologies are currently available that will permit the convening of a public body through virtual means and allow real-time public access to activities of the public body and whereas Section 20 of Chapter 30A and implementing regulations issued by the Attorney General. currently authorizes remote participation by members of the public body subject to certain limitations. Now, therefore, I hereby order the following. Number one, a public body as defined in section 18 of chapter 38 of the general laws is hereby relieved from the requirement of section 20 of chapter 30A, that it conduct its meetings in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public, provided that the public body makes provision to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body for interested members of the public through adequate alternative means. Adequate alternative means of public access shall mean measures that provide transparency and permit timely and effective public access to the deliberations of public body. Such means may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite, enabled audio or video conferencing, or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body while those activities are occurring. While allowance for active real participation by members of the public is a specific requirement of the general or special law or regulation or a local ordinance or bylaw, pursuant to which the proceedings is conducted in alternative means, a public access must provide for such participation. a municipal public body that for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts is unable to provide alternative means of public access that will enable the public to follow the proceedings of the municipal public body as those activities are occurring in real time may instead post on its municipal website a full and complete transcript reporting or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as practicable upon the conclusion of the proceedings. This paragraph shall not apply to the proceedings that are concluded pursuant to a general or special law or regulation or a local ordinance or bylaw that requires allowance for active participation by members of the public. A public body must offer its selected alternative means of access to its proceedings without subscription toll or similar charge to be public. Number two, public bodies are hereby authorized to allow remote participation by all members in any meeting of the public body. The requirement is a quorum of the body in the chair be physically present at a specified meeting location as provided in general law chapter 30A, section 20D and in 940CMR 29.104B is hereby suspended. Three, a public body that elects to conduct its proceedings under the relief provided in sections one or two above shall ensure that any party entitled or required to appear before it shall be able to do so through remote means as if the party were a member of the public body and participating remotely as provided in section two. Number four, all other provisions of sections 18 to 25 of chapter 30A in the attorney general's implementing regulations shall otherwise remain unchanged if fully applicable to the activities of public bodies. This order is effective immediately and shall remain in effect until rescinded or until the state of emergency is terminated, whichever happens first. Okay, thank you for listening to that. So as we move forward, and I open up the meeting tonight, I'd like to, before we move forward with the meeting, this week, the city lost one of our, someone actually very special to our city, and that is Joe McGonigal. For those of you that don't know Joe McGonigal, He was a city clerk from 1967 to 1996. That spans four decades, almost 30 years of service to our community in that one capacity. And for those that knew Joe, he was a pretty uh, you know, pretty amazing guy. I mean, I didn't get to know him till after he retired his clerk, but, uh, very nice man, uh, active in the community. And, um, I think we should, uh, start this meeting, uh, you know, by having a moment of silence for him. But I just think that he should be recognized for someone who served as long as he did. That's, you know, from 1967 to 1996 is a very long time and he was very committed to our community. And so I think we should start off by having a moment of silence for him. But I would first also like to recognize Vice President Caballero.
[John Falco]: Uh, we, uh, we have, uh, let's see, uh, councilor Peters.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Bears. Any other councilors? Let's see. Oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. I believe the clerk would like to say a few words. Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, City Clerk Hurtubise. Okay, at this point, if you could please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: Motion to suspend the rules to take a paper out of order, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Signing the affirmative, zeroing the negative, the motion passes. 20-314 offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council get a response from the city engineer regarding the council mandated curb-to-curb paving of all streets opened by any utility or private company.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. I believe we actually have the city engineer with us. Mr. President, just if I could. Yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Knight. On the B paper, is the B paper a second? Thank you, Mr. President, the B paper seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Scarpelli, you can speak next.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Okay, so basically, so the ordinance will be the law. So just to formulate an ordinance to, do you want to formulate the ordinance, Councilor? Vice President Caraviello? I'm sorry? You want to basically make an official ordinance with regard to this, to curb-to-curb paving? Yes, to make it law. Okay.
[John Falco]: Well, why don't we do that? Let's see. So we have the city engineer with us, Tim McGibbon.
[John Falco]: You're unmuted. We can't hear you. Okay.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. President. Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I can't hear him either. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Well, he's trying to figure out his connection. Vice President Caraviello, comment, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Yeah, if I could ask everyone, if you're not speaking, if you could just put yourself on mute, and then we'll see if that helps out. Councilor Caraviello, I don't know if the city engineer heard your question.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. We have a number of members that wanna speak. So we have Councilor Marks, and then we're gonna loop back to Councilor Knight, who had started and we lost his connection. So let's go Councilor Marks, Councilor Knight, and then Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks, if I'm correct, you'd like to move the main paper to the public works subcommittee? If that's amendable to my other colleagues, yes. OK, on that motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by? Second. Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight, you have the floor. Where was I?
[John Falco]: We lost you at 745. In that case, call me tomorrow.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. So there's a note for the Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Councilor, Vice President Caraviello. So we have a number of papers in front of us. So we have the C paper offered by Vice President Caraviello that the city administration review the street opening fees.
[John Falco]: So I think on the original C paper about the city ordinance, is that something that, it sounds like that maybe would be something that's discussed further in subcommittee, am I correct?
[John Falco]: If I'm correct, one second, if I'm correct, the original C paper offered by Vice President Caraviello, is that being withdrawn because that's gonna be discussed in- Yes, I will withdraw that. Okay, so that's withdrawn. So the new C paper would be that the city administration review the street opening fees that are currently in place?
[John Falco]: So in an effort to hire an additional inspector. So on that seat, or two, on that seat paper offered by vice president Caraviello, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: become a lady in a while. I think he dropped off.
[John Falco]: Absent due to technology. He was here for most of the conversation. Is there six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent? That motion passes. So the B paper, which was originally offered by Council on 9th, unexpectedly dropped from the call. And we're seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight is no longer present, so I think, would someone else have to make that motion, Clerk Hurtubise? I'll make that motion, Mr. President. Okay, so on the motion of Vice President Caraviello in place of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Could you read back the language on the beat paper, Clerk Hurtubise?
[John Falco]: Or actually not, I think I might have an idea.
[John Falco]: You have it? Okay, review it in my council affairs.
[John Falco]: Okay. On that motion. Second. Mr. President, Council Member.
[John Falco]: Um, the original. The original sponsor of the bee papers has dropped off the call, so I'm not sure where he is.
[John Falco]: Well, you know what, Vice President Caraviello, it's currently in your hands. I'm not sure if you want to move that to subcommittee as well, or if you want to table it. Let's move it to subcommittee.
[John Falco]: Hang on.
[John Falco]: Is there a general consensus from the council as to where we want this to go? Let's move it to subcommittee. Okay. Okay. On the B paper offered by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by... Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, that that go to subcommittee. Clerk Hervey, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Correct, public works, which is chaired by Councilor Bears, and the subcommittee members are Councilor Marks and Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes, and that paper will go to subcommittee. On the original resolution offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Marks, and Councilor Marks had a motion to move that to the Subcommittee on Public Works, and that was seconded by Councilor Bears. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, would you please call the roll? It's going to the Public Works Subcommittee as well.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes, and that paper is moved to subcommittee.
[John Falco]: Actually, if we move back to the motion to regular audit business, Council Knight has a number of... Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Okay. So on the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Bears it will be revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: In this Zoom environment, every call, every vote is a roll call vote.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes, we will now revert to the regular order of business. One, I'm sorry, 20-311, and this is on the motions, orders, and resolutions offered by Councilor Knight. Whereas April 5th, 2020 commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passing of the late State Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr., who represented Medford with integrity and compassion in the state legislature from 1990 to 2005, be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold the moment of silence in his honor and be it further resolved.
[John Falco]: I'll motion to Councilor Scarpelli to table this until Councilor Knight's return until next week. Seconded by? Second. Vice President Caraviello, all those in favor of Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The matter has been tabled.
[John Falco]: Tabled to next week. 2-0-312 offered by Council of the Night. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli that 2-0-312 be tabled seconded by Vice President Caraviello, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. This matter has been tabled to next week as well. 20-313 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for longtime Medford resident Margaret Peggy Small on a recent passing. Be it further resolved that the April 14th Medford City Council meeting be dedicated to Peggy Small. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. At this moment, why don't we stand for a brief moment of silence?
[John Falco]: Why don't we do this? Why don't we just take a vote just since we're voting? I'll second that, Mr. President. A motion of Council Locke, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, could I please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes. Let's see, 20-315 offered by Councilor Bears be it resolved that the city administration provide an update on the mayor's April 7th, 2020 executive action regarding the extension of the deadline to pay property taxes. The extension of the deadline apply for property tax exemptions, the waiving of interest for late payments, and protections for residents regarding termination of essential services. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peters. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by? Second. Councilor Morell, Clerk Cunaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent, the motion passes. So reports of committees, 20-042, did we receive that report?
[John Falco]: Or we can just table it till next week. I don't have it in front of me, so I apologize for that. Okay. Do we want to table that till next week? or does anyone have the committee report in front of them that they can actually give us a brief?
[John Falco]: Okay, why don't we take on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to table the committee report. Second. Second by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. The item is tabled until next week. 19-659 and 20-098, April 8th Subcommittee on Zoning. Let's see, that was a Zoning Subcommittee meeting by Vice President Riccabiello's Subcommittee. Councilor Caraviello, did you want to talk about the committee report and give a brief synopsis?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, President Caraviello. And just to let everyone know or anyone that's, if anybody's watching tonight, that subcommittee meeting on zoning, there is another one tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 15th, 2020 at 6 p.m. And that link to the Zoom meeting is on the city website. So the motion of Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to approve the committee report 19-659 and 20-098, the April 8th subcommittee meeting on zoning. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. That motion passes. Let's see. City Court, Court Card of Appeals, the records is the only thing left, I believe, right?
[John Falco]: Okay. The records, the records of the meeting of April 7th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Unblemished records. So on the motion of Council of Mayors to approve the records, seconded by- Second. Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The records are approved. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to adjourn this meeting, seconded by.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the meeting to adjourn. roll to adjourn the meeting.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The meeting is adjourned.
[John Falco]: Okay, the 11th regular meeting of the council will now come to order.
[John Falco]: Present, seven present. We will begin the meeting. Thank everyone for being here tonight. And like I said in our previous meeting, we try to make this as authentic as it usually is at City Hall. So at this time, I would ask everyone to 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. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Medford City Council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information in the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance or members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the city of Medford or Medford community media website, an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. At this point, I'm required to read the following message from the Office of the Governor. Charles Baker. Order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 38, Section 20. Whereas, on March 10, 2020, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts, acting pursuant to the powers provided by Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 and Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Laws declare that there now exists in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a state of emergency due to outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus COVID-19. And whereas many important functions of state and local government are executed by public bodies, As the term is defined in general law, chapter 30A, section 18, in meetings that are open to the public, consistent with requirements of law and sound public policy, and in order to ensure active public engagement with contributions to and oversight of the functions of government and whereas both the Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and Massachusetts Department of Public Health, DPH, have advised residents to take extra measures to put distance between themselves and other people to further reduce the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, the CDC and DPH have advised high-risk individuals including people over the age of 60, anyone with underlying health conditions or a weakened immune system, and pregnant women to avoid large gatherings. Whereas Section 7, 8, and 8A of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 authorized the governor during the effective period of the declared emergency to exercise authority over public assemblages
[John Falco]: OK. Whereas low-cost telephones, social media, and other internet-based technologies are currently available that will permit the convening of a public body through virtual means and allow real-time public access to the activities of the public body. and whereas Section 20 of Chapter 30A in implementing regulations issued by the Attorney General currently authorized remote participation by members of a public body subject to certain limitations. Now, therefore, I hereby order the following. One, a public body as defined in Section 18 of Chapter 30A of the general laws is hereby relieved from the requirement of Section 20 of Chapter 30A that it conduct its meetings in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public, provided that the public body makes provisions to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body for interested members of the public through adequate alternative means. Adequate alternative means of public access shall mean measures that provide transparency and permit timely and effective public access to the deliberations of the public body. Such means may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellites-enabled audio or video conferencing, or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body while those activities are occurring. where allowance for active real-time participation by members of the public is a specific requirement of a general or special law or regulation or a local ordinance or bylaw pursuant to which the proceeding is conducted. Any alternative means of public access must provide for such participation. A municipal public body that, for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, is unable to provide alternative means of public access that will enable the public to follow the proceedings of the municipal public body as those activities are occurring in real time, may instead post on its municipal website a full and complete transcript, recording, or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as practicable upon conclusion of the proceedings. The paragraph shall not apply to proceedings that are conducted pursuant to a general or special law or regulation or a law ordinance or bylaw that requires allowance for active participation by members of the public. A public body must operate selected alternative means of access to its proceedings without subscription toll or similar charge to the public. Number two, public bodies are hereby authorized to allow remote participation by all members in any meeting of the public body. The requirement that a quorum of the body and the chair be physically present at a specified meeting location as provided in general law, chapter 38, section 20D and in 940 CMR 29.104B is hereby suspended. Number three, a public body that elects to conduct its proceedings under the relief provided in sections one or two above shall ensure that any party entitled or required to appear before it shall be able to through remote means as if the party were a member of the public body and participating remotely as provided in section two. All other provisions of Section 18 to 25 of Chapter 30A and the Attorney General's implementing regulations shall otherwise remain unchanged and fully applicable to the activities of public bodies. This order is effective immediately and shall remain in effect until rescinded or until the state of emergency is terminated, whichever happens first. So at the last meeting we had last week, we had a hearing that was tabled and that was 20-084. Would someone like to make a motion to take that from the table?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello to take paper 20-084 from the table. Seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Clerk Hernebiz, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Okay, okay, then we don't have to take them both then, right? Correct. Okay, my apologies. Okay, 20-084, hearings. This is a notice of a public hearing. Hearing is 20-084, City of Medford. Notice of a public hearing. The Medford City Council will hold a continued public hearing via Zoom on Tuesday evening, April 7th at 7 p.m. on a petition from Anne Bakery, Carla Barile, 17 Placestead Road, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, for a special permit to amend its hours of operation in accordance with Method Zoning Ordinance Chapter 94, Section 94-145, to operate extended hours at its business at 17 Placestead Road, Medford, Massachusetts. Said site being located in a commercial 1C1 zoning district as follows. Extended hours of operation requested, 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., seven days per week. Petition and plan may be seen in the office of the city clerk. Number three, Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations, aids, TDD 781-393-2516 The City of Medford is an EEO-AA-504 employer. For information, contact the City Clerk at 71393-2425 by order of the City Council. Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk. This was advertised in the Medford transcript on March 12th and March 19th. At this point, I declare the public hearing open and open to those in favor of the petition. Anyone in favor of the petition, could you please state your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: You are here speaking in favor of the petition? Yes. Okay, thank you. Would anyone else like to speak in favor of the petition?
[John Falco]: Clerk Hurtubise, do you have anyone that would like to, any emails from anyone that would like to speak in half or any comments?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition of the petition? Clerk Hurtubise, any emails from anyone in opposition? There are none. Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. At this time, I'll recognize the chairperson on licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council. Thank you, Councilor Knights. that is what I have as well.
[John Falco]: Okay. Uh, I'll make that amendment that. Okay. Amended by councilor Scarpelli for 90 day review. Vice president.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the councilors?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by? Second, Mr. President. Councilor, Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli, Clark Herbies, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Congratulations, good luck.
[John Falco]: Stay safe. Thank you.
[John Falco]: See you soon.
[John Falco]: You're all done. Everyone's welcome.
[John Falco]: Have a good night. Good luck. Bye bye. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-042 offered by Councilor Morell, whereas the City of Medford currently exercising the local option for tax deferments in accordance with Mass General Law, Chapter 59, Chapter 5, Paragraph 41A. And whereas the upper income limit set by the City of Medford for eligible residents 65 and over is $20,000 per year. The result of this, Medford City Council discussed raising the income limit to better reflect the cost of living, the cost of living and housing in Medford. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Council Morell to raise the cap to $50,000, seconded by Councilor Bears. Are there any questions from the council? Okay, no questions. Would anyone else have questions? Okay, let's see. Ms. Cameron.
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry, Councilor Knight goes first and then we'll go to Roberta Cameron.
[John Falco]: Good question, Councilor Morell,
[John Falco]: Councilmember Morell, did you want to comment further on that?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: OK, thank you, Councilor Knight. Roberta Cameron.
[John Falco]: Do you have the language on the B paper?
[John Falco]: That sounds good, that's a great idea, thank you. Any other comments from the Council with regard to the motion or the B paper? Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay. Any other questions from the council? Okay, any other questions from anyone that's, oh, yes, down here. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Dennis, can you try to chat the question?
[John Falco]: Okay, while we're waiting, is there anyone else with a question? And we can come back to Dennis.
[John Falco]: Okay, then if there are no other questions, Clerk Harnabees, do you have any questions that came through email?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Harnabees. So what we'll do is we'll vote on the B paper first. Clerk Harnabees, could you please read back?
[John Falco]: If that's all right with Councilor Morell. Yep, yes. So we'll make that part of the B paper. So on the B paper offered by Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Marks. Clerk, her to be, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the main motion offered by Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Curnaby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-288, offered by Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears. Whereas Massachusetts House Bill 4440 seeks to allow all independent public retirement systems subject to oversight by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, PRAC, to divest their holdings in full or in part from the fossil fuel industry. And whereas H4440 authorizes independent public retirement systems to exercise their fiduciary duty as defined in Mass General Law chapter 32, section 23, 3, with respect to continued investment in the fossil fuel industry. And whereas such authorization is required by PRAC, PRAC communications to the Cambridge Retirement Board, CRB, dated October 23, 2017, and to the Salvador Retirement Board, SRB, dated November 7, 2017. And whereas communities throughout Massachusetts, including Amherst, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Concord, Falmouth, Framingham, Great Barrington, Lexington, Lowell, Newton, Northampton, Provincetown, Somerville, Sudbury, and Truro have passed resolutions in support of fossil fuel divestment and be it resolved that the Medford City Council express its support for House Bill 4440 and urge the Massachusetts Legislature to take action to pass this measure to enable independent public retirement systems to use their prudent judgment in regards to fossil fuel divestment and We have further resolved that the city clerk forward a copy of this resolution to the Medford legislative delegation, as well as the chairs and vice chairs of all committees to which H4440 is or will be assigned. House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Spilka, and Governor Baker. Councilor Morell, would you like to speak of it?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight and then Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Councilor Caraviello. Any other councilors like to speak on this? Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. We have a number of people that want to ask questions and speak, so we will get to everybody, but just going to call out some of the councilors first. Councilor Morell, I believe you wanted to comment on that.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Morell, I believe.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, Councilor Knight, and then Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Any other councilors, are there any other councilors that would like to speak on this? Mr. President. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Any other councilors like to speak? Okay. At this point, I recognize Colby Cunningham.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Let's see. Oh. See Curtis Tudin. Oh, so we have a Curtis, Curtis Tudin.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Colby Cunningham, did you have?
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you very much. I think that was it as far as questions go. Clark, any emails that have recently arrived?
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, seconded by. Is there a motion to have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Kernbees, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Five in the affirmative, two in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you. 20-293.
[John Falco]: Okay. 20-293 has been withdrawn by Councilor Bears. Thank you, Councilor Bears. 20-297 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council requests the city administration deploy the park police to enforce emergency use bans at our parks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight has withdrawn this paper 20-297. 20-298 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it so resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Sharon Chappell Hepburn on her team in celebration of the 10th anniversary of her business, Mystic Coffee Roasted Square. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Adam you're up.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any of the Councilors. Before we call the roll, I also want to say congratulations. Sharon's a great business owner, does a great job, and you can get a great cup of coffee there and something to eat. So we congratulate her on her 10th anniversary and many more. On the motion of Council and I seconded by Vice President Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-299 offered by Councilor Morell. Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears, to suspend the rules, to take a paper out of order, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Councilor Morell. Clerk Herves, please call the roll to suspend the rules.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are suspended, motion passes. Petitions, presentations and similar papers, 20-309, petition for common vigil is licensed by Alam, 366 Riverside Avenue, Method Mass 02155, for FTT, LLC, DBA, Hot Chicks Halal, 49 High Street, Bedford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate 057, building department, fire department, police traffic impact, health department, letter of compliance, state tax ID, workman's compensation, petition, and treasurer's. At this point, I recognize Councilor Scarpelli, the chairperson on licensing.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. In the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Second. That is approved by Councilor Marks. Any other questions? Councilor Cernovich, any email traffic coming through to you? I'm checking, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Marks. Councilor Kernan-Bees, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations and good luck. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council of Monarchs to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 0-299 offered by Councilor Morell and Councilor Villescaz. We have resolved that the city council collaborate with the city administration to create a one-page coronavirus information sheet that can be physically delivered to every Medford resident and small business owner containing public health and safety information, emergency resources, and instructions on where to get more information. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peers. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears, did you want to comment?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other comments from the Council? Okay, anyone else that has questions? Mr. Costas.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell and then Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Scarpelli had a point of information. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other comments from the council? Oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the Council? Mr. Slayton.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Any other questions? Clerk Carter-Beast, you received any emails?
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears, seconded by? Mr. President? Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Yes. I'm under the impression, but Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell, would you like to comment?
[John Falco]: Councilman Marks, did you have a question?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Scarpelli. I'm all set. You're all set, okay. Any other questions from the council? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Bears. Yeah. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. I'm sorry, it's seconded by Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-300 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the city administration establish a housing stability task force to pull together information and guidance regarding housing resources and assistance for Medford residents. Be it further resolved that the city of Medford establish a housing stability hotline that residents can call to receive information about federal, state, and city resources regarding housing stability. Be it further resolved that the city of Medford work together with private landlords to cease all activities that require landlords, inspectors, or assesses to enter housing units with current occupants for the duration of the crisis, to seize any threat or eviction or utility shutoffs, to provide information about state and federal resources regarding mortgages and other available assistance to tenants and homeowners, and to work with tenants and landlords facing financial hardships to address rent payments. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Perez. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell had her hand up to Councilor Bears. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council? Okay. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Councilor Pizza and Councilor Morell, are you okay with the amendment?
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. You are corrected. I'm sorry. Okay then, any other questions from the council? Does anyone else have, oh, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Consulate Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. We have Councilor Bears and Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello had a comment.
[John Falco]: Councilor Peers, you are actually the subcommittee chair of elderly and housing affairs. I'm not sure if that's what you wanna do with this,
[John Falco]: And you know, we do have a subcommittee meeting that is a committee the whole next Tuesday, as far as you know, Wednesday's wide open. So you can take that completely up to you. Before we move forward, if the council doesn't have any further questions, there are a number of people that really want to ask questions. We have Roberta Cameron and then Kelly Catalo. So, Roberta Cameron.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. We have one more comment from Jason Wilk.
[John Falco]: Okay, yeah, he's got to type it now.
[John Falco]: It's my understanding that a rent freeze payments, rent increases while it's a rent moratorium that halts payments. Is that right?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay. Councilor Bears, did you want this to go to subcommittee?
[John Falco]: On the motion Councilor Bears to move this to the Elderly and Housing Affairs Subcommittee, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The paper goes to the elderly and housing affairs subcommittee. That subcommittee is chaired by Councilor Zach Beers and members of that subcommittee are Councilor Marks and Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. 20-301, offered by Councilor Bears. Be it ordered by the Medford City Council that the city administration amend the Mayor's 331-2020 executive order regarding the showing of housing units to specify the unoccupied housing units can still be entered and shown. Councilor Bears, before we continue on this, are you asking, can you clarify that?
[John Falco]: Can you clarify the resolution? Are you asking us to amend it or the city administration to amend it?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, council members. Would any council like to, council would like to speak of this before, I open up for further discussion. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight and Councilor Peers. Any other questions from the councilors? Vice President Caraviello and then Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello, are you all set?
[John Falco]: Kelly Catello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: First of all, do you have the language that the council just... I know I talk fast as it is and on Zoom, it doesn't make it any easier. You are correct. Do you have the language that council and I just offered?
[John Falco]: If you could please phrase that again.
[John Falco]: So is that an amendment to the main resolution?
[John Falco]: Motion off on its own, okay.
[John Falco]: Councilor, you said something and I just missed it.
[John Falco]: That's seconded by Councilor Bears. Any other comments from the council? Okay, and Clerk Hurtubise, you have the language.
[John Falco]: Okay, can you read it back?
[John Falco]: On that motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, any affirmative zero and the negative the motion passes to zero dash 30 to offer by consulate beer. You resolve that the medical committee, the mayor of border health. implement an emergency order to require that no landlord and or owner shall enforce eviction upon a resident of Medford residential or commercial during this public health crisis. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any questions or comments from the council?
[John Falco]: Councilor Peters, did you want to make a statement again on this?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilors have questions, any?
[John Falco]: When we get him back, he can continue. But we have Councilor, Vice President. You back, Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: The last word was confusion.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions from the Council? Councilor Bears, then Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight. Second the motion, Mr. President. So Councilor Bears, are you making a motion to move this to the elderly and housing affairs? Yes. That's been seconded by Councilor Knight. There are a few questions that a few people have their hands up. So I recognize Kelly Catalo, then Mima Sharma. I'm sorry, I hope we have that right. Amina Sharma. So let's go with Kelly Catalo first.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Mina Sham. Mina Sham.
[John Falco]: Is that better at all?
[John Falco]: Not really. I think you might need to type your question into the chat if you wouldn't mind. Thank you. Okay, as an agent trying to navigate business in Somerville, Medford and Arlington, it's very unclear on how to proceed.
[John Falco]: You are correct, and it's going to be going to a subcommittee as soon as we take a vote. There are a few people that want to make, actually have questions.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Matt, do you have additional comments?
[John Falco]: Well, that would be up to the sponsor of the resolution. I mean, at this point, the consensus seems to be among the members that they should actually move to subcommittee where the subcommittee from what I'm hearing is running to him and the South ASAP. But I think the bottom line is from what I'm hearing from the members as well, and I would agree is we need to get some clear language from the administration as to really stand on this issue. Councilor Bears, you just had your hand up. I'm not sure if you want to comment on this further.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears to move this to subcommittee seconded by Councilor Knight. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The 20-302 will be going to the Subcommittee on Elderly and Housing Affairs, chaired by Councilor Bears with Councilor Marks and Councilor, Vice President Caraviello and his members. 20-303 offered by Councilor- Mr. President. Withdrawn, okay. Councilor Bears withdraws 2-0-303. 2-0-304 offered by- I withdraw, Mr. President. That's withdrawn as well. So 2-0-304 has been withdrawn from Councilor Bears. 2-0-305 offered by Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor withdraws 2-0-305. 20-306 offered by Council of Beers being resolved at the Medford City Council request that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts significantly increase the contribution to the COVID-19 rental assistance for families in transition, our AFT fund, to reflect the scope of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. This can be done using funds from the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund and recent federal stimulus legislation. Councilor Bierce.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Are there any other Councilors that want to, Vice President Carmielo first, then Councilor Scarpelli, then Councilor Lee.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli, are you all set?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks, did you have your hand up?
[John Falco]: You mean from a budget perspective?
[John Falco]: Yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, if you want to offer a resolution separate from this one to do that, or actually, you know, you might want to do is, it's either a B paper, if you want to put it in next week's agenda, that might be best.
[John Falco]: That's good.
[John Falco]: We have a number of people that have questions about this. Kelly Gattello.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Any other questions on this issue?
[John Falco]: So the motion, so on the motion of council appears seconded by, was it seconded by council Marks? Seconded.
[John Falco]: Okay, seconded by council Marks.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-307 offered by Vice President Caraviello being resolved with the engineer looking to the contractor that did a waterline at 70 Auburn Street to replace the sidewalk with concrete and also replace the broken panel caused by the work that was done. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by? Seconded, Mr. President. Seconded by Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-3-0-8 is offered by, it's a joint resolution offered by myself and Vice President Caraviello. If I could call on the senior member of Council of Marks to take the chair to read 2-0-3-0-8, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Larkin. Thank you. Back on March 11th, I went through the 40B training that was held at City Hall. I was there with Vice President Caraviello. I think Councilor Morell was there as well. And it was actually a pretty good training session. Judy Barrett was the person, I believe, that hosted the session. And she was very knowledgeable with 40Bs. She's pretty much an expert in it, but very knowledgeable. She had a significant amount of experience. She talked specifically about 40Bs. We have 340B developments coming into our community and this is something that we really need to get on top of as a community. I mean, we have a lot going on right now, of course, with COVID-19. I'm not sure if it's a pandemic, but we really need to also jump on this as well. We need to find out, or actually the city can hire a peer team to help us out with regard to these developments. So we can hire architects, traffic engineers, civil engineers, 40B consultants that basically can help us through the process with regard to these developments that are experts in these areas that will really help the city and help safeguard you know, our best interest as a community and as a city. So simply stated, we just want to see, you know, when these peer consultants will be hired, what type of peer consultants will be hired, and if I could amend the resolution to see who is going to actually be in charge of the hiring process. Is it going to be the mayor, which I think it is, but if we could get some clarification from the administration on that, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: So next up is our reports of committees. One nine dash two eight seven. The whole meeting report Tuesday, February 25th, 2020 at 6 p.m. The purpose of the meeting was for the committee the whole to continue its discussion of hiring a zoning consultant, including an RFP RFP process. City Council's I'm sorry, with the city's chief procurement officer. We had a meeting, an interesting talk on basically how the process went with the RFP or actually how it didn't go. And the end result was basically that an RFQ is going to go out And we should actually, I think, be getting an update on that soon. But actually, as you heard just a second ago, Councilor Caraviello offered a resolution to get a further update on that. But that was basically, we basically decided that an RFQ process would go into effect. And Ms. Khan, Shab Khan has been working on that. So we should hopefully be getting an update soon. So on the motion of Vice President Caraviello to the committee report, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Oh, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Is there an amendment to this then?
[John Falco]: Okay. So we'll vote on the committee report first to approve the committee report. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, does someone want to second this? Second. Seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Scott's like to do so you wanted to offer, but just to get an update on the.
[John Falco]: Okay So the emotion that we get it's on the motion that we get an update With regard to the consultants all consultants hired since changing administration on that motion off by council night seconded by second vice president caveat look her to me, please cover all
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero negative, the motion passes. 20-081, Subcommittee on Business and Economic Development signs Wednesday, March 4th, 2020, 6 p.m. Councilor Morell, do you wanna give a brief explanation on this or?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor, oh, Councilor Bears has a question. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, you're correct.
[John Falco]: So the motion of Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: to approve the committee report all those in favor. Yes. Yes. Yes. 20-07 committee of the whole meeting notice. Tuesday, March 10th, 2020, 6 p.m. Purpose of the meeting was for the committee of the whole to discuss the open meeting law and the rules of the council. The solicitor, we had a, discussion with the city solicitor with regard to the open meeting law or what things are allowed and what kind of resolutions can be offered under suspension and what cannot. It is pretty limited, so the advice given was basically just try to get everything onto the agenda because everything really needs to get on the agenda in advance before it can be taken up at a council meeting. Would anybody like to make a motion to approve the committee?
[John Falco]: Motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears to accept the committee report. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes.
[John Falco]: That might be best. I have not had a chance to read it.
[John Falco]: The motion of council is to table that to next week's meeting. Seconded by Councilor Scarapelli. Clerk Hertoby please call the roll. Hang on just a quick second.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. That's everything, right?
[John Falco]: We get the minutes, I believe. Regular records.
[John Falco]: Records. The records of the meeting of March 31st, 2020 were passed to Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: Yes, right. On the motion of consulate Scarpelli to approve the flawless records second second Second of my consulate beers look her to be please call the roll gladly Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. The motion of Council of Beers to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Marks. Seconded by Councilor Marks. Second. Second. Second. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, zero in the negative, one absent. The motion passes. And the meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Be safe.
[John Falco]: The 10th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clark Herbies, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Present. Councilor Falco? Present. All seven members are present. If I could start off the meeting just by thanking everyone for attending tonight. And if I could also just ask everyone to just please be patient. The technology is new to some of us. Some of us have had experience with it. But we're definitely learning as we go here. This is the first time we've actually had a meeting on Zoom in the history of the City Council. So we ask you for your patience and understanding. And I have a feeling by the time we get done with this, we'll all be pros. But what we're going to try to do is bring to you a meeting tonight, just as if it was like in City Hall. So at this point, I'd like to ask everyone to 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.
[John Falco]: So tonight's broadcast, the meeting is being broadcast live on channel 22 Comcast and channel 43 Verizon. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general law chapter 38, section 18, and the governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford city council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. specific information in the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted. but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford or Medford Community Media an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. I'm also gonna read a notice from Governor Baker. This is Office of the Governor of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State House, Boston, Massachusetts, 02133. Order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law, Chapter 30A, Section 20. Whereas on March 10, 2020, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting pursuant to the powers provided by Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 in Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Laws, declare that there now exists in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a state of emergency due to the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, COVID-19. And whereas, Many important functions of state and local government are executed by public bodies, as the term is defined in general law chapter 38, section 18, in meetings that are open to the public consistent with the requirements of law and sound public policy in order to ensure active public engagement with contribution to and oversight of the functions of government. Whereas both the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, and Massachusetts Department of Public The DPH have advised residents to take extra measures to put distance between themselves and other people to further reduce the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, the CDC and DPH have advised high-risk individuals, including people over the age of 60, anyone with underlying health conditions or a weakened immune system, and pregnant women to avoid large gatherings. Whereas Section 7, 8, and 8A of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 authorized the governor during the effective period of a declared emergency to exercise authority over public assemblages as necessary to protect the health and safety of persons, and whereas low-cost telephones, social media, and other internet-based technologies are currently available that will permit the convening of a public body through virtual means and allow real-time public access to the activities of the public body. And whereas Section 20 of Chapter 30A in implementing regulations issued by the Attorney General currently authorized remote participation by members of public body subject to certain limitations. Now, therefore, I hereby order the following. Number one, if public body is defined in section 18 of chapter 38 of the general laws is hereby relieved from the requirement of section 20 of chapter 38 that conduct its meetings in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public, provided that the public body makes provisions to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body for interested members of the public through adequate alternative means. Excuse me. adequate alternative means of public access shall mean measures that provide transparency and permit timely and effective public access to the deliberations of the public body. Such means may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite, enable audio or video conferencing or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body while those activities are occurring. We have allowance for active real-time participation by members of the public is a specific requirement of a general or special law or regulation of law ordinance or bylaw pursuant to which the proceeding is conducted. Any alternative means of public access must provide for such participation. A municipal public body that, for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, is unable to provide alternative means of public access, that will enable the public to follow the proceedings of the municipal public body as those activities are occurring in real time, may instead post on its municipal website a full and complete transcript, recording, or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as practical upon conclusion of the proceedings. This paragraph shall not apply to proceedings that are conducted pursuant to a general or special law or regulation, or a local ordinance or bylaw that requires allowance for active participation by members of the public. The public body must offer its selected alternative means of access to its proceedings without subscription, toll, or similar charge to the public. Number two, public bodies are hereby authorized to allow remote participation by all members in any meeting of the public body. This requirement that a quorum of the body and the chair be physically present at a specified meeting location as provided in general law chapter 38, section 20D and in 940 CMR 29.104B is hereby suspended. Number three, a public body that elects that elects to conduct its proceedings under the relief provided in sections one or two above shall ensure that any party entitled or required to appear before it shall be able to do so through remote means. And if the party were a member of the public body and participating remotely as provided in section two. Number four, all other provisions of section 18 to 25 of chapter 30A and the Attorney General's implementing regulations shall otherwise remain unchanged and fully applicable to the activities of public bodies. This order is effective immediately. It shall remain in effect until rescinded or until the state of emergency is terminated, whichever happens first.
[John Falco]: So before I begin, I want to thank everyone for participating tonight. All of us on the city council hope that you and your family are well. I know we have a lot of people joining us tonight. And just to, so as I began, I just want to say, if you need assistance during these times, please go to the city website for information regarding food or other resources that are available. And please reach out to myself or any of my colleagues if we can help in any way. All of our contact information is on the city website as well. This is an unprecedented event that has solicited an unbelievable amount of support from the community. We would like to thank City Hall employees, volunteers, the administration, and our first responders, and our school teachers, and our school administration as well. And we'd also like to thank our health care workers for working so hard during these unprecedented times. So we thank everyone for logging in and being part of this meeting tonight. Like I said in the beginning, we ask you for your patience. This technology is new to a lot of people that are on this meeting tonight. And we will work together to move the meeting forward hopefully have it resemble a meeting that we would have normally at City Hall. So at this point here, we will begin with our first hearing. We have a number of hearings tonight. So notice of a public hearing. 20-066, notice of a City of Medford notice of a public hearing. A continued public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council via remote access utilizing Zoom. Tuesday evening, March 31st, 2020 at 7 p.m. on a petition from Elias McHale of Alewife Autowork of 33B Mystic Avenue, Medford for class 2 used auto sales use special permit and class 4 auto repair use special permit in accordance with chapter 94 zoning ordinance of the city of Medford, section 94-148D. Table of Use Regulations, Automobile Uses 27A, permission to operate its Class II secondhand motor vehicle sales in Automobile Uses 37. For permission to operate its automotive repair establishment at 33B Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts, commercial to see to zoning district petition and plan may be seen in the office of the city clerk method City Hall met from Massachusetts call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations AIDS TDD 781-393-2516 the city of method is an e o a a 504 employer and By order of the city Council, Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk, advertising the Method transcript on February 20th and February 27th. This is a continued public hearing. At this point in time, I will recognize the chairperson of licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: No, I believe it is Mr. McHale.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: The question I have- George, if I may, can we have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you Scarpelli Mr. McHale if I may ask were you at the president at the last meeting?
[John Falco]: Okay, so Thank You mr. President
[John Falco]: Of course. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight? Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: While Consul Knight is trying to resolve that issue, do any other consulates have questions regarding this?
[John Falco]: Okay. Councilor Narizio?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other questions from the council? Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor, I'm sorry, Clerk Hurtubise, have you received any emails regarding this hearing?
[John Falco]: We're getting a thumbs up from Mr. McHugh.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Are there any, I don't see any questions from, let me just check here. Zach, do you see any questions? Any hands?
[John Falco]: Okay. Okay, so Councilor Scarpelli, are you motioning to approve?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: You're welcome. 19-652, notice of a public hearing, City of Medford, City Clerk's Office, March 31st, 2020. The Medford City Council will conduct a public hearing on March 31st, 2020 at 7 p.m. virtual via remote access utilizing Zoom. Relative to a proposed amendment by the Medford City Council to amend chapter 94 zoning article five, four. section 94-141 for adding a new general provision that states two principal structures shall not be permitted on the same lot if the principal use of both structures is residential use. The provision would apply in all districts except mixed-use zoning districts. A full copy of the text of the amendment is available at the office of the city clerk. Room 103, Medford City Hall, please call Medford City Clerk's office at 781-393-2425 for any accommodations or aids by order of the Medford City Council, Adam L. Hurtubiseas Clark. So if I may, this is an issue that came before us previously, and we sent this to the CD board. We received a letter from Andre LaRue, the acting chair of the Community Development Board, and I will read that to you now. John T. Falco, Jr., president, Medford City Council, from Andre LaRue, acting chair, date February 5th, 2020. Council resolution 1965-2, proposed amendment to chapter 94, zoning to add a general permission to section 94-141 that prohibits two principal structures on the same lot if the principal use of both structures is a residential use. Following a duly advertised public hearing conducted on January 29, 2020, the Community Development Board voted to recommend that the Bedford City Council not adopt the proposed amendment. The Community Development Board also voted to recommend that the City Council consider a six-month moratorium on permits for two principal structures on the same lot if the principal use of both structures is a residential use. During the moratorium, the Building Commissioner would develop design guidelines. This moratorium shall not apply to permit applications filed before the date of the council vote. An exemption could be made at the discretion of the building commissioner to allow two residential structures if it results in the preservation of a historic structure on the site. Thank you for consideration of these recommendations. Andre LaRue, acting chair. And this was CC'd to Mayor Mungo Kern, Kimberly Scanlon, the acting city solicitor, Adam Hurtubise, the city clerk, and Paul Moki, the building commissioner. We also have, we actually also have the, and actually he's on the phone, but Paul Moki, the building commissioner, I asked him to join earlier. actually it was yesterday, so hopefully he's on the line if anyone has questions. But so at this point in time, I would declare the public hearing open, open to anyone in favor of the petition. I don't know if anyone wants to speak in favor of this. Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of this petition? Can you see those hands, John? Yeah, okay. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Okay, now we have... Hi, Alexander Lassenhop.
[John Falco]: Yes, if you could please add your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Ingber. Ms. Catalo, could we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Okay, anyone else in opposition? Okay, Mr. Clerk, any emails?
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. So hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. If there are any councilors that would like to comment with regard to the response from the CD board. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. We have Councilor Caraviello and then Councilor Morell. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Okay. Any Councilors have questions as far as this paper goes or how, any further questions on this?
[John Falco]: Mr. Clark, do you have nothing on your end?
[John Falco]: So does someone want to make a recommendation as to what we should do with the CD recommendation?
[John Falco]: Mr. Clark, do you have that?
[John Falco]: On that motion, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes. Mr. Clerk, if I may ask you, 20-084, that is our next public hearing. I mentioned that the petitioner was unable to call in tonight, is that correct?
[John Falco]: Motion of Council Knight to table this to the next meeting, seconded by? Second. Councilor Bears. Clerk Urna-Bees, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. The vote is seven to zero to table. This will be tabled to our next meeting. Thanks. 20-085, notice of a public hearing. 20-085, City of Medford, notice of a public hearing. The Medford City Council will hold a public hearing in the Howard, I'm sorry, via remote access utilizing Zoom. On Tuesday evening, March 31st, 2020 at 7 p.m. on a petition from 360 Health and Fitness LLC, Eric Brody, 4,110 Mystic Valley Parkway, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, for a special permit to amend its hours of operation in accordance with Medford Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 94, Section 94-145, to operate extended hours at its business at 4110 Mystic Valley Parkway, Medford, Massachusetts, said site being located in a commercial 1C1 zoning district as follows. Extended hours of operation, 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., seven days per week. Petition and plan may be seen at the office of the city clerk, room 103, Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts. Call 781-393-2501. For any accommodations, aides, TDD 781-393-2516. The city of Medford is an EEO-AA504 employer. For information, contact the city clerk at 781-393-2425. I order the City Council, Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk, this was advertised March 12th in March 19th in the amendment transcript. At this point in time, I declare the public hearing open, open to those in favor of the petition. Is there anyone on the call that is open to the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, one minute. I'm on the wrong page. Here we go. Can we please have your name and address for the record, please?
[John Falco]: Hi, Eric, and you are in favor of the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Well, we're going to wait for one minute. So Mr. Brody is here. He's in favor of the petition. Thank you, Mr. Brody. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of the petition at this point in time? Hearing and seeing none, I rule that this portion of the hearing is closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. At this point of time, I would recognize the chairperson of licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, at this point I recognize, thank you Councilor Scarpelli, at this point I'll recognize Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council. Any other questions from the Council?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Scott, Councilor Scarpelli seconded by Councilor- seconded by Councilor Caraviello. With the provisions, can you please read the provisions, Clerk Urbeas?
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Urbeas, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Good luck. Okay. Notice of a public hearing, 20-086, City of Medford, notice of a public hearing. The Medford City Council will conduct a public hearing via remote access utilizing Zoom. On Tuesday evening, March 31st, 2020, at 7 p.m., on a petition from El Tecuba Cochina in Tequila Bar, Alvaro Sandoval, 3135, Salem Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 0215 for a special permit to amend its hours of operation in accordance with Medford Zoning Ordinance Chapter 94, Section 94-145 to operate extended hours at its business at 31 to 35 Salem Street, Medford, Massachusetts. Said site being located in a commercial 1C1 zoning district as follows. Hours Extended hours of operation requested 11 p.m. To 2 a.m. 7 days per week Petition and plan may be seen in the office of the city clerk room 103 Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations or aids TDD 781-393-2516 The city of Medford is an EEOAA 504 employer. For information, contact the city clerk at 71-393-2425. By order of the city council, Adam L. Hurtubise, city clerk, this was advertised March 12th and March 19th in the Medford transcripts. At this point, I declare the public hearing open to those in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Can we please have your address for the record?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. And you are in favor of the petition? Okay. Okay, thank you.
[John Falco]: Clerk Cartabuse, any emails that have come in?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone in opposition of the petition?
[John Falco]: Yes. Oh. Can we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Mr. Costas, are you against the petition?
[John Falco]: Fuck. Is there anyone opposed to the petition? Clerk, have you received any e-mails from anyone that is opposed?
[John Falco]: Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. I now call upon the chairperson of licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Clerk Curnaby, I believe you are correct, but Councilor Knight would like to comment.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Any other councilors would you like to speak on this?
[John Falco]: Councilor Cavill.
[John Falco]: License Thank You console caviar Councilor Knight, was that an amendment to change it to 1 a.m. with a 90-day review?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Uh, with any other cons consular marks.
[John Falco]: Okay. So you'd be, you'd be okay with the one, the 1am closing.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. Sandoval. I'll now recognize Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Kluge.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. Are there any comments that people would like to make that are watching the meeting or that have joined us? Okay then. on the motion of council on night to amend it to 1 a.m. closing with a 90-day review. Seconded by?
[John Falco]: I am correct. Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. So on that motion, Council Members.
[John Falco]: Very good point.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion. On the motion.
[John Falco]: To approve with the amendments by Councilor Knight, in Councilor Marks, and seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Congratulations.
[John Falco]: A notice of a public hearing. Legal notice 20-286 petition for grant of location, National Grid, North Andover, Massachusetts, underground electric conduit sustaining and protecting fixtures. Medford, Massachusetts City Clerk's Office. You are hereby notified by order of the Medford City Council, a public hearing will be given via remote access utilizing Zoom on Tuesday, March 31st, 2020, on a petition of National Grid for permission to excavate the public highways and to run and maintain underground electric conduits together with such sustaining and pertaining fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity under and across the public ways here and after named and underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked second street, Medford, Massachusetts, and filed in the office of the city clerk. Wherefore, it prays that after due notice and hearing as provided by law, it be granted a location for and permission to excavate the public highways and to run and maintain underground electric conduits together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity and said underground conduits to be located substantially in accordance with the plan marked 2nd Street, Medford, Massachusetts, inavailable for inspection in the office of the city clerk, Medford, Massachusetts, room 10385, George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. The following are the streets and highways referred to. Plan number 27983488 2nd Street. National group to install beginning at a point approximately eight feet southwest of the center line of the intersection of 2nd Street. Install a one to three inch secondary duct eight feet southwest from existing pole number P number 15113 towards 226 Middlesex Ave, Harris Park metric. location approximately as shown on plan filed in the office of the city clerk, approved by the chief engineer with the following conditions. The grant of location is limited to, number one, the grant of location is limited to the approximately eight feet of duct as described in the GLL document as follows. National grid to install beginning at a point approximately eight feet southwest of the center line of the intersection of 2nd Street, install a one to three inch secondary duct, eight plus minus feet southwest from existing pole P number 5113 towards 226 Middlesex Ave, Harris Park, Medford. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify dig safe and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other appearances are adversely impacted. National Grid shall ensure that all sewer water and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. The sidewalk in street restoration shall be done in consultation with the engineering division in per the requirement of the approved street opening permit. Approved superintendent of wires, call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations or aids. That's by Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk. Plans can be reviewed in the City Clerk's office. It's 781-393-2425. At this point in time, I declare the public hearing open. Open to those in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. Is there anyone else in favor of the petition that would like to speak?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Clark. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone in opposition that would like to speak? Mr. Clerk, is there any emails of anyone that is in opposition?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. At this point, I recognize any of the Councilors that have any questions that pertain to this, and I will recognize Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay, all right. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Raul.
[John Falco]: Okay, any other questions from anyone logged in? No. Clark-Curtabys, any emails?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clark-Curtabys. OK, on the motion of Councilor Knight? Second, Mr. President. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Sending the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes and the item is approved.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, John. Okay, 20-087, notice of a public hearing. 20-087, 20-287, petition for grant of location, National Grid, North Andover, Massachusetts, gas main locations City Clerk's Office, you are hereby notified by order of the Medford City Council, a public hearing will be via remote access utilizing Zoom on Tuesday, March 31st, 2020 on a petition of National Grid Incorporated for permission for the transmission and distribution of gas in and under the following public streets, lanes, highways, and places of the city of Medford, if for the pipes, valves, governors, manholes, and other structures, fixtures, and purposes designed or intended to protect or operate said mains and accomplish the object of said company, in the digging up and opening the ground to lay or place same college app Medford, Massachusetts, and filed in the office of the city clerk. We have forward praise that after due notice in hearing as provided by law, it be granted a location for the permission for the transmission and distribution of gas in and under the following public streets, lanes, highways, and places of the city of Medford and for the pipes, valves, governors, manholes, and other structures, fixtures, and appurtenances designed or intended to protect or operate said mains and accomplish the objects of said company. In the digging up and opening the ground to lay or play same, College Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, and available for inspection in the office of the city clerk, Medford City Hall, room 10385, George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. The following are the streets and highways referred to. to install and maintain approximately 180 feet of eight-inch plastic gas main along College Avenue, Redford, Massachusetts, as shown in the plan filed in the office of the city clerk. Location approximately as shown on the plan filed in the office of the city clerk. This is approved by the city engineer with the following conditions.
[John Falco]: The engineering division recommends that this grant of location be approved with the following conditions. Number one, the grant of location is limited to 180 feet of gas pipe as shown on the plan attached to the petition dated February 12th, 2020. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify DIGSAFE and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. The SOP application must include a street traffic management plan. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, and any other appearances are adversely impacted. National grid shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. Number four, the sidewalk and street restoration shall be done in consultation with the engineering division in further requirements of an approved street opening permit. Number five, the proposed gas main crosses and runs parallel to the MWRA water mains. National grid must obtain 8M permits from the MWRA prior to applying for SOP. The 8M permits should be included with the SOP application. Number six, the proposed gas main is located in an area with two ongoing construction projects, the Tufts Joyce Cummings Center and the Green Line Extension Project. Traffic management plans and surface restoration must be in coordination with These projects will be reviewed during the SOP application review. Call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations or aids. Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk. Plans can be reviewed in the City Clerk's office at 781-393-2425. I now declare this public hearing open to those in favor of the petition. Anyone in favor? Mr. Cameron, if you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Cameron. Thank you. Ms. Cuddy, did you want to speak on this? No. Okay. Anyone else, anyone else like to speak that is in favor of the petition?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Is there anyone in opposition of the petition that would like to speak? Clerk Hurtubise, any emails of anyone in opposition?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Hurtubise. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Are there any questions from the councilors with regard to this project? Councilor Marks?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. Ms. Bennett, would you like to comment?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. Thank you, Ms. Bennett.
[John Falco]: Okay. Clerk Hurtebys, have you received any emails?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtebys. So on the motion to approve, could someone please make a motion to approve?
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion to approve by Councilor Bears, seconded by?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears to suspend the rules to take a paper from unfinished business, paper number... 20-282. 20-282, amendment to revise ordinances, new positions. On the motion to suspend the rules, seconded by... Second. Seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The rules are suspended. 20-282, amendment to revise ordinances, new positions. This was with the city council on March 10th, 2020 for its first reading. It was advertised in the method transcript on March 19th, 2020. It is eligible for its third reading tonight, March 31st, 2020. And just to refresh everyone's memory, these new positions are the Director of Communications position and the Director of Community Affairs. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears to approve, seconded by? Second. Councilor Knight. Please call the roll.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-284 offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the building department report to the city council the status of the unfinished project on Winthrop Street regarding the hole in the rock. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Any other questions from the Councilors?
[John Falco]: Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Any other questions from the councillors? Okay. Clerk Hurtubise, any questions from email?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. So councillor, Vice President Caraviello, originally you have on the resolution to get a report back from the building department. Do you also want to amend that to include the engineering department as well?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Vice President Caraviello, as amended by Vice President Caraviello, seconded by... Second.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-288, offered by Councilor Morell and Councilor Bears. Whereas Massachusetts- Mr. President, motion to table till next week.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell, thank you for saying it at the beginning. I appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion is tabled. City of Method. By adopting the following ordinance, article three, ban on city... seconded by? Second. Councilor Morell. Clerk Hurtubise, can you please call the roll to waive the reading for a brief synopsis, Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Morell, you are the co-sponsor. Would you like to make any comments? No, I just, yeah. I echo Councilor Bears. Okay. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Bears to send this to the Public Safety Subcommittee,
[John Falco]: Thank you. I did, if I may really quick, I did have the opportunity to talk to the chief of police earlier today, and he said he wanted to be part of this you know, part of this discussion. So, uh, uh, council beers when you bring it into, uh, if this goes to the, uh, subcommittee of public safety, um, you know, he would like to be part of that, but, um, he unfortunately couldn't be at the meeting tonight. It could not log into the meeting tonight as you can probably figure he's working, uh, some, uh, a lot of hours these days. Him and his, uh, um, you know, in every one of the method, public method, uh, police department in all of our, uh, I just want to say thank you to all of the public safety employees who are all working pretty much around the clock. I just wanted to pass that on to you. Councilman Knight, you had a comment. If I may add really quick, I just got a message on my computer that said my Internet connection is unstable. If I come out, Councilman Caraviello will move forward with everything if I get knocked out. Vice President Caraviello, if you
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Would anyone else like to speak on this issue? Okay. On the motion of Councilor Bears and on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Knight to move this to the public safety subcommittee and to invite the chief of police and the district attorney.
[John Falco]: Representative from the district attorney's office on that motion. Seconded by Councilor Morell, I'm sorry. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Signing the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and this paper will be moving to the public safety subcommittee, which is made up of Councilor Naitis, the chair, Councilor Zach Beers, and Councilor George Scarpelli. Thank you. Resolution 20-290 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council expresses its support of HD 4935, an act providing for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures during the COVID-19 emergency. Be it further resolved that the Medford City Council requests that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Medford use all available authority to issue an immediate moratorium on rent mortgage payments, evictions, and foreclosures for an indefinite period of time until the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have further resolved that the city clerk forward a copy of this resolution to the Medford Legislative Delegation, as well as to the chairs and vice chairs of the Joint Committee on Housing, House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Spilka, and Governor Baker, Consular Affairs.
[John Falco]: Okay, so you want to amend the main resolution that you offered, correct?
[John Falco]: Can you please read the amendments?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Are there any councilors that would like to speak on this motion? And at this point in time, I'll recognize Councilor Knight, then Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: You're making that in the form of a motion, Councilor? I am. Okay. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, do you want to forward this to the Wizard Housing?
[John Falco]: on the motion of COTS all night. Is there a second to that?
[John Falco]: Second by Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: You're cutting in and out. Can you try starting again?
[John Falco]: So would you be okay tabling for one week? If Council appears to get us the language, we can review it and take some action next week?
[John Falco]: Okay, so that motion is offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. There were a couple of Councilors that wanted to speak further on this. Councilor Morell, I believe you're next.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you Councilor Morell. Councilor Scacchioli.
[John Falco]: That's a different resolution. So I yield to that. So that resolution. Okay. So you would drive the, the amendment. Thank you. Consular. I believe consular marks is next and then consular night.
[John Falco]: Thank you council council appearance for doing that Council night, I believe you had additional comments
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, that the resolution with the amendments of Councilor Bears, Councilor Morell, Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by... Did someone second this to be moved?
[John Falco]: Seconded by Vice President Cavillo, that this go to the Was the Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee?
[John Falco]: On that motion. Clerk Hurtubise, did you receive any emails?
[John Falco]: Okay. Could you please read the emails?
[John Falco]: Thank you, clerk Herbies. Is there anyone else that would like to comment on this?
[John Falco]: I'm sorry. I see you already. I apologize. Matt, could you please give us your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Ms. Catalo, name and address to the record, please.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. We have Jess Farrell. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Alex Lussenhoff.
[John Falco]: Yeah. Point of information. Thank you. Um,
[John Falco]: Oh, agreed.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, John. And thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Point of information. Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Let's see. Mr. Ingber.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears, did you have a comment on that?
[John Falco]: It would be amendable to that, Mr. President. Well, there's already a motion on the floor. So Consul and I would have to pull back his motion if he wants to, but.
[John Falco]: Okay, so Councilor Bears, I just want to make sure we're all clear on this. Councilor Bears, what would be your motion, your updated motion, I guess?
[John Falco]: Okay, so Councilor Knight has pulled back his resolution. Councilor Bears has amended the main resolution. Am I correct? And Clerk Herbies, you have all that?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, Seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: As amended.
[John Falco]: By Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-291 offered by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight has withdrawn 2-0-291. 20-292, offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council requests that the city administration contract with a professional industrial sanitation expert to disinfect all public buildings in order to protect essential employees from topical exposure to the coronavirus. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. I'm going to recognize Councilor Scarpelli in a minute. I did receive a message from the mayor saying that a private company disinfected almost all city buildings and vehicles free of charge. Now, it doesn't sound like all, but it sounds like they may have done some. So it just says almost. Councilor Scarpella, you had a question next.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scott Bentley. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Councilor Knight. While we're on the topic, if you don't mind, from the chair, Because I usually don't offer amendments from the chair, I can't. But I'm not sure if anyone would like to offer an amendment just stating whether or not, just to find out what our supply is with regard to masks or PPE for our first responders.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, and a big thank you goes out to them as well.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears and then Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears. We have Councilor Morell, Vice President Caraviello, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Morell. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Any other comments from the council. Would anybody else like to comment on this? Clerk Hurtubise, did you receive any emails on this issue?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. On the motion of council all night, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli, and council all night, and council all night again, seconded by Vice President Gabriello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 20-293 offered by Council of Beers. Be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the city administration enforce Governor Baker's order and prevent all brokers, landlords, and real estate agents from showing housing units in person with current occupants during the COVID-19 pandemic, and from entering or bringing other persons into a unit which is currently occupied for reasons unrelated to the health of the occupants be it further ordered that the city of Medford work directly with private landlords to cease all activities that require landlords, inspectors, or assessors to enter apartments for the duration of the crisis, to cease any threat or eviction or utility shutoffs and to freeze rent payments. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: I received, and I didn't see it till late this afternoon, just before I committed the whole meeting. It's a declaration of emergency. Is this what you're referring to, Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Yeah, it says declaration of emergency on it.
[John Falco]: That's what I have as well. Okay. I think it may have come in late this afternoon.
[John Falco]: Okay, so the motion on the floor is to table this resolution Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: We have to stop here anyway, because the motion to table is undebatable. So the motion to table by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor... Clerk Urnabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The resolution has been tabled. 20-294 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council formally express its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Larry Rasky for their tremendous loss. Be it further resolved that the City Clerk forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to the family of Larry Rasky on behalf of the entire Medford City Council. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: temporary lost counsel all night. So at this point, I would ask that we all rise for a brief moment of silence for Larry Rasky and his family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Please rise. Thank you. Okay. 20-295 offered by Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council requests that the city solicitor provide a draft ordinance establishing a permitting program to support regulation of donation collection bins in the City of Medford example framework for such in ordnance appears below. If I may. Sorry.
[John Falco]: That'd be great but I also was going to mention a console copy hello had a resolution to 0 dash 045. He was on our agenda January 28. In that, Councilor Caraviello, feel free to comment if you want, but I think it was similar to this and it was sent to the city solicitor to create a draft ordinance.
[John Falco]: Okay. Council Member Earl, do you want to withdraw this or?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Would anybody else like to comment on this? Or may I ask the city clerk, do you have any emails that have come in from?
[John Falco]: That's even worse. Okay, thank you, Vice President Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Marks, to forward this resolution to the city solicitor to accompany the previous resolution 20-045. Please call the roll. Councilor Bears. Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Communications from the Mayor, 20-296 to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council. I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approves a special budgetary transfer from the DPW highway overtime account 010-421-5130-1104 to DPW Highway Vehicles Account 010-421-5850 in the amount of $102,538.00 to serve as the 28% grant match to purchase a trash truck and two dump trucks. The DPW received a grant from Mass DEP totaling $360,000 for these purchases. City Public Works Commissioner Brian Kearns is present to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Rear Admiral Mungo Kern, Mayor. Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Okay. Do the councilors have any questions for Councilor Knight, let's wait for Mr. Kearns to get into position here.
[John Falco]: Good evening. Councilor Knight was saying hello.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Kearns. We have a number of questions from the council set up console and I think console appears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by... Thank you, Mr. President. Vice President Caraviello, Consular Affairs.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Any other questions from the council? Okay. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, actually, are there any other comments from anyone? I don't see any. Councilor Knight, Clerk Hurtubise, any emails?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Vice President Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Congratulations, Brian.
[John Falco]: Records. Can someone make a, if someone wouldn't mind, make a motion to table the committee reports?
[John Falco]: I make a motion of council tonight to suspend the rules, seconded by... Second. Council Marks, Clerk Urdoviz, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, semi-affirmative zero in the negative, the rules are suspended.
[John Falco]: Yes, and that actually is going to be coming up on a future agenda. Correct. We originally thought that it had to be passed by tomorrow.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. So clicker to bees, we're going to have the, uh, that will be on next week's agenda. Okay. The, the item from committee, the whole tonight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Why don't we, at this point, why don't we all rise for a brief moment of silence. Okay, we have reports of committees. If we could please table all those till the next meeting. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Vice President Caraviello to table 19-287, 20-081, 20-087. Those are all reports of committees on that motion to table. All those in favor? Actually, clicker to be spoken on the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. And the items are tabled. Records. The records of the meeting of March 10th were passed to Consul Morell. Consul Morell, how did you find those records? I found them great.
[John Falco]: I'll go to Councilor Morell to approve the record, seconded by... Second. Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero on the negative. The motion passes and the records are approved. I believe that's everything. Am I correct? Councilor? I believe that's correct. Okay. I'd like to conclude by thanking all my colleagues and thank you for everyone that tuned in. We thank you for your patience. Um, this is the first time that we've, uh, the history of the city that we've actually done a zoom meeting. So, um, We appreciate your patience, and I thank everyone for their help in putting this together and to running it smoothly. So thank you very much. And on the motion of.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scalipelli to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much for your patience. Everyone have a good night. Be safe, be healthy.
[John Falco]: Thanks.
[John Falco]: The ninth regular meeting in the Bedford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. All seven members are present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. I've been receiving many calls from people throughout the community regarding coronavirus. And we have basically, if you're online or you're watching TV, everyone is talking about it. concern, a real concern throughout our community, throughout our country. And so we have a number of people here from the administration tonight that would like to speak and give us more information as to what the administration is doing with regard to coronavirus and how we're moving forward and if they could please come forward at this time.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much for your briefing. Very informative. I watched the school committee last night, the school committee meeting, and that was, they talked about what they were doing in the schools, and that was very informative as well. So if we take a look at, you know, our different public buildings throughout our community. So if we take a look at, you take a look at our schools. You know, they talked about, I think it was a GENEO machine that comes in and sanitizes. Okay, they talked about that now it sanitizes the classrooms and stuff like that, which is great And I know they have a they've had one deep cleaning and I think another one scheduled soon Okay, so so which is I Great. As a parent, that's what I want to hear that, you know, our school spaces are clean. And so what about our other public buildings like City Hall, the library, senior center, those being cleaned as well and scrubbed down and whatnot?
[John Falco]: Okay, great. I mean, when I look at the library and I look at the senior center, I look at the City Hall, you know, I mean, there's hundreds if not thousands of people utilizing these spaces, you know, on a weekly basis. So, we just want to make sure that, you know, we're, you know, keep our schools clean, of course, but also, you know, public spaces or public buildings. So, thank you very much for your information. Appreciate all your help.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, can we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak on this issue? Any questions from the council? Come on, don't be shy. Come on. Don't be shy. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak on this issue?
[John Falco]: Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Before I call the roll, would anybody else like to speak on this issue? Good? Okay, great. Great, thank you again. Thank you for coming down tonight. Clerk Hurtubise, could you please read back the amendment?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Marks. Seconded by Councilor Knight. As amended by Councilor Marks, a roll call vote has been requested. Clerk Hurtubise, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Thank you. While we're under suspension, Councilor Bears. While we're under suspension, 20-283. March 5th, 2020, via electronic delivery to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Communication. Dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that the city council approves the appropriation of free cash in the amount of $47,400.00 to fund the assessor's data valuations. The balance of free cash before this vote is $10,478,681. Aleesha Nunley Benjamin, Finance Director, is present to answer any of the questions, any of the Council's questions regarding this matter.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On the motion of console night seconded by consulate bears clicker to be please call the roll.
[John Falco]: 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, the motion passes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: 20-281. 20-281, March 5th, 2020, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council. City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts. 02155 dear Mr. President and City Councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee requesting the appropriation of $3,000 from the CPA General Reserves to Elyse Turner and Amashika Durali in association with the Medford High School Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility for the Duggar Park Benches Small Grant. The project will be tracked in the Community Preservation Fund for Category General Reserve. Sincerely, Brianna Lunger, current mayor. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Some of the councilors have some questions. We'll start off with Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. And if I agree a thousand percent with my colleagues and everything they said, great presentation. I love the project and I think it'd be fabulous if we could roll this out in all of our parks. We have close to probably, you think between 30, I think around 35 parks in our city. And if we could do this in all our parks, I think it would be great. And I can't say enough about the CCSR. Mr. Skorka and Mr. Trotta, they run a great program. My kids are involved in the program as well. I always say to my kids, I say, it's a FALCO requirement. You have to be part of CCSR. And they all are. But I can't say enough good things about the CCSR and the work that they do. So congratulations, great job. And on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Congratulations and good luck. Thank you. On the motion of councilor Caraviello second of my console appears to revert back to the regular order business all those in favor all those opposed motion passes Hearings 20-066 City of Medford, notice of a public hearing will be held by the Medford City Council and the Howard F. Alden Memorial Auditorium, 85 George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, Massachusetts on Tuesday evening, March 10, 2020 at 7 p.m. on a petition from Elias McHale of Alewife Auto Work of 33B Mystic Ave., Medford for Class 2 Used Auto Sales Use Special Permit in Class 4 Auto Repair Use Special Permit in accordance with Chapter 94, Zoning Ordinance of the City of Medford, Section 94-148D, Table of Use Regulations. Automobile uses 27a for permission to operate its class 2 secondhand motor vehicles sales and automobile uses 37 for permission to operate its automotive repair establishment at 33 be mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts a commercial to see to Zoning district petition in plan may be seen in the office of the city clerk and Medford City Hall, Meford, Massachusetts. Call 781-393-2425 for any accommodations, aids, TDD 781-393-2516. The City of Medford is an EEO-AA-504 employer. By order of the Medford City Council, Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk, this was advertised in the Medford transcript on February 20th and February 27th. At this point in time, I declare the public hearing open. This is open to anyone in favor of the petition. If you're in favor of the petition, please come forward and state your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: OK, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Public hearing. Why don't we walk to, why don't we walk to, is he ready to present?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to table this matter to next week, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion is tabled. Motions, orders, and resolutions, 20-088 offered by Council of Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration notify all Medford retirees by mail of the March 16th nomination deadline for the elected retiree seat on the other post-employee benefits liability OPEB fund board of trustees.
[John Falco]: Sue, thank you very much. Consulate Bears, you'd like to amend the original resolution to strike the date that's listed? Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Consulate Bears. On the motion of Councilor Behr, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 2-0-089, offered by Councilor Knight. Whereas rule 37 of the Medford City Council reads, insofar as these rules are not statutory sources of origin. The same may be amended, repealed, or suspended at any meeting by the vote of four councillors, with the exception of papers to be submitted under suspension, which requires two-thirds approval of council. Any paper to be submitted under suspension shall be read prior to the vote for suspension. Any suspension of the rules shall be put on paper prior to the vote of the suspension, so all councillors will be fully informed of the matter on which he or she will vote. If any action is taken inconsistent with these rules, the same shall be construed to have been taken in suspension thereof, provided four counsels concur in such action. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council amend Rule 37 by striking this section in its entirety and replacing it with the following. Amendment or suspension of the rules. Insofar as these rules are not statutory sources of origin, the same may be amended, repealed, or suspended at any meeting by the vote of four Councilors, with the exception of papers to be submitted under suspension, which requires two-thirds approval of the counsel. Any paper to be submitted under suspension shall be read prior to the vote for suspension. Any suspension of the rule shall be put on paper prior to the vote of the suspension so all consulars will be fully informed of the matter on which he or she will vote. Number one, papers offered under suspension for immediate consideration shall be limited to public service announcements, condolences, recognition, celebratory, and emergency matters. Number two any other papers offered at the suspension of the rule shall be tabled following in duck introduction by the sponsor without Further debate and placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting If any action is taken and consistent with these rules the same shall be construed to have been taken in Suspension there are provided for consulars concur in such action Council night
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Peers.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council members, if you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to move this paper to the city solicitor for legal review. On that motion, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-090, offered by Council of the Night. Ordinance establishing an extended illness leave bank. There shall be an extended illness leave bank for employees of the city who participate therein. Extended illness advisory board appointment eligibility term. There shall be an extended illness leave bank advisory board. This board shall consist of five members that are city employees appointed by the mayor no later than 30 days following passage. These appointments shall be subject to council approval. Board members will serve a term of 24 months from the date of council confirmation. No more than two board members shall be employees at will. Administration. The director of personnel shall administer the bank in accord with the rules and regulations established by the Extended Illness Leave Bank Advisory Board and shall be precluded from serving as a member of this board. Implementation, participation requirements. The Extended Illness Advisory Board shall prescribe regulations governing its operation no later than 60 days following confirmation of its fifth member. The Extended Illness Advisory Board may alter, amend, and update these regulations from time to time thereafter by majority vote of its members. This shall make one-time investment of 75 leave days to establish the Extended Illness Leave Bank. Thereafter, any employee of the City who has completed one year of service may participate by donating to said bank any earned sick, personal, or vacation leave time in such amount with such frequency as said regulation shall permit to maintain a sufficient balance in the bank, but not less frequently than annually. Upon medical verification pursuant to such regulations, a participating employee with an extended illness who has exhausted all other earned leave And who has been on leave because of such extended illness for not less than 20 consecutive work days may obtain from said bank additional paid leave or not more than 120 days in any two year period. Current employees with all other earned leave exhausted who have been on leave because of extended illness shall be eligible to seek benefits from the Extended Illness Leave Bank retroactively to January 1st, 2020. It shall not be required to donate to said bank any earned sick, personal, or vacation leave time to participate. Said regulations shall provide safeguards against use of said bank by employees who have improperly used existing sick leave. The head of each city department shall not less than twice annually provide written notice to each employee of the opportunity to participate in said bank. Upon receipt of the first such notice, each employee shall be required to sign a form issued by the city indicating that such employee has been informed of the opportunity to participate in said bank. Nothing contained herein shall affect existing collective bargaining agreements containing provisions relating to the establishment of extended illness leave banks. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpel.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight, thank you for bringing this forward. I think it's long overdue. I'm glad that you brought this forward tonight. So the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to move this to Committee of the Whole meeting, and we will invite the city solicitor and the director of personnel. On that motion, all those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-091, offered by Councilor Knight, whereas Rule 18 of the rules of the Medford City Council reads, every order and resolution must be endorsed. No order or resolution shall be received or acted upon unless endorsed by a member of the Council. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council amend Rule 18 by striking the section and replacing it with the following. Every order and resolution must be endorsed. Filing of petitions. For the purposes of the section, the following definitions shall apply. Order defined as a local bylaw enacted by the City Council. Resolution defined as a paper stating an expression of opinion, fact, principle, or purpose. petition defined as an application requesting council action as required by law. No order or resolution shall be received or acted upon unless endorsed by a member of the council. The filing of petitions shall be reserved only for matters requiring council action per law, including but not limited to special permits, grants of location, signed variances, and common vigila licenses. Only petitions filed Only petitions filed meeting this criteria shall be assigned a council paper number. All other petitions filed shall be placed on the public participation portion of the agenda and not assigned a council paper number. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? I second. Councilor Scarpelli, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Yeah, the motion, yeah. Motion for, yeah, approval. Yes, that was approval of a rule change. Correct, sorry, but thank you for clarifying. Yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Okay, are you asking that we Asking for reconsideration? I would ask that at this time, Mr. President. Okay. On the motion of Consular Marks to reconsider that vote. All those in favor? Aye. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The vote for reconsideration is successful.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Council peers. Can you repeat that for the coat?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. So Councilor Bears has offered a B paper, seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight, do you want to comment on that?
[John Falco]: So let's just make sure. When does that happen? If I may, if I may. So what you're saying is beyond the public participation, it'd be listed with no number or are you saying it's
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell would like to speak. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: We're not individuals. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Okay, we have the B paper first. And the B paper was offered by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. And that was to have a Committee of the Whole meeting.
[John Falco]: To review any rules. Pursuant to public participation. Pursuant to public participation. And review and update rule 33. And review and update rule 33. On that motion by Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. on the main resolution offered by Councilor Knight. Seconded by? Councilor Caraviello. And this is to adopt the rule change that was proposed by Councilor Knight. Clerk, please call the roll. Yes, six in the affirmative, one of the negative, the motion passes. 20-092 offered by Vice President Caraviello and Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council sends its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Priscilla Morse on her recent passing. Her presence in our community will be deeply missed. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council appears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And if I may add, I've had the pleasure of knowing Hank and Dennis most of my life. And Mrs. Morse did a And her husband did a fabulous job raising Hank and Dennis. They're two of the finest people I know. And our thoughts and prayers go out to the Morse family. At this point in time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. 20-093 offered by Council and I be it ordered that the Medford City Council hereby establish a minimum wage for all individuals in the employee of the school district and city of Medford by adopting the following ordinance. There shall be a minimum wage for all city and school district employees. This minimum wage shall be set at no less than $15 per hour. In the event the Massachusetts minimum wage exceeds $15 per hour, the employee shall receive the state minimum hourly wage. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Councilor Knight, thank you for bringing that forward. Please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Yes, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor?
[John Falco]: All those opposed? The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Yes, and that's for the referral to the city solicitor to review for pro forma and codification.
[John Falco]: 20-095 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council hereby amend 94-141B, parentheses three, by striking this section in adopting the following language, 94-191B3. Parking spaces not enclosed in a structure may be provided anywhere on the lot except in inner court, except that no parking may be provided within the required front yards in SF1, SF2, and GR district. In the event that existing on-street parking is removed, eliminated, or made unavailable through government action, direct abutters impacted by the removal of parking shall have the right to install parking within the required front yards in SF1, SF2, and GR district. When parking is provided in a front yard, buffer strips at least three feet in width and planted with dense planting material or an opaque fence or uniform appearance should be provided on the sides of the parking area visible from the abutting streets and lots. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Council of Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Council appears we might need to repeat that last part.
[John Falco]: Limited to one spot, correct?
[John Falco]: Correct. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Can you repeat that again, please?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Bears and Councilor Knight, to send this paper to the Building Commissioner and Code Enforcement Officer for their review. You withdraw the paper? Okay, the paper has been withdrawn. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight, to suspend the rules, to take a paper on order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes and the rules are suspended.
[John Falco]: 20-100, petition for common vigilance license by Freddie Alonzo, Melgar Alvarado. Alvarado 3 1 0 3 Washington Street Roxbury Mass 0 2 1 1 9 in Milton Antonio Melgar 48 Albion Street number 1 Somerville, Massachusetts 0 2 1 4 3 4 casa pizza 62 Lambert Street Medford, Massachusetts 0 2 1 5 5 on file business certificate 0 5 1 building department fire department police traffic impact health department treasurer letter of compliance and state tax ID, workman's compensation, and petition. At this point, I turn it over to the chairperson on licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears, for approval. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. You've been approved. Congratulations and good luck. Welcome to the community.
[John Falco]: Revert back to the regular order of business, Mr. President. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears, to revert back to the regular order of business. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. We will now revert back to the regular order of business. 20-096 offered by Vice President Councilor Caraviello. 20-098 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council Subcommittee on Zoning convene for the purpose of finalizing the Safe Access to Medical and Adult Use Marijuana Draft Ordinance for future deliberation before a committee of the whole meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: We'll have this sooner than later.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-096, offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council sends its deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Tony Anzalone. On his recent passing, Tony operated Tony's Barbershop in South Medford for 35 years. Tony was a longtime volunteer at the Medford Senior Center, where he was known for his singing of Frank Sinatra songs at many events. His presence in our community will be missed. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. At this point, I ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight, please come forward. If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: That needs to be posted. I'll introduce the paper.
[John Falco]: Okay, offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the city, Medford City Council requests that the building department report to the city council the status of the unfinished project on Winthrop Street regarding the hole in the rock.
[John Falco]: So what we will do is we will put that on the agenda for next week. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Yes, yes, yes, correct. It's been ruled out of order. It needs to go on the agenda. That'll be on the agenda next week. Mr. Clerk, if you could please add that to the agenda for the next week. Greatly appreciate it, thank you.
[John Falco]: Petitions, presentations, and similar papers, 20-099, petition by Joseph A. Viglione, 446 Charles Street, Malden, Massachusetts, 02148, for 10 minutes to discuss moving the public access TV station to a central location and issues regarding station management, outreach and facilitation of programming, the TV website, the issuing authority, the query check issue, financing issues, accessibility, and a broad range of access television issues including membership. If we could please have your name and address for the record, and you do have 10 minutes, up to 10 minutes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Mr. Viglione, please continue. You have 10 minutes, and you've already blown through, like, two.
[John Falco]: Mr. Bigelow, please. Mr. President, a motion to table the matter. On a motion of Consul Knight to table the matter, seconded by Consul Caraviello.
[John Falco]: There's a motion on the floor. This is part of the process.
[John Falco]: There's a motion on the floor, it's been seconded, a vote is going to happen.
[John Falco]: And I understand that, but a motion has been made. So this needs to be voted on. If you do not want to table it, that is fine. Motion to table by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli? Councilor Scarpelli? There's a motion on the floor to table. There's a motion on the floor to table. To table the conversation. No. Three yes, four no. The motion fails. Please continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Could you please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Second. On the motion of Council of Bears to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, to receive and place on file. All those in favor, all those opposed.
[John Falco]: All those opposed. The paper is received and placed on file.
[John Falco]: Before we adjourn tonight, I- Mr. President, do we need to call the police?
[John Falco]: Okay. The clerk has notified me that there is a committee report.
[John Falco]: Report of committees, Committee of the Whole, Tuesday, February 18th, 545. Committee of the Whole, let's see, we talked about the Community Preservation Act funding requests. Ms. Cameron was there from the CPC to talk about each of the requests. We have presentations from each of the projects. And those projects were voted on later that night during the formal session. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to approve the committee report, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The committee report is approved. Before we adjourn for the evening, we did receive a letter from the DCRNF package. Did everybody get the letter? Dear City Council, on the date of February 25th, 2020, Medford City Council, City of Medford, 85 George P. Hanson Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear City Council of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the DCR is considering the purchase of the fee or lesser interest including but not limited to a Permanent and perpetual easement in land located in the city of Medford state regulation at 301 CMR 5 1.0 0 Required DCR to provide written notice of any planned purchase to you in certain other public officials at least 120 days prior to purchase This letter is intended to serve as such notice. The property is located at 99 Riverside Avenue, Medford. This unique parcel is a portion of land owned by BNYH Medford LLC along the banks of the Mystic River. It shall be part of a bikeway and pedestrian pathway to be known as the Clippership Connector. The property under consideration contains 5,220,000 square feet of land. The locus map exhibited exhibit A. shows a property in which we are interested. The current owner use of the property is undeveloped open space. If acquired by the state, DCR will retain the property easement for the purpose of stated above. The applicable regulations require that an agency proposal to acquire property to be made public in a local forum. To comply with this requirement, we ask that the Board of Selectmen Announce the Commonwealth is considering the acquisition for the above stated purpose at its next regularly scheduled meeting and document the announcement of the enclosed form and return it to us in a self-addressed envelope enclosed for your convenience. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, kindly contact Sean Getchell, Director of Government Affairs at 617-626-4991. For your information, the DCR has sent similar notices to Representative Paul J. Donato, Senator Patricia Jalen, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Thank you very much. Very truly yours, Arthur C. George, Assistant General Counsel. So, just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention. You're very welcome, Councilor Caraviello. Records. The records of the meeting of February 25th were passed to Consular Marks. Consular Marks, how did you find them? I find them to be in order and move approve. On the motion of Consular Marks to approve the records seconded by Consular Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The records have been approved. On the motion of Consular Appeals seconded by Consular Caraviello that the meeting be adjourned. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: The eighth regular meeting in the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Consul Knight to suspend the rules, seconded by Consul of Beers. All those in favor? All those opposed? The rules are suspended. Consul of Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: All right, then I'll wish Thank You council appears at this point. I'll call on councillor Scarpelli Thank you
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you for all the hard work you're putting in to do this. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: I'd like to thank all my colleagues and thank you for raising awareness to this cause and thank you for all your hard work. It's great to see you putting all this effort into this and to bring awareness to everything. So on the motion of Council Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Thank you. Councilor Bears. Motion to suspend the rules to take paper 20078 out of order while we're under suspension paper two zero zero seven eight petitions presentations and similar papers petition by ellie hunt 41 at washington street medford massachusetts 0 to 1 5 5 and juliet frank's 48th summer street but for massachusetts 0 to 1 5 5 to present a petition created by medford high school students requesting that the city council ban the use of polystyrene in the city of medford due to their impact on the environment If you please have your name and address for the record
[John Falco]: Okay. Let's dim the lights
[John Falco]: Great job, nice presentation. There are a number of Councilors that have questions or want to make comments on this, so I'll recognize them right now. The first one, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you so much. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you so much.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. And if I may conclude by thanking you for all your hard work and your effort. This takes a lot of time and effort and energy to put this together, to have everybody signing that petition, which is pretty impressive, the amount of people that signed it. you know, polystyrene is very bad, I mean, for our environment, and for all the reasons that you outlined in your presentation, which was great. And this is something that I would support 100%. So I thank you for bringing it forward, and thank all the councilors for their questions, and at this point, I'll recognize Councilor Bears, and thank you for everything, appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears to move this to Committee of the Whole, seconded by Councilor Morell. All those in favor?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Knight, that the City Solicitor be in attendance at the Committee of the Whole meeting when it's scheduled. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes, thank you. Council night council night made the motion to revert to the regular order of business which was seconded oh Yes, okay while we're under suspension Councilor Marks has a public announcement oh two public announcements. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks, and thank you for everyone that volunteered that day. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, to revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Motions, orders, and resolutions 20-076, offered by Councilor Knight and Vice President Cariello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council hereby congratulate Ginny and Chucky Roach of West Medford Square's CB Scoops on its 10th anniversary, and be it further resolved that the Medford City Council hereby thank the Roach family for the countless charitable contributions to our community. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And I'd like to say congratulations to- We're going there after the meeting.
[John Falco]: Congratulations to Ginny and Chuckie Roach on their 10th anniversary at CB Scoops. We wish them well in the future. And we thank you for that continuous commitment to our community. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-077 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the City Auditor conduct an audit of Industry Solutions Company to ensure compliance with the wage thefts ordinance and responsible employer ordinance for work being performed at the police headquarters construction project and be it further resolved that the building inspector initiate periodic random inspections of the work being performed in the construction of the police headquarters to ensure quality work. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council of Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Caraviellola.
[John Falco]: Why don't we make an amendment?
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Bears and Councilor Scarpelli, we have a resident that would like, and Councilor Caraviello, sorry about that. If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Welcome back.
[John Falco]: Jones, I apologize for interrupting. So right now we're talking about the employee ordinance and the, let's see, the wage theft ordinance. And so while we're on this topic, it has to relate to this topic per the open meeting law. So do you have a specific statement about this ordinance, or actually this topic that Councilor Knight has brought before us tonight?
[John Falco]: It has to be specific to the wage theft ordinance. If it's not, we can talk about it or maybe put it on the agenda for next week, but it has to be on the agenda in order for us to speak about it.
[John Falco]: No, the open meeting law is pretty strict about actually what we can talk about and what we can't talk about and we need to this it actually has to be on the Agenda for us to to talk about if you want to if you want to put it on the agenda for next week I recommend that you contact the clerk turn the week you can add it to the agenda, but point of information console night Yeah
[John Falco]: So Ms. Jones, if you could, just for two minutes, till we vote on this, then we can go to public participation and then you can, State your concerns, and we'll go from there.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you, Councilor Knight. So if you could give us two minutes just to vote on this, and then we'll move to public participation, and you can tell us about your issue then. Thank you. Were there any other further comments on the wage theft ordinance?
[John Falco]: Okay. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Bears, Councilor Scarpelli, and Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: The run finished business 20-069 petition by Cheryl Rodriguez to address zoning loopholes. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Bears, do you want to receive and place on file? Yes, please. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Bears to receive and place on file, seconded by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? All those opposed?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to take papers in the hands of the clerk. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Offered by Councilor Knight. Motion to suspend the rules for the purpose of canceling the March 3rd City Council meeting in lieu of the Super Tuesday election. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, that the meeting on March 3rd be canceled. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Mrs. Jones.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: That's the best bet. We'll contact the police, have the police look into it, and we'll go from there.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion, reports of committees, 2-0-0-6-3, February 18th, 2020 committee, the whole report to follow. That report has not been completed yet. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to table the committee report, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? That report has been tabled. Records, the records of the meeting of February 18th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to approve the records, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The records are approved. On the motion of Councilor Morell to adjourn the meeting. Second. Seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed?
[John Falco]: The seventh regular meeting in the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. The seventh present. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council night, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, that the rules be suspended to take papers from the Mayor. The communications from the Mayor, 20-070, February 13th, 2020. Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, Members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts 02155 regarding Community Preservation Committee. Dear Mr. President and City Councils, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. Number one, requesting the appropriation of $50,000 from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve to the City of Medford Cemetery Board of Trustees in the Department of the Veterans Services for the Oak Grove Cemetery World War I Memorial Restoration Project.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by? Second. Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Number two, requesting the appropriation of $42,000 from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve to the Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust Incorporated for phase two of the restoration of an historic stone wall at the Brooks Estate.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Slow it down. Clerk Urnabes, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. Number 3, requesting the appropriation of $19,000 from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve to the Mefford Brooks Estate Land Trust Incorporated for the restoration of select interior public rooms of the Shepard Brooks Manor at the Brooks Estate.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Kirby, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Well, we have a minute just to let everyone know that's here tonight and everyone that's viewing at home. We had a committee the whole earlier tonight to discuss all of these projects in detail where the council had the opportunity and the general public to ask questions. Number four, requesting the appropriation of $9,649 from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve and $6,351 from the CPA General Reserve to the Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust Incorporated for electrical upgrades of the Shepard Brooks Manor at the Brooks Estate.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Kurtabis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Number five, requesting the appropriation of $129,921 from the CPA General Reserve to the Medford Brooks Estate Land Trust Incorporated for the restoration of the Porter-Cochere copper roof of the Shepard Brooks Manor at the Brooks Estate.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Urbis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Number six, requesting the appropriation of $296,074 from the CPA General Reserve to the City of Medford Public Library for the creation of a local history room at the new Medford Public Library.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. We have a resident that would like to speak on this issue. Could we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Thank you On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Number seven, requesting the appropriation of $15,000 from the CPA General Reserve to the Grace Episcopal Church for the restoration of the historic exterior doors. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Number eight, requesting the appropriation of $132,800 for the CPA General Reserve to the Unitarian Universalist Church for the restoration of the historic windows at the David Osgood House.
[John Falco]: Second. On the motion of Councilor Behr and seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative zero on the negative. The motion passes number nine requesting the appropriation of $45,000 from the CPA general reserve to the city of Medford parks division for the purchase and installation of an irrigation system and removal of invasive species at rights pond.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Number 10, requesting the appropriation of $84,800 from the CPA General Reserve to the City of Medford Tree Warden for trees for Medford Parks projects. On the motion of Councilor Labir, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Number 11, requesting the appropriation of $147,306 from the CPA General Reserve to the City of Medford Office of Energy and Environment for Phase 2 of the North Riverbend Park Remediation Project.
[John Falco]: Second. On the motion of Councilor Behr, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative zero in the negative. The motion passes. Number 12 requesting the appropriation of $8,064 from the CPA general reserve to the mystic riverbank community gardens for community gardens, fence improvements project. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 13, requesting the appropriation of $28,083.19 from the CPA Open Space Reserve in $97,345.81 from the CPA General Reserve to the City of Medford School Department for Brooks Elementary School Playground Renovations Project. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll. We had the motion, sorry. Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Number 14, requesting the appropriation of $107,432 from the CPA Open Space Reserve to the City of Medford School Department for Columbus Elementary School Playground Renovations Project. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Number 15, requesting the appropriation of $40,000 from the CPA Open Space Reserve to the City of Medford School Department for a design study for the renovation of the McGlynn Elementary School playground. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. While we're under suspension, 20071, February 13th, 2020. Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, regarding the Community Preservation Committee. I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following on recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee. requesting the transfer of $250,000 from the CPA General Reserve to the CPA Community Housing Reserve. The purpose of the transfer is to earmark these funds for future CPA-eligible affordable housing projects. Sincerely, Brianna Lungelkern, Mayor. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caffiello. Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll. Actually, Councilor Bears would like to speak. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: That is on our list of committee of the whole that are going to be scheduled soon.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On that motion, Clerk Hernebies, please call the roll. Yes 70 affirmative zero and the negative the motion passes If we could please have your name and address for the record
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for all the work of the CPC for putting this together. Thank you for everyone that applied for the grants as well. So thank you for everyone's participation. On the motion of Consul Knight, seconded by Consul Caraviello, that we revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Hearings. 2-0-0-5-0. This is a notice of a public hearing. City of Medford, notice of a public hearing. The City of Medford, uh, the City, Medford City Council will hold a public hearing in the Howard F. Alden Memorial Auditorium on the second floor of Medford City Hall at 85 George P. Hassett Drive in Medford, Massachusetts on Tuesday evening. February 18, 2020, at 7 p.m., on a petition from Redefined Strength and Fitness, LLC, Michael Denton, 215 B. Salem St., Medford, MA 02155, for a special permit to amend its hours of operation in accordance with Medford Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 94, Section 94-145. to operate extended hours at the business of 215B Salem Street, Medford, Massachusetts. The said site being located in the apartment one zoning district as follows. Extended hours of operation requested, 5 AM to 7 AM, seven days per week. Petition and plan may be seen in the office of the city clerk from 103 Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts. Call 781-393-2501 for any accommodations or aids. TDD 781-393-2516. The city of Medford is an EEOAA 504 employer. Mr. President, we're going to wait for the remainder of the meeting to have a brief presentation about the petition. On the motion of Council tonight to waive the remainder of the reading, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? If we could please have the petitioner come forward tonight, give us a brief synopsis of the issue in your business, and tell us a little bit about what you're trying to do. Sure. What you'd like to do.
[John Falco]: OK, thank you. So we have a set to go some procedural things first. So at this point, I declare the public hearing open and open in favor of those in favor of the petition. So if you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: And you are in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Anyone else in favor of the petition at this time, I would ask to please step forward. Anyone else in favor? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition, please come forward. Anyone in opposition? Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. I would ask you to please come forward at this point. Sorry, first time. No worries, no worries. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you console night.
[John Falco]: Thank you Any other questions from the council? Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Knight, the amendment would be that the permit goes with the business and that there will be a review after 90 and 180 days. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero negative. The motion passes. Good luck and congratulations.
[John Falco]: Motions, orders, and resolutions 20-068 offered by Councilor Morell be it resolved that the city administration provide an update on a storefront improvement program to support businesses in improving the curb appeal of our squares. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: So, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Morell. On the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Petitions, presentations, and similar papers, 20-069, petition by Cheryl Rodriguez, 281 Park Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, to discuss zoning loopholes being exploited by flippers. The clerk has notified me that Miss Rodriguez is sick, and she could not make it tonight, so on the motion of console night to table this seconded by On the motion of console console marks to table the matter seconded by By constant car viola all those in favor all those opposed the please mark console night is opposed The paper has been tabled On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to take papers in the hands of the clerk. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the safe routes project scheduled for High Street be discussed.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. There are a number of Councilors that want to speak on this. So on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Consular Knight, with your point of information. Consular Beers, you can continue.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Separately marked lane, okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Yes, if I may, that meeting was scheduled by the Traffic Commission. We've all had issues with when they schedule meetings because they're always at 2 p.m., which to me is just, it just gives such a disservice because most of the population can't make it at 2 p.m. So I'm in complete agreement with you on that.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Got some caviar.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Mr. President. Councilor Caraviello is up next. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: I would agree. Everyone has brought in some very valid points. And we do have a resident that would like to speak on this, or maybe a few residents. So if we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Councilor Morell, did you have one?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: on the motion of consular marks as amended by consular mark seconded by consular caviar. All those in favor roll call vote has been requested. Clerk her to be please call the roll. Yes. So the original paper was that this item be discussed. Uh, clerk her to be as if you could please read the amendment. Uh, Clark, you can please read the amendment.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council Marx, as amended by Council Marx, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Bears that. While we're on to suspension. 20-073 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request an update including but not limited to a construction schedule on the status of the Tufts Square construction project. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Councilor Caraviello. Law warrant the suspension.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Camarillo. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. I just wanted to, thoughts and prayers go to the Davis family. Jonathan, I used to see him on the bus. I used to take the, well, still take the 326 home at night with the 325, and I'd see him on the bus. Very kind gentleman, worked for the MBTA for a long time, and was the, You know, he was the acting general manager for a while, and when he got on the bus, you'd never know that he was the acting general manager. He would just jump on like everybody else. Very, very nice person, easy to talk to, great guy, and just wanted to, you know, just offer thoughts and prayers to his family, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Reports of committees, Tuesday, February 11th, 2026 p.m. in room 207, Council Office, Medford City Hall. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Safe Routes to School project on High Street and the minor adjustments to the right-of-way. We had a, basically had a discussion with the, Let's see, the traffic engineer, the engineering department, as well as MassDOT, and we just talked about that in our previous discussion just a couple minutes ago. But they detailed a plan as to what was going to be happening in that area and what they were trying to do with regard to bike lanes and bump outs for the sidewalks and crosswalks. That was basically the purpose of that meeting and what happened during that meeting. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Marks to approve the committee report. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-017, committee of the whole meeting report. Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 5.45 p.m. Room 207, Council Office, Medford City Hall. The purpose of that meeting was for the council to meet with Mayor Mungo-Curran to continue its discussion of our legislative priorities for 2020. We had a discussion about everything from adding headcount to various departments within our city, meeting with department heads pre-budget, talking about Talking about the budget in general, talking about the census. We talked about the census for a few minutes. And the hope is that the budget will be drafted earlier than normal and hopefully will be to us in May. And let's see, we talked about technology as well. And we talked about the city solicitor's office. And the mayor is interviewing candidates for a number of positions in the city. And that's a brief synopsis of the meeting. On the motion of Council of Knights, seconded by Council of Mocks to approve the committee report. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Records. The records of the meeting of February 11, 2020 were passed to Vice President Caraviello. Vice President Caraviello, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Morell, to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: Come to order clerk her to be please call the roll council bears vice president care of yellow council night Councilor Marks council Morell councillor Scarpelli president Falco present all seven members present at this time I would ask everyone to 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 Hearings. Notice of a public hearing. Petition for grant of location, National Grid, North Andover, Massachusetts, underground electric conduits. Thank you on the motion of console tonight to waive the reading for a brief synopsis by the petitioner seconded by console appears all those in favor all those opposed the motion passes at this time I would ask the representative from National Grid to please step forward and give us a brief synopsis of the project if you could start off by please stating your name and address for the record
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: At this point, I declare the public hearing open. Open to all those in favor of the petition. At this point, I would ask for those in favor of the petition to please come forward. If you could please state your name and address for the record again, if you are in favor of the petition.
[John Falco]: And you are in favor of the petition? Yes, I am. Thank you. You're welcome. Anyone else in favor? Please come forward. Hearing and seeing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. Anyone in opposition of the petition? Anyone in opposition? Anyone in opposition? Seeing and hearing none, I declare this portion of the hearing closed. If you could please come forward again. Thank you. Are there any questions from the council at this point? Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And I just want to make a quick note, and that is that the engineering division did review this application in a, if I'm just going to read further, just that the engineer division recommends that this grant of location be approved with the following conditions. The grant of location is limited to 60, uh, two foot, uh, Duck Bank is described in the GOL documents as follows. National grid to install beginning at a point approximately 190 feet southeast of the central line of the intersection of Winter Hill Road and continuing approximately two feet in a southwest direction. National grid to install two to four inches of conduit to riser pole 590, that's 590, to pad 87 located inside the customer's property. Number two, before starting work, the contractor shall notify dig safe and shall obtain all applicable permits from the engineering division. The project must obtain a street opening permit pursuant to section 74-141 of the city ordinances prior to commencing work. Number three, no other utility structures, conduits, duct banks, pipes, or any other apparatances are adversely impacted. National Grid shall ensure that all sewer, water, and drain lines are marked prior to any excavation. Any disturbed concrete sidewalk panels shall be replaced in kind. Asphalt must be replaced with asphalt. Number four, installing the proposed conduit will disturb the existing driveway apron for 87 Medford Street. The existing apron has hairline cracking which will worsen with this installation. The engineering division recommends that the entire driveway apron be removed and replaced. The new apron shall be six inch depth of concrete and be installed per city standard. So those are the recommendations from the engineering division. At this point, I'd recognize Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Consulate Knight, seconded by Consulate Beers to approve the paper as adopted, as amended, with the conditions by the Engineering Division. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. Yes. 70 affirmative zero in the negative. The paper passes. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Motions, orders and resolutions. Offered by council tonight, be it 20-064, be it resolved that the city administration provide the council with a list of vacant positions funded in the current fiscal year budget. And be it further resolved that the council be provided with an organizational chart reflecting transitional roles and responsibilities until the aforementioned vacancies are filed. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Consul Knight. On the motion of Consul Knight, seconded by Consul Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-065, offered by Vice President Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the DCR install sound devices on the traffic signals at Whole Foods in efforts to help those with sight issues cross the street in a safe way. Be it further resolved that this be sent to the Office of Diversity and Disability. Vice President. Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay. So Councilor Bears would like the streets to be mentioned in the resolution. In Whole Foods to be capitalized. Auburn Street in Mystic Valley Parkway.
[John Falco]: Correct. Yes. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. We have a resident that would like to speak on this issue. Thank you for coming down tonight. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Councilor Cavill. Do you have any further comments?
[John Falco]: Good, thank you. Counsel Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Martins.
[John Falco]: Okay, we'll take the B paper first. On the motion of Council Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. On the main motion offered by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Bears and Councilor Knight. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Knight to take papers in the hands of the clerk, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that a no parking here to corner at the intersection of New Bern and Medford Street be installed. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: So on the BP, Bradshaw and?
[John Falco]: Bradshaw and Spring Streets. So we'll take a, yes, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Would you like to make that as an amendment to your resolution, Councilman?
[John Falco]: Absolutely.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: I believe they're actually hiring for that position.
[John Falco]: I mean, it'd be nice, just if I may, it'd be nice maybe to even put something, or maybe send a copy of this paper to the police chief, maybe they can put something on the police website, like Councilor Scarapelli said, the city website, if there's like, it's always good to have like an FAQ type page, you know, frequently asked questions, but maybe that's something that comes up, or actually even Park Medford, so, I mean, there's a number of venues where this resolution probably could be sent if you wanted to. I'd take all those suggestions, that's great. Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. And thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: New Bern Ave.
[John Falco]: OK, New Bern Ave.
[John Falco]: OK. We will correct that in the resolution. Thank you for letting us know. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Mr. President, if I could? You absolutely can. One minute, please. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So we have a B paper offered by Councilor Bears. On that B paper, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. On the main motion offered by Councilor Marks, as amended by Councilor Marks, to send the paper to the mayor's office, the chief of police, it's a park method, to post, to post notifications with a guide to parking near street corners. Into the future communication director. Seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Records. The records of the meeting of February 4th were passed to Councilor Bears. Council of Beers? How did you find those records?
[John Falco]: You want to move approval of those?
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Council of Beers, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to approve the records. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Anything else? And before I conclude this meeting, may I wish a very happy birthday to our Vice President, Consul Caraviello. Consul Caraviello. You hope you had a great day?
[John Falco]: All right. Thank you. Well, happy birthday. Hope you have a great day. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: On the motion of conduct. On the motion of council, I ask Scarpelli to adjourn the meeting seconded by Vice President Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed?
[John Falco]: The fifth regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order.
[John Falco]: Present. Seven present. At this time I would ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to suspend the rules to take paper out of order. All those in favor?
[John Falco]: All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-059, communications from the mayor. Joint resolution to make Medford hunger free. It is hereby resolved by her honor, the Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, the Honorable Medford City Council and Honorable Medford School Committee that. Whereas hunger and poverty are issues of grave concern in the United States, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the city of Medford. Whereas Medford is committed to educating people about food insecurity and the importance of food banks and alleviating hunger in our communities. Food insecurity is a persistent and significant reality in Medford, where 1 in 10 people, 1 in 8 children, and 1 in 14 seniors do not know where their next meal will come from. Whereas the Greater Boston Food Bank and its member agencies provide vital hunger relief services to our most valuable neighbors, Whereas, Medford shall strive to work with hunger relief organizations to make Eastern Massachusetts hunger-free by supporting access to three healthy meals a day for our residents in need. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Medford, by her honor, the Mayor, the Honorable City Council, and the Honorable Medford School Committee, that one, Medford will set the goal to be hunger-free no later than January 1st, 2028, and two, that all residents of Medford are respectfully requested to take note of this joint resolution and participate fittingly in achieving this important and worthwhile goal. If we could please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Excuse me, if you could come forward, just because there's people watching at home on TV, and so everyone gets the correct information.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Okay. Oh, Councilor Marks first.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Knight. Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And before I call the roll, or before the clerk calls the roll, I'd just like to thank everyone for coming down tonight to speak on this issue. It's a very important issue that actually, it has an impact on so many people throughout this community. And I think far too many times people think, or just under the assumption that everyone has a meal, when everyone does not. And it's something that needs to be addressed. And I'm happy that this is coming before us tonight. And I just want to thank everyone for their involvement in this. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you On the motion of console caviello seconded by councillor night I Clark-Hertogheese, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Sounds good Thank You counsel a night on the motion of council night for a brief recess seconded by council of beers all those in favor all those opposed We're now in recess
[John Falco]: All those in favor? All those opposed? We are now back in session. Councilor Caraviello?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to take Two papers out of order. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Petitions, presentations, and similar papers, 20-057. Petition for a common vigilance license by Richard Chang, 1000 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02188 for 400 Cafe, Unidine Corporation, 400 Rivers Edge Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate number 027, building department, fire department, police, traffic impact, health department, treasurer. Letter of compliance, sales tax ID, workman's compensation, and the petition. At this point, I'll turn it over, actually, to the chairperson of licensing, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: It's married.
[John Falco]: So make a recommendation. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli, did you have any further questions, sir?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Congratulations. Good luck. Thank you very much. Thank you. Order to suspension 20-058, petition for a common vigilance license by Neil Parris to Foley Farm Road, Wilmington, Massachusetts, 01887 for Lives, Juice, and Akai Bar, 56, Station Landing, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. On file, business certificate number 030, letter of compliance, building department, fire department, police, traffic impact, health department, treasurer, state tax ID, workman's compensation, and petition. At this point, I'll recognize the chairperson on licensing, Constance Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. If we could please have your name and address for the record, just so the clerk.
[John Falco]: And the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Thank you and congratulations.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business, seconded by Councilor Morell. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 19-623 offered by Councilor Knight, update on the Eversource project.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Consul Knight. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: If you could please continue with the presentation, and we'll do questions at the end.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears. Actually, no, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Knight. Councilman Beers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you. I Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So Councilor Marks is making a motion to get a response back from the city solicitor regarding bullet point three on the MOU that we have with- From March 9th, 2017. From March 9th, 2017. On that motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Councilor Marks, do you have any further questions?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Excuse me. So if you don't mind, from the chair. So do we know exactly when that's going to happen? I know at night, but do we know? Do you have any type of time frame with regards to months?
[John Falco]: Do you know when we can expect to maybe get a time frame?
[John Falco]: And I had a question, thank you for that answer, and I had a question regarding the splicing that Councilor Morell was asking. So you talked a little bit about, I think, noise. What about traffic? Is there going to be a heavy traffic impact on that street when that happens?
[John Falco]: Are there any other further questions from the consular? Any questions? Okay, seeing that there's no questions, Consular Night.
[John Falco]: Councilmembers, would you like this to be a B paper on this original paper? That's fine. Okay, so that's a B paper. On the motion of Council and I to table this to next quarter, where we get our quarterly update, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much. Appreciate all the information and the update. Thank you.
[John Falco]: 20-051 offered by Council and I be it resolved that the Medford City Council recognize Medford native and MHS class of 1996 graduate Justin Springer on being honored as a 2019 ABCD Community Hero Consul Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilman Knight, and thank you for bringing this forward tonight. On the motion of Councilor Knights, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-052 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council contact the DCR to replace the guardrail on the bridge at Auburn Street in the interest of public safety. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-053 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council meet in Committee of the Whole to discuss the report of the acting city solicitor regarding a draft ordinance enabling the establishment of a payment in lieu of taxes pilot commissioned as requested by Councilor, I'm sorry, as requested by the Council in paper 20-021. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. I would ask at this point if Councilor Marks could please share the next two motions. There you go. Turn these off for you. You don't have to turn it off. You know what? Yeah, I can get it for you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. As Councilor Caraviello noted, we actually talked to the representative, or representative at the MMA conference. And it's definitely, I think, something that we should pursue. And that's why we're recommending a pilot program, thinking that this would be a nice idea to try out on some of our streets. It would definitely save the city some money. And it definitely has some benefits as well. I mean, if you take a look at the number of streets that we're repaving each year, we're very limited to what we can do with the funds that we have. So this is kind of an out-of-the-box, kind of thinking out-of-the-box type of solution where we could do something with the recycled asphalt. And there's definitely some benefits to it. It uses in-place materials that are already there in front of you. They actually do it all right there, recycle it right on site. And like I said, it saves money. It's a shorter construction time to actually repave a road. And it's easier to work around catch basins, manholes, water valves, and other type of things that you'll find in the middle of the street when you're repaving a road. And it also lowers the engineering and traffic control costs as well. So this is an idea that we wanted to bring forward. We think it would be beneficial to our community and actually save the community money as well. So at this point I'd like to move for approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yeah that If I may I think there'll be a pretty big capital cost to buy that machine I think the best thing in my own speak for Councilor caviar, but I think we would agree in this I think through the pilot program if we could pick out You know a handful of streets that this probably bring in a rep from one of these companies because I'm sure there's many that do it and actually talk to them and and see, well, what type of streets will this work on? And then pick a handful of streets, come up with a pilot program, and just resurface those streets with recycled asphalt. And then, of course, get a price. So I mean, get a price beforehand. But see how many streets we could do. Try to figure out if we could have like a, the mayor has some sort of a budget for this. And then see what we can do. And it's definitely more efficient, I think, in lower cost than what we're doing now. We have very limited funding, chapter 90 funding for street repair. So I think this would hopefully allow us to do more streets. just make our money go further, so I think developing a pilot program around this would be something that would be beneficial.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. And this here is another solution where it's just a more efficient solution, where it's not going to cost as much money. Because with a lot of these trip sidewalks, trip and fall sidewalks, it's just an edge that pops up. So what they do is they literally cut the edge, flatten it down. They don't have to replace the whole panel. It doesn't take days, it literally takes probably hours. The sidewalk's not out of service, it's not costing you as much money because you don't have to replace the whole thing. You don't have to worry about someone destroying the cement when it's trying to dry. So it's definitely more efficient. It's a concept that's used in other communities, Cambridge, Quincy, Newton, Lowell, Salem, Swampsford, Haverhill, Westfield, Peabody. So that's just some of them. They use this, I guess, at Gillette Stadium as well. And they use it at different colleges, BC, UMass, Lowell. So there's a bunch of colleges that use this as well. So it's definitely more efficient for our community, and it would save the community money as well. So I'd just like to move the paper forward at this point in time. Move for approval.
[John Falco]: want to read it? 20-056 offered by Vice President Caraviello. City met to call for presidential preferential primary, Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. Be it ordered that the city clerk be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to notify and warn such of the inhabitants of the city of Medford as we're qualified by law to vote for candidates at the presidential preferential primary on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. to assemble at the polling places in their respective wards and precincts, then and there to give their votes for presidential preference. District members of the State Committee, one man and one woman, for each political party for the second Middlesex Senatorial District. Members of the Democratic Ward Committee. Members of the Republican Ward Committee. Members of the Green Rainbow Ward Committee. Members of the Libertarian Ward Committee. and the polls of said presidential preferential primary shall open at 7 a.m. and remain open until 8 p.m. Be it further ordered that the following named polling places be, and they are, hereby designated for use at the presidential preferential primary on March 3, 2020. Voting precincts, Ward 1, Precinct 1, Andrews Middle School, 3,000 Mystic Valley Parkway, Ward 1, Precinct 2, Firefighters Club, 340 Salem Street. Ward 2, Precinct 1, St. Francis Parish Center, Fellsway and Fulton Street. Ward 2, Precinct 2, Roberts Elementary School, 35 Court Street. Ward 3, Precinct 1, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 170 Governor's Avenue. Ward 3, Precinct 2, Temple Shalom, 475 Winthrop Street. Ward 4, Precinct 1, Tufts University, Gancher Center Rear, 161 College Avenue. Ward 4, Precinct 2, Walkland Court, Auburn and North Street, Fondacaro Center. Ward 5, Precinct 1, Columbus Elementary School, 37 Hicks Ave. Ward 5, Precinct 2, Columbus Elementary School, 37 Hicks Avenue. Ward 6, Precinct 1, West Method Fire Station, 26 Harvard Avenue. Ward 6, Precinct 2, Brooks School, 388 High Street. Ward 7, Precinct 1, Mystic Valley Towers, North Building Entrance. Ward 7, Precinct 2, McGlinnett K-8 Public School, 3004 Mystic Valley Parkway. Ward 8, Precinct 1, Senior Center, 101 Riverside Avenue. Ward 8, Precinct 2, South Medford Fire Station, 0 Medford Street. Councilor Bears. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Councilor Bears. You good? Thank you, Clerk Hurtubise. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. I just got to, you're the only one that responded. OK, I'm sorry, Nicole. Let's see. Yes. On the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rules. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? These are papers under suspension. 2-0-060 offered by Councilor Knight be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of John Byers on his recent passing. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Do you want to make that part of the motion? Do I make that part of the motion? Yes, please. Dedicate this meeting after. Dedicate this meeting? Yes. Okay.
[John Falco]: Did you want to just mention a corner, Brad? Okay. I just want to make sure we're including everything we want to include.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, and Councilor Knight, thank you for bringing this forward, and thank you, Councilor Marks, as well. I had met Johnny a few times when I was growing up. I remember playing park league, playing basketball, and you'd go to the different parks, and he would always be at the park, and you'd see him on his bike, and he was a really, really nice person. And my thoughts and prayers go to his family. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. While under suspension, 20-061 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the City Council discuss concerns with South and Main Street.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: To the traffic commission So I'd like to just follow up on it regarding signage and so forth that we requested Thank You Councilor Marks, I believe that when we talked about this not too long ago Was he within the last couple of weeks so letter went to the police chief am I correct?
[John Falco]: And the $5 million bond bill, I believe the $5 million bond bill is basically for the lights in the square, if I'm correct. So it's the smart lighting system that will carry the traffic to the square. As far as South Street goes, you are correct. That laundry list of solutions or potential solutions that we came up with with the residents that night, you know, we need an update on that because that's really, I think those things are the things that are hopefully going to have an impact on that situation down there. So we have a number of points of information. Councilor Berrios has the first point of information.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Peters. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Do you have that?
[John Falco]: So on the motion of console of nights, seconded by constant coffee. Hello. All those in favor. All those opposed. The motion passes. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone is more than welcome to talk and ask questions. So one minute please. That's the strangest. The last time console night, did you have any further comments on that? Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. And if I may clarify, I mean, from what I heard, that $5 million would be for the lights that would be kind of at the bottom of South Street in the square. And I think even out here at City Hall, because they're smart lights and they all talk to each other. So that's, I think, what the $5 million would go mostly towards. We have a number of residents that would like to speak. If you could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviellola.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, Councilor Bears. I'm sorry, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Oh, happy birthday to Mrs. Night.
[John Falco]: Tell us more, please.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Thank you for noticing. That was actually, it's funny. I was on, I was trying to find out where the location was for tomorrow. Thank you. You beat me to the punch. Thank you very much. Tomorrow night, 6 p.m. Andrews middle school, the monthly method, uh, police community police meeting. Everyone is welcome. Uh, so please come down and share opportunity to ask, questions directly to the chief of police and he does not leave until all questions are answered. So definitely a nice opportunity to talk to the chief and have a cup of coffee and a donut or a muffin. So please come down Andrews Middle School, 6 p.m. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bias.
[John Falco]: That is correct. Thank you for bringing that up. And congratulations to and thank you to Patrick Gordon. Like you said, Councilor Marks, it's nice to be nominated and to be recognized. And he should for all of his hard work. So thank you for bringing that forward. Minutes. The records of the meeting of January 28th, 2020 were passed to Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Scarpelli, how did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli to approve the records seconded by Councilor Morell. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes and the records are approved.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Villes. All those in favor?
[John Falco]: The fourth regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. Seven present. At this time, could everyone please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to suspend the rules to take a paper out of order, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. If you could please have a representative from the administration. If you could please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: The first reading.
[John Falco]: Excuse me, Councilor, Councilor Knight, can you repeat that, please?
[John Falco]: Yes. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. If I may, really quick, Council Marks. Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: If we could please, the clerk will need that back.
[John Falco]: Okay, while we're under suspension, petitions, presentations, and similar papers, 20-048, petition by Robert M. Penta, Zero Summit Road, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, to speak on the city's zoning and discuss city's finances. If we could please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Mr. Penta, you have one minute remaining. Just want to let you know.
[John Falco]: No, you have 10 minutes. Your 10 minutes is just about up.
[John Falco]: Yep, no problem. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Penta. Any questions from the council? Any questions?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Penta. If we could please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: What do you think of that? I think the name is horrible that they call it free cash. Nothing's free. I mean, I disagree with the name of it, without a doubt.
[John Falco]: I wouldn't think so, no. So.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay.
[John Falco]: Correct.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council tonight, seconded by councilor Scarpelli to receive and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The paper is received and placed on file. Motion to console Scarpelli to revert to the regular order of business second by console beers all those in favor all those opposed the motion passes to 0-0 for to offer by console morale whereas the city city of Medford currently Exercises the local option for tax deferments in accordance with Mass General Law chapter 59 chapter 5 paragraph 41 A and whereas the upper income limit set by the city of Medford for eligible residents 65 and over is $20,000 per year. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council discuss raising the income limit to better reflect the cost of living and housing in Medford. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: If you could, um, if you could just help with the clerk, if you could give him the wording to the B paper. Yep.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Would you like to make a comment? Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Correct. Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. You want to join?
[John Falco]: Yes, okay. Thank you very much. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Please have your name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Consular Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Name and address for the record, please.
[John Falco]: Name and address of the record.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So we have two papers before us right now.
[John Falco]: And I think, honestly, I think at this point, it's best to move it to Committee of the Whole and discuss it, because.
[John Falco]: OK.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So you have two papers before us, the B paper. Please have the clerk read the B paper back.
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. On the main paper, that this issue be moved to Committee of the Whole. to be scheduled hopefully in the February-March time frame. Offered by Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The issue will be moved to Committee of the Whole. 20-043 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the parking revenue generated and promised for business district improvements be discussed Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. A roll call vote has been requested. Clerk, could you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: 20-044 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council wish Medford's 2019 Citizen of the Year, Rosemary Adagna, a very happy 80th birthday. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On behalf of the City Council, happy birthday to Rosemary. Now the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-045 offered by Vice President Caraviello be it resolved that the Medford City Council adopt an ordinance regulating donation collection bins. The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the public health, safety and to address the donation collection bins within the City of Medford and to provide regulations to ensure that donation collection bins are located and maintained so as to promote public safety, health and welfare in a clean and safe condition. We have further resolved that the city of Medford established a permit and applicable fee for collection boxes. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Do you want to send this to the city solicitor then?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Is that an amendment to the main paper?
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And my time. Marks.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: So Councilor March, are you offering that as an amendment, the tags and the?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli, as amended by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-046 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the issue of applications for new housing developments made under Chapter 40B be discussed.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: We have a number of point of information here. No, that's right, Councilor Bearsley, you hit your microphone first, so you go first, and then Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Well you can still appears cut from our.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight. Mr. Castagnetti, would you like to speak? Please come close to the microphone.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Casagnetti. On the B paper offered by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Light. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. On the main paper offered by Councilors Beers and Councilor Morell, seconded by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. What's the motion? 20-047 offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the issue of funding for the City Council to hire additional legal services be discussed. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Um, correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council. I'm meeting with, uh, uh, may I go current, um, next Wednesday and then I'll be scheduling, scheduling a committee, the whole soon after that to talk about all our priorities. And this is something that will be addressed as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I thank you for bringing this forward. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Well said.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Please continue, Mr. Strong.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. You're referring it to the Committee of the Whole meeting that's coming up. Yes, okay. So on the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight to refer this to the Committee of the Whole meeting with Mayor Lungo-Koehn. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, that we take papers under suspension. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-049 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the city administration take the necessary steps to rectify the drainage issue currently present in front of Amici's Pizzeria in West Medford Square. Councilor Knight?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Okay. Records. The records of the meeting of January 21st, 2020 were passed to Councilor Morell. Councilor Morell, how did you find...
[John Falco]: Okay. Councilor Morell has found that those records are in excellent order and ready in moves for approval. Seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes and the records are adopted. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight, that the meeting be adjourned. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: The third regular meeting in the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. At this time I'd ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: The motion of Councilor Caraviello to suspend the rules is seconded by Councilor Marks. All those in favor. All those opposed? On the motion of Councilor Caraviello to take paper. 2-0. 2-0-0-1-1.
[John Falco]: Motion passes. 20-011, council citation for gold medal winner, Max Stevens. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: There we go.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Max, I just want to say congratulations. Great job. I hear a lot about you. My son goes to school with you at Medford High School. And he always says how you're a great guy. And I just wanted to say congratulations. That's quite an accomplishment. And I think it's remarkable. And it's great to see you've overcome so much. And I just want to say congratulations. Good job. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council night second of my council appears to take a brief recess to take a few pictures with the With max all those in favor all those opposed. We're now recess. I We will now reconvene the meeting. A motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli to revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 20-033 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the issue of Verizon 5G installations be discussed. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, if I'm actually... Clerk Hurtubise, do you have the wording for all the resolutions? I do have them written down. You second each of the recommendations? OK. On the motion, we'll take individual votes in a minute. So on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, there are a number of councilors that want to speak on this issue, so I'll recognize them at this point. Councilor Bears?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you Councilor Scarpelli. I'd also like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward tonight. It's a very important issue and I thank you for all the research that you've done because I know it takes a lot of time and effort and we all appreciate that. hearing the information that you're bringing to us tonight. And I thank the residents as well for coming out tonight, because I know that this is a concern that many have throughout our entire community. So thank you for being here tonight. There are a number of resolutions, but is there anybody here that wanted to speak on this issue tonight? Okay, please do, feel free to do so. When you come forward, we just need your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Sorry to interrupt.
[John Falco]: No, we can hear you. The clerk needs your address as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: I personally have not been notified by any city department telling us, you know, as far as the timeline is, when things will be installed. I'm not sure, Councilor Marks, have you been? Mr. President, just if I could. Yep, one minute please.
[John Falco]: Okay, because the poll is still... Excuse me, if you have any questions, I just ask you to please come up to the microphone just so everyone can hear and so people at home can hear as well.
[John Falco]: So Point of information council on night
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you very much. The clerk did not get your name. Donna Edmonds. Donna Edmonds. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Edmonds.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Okay, so there are a number of resolutions. So we have the main resolution, and then Councilor Marks offered three other resolutions. So we will take them individually. I actually want to let the board know that the overall strategy that you want
[John Falco]: Right. Yes, so there'll be D, C, and B papers. Right. So we take them individually.
[John Falco]: So what we'll do is we'll make that an amendment to the main resolution, okay? Thank you. So the first paper we'll take up will be the D paper. And Councilman Marks, can you please, because the clerk does not have the language, can you please read the D paper, which would be the last resolution that you offer?
[John Falco]: On that motion, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Roll call vote, Mr. President. Roll call vote has been requested. Clerk Hurtubise, could you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: On the D paper.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Next up would be the C paper.
[John Falco]: On that motion offered by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Councilor Marks, could you please read the B paper?
[John Falco]: On that motion offered by Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Clerk Hurtubise, could you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. On the main motion offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that the issue of Verizon 5G installations be discussed as amended by Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Marks again. On that motion, Clerk Hurtubise's, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Clerk Hurtubise's, could you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Point of information. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Correct. That is correct.
[John Falco]: Correct, OK. So do you have that, clerk?
[John Falco]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you, everyone, for coming out tonight. We appreciate your input. Councilor Marks, thank you very much for bringing this forward. Thank you. 20-034, offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration inform the city council on any plans involving the very important process of the census count. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. So on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor LaNitte, during last Committee of the Whole, we did talk briefly about the census. And what we're going to do is we're actually going to invite Neil Osborne to a Committee of the Whole meeting where we can talk about the census. get the plan and just see what his plan is to roll out the census and whatnot. So we will be receiving an update on that. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. The clerk has told me the official date is 1790. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Pearce. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-035 offered by Councilor Marks. Vice President Caraviello and Council and I be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Carol Clements on her retirement after more than 40 years working for the City of Medford, first at the Medford Police Department and then in the City Clerk's office. Be it further resolved that the Medford City Council thank Ms. Clements for her four decades of service to the residents of our community. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight. Oh, one minute, Councilor Knight. I hit the wrong button.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. And if I may add really quick, I'd also like to thank Carol for many years of service, 40 years is a long time. You really don't hear these days people working 40 years for one company or a city or town and this is remarkable and I want to thank Carol for continuous commitment to our community throughout the years. I've only worked with her for four plus years, but she's always been extremely a joy to work with, a pleasure to work with. She's been very helpful and very kind, and I thank her for years of service as well. So on the motion of Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion of Council of Knight, to take papers in the hands of the clerk, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Offered by Councilor Knight, 2-0-036. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council send a letter in support of HB 2881, which would require a five cent deposit on nip bottles to our state delegation. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. And if I may conclude, Councilor Knight, thank you for bringing this forward tonight. You've been on top of this since day one, last session. So it's something that I wholeheartedly support as well. And thank you for your efforts with regard to this. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Yes, six in the affirmative, one absent, the motion passes. 2-0-039 offered by Councilor Bears. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council ask the DPW to repaint the crosswalk on City Hall Mall between Harvard Vanguard and the rear of Medford City Hall. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-038 offered by Consul-a-Night. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council extends its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Teresa Roberti on her recent passing. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved at 2-0-040, be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for long-time resident Gerard Edouard on his recent passing. Chancellor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. At this time, I would ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence, thoughts and prayers with their families. We have one more paper, Councilman. Vice President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Of course, I'm in full support of this. This is something that many residents have called about. I think our goal is always to try to get more people involved in government in what's happening throughout the community. And a way of doing this is to actually have meetings that make sense for the majority of the population. Having meetings during the afternoon does not work for a lot of people. And for many people throughout our community, you know, having meetings at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I think Councilor Marks, you mentioned it earlier with regard to the Verizon hearing. I mean, that doesn't make sense. It doesn't really make sense to have meetings at 2 o'clock in the afternoon if you want the general public to attend. Most people are working. They're picking up their kids from school. They might have other appointments as well. So I think, you know, having meetings anytime after 6 p.m. makes complete sense. Most of the general public can come to meetings at that time, and I think it's something that we need to make sure that this happens, to make sure that, you know, in the sense of transparency, in the sense of getting people involved in what's going on throughout the community, I think it'd be in the benefit of most people throughout this community, and the city in general, that we make sure that these meetings are held, you know, anytime after 6 p.m. So I thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, as well.
[John Falco]: All those in favor? The motion passes. Reports of committees, 2-0-017, Committee of the Whole meeting report, Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 6 p.m. in room 207, Council Office, Medford City Hall. We met last Wednesday as a Committee of the Whole to discuss the priorities for the Medford City Council for this year, 2020. We went through A number of items ranging from the basic city services and how to actually provide them more efficiently. We talked a little bit about headcount in each of the departments and hopefully increasing headcount. We talked about meetings, regular meetings with department heads ahead of the budget season. So if we have any questions we can ask them. before the budget is crafted for the upcoming year. We talked a little bit about strategic about a strategic master plan. We talked about meeting with the mayor and we will I'll be scheduling that soon. I'll be reaching out to the mayor's office to discuss our priorities with her so we can invite her to committee the whole meeting. We talked about housing, inclusionary zoning, We talked about the traffic commission meetings as well. We also talked about Let's see we talked about actually the city council Having a legal services line item so that the council can have its own legal counsel of various priorities including city ordinances in other Items, and I think that's something that the council agrees on would go a long way Especially the number of ordinances that we're trying to write at this point in time We talked about revenue priorities. We talked about various ordinances that we have to work on in the upcoming year and We talked about citywide technology, pedestrian safety. We talked about the behavioral health commission. We talked about breweries ordinance, food trucks. Talked a little bit about taxes. So the meeting wasn't limited to that, but we talked about a far-ranging number of issues and priorities for the upcoming year. And to say the least, it will be a very busy year, a lot of meetings, but I think there's a lot of work that needs to get done, and I know we can get it done together. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello to approve the committee report, seconded by Councilor Knight. If I could? Yes, of course. Karl Marx.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. I'm looking to, like I said, schedule a meeting soon with the mayor, and have the mayor come to Committee of the Whole so we can all talk together, and then we'll hopefully schedule some department head meetings after that to get working on those issues. At this point, I recognize Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Not just spreadsheets.
[John Falco]: Back a few years ago, when I first got on the council, that was one of my big priorities, was getting a budget with a narrative.
[John Falco]: Correct, so we're hoping to continue forward with that, and I would think and hope that the mayor would as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Consulate Caraviello. Consulate Beers.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Consulate Beers. Got a motion of Consulate Caraviello to approve the committee report. Seconded by Consulate Morell. All those in favor. All those opposed. The motion passes. Records, the records of the meeting of January 14, 2020 were passed to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks, how did you find those records? I review the records, Mr. President, and find them to be in order and move approval. On the motion of Councilor Marks to approve the records, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Okay on the motion of console and I to adjourn the meeting second seconded by console morale all those in favor all those opposed meeting adjourned
[John Falco]: The second regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Present. Seven present. Could everyone please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 2-0-011 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Council citation for gold medal winner, Max Stephens, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. A motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to table this matter. All those in favor? All those opposed? The matter is tabled. The clerk has notified me that 20-018, offered by Councilor Knight, has been withdrawn. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: OK. 2-0-019, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration work with National Grid to establish a five-year plan to address level 2 and level 3 gas leaks in the city of Medford. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Knight. On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-020 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council move forward on the food truck ordinance. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-020-021 offered by Council of Beers. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city solicitor provide the framework of a draft ordinance enabling the establishment of payments in lieu of taxes pilot commission for council debate and discussion.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you console morale Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-022 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the City solicitor provide the framework of a draft ordinance enabling the City of Medford to regulate short-term rentals using the authority granted to municipalities pursuant to Chapter 337 of the 2018 Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts. Council appears we'll speak first council appears.
[John Falco]: Sounds good. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, if I may, could you please repeat the two previous papers?
[John Falco]: 15307. Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilors Morell and Councilors Behr, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Knight, all those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-025 offered by Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the Health Department and Code Enforcement Officer look into the storage containers that are collecting clothing and furniture in the Fellsway Shopping Area parking lot Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, are you making a formal amendment to the resolution?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Kavialt.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. So is that an amendment to the Councilor Scarpelli's original motion?
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So there, so console, I mentioned previously that there is a paper in committee right now.
[John Falco]: So, and I'm sure we can move on that sooner than later. So, so you want to make sure I get this clear. So you want to offer an amendment to the original resolution that would, Mr. President, if I could, sure.
[John Falco]: Uh,
[John Falco]: Believe it or not, too long ago, it was on fire.
[John Falco]: And I think that's what may have prompted the resolution. Because I remember at one point.
[John Falco]: OK.
[John Falco]: And I believe that we should probably take a look or revisit the ordinance that is currently being drafted in the ordinance subcommittee. I mean, we have a priorities meeting tomorrow night. Maybe this should be one of those. If the council agrees, maybe this should be a priority moving forward for this session to actually draft an ordinance and pass an ordinance that would regulate these.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Marks, to issue a cease and desist if we do not receive a response from the building department? On that motion.
[John Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Cardavis, please call the roll.
[John Falco]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-026. Offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration report back to the city council on a timeline of when the message board located on Main Street will be removed. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Council Knight to receive and place on file, all those in favor? All those opposed? The paper is received and placed on file. 20-027 offered by Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the City Council request that the state entity that oversees the Fellsway look into lighting improvements in the area, in the Fellsway and Bradbury Street area in regard to public safety concerns. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Thank You council sky Pelli On the motion of console, Scarpelli, seconded by console of Carly yellow. All those in favor, all those opposed. The motion passes petitions, presentations and similar papers. Two zero dash zero two eight petition by Elizabeth Barber, 72 ravine road, Medford, Massachusetts, zero two one five zero two one five five to discuss the flashing signs. Stop and slope. Hi. Can we please have your name and address for the record?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Ms. Barber, thank you very much for coming forward tonight, and thank you for all the materials. It's always good to have some backup information, so we appreciate that. There are a number of councilors, I believe, that want to comment on this. We'll start off with Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: On the motion of council, Caraviello is seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Member Earle. Your question, sure.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello offered a resolution. Councilor Knight, did you want to move the original petition or did you want to move the Councilor Caraviello's Okay, so on the original petition that it be referred to the traffic engineer, city engineer, my apologies. On that motion, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Reports of committees 1 9-6 5 9 December 17 2019 committee the whole report that was See there was a committee the whole report on Tuesday December 17 2019 at 6 p.m. That was the The report was basically a presentation by City Solicitor Rumley to give an overview of the efforts to date regarding crafting an ordinance regarding marijuana. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to take papers in the hands of the clerk. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Okay, 20-029. Offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the City Administration provide the Medford City Council with a cost estimate for the resurfacing of Golden Avenue between Willis Avenue and Main Street. It be it further resolved that the City Administration issue an RFP to complete this project. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So with that being said I'd ask my council colleagues to support the resolution and hopefully we can move forward and get Golden Avenue resurfaced for the residents Thank You console night on the motion of Council night seconded by Council beers all those in favor I suppose the motion passes While we're under suspension to 0-0 3-0 offered by console night be it resolved at the Medford City Council request that the Zamboni and Makati ranked be replaced Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarapelli. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: So thank you. Consul Scarpelli, do you know the name of the person, the name of the person you just mentioned, I believe?
[John Falco]: Farmer Brown.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes.
[John Falco]: Okay on the motion of contest Scarpelli to suspend the rules to have a citizen speak seconded by concert caviello all those in favor All those opposed the rules are suspended if we could please have your name and address for the record
[John Falco]: Thank you for coming down tonight. We appreciate it. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Your motion is basically to get an update from the administration and from the chief of police with regards to some of the traffic changes, some of the things that we can do locally.
[John Falco]: Yeah, in a minute, you can amend anything you want. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilmarks. Councilmarks, I share your frustrations as well as the frustrations of everyone here. What I'll do is I will actually, the city clerk and I will talk to see you know, when the resolution went out, making sure it went out and actually see if anything came back. It sounds like maybe nothing came back, but I will personally follow up with the chief to make sure we have something in writing, you know, basically responding to the votes that were taken that night, because there were quite a few votes and there were quite a few recommendations that this council made that can be done at the local level. So I will, I'll make sure that that gets resolved. Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to draft a letter and to send that letter to the chief of police to get a response from our previous resolutions that were offered with regard to South Street traffic. Seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Councilor Bears, did you have additional comments?
[John Falco]: The chief does have 10 days to respond.
[John Falco]: Thank you. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. While we're under suspension, offered by Councilor Marks, 20-031, be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for long-time Medford firefighter, Robert Minichiello, on his recent passing. Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes.
[John Falco]: There you go. Yes, I do. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. I'd like to congratulate Kevin Wright on earning his Eagle Scout. As we all know, Earning the rank of Eagle is not easy. And it's hard and takes a lot of commitment and dedication. I've known Kevin for a long time. He goes to Bedford Public Schools. He's dedicated to our community. His Eagle Scout project was to build a park bench. He built a park bench and a lending library for the senior center. And so he worked hard on that. And he's been volunteering for many years throughout the community along with his parents. And I'd like to invite him to a future council meeting to be recognized by the Medford City Council and congratulate him on earning the rank of Eagle. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. As we all know, you know, Our fine city has become a very popular place to rent, buy a home, or raise a family. Being only five miles north of Boston, Medford is a very desirable location with great schools, direct access to Boston, and access to a lot of green space. We also know that to buy a home in our community, it takes a lot of money. Homes that once sold for $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 are now selling for $600,000, $700,000, $800,000, if not higher. And I know as I walk and see people throughout the community, this always comes up as an issue. And a lot of people ask, well, where will the kids that are growing up today in our city, will they be able to afford to buy a home here in our city, a city that we all love? And that really becomes a really tough question to answer. And if you go online, you'll see many articles regarding the housing crisis, not only in Boston, but also in the greater Boston area, but here in Medford. Tonight, I ask my colleagues to support this resolution that I offer tonight. I firmly believe that it's time that we establish an affordable housing trust. Although the concept is not new, there are many communities throughout the Commonwealth that have shown increased interest in forming their own municipal housing trust funds. In 2005, the state legislature passed the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund law to simplify the process of establishing local housing trust funds. Since the law passed, 98 communities in Massachusetts have established Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts, raising the overall total number of communities with housing trust to approximately 109. Examples of what a local affordable housing trust can do include provide financial support for the construction of affordable homes by private developers, both for-profit and not-for-profit, rehabilitate existing homes to convert to affordable housing, increase affordability in new housing development projects, develop service municipal land or buildings, preserve properties faced with expiring affordability restrictions, and support rent assistance for low and moderate income households. What funds can local housing trusts use? The sources of funding can vary. You can use community preservation CPA funds. They can use inclusionary zoning payments, negotiating development fees. developer fees, the municipality's general fund, tax titles and sales, payments from special bylaws and ordinances, cell tower lease payments, private donations, that's to name a few. But it seems like in most communities, CPA funds are definitely, you know, what's used I think most of the time. So in your package tonight, I included a boil plate template of some draft language that we could use to establish a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Ordinance. Now this is an extant stone. I mean, what I'd like to see is us as a committee meet to actually work through this ordinance and actually develop something that's gonna benefit our community. There are many resources that we can use to do this. So this is just a boilerplate template of what we need to do and what one would look like. So at this point, I would ask my council colleagues to support this resolution. And I would ask that we move this to the committee the whole and the reason why I don't want it to go to ordinance committee or I wish for it to go to committee the whole as I think this is a great learning opportunity for all of us over the next you know I think during this term there's going to be a lot of issues that come before us with regard to zoning with regard to housing and I think it's important that we all work on this together because I think this is going to benefit our community we should all have a say in this so at this point I would ask my council colleagues to support this, and if you could move this to Committee of the Whole for further review and debate. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello, and thank you, Councilor Knight. Those are just options. I'm not recommending that we do that. Like I said, this is a boil plate. It's something to look at to get the conversation started. That's why it would go to committee of the whole to actually go through those list of options of what's available to us, not holding us to anything here. Nothing's etched in stone here. This is just some of what other communities have used. I just literally went through a list of things that I saw in the research that I did. But I'm not saying we have to do this. I completely understand your concern and it's valid, but I was just laying it out there as options of what other communities have done. But by no means am I saying that anything is final here. This is boilerplate, sample language, sample ideas, that's all it is. My goal tonight is basically just to get everyone on board of You know moving this to committee the whole so we can talk about it and work through and build an ordinance of our own That's basically the goal for tonight. There's no specifics as to what I want to do here with regard to You know how we would spend the funds or obtain the funds or anything like that So, thank you.
[John Falco]: Records. The records of the meeting of January 7th were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find the records?
[John Falco]: I'll motion to Councilor Knight to approve the records seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The records are approved. Motion to adjourn. On the motion of Council night to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: I do John C. Falco Jr. solemnly affirm that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as Medford City Council President.
[John Falco]: Agreeable to the rules and regulations of the Constitution.
[John Falco]: And the ordinances of the City of Medford.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues for their support. Once again, I appreciate the support. I look forward to working with everyone in the coming year. I look forward to working with the administration and doing everything we can together to move Method forward. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Motions, orders, and resolutions. 2-0-0-0-3. Appointment of the City Messenger. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello nominates Lawrence Lepore, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Congratulations. You can take a voicemail.
[John Falco]: 20-004, offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the standing committee rules be adopted as the standing rules of the city council insofar as they are applicable. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On that motion, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 2-0-005, offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the City Council transfer all papers in committees or on the table from the 2019 Council to the 2020 Council. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 2-0-006 offered by Council tonight be it resolved that the Medford City Council request the City solicited to provide the framework of a draft ordinance enabling the establishment of a City Beautification and Improvements Advisory Commission for Council debate and discussion. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 2-0-007 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that representatives from the Evisource Pipeline Project appear before the City Council. on a no less than quarterly basis to provide updates and address community concerns surrounding the project and be it further resolved that the council requests the first of these meetings occur no later than the first week of February. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. If for the first time I'd like to recognize one of our newest councilors, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 2 0 dash 0 0 8 offered by consulate night be resolved that the medford city council requests that the city traffic engineer take the necessary steps to address the signal timing issues on harvard street between main street and mystic avenue that are causing traffic flow in congestion problems console night mr. President thank you very much maybe in
[John Falco]: So I asked my council colleagues to support the resolution Thank You councillor night on the motion of council and I second my council Caraviello councillor marks
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. And for the first time, I'd like to recognize one of our other newest councilors, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Mr. Castagnetti. One minute, please.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Cascanetti. Okay, we'll take the B paper first offered by Councilor Scarpelli to receive updates from the traffic engineer with regard to the safety improvements that were recommended previously.
[John Falco]: On that motion, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Opposed? The motion passes. On the main resolution offered by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Marks. Did you have an amendment, or I know Councilor Scarpelli, I think, Councilor Scarpelli gave an update, so I wasn't sure if, do you want me to leave that as amended, or? Okay, so on the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell, to suspend the rules to take a paper out of order. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Communications from the Mayor. 20-013, December 31st, 2019, to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Dear Mr. President and city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your honorable body approve the following home rule petition to be sent to the general court regarding certain funds and expenditures by the city of Medford received through its surrounding community agreement. homeowner petition, an act of authorizing the city of Medford to utilize funds received from the surrounding community agreement entered into between the city of Medford and Windmass LLC for the purposes set forth in the agreement. Be it hereby resolved that the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enact this Home Rule petition to allow the City of Medford to utilize funds received from the Surrounded Community Agreement executed on April 11, 2014 between the City of Medford and Windmass, LLC. or its surrounding, I'm sorry, or its successors or assigns for the purposes that are set forth in said agreement or as amended. To accomplish these purposes, the city of Medford is authorized without the necessity of any further approval to create a special revenue fund. The legislature may reasonably vary the form and substance of the requested legislation within the scope of the general objectives of this petition. be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in general court assembled and by the authority of the same as follows. Section 1, notwithstanding any provision of the Massachusetts general laws or the provisions of any general law, special law, or regulation to the contrary, The City of Medford, through the Mayor of the City of Medford, may, without further appropriation, utilize and expend all funds received by way of the surrounding community agreement executed on April 11, 2014, between the City of Medford and Windmass, LLC, or its successes or signs, for the purposes that are set forth in the said agreement or as amended. Section two. This act shall take effect upon its passage and shall be effective during the present fiscal year. Respectfully submitted, Mayor Stephanie M. Burke. We have a representative from the administration here tonight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilmarks. Council Morell.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, one minute please.
[John Falco]: So there's my understanding there's already an established committee which you happen to serve on correct, which is for the which yes That is correct, and that is for the community fund payment, which is only for I believe it's a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars correct it gets appropriated out to Grant applicants once a year, but that's every year too, so that's every year for an extended, and that's already underway and
[John Falco]: Actually, the money hasn't gone out, but the grants have been awarded as far as who received them.
[John Falco]: Yes. It's the, um, it's the, whoever is the council president is on there. The mayor's on there. The vice chair of the school committee, um, uh, Neil Osborne's on there as well. And, uh, there's a community representative as well. Aaron Rafferty.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. So Councilor Bears, before the numerous points of information, you had the floor.
[John Falco]: So Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion to amend the agreement by Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Lanai, if I may, could you please clarify the language to the clerk? Certainly.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On that motion, seconded by Councilor Bears. A roll call vote has been requested. Clerk Hurtubise.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, councilors. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Bears to revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? 2-0-0-0-9 offered by Councilor Knight. Being resolved that the Medford City Council move forward on the brewery ordinance.
[John Falco]: We have not received anything. I will reach out to get an update from the chamber.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Council Knight. Yes, we have not received an update from the Chamber. I can reach out to them to get an update and schedule a meeting as soon as possible. This is one of the items that we need to pick up from the last term. Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello, would you like to amend this to get an update from the city solicitor's office? Yes, I would. Okay. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Sounds good. Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Bears, as amended by Councilor Caraviello and Councilor Marks. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-010 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council hold a moment of silence in memory of Governor's Councilor Michael J. Callahan, a dedicated public servant who passed on January 6, 2011, following five decades of public service to the people of Medford. It be it further resolved that this evening's council meeting be dedicated in his memory. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of council night, if we could at this point, if we could all please rise for a brief moment of silence as we remember Michael Callahan and dedicate this meeting tonight in his memory. 20-011 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council commend and congratulate Max Stevens, a member of the American Deaf Olympic team for winning the gold medal in Italy. Be it further resolved that we invite Max and his family to the next meeting to present him with a council citation. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. I've met Max before, a fine young man, and we will invite him to a meeting so we can give him a council citation. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-012, offered by Councilor Caraviello, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the green bike that has been at the corner of Harvard Avenue and Mystic River Road be removed from the street. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Councilor Morell.
[John Falco]: It is, okay. I wasn't sure if it was part of the lime bike program or if it was just a random green bike. Okay, sounds good. Thank you for clarifying. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 19-667 offered by Council and I Whereas Medford City Hall closes on Wednesday evening at 730, you know Friday afternoon at 1230 and whereas the open meeting Okay On the motion of Councilor Mark, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to waive the reading. All those in favor, all those opposed. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor bears point of information. Consulate nights.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Would anybody else like to speak on the issue? Okay. On the motion of Council of the Night, to move the meetings... Okay, so on the motion of Council of the Night, to move the Medford City Council meetings from Tuesday night to Wednesday night. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: That's a good point. I am not entirely clear on that. I'd have to check. One minute, please. I don't think so either. I believe this is a simple majority.
[John Falco]: Have some remarks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I don't see anything in the rules either. So this requires a simple majority, but I, I, If you don't mind me speaking from the chair, I would think something, this is a momentous vote because we're really changing. And there have been great arguments made on both sides with regard to moving it and not moving it. So there have been some great arguments here. Some that I didn't even think of. So parking was one of them, which I thought was a good point. You know, you come in on a Wednesday night, you come in on a Wednesday night, it is tough to find a spot and you have to go across the street. And sometimes when there's major issues being discussed, you know, parking can be a challenge. I would think that something like this, though, should move to committee just to kind of flesh it out some more as to You know, if it doesn't move to Wednesday night, maybe we should look at suspension. Maybe we should look at the rules a little bit more and, you know, see if there can be changes made to make the process more efficient.
[John Falco]: So, actually, Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: That is stated in the rules of the city council.
[John Falco]: That's not... That is not a rule. It's a simple majority, but a change of this magnitude, I would think, should go to either committee of the whole or subcommittee for further vetting.
[John Falco]: So there is a motion from Consular Knight?
[John Falco]: Consular Knight, would you like to keep that motion? Yeah. Okay. So on the motion of Consular Knight to move the Tuesday night meeting to Wednesday nights, seconded by? Second.
[John Falco]: Starting when?
[John Falco]: Effective as of next week's meeting.
[John Falco]: No, one in the affirmative, six in the negative, the motion fails and the city council meetings will continue to be on Tuesday evening. And for those of you watching at home, that was applause from our camera.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to approve 19-483, amendment to article three of revised ordinance OPEB trust, seconded by Councilor Bears. Clerk, please call the roll. Give me a quick second, please. Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes and the ordinance is adopted. On the motion of Councilor Knight, I mean Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight to take papers in the hands of the clerk. All those in favor? All those opposed? Offered by Consular Marks. Offered by Consular Marks and Consular Knight, be it resolved that Mark Bromley be recognized for his many years of service to the city of Medford and its residents. Consular Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Neill.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Council appears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. If I may add, I mean, I've only been on the council for four years, and I knew Mark previously to coming on to the council. But I remember when George and I sat with him for our law 101, it was extremely valuable. I still have the notes that I referred to today in my notebook, and I take them with me all the time. Mark is one of those special people that he's someone who's truly, truly dedicated to this year, I mean, to this city. Anyone that puts 36 years into one thing, I mean, to find that commitment, especially today, is really unheard of. And he's someone that was committed to this city, committed to the process, committed to the law. I mean, he was someone that is just, you don't find too many people like him. And it's, It was an honor and a privilege to work with him, to learn from him, to call him a friend. I do hope that he's still involved and that he can help us through some of the issues that we're going to be working on in the upcoming year, because I think he will be extremely valuable. I think he still has a lot to give and I hope he's there to help us. And I thank Councilor Marks and Councilor Knight for bringing this resolution forward. He's someone that, you know, Thank God he still lives here in Medford. I think, you know, he's going to be involved and we will see him on a regular basis, but it was an honor and privilege to work with him. And I thank him for all of his years, his continuous commitment to this community. And if there's one guy who absolutely loves Medford, it's him. And so to Mark Romley, if you're watching tonight, thank you for everything. So on the motion of Council Marks, he and Council Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Offered by Councilor Bears, be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate the Honorable Sumbul Siddiqui on her election as Mayor of Cambridge in becoming the first Muslim mayor in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. I apologize. Councilor Morell, I missed your button. I apologize.
[John Falco]: While we're under suspension, Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: So we can clarify, it's blasting, not explosions. Blasting.
[John Falco]: They're blasting in the area.
[John Falco]: Totsel Knight, did you want to speak on this?
[John Falco]: So we do thank you for the books. As far as that development goes, all that information would be in the building department. If the scope of that project is changed, I'm not aware of it. I'm not sure if any of the Councilors are.
[John Falco]: Thank you. So on the motion of consular caviello to receive a report. No worries, we're gonna get to everyone. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello to receive a report from the building department with an update.
[John Falco]: So if we receive a report from the building department with an update with regard to the development on Wither Street and if they could come and present, building commissioner could come and present and give us a verbal update as well. On that motion, seconded by... Mr. President, if I may amend. Seconded by... I'd just like to amend... Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Morell, as amended by Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell, did you wanna speak on this? I thought you were.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Morell. Councilor Bierce.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Locks. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello, oh, Chris, someone would like to speak on this issue. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: And those are good questions that we can ask the building commissioner when it comes to the meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Counsel appears on the motion of console. Caraviello seconded by councilor Morell as amended by Councilor Knight. All those in favor. All those opposed. The motion passes while we're on the suspension. If I may make a quick announcement, the next method police department community police meeting is tomorrow night. Wednesday at Breed Hall, which is located at Tufts University, 51 Winthrop Street. And that starts at 6 p.m. Everyone and anyone is welcome, so please come on down. If you have any questions, you'll be able to address the Chief directly, and the Chief of, you'll be able to address Chief Buckley, and you'll also be able to address the Chief of the Tufts University Police Department as well, so he will be there as well. So that's just a basic announcement. Tomorrow night, 6 p.m., Breed Hall, Tufts University, 51 Winthrop Street. Thank you. Records, records. You did some announcements? So this is the clerk's favorite part of the agenda, records. Records, the public, the records of the meeting of December 17th, 2019 were passed to Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Caraviello, I can see you have that very thick binder of records. How did you find those records?
[John Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Caraviello to approve the record, seconded by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Records are approved. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. I'll yield to Mr. Buck.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is a very frustrating issue, without a doubt. When we offered this resolution back a couple of months ago, I think it was a smart thing to do. Tap the brakes, hit pause, let's take a look at all of our spending with regard to the library, the police station, the fire station, the potential build-outs of the high school. And during that time or since then, we met numerous times. And as I look at this, I think we're at a point where we do have to make bold decisions. They're not easy decisions to make. I mean, I know I want a fire station just as much as anyone. I think we all do. We all want a police station. We all want a fire station. We all want new facilities. These issues aren't new. But I think many times, bold decisions need to be taken, and they need to be made. You know, if you take a look at a debt exclusion, you know, that might not be a popular idea, but when you look at it, it's something that's available in the toolkit, you know? It's something that, you know, we need to look at. We need new state-of-the-art facilities, without a doubt. I mean, do we need a new police station? Absolutely. We need a fire station as well. We need all new fire stations, to tell you the truth, because they're all in really bad condition. But we need to start at some point. We need to move forward. And, you know, in my heart, I mean, I believe that, you know, that's something that we need to look at. We do need to look at that exclusion. Not a popular answer, I'm sure, but it's something that we need to look at. You know, and if it comes up to a vote, when it comes up to a vote and it fails, then we need to find another direction. But I think what we need to continuously do, and I know what I will continuously do, I will continuously advocate for a training tower. I will continuously advocate for a new fire station improvements or additional, if we can build, we should really have a long-term plan to replace all of our freight stations. That's what's really needed at the end of the day. I mean, we have some very old buildings that have some very serious issues. And I think, you know, long-term planning, long-term capital planning needs to be done. So I just wanted to, you know, just offer my opinion on this issue. I know it's not an easy one. I understand your frustration, Mr. Buckley. You're not in an easy position either. I completely understand that.
[John Falco]: Just because you mentioned the timing, and I understand the bid process does take time. But what's the, do you know as far as like when they, someone's awarded the bid, someone starts the work. Do you know, have you done any research as to how long this will take?
[John Falco]: But I mean the actual work. So like when they would actually come in and like, you know.
[John Falco]: I didn't hear you say that. Councilor Falco. So if this did come to a vote tonight, and if the vote failed, when does it come up again? Next week. 90 days. 90 days?
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. So you talked about construction and so say if construction was delayed, is it going to be done in September? I mean, or is it ideally you wouldn't want it done in September? I mean, is the school department saying, no, there's no way this is gonna happen when school starts? Have you discussed this during any of your meetings?
[John Falco]: I mean, I definitely, as a former member of the school committee, I know that Playground is in tough condition. The flooring there is apparent. I've done it many times, and I know it desperately needs to be replaced. So I'm glad that you went through this effort to actually get the funding, to request the funding. Like I said, with three kids that went through that school, I know that playground takes a beating. And the ground there is in a tough shape, so this desperately needs to be done.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. As I stated earlier, this is a bold decision, but it's a tool in the toolkit that we should take a look at. We should take a look at all of our options. It's a healthy exercise to go through. So it would be good to actually see the wording from City Solicitor Romley. But I think one of the most important things is that we do have public meetings and get public input. And also, educate the public as well. So the public fully knows what does this mean to them? What's the impact on them? What's it gonna mean to their tax bill? These are things that we need to look at, but I think in the interest of transparency and open government, we should have public meetings with regard to this issue. But I think education is key in educating the public as to what the impact is going to be on them. So, thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. We report out the subcommittee report, I'm sorry, the committee, the whole report tonight. What report did you want to bring up? The inclusionary zoning. Inclusionary zoning. So during the Committee of the Whole meeting tonight, we met with regard to inclusionary zoning. But we're going to make a recommendation. We're going to make a recommendation. We're going to make a recommendation to the CD board with regard to any new development that
[John Falco]: Roll call vote has been requested, Mr. Clark. Adopting the report? To adopt the report. To adopt the report.
[John Falco]: Yes. Is it to adopt the report and send the recommendations to the ZBA? To the ZBA. Yes. And the... And to send the... Correct, to send the draft signage ordinance public notification panels to the CD board.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. McIsaac was a resident of Method for many years, and he recently passed away. And just thoughts and prayers to the family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward. This is a major issue throughout our city. I've received many emails as well with regard to colonialism in the city, and we should be making sure that, you know, people are keeping it clean, but also giving them the opportunity to actually throw things away, you know, have barrels thrown on streets with trash cans. As I wait for the bus every day on Salem Street, there are trash cans, you know, all the way down Salem Street. But I don't think that this is true for all of our major thoroughfares throughout the streets. So if we could get a list from the DPW as to what streets actually have public trash cans or public barrels, because it'd be interesting to see. I mean, I don't, I know they, They go down Salem Street, but I don't think, as far as I know, that they are down most of our thoroughfares throughout the city. So if we could get a listing from the DPW department as to where they are located, I'd greatly appreciate it. I think it's a great resolution. I think it's something that we should be doing. We should have, especially if you take a look at bus stops, you know, people are always on the bus stop, you know, they're eating, they're getting ready to go, you know, get on the bus, whatnot. So we should be giving them somewhere where they can throw out their trash. So, thank you.
[John Falco]: Just a couple of quick announcements. Saturday night, a night of 10,000 lights here at City Hall is a fundraiser for the Medford Family Network. Always a great event, so if you can make it. We will be there. Okay, perfect. Sounds good. And I was notified too that if you want to go see a free movie down at the Chevalier this Friday, April 27th at 7 p.m., an inconvenient sequel, Truth to Power, and that's being sponsored by the city of Medford. It's a free movie for anyone that's interested.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the records. They appear to be in order and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President, and I thank Council colleague for bringing this forward. I think it's a very important issue, especially with regards to transparency. I know I've talked about transparency many times since I've been elected and I think the key, one of the keys is having upgraded equipment and making sure that everything works here. We should be making it easy for people to get involved in their community, to watch meetings, to come to meetings, to, you know, when I made the resolution for legislative software, I mean, that is a software that will fill meetings in the city council meeting room, the Richard Lee reading room. You know, that is key for those meetings to be taped and people can watch the boards and commission meetings and it'll help a great deal with regards to transparency. We should be making it easier. We should be trying to promote community engagement. We want people to get involved and that this year will go a long way in making that happen. So I support the resolution as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also just want to go and recognize supporting this. I think this is a good resolution. I think this is a great next step. We need to make sure that this is safe for everyone. Like we said earlier, there are plenty of kids that use the fields on the weekends for soccer and whatnot. But you also have children that are traversing those fields on a daily basis, getting to and from school, and using those trails behind the school as well. So I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to make a quick announcement. Tomorrow night, the ad hoc subcommittee to the Malden Hospital site development will be meeting at St. Francis Parish Center. It's 6 p.m., and we will be meeting also with the Maldon Hospital ad hoc committee from the Maldon City Council. And what is that meeting again? St. Francis Parish Center.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward tonight. This is an important issue, but if I could also amend the resolution to make sure that we inspect all the park equipment in our top lots. and all the play structures, just to make sure everything's safe, especially after the winter and the cold weather when things rust and things crack and break and whatnot. So if we could have those inspected as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes I do, Mr. President, thank you. We had a subcommittee on zoning on February 6th, 2018 at 6 p.m. And the members of this subcommittee are myself, Councilor Knight, and Councilor Lungo-Koehn. The purpose of the meeting was to review all papers assigned to the subcommittee of zoning and ordinances and to review zoning. So at the beginning of this term, Mr. President, you decided to split these former zoning and ordinance subcommittee to two separate subcommittees. One was zoning and one is ordinance. So what we did is we actually just went through the papers that were in committee and we moved Papers 16555, 16660, 16705, 17542, 17094, 17321, and 17320 to the subcommittee on ordinances. Papers 16-359, 16-338. 16, 6, 2, 6, and 16, 6, 6, 6 are staying in the zoning subcommittee. Uh, we also, I talked about, um, inclusionary housing and mixed use housing and the committee members are going to be doing some research, uh, or have been doing research over the past couple of weeks, uh, to, um, to present, uh, at a meeting, um, next week.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Thank you, Chief Sacco. I find everything to be very alarming. As a father of three kids in the Medford Public Schools, I always feel that my kids are safe. And now I see something like this today, and I feel they're safe, but I have concerns. And I think they're very valid concerns. You know, as far as, you know, when we notify police about an incident like this, do we have a clear policy as to when? I mean, to me, there should be a clear, you know, I watch the commercials, I hear it on the radio, I see it on TV. See something, say something. I tell my kids that. You know, and I think it's a good theory to go by. Because I think, you know, we need to, keep law enforcement active and engaged in what's going on. To me, this is a clear case where see something, say something should have been the appropriate choice. Do we have a clear policy that says in this situation, there's some sort of ammunition and I'm no gun expert, but there's some sort of weapon that we contact the police.
[John Falco]: Yes, I have.
[John Falco]: What I would like to see is I would like to see the school committee work on a clear policy.
[John Falco]: But I think the parents as well, because if you're going to notify the school committee, that's going to go out to the general public. So the general public should hear from our school leader, the superintendent saying, this is a concern. This is what's been found. This is what we think is happening. I mean, getting input from the chief as well. I think, you know, You know, I understand that there are probably certain issues that are minor, that maybe not everyone needs to know about, if there's a fight in the playground or something like that. But something like this, where there's a piece of ammunition that's found, you know, within the school building, that that's a concern. And that's a concern that many people have here tonight. There's many people that are watching at home that have this concern. And I know all of us behind this rail have the same concern.
[John Falco]: Mr. Superintendent, I would honestly like to see you, the police chief Sacco, and the the mayor and the school committee come together and formulate a policy as to, you know, when, you know, to actually put a policy in place, when should the police be contacted about an issue like this? Because I think there needs to be a clear definition, in my opinion. I mean, I'd like to see that.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Now, the Thursday night meeting, which I know I've received a ton of calls about, I believe that's going to be at the high school.
[John Falco]: I would respectfully ask that that be held here. I think it's, you know, from being a former school committee member, having meetings at the high school, the acoustics are really, they're not great. I think you, my guess is you're gonna have a lot of people at this meeting. I think that it's better situated to be here. You have microphones, you have, people will be able to actually hear the dialogue. This is an important topic. It's an important issue that people wanna know about. They wanna know what happened, when it happened. They wanna see a timeline. I think that if you try to have a meeting like that in a library or the superintendent's conference room, I really think that's probably not the best way to go. I think having it here at Chambers is the best venue to have the meeting. I think it seats more people. And I think, like I said, the acoustics are much better. I've been to budget meetings up at the library. And if you're sitting in the back, you really have no idea what's going on up at the front, just because the acoustics are not great.
[John Falco]: Yeah.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. With regard to the sweep of the schools, I'm sorry. With regard to the sweep, uh, regarding the other schools. Yes. Uh, now you said that will be done in the near future. Is that going to be done on the weekends? Uh, just because, I mean, we're asking that they begin tomorrow and they start doing it all. So we sweeping schools while kids are in the schools.
[John Falco]: No, they're not there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's fake. I apologize. I apologize. I should know that my kids are very excited about that. Um, with regard to, uh, Now, with regard to our current situation, with our current protocols, we lock down the schools. We lock down the schools currently. If there's an issue and the schools go down, it's a lockdown. I know we've talked about this before. I've received a number of calls with regard to people asking about why aren't we using ALICE, which is a program that's well-known. Police Chief Sacco, I believe you know about that. And I believe there are members of the police force that are trained in the ALICE program. Is that something that we are potentially looking at moving towards? Is that something that you think would be beneficial? I mean, I know there's a lot that goes into it. But if you could weigh in on that a little bit, because I know I've received a number of questions about that.
[John Falco]: I've done a little bit of research myself on it. And if you go online, there's videos. I think the City of Waltham has a video on it as well. And they do a good job of basically describing what it is and what you do. And they walk you through the program. From what I can see, it seems like it's a good program. I think it's something that we should really look at. If it's something that you support, I really think that we should probably be moving in that direction. You're our expert with regards to law enforcement, and I think that- I don't know about expert, but- But I do feel that you really are our expert when it comes to law enforcement. You talk to people in other districts, and I know Superintendent Belson, you do as well, but I think that this is something that In my opinion, this is something that the school committee should really consider. Looking into Alice, I know it doesn't happen overnight, but I think maybe we should look into it and probably by the fall, by the next school year, it's something that we should implement. So if we could, and I'm not sure if you could possibly add that to your agenda for Thursday night, but I think it's something that should be considered.
[John Falco]: Well, I mean, I think it's something that should be looked at. I think the school committee should seriously consider it, at least at the high school level, maybe even the middle school level. I understand there's concerns at the elementary school. I get that, but I think, especially if it's something, Chief, that you're a fan of, I would think that it's something that should be considered. I'd like to see that part of a future school committee meeting. I think it's something that they should look at. With regard to the McGlynn staff.
[John Falco]: Now, I believe you said you may possibly meet with them. Is that something that's going to happen? I mean, is there a demand there?
[John Falco]: OK. Well, I thank you for answering all my questions. That's all I have for now. Like I said, I'm a big fan of see something, say something. I think that should have been the first thing, the first approach that you should have taken. I thank you for your time. OK.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Mr. President. So, uh, when, when will people officially know maybe the city clerk where the meeting is going to be? I strongly feel it should be here. in these chambers. I mean, is it definitely going to be here, or? Oh, it's up there.
[John Falco]: Can we do a reverse, can we do a reverse 9-1-1?
[John Falco]: There was a matter earlier tonight, the Committee of the Whole, to review a open meeting law complaint. And we found that the complaint was not valid.
[John Falco]: Yes, and the city solicitor will be writing up a response to the person that made the claim to, I believe, the Attorney General's Office.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, President Caraviello. I will actually read this so everybody can hear it. Whereas the City of Bedford has long been a municipal leader in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in environmental stewardship, including creating the first municipal climate action plan, erecting the first municipal scale wind turbine in the state, installing solar panels in energy efficient LED lighting, among other initiatives. Whereas the city of Medford is blessed with nearly one-third open space with its 8.6 square miles, including the Mystic Lakes, Mystic River, and Wrights Pond, which provide valuable habitat for wildlife and recreational opportunities for residents. Whereas millions of non-biodegradable plastic bags are used in Medford each year, creating litter, polluting our streets, parks, and waterways, harming wildlife, and potentially causing harm to human infants. Whereas plastic bags are difficult to recycle and frequently contaminate material and damage equipment used to process items collected through the city's single stream curbside recycling program. Whereas reusable bags are considered to be the best option to reduce waste and litter, protect wildlife and conserve resources, and that many inexpensive and convenient varieties are increasingly available and used by Medford residents and visitors, whereas a number of businesses in the city have already taken affirmative steps to encourage the use of reusable bags by their patrons. Whereas 61 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, including neighboring Somerville and Arlington, and nearby Cambridge, Boston, and Melrose have enacted ordinances governing the use of plastic bags in their communities. Be it resolved that the City of Medford, working with the Medford City Council, the Energy and Environment Health and Law Departments, the Energy and Environment Committee, SEEM, Student Environmental Advocates of Medford, the Medford Chamber of Commerce and city merchants and its citizenry create an ordinance that will govern and ultimately phase out the use of plastic bags at all points of sale in the city to decrease damage to our environment, reduce litter and waste removal costs, and improve public health without being detrimental to conducting business in our city. Mr. President, if I may. Thank you. Tonight I offer this resolution because I believe it is an important issue that has a deep and lasting negative impact on our city, its residents, and our environment. There are many reasons why we should ban plastic bags. I'll name a few but there are plenty. Plastic bags create a major litter problem. Visual blight when they blow into trees. They're the third largest type of litter from land-based sources found on U.S. coasts. They pollute our oceans, rivers, and landscapes. Plastic bags are a hazard to marine life, seabirds, animals. Plastic bags do not biodegrade, and although they do fragment through mechanical action and photodegradation in the presence of light, these processes are slow, taking an estimated 200 plus years to complete. Polyethylene bags are made from non-renewable fossil fuels. The over 100 billion plastic shopping bags used each year in the United States are made up of the estimated equivalent of 439 million gallons of oil. Plastic bags clog storm water drains. They're consumed in extremely high volumes. Consumers, more often than not, do not recycle plastic bags. Plastic bags contribute to overburdened landfills. While researching this issue, and I mentioned this earlier, plastic bags are banned in over 60 plus cities and towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Plastic bags are banned in over 40 countries. It is time that we add our city to the list of the 60 plus cities and towns that have ordinances that ban plastic bags. Recently, I was approached by individual residents, organizations, and students with regard to offering a resolution to banning plastic bags in our community. At Medford High School, we have a great program called the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. Within the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, we have seen student environmental advocates of Medford. This group has been working hard on this issue and other environmental issues along with the Energy and Environment Committee as well. Surveys have shown that plastic carryout bags are used for approximately 12 minutes and then discarded. With that being said, we need to evaluate if we as a community value the use of a plastic bag often used for a few minutes more than protecting our environment from the devastating long-lasting effects of plastic bags. As a father of three children, it is my hope to leave this community a better place for our children and our grandchildren. This is a start. Let's use this resolution tonight as a launching pad to develop a city ordinance to ban plastic bags in the City of Medford. I thank you for your time and I respectfully ask my colleagues for the consideration And I believe that we should move this to the subcommittee on ordinances, where we can have an ordinance developed and designed. And if I may, Mr. President, I'd like to amend this resolution. And I'd like to amend it until we actually get an ordinance in place. I'd like to see the city set up plastic bag recycling stations in each of our public buildings, City Hall. the library, we can come up with a list. But I think that we should do that to actually at least get the ball rolling until we actually have a formal ordinance in place. At this point in time, I know there are a number of people that would like to speak on this issue. If I could bring up Rubia, who is from the library. for Medford High School, and she has a number of packets that she'd like to give out as well. She's from the Student Environmental Advocates of Medford.
[John Falco]: Do you want to speak if we so if we made this seems to be. a little discussion, I guess, as to where they should go next. And I know for me, one of the big pieces of this resolution in coming up with a final resolution and adopting resolution is to make sure there's involvement from the different groups that are here tonight. Because a lot of these people here tonight are on the front lines. They have experience in this area. They've researched this already. So I want to make sure that they're involved, and that's important. I think at this point the best bet is why don't we move it to Committee of the Whole, get input from, actually no, let's do this. I think the best thing is, let's go to City Solicitor Romley, let's get a draft first of what we think it should be, what he thinks would be a good way to start, I guess, looking at other resolutions, or other ordinances, I guess, from other cities, and then we'll push it to Committee of the Whole to have, I think, probably the Council weigh in, and then, I want to make sure there's plenty of community involvement. There's a lot of groups here, a lot of people here that are interested in something, that are interested in the ordinance, but I want to make sure that we're starting off with something. And I think if we all get into a room, we're just throwing thoughts and ideas around, it could get kind of messy. So I'm thinking if we start off with getting some sort of a draft resolution, from the city solicitor, and then from that point, we can get together and bring in the groups and the council as well to give input.
[John Falco]: Yes, that would be the that would be the point of bringing it back to community the whole because I want to make sure that each consulate gets to weigh in. But I want to make sure that the residents get to weigh in, especially, you know, rubia and the students at Bedford High School that have been working on this. I mean, I believe you've got a number of you had a petition that went out as well. So a lot of people are interested in this and it needs to be addressed. But I want to make sure there's plenty of community involvement.
[John Falco]: And that's what this is all about. There are a lot of people that want to weigh in on this issue. But I think we need to start somewhere. So I think if we have a draft. Exactly. So I mean, I think we have a bunch of people in a room just firing ideas around. I think that might get kind of messy. So I think if we have some sort of a draft resolution first and then we can make adjustments and changes, that would probably be the best. Every ordinance goes through three readings. Absolutely.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. One quick question on what you just mentioned. So does that money automatically go back in? Does it automatically go into that same bucket that it came out of? Yes. OK, perfect. Thank you.
[John Falco]: That's fine. I just wanted to get confirmation, just because it seemed, the way you said it, it just seemed funny. But I just wanted to make sure. So it goes back into the same bucket it came out of, and it can be used.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. I mean, this is I mean, I've been down to Harris Park a number of times, and I think it's definitely a park that needs some work. We have a lot of parks that need some work, but I know that that park does need a lot of work. And I think it's definitely a worthy project. So thank you. Councilor McGrath.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is an item that I have brought before the council before in the past, and the council supported it unanimously in the past and has not been included in past budgets, and it's something that I've strongly advocated for before, and I continue to do so. We expect our residents to clear their sidewalks after it snows, and the city should be doing the same thing with regard to city properties and sidewalks as well. You know, we see our students, you know, they walk to and from school, residents walk when it snows out, and it's important to keep our sidewalks clean of snow. And it's basically a public safety issue. And now when you bring the Chevalier Theater on board now with running shows during the winter and whatnot, you know, we're asking people to walk from the parking lots here at City Hall to Chevalier Theatre, and that's another reason why we should have a piece of machinery like this that can clear the snow. And it's important that we give our city workers, the DBW workers, the tools that they need, and I'm happy to say that we received a paper tonight from the mayor's office, and I'll read it. It's in response to the resolution that I offered, and it's from, let's see, it's from Brian Kerentz. It's a commissioner of public works, and it's in response to Councilor Falco's resolution. 18-008. After meeting with Mayor Stephanie M. Burke on Thursday, December 28th, regarding the purchase of a trackless plow for the Department of Public Works to better clear sidewalks during the winter months, we will be purchasing one for $130,545. The machine is called the Holder, and it is made in Canada. The local dealer for this machine is in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The machine will have a snowblower attachment, a power reversible plow blade, and a dump body and a sander unit. So happy to say that this issue sounds like it's being addressed. Mr. President, if you wouldn't mind, if we could get just a further answer with regard to the timing on this, when we should actually see this piece of machinery here in our city and when we could actually see, may possibly see it in service. Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just this past Christmas Eve, we lost a good friend, Joe Pachi. He was a one-time Metro resident, lived up on Doonan Street for many years with his family, and owned Joe Pachi and Son grocery store. And just overall, just a great guy. I mean, good friend, great guy, and someone that was always there to help. For many years, I mean he you know when he had moved out of Medford, he always found time to donate time donate money Give to charitable organizations throughout our city. So he will be Missed greatly in thoughts and prayers to his family.
[John Falco]: some sort of contact or some way to reach out to ways he's done it in the past. And this is definitely something that I think we should definitely push in his direction, have him look into. It definitely needs to be addressed. It's amazing what that app has done to our city streets in our neighborhoods. And while we're on the topic, just to mention really quick, tomorrow night at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital School of Nursing is our next community police meetings. I just wanted to bring that up, but I thought it was appropriate to bring it up now, since we are talking about this issue here, and a lot of issues like this here are discussed during that type of meeting.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Brian, I thank you for coming down again to give us an update. It's my pleasure, Mr. Falco. You live in this neighborhood. You experience this on a daily basis. And this is a quality of life issue. You shouldn't be impacted like this. Absolutely. And your neighbors shouldn't either. You know, I agree with my colleagues. I think an emergency meeting is called for in this situation. I mean, this is something that needs to stop, and it needs to stop now. The questions that I have, and that I would like to hear back, is why were there limitations put on the cease and desist order? Who actually put limitations saying between these hours and these hours? I agree with my consul colleague here. Stop work means stop work. That means shut it down. And that's what people react, and that's what people come to the table to come up with some sort of a resolution. February, when did you get to February? They're gonna say, well, we'll find a new place by March.
[John Falco]: Exactly. So we need to make sure that the feet are held, put to the fire, and make sure that they find a location, but to also make sure that, you know what, they comply with the law, and to make sure that you actually can live a nice quality life in your neighborhood. Thank you. Who actually put limitations on the stop work order, or the cease and desist order? And I also want to find out when it was issued. I know you came down and we actually, Councilman Markson.
[John Falco]: If we can just get confirmation on that. But I do agree, I think a Okay, then I do agree that an emergency meeting is warranted and we should be doing that. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was actually on the way to work this morning and coming on the on-ramp onto 93 and driving by 101, George P. Hassett Drive. The address is 101, but you can see it's the building is boarded up, but in the lower half of the building towards the basement, there is a board. The boards have fallen off the building and the windows are broken and the whole bottom half of the building is exposed. Anyone can get in there, kids, homeless people, I mean anyone has access to it. So it's a bit of a safety concern that needs to be addressed. So if we could have the administration reach out to the landlord of that building to have that boarded up immediately, I'd greatly appreciate it. And if I could further amend the paper to basically get some sort of an update from the landlord as to what they plan to do with the building. I believe it's going to be a hotel, or at one point we were told it was going to be a hotel, but maybe get an update on the timetable.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. City Solicitor Rumley, if I may ask a few questions. So is this enforceable as far as if we were to vote for this change? I mean, is it enforceable as far as from, I mean, I guess you could always appeal it, but I mean, do we have any grounds to enforce this, I guess?
[John Falco]: So I mean, I think it's interesting, and I think it's definitely, I definitely like notifying more people. I think that's a good thing. I just have, I guess, some concerns that there's like unintended consequences here. So for like the local person that's trying to make a home improvement, put a deck on the back of their house, and they need a variance. Maybe they're too close to the property line. So if they have that type of a situation, that person is going to have to notify everyone within that 400 foot?
[John Falco]: That's my concern, because I definitely like the idea of making sure that we notify more people. But I guess I'm worried about once you get into the neighborhoods, if you're doing something to increase the value of your property. Maybe you're putting on a deck. You're doing some sort of home improvement, and it's not that major. You know, there's a concern, I think, that you're adding a cost to that. And there's just a little bit of a concern there. So I think for big developments, this is something that's definitely needed and warranted. I mean, I think it's definitely something that would benefit the whole neighborhood. But for someone that's doing a small type of home improvement, I have some concerns there. my colleague wouldn't mind if we could amend this maybe just to projects that have to go through site plan review. And I'm not sure if that makes sense. Maybe you could weigh in on that. But I'm just thinking that if we're going to have local, my concern is that if we're going to have local neighbors that want to make an improvement and add cost to that and add more red tape to that, I think that's a little bit of a concern. So I'm just thinking if maybe we could have this apply to any type of project that requires site plan review, maybe that's the direction we should head in. And that's an amendment to the resolution that I would offer if my colleague is willing to accept that.
[John Falco]: I appreciate that. Thank you. That's just my concern. I like the resolution. I think we should be reaching out to actually communicate with more people in the neighborhood when there's a project or development that's going to impact them. So more communication is definitely better. if there's some unintended consequences to this where we're gonna impact them financially and make a simple home improvement into a larger type of project. So that's why I offer the resolution if you're willing that maybe we have this apply just to something that requires site plan review.
[John Falco]: Yes. Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Is this the motion with ritual methods?
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you. And I agree with the resolution. I think it's a good resolution, but I do think that, like, and I don't think you're trying to do this on purpose, but I think there's unintended consequences that we're really, you know, there's a cost associated with this. And it's borne by the taxpayer, the person that owns the property. And that's the piece that I guess I'm guarding against. So the only thing I'm saying is if we add the amendment in, we're at least giving some guidance to the Community Development Board to say, you know, there is an amendment here to see what the public thinks about the amendment. To send them the language, I think we're at least giving them a little bit more guidance if we're actually adding the amendment in as to what we're thinking. I mean, it seems like there's definitely some sort of an appetite for the amendment that was offered.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I may, because I think that is definitely a legitimate concern about when you're adding units to existing units. So if we can work on a compromise, I'm all for it. So I was wondering, City Solicitor Rumley, is there a way that we can, and I'm not sure if you could give us an opinion on this, but you know, Right now, if the amendment is to only apply where site plan review is required, can we also put, or if, you know, something. A housing unit is to be added. Yeah, or if an existing unit is adding additional units, can we, or if you have a recommendation as to some order.
[John Falco]: Can we add that as the, I mean I'd be fine with that amendment. Yes we could. Did you get that?
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. And I'd like to thank you for all your hard work. I know this group has been meeting nonstop putting this program together. And I had an opportunity to attend the forum last Monday night at the South Medford Fire Station. And you did a great job. I mean, it was explaining the program. And there were a lot of good questions. And it was well attended. But I would definitely agree. If you can put something on cable access, I think even almost like an infomercial, just kind of describing what it's about, you know, how people can, you know, apply the process, who to contact with questions. I think that would be definitely beneficial. You know, people do, people do watch programs on that station. So I think it's something that, it's a great mode to, of communication to actually get a message out to people. So I think that, I would definitely agree. I think that, you know, a lot of, successful programs, it all comes down to communication. And I think that this is the key. But I had a quick question for you. Can you talk a little bit about the small projects? I think it was 25,000. You talked about that. I know that question came up last Monday as well. So if you could just shed a light on that, that would be great.
[John Falco]: No, I think it's a great idea. So the total project has to be $10,000. Is the total budget for that piece $25,000?
[John Falco]: And as far as in the other cities and towns that you've talked to, that small piece of the budget that was allocated to small projects, is that something that's been successful?
[John Falco]: Good. Sounds good. I like it.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. One quick question. So as far as those projects go, those urgent projects, what would be an example of an urgent project that would be eligible for this type of funding?
[John Falco]: So like something that was maybe potentially going to be developed, but the city had the option to buy it and prevent development, something like that?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Kearns, just a couple of quick questions. Can you just tell us a little bit about the water leak, the cause of the water leak, when it happens?
[John Falco]: It sounds like there's two parts to the project. As far as replacing the main, putting in the new hydrant, how long will that take?
[John Falco]: So when they're actually installing the new main, what can the residents expect as far as will they be without water periods during the day, I imagine?
[John Falco]: So I actually took a ride down the street the other day just to kind of check out the situation and view it firsthand. And there's markings all over the place. Actually, at one point, the street looks like it comes up on a mound. It looks like something's going on underneath.
[John Falco]: Is there any concern, so when you connect that main on Douglas, that's connecting then to?
[John Falco]: I mean, it sounds like, I mean, it's almost 100 years old, so it sounds like the whole thing probably should be replaced, but thank you very much. Okay, thank you, sir.
[John Falco]: Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank Council colleague for bringing this forward tonight because I think this is an issue that is coming up more and more throughout our community and if I could just amend the resolution to also include Tainter Street, Everett Street and lower Fulton Street as well between Salem Street and Webster Street. That whole area, that whole block, there's a lot of cars down there with out of state plates. And it's an issue that really needs to be addressed. And I believe it's happening in other sections of the city or other neighborhoods of the city as well. But it's a resolution that I certainly support. So I second the resolution.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I have a small edit that I could review with the clerk, but other than that minor edit, everything looks fine and I move that the records be approved. As amended.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I was also contacted by Bonnie as well. And I thank my colleagues for bringing this forward. Um, this is a very important issue and we should always be encouraging people to take public transportation. And I think that this, um, doing this, I think does encourage people to, um, to, to, uh, look at, uh, taking the bus. I, myself, I've been taking the 325 for probably close to 20 years now. And, uh, I've been taking the, for a long time, and I don't get on at that stop, but I do have friends that actually get on the bus at that stop, and I had talked to many of them today that they do get on at that location, and it is a concern. That can be a very dangerous stop. It's right at the rotary and an off ramp, and especially during the inclement weather, traffic can be pretty erratic on a good day, but I think on a bad day, it gets even worse. So I think some sort of a bus shelter in that area would benefit everyone. So I definitely support this resolution, and I thank my colleagues for bringing it forward. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. As many of you know, I've been on board with municipal aggregation since day one. I think it's a good, in my eyes, I think it's a good a good plan, I think it's a good program. And I, I too think that, you know, we're at the point now where, you know, I think we've heard from, you know, you know, at the last meeting we heard from someone from the energy department in Melrose just to get a different perspective. And I think, I thought that was a very good presentation. She did a great job and it was good to see how another city handled the communication and how they worked through the project. And she had all kinds of samples of communications that they sent out. But I, in fact, I also agree with the Councilor Knight. I think we need to take a vote on this to see where we're going. You know, I mean, I would, I guess I feel the same way. I mean, I don't want to put resources working on something that might not even pass. So, you know, I think, you know, it's time. This has been, I think municipal aggregation has been with us for over a year now. We've had many meetings, Committee of the Wholes, we've taken one vote, it went down, and it's come back, but I think we need to take a vote on this. And I know, I think the paper is still in committee, or actually it's in Committee of the Wholes, so I think we probably need to vote that out at some point. But I think that, in my opinion, I really don't, I think a lot of our departments to stretch with regard to resources. And I would, I really don't, um, like the fact that we're going to put a resource towards building this list if this might not even pass. So, um, I, I, uh, agree with my colleague, uh, councilor Knight on this issue. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to go on the record of supporting this. Um, I take a look at the Brooks Estate and I take a look at the, uh, the money that, um, I mean, I look at it as, If we appropriate this money tonight, to me, to me, this is an investment. It's an investment in the Brooks estate. It's an investment in our community. I mean, there are other cities and towns that would really love to have a property like this. Uh, like council and I said, 50 acres of, uh, open space. I think it's a great opportunity. Um, and I think that's something that we need to look at, but I think we need to, I think we need to embrace this. I mean, I think that this is a, This is a historical site. I think there's a lot of opportunity here, the potential to actually bring in revenue. So this is something that I do support as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I was also contacted by Bonnie as well, and I thank my colleagues for bringing this forward. This is a very important issue, and we should always be encouraging people to take public transportation. And I think that this, doing this, I think does encourage people to look at taking the bus. I, myself, I've been taking the 325 for probably close to 20 years now, and I've been taking the for a long time. And I don't get on at that stop, but I do have friends that actually get on the bus at that stop. And I had talked to many of them today that they do get on at that location. And it is a concern. That can be a very dangerous stop. It's right at the rotary and an off ramp. And especially during the inclement weather, traffic can be pretty erratic on a good day. But I think on a bad day, it gets even worse. So I think some sort of a bus shelter in that area would benefit everyone. So I definitely support this resolution, and I thank my colleagues for bringing it forward. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. As many of you know, I've been on board with municipal aggregation since day one. I think it's a good, in my eyes, I think it's a good I think it's a good plan. I think it's a good program. And I too think that, you know, we're at the point now where, you know, I think we've heard from, you know, you know, at the last meeting we heard from someone from the energy department at Melrose just to get a different perspective. And I think, I thought that was a very good presentation. She did a great job and it was good to see how another city handled the communication and how they worked through the project. And she had all kinds of samples of communications that they sent out. But I, in fact, I also agree with the Councilor, and I think we need to take a vote on this to see where we're going. You know, I mean, I would, I guess I feel the same way. I mean, I don't want to put resources working on something that might not even pass. So, you know, let's, I think, you know, it's time. This has been, I think municipal aggregation has been with us for over a year now. We've had many meetings, Committee of the Wholes, we've taken one vote, it went down. and it's come back, but I think we need to take a vote on this. And I think the paper is still in committee, or actually it's in committee of the whole, so I think we probably need to vote that out at some point. But I think that, in my opinion, I really don't... I think a lot of our departments to stretch with regard to resources. And I would, I really don't, um, like the fact that we're going to put a resource towards building this list if this might not even pass. So, um, I, I, I agree with my colleague, uh, Councilor Knight on this issue. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to go on the record of supporting this. Um, I take a look at the Brooks Estate and I take a look at the, uh, the money that, um, I mean, I look at it as, If we appropriate this money tonight, to me, to me, this is an investment. It's an investment in the Brooks estate. It's an investment in our community. I mean, there are other cities and towns that would really love to have a property like this. Uh, like council and I said, 50 acres of, uh, open space. I think it's a great opportunity. Um, and I think that's something that we need to look at, but I think we need to, I think we need to embrace this. I mean, I think that this is a, This is a historical site. Um, I think there's a lot of opportunity here, the potential to actually bring in revenue. Um, so this is something that I do support as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you Mr. President. I just want to say good luck and congratulations on your new role. I had the opportunity, we bumped into each other down in Haines Square on Saturday morning at Modern Hardware and you were talking to George and introducing yourself so it looks like you've hit the ground running. which is good to see.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This issue is recently, actually, it's gotten better. They put up a DPW with the assistance, well, it passed the traffic commission, and they put up a do not enter sign from 7 to 9 a.m. in the morning, and that's helped out tremendously with regard to the traffic that flows down Brackett Street onto Andrew Street and all the surrounding streets, and it has significantly lessened the traffic on Fulton Street in the morning. You know, it's impossible to do constant nonstop enforcement. So there are people that do take that, depending on which way you're coming down Elm, they'll take a right or a left to go down Brackett. So I'm just basically asking that if we could have a no right hand. If you come and ask north of Elm, no right-hand turn sign and no left-hand turn sign if you're going south down Elm. So just to prevent people from going down Brackett Street in the morning between 7 and 9 a.m., so just asking if the DPW could put up those signs. And of course, if you could send this before the Traffic Commission first for their approval and their advice as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I believe you may have skipped a resolution, though.
[John Falco]: OK, perfect. Sounds good. Yeah, so throughout the last few months, I've received a lot of calls with regard to the police station, the progress that's been made. And I know the administration has been working hard with the chief of police and the Medford Police Department with ongoing meetings. with regard to the future of the police station in that project in general. So I just think, you know, we've already appropriated some money and I know we're going to be appropriating money in the future to build a police station, that it's fair that we at this point in time ask for an update with regard to the project. Any information that we can receive in, you know, timeline as well I think would be beneficial to all of us just because I know that I'm receiving calls, I'm sure many members have been receiving calls about this issue as well. So if we could receive some sort of formal communication from the administration, just updating us with regard to this issue, or committee of the whole meeting, if that's the way members would like to go, I think that's fine too. So, I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a call from a number of residents down on Windsor Road regarding it's a divot. It looks like it's actually maybe some trench work that was done before in the past and it's sunk over time. So if we could just have the DPW go by and just try to fill that in. to level the surface in the interest of public safety.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls from people in this neighborhood or residents in this neighborhood asking about placing a stop line on the ground next to the stop signs. This is a, it seems like with the So many people using Waze now, the app that sends people through neighborhoods that, you know, there's increased traffic and there's a lot of kids in this area that traverse back and forth to the Roberts Elementary School. And so this is a safety issue that needs to be addressed. So if we could have a stop line placed on both ends of that street in the matter of, in the interest of public safety, I'd greatly appreciate it. And if we could actually forward this to the Traffic Commission for their approval as well.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco? Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Warren, for your presentation. Just a couple of quick questions here. So, in the description, it mentions all the work that needs to be done. If this was to pass tonight, do you know how long it would take to do all that work?
[John Falco]: Do you know how much it would cost to totally rehabilitate the carriage house?
[John Falco]: So I've only been on the council for about two years now. And during that time, we talked about the Brooks Estate a little bit here and there, but this is, I think, the first time that something's come before me to appropriate money for the Brooks Estate. And I would agree with Mr. Warren. The way I look at this, this is an investment. If we own it, we should embrace it. And we own it, and we should be embracing this. This is a project that I think that's good. I think, in my opinion, there's a lot of potential here. There's a lot of potential. I've scanned the business plan. I think that was the master plan. I've seen that before. And I think that there's a lot of potential with this property. It's a long-term investment, yes. But if we own it, we should be investing in it. It doesn't do us any good to let it rot away in the woods. As time goes by, it only becomes more expensive to fix it. So it's an investment that I think we should be making. I second the resolution tonight. And thank you for your time.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of phone calls and emails about this once I had my The resolution I mentioned earlier tonight with regard to Brackett Street, and I guess there's a lot of speeding in that area and heavy traffic flow in the mornings. So I did talk to a number of residents about this and told them that I would bring this forward to, of course, be moved to the Traffic Commission for further review. It may actually have gone before than once before.
[John Falco]: I didn't know that for sure, but if we could actually have them look at it for reconsideration, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Mr. Karens, a couple of quick questions. What's the average lifespan for a vehicle like this?
[John Falco]: Okay. Great. Mr. President, I, I second the, the resolution and move approval. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to go on record of supporting this resolution. I think it's a good resolution. Zoning is one of the most important responsibilities that we have. you know, on the city council. And it's something that, uh, we need to make sure that we have the opportunity to attend these meetings. Um, especially when you have major developments, uh, that are going in, uh, people call us, they want answers. And, uh, so we should, uh, you know, have the opportunity to attend those meetings. And if the meetings occur at the same time, then something has to give. So I think that, uh, then moving, uh, the zoning, uh, board moving those meetings to another night, I think would be ideal for everyone, uh, in the community. But I also believe that, and I mentioned this before in the past, they shouldn't be held in the room across the hall. Zoning board meetings should be held here. If you go to a zoning board meeting, it's ridiculous that people have to stand in the hallway to find out what's going on, especially if it's a big issue. They can't even hear the presentation that's being put on by the developer. You could be in support or non-support, but you still can't hear the presentation. And that doesn't do, That doesn't benefit anyone. So really, in my opinion, they shouldn't be held in that room. They should be on a night other than Tuesday night. And I'm hoping that when we have the legislative software that's going to be installed hopefully soon, we'll have those meetings on tape, and people will be able to watch them 24-7. And a lot of the documents will be accessible 24-7 as well. So I support the resolution. I second the resolution. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I had mentioned earlier that I believe that the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting should be held in Alden Chambers. It should be held in City Council Chambers. I'd like to have a resolution that the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings be held in Alden Chambers.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If, if, if I may just really quick, it is the first Wednesday of the month tomorrow, November 1st. Uh, that means it's time for the monthly community police meeting at the Roberts elementary school. Everyone is welcome, no matter what neighborhood you're from, 7 p.m., Roberts Elementary School, monthly Method police meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Hello, hello. My name is John Falco, and I'm a candidate for re-election to the Medford City Council. I am currently in my first term. I'd like to begin by thanking the Medford Ward 6 Committee for hosting this event tonight, and I'd also like to thank each of you for being here tonight as well. My wife Jackie and I reside at 123 Fulton Spring Road with our three sons, John, Joey, and Jack. All three of my sons attend the Medford Public Schools. I'm currently an assistant vice president at an investment management firm in Boston and have over 25 years of finance experience in both public and private global organizations. The city of Medford provides a welcoming home to people from all over the world. I'm proud to live in a city that embraces diversity and inclusion. As a first term city councilor, I have advocated for issues that I believe benefit all of Medford. I believe in a transparent government that supports the men, women, and organizations that are the backbone of our community, our schools, our police, and our fire departments, arts and cultural organizations, and citizen-led groups in an effort to increase transparency and community involvement. I led the effort to purchase legislative software which will increase transparency by providing 24-7 on-demand access to all public meetings and documents. As a parent, I know firsthand the value of small class size, improved technology, special education services, infrastructure improvements, and new program offerings, which is why I continue to advocate for additional funding to support the educational needs of our children. My commitment to public safety is unwavering. I implemented neighborhood community police meetings to cultivate engagement between the residents and our police officers in the interest of building stronger neighborhoods. I have also supported a new police station in turnout gear for our firefighters, and will continue to advocate for additional resources, equipment, and staff to protect our police and fire departments and Public Works employees. As we all know, traffic throughout our city is a problem. that continues to have a negative impact on the quality of life for all residents. The first resolution I offered was that the city hire a traffic engineer to study this significant problem. Week after week, I staunchly advocated for this position because I believe it will aid in improving public safety and the quality of life. Through this hard work and determination, a traffic engineer was finally included in this year's budget. I supported lowering the speed limit to 25 miles per hour in the interest of public safety, but I know there's more work that we need to do. My resolution to hire an outside consulting firm to conduct a zoning needs analysis began the dialogue among my colleagues about this real critical issue. Our zoning has not been reviewed in 50 years, and a complete assessment is needed to guide future smart and responsible development. I have been and will continue to be proactive in protecting our neighborhoods from oversized irresponsible development, whether it be in North Method, South Method, Wellington, West, Hillside, I also supported extending the demolition delay on historic properties from 6 to 18 months because I am committed to protecting the integrity of our neighborhoods. I continue to advocate for more resources in our Office of Community Development to support current and future business owners. I am committed to making these areas more welcoming with improved lighting, safer and cleaner streets, and a beautification program that includes public art. With its access to Mystic River and new management of the Chevalier Theatre, now is the time to revitalize Medford Square. I will continue to advocate for the creation of walking paths from Hormel Stadium to Medford Square as part of this revitalization. Medford is changing, but it's important to remember that we need to maintain what we already have. I believe it is critical that we maintain our schools, city buildings, in parks. We need to repair and pave our streets and sidewalks. We need to maintain all of our investments, old and new, for current and future generations of Medford residents. We also need to think about environmental sustainability for the next wave of Medford residents. I was the only city councilor to support municipal aggregation, and I'll support it when it comes up again. And I also supported charter review. Medford continues to be a great place to live, work, play, and raise a family. With its rich past and promising future, we are a city on the rise with a great deal of opportunity and potential. Over the next two years, I look forward to working with you and advocating for you to move Medford forward. For more information, please go to my website, johnfalco.org. I respectfully ask for your vote on Tuesday, November 7th. I'm John Falco, number three on the ballot. And if you want to contact me, 781-395-1290 or falco4medford at gmail.com.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Bavuzzo, thank you very much for your report as well. This is something I support 100%. We've needed this for a long time. And I know this council has talked about this repeatedly. I just have a quick question. As far as the cameras go, I mean, how many? We're starting off with three. I mean, ideally, do you think we could use more?
[John Falco]: And as far as, um, you know, as far as I'm just thinking, as far as the future goes and from a budgeting perspective, do you know what the life expectancy is for one of these cameras, especially if they're outside? I mean, I'm just, you know, is this something that you have to purchase on a pretty regular basis?
[John Falco]: Okay. It's okay. I mean, uh, this is, I think a great initiative. I'm glad to see that we're moving forward with it and move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: impacts the quality of life of all residents throughout our city. You know, zoning is one of the biggest responsibilities we have here on the council and zoning hasn't been looked at. And I think it's close to 50 years and it needs to be looked at. And, uh, and I, and I, I did offer a paper on this earlier in the term, uh, with regard to, uh, having someone, uh, come in from the outside and take a look at, and you know, that paper did get moved to subcommittee where we have been looking at it and meeting on it. And, um, you know, but I do think it's important to continue the conversation and make sure that we keep it in the forefront. So, um, you know, I, I do support the resolution. I, I, I'm not sure as far as the next step, if we already have a resolution in subcommittee, what the next step would be. I mean, I do support the resolution. I think it's, it needs to be looked at without a doubt. Um, but, uh, so I do, I do support, uh, both resolutions fully. Vice President Mox.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. This is an important public safety issue, especially if you don't have sidewalks, you're forcing people into the street and you're forcing kids into the street. And sometimes that becomes an issue. Uh, over the last two weeks, this has come up as an issue where, We've had sidewalks that need to be replaced, and we've asked for lists the last few weeks, and a list should take literally a few minutes to produce. You just have to print it out. So if you could please, if we could just amend it to get an updated list with regard to the sidewalks that need to be replaced, and how many have been replaced so far, and how many stumps have been removed. I mean, this is stuff that we have requested I know the last three meetings now we've requested this and we still have no information. So if we could please, uh, just add that amendment to the resolution.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: That's fine. Thank you. We appropriated money, I believe, in the spring for this and quite a bit uh, money. Uh, so if we could find just basically find out, I'd like to see what progress they've made from the list that we were given in the spring, what progress they've made to date, uh, because there were quite a few sidewalks and stumps that needed to be removed and sidewalk panels that needed to be replaced and asphalt sidewalks that some parts of the city actually have asphalt sidewalk. So, uh, those needed to be replaced as well. And, uh, it'd be good to see what kind of progress they've made, how much money they've spent so far, how much is remaining. Um, you know, like it was, like, uh, we said earlier, I mean, the season is, you know, dwindling away to, uh, to pour concrete. So I'd really like to see you get an update as to what his, uh, you know, what their progress has been so far.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. We just want to congratulate Duncan McLean for this significant achievement. Uh, he became recently watching this week. He'll be coming, uh, officially becoming Eagle Scout. Uh, it's, uh, it's really remarkable to, uh, go through the whole process. And, uh, during that rank, I believe, uh, the statistic is only 4%, of young men that actually get to that point where they go all the way through the program and become an Eagle Scout. It's really a remarkable achievement. He's a great kid. He's in college now. His service project was to basically, I believe it was uh, improving the landscaping down at the Otis street church. And it actually did a lot of, uh, structural work to prevent the, uh, foundation from flooding as well. And, uh, he did a great job. I went down there and visited him during the project. And, uh, unfortunately that day was pouring out, it was raining. Uh, but really he and his, uh, uh, fellow, uh, troop worked through it and really did a great job of really, uh, upgrading the, uh, the grounds and they did a nice job with the foundation work as well. Uh, so I just wanted to, uh, congratulate him on the, uh, this achievement. And of course, if we could have him come down to, uh, receive a council of common kind of nation, that'd be great. Thanks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Actually, it's 201 Salem Street. 201 Salem Street. It's right in front of Brookline Bank on Salem Street. I got a number of calls on this and sometimes if I get off the bus when I'm coming out of town on Salem Street, you know, actually the bus drops you off. It's right there on the ground. It's, it's actually where the old fire call box used to be. It took the call boxes out, but there's like a small pipe that's sticking up and there was some wires that were in the pipe that had been cut, but it's definitely a trip hazard to anybody that's walking through there. And that is a highly traversed area with people catching the bus and just walking to and from school. And it's right in our crosswalk. So if we could have, um, the electrical department or the DPW department, whoever's that's Mr. Randazzo. Exactly, if we could have him come down or maybe with the assistance of the DPW department, just have him come down and remove that. It's definitely a safety hazard and it needs to be taken care of right away. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I've received a lot of phone calls on this as well, and I know my colleague has as well. Up in the Heights, there are a couple of intersections, Uh, and this has actually came up at the police community meeting as well, where if you're going from Fulton street or actually if you're coming from, uh, Watson, uh, coming from Highland Ave and you want to take the left or right onto Fulton street, it's a blind intersection. I mean, you really, you kind of have to guess if there's any cars coming. Same thing with Ridgeway road. Um, you know, so I think a mirror on the, um, telephone pole that actually would help indicate whether or not the cars are coming from the other direction would be beneficial. Um, you know, from a safety perspective. Uh, so if we could, uh, if we could actually have, uh, actually probably if we can move this paper to the traffic commission for approval and if we could actually have those, um, mirrors installed, that would be a, I think a great in the interest of public safety. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also just wanted to take a second to congratulate Henry. He's a big part of our community. He's always there when you need him. Uh, he's, uh, uh, helping organize that word six, uh, candidates tonight. So he's always active. He's always there when you need him. He's a great guy. And so congratulations to Henry.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I, uh, had the, uh, I actually received a call from a resident the other day and, uh, I actually took a walk down there to check it out myself. There is a tree, a rather large tree in front of a St. Francis parish center. And I'm not sure if there was a car accident there recently, but it looks like it is just hollowed out completely. And it's a really large tree. And I'm really concerned that this thing is about to tip. But, um, If we could send, I know the tree is on the Fellsway, but if we could send out, uh, our tree warden just to take a look to see, uh, what, what exactly route should be, what route should be taken as far as if the tree is, uh, you know, if it's still viable, I guess. I mean, the tree looks like it's about to go and I really have a major concern that it's going to fall into the road. It's, it's large and it literally has, It looks like it's hollow. I'm assuming if we could have a tree warden go out there as soon as possible to take a look into this, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: When I left early this morning, it was still there. So, uh, I'm glad they took care of it right away. They knew this was coming. Thank you. I'm glad to hear what was done.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I have received a call about this as well. And I went down to take a look at the situation and like the council said, it's just a hole in the ground and there's no, there's no curb in there. And I guess a few years ago they tried to plant the tree there, but the tree literally just fell out because there's no curbing to hold the soil in. So really the curb needs to be replaced. There really needs to be a strategy. I think for Bowen street in general, uh, like council Marks mentioned, I took a drive there as well. There's sidewalks are really, bad shape.
[John Falco]: A lot of the sidewalks look like they might just need a skim coat, but I mean, just because a few, they just kind of, the top's gone, but there's other, there's other sidewalks that are just completely gone.
[John Falco]: I reviewed the records. They appear to be in order and I move approval.
[John Falco]: So if we could have the City Clerk make that correction.
[John Falco]: If we could have approved amendments as amended.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I support this resolution, and if the Councilor wouldn't mind, I'd like to add a free stump at 27 Saunders Street that has been there for a number of years, and it hasn't been removed, and it needs to be removed in the interest of public safety. And while I'm at it, if we could also get a list from the DPW Director, updating us as to what stumps were removed this summer, and what sidewalk panels were repaired. We appropriated funding for that. while back and it would be good to get an update as to see what kind of progress was made during this past summer.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. I just wanted to say, as a former member of the school committee, I know that, you know, class size has always been a huge focus with regard to just keeping it low, especially in the younger grades where you're really, you know, creating a sound foundation for education. And when I look at these numbers, this is really remarkable. To see this many classes that are in the high teens, 18, 19, 17, this is really remarkable. And it's across the district. I know when I was on the school committee, I'd go to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Forum, where they had the organizational meeting every year. And you talk to people from other school districts, and this is unheard of. I mean, to have class size this low, absolutely unheard of so I mean congratulations to you and to the school committee for their fine work if you're staying on top of this because this is really remarkable to see class numbers this I know in my years of the school committee when we first came on I know that you know there were some classes you saw up around 25 26 27 and to see class size down at like 18 19 17 And I think in some instances, maybe even smaller. There's one here at 15. I mean, that's remarkable. And it's great to see that, you know, there's a huge focus on class size and keeping it low. And, you know, I just think, you know, this is remarkable. And I just want to say great work to you and the school committee for making this a major priority. Thank you. Vice President Mox.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank the council for bringing this resolution forward. It's a resolution that I support and I do believe that there are many qualified professional people, you know, with professional backgrounds in different, you know, in development and traffic engineering and whatnot throughout our community that can really help out. with regard to the future development in our city. And who knows better than the people that actually live in that neighborhood on a daily basis what works and what doesn't work. So I think it's always important to reach out to the neighborhoods and get their input. And I think this is a great way of doing it. So this is a resolution that I do support. I think having people You know in the neighborhoods that are active that want to be involved that want to help shape the future of their communities important and their input Should definitely be heard. So I support the resolution as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I had the opportunity this weekend to go along with a lot of my colleagues to go to the Mystic River Celebration. And while I was there, I was going to some of the different tables and, you know, just, you know, getting more information, talking to people and whatnot. And they went to the Method Farmers Market table and just asked them because I think this is their first year in the new locations down at the Condon Shell. And they said so far it's been really, really good. They've had a lot of great activity, a lot of people walking down on Thursday afternoons to just buy some local produce and whatnot, and just ask them a little bit about the new location. And they said it's great. They said the challenge now is it's towards the end of the season, so the sun goes down a little bit sooner, and the market goes until 7 PM. So that last hour, it's getting dark, basically. And so it's tough for people to walk around, and it's also tough for the vendors to clean up after the market closes down. So, you know, in the matter of public in the, you know, matter of public safety, it'd be nice if we could have the mayor's office of the electric department, see what they can do to have the lights activated for at least the last hour of the farmers market on Thursday afternoon. So it would probably be, it'd be nice if they could activate them from probably anytime after five to at least I'm guessing maybe 7.30 p.m. So it's safe down there. It should be well lit. And it's a great venue to have really any type of local city function. So it's in the matter of public safety, if we could afford that to the mayor's office of the electrical department, I'd greatly appreciate it. Second.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Mr. President. I have a few questions about just the project in general. So if you could just let us know and let people watching at home know, how long do you think this project is going to take?
[John Falco]: And do you think some of this work will be done at night, or is it mostly to working hours?
[John Falco]: And could you tell us, let's see, basically with regard to the sidewalks, you're going to be, I think, ripping up a few sidewalks. You're going to be, can you tell us a little bit about, you know, how many sidewalks you're going to rip up? You're going to be replacing them with cements? Yes. And can you tell us, is it two sidewalks, or do you know how many?
[John Falco]: And they'll be replaced with concrete?
[John Falco]: And can you tell us with regard to Ashland Street, what would be the impact on the neighborhood with regard to people being able to access their driveways? Are they going to be having problems accessing their driveways?
[John Falco]: And with regard to, you know, we've had a lot of talk during these hearings with regard to paving and how you're going to pave the work. needs to be paid once you're done opening up the street and whatnot. And this has been a point of contention with anyone that opens up the street is, over time, a lot of these holes, they sink and whatnot. And I noticed that you're going to be making a payment to the city in lieu of the final payment. So is that payment going to be reimbursement from curb to curb paving or is that going to be just a reimbursement for the sections that you cut open?
[John Falco]: So I guess regardless of who's doing the paving, it looks like you're going to be reimbursing for the paving. So I guess my question is basically, are you going to be reimbursing for curb to curb? It sounds like enough. It sounds like it's going to be maybe just for the sections that you are going to be opening up.
[John Falco]: I think that might be a little bit of a point of contention. I mean, just because I know that we have other utilities have been opening up roads. The last meeting we had, we had a number of utilities that came before us. And they basically promised that they would pave curb to curb. And I feel like we're almost setting precedent by doing this now. And in some ways, I feel like almost all utilities that come My colleagues may have a further comment on that, but I just think that we need to. make sure that the street is repaired. And I may like to see curb-to-curb repaving. I think it's a necessity just because we have so many, you know, I look at Salem Street. I mean, I think this is a good project, without a doubt. But I look at Salem Street, and that is a heavily traversed street on a daily basis. And I can easily see, you know, if you're just going to be repairing patches, or even half the road, I could definitely see that being torn up over time. Um, it's a big cut through the street methods. Big cut through community. And, um, sorry, I think curb to curb paving would be something that we should look at.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for this report, Ms. Hunt and Superintendent Bellison. I think this is a great opportunity, and I think it's a great program. And I'm glad to see that we're getting grant funding for this here type of project. Can you talk a little bit about the impact on the schools with regards to when this project will take place and how the students will be impacted?
[John Falco]: If I may, what would be the duration of the project? How long would it take to replace all the lights?
[John Falco]: Mr. Superintendent, so it sounds like there could be some workers in the building while the students are there. Will all the workers be quarried and whatnot?
[John Falco]: make sure that we're doing everything we can. This is a pretty big project. There'll be a lot of people in the building, so we just want to make sure we're protecting our students. So, thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falwell. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm just curious. As far as when the trucks come to make deliveries, Will they be coming all in one direction? Will they be coming from Locust Street or the parkway? Which way would they be approaching the back of the building?
[John Falco]: I'm just thinking if you come around that side of the building, it probably might get a little bit quieter. But, um, so thank you for answering that. With regard to the compactor, um, I believe the compactor has some sort of, uh, I think when you hit the button, it starts to compact. And is that pretty loud? Or I used to work in a store when I was back in college. I knew that seemed to be pretty loud, but I don't know.
[John Falco]: OK. And as far as, actually, you already answered the question.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. As everyone knows, this is an issue that's near and dear to my heart. We've sponsored a number of resolutions regarding a traffic engineer that was supported by this board unanimously, and I'm happy that it's been included in the budget. And I've been on top of this with regard to, I mean, we really want to see this happen. And in the police community meetings that we have monthly, traffic always comes up. we have a meeting in, traffic is always the number one issue. So I've been in contact with the Chief of Staff on a regular basis just to get updates. And what I can tell you is, just to give you a little bit more specifics, is that it's been posted on the Mass. Municipal Association website, as well as the City of Medford website. They've gone out to different colleges, WPI, University of Lowell, UMass Boston, Bentley, and so it's on numerous college websites and boards and they've also gone out to three engineering associations as well to post a position and they are currently screening resumes and people can still apply but it's definitely something that I know that they're working on. Like I said, this is near and dear to my heart and I know I've been curious about it as well and that's just to give you an update with regard to where they are with regard to the hiring process. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Belco. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. The meeting that Peter and Luke put on was a great meeting, great presentations. They did one earlier in the spring. Very informative, and it's nice to see that there are many people that are attending these meetings because it's a quality of life issue that impacts pretty much all the neighborhoods throughout our city. But the most important thing that I really took out of this is really that it's a federal issue, and we really need to make sure that we contact You know, Senator Markey, Senator Warren, Congresswoman Clark. I mean, it's important. And they need to be involved in this. And we need to make sure that, you know, we have many people sending them letters so they know how we feel. This is an issue that impacts all of us. Like I said, it's a quality of life issue. I think the boilerplate letters are a great idea, and it makes it easier for everyone. So I support the resolution.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just a couple of quick questions. Just get a little bit more background on this. How long will this project take?
[John Falco]: Do you know when it's going to begin?
[John Falco]: And do you know how many sidewalk panels are impacted, just for the residents in the neighborhood to have some sort of idea as to?
[John Falco]: And will there be any impact with regard to traffic in the neighborhood?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And some of the similar questions, I guess. But, you know, as far as the length of time this project is going to take, when do you think this will begin? Just so if anyone here was watching at home tonight.
[John Falco]: And as far as the, so would the work hours be just your normal 9 to 5?
[John Falco]: And as far as the impact to the neighbors that live in that neighborhood, are we talking about they're not going to have access to their driveways? What will be the impact and how will they be notified?
[John Falco]: So will you be, you know, sending a notice to the neighbors? I mean, just to let them know the driveway could possibly be not accessible, you know, during these dates?
[John Falco]: I mean, I would think, you know, just I think it's a good idea just to let them know, you know, that this project's going to happen. And, you know, just so they're informed. I mean, because I think the worst thing is, is when there's no communication, that's when the phones start ringing. That, you know, I knew nothing about this. You know, the person that might live in the street might not know nothing about or anything about this project or they might have minimal information. then all of a sudden they can't get into the driveway, and they're calling us for answers. So I think reaching out to the community, to those streets that are impacted and those neighbors that are impacted, it's definitely something that I would recommend.
[John Falco]: Great, thank you. And as far as the, do you foresee any road closures at all?
[John Falco]: I'm just concerned because I think if I'm reading this map correctly, this leads out to Broadway, right?
[John Falco]: So I'm just concerned that if you're closing a road in Somerville and The residents in Medford don't know anything about it. There's a disconnect there, so if there are any road closures, you know, I would think that, you know, if we could just make sure that the residents know, just because the worst thing is when something insurmountable is impacting them and they don't know anything about it, you know, that's something that we should keep into, you know, take into account.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Similar to a lot of the questions I asked previously regarding the previous project, when will the work take place, and how long will this project last?
[John Falco]: And it's on High Street, right?
[John Falco]: So I assume the road's going to be open, but I would imagine it's going to be quite tough to pass at times, I would think.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, so with that additional 180 feet, I mean, so how long that work would take if you have to
[John Falco]: Yeah, the library exits from there, and there's a couple of streets that are up in that area. So, I mean, those neighbors, those residents will be impacted, it sounds like, if there
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. If you could just tell us a little bit about the project, how long it's going to take, the hours you're going to be working, how many sidewalk panels you're going to be pulling out.
[John Falco]: Will they be replaced with concrete? Yes. Even the ones that are temporarily been replaced with asphalt?
[John Falco]: And this is sidewalk work, so you don't anticipate any road closures?
[John Falco]: Thank you. And that's key that you actually have included your cell phone number because it's always good that we have a point of contact and that the residents have a point of contact, especially No, like you said, to supply a YouTube video, which I don't think you hear that too often, but it's always nice that the residents can actually see what's going on or, you know, get more information as to what's going on in front of their homes. So, thank you very much. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco has a question. Is that the actual section that has the message piece?
[John Falco]: That's it. I'm just trying to look at the sketch here. Is that three feet? It says you have one here and then four.
[John Falco]: This here, is that?
[John Falco]: So it's about two feet of messaging?
[John Falco]: It looks like that's a foot there, so two, three, four, that's three feet of messaging.
[John Falco]: Okay, so that takes you a foot out. Yeah, that's the pedestal. So one to four.
[John Falco]: Oh, okay, so that's two feet, okay, okay. I thought there was a line there, I'm sorry, that's my mistake.
[John Falco]: So two feet, so it'll become almost like a mini movie screen almost?
[John Falco]: No. No, because if you, that's actually, that's graphics. It's four. Oh yeah, yeah.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. And I mean, I too, I mean, I feel that the budget, I mean, what we do in passing the budget, reviewing the budget is one of our biggest responsibilities. And transparency is key when it comes to the budget. I mean, everyone should be have access to the budget. I've always felt that way. I think especially when you think about it, there's so much money, and everything that runs, runs through the budget. And, you know, we should be encouraging people to get involved with the budget process and actually taking a look at the budget. And, you know, one of the biggest, to me, a big initiative that we passed this year, and everyone's still behind, was the legislative software. It was a motion that I brought forward in the spring. And this council stood before it, and it's in the budget. And that is actually to make sure that the materials that we receive With legislative software, all those materials should be in that software package. So, everything we get, you'll be able to see in the general public. It's all public information, but it's going to be easily accessible with legislative software. We have that. That's passed. That's in the budget. It hasn't gone live yet, but to me, in my opinion, I mean, the draft budget, at least, should be part. It should be actually online for people to look at. So, if they come to the meeting, they can be, you know, they can look at it in advance and say, okay, this is how much we're spending here. They can ask good questions. They can be prepared at meetings. And it also, you know, it helps us prepare ourselves, too, when all this stuff is at our fingertips. So, you know, I do, I've always been a big fan of making sure that, you know, the budget, it's transparent, people can see it, and people can access it. So, I just wanted to go and just give my thoughts on this process. So, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Belco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you for your presentation and thank you for your interest in opening up a business here. So you mentioned earlier that you could possibly have 50 dogs at once. But you did say, well, maybe 20 or 30 out at one time. If you had a maximum capacity of 50 dogs at one time, could you possibly have 50 dogs out in that area at one point in time, at the same time?
[John Falco]: And I apologize, I was trying to read this at the same time as you're presenting. So as far as the, what is the inside of that building? How many rooms are we talking as far as, do you have any insight?
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you very much. As far as, so I've received a few calls from neighbors saying the space here is industrial space, or it used to be industrial space. It's an industrial zone. Can you talk a little bit about, because I had a couple people call me about safety. Since it was at one time industrial, is it safe for dogs? Can you maybe talk a little bit more about the turf as well? Do you want to take that, sir?
[John Falco]: As far as the turf goes, I think of repetitive use if you have 20, 30 dogs here a day that are outside and peeing and whatnot. What's the life expectancy of the turf? How long is that going to last?
[John Falco]: Absolutely.
[John Falco]: I'm just thinking with that many dogs over time, there's definitely a concern about odor. Sure. That's in the neighborhood, so that's.
[John Falco]: As far as the how is it how high is the fence eight feet Yes, there is currently an eight-foot fence there and we were actually going to erect an additional eight-foot fence So we will have two eight-foot fences there to all the way around all the way around it as far as I think of 20, 30 dogs, I'm thinking a lot of waste. And I'm thinking of odor, I'm thinking the residents, that could be a major problem. But you're only removing waste once a week. That sounds like that could be an issue.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank everybody for coming down. No matter what side you are on tonight, it's always good to see civic participation and people coming just to, you know, let us know how you feel, for or against. And this is a rather, it's a very interesting issue. And it's one that, you know, I feel, I felt torn about. I mean, it's, I'm a dog owner. I own a beagle hound. I love him. He's part of the family. My kids love him, and he's a great dog. And I love the passion that you bring to this tonight. Your maps, your sketches, I mean, you've obviously done your research. And you can tell you're passionate about this, and that's very impressive. And I come back to also saying, this is a great idea. This is, it's an idea I think that, yes, Medford could use, but I'm torn on the location. I really am, because I do see that, you know, although it's an industrial zone, you have apartment buildings there, you have homes, and that's the part that really, really, I struggle with, because I know, For example, I know this year we've had neighborhood meetings, police meetings in each of the neighborhoods. And as we've gone through neighborhood to neighborhood, people really care about their neighborhood and really care what happens in their neighborhood. And I have received phone calls and emails on this as well, both for and against. You know, so I really do struggle with this decision, but at the end, you know, for me it comes down to the neighborhood. And it comes down to, you know, is this going to have a positive or negative impact on, you know, I don't want to say the quality of life, but it does to some point. I mean, because if you're hearing barking all the time. I know my dog, I mean, he's part hound. When he starts going, he's barking and it can definitely be disruptive. When I hear 50 dogs, at the end of the day, 50 dogs is 50 dogs. And if they're kind of all going at the same time, that's going to be loud, inside or outside. You know, I love that you're passionate about this, but I think it's a great idea, I just think it's a bad location, and that's what it comes down to me. And I do love the idea. I wish it was a place where there was just no apartment buildings and there were no homes that were near this. Because I do think it's a great idea. And I think it's something that the city could use. And I honestly do struggle with this. I know I've talked to you both about this. But at the end of the day, to me it's the neighborhoods and to have this, even though it's an industrial neighborhood, in many ways, because there are apartment buildings there and there are homes there, in many ways it's kind of like a residential neighborhood. And getting back to the other argument of zoning, zoning needs to be looked at. We've talked about this many times. Zoning has not been looked at in this city in 50 years and it needs to be addressed. So I cannot support this.
[John Falco]: Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, with regard to the hydraulic model, so how long does that take and do the results come back to you?
[John Falco]: So when would that begin? As far as the hydraulic model, when could we expect some sort of report back that says these are the pain points, these neighborhoods or these streets. You go up into the heights and you hear complaints all the time with regard to pressure and people not being able to take a shower or flush the toilet without losing water somewhere. It would be nice to see some sort of a report that we could get that, you know, we could just be able to identify and then, you know, I would assume when you get that report back, you come up with some sort of a plan moving forward, right?
[John Falco]: Mr. President, yes, I was able to read them and I have actually a couple of amendments to make to the records.
[John Falco]: Actually, I can just read them out now. So there's just two points that were missing, and it had to do with 17-512, which was the city budget, and so if we could just add that Councilor Scarpelli disclosed that he has a relative employed by the schools, and that is reflected in the school budget, and then myself, Councilor Falco, disclosed that he had a relative employed by the city, and that is reflected in the city budget. Motion to approve is amended. These are the amendments.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Alicia, could I, just a quick question. So if those funds are not transferred, do the funds then go into free cash?
[John Falco]: Yes, okay It could you and I couldn't hear you before you were talking about it council and I'd asked you about it that you had mentioned something about the tax recap and I missed that so if you could please repeat that again just so through the chair all of us and everyone at home watching absolutely to Councilor Falco the deficit has to be covered if it's not covered through a transfer Then I have to raise it on the tax recap as part of the tax rate.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls as well from residents and from members of the business community. And I think the important thing is if we're going to do it, let's do it right. And I think that I would agree that it should go to Committee of the Whole. We should talk about it. We should make sure that we're seeking a wide audience. Let's really get the input. Make sure everyone has an opportunity to weigh in. Make sure we're doing the right thing. But bottom line is, if we're going to do it, let's make sure we do it right. So I would support the resolution as well, that it goes to committee of the whole. Thank you. Vice President Mox.
[John Falco]: I will yield to the resident.
[John Falco]: I can wait if the... If you prefer. Absolutely, please.
[John Falco]: Take your time.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I'd like to thank all the residents for coming up here tonight. But as we all know, the budget process is a long process. It's one of our most important responsibilities that we have. And I'd like to thank And I'd like to begin. This is actually my, I guess, probably closing speech in the budget. But I'd like to begin by thanking the mayor and the department heads for all their hard work. I know this is not easy as far as going through the budget process. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of energy, a lot of collaboration. And I really appreciate that during our budget hearings, and they've been going on for a number of weeks, the quick turnaround, which helps us try to analyze the data. It helps us try to make a decision in a timely fashion. So thank you. to all of you. I'd like to thank the superintendent of schools and the school committee and all the department heads in the school department for all of their hard work. Whenever we had questions, those questions were answered the same way in a timely fashion, and I appreciate that as well. Like I said, it's not easy crafting a budget and presenting this budget, but there are also a lot of people to thank. My fellow council members here tonight, Asked great questions. The deliberation process, I thought, was pretty smooth and, for the most part, professional. And I'd like to thank them for their hard work and dedication. And most of all, the residents. The residents that came to the budget meetings. They asked good questions, made points, and their input was very beneficial. But although no budget is perfect, I believe that this is a good budget. I believe this is a good, solid budget that protects core services, it provides educational and recreation opportunities to our youngest residents. A recreation department, which I believe this city has been asking for for years, and it was supported by us on the council, I am very excited to see that in the budget, and that's going to happen, and I can't wait to see the opportunities that that will present to our residents. I take a look at things that, personally, that I have lobbied for, over the past two years, a traffic engineer, something that I have advocated for continuously. And thank you to my colleagues, you've supported that as well. And that's something that is in the budget. Take a look at legislative software, something that I've advocated as well over the past year, and something that I believe will increase the transparency that we have here at City Hall, with us and the council, with boards and commissions hopefully. This is something that I think improves government, it makes it more transparent, everyone becomes part of the process. And happy to say that that's part of the budget. So these are things that I've been advocating for, but you have been supporting as well. And those are part of this budget. So I think that's something that is good. I take a look at other parts of the budget. I see library funding increased, another plus. I take a look at the additional positions in the Medford Police Department with the crime scene analyst. That's another great addition. I take a look at the school system. I mean, as a former member of the school committee and a parent that has kids in the Medford public schools, I take a look at this budget and I think this is great. I mean, when I was on the school committee and I came on during the recession, I saw things cut because we couldn't afford those things. Those things are all coming back now. I take a look at you know, paraprofessionals or librarians coming back into the system. That's good. And these are good things that are being added back in. I take a look at the increase in maintenance and repair by $200,000, $20,000 for each school. Another great addition. Low class size. I can't say enough about this. As a former member of the school committee, low class size. I take a look at this list. In some of our schools, 19, 18, 15, 17, you can't get lower than that. If you go across the state, you'd be hard pressed to find.
[John Falco]: Let's be professional about it, please. Okay. I said, let's be professional about it. It's distracting. So class size is some of the best in the state and we should be proud of that. That is something that the school committee throughout the years has always focused on. They should be proud of that. Class size has come down. I mean, to have a class with 15 students, that's amazing. It's a dream to a teacher. So that is another great budget addition. Activity accounts in our schools increasing. That's fabulous. I mean, you're getting students involved in what's going on in the schools. And you take a look at our vocational school program, from 11 programs, I believe, to 20. That's fabulous. And this is all part of this budget. So this is something that I look at. I support it. I think it's a good budget. We're replacing textbooks in addition. We're adding technology with the Chromebooks throughout our school system. These are all good additions to the budget. Like I said, not all budgets are perfect. but this is something I think, I think this is a good budget, and I think this is something that we can be proud of. So I'd like to second the motion.
[John Falco]: Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to, first of all, thank Councilor Scarpelli on his leadership with the recreation department. But the other thing I wanted to mention as well, just to disclose, my mother-in-law works at the Method Public Library, and I just wanted to, she's been an employee long before I was elected, but I disclosed that during the budget hearings. I just wanted to disclose it here as well tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. I'd like to thank you for the question. And the nice thing is with the legislative software, you will actually follow the resolution from beginning to end. You'll see it real time. You'll see the handoffs, the dates, the times of when things were approved, what departments it was sent to, whether or not they were, you know, the questions were answered. So it's all electronic. It's all online. And the nice thing is you'll be able to, it's all real time. So if you went in, you'd say, okay, this resolution on, I don't know, fire hybrids went to the water department. You'll actually see when they got it, whether or not they responded. And I'm not sure if it follows up with like, over time. It might follow up with like, you know, if they don't respond within 10 days, maybe it'll ping them for, you know, a request or back. But it does track it. It's nice that it's online. It holds everybody accountable. And I really think it's a good feature that adds a lot of transparency to the process. And I think it'll benefit everyone on this council. And I think it'll benefit everyone in the city. It's a very transparent product that will help all of us.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank Councilor Scott Pollack for bringing this forward. This actually did come up at the last community police meeting. There were a number of residents from actually different sections of the city, different neighborhoods, that had that same concern. And it really does impact the quality of life. I mean, take a look. You have more cars on the road, more cars parked in overcrowded neighborhoods, cars coming and going at different times of the day and night. So it really does become disruptive. It's something that we need to make sure we do have an ordinance in place. I'm glad that Councilor Knight has been working on this. Hopefully we can meet soon to review this in a subcommittee, but it's something I definitely support. And I thank my colleague for bringing it forward.
[John Falco]: Correct. I mean, it's a major concern and it does impact all neighborhoods. So it's something that we need to look at sooner than later.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. had the opportunity last week to attend the monthly community police meeting down at the Medford Police Station. And once again, they had a nice crowd, probably about 25, 30 people. And there was about 10 people from Fern Road that attended. And they had major issues on that road with regard to traffic and speeding. And at the end of Fern Road is the intersection of Fulton Spring Road and Vista Ave and the other side of Fern Road. It's a four-way And it's also a location for a bus stop. And the traffic in that area in the morning and in the evening is really, really bad, with people flying through the stop sign and then progressing down towards the Fellsway. And the speeding is really out of control. And the residents that were there that night expressed that. And so I just wanted to ask for increased patrols on that street. And if we could add a temporary speed bump to that street as well. It came up that night. Chief Sacco said, you know, he had no problems with it. He was in favor of it. And since I wrote this resolution, I've also talked to Brian Kearns as well. And I believe Sergeant Hartnett was going up to look at the situation today. But so that's a little bit of an update. But there are actually a couple of residents here that would like to speak on this issue. So if you
[John Falco]: It's a temporary speed bump that they pull up in the winter because of the plows, they can't keep it down year round. But it's definitely, I think, something that would help in this situation. I live right around the corner and I took a walk down the street and met with the residents on Saturday. And it's interesting, there's a pothole in the street. And some of them don't fill the pothole because it slows down the traffic. Let's see if it gets any bigger.
[John Falco]: And that really shouldn't be the solution. We should make sure that we fill the pothole and slow down traffic. So we're hoping that putting in that temporary speed bump would help slow down the traffic, help drivers realize that, you know what, this is a busy neighborhood. There's a lot of people, a lot of cars. This is a school bus stop close by. People have to drive safely. And so I basically would ask a move for approval at this point. Thank you. And thank you for your support. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to thank Councilor Lungo-Koehn for bringing this resolution forward. This is an issue that I get calls about all the time. And like you said, it doesn't matter really what part of the city you live in. it impacts everyone. And it's unfortunate. I was at that meeting about a month ago that they had right here at City Hall, and the place was packed. And it really does impact the quality of life. We should be doing everything we can to combat this. I know I've actually been, you know, communicating to people in the community to, you know, call the Massport line and to, you know, log complaints online. And you're right. And one of the things that they did mention that night was all of the planes, basically, when they take off, they come basically right down Riverside Ave, right over the Andrews. So it does sound like probably a good place to have the beacon. But, you know, the thing to really keep in mind here is that, you know, that night at the meeting, what they mentioned is this problem is really only going to get worse because of the reconfiguration of, I think it was Terminal E, and there's going to be over the next, I think, five years, there's going to be more carriers leaving at off-peak times. So this problem, I know people say, well, once they repair that runway, you know, it's going to get better. Maybe it'll get better for the short term, but for the long term, this is a problem that's going to impact us for a very long time. So we really need to make sure that we stay on top of this. Thank you for bringing this forward. And people really need to continue to make sure that they call the Massport noise line and to log their complaints online as well. It does have an impact. You can see in Milton, the city of Milton, that it had an impact. And they have thousands and thousands of more complaints than we do. So people really need to get out, voice their opinion, and let Massport know that this is a problem, and it does impact the quality of life. So I'd just like to thank you for bringing this forward, and I second the motion.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to thank my council colleagues for bringing this forward. I think this is a very important issue. And you're right. It's a very important piece of property. And there are a number of groups that could use this as a home in the future. The arts, recreation, you name it. It's a prime opportunity. And so I'm glad it's back in the city's hands. Back when the Council of Marks brought this forward a few months ago, I amended the resolution because I thought that we should honestly have a committee of the whole meeting to actually walk through the site. The property has not been in the control of the city for many years. And we should really see firsthand, I think, the condition of the building and what we're getting back. But if that's not going to happen, I'd like to amend the paper, if you don't mind. that we get a report back from the building department that gives us basically a report back to us about the overall condition of the building, you know, with regard to, you know, heating or windows, roofing, I mean, anything like that. I mean, this is something that we need to consider. We should know about this. I mean, these are very important matters. I mean, anytime you have a building like this that's that's, you know, part of your city. I mean, you really need to know and keep an eye on the maintenance, the preventive maintenance, what kind of money has been spent or is going to be spent, you know, what kind of money it's going to take to bring this back online. I mean, I assume it's probably ready to go because it was functioning, you know, not too long ago. But I really think we should, as a council and as a city, know what we're getting back from Bridgewell. So if I could amend the paper to include that, I'd greatly appreciate it. And I second that resolution.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. This issue actually came up during a police community meeting a couple of months ago. And talking to the members of the police department, you know, they talk a lot about how surrounding communities have cameras in a lot of different intersections and whatnot, and how it's actually been key in solving crimes and whatnot. And our city really does not have a lot of cameras, or I don't think any cameras, really, at any of our public places. So this is a resolution that I definitely support. I'd also like to see if the council wouldn't mind if we could amend it to actually look at the feasibility of putting them at some intersections upon consultation with the police, of course. But if you wouldn't mind amending the resolution, greatly appreciate it. And I second the motion.
[John Falco]: Councilor Thurgood. Thank you, Mr. President. And the reason why I amended it was because it did come up at a police community meeting. And, you know, the police officers that I talked to that were in the room and the detectives, they had mentioned that all the surrounding communities had these cameras and they're very useful in, you know, especially if a crime has happened, you know, they can always consult the cameras or if there's a car chase or something like that, or if something happens in Somerville, uh, you know, and they come through Medford, you know, this, you know, they can actually see things on tape. Um, a lot of times, you know, When it comes to Medford, you can't see anything because there's no cameras. But they have them in all surrounding areas, surrounding cities and towns. And they've been extremely helpful. I know that things have happened in Medford where the people that have broken the law have gone down to cities and towns and they've consulted these cameras. And it's really helped out a lot from what I've from what I was told that night. And they're all accessible right through the phone if they needed to look at a camera right away. So I think it's a good way to possibly help to solve crimes. But I don't think it's a way to go out to see if someone's speeding or something like that. That's not the purpose. It would be to actually just to try to, after crime has been committed, to actually go back and look at a tape and say, OK, wait a second. running down Mr. Gabel, whatever it may be. But I think it's a good tool to have. And I think it's a really inexpensive option. I mean, cameras are pretty inexpensive these days. And so I don't think it's something, I think it's something that could be very beneficial to the police department in solving crimes. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Knight. The purpose of the meeting was to view and discuss government legislative management software, which includes the agenda, minutes, and video streaming the meeting. It was a good meeting. We actually asked a lot of questions. We got a nice presentation from Acela corporation. They have experience with the surrounding communities that also use this type of product. They use it in Somerville, Melrose, I believe maybe Cambridge as well. It's basically a product that will bring a lot of transparency to the process and the way we view agendas and minutes here at City Hall. The public would have all the information at their fingertips. with regard to researching information if they wanted to. So it's a very powerful tool. I think it's great with regard to transparency. All the reports that we get back here, they will be able to access on their phones or laptops or iPads or whatever it may be. But I think it's a great tool with regard to transparency. Video streaming is a powerful tool as well. It would allow us to actually film the meetings, the city council office, if we choose. And it's also great because we have a lot of boards and commissions in our community. And I think a lot of people really don't know what the boards and commissions do. But with the agenda minutes meeting software, it would allow all of the boards and commission minutes, agenda minutes and software, all be online. Really, it benefits the community in many ways with regard to transparency. They'd actually be able to view and see the meetings whenever they want. So everything would be online. It was a great meeting, went really well, great questions. So that's basically a brief synopsis. Thank you, Councilman.
[John Falco]: 20 was a video streaming. Yeah. But I actually, I was just wondering why it took so long.
[John Falco]: I'll stop. And the additional monitors, I believe, were pretty inexpensive. It was not big money. couple hundred bucks. Name and address for the record.
[John Falco]: It's going to cover everything except for the extra transmitters, which were actually going to be a little bit more money. But it was not that much money. Because I remember saying, well, this is actually, in the grand scheme of things, it was pretty inexpensive, I think, with regard to transparency and whatnot. OK.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules to take paper 17- Councilor Belko. I'd like to make a, if we could suspend the rules to take 17-515 out of order.
[John Falco]: Do we know how long it'll take to actually do the testing?
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Yeah.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. I just had a couple of last questions. Alicia, is all of this property, is this all City of Medford property? Is any of this property owned by DCR?
[John Falco]: So DCR will hopefully eventually do borings in that area?
[John Falco]: As far as, you mentioned there are two reports, one in June and one in August?
[John Falco]: And can we receive copies of both of those when they are?
[John Falco]: If you could send us copies, I'd greatly appreciate it. And just be good to read those as soon as we get them. There's a lot of residents that live in that area, so it would be ideal to see what exactly, we know what the concerns are, but to see how bad it is and what's eventually going to be done.
[John Falco]: Just following on the topic. So when we had the committee, the whole meeting regarding the Clippership Connector a couple of months ago, I believe, they talked about the other side of the river as well.
[John Falco]: Is that DCR property or is that?
[John Falco]: Okay. Do we know if there are any plans for the DCR to test that side?
[John Falco]: The reason why I ask is because that night I think they did talk about putting a lane of a trail that went on that side of the river as well. And I'm not sure if that's going to come before or after the Clippership Connector. But I would think that would be a concern as well that needs to be addressed.
[John Falco]: And I understand that. But I think if they're going to run, because they made it sound like that during the meeting, I think they were going to run that path down that side.
[John Falco]: That's it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yeah. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I, I do have a couple of concerns regarding the late time, uh, stay until 2am. Um, and I do like the staged approach as to, you know, just kind of maybe increasing it over time. So I'm not completely against this, but, uh, How many drivers do you have delivering? Right now, one. One.
[John Falco]: And I understand. And that's a little bit of my concern, because if you're going to go till 2 AM, and then if you go up two drivers, you're going to have three drivers. Three drivers. That's three drivers. Three drivers coming and going at 2 a.m. is really, you got doors opening, closing. You have cars driving around at 2 a.m. in a residential neighborhood. That's a bit of a concern, to me at least. And I think that it's something that needs to be looked at. I wanna see you succeed, believe me. But I also wanna make sure that we're safeguarding the neighborhood and making sure that people can get a good night's sleep. And I mean, if you haven't, you know, three drivers going back and forth at 2 a.m. And especially if you're delivering up till 2, that means they might be coming back to the shop after 2. And, you know, so we're talking maybe 2.30, you know, when you really look at it. So I would definitely be, you know, in favor of the compromised proposal by Councilor Knight, you know, just kind of going in stages and maybe increasing, you know, over time. But, you know, If you're going to be going from one driver to three drivers and having all those cars coming and going that late at night or early in the morning, that is definitely a concern, but I am definitely in favor of the staged approach. So thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this resolution forward. And I think it's important, you're right, it is important to open the dialogue and to talk about issues like this. This is an issue that impacts every neighbourhood throughout this city. The roads are in terrible condition. Not all the roads but a great percentage are in pretty bad shape. And we need to ‑‑ I definitely would support an audit on the roads and prioritizing reconstructing some of the roads and resurfacing some of the roads. I also believe that the states, if we're getting money from, getting Chapter 90 funding for rehabilitating the roads, and if we're getting funding from, some funding from the federal government through OCD funds, we probably should be actually taking some money. from the city, we should probably take a look to see if there is any money in available accounts. To put it towards the roads, we should be investing in ourselves. And if there are surplus funds that we could take, and maybe it's not a million dollars, but maybe it's a start, maybe we can find some funding, then maybe we should do that. But I think it is something that we should take a look at. We should be willing to reinvest in our city. We get state funding, we get federal funding. Let's take a look at what we have here. to see what we can actually put into reinvesting in ourselves, reinvesting in our city and making it a better place and making better neighborhoods with smoother roads and improving the quality of life.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Tonight is the Muffley Police Community Meeting. this month that is actually back at the Medford Police Station.
[John Falco]: That's tomorrow. Tomorrow at the police station. 7pm for anyone that's interested in coming up with a schedule of neighborhood dates beginning in September. We'll be coming out with that schedule soon.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. And I'd also like to thank Mr. Capucci for bringing this issue forward tonight. I have been down in that neighborhood a number of times over the past year, and the street is in deplorable condition. And it's been like that for a long time. And promises were made that this was going to be fixed. And it's extremely disappointing that it seems like it's You know, it really might not even be on the radar. I mean, it should be, but it seems like nothing's getting done. And, you know, it's long overdue. It needs to get done. And I, too, question why is it delayed? Why is it being delayed? What has happened? And when is the work going to be done? And what exactly is going to be done? So if we could get an official correspondence back from the engineer's office, I'd like to see something officially from her basically telling us why it has been delayed.
[John Falco]: I'm sure we will, but I want to see something in writing, something officially as to why it was delayed. And I want to find out when it's, when they plan on actually getting this kicked off and going in a process it has to go through because everyone should be on the same page. And you know, it was mentioned earlier communication and a lot of this comes down to communication. And if they actually sent the memo to us saying, you know what, this was promised last year, but it's going to be delayed, at least when the calls come in, we can say, you know what, we received the communication back from the engineer's office. This is going to be delayed because of reasons A, B, and C. But we haven't received anything back. And the neighbors haven't received any news. And therefore, we're all kind of standing around looking at each other. So a lot of it comes down to communication. As far as this issue goes, there really hasn't been any communication. So if we can get an official correspondence from the engineer's department with those details, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward because this is an important issue. And zoning and ordinances, you know, it's really, it's one of our biggest responsibilities. We've had a lot of discussions over the past term with regard to zoning and ordinances and a lot of changes. And I think a lot of, You know, when we talk a lot about zoning in ordinances, a lot of it is about communication, but a lot of it is also about transparency. And Gene Nozzo brings up a good point, which goes into the meeting tomorrow night with regard to legislative software. And that was a resolution that I brought up about a year ago with regard to legislative software. And finally, the meeting is going to happen tomorrow night. But it's important. It brings everyone onto the same page. If anyone has any questions or any issues, what they can do is they can find all that information online. All the boards and commissions can put all of their minutes, agendas, meeting minutes, all of their, anything that has to do with plans or documents, they can all be scanned to PDF and seen online. I mean, all the information that we receive every week, all kinds of memos, reports, all that detail, we get it behind the reel. But out in the community, no one really gets to see that. And that's the unfortunate part. Because really, it's your government. I mean, you should be able to see everything with the click of a mouse. All the data should be at your fingertips. And that's what this legislative software is going to do. And I think it's well worth the money to actually invest in that. I mean, it really puts everyone on the same playing field, the same level playing field. Everyone has access to the data. I mean, I'd use a perfect example. Councilman Marks had asked for a number of times for a public safety summit. And if someone wanted to go in and research that, they could actually take a look, plug in public safety summit, and see every time it was mentioned during a council meeting. So they could actually go back and look at the detail. Take a look at the report. We talked about the FEMA document a few weeks ago. It was a 138-page document. really probably shouldn't be printing that. It's not very green, but everyone should have a copy. The public should have access to it too. And it should be easy to access. All you have to do is put that PDF online and everyone has access with the click of a mouse. So, you know, it's important that we do more in zoning and ordinances. We have, I think, thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this issue up tonight, but really it's one of our biggest responsibilities. We need to do more there. I think we're heading in the right direction. But I think really one of the big things tomorrow night is that meeting with regard to legislative software. I think it really will make us an informed council, but it also makes us an informed community. Because all the boards and commissions will have access to that data and have access to put all that information out there for the community to see. So thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to send our sincere condolences to Dennis's family. He was a Scoutmaster down at Troop 416 on Otis Street for many years. Like we said before, you know, he's very involved in the troop. A troop that produced many Eagle Scouts. And I remember going on camping with my son in the troop, and he was very involved with the youth down in that Troop 416. He did a great job, and he will be missed.
[John Falco]: If I may really quick, just one more announcement. This Saturday night, June 3rd, at the Chevalier Theater is the Medford High School Band fundraiser. The theme is A Night on Broadway. Tickets are pretty inexpensive. They're $15 for an adult, $10 for a student. But all the money goes to the high school band. I believe they have a competition maybe coming up in Florida. And I think they're trying to raise funds. So if anyone can make it, that'd be greatly appreciated. And I'm sure it'll be a great show. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. This is a great resolution. I definitely am in favor of this resolution. I think we should definitely be looking to make sure that all of our city buildings are equipped with this type of technology. So I also wanted to say that I am in support of this, and I thank you for bringing this forward. Vice President Marks.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this year is, uh, like the previous, uh, uh, issue regarding, uh, grass trimming. Uh, it's been a yearly request. Uh, I drove by, um, the corner of fountain and, um, Webster tonight on the way to the meeting, the grass has got to be at least two to three feet tall. Um, you can lose a dog in there. I mean, it's, it's really bad. So it needs to be addressed immediately. It's also public safety concern. Anyone coming out of a fountain street, taking a left onto Webster, uh, you know, you really can't see the oncoming traffic. So it really needs to be addressed. Uh, hopefully sooner than later. I believe actually this is a DCR property. So I think the DCR needs to be contacted. So if we could have that done, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Felico. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May, I just want to say thank you and congratulations. You have been a true role model when it comes to civic engagement and people getting involved. And you're someone that people can look up to. I mean, you've been involved with so much throughout our city. And I just want to say thank you for your years of involvement and for your contributions to the community and good luck. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm reviewing the documents here and I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the illuminated sign, And when I look at the signs in the square, the other thing that I like, and we're trying to, I think in many ways, the community is trying to rebrand Medford Square because we're trying to bring business in. And when I look at these signs in other businesses, everything seems to be very uniform. It's all on the same level. If I take a look at the sign, your sign, and then I take a look at Wayside, you know, Wayside seems to be in line with the rest of the businesses and you're popping up in the air a bit, you know, which seems kind of, just seems out of whack kind of. I mean, it seems like, you know, it doesn't seem that clean. It just seems like it would be nice if you could kind of get everything in one uniform way. But I will admit, I'm not a big fan of the illuminated signs. Is there any flexibility on that?
[John Falco]: You want to, I'm sorry, you want to put awnings in the place of the sign?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with my colleague, Councilor Scarpelli. I actually have no problem with the signs. I actually like the signs, and I think they're fine. There is some confusion, though. If you look at these two pictures, all these signs are in the same spot.
[John Falco]: But like I said, I have no problem with the signs. I think the signs look fine. They're very professional. They're not illuminated. They're nice. I just think going to subcommittee, I think we'll hopefully resolve some issues, clear things up, and then come before us again.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, you had mentioned a minute ago that, uh, it's, uh, there's a periodic, uh, renewal. So is it, is it every so many years, five years, every five years? And does it usually take as, does it usually take as long as this took? It seems like this was a bit lengthy.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I have a couple of quick additional questions. Um, so you had mentioned about, uh, this being a full time position. There's enough work to make it a full time position.
[John Falco]: In your experience throughout the years, do you see other cities and towns that actually have a full-time person? I'm just curious.
[John Falco]: Do they more or less communities that maybe live closer to the coast or that are closer to the coast, I guess, or is it just in general?
[John Falco]: Size, okay. That makes sense. And as far as you had mentioned about putting a committee together, that committee's not together yet?
[John Falco]: Do you know when that will be? When the goal is to actually have the committee get together and meet?
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Sounds good. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my council colleagues for bringing these resolutions forward tonight. Uh, I've been called a number of times with regard to the, uh, Macklin road, uh, development. And, um, I had the opportunity to, uh, to attend the, uh, the conservation commission meeting along with you actually on April 19th. And, uh, it was at the, uh, community development board meeting last week with council of marks. I had to leave a little bit early. My son had a band concert, but, um, the residents in this neighborhood, uh, up in the Macklin road area have really rallied behind this to, uh, see what they can do, um, to, to, you know, hopefully prevent or at least make this small than it is. I mean, my colleagues mentioned tonight, there are a lot of concerns with regard to, uh, what putting in three new homes you're going to bring to this neighborhood. Uh, you go down McCormick, have you drive down McCormick have tonight, you will see hoses coming out of the basements of these homes. And they are constantly pumping water out. The sub pumps are going nonstop. And no one should have to live like this. And I think by putting in three new homes, it's completely going to exasperate the situation. So I think that we really have to take the city or the Conservation Commission and the Community Development Board really have to take this under consideration when looking at a development like this. So major flooding is a concern. You know, I think disrupting the ground in that area, I mean, you know, you're near a brook. I mean, that's completely unknown what's going to happen. The water has to flow somewhere. So this is a concern as well. You know, Council Marks mentioned that water pressure in that area. A lot of friends that live up there in, you know, water pressure is tough, tough on that street in particular. You know, someone called me and said, you know, I can't, you know, take a shower and have someone flush the toilet at the same time or else the water, completely shuts down almost. So, I mean, that's a concern. You go to environmental issues, you take a look, this developer has already cut down one tree within the buffer zone. And that's completely blatant disrespect to our ordinances. I mean, that's completely wrong. And so, you know, I mean, I think, you know, when they're cutting down trees in a buffer zone, you know, right away that should send up red flags, you know, Like my colleagues mentioned, they're proposing three homes on this cul-de-sac. And one of the homes is within the wetlands buffer zone. And I think we have to be really careful here as a city, because if you're going to allow something like this, you're setting precedent for future development. You're setting precedent for other homes in other wetland-type areas. We need to watch out there. It's completely wrong, I think. Kudos to the citizens, really, for stepping up. But I think there was probably 60 to 70, 75 people at the Conservation Commission meeting. There were a lot of residents here last week. And I give them a lot of credit, because both of those meetings have been continued. So it's meeting after meeting, week after week. So I really applaud your tenacity of going after this and staying on top of it. And I think that's important. But really, there's a lot of concerns. You're trying to think out of the box here a little bit. You mentioned Council Marks, how there's 14 other lots that are unbuildable. And everyone's trying to come here and build. But I mean, we take a look at the CPA and how we passed that. The community passed that last year. I know the CPA here is in its infancy, but this is something that really, you talk about open space and stuff like that. This is something that probably could be considered, that the city could maybe purchase at some point in time. And I'm not saying one of the first projects, but maybe down the line they could purchase this in a place of conservation restriction on the property. So you can't build on it in the future. And I think that's, you know, these are things that we need to look at. But, you know, I did promise a resident tonight. It's really been on top of the situation since, you know, there's a resident up on McCormick Ave, Will Humphreys, nice guy, and he's been on top of this since this came about, this whole issue. And he said, you know, he couldn't make it to the meeting tonight. And like I said, I mean, these residents have been going to meetings nonstop. And he said, can you please read a letter for me? And I said, absolutely. I mean, if he's going to be here tomorrow night, then he's going to be at a meeting next week, whenever the Conservation Commission meets. I said, no problem. I'll read the letter for you. And I'll submit this into the public record. I'll make a copy for you, Mr. Finn. To whom it may concern, I'm ready to ask Method elected representatives, commissions, and boards to listen to its citizens when considering this development. Thank you to the Environment Department and Conservation Commission. in the Community Development Office and Board, the City Engineer, the City Council, and the ongoing attention to the many problems with this subdivision proposal. The community that surrounds this development is speaking out with a unified voice of concern and opposition. Many citizens attended meetings on the proposal. Concerns expressed include loss of storm and flood water retention capacity, increased throughput to sewer and water systems that are already strained. Damage to existing homes and extensive blasting of ledge. Loss of aesthetically pleasing natural green space. Wildlife habitat destruction and damage to wetlands. Increased traffic near Carr Park and the Tot Lot. Access Issues and Disturbance to Direct the Butter on Macklin Road were a non-profit organization that provides services to several long-time residents with developmental disabilities at the home. He also goes on to say that he included a petition of 115 Medford residents, representing much of the surrounding neighborhood, echoing these same concerns. in its current state is of great value to the community. This is the opposite of an abandoned building in need of improvement or environmental cleanup. The surrounding neighborhood is unified in opposition to the proposal. No public benefit is served through development of the subdivision. Medford's assessors has long considered 13 of the 14 lots as undevelopable when assessing their value. Therefore, the city should not grant any waivers or variances to existing regulations around roadways, setbacks, zoning, and building codes, or environmental protections. Those regulations exist to protect our city, its citizens, and its ecosystems. If the regulations can't be adhered to, then the land should not be developed upon. Sincerely, Will Humphreys. So I just wanted to read that on his behalf. Like I said, I will print out a copy of that letter. But I think, you know, one of the, things just to conclude on is that, you know, this is a unique piece of land in our community. Um, you know, it's, it's one of the few remaining areas within the city of Medford that has, you know, woodland habitat and you know, we really need to preserve this. So I just wanted to go on the record and saying that I thank my colleagues for bringing this up for tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: From what I've been told, they've been more questions than answers. I guess the developer has not been really able to answer much.
[John Falco]: So no vote's been taken. They have to go in front of the Conservation Commission again tomorrow night. And then they're going again. They're going in front of the Community Development Board again. I don't know the date of that meeting, but there were a ton of questions from both commissions. And the developer needs to get back to both boards with the answers to those questions. So thank you.
[John Falco]: I'm under the same impression that everyone's going to be able to speak. And hopefully, the developer will have answers to the questions that the commission had. Because they had, I think, a laundry list of questions that needed to be answered. And I believe that the Conservation Commission was actually going. They had done one site visit. And I think they were going to do, or at least there was one member that actually wanted to go out and look at the wetlands, I think, to actually physically see the space.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Vice President Mox.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Marksley for bringing this forward. Uh, this is a definite concern. Um, you go through, uh, each neighbor, this dumps all over the place. So I would definitely be in favor of a ordinance to, uh, to police this. Um, I think that it's long overdue. Um, you know, it's sad that, When you have stumps out there year after year, they need to be addressed. And they should be addressed right away. To me, it's a safety issue. You have kids walking down the street. We're encouraging people to walk. We have a complete streets program. And you're encouraging people to get out there and walk, but you're forcing people into the street when there's stumps all over the place. And I think it needs to be addressed. I got a call from a resident the other day. He has a tree on his sidewalk. It's popping up the panel. the curbs falling away from the, from the side is separating from the sidewalk and that needs to be addressed. And you know, so we have issues like this all over our community. It doesn't matter what neighborhood you're in. Um, they're out there. And, uh, so I'd be in full support of, uh, in ordinance to police this. I think it's a good idea. And if you wouldn't mind me, uh, amending your resolution, if we could have, uh, 49 Bradshaw Street added to the list of sidewalk repair. Just if the DPW could go out there and take a look.
[John Falco]: So if I could have a B paper for the DPW to look at the sidewalk panel in front of, to actually the side, it's a corner lot, the corner of Honeywell and, uh,
[John Falco]: And if I could also add.
[John Falco]: in Honeywell, it's the corner. It's a raised sidewalk panel.
[John Falco]: Yes, if we could have the DPW department or whatever utility is responsible for this. There is not a half pole, not a double pole, it's a mini pole at the corner of Fulton Spring and Fulton Street. It's gotta be about four feet off the ground. Definite safety hazard. I mean, there's kids all over the place there. It's not a tree stump. It's a telephone pole. It used to be a double pole.
[John Falco]: And then they cut it down and it's like a mini pole.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my council colleagues, Councilor Marksley, bring this forward. This is definitely a concern in every neighborhood throughout our city. And I would definitely be in favor of having a committee, the whole meeting to discuss this. It's, you know, we talk about emergency arteries, but this is just everywhere. I mean, you go to, you can go to probably every side street, you're going to find something. But I mean, there are some major issues throughout our community, in every neighborhood. And I get calls about them, just like my colleagues do. If I could add the lower half of Fern Road to that list, there is a hole that's getting bigger by the day. So if we could add that on, I'd greatly appreciate it. It needs to be addressed because someone is seriously gonna do some serious damage to their car. So thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, Mr. President, if I may. Last weekend, a resolution with regard to see click fix. If we could just get an update as to when we're going to receive that list, because it would be beneficial to all of us that we receive that list before the budget hearing. Because, you know, you talk about, you know, staffing and we all need. We all know that we need. more people on that department, but you get a true indication when you take a look at that, see quick fix. You can use it as a tool, you know, to actually see what's not getting done. And I think it would tell a good picture. So if we could get an update as to when we will receive that, greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank Councilman Knight for bringing this forward. The position of a traffic engineer is something that I have been advocating for for the past couple of years. I've offered a number of resolutions on this. I think if this is a way that we can actually pay to support this type of position, I'm all ears and hoping that this is an avenue that we can take to actually fund the position. Like I said before, A traffic engineer is desperately needed in this community. You can go to basically any neighborhood throughout this community and there are traffic issues that need to be addressed. We are a cut through community with over five state roads that cut through Medford and this needs to be addressed. So I definitely am in favor of this resolution and second the motion.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to congratulate Stephen on a great accomplishment. A great citizen. He does a lot in his community. He's the usher at the 4 p.m. Mass at St. Francis every Saturday, and he's an all-around good guy, so congratulations to Stephen.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls this past week with regard to the sidewalk in front of the parking lot at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. When you're exiting the parking lot, if you take a left that side of the sidewalk all the way down to I think it's around 200 Governors Ave. There's a stretch of sidewalk there that is in disrepair. It's really a trip hazard. There's a number of panels that the cement missing, it's been broken up over the years and it really needs to be replaced. So I just want to see if we can get the DPW out there to take a look, see what we can do to either repair it or replace it in the interest of public safety. Like I said, it's a trip hazard to anyone that's out there and especially with the Spring and summer months being here, there are many more people out walking around, and this needs to be addressed sooner than later. If I may, Councilor Caraviello, I know when we talk about sidewalks a lot of times, we also talk about stumps. And so if I could amend the resolution to include if the DPW could also remove a stump in front of 27 Saunders Street in the interest of public safety as well. 27 Saunders Street, Mr. Clerk. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Before we approve this, I know there are actually a number of people here tonight that wanted to talk about this topic.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Just probably about a week ago, we lost Pastor Ed Doughty, former pastor of St. Francis and St. Joseph's. Father Ed was pastor for about five years. He's a very nice man, a good friend, former Marine, and he will be missed. So thoughts and prayers to his family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I also too would like to congratulate, uh, Mr. McDevitt on his years of service to the city. Uh, I too had him for a, um, a teacher when I went to Medford high school, a law teacher. Great guy. Um, great friend actually. And you hit it on the head. Councilor Martz, he's just a people, people, person, great people, person. You see him, they still see him today. He walks around all over the place. You see him walking around and he stops and he chats and he says, hello, So he's a great guy, I just want to say congratulations on his years of service. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Lungo-Koehn for bringing this forward tonight. I, too, wanted to congratulate everyone involved. It was a successful event. Hopefully, it's something that we see or continue to see every year. And especially, thank you to, like my fellow councilors said, the DPW. I did get there late, but everyone I talked to said that the DPW came through big time. And they were everywhere, and they helped out with everything. you know, like I said, hopefully this continues into the future, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Last night I had the opportunity to attend the aircraft noise in Medford meeting here, right in these council chambers. You were there yourself, and Councilor Lungo-Koehn was there as well. And it was actually a great turnout. There was probably about 150 people here. And a big thank you to Peter Houck from the Massport CAC and Luke Fraser from Logan CAC. They're both of our volunteers that serve on those boards. And they put together a great presentation. It lasted probably about an hour and a half, two hours. And they put together a 33-page presentation, which is, I believe, on the city website. And I would definitely encourage everyone to read it over. It was a great talk about how this is really affecting the quality of life here in our city. Regardless of what neighborhood you live in, it really has had a negative impact on everyone. And it's something that they did a great job at describing how things used to be and how Things have basically happened over the years where they've streamlined the routes, and they tend to fly all over Medford, unfortunately. And the interesting thing is, is this is a problem that's really not going to go away. They talked about the modernization of Terminal E, which, just to let people know, there's going to be five additional low-cost carriers will offer 23 new flights a week. mostly from the international terminal. Flights will not leave at peak times at 2, 3, 5, and 8. They'll leave at off-peak times. There's going to be bigger airplanes flying in. The A380, which carries a lot more than your regular plane, and it's two decks. It's a double-decker airline. They talked basically about everything from how the patterns change during the weather and whatnot. But an interesting thing is, in 2015, the airport Terminal E, in particular, served 5.5 million international passengers. And by 2030, that's going to go up by 8 million. It's going to go up to 8 million. So there's going to be significant increases here with regard to passengers, but also to planes. And one of the big things that they pointed out is that, you know, you take a look at other surrounding communities, and really, we don't, as residents here in this city, we actually do not complain enough to Massport about this issue. So people really have to start to call, start to log complaints online. If you'd like to go online, you can go to massport.com slash environment slash environmental reporting slash noise abatement slash noise complaints. And you can also call the noise complaint line at 617-561-3333. I would encourage everyone, if you have the opportunity to really log on to the city website, take a look through this presentation. They did a great job. Like I said, 33 pages. It's full of all kinds of information about aircraft noise, departures, how the hotline works with regard to complaining, and the best way to actually complain. So they do have a lot of helpful hints here, but overall, Like I said, thanks to Peter Howick and to Luke Preissner who put this together. They did a great job. And I would encourage people to call Massport, especially with the warm-up months coming up. People like to spend time in the yard. This is going to be an issue, so people should call. So thank you. Thank you, Councilor Palacio. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. I think it's a good common sense solution that makes sense for the business owners and for the community in general. I would definitely be in favor of moving the bus stop full time, especially away from the liquor store. I'm glad you brought that forward. I'm also glad that the business owners came down tonight. I think it's important to hear from them. They experience this every day, and it's good to get their opinions, and it's nice that they came down, so thank you for coming down tonight. But I am in favor of this resolution, so thank you. Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. As we all know, budget season is upon us, and we will be meeting hopefully sooner than later with regard to the city budget. But I know during the budget deliberations, there's always plenty of questions as to what the different departments do and whatnot and what's being accomplished. So I just wanted to be proactive here and see if we could get a report. a C-Click Fix report with regard to the items that are being reported. So I guess the issues that are being reported, the date they're being reported, the department that the issue is being assigned to, and the duration that it's taking for these issues to get fixed. I think it would be good to actually have that information when we go into budget deliberations. Data-driven decision-making I don't think is a bad thing. I think it's good to actually have that information when we're negotiating the budget, I think it would benefit all of us to get a true picture as to, you know, what different departments are doing on a daily basis and to see what, you know, different problems are occurring throughout the city and, you know, how long it's taking to get these fixed. So I would ask for some support and move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Calvillo. And also thank you to Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. I had the opportunity, along with Councilor Scarpelli, when we were on the school committee, to hire Heidi Riccio. And hands down, I think one of the best moves that we made when we were on the school committee. Heidi was just, I mean, her commitment is unquestionable. I mean, the work that she did in four years, to really turn that school around and to just bring vocational education back to life is amazing. I mean, the programs that she brought to the school, just the passion that she brings to the job is amazing. And she just did a phenomenal job over four years. She's going to definitely be missed, but she did a fabulous job while she was here. So I just want to say good luck. And I think, you know, I mean, It's hard to see her go, but family comes first, and I understand that completely. And I just want to wish her well. Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you. I just want to say thank you to Maya. She's been an amazing citizen, been involved in so many organizations through the years, and her commitment is fabulous. She's done a great job, and I just want to say thank you for all your years of service to our community.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello. I just want to thank Councilor Marksley for bringing this forward. If we could also add 23 Fulton Street to the list. I got a call about that recently, and I'm glad, and actually, I believe the list that Councilor Marks had mentioned was supposed to be forwarded to us a while ago, so I'm glad that you mentioned that as well, because we should get an updated list to see what kind of progress is being made. A lot of money has gone into this, so.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello.
[John Falco]: I actually, I am surprised that everyone missed this one, but tomorrow night is the Medford Police Community Meeting. It is at the Medford Senior Center, and it starts at 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Thank you, Councilor Falco. Oh, and if I may really quick, I was also at the cleanup this weekend in the square, so thank you to the Medford Community Coalition and to the DPW department as well. Everybody did a fine job.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to second Councilor Scarpelli. I worked with Joan on the CPC committee when we put together the resolution. She was vital to the process. She's smart. She's committed. And I know she'll do a great job. This commission is going to be working very hard, especially in its infancy. So I think I definitely support being an appointee to this commission, and I just want to say good luck. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to, uh, say thank you for your hard work on this and thank everyone here tonight. I think this is important. It's something I support wholeheartedly. We need to protect our historic homes. And I think this goes a long way in doing that. Hopefully, we could probably see more of it, too. But I think with developers coming in all the time trying to tear things down, I think they're tearing apart our history. And that's unfortunate. And we need to do more. And I just want to thank you for all your efforts. Well, thank you so much. and move approval.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to, uh, just go on the record of, um, you know, I was a member of the subcommittee that has been, um, that met with the commission and, uh, has been working on the ordinance changes. I mean, I definitely support, uh, you know, updating the ordinance. I think we need to do more to protect, protect our historic homes. I mean, you know, as, as time goes on and we see these homes disappear, it really, uh, you know, has a negative impact on the, It really changes the fabric of our neighborhoods. And we need to do more. The subcommittee has been working to actually make changes to the resolution, to the ordinance, to actually do more to protect historic homes. And so far, I mean, I know we've been working hard on that. We've been working hard with the commission. And I do support extending the demolition delay as well. So I just want to go on the record of saying that. But I do support this resolution. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Lomax for bringing this forward. I think this is a great resolution. I think it's something that needs to be looked at. I know that I've received many phone calls when I bump into people in the streets. A lot of people will talk about the cleanliness of the roads in the city. And this is something that needs to be addressed. But I, you know, Councilor Marks, you do bring up a good point. I think that this is something that should probably be in a city ordinance. I mean, this does, I think, hold the city's feet to the fire and says, hey, you know what, this needs to be done X amount of times a year. I mean, two times a year right now to me is just not acceptable. I mean, people pay their taxes here. They deserve to have clean streets and a clean city. And I think right now, you know, you go, you drive down many of the streets and, you know, there's debris all over the place, you know, with regard to, you know, sand, salt, rocks from the road being torn up after the winter. And basically, these things need to be addressed. And it wasn't even a bad winter. So when you have a really bad winter, the street can be a real mess. So I mean, I think I definitely would favor this to be in a city ordinance. I think that's the way we need to go long term. DPW subcommittee, I think that's fine, but I think we need to also look at this, you know, on the ordinance subcommittee as well.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Councilor Falco Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to also endorse Roberta Cameron tonight. I was on the ad hoc subcommittee with Roberta. She was absolutely instrumental in developing the ordinance. I know you're a hard worker. I know you're going to do a great job, so I just want to say good luck. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, it'd be nice if we could get those answers ahead of time. It'd be nice to go into the meeting prepared.
[John Falco]: The worst is when you get information tonight and you're trying to digest it during the meeting.
[John Falco]: If we get it before the meeting, it'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I just wanted to congratulate Dina for finishing the race. Great job. And, uh, also to, uh, Medford resident, uh, who actually grew up here, uh, Joe LeBlanc. Uh, he actually, uh, lives in Malden, but he grew up here in Medford and he actually ran for charity as well. So. Congratulations to him as well.
[John Falco]: One quick question. Uh, when will, uh, do we know when the work's taking place?
[John Falco]: And do we know how long it's going to take?
[John Falco]: And if I may, really quick, Councilor Scott, probably brought up a good point about a pole. I got a call the other day about a pole at the corner of Fulton Street and Fulton Spring. It was a double pole, and now it's one and a half poles. They literally cut it in half. It's like a stump.
[John Falco]: There's nothing on it. It's about four feet off the ground. It's kind of odd. You have one single pole, and there's a pole next to it that was a double pole at one point. And now it's just about four feet off the ground. To me, it's a bit of a safety hazard if you have a smaller child that's walking by or running in trips. And I think it's a problem that needs to be addressed. I will take a look at it. Thank you very much. It's a corner of Fulton Street and Fulton Spring. Thank you. Councilor Knife.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to also mention that I worked with a number of these people when we put this committee together. And I know for one, Joan Sierra and Roberta Cameron, extremely knowledgeable and instrumental in passing this and, um, you know, in building the, uh, city ordinance. And, um, I, I thank the, I thank them for the commitment. Uh, this is going to be a really, um, I think it's going to be a tough commission to be on, but I think they're up to the challenge. Uh, they're both, uh, smart, knowledgeable people. And, uh, I think, uh, they'll do a great job.
[John Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I just wanted to, uh, while we're on the topic of, uh, information technology, uh, budget season will be upon us soon. So, uh, I'd like to, if we can, if I can amend the resolution, uh, just to see if we can get a report from the, uh, technology department here at city hall to find out, uh, basically what new software has been purchased this year and what is being planned for next year. And if we can get an update as to, uh, As far as the current software that we're using, what version of software are we using? I mean, we're in the 21st century here. Our software should be fairly up to date. And I know last year during the budget hearings, we were lacking. And I want to see what type of progress we made. And it's important to find out before we actually go into a budget hearing. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This issue came up last week during the community police meeting at the West Medford Community Center. During that time, there was a lot of discussion regarding the traffic on, Harvard Ave. And it seems like this has become a definite quality of life issue where it's getting to the point where it's really tough to even cross the street. The traffic is heavier. It's quicker. It's faster. So this is just basically if we could contact the chief of police, have him increase patrols in that area. And if we could also have the portable radar unit put down there as well to monitor traffic and speed. to protect the residents in that neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I may, Mr. President, another issue did come up during the meeting. A number of issues came up. It was actually a very productive meeting. A great conversation about a number of issues, but speed did come up. And the point that Councilor Marks had made earlier in the year about lowering the speed limit to 25, that we all voted for. And it was a great resolution and something that we all supported. The question was, when are those 25 mile per hour signs coming in? And from what I'm hearing, they haven't been procured yet. So if we could get an update as to when they're going to be procured and installed, that'd be great. Spring is here. And as we know, people, you know, tend to get out and drive and there's a lot more people walking around. So I think it's in everybody's best interest that we get those signs installed as soon as possible. So if we could get an update on that, greatly appreciated. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to say congratulations to the middle school orchestra. They're an amazing bunch of kids, and they won a silver medal this year. The music is just amazing when you hear it. It'd be great if they could come down. I know when I was on the school committee, they came down to a number of meetings and played before us. Ms. Chang does a fabulous job with the children. When you listen to them, it's hard to believe that it's actually young kids playing, and they sound fabulous. And since they've actually had this competition and did a little research here, there's over 160 ensembles that are part of this. And over the eight years that Medford has been involved, they've won six gold and two silver. So I think that's pretty impressive, and I just wanted to say congratulations.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to say my son, Joey, and I had the opportunity to go to the opening night performance this past week. The students did a fabulous job with Pippin. And Sarah Grant, as always, first class production. And I just wanted to say congratulations to everyone involved. It was a great show. Thank you, Councilor Falco. They did a great job. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank, uh, Mr. Bellson and Dr. Riccio for being here tonight. I am very, very excited to hear this news with regard to the grant. You know, Councilor Scarpelli hit it on the head. When we were on the school committee, we used to, you know, we had the folk and, you know, and I was always of the mentality of, you know, we've had vocational education in this city for over 80 years. And we, you know, we should embrace it. And we should, you know, give it the funding that it needs. And if we give it the right amount of funding, It's going to happen. And I think we did that. But one of the key components was hiring you. And I mean that when I say that, because I tell people this. When we were on the school committee, we hired almost every single principal in the district, because principals were coming and going. And I thought that, honestly, I look today at everyone that we hired, and I think you were one of our best hires. And I mean that, because since you've come in, You know, you've really built the program. You know, when you say you've gone from 11 to 20 programs, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any other school district that has done that. When we talk about, you know, out-of-district tuition, the reduction, almost the elimination of out-of-district tuition, kids going to Minuteman, I mean, when we used to have budget time, we used to look at that number, and it was just mind-boggling. I think it was up at around a half a million dollars at one point.
[John Falco]: More than that. OK, yeah, one million. I'm sorry. So $1 million. And we've reduced that. So that's a significant reduction. And those dollars are coming back, and they're in our school district. And I mean, the partnerships that you've built, the vision that you had, it's just been amazing. And you haven't even been in the district that long. So you've had quite an impact. And you know, everybody you talk to, Um, you know, vocational, you know, technical, uh, technical, um, school. I mean, really vocational education is the rage right now. I mean, every, a lot of kids want to go to the book, go to method technical school. And, uh, you know, the way I look at it is it's the best of both worlds because you can learn a trade and you can go to college if you want. Yeah. And I think those are valuable tools. And, um, to come here with this news tonight, um, I mean, To see that all the partnerships that you've formed and the in-kind donations that are coming in, it's just remarkable. This is something that I support 100%. And I think that the other thing you're trying to do is you're trying to build the alumni network, which I think is huge. And I'm going to plug. Yeah, absolutely. You have an event coming up.
[John Falco]: If I may, I just wanted to just finish up, I guess, by saying, you know, I really admire the fact that, you know, you never gave up on the grant. And when we turned down, I think it was last year, and you went back and said, why? I mean, that tells, you know, everyone here a lot about you and about, you know, how you work. And it's like, I like how you have that, you know, never give up, you know, optimism. And, you know, we need to push ahead. We need to try harder. We need to see what we can do. If we don't get it this year, let's see if we can get it next year. And I think that's important. And I support this 100% and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I, if I may, um, uh, I, I would second the motion to, uh, the reverse 911. I think that's a very important issue. I just wanted to make, while you're on the topic of meetings for tomorrow night, uh, I just wanted to also mention that tomorrow night is a, uh, community police meeting. This one is at the West Medford community center. It starts at 7pm. Everyone's invited, uh, no matter what part of the city you're from, but just wanted to, uh, let everyone know. So this tomorrow night's a busy night.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, and I also want to thank, uh, councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. Uh, with regard to, uh, um, the meetings that are held in room two Oh seven, I'm in a full agreement that those meetings should be on tape. Um, or actually they should be filmed in some capacity. Uh, Those meetings are open to the public, but there are many meetings that happen in that conference room that the public doesn't necessarily know about. And what we should be doing is we should be making sure that we're transparent. We're making sure that government is easily accessible to everyone in this community. So I think it's important that we do have a camera in that room, and that it's easy to operate, and that all the meetings can be filmed and people can participate. I have been in contact with the vendor. The vendor was supposed to come in in February, but they had to cancel. So I'm working on getting them to hopefully come in soon to give us a price on that and to just let us know how it would work. But I'm in full agreement that rooms in room 207 should be filmed. Meetings should be filmed in there. There are many boards and commissions that meet on a monthly basis, and those those meetings should be filmed, that people should be able to see those. So I thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward, and in full support. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I'd like to thank, uh, Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. Um, the, uh, resident, um, uh, actually gave me a call as well. And, uh, there's some, uh, really legitimate concerns here that need to be addressed. Like Councilor Mark said, there are hundreds of units here with elderly people and disabled people, and we need to make sure there's a plan in place. And I would like to see if we could amend the resolution to actually see if actually the fire department is aware of a plan, if they have a copy of the plan, if they could send it to us. If they don't, if we could have the housing authority send that emergency plan to the fire department, I would think that as first responders, uh, the fire department and the police department should have a copy of the emergency plan. So, uh, I thank the council for bringing this forward and I support it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank a console night for bringing this forward. I think this is a good resolution that will, uh, help beautify the city. And I'm in full agreement that this is something that would benefit the whole community. I look forward to this moving to the zoning and ordinance subcommittee, where we can get to work on it hopefully right away. I know there's a lot going on in that subcommittee, but I may get to work on this, and I think it will benefit everyone. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I second the motion that this move to the zoning and ordinance subcommittee. This is a process. It's a proposed resolution. And I think there are many changes and adjustments that can be made to make this an effective resolution. One of the big concerns from many of the parents in the community and from the PTOs is that it will have an impact on the base day textiles. And we do not want that to have a negative impact on that program. This is a program that raises money for the various PTOs throughout the city. Myself and I know Councilor Scarpelli, when we were on this school committee, this is a program that we supported 100%. It's a program that gives back $7,000 over the past 30 months. That's pretty significant. It's a significant income for the PTOs. And we need to make sure that if we draft an ordinance, or we're going to draft an ordinance, that we make sure we do it right. and we make sure that it doesn't impact this program that's already in place. So I definitely second that this move to the Zoning and Ordinance Subcommittee and move for approval.
[John Falco]: Can we take 17-312 out of order?
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent Felsen. Thanks for the report. I agree with you. The building is 50 years old. It was going to be 50 years old. It definitely needs improvements. I talk to parents on a daily basis. And a lot of parents that don't have kids at the high school yet, but they've been up to the high school. And the building does need work. When I was on the school committee with Councilor Scarpelli, we had the science lab renovation, 17 new science labs, which was a great project for the community, for the school system, and really, you know, the state-of-the-art school labs and science labs. And these are important, especially for programming, future programming for the vocational school. And, you know, we want to make sure that we have these programs in place. We want to make sure our buildings are up to date. I mean, there's one thing that I learned when I was on the school committee is people have an option. people have a choice. Years ago, you went to Medford High School. Maybe you went to parochial school. Now you can go to public school, public charter school. You can go to private school, parochial school. I mean, there's all kinds of options for people now. So I think a lot of people would like to go to school right here in Medford, but they want to make sure that their facilities are first class in nature and make sure that the programs that are being offered, for example, at the vocational school, are first rate. And I think we're heading in that direction. But I think we do need a cash infusion to make sure that a lot of this happens. And it's nice to see that to potentially get 55% reimbursement from the state, that doesn't come along every day. And we took advantage of that opportunity. When the science labs came across, I think we got 55, maybe even a little bit more, a little bit more. Between 55 and 60%, I think, reimbursement on those. So I think this is a great opportunity. And I think that it's something that we should take advantage of. One of the questions that I had with regard to, you mentioned HVAC. So would the HVAC include the actual individual heating systems in each of the classrooms at the high school? Okay, that's perfect because I know one of the complaints that I got when I was on the school committee was, you know, it'd be hot and cold in some of the buildings and sometimes there'd be no heat at all. So I think that would be a definite good addition. I also want to talk about the, let's see, you mentioned here in this memo it says, number seven, replacement of or addition to obsolete buildings in order to provide a full range of programs consistent with state and approved local requirements. MPS is seeking additional space on the high school campus by adding a cafeteria that can accommodate up to at least 500 students, a performing arts center that can accommodate up to 1,000 guests, adequate locker room facilities for male and female athletes, a fitness and wellness center, and expansion of vocational technical space to create a career pathway model. Can you comment on that a little bit? Is that talking about possibly a new structure, or is that building off the structures that we currently have?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. I agree with you with regard to the vocational school. In my opinion, I think it's the hidden jewel of the district. I mean, there are so many great opportunities that are happening at the vocational school. You know, Ms. Riccio and her staff are doing a great job. And I mean, there's so much demand now to go to the vocational school, and it's kind of the best of both worlds. You learn a trade, and you can still go to college if you want. So you really, you have the best of both worlds. It's an exciting time. There are more and more young kids going to the vocational school. It's a great time to reinvest, not only in the high school, but in the shops of the vocational school. I mean, when you think about it, at the end of the day, our buildings are our most important assets with regard to the future of Method students. We need to make sure that they are first class and make sure that all of our technology is current as can be. You had mentioned previously about the potential for feasibility studies. So if we have to do a feasibility study, is that something that we would have to pay for, or is that something that would be, would the MSBA help out with the cost of something like that?
[John Falco]: Second. I second the original motion, that is adopted.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank Councilor Lungo-Koehn for bringing this forward tonight. I fully support the resolution. I have been pretty vocal about zoning since I've been on this council. And I made a resolution a year ago. The resolution is still in subcommittee, but I still firmly believe that we need to hire someone from the outside to come in and look at zoning in every neighborhood throughout this city. I understand going street by street, but every neighborhood needs to be looked at. It probably is the most important responsibility that we have, zoning as a board. That is one of our most important responsibilities. This needs to be looked at. It needs to be looked at sooner than later. I firmly believe that we need to bring in someone from the outside. I'll say it again. There's no one behind this reel that is qualified to look at zoning. I think we need an expert opinion on this. You talk about balanced zoning. You talk about different neighborhoods, residential versus commercial. the changes that are made, or the lack of changes that are made, really affect and impact the fabric of each neighborhood. So I want to just go on record, I do support this, but I also do think that we need to meet to address this and to bring in someone from the outside to look at this even further. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. And if you wouldn't mind an amendment to the resolution. I think it would be ideal if we could actually have a tour of the building as a committee. I mean, if that building's coming back onto the city rolls, then we should actually go down, take a look at the facility, see what condition it's in. We haven't had it, it hasn't been part of the city amendment for many years. And I think we should really get a firsthand look at the condition of the facility. So if Councilor Marks wouldn't mind, I'd like to add that as an amendment to the resolution.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Elaine board, Nara Palachi was a, good friend of mine. She passed away a few weeks ago. She lived in Medford most of her life. She was a teacher for more than 30 years at the Lincoln Junior High School and at the McGlynn School as well. She was just a very friendly, outgoing person. Everyone loved her. She actually won the Teacher of the Year award from the state of Massachusetts in World History and I believe Ancient History. And she'll be missed. Thoughts and prayers go out to her husband, Eric, and their family.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank Council Marks for bringing this forward tonight. We should be doing everything we can to keep our firefighters safe, especially buying the extractors to wash the turnout gear. That should be a no-brainer. It should be done. And we should make sure that we take care of that right away. But just getting back to one of the council's other points with regard to Engine 3, I did have the opportunity a little while back to go down to Edge and Three as well. And they took me into the basement. They gave me a tour of the facility. And you're right. It's definitely scary to see when you go underneath that bay and you see crumbling cement. It's just scary to actually see that firsthand. And it's crumbling all over the place. And something needs to be done. But as I walk through the fire station, it's that, but there's other issues as well. And I've gone to a couple other fire stations as well. And there are a lot of issues. There are a lot of issues throughout our city in our fire stations that need to be addressed. They need to be addressed sooner than later. And one of the things, just if I could go back a little bit, prior to being on the city council, I was on the school committee. during the budget time, which is one of the most important times of the year, is you're going through the budget and what you allocate to building maintenance. And what I remember was my first time through the budget, I asked the director of buildings and grounds, what are we doing for preventive maintenance? And he looked at me, he said, Mr. Falco, we're doing nothing. And that was Mr. Edwards. That was back in 2010. And so what I did then is I offered a motion, a resolution, that the school committee go out and tour each of the buildings throughout our community to actually see what's broken, what's fixed, and to have committee of the whole meetings to actually see firsthand as a group what needs to be addressed. And we did that. And it was very effective. And we all went all at the same time to each of the facilities. So how the buildings were being taken care of, what was broken, what was fixed, what needed to be addressed, what needed to be addressed right away so we could appropriate money in the budget. Now, in the draft capital plan that we got a glimpse at back a little while ago, there's some money there in the upcoming years. I think it's about $2.5 million for firehouse improvements. And if Councilor Marks wouldn't mind, I'd like to amend the resolution that we schedule Committee of the Whole to go to each firehouse in the city as a group so we can take a look at the issues Because there are issues out there that need to be addressed. And we can go from building to building and see what needs to be done, what's broken, what needs to be repaired. I mean, and he's right. I mean, I went to the fire station in West Bedford. I mean, the gear is right behind the truck. I mean, 15 feet from the truck is all the fire gear. I mean, it's dangerous. And cancer's a major concern, and we need to make sure that we're addressing these situations, but just general situations. When I was down in the West Medford fire station, I think the shower had no door on it. So I mean, you know, that, that's, that's to me that that should be a simple fix. And, uh, you know, it shouldn't, they shouldn't have to wait forever to get a door fixed in the shower. If you take a look at some of our buildings, I mean, when I went down to South Medford and went to West, you take a look at the, uh, And actually, I'm trying to think of Salem Street. Salem Street did have the same issue. If you take a look at the heating, it's terribly inefficient. It's 1,000 degrees in one room. You have to open up the windows to cool it down in the middle of the winter. And these are things that need to be addressed. We should have our environmental Alicia Hunt go down and take a look to see if there's anything that we could be doing to make these buildings more cost effective, more efficient. They are older buildings. So these need to be a top priority. So if I could amend the resolution that, Mr. President, if you could schedule a committee, the whole meetings, so we could go out and take a look at each facility as a group and take a look at what needs to be addressed, because the budget's coming up. We need to make sure that we have maintenance in there to do these things, but we also need to make sure that we can prioritize these items when it comes to when we look at our capital budget.
[John Falco]: That's fine with me.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to say I second that last motion. You know, we take a look at our buildings in our city. I mean, buildings are one of our most, you know, important assets on the books. You know, when, you know, when, Myself and Councilor Scarpelli went out and, you know, we looked at the, we were on the school committee, we looked out at the school buildings. I mean, it's to ensure that, you know, those buildings are going to be, you know, uh, kept up so that, you know, it ensures that those buildings are around for future generations of Method students. And we really need to make sure that we're doing the same thing with all city buildings and make sure that, um, you know, uh, all the routine maintenance has taken place and the preventive maintenance has taken place because that's, you know, Buildings are expensive to replace. We're seeing that now at the police station. So we really need to make sure we stay on top of this issue. I think that's a good resolution that we do get a report back from the building commissioner. It's something that we need to keep an eye on. Like I said before, it's probably one of the most important assets that we have on the books is our buildings.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I've received a number of phone calls in a number of different neighborhoods over the past couple of months regarding lighting from various buildings throughout our city. And I received a call from a resident down on Emerson Street, actually, specifically, with regard to they built a new building. They put lighting on the outside, but the lighting literally shines into this person's house. And it really has a negative impact on his quality of life at night. And if he wants to go spend time in his yard, the yard is lit up all the time, and it's a problem. And it's a problem in other corners of our city as well. So when I looked into it and I talked to the code enforcement officer, he had mentioned to me that we actually do not have an ordinance with regard to exterior lighting. So I bring this resolution forward tonight. because I think this is something that we should look into, especially since we're hearing about more and more development in our city. We need to make sure that we have regulations and ordinances in place to help guide development and developers to make sure that Our existing neighborhoods are not negatively impacted by lighting that's too bright. So I agree we need to have lighting. I think lighting is a great crime deterrent. But I also believe that it needs to be not too bright. It needs to be regulated to some degree. So I just wanted to bring this forward tonight. And if we could move it to the subcommittee on zoning to work on a resolution, I would I think that's a good idea and I'd like to move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I had the privilege of having Jim Coughlin as a physical education teacher when I was in high school a number of times through my four years at Medford High School. Great guy, always very supportive, very encouraging, especially, you know, when I told him I was running for public office. And I hadn't seen him for a while, and then when my kids started taking swimming lessons down at Tufts Pool, I bumped into him there and got some, you know, kind of, you know, friendship continued from there. But just a really nice, all-around guy. He was no nonsense, he was great. He always told it like it was, and he will be sorely missed, but just a fabulous person, so.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Actually, I yield to Councilor Marks. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. While we're on the suspension, I just wanted to mention really quick that tomorrow night is our monthly community police meeting. The new location for this month is at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. It's at 7 PM. Chief Sacco and members of the Medford Police Department will be there to answer any questions that you have. 7 p.m. Lawrence Memorial School of Nursing. All are welcome. It doesn't matter what neighborhood you live in throughout our city, everyone is welcome.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Lococo.
[John Falco]: Reverend Owens, thank you for all that you've done for our community throughout the years. You have been a big part of just leading the interfaith group within our community, all churches, Catholic, Protestant, Episcopalian. And I know you brought that group together like it's never been before in our community, and that's meant a lot. And I wish you well in your future endeavors. And on a personal note, I know my My in-laws belong to the Episcopal Church, and when my father-in-law passed away, I mean, you were with him to the end, and that meant a lot to our family, and I thank you for everything that you've done, on a personal note, and for our community. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to go back to Mr. Petra's point about the regionalization of the tower. I'm not in favor of regionalizing the tower. The questions I had last night were just basically, what are the disadvantages of regionalizing the tower? That was it, but I want to keep the tower here. I think it's advantageous to us.
[John Falco]: Yeah, and it benefits our firefighters, so I mean, I want to keep the tower here. I just want to make that clear.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. I'll be very brief. I just want to thank my subcommittee members as well and the committee as a whole because at some point this did go to committee as a whole as well and there were a lot of great questions that were asked And just thank the city solicitor Romley and John Babuso, our code enforcement officer as well. But also to thank the neighbors that showed up to the meetings, that attended the meetings, and that there are some neighbors that are here tonight that just want to. assure that this gets through, and I'm confident that it will. And I think that, like Councilor Mark said, this is another tool that the Code Enforcement Officer has to keep our neighborhoods safe.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Lincoln, if I can ask you a quick question, just because while we're on the topic of the Royal House, you know, it's a historic, It's something that people drive by and it's part of Medford and it's been here for hundreds of years. But if you drive by at night, you never know who's there. So my question is, has there ever been lighting in the front? Because I don't know if there has. Is there any thought of actually reinstalling lighting or putting lighting in so people can see it at night?
[John Falco]: Do you know if, has anybody taken a look at what that would cost?
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you for your hard work.
[John Falco]: We can suspend the rules to take 16-574 out of order. Tonight the Committee of the Whole met regarding the University Accountability Act. We had discussed it last week on the council floor and it got moved to subcommittee and we discussed it tonight and there are a number of Amendments to the report. And of the amendments, we have that the administration provide assistance for code enforcement when we receive the report back from Tufts University, that Tufts looks into landlords registering with Tufts University. Notifications be sent from the building commissioner to all realtors in Medford. And the last amendment was that the zoning ordinance go out with the next tax bill so that everyone in the community is aware of the ordinance change with regard to the University Accountability Act. So at this point, I'd like to make a motion that the committee report be adopted as amended and the ordinance take its first reading.
[John Falco]: Seconded by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may ask Mr. Cairns a quick question. So the work was, did you say the work was done in house by city employees?
[John Falco]: Great. Perfect. I like to see what we do work inside. Um, so as far as, uh, so how much did we save actually by keeping it in house and doing it with our own employees as to contracting it out?
[John Falco]: That's what I'm thinking. I mean, it's, it's, uh, I know, um, you know, we have some talented people here that can do a lot of work of, you know,
[John Falco]: It would be great if we had more people, but it would be interesting to see how much of a savings this would represent by doing it in-house. So I'm glad we did it. And I'm sorry, did you say how many more we have to do, or how many more we need to do?
[John Falco]: OK, great.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just have a question in general. Um, you know, of course safety and the wellbeing of personnel is always a top priority. So with regard to, um, the turndown gear, um, so if this gets approved, when can we actually see, you know, the, the turndown gear, the, the police cars, the, uh, uh, the new trucks. I mean, when, when, when will, when we, when will, when will we actually see this?
[John Falco]: So if we approve this tonight, is the turn down gear gonna be, you know, I'm sorry, turn out gear, I apologize.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just had a question for Chief Sacco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Chief. So with regard to the new cruisers, the marked and unmarked, so we're buying new cruisers, which is great. We need them. But as far as the, what should be our strategy for purchasing going forward? Should we be replacing cruisers? I mean, in your opinion, you've been doing this for a while. What should the city be doing moving forward? Should we be buying them every year, every few years? What's the best approach?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I actually have one more question for Commissioner Kearns. Thank you. So last year I had a resolution to buy a sidewalk plow, to look into buying a sidewalk plow. Because we're trying to push a lot of pedestrian initiatives. We have Walk Medford. We have a Complete Streets program now. So we're really trying to encourage people to get out, walk, be pedestrians, and use public transportation and whatnot. So I don't see anything here for a sidewalk plow. It didn't make the cut, and I understand that. But do we have any type of machinery right now that we could use to plow sidewalks in our community, especially city-owned sidewalks?
[John Falco]: those can use like I would just like I mean I'm thinking like if I think of you know I think of like yeah like a bombardier or something like that a trackless plow you know because those things those type of plows and when I looked into it I mean it could zip right down a sidewalk especially in your uh you know your business communities With regard to schools, I remember when I was on the school committee, we get calls all the time where kids walking to school will be forced out into the street. Like if you walk by Gillis Park down Fulton Street, you're walking to the Roberts. You're forced out into the street because it's a city-owned sidewalk, but there's no machinery that we really have to plow something like that. So I mean, I think it's something that should be considered. I wish I was on here tonight. I'm happy with what's here, believe me, and I will vote for this. And I'm 100% in favor of it, but I think it's something that we need to consider in the future.
[John Falco]: I agree with you 100%. I mean, I know when I researched the trackless plow, and it could be used to, there was one that could be used to grind stumps. There were uses for, you know, summer, you could use it for hauling debris and whatnot. So, but hoping in the future that we'll see something like that. Absolutely. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to say that I agree with my fellow colleagues and President Caraviello. I think this is a great resolution. You know, there's so many men and women in our community that have made sacrifice, some have made the ultimate sacrifice. And we should be making an effort to do this every year, I agree. We have a ceremony every year at Oak Grove Cemetery. And this year, actually, we had a procession from Oak Grove down to the World War II monument. We're actually at Veterans Memorial right near the high school. And I think to include this as part of that celebration every year, recognizing our veterans, we should make this part of the yearly Memorial Day exercises, unveiling the new names every year. So if we could amend the resolution to actually make this part of this year's Memorial Day exercises to have an unveiling of the new names, that'd be great. Thank you, Councilor Thompson.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I'd like to thank sincere thanks to Chief Sacco and the command staff and the men and women that work in the Medford Police Department. We had a most recent community meeting this past Wednesday at Breed Hall, the old Sacred Heart Church up in the hillside. And this was an issue that came up during that meeting. The postal trucks that park outside of the Medford Postal Office, basically every night they line up on-
[John Falco]: Thank you. Basically, every night they line up. They park on Forest Street. They're big, bulky trucks. So for anyone that lives in the old Medford High School condominiums, it's really hard to navigate that area and to get out of the parking lot in the morning and at night. So it's become a bit of a safety hazard. So if we could just, if the chief and the mayor reach out to the US Postal Service, the Medford branch, And just find out, I guess, what the strategy is with regard to those trucks. Because it seems like over the years from what I'm hearing, there's more and more trucks all the time. It used to be just a few. Now there's a bunch. I went down Forest Street on Sunday morning. They were all lined up. They took all the parking spaces in front of the old Medford High School. If we could find out if they have plans to actually find additional parking somewhere in the city for these vehicles, because it's becoming a safety hazard and something needs to be done about it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, and if I may, Mr. President, I believe there is a member of the community that would like to speak on this issue, or maybe a few.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Throughout the years, I've gone to many Board of Appeals meetings just to see different, just to, you know, when the different issues come up on the agenda. just go down and take a look to see what's going on in the community. And I've gotten calls from other people as well that have attended these meetings. And usually, the meetings are held in room 201, for the most part. And in room 201, there's very limited seating. I think it's about maybe 20 seats, a table up in the front. And it seems like any meeting you go to, if there's a big issue, there are a number of people just standing in the hallways. They can't weigh in on any type of issue, or they have to wait in line. or they miss the presentation that maybe the developer's giving, and it just doesn't seem, in this day and age, like it's a proper place to have a meeting. There's no audio-visual equipment. It's just too small. I don't find it very transparent. If you have to wait in the hallway, and you can't even hear what's going on in the room, it doesn't make sense. We live in a big city. Over 55,000, close to 60,000 people live here. This community is hot for development. People want to develop. And there are many development meetings and zoning board decisions that have happened in the past, and that will be happening in the future. And everyone should be able to weigh in on these different issues that come before the zoning board. If I may finish. So in my opinion, I believe that those meetings should be held here in chambers. I know they meet on Tuesday night usually, which is the same night as us. But what they can do is maybe they can move to Wednesday nights. They can pick a different night. Wednesday nights, I don't think this chamber is being used on a regular basis. But it needs to be looked at. We need to make this process, we need to bring the process into the 21st century where people can come, if there's a presentation, they can use the AV equipment here, but it shouldn't be in a room where you can barely fit 20 people and people feel like they're excluded. You know, government should be transparent, that's what it's all about. People should have access, and I think this would be a better venue.
[John Falco]: If we could amend it to actually have them move their night to Wednesday night and have it here in council chambers.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank everyone for their amendments and their concerns and for supporting this. But I also wanted to mention as well, because we talked about other boards and commissions and the like. And just to mention that I'm in the process of trying, and I know I've talked to you about this, Mr. President. in the process of trying to schedule the legislative software vendor to come in and basically take a look at what we do with regard to transparency and whatnot with regards to boards and commissions because in addition to putting everything online, which actually helps out with transparency, they can also install cameras in the council meeting room as well, which would help out with other boards and commissions because you could film all these meetings and they could all be, you know, live and on the cable channel as well. So that there is something that I'm working on. I think you all make great points with regard to those commissions as well. And the minutes, the agendas for those other commissions would all be in line as well using the software. So I'm hoping to have a vendor come in soon. I'm working on scheduling that. That actually is from a resolution that everyone supported last year as well. So I just wanted to give you an update with that since we're on the topic. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this also came up, uh, last week during the community police meeting and I've received one phone call since, um, with regard to, I guess, uh, many of the people, many of the groups that rent the gym at St. Clement's. Basically, when they park, I guess they're blocking driveways. And, you know, parking too close to driveways, they're blocking driveways and whatnot. So we could just have St. Clement's reach out to the people that rent their gymnasiums and just remind them of the parking protocol just to be considerate to the neighbors in the neighborhood.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, But I have questions about the, uh, the actual group will provide payment to the city in lieu of taxes in lieu of a final trench paving. Um, how do you come up with the amount that is being paid to the city?
[John Falco]: And so you have not met with the city with regard to this yet?
[John Falco]: So if we can find out from the city engineer, if they're going to be requesting curb to curb paving, because I would think that that amount is going to be.
[John Falco]: Thank you. If we could get, but if you could get official word back from a city engineer that it is actual curb to curb and sits, um, sits, uh, you're providing payment in lieu of final trench paving. If, uh, if say for a year from now, the paving sinks. So sometimes it sinks, you know, over, over time. Are we responsible for that?
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you for the clarification. Thanks. Councilor Scott Belli.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this is, uh, basically, uh, uh, report from, uh, the ad hoc subcommittee on education. Uh, we met last week, uh, for the purpose of the meeting was to, uh, review and discuss the university, uh, accountability ordinance, uh, the members, uh, on the sub committee. I'm the chair, uh, uh, also Councilors, uh, Scarpelli and call console Lungo-Koehner on the committee as well. Uh, at the meeting we had city solicitor Mark Brumley, code enforcement officer John Babuso and we had Barbara Rubel and Rocco DeRico from Tufts University. Um, and we probably had about 10 to 15 residents from the surrounding neighborhood. Uh, the president, the, um, residents were actually a very happy and pleased with the ordinance. Uh, they were pleased to, uh, see that something was being done and, um, they felt that, and actually we all felt that this would be a tool that the code enforcement officer, John Babuso could use to help prevent overcrowding and to keep the neighborhoods that surround Tufts University safe. So I looked that we adopt the committee report tonight and move for the first reading.
[John Falco]: The, uh, the, the, the, the, the paper that originally came to our subcommittee, um, basically did not have, uh, that many, we didn't have that many changes. I mean, that, uh, we met a few times, went over the, the language of the city solicitor Romley and, um, the, the residents had a lot of questions. Um, you know, and actually one of the things I wanted to point out was, towards the end of the meeting, they were curious as to how our process works here. And they asked about, you know, the timing and whatnot, because they want to see something sooner than later. And we completely understand that. I mean, they live in a neighborhood with a lot of students, and there's a lot of concerns. And so we explained to them how it has to go through three readings, and we told them basically how, you know, explained to them how customarily we do not waive the three readings, and we go through that process. And they were completely on board with that. They were fine. They agreed that it should, you know, go through its process and, uh, but they just wanted to see something sooner than later. Um, but I think, uh, you know, the changes, one of the big changes was to, uh, that council Longo current had mentioned was, uh, to basically, um, change some of the language on section 26 dash 44. Um, and, uh, we did reach out to Tufts to see if they could help us enforce this as well. And, um, And I'll also just ask if the mayor could report back to see if there is a further assistance, um, to, uh, get some help with regard to, uh, an additional code enforcement officer, even if it's someone on a temporary basis to help us go through this process.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank my colleagues for their input because it's very valuable and everyone should definitely give their opinion on this. Um, and it's, it's the ordinance. I mean, I know myself, I feel like I'm ready to move forward as well. Um, and I understand, um, while there might be some apprehension, it's, it's interesting because it's really, it's a balance between public safety and, you know, having an anonymous list. But I did do some research with regard to the cities that also had this type of ordinance. And if you look at the city of Boston, if you look at the city of Somerville, the language is the same that we have here in this ordinance. And it's basically, you know, if I read the city of Somerville, it's the mayor of the city and the superintendent of office of inspectional services. The clerk also shall docket the report and include the docket on the agenda at the next occurring meeting of the Board of Aldermen. And it's the same thing for the City of Boston. So the language is exactly the same as it is here in the proposed ordinance. If you want to look at it, I can definitely send it down. And I believe during our meeting, when City Solicitor Rumley spoke, I believe he said, by nature of City Hall, any document that comes in here is public record. So that list that comes in is a matter of public record because we're receiving it. It's here at city hall. Um, so it's, it, it is what it is. It's basically a public document that the public can't access. Um, because it's, it's by the nature of what we do here at city hall and it's, it's covered under the public record law. So I just wanted to clarify a few things. Thank you. Thank you. Also a knife.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Since this has been referred to committee the whole, could we do our best to move this to committee the whole soon?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also would like to congratulate Reverend Noah on his new assignment at Pittsburgh. I talked to him on Sunday, and he's very excited about the new opportunity. But I'd just like to say thank you to him and his family. They have done a tremendous amount of great work in our community. The great Episcopal Church and Noah have been a great community partner. a great job growing the interfaith community group. And he's just been a significant contributor to everything that occurs in our city. And I'd just like to say thank you for his time and effort.
[John Falco]: Counsel Del Russo.
[John Falco]: I just wanted to congratulate the Medford Human Rights Commission. This weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Medford Conversations kickoff at Medford High School. They had over 100 people that attended. And it was just to talk about diversity, race, different cultures within our community. It was a very successful event, a lot of participation. I know a lot of hard work went into it, so I just wanted to congratulate them for their hard work and thank them for their hard work and congratulate them on a successful event.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. If I may really quick, uh, you also wanted to mention, uh, tomorrow night is the community police meeting. Uh, this, uh, tomorrow night we will be heading to, uh, the hillside neighborhood. We will be at a breed hall, which is the old sacred heart church, um, at the corner of Boston Ave and Winthrop street. Uh, so we will be there tomorrow at 7pm. Everyone is welcome no matter what neighborhood you're from. It's a community police meeting. with Chief Sacco and members of the Medford Police Department to talk about any type of law enforcement or safety issues that you want to talk about.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank council Lungo-Koehn for bringing this forward. Um, this is a very important issue. Uh, development is, uh, an issue that really is affecting every neighborhood throughout this city. No matter where you go, Contractors or developers are coming in and they're trying to build apartments. They want all kinds of variances. Once again, zoning is a major issue that needs to be looked at. And, um, you know, it needs to be looked at soon. I mean, sooner than later, because, you know, we haven't looked at it in years. Uh, but I mean, as you go from neighborhood to neighborhood, I, down in Wellington, this, uh, 500 units, uh, you go over to Middlesex Ave, it's a few hundred units all over the place. People want to develop and they want to come in and they want more and more variances. Where does it end? It's a quality of life issue because you bring a new development. And I agree with the councilor. No one's saying we don't want any development, but you want smart development, development that makes sense within the community. If you're overdeveloping, you have all kinds of other issues that come with that. Traffic and traffic related issues are a problem now with the current number of units that we had throughout the city. And you want to add over a thousand more units when you add all these different developments up, you're compounding the problems by the day. This needs to be looked at. I hope people attend these meetings. Um, uh, it's, it's vital that people get involved. It's vital that their voices are heard. Um, these, uh, you know, these, these developments, people think, well, it's just one small development here, one small development there, but as they add up, it becomes a major issue throughout this community. So I support the resolution. I thank you for bringing it forward.
[John Falco]: Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I also agree. I think that, um, you know, you took the police meetings out to the community and that's worked out really well. I think it would be great to, uh, take the zoning meetings out as well and, and, uh, to hear from each of the community, uh, each of the neighborhoods. But, uh, last year when I offered the resolution with regard to zoning, I still stand by it, and that's that we should have someone from the outside come in. Because, like Councilor Marks mentioned before, really none of us are qualified to look at zoning. We really don't have the background in zoning. So really, we should have someone come in. We should also have, the mayor should also be giving us her plan. What does she want, what is her plan for this city?
[John Falco]: Exactly, but have we got a date yet on that? I'm sorry? Have we got a date yet on that meeting?
[John Falco]: Okay, if you could please reach out to the administration.
[John Falco]: But thank you. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree. But I, but I also believe that, um, you know, we need to, kind of get everybody on board. But I honestly feel, I still believe it today, that we need to have someone from the outside take a look at this. You are correct. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank Councilor Lungo for bringing this forward tonight. As a former member of the school committee, I always found that this is very valuable information. Just because you know where the hot spots are, if class size is getting too big or not. I know when I did talk to a member of the school committee back in, I think, December or November, class size seemed to be reasonable. class size changes a lot throughout the year. And that's something that a lot of people don't realize. So I think it would be great to get that every June, but if I may amend the resolution just to see if we could also get a copy of this every October, November as well, just to see how it's growing throughout the school year. It's very important information and it is important to look at this on an ongoing basis. So thank you. Councilor Longo-Kurtz.
[John Falco]: I do not have GIC insurance.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Um, do we had a correspondence from the mayor, um, in a package, uh, this, this week, uh, well, actually it's, uh, I'm sorry. It's from a Lauren D Lorenzo, the, um, director of community development says given the continued concern with the potential project, uh, and they referenced, uh, city council resolution 16-seven nine nine, which I believe was, uh, the Malden Hospital. Her recommendation is the City Council invite representatives of Pine Hills and the DCR to a Committee of the Whole meeting. This should allow residents and Councils the opportunity to address the project proponent directly and to allow DCR to listen to the existing existing and potential issues. Uh, she says that, uh, I have left a message for Tony green of pine Hills to see if he's willing to attend a meeting in Medford. Uh, then she concludes by saying if the council would like to pursue or like her to pursue this, uh, please let her know. Um, I know I definitely think we should pursue this. Um, if we, we should definitely, I mean, I know, uh, console long ago, uh, current and the console, Scarpelli and myself, have been working on the Malden hospital ad hoc committee and we would definitely, not to speak for everyone, but we would definitely like to request a meeting with the developer.
[John Falco]: It sounds like, according to the letter, it sounds like.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank councilor Scarpelli for his hard work on this issue. Um, I, uh, I know him and his, uh, committee has been working on this for a while and, uh, they've had a lot of meetings and, um, I'm hearing a lot of great things. So I look forward to, uh, the results of the survey and the, uh, the formal report from the committee. Uh, this, uh, recreation department, in my opinion, and I think you'd agree is long overdue and a city of this size, I think could benefit greatly from a recreation department. So thank you for your hard work on this.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, but a year ago I offered a similar, similar resolution. Um, because I believe that the traffic in our community is really having a negative impact on all neighborhoods throughout our community. The traffic engineer, in my opinion, is needed now more than ever. Uh, the past year I've received like many of my colleagues, uh, many emails, phone calls, just conversations on the street about traffic. traffic patterns, car crashes, pedestrians being hit by cars, and just pedestrian issues in general. These issues could have been addressed by a traffic engineer. For the past six months, I've worked with the Medford Police Department and Chief Sago on bringing the monthly neighborhood meetings to different sections of the community. We've had meetings in West Medford at the Brooks School, North Medford at St. Francis, down in Wellington at the Andrews Middle School, and most recently here in South Medford at the South Medford Fire Station. And a common theme has emerged in each of these meetings. It is basically traffic, traffic congestion, and traffic-related issues, and in general, public safety with regards to traffic. We have over 57,000 residents, 57 miles of road, 50 miles of sidewalks. We have five state roads that cut through our city. Route 16, 28, 38, 16, Route 93, And on top of that, Route 93 has four off ramps that continuously unload traffic onto our local streets. In my discussions with Chief Sacco, he agrees that we need to hire a traffic engineer. This should be a priority in the next budget, without a doubt. I give all the credit in the world to Chief Sacco, Sergeant Hartnett, Officer Brooks, for what they've been doing so far to help resolve some of the traffic issues. But we don't have anyone in this city that basically has the educational background or that has studied traffic or that is a technically a traffic engineer. And that is what we really need. And, uh, you know, this traffic is a major problem that's been plaguing our community in the worst is yet to come. Uh, you know, methods only seven miles from Boston. It's a major cut fruit for all surrounding cities and towns. It's run a city. There are major plans for development. You know, if you take, for hundreds of units, if you take a look at Rivers Edge, 350 units, Middlesex Ave, 200 units, possibly 500 units on Locust Street, more development on Salem Street and in West Medford. I mean, as these developers look to add housing to our neighborhoods, you know, there's no one representing our city with regard to traffic. The developers come in, and they want to do whatever they want, but we have no one in this city that is qualified to look at traffic and traffic patterns. We need someone to represent us. In my opinion, a traffic engineer needs to be added in the upcoming budget. Funds need to be appropriated by the mayor, and we must act now. We can only take a look at what's happening in our city. We cannot only take a look at what's happening in our city, but we have to take a look at the surrounding cities as well. You have possible development at the New England Memorial Hospital in Stoneham. You have a development in Malden Center. You have the casino coming in in Everett. You have Assembly Row in Somerville that creates traffic. You have possible development at the Malden Hospital, the old Malden Hospital site up in Malden and North Medford. And that's going to create possibly 400 to 500 car trips a day. I was so concerned about the Malvern hospital issue that, you know, I asked, uh, then, uh, president Dello Russo, if we could set up a, uh, a committee, an ad hoc committee to look at that issue. And myself, Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor, uh, uh, Mungo Kern have, uh, have looked at this issue. And, uh, during our last meeting, we actually, uh, you know, asked that the method police department conduct a study, a traffic study in that area to look at traffic. They put in a traffic counter for 12 days. 12 days on Murray Hill Road, 33,500 cars in 12 days on Murray Hill Road. That tells a story right there. This needs to be looked at. Every single neighborhood is experiencing traffic-related issues. And if you take a look at what's happening up in that section, it's just a microcosm of what's happening all over the city. Traffic is unreal, and it needs to be dealt with, and we need to have someone that has the educational background, that went to school, studied traffic, and knows how to deal with these types of issues. We must act now, our residents deserve better. This is a public safety issue, it's a quality of life issue, and we need proactive leadership, and that is why I offer this resolution tonight. I ask Mayor Burke to appropriate the funding for traffic engineer, or have a traffic engineer on retainer included in the fiscal year 2018 budget. In addition, I ask my colleagues tonight for the support of this resolution. And, uh, I move approval. Uh, in addition, I do know that there are some residents that would like to speak on this issue.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Yes, I have reviewed the records. I find them to be in order and I move approval. Thank you very much. Thank you. Motion to adjourn by Councilor Knight.
[John Falco]: Councilor Felkel. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. McDonald, for being here tonight. And congratulations on the merger. And thank you for your leadership through the merger. Any type of a merger is never easy, and leadership is the key. And I thank you for that. And, you know, as one of my big concerns, I guess, was in Consular, and I had mentioned it was a capital investments. And it's always good to see or it'd be nice to see. And I know you don't have any definite plans to tonight that you can give us, but just to see in the future what your plans are for the campus here at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. I think that's something that the community's really looking at. And the Lawrence Memorial Hospital is a valuable asset to this community that has been around, like you said, for almost 100 years. And I'm happy to see that the hospital's here. It's alive and well. But capital investment's the big thing for me. I'd love to hear more. It sounds like you're pretty limited as to what you can say.
[John Falco]: That's good. So as far as the branding goes, is it still going to be going to be Lawrence Memorial Hospital? What will be the actual?
[John Falco]: Do you know if there are, so the nursing school actually, it's near and dear to my heart. My wife actually is a graduate from the nursing school. Yeah, great program, fabulous program, has produced a lot of fine nurses. And do you know if there are going to be any changes to that or is that kind of just... No, that is still so strong.
[John Falco]: Great. Great job. Uh, if you could keep us updated on, uh, uh, as you get on this road, that would be great. And thank you for coming before us and happy new year. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to take a minute to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. Uh, I have only been on the council for a year now, but, majority of the calls that I get and the emails that I get are about traffic congestion, uh, public safety with regard to, um, just, uh, automobiles. And, um, so I think this is vital. I think it's important. Um, it's not only saves lives, it makes sense. It makes complete sense. I think it's going to make a difference. Um, you know, since I've been on the couch, I've been pushing to have community police meetings, uh, moved out into the neighborhoods and we've done that over the last three months, and we're going to continue that ongoing. And the common theme that comes up every single meeting, and so far we've met over at the Brooks School, we met at St. Francis, we met at the Andrews, the common theme that comes up is traffic and congestion and speeding. And this is definitely a tool that we should be using. We should be lowering the speed limit. I think it will go a long way in just, you know, just having a better public safety. And, um, so I support this resolution, uh, a hundred percent, um, officer Brooks and, uh, Sergeant Hartnett, uh, have also, um, uh, mentioned this at our, um, subcommittee meetings with guarding the, uh, Malvern hospital, uh, ad hoc subcommittee meeting. Um, they talked about, um, the speed, lowering the speed limit did come up and, uh, but it's, it's, this is a valuable tool. I, I thank you. Council Marks are bringing it forward. I support it wholeheartedly and, uh, If I also may mention at this point that the next community police meeting is actually tomorrow night at the South Medford Fire Station at 7 p.m. And I am sure that we'll be talking a lot about speed limits and traffic as well. So, and everyone is welcome. But uh, uh, Councilor Marks, thank you for bringing this forward. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And, uh, I'd like to begin by saying I think that this should be moved to Committee of the Whole, and the reason why, if we're gonna be talking about the mayor's vision for this city, and the vision for economic development, and zoning, we should all be at the table. This is a Committee of the Whole topic as far as I'm concerned. I think zoning is a huge issue. Zoning has not been looked at in 30 to 40 years. I had a resolution last year saying that we should bring in someone from the outside to look at it. Will it cost money? Yes, but it needs to be looked at. It hasn't been looked at in far too long. I understand where you're coming from, Councilor Longo, by bringing this forward tonight, but I think it does need more discussion, without a doubt. If I could amend the resolution, if we could get some, I'd like to know how many, over the past 25 years, how many use variances have been granted? I can give you some, a little bit of guidance there.
[John Falco]: Let's go back 10 years and he's 27, 27. And how many, if you don't mind me asking, do you know how many of those are like major, like economic development related?
[John Falco]: Because if we could get, if we could go back 20 years, just because I want to see with regard to economic development, what's the impact of these variances? What are they, you know, what's being approved? I mean, we should be looking at that. get 20 years. It'd be great to see the 10 years, but I want to see, I'm assuming a lot of that small stuff. And if we're talking about economic development, I want to see the big projects that have been approved and then we can look at those and say, okay, what is it been the impact of these use variances that have been approved?
[John Falco]: If I could, yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I also like to thank, uh, Paul for his hard work, uh, as our state representative, he's done a fine job and he's, uh, He's always been known as the, you know, you give him a call, you get a call back, and he's always been there. He's always been there for the city in every capacity he's served in, and he's done a great job, so congratulations to Paul and his years of service. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for being here tonight. And I did have the opportunity to go to the last library meeting and you had a great presentation with regard to the look and the feel of the inside of a library, hopefully in the future. So I was wondering if you could elaborate more on that as to the difference between what we currently have and what hopefully we will currently have in the future. If you could just tell us a little bit about the look and the feel inside the library.
[John Falco]: I really like the idea of the group space as far as, which I think is, you know, I think so much work done now at school, you know, there's a lot of group study and, you know, there's a lot of group work. So I think this is a great idea to incorporate this into the plan. The other thing I also like, too, is, I mean, I like the whole design. It's really nice. It seems like it's really well thought out. So great job on that. As far as the multi-purpose room goes, how many people does that seat? And is that suited for giving presentations, all kinds of stuff like that?
[John Falco]: As far as the, looking at the plan here, as far as the parking goes, I believe, so are those garages coming down?
[John Falco]: 12 spaces? Okay.
[John Falco]: And I'm sorry, back to inside the library, as far as computers, technology goes.
[John Falco]: I love the plan. Um, I love the idea of a new library. Um, you know, I grew up going to the library when I was a kid and back when I was a kid, they had the satellite libraries and we're going to the library in my neighborhood, but it's great to come down here to the square. Um, so I love, you know, the location, the designs really nice. And, um, you know, I think, uh, this is a huge, a huge investment, but I think it's well worth it. And, um, you know, I, I think that, you know, if we're going to do it, we have to make sure we do it right. And, um, you know, and it needs to be ready for, you know, future generations of Method residents. So, um, I'm really happy about this. I supported a hundred percent and I look forward to hopefully we get, hopefully we get that grant. We can move forward on this. So thank you for all your hard work.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Could you just comment really quick, if you don't mind, on the green incentive? I remember, I think you had mentioned it at the meeting that night, but just so everyone knows, if you could just talk a little bit about it, because I believe it does, there's an incentive to go in green, and I believe there's more grant funding that we can acquire if we do go green.
[John Falco]: And if I'm correct, are we aiming for silver, the silver level?
[John Falco]: So it just, that helps.
[John Falco]: Great. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to move for reconsideration so we can move this to zoning subcommittee.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I'd like to move this to subcommittee.
[John Falco]: I think we should move it to subcommittee because I know myself, this is the first time that I'm voting on a license like this. I've never had a vote on a license like this before. I think it needs more research. I think this may be, I won't speak for all of us, but I think there's a few of us that, have a few questions that need to be addressed. Um, and, uh, by the city solicitor and they haven't been addressed because it was tabled. So I think we should move this to subcommittee. So those questions can be addressed. So when we take future votes, we're all on the same page. We said, feel like right now, maybe there's some of us that aren't.
[John Falco]: No.
[John Falco]: So my reasons are, and I've talked to many residents about this, A business featuring Kino to go may encourage loitering and lingering of patrons inside and outside the licensed premises, leading to further problems and public nuisance of nature. In parking issues were issues as well. So, but I can, those are in a nutshell, some of the issues that I have with the- Thank you for those reasons.
[John Falco]: You are correct. Yes. Next meeting, uh, the, uh, is that on the sixth or the third, the third police community meeting will be held at the South Medford fire station.
[John Falco]: Everyone is welcome. No matter what neighbor you neighborhood you're from, everyone is welcome.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. A quick question about the grooming services and whatnot. Are those going to be during the same business hours nine to nine or is grooming stop at a certain time or I'm fairly certain that they occur throughout the entire operating hours.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Also thank you to Councilor Scarpelli for bringing this forward tonight. Um, this is definitely a quality of life issue that is going to impact North Medford and Fulton Heights. Uh, like a Councilor Scarpelli said him, uh, Councilor Longo and myself have been working diligently on the, uh, Malvern hospital ad hoc subcommittee on, uh, the issues, uh, surrounding the Malvern hospital. This is very similar in nature. Um, It's an impact on quality of life. The traffic is going to be out of control. We're already talking about hundreds of additional trips from Malden Hospital, potentially, and you're talking about, I mean, many, many more than that, I believe, up at the old New England Memorial site in Stoneham. So this is a major concern, a major quality of life issue. So far, with regard to the research that we've done in the Malden Hospital, had Sergeant Hartnett and Officer Brooks go out and do traffic counts on Murray Hill Road. We'll be getting that report soon. So what I'd like to do is if Councilor Scarpelli wouldn't mind, I'd like to amend the resolution that we get traffic counts on Highland Avenue, Elm Street, and on Fulton Street in the interest of public safety. We need to be proactive with regard to this issue. Like Councilor Scarpelli said, this is a major quality of life issue. We need to be out in front of this. And in talking to Sergeant Hartnett, we cannot get traffic counts. We're not gonna be able to get them soon because of the weather. I guess the traffic counting machine doesn't work well in inclement weather and in the winter. So probably in the spring, we will be able to get those counts. But I'd like to amend the resolution that we get traffic counts on Highland Ave, Elm Street and Fulton Street in the interest of public safety.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Once again, I thank council Scarpelli for bringing this forward. It's an important issue. Um, but I'd like to also, uh, if we could amend the resolution further, I know during the past year we've talked a lot as a, uh, as a committee about stumps, trees and, uh, sidewalks. And if we could get a report back from, uh, the DPW with regard to how many sidewalks have been replaced this year, how many trees have been planted, and how many stumps had been removed.
[John Falco]: I think it's a good resolution. I think it makes fiscal sense. I think it, I think it's a good resolution. I think it makes good fiscal sense. And I have, um, I have no problem with it going to subcommittee, but I think it would be nice to actually get a draft policy first that would come to subcommittee and then we can discuss it because then we'll have something to work with. So I'd like to, I'd like to see a draft, you know, Paul, I think if we pass this, have it, or maybe it's amended. So it's a draft policy that comes to us with a plan and then we can meet in subcommittee. And I mean, I've, uh, you know, I've only been on the board for years, years. So, um, I'm on this subcommittee and, you know, I'd be more than happy to take a look at it with my, I believe Councilor Caraviello and Councilor Marks around this.
[John Falco]: So, I think it, So Mr. President, I think it makes sense to actually move this to subcommittee, but I think it would make more sense to have a draft policy come to us with the administration, how they would like to handle it, and what they would like the policy to be. We can review it and vet it, and at that point make a decision, OK, do we want changes to this? Does this make sense? Or is it something we can live with? Or maybe it's not. But I think that we need to have something to work with. We need to get something from the administration first.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I am happy to hear that, uh, this issue sounds like it's been resolved. Uh, we did definitely have some concerns last week as we exited the building. Um, We, uh, council Scarpelli and myself noticed the lights were on the side of the dumpster. So we had some concerns that they were not going to be used and possibly thrown away. And, uh, I know a lot of time, effort and energy has gone into this project throughout the years by the, uh, students and the staff up at the vocational school. And, um, you know, I love those lights. Uh, you know, I think they'd become a part of the community. Uh, the, you know, I'm happy with the lights that are out front here tonight as well. But, um, The most important thing is they are being used somewhere in our community. Well, Mel Stadium sounds like a nice venue. Uh, you know, especially if you want to drive up close, it's right there. Um, so it's, uh, the bottom line is they being used again, um, here in the city. And I'm happy to see that, uh, you know, the, the, they were saved in, like I said, a lot of time, effort and energy went into those, went into the construction, uh, of those lights by the vocational students. So I'm glad that, uh, they did find a location. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I received a calls from a number of residents on Tainter Street and Fulton Street. Um, when you come out of tainter and you're heading towards Fulton, uh, you cannot take a left. And I guess increasingly, uh, you have, there are cars that are taking that left and going down Fulton street the wrong way. Um, which is very dangerous. It's a very narrow street, but the no left turn sign is on a telephone pole that is to the right and it's really high and it's being, it's being blocked by a tree that's in a private property. So if good at the signs, the lower, uh, in the interest of public safety, uh, just, I just want to try to prevent an accident there. It's can be very dangerous intersection, especially after school when you have Roberts kids, uh, walking home, uh, kids that live in that area. So if we could just have, uh, the DPW lower those signs. So they're in a, uh, view of the public. That'd be great.
[John Falco]: Chair recognizes Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Just a couple of quick questions. Is it possible to get a copy of that report, the one you just read with the spreadsheets?
[John Falco]: OK, that'd be great. With regard to when this actually happens, Is there any impact on the day-to-day going-ons in that parking lot with regard to people coming and going? How many trucks is it going to be? Is it just one truck? Is it many trucks? Is it going to be shut down? Or is it off limits?
[John Falco]: It is down, OK.
[John Falco]: Is there any, I guess, type of hazard to anyone just being in the vicinity? Or is it just as long as the parking lot's shut down, we're fine?
[John Falco]: Is it just one truck or is it many trucks?
[John Falco]: Do we know, would this be happening during daytime hours between nine and five?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to make a quick announcement. Uh, tomorrow night is the monthly police meeting, uh, community police meeting. This month is at the Andrews middle school. Yes, it's at the Andrews middle school. 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Doesn't matter what neighborhood you're from. Everyone is welcome. Tomorrow night, 7 p.m. Andrews middle school.
[John Falco]: There is, yes, economic development.
[John Falco]: Yn y cyhoeddiad ar gyfer y cyhoeddiad, diolch, Cyngor Knight. Mae'r Cyngor yn Diolch i'r bobl a'r dynion o'r Deyrnas Unedig o'r Deyrnas Unedig am dod ymlaen yma diwethaf. Er byddwn i'n newid i'r Cynulliad, mae'n brosiect sy'n rhaid ei ymdrechu, ac mae'n rhaid ei ymdrechu'n ystod. Mae'n mynd ymlaen ychydig yn fawr iawn, ac mae'n rhaid i ni weld a yw unrhyw ffordd i ddod ymlaen gyda'r gysylltiad i ddod ymlaen yn fwy cyflym. Rwy'n ymdrechu gyda'n cymdeithaswyr, mae'n rhaid i ni gael cyfarfod, ond rwy'n credu I think you can take a look at our police department. One of the things that's come up repeatedly is we've had the community meetings, the police community meetings, is staffing. You're understaffed, you need more help, I think. And I think you do a great job, you do a fabulous job. I see you out on the streets daily, and I always hear good things about the police department working hard. And I think that you're out there fighting for us and protecting us on a daily basis, and the least we can do is fight and work hard for you so that you have a new facility. That is a building that is, Mae'n agor 24 awr y diwrnod. Mae'r llwybrau'n bob amser, mae'n cael eu defnyddio bob amser, ac mae'n ymwybodol iawn y byddwn ni'n angen polisi newydd. Rydyn ni'n ei angen y diwrnod diwethaf, ac mae'n rhaid i ni ddod i mewn i wneud hynny ddiweddarach na'n ddiwethaf. Rwy'n cefnogi'r cyfrifiad sy'n cael ei ddod i mewn. Mae hyn yn defnyddio fy nghymorth. Mae'r polisi newydd yn bwysig, ac fel dweud Cynulliad, mae'n rhoi'r dyluniadau y mae angen i chi fod yn llwyr yn eich swydd. Felly, rydw i'n cefnogi'r cyhoeddiad, ac rwy'n diolch i chi am dod i mewn i'r diwrnod hwnnw.
[John Falco]: Diolch, Mr. President. Mae'r cyfrifiad hwnnw'n un rwy'n cefnogi Yn ymgynghoriad y ysgol, ac yn y cyfarfodydd cyhoeddus, rydw i wedi cwrdd â mwyaf o bobl ifanc gyda gwahanol ddiwylliannau, religiau, nidiaethwyr, ymgynghoriad sexual a phrofiadau. Y flwyddyn diwethaf, roeddwn i'n ysbrydol o'r digwyddiad, ac roedd y campaign rydw i'n ei ysbrydoli ar gyfer y Cynulliad y Cynulliad yn un Medford. I mi, mae ein cymunedau'n gryf, oherwydd rydyn ni'n ymweld â'r digwyddiad. Y rhan o'n gwybodaeth i'n bywyd yw gwneud Medford yn ymweld â phosib Rydyn ni'n cyfrannu ein profiadau unig a'n gweithio'n gysylltiedig, rydyn ni'n gweithio'n un Medford. Os ydych chi'n edrych ar Medford High School, roedd yna mwy na 68 wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahanol wahan ac yn creu cymuned o ddysgwyr. Mae cyfrifiadau yn cynnwys cefnogaeth y diwethaf Black History o West Medford. Yn ddiweddaraf, mae Medford yn rhoi ddiolch i'r gwasanaeth interfaith ar gyfer y nifer o rhaglenau a penderfyniadau sy'n cael eu cynnig ar y gweithredu oedd Medford Family Network. Mae Comisiwn Gwaith Dynol wedi gweithio'n fawr i hyrwyddo'r swydd hwnnw, yw, ydw i'n ddweud, i hyrwyddo'r hawliau cyhoeddus o'r bobl sy'n ymwneud â Medford, i gynllunio'r atmosfera cymunedol yn gweithio gyda grwpiau cymdeithasol mewn aelodau i addysgu, cymryd dealltwriaeth, ymdrechu'r ysbrydolion a'r amgylcheddau, ac i'w gweithredu yn y gymdeithas pan fydd angenedig. Rwy'n cefnogi'r cyfrifiad hwn'n hollbwysig. Dwi'n credu bod ein cyfrifiad o weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i weithredu'n gilydd i
[John Falco]: Yn ddiweddaraf, byddwn i'n hoffi cael mynediad fel cyfanswm hefyd.
[John Falco]: Mae'n dda iawn i'w gweld bod hyn yn mynd ymlaen. Mae'r ystafell hwn yn anodd iawn. Mae'n un o'r cyfrifiadau mwyaf yr ydw i'n cael. Mae'n amlwg, ac rydych chi'n eisiau ei gyflwyno, wrth gwrs, oherwydd rydych chi eisiau i bobl ddod i'ch ddowr, ac yna i mewn i'r dîm, ac rydych chi eisiau iddyn nhw teimlo'n ddiogel, ac ati. Yn ogystal â'r prosiect, beth yw'r, ydych chi'n gwybod, mae'r cwmni i mi ysgrifennodd y rhaglen pilot, ond, felly, beth yw'r cyfnod ar hyn? Yn ystod, os ydych chi'n gallu gweithredu mwy ar hynny.
[John Falco]: Felly, o ran y bobl sy'n gwylio ysgolion, beth bynnag y byddai'r bloc yn effeithio?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So we met last Tuesday night in a subcommittee meeting, myself, vice president, Mungo Kerner and a Councilor, Scarpelli. And we met with, um, the friends of Fellsmere Heights and actually the method police department as well to talk about, uh, any type of traffic issues. And, uh, it was a good discussion. Uh, uh, friends of Fellsmere Heights laid out their plan for what they would like to see in that area. Um, yeah, in a, in contrast to what the developer is actually proposing. And during that conversation, uh, uh, actually a mass general law came up, uh, chapter one 80 section eight a concerning, uh, sale, lease, and exchange of nonprofits, uh, corporations assets. And, um, what this involves is basically, uh, it, it, it involves a charitable corporation planning to dispose of its assets, uh, must notify the attorney general within 30 days before doing so. And, uh, it goes, the law goes on to state that, um, And it was actually updated in July 21st of 2000 that it requires a non-profit acute care hospital or health maintenance organization to give 90 days notice to the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Public Health before the sale, lease, exchange, or other disposition of substantial amount of its assets with a personal entity other than the public charity. Following receipt of the notice, the AG, the Attorney General's Office is to investigate and or hold a public hearing. And so the Friends of Fellsmere Heights actually, back in 2015, inquired about this with the Attorney General's Office. And the Attorney General's Office actually basically came back saying that this doesn't apply because they ruled that Hallmark Health is not a acute care facility or an HMO, a health maintenance organization. So they basically turned it down. And there seems to be a lot of doubt as to whether or not they should have done that because you know, why is the law there in the first place? Um, you know, it hasn't been used in a hospital for a while, but I mean, technically it's still on the Malvern hospital is still owned by hallmark health. It's still, uh, listed as an asset on their books. So we really should be considered as part of the hospital. Um, so we would like the city solicitor, uh, to actually look into this a little bit further and, uh, give us an opinion as to whether or not, um, probably the, whether or not we should inquire with the Attorney General on this issue. Really, I mean, it definitely seems odd that the law is there, but the Attorney General's office really isn't following through with it, from what we could tell. So we'd like City Solicitor Rumley to look into this, offer us an opinion, and I'm sure my council colleagues would definitely like to speak on this as well, but we felt that this should be looked into further. Thank you council. Madam vice president.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes, I have, Mr. President. I have reviewed the records, found them to be in order, and move approval.
[John Falco]: Happy Thanksgiving, Councilor. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. I just wanted to, just before we leave, just say good luck to the Medford High School football team. Go Mustangs. Playing Malden, the 129th meeting. And I just want to wish them well. Good luck, Mustangs. Where? Malden. Malden.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, the, the following resolutions are our result from our latest community police meeting held last week at St. Francis. We had, we had a good turnout. We had about 50, 60 residents from the community came to the meeting. Once again, big thank you to the Medford police department. All of the police officers that actually patrol that neighborhood were in attendance to meet the residents. It was nice to see the police engaging the residents to find out what the issues are in the neighborhood. It was a, it was a good exchange of ideas. And it was interesting. There were a lot of topics that came up, everything from traffic, parking. Talked about airplane noise. Airplane noise came up during the police meeting. We had a gentleman that stood up. He said, I'm not sure if I can speak about this here, but he wanted to talk about airplane noise. So that is something that came up as well. Talked about opiates, the staffing levels at the Medford Police Department. And we talked about speed bumps again. But it was a good meeting. Uh, but, uh, this issue did come up with regard to, um, the, uh, the yellow center line at central lab. Uh, at one point there was a center line, uh, in a sense faded in one end in, in most of the streets, non-existent. Uh, so if we could have the DPW come down and, uh, repaint the line, uh, in the interest of public safety, I think it'd be nice to actually, I think it'd be a way of narrowing the road to make it safer for everyone in that neighborhood.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this issue came up as well. Uh, this is an ongoing issue at the Roberts elementary school. It was corrected a few years ago with the help of the police department and active parents in the community. And, uh, they put a system in place where they had, uh, actually soft horses that they put in the street to, uh, uh, stop some of the traffic. And, uh, since the, over the past year or so, the soft horses have now been removed. I think they're using cones, but it's not as efficient as it was in the past. And it seems that, um, there are a lot of new parents as well that are driving through the parking lot when they shouldn't. And it's a, once again, this is one of the most populated schools in the city. It's a public safety issue. Um, you know, a lot of, uh, young kids are in that area and, uh, it needs to be addressed. And furthermore, it needs to be addressed. The communication needs to go out to the parents. I don't think communication has gone out this year. Uh, it should go out. Um, it actually needs to be communication should be set to the residents in the neighborhood as well. So they know, what streets they can access and what streets they cannot access during pickup and drop off. So I thank you for your time and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Well, the driver, let me, let me, I guess, be clear. This, this is, well, it came up during the community meeting. And it's basically as the buses go from one route to the next. So, you know, the conclusion of the route, they're flying to get to the next route. So there's no one, we don't have students on the bus at that time, but still they should be adhering to this local speed limits that are in place. And it sounds like they're not, I got a number of complaints about this from residents and it came up at the meeting as well. So I just wanted to have either the police chief or the superintendent of schools reach out to Eastern bus, and just to remind their drivers to drive safely at all times. Very good.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, the reverse time one, uh, nine one one system is a valuable tool that we use in the community for, different events that we, you know, usually, usually use to, um, spread word, you know, about different events that are coming up in the community. And, um, uh, there were a few people that I mentioned at the community, community police meeting, um, that, you know, it'd be good to actually have some more neighborhood focused type messages with regard to anything that's happening with regard to like crime or that type of thing. So if you have a number of break-ins in the neighborhood or, or, you know, you know, car break-ins, you know, it'd be nice to actually isolate the messages to specific neighborhoods to say, you know, keep an eye out. Um, you know, uh, your neighborhood, there's various issues going on. So if we could just start to use the 911 reverse 911 system in a way that's neighborhood specific, uh, I think that'd be very beneficial to each neighborhood throughout a community. So move approval. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of phone calls about this issue here near the Winthrop Street Rotary, which we've talked about on many occasions over the past month with regard to traffic and safety. There is a crosswalk at the intersection of Essex and High Street and near Schoolhouse Road as well. There's a crosswalk that's in that area that's extremely dangerous to cross at. So if we could put up some pedestrian signs just to illustrate to drivers just just to bring some more attention to it, that it's a place where people do cross, there's a school nearby, there's a lot of traffic in that area with regard to basically five roads coming into one area. So if we could put up those pedestrian signs, I think it'd be just a great way to help out with public safety at that intersection. So move approval, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I understand the concern of my fellow colleagues but the bottom line is there's a crosswalk there and it's a safety issue and the sign should go up until it's determined by the traffic commission to take them, to take them down or to eliminate the sidewalk. We want to keep our pedestrians safe. Putting up signs is a low cost option and if we don't use them there and they're taken down, I'm sure we can use them at some other crosswalk in the, in our city. So I mean in the time being, for the time being it should be about public safety and making sure that the residents of our community is safe crossing the street. If it should come down, I'm fine with that. If the crosswalk should be eliminated and the traffic commission decides to do that, that's fine. But in the meantime, it's about keeping the residents of our community safe. So I, I, uh, I believe the sign should go up as soon as possible.
[John Falco]: If I may, could we read back the amendments just because it sounds like it's contradictory now. I feel like it's,
[John Falco]: I think contradictory in nature. Yes. We're asking, well, I'm asking for signs to be put up and my colleagues asking, which is right.
[John Falco]: I would actually like, if Council and I wouldn't mind putting it in as a separate resolution, because to me it seems contradictory.
[John Falco]: Mr. Councilor, how'd you find those records? Mr. President, I asked that those records be tabled. I actually did not receive a copy. in my package.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I would also just like to state, um, I received a number of calls this weekend as well regarding the, uh, airplane noise over the Heights. It's gotten to a point where it's, it's really, it just seems like it's constant and something needs to be done, but we need to, we do need to get some sort of an update from the administration and from, uh, uh, our representative at Massport. So I definitely support this resolution. It's something that needs to be looked at. We've been waiting for a while. And if we could definitely support the resolution and it's just something that we need to look at as soon as possible. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Chair recognizes Councilor Falco. Mr. President, I just want to thank Councilor Longo-Curran for bringing this forward. I mean, it's a very important resolution. I can identify 100% with going to take my kids to Little League at the park. It's a dangerous area. It's a dangerous intersection. And I support the resolution, especially the update on what was supposed to happen with the island or making the sidewalks wider in that area to help narrow the streets. I mean, if you walk down South Street, I think especially on the side towards the river, there isn't even a sidewalk there. It's just grass. So I mean, it'd be nice to actually, maybe we could have a sidewalk created to actually help narrow that road. But I really think you hear something like this here, and more and more, and I think all councilors have received these phone calls and emails, traffic, speeding. You talk about heavy trucking and how you eliminate it from one street, but it creates problems on another street. And issues like this here scream for a traffic engineer and hiring a traffic engineer. We do not have one on staff in the city. We have no one qualified to study traffic in this city. There is no one qualified at all to study traffic. And we need someone, we need someone desperately, like Council Box mentioned earlier, I had offered a resolution back in the spring. It was not included in the budget. I hope it's included in next year's budget. I'll bring it up again. But we desperately need a traffic engineer to look at issues like this, because these issues are just, with more and more development coming into our city, these issues are just becoming, they are popping up all over our neighborhoods, throughout our city, they need to be addressed, and I feel like in many ways they're not being addressed because we don't have a traffic engineer. So I support the resolution and move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I may mention quickly, uh, tomorrow night, November 2nd is the next community police meeting at St. Francis Parish Center. It starts at 7 p.m. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to mention really quick, since the issue of public safety came up, that the next Medford Police Community Meeting is coming up. It's at St. Francis Parish Center at 7 p.m. on November 2nd. Everyone is welcome. No matter what neighborhood you live in throughout the city, everyone is welcome to attend. San Francis Parish Center, 7 p.m. on November 2nd. December 7th, Andrews Middle School. January 4th, South Medford Fire Station. And we just added a date of February 1st is going to be, I think, at Breed Hall at Patuxent University. So we added another date to the list. But I just wanted to, public safety came up, and this is, a great venue to talk about public safety issues and questions that they may have the police station. So that is a list of updating, updated times and locations for those meetings.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I brought this, uh, resolution up for tonight. I've received a number of calls from, uh, residents in the heights and, uh, also in down in the lower Fulton street area, uh, people crossing the Fellsway right down near St. Francis. And, um, One of the biggest problems down there is when you press the button to actually cross the Fellsway, there's not enough time to cross. So it counts down. And when you get halfway across, you have to sprint the rest of the way. And it's, it's definitely a public safety issue. Um, in fact, uh, on the way to the meeting tonight, I was the first car on line down by St. Francis stop. The couple was walking and they hit the button, they crossed, they made it to the island in the middle, and then they had to sprint to get to the other side. And that's, you know, you have traffic coming off of 93. It's a very busy roadway and it's a public safety issue. So I'd appreciate it if we could have, um, uh, someone from the mayor's office reached out to the DCR and see what we can do to have the, um, more time added to that crossing signal so people can cross the street safely.
[John Falco]: It's a very busy intersection. A lot of people cross that intersection in the morning, walk across there to catch the bus to go into Boston, or to go to Wellington Station. Some kids cross to get to baseball in the summer and whatnot. have someone contact the DCR to increase the time to cross the street, the walking signals. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. On the motion for approval by Councilor Falco, Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, thank you, uh, consular Caraviello for bringing this forward tonight. I also did receive calls, um, uh, the other day about this issue. And, um, we talked a lot about this at our last police community meeting. And, uh, one of these, they talked about the various solutions, uh, um, that they were going to implement in that, at that intersection and crosswalk. And, uh, one of them I believe was to, uh, set up like a, um, a flashing sign that would slow down cars. And, um, that hasn't arrived yet. If you could just, uh, get, we'll find out from the mayor's office as to when, um, that sign is going to be, um, uh, set up and installed. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, citizen. Thank you, Councilor. And we're going to take our vote. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be brief. I just wanted to touch upon the topic of the Roberts Elementary School that came up earlier. I was involved a few years ago with the police department and a number of parents as well, just to redesign the loop system down there. And it has worked well for a little while. But if we could just have Officer Brooks, because Officer Brooks was very instrumental in changing the system down there. If you could just have him follow up directly with Mr. Johnson to see what's working and what's not working, because I know some things have changed and it sounds like it's not working, but Officer Brooks was definitely instrumental in making that change. And if he could work directly with Principal Johnson, that would be greatly appreciated.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. I received a number of calls about this as well. Um, this is, uh, definitely an issue that needs to be addressed sooner than later. I received a call the other day from a neighbor. She had gone down to the square. I think to get her nails done. And she was approached several times by people looking for money while she was on the way to her car. She felt intimidated. And, you know, we don't want our residents feeling that way when they're coming into the downtown business district. It's wrong. I mean, here we are, we're trying to, you know, revitalize the square. We keep talking about it. You know, you want economic development, but if you want economic development, you don't want to scare away people that are kind of coming here to spend their money. So this needs to be addressed, it needs to be addressed right away. It's been going on far too long and I definitely support this resolution and I second the motion.
[John Falco]: If I may really quick, I need to make a quick correction. I had mentioned that the next police community meeting is on the 5th. It's actually November 2nd. It's at St. Francis, and while we're at it, December 7th is at the Andrews Middle School, and January 4th is at the South Benford Fire Station.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And, Joe, thank you for coming forward tonight. One of the big things that came out of the meeting at the Brooks School last week was just traffic in general. And I know each of us receive traffic calls. I know I get them on a weekly basis. And it doesn't matter really what part of the city you live in. I know in North Medford, I mean, I live on Fulton Spring, and I see people fly down Fulton Street every day and go right through the stop sign. So it's happening everywhere. It's a major concern. But, you know, when I hear stories like this, To me, it really screams at the fact that we need to hire a traffic engineer. I've been saying this since March. I would say a majority of the calls that I've received since I've been elected, and I'm a first term member of the council, I have received a ton of calls on traffic. And we have no one, and the chief even said it at a meeting last week, we have no one in the city that has a professional background in traffic, in analyzing traffic patterns. and seeing how the traffic flows throughout our community. And we really need to hire someone, bring someone on board that can look at the traffic throughout our community, because the issues that we have today are going to be even worse tomorrow and in the months and the years to come. If you look throughout our community, the amount of development that potentially could happen over the next few years is amazing. Take a look at North Medford, the potential development at the old Malden Hospital site. Take a look at Locust Street. Take a look down at Mystic Ave. And these are places where we're talking about major development that could potentially come into our city, and they are going to affect the quality of life that we have in our city. Traffic is a major concern. It needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed now. The traffic engineer, I asked the mayor if he could please reconsider Resolution 16-088. It's a resolution that I put out earlier this year. to hire a traffic engineer. I think it's money well spent. We need to take a look at this issue. It needs to be addressed today. It's long overdue. This is affecting the quality of life in all neighborhoods throughout this community. It needs to be addressed right away. I thank you for coming here tonight. It's important that we hear from residents on issues like this. I know I've received many phone calls, many emails, and I know my fellow colleagues have as well. This is a major concern throughout our community, and it needs to be addressed right away. So I thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: That meeting was not geared specifically towards the West Medford neighborhood. I made it entirely clear that it was geared to everyone. We're bringing the meeting to each neighborhood throughout the city. Well, that's not the intention. Excuse me. Anyone can come, and anyone can talk about any problem they have. There were people there that were not from West Medford. They were from Wellington. And they talked about issues that they had. So it wasn't specifically about West Medford. I mean, it was heavily involved with West Bedford questions about specific issues that were happening in that neighborhood. I mean, so the whole point of the thing is to is to bring the meetings to the neighborhoods and actually make it easily accessible for people to get to those meetings, which I think we did. We had 70 to 75, with all the police there too, I think probably close to 100 people in the room. And normally, and Bob, you would know this better than anyone, there's probably maybe 10 people. I'm not sure. There's not that many people there on a monthly basis down at the police station. So anyone could come to that meeting, and anyone could talk about any issue that they wanted to. The chief made that entirely clear. The meeting happened to be in West Method next month. It'll be at St. Francis Parish Center. A month after that, it's going to be at the Andrews Middle School. Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend. The more people that attend, the better. That's what this is all about, getting people involved, engaging the residents, and having them come to the meeting and talk about the things that affect them in their neighborhood. But it's not limited, no meeting is ever limited to just these residents. Everybody and anybody can come. I hope everybody comes. I mean, we have big areas, big, I mean, the schools, St. Francis Parish Center, South Medford Fire Station, these are all big venues where we can see lots of people. So I'd love to fill the place. I mean, but I mean, everyone, and let me repeat this, everyone is welcome to come and talk about anything they want. The chief was, when he came and he opened up the meeting, he said that, you know, any questions, feel free to ask, we're here to help. And I thought it was a very good exchange, very good dialogue back and forth between the residents and the police. And I thought it was very productive. I mean, you know, Council Marks just went through the plan that they're working on and I think it's a good start. Now, is it gonna solve the problem completely? Maybe not, but it's a good start. But I think, you know, I just wanna just make clear that that meeting, it didn't really start on Facebook. That meeting was a resolution that I brought forward earlier in the year, back in the spring. to basically bring these meetings out into the neighborhood, engage the residents, have them talk about what is going on in their neighborhoods. So I just want to make that clear. So thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Uh, and I apologize if this sounds a little repetitive. Um, but, uh, a few months ago I offered a resolution to bring the, uh, monthly meetings at the Medford police station into the neighborhoods. Our first one was last Wednesday at the Brooke school. And, uh, first of all, I'd like to thank chief Sacco for letting me bring those into the neighborhoods. I'd also like to thank DPW Commissioner Brian Kerins. He was there as well and he did a great job at outlining the improvements that they're going to be putting in place in front of the Brooks Elementary School. And also like to thank my colleagues as well, Councilor Marks and Councilor Caraviello were there as well. And it was a nice meeting. It was a good meeting. It was a nice healthy exchange of ideas and possible solutions to what we can do in that area. There's about 75 to 100 residents, many members of the Medford Police Department. And we talked about traffic, but we also talked about other issues, school safety, speeding, lighting was an issue, signage throughout the neighborhoods. But as we had mentioned earlier, over the past few months, there have been two people that have been hit by cars. I believe there was a car accident on the corner of Mystic and High Street within the past couple of weeks. So there are major problems in that area with regard to traffic. I mean, you go from Medford Square down to St. Ray's, as was mentioned earlier, it's a straight shot, and there's absolutely no lights. So what we need to do is, it's kind of like a multi-pronged approach where we need to make improvements to that area, but one of the things we need to do is lower the speed limit. Actually, at the meeting, Representative Garbally was there as well, and he talked about, you know, and the chief did as well, about how it's a state road. And we really have limits as to what we can do regarding state roads. And one of the suggestions was to lower the speed limit to 25 miles per hour. And I think a lot of people are in favor of that. We're talking about pedestrians, bicyclists, that are just trying to get from point A to point B, and it's become very dangerous. Representative Garboly had encouraged residents to actually write letters to Stephanie Pollack, the director of the MassDOT. And I think what we should do here is we should actually be part of this effort. And we should stand behind our residents. And we should go on record as writing a letter to Stephanie Pollack as well. And I think this is an issue that we can all unite behind. uh, in the best interest of many residents throughout this community and the people that pass through our community, that we take public safety serious, that we want to make sure that everyone is safe, getting to where they need to get to. And I think 25 miles per hour will be appropriate. Um, and, uh, uh, you know, I'm hoping that my councils, uh, support this resolution tonight and, uh, move approval on the motion for approval by councilor Falco chair recognizes councilor night.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So these resolutions, these three resolutions, the one that I offered earlier and these upcoming resolutions, and these are all from basically the product of the meeting that we had the other night. And, um, you know, I received many calls from residents, uh, from in particular for middle school, uh, parents that have kids that need to catch the bus in the morning and they just have a tough time navigating high street. We've been talking about it for the past, probably half an hour. Um, it's tough to cross. And, uh, I'd like to see, um, if we could, uh, add another, crossing guard during the, we already have one during the elementary hours, but it'd be nice to have one, uh, for the middle school students as well when they, um, get ready to go to school in the morning. So if we could add a crossing guard to that, uh, intersection, um, that'd be great.
[John Falco]: And another, uh, so, so this is, um, this resolution here is basically to add a crossing guard. What, one of the things that they're actually looking at is actually placing the bus stops. So, so what they've done, and I know this came up earlier from what I've been told is on the fellows way, officer Brooks worked, uh, the bus route, reworked the bus route. So no one has to cross the street. So all the stops are on one side of high and the stops on the other side of high. So I think they're working through that now trying to readjust that. So this is kind of a stop gap measure until we get that resolution. From what I've been told, Officer Brooks has worked with the schools to actually look at those way bus stops. And I believe they've already done that where they have stops on one side and stops on the other side. So no one actually has to cross. So there's just a little piece of information for my colleagues.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Like I mentioned earlier, during the monthly community meeting, this came up as well, the Winthrop Street Rotary. You know, the Rotary is definitely a public safety concern. Over the past few years, there have been many accidents at that Rotary on a daily basis. You know, you have five streets that run right into that one Rotary. And years ago, when there were probably fewer cars on the road, maybe this made sense. But these days, the days that we live in, everyone owns a car. And some houses have three, four, five cars. This is a major concern. I mean, we have all kinds of traffic coming in from Methodist residents, from residents in Winchester, Estonia. I mean, you name it, all surrounding communities that are coming through this one area. The traffic is really bad in the morning. I've received calls on this as well. The cars are backed up on Winthrop Street, High Street, you name it. And it's a major concern. I think in the matter, just looking at public safety, this is something that the city needs to address. I'd like to see them have some sort of a study to look at this intersection. I think the chief had mentioned that the way it presently is today, it's just not good. I mean, this is not good for the community to have a rotary like this. roads flowing in. So I'd like to have the city have a study that actually looks at that intersection and making it into a regular intersection with streetlights. You know, just research it, study it. It's just a matter of public safety. We need to make sure that people are safe. This is a major safety concern and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I am definitely in favor of the amendments. No problem. I mean, we need to be flexible. So the bottom line for me is it just needs to be studied. We need to take a look at this. It's a matter of public safety, so I'm fine with the amendments, and I thank my colleagues for bringing them forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, and I'd like to thank a DPW commissioner Karen's for being here tonight. And I thank you for the report. It's very thorough. And I like to see how progress has been made. And you show that on the report by giving us the dates as to when stumps have been removed and whatnot. But I'd also like to state that I do support Councilor Scarpelli and his motion that, you know, it'd be nice to see all this labor being done in house and seeing it done by our DPW department. I do agree that our DPW department is significantly understaffed. And I really believe we need more staffing and we need, I'd like to see more money. I hope the mayor puts more money towards that in the upcoming budget. Um, so I do support the, the more in-house personnel. Uh, but one of the things that I wanted to, uh, that I'd like to amend the resolution is I'd like to see, I like the report tonight that shows the progress of what's been done. So I'd like if we could, if I could amend the resolution to actually, if we could get a report each month when this work begins to actually get, report back showing us the progress, what's being done, you know, when stumps are being removed, you know, what the addresses are, when sidewalk panels are going in, what the addresses are, because this is a significant amount of money. You're talking about a half a million dollars. Um, you know, when we should see how it's being spent. So I'd like to see a reporting each month, uh, you know, basically updated list, just a check Mark that shows these addresses, these stumps have been removed. Uh, these sidewalk panels have been replaced because I know we all get calls. on a fairly regular basis about stumps, sidewalks, catch basins, flooding, all that type of thing. So for the amount of money that's being spent, I'd like to see that as an amendment to the resolution that we get that regular reporting. So thank you very much for your report, and thank you for the hard work that you put in in your department as well. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor. Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Scarpelli hit it on the head. Great person, great sense of humor. I had him for a physical education teacher when I was at the high school, and I'd bump into him in the community off and on. Just a great person who's definitely going to be missed, and a great family as well. And thoughts and prayers to the family. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: And a football referee.
[John Falco]: Mr. President. Councilor. If I may, before the minutes, make a quick announcement. Please do. Thank you very much. Uh, this is just to remind everyone, uh, uh, earlier this year, I had a motion about moving the community police meetings, uh, the monthly meetings out to the neighborhoods and tomorrow night the, uh, Medford police department's community service meeting will be at, uh, the Brooke school. Um, and that's going to be at 7 PM and everyone is welcome. You don't have to live in that neighborhood to go to the meeting. Anyone from all over the city is welcome to attend. to talk about issues related to the police and whatnot. So it starts at 7, over at the Brooks Elementary School.
[John Falco]: If I may, actually, while we're here, just to reiterate that, I guess, So tomorrow night is the Brooks Elementary School. November 2nd is St. Francis Parish Center. December 7th, Andrews Middle School. And January 4th is going to be in South Medford, most likely at the fire station. I just have to confirm that. But those are the dates moving forward over the next four months where the community, Medford Police Department community meetings are being held. So everyone is welcome to attend.
[John Falco]: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the records, I find them to be in order, and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I want to thank, uh, council Longo current for bringing this forward tonight. Uh, it's an important resolution and this is an issue that really, uh, impacts the North Bedford neighborhoods, um, in a major way. Uh, the, the project has been scaled down, but the number of cars that are, um, As Councilor Lungo-Koehn said, the number of cars that are going to impact or going to be added to the daily traffic patterns in that neighborhood are up to 400, 500 cars. So that's a major impact. My concern, I guess, is with the traffic engineer. Earlier in the year, I mentioned or actually offered a resolution that the city hire a traffic engineer, and this is one of the best examples why we should have one. We should not be trusting the traffic study from a developer in run with that. I mean, the developers paying the traffic engineer for a study, I'm sure the traffic engineer is going to benefit the developer in a lot of ways. We need to have an independent traffic engineer take a look at this situation and take a look at the method roads. If the city's not going to hire a full-time traffic engineer, I look at a case like this, I look at a case like Locust Street, we should be consulting or hiring our own traffic engineer as a consultant to work on specific projects if we're not going to hire one full time. This is where we need an independent voice to take a look at the traffic patterns and how a development like this is going to impact our community and especially the North Bedford area. This is an important topic and it's going to affect and impact the quality of life for many residents. Anyone that drives through North Bedford knows the small roads, the winding roads, And the traffic is bad now, trying to add 500 cars to that, I can't even imagine. I mean, the major safety concerns there. So I'd like to amend the resolution to actually, to have the city hire a traffic consultant to look at this project and give us an independent view of how the traffic is going to impact the North Bedford neighborhoods.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to thank, uh, councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward tonight. Um, this is an issue that, uh, needs to be addressed. It's long overdue and, uh, I would, uh, support the addition of a traffic light at that intersection, a hundred percent. The traffic is out of control down there. People seem to, no one pays attention to where they're driving. That goes everywhere, but I think in between when we get a traffic light put in and today, we need to come up with some steps to actually make this a safer intersection for our students. and for just everyone in general. And I think definitely additional signage, hopefully additional police presence, but I'd also like to see a crossing guard added in the morning for the middle school students. Right now we currently have one for the elementary school students, but I think that the middle school students also need one as well. I have received calls from parents that have kids in middle school and it is a very hard intersection to navigate in the morning. in the afternoon, and I believe that a crossing guard for the middle school students would be beneficial as well. I also talked to Superintendent Belson, and I was advocating for additional crossing guard with him as well. He had told me that, I guess there's going to be a meeting, I think on Thursday, between the mayor and the superintendent, and I think the police chief as well, and I think they're gonna hopefully work on a solution for this. But I also, and I also believe too that The city really needs to hire a traffic engineer. I think a traffic engineer would help with a lot of these problems just by looking at how our roads are set up, what we can do to keep our residents and everyone that passes through our city safe, and just make commuting in general safer. So I think that, you know, I'll keep advocating for that, but I think a traffic engineer is something that we desperately need in the city as more and more people move to our city and our city just becomes, I think, more popular as each day goes by with people wanting to move here, businesses wanting to set up here. So I think that's something that we desperately need. So I support this 100%. I thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward this morning, this morning, tonight. And it's been a long day. And I definitely support this resolution. So thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I was stopped by a resident on the way in tonight that would like to address the council.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Moki, for your report. I, too, am very happy to see this project. Very happy to see it getting started. This is, for many people that don't live here, they might come here to do business. And a lot of people, of course, that live here come here to do business. And it sends a message how we treat this building. It sends a message to the community about what we're about. Quick question about the parapet up top. So is that going to basically, when it's replaced, is it going to look the same?
[John Falco]: And as far as, right now I believe, with the type of material right now is concrete that's up there. Is that going to be concrete or is that going to be another material?
[John Falco]: And I assume that the polyvinyl probably holds up longer and more weather-resistant?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to also state, I think this is a project where time is of the essence. It needs to be done right away. I think back to the winter where walking into the building, I felt like the ceiling was kind of like a sieve. I mean, the water was just coming in. It needs to be repaired as soon as possible. And I also would like to see this approved tonight. So thank you.
[John Falco]: I also would like to just to make a quick announcement. Um, and that was that back in the spring, I offered a resolution to bring the monthly community police meetings, uh, into the neighborhoods. And, uh, I've been working on that and, uh, happy to say that we have a few dates coming up where we're actually going to be bringing the community, uh, police meetings into the various neighborhoods throughout our city. So therefore people can go to their, uh, just stay in the neighborhood and go to the meeting. So we're bringing the meeting to them. Um, so yep. Let's see. The first meeting is going to be October 5th at the Brooke school. Uh, the second meeting will be November 2nd at St. Francis. The third meeting will be on December 7th at the Andrews school. and the fourth meeting will be in South Medford, I believe on January 4th, but I just have to confirm that, but I just wanted to let everybody know that those community meetings have been set up. I talked with the chief about that as well, so we're always looking forward to it. They all start at 7 p.m., and if anyone has any questions, feel free to give me a call, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls from the residents on Russell Street regarding the guardrail that it's basically on Russell Street. And it stands between Russell Street and Crane Street. And it's been in disrepair for quite some time now. And it's also overgrown with lots of brush, and weeds, and trees, and whatnot. And it's definitely a public safety concern. I have a picture of it here if anybody wants to see it. And it's really tough to, if anybody had any type of disability wanted to get by in a wheelchair, it'd be really tough to navigate. It's really overgrown. The guide rail is in complete disrepair. It needs to be replaced. And I'd like to see it replaced as soon as possible. And if possible, at least if we could start by getting the DPW to trim the weeds and trim it back a bit just so people can, traverse that sidewalk. So I'd like to make a motion to have this approved and actually if we could have the guide rail replaced and if we could have the DPW in the meantime before its replacement, if we could have them clean up the area, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Aye.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This here is an issue that impacts or has a negative effect on all of our communities, all of our neighborhoods throughout the city. As you drive around, you see graffiti, tagging on a lot of commercial property, it seems like. And as I did some research, I found that there's penalties and fines for the person that actually tags the property, but there's no, we have nothing in the ordinance to actually have the graffiti removed by the property owner. And it's unfortunate, but I mean, Councilor Caraviello had a great resolution earlier in the year where, you know, the Bigelow building on Forest Street, and that's a gateway to our square. You come down Forest Street, you know, if you go to a show at the Chevalier or you're heading to Method Square, what do you see? The building on the left and graffiti all over the side of the building. It's been there for months and there's no teeth in the ordinance to actually have it cleaned. So we can send out the code enforcement officer, but he really can't do anything about it because there's no teeth. There's no fine. There's nothing. So, um, I really feel that, you know, something needs to be done about this. I think, you know, maybe this paper goes into subcommittee where we research it and see what they do in other cities and towns, but something needs to be done. Uh, you know, all over the city, I see graffiti and tagging and there's really, There's nothing being done about it. And I think something needs to be done. It sends a message to people when they come to our community and they see this, they say, what's going on here? I mean, there's graffiti everywhere. And I think it really sends a message. And the thing with graffiti and tagging, if you don't take it down right away, it gets worse. And people add to it and it just multiplies and it gets out of control. And I feel like we're at a point now where, you know, you go to each corner of the city, there are buildings that have it. And something needs to be done about it. So I'd like to offer this resolution, and I'd hope that everyone would support it. And I think that going to subcommittee is probably the proper approach to take, because I think we should research it with other cities and towns to see what other cities and towns do, just to make sure that we're doing the right thing. but I would like the council's support on this, so thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank my council colleagues for their suggestions because I think, you know, this at least starts the discussion as to what we can do. I think some great suggestions came from Councilor Knight, Councilor Marks, Councilor Caraviello with regard to actually maybe bringing on a team or having a department that does that. And I think maybe incorporated with some teeth if someone refuses, you know, that's something we can look at. But the discussion begins and I think that's the important piece. And I just want to thank my colleagues for their support. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is an issue that came up right around budget time. And it's something that I believe in. It's something that, you know, it's one of our most important responsibilities is to pass the city budget each year. This year, we're in the range of $162 million. And, you know, but the budget process shouldn't be just in May and June. It should be continuous throughout the year. We should know what's going on with the individual accounts, you know, where we stand, you know, after X amount of months. So the request is basically to get budget to actual details. I had asked for this in a previous meeting, and the administration said we were going to get it. We haven't received it yet, but I did talk to, I said the chief of staff when I came into the meeting tonight, she told me that we will have it at the next meeting. But I think it's important, you know, one of our most important responsibilities is the budget. The budget should be an ongoing process where we're looking at it each month to see where we are. So I think that it's important to us that we keep an eye on the numbers each month and move for approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I just want to say I agree with my council colleagues. You know, zoning is one of our most important responsibilities. It needs to be looked at. It needs to be looked at sooner than later. You know, we, it seems like, you know, month after month, we keep hearing about developers that want to come in and build and build and build, and they're seeking all kinds of variances. And, you know, so we need to jump on top of this. And Council Member Mox is right. This is one of our most important responsibilities. And we have to get on top of this sooner than later. And it's correct. Zoning has not been looked at. in this city for close to probably, I mean, with the exception of the stations landing area, I talked to someone the other day and they said it was probably close to 40, if not 50 years. I mean, it has been a very long time. If you take a look at the zoning maps, they're very dated. It needs to be looked at and it needs to be looked at now. So I just wanna go on the record of saying, you know, I support my colleagues. I think this is something we need to look at sooner than later. And, you know, I look forward to working with the subcommittee that's gonna work on that, the zoning subcommittee. Hopefully we will be looking at that soon.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to thank you, Councilor Knight, for bringing this forward tonight. This year, I support wholeheartedly. It makes complete sense. Smoking is so dangerous. It's amazing when, back in my years in the school committee, we would get yearly reports about, you know, tobacco trends and alcohol trends and drug trends and whatnot. And, you know, it's so hard to believe, even knowing the dangers of cigarettes, that, you know, young people would still smoke. But I support this 100%. I thank you for a council night for bringing it forward. This is a great resolution and I'm happy he brought it forward. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I am too also very pleased that we're heading in the right direction with this. It's been a far too long. I'm glad to see that we're moving forward and hopefully this, uh, project will come to fruition. As far as, and I know this is looking kind of further down the road, but you had mentioned that construction could take up to 18 months if things go as planned. Have you given any thought to what would happen to the library during those 18 months and maybe where it would be?
[John Falco]: It's just a concern, because I know that there's You have a ton of books, computers, employees, and a lot of people use the library. It's a great resource. It's a great building. It's a great community resource. And that was just my concern, is that 18 months, a year and a half, that's a long time. And I just want to make sure that that service is still there for the residents of this community. I know it will be. but it'll be interesting to hear what the long range plan is.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, thank you to City Solicitor Romley for putting this together. And thank you, Mr. Hogan, for being here tonight. I am a dog owner. I love my dog. And, you know, he's a big part of our family. And I've received many calls both for and against. And, you know, and Councilor Marks brings up a good point. There's almost a need for dog parks in different areas throughout our community. There's a demand for it. It was interesting to get this tonight because actually a lot of the questions that it got from people that were concerned were, is there going to be a fence? And I was under the assumption that there was no fence. I'm happy that they're suggesting a fence. Do we know anything about if this passes the fence, what type of fence, how long it'll take to implement this as far as actually getting a temporary fence set up?
[John Falco]: As far as the, um, and I know you said earlier that, you know, uh, because a lot of, a lot of the questions I'm getting is who's going to monitor this. Is anyone going to monitor this? And I, and I know you said, you know, you, you, you're going to be at the park as much as possible. And I know you work a full day. Um, so right now, do you have specific hours as far as your current regular hours is supposed to be 830 to 430, 830 to 430.
[John Falco]: I'm sorry? But I'm also called in on emergencies. OK, yeah, I would imagine. OK. So as far as, because a lot of the calls I'm getting are from people saying, you know, is someone going to be there to, you know, what if something goes wrong? What if a dog needs to be removed? Who's going to remove the dog? You know, I mean, if you're not there, you know, it's impossible to be there all the time. You know, are they going to have to call the police? Is that something the police is going to have to do?
[John Falco]: And I think people are concerned about that, too, as far as should the police really be diving into monitoring a dog park. And so there are concerns there as well. As far as a well-behaved dog is a dog that has a valid license. Makes sense. But as far as if there's no one there constantly monitoring the dog, it could be anyone showing up with a dog, just letting him run wild. So I think a lot of the calls that I've gotten from concerned residents saying, you know, is there any type of monitoring at all? It sounds like there might be some, but not, you know, on a regular—not on a—every night from 6 to 8, there's going to be someone there opening up, locking up, that type of thing.
[John Falco]: Okay. That's good to know. I mean, I definitely support the dog park that's going to go beyond the schools. I think it's a great idea. I can't wait to see it happen. But I just have some concerns from people that have called me. With regard to In the ordinance, there are conditions. There are about 11 conditions here. Are those conditions going to be posted at the park? To me, it makes sense. There'll be some sort of signage that there'll be expectations.
[John Falco]: Thank you. That's it for now. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I'll make it quick. Um, if we could, uh, also just amend the resolution to just get a report back from, uh, Mike Nestor with regard to parks and park maintenance and just to see what the impact will be as far as, uh, his concerns.
[John Falco]: take a paper from the table.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, we had talked about this, uh, previously in, um, the subcommittee meeting and it came up, uh, before us in our regular meeting, uh, back, I think it was in the month of June, uh, maybe May. And I know, uh, this is an issue where I think time is of the essence. Um, and, uh, so I think it's something that we should, uh, move on and act upon, uh, as a council tonight.
[John Falco]: I'd like to make a motion to approve.
[John Falco]: That's basically, I mean, it was, it was basically tabled. Um, I know I, I was prepared to vote that night, but it was tabled. I think to give everyone an opportunity to look into it further. Um, it's, uh, it's, it's been over a month now. Um, I think, you know, if we vote for it or against it, you know, that, that's what we get paid to do to make votes. And, um, you know, I, I know I'm prepared to vote for it tonight. Um, I know, uh, Alicia hunts here. She could probably answer if there are any unanswered questions, but I think it's something that we need to move upon.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also support this resolution 100%. I have received a number of calls over the past couple of weeks throughout the city. Down on Park Street over in West Medford, I've received calls as well. I live in the Heights as well, and I just walk out into my backyard, and there's a plane flying over. And they're flying low, and it's like every minute and a half, they're flying over the house. And it's just, it is continuous. So it's definitely a major problem that impacts almost every neighborhood in this city. And it's really a- We're fine in South Medford. That's not what I hear. But I mean, from what I hear, they're coming right over. I was at Harvard Street, I think. But it's an issue that affects every neighborhood in the city. And it really impacts the quality of life. So it's definitely something I support. I know there is a noise hotline that people can call. And Massport does keep track of the people that do call. So I think it's important that people call. 561-3333, and it's staffed by Massport employees. And it's definitely something that I think the more people that call, the better. I think it lets the people at Massport know that this is something that impacts our quality of life. And I just wanted to just say that in support of this resolution, and hopefully we can do something to reduce the flights that cross over our city. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Chair recognizes Counsel Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Ms. Baker, for your report. Right here.
[John Falco]: Oh, yeah. You had mentioned about getting the report on a monthly basis. Right. And I think that's what we need. I know when I was in the school committee, that's what I recommended, because there was virtually no budget reporting until we got to the budget time of year, which was in May, June time frame. And I think what we should have here is we should have budget to actuals on a monthly basis. It makes complete sense. We should be monitoring the budget on a monthly basis to see, you know, how things are, you know, unfolding as we progress through the year. The budget process shouldn't be just in June. It should be in a monthly basis where we follow it, each of us, so we can see where is money being spent, how the accounts are being spent down, and, you know, whether or not, you know, we should be allocating things differently in years, next year or the year after that. So, I think I'd like to see budget to actual reporting that we get on a monthly basis. I think it'd be beneficial to all of us to actually keep our eyes on the numbers. and to see which way we're going and to see how we end up at the end of the year when we actually get the budget.
[John Falco]: OK, great. I definitely think it's the way we need to head. The budget process should be a process that we look at every month. It can't be just in that May, June, or sometimes just June time frame. So if we could get that on a monthly basis, I think that's something that we desperately need.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. That's actually street paving.
[John Falco]: Sorry, I scribbled it quick, my fault. I received a call last night, or actually a number of calls and messages regarding paving that was done last night in a bottle, actually, They were actually digging up the road over by dug our park last night about 11 o'clock. And it seems rather late to be doing any type of road work. But no one in the neighborhood seemed to know anything about it. So if we could get a report back from the administration as to why the work was being done so late, basically why it's being done, when it's going to be finished, and why the residents did not receive any type of notification regarding the road work. I mean, to be doing road work at 11 o'clock at night seems to be unacceptable. So it'd be nice if we could get some answers from the administration or from the Department of Public Works with regard to why that work is being done.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to start out by thanking everyone for coming down here tonight. This is a very important issue that really affects Locust Street, but in general, it really affects and impacts the whole city. So I really thank you for coming down. It's been a long night, and I thank you for your time. And it's valuable to hear your opinions, because many of you live in the neighborhood, You're going to experience this on a firsthand basis. So thank you for your time tonight and for coming down. I said it last week, and I'll say it again. I am completely against this project in this current state. It's too big. It's too big. 492 units, 781 parking spaces. You have Wegmans across the street, Lumiere down the road, the casino coming in in Everett. It's just too big. There's just too much traffic in that area. There's too much traffic in this city. No matter where you go, this city is congested with traffic. We need to find a solution to that, in addition to these issues that we talked about tonight. I made a motion earlier in the year that we have to hire a traffic engineer. It is needed in the worst way. I talked to the police chief about it. He agrees with it as well. It needs to happen. Traffic is out of control. And if you put in a development like this, it's going to be complete chaos. Locust Street is a two-lane road. Then you get out to the parkway that's bad already, this is going to be even worse. So this development, to me, in its current state, makes absolutely no sense. I'm not saying that I'm completely against development, but it should be smart development. It needs to be in common sense. It needs to take into account the quality of life and the people that live in the neighborhood. Because when you think about it, at the end of the day, this actually is going to alter the fabric of the neighborhood. So we want to make sure that we're doing the right thing. And like I said, this is too big, and it needs to be looked at. The scope of this project is absolutely massive. It is massive. They are trying to actually build on every square inch of this land. It's completely out of hand. And what I don't like about this is the developer comes in and they're trying to build the biggest thing they can, make the most money they can, and then what happens is they end up leaving and then you and me and everyone in this city is left to deal with the problems. The traffic, the parking, the overflow parking, the potential for school overcrowding. So this could actually potentially create a lot of problems if it was to go through in its current state. But most of all, what I really don't like, and I am concerned about, is that a project of this scope sets precedent. It sets precedent. If someone comes in and builds a 500-unit condominium complex, what prevents the people down on Mystic Ave, where there's an open lot, what prevents them from saying, hey, you did 500 units down on Locust Street, why can't we do 500 on Mystic Ave? Why can't we do 500 on Riverside Ave? It makes absolutely no sense. And we need to look at zoning. I made a resolution earlier in the year with regard to zoning. The zoning laws in our city, in my opinion, are terribly outdated. Zoning needs to be looked at, and it needs to be looked at soon. And, as far as I'm concerned, the city administration has to come up with a plan, a master plan for development. People have realized, and especially developers have realized, everything that we know, that Medford is a great place to live, a great place to work, a great place to play, and a great place to raise a family. And what's happening now is developers are coming in, and they're trying to take every opportunity they can to build on every square inch of land. And we must stand up. In my opinion, 11 variances, it violates the spirit of the zoning ordinance. It's too many. Absolutely too many. I mean, I understand most complexes, there probably are some variances. 11 is completely, to me, above and beyond. It doesn't make any sense. You look at 7 Canal Street, that went down, and that was only 30 units. This here, or close to 500 units. 500 units, 11 variances, completely It doesn't make any sense to me. This is not smart growth. This is not good planning. This is someone trying to come in, build a development, and make as much money as they can, and leave. And the residents, they're going to be the ones in the city. We're going to be the ones to actually have to take care of the problems when it's all over. So I just want to go on the record. I completely am against this development in its current state. I thank everyone for coming down tonight. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Question for Mr. City Solicitor, please. Mr. City Solicitor.
[John Falco]: I have a quick question regarding the process. So, if we meet with the different attorneys, we decide we're going to appeal. Can the Mayor veto our decision to appeal? Can she veto the decision to appeal?
[John Falco]: I just know we have limited time, so I'm just trying to question — different outcomes and whatnot, you know, what our options are. So that's... Right.
[John Falco]: That was my question.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to also thank Councilor Longo for bringing this up tonight as well. This has been one of my major concerns as being elected. And I made a resolution earlier in the year, back in March, that we need to take a complete look and review our zoning. Because it's at the point now where Mefford has become very desirable, which is great. We have all kinds of developers that want to come in and do whatever they want. And that's a problem. I'm for development. I like development. But it needs to be smart development. It needs to be well thought out. We are in a great location. We're close to Boston. But development needs to be thought out. And I think a lot of our zoning is outdated. It needs to be looked at. And we're at the point now where we've let it go for so long that trying to reel it in is going to be pretty tough. I had a resolution to take a look at complete zoning for the city of Medford. It's an expensive endeavor. It probably costs probably maybe about a quarter of a million dollars, but I think in my mind, it's probably money well spent because we are at a pivotal moment now where we have a lot of developers coming in and we're either gonna go in a direction where we're gonna just develop all over the place or we're gonna put on the brakes and say, wait a minute, we need to actually have a master plan as to where we want our city to go. And I really think that we need to take a look at this. My opinion, I will be honest with you, I think it's too big. 492 units in that neighborhood with Wegmans coming in, a casino down the road. I mean, the traffic, it's a two-lane road now. Can you imagine the traffic when you have 492 units of Wegmans the casino and just the traffic that we have in that neighborhood now. It would be out of control. I recommended early in the year that we hire a traffic engineer. It's not in the budget this year. It's not in the budget. We need a traffic engineer now more than ever. If we're going to have development, it has to be thought out. The way I look at this, this has not been well thought out. They're going to come in, they're going to try to build this huge development, and this is going to be a major problem for everyone in this city. And it's not just in that neighborhood. We actually have traffic nightmares everywhere. We have a lot of concerns here. They need to be addressed. They need to be addressed now. I know the resolution I had with regard to zoning went to the zoning subcommittee. I believe we've had one meeting on it so far, and we'll have more to look at it, you know, again. But it's something that we need to act on now. And I thank Councilor Longo for bringing this forward. I think it's, you know, the citizens need to speak up about this. Everyone should have a chance to weigh in. With regard to the project that Donna, I believe Councilor Caraviello mentioned earlier at 7 Canal, I was against that one as well. I actually spoke up on it at the meeting. That's how strongly I feel about it. I'm not, it's not that I'm against development, but it needs to be smart, well thought out development. And a lot of these developers will come in and say, well, it's going to be transit-oriented. People are going to walk to Wellington Station. They cannot guarantee that. They can't guarantee that people are not going to have cars and that they're going to walk to Wellington Station. They always claim, well, they're millennials, and millennials don't own cars. They take public transit everywhere. That's what they were trying to sell us in the project at Seven Canals. That's not true. I know plenty of millennials. I'm not a millennial, but I know plenty of them, and they all own cars. They all need a place, they all need a way to get somewhere other than public transportation. So I think, you know, we are at a pivotal point. I thank Councilor Lungo-Koehn for bringing this up. I think this is something that the residents should weigh in on. I welcome their thoughts and opinions on this and, you know, I look forward to talking about this issue. But I will be honest with you, I feel it's too big for the neighborhood. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to amend the resolution to get a report back with the, to find out what the variances that were requested are.
[John Falco]: Exactly. And I guess which ones were approved.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd just like to make one more amendment to the resolution, and that is if we could obtain a copy of the traffic study.
[John Falco]: You are correct.
[John Falco]: It did go to the OCD board and then it went from there to the ZBA.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Alicia. So you had mentioned earlier, you had mentioned that three communities decided to get out, I think we talked briefly about that at the Committee of the Whole. I think we figured out the length of contract. They only did it for a year, so they really couldn't get the discount that they wanted, because the length of the term wasn't really long enough to get the savings that they thought they were going to get.
[John Falco]: Exactly. So they decided to leave. Do we know why they're going back in now? Is it truly because of the terms?
[John Falco]: OK. So now, if I'm correct, Currently in our current state, I could go out and negotiate my own rate with a supplier, right?
[John Falco]: In theory, okay. In theory. Okay.
[John Falco]: Okay. Just because I know, I talk to a lot of just residents after the committee, the whole, and a lot of them actually seem to be interested, especially because if there could potentially be a savings there, why not? And especially if you can opt out, that seems to be a pretty good deal. So in the communities that have actually gone with this, do they find, is there an average cost savings over a year?
[John Falco]: So it could possibly be in the range of savings per year between $40 and $120 a year. Yes. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. deserve. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. One quick question. That is, do we know how many residents in Medford are on the default rate? We'd like a percentage. Do we have any idea?
[John Falco]: Yeah.
[John Falco]: Because, I mean, just thinking and talking to people in the community, it just seems like most people would be on the default, right? Because I think they're just not aware of what they can do with regard to electric.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: This has come to my attention over the past, well, recently. I believe it's DCR property that it's at the intersection of Webster Street and Fountain. So if you took a left on the Fountain, it's that really odd, it's like an off-ramp, but you can go left and you can, it's like a two-way street. It's very dangerous to begin with. But the grass there has gotta be, if I'm guessing, two and a half to three feet tall. And when you come out of there, if you're taking a left, it's really a safety issue if you're trying to take a left coming out of there. So I would ask that the mayor contact the DCR to actually have that cut as soon as- It's the DOT? Okay, the DOT, whoever owns that property, DOT, DCR, to have that trimmed immediately. It's a safety hazard and it needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, through you to, uh, well actually Councilor Knight mentioned something earlier, but you know, uh, National Grid getting out of the paving business. So, which is a good point, if they're giving the money to the city to actually pave the ground, pave the new road curb to curb, what happens in a case where Councilor Scarpelli mentioned the streets begins to sag? Who's on the hook for it then? Is that this national grid, you know, are they on the hook to foot the bill again or is that up to the city at that point? And I'm not sure if anybody knows the answer to that. Maybe that's a question that goes out to the city engineer, but, um, I mean, I think that that's something, that's a question that needs to be asked. I mean, if National Grid's trying to get out of the paving business, which I understand, and it is curb to curb, I think it's an important question to ask. Because a lot of these things do sag.
[John Falco]: If we could amend the paper then to actually have the city engineer report back to us to find out who is responsible for the additional costs if the road does begin to sag after we've received the funding from national grid.
[John Falco]: Okay. That's one of my main concerns. I mean, this is a problem throughout the city where, you know, time goes by. if we know what it sags into the ground, if we know you have potholes and you have a whole street falling apart. So, um, yeah, I think it's something that we need to have addressed. And if we could have the, uh, city engineer, uh, come back to us with a response. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I don't personally use a system, but I know what you speak of.
[John Falco]: Sure. I can look into getting that report.
[John Falco]: Actually, I think Vice President Longo already mentioned it, but if you could just have a, when you've paved your last sidewalk and pulled your last stump out for the season, if you could just have a report like this just with an update. just so we can see what was accomplished with the $500,000, you know, however much money is being appropriated here. So it'd be nice just to kind of see actually how much we're getting done. Absolutely. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the records, found them to be in order, and move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to begin by, uh, um, just saying, uh, that the public safety meeting that we had last week was very, informative, very educational. And, uh, it's something that I agree we should have on a regular basis. I think it would help us all. Uh, but tonight's resolution is about working together to protect our neighborhoods. Um, once a month down at the Medford police station, there's a monthly meeting where residents can come and talk about the different issues in their neighborhood. And it's a, it's a, it's a very informative meeting. I've been there before. I have learned a lot and it's always good to see what's going on in each of the different neighborhoods. But I believe the meetings could be more productive and engage more citizens if we could actually maybe take those meetings on the road and take them to each of the, uh, the police department divides the city into four different sectors. It would be nice if we could actually have those meetings, um, you know, in each sector of the city. So therefore the residents can go to the meeting in their neighborhood and actually talk to the police officers that actually work that neighborhood, get to know them, they can get to know the issues and everybody can work together to actually solve some of the city's problems with regard to crime. Um, so I think there'd be very informative. I think there's a lot of benefits. Um, you know, we talked about crime data. If we actually got that person, if chief SACRA actually got that person in the budget that was collecting crime data and you could go over that, you know, in a neighborhood meeting and find out what's going on in your neighborhood. And I just think it's better, for our neighborhoods. It helps educate everyone. We all keep an eye out for each other. And I just think it's a good way of bringing everybody together. The reason why I said let's start in September is because they don't meet in July and August, and the last meeting's in June. So I think September would be a good starting date. If you did September, October, November, and December, you could hit all sectors of the city. And that wouldn't limit to just, you know, I want to be clear, it's not like if we had the meeting in Wellington you just talk about Wellington issues. Anyone could go to talk about any issue, but it would be in that sector of the city and you know, the residents, you know, hopefully there'll be a lot of people from that sector there, uh, to talk about the issues that happen or occur in that neighborhood. But you know, everyone is welcome. Everybody could talk about any issue that they want to. Um, so I, I think this is a, in my opinion, it's a good plan. I think it's something that we should do. I think it's something that's long overdue and I think it would definitely bring the community together. So, uh, I'd like to move approval.
[John Falco]: I would agree. Everyone's back from summer vacation. They're well rested. They're ready to go. They're involved. They're engaged. And I think, you know, it'd be nice to actually have the residents from each of the neighborhoods come to the meeting and be engaged in the process and what's going on, and we can all help each other out.
[John Falco]: Thank you. I appreciate it.
[John Falco]: You bring up a good point. And I think that, you know, the public safety, uh, meeting was, I think very beneficial. I know to me, I think everyone involved, uh, it was nice to actually, uh, you know, listen to the chief and just find out his wants and needs with regard to law enforcement. And, uh, you know, to me, that's very beneficial because he's there and, uh, officer McGilvery was there as well. I mean, He's in the trenches every day. He sees what's going on in the streets. He can actually tell you firsthand, the chief can too, what they need, what their wants are, their needs are, what would they like to see added to the police department with regard to personnel and whatnot. So it was very beneficial. I think with regard to the budget, we need to make some serious decisions there. I'm hoping that we get a budget soon, but public safety needs to be a top priority. And I think money definitely needs to be infused into the police department.
[John Falco]: I've tried. I will tell you right here tonight. I will take it on myself and I will organize all four meetings.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I'd like to thank Troop 416 for being here tonight. We're honored that you're here, and we're happy to be celebrating with you your 100th anniversary. The Scouts have always been a vital part of our community. They've always been helping out with the various service projects throughout the years. And Troop 416 has been remarkable in producing Eagle Scouts. I was talking to a friend today, Chris Murphy, actually, that is a past Eagle Scout, and he was telling me at least I believe there's at least maybe close to 40 Eagle Scouts that the troop has produced in the 100 years, which is quite remarkable. So I'd like to thank you Scouts for your commitment to our community. Also thank your parents for always being there to help you Scouts out. It's not easy, and the parents need a round of applause as well. So I thank you for taking the time to be here tonight. We do have citations for everyone. And, uh, I also wanted to note that, uh, yes, yes, of course I was going to thank you. Uh, but, uh, just to note, um, we have a bunch of citations here. Uh, we had a number of scouts that attended the school committee meeting last week, uh, last night and a number of that are here. at this meeting tonight, and there are a number of scouts that are at sports and whatnot. So everyone's not here, but everyone will be recognized. And we'd also like to thank our Scoutmaster, Paul McClain, for all that he does. Thank you very much. And, uh, what we'll do now is we'll, uh, call the names. And if you could come up when your name is called, uh, you receive a citation. And then if you could just shake everyone's hand, um, it will pose for a picture. I'll read the citation first. The Medford city council takes pleasure in awarding this council accommodation, uh, to Medford Boy Scout troop 416 and recognition of the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts of America and Method Boy Scout Troop 416's service to our community. Signed by Council President Fred DeLaRusso and myself, John Falco. So the first person is Robert Agnone. Nino Oluya. Sam Oluya. William Antwine. Ben Braverman. Richard Brenton. Dominic Bruno. Edward Butler. Jackson Calvert. Gino Carboni. Grandfather Shavs. J.C. Shavs. Charlie Dillman. Aiden Donovan. Sean Driscoll Gomez. Derek Giglio. Justin Giglio. Clay Gomez-Cultas. Andre Hamilton. Nicholas Happany. Justin Hayward. William Henriquez. Andrew Hill. Edward Triphill. Brian Hunt. Christopher Hunt. Declan Jones. Andrew Knight. Calvin Lambert. Desmond Lambert. Alex Lee Ronald Listrow Duncan McClain Jackson Myung Liam O'Keefe Riley O'Keefe David Pagliaro Connor Parry. Desidro Sessa. Sebastiano Sessa. Dylan Smith. Chris Walsh. Sushantan. Leo Walsh. Kevin Wright. Matthew Wright. And we have our Boy Scout leadership team, Paul McClain, the Scoutmaster. Do you want to say a few words while you're up here?
[John Falco]: A few more from the leadership team. Dennis Archdeacon. Rick Demers. Bill Giglio. Ellen Morey Patrick Morey Frank Seamster Kevin Seamster Julie Lambert So thank you, Troop 416, and congratulations and happy anniversary.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Carranza, just a couple of quick questions. Is the only option, if you have a stump, is the only option to replace the stump with a sidewalk? Can you get a tree if you want, or is that?
[John Falco]: So people do have an option, right? Absolutely. Okay. And as far as, so the operatives, is that that person who auditioned, so Zaki? Yes. So Zaki actually, she's the one who actually contacts the homeowners and says, you know, what do you prefer?
[John Falco]: And as far as if someone is, how does someone go about determining, say if they're new to the neighbourhood, how do they know if they're on the list or not? Do they contact your office?
[John Falco]: Okay, so if someone calls me, I can say, you know, call DW Supervix, and you can be added to the list, yes. Okay, great. Would it be possible to provide us with a report once this is complete to actually see how many trees and stumps were actually replaced? How many stumps were grinded and how many sidewalks were replaced? Just to find out, I guess, you know, just in case it gets to a point where, you know, we don't have everything done, at least to know how much got done, what's moving in the government. Sure. We'd be happy to provide you with a progress report.
[John Falco]: First, I'd like to thank Councilor Locke for actually agreeing to light the issue of blood levels, bloodline, and lead it to force. He's talked about it in the last few meetings. It's a very important issue. And actually, in fact, the last meeting that we had where he talked about it, I received a number of calls the next day regarding an article in the Boston Globe on May 7th about accruing students from Harvard Business School. They did a number of samples taking water from public buildings, civic organizations, universities, in and around the Boston area. You know, a number of buildings came back with basically 15 parts per building, per billion, which is equivalent of the UK tax. But one of the examples that they took was right here in this apartment. And when that came back, it came back with a reading of 30 parts per billion, which definitely needs to get an action. And the article went on to mention that the city engineer is looking into the situation and working on an issue to find out why it's that hot and why it's in different parts per million. And I think what we need to do is basically take a look at all of our city pools and make sure that we test them for lead and we test them for water flow. And it's important, I mean, lead has a number of dramatic negative effects, especially on our children, our youngest population. It causes developmental delays, behavioral problems, and a lot of other health issues. But this is something that we need to look at. We need to make sure that we check all of our city buildings. I did make a call to the superintendent of the schools to ask specifically about the schools, and he did tell me that he actually has reports on the school buildings, and the schools are tested on a regular basis. which I guess is a requirement of the MWRA. So, he said he does have reports of those. So if we could get those, if we could ask for those reports from the Superintendent of Schools, just so we could take a look at those. But if we can have a... City Engineer Erin Polley, she's looking into the issues here at Bedford City Hall. We could also have our other city buildings looked at, tested for lead levels, and if we could get those reports back to see where things turn out, and if we could find out how we're going to actually, how the city's going to remedy the situation here at City Hall.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, let me just start off, um, this has come up at least three times in the past five months. Uh, and I support. You can do a lot of goal setting and trying to figure out how many puddles we fix here. So you look at the metrics and see what kind of data is coming in. You can really measure things. It can be a very effective tool. if it's managed properly. And I really feel that this is a system that we have, it's a tool that we have, but it's not managed properly if it's managed at all. I had a resolution back a couple of months ago with regards to the same thing about how it's being used as a walker. Someone was walking their dog, and someone actually took a picture of the person walking their dog, and it ended up on scene quick fix. a picture of another person should never end up in that same event. It came down, but it shouldn't end up there. So back then, I had questions about policies, procedures, and I wanted the administration to send us something back. We have not received anything back yet on that. We should be, I honestly feel, Consul Caraviello was part of the point. You know, they did offer training. They did, but it was at five o'clock in the afternoon. You know, with all due respect, Having a meeting at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, you're really not going to get that many people here. Most of the world is still working on their way home or attending to their kids and getting dinner ready. I mean, if you want to have a successful program and you want to train and you really want to roll it out properly, you have to make sure you communicate it right and then you train people. I think that this committee could probably benefit from a training session to see how the program works, when a ticket comes in or an issue is filed, where it goes. You know, if it goes to City Hall, what happens then? I mean, you outlined it in the process this summer. It's great. That process has never been outlined for us here. But we really need to see that. And I think a training would be beneficial for this council. I'd love to see a committee in the whole meeting to grab just a secret fix. I think one hour. I think it would be beneficial to everyone in this room. I think it would be beneficial to the program, and I think it would really help make this a success. I think we need to bring in the vendor and see if we can make some tweaks to it. I think it's a good program, but I think it really has to be managed properly. And I have some reservations right now about how it's being managed. I mean, is someone actually looking at this on a regular basis? I mean, you know, the purpose is to get things fixed. And, you know, there have been great points that have been made tonight about staffing. I'll be honest with you, I think we're terribly understaffed. I think they're doing everything they possibly can to keep up with the tickets, the Sequel Fix tickets. But, you know, I mean, at some point, I think right now we have between 9 and 12 people that work for the DW. 9 to 12 people in a city this big. And if that's not more people, we need to increase staff to keep up with this. But, getting back to see quick fix, we need to make sure that we take a look at this, we get some sort of training, and we need to figure out how this runs, and who manages it, and make sure it's managed properly. So, I think we should definitely have, maybe the whole meeting, it's come up before, we'll need to have this, we need to jump on top of this, I mean, we can talk about it all night, but we really need to sit down and take a look at this, figure out who's managing it, if anyone's managing it, make sure it's managed properly, managed properly, going into the future.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you Mr. President. I just want to thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for coming down. It's a very worthy cause and I just want to wish you well. So good luck. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to echo some of the sentiments of my colleagues as well. First of all, I thank Mr. Costas for his years of dedication, but the commissioners as well. And, you know, like we said earlier, during the campaign, this came up many times. And this is really, I think, the key to economic development in Bedford Square. We have a 2000 seat theater in a downtown business district. We need to make sure it's utilized on a regular basis. This is an exciting opportunity to think that a company like North Shore Music Theory wants to come in. We should embrace this. Our city needs to embrace the theater. We need to embrace this building. I think for far too long we haven't. We need to embrace it as a community. I definitely support the city putting money towards the theater during the budget process. I think we're heading in the right direction by doing this. I look forward to hearing the results of the meeting next week and the meeting on Thursday night. And I definitely support this initiative. I believe that this is truly the key to economic development in our square. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. So I have received a couple of calls and questions about this bubble project, and I think it's interesting. I think it has potential. But I do believe preventive maintenance is the key. I mean, when I was on the school committee, one of the big things advocates I was for is maintaining and making sure that we maintain our buildings and make sure we basically provide preventive maintenance on a yearly basis. And back in 2010, when I was first elected, I remember that was when I think Paul Edwards at the time came before us. He was the building and director, the school's buildings and directors, director. And I said, what are we doing for preventive maintenance? He said, we're doing nothing. We don't have money in the budget.
[John Falco]: But I mean, I will say, some people may disagree. over time, that has improved a bit. I mean, we've actually made some progress in that area. For example, filters getting changed on a regular basis, whereas before, there were issues. So I mean, preventive maintenance is the key to any project. In a project like this, it has to be the key. I mean, I remember Field of Dreams. It was the first thing I voted on. It was the first issue that came before us when we were elected in 2010, was voting for the Field of Dreams. I still think today it's a good vote. It's a great vote. Um, you know, and I think that we have to think about when we think about education, we think of students, we have to think about well rounded students. We need to make sure. you know, we, we provide, uh, things both inside the classroom and outside the classroom. And I, I understand your, you know, about the books. We do need to make sure our books are current 25 years. I, I, I didn't know we had any of that old. I knew we do have some old textbooks, but I didn't think they were that old. But, um, and I'd love to know what class we can talk afterwards, but I'd love to know what class has those because we need to get the school committee needs to know that those have to be replaced. But, um, But, I mean, it's, you know, we want to make sure we have well-rounded students. The fields are a great example of how we, our children and our students, can actually use, you know, get physical activity through sports and recreation. And it's important that we have, you know, state-of-the-art facilities to do that. But for me, you know, it comes down to preventive maintenance. And what I'd like to see is, you know, and if I could amend the resolution, is just to receive a business plan from the school committee as to what they're going to do as far as you know, how much is going to be charged, the plans to rent it out, I mean, how much is being set aside for preventive maintenance. So if we could add that to the resolution, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: If we get the school committee could give us the proposed business plan for the fields with regard to, um, you know, with your charging the cost, how much is going back to preventive maintenance, basically the plan. What's the plan? I mean, I know we talked a little bit about the hours, you know, who's gonna be renting it out if possible. I mean, that type of thing, the type of programming that's gonna be offered.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: You are correct, there is actually a timeline or time frame as to, I believe, the objectives of the plan have to be in place, and that needs to be approved by the state, and then the funding will come, and then the money has to be spent by the state. June 30th, 2017.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I agree with my colleagues. I think enforcement is a major issue, but I also think, um, it just comes down to traffic and they offered a resolution back in February to hire a traffic consultant or traffic engineer to come in and take a look at the situation. This situation is only going to get worse and we live in it. We just live, In a section of the state where there's just tons of traffic, we need to have a professional come in and take a look at this. If you take a look at South Medford, you take a look at the Wegmans neighborhood down by the mall, the Shaw's development, the potential casino.
[John Falco]: North Medford, with that possible development at the Malvern Hospital. It's happening all over the city, and we need to actually have a professional come in and take a look at this. We don't have a traffic consultant in this traffic engineer in this city. We need to get some sort of help. And I think that this should hopefully be included in the budget this year because I honestly feel this problem is going to get worse and it really needs to be addressed. You know, I take a look at the emails that come in and the pictures. It's horrible. People parking on sidewalks. That's common sense. It's just not allowed. It's against the law. It comes down to enforcement. But traffic is a major issue. I really think that a traffic engineer needs to be consulted or hired hopefully sooner than later and hopefully in this budget cycle. And hopefully, this issue gets resolved soon.
[John Falco]: I just feel like I feel that we need something current, but we need to look at our whole city and look at all the traffic patterns in our city. We have some major traffic problems. They need to be addressed, and they're not going to go away.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I was looking at the resolution, and as far as I know, I mean, there is no residency requirement, as far as I know. So I guess I'm not sure why there's an issue, I guess, because it doesn't seem there's no residency requirement. When we review the budget, I mean, there's no, when we look at the salaries, there's no addresses next to the name. So to me, it shouldn't be an issue. I mean, I don't, I guess I'm not really sure why this is coming before us. I hate to say it, but it seems like we're chasing down a rumor. Point of information, Madam Vice President.
[John Falco]: Yeah, I mean, just to reiterate, I actually made the same call as well, as Mr. Schiappelli did. I get the same answer that 11 employees, and they're all surrounded in New England states. It's like New Hampshire, Rhode Island, maybe Connecticut.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I did make a call when I saw the resolution. I had some questions myself, so I did call, um, superintendent. And I did ask about these various projects, feel the dreams, the swimming pool and whatnot. And it, uh, Mr. Scarpelli is right. Uh, council Scarpelli that, uh, the school committee is going to be receiving reports in this on a Monday evening. So I would assume that we would get reports shortly after that, hopefully on Tuesday, but, uh, they are going to be getting, uh, these types of reports on Monday. Great. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I, uh, I thank my colleague, uh, uh, Councilor Marks for bringing this up last week. And, uh, actually, um, the reason why this actually came up is I was waiting for the bus to take the three 25 bus into town. And, uh, it was actually at that intersection last Friday and, um, almost saw someone get hit by a car. And, um, that intersection is really dangerous. Um, and as I looked around, the crosswalks are all faded, so they really need to be repainted or relined or something. But, um, It's a problem. I mean, that intersection there, I see adults having a tough time crossing the street there in the morning, and when they get off the bus at night. It's the last intersection before you get onto the off-ramp on 93. So it really needs to be addressed. So I'd ask that that be addressed. And since I've actually put this resolution out there, I got a call from a resident as well, or an email, about the, from the corner of Parris Street to the corner of Dudley.
[John Falco]: Yes. And if we could, um, if we could also look at around, uh, various neighborhood schools, not neighborhood schools, but at our various schools, we can take a look at the crosswalks in those areas as well. The weather's nice. People are walking and, uh, there's a lot of, uh, children walking to and from school that live close to the school. So if we could take a look at those crosswalks as well, um, I think, uh, uh, there'll be benefit to the community. So thank you. Councilor Caraviello.
[John Falco]: It's a pleasure to have you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you to Councilor Langelker for bringing this forward. I agree that we definitely need to have a meeting. This is a major development that's going to impact that neighborhood. I've been getting many questions as well throughout the community, just specifically about the timeframe of the project, the layout of the area, but in particular the traffic. Do we know, is the parking lot going to remain the same as far as the way it's cut right now, the entrance, the exits. Are there going to be any changes to that? Has there been any talk about traffic?
[John Falco]: If you take a look at that project and then the project over at Shaw's, you're talking about a major amount of cars compared to what the traffic flow down there now. So if you could talk a little bit about traffic.
[John Falco]: Has there been any talk about, like I noticed, 490 units, so what are we talking as far as height? I mean, do we know how tall these buildings are going to be?
[John Falco]: And that's four or five stories? Yes. That's what I was thinking, is that it would require a variance in that area?
[John Falco]: So now as a comparison, if those are going to be four or five stories, how tall are Mystic Towers doing? How long?
[John Falco]: Do we know if I, I'm not sure if you know the answer to this question.
[John Falco]: Oh, three and four.
[John Falco]: Okay. And do we know if that's a, does that pose a problem for any of our emergency vehicles, fire trucks or anything like that? As far as if it was an issue.
[John Falco]: Did the fire department have any concerns?
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I could add two things to the meeting agenda when we do meet with the mayor. Budget format. I mentioned it a while ago. I think it's important. We need to see it. It's one of the most important responsibilities that we have, passing the budget. And we should know what it's going to look like, the format at least, before we get to those meetings, before we get the budget book, so we know what we're dealing with. So that's important. I want to see that addressed. And I'd also like to see budget calendar. When are we expected to get the budget? When are we going to meet with department heads? I think it's important. And I'd like to see that as well. So if we could discuss that at the meeting, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be really brief. I just want to congratulate Heidi Riccio and all of her staff and the teachers and the students up at the vocational school. They've been working very hard over the past few years to really just raise the vocational school up to the next level. They're doing a great job. They've really bolstered the programming. And I think this is a good sign of many things to come. So I just want to say congratulations to them.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just wanted to, uh, thank the Medford Community Coalition. We had a, uh, well, they had a, uh, organized a cleanup this weekend in Medford Square. They had probably about a total of 60 people that attended. And I was there and helped out. Councilor Caraviello was there for a while as well. And we cleaned up Bedford Square. We had to clean it up. The DPW was there as well. They helped out. And it was a successful event. And I just want to thank them for organizing it. So thank you.
[John Falco]: She recognized council Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I did drive by the property and the, the, the tree is beautiful and it'd be really sad to see the tree go. Um, but I'm just curious as far as, and I'm not sure if the, through you to, uh, the city sales solicitor to, uh, to a Councilor, uh, Lungo, um, does anyone know the square footage of the lot that the tree is on?
[John Falco]: I'm just curious, because I think the lot was originally split, is that what happened? Yeah.
[John Falco]: Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. I, like all of you, have received calls and emails yesterday regarding the issue and actually Sunday regarding the issue. Thanks again to John Bovuso for acting on it quickly and having it cleaned up immediately and for citing the homeowner. But I guess my question is, and I'm not sure if you would know this, Mr. President, does the city do anything right now to communicate with the homeowners? Is there any type of communication that the city does to communicate with the property owners in that area?
[John Falco]: OK. Could we maybe get a report back from the building department? to find out what kind of communication goes out from the city to the property owners up in that area with regard to cleanup. When I talked to John Babuso tonight, he had mentioned to me that, I guess, I think the property owner was not aware of, you know, I think the policies regarding dumping things on the sidewalk. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I mean, it seems like common sense. I took a drive up there yesterday. It was a disgrace, I'm sorry, on Sunday afternoon, it was a disgrace. There was stuff all over the place. The residents should not have to live like that. And I'd also support Councilor Knight's idea about having an ordinance with regarding having the university be accountable. And I think that's something that we should look at in subcommittee. Very good.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, I actually have a comment and something else so I can wait.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I, uh, see, uh, back in January. So about three months ago I offered a resolution one six dash Oh one eight regarding the city's budget upcoming budget. And I had asked for a budget template. from the finance director, from the administration. We have still not—we haven't heard anything from the finance director, and we are getting into budget season. I think three months has been appropriate, and I'm starting to get calls, people asking me about what's going on. We still haven't heard anything from the budget director. I've swapped emails with her, but we're still waiting for something formal that we can see. when we go into the actual budget, it's not, we're not seeing it for the first time. So we should be working together here and I'd like some sort of response. Um, so if we could get a response back from the budget director or from the mayor, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of calls this week regarding the C-Click Fix System. I support the C-Click Fix System 100%. I think it's a great tool. It's a great way to monitor issues and actually get things done efficiently. But it seems that We've had a number of issues recently where it's almost becoming more of a populist of some sort, where people, the specific call that I got this week was that someone took a picture of someone else doing something wrong and putting it on CNN. And that is something that's been taken down. But I really think that we should know as a community council, what are the policies But is there a screening process? Are there any policies that you're suggesting behind the system when things actually get recorded and logged on the system? I know, I believe, a few weeks ago, Consular Marks had a resolution regarding it. We need to have that. I think when people talk about issues like this, the policies and guidelines, it's good to get a presentation on how it works. And I know Andrew mentioned weeks ago as well that it'd be nice to see the type of reporting that we can receive as soon as possible. I'm really concerned about the policies, the procedures, the guidelines that surround the system. And I think we need to work with them at this point in time.
[John Falco]: I think it's a great system. I think it works. I support it. If used properly, I think it's a system that can be used to bring neighborhoods together and not be divisive so much. I support this as a monitor, Senator, just to get some more information. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to say congratulations and happy anniversary to Troop 416 down at Otis Street. They run a fabulous program. There are over 100 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts involved in the program. They produce Eagle Scouts, I think, almost every year. And it's just a great program. They have great leaders down there, Paul McLean, Bob Wright. They do a great job. I know they've always provided us with a lot of service projects, and I just wanted to say happy anniversary. Are you an Eagles fan from that group?
[John Falco]: They had one this past weekend.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, having them come down and play I think is a fabulous idea. I know when I was on the school committee, they would come and play for us each year. And when you hear them play, it's amazing. It's hard to believe it's actually kids playing. I mean, they do a fabulous job. I just want to congratulate them on winning the gold medal again. I think this is, if not the third, maybe the fourth year in a row. I mean, there are a lot of great things happening in the Medford Public Schools. This is just a fabulous program that is happening. Sophia Chang does a great job, and the kids are just very, very talented. And congratulations to them again for just a fabulous accomplishment.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just want to thank Susan D for a long time. I've been a long term, um, time member of the, um, board of trustees up at the Oak Grove cemetery. She gave over 25 years in that position, which is a significant amount of time. And I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the council. And if I could just amend it to actually, if she could be invited to a future meeting to be recognized. Absolutely.
[John Falco]: Oh, was it the one? Okay. I apologize. You weren't available at that meeting.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was just going to make one quick point, and that is I believe someone mentioned earlier that the The studio is going to be located in the back of the high school, and it's really in the front. If you walk in the front door of the high school, it's on your right. So it's in the front end of the location of the school, and there's two classrooms, and then it's set aside for those two people. But I just wanted to clarify that it is in the front of the school, so you're on the same page.
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank a councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward a second time. I think it's important, especially with, uh, people tagging and putting up graffiti that, you know, we're persistent. We stay on top of this because if you let it go, it just leads to more and more tagging throughout the community. Councilor Caraviello is correct. It's happening throughout the community. I have received a number of calls about specific properties as well. On Spring Street, the corner of Spring and Washington, there's a business that's been tagged. If you take a look at 7th Canal, which has been a hot topic, that's a building that's been tagged when you come out of the parking lot in West Bedford Square, you'll see that. And also on Riverside Ave, the back of the Sloan building, if you take a look at the second floor, There's graffiti all along the side of that as well. So we really need to make sure that we get on top of this. It needs to stop, but we need to make sure that it stops right away before it gets out of control. I mean, many people would say it's out of control now, so we really need to jump on top of this. And I thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing it forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. If I may offer, if I may amend the resolution to include the properties that I mentioned earlier, that they be addressed as well in addition to the Bigelow building, if we could get the back of the Sloan.
[John Falco]: Let's see. The Sloan building on Riverside Ave, the backside of the Sloan building, 7 Canal, and I don't have the exact address, but I can get you the address. There's an address on Spring Street as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank a Councilor, uh, vice president current for bringing this forward tonight. This is definitely something that we always have to keep in mind with regard to, you know, drugs and drug prevention. And I definitely support Councilor Scarpelli's amendment with regard to the resolution. But there is just a quick note with regard to the DA program. I support the DA program. I think it should go further than the fifth grade because you can never stress the importance of making good decisions. But we also have the Michigan model, which was implemented while I was on the school committee. And that stresses and teaches our students about good decision-making with regards to drugs and alcohol. And it just stresses health and wellness. So there are some supports and programs in place to stress good decision-making. I would definitely like to see the DR program extended. I think it's definitely the way we should go. But I definitely support this resolution. So thank you for bringing it forward.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Over the past several months, the issue of zoning has come up during numerous conversations and phone calls I've had with residents throughout our city. Bedford is becoming a more popular place to live with its close proximity to Boston and its abundance of green space. Many Holtenbuyers are beginning to notice this, but developers are as well. This resolution tonight is a proactive attempt to review our zoning and to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods and guide new development. There's been a lot of talk lately about redeveloping Medford Square. With the redevelopment of Medford Square, that may include mixed-use development. It might include residential units in the square. Developers may need additional height to make this kind of proposal work. They may not, but we need to work with the administration on this here. If you take a look over the past several weeks, there've been numerous discussions about historical properties. They need to be protected as much as possible, but we also have to make sure that protection must be balanced against the rights of property owners. Residential units, If you drive through the city, you'll see residential units that have been built in industrial zones. People have asked me about that. How does that happen? If you take a look at our use table, when you look at our zoning ordinances, you take a look at the most recent issues where it wasn't too long ago we had a massage parlor in Bedford Square. I mean, to me, I don't want that type of business in my downtown area. So these are things that we need to look at, and we need to look at sooner than later. I mean, I think a lot of people that I've talked to said, these things probably should have been looked at years ago. But we really need to look at them now, because there's all kinds of rumors with regard to development, major development, that's going to be happening throughout our city. And we need to make sure that the city is zoned properly. So of course, I support this resolution. I hope my colleagues do as well, and they move
[John Falco]: A consultant would cost, I did talk to someone who said it would probably cost in the range of probably between $100,000 and $200,000, which is a lot of money. but we do not have the capacity to do it here at City Hall. Our staffing is low. We're at bare bones when it comes to the OCD office. We don't have, and I'm not saying that the people aren't qualified to do it. I don't think they have the time to do it. We don't have the personnel to do something like this. And I mean, more and more every day you're seeing development and developers come in and they want to do all kinds of things. And you know, everybody's looking for a variance. You know, like Councilor Caraviello said tonight, you go across the hall tonight, that room's packed. It's packed with people looking for a variance. And I feel like we haven't looked at it for so long that this needs to be addressed sooner than later. You know, if my colleagues wanted to go to a subcommittee because they have more questions, I'm fine with that. You know, I want everybody to feel comfortable before they make a vote on this. But I think that this is something that really needs to be addressed sooner than later. You know, does it cost money? Yes. But I honestly don't think we have the number of people that it'll take to really do this the right way. And, um, it's an expensive endeavor. Yes, absolutely.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. But I think it's long overdue. I mean, I don't think we've taken a look at our zoning ordinances in, I would say close to, From what I've heard, close to 40 years.
[John Falco]: Yeah. I mean, it's consistent. The complaints are consistent that zoning needs to be looked at. And if we want to make sure that we develop our city properly, we need to make sure that we look at this. It's been far too long as far as I'm concerned. It probably should have been acted on years ago, but we need to get on top of this. And yes, it's going to cost money, but I think it's an investment in our future. And really, I take a look at it. I really feel that at the end of the day, if we invest the money, we're really going to be protecting the integrity of our neighborhoods. Because once we start to allow variances for heights of different buildings, you're starting to set precedent. And once you set precedent, It just gets out of control, and that causes problems.
[John Falco]: So that's why I'd like to move approval on this.
[John Falco]: If we want to move it to Committee of the Whole, I'm completely fine with that. People need to get more comfortable with this. In my opinion, we need a full review. And a full review and recommendations. And that's my opinion. But if we want to go to a Committee of the Whole with it, I'm fine with that. Subcommittee is fine with me. We can do subcommittee. I'm completely fine with that.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for asking. I have received, you know, when I was a member of the school committee, You know, and now even as a member of the council, you know, I received calls, and this winter hasn't been bad, but you look at past winters, and, you know, we always encourage our residents, make sure you shovel your sidewalks. Make sure you get in front, you know, remove the snow so people aren't forced out into the streets. And, you know, I think that the city should be, you know, held to the same standard. You know, we have plenty of sidewalks that go right by city property, they're not plowed, and, you know, So we need something, you know, we need a piece of equipment to do this. I called the DPW and did my homework and asked them, do you have something that specifically plows sidewalks or removes some snow from sidewalks? And they said they do not have a specific piece of equipment that does that. And they said that the equipment that they use actually doesn't really work well at removing snow from sidewalks. So this track box plow is basically, it's a smaller version of a larger plow. I have pictures if you'd like to see them, awesome. But what you do is this plow, it does not have to be moved from different parts of the city. This thing can actually just go, for example, the DCR has a trackless plow. They started in Stoneham, it comes all the way down on the sidewalk, all the way down Route 28, down the Fellsway, down towards Wellington, up Route 16. So it basically goes on a continuous loop. So what we need to do, I feel, is we need to actually have a piece of equipment like this. to clear our streets, or to clear our sidewalks. We stress the importance of being healthy and walking and bicycling. And I think that this will go a long way in helping our residents stay safe during the winter. But this piece of equipment is not just for snow. So it's efficient that it can be used for other things. It can be used to mow lawns. It can be used as a leaf loader, a front end loader, a stump grinder, an auger. So definitely, it can be used for different situation. So it's not just for the snow, but it will go a long way in keeping our, um, keeping our residents safe, keeping our sidewalks clear. And like I said, we should, our city should be held to the same standard that residents are held to, uh, with regard to removing snow. So, uh, I'd like to move for approval on this.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, there's one thing if I could add, uh, Mr. Scarpelli did actually ask for the list. If we could have, when they supply the list, if they could supply the date, the year, the, the year of the vehicle, just so we know how old the equipment is. I think that'd be a go a long way and just trying to determine, um, you know, where we are with regards to the equipment.
[John Falco]: Absolutely. Absolutely. I actually, um, I had Friday off. So I went down to the DPW yard and, uh, They have some old equipment down there, but actually some of it is quite useful. They actually have a snow, they showed it to me, it's actually a snow thrower from 1972. But they said it's one of the best pieces of equipment that they have. It literally just, it's a giant snowball. And so you're right. With regard to some equipment, I think it's good to know though, if you're driving around a pickup truck from 1994, that could be an issue. So especially if you're hauling different types of material around. But I know they definitely are in some need of equipment down there, and it'd be great to get a wish list from them to see what they actually need. Awesome.
[John Falco]: Well, you know, from what I hear, and I'm not a professional when it comes to this type of equipment, but I mean, from what I hear, using a bobcat to clear sidewalks is not really an efficient way.
[John Falco]: But I think that Bob, from what I hear, I think the bobcat is, it might be actually too large for sidewalks from what I've heard. So, but then again, I mean, like I will definitely admit.
[John Falco]: This is actually, you can take a look if you want. I mean, it doesn't seem, Terribly wide.
[John Falco]: Well, it's not just for the winter. This actually can be used as a mower. It can be used as a front loader. It can be used as an auger, a stump grinder. So that's what I was trying to point out. It's an efficient piece of equipment where it can be used. It's not just for the winter season. It can be used throughout the year. Oh, no, absolutely. I understand your questions and you bring up a good point.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I also agree with Councilor Scarpelli. I think a report from the administration is a great idea, but what I would also like to see is with regard to this resolution, it'd be interesting to see, you know, how much, how much does a single meter cost? I mean, if we could get some cost figures from this city with regard to how much single meters cost, I mean, we have kiosks that we purchased. I mean, I mean, even though I might not like the kiosk program, maybe something that if we sell them back, can we, I mean, I hate the sense, uh, this money that should be going to the, each of the individual squares, it'd be nice to actually use it for something other than parking. And, um, so it would be nice if you can get some sort of cost estimates back from the city with regard to, um, if we could, how much the single head meters would cost. And, um, if the kiosks could be, I don't know, sold to another city, that's maybe using the site, same type of program. Um, I definitely would like to use the money for the purpose that it was originally planned for. So, um, if we could get those numbers back from the administration, that'd be great. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I support this a hundred percent. I have a family members. I have friends who have kids that have dyslexia and, uh, cannot even stress the importance of early detection. Um, you know, you hear, I know being on the school committee previously, you know, you talk to so many parents and, um, you know, real nightmare is when a child goes undiagnosed for And they get to the fourth grade, and all of a sudden, they find out the child has dyslexia. And to try to unravel that, get back to the point where you're starting to teach reading again in the fourth grade, that's really tough on the child, on the family. And so early detection is the key. And I support this 100%. I'm glad that Councilor Caraviello brought this before us tonight. And I support it. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I too have received phone calls about this. He was asked questions on Saturday when he took my son to Little League tryouts. And I got the same type of figure little league had told me that they basically spent $6,000 on port-a-potties, um, for the, for the various seasons that they played baseball at the parks. And, uh, to me it's a bit exorbitant. Um, and you know, the city, it'd be nice to actually see if we could do some sort of, you know, if the leaks can't do cost sharing or something like that, it'd be nice to maybe see if we can do, the city should, in my opinion, the city should be providing the port-a-potties and, uh, basically the city should, If we could actually have, and I'm not sure if it would be the parks department, if we could actually have them do a cost analysis to see how much it would cost for a year, or for the time period where the parks are in use, just do a cost analysis to see how much it's gonna cost to put a porta potty at each of the parks that are in use. And it's something that the city should provide. To me, it doesn't make sense if you're increasing the cost to play soccer in Little League, because, you know, you have thousands of dollars of port-a-potty costs. So, I definitely think this is something that should be looked at. If we could actually have the city do a cost analysis to see how much it would cost to have a port-a-potty at each of the parks, that would be great.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, Stacey and her wife Karen were neighbors of mine. And Stacey was an inspiration to all of us. She didn't only beat cancer once, she beat cancer twice. And she became a nurse practitioner. Like you said earlier, she rode in the PMC Challenge, I believe, eight times, which is a remarkable accomplishment. She went to Haiti to help out after the earthquake. She was just a remarkable woman. And I was talking to her friend, Joan Sear, earlier tonight. And she basically hit it on the head that Medford has lost a shining light of hope and resilience. And my thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to echo the sentiments of a colleague. Jay did a fabulous job organizing the event. All the kids were involved in something, and, you know, Jay doesn't get to watch any of the game. He literally runs around the garden the whole night trying to get the kids into position as to where they need to go, if they're playing or if they're giving players high fives and whatnot. Congratulations to Jay on a job well done.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. This resolution tonight is to bring additional transparency and to our current process through technology. Legislative software is becoming more popular It's used in many communities throughout the state of Massachusetts. And there are many benefits to this type of software. And I know that the city clerk is probably somewhat familiar with the software that's being used. It simplifies meeting management, saves time and reduced costs. It keeps staff and citizens informed, and it promotes accountability. It truly makes the city clerk's office more efficient, As soon as you post the agenda, it goes out online right away. The whole community can see it and they can see all the background documents that the public currently doesn't see today. So any type of background material to the agenda, uh, they would receive that online. And, uh, there's also the options to add cameras to this as well. So we could, if we wanted to, we could, uh, uh, put a camera in the city council, uh, meeting room. I know, uh, council Lungo had mentioned last week about, uh, filming community committee, the whole meetings. This would also go for a board and commission meetings as well. Uh, they could be filmed and immediately loaded right onto the, uh, city website. So everyone could actually view and see what's going on, uh, if they can't make it to the meeting. Um, so I think it's worth it to, um, schedule committee, the hall and bring in a number of vendors to actually just show us what options are out there. Like I said, I think it makes the process more efficient, but more, uh, important, it makes the process transparent. And it promotes civic and community engagement, and it just makes government more accessible to the people. I actually did sit down with a vendor and did a half-hour demo over the phone, and they walked me through the process. It's pretty impressive. So I think it's, you know, worth an hour to sit down with a vendor and just see how we can improve the process even more. And I'd ask that if you could please schedule a committee of the whole. Thank you, Mr. President.
[John Falco]: Citizen — please. Just to, there are a number of towns, surrounding towns that actually use this. Melrose uses it, Somerville uses it, Cambridge, Westwood, and I think Framingham, just to name a few. Some cutting edge places. Absolutely. So I just think it's something that we should definitely look into.
[John Falco]: It depends what option you go with. And I only talked to one vendor, so I would imagine there's some flexibility to it. So I think if you want, it's, I think, up to maybe like $1,000 a month. But if you add cameras to it, of course, that's more expensive. But that was just one vendor, so I'm sure that's negotiable. But what it does is, I mean, if you want, everything's on camera. So if you came up from work tonight just saying you wanted to watch the meeting, you get to your house and it's 8 o'clock, You can actually go back and watch it from the beginning. You can just watch a slice of the meeting. You can research through the tool. If you wanted to see all of the resolutions that Councilor Caraviello has made since he became a councilor, you can go back and look at all that. You can search for anything. If you wanted to look at public safety, you could look at every resolution on public safety, and it would pull up all the documents. So it's a good way for the citizens to be involved. It just provides a lot of transparency to what we do.
[John Falco]: Yeah, absolutely. Oh, that's great. So it's nice. It's all easily accessible. And that's really the big bonus to it all. We don't have to rely on, I know we have some private citizens right now that actually film some of the meetings. Or actually, they get a disc and put them on YouTube or Facebook. So we can actually do this, the city should be doing this, and this is something that, this service that we can provide to the community, and it definitely, I think, would help the city clerk as well. So there's a lot of benefits to it, but I think having a vendor come in and actually describe the process of what they do would be beneficial to all of us.
[John Falco]: It's it's real time. It's at your fingertips. So it's a, it's very easily accessible.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. If I just may announce really quick that Method Italy registration for this year is Let's see, it's open for children born between May 1st, 2003 and August 31st, 2012. Let's see, tryouts and dates will run between March 19th and 27th at Tufts University and for players born between 4th, 30th, 2007 who are interested in playing in the majors in minor leagues. Tryouts and warm-up clinics will be held at the following dates and times. Saturday, March 19th, clinic 8 to 10 for double A and triple A players. 10 to noon for major league clinic. Sunday, March 20th, tryouts 8 to 10 for double A and triple A players. These are tryouts for minor league division only. Wednesday, March 23rd, a tryout. 6.30 to 8 p.m. are major league tryouts. And Saturday, March 26th, 8 to 10 major league tryouts. And 10 to noon. 8 to 10? 8 to 10, yes. and 10 to noon double A and triple A tryouts. Any questions, please feel free to email medfordllinfo at gmail.com or contact Bill O'Keefe, President of Medford Italy, at 781-866-9162. Who was that? Bill who? Bill O'Keefe.
[John Falco]: Very good on that motion. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I support this a hundred percent. I think it's long overdue. It needs to be done. And I love the idea of possibly having a second floor in the library. Uh, just a couple of quick questions with regard to the current leaking. So in the areas where the leaking has stopped, are they still missing sailing tiles and the buckets on the ground and,
[John Falco]: So at the point where it's been patched, but we're not confident that it's?
[John Falco]: Yeah. I mean, I just, um, well, I think that we're hoping that this investigation of the, uh, or evaluation of the roof is, uh, hopefully in a month's time we'll actually give us a good plan as to what we're going to do. And then, um, I'd like to see the ceiling tiles at some point go up soon. I think if you, especially if the, if the roof has been repaired, you know, I, I mean, I'd like to see the ceiling tiles go up just because, I mean, I think if you walk in, I mean, it sends a message. I mean, it really sends a message when people come in, especially from out of town, and this is their first, you know, view of Medford. I mean, it really kind of doesn't send a good signal. So, I mean, if the roof's been fixed in certain spots, I'd like to see the tiles go up. But as far as the maintenance of the library, if we could get a report back from maybe the building department as far as what is the maintenance plan? Is there any preventive maintenance being done in the building? For instance, I mean the drip, the drains on the roof were a definite issue that caused the leaking. Is someone going up on the roof on a yearly basis, looking at the drains, making sure they're cleaned out? So if we can get some sort of a report back from the building department, uh, just letting us know what they do on a yearly basis or what they do on a monthly basis with regard to maintenance for the building, preventive maintenance. Uh, I think, uh, that would be, um, a good start as to, uh, if we're going to be possibly putting on a new roof, we need to take a look at how we can maintain that building on a regular basis and conduct preventive maintenance as well.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Councilor. Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I support this, uh, resolution a hundred percent. I think it's a great idea. And I think that, you know, communication is always the key in communicating with the various neighborhoods, especially with regards to crime. And you know, the more people in a specific neighborhood that know about an issue, you know, everybody can keep an eye out for each other. And I think one of the, uh, you know, I did a little bit of research when I saw the resolution because the, you know, the different things that different communities do. And I noticed one, one community does, um, I think there's an email application, I think it's called Next Door. And so it's set up by a neighborhood. And basically, I belong to the North Medford neighborhood. And so what the police department could do is send an email blast to that group and say, OK, there's issues in North Medford, or whatever part of Medford you want it to be, and say there's been break-ins, car break-ins, house break-ins. But at least they could notify. The public, it's a low cost option, I think, and I think it would be quite useful and everybody would at least be on the same page and get official word from the police department. So I think this is, it's a really good resolution. I think communication is the key. I think that's one option that we could go with. I think updating the, I'm not sure if we have the, you know, the, the, you know, enough officers to do this, but actually, um, updating the website on a regular basis with regard to issues that are going on in the community. Um, I looked at another town that actually had maps of the city and literally had, you know, uh, you know, like pins where there were various issues throughout the community. Um, so that's another way of looking at it. So there were options that I think that can, that, uh, that the city could use. I think there are low cost options and I think this is something that needs to be looked at and needs to be addressed. And I supported this. So thank you. Thank you very much. Councilor Marks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Marks had mentioned a good point a couple of minutes ago with regard to statistics and crime data. And I've only been on the council now for a short time, but can we like to request a report from the chief of police actually with regard to 2015 crime data just to It would be interesting to see what we're dealing with. But I'm not sure if the council has received reporting in the past, but I think it's something that we should get. It's something we should be aware of, and we should get on a regular basis. But if we could start off with looking at 2015 data, I think that we'd be heading in the right direction by looking at that.
[John Falco]: Mr. President, there's one update. one edit that needs to be made. And that is, uh, on page 47, the, uh, and a 16-zero eight seven item B says it says amended by council and I, that community development in the traffic commission provide input to the council on the possibility of increasing the fines throughout the city on the violation of sidewalk parking. And after that, it should say, and restricting allowable delivery times.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank my colleague for bringing up this resolution tonight. It's very important. The library is one of our most important buildings in our city. And like I said, I went to a fundraiser there a few weeks ago, and it was rather depressing. I mean, here we are. There's, I think, over 100 people there, and there were buckets and ceiling tiles missing, and it was really just a sad state of affairs. But back when the library director came back, I think it was the first or second meeting of the year, she came before us, and they had offered an amendment to the resolution to give us a report on the overall health of the Method Public Library. the building in total, so more than just the roof, but the whole building. And we still haven't received that. And I'd like to, if we could check with the administration to see when we're going to receive that report, because I think we need to look at the roof, that's important, but we really need to look at the whole entire structure to see, you know, what kind of physical health it's in. So if we could get that report, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I've only been on the council now for a short term, but I find that A majority of the phone calls that I receive and constituent emails all revolve around traffic problems and issues throughout our city. If you take a look around our city, you see a number of developments both in our city and in surrounding cities that have had a significant impact on the traffic patterns throughout our city. I feel that we need someone that will review and make recommendations on our neighborhood traffic issues and coordinate traffic signals citywide to provide technical recommendations on major proposals in our city. If you take a look throughout our city, we have issues in South Medford. We have potential issues in North Medford with a possible redevelopment of the Mullen Hospital. If you take a look at the Everett Casino coming to town, there's going to be issues with traffic congestion with regard to that. There's potential issues with the Wegmans development, I'm sure, because there's going to be a lot of cars down in that area. And if you look throughout our city, You know, you're hearing about condominiums and apartment buildings being built. And, you know, these are all going to have an effect on the traffic pattern throughout our city. I believe this is a crucial time as our city continues to see an increase in the number of proposals from developers that want to build apartment buildings and condominium buildings. I believe that these projects will dramatically alter traffic flow throughout our city, and we must act now. This is a good resolution. I think we need to get ahead of this with regards to planning and as planning and development grows throughout our city. So I move approval.
[John Falco]: If we could have 2015 year end as opposed to year to date this year. I want to see the total.
[John Falco]: Okay.
[John Falco]: No, actually Mr. Scarpelli made the point that I was going to make basically that it is two positions. I think that probably justifies the salary, just like the, uh, the new, um, procurement position. That's two positions as well that one person is taking off. So that's why I think that's the justification for the higher cell. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I know this is a very emotional issue as a parent, but tomorrow night there's going to be a meeting at Medford High School regarding this here with the superintendent, the chief of police, the Medford School Committee, who are the people that are responsible for all the policies and procedures regarding the school security. And I think it's, I would like to make a motion at table because I think it's important that they have their meeting first before we go down the road of speculating and debating about what happened, how it should happen. There are protocols in place. And I think that we should hear from the school administration before we go down the road of debating this. I'd like to hear them first and hear exactly what happened.
[John Falco]: If we could reverse the tape. I'll reverse the table to hear from the resident, but I firmly believe that this here should be addressed by the school system before we address, this is not our jurisdiction, really. I mean, the way I look at it.
[John Falco]: I can wait. I can wait.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my consular colleague, Mr. Scarpelli, as well. The point that I was trying to make earlier was basically that we should hear from the school administration. They can give everyone the rundown as to what happened, what time it happened, why they made the decisions they made. If we're gonna comment on things tonight, it's purely speculation, and that is not safe for anything or anyone. So therefore, the important thing is, if you have questions, I think, please, I urge everyone, go to Medford High School tomorrow night, at the library, seven o'clock PM, the superintendent's going to be there. The chief of police is going to be there. All of the decision makers are going to be in the room and they will be able to go right through the timeline as to what happened and when and why they made the decisions they made. And that's what I was trying to put point, uh, put across. I mean, I am a parent of three children in the method public schools. I mean, I completely understand, um, you know, the notification issue. I mean, I have the same concerns, but I think that the administration should at least give us the information so we can, make decisions and ask good questions. So that's the point I was trying to get across. Uh, thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you. And this is the point I guess I was getting at before. I feel like we're speculating as to what happened and when, and I'm not trying to censor anyone, but what I'm trying to say is I think it's best that we have the decision makers present so they can, so they can be asked the questions by the people. People have questions, but there's no one here at this meeting that can answer any of the questions. That's what I'm saying. There's, I mean, to me, I understand the concerns about communication, I'm completely on board with that. But there is no one here tonight that can answer any questions with regard to what happened, when, and what they did, and why. And those are the key questions that need to be answered tomorrow night. Once again, Medford High School, 7 PM, the library at Medford High School. And I believe all the questions will be answered and everyone that should attend. Thank you.
[John Falco]: I would like to hear from the school committee first. I hear from the residents, and I think it's great that they came and they, they, they spoke up on the issue. And, uh, but at this point, I'd like to make, like to make a motion to table. I think we need to hear from the school committee and what they hear about what went wrong and what we need, what needs to be done to improve the situation. What would, what did we need to hear from law enforcement? We need to hear from the superintendent. Like I said, we need to hear from the decision makers before we make a decision here. So I'd like to make a motion to table.
[John Falco]: I actually have an adjustment to the records.
[John Falco]: Under 16-053, it was an amendment that was made to include the minutes from each of the board and commission meetings on the website after, at the conclusion of the meetings.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Uh, council of marks. Uh, I, again, uh, thank you for you bringing the citation forward and, uh, for, uh, recognizing the Medford Arts Council. Congratulations to the Medford Arts Council. Fabulous job. This is pretty amazing. When you think about it, you are only the third council to ever receive this award, which is pretty amazing. This is just a great group of people. Myself and I believe Councilor Marks and Councilor Caraviello last fall had the opportunity to attend the Arts and Culture Summit that you had in this very room. And it was just a great day. to see that many, I think there must have been about 100 people, over 30, 35 organizations that were here talking about arts and culture and the importance of arts and culture in our community. And it's just, this is a great achievement. I know there's a lot of great things, you know, that you're working on and there's a bright future. And I think, you know, also the really important thing is that, you know, that we make sure that this is funded in the budget. It's important. We need to stand by you. And I know I will, and I'm sure my colleagues will as well. in the administration as well. But I just want to say congratulations, great job, keep up the great work. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Marks for bringing up this resolution. Um, uh, we've all received many emails regarding this issue. And it's a public safety issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. So I'm hoping that the subcommittee can hopefully take action on this soon so we can have the committee, the whole meeting ASAP. And I just wanted to also thank the resident for bringing this to our attention. We've received many emails and it's important that people reach out to us when they do have problems in their neighborhoods. And I just want to say support this a hundred percent. Thank you, Councilor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have a quick question. I'm not sure if you know the answer to this. But do we know when the bollards were approved?
[John Falco]: So it's been a whole year? Yes. Do we know who's responsible for installing those? Do we know why they haven't been installed? Do we know if we paid for them and they've just never been installed? I mean, these are questions that I have. I'm kind of curious. A whole year has gone by.
[John Falco]: I was down in the neighborhood last night, and Councilor Caraviello was there as well. And we noticed there were two bollards that were installed in the corner of Harvard and Main. Do we know when those were installed?
[John Falco]: Yeah, the fall. OK.
[John Falco]: And those aren't really doing the job because there's still, I've seen the pictures, all four wheels of these trucks are on top of the sidewalk, which is completely, does not make any sense at all. So I think Council Member Marks had mentioned it before. It really sounds like we need to install bollards up a good portion of Harvard Ave. So thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this, this resolution is about, uh, you know, government being open and more transparent to our residents in, and also just making government more accessible in general. Um, and I have to say when I first wrote this resolution last, uh, Thursday, and sent it to the city clerk. I did some research on the city website and I couldn't find any information on this. It's great every week we receive at least ten notices of open meetings and they're important. I think the public should be encouraged to attend and be involved. But last night as I was preparing for our meeting I went back on to the city website and I noticed The city actually has a city calendar now. I'm not sure when it came online. I'm guessing over maybe the past couple of days, but when I first wrote the resolution, it wasn't there. Um, so, uh, but it's, it's, uh, I give the administration a lot of credit. I think it's heading in the right direction. Um, it's nice. You click on the meetings, you get to, you get a link. Um, but what I didn't, what I noticed is not all, um, meetings are posted. So that's why, My resolution is basically to require that all of them, all of the, uh, board and commission meetings be posted. Uh, I think they should require an agenda. And if I could, um, amend the resolution to require that the minutes be, uh, also posted, uh, once the meeting is, uh, has been completed, it's important that, you know, we involve our citizens and they, you know, have the right to go to a website, go to the city website. And if they, they can see a list of meetings for the month, if they want to attend things, great. If they don't, at least when they, or if they can't at least, At the conclusion of the meeting, if the minutes are there, you know, they can actually see what happened during the meeting. And I think it's important. So, um, if I could amend that to, um, if we can amend that to, uh, require the minutes as well, uh, that'd be great. And, uh, I move for approval, a motion of approval as amended council night.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank councilor Caraviello for bringing this up tonight. This is a very important resolution. Uh, the library is a very important asset to our community. Um, and I support the resolution completely. The question I had with regarding the roof is just because Councilor Caraviello brought it up is he had asked if it's been fixed. I'd like to know not whether or not it was fixed, but what's the plan? I mean, as far as if it's not been fixed, what is the plan for the roof? I mean, with regard to, I mean, for example, I was in the library, I think about two weeks ago, I went to a, they had a trivia night. I think it was a friends and met the public library. And it was a great event. They raised a lot of money. And it was nice. It was the first time they had an event like that in the library. It was after hours. And open to the public. And we're sitting there having a great time. But as you look around, you see ceiling tiles that are not there, barrels collecting water. And we're still only maybe halfway through winter. So we need to find out exactly, if we could find out exactly from the administration, what is the plan with regard to the roof?
[John Falco]: Rules to talk about an issue.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. I received a phone call Saturday afternoon about 4.30 from Father Ed, from Ed Dowdy from St. Joe's, Joseph's. And he called to tell me that as he was welcoming parishioners into the 4 o'clock mass at St. Joe's, parishioners were getting tickets from Republic Parking. And I find this incredibly frustrating that after one year, that is not part of the contract. And they shouldn't be ticketing during mass from what I know of the contract. And I find it very frustrating that after one year, they're still ticketing people when they shouldn't. And I'd like some sort of response back from Republic Parking. If we could get something in writing as to why this happened. Father Ed did go on to tell me that he actually approached the person writing the tickets and told them, you know, you shouldn't be doing this. And at no point in the time did the person stop. They didn't even call the office. You figured they would call the office and check just to get some clarification. So if we could get some sort of a response from Republic Parking to find out why it happened. I'm not sure if it's a case, if it's a new employee or not. In a case like that, there should be some sort of backup for their employees to call the office to find out whether or not they're doing the right thing or following policy. So if we could get some sort of response from Republic Parking, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, uh, councilor Marks. Uh, I, again, uh, thank you for you bringing the citation forward and, uh, for, uh, recognizing the Medford Arts Council. Congratulations to the Medford Arts Council. Fabulous job. This is pretty amazing. When you think about it, you are only the third council to ever receive this award, which is pretty amazing. This is just a great group of people. Myself and I believe Councilor Marks and Councilor Caraviello last fall had the opportunity to attend the Arts and Culture Summit that you had in this very room. And it was just a great day. to see that many, I think there must have been about 100 people, over 30, 35 organizations that were here talking about arts and culture and the importance of arts and culture in our community. And it's just, this is a great achievement. I know there's a lot of great things, you know, that you're working on and there's a bright future. And I think, you know, also the really important thing is that, you know, that we make sure that this is funded in the budget. It's important. We need to stand by you. And I know I will and I'm sure my colleagues will as well. in the administration as well. But I just want to say congratulations. Great job. Keep up the great work. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Marks for bringing up this resolution. We've all received many emails regarding this issue and it's a public safety issue that needs to be addressed. as soon as possible. So I'm hoping that the subcommittee can hopefully take action on this soon so we can have the Committee of the Whole meeting ASAP. But I just wanted to also thank the resident for bringing this to our attention. We've received many emails, and it's important that people reach out to us when they do have problems in their neighborhoods. And I just wanna say support this 100%. Thanks.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I have a quick question. I'm not sure if you know the answer to this, but do we know when the bollards were approved?
[John Falco]: And that's prior to me being elected, so I'm just kind of just.
[John Falco]: Yes. Do we know who's responsible for installing those? Do we know why they haven't been installed? Do we know if we paid for them and they've just never been installed? These are questions that I have. I'm kind of curious. A whole year has gone by.
[John Falco]: I was down in the neighborhood last night and Councilor Caraviello was there as well. And we noticed there were two bollards that were installed in the corner of Harvard and Maine. Do we know when those were installed?
[John Falco]: And those aren't really doing the job because There's still, I've seen the pictures, all four wheels of these trucks are on top of the sidewalk, which is completely, does not make any sense at all. So, and the Council Member Marks had mentioned it before, it really sounds like we need to install bollards up a good portion of Harvard Ave. So, yeah. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this, this resolution is about, uh, you know, government being open and more transparent to our residents in, and also just making government more accessible in general. Um, and I have to say when I first wrote this resolution last, uh, Thursday, and sent it to the city clerk. I did some research on the city website and I couldn't find any information on this. And it's great, every week we receive, I don't know, at least 10 notices of open meetings and they're important. And I think the public should be encouraged to attend and be involved. But last night as I was preparing for our meeting, I went back onto the city website and I noticed the city actually has a city calendar now. And actually when it came online, I'm guessing, over maybe the past couple of days, but when I first wrote the resolution, it wasn't there. So, but it's—I give the administration a lot of credit. I think it's heading in the right direction. It's nice. You click on the meetings. You get a link. But what I didn't—what I noticed is not all meetings are posted. So that's why my resolution is basically to require. that all of them, all of the, uh, boarding commission meetings be posted. Uh, I think they should require an agenda. And if I could, um, amend the resolution to require that the minutes be, uh, also posted, uh, once the meeting is, uh, has been completed, it's important that, you know, we involve our citizens and they, you know, have the right to go to a website, go to the city website. And if they, they can see a list of meetings for the month, if they want to attend things, great. If they don't, at least when they, or if they can't at least, At the conclusion of the meeting, if the minutes are there, you know, they can actually see what happened during the meeting. And I think it's important. So, um, if I could amend that to, um, if you can amend that to, uh, require the minutes as well, uh, that'd be great. And, uh, I move for a motion of approval as amended council night.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this up tonight. This is a very important resolution. The library is a very important asset to our community and I support the resolution completely. The question I had with regarding the roof is, um, just because, uh, you caught some Kyriel brought it up is, uh, he had asked if, um, if it's been fixed, I'd like to know not whether or not it was fixed, but what's the plan. I mean, as far as if it's not been fixed, what is the plan for the roof? I mean, with regard to, I mean, for example, I was in the library, uh, I think about two weeks ago, I went to a, they had a trivia night. I think it was a friends in Medford public library. And it was a great event. They raised a lot of money. And it was nice. It was the first time they had an event like that in the library. It was after hours. And open to the public. And we're sitting there having a great time. But as you look around, you see, you know, ceiling tiles that are not there, barrels collecting water. And, you know, we're still only maybe halfway through winter. So we need to find out exactly, if we could find out exactly from the administration, what is the plan with regard to the roof?
[John Falco]: Rules to talk about an issue.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I received a phone call Saturday afternoon about 4.30 from Father Ed, Ed Doughty from St. Joe's, Joseph's. And he called to tell me that as he was welcoming parishioners into the 4 o'clock mass at St. Joe's, parishioners were getting tickets from Republic Parking. And I find this incredibly frustrating that after one year, I mean, that is not that's not part of the contract, and they shouldn't be ticketing during mass from what I know of the contract. And I find it very frustrating that after one year, they're still ticketing people when they shouldn't. And I'd like some sort of response back from Republic Parking. If we could get something in writing as to why this happened. Father Ed did go on to tell me that he actually approached the person writing the tickets and told them, you know, you shouldn't be doing this. And at no point in the time, did the person stop? They didn't even call the office. You figured they would call the office and check just to get some clarification. So if we could get some sort of a response from Republic Parking to find out why it happened. I'm not sure if it's a case, if it's a new employee or not, employee or not, but in a case like that, there should be some sort of backup for their employees to call the office to find out, you know, whether or not they're doing the right thing or following policy. So if we could get some sort of response from Republic Parking, I'd greatly appreciate it.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. a really bad public safety issue that needs to be addressed sooner than later. As I walk through the city, I walk to the bus every day, and I do see this, and it's alarming. I mean, you know, I think when you go for your permit and you learn to drive and whatnot, you always learn you shouldn't have your car on the sidewalk. And, you know, in some neighborhoods, and we've all received pictures, you're seeing four, all four wheels on the sidewalk. It makes no sense. These, you know, the police department needs to, you know, enforce these laws. and give out tickets for this. And if I may comment on one of the points that one of the residents brought up earlier is down on Park Street. When I walked down to the fellows way, I see it. There is a section of the sidewalk next to Yankee Park that has a slanted curb. And it's definitely something I think that needs to be addressed or looked into. If we could, if I could amend the resolution to have the police chief report back to us of whether or not this is a legal parking platform, because everyone has full, all four wheels of the car, of each car, they're all on the sidewalk. So I'd like to know, I mean, is this a legal parking platform or is it not, and why isn't it being enforced? I mean, people are being forced out into the street, it's near a school, there are kids walking to school, a lot of kids take the bus, but there are kids in that neighborhood that do walk to school, and this is a public safety issue that needs to be addressed, needs to be addressed sooner than later. We're in the middle of the winter, it's starting to snow. And so if I could amend the resolution to reflect that inquiry regarding the parking platform, greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I find this to be very frustrating. I mean, I know I made the resolution last week to have the Committee of the Whole meeting, and here they are. They've canceled, but we're giving them a whole week, and they still can't give us a date. So this is very frustrating. I mean, to me, you're impacting the livelihoods of people that own these businesses. You're impacting the residents and how they get to and from South Medford and beyond. And the meeting really needs to happen sooner than later. I mean, is there any way that we can have our state reps, our mayor, make a call to DOT and explain the urgency of this matter? I mean, this has to happen sooner than later. It should not have to wait another week, week and a half, two weeks. I mean, this, it needs to happen. This is important. And if I may, I know myself and Mr. Scarpelli are new to this committee, would it be possible to get the original agreement between D.O.T. and the city with regard to the bridge and when work was... I'm not aware of us having received a copy of it, but... Well, then can the whole committee, I guess, receive a copy? Because it would be nice to actually see something in writing as to what the rules of engagement with regard to the work that's being done. I mean, it seems like it's kind of everyone's a little bit all over the place with regard to when it's supposed to start, when it's supposed to stop, you know, exactly what's happening down there. So if we could get some sort of communication I'm not sure if it's the engineering department or what, but if you could get something with the agreement between the DOT and the city with regard to how everything is supposed to work with regard to the replacement of the Craddock Bridge.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Over the past few weeks, actually the past month or so, I've received a number of phone calls, and I think a number of us may have as well, from residents in the North Medford neighborhoods about the proposed development of the old Malden Hospital site. There are a number of situations, I guess, where it could be used as a dense housing development. And there's also an idea out there that it might be used as parkland if the city of Malden decides to purchase that. And although most of the development is in Malden, and we have a limited say as to what can actually go there, the resolution tonight is a proactive attempt to help minimize some of the potential impacts. Safety is the number one issue in that neighborhood. Right now, many of the streets in the North Manfred area are being used as a cut-through to get to Route 93 or to get to the other side of the Fells Way. And, you know, anyone, if a dense housing development does go in there, anyone that wants to head west towards Route 93 in the morning is going to be inundating the streets of Murray Hill Road, Fells Ave, Fulton Spring Road, Vista Ave, Fulton Street, And things are pretty tight now in those neighborhoods with regard to traffic. Um, so, you know, and also with, you have, uh, there are many kids in the morning that are, uh, walking, uh, down the street to get to the bus. Uh, people are walking to the T. So it's really a major concern, um, that, uh, there's, there's just a major potential impacts there, uh, with regard to traffic and safety that I think really need to be looked at. The resolution tonight is a, um, proactive attempt to safeguard the North Medford neighborhoods. So I ask you tonight, if you could please assign an ad hoc committee to, uh, to, to work on this, um, and move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I actually did, uh, when I saw this resolution, I, I wanted to get more information. So I actually did reach out to the superintendent and he did tell me that the phone will be, the voicemail will be active by the end of the week. I taught, it seems like, I guess when they move, The previous person out and they moved the new person in. I'm not sure if something happened with the phone jack, but it sounded like there was maybe some sort of technical issue. But they should have a voicemail by the end of the week.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I reviewed the records and found them to be in order, and I move approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think it's not a bad idea of sending it to subcommittee, but I actually like the idea of having a committee of the whole just on this one topic where we're all involved, because I just think this is huge. I mean, you're talking about people who own businesses. Their livelihoods are being affected. I think we've all been talking to business owners within the community. And I like Councilor Scarpelli's idea of bringing all the department heads in. I think that that is something that we need to do. I think we need to have the DOT here as well. But I think we need to all be in one meeting where this is the main focus of the meeting, and we all get on the same page. And I just think a community of the whole would be ideal for something like this.
[John Falco]: And, uh, if I, if I may, I would say maybe not necessarily on a meeting a night where we have a council meeting, because I think that this is something, especially if you're having all kinds of department heads that are coming, you're talking about a lot of time. And I don't think it's something that we should be rushing through to get through get to our regular scheduled meeting. This is something I think that's going to take time and a lot of thought. And especially if we have department heads coming, the DOT coming, all of us, I think there's going to be a lot of people that are going to want to chime in on things. And I think it's going to take some time.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I think this is a great resolution. I definitely support the 311 system. I think it does bring a great deal of transparency to the issues that, you know, the issues that the city addresses on an everyday basis. But what I'd like to do is, if we could possibly find out what type of reporting is actually available from the system. I mean, usually these systems have all kinds of reporting that are available. It'd be good to actually see what's available. I mean, in particular, I think it's great that we're going to that we can get some type of reporting, but I would like to see, I mean, to be specific, the issues that people call about when they are reported, the department that handled the request, the status of the issue, when they're resolved and the duration of time it took to resolve the issues, because I think that will answer questions with regard to staffing and when we're looking at budgets. So if we could get some detailed reporting with that information, I think that would be beneficial for everyone.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, one of the most important responsibilities that we have in the city council is to review and approve the yearly budget for the city. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of our city to make sure that the budget and the budget process is fair and transparent. The resolution that I offer tonight is to take a proactive approach to the upcoming budget cycle. When I was on the school committee, we had a budget that had a written narrative with summaries and goals, and I believe that a city budget should be comparable. This year, I'd like to see a city budget with an overview and detailed analysis. Each department should produce a mission statement, organizational charts, a list of personnel goals, objectives, accomplishments, and performance metrics. That's where the 311 system would really come in handy. Above all, I think that the budget needs to be easy to review and very descriptive so that the public can understand how their tax dollars are being spent. Information like this makes the process transparent, and it's much easier for residents to read. Our current process seems to be a binder full of spreadsheets, and I think that it can be improved upon. I'm sure that the new administration will make improvements. I'm confident of that. But I believe that as a council, we should be proactive in this request of the aforementioned recommendations in preparation for the upcoming budget. I move for approval.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. The template would basically be, I want to see what the administration is going to provide us with regard to data. Are they going to provide us with mission statements, organizational charts, list of personnel? Those are the types of things I think we should see. And I'd like to know in advance, are they going to, you know, they should let us know, send us a template. You're going to see for, you know, the DPW, for example. You're going to see a mission statement. You're going to see an organizational chart. You're going to see a list of personnel goals, objectives, accomplishments. So you're going to see that for each department. But I want them to confirm that they're going to send that to us. I don't want to find out when we're looking at a budget book in June that it's something different than what we would really like to see. So that's why I'd like to, I'd really like them to confirm sooner than later that when it gets to budget season, this is what we're going to see. So we can be prepared and we can know how to, you know, we can better analyze the budget as a group.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Dello Russo, and thank you, Ms. Kerr, for your report. When I got the report, I read over the report, and it is troubling to see some of the issues with the roof. And I definitely support fixing the roof, but I'd like to actually see if we can amend, actually, the original resolution. And what I'd like to see is, I would like to see a comprehensive review of the library, not only just the roof, but the entire building. I would like to see a report come to the council, a comprehensive review of everything, the structure of the building, which I'm sure it's safe and I'm sure it's sound. I'm not an engineer, but I'd like to see that. How old is the furnace? I mean, basically a whole review of the entire building. You know, I know we recently, we had the bathrooms fixed, I believe recently. But I think we should look at everything from the bathrooms to the elevator to the roof. We should look at the whole entire building. We have to think about the future, the future of this building. This building is, I think, at least 60 years old. We need to look at the future. This is a community asset. This is an important asset that we have. It's used by the youth. It's used by the seniors. It's used by everyone. And we really need to take a look at this. So I'd like to see if we can amend that to get a whole comprehensive review of the library structure.
[John Falco]: Mr. Falco. One quick question. Do we have, so we approve this, do we have an option to opt out in a few years? Just say, all of a sudden we have 25 kids from effort that want to play.
[John Falco]: Mr. Belco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In fact, thank you for your report. A couple of quick questions. With regard to the transportation segment, you had mentioned about the crossing guard that hopefully will be provided by the DCR. I know we've gone back and forth on this a number of times, but the stop that we're listing here is Myrtle and the Fellsway, which from our talks early on, it's St. Francis and the Fellsway is the issue, Fulton Street, which is really not close to Myrtle. And I believe I thought at one point there was already a crossing guard down in that location. But I mean, so I guess my question to this, do we have any cross crossing guards on the Fellsway? And I guess, where are we with regard to this crossing guard at St. Francis and Fulton Street, the Fellsway, that area there?
[John Falco]: So we need to hear from them. So as far as the stops go then, how many kids are getting off at that stop at Myrtle and the Fells White? Do we know?
[John Falco]: But what about, so if you go from Salem Street to the Fellows Way, Salem Street to Fulton Street, which is a pretty significant stretch, I mean, I would imagine you have an abundance of kids there that get off, that live anywhere up in the Fulton Heights area and down towards the Salem Street area. I mean, is there any consideration that's being made for those children? I mean, especially, I mean, I would think, I mean, it can be tough for anyone to cross. I mean, I cross there every day and I'm 45 years old and it can be an issue on some days. But I'm looking at kids that are in elementary school. I mean, that's a major concern. I mean, I've got a call from a few parents that You know, really, I mean, there's some concerns there that, I mean, crossing there is a major issue and, you know, it'd be nice to have some sort of coverage between that Salem Street and Fulton Street, you know, stretch.
[John Falco]: So the elementary schools are, when they get off the bus, they're staying on the side that they get off the bus.
[John Falco]: Fellsway and Irving is in Westminster.
[John Falco]: Which is close to Myrtle.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: OK, thank you. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Fellow. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually had the opportunity to attend the open house as well. not only as a school committee member, but also as a parent. Uh, my son's in eighth grade and he's in that process of making the decision now. And, uh, as we walked through the halls and, you know, he bumped into his friends and his, you know, his friends, parents, I mean, just, it's amazing. I mean, the people, the amount of people that are saying, you know what, we think we're going to the vocational school and it just shows how long, how far the school has come. The programs, I mean, you go from shop to shop, the passion, from the children, or I should say from the students. They're very passionate about what they're learning. The instructors, I mean, they're all deeply involved in what's going on. And it's just, they're doing a great job. I mean, Heidi and her staff are doing a remarkable job. The health assistance program, it just came out phenomenal. It looks really nice. They did a great job. And the open house in general was just a huge success. And I think you can tell by the enrollment numbers. You look at the freshman class this year, it's higher. It's probably the highest it's been in years. So great job by the folk. And actually, not to take away from the folk, but I went to the Medford High School, but I was back a few weeks ago. And that was great too. And it was great to walk through and meet the teachers as well. And they did a nice job as well. But I just wanted to say great job to the vocational school and the high school. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, this is very, uh, concerning. Um, I, I didn't like the way I learned about it, but, uh, for me, it's about moving forward and trying to prevent it from happening again. And, uh, I do think that my colleague did bring up a very good point. And I think that, you know, having everyone in the system, all staff and administrators, everyone reading the policy and then signing off on the policy that they have read it and they understand it. If they have any questions, they should ask questions. So I think that is a very good idea. I know that's something that we do. I know I do it professionally at work. We have different policies that we do have to adhere to and we have to sign off on. So I think that's a good idea. With regard to, I know you have communicated to the principals about the different policies and whatnot. Have the principals had staff meetings with each individual building to communicate to their staff
[John Falco]: If you could please. Thank you.
[John Falco]: So I'm glad that you're doing that. I think you always have to be prepared. So it's good that you've gone through those drills. Mr. Superintendent, have the other administrator principals met with their, yes, with their building, with their staff and they've notified everybody of their protocols and whatnot.
[John Falco]: I know they run regular drills. I just want to make sure that since this incident that, you know, they, each building principal has met with your staff to let them know this has happened. This is what we want to go over the protocols again to make sure it doesn't happen in our building. It doesn't happen in any building. Absolutely.
[John Falco]: Mr. Edwards, if I may, in your school, Are the students required to wear IDs or have IDs on there?
[John Falco]: I mean, just from my personal experience, my son goes to the Andrews. They have IDs. I assume they're the same type. I think it's something that we should have. I think this middle school and up should have IDs. I think if there's an emergency in the building, you kind of know right away if someone belongs or not if they have their ID. And if they don't come to school with the ID that day, then maybe they're issued a temporary ID. I think it's a good way of knowing who belongs in the building and who doesn't. Same thing with teachers. They should have IDs on them at all times as well. I just think it's an indicator right away of who belongs in the building and who doesn't belong in the building.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor, I have one last question. Mr. Superintendent, with regard to the challenges, Uh, the first one is the high school and how it's a large facility. So I believe you said this 37 points of entry. So have we, have we, uh, thought about possibly seeking security advice from a security consultant or from Medford police as to how to safeguard that facility? I mean, 37 points of entry, that's a large number of points of entry. I mean, I'm just thinking like, someone that specializes in that would probably at least be able to give some sort of a professional opinion on how to secure it, or?
[John Falco]: I mean, I don't think, I mean, I'm not a big fan of wands or any of that stuff, but I mean, I think just, I just think from the point of entry perspective, That's a tough, it's a tough building to probably safeguard. I'm just thinking, you know, as to, you know, maybe some professional advice would be.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your presentation. Uh, I think this is a great idea. I support it a hundred percent. Um, I'm a dog lover and have a dog myself, so this is going to be great. It'll be great. Great to try this out. Um, we should have a couple of quick questions. The irrigation system, is that automatic? Does that like go at a time? Okay, great. And as far as the, you had mentioned, I try to make sure I didn't miss it. You had mentioned you're going to be removing trees.
[John Falco]: So we'll be at least replacing the ones that are being transplanted? That's correct. OK, I just want to make sure on that. Thank you. We'll be on the plus side by 3 or 4 to 1. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. So that's perfect. Thank you. And as far as the, uh, the construction piece goes, it says, uh, bidding and construction is, um, in the spring and summer. How long will it take to construct like as far as once you start?
[John Falco]: Susie probably during the summer when Kids are not in school.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: We're under suspension. I have a couple of resolutions if I may. Sure. Mr. Falco. Thank you very much. First one is, be it resolved that the Medford School Committee extends its congratulations to Mayor McGlynn and his team for outstanding dedication ceremony in the memory of Crystal Campbell, Martin Richard, Lindsay Liu, and Officer Sean Collier. The event at the East Garden will be a significant memorial in celebration of the lives, the courage of the survivors, the heroism of the first responders and the law enforcement officers, the skill of our medical teams, and the commitment of all our affected communities to peace and justice. So thank you very much for the event yesterday and for the dedication of the Peace Garden.
[John Falco]: Resolutions adopted. Mr. Falco. I have a couple of additional resolutions. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee congratulate Mayor McGlynn and Sheila McGlynn on the birth of their granddaughter, Nora Cushing Brady. Nora is the daughter of Kathleen and Bill Brady. Congratulations. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Uh, here is all that the Medford school committee extended its congratulations to Bob and Paula Vanderclude on the occasion of the 35th wedding anniversary. Best wishes and congratulations on that motion.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cugno.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[John Falco]: Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[John Falco]: Superintendent Belz.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cuno had a question first.
[John Falco]: This is Dee Benedetto.
[John Falco]: Thank you. On the motion of Mrs. DiBenedetto, seconded by Mr. Scarpelli that the Report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you very much. Next item is the recommendation to accept gift from Media Technologies Corporation to the Gator Trade Alliance of $1,500. Motion to accept by Mr. Scarpelli. I'll second. Seconded by Mrs. Cugno. Mr. Secretary, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: 5 in the affirmative, 2 absent. The gift is accepted. The next item is a report on college fair and financial aid night. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Okay. The motion on the motion, Mr. Scarpelli, seconded by Mr. Skerry that the report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor of this opposed, the report is accepted and placed on file. Next item is follow up report on common core.
[John Falco]: Any questions from the committee?
[John Falco]: Mrs. D. Benetene.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Mrs. D. Benedetto, seconded by Mr. Scarapelli, that the report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you for your very thorough report. The next item is the report on professional day, November 3rd, 2015. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Mrs. DiBenedetto, do you have a question?
[John Falco]: Except the paper place on Bob's gym. With regard to the educated feedback, what is that? What is that? What is that opportunity given to the educators to feedback?
[John Falco]: I mean, that's good. I guess my question is with regard to something like Apple iPad training, so something like that, do you follow up at some point during the year, maybe like four or five months later with the educators and say, you know, how are you using this in the classroom? Are you using this in the classroom? Just to get some feedback as far as, I mean, they're there every day, so just to kind of see how they're using it in their classroom. Do we follow up then to see
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Thank you. Any other questions from the committee? Okay. Thank you. And the motion of Mr. Skerry seconded by Mrs. D Benedetto that the paper be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you very much. The next item is the financial report. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[John Falco]: Mr. Skerry.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. If I may, a question regarding the crossing guard on the Fellsway. Has there been any resolution to that, or has the DCR responded?
[John Falco]: Is it possible, just because it'd be nice to get this resolved. I know you're working hard on this. I know we've talked about it going back and forth, but maybe if we get Representative Donato involved to see if maybe he could talk.
[John Falco]: OK, perfect. Great. Thank you.
[John Falco]: If I may, one more question. Do you have any, as you, we're now, as we progress through the school year, any concerns, anything that you're worrying about with regard to the budget?
[John Falco]: The question that needs to be on the motion to Mr. Scarpelli, seconded by Mrs. Cugno that the report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor. All those opposed. The report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you very much. negotiations and legal matters. None. Um, under old business resolution submitted by Hispanic group on October 5th, 2015 motion to accept it.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Mrs. Cugno to accept the resolution. Uh, is there some second, second, seconded by Mr. Scarpelli. All those in favor. All those opposed. Okay. The resolution is accepted.
[John Falco]: Motion to adjourn.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Mr. Scarpelli to adjourn, seconded by Ms. Cugno. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Meeting adjourned.
[John Falco]: Mr. Falco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for your report. First of all, I like the process that you went through. That was very good. It seems like you had a lot of people included throughout the district, which I think is definitely beneficial. It seems like it's a good package. It seems like it's very robust. I like how it includes the health, the health component. Um, so I think that that's great too. I just had questions about the cost. So I know we have budgeted some money for that. And, uh, but, um, with regard to the negotiated state contract at a per pupil cost, can you talk more about that? I guess. So, so did you say depending on how many school districts, so where do they cut that off? I guess, I mean, is it, is it like as a, September 1st, how many school districts enroll, or is it just like, is it ongoing and do we get like rebates off of that, I guess?
[John Falco]: OK. Great. And as far as, do we know from, I guess, a user standpoint about how user-friendly this is with regard to, from, I guess, a parent's perspective and from a teacher's perspective?
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Thank you for your question. Thank you very much for your answers.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Goodell.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor, one quick question. When will we be receiving an update as to how things are progressing?
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mr. Falco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for your report. It's in depth, it's thorough, and I like how you gave us a number of proposals. And I think that helps us as a committee to see what we're, you know, what we need to do here. And with regard to proposal number two, so if we went with proposal number two, which I believe is the middle of the road proposal, Would that allow us to build some reserves to come up with a plan to fix or develop a plan to maintain some of the equipment that needs to be fixed over the next few years?
[John Falco]: OK, that's what I think I'd like to do. So I would like to make the motion that we approve proposal number two. And I would like for you, if you could please come up with a list of equipment throughout all the schools, throughout the district, that's broken what needs to be fixed, and come up with a plan to basically repair this equipment over time. Second the motion, Mr. Chairman.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Fellow. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. When is the audit? It's every spring. Every spring. OK, so the audit is past then. Yes.
[John Falco]: Meeting of the Benford School Committee will now come to order. Please rise to salute the flag.
[John Falco]: Mr. Secretary, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Present.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Approval of the minutes of April 2013. Move approval. Mr. Skerry moves approval. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Minutes are approved. Approval of bills and transfers. Move approval. Motion Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? Actually, roll call vote please.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Six in the affirmative, one absent. Bills are approved. Approval of payrolls. Bill of approval, Mr. Chairman. On the motion of Mr. Skerry, that the payrolls be approved. Mr. Secretary, would you please call the roll? Ms.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. Payrolls are approved. Report of Secretary.
[John Falco]: Report of Committee of the Whole, April 30th, 2015. Those minutes are going to be addressed at a subsequent meeting. Community participation? None. Report of Superintendent. Mr. Superintendent. The report on high school accreditation.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cunha.
[John Falco]: Mrs. D. Benedetto.
[John Falco]: If I may add really quick, congratulations to all of you and to the whole team that was involved. Great job, fabulous. There are a lot of great things happening in the Medford Public Schools, and this is one of them. So great job, fabulous. I agree with what all my colleagues said, so just fabulous job.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Mrs. DiBenedetto that the report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The report is accepted and placed on file. Next item is the recommendation to accept gift to Medford High School from Silvio Sella Foundation. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: This is Cuno. The way she dealt in the room, though. Chairman, will you accept the donation? OK. This is Cuno.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mrs. DiBenedetta.
[John Falco]: OK. Thank you. Coach Nassimather, good luck in the upcoming season. Thank you for being here tonight. Chris Murphy, congratulations on being named president of the Football Associates. Thank you to Athletic Director Ms. Maloney for obtaining the grant. Any other questions? Okay, on the motion, Mr. Skerry to approve. Mr. Skerry, could you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes. Six in favor, one absent. The grant is accepted. Thank you.
[John Falco]: Next item is the recommendation to approve extended year, day, and evening programs at Medford Vocational Technical High School. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cuno.
[John Falco]: This is D Benedetto.
[John Falco]: If I may add really quick, um, I know that, uh, Pat is working on the piece. Hopefully that will be coming soon. So it is in the works.
[John Falco]: And we've been working on it, so that should be coming soon. Thank you. Mrs. Van der Kloot, you had a question?
[John Falco]: That's great. Thank you. Mrs. DiBenedetta.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cunha, did you have a question?
[John Falco]: Mr. Riccio, thank you very much. This is a great initiative. I know it's something we've been looking at for a while. So it's good to see that it's here. So thank you very much. On the motion of Mrs. Scarapelli to approve extended year day and evening programs at Medford Vocational Technical High School. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Next item is the report on robotics project at Medford Vocational Technical High School. Mrs. Riccio.
[John Falco]: Mrs. DiBenedetto. Hi.
[John Falco]: It's nice to know somebody was listening. Mr. Cormier, great to see you tonight after a fabulous job. I remember actually you showing me this during the vocational school open house in the fall, and I was amazed then. This is just a fabulous story. This is another great story that's happening in the Medford Public Schools, and it continues to happen more and more. We love to see it. I know myself, I'm so proud of you. It's great to see the initiative. It's great to see that you wanted to do this. It's great to have the support from your parents. Great job. This is just a great story. Thank you so much.
[John Falco]: On the motion of Mrs. Van der Kloot to accept the report and place on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you. Next item, recommendation to approve school lunch price increase for school year 2015-2016. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mr. Chairman.
[John Falco]: Mr. Scarpone.
[John Falco]: Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Vandenbroucke.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion to table by Mr. Skarapelli, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? This agenda item is tabled. I just have one other point of information. Point of information, Mr. Skerry?
[John Falco]: One of the information is to Scarpelli.
[John Falco]: Okay, and if we could have the cost from the surrounding district before we vote on this, that'd be great. There's a few more, I believe Mrs. Cunha had a question, and Mrs. DiBenedetto, Mrs. Cunha.
[John Falco]: Okay, thank you. Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[John Falco]: Thank you for your report. So we've tabled this report here. We'll take it up during our budget sessions. Okay, next item is a recommendation to reject the school choice program for school year 2015-2016. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: We have a motion of Mr. Scarpelli, seconded by Mrs. Van der Kloot. Mr. Secretary, would you please call the roll?
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes.
[John Falco]: Yes. Okay, six in the affirmative, one absent. School choice has been rejected. Next item, uh, pre-budget report mathematics. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Any other questions? If I may. Motion to accept the paper, please, on file. Second. OK, on the motion of Mrs. Carey to accept the paper, please, on file. Seconded by Mrs. D. Benedetto. I have a couple of quick questions. Two. In Visions.
[John Falco]: Has every teacher been trained that's in the K-5?
[John Falco]: And that's my next question. The technology that goes with the program, from what I remember, there was an online component that you could use at home. Am I correct? Yes. So do the parents or have the students been given all of their login information to use that?
[John Falco]: If a parent needs login information, do they contact the classroom teacher? Yes. Last but not least, you had mentioned under textbooks about funding one classroom, set up K-5 divisions. Is that for a particular school or is that spread?
[John Falco]: Okay, perfect. Thank you. Any other questions? Mrs. Cuno.
[John Falco]: Okay. And the motion was too scary. Seconded by Mrs. D Benedetto that the pre-budget report on mathematics be accepted in place on file. All those in favor. All those opposed. The report is accepted in place on file.
[John Falco]: Next item is the health. I'm sorry. The pre-budget report on health and physical education.
[John Falco]: Mr. Scarpella.
[John Falco]: Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cunha.
[John Falco]: All right, thank you for your report, very thorough. I just had a quick question, well, statement. First of all, I'm really happy to see that in your goals and objectives that you're incorporating the pool. It's fabulous, I mean, it's a great facility. Not all cities and towns have a facility like this, and it's great to see that we're using it. One of the things I was wondering is, have we ever done any type of poll, got to the high school students, and how many kids know how to swim? Because we actually haven't had a pool in a while, so I'm thinking, you know, there could be a group of people out there that just don't know how to swim. I think it's something that should look into just a swimming class in general, how to swim, especially because you hear each year how so many kids...
[John Falco]: Mr. Scott probably touched on it earlier, the maintenance of equipment. So with regard to that budget line item, is that Is that inclusive of the fitness center or is that just equipment outside of the fitness center? It's both. It's both. And with regard to that. The fitness center in general, is the equipment in kind of shape? Are we in pretty good shape still?
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Mr. Skerry to approve the pre-budget report on health and PE in place on file, all those in favor? All right, opposed? The report is accepted. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Next item is the pre-budget report on ELL, Mr. Superintendent. Last but not, certainly not least.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cuno.
[John Falco]: Okay, on the motion of Mr. Secretary and seconded by Mrs. DiBenedetto to accept the pre-budget report on ELL and place on file. All those in favor?
[John Falco]: Opposed? The report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you very much.
[John Falco]: Next item, report on summer programs. Mr. Superintendent.
[John Falco]: Point of information, Mrs. Cuno.
[John Falco]: And also, if I could just mention really quick too, it gives, I think, by moving up to the high school, it also gives the Columbus the opportunity to be properly maintained during the summer. Because if it's not, I mean, if you have the program at the Columbus, you really, there's minimal time to get that school back in shape before it's online again for the school year.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Cuno.
[John Falco]: I just wanted to, actually, I can tell you it's a fine program. My kids actually go to the summertime fun program. They have a great time every year. They really enjoy it. Can't beat the cost. And they have a lot of fun. And they've met a lot of friends through it as well. As far as, so at the end of the summer, do we do any type of, Do you do any type of communication with parents just to get their evaluation of how they felt the camp was? I think that would be interesting to see if there's anything that we can add, anything we can do differently.
[John Falco]: I think it'd be nice to reach out to the parents to actually see if there are ways to improve. It's already a great program, but it's good to see. And actually, would it be possible at the end of the summer, actually probably in September, just to get like a follow-up report on each of these programs, just to see, just update us on the good things or if there's anything that needs to be addressed?
[John Falco]: Any other questions from the committee? Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. You're welcome. Seconded by Mr. Scarpelli that the report on summer programs be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The report is accepted and placed on file. Thank you. Negotiations on legal matters, done. All business, done. Communications, done. Under new business. We resolve that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Robert Delfino. Mr. Delfino was a former city assessor. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Gerald Eisenhower. Mr. Eisenhower was the father of bed supervisor Joan Bowen. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Anne DiBenedetto. Mrs. DiBenedetto is a sister-in-law of school committee member Erin DiBenedetto. Be it resolved that the Methodist School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of John Jack Regan. Mr. Regan was a former teacher, coach, and athletic director. He was the father of Teacher Joan Cavalier. We all please rise for a moment of silence. Mr. Superintendent, I believe you have a few announcements?
[John Falco]: Yes. That's what we're saying. I will check that out and be sure.
[John Falco]: No, is there a meeting on the 27th?
[John Falco]: Yes. So what are we doing on the 27th? If I may really quick, so with regard to technology and spending, is that one meeting or two? That's one meeting.
[John Falco]: What? On the 11th you said?
[John Falco]: Yeah.
[John Falco]: Sounds good. Thank you. Motion to adjourn, Mr. Chairman. On the motion of Mr. Skerry to adjourn, seconded by Mrs. Di Benedetto. All those in favor?
[John Falco]: Meeting adjourned.