City Council - Regular Meeting

September 22nd, 2026, Lowell City Council meeting come to order. City prayer. Dear God, today as this session opens, we pray that your presence will be before us and everyone who serves in the decision-making process of our city. We pray for direction which will lead our city to be strong and unified. May we continue the legacy of our founders. May we be granted this day the wisdom to make decisions which will be for the good of our city. We also pray for your special blessing on all those who are working to transform our city and make it a better place to live and work. Amen. Pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, Mr. Clerk.

council marcia here council noon yeah council robinson here council rock council scott here council chow here council dakoto here mayor gitche here council joran here council liang here council mcdonough here it's 11 present thank you mr clerk any moment of silences council of mercy thank you mr mayor

I'd like to offer a moment of silence and docking chamber for Stephen A. Kandrodis of Lowell, who was born in Lowell. Steve enlisted in the United States Air Force on April 28, 1966. and served until his honorable discharge on January 22, 1970, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. A disabled Vietnam veteran, he carried the lessons of those years with him for the rest of his life and remained proud of his service and devoted to his fellow veterans. Returning home, he answered a second call to service and gave the town of Tewksbury 45 years of his life in law enforcement. He joined the Tewksbury Police Department as a police officer in July of 1978, was promoted to police sergeant in June of 1993, and served in that rank until his retirement in August of 2003. Retirement did little to slow him down. and he continued to serve the community he loved as a reserve police officer for another 20 years from 2003 until 2023. He earned his master's degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College and also held his contractor's license, a reflection of a man who was never content to stop learning or to leave a skill unmastered. He is survived by his beloved wife of nearly 50 years, Mary Peachy Wayne Kandrodis of Lowell. The couple was just weeks away from celebrating their golden anniversary. He is also survived by his two sons, Michael Kandrodis, who also is a police officer, but for the city of Lowell and his wife, Amanda of Lowell. and Jeffrey Kandrodis of Lowell, his two cherished grandchildren, Judge and Vivian Kandrodis, his brother, Robert W. Kandrodis of Salem, New Hampshire, his brothers and sisters-in-law, John McDonough, and his wife, Dr. Ellen T. McDonough of Lowell, Judith Wayne of Lowell, and Dr. Kevin Wayne, and his wife, Leanne Gillis of Lowell, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, lifelong friends. He was the brother-in-law of the late Gerald Wayne and David Wayne. The Kandrodis house was a very lucky house because they lived with the smartest men in the world. He will be deeply missed. I'd also like to offer a moment of silence and docking chamber to all those who passed away since our last city council meeting. May they all rest in peace. Amen. Thank you.

Any other moment of silences? Seeing none, if we could please dock in the chamber. 2, Mayor's business. 2.1, communication, remote Zoom participation. Motion to accept and place on file by Councilor Scott, seconded by Councilor Noon. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 2.2, recognition. Sergeant Major Doris G. Jean Musgrave. Tonight we have the Lowell High ROTC going to do the colors, if they would stop. Present the colors.

One arm, pull.

Resolution.

to flag the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Order!

On! Ready!

Move!

Sergeant Major, if you would come to the podium, please. If you would come to the podium. Tonight we offer you the key to the city of Lowell. Official citation, be it here known to all that the City of Lowell in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts hereby offers a sincere congratulations to Sergeant Major Doris G. Jean Musgrave. The City of Lowell is honored to recognize retired U.S. Army Sergeant Major Doris G. Jean Musgrave for his distinguished military service. dedication to public service, and lasting commitment to veterans, families, and the Lowell community. Sergeant Major Musgrave's life of service began when he entered the United States Army in 1961. During the Vietnam War, he served with 8th Company, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta. His courageous service in combat earned him two Silver Stars and two Purple Hearts, recognizing his extraordinary gallantry and the wounds he sustained in service to our nation. He continued his Army career following Vietnam, ultimately attaining the rank of Sergeant Major, where he dedicated himself to leading, training, and mentoring generations of soldiers and future military leaders. Following his retirement from the Army, Sergeant Major Musgrave continued his commitment to serve others. Sergeant Major Musgrave has exemplified a lifetime of courage, leadership, compassion, and service. His journey from decorated Vietnam veteran and senior Army leader to public servant, mentor, veterans advocate reflects an unwavering commitment to his country and to the people he has served. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Eric R. Gitcher, on behalf of the entire Lowell City Council and the residents of Lowell, do hereby extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Sergeant Major Doris G. Jean Musgrave for his extraordinary military service, his distinguished career in public service, and his enduring dedication to our veterans and community given this the 22nd day of September 2026. Sergeant Major Musgrave, would you like to say a few words?

First, I would like to thank the City of Lowell Council, Mayor, Dan. Can you hear me now?

Okay.

I don't have my hearing aid then, so I'm kind of struggling. However, thank you. It's way and beyond the call of duty which you have done for me. I appreciate it. I've found in my older years, I get more emotion. But I'll get through it. Ken, thank you. And thank Council Rourke for putting things together, as always. And I have to thank Judge Gaffney. He's been like, he's a loyal boy, too. And he's really, really been a good person, period. And proud to be a friend of his and the city of Lowell. I don't want to take much of your time, but I would like to thank you. It's really good things that you guys are doing. And don't forget, go buy Market Basket. Look at my sign.

Council Robinson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules and take a motion out of order, please, while Mr. Musgrave is here.

Second. Okay. Motion by Council Robinson, seconded by Council Rourke to take something- It would be motion 6.19.

6.19.

6.19 out of order. Sergeant Master Musgrave. Almost done. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Councilor Rook. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I just want to thank my council colleagues and paying attention to city politics for almost three decades now, probably a smidge longer. This is the first time I remember every single councilor signing off on a motion. beforehand you know each council has reached out to individually and within 15 minutes eagerly jumped on board to to recognize the sergeant major for his accomplishments for his service but also to to right or wrong As I may have stated before, he's highly decorated. But the one thing that is missing that should be given is the United States Congressional Medal of Honor. And there's a documentary about the Sergeant Major that's available now that I hope everybody gets a chance to view and to look at. A, just to respect the dedication and the service of Jean, but also to realize what should have been and what should be in the very near future. I want to thank the manager's office and especially the mayor's office for their quick and diligent work in this matter. I have no doubt in the very near future we'll be back here again, Mr. Mayor, only this time to congratulate and recognize the CEO of Lowell's first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Thank you.

Motions 6.19 Lowell City Council all members are included in this through both the mayor's office in the city manager office make a request to a federal delegation award side and major doors Jean musk ray, the United States congressional medal of honor so there is no second needed. Does anyone else Council runs.

Thank you, Mister mayor. Thank you Mister musk ray for your service. I think throughout the earlier reception and something my colleague just touched on, and thank you, Councilor Rourke, for bringing this to everyone's attention. The key with this piece here is we have a golden opportunity to right a wrong. this is something that was earned and i think it's not going to be just the council it's not just going to be the state delegation it's not just going to be the federal delegation we need every resident here we need all the members of the public also to help us build a support campaign to try to correct this injustice that was done many years ago and and so if you can pick up the phone watch the documentary and reach out to anyone you can whether it's petitions anything we can do to try to bring this home because this is something that was earned it is well deserved thank you

Thank you, Council Robinson. Council Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say this is a matter of urgency. There was an injustice done quite a few years ago and this needs to be done now. And I think the first step is obviously Congresswoman Trahan and move this as quickly as possible. I've heard some rumors that it could take a year, two years, three years. It can't take that long. This is something that's, through the documentary that I saw, this can be done, and it can be done swiftly. So like Councilor Robinson just said, let's use every resource that we have to make this happen as soon as possible. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Dakota. I just want to say thank you to Congresswoman Trahan's office for coming tonight and giving Jean a citation. Also, Senator Markey's office for sending a citation and also Senator Howard, who came here tonight. If Jean, if you could come in and take a picture with us, honor us with a picture, we would really enjoy that.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor.

Roll call, Mr. Clerk.

Sorry.

Council Mercy. Yes. Council Noon.

Yes.

Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rourke. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chau. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gitche.

Yes.

Council Duran. Yes. Council Liang. Yes. Council McDonough. Yes. That's 11 yes.

2.2, motion to accept and place on file by Council Rourke, seconded by Council Robinson. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 2.3, presentation.

Mr. Mayor, my apologies. We have suspension of rules under positions 11.2. The gentleman is here to speak. I'd rather not have him here all night.

Can we finish the presentations first? Absolutely. My apologies. My apologies. Thank you. 2.3 presentation, Latinx Center in Lowell. We have an official citation.

I have a registered speaker if you want to go. Go ahead, Mr. Clerk. Diego Leonado.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council, City Manager, and fellow Lowell residents. My name is Diego Linardo, and I have the honor of serving as the Executive Director of the Lionettes Community Center for Empowerment, LCCE, here in Lowell. Thank you for the opportunity to be with you tonight. I'm here to invite every single one of you and every family in this city to our fifth anniversary Hispanic and Latinx festival happening this Saturday, September 26 at Sampas Pavilion from 12 to 7 p.m. Let me start with the forecast. Yes, there is a chance of rain this weekend, but I want to be very clear with this council. There is 100% chance of fun. Rain or shine, this festival is happening and we are ready. For those who don't know us yet, LCC was founded to reduce barriers for immigrants and low-income families across the greater Lowell through education, workforce development, civic engagement, and the arts. We believe culture is not just something we celebrate once a year. It's something that builds bridges, creates opportunity, and strengthens the whole city, not just one community within it. September is Hispanic Heritage Month, and a time when our country pauses to recognize the contributions, resilience, and history of Latino communities from Mexico to Argentina, from the Caribbean to Central America. And this Saturday, we're bringing the entire month to life in one single afternoon right here in Lowell. Here's what I mean. At this festival, in just few hours, your family can taste Puerto Rico, one side of the side park, hear live music from Colombia and the Dominican Republic on one main stage, watch folk dance from El Salvador, and browse handmade crafts from a dozen different countries, all without a passport, without a plane ticket, and without leaving the city of Lowell. We are talking about 15,000 plus people expected this year, over 25 vendors, food trucks, artisans, live performances, kids zone and community partners. From the Red Cross to Rockland Trust and our Lowell Elections Department, all in one place. So may I ask tonight a simple question. Bring your families, bring your neighbors, tell your staff, your constituents, your church groups your community organizations this isn't a latino event that happens to be in lowell this is a lowell event that happens to be latino so it belongs to everyone in this room and everyone in this city we are proud to call lowell home and we're proud to share this celebration with all of you this saturday september 26 sempis pavilion 12 to 7 come hungry come curious and come ready to dance thank you and we hope to see you there

Thank you. We have an official citation. Be it here known to all that the city of Lowell in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts hereby offers its sincere congratulations to Latinx Center of Community Empowerment. The city of Lowell congratulates Latinx Center for Community Empowerment on its fifth anniversary and to honor its outstanding contributions to our community. LCCE's commitment to equality, equity, inclusion, and empowerment has made a lasting impact on the residents it serves by fostering a culture of opportunity, collaboration, and community engagement. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Eric R. Gitche, on behalf of the entire City Council and the residents of Lowell, do hereby congratulate Latinx Center of Community Empowerment on its fifth anniversary. We extend our sincere appreciation for your dedication leadership and continued service to our community and we wish lcce many more years of success given this 22nd day of september 2026. thank you

Thank you.

Motion to accept and place on file by Councilor Chow, seconded by Councilor Duran. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Motion to suspend the rules by Councilor Decoto, seconded by Councilor Mercy to take 11.2 out of order. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 11.2, miscellaneous. Edward Bud Caulfield requests permission to address the City Council regarding motorized scooters and bicycles. The motion to refer to the law department, city manager for report and recommendation by Councilor Mercy, seconded by Councilor Noonan, Mr. Caulfield.

Yeah. Bud, go ahead. Name an address for the record.

Edward Caulfield, 589 Princeton Boulevard, Lowell, Mass. Mr. Mayor, members of the Lowell City Council, Mr. Manager, thank you for giving me this opportunity to, I think, speak on a serious issue. But I would like to thank Eric Gitche from the city clerk's office for really going through all the archives to come up with this ordinance. The law department and Mr. Manager, I want to thank you as well for answering the phone for me on that Saturday morning. Every councilor has a copy of this ordinance. It was adopted in 2004. I'm going to read you B. A motorized scooter shall not be operated in the city of Lowell on any street, way, sidewalk, public property, including schools, playgrounds, and parks, or in any place to which the public has a right of access, or any place to which members of the public have access as invitees, as licenses, by motorized scooters shall not be operated on any way by any person not possessing a valid driver's license. every person operating a motorized scooter should have the right to use all public ways in the city except limited access or express state highways with signs specifically prohibiting bicycles have been posted and shall be subject to the traffic laws and regulations of the commonwealth and other traffic ordinances of the city etc council rita mercia voted for this ordinance in 2004 And so did I. Why am I here tonight speaking on motorized scooters? I'm 88 years old. I take care of my wife 24-7. On Friday night, September 11th, we're going to go out to dine. I got my wife into the car, in the driveway, and something, a flash, When I say a flash, it was unbelievable. This man on a sit-down scooter, and this scooter was the Cadillac of all scooters, he went by my house unbelievably fast. And I counted the amount of time it took him to get to the Wood Street intersection. Eleven seconds. That is a tenth of a mile. And why do I know that's a tenth of a mile? Because I was an avid runner in my younger days. I know exactly what a tenth of a mile is, a half a mile, a mile. So that meant if he did a tenth of a mile in 11 seconds, do the math, he was doing 30 miles an hour on the sidewalk. I'm here not for myself, but all pedestrians. who utilized sidewalks in the city of Lowell. If that man, it was an adult also, he was a man, 150 pounds. If that man hit me or anyone else, Lowell General Hospital, ICU. There is an ordinance in the city of Lowell that says you can't do it. You have to be 16 1⁄2 years of age and have a valid driver's license to operate one of these motorized scooters. Mr. Solicitor, does this ordinance also cover motorized e-bikes? Solicitor Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Oh, to the mayor. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. Normally, we don't have people ask questions from the mic, Mr. Caulfield, but...

uh yes so if you were to go into the first paragraph of the ordinance it describes anything that this would apply to and you know like any two-wheeled device handlebars it's powered by electric gasoline alcohol fueled and that can propel itself without human propulsion uh would qualify this would apply to thank you i just want to stress the audience states 15 miles an hour

Before I leave this podium, I have two incidents I want to bring out. If everyone has been on the walk bridge at 2.30 in the afternoon, you know it's nothing but a traffic jam. I was on that bridge one day at 2.30 in the afternoon. A teenager on a motorized e-bike had a passenger in front of him, who was probably eight years old, and another passenger behind him. So that means there were three people on this motorized e-bike. And what did he do? He went straight up the Rourke Bridge, right in the middle of the traffic. And once he got over the Rourke Bridge, whether he went left or right, he was on a state highway. There was another time I was traveling on Princeton Boulevard, outbound, made a right turn on pine street and it's a curve anyone lives in the highlands knows what i'm talking about it was a curve and i mounted the that curve and a young kid about nine years old on a mini mini motorized bike when shooting across pine street it was a miracle he was not killed what i want to stress mr mayor is this ways and means of addressing this. The Lo San can do this civic duty by printing this ordinance. The Regency and Motor Vehicles must get involved. The Lo Police have ambassadors that can go into the middle schools. and talk to the kids and let them know that this is illegal. The parents have to get this message because what's happening is they talk to parents and buy me one of those bikes. You can buy them at Targets, Walmarts, whatever, and they're illegal. Illegal. Thank you for your time and your consideration, and I hope, Mr. Manager, we address this ordinance. It's law. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Caulfield.

Council McDonough. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I was just going to ask, and I can do it as a motion for the next meeting, or I'm just going to ask it now. Is there any way we can get just a report on the enforcement of this ordinance, 266.15 and or 110-1, maybe over the last six-ish, six months, I think, a small time frame, just to see what we're currently doing?

start there it shouldn't be a problem manager thank you thank you all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed sword seeing at seven o'clock we'll go into the hearings for general public hearing 4.1 ordinance amending zoning curb cuts give second reading In Ordinance Amending Code of City of Lowell, Massachusetts with respect to Chapter 290, therefore entitled Zoning by Amending, Section 6.1.10 to expand the maximum allowed curb cut for traditional single families, traditional two families, and urban single family zones from 15 feet to 20 feet. We need a motion to suspend the rules to take 7.4 with it. Councilor Robinson, seconded by Councilor Scott. All in favor signify by saying aye. 7.4, the Communications Planning Board decision regarding proposed zoning code amendment for extending minimum curb cuts in zoning districts. Motion to accept and place on file by Councilor Noon, seconded by Councilor Mercier. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. We're going to open the hearing up to all those in favor. In favor? In favor. That part of the hearing is now closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Opposition? Opposition? That portion of the hearing is closed. Motion to adopt by Councilor Scott, seconded by Councilor Rook. Roll call, Mr. Clerk.

oh i'm sorry council duran i didn't see you yep sorry thank you mr mayor um the dpd staff had noted that wider curb cuts reduce green space and also impact or reduce pedestrian safety um The other memo is the planning board memo. I watched the planning board meeting. The engineer's department also indicated, as well as DPWD, that extending curb cuts would reduce on-street parking. So I'm trying to understand. sort of the the value of reducing on-street parking the difference is that on-street parking is available to anyone in the neighborhood where once we extend the curb cuts and increase the size of driveways that will take away more on-street parking So the people who live in the houses where they have wider driveways will be able to park in their own driveway. They can also park on the street. But other people who used to be able to park on the street now have less street to park on. So I'm trying to understand, especially because DPD was against extending the curb cuts from 15 to 20 feet in these districts, what we're trying to achieve by enacting this ordinance. Thank you. And I don't think it's a question for DPD because I think they're opposed to the extension. So it's really a question for others who are promoting this.

Mr. Manager.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, through the council. Council, we brought it forth by a vote of the council to make this decision. So really, you're right. DPD was against us, I think, in the original housing piece. But we've had issues throughout the city where people can't use the land that they have for their off-street parking. So yes, we are giving up some on-street parking. to increase parking off street. So you are correct on that. But this is brought forth by the council as a vote for us to bring it for a vote for this ordinance change.

Council Scott. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm actually the one that brought it forward, so I spoke on it at that time before we voted on it. In some districts, regardless of the frontage that you have in front of your home, like Belvedere, you're allowed to have a 20-foot-wide driveway. In other districts like South Lowell, Back Central, you know, many other districts, Centerville, you're not allowed to have that. So what it leads to is that you can only have a one-car-wide opening. So you can fan out right away to two cars wide, but you have one. So everybody parks on the street because they can't park at the end of the driveway. So that was the reasoning for it. People approached me. They said it wasn't equitable, that it was allowed in certain districts and not in other districts. So I brought it forward, and I'd ask people to support it. I believe most residents that live in these districts do support being able to have a two-car-wide driveway. And I did ask at the time if we wanted to base it on frontage. That was fine as well. You know, if you have enough space, then you should, you know, be able to park like that.

So, thank you. Thank you, Council Scott. Council Robinson.

Thank you. EQUITY ASIDE, IF WE'RE LOOKING AT POTENTIALLY ALLOWING PROPERTY OWNERS, LANDLORDS, WHOEVER, TO BE ABLE TO FIT ANOTHER ROW OF CARS IN THEIR OWN LAND, IT'S GOING TO HELP US WITH WINTER OPERATIONS AS WE'VE BEEN TALKING BECAUSE NOW SOME OF THOSE CARS THAT ARE FROM THAT ADDRESS ARE GOING TO BE ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY. IT WILL HELP US IN THE SPRING AND THE FALL AS WELL WHEN WE HAVE TO DO STREET SWEEPING. um so any opportunity we have to allow our residents put their vehicles on their property again we do have to sacrifice potentially some green space and maybe that's something we need to look towards in the very near future to say you know if you're removing more than x amount then we need to do something different with this but I do support the ability and keeping it equitable from district to district thank you

Thank you, Council Robinson. Seeing no other questions, roll call. Oh, wait a minute. Council McDonough.

Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to double check before I put my hand up. Continuing off of what my colleagues have said, the other piece to point out is that in Some districts, like in Back Central, not only do we currently only have a 15-foot maximum curb cut for the driveway, the off-street parking near your dwelling unit is also restricted because Back Central is exempt. Residents in Back Central are left off of the... They don't have the ability to buy a... reserve dwelling unit parking placard and put it in front of their house so in some neighborhoods you can have a 20 foot curb cut for your driveway and put a placard in front of your house for one reserve street spot and then in back central you have a 15 foot driveway and you're you can't you can't even pay the city to put a a spot in front so that that's that's all i have thank you council mcdonough see no other roll call mr clerk

Council Mercier. Yes. Council Noon. Yes. Council Robinson.

Yes.

Council Rourke.

Yes.

Council Scott. Yes. Council Chau. Yes. Council Decoto. Yes. Mayor Gitche. Yes. Council Duran. Yes. Council Liang. Yes. Council McDonough. Yes. 11 yes.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Five utility public hearings, 5.1 National Grid requests installation of two four-inch conduits on South Highland Street near Gorham Street. Give a second to open up to anyone here wishing to speak in favor.

Yes. I'm Alec Berthsong. I'm here to represent National Grid in this matter. My address is 1101 Turnpike Street in North Andover. This work will allow us to provide service to 463 Gorham Street. So that's why we need it.

thank you anyone else wishing to speak in favor in favor in favor that portion of the hearing is closed anyone wishing to speak in opposition opposition opposition that portion of the meeting is closed motion refer to wire inspector for a report and recommendation by council liang seconded by council dakota roll call no roll call mr all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered 5.2 boston gas replaced existing mains on aiken street in ave dalton street in court exeter street due to cso sewer work give second re open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak in favor

Robert Colleton, representing National Grid Gas, 775 Dutton Street. These are, as you said, in conjunction with the sewer separation based on the city's work.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor? In favor? In favor? That portion of hearing is closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Opposition? Opposition? That portion of the hearing is closed. Motion to refer to the wiring inspector report and recommendation by Councilor Robinson, seconded by Councilor Mercier. Councilor Robinson.

I just would like to say thank you because again, when we started the CSO project, one of the big unknowns with this was the timeliness of being able to get the utility companies to come out and work with us to move what they needed to move as we progressed and we're greatly appreciative. that are they're working with us side by side and we're trying to get this project done and thank you to all the residents that are inconvenienced daily as a result of this but i mean we're getting there it's plugging away slowly but surely and i think you have a good team assigned to this so thank you all

Thank you, Councilor Robinson. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered 5.3, Boston Gas replacement of existing 55 feet of gas main with new gas main at 47 Fulton Street. We're going to open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak in favor?

Again, Robert Colleton representing National Grid Gas, replacing a small section of existing cast iron that was encroached, undermined by a sewer repair in that section of street.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor? In favor? In favor? That portion of the hearing is closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Opposition? Opposition? That portion of the hearing is closed. Motion to refer to wire inspector report and recommendation by Councilor McDonough, seconded by Councilor Liang. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 3, City Clerk 3.1, minutes of the City Council regular meeting September 8th, Neighborhood Subcommittee September 15th for acceptance. Motion to accept and place on file by Councilor DeCoto, seconded by Councilor Duran. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Six, City Council motion 6.1. City Council of Murcia requests City Manager find ways and means to purchase and place outdoor exercise equipment strategically placed out along walking path at Father Maguire's Park. Seconded by Councilor Rook. Councilor Murcia.

thank you mr mayor sometimes the best motions don't come from this council they come from our constituents such as the case of this motion here this is a motion that was given to me by a constituent when i attended the ribbon cutting at father mcguire park she loved the new playground equipment and was very grateful what she thought could be added was similar to what they have on patek street at chihi park and that is exercise equipment not being grouped in one central gym cluster, but across the entire park footprint. It would be exercise stations spread out at regular intervals along the park, a balance beam, a chin bar lift, pull-up bars, stretching posts, etc. The McAvenue School Children come across the street and they use Father McGuire Park regularly during the school year, and I bet they would love this opportunity to get that exercise equipment strategically placed along the path. the goal is to have fitness equipment dispersed throughout father mcguire park to encourage active walking this would be a plus not just for the neighbors but for the school children as well i i thought see sometimes we see the best ideas in other places and would like to have them in our own backyard and where the school is right across the street they'd be so happy because exercise

is still having fun and they won't even realize it but that's good thank you thank you council mercy all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered mr mayor sorry uh motion to suspend the rules and take 9.1 out of order motion by council mcdonough to take 9.1 out of order seconded by council liang all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered 9.1 ordinance amend chapter 176 tenants rights and housing stability notification our registered speakers mr mayor lukaina lunday

Good evening, Mr. City Manager, Mr. Mayor, Lowell City Council members, and fellow Lowell residents. My name is Lakina Lundy. I want to start by thanking you all tonight for the opportunity to speak, and thank you for your attention to this important proposed ordinance. I have lived in Lowell for 25 years and have two decades of experience providing housing stability services through a variety of local organizations here in the Merrimack Valley. Tonight, I am here in support of our community partner Merrimack Valley Project and will talk about why this ordinance is important. This ordinance will ensure our residents have ready access to important information about their tenants and fair housing rights. Lack of information and awareness has been one of the biggest barriers to enforcing tenants and civil rights in housing. This ordinance does not impose new substantive requirements on housing providers. This ordinance just simply requires housing providers to provide tenant rights information at the beginning and at the end of tenancies. It does not impose a cost on housing providers and provides minimal administrative costs on the city. The Tenants' Rights Ordinance covers fair housing rights established in our state's anti-discrimination laws, how to address and seek assistance with housing code problems, information about illegal application fees, lease terms, and security deposit protections, as well as important procedural and substantive rights and tenancy terminations and evictions. Ready access to this information is critically important because lack of information is the biggest barrier in rights enforcement. We see little residents every day leave their home and start sleeping in their cars when they receive a notice to quit because they are afraid to even stay one more day because they don't know their rights. We have residents letting us know that they were unaware that they could even ask for pest control. They thought that living with cockroaches was actually normal to have in an apartment. We have residents who pay so many illegal application fees that housing search itself becomes a cost burden. Whether it's a series of small fees or a couple substantial fees, the cost is real. Unaware these fees are illegal, they are unable to fight them or request a refund. We have residents that are turned away from rentals because they are pregnant or have young kids, carry an ethnic last name just because they have housing subsidy. This information ordinance reaches more than just tenants. It reaches and informs housing providers. A housing provider that must provide their tenants information that covers illegal application fees will be less likely to charge them. A housing provider that must provide information on the eviction process will be more likely to follow it. as well as a housing provider that must provide information on housing court enforcements will be more likely to maintain compliance. This tenant rights ordinance will provide critical information throughout the renter and housing provider community in Lowell and will improve housing stability and establish housing standards. Once again, I want to thank you all again for the opportunity to speak tonight, and I appreciate your time and attention to this matter. Thank you.

Mary Azulte. Mary Carmen Azulte.

Buenas tardes. Yo soy Mari Carmen Alzate. Soy Colombiana. y soy parte de Merrimont Valley Project y he vivido en Lowell por muchos años. Estoy aquí para expresar mi apoyo a la ordenanza de protección para inquilinos.

Good evening. My name is Mari Carmen. I am Colombian and I'm part of the Merrimack Valley Project. I have also lived in Lowell for many years. I'm here to express my support for the Tenant Protection Ordinance.

For me, this proposal is very important so that people know their rights and know where to seek help when they face a housing problem.

For me, this proposal is very important because it ensures that people know their rights and know where to seek help when they face housing problem.

no saben cuáles son sus protecciones contra la discriminación, qué hacer ante condiciones inseguras, cuáles son sus derechos, contando y depósitos de seguridad, o qué oposiciones tienen cuando enfrentan un desalojo.

Many tenants do not know what protections they have against discrimination, what to do when facing unsafe housing conditions, what their rights are regarding lease and security deposits, and what options they have when facing eviction.

This is why it's so important that every tenant receives clear information about their rights and knows that they can access legal representation. As a Lowell resident, I want a city where tenants can seek help without fear and where our families have tools they need to protect their homes. Protecting tenants means protecting our community. Proteger a los inquilinos es proteger a nuestra comunidad. Por eso apoyo esta ordenanza y les pido al Consejo Municipal de Lowell esta decisión que la respalden. Muchas gracias.

That is why I support this ordinance and I ask the Lowell City Council to support this decision. Thank you very much.

Tim Collins.

Good evening, everybody. Good evening, Mr. City Manager, Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the City Council. My name is Timothy Collins, a resident of Enel Street in the Centerville neighborhood, and as many of you know, a proud member of Ironworkers Local 7. I come before you this evening in support of the Merrimack Valley Project's initiative to require all landlords in the City of Lowell to provide all tenants with a copy of the mass tenant rights and everything contained therein upon signing any lease or rental agreement in the City of Lowell. I've come before the Council on a few occasions, mostly concerning the issues and concerns of the labor movement in this city. I also feel that, unfortunately, many of my brothers and sisters in labor have forgotten that we have always stood on the front lines when it comes to the topic of rights, whether they be workers' rights, civil rights, gender rights, or immigration rights. Let these words be a reminder to them. About 13 years ago, I was sworn in as a member of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Ironworkers. My favorite line in the oath that I took is, and that I will at all times be considerate of widows, widowers, orphans, and the weak and defenseless. Because it was at that very moment that I knew I was part of something great. You see, I realized that it wasn't just about me. And for the first time in a long time, I had the opportunity to do what was right. Members of the City Council, Mr. Mayor, Mr. City Manager, you also have the opportunity to do what is right. These laws and ordinances, they already exist. This measure is essentially low-hanging fruit. They say knowledge is power, and in my opinion, it is your sworn duty to act in the best interest of your constituency and to help keep them knowledgeable and informed of their rights as taxpaying residents of this city. You know, thinking back a number of years ago, I remember having a conversation with a member of the Lowell Police Department. And if I remember correctly, it kind of went like this. Timothy Collins, yes. Come here, you have the right to remain silent, right? Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Right, those are all my random rights. The point being here, I was advised of my rights. Tenants in this city should be advised of theirs and they deserve at least that. You know, I find it fitting that we sit here tonight also supporting Sergeant Major Don J. Musgrave, who risked life and limb in a foreign land so that we may continue to enjoy these rights. Let us honor him in the fight for the recognition he deserves while at the same time fighting for what's right for each other. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Mr. Collins, could you come back up and just give us your address? You gave us an L Street. We just need the address. 103 and L Street, Apartment 1. Thank you. Swing by anytime. I'll see you after this for dinner. And don't give me the pizza that was in there. Is there any other registered speakers, Mr. Clerk? There are not. There are not. Did you register to speak?

I'll make a motion to suspend the rules, Mr. Mayor.

Hi, Mr. Mayor.

I'm sorry. Today, I want to ask your permission.

If you give me one second, you have to give me one minute.

Motion to suspend the rules and allow the speaker to speak.

Councilor Robinson, seconded by Councilor Noonan. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed, so ordered. Please state your name and address for the record.

OK, my name is Sagrario Guerrero. I live in 74 Grand Street, Lowell, Massachusetts, zip code 0151. Today, I want to ask to the members, hear my side, the real history as a mom, as advocate for my family, and as president of the Lowell, Massachusetts City for me is like I love it so much for different reasons. Today I want to talk fair housing for everybody, try to be better this city of Louisville. I have long year with so many issues in my housing, like extremely cold without heater system. retaliation for my landlord because I report so many issues and then after that I don't receive the real appropriate management in the housing. I wanna say in Spanish like I can breathe. . black mold in the la la vivienda el sistema de calefacción deficiente de la de la de maintenance y a través de estas reportes que he hecho el land or no ha seguido los protocolos debidos y lo que ha hecho es Thank you.

Assistant City Manager Machado will be able to see you in one minute. With that, we don't have any other speakers. Councilor McDonough.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to start by first by thanking the city solicitor and the city manager's team for working with me on this. I didn't actually do that much. I just wanted to thank you for helping get it across the finish line and getting it in front of the council tonight. More importantly than that, I want to thank the Merrimack Valley project, and more importantly than that, I want to thank the something like 500 Lowell residents was the last estimate I got. It was around 500 Lowell residents that have participated throughout the organizing process here and the showing up to listening sessions. This is something, this ordinance is something that truly did come from the bottom up. I was at an earlier meeting and this is not in any of the notes that anybody wrote for me so don't throw anything at me. I was at an earlier meeting with this group and I think Mr. Mayor I saw you later that night and I was very frustrated because I felt like things were coming top down and it And that is not this. This comes after that. This came from months of listening and careful organizing, hearing real problems like the problem we just heard tonight, and trying to figure out what is a step in the right direction and how do we begin to... make sure that everyone in the city has a right to fair housing clean housing and and knows what those rights that they are entitled to are I just want to reiterate for my colleagues that this ordinance this proposed ordinance does not put a significant strain on the city there's there's not actually a huge lift here this is largely um you know once we craft what the rights are it's largely about ensuring that landlords, housing providers are furnishing their tenants with these rights. We're not creating any new rights. The rights already exist. We're just making sure that people are informed of that. And this is something, Mr. Mayor, this is something that this council has talked about many times since I've been on, since before I've been on. I think this is an attempt to make sure that all tenants in the city, regardless of whether they're renting, whether they're tenants of the LHA or a major developer or a mom-and-pop landlord, just that everybody is on the same page, everybody knows what rights they have, and they know what resources are available to them when they have problems like mold or cockroaches or a full trash room or trash all over the street or any number of things that can happen. So thank you.

thank you council mcdonough council of duran thank you mr mayor i just had a couple of questions um there's a reference in the ordinance to short-term rental accommodations which are excluded but um i was wondering if we have any and in part this is really trying to understand where we stand with the motion response from june 16th where i was asking about short-term rentals in the city manager golden

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, through the council. No, we do not. Let me rephrase this. We should not have short-term rentals in the city.

OK, great. I would love to still see that motion response. My other question was really about the process here. So I appreciate Councilor McDonough's taking the lead here, but I don't really understand how a request by a single counselor that didn't go through the motion process and doesn't have a public hearing associated with it leads us to an ordinance today when we just had a public hearing on a different ordinance. So I'm trying to understand where we are procedurally.

This is the first reading.

It is? Okay. But I'm also not sure how it came about. I mean, if any of us can just go to the city manager and get things done, I'm not sure what we're doing here on Tuesday nights. Thank you. Councilor McDonough.

Yeah. Actually, I was confused on how to do this. This was part of why I was thanking the city solicitor here. In reading the council rules, it was kind of open. Because as the legislative arm of the city, I believe, according to our rules, I believe I would have been well within, any of us would be within our right to send the whole ordinance package to the clerk. I don't actually know what the process would be. I've seen other cities in Massachusetts do this, where instead of ordinance from the city manager, it would say ordinance from the city council, and then it would And there would be the attachment. But that's just not ever how it's worked in Lowell. And so when I brought this, because according to council rules, the law department would have needed to review the text of the ordinance and ensure that it conformed with the law before we could take it for a vote. So I went to sit with the solicitor a week before the meeting, which is what the rules say. And it was the solicitor who said, well, this is fairly mean basically you said this is this is not a heavy lift i think the administration would be happy to just put this on and sit like we can put it on i said okay solicitor williams

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, so in speaking with Councilor McDonough, we discussed the different ways that things find their way onto the agenda. Oftentimes, it's through a motion. Oftentimes, it could be through an information from the city manager. While it's certainly uncommon, if it happened in this situation, if a counselor presents a potential ordinance to me, puts it in front of me, gives it to my department to review, and I go through it, and if the counselor wishes for it to be put onto the agenda for consideration of the full body, there's nothing that prevents that. and i i explained to council mcdonough it's certainly not common but there's nothing that prevents it so um yeah thank you council marcia

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was just thinking out loud to myself when Timothy, the iron worker, spoke and he said he was stopped and the police said, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. That happened to me. And when the officer said, and can you give me a name and address for the record? I said, yes, officer. Thank you. Belinda Duran. So, I'm just kidding. But anyway, I don't want to make light of it, but this is a very, very important ordinance, and I support it 100%. Thank you.

A data center is doing that to me every day. Councilor Robinson.

Thank you. With this ordinance, I think it's a great thing. I think a lot of this makes complete sense. I have a couple questions about, for one, penalties, violations through you to the solicitor. Are the recommended penalties here the max that we're allowed to do?

Solicitor Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, yeah, 300 is the maximum under the state statute. It's 4021D. So 300 is the max. This is staggered from a written warning up to 300. Yeah, I noticed there's a... Cambridge, for instance, that's in here, theirs goes right to 300. But this is... It came to me in this form, and again, we've sort of done it both ways here in the city. Sometimes we do sort of start out smaller and then work up to a bigger one, and then other times we will just go right to the maximum. It sort of just depends on the will of the body.

so so that's one uh for two i think something like this if we're going to memorialize this i think we need to bring in like merrimack valley housing partnership at different organizations that are training and getting landlords up to speed on on any of these kind of changes so they can hand these out in the classroom so potential landlords are aware as well of this is going to be required from this point forward um another part that I have a question on is section 176-16 where that spells out B5 um it talks about who would be exempt from this I have one question about that B5 they list any other housing accommodations that the city's prohibited by federal estate law from regulating under this ordinance is low housing or any of those would they fall into that B5 section 176 dash 16 be 5. would this would this apply to because when we get into the to the providing information on who to contact about on the uncleanly situations and and pretty much health stuff I think it's relevant but does that fall into this section Tony Williams

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That is one of those sort of boilerplate statements that go into these sections oftentimes and anything that doesn't, that isn't clearly stated in the ones above it, it would fall into there. I don't know off the top of my head. I don't know if anyone else, I'm not sure if Giovanni or anyone else knows, but I certainly don't know if it would fall under that section. Manager Golden.

Thank you very much, Mr. May, through the council. That would fall into Mass Sanitary Code, talking to the Assistant City Manager on this. But we also need to try to bring into the table, you know, CTI, Low Housing Authority, and other agencies that the city may not have direct control over at all times. Thank you. So I like where you're going with this. This is something we could possibly do. I just think we need to think this.

And so I think... I'M FULLY SUPPORTIVE OF THIS DOCUMENT THAT'S PRESENTED IN THE DRAFT FORM. BUT I DO THINK WE HAVE SOME GAPS THAT NEED TO BE FILLED IF WE'RE GOING TO COMMIT TO A TENANT'S RIGHTS REQUIREMENT TO LANDLORDS. I THINK WE NEED TO LOOK LEGALLY FROM THE CITY'S PERSPECTIVE AND REQUIRE IT FROM LOW HOUSING CTI CBA ANYBODY THAT'S GOING TO BE A LANDLORD IN THE CITY THAT WE HAVE AN ABILITY TO ENFORCE THIS ON SO THAT WAY WE HAVE CONSISTENCY I DO ALSO LIKE THE FACT HOW THE SOLICITOR BROUGHT UP I MEAN IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. bad landlords why are we walking them through almost four violations before we hit with the $300 penalty I think I think it should go from a warning to something that that is tangible because if not they're just going to continue continue continue and then it's a slap on the wrist with $300 so I I hope the maker of the motion would be open to PUTTING THIS INTO A HOUSING SUBCOMMITTEE TO TRY TO WORK THROUGH AND FILL SOME OF THESE GAPS THAT I THINK ARE MISSING IN THIS DOCUMENT BUT I FULLY SUPPORT WHAT IS PRESENTED HERE IN THE IN THE DRAFT FORM THANK YOU COUNCIL ROBINSON COUNCIL CHAO OH MR MAYOR I I MEAN I'M ASKING IF IF THE MAKER WOULD BE OKAY WITH THAT TO TO PUT THIS INTO A HOUSING SUBCOMMITTEE TO FILL THOSE GAPS I'LL PUT THAT IN THE FORM OF A MOTION IF THAT'S OKAY WITH THE MAKER THERE COUNCIL MCDONALD

I think I'm supposed to say yes, but part of me really wants to have this public hearing. I do. I think if the housing subcommittee, this is an awful way for me to put this, if the housing subcommittee wants to meet sometime soon and review this, I think that's, if we could do this quickly, sometimes things go to subcommittee and it takes 90 days, you know. But if this wants to go to a subcommittee, we have a quick meeting. While we're still on the summer schedule, we have a quick meeting, and then we get it back. I don't have a problem with that.

I'd be all game to expedite this process if possible, but I think we have an opportunity here to bake in some of these gaps instead of passing something and then trying to dig out after the fact.

Manager Golden.

Thank you very much, Mr. May, through to the council. Council, I share your concerns as well. At times it does happen, but I think this is something which, if it's the will of the body, we could move in this direction. One of my concerns, having been in the business years ago, is that you have good landlords that do the right thing. You have bad landlords, but we have to tell all of the landlords that this is what the will of the council is. And trying to get a hold of all of the landlords in a quick manner isn't exactly as easy as people would think it is but if it's the will of the body to move this forward into the housing subcommittee to handle some of the concerns that council Robinson had a couple of concerns that I had was I'm not saying CTI is a concern I'm not saying a little housing authority is a concern but I'd like to bring them to the table to see if we can actually indeed get this completed And I say sooner rather than later. I hear you. So that's just a suggestion from me to the council and whatever the council's wishes are. But we will expedite it on our end to make sure that this happens, to meet with the appropriate folks. This is a great job done by the solicitor, great job copying it. It's just the implementation. I don't want to just say we did it and then have people say they don't know about it because that will happen.

Councilman McDonough.

Thank you. Yeah, no, I really don't have a problem. That would be fine going to the Housing Subcommittee. I was hesitant at first simply because of the sheer volume of signature cards and people who have organized behind this. And I know that everyone who has done this work who lives here, I mean, the people who spoke tonight, the people who didn't speak tonight, but there's a whole lot of you, want to see this get across the finish line. But Mr. Mayor, I share the manager's sentiment. I share my colleague's sentiment. I think I want to make sure what we do pass is the best possible version of this. So it makes complete sense to me. So thank you.

Motion by Councilor Robinson to send this to the Housing Subcommittee, seconded by Councilor McDonough. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Councilor Chowdhury, do you still wish to speak on it?

Thank you, Mayor. I look forward to the housing subcommittee as well. Maybe it's a quick question right now. First of all, I thank everybody for coming to speak and my colleague for bringing this up. It's a good start through you, Mr. Mayor, to see the solicitor. When it comes to tenant rights and Councillor Robinson brought up earlier about violations and penalties, Ultimately, it's going to lead to some kind of a dispute between tenants and landlords. How would the role of the city be involved in legal dispute, whether it go to the outside of court or in court?

Do you think we should give them time to put this together so when we get to a subcommittee, they can answer these questions? Sure, sure. That would be fine if that's more comfortable. Does anyone else wish to speak on this because it's going to go to a subcommittee? Councilor Noon?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank Councillor McDonnell for, you know, initiating this and the willingness from the city administrations to draft this ordinance. And this ordinance is a mayor of Cambridge ordinance, right? The right of tenant is there. It's a matter of put it out there. As a city, we should have this ordinance, right? As a city, you know, every resident who happens to be tenant needs to know their right, and the landlord, too. need to hand this right to the people that they before anything before the tendency of you know of tenant right before they start living day one did you understand that so these people here really the mamak housing project and all the speakers they do care about this they live in our city I was hoping that, you know, we go into public hearing in October 6th and that move it through. But then again, waiting a few months, that's fine. But I urge everyone here, everyone at home who care about tenant rights, come every meeting, the housing subcommittee meeting, show up. And the next time you show up, you need to feel up there and down here. And when you have a public hearing, For this council, when it comes back for a public hearing, you need to show up. If you do not show up, that's all your fault. Show up. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Maybe they should hold it on a Saturday. Councilor Yang.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I do really support this motion and also want to thank the speakers who actually brave enough to come and speak. while they were speaking I remember the thing that happened to me I think it was either 1989 or 1990s when we have a loon of rock and branch Fletcher Street there's a long time ago I was living in Rock Street and One afternoon while I was sleeping, the door was open and I was shocked to see my landlord was standing there, you know, with the new renters. Actually, he was showing my apartment on Rock Street to the, you know, the new potential renter. And I was shocked and I still remember to this day. So basically, I want to also echo Councilor Noon. There's a lot of stuff that's happening in the city that the administration and the other people don't know about. And some right might be violated. And so therefore, come out and speak, and come out and attend the public hearing. Because I didn't know that the landlord could actually open your door and show your apartment to somebody else while you're still living there. THIS IS 1989 AND 1990, SO I WAS PROBABLY AROUND 17 OR 18 YEARS OLD AND I DIDN'T KNOW A LOT OF STUFF WAS HAPPENING. BUT YEAH, THAT WAS HAPPENING TO ME AND IT WAS LIVING ROCK STREET. SO BASICALLY, DO COME OUT AND I'LL DEFINITELY SUPPORT DISORDER. THANK YOU.

Thank you, Councilor Liang. Councilor Duran.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just on the point made earlier about perhaps having a harsher penalty, I'd be very cautious about that. First, the penalty is tiered, but it says that each day that a violation continues after written notice, which is the first tier, may constitute a separate violation. So it can quickly move up the tier. It's not like there is a real opportunity for people to not be fined quickly. And I would also be cautious because I think land we're painting all landlords with the same brush but they are not all the you know big and bad they are people often who um don't you know for whom english is not their first language for whom making the you know this known to them is going to be as important as it is to tell the tenants about their rights So the communication process is key, and I think we just have to balance the need and the right need for tenants to understand their rights with the need for landlords to understand what we are now obligating them to. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Drury and Councilor Robinson.

Thank you very much. Real quick, because I know this is going to subcommittee, but if you look at penalties between Cambridge and what we have drafted here, our language says that May, which is a huge gray area, I don't know legally, but people should be aware of this, May constitute a $300 fine per day that the violation If you read Cambridge's version of it, it clearly states that any person who violates this provision of this chapter may be subject to a fine not exceeding $300, and each day's violation shall constitute a separate offense. And those are the kind of nuances I'm talking about in this draft that we really need to key in on. Because if not, what happens is we pass a subpar version of what we're trying to accomplish here. And when people are back in here saying, hey, well, under the tenant's rights, it may give them a $300 fine per day additional, whereas Cambridge does. So again, these are fine details that I think we all have a golden opportunity to work together to ensure that is in the final document. And as we've heard from the administration, we do need to fast track this and get this done. So thank you.

Thank you, Council Robinson. All in favor, Senator, to the Housing Subcommittee, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Thank you. Motion to suspend the rules by Councilor DeCoto, seconded by Councilor Chau, to take 8.5 out of order. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 8.5 vote authorized the City Manager to execute an eight-year contract with the Lowell Management Group, Inc. Vote authorizing the City Manager to enter into an agreement with the Lowell Management Group, Inc. for a period of up to eight years relative to requests for proposals regarding management of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Motion to adopt by Councilor Noon, seconded by Councilor Mercier. Any comments, concerns? Roll call. Councilor Mercier.

Yes. Councilor Noon.

Yes.

Councilor Robinson. Yes. Councilor Rourke. Yes. Councilor Scott. Yes. Councilor Chau. Yes. Councilor Decoto. Yes. Mayor Gitche.

Yes.

Councilor Duran?

Yes.

Councilor Leang? Yes. Councilor McDonough?

Yes.

11 yeas.

11 yeas. Well, we're under suspension of rules. Councilor Rourke, seconded by Councilor Robinson to take 8.7 out of order. All in favor? Signified by saying aye. Any opposed? 8.7 vote. Authorizing City Manager to file special legislation. Vincent Fernandez. Vote an act relative to retirement of Police Sergeant Vincent Fernandez.

There are registered speakers, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk. Vincent Fernandez.

Good evening. Good evening. I once again want to thank everybody here for allowing me to speak before the board. And I want to thank everybody for their efforts with this motion and in trying to understand what it is we have asked.

Mr. Finnis, can you just please state your name and address?

I am sorry. Thank you. Vincent Fernandez, 121 Lowell Road. And I apologize, Mr. Mayor. stood before the board, I'm sorry, the council two weeks ago and to tell you about what I have gone through since the moment I was nearly killed in downtown Lowell 10 years ago. I stood up here in an honest depiction of everything that I have gone through, everything I have endured and everything that my family has endured as well. And it is unfortunate at this time that I have to waste your time up here defending myself from false and misleading statements made by Mr. DeRocha on behalf of the Retirement Board. On the 9-8 council meeting, I'm sorry, false and misleading statements that Mr. DeRocha made at the 9-8 council meetings and during the 7-28 council meeting that prompted the rescinding of your previous 7-14 vote. Two weeks ago, Mr. DeRocha stated as fact to this Council that I committed an earnings violation under Mass General Law, Chapter 32, Section 91A, and owed roughly $6,000 as a result. This statement is completely false. After that meeting, I contacted the Executive Director of PEREC, and for those who don't know, PEREC is the governing agency for the retirement system. Director William O'Keefe. I spoke to him via email and he looked at my file and easily confirmed that I in fact did not violate the earnings law and in fact I have never violated the earnings law since my retirement. Director O'Keefe was also able to correct another false and misleading statement that Mr. DeRocha made during this meeting. Mr. DeRocha stated that PAROAC would deny my motion for the violently injured police officer's retirement if I submitted it to them. This is completely misleading. This would be because it is outside of the scope of their authority and not because I am not eligible for a special legislation version of this retirement. If you refer to the actual email that my wife has sent to the City Council, you will see his explanation of this. I also want to correct a misleading statement that Mr. DeRocha made during that 728 meeting, which resulted in the original vote being rescinded. Mr. DeRocha stated that I petitioned the Retirement Board and that they had denied this petition for this retirement. This is also false. I did not present this to the board. And in fact, at the behest of a state legislature, he suggested that I contact the retirement office and inquire about my eligibility under the new law, not the special legislation law. The retirement office referred my questioning to their attorney. In a very thorough email, he explained the new law's lack of retroactive status. And this is the reason why the new law does not apply to me, because I have retired outside of that date. The board, in fact, did not reject my request because it was never presented to the board. He had misled you in thinking that the board rejected my request. It was simply a question presented to the retirement office. So let me be clear. This is not about the new violently injured police officers law, which is something we also provided you. Because I think that you should all understand what this law entails. There's a lot being said about a cascading effect or opening the door for all these people to have their retirements reconsidered. The law that we sent to you has opened that door. Any officer who was injured in the manner in which I was injured and forced to retire will automatically be eligible for this retirement. Again, I am not asking to fit into a law that does not have a retroactive status. was first enacted in 1948, special legislation for violently injured police officers. And it still applies today. 73 catastrophically injured police officers and firefighters have been retired under the special legislation law. Currently, there are four that are in the legislative process right now at Beacon Hill. My wife and I applied to the city of Lowell eight years ago to file a special legislation. My request sat dormant until this past July, even though my wife and I followed up dozens of times and re-presented the city with this request with the help of the police chief's office on three separate occasions. We have done nothing wrong other than apply for a benefit that I am legally eligible to apply for. In June, I first spoke to PARAC Director O'Keefe regarding my retirement. This was facilitated by the governor's office, whom I had contacted about this very issue of my retirement. Mr. O'Keefe graciously reviewed the findings of my ADR file, which included all relevant facts pertaining to my retirement, including medical records and police records. Mr. O'Keefe reviewed these findings and stated this, and I will quote him via the email. Our records indicate that you retired on accidental disability in May of 2017. and you are still being treated for a number of medical issues. You suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of a criminal and violent act. The individual who tried to kill me was indicted by a grand jury and charged by the Commonwealth with assault with attempt to murder. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for that crime. This statement is important because it is the exact definition and requirement needed to be eligible for the special legislation retirement. Mr. O'Keefe further stated, and I will quote him again, at the time of the new Violent Act disability pension for police officers and other first responders who are catastrophically injured, I'm sorry, let me rephrase that, He stated, at that time, the new violent act disability pension for police officers and other first responders who are catastrophically injured by a violent attack was not in place. It is not retroactive. However, he stated that nothing back then nor nothing now would prevent me from pursuing special legislation that would provide me, I'm sorry, that would provide you with such benefits.

Mr. Fernandez, are we close? We get three minutes.

You give me 30 seconds and you can have that great pizza. He further went down the line in the effort to get through this. and explain to me the steps necessary to file special legislation. Meaning, in a combination, I would need to contact the Lowell City Government, Lowell State Reps, Lowell Senators, and the Governor's Office, and I would need the support of this Council. That is what we have done. We have done all that in the past eight years. It is not our fault this request sits in retroactive status. We have done everything that we can to move this request along in a timely manner. At the time of my retirement, we were never made aware of the special legislation on retirement, and we were only offered an accidental disability retirement. It is these two facts that have led us to a retroactive status application of the violently injured police officer's legislative retirement. I was given an accidental disability and there was nothing accidental about my injuries or the incident that caused them. There was a deliberate attempt on my life that has left me catastrophically injured and permanently disabled. And that leads me to this. I feel that based on everything that has been said over the past couple of months, that the only thing that I have actually done wrong was survive the violent attempt on my life. My wife and I are asking for your support from this council to vote in favor of this motion. I apologize for going over and thank you for your time.

Amy Fernandez.

Hi, good evening. In truth, myself, Amy Fernandez, 121 Low Road, Pepperell. Good evening, Mayor. Thank you guys for having me, counsel. So I'm here tonight standing before you as a wife, the caregiver, and primary advocate for Vincent Fernandez. But most importantly, here as a mother, speaking for our children, whose lives were completely reshaped the day their father was permanently disabled in uniform. Before I dive into the heavy details, I just want to say, I was born, raised, here in Lowell, and between balancing my career, volunteering, raising my two kids, and by the grace of God, I was given the strength to keep this all together. Though having the Lowell tough skin might help a little bit. Tonight I stand here to talk about what happens after the shift, and what survival actually looks like inside a first responders home. When a police officer is catastrophically injured, the trauma doesn't stop with the officer. It ripples through the entire family. Our children have grown up watching their dad endure seven spinal surgeries, navigate a traumatic brain injury, and fight profound physical pain every day. As Vincent's caregiver, my role has been 24-7. For the last 10 years, my life has been consumed of medical schedules, cognitive care, and survival. That is 10 years of lost time as a mom. 10 years when my energy had to be split between my career, nurturing my children, serving in our community, and keeping my husband alive. Our kids don't just lose the version of their father they knew. They had to witness the true crushing cost of public service. On the top, that immense emotional toll, we have been forced to fight a second exhausting financial battle. Because Vincent's injuries fall outside the timeframe of the state's 2024 violent crimes pension law, he's trapped in a loophole. capped at a partial pension. A partial pension does not cover a lifetime of medical bills, specialized care, or the total loss of a career. Let me be entirely clear. Any financial payout on our lives will never be enough to make up from what has been taken from us. But 100% pension ensures that our family doesn't have to suffer financially on top of the physical and emotional price we pay every single day. This isn't just about Vincent. Lowell should want to be known for protecting those that serve and the families who hold the line at home. Every man and woman who puts on a uniform needs to know that if the worst is to happen, the community would be here to protect their spouses and their family. The legislation allows a path to fix this loophole, but it requires your leadership first. We are asking this council to approve and file the home special legislation on behalf of Vincent Fernandez to adjust his retirement benefits to 100%. Caregiving is a beautiful act, but it's also deeply, deeply exhausting. By filing this legislation, you have the power to lift this financial worry off our shoulders, correct a glaring injustice, and finally give this family some peace. Please do not let this get lost in administration delays. Your vote is the first mandatory step to correct this injustice. When our officers give us 100% of their safety to protect our families, we owe it to their children and their families to give them 100% of support in return. I thank you for your time.

Mario Oliveira. William de Rosas.

Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, Mr. Manager. My name is William de Rosier. I live at 28 Clement Road in Dracut, but I'm here tonight as the chairman of the Lower Retirement Board. And I came tonight to speak in opposition of the petition that comes before you. Very quickly, I know Mr. Fernandez kind of made some statements about me giving false information. One statement he said was that they hadn't submitted, he hadn't requested the Lowell Retirement Board to approve his Violent Act Injury Disability. That's wrong. He did it by an email to us, to the Retirement Board. We reviewed it, and we replied to him that we could not approve that, and PARAC would not approve it, because the law was very clear. that the Violent Act Injury Disability as of 2024 was prospective only for injuries that occurred after that date, after the law was enacted. The second thing that Mr. Fernandez stated was, and he's correct in this, is that I stated that Mr. Fernandez had earned, in 2024, had over-earned under Section 91A. The reason I said that, and after I heard Mr. Fernandez object to it, we had to investigate further. The fact of that is that in 2024, Mr. Fernandez had earned income of $49,513.

We thought... Can we please keep order? He was quiet when you spoke. Let him finish speaking. If we can't keep order, we're going to have to have you removed from the chambers. If we can't keep order, we're going to have to have you removed from the chambers. Please finish.

So Mr. Fernandez had earned income in 2024. It was reported to us also, and combined with that, was that he had had a civil lawsuit of an amount, I won't specify, that added together put him over the amount that he was allowed to earn under 91A. That was the information that we were given, and that's why we thought he had over-earned. After Mr. Fernandez had voiced that that was incorrect, that he hadn't paid it, we had to do further research and found out that he was right. Perak informed us that a civil lawsuit is not part of earned income, so he had not had to reimburse the Low Retirement Board. If successful with the petition, Mr. Fernandez's retirement benefits would initially increase by approximately $18,000 a year. Retroactive to the initial date of retirement, and going forward until he reaches the age of 65 years old. This would immediately cost the Low Retirement Board approximately $180,000. In addition to that, we would have to refund all his contributions, which could add up to a significant amount, and the total amount would approximately, we would have to immediately write Mr. Fernandez, the Low Retirement Board, would have to immediately write Mr. Fernandez a check for over $250,000 tax-free. That's not, that wouldn't be arbitrary. If this passed and went to the state legislators, we would have to write this check. Mr. Fernandez is entitled to work and earn money, as all accidental disability retirees are. But there's a limit to it. And the limit, the computation is the difference between the pension that he's currently receiving and the position that he retired from, that difference plus $15,000. That $15,000 was increased this year to $20,000.

Point of order, Mr. Mayor. It's been four minutes and 10 seconds.

I hit pause during- We gave every speaker, we gave the past speaker 11 minutes. He's at four.

so if we're going to you gave the past figure three and a half i i was in here for that i went to i waited in the hallway i'm sorry nobody else did it i take your under advisement please continue i'll wrap it up very quickly there are 71 77 disabled police officers police officers receiving an accidental disability 41 firefighters in the city receiving an accidental disability If this is the trend that continues, hopefully the city council will see the significant financial impact that would occur from this. Many of them could do it. I appreciate your comments. Give me the option to speak. Thank you very much. I'll be here if you have any questions. Thank you.

thank you any counselors wishing to speak move to approve move for approval council of rook seconded by council of noon roll call up

Yeah, thank you. I do have one question and then a comment. There was a reference by Mr. Fernandez to special legislation retirement. Is that a term of art or is that just what we're talking about? You know, the motion, whatever ordinance, whatever it is that was put before us.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, that is just this legislation itself. It's not a broader category of retirement, or if that's what you're alluding to, this is just individual special legislation for an individual.

Okay, thank you. I'll turn it over. I may have another question.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Question to the city solicitor. I guess I'm looking for a happy median here. Is there any way that they, such as Mr. Fernandez, would go to that special legislation, but without retro?

Solicitor Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, that would be the will of the body. So the legislation that's before you is crafted after previous legislation with the act that was passed in 2024. It takes the elements of that, and that is what's in this legislation. Again, because it is this body that approves it, it would be up to the body or the council if changes were desired.

I guess I would put that forth for a motion that we put this through, but without the retro. think if i'm trying to be reasonable here i think if we send this to the state house it's going to sit there for a couple of years and then it's going to raise going to forget about it um you understand mr fernandez's plight um and he has good good argument and so does mr derozas through the retirement boy so i kind of see both their arguments but i'm i guess i'm looking for a happy meeting in there thank you mr mayor thank you council dakota council geran

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate Councillor DeCotto's potential motion. I'm not quite sure where it stands. But I think this is a challenging situation. I mean, I sympathize with Mr. Fernandez and his family. I mean, their story two weeks ago and then again tonight. is heart-wrenching and we um you know our police officers do put their lives on the line every day and I thank them for being willing to do that as their you know for their life's work and if addressing Mr Fernandez's need was independent of everything else that would be easy to agree But the impact on the city, if we pursue this, is significant. We are talking about a quarter of a million dollars if this were to go through the legislature. And given how large our retirement liability is and how much we need to work to fully fund it over the next 10 years, adding additional liability is concerning. We also learned at the last meeting and then again tonight that there are 77 police officers and 41 firefighters who are retired and who, like Mr. Fernandez, are receiving an accidental disability pension. If we support this request, I think we're likely encouraging at least a few of those other disabled employees to seek similar recourse with potential additional costs to the city's retirement fund. um and you know i've heard arguments and even just now that this request for special legislation sort of merely punts the issue to the legislature you know which may or may not approve it but i think our responsibility as the city council is to make the hard judgments um and do our fiduciary duty to protect our city's finances for everybody's benefit. So I find this request really hard to move forward with, even though it is emotionally appealing. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Drie and Councilor McDonough.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think this is the third time that this has come in front of the Council, if I'm counting correctly. I would like to just state for the record, had I been in the room, I would have point of order that first speaker on 11 minutes, too. It's okay, it's at your meeting. I just want to know.

You didn't point of order any of the speakers that spoke on your motions that were up there for eight minutes, so...

You could have. I didn't start the timer. That's also the first time versus the third time in front of the body. So I guess what I'm looking for is this one issue, this is the third time, and we still don't seem settled as to what we'd like to do. I think this is why we have subcommittees. um i i would like to make a motion to refer this to a joint uh finance and public safety subcommittee i think that would allow um the council and the city administration to to work through all of the implications that we keep trying to piece together based off three to four public comments um but but in order to get all of the information and then provide a report to the council on a final recommendation of those two subcommittees hopefully we can Kind of move forward and put this to bed at that point, but this clearly needs more discussion than we can have Or that we have had at a general meeting.

Is there a second to council mcdonough's motion ascended to a joint subcommittee? Seeing none, motion fails.

Councilor Rook. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. What's the city's responsibility to Officer Fernandez? I'm sorry. What's the city's responsibility to Officer Fernandez? He didn't do his cutting the grass. He didn't do his brushing his teeth. He did it serving the city, protecting people. And we're going to sit here and argue with $200,000? Officer Fernandez put this through eight years ago, well before this law was in place. So we're going to sit here and screw him tonight? Pass it along, send it to the state, give them a chance to review it and look at it. It's their ultimate decision. And if we have to pay $200,000 for a guy who can't work anymore, that has his wife taking care of him every single day, that his kids haven't gone through this, $200,000 is getting off cheap. Do the right thing. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mister Mayor. I would echo Council Rock sentiments. I mean, sometimes you just have to do what's right and what's right is to support this officer that, you know, seriously injured in the line of duty. He, you know, under the current rules, he would be eligible. We have the opportunity to make this right. And like I said, sometimes you just have to make do the right thing. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Scott, Council Noon.

Thank you, Mister Mayor. Look, you have record before you, at least some, that 10 years ago, June 4th, 2016, a violent act was committed on then Officer Sergeant Vincent Fernandez. That violent act caused him violent injury. Those impact not just on him, on his family. Now we're debating about, you know, how much it's going to cost us. Look how many police officers we have, how many firefighters we have that serve our city every day, put their life on the line. We tell them it doesn't matter. I agree with Councilor Rock. And I agree with most of my colleagues to authorize the city manager to file that special legislation on this particular case. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Councilor Decoder, did you have a motion?

Mr. Mayor, there's a motion on the floor already that was already seconded to pass it. Oh yes, I'm sorry.

You're right. Councilor Robinson.

through you mr mayor to the solicitor um if we vote to do this it's non-precedent senate correct this is just a case-specific situation solicitor williams

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, that is correct. This legislation is specific to an individual. And if ever something like this were to happen again, theoretically, or if this were to come before the council, each situation would be looked at, I don't want to say differently, but you'd consider the different, no situation is going to be the same.

So each situation is independent because of whatever the circumstances. Correct. Okay, thank you.

Council Yang.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think this case needs to be settled. Either way, I mean, I just don't feel like it's right to keep prolonging this. I mean, he's here, he's recovered, and he's gone through a lot, and I feel like... during the time he put his life on the line for the protection of the city and the people and the residents. And he didn't even think how he was going to end up surviving, struggling with his family, his kids. I don't have to mention all this and that, but can we just do this? I DON'T KNOW, I JUST DON'T LIKE THE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE STRUGGLING THAT HE WENT THROUGH AND BALANCING WITH THE MONEY, YOU KNOW, AGAINST HIS LIFE OR AGAINST WHAT HE'S TRYING TO DO, WHICH IS TO SERVE AND PROTECT THE RESIDENTS OF THE CITY AND, YOU KNOW, JUST, YOU KNOW, FROM A BAD GUY. SO BASICALLY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY, BUT JUST, YOU KNOW, LET'S JUST GET THROUGH THIS.

THANK YOU. ROLL CALL. Council Mercia. Yes. Council Noon.

Yes.

Council Robinson.

Yes.

Council Rourke. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chau. Yes. Council Decoto.

Yes.

Mayor Gitche. Yes. Council Duran. No. Council Liang.

Yes.

Council McDonough. Yes. Tenyes.

Well, we're under suspension of rules. Council of Dakota would like to take 6.11 out of order, seconded by Council of Duran. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.11, Council of Dakota requests the city mayor to have the election director provide a report regarding DOJ's presence in activities in Lowell during the recent elections on 9-1-2026. Council of Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate you taking that order. I saw Mr. Rosenberry in the corner. If you don't mind, Mr. Rosenberry, come into the lectern, please. I'm trying to save you from writing a report. How's that? Oh, thank you. All right. I did receive a couple of calls from constituents and just wondering what the DOJ representatives that were present on September 1st, how many were there? Which schools did they go to? What were they doing and were they cooperative with the officials?

Sure. Thank you. Yes, thank you for saving me the time of maybe writing this report. So the Department of Justice notified me just the Wednesday before the election that they would be coming, or the primary, that they'd be coming in to monitor, do their routine monitoring of the election. Here in Lowell, we are subject to Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. We are required to have language, ballots in various languages, Spanish and Khmer, as well as English. So we have been subject to this observation in the past or monitoring in the past. So they were looking for language access issues. Also, they did tell us that they would be perhaps looking at ADA compliance and also making sure we're following the procedures with the issuance of provisional ballots. I don't know exactly how many teams there were. I believe that there was only one team that I'm aware of. They don't tell you. exactly when they're coming or where they're going to be. I couldn't tell you with any degree of certainty as to exactly which polling places they went to. But anecdotally, I do know that they were at the Collegiate, the Morey, the Senior Center. I encountered them personally at the Butler.

Do they make themselves known to local officials?

Yes, they do make themselves known. And I did have the opportunity to meet with them in advance of this, along with our law department here, as well as the Secretary of State's Director of Elections and First Deputy, and the communities in Bedford and Boston who are also subject to this monitoring. uh they do identify themselves to our election workers and our election workers were aware that they were coming um the good news is is that uh we basically passed the monitoring with flying colors they said we did an excellent job with our language access they had actually no issues here in the city of lowell uh on any front and they held us up as a model for those other communities so um you know again routine monitoring to which we've been subject before They did let us know a little closer to the primary date than they have in the past.

Should we expect them in November?

So we did have a debrief with them, and they have not decided or have not been told as to where they would be going. It is likely that they will be here again in November. Hopefully, they will notify me, and we'll have an opportunity to get the word out to the poll workers to be prepared for them again.

I appreciate your answers. Thank you.

No problem, counsel.

Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Any other questions? All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.2, Councilor Skar, request the City Manager contact the State Executive Office of Health and Human Services and Lowell State Delegation to advocate for 24-hour shelter services as a condition of state funding and for access to use state hospitals and properties for shelter programming and expedite these efforts to support Lowell's winter protocol program this year, seconded by Councilor Skar.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know that's a pretty long and wordy motion, but any of us that have been downtown, we understand the dire situation that's happening. It's happening for the homeless residents there. It's happening for the businesses there. And I just feel like, you know, we've brought things to the council floor many times to have this discussion. So I'm kind of looking at what can change, what can we do differently, I guess. And I know the manager has been working really hard researching different options around this. One of them that he brought to my attention that, you know, a model that he had admired, I guess, would be around Father Bill's in Quincy. I took some time researching them. In addition to Father Bill's, they now have the Smith House in Brockton. And now they're building another shelter in Plymouth with an $11.7 million grant from the state. So I guess my question at this point in time is, we have been taking the weight as a regional shelter here in the city, and it's really time for us to lean back on the state and ask for how we can bring these type of funds to the city of Lowell. All three of these centers have wraparound services. They're open during the day. I feel like that funding, when they give the funding, they shouldn't be able to close from 8 AM to 8 PM. These three centers have a health care center. They serve food at them. They have outdoor space, drug counseling. I mean, all the wraparound services in one location. This is what we need. We can't just open the doors and expect business to thrive and the people to thrive. They're not getting the services that they need. They're randomly scrambling, looking all over the place for it. so that's my motion the second part of it is really around the icc and the winter protocol and what's going to happen right now whether or not we're going to have space to use if the state's going to help us in any way around that so i'd appreciate your support thank you thank you council scott council rook

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, there's a place about five miles up the road that has all those things already in place. So hopefully, you know, maybe we reach out to our state senator and newly elected state representative that represents the Tewksbury area and get something done there. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

thank you council rook all in favor of the motion signified by saying aye any opposed so ordered 6.3 council scott council mcdonough requests the city manager explore ways to permanently commemorate in back central neighborhood the contributions of lowell's portuguese community who helped build and grow the area no second and needed council mcdonough

Council Scott. Thank you. I'll go first on it. So this motion actually came to me from a leader of the Back Central neighborhood group and the St. Anthony's Church. He brought up an idea, I guess, really to celebrate the history of Back Central and the Portuguese people that really helped build, you know, the area. Assistant City Manager Machado was 100% in support of this. Best motion ever. Thank you. Thank you. So he brought up the idea. They did a procession that went from St. Anthony's, and they walked up to the Red's Club. Sorry about that. And he brought the idea of kind of making a triangle from St. Anthony's to each of the clubs, to the Blues and the Red, forming a triangle and really trying to incorporate banners and signs. anything that can commemorate the culture and the history. And he has the idea to incorporate, I guess I'd try to send this to a neighborhood subcommittee right away. He'd like to incorporate a group of people to be involved in it, business owners, members of the Portuguese clubs, UMass Lowell Center for Portuguese Studies, maps. He has a whole list of people that he'd like to invite to be part of the discussion on what we can do to really make this happen and celebrate the culture.

Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Scott. Councillor McDonough.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is something that the back central neighborhood has been for quite some time, a very vibrant Portuguese community. There are a number of processions, as Councillor Scott said, from St. Anthony's Church to the two social clubs and kind of throughout that triangle. When Councillor Scott and I first talked about this, I immediately thought of Common Street in Lawrence. I grew up in Methuen, despite the last name, from a big Italian family. It's true. And they have a feast every August. They have a feast for the three saints. And that whole parade route is striped with an Italian flag on the street. I'm not saying this is exactly what we do, but they have the parade route striped with an Italian flag on the street. They have a number of... Banners and other kind of overhanging decorations that are in place year-round. They have a couple kind of interpretive pieces of material for if you're there and there's no feast because it's only two days. And in Back Central, this is not a one-time, this isn't even a once-a-year activity in Back Central. This is a, I don't actually know if I could tell you how many times we have a, there's a procession from St. Anthony's to one of the social clubs. And so I think working with the neighborhood and trying to call attention to that year round, make people stop and think, I wonder why it looks this way. I should look up the festival. Now it draws a little bit of tourism in addition to commemorating the work of that immigrant community. So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor McDonough.

Councilor Marcia. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think I can go back further than most people in this room, but I can remember when the back central neighborhood area was decrepit, falling apart. Windows were boarded up. Houses were empty. It was a disgrace. And then along came these people called Portuguese Americans, and they came to the back central neighborhood and they transformed their area. like they had a piece of heaven. And what they did was, because I know many of them, they lived in the basement and started fixing the first floor. Then when they got that finished, they moved to that first floor and started on the second floor. It was just a transformation that did your heart so good because you've seen these hardworking people come to a section of the city and transformed it into a place of beauty. And after they was done, they took a bathtub and they buried it in the ground and put the Blessed Mother inside. to add the frosting to the cake. I mean, I'm so very, very proud of the Portuguese people and what they stand for. Hard work. They took an area of the city that no one would want to live in and transformed it into beauty. So if there's a way that we can commemorate anything that they're looking to do, I would be in total favor of that. They are a credit to the city, the Portuguese people, hardworking, very religious. And I've marched in many of those processions. They love God, and I love them. So they do a tremendous job. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilor Mercier. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.4, Councilor Scott, Councilor Noon, request the City Manager suspend the use of the flock safety system while the City completes a thorough policy review of its usage, the company's use of data, and the audit process of the data. No second needed. We have registered speakers.

There I am, Mr. Mayor. Ron Peachtree.

Hello, my name is Ron Pistri. I live at 240 Beacon Street up on Christian Hill. Before I go through with my personal stuff, there was a point of order or law or something that should have been made earlier today. Someone made the statement that a landlord could walk into your apartment without notice to show your place. That is simply not true, and I was surprised that nobody corrected it. So I'm going to make a note of that. and move on to my stuff. So in any room where somebody is talking about tech stuff, I've spent 40 years working on distributed networking, distributed security, high-speed computer systems, basically every piece of technology that is part of these advanced ALPR distributed systems. In any room, I would be considered a subject matter expert. Under oath, I would be considered expert witness. I'm not the only one. The town of Tewksbury has someone who does even more security work than I do on their select board. His name is James Mackey. He wrote an entire report, which I'd like to give to the Solicitor General, and another one that was also written by another expert. I'm in favor of this technology, however, At the moment, it is not operating underneath the roles, right now as I speak, there are not tens, there are not hundreds, there are not thousands, there are tens of thousands of legal cases and security violations regarding this technology across the country. It's operating without checks and balances, without oversight, And as long as that's happening, it's more of a problem than it is a solution. I want this technology adopted, but it has to be put under the same legal framework that we put wiretaps, that we put all police evidence work, They want to sell the data. They want to be able to share the data indiscriminately. They don't want the municipalities to own the data themselves. They want the companies to own the data. All of that's in direct violation to all sorts of legal stuff and normal procedure. We need to stop this, tell them we need requirements put in place. We need independent oversight because no one can self-police when the stakes are this high. And they want to self-police. They're trying to sell us on that idea. Anyway, this is two of about a dozen reports by experts in the field. I give them to Mr. Solicitor to be shared with the rest of the city council. And if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. But that's basically my, I'm absolutely in favor of us stopping this and doing a very, very thorough investigation of it.

Tina Degree?

No, no, no.

Yes, my name is Tina Degree. I live at 305 Nesbitt Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. And with this flock camera, which there's already three in the city that I know of, and like he said, they're not operating appropriately, and they're violating people's rights. They're violating people's rights to privacy. The stuff that's being done with the flock camera throughout the states, not just in Massachusetts, other states, there's 1.6 million cases right now for illegal searches. Because what it does is allow for people to, it allows for the police to facial recognition, see if your driver's license is suspended, see if your car is registered. I mean, that, again, is a violation to people's right privacy. If a cop pulls you over, yes, that's different. But to use a camera to look in people's vehicle and to say that, oh, you're wearing a cell phone. I know because it happened to someone that I know. very closely right here in the city a few months ago and they tried to say it was a cop that seen him from a distance it wasn't a cop it was the camera it's right outside the justice center here in lowell so again if cops don't want to do their jobs then i mean that's another story in itself but the city talks about transparency let's be transparent with the residents here let's talk about what these cameras do the flock camera, then there's another camera that's coming up. But like I said, there's enough states that have lawsuits against them because people take these cameras and they violate people's rights and illegal searches have happened because of it. So, no, this city doesn't want that, especially in the marginal communities, the black and brown communities. It's enough with violating people's rights. It's enough with the invasion of privacy. That's all.

Thank you. Councilor Mercer, we'd like to suspend the rules that allow a speaker seconded by Councilor Noon. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed, so ordered. Please state your name and address for the record.

Thank you very much. My name is Ken Siegel. I'm from 73 South Wilder Street in Lowell. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council and all the executives here. Uh, just to give you a little, uh, I'm in favor of using the flock cameras and I know this gentleman came up, he's an expert. Well, I guess I'll say it's like playing poker, you know, Trump him. I, I developed a lot of the protocols that are used in the internet. I have seven patents on it, an engineer, and I'm an it director also. So I have a lot of familiarity with what can and can't be done with these cameras. I will say that. the statement that there are tens of thousands of issues, uh, nationwide. In fact, that is a blatantly false statement, which I did research. There are exactly in Massachusetts because that's where we are. There are five total incidents, five. They're in new Bedford in Revere in and Lynn and Stowe and, uh, one other city. So. I appreciate that. The gentleman said that, but that is false, unfortunately. Braintree was the other one. And by the way, not every one of these was a stalking incident. I looked for every single incident that involved flock cameras that was somehow improper. five in the state so i would suggest that we weigh that against the benefits that we have in combating crime especially in law so that's very important um this also goes to i guess there's a another resolution 614 so i just want to briefly touch on that There's a motion that we should look into systems that don't use a database, for example. That's actually technically impossible. So I apologize, Mayor, for, I don't mean to call you out on that, but literally you cannot have any system whatsoever that has no database that in fact is gathering information. A database is a storage medium for acquired information, okay? Be it RAM, VRAM, It's hard disk storage or cloud storage. So that doesn't exist. So you don't even have to bother studying it. It literally doesn't technically exist. For those that are worried about privacy, I will urge you to consider that there is no guarantee of privacy in public spaces. Flock cameras are always in public spaces. And that stuff is a bunch of nonsense. I would also point out you all have TVs, those smart TVs. Every 500 milliseconds, that smart TV is snapping a picture of what you're watching. And it's sending it on the cloud. And so everybody knows. And in fact, the speakers in the TVs or the microphones used to do voice commands are actually monitoring and sending information back to LG, Samsung, Walmart. And I don't mean to be dystopian about this. That's just a fact of what they do. You can feel bad about it or good about it, but the idea that there's a privacy issue with flock cameras, which people complain about on the social media that monitors everything, is a little ridiculous. This thing knows more about me and you than any device that could ever be put in the city, okay? So I would urge that The city weigh the absolute benefit of crime control against the absolutely ludicrous idea that somehow our privacy is magically being invaded by this sliver of cameras that are out there that actually collect almost nothing compared to what we do. I appreciate your time and assume these comments also apply to legislation 6.14. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

We're under suspension of the rules. We have another person who would like to speak. If it's the wish of the body, we allow the speaker to speak. I'm getting it. If you could come up and please state your name. Thank you. Thank you. You say your name and address for the record.

Of course. Thank you all. My name is Emily Gerttenbach. I live at 124 Park Avenue East here in Lowell. So I'm glad we're having this conversation tonight. And I had a few points that I wanted to bring up as well. So My fellow constituent earlier mentioned that she knew of at least three current maps that are designed to log the position of ALPR cameras. You can find one at dfloc.org. That currently shows far more than three within the bounds of Lowell City. They are not 100% Flock brand. They are... I would say about 95% flock brand. There are a few that were not labeled as a flock. They may be Motorola. They may be Axion. I'm not sure. In terms of the database comment brought up by my other fellow constituent. Now, I do not have internet patents, but I do research this a lot. And I will say that he's not wrong that almost all computer systems have a database when they are gathering and collecting information. However, if we look very specifically at the... further mention that he talked about, 6.16, requires city manager to have the proper department provide a list of suitable alternatives to Flock that don't share information to any kind of database. Now, we can get into semantics there, but a key component of the Flock system in particular is that it's sharing, or it has the ability to share information with other police departments. And if you go to Flock's own website, where they have a case study page featuring the Lowell Police Department, It does list publicly on Flock's website all of the other police departments, most in Massachusetts, not all, that the Lowell PD is currently sharing or has shared part of our Flock database with. So if we pursue another ALPR solution, which i'm personally not a fan of alprs but setting that aside if we pursue another alpr solution there are some such as those made by axion some of the motorola options where the data is stored yes in technically a database but locally within the pd and it does not feed into a nationwide network at this time police departments have the option as ours has done to share their data with other pds and the flock company itself can actually pull up various police department feeds in the course of training and showing the product to other police departments. So I personally am not a fan of it. And I think that the use of to go off of what my fellow constituents said, it's one thing when a police officer pulls you over and you have to give your name and registration. It's another one. camera is monitoring you. In terms of the television argument, I have the option to not have a smart TV in my home. I have the option not to carry a smartphone, although I do. I don't have the option to not be tracked by flock cameras. I would have to not leave my house, and that's not sustainable. And there is a community aspect to policing, one could say. That is completely lost when it is done strictly through a remote camera feed. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I'm going to start with this, I guess. But I guess I'd start off first by saying that I am not opposed to the ALPR cameras. In general, I've supported them in the past. I've talked about us adding more cameras around illegal dumping. I applaud some of the crimes that they've been able to stop across the city. They've helped with hit and runs, robberies, other issues like that. What alarmed me was what happened in Boston, that they were sharing data. Flock, the company itself, was sharing data with outside law enforcement against the wishes of Boston. That's very scary. We have civilian privacy rights, and we have a very vulnerable population in the city. That really worries me. So that was where I came from with this motion. I feel like it's time right now for us to suspend the use of them, to look at the audit process, what mechanisms we have in place to do the audits, who's the dedicated staff that signs off on it, have they all signed policies acknowledging what happens if it's abused. So I think there's a lot of things that we could talk about. Greg, Chief Hudon, when he came before us, he said that he was working on updating the policy. I feel like we should not be using them in the meantime until that happens and there are the safeguards in place. Thank you.

Councilor Noon.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. When Councilor Scott and I was talking about, we both agreed that these two, when it's used right, There's a benefit to it to fight and solve crime for the police department to do that. We're talking about legal dumpling We're talking about many other cases, not only fighting crime and solve it, but also save us taxpayer from having the officers to go and testify in court. At time, case can resolve in lieu of trial because evident, because of this tool. However, there has been misuse and abuse of this tool. The question that face every city and town, not just in Massachusetts, throughout the nation, is how do we balance public safety with community expectation for privacy and accountability? So now it's time to suspend it and let's review it so that we do it right. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Noon. Councilor Duran.

uh thank you mr mayor um i just wanted to understand what um the makers of the motion or maybe the city administration um think of when we think of suspending the use what actions will be taken to do that i know in some communities people have taken it upon themselves to wrap the cameras and Plastic to avoid use I mean as soon as the cameras exist the data is there we have heard stories where flock itself has Reactivated cameras when a town has said to not use them So trying to understand how we will be sure that the use really is suspended while we take this Do this do the necessary analysis manager golden?

Thank you very much, Mr. May, through to the council. Council, it's obviously the will of the council as to if this were to move forward. But I believe that I've been talking to Superintendent Hudon about this and some of the questions that people have raised in regards to sharing, et cetera, and what has been happening. FLOC is reacting to some of this as far as doing audits, et cetera. So once again, if the council decides to put a pause on this, uh we have a number of questions already that have been been brought forward we could do that uh get the appropriate answers maybe go to um subcommittee of public safety or bring it back here to the flow whichever the wish of the body is but um i would feel confident that if the whatever the body would like to do pause or not pause uh we would be able to get that accomplished working with uh the company at this time if that answers your question that you're looking for

Yeah, I think it'll come down to a question of trust if you're working with the company to do it, but I appreciate that. I do also want to understand, because at the August 25th meeting, I thought we were going to go into executive session tonight to talk about the police department's use of flock cameras, and yet that's not on our agenda, so I don't know where we are. I think we had purposely skipped the one meeting in order to do it tonight. That was, yeah.

Manager Golden?

thank you very much mr may 3 to the council uh we would be doing that in two weeks from tonight because we're going to miss next tuesday and then the tuesday following i believe will be set for that we were actually thinking about bringing in people from flock but that wouldn't happen under executive session so Once again, the option is whatever the council would like to do. Obviously, we will move forward on that particular matter. But I do know that Superintendent Hughes has been working on some of the questions that have already been raised, has been working with the representatives from FLOC to find out things that have been happening. One, for instance, and I don't want to dive down this because this is something before the council, but one of them was who we are sharing it with Yes, you can share it throughout the country, but the Lowell Police Department has chosen to share it with New England states and the City of New York. Now, that does not mean somebody from California cannot call. and say, we would like to find out if there was a hit on this particular vehicle, they would then do the research themselves here in the city of Lowell on behalf of a non-neighboring town. So once again, Lowell is utilizing New England and New York only. Everyone else is going to have to ask for permission at this time.

Thank you. I mean, I don't think this is an either or situation. I think as the motion suggests, the suspension of the use of the system is while we do undertake all of this other analysis and understanding. So I think we should be doing both. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Duran. Councilor Robinson.

thank you um i've been hearing the concerns about the flock cameras i don't i'm not supportive it seems to me like it's a brand flock it's a specific brand of monitoring but i've also heard from the chief in law enforcement it's a valuable tool I myself have filed motions with colleagues on adding camera systems to stop signs on school buses so when people run the lights it would track your plate you'd get a warning or a fine in the mail I've worked with other colleagues and filed motions for cameras located in illegal dumping spots throughout the city because we've been combating that for the past at least five years since I've been here I hear some of the concerns about misuse. Five or so statewide. I don't know those numbers exactly what's happened in Mass. But I also look at that as any technology this human error. It's impossible to avoid. Whether it's a GPS in a vehicle and you catch an employee in New Hampshire. Whether it's a dispatcher that has access to CJIS that accesses that information unjustly. I mean, you're only as good as your internal discipline policy for that department and how your department heads and the administration respond to those kind of infractions. And I think it's pretty clear cut. If you violate that trust of policy of the public, you should be gone, in my opinion. and and i'm a lifelong union advocate but i think that rises to the level that's egregious enough that you should be terminated there's no first step second step i believe every municipality has that right to kind of weigh is this egregious enough to to warrant termination that's procedural stuff that happens on a daily basis with the administration Five incidents, one person says, another person saying, we have the skies falling. Crime rates, we see small communities that have already shut down flock. My question would be, do they have the same crime rates Lowell does? I think with a bunch of different joint efforts, whether it's increased neighborhood policing, whether it's rolling out more programming where we have uh school resource offices we have offices appearing at every kind of community-based event and building those relationships over time our crime rates have have decreased somewhat in the past five six years I just don't think though I agree it shouldn't be either or but I don't think until we can get information in place, we freeze this because, God forbid, something happens and we need to access something that we just froze. You saw it in Cambridge with their shot spotter system. They had shot spotter. They had incidences that occurred once the shot spotter was shut down. What did they have to do? They came back and reenacted it. I think we need to look at informed decision making here as a legislative board, policy making board. And so wouldn't our first step be let's find out what do we have for suitable alternatives to provide that tool in the toolbox for law enforcement that might not share to a national database or has already better guardrails if that's the concern. Because I continuously hear the concern is the data and information sharing. We don't even know what the alternatives would be. So as of right now, it's how do we get Flock not to do what we don't want them to do? But we don't, and if they don't opt to do that, what's the next step i think we need to figure out where can we go instead of flock and have this conversation executive session is scheduled to come up so i can't support suspending the use immediately until there's more information provided and that's why i think we filed that motion as well thank you

Thank you Councilor Robinson, Councilor Rook.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. A lot of what Councilor Robinson stated I do agree with. I think we have our number one law enforcement professional come before the council and tell us how valuable it is and how useful it is and police work for violent crimes, for solving cases. um in this instance i think the positives vastly outweigh uh the negatives um you know and and we could talk all day long about you know smartphones and smart tvs and ipads and all that stuff as far as what you know um data is out there and what's available to be taken and used you know i i could talk to you know the mayor about you know the best cheeseburger joints in the state and on your phones and i have 15 places in a row where to grab a sandwich so i mean you know but in this situation um We have our police superintendent up there stating the value of it to his department. Cases being solved, them allowing to do their job in a better way. I have a hard time taking that tool away from our police department. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Roark. Councilor Chau. Councilor Chau.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don't know, Councilor Dakota, want to go first? No, go ahead. Thank you, Councilor. I appreciate the speakers who came to speak tonight. Learned a lot of information. Some are very, very useful. A couple of them were disturbing. I brought, I want to thank my colleague for bringing this up. We all have concerns about public safety and personal privacy and I appreciate this being discussed tonight. I agree with Councillor Robbins and Councillor Rourke. I don't think we have enough information to make a decision on this motion. I feel like we're putting the cart before the horse. One concern that I have with is what kind of effects it have on some of the current pending investigation cases right now if we're going to pause this. Flood camera and the second thing is I was looking forward to the exact session So that way we can make better and more informed information about what to do what our next steps would be so the motion as it is I cannot support it until We have more information and I hope to have this exact session the following meeting.

Thank you Thank You councillor Chow councillor Noon Do you want to come up?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor.

It's nice to be able to sit down. You can do it here too, you know. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I share the same concerns as Councilor Duran about the executive session piece. I was under the impression it was going to be this week also. And I share a lot of concerns with just shutting something down without having any alternative or anything. I don't know the answer. And believe me, I am not a fan of people sharing people's data just to share people's data. I think if there's reason to it and you're sharing it back and forth, that's one thing. But I'm not comfortable with people being able to look at people's data. As Council Rook has alluded to in the past, that 1989 IROC Zs should be driven more because they don't follow everything you have. Your car today is GM, all of them are sharing your data with everybody, your driving habits. They're sharing a lot of the conversations that are in your vehicles. I don't agree with it. It's here. How do we go about slowing down that process? The chief stood up here and said that, you know, he was willing to come in. We were willing to bring people in through you, Mr. Vice Mayor, to the manager. Are you comfortable with shutting it down? Just cold turkey, shutting all the cameras down?

mr manager uh once again thank you mr vice mayor through to the council uh council is this is your decision uh i can give you my opinion i have talked to the chief uh numerous times and i think that we could actually show the number of issues that have been solved so maybe give me a couple more weeks here to try to put this put this together i think that a number of the questions that are being brought forth are something that i've spoken to the superintendent myself uh but in my personal opinion no i wouldn't be comfortable i think he would interfere with uh some of the fine work our detectives do the other chief operating engine you're the chief operating officer city this is the council decision but if you're asking my opinion i would be uncomfortable this time moving forward with freezing it until we get all the answers the questions that the council is have and I'd feel free to take any and all questions and make sure that they're answered prior to our executive session I'm worried about both sides of this issue I would agree the political answer to everything here but it's a very sensitive issue at the same time is here we are in a place where

Safety is being compromised by sharing people's information also. And it's been documented that this company gives you a low ball price so that they can share your information. I don't know if I can even say that in public, but I just did. And that's what other communities are having a problem with. You low ball down and you share out the information so you can make the back money to pay for everything. To me, that's why that other motion was put in by Council Robinson and I is to look at it, okay, we collect our data and if we want to share it out without having someone have remote access into all of our databases and send it out, we would never do this if this was our MIS department. We would never allow some outside company to come in and just grab our database and share it whatever way they want at any time they want. and then say oh we didn't do it but that's my concern with the whole thing i just don't know if we just shut off the faucet immediately without having the experts here and saying here we are i don't need the flock company here because they're going to obviously lobby for their product and their service but that's why the question comes in are there alternatives to this that would keep the database to ourselves and that's my concern thank you scott

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Just a quick question through you to the manager. You had mentioned Flock doing auditing. I guess if you could explain that a little bit, because that is concerning to me, I guess, because they're a massive billion-dollar corporation that's overseeing our data. And I'm not sure they're the ones that should be auditing the data, if you could explain that.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, through you to the council. The flock audit is something that is for the individual department to audit who is doing what. So it's for the individual department, being the Lowell Police Department that has flock. And they can go in there and have the opportunity to say, for instance, Officer Golden pulled over 100 vehicles. Well, what is Officer Golden doing right or wrong? I do think it's valuable to have the superintendent here to talk about this stuff, but this is how I understand it. It'll give an opportunity that if Officer Golden, for instance, decided to pull somebody's registration multiple times, it's going to show the problem. Now, if I was a detective, and we were under an operation trying to find this particular person then that would be a legal means to do that however there are other instances where it wouldn't be so that's where the audit is coming into it's it's it allows and this is what flock has responded to i think in the past eight months to a year that they would help departments do an audit on their system to make sure that it's being used appropriately. And if used inappropriately, as Councilor Robinson had stated earlier, if we found an instance that it was being used inappropriately, there would be action that would be taken from the superintendent's standpoint to the administration.

And are the searches right now like always associated with the case, like that's like an official case that they're working on or is it?

Possibly. I'm just making an example. If a detective happened to be following somebody for a reason, then there's a reason behind that. That would be the case that I'm giving, but I would be more comfortable with the superintendent. explaining it because he has explained it to me what has been going on they've been working on policy since the last time we've had discussions about this this is this is an evolving piece that I think a lot of the questions that the council has could be answered quite frankly they could be answered right here in public or they could be answered the executive session my original intent was to possibly but I do agree with the mayor what he had just stated if we do bring the company here they're just trying to sell us it But I would think that if it's not executive session in two weeks from now, it could be the superintendent answering these questions in a, quite frankly, a more direct way about what is being, how it is used as a tool, and it is used as a tool. If it is used inappropriately, what would particularly happen. And I do know that, once again, in talking to the superintendent today, that it's the New England states that have access. And remember, it's a digital footprint every time somebody comes into this and the city of New York, excuse me, the state of New York has access. We could shut all of that off, I suppose, but crime tends to go over borders rather quickly. So there'd be something we could have a discussion on as to who we want to have access. But I specifically asked the superintendent today, so somebody from California, They would not have access to that. They would have to call the city of Lowell, ask for access, ask for that. We are looking for Tom Golden or whomever driving this vehicle. Could you help us? And at that point in time, the department does not give credentials to the state of California. They would just do the actual research for them.

And I believe, if you don't mind, one more question. But it listed on the shared list, I believe it said USPS too, like the United States Postal Service. So does it share with federal agencies as well?

That's Mr. Mayor, through you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That's something I'd have to check with the superintendent on as to how that is. My understanding is it is the New England states and New York. That is my understanding at this point. I wouldn't say anything else. I would have to ask him.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councillor Scott. Councillor Noon. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

So, I'm not against flat camera. I just want a balance of it, right? So, we all agree there's a good, there's a bad. We want a balance. If my colleague, I mean, want to hold off on this and hear from the chief, or the superintendent of police at the executive session or in the executive session. And then if Councillor Scott would agree, I would hold off on this and put it up after the executive session if there's a need be. I mean, it's up to Councillor Scott, really.

Councillor Scott.

Well, apparently that would be fine, because I don't think it has the support. But yeah, I mean, I'm still concerned, like I said, as a legislative body that, as was mentioned, that we don't have policies in place that really protect people's rights. Now, I mean, I would ask for it to go to a vote. I mean, and then it's going to come back anyways to the full body for executive session. So I would ask that we keep the vote. Thank you.

If that's the case, I follow Councilor Scott on this. Thank you.

Councilor McDonough.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am probably the only one on the council that feels this way, and that's OK, but I'm going to say it. I don't like these things. I truly I don't like them. I don't like them for a lot of the reasons that people spoke tonight expressed. I do understand that They are a tool. They are a valuable tool. There are a lot of tools. It doesn't always mean that we should use them. I'm not going to argue for the outright ban. I'm not, because it would be me by myself, and I can read a room. i do think that this is a sensible motion i think listening to my colleagues tonight on both sides of this motion um it does seem like we do all agree that we don't fully understand what the use policy is that we acknowledge that there are some risks i i think where those risks are seem to start Getting a little wishy-washy, but everybody so far has acknowledged that there's a risk around data sharing, that there's a risk around potential harms depending on where that data is shared. Some have expressed that this particular company does seem to be doing exactly, Mr. Mayor, what you stated, which is they are the cheapest game in town and in There was a speaker tonight who wants to talk about, you know, we were talking about smart TVs and social media, all of which is a personal choice, but oftentimes when we're talking about tech, if it's free or cheap, there's a reason. It's because the thing that you're using isn't the product. Your data is the product. And I don't think that anybody on this council, and this is not a knock, I looked. I went back and I looked and I tried to figure out when was this implemented? What was the discussion? What did it look like? Nobody knew what these things were. It actually wasn't, unless I missed a meeting somewhere, there was no major discussion. It was license plate readers, fairly common policing tool. here's a new bid, it's a great tool, and here they go. And now we're seeing that there's a number of problems with them. We're seeing that we don't know where the data is going. And my colleagues have put the motion in front of us. It doesn't use the word suspend, yes. It does say it's not time bound. The makers of the motion wanted to time-bound this thing and say a 90-day suspension, but I think what it does is it says, if this is such a valuable tool to the police department, we have another meeting in two weeks. This is a conversation that has been ongoing, actually, for a number of months, and we haven't gotten there. So I actually, I think we owe it to the residents of the city who have expressed a concern here. We have been engaged in this conversation for a number of months. We hit the pause button and we say, come back in two weeks. If this is that valuable, you come back in two weeks and we tell us what the policy is because we don't have answers. We seem to have gotten here by accident. It's not a forever ban. It's just a pause. So I would support this tonight. Thank you.

council of work i think you said that i think you know the only thing that we can agree on as a council is that suspending flock hurts the police department's detective work resolving cases thank you roll call mr clerk council mercia

So what's the question here?

Yes, yes. A yes vote will suspend flock. A no vote will not. To suspend flock? Flock camera usage. There is no time defined.

Mr. Mayor, you want me to read the motion again?

Yeah, I can read it again. It says, Scott Councilman, who requests the city managers suspend the use of the flock safety system while the city completes a thorough policy review of its usage, the company usage of data, and the audit process of the data.

So you want us to vote on something that the chief...

asking for goals i know seems a bit odd i i have talked about this with neil osborne to figure out the process i think this is a way to be proactive to ask them to look ahead about what to consider for 2027 and their responses can help us think about their roles and opportunities because i know many of us are still trying to figure out how to do the evaluations um And we can work together so that we can achieve a goal of getting evaluations done this year. So that's why I'm asking for an end of October time frame to be reasonable, but also to move this forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Duran. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Any opposed, so ordered. Six point one zero consular and request city manager have the proper department clarify for residents and employees prior to each election that the regulations of canvassing and Solicitors apply only to the people selling goods or services and not the political canvassing seconded by council mcdonough council Duran

thank you very much um back on July 14th we approved an ordinance to require canvassers and solicitors to get a license from the city and comply with things like no solicitation signs on property among other things and the violators can be subject or violations can be subject to enforcement up to and including arrests potentially so the ordinance has real teeth in it I think the ordinance has created a bit of confusion. The statute expressly states it applies to individuals who are selling goods or services, and we had a discussion during that July 14th meeting that made it clear that it does not apply to political canvassing. But if one only looks at the July 14th amendment, unless you sort of dig into the underlying statute that it amends, you wouldn't realize that it doesn't apply to political canvassers. So I think it's important and makes sense before each election that we make residents aware and also police officers who are responsible for enforcing the ordinance that it doesn't apply to political canvassing and really just to have something that canvassers can point to, whether it's candidates themselves or others, that makes it clear that they are not subject to, you know, the licensing obligations. Thank you.

All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.13, Councilor Robinson requests the city mayor to have the proper department explore a means to install a bench at the reservoir on the shady area. What's the matter? i'm sorry 6.12 council of dakota request the city manager have the law department draft amend amendment to the city ordinance to increase setback requirements for rules in light of adu law i'll go quickly mayor that's all right no problem we all understand that adus are allowed as a matter of right in the state they are however subject to local zoning rules and regulations

It is my understanding that since the law has been enacted, a total of 59 ADUs have been built in the city of Lowell. I would like to show a picture, as you can see on the monitor there, of an ADU that was built on Silver Street in my district. I have no issues with the actual structure. It is aesthetically pleasing. The issue I have is that it's right on top of a neighbor's house. The result is the area looks congested, and it is my opinion that it adversely affects the character of the neighborhood. I think what I want to do is I was going to ask the city solicit, but I think I'm going to go through assistant city manager, Giovanni Rose, probably now that you're doing the zoning codes, and maybe that might be the right avenue to go. Very good? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Any other discussion? All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Opposed. Okay. Councilor McDonough is opposed. 10 to 1. 6.13, Councilor Roberts requests the City Manager to have the proper department explore a means to install a bench at the reservoir on the shady area of the walking path on the reservoir street side. Seconded by Councilor Rook, Councilor Robinson.

Motion speaks for itself.

All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.14, Councilor Roberts requests the City Mayor have the proper department provide an update, updated fire hydrant operational inventory report to the Council. Seconded by Councilor Noon, Councilor Robinson.

Motion speaks for itself.

Thank you. 6.15, Councilor Robbins requests City Manager have the proper department examine and provide a corrective action plan for the walkway in front of 715 Lakeview Ave to Enel Street. Seconded by Councilor Scott, Councilor Robinson.

Motion speaks for itself.

council of robinson 6.1 all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so awarded 6.16 council robinson may get your request city manager have the proper department provide a list of suitable alternatives to flock cameras that do don't share information to any kind of database no second needed council robinson

I think it's pretty self-explanatory. If we have them look into suitable alternatives that don't share to a national database or an external database, I should say. I'm sorry. Great point. Thank you.

Any other comments? All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.17, may I get your request that the City Manager provide the City Council with a list of all expired board members. Seconded by Councilor Noon. Motion speaks for itself. Any comments? all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered 6.18 may i get your request the city manager have the city engineer provide the city council with an updated accident reporting since the new signals were installed on westwood street at stedman street seconded by council dakota motion speaks for itself any questions concerns all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered seven communications from the city manager 7.1 motion response motion response a letter to mbta additional safety measures council robinson thank you um i'd just like to thank the administration excellent letter and uh it's exactly what i was hoping we could draft up and send off thank you Thank you, Councilor Robinson. Councilor German.

Just one point. I think the person actually died. Is that not the case? It mentioned that they were injured, but I think it's helpful to actually mention that it resulted in them dying. Thank you.

Thank you.

Motion to accept and place on file by Councilor Robinson, seconded by Councilor Decotto. 7.1, motion response B, O'Donnell in Oliveira Park. Councilor Scott. thank you for the response and i look forward to seeing the request for the cpa funds thank you motion to accept in place on file by council rook seconded by council of noon all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered 7.1 motion response c lowell fire department overtime update council of mercia

thank you mr mayor uh that's a very good report i'm very pleased uh i don't think we're going over the budget as compared to last year but but i'd like to see it a little more simplified last year at this time the we went over this much uh we spent this much right now at this year

that same month we're spending more or less very simple can we do that thank you austin thank you council mercy council jurian uh thank you very much mr mayor and i thank council mercier for asking for this report i i think the numbers are alarming i mean the trend in august was alarming but really the trend for all of fiscal year 27 so far is clear you know there was an initial reduction in um over time compared to last year. Perhaps that was due to the heightened awareness of the issue around budget time. I don't know what the reason was. But since then, the reductions have gotten smaller. And in fact, there are now increases on a biweekly basis. And I'm particularly concerned with the increases in September because those are large and, you know, children are back in school, so I'm at least presuming that there are fewer folks out on vacation. And the numbers, if we look at just on a per daily basis for the 77 days shown for this fiscal year through September 21st so far, compared to on a daily basis all of last year, if you look at the averages, the numbers are up in various categories on sick leave, vacation time, vacation weeks, personal days. The overtime budget looks like it's been a problem for years, having doubled between fiscal year 21 to 22. And we've almost tripled the overtime hours on a daily basis since fiscal year 21. So when I look at the scenarios, I think scenarios A and B are optimistic because the trend is just continuing upward. I don't think that this is necessarily indicative or the 4.5%, whatever it was, is necessarily 4.3% is indicative necessarily of how this trend is going to continue. I think we need to think about other scenarios where those trends keep going up and understanding that. So we need, I think, forecasting that takes that into account so we can either be realistic, and I'd rather be pessimistic at this point than hopeful without any data to support it. I do think we need to look at both policies and people. I mean, if the policy of not closing companies causes this increase in overtime, I think we have to think about whether we have the fire station staffed properly in the right locations. And clearly, bringing more firefighters on board is the right approach. And I think that's clearly the plan here. When we talk about an overtime budget of $2 to $3 million at a salary on average of $100,000 per firefighter, which is in our budget this year, the that could support 26 or so additional firefighters so you know i think there are a number of ways i know none of them are easy i know the training takes a long time but i i think we have to you know i i think there's a lot here that it gives me very big pause and concern for our financial future thank you thank you council jury and council anoon

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for the report, and I also echo Councillor Durand to thank Councillor Mercier for this request. I share Councillor Durand's concern if you look at the second page, the first week of September, second week of September, First week of September, it's 30.6% increase. Second week of September, 63.2% increase. That's alarming. Very concerning. This is something that not sustainable. I agree, we have to look at way to resolve this issue. And I will lean to the manager and his team to come up with a plan here because increase of million of dollar in overtime each year put so much burden on taxpayer property tax increase. It's going to happen again next year if we keep this pace. So Mr. Managers, please, you know, give us your plan to, and of course, by working with our fire union to see what can we do to making sure that, you know, we have an overtime cost, but one that is sustainable. I know that a contract is coming up, which is in June 2027, and usually, like I say, beginning of the year, you would have the contract, start contract negotiations and stuff. That's probably one way to look at it in terms of whether or not we need more staffing, whether or not we're looking at, you know, firehouse, you know, location, I mean, how we put some of the firehouse at. Some of those You know, idea need to, you know, you need to have that discussion with the fire department and the union on that, Mr. Manager. Because the rate we're going right now, especially September, if you keep it up, we're in trouble. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councilor Noon, Councilor Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, like the rest of my colleagues, to me, this is quite alarming. I was actually quite optimistic a few months ago when I saw the union president and the city manager shake hands right here in this council. And I thought the union president would hold some clout, but obviously he did not. We are going the wrong direction very quickly. I know the chief is here. I'd like him to come to the lectern. I'd like to ask him a few questions. How you doing, Chief? I'm looking at a fire, FYI, overtime allotment. And on the bottom of that page is disciplinary action. Excessive sick leave use, 19 members. Failure to provide notes, two members. And sick leave abuse, five members. Could you educate this council on what the disciplinary process is? What happens after you write up somebody one, two, three times? I mean, what is the process? Because obviously, excessive time, 19 members are abusing the system. So what is the plan here?

So we approach it at three different levels, and those are the three categories that you're seeing down over there. First, it's excessive sick leave use. That is greater than nine days used during the course of the year without any doctor's notes. Secondly, we address the notes as they are required to be provided by the office. So these individuals who have excessive sick leave use are issued a written warning, and then they are required, depending on how many days they have, to provide the office with a suitable doctor's note before and on their next duty day after a sick leave from that particular point. So it can be the six months, or if it's even greater excess, it can be up to a full year. We've also had members who have not provided notes as required, and they have been disciplined with written warnings accordingly.

Not to interrupt you, Chief, but you've already said warnings like three times. So how many written warnings are given to a firefighter before, I would think, termination?

Usually three. Usually three. And then you get into suspension, in which case we usually work directly with law. So it's three, then suspension, then termination? Then termination.

Okay. Are we at a point where a couple of these are getting close to that? Because obviously these are the people that are abusing the system. We are close with a few people, yes. Okay, thank you. I'm not sure if I saw it on there, but how many firefighters called in on July 5th? i would have to reach that research that counselor i'm going to tell you i think it's 10. and how many can you tell me the day after labor day i can't tell you quite a few as well and these are i'll guarantee you those 19 members i'll guarantee you half of those are those days we have to buckle down here city manager because i i'm i'm not sure if this one day three off is working i i really don't I think we're going in the wrong direction. Do we go back to five days? Let's face it. Is one day and three off working? Are we going to stay at $4 million of overtime every year? It's unsustainable. We can't do this. And I think a message has to be sent to the union. Shape up. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you Council Dakota Council rock.

I think you're some air, you know. I think most comical lines stated during the budget season, you know was by the president when he stood up there and said I'm taking a leap of faith in the city manager. let's take a look march 131 sick leave april 127 april 26 may 188 june 199 july 201 august 214. so unless there's a summer flu that goes through just the lowell fire department the sick time is being used as paid time off and that's you just can't have it I mean we're looking at it here and it's abuse of time and staffing is the excuse that's made so how come in in April in March 127 131 on November 139 December September 129 but then a couple months later yeah you're averaging over 200 for the month You know, there can't be a give and take here because they're going to be back here asking for more money if you want to keep firehouses open. But the abuse is still rampant and happening on a daily basis. You know, Mr. Barr, is Wisconsin Dakota correct with the July 5th sick outs?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you to the council. So on July 5th, during the day, there were nine people that took a sick day. And during the night shift, there were six on July 5th.

So Chief Jordan, 24 hour. How many? Is it 33 for a total 24 hour?

Yeah, 39 plus the two deputies. So 41 is what man's minimally man's the shift.

And so there were 15 sick calls total on that day. That is correct. 26. So we're talking, right, 40%, Mr. Mayor, took the day off or begged and sick. Imagine if 40% of the police department begged and sick. If 40% of the city council wasn't here, or 40% of Lowell General Hospital, their staff, nurses, doctors, begged and sick. I mean, we respect our public service, but this is blatant abuse that needs to be dealt with. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Rourke. Council McDonough.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, just on the July 5th, I wasn't going to say anything, but on the July 5th and the Labor Day thing, it was a very good question. And one thing that I've had in every contract, every teaching contract that I've ever had, I'm not trying to handhold, but I have to deal with it in all my contracts, is I've never been able to, you can't be sick. You're not allowed to be sick without a doctor's note the day after a holiday or regularly scheduled school vacation. Can't put in a personal day. Can't be sick without a doctor's note. Sorry, you've got to go to work. You had a holiday. You don't get an extra day. Do people find a way around it? Yeah. At least you skip the warnings. It's a contract year. You can't fix what's in there right now, but we can going forward. What I would like to see, because I do share some of the pessimism here, is I don't want to see any fire stations close. We can all... I just started with it. We can complain about whether there's abuse or not abuse or whatever. I think that's one conversation. The other conversation is we just don't have any money to pay for this. I don't want us to get to a point where we are having a more serious conversation about potentially closing stations. I don't want to close any stations. I want the structural problem to be fixed, but I want a lot of things. I also want to be prepared if we don't fix that. So one thing I would hope to see or I would like to see would be maybe, we've talked about this in the past, but like a heat map of where calls are going in the city, what firehouses are seeing the most activity, and then if the manager could work with the fire department, leadership of the fire department or whoever else I guess would be appropriate here to try and I guess put a threat level on some of these neighborhoods because what I really don't want to see is what I think has happened in the past in the city of Lowell, which is our poorer, our less well-off and our denser neighborhoods are the ones that wind up seeing a station close and you can shake your neighbor's hand through a, you reach across the no setbacks, Councilor Decoto, and you can give a high five to your neighbor and the fire spreads and I don't, I want to make sure that I don't want to close any fire station or any company. Sorry, I don't want to be closing any company because of staffing levels. But if we hit that point, I want to make sure that we're making informed decisions and that residents, that it's a transparent process and that residents understand how those decisions are arrived by the administration. So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor McDonough. Chief, I want to thank you for 29 wonderful years of service. I know that Friday is your last day in retirement. It's an honor to have you here tonight. It's an honor to have you within our departments for 29 years. And on behalf of the city council, we thank you for your service to the city.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you to the Council and to the City Manager.

Motion to accept and place on file by Councilor Robinson, seconded by Councilor Mercier. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Thank you again, Chief. 7.2, informational reports. Informational reports citywide request activity year to date. Mr. Manager.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and through you to the Council. I first really want to thank Edith Rodriguez and Charlene Nagby, who should obviously be here. It's a little bit late for them. But this is a report that they've really been working towards. The completion rate of what's been happening in 3-1-1. I know time is of the essence. Everyone has had to take a look at this. But from January 1st through September 16th, the city's recorded 61 cases. hundred requests which i think is uh it's it's pretty good this three the three one one piece that this council has pushed for uh and really we're really um getting under the hood with this to trick to figure out everything that this can do from report reported data uh it's having you know stronger department uh uh follow-up and i say stronger because uh last year we're at 43 but with with the with the oh, here they are now, actually. So Edith and Charlene have been doing an absolutely fabulous job. I know all of the council is know them. We're going to start a tour in October of this year to make sure that all the different city neighborhood meets and neighborhood groups know exactly what's going on and I just can't stay enough about where they've taken our system as I was saying earlier we did get a Tyler Exensley award but taking it from 43% last year to 71% this year is really a testament to the to the two ladies that are here that work directly in my office and they're doing a fabulous job at coaching up all of our staff. So I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you very much, ladies, for being here, and thank you for the great report. There is definitely, Councillors, I want you to, if you could, go through this, take a look at it, see how we can make it better, see how the information sometimes does not come across the way we want it to, but to make it better for everyone here in the City of Lowell. But thank you, ladies, very much.

Thank you, Manager Golden. Councillor Robinson.

thank you um thank you for this report i noticed district twos generated the highest amount 997 for submissions um through you mr mayor to the city manager are you bringing this data into your say or your department that's bringing this into your staffing meetings And in kind of looking at response times and trying to key in and improve on where we were and do you have a benchmark set for where you'd like to be as far as these response times? Another piece here does jump out. solid waste and recycling miss trash pickup 907 service requests which is significant and and that's not really a city function and so are we still staying on top of our vendors and ensuring that you know because it does reflect on us and and we are processing those requests through the system that we staff but ultimately it is the vendor that's responsible for the miss trash So what are we doing to kind of address that as well?

Manager Golden?

uh thank you very much uh yes council to all of that uh the vendor it's themselves when it comes into 311 it goes directly to the vendor to make sure now sometimes i've i've been a part of it sometimes people forget to put their stuff out they're a little bit late etc so there's a lot going on uh there we've had we've found absolute problems i think it was council of dakota had an issue over in his neck of the woods uh with um a car that They couldn't get down, they couldn't back down it. So there are some issues, but I think you mentioned benchmarking, and we're getting there. We are getting to the benchmarks, setting the new standards as to what 2027 will bring. I think that, once again, looking at this, some of the top departments of street solid waste recycling, they are the highest share of the requested activity. They represent about 78% of our activity. And then other issues, including potholes, are things that are most, most reported, if you would. So that's why this report is probably we could probably spend a whole hour on this just going back and forth. But I encourage the council is at any point in time to come to come in to see both Charlene and Edith and kind of give you give your feeling because this is really a council initiative that we're we're getting their council. We're almost there on on where I'll feel comfortable, I think, in the beginning of 2027.

greatly appreciated and i hope on uh you know when when we go through the evaluations or whatever for next year you you provide the council with some of those this is the benchmarks we're at and we look to bring it to this layer by whatever month that is you think the team could ramp up to thank you

Thank you, Councilor Robinson. I see you know the discussion. Motion to accept the place on file by Councilor Rourke, seconded by Councilor Decoto. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed, so ordered. 7.2, reports, information report, data center. Mr. Manager. Assistant City Manager Yovani Baez-Rose.

Yeah, so I think this was really just a couple things that I'd like to flag for the council. One is we are having a data center public meeting. It is going to be on October 7th from 6.30 to 8 at the Lowell Senior Center. We wanted a big space. We wanted a place where we could have a forum that allowed for table discussions as opposed to just sort of people sitting in chairs kind of staring at staff. So that's really important. Two, I want to make sure people are very clear that there's draft language that's available online on the city's website right now related to both of the options for data centers that are sort of being tossed around right now. And we are actively and encouraging people to send questions and comments to us right now and know that not everybody's got time to attend a public meeting, but that doesn't mean you can't have your voices heard. We welcome people to send comments and questions to the staff. And all this information can be found on the city's website. And then the other thing that I think is important to flag is that, yes, we are doing a larger zoning project. process that includes much more than just data centers. But I think it's been very clear to DPD that this data center conversation is one that people are really focused on. And so instead of sort of keeping these conversations combined into a single conversation and having everybody only focus on data center and then kind of losing some of the other stuff that people are interested in talking about, We've separated the conversations. And so the public meeting is only to talk about data centers. There will be separate and additional conversations at a future time to talk about some of the other zoning recommendations that we'll be bringing forward to the council. But right now, we're really trying to get an answer about data centers and see what people's feedback is. So we have a couple options. They are available online. And we really welcome people to either send comments or if they are able to take time to attend a public meeting, we will have translation services available at that meeting in Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer.

Thank you. It is now 10 o'clock. Do we have a motion to continue past the 10 o'clock by Council Robinson, seconded by Council Rook? Roll call.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Same. Motion passes. Is there still conversation?

Mr. Mayor.

I know we're going over the city council rules. I always thought it was two no's kill it, and that's it.

I think that might have been a misinterpretation, but I will leave that to the city solicitor.

Well, now is as good a time as any for me to give my interpretation of this rule.

I know you said this before.

So the way I have always read Rule 5 is in the second paragraph, I'll just read it quickly because I know it's 10 o'clock at night. Provided that an agenda item is not under consideration, City Council meeting shall adjourn at or before 10 o'clock p.m. and all unconsidered items remaining on the agenda at adjournment before to the next regularly scheduled meeting unless otherwise voted by a majority vote of the City Council. so i've always interpreted that as saying a majority vote would take it past 10 o'clock historically i think for a long time before it was always a suspension of the rules so you're suspending the rules to go past 10. that's the way it's always been done so all it takes is two counselors to kill a suspension of the rules but my interpretation is different

I did not ask for a suspension of the rules. What I asked for was a motion to go past the 10 o'clock rule. So I never said suspension of the rules. Correct. All we did was get a motion. It was passed by majority, so we can keep moving. Motion to accept the information report in place on file by Councillor Rourke, seconded by Councillor Chow. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 7.3 communication and resignation. Mr. Manager.

Thank you very much, Mr. May, through to the council. Councils, I want to thank Mr. Berube, Hunter Berube, who is a youth commissioner. He actually took a new job. He was working with us down the street, took a new job, so he is coming off. Mr. Callahan has rescinded or would like to rescind his resignation. Mr. Mayor?

So obviously we've got that letter from Mr. Callahan. Is it your intent to extend Mr. Callahan another term? I know there's a couple other zoning board members that terms have expired as well. So I don't know how you're going to proceed on this.

Yes, I would count through you, Mr. Mayor, through the council. Yes, I would bring him forth as I've been talking to Mr. Rogers about. It's a constant who is off, who is on. And as a matter of fact, I think Mayor put out something that we could always use help on trying to fill some of these some of these boards. But yes, it'd be my intention to bring it forward. OK, thank you.

Councilor Duran.

Thank you very much. As I read the resignation by Mr. Callahan, it was effective immediately on September 17th. And I don't think the resignation requires acceptance by the city council. So I don't think they can be rescinded. I think it is effective. And I think it would be a hurdle to try to rescind it. So at this point, I think it's effective.

Solicitor Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I guess I do have a question. Maybe someone over to my left knows. Is his, Mr. Callahan, is his term still, is he still within his term or beyond? Beyond. So if it's beyond, then the manager would have to bring forward a reappointment. So perhaps the rescinding the resignation really doesn't mean anything to Councillor Duran's point, but the manager could bring forward his reappointment.

So if there's a meeting coming up, he resigned before they come back with the approval, he's no longer a member. That's what I think Councillor Duran is saying. He put in a resignation immediately.

All right, so then I suppose it would hinge on whether or not that was accepted by the manager? in this scenario?

Mr. McDonough.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That question aside, and I agree, I share the question, but I do just would like to take this opportunity as we think about new appointments and in your motion earlier and the current resignations, rescinded resignation, resignation, thing, that when we look at our boards and commissions, they have, especially the statutory boards, have tremendous amounts of power in the city. Whether we kind of are all comfortable acknowledging that whether residents realize it or not they are they're incredibly powerful bodies they review and approve or deny all sorts of things that affect the quality of a neighborhood the quality of your life every day and i do think it is important for the city that we asking for more applications is one thing It is also difficult to get more applications when you have people who spend very, very long times on a board and want to continue seeking more appointments. I wouldn't apply either. If we kind of know that that board has Bob, Jimmy, and Sue, and Bob, Jimmy, and Sue have been on for 10, 13, 14, 15 years, whatever. Not saying that there's term limits. I'm just saying that I do think that there's merit in trying to open up some positions, not constantly going for reappointments. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor? Thank you, Vice Mayor. And through you to Manager Golden. Under the communications, that means that you accepted someone's resignation. That's why you put it here. And you're just making the board aware that you accepted someone's resignation, correct?

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Through you to the council. That's how I would take it, yes. It's on the agenda.

So there was an immediate resignation. Okay. Thank you. Motion to accept in place on file by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Drin. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 7.5, communication. City Manager requests approval of one out-of-state travel LPD. Motion to adopt by Councilor Chow, seconded by Councilor Robinson. Roll call.

House of mercy. Yes, yes, yes, Council Robbins, yes, Council Rourke, yes, Council Scott, yes, Council Chow, yes, Council Dakota, yes, Mayor Gitche, yes, Council Duran, yes, Council Liang, yes, Council McDonough, yes. Votes, eight votes.

Mr. Mayor, can I make a motion to bundle?

Yeah.

8-1 to

You're going to have to omit 8.5 and 8.7 because they've already been taken up. Yes. Right. So motion by Councilor Robinson. 8.8 also. Motion by Council of Robinson to bundle 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, and 8.6. Seconded by Council of Mercier.

Yeah, and 8.8. Are we not?

No. Not to do that.

oh council rock knowing because i know there's been um statements made uh against one of the votes i think we should take eight four on its own and then take the other ones uh okay as a bundle

Motion by Councilor Robinson to bundle 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and 8.6, seconded by Councilor Mercier.

Yeah.

All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 8.1, vote. Accept the gift of $1,000 from the Conant family. 8.2 vote accept expend one hundred forty two thousand four hundred and nine dollars b-h-o-a-p grant 8.3 vote accept expend fifty one thousand two hundred and twenty five dollars fy 26 edward burn memorial justice assistance grant 8.6 vote authorizing city manager extend contract with passport labs inc any comments on any of those council geran

Thank you very much. On 8.2, I met with the Council on Aging on the 14th and heard about the important work that the caseworkers who are funded by this grant are doing to address the needs of our elders. In particular, I learned that the caseworkers are being asked to help increasing numbers of elders who are facing eviction. or otherwise becoming unhoused, often because of economic reasons, but sometimes merely because they're unable to physically stay in their home or their families can't care for them. So this is clearly an important grant, but I think the issue across the U.S. of unhoused elders is a growing issue. It is the largest demographic, or sorry, it's the demographic where homelessness is increasing the most across the country so i think as we think about counselor scott's motion earlier about dealing with homelessness i think we have yet another dimension to attack here as a city. And the problems may be very different for the different demographics that are struggling here. But I think we need to figure out something that we can do to address all of these concerns. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments on any of the ones put forth? Motion to adopt 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and 8.6 by Councilor Robinson, seconded by Councilor Noon. Roll call. Council Mercy.

Yes. Council Noon. Yes. Council Robinson.

Yes.

Council Rourke. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gitche. Yes. Council Duran. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council McDowell.

Yes. Eleven years. Eleven years. Motion passes. 8.4 vote. Amend council meetings October, November, December 2026. Wave full reading and second reading by title. Vote to amend the council meeting in October, November, and December to be held only on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Motion to adopt by?

I object. Rule 27. I object to the second reading.

You would explain that please.

Mr solicitor, that means we can't take it out, right? Can't take it up. They can't take up the motion. So why did I take all the bones to man?

Excuse me? Why did I the console vote? You take it away. The privilege is taking away the voting right of the console.

With semantics and... It's part of the rules. You understand.

I hope people pay attention, too.

8.8. Vote. Transfer of $43,000 in salaries. Mr. Manager? I'm sorry, Mr. Manager. Do we get a rule from the solicitor on the objection? We can do that, Mr. Solicitor.

So yes, that is what rule 27 states. I suppose someone can make a motion to suspend the rules.

Another version of coward politics. Thank you.

If I could, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, this is... Point of personal privilege. Point of personal privilege. The reason I objected is that this is incredibly similar, right, if we want to play the game of, on the game of semantics, this is incredibly similar to a motion that was previously made that the council discussed that went to a rules subcommittee that came back unfavorably, the council still discussed. This is, in effect, looking to achieve the same outcome as that goal, as that conversation, which did generate substantial public comment. This is a very long agenda. Given the amount of public comment that was generated the last time something to this effect came forward, I am objecting, because I would imagine that a similar amount of public comment that came forward the last time something to this effect came forward would come again, except that this is an incredibly long agenda.

That's all.

There was a motion that was filed. It was sent to a subcommittee.

This will be the first time that a subcommittee... Can we ask for a point of personal privilege, please?

Please, please, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. was a motion filed it was sent to a subcommittee you know i can't remember in the history of city council when a three member subcommittee decides the fate of a motion that's all and then last meeting i just have to bring it back just for a final disclosure either way i don't think he's going to pass but again it's an outstanding motion that's out there and i think it deserves a vote thank you mr mayor i'll withdraw the objection take the vote i i rescind my objection on rule 27 take the vote

We already moved on to the next item. We can withdraw it. Okay, let's go on. Let's just take the vote. Okay, we're going to withdraw that portion. Councilor Durant.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So I do think rules are important and I I do agree with Council Rourke that the Rules Subcommittee does not have final say over the proposals that are brought before it. It has an obligation under Rule 33 to report on the change, which is what we did at the last meeting. However, Rule 33 also says that no amendment can be made unless it's approved at a regular meeting by the vote of six counselors. And each counselor has received a written copy of the proposed change at least one week before the regular meeting at which the vote is to be taken. and the committee has to report on that change. Now, you may argue that this is the same motion or proposal as was made before, but it's not. That proposal was to change the subcommittee structure and to tie it to a change to the meeting schedule. This proposal, which is a vote now in front of us without you know public hearing or anything else is only to change the meeting schedule so i don't think we are achieving what rule 33 requires which is at least one full week's notice um and i um you know then this is just living with the rules as we have them today i don't think this is um where we where we are i don't think this is really possible thank you

solicitor williams mr mayor if i could which i would have stated that the motion stated the subcommittees change as well if you know the rule 27 wasn't brought up so just clarification

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Clearly, this is not a rule that is utilized very often within the council. So I think that is clearly playing a role here. I do think that to not vote, in my opinion, certainly doesn't align with the spirit of what rule 33 is trying to do i mean in my mind it is a change to the council rules is a significant change it's an important one which is why it has to go to the subcommittee it goes there it comes out with a recommendation and um and then the full body gets a vote and uh councilor durand is is correct there is a a written copy uh a week before as a requirement. I'm not sure if there are any councils here that don't feel prepared to vote on it because they didn't receive that. That may or may not be true. I don't know. I just think generally the spirit of this is get an opinion from the subcommittee and get it back in front of the full body for a vote one way or the other.

Councilor McDonough waived his objection under Rule 27. So A motion to where am I now? Motion to adopt by Council Rourke, seconded by Councilor. Count who's seconded it? Motion to adopt by Council Rourke, so I'll second seconded by Knights.

comment also scott of course just real quick it's just um i actually was opposed to the idea of this originally but this is somewhat i consider it a pilot it's for three months just to see how it works with the subcommittees um we have a lot of subcommittees that haven't been scheduled and i'm hoping that we are able to refer more items to the subcommittee for meaningful discussion on some of the discussions that we have um i feel if it doesn't work then we can go back at the end of that period but i'm just considering it a pilot and that's why i am supporting it so thank you

It is now 1020, and we're doing every other week, so. Roll call.

Councillor Mercer. Yes. Councillor Noon. Yes. Councillor Robinson.

Before I vote, do we have subcommittees lined up to change with this?

No. No. The mayor would... No. Councilor Rook. As of right now, no, but the motion would request the mayor to go to six subcommittees, schedule those on the opposite Tuesdays going forward.

Not on that.

Right. That's it. That's not the motion. Again, I was going to bring it up, but it was cut off.

The answer is no. Okay. Because I don't know who are going to change to what position and where for six subcommittees to bring down. Some people have requested chairs of the committees they're on. So if we reduce that down, they're no longer the chair on the committee that they're in. So it could be a very different conversation.

It's the job of the mayor to decide that.

No, I agree. Council Rock. I mean, Councilor Robinson.

The vote. No. Okay.

Council Rourke? Yes. Council Scott? Yes. Council Chau? Yes. Council Nicoto? Yes. Mayor Gitche? No. Council Duran? No. Council Liang?

No.

Council McDonough? No.

No two-thirds. Motion fails.

Can I get a point of personal privilege? If we did want to do a pilot something similar to this, the changes with the subcommittees and all that though, what would be the way we'd have to go about that?

I would have to reappoint all the subcommittees, down to six, as suggested by Councilor Rook. Yes.

And the two motions would have to go coincide as one?

Oh, no, you could have voted this through tonight, and then that would have been the wish, was to do that. It's up to the mayor, as Councilor Rook said. We can keep the 20, you can go down to six. The question would be, how do you define them all into a Tuesday night, as Councilor Rook had put forward? in the motion original motion the original motion was break it down to six subcommittees and then have it every other week and then those six subcommittees would meet on the off week all right thank you 8.8 vote transfer 43 000 in salaries wave full reading and second reading by title Vote. I just got to do this first. Vote to transfer funds from the city manager's salary and wages account to the, to, it's the manager.

uh thank you very much mr mayor um council is my apologies the job is that we're looking for is actually in case so i'd like to take this back if it's okay with you so i can make that fix and bring it back in two weeks my apologies oh if i if i may mr mayor yep are you creating a new job at case

It was an existing job, but we had extra funds out of the mayor's office that we were going to transfer and put it together because the intern had left, and we really were looking for someone to get back a job that was laid off, and we had the extra funding sources to do it. So we were going to put it together so that they were able to travel to events with all of us and take pictures and do all the background stuff and all of the history stuff, but managing.

If I may add, thank you, Mr. Mayor, through you to the council. That particular job you're looking at is a temporary intern. The full-time job with the benefits that we would put out to people who were laid off is out of case. That's the full-time benefited job. The job that I mistakenly put into the mayor's office, it's an internship job.

Are we looking to bring somebody back that we laid off?

I would. I would recommend.

they would encourage all of everyone that was laid off to to reapply correct just hope we're not opening up Pandora's box here 10 reports of subcommittee 10.1 neighborhood subcommittee September 15 2026. Councilor Duran, are you in the neighborhood?

No, that's me. If I can give that next meeting place.

Next week?

Yeah, please.

Thank you. 10.2, wire inspector reports. One, National Grid requests the installation of a new pole, utility pole at 26 Cadell Ave. And two, Boston Gas requests replacement of old cast iron gas main with new plastic gas main on Middlesex Street from Maud Street to Saunders Street. Motion to accept and place in order. Adopt the order by Councilor Noon, seconded by Councilor Chau. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. 11 petitions, 11.1 claims, 1 property damage. Motion to refer to the law department. for report and recommendations by Councilor Marcia seconded by Councilor McDonough all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered 11.3 miscellaneous Mary Alvino request removal of handicap parking sign at 19 Washington Street motion refer to transportation engineer for report and recommendation by Councilor Rourke seconded by Councilor Duran all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered 11.4 boston gas request to relocate gas main on starkbridge ave the first region motion to refer to a public hearing on october 6 2026 at 7 pm by council liang seconded by council dakota all in favor signify by saying aye uh mr mayor could we do 11.56 and seven because they're all going to the same public hearing yep motion to bundle 11.5 11.6 and 11.7 by council america seconded by council mcdonough all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered request to replace gas 11.5 boston gas request to replace gas main along lawrence and wolven street 11.6 boston gas request to replace gas main on leroy canal in grove street 11.7 boston gas request to replace gas main on llewellyn beacon third and bennett streets give first reading second Motion to refer to a public hearing on October 6, 2026 at 7 p.m. by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Decoto. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? So ordered. Any announcements?

Yes, Mr. Mayor.

Councilor Marcia.

I have a very important, important announcement. I know. Everybody's breathing. Are you breathing? I think that we should know that today is Kim Scott's birthday.

And I want to say happy birthday, Kim.

What a fun birthday it's been.

She had a new title down. What is it? She saw former councilor Yim earlier.

Thank you very much.

Also, Scott, do we have to sing happy birthday?

No, no, no. It's late enough. Thank you. Councilor Duran.

Thank you very much. I actually have several announcements. First is that the Garden of Peace is going to be dedicated on Friday, September 25th at 1030 a.m. This is at the top, excuse me, the top of Fort Hill Park. So everyone in the city is invited to dedicate that as a place where families, friends in the greater Lowell community may remember and honor the lives of those taken by violence so that's friday september 25th 10 30 a.m top of fort hill park in addition there will be a tour of the duck island water treatment plant on thursday october 1st at 5 30 p.m it's an opportunity to actually walk around the facility with the with Aaron Fox and his team to learn about what happens to our wastewater and how they try to also reduce the odors from Duck Island. You can find it by just searching for Duck Island Tour on Facebook, but I think it's worth it for folks to attend. You should wear sturdy, closed-toed shoes to participate. There will also be a Nigerian flag raising on October 3rd at noon, and then a flag to celebrate the city's UNESCO Learning City designation on October 10th at 10.30 a.m. So public is welcome. Thank you.

I have one more. I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry. The Alternative House for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. There's a vigil. Please join the Alternative House for a community vigil in honor of survivors of domestic violence. Remember, we have those that we have lost and to stand together for a future free of violence. That's at 12 o'clock on Thursday, October 1st, right outside the steps of Lowell City Hall. Thank you.

Thank you. Motion adjourned by Councilor, I'm sorry, Councilor Rock.

Quick point, personal privilege, please.

Thank you. You know, I'm here with great humility and a heavy heart and a deep sense of gratitude. But this evening, I announced my resignation from the Lowell City Council effective immediately. That was my letter to the clerk tomorrow morning. Serving the people of Lowell has been the greatest privilege of my life. When I took the oath of office, my goal was simple. It was to listen to our neighborhoods, fight for their families, and help our historic city move forward. Whether we're debating neighborhood revitalizations, working to improve local schools, never gained through tough budgets or even a very difficult high school location battle. I truly believe that my decision was right and it was best for the city. I think we have accomplished a lot together over the number of years. We've worked to support small businesses, invest in our parks, infrastructure, and keep our community very connected through challenging times. You know, I'm very respectful of all the councilors that I've served with and this council as well. You know, I understand that we have differences of opinion. Passion, though, remains constant with everybody. And, you know, it took me a while to respect that, but I'm glad that I was able to. But I do want to make a special mention of what I feel was the most important vote that I have taken as my time as the City Councilor. And that was the vote to make Tom Golden our Lowell City Manager. I still feel today, I felt the same day of March 2022, that he was, has been, remains the right person for the job. The accomplishments of this council and the city of Laurel working together alongside the administration have been unprecedented. Over the past five to six years, we have done things here in the city that have not been done before. You know, we're talking roads, 311. um traffic improvements um you know finally getting over the high school debate um it's all been for the betterment of the city uh and a positive um the team that the manager has uh has put in place uh I believe is second to none uh in the state you're all extremely talented dedicated professionals uh that I'm sorry to leave The state of law, obviously, succeeds when we all work together as a council, as an administration, and along with the public. And I'm not hopeful that this will continue, but I know it will. Public service does require an incredible amount of energy and time for my local officials, but also for my family and friends behind us. I can now serve the city as a counselor and as a mayor with a single day without the sacrifices of our close friends, but also of my family behind me. I'm very fortunate to have a wonderful family, parents, brothers, extended cousins, so forth, that have been there every step of the way, that still remain close to me today. And I'd be remiss not to mention my wife, April. You know, she is the rock, not just of me, but of the family. My sounding board and the constant support that I've gone through. And just very, very lucky to have her, Haley, and Zachary to be supportive. You know, having kids at a young age and being fortunate to have them grow up with a father that's a city councilor or a public official, I think is a benefit to them because they get to know what the city is all about. They get to go to different events. They get to meet different people, different ethnic backgrounds. They're not stuck in the same place. You know, I'm very proud of them, too, for expanding their horizons and being part of the city at a very young age. And hopefully they stay involved as well. But, you know, I'm not here today without April, Haley and Zach, you know, to keep me grounded most of the time, but also to be there when I need their attention and just to listen to me. you know at this point in time wouldn't be fair uh to the city um you know to continue um you're not being all in um so I wanted to give someone opportunity through you know the election process to uh to consider a run um to take a seat over free you know for a course of a year and then decide going forward you know what that person wants to do but obviously um you know, protect will deserve someone as soon as possible. I hope, you know, the mayor and the administration, they can, you know, get that process started. You know, a special thanks to this particular council that I've served with, you know, for the past couple of terms in the new council since January. You know, the spirit of the debates just a few minutes ago, you know, the shared late nights, you know, and the collective dedication that we do all have and share. you know that is something that i would think with me uh going forward and uh you know believe it or not i am thankful for that um the dedicated city employees uh you know not just the city administration and people that work at city hall our first responders at dpw um you know going to know a lot of them personally over the years and a lot of them have become very close friends of mine people that i wouldn't trade those friendships with for anybody for any reason um you know they keep low running every day and they make us what we are we are the greatest city in the commonwealth and i'm just very fortunate and happy to be a very small small part of that um you know you all going forward and take that and uh and continue to do what you do best and that's going to push a little forward i'm just very thankful to be as part of these teams over the past years uh and this team here as well You know, I do leave with no regrets, but a very deep appreciation for the city that I was born in, that I grew up in, that I raised my family in. There's no other place I'd rather live, work, and raise a family than Lowell, Massachusetts. I know Lowell's future is bright. You know, with the mayor and the city manager's leadership and with this council, I wish nothing but the best, wisdom, courage, uh and all the success in the world to uh to keep it going and uh it's just time mr mayor so thank you opportunity to uh you know for the plan privilege and um you know god bless all of you god bless the sea of law and all the best going forward thank you mr mayor

counselor dakota well uh that's not the way i thought the meeting was gonna end but uh that was a stunner um counselor you've made an imprint on this city you've been the catalyst for the front runner city and hopefully we have some big news coming up that the city manager will share hopefully um and you were the catalyst for that years that you've given this council the professionalism as in the mayor you you really made a mark on us and you made a mark on me and i want to thank you very much sir thank you council scott

going down the line or I'm on the line if you want to start this way no no no that's right I just just wish council work well I'm really kind of in shock right now honestly I've greatly enjoyed serving with you you're like a little brother that drives me crazy we don't agree on most issues but somehow we still just you know find our way together get along work things out you just always cooperative and you're just you're just a great council I'm disappointed to see you go and And I'll miss you.

Councilor Chau.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As Councilor Scott mentioned, it's a shock to us all. But I want to thank Councilor Rourke, Mayor Rourke, for his service to the city. When I was mayor, I was in the public a lot, and Councilor Rourke was next to me often. made joke that we're brothers. We look alike. Nobody could understand us. And I saw when we first got on together, he would be probably the last person that I would get along with and build relationship closely with. but as soon as we start talking about issues, we will connect it. We talk a lot of policies, a lot of motions, and just as much as I respect him and he respected me, we usually vote differently, but we took the time just to talk it out, share our ideas on different motions, and even though we disagree on some motions, we became closer friends because we knew that work was one thing, friendship and being a community member was another thing. Just a great guy, and when you were Mayor, Councilor Rourke, I never thought you would be the most diplomatic guy I know. Actually, if you know him personally, he became very diplomatic, very ambassadorial. I was very, very impressed when you were mayor, impressed you as a councilman, impressed you as a friend. And I want to thank you and your family for your sacrifice and your service to the city.

Councilman Duran.

Thank you very much, Miss Mayor. I, too, am in shock. But I do want to thank Councillor Rourke for just reaching out to me as a new Councillor and, you know, really allowing me to get to know you. I am sad that it's ending now, but I really wish you all the best. And I do want to echo Councillor Dakota's points about your leadership as mayor and as a representative of the city with the Front Runner program, but just in general. I wish you all the best. Thank you.

Councillor Young.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Council Rock. It takes me a while to sort of like understand you. And now sort of like, okay, you know, you're leaving. I mean, so I learned a lot for the short time in trying to understand this tough love or this thing that you have. And, you know, it's your heart. that i'm you know beginning to to learn you know and uh sorry that i didn't you know get to know you more but uh hopefully i can learn some more stuff from you council mcdonough

Thank you. I am also in shock. I do just, I want to say that, you know, Councillor Roark, we obviously don't agree on very much. And despite that, in years of following city politics, which is kind of embarrassing because I'm 31. But for all the LTC viewing, I have never doubted that Councillor Rourke, or when he was the mayor, back to Councillor Rourke, I've never doubted that he does nothing and votes no way other than what he believes is in the best interest of the city. Despite our frequent disagreement, I truly enjoy the spirited debate. I find myself before council meetings, there's 11 of us, but I usually have Councillor Rourke in my head when I'm trying to think of what someone's going to say back to me. What's the counterpoint that I'm going to have to try and defend? And I'm going to miss that. Yeah, I guess it hasn't been a year, but in these short months, I've gained a tremendous amount of respect for you. You've made me a better city councilor, and you've made the city a better place to live. So, thank you.

Councilor Marcia. Danny boy, you're making me cry, and I'm so pissed off at you right now, I can't even stand it. But I feel like we adjourned at 10. I went home and went to sleep. And I woke up and had this nightmare that you left us. And I just feel so horrible because we're not just colleagues. We're very good friends. It all started many years ago when I got to know your aunts, your mother, your father, everybody in your family. And as luck would have it, you married one sister and my son married the other sister. So in some way, we're kind of related. I'm gonna miss you tremendously my Danny boy I'm just so sad that I have to go home and cry now again this is not a good thing but I don't really like you I love you you're just a good good person and you're like one of my children so I I really am gonna miss you I'm sorry thank you Mr Mayor

None of us here know that this is coming. It's a shock, I think, shock to everyone. Councilor Rook and I, we don't agree on a lot of things, but we agree when it comes to important stuff. The first motion we filed together was to name the student center of the high school after the former mayor's former head of school, Bill Samaras. And from there on, we became close. And I thank you for introducing me to the Irish coffee at Brew Awakening. That's the first time. Yeah, first time. First time. Since then, we had half a dozen of it. Other time. You know, talk about other things. You know, so I appreciate you. For all you've done for the city, yes, you know, Council of Dakota is correct. The front-runner city, you were a strong ambassador for the city. We owe it to you. Thank you for your service. You're going to still be around anyway, right? So let's grab the next Irish coffee soon. Thank you.

Council Robinson.

Thank you. Crazy. I mean, I met comes the rock when I was an employee for the city, I believe in our parents, our fathers grew up together, good friends. TO BE ABLE TO COME AND SERVE WITH THEM THROUGH ALL UPS AND DOWNS. COUNSELOR ROOKE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOMEBODY THAT WOULD TAKE CHARGE OF THE VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT WE NEEDED TO GET OVER THE HURDLE. I CAN REMEMBER FOR HOW MANY YEARS WAS THE ROOKE BRIDGE STAGNANT. one phone call to council of rock we got it moved through and and pushed prioritized from the state down and everyone showed up to celebrate that but but council of rock working with timmy collins as you remember really spared those efforts and got it off the ground front runner city TO THIS DAY, SOME PEOPLE THINK IT'S CRAZY. BUT THAT IS AN INITIATIVE THAT WHEN THAT PANS OUT, IT CHANGES THE FACE OF OUR COMMUNITY. NOT ONLY DID PEOPLE THINK IT'S CRAZY, BUT COUNCILOR ROOK HAD THE COURAGE TO TAKE THAT SHOT FOR OUR RESIDENTS OF LOWELL. EVEN EARLIER TONIGHT, Putting together the support for the gentleman out of Pawtucketville, Mr. Musgrave, that was Councilor Rook. He saw an injustice and he called people one at a time, regardless of personalities or get along, not get along. He organized the troops to rally to correct that. OVER THE PAST 9 10 11 YEARS COUNCIL ROCK'S BEEN ON ON THE COUNCIL HE'S SHOWN LEADERSHIP REPEATEDLY WHETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THEM HE'S STILL GOING TO PROVE AND SHOW HIS LEADERSHIP AND IT'S BEEN AN HONOR THROUGH ANYTHING WE'VE EVER GONE THROUGH TO BE ABLE TO SERVE YOU AND I'LL MISS SERVING THANK YOU I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY

You know, I grew up in a family with two brothers and every time two brothers, there was always some kind of argument back and forth and somehow you figured out how to be a family. And we've come here for three terms together, Danny. And, you know, we've had our ups, we've had our downs in between, but always kept it civil between each other. And you were always someone who would pick up the phone and call me or I'd call you and we were as frustrated as could be and somehow at the end of it we would laugh and walk away from it i'm in shock that we're sitting here saying goodbye but i think it's opening a whole new door for you and your family and i think that as you said in your statement about your family and how much love you have for them and where you're going i think that's the important thing in life and Council Rook, I thank you for everything you did for me. The ups, the downs, the in-betweens, everything. This city is a better place, as you outlined. And I hope that we can still fulfill that need going forward. And I thank you, April, Zach, Haley. Amazing. You know, every time I've seen your family, they're always nothing but pleasant and pleasurable to me. And you have an amazing family, and that's where you're going. So... Thank you again for everything. You've always been a friend, even though we disagree. And the public will say whatever they say, but thank you again. Manager Golden.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.

What to say?

Well, who am I going to fight with? Ha ha! I fight with Danny more than anybody else. But on behalf of the city of Lowell, thank you. Mr. Mayor? On behalf of our family, we love you. Thanks for everything.

I was trying to help out City Manager Golden there, but I don't want to end with this, but I think we need to do this through you to the City Manager. Please start the special election process at this time. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, once you're out, you're out.

if you just want to listen to me if you just want to listen to me we left it hell out of here if we were left at 10 o'clock on that vote we wouldn't be doing this so a motion to adjourn by councillor rook seconded by councillor scott all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed so ordered