City Council - Regular Meeting

How you doing? [music]

[music] What's up? [music] Got to talk to Mayor.

Love it. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, yes. until it's all dirty. [music] The the fine might get into all the other fish. the signal. I need some

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Okay. Okay.

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Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat.

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Heat up here.

[music] Fe February 17, 2026, LOL City Council meeting come to order. 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 and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Councelor Non. Councelor Robinson here. Council Ro here. Councelor Scott here. Councelor Chow here. Council Dakota here. Mayor Gia here. Council Direan here. Council Leang here. Council Mcdana here. Council Mia here.

Moment of silence. Councelor Mercier. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to offer a moment of silence in Dawan Chamber for a lifelong Lowel resident, James F. Fallon, Jr. He was the beloved husband of Katherine Ren Fallon, with whom he shared over 72 years of marriage. Although Jim was born in Worcester, he was raised and was educated in Lel. He graduated from Lel High School in 1949. Jim was a standout three sport athlete during his era and a member of the LOL High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was the quarterback on Coach Ray Riddick's first undefeated football team, leading the Raiders to a bowl game in Jackson, Mississippi. Baseball and basketball rounded out his athletic pursuits and after graduation he was signed to to a professional baseball contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1950. Later in life he shared his knowledge and passion by serving as a highly successful coach at various levels of youth sports in Lel. Shortly after his graduation in 1953, he married Katherine Ren and became working for the gas company. He was later drafted into the United States Army and served during the Korean War. While in the Army, he had the opportunity to play baseball in Japan. He returned as a lieutenant with the L Fire Department, a career he truly loved. He retired in 1992 after more than 30 years of service to the city. Much of the time spent at Engine 7 on Pine Street where his co-workers became lifelong friends. A longtime Highland resident, his name is immortalized at

the James Fallon Sports Complex located behind the Daily School, of which was my motion at the request of attorney Kevin Murphy. Jim served on the Friends of Lel High School boosters and was president of the Lel Firefighters Credit Union for many years. Besides his devoted wife of over 72 years, Katherine, he is survived by their five children, James Fallon and his wife Karen, Timothy Fallon and his wife Katherine Katherine Dylan and her husband Michael Martha Santos. I want to say Martha Muscle Santos, but that's between her and I. and her husband Arthur and Mary K. Guthrie and her husband Roland. He also leaves behind his seven grandchildren and his 12 greatg grandandchildren. James was a kind and generous man who will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. Our condolences to his family, relatives, and many, many friends. I would also like to offer a moment of silence and dock in chamber to all those who passed away since our last city council meeting. May they all rest in peace. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Mercia. Council Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to have a moment in darken chambers for Linda Mashado. Uh born in LOL, Massachusetts, May 4th, 1945. The daughter of the late Ernest and late and late Lilian Bido Ron Ronley. She attended LOL schools and graduated from LOL High School in the class of 1964. After high school, Linda earned a teaching certificate in early childhood education from Welock College. Linda was the owner operator of Kids World Education in Draken. For over 40 years, Linda was a popular bartender of the Bunting Club in LOL. Spending 40 years behind the bar at the Bunting Club added yet another vibrant layer to Linda's story. Many patrons will remember her as a funny, kind, and always ready to lend a helping hand. Others might smile, remembering that she could also be forced to be reckoned with. Quick-witted, a little fresh at times, and never one to hold back. That spark was simply part of what made her so unforgettable. An active member of the St. Patrick's Church in L, Linda worked bingo for many years while her children attended school there. She enjoyed running and an occasional mil light with her family and friends. However, her favorite thing was to do spend time with her grandchildren. She is survived by three daughters, Daryl Bastine, her husband Mark, Lisa Figuroa, and her husband John and Rebecca Lie and her partner Brian Martin, all of L, Mass, and a son Joseph Mashado and his wife Jennifer of LOL. Linda happily took on the role of auntie to her many nieces and nephews, a title she enjoyed as much as mom and granny. Her nieces and nephews were a joy to her as she was to all of them. They all ador Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Council Dakota. Seeing no other please dark in the chambers to mayor's business 2.1 communication remote zoom participation motion to accept and place on file council Robinson seconded by councel Scott 2.2 2 Presentation Roberto Clemente Baseball League. Maria Claudio.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, city manager. Good evening, city councilors. Thank you for inviting us here tonight to uh Maria Cladio, Roberto Clemente, uh Lee of L. Uh we are here. Thank you also Shakisha um to have uh us over here and uh this is Maria Claudio. She is the president or ramen Roberto Clemente league and also there is on the league they are the youth that played in Roberto Clemente uh baseball league and they also they're going to um play and represent Massachusetts uh on February 2026 in Puerto Rico. and their name is Husting Frias Justin Fria Jose Luis Romero. Thank you so much. And also this is a new uh we have um world new world here in Roberto Clemente. Uh we are nonprofit organization right now. Thank God that we are nonprofit organization and uh Jose Cvante can you come over here too? He's also one other part of the member of the board and this is what myself I'm the secretary um Roberto Clemente lead

uh founded by I mean 2008 our mission is to keep the children out of the street to get uh the children out of the the street age five to 18. Uh, this is fun in 2008. I know Maria for a long time. The being also with the kids and the parents. Thank you, Maria, for doing what you you're doing. And Yes. Yes. [applause] and Maria Roberto Clemente Lee represented for a long time low to also the states and also um all the country. Maria represent uh um Lo in Lawrence, um Massachusetts, um New Hampshire, New York, Ron Island, Wister and country as a Puerto Rico and also Boston. Some of the lead from the other country from Dominica Republic came here to play with Maria Lee. Colombia and Dominica Republic. They came in Puerto Rico. They came here and play with the lead which is Maria the lead of Maria Roberto Clemente warm which is very good. So represent Lelo in every every part where she goes is representing Lelo which is very good. So Maria have a lot of championship. Um and um

how many championship you have? Um New York 2019 999 is the um international president cup in New York is my le champion and MVP in 2024 and 20 two 2024 and 2029 is the championship um in Boston and sorry New York and championship in Boston. my lead this year representing Massachusetts on President International Cup in Puerto Rico tomorrow and 22 on 22 February. Thank you. So, we're here also. Thank you. We're here because we want you to know that Maria is doing great job with the kids. She want she keeping the kids out of the streets. Also the parents keeping them you know occupied and and made the parents happy because the kids is playing in Maria lead. Roberto Clemente is been here since like I say since 2008 and and is doing a great job. Roberto Clement. Well, this year the five five years old at uh 20 12 years old my is free.

He's free for the kids. Okay. Yeah. And and thank you for the people that donate a lot of material for the kids. So this year is going to be free. Um everything's going to be free. uh we are you know reaching out to parents uh reaching out also to the kids. We going outside we we inviting we inviting a lot of parents we inviting a lot of kids uh from outside so that we we can have in the lead of Roberto Clemente. Uh Maria is is very dedicated woman. Very powerful woman. Empower the kids just not to be on the street. Just come and play baseball. Come and do something for yourself. And not only that, she's also she's an activist. Uh she's been also in law in in a lot of um activities. It's a lot of events. So not also she's a very good uh uh founder of the league but also she is she's very activist here in law.

Well we want to we want to thank you guys for your presentation and um motion to accept and place on file by council leang seconded by councel Marcia. Thank you. [applause] 2.3 citation. Councelor Robinson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, [clears throat] you know, in honor of Black History Month, since I've been on the council, this is something that I try to do. Um, I try to identify people in the community that are tirelessly given back and and continue to be an example for the community of what it really means to be engaged and and fully participate and and and help as many people as you possibly can. And many of these people do it silently. They don't do it for the pictures. They don't do it for, you know, the publicity or the social media. I personally was fortunate enough to work with this this person on an event in Senville and uh it's just one of many things that this person has done throughout the city. I mean, so many people can attest to this as you see behind me. Official citation. Be it hereby known to all that the city of law in the commonwealth of Massachusetts hereby offers its sincerest congratulations to Shimra Mcdown. In honor of Black History Month, the city of L recognizes Shimber McDown, a lifelong resident of L, Mass, whose dedication of service, compassion, and community uplift exemplifies the spirit of Black History Month and the enduring legacy of leadership, resilience, and generosity. Born and raised in Mil City, Shamber embra em embraces her L roots and remains deeply connected to the community that shaped her. Drawing inspiration from LOL's rich culture, history, and people, she's made it her mission to give back by ensuring residents have access to essential resources and meaningful support during times of need. Her work reflects a deep understanding that strong communities

are built through care, action, and collective responsibility. Shamber has selflessly dedicated countless hours to organizing and supporting community initiatives, including fundraisers that provided food and essential items during the government shutdown. back to school supply giveaways, holiday gift drives for families, and the preparation and distribution of hot meals at community events through through her business, Red's Kitchen and Catering. Whether cooking meals, coordinating volunteers, or personally transporting donated goods across the city, she leads every effort with a hands-on approach and unwavering commitment. All these initiatives are fully volunteer-driven with Shambra generously contributing her time at no cost and frequently covering expenses out of pocket to ensure their success. Supported by a devoted network of volunteers, her work stands as a powerful example of service rooted in love for community. Through her actions, Shamber McDown continues to make a lasting impact on LOL and honors the enduring values celebrated during Black History Month. Therefore, I on behalf of Mayor Eric Gia and the entire city council residents of LOL hereby extend our deepest appreciation and we are proud to honor and recognize Shamber McDown for the service to the community offering our gratitude and best wishes for good health and happiness given the 17th day of February 2026. Thank you. [applause]

[applause]

Well, I guess this is a surprise. Um, my brother got me here and I'd seen all my friends coming in. Um, this is an honor, but this wasn't just me. Um, as I said, it was, you know, always if you see something, you say something. And I spoke up. And actually, I'm very proud of the city of LOL for standing behind me. Um, and I've seen a lot of, you know, my colleagues and my friends and my family here. And I want to say thank you to all of you. Not just not for me. So, this is for all of you. Thank you again. [applause] I don't do public stuff. Take pictures. All right, I guess we're ready for the

beautiful. All right, make sure everyone can see me. All right, big smiles on three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Fantastic. [applause]

Congratulations. motion to accept and place on file by council Robinson, seconded by councelor Rook. Three city clerk 3.1 minutes of the city council regular meeting February 10th for acceptance motion to accept and place on file by councelor Jan seconded by council Dakota seeing it's not 7:00 we'll continue on six city council motions 6.1 council Leang request the city manager have the HR department provide a summary of the demographic report of a democra graphic report including city staff residency Lwellians versus non-Lwellians by leadership level. Additionally, include the percentage of respondents who answered yes to the question pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 60 268A. Please indicate if you have any family members employed by the city of LOL in the city of LOL's employment application form. Second by council Mcdana. Council Leang.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, as you know, the most important and valuable asset of this city is the diverse people. People of all around the world are making a family here. Low is their home, a place where they can walk, live, play, and learn. L will continue to improve economically through the link projects. Front Runner City, UNESCO Learning City, 501c3 Investment, and other local and public private organization. Mr. Manager, I admire your presentation and vision for our city last week. You talk about workforce development, transparency, sustainability, safe and welcoming space, job creation, culture, and economic engine just to name a few. This motion is just an overview of our strengths, weaknesses, and opportunity within our city workforce. Also, if I may, I'm asking to see business and nonprofit out there really support the resident and the people of law. All children, our new graduates needs equal opportunity regardless of their background. As you said, law is a city of opportunity. Thank you, Council Leang.

Council Rook. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm curious why it matters where city staff lives in LOL or not. Um, you know, I've always been someone just, you know, you put the best person in place uh for positions. You know, are you trying to create some, you know, kind of animosity between employees here in the city? Um, you know, there are negotiations with the contracts that, you know, we deal with just with residency requirements. You know, one of my first motions 2014 was to establish a residency requirement for employment. Conversation lasted about two minutes. So, um, you know, just, you know, 268A is a huge u mass general law with multiple multiple additions to it. Um, again, I don't, you know, just the reason for it. Um, you know, what are we doing here? ing. Um, just my concerns.

Thank you, Council R. Council Scott.

Thank you. Um, I guess I just have concerns over the wording perhaps of the motion that I'm not really sure exactly what you're looking for. The way you just described it was kind of a a demographics report, which I'm fine with that, if that's what we're looking for. We've asked for hiring reports in the past um quite a few times. I'm not quite sure on the, you know, divided up by leadership level, like what are those leadership levels? Do you know how that's defi? Like what are you looking for with that wording? Um I'm not really sure. And then again the hiring of family members. I I think like I've always been opposed to you know people managing their family members or them being in the same chain of command. But I also think uh public service kind of runs in families. So that's kind of a you I'm not really sure what this is looking for what the end result is that you're trying to come up with. Like I said if it's a diversity and hiring report I'm 100% behind that. But that's not kind of the wording that I get out of this motion. Thank you.

See no other comments. Uh roll call. I can respond. I can respond. Hold on. Council Leang.

Oh, so I'm I'm assuming that uh maybe on an annual basis you do uh Mr. Manager, you have report from the HR about the hiring turnovers, you know. Um this is just a summary of demographic. There's no animosity about anybody or anyone. It's just a report basically looking at who are our workforce. We have projects out there. Okay. We we have for example the front runner city. We going to have the link project. We're going to have a lot of people. I'm looking for is that is it diverse enough? Do our community have a chance to be employed within the city or do we have a lot of experience or professional working our city uh you know over the people that are living in the city. I may be concerned about for example you know long term will this graduate will this students or youngsters have a place to live in law or to work in law or we going to have more people from outside and to work in this project and since we don't have a lot of opportunity we might be able to move out of this city in order to get a good job. It's very basic. I work in HR for many years. It's more about diversity and more about inclusion. Uh there's nothing about this motion that harass anybody or uh work against anybody. It it's just merely a report. Um and also you know just a basic transparency where everybody stand as regard to the chapter 268A. uh as recently as today it's on the job

application. Basically, it's just a report. If somebody answer yes, then it's a yes. What is the percentage? It's not a percentage. So the don't read into it basic just a report. Thank you. Just a point of clarification. Four years ago, I filed a motion for an applicant tracking for HR. This report's pretty standard, so it should be something that should be able to be pulled and put together, I believe. But, uh, Council Chow,

thank thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I I think I understand the intendent the intent of the uh uh motion by councelor Leang. Um, and also some questions by the other counselors. I think to um maybe the wording in in this motion, some of that might um not be legal and and so forth, but I think the intent um to get the the the report about um demographic, about diversity and so forth. Um I think I would feel more comfortable with this motion if it was to ask a city manager to explore the feasibility what can be including report and then to provide that report. um if it was to include everything for like like uh council mentioned like family members and where they live. I think some of it there have been several motions in the past and we discussed and we questioned about the legality of it. Um also so I mean if the make of the motion were to make a slight amendment say to uh for the city manager to to explore and include what's feasible in the report I think I can support that um comfortably. Council Le.

Yeah, I mean uh first of all um I mean I I I do agree in this report there is no uh identifiable information of anybody. We should always be protected of all these our employees. This is more a cumulative report. It's a it's a summary you know of the report of the total staff and what's going on demographically and you know things like that. So there is no, you know, individual report that's going to be come out of this uh request. Council Mcdana.

Thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor, if it's okay with councelor Leang, I think something that might address councelor Scott's question, if this is a realistic point of of divide here, would be if we're looking at leadership positions, if we just take bargaining unit members as one pool and then ordinance employees and management level as a separate pool, I guess, for for the sake of this report. Does that work? That works. Okay. Thank you, Council Meia.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. When I first saw this motion, I was a little taken aback by it. When I see it saying, "Include the percentage of respondents who answered yes to the question pursuant to Mass General Law 268A. Please indicate if you have a family member employed by the city of Lel in the city of Lowel's employment applica. I don't know what what's the point. Yes. Yes. I I'll tell you right now. I have a daughter that works in the city. It makes it seem like I'm committing some sort of a crime here because my daughter works here. But she worked 13 years in the school department. And I didn't even know she had got into the school department. Then she hurt herself and she was like cast aside because she couldn't work anymore. I would think the city would have made reasonable accommodations, which at that time they didn't until someone else came into power and I said, "Can you make reasonable accommodations for this for my daughter?" And they did. I mean, I'm telling you my personal information. I personally don't care because I'm an elected official. You can know anything you want about me, but I think the average person would be taken a back as well. I I I think it should be rewarded. And I don't know why you want to know whose relative is working where. I I don't get it. I I don't understand. I don't mean any harm by it, but And I don't think you do either, but it just

it's just like scratching your nails down a blackboard. I just I don't know. Council Robinson.

Thank you. Uh through you, Mr. Mayor, to the city manager. Uh are there any concerns you have with with answering this this motion? I mean, is there anything that really jumps out at you that you think is worrisome or or illegal or anything here? because I mean it's if they're looking for a summary to try to get a a picture of the demographic, I mean then I don't see what the the big challenge is here unless there's something that concerns the administration on answering. But again, um that bottom line where they're asking respondents who answered yes to the question, they're not looking for specifics. It's basically a summary. So, if you had 80 applicants that responded yes, you'd say 80 applicants responded yes on this portion of the application. I mean, it it seems like it's general for the most part, but are there any concerns on the administration's end that you'd recommend amending?

Manager Golden.

Uh, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor through to the council. Uh, council, no, not necessarily. Uh, we wouldn't put down any um personal information anyhow. The only other piece that I would think that uh we do this in the budget every year, most of this uh the in regards to the U 268A and and those that answered yes, we may have to go through give or take 950 applications. I don't know if we've ever tracked it that way. Uh but 950 applications of people that have been here for I'll say 30 years, you know. So that might be a little bit timeconuming and a challenge to see if someone did that. Um, that'd be the only piece that I think would be cumbersome in the sense would have to get there at some point. We got to go back and get the 950 applications and look to see who who checked off. Yes, I guess that would be the only time the time piece. The rest of it is u I I would say for the most part pretty standard with the the demographic, the diversity, something that we track on a very uh normal course of business just to make sure we know what's going on. So most of that would be okay with the exception of I just don't believe and I'd have to ask HR this if we've ever tracked that. So that would mean we'd have to go back to every employee to see how they filled out their application.

Thank you. And with the applicant tracking system, wouldn't it be pretty much computerized from that point they implemented forward? I hope. Yeah, I I would hope it would from a from the applicant tracking piece, but would be going back better than 30 years, right? I mean, that's something I I would check with I'd have to check with HR. Okay. You know, we because obviously 30 years ago, we didn't have applicant tracking. 10 years ago, 10 years ago, we didn't have it. Has everything been put in or is it just uh PDFed or how how has it been tracked? That's something I'd have to look at. Thank you, Council Direan.

Uh, thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor. Um, I love data, maybe more than most people on this council, and so I would love to see all of this data, um, just out of curiosity, but I also, as I think about it further, I'm not sure um, what we will learn from it. Um, for instance, I think our school system should be um growing all of our students to be able to find the best jobs they can, whether those are in LOL or outside of LOL. And if we, you know, bring in people who are live in other communities because they're the best candidates, that's also great. I don't think we need to be uh, you know, just keep people in lol. I think we are a melting pot of people from all over the world and other communities. So, I I would in a way love to see the data, but I'm just not sure um maybe what we will do with the results of it. And that um makes me then wonder whether it's worth the effort to pull it together. And I I assume that's really a question for Council Leang.

Council Leang. So, I'm I'm assuming that uh I know to um city managers that uh the bottom half of the the the motion could be hard to get just because you didn't track that, right? But um I mean if if it's difficult to track, we can just take the first half and then do not um I would like to amend that if possible to just um take the additional thing. But uh you know basically take that out of the motion to basically just to have the demographic uh but you know I don't know is it possible or is it how hard is it to just uh get that um you know I mean like I said it's it's the yes and no. It's just this is you know is just hard to get information about it or how does that work

thank you very much Mr. Mayor, um, council, if you could give me just a little bit of time, we'll look at it. But with the 268A, with that kicking into 2022, that's probably a press of a button, right, to figure that out. It's everything that's prior to that we would have to go back, which I'm not saying we can't. We just have to try to figure that out. Uh, just give me a little bit more time on that and we can, you know, I'll call you personally to let you know what I think we, you know, we can and can't do. But the rest of this information, um, should be okay. Okay. Council Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, just uh one more concern on the motion, and I do appreciate if I would support it if we were removing that language about 268A and them going back just because I don't see the the the end result, the use of it to have our staff spend all that time. Um, but my other question is around the staff residency. um where a motion has been made multiple times on the floor here asking about a residency requirement and it has never passed or we've been advised that that will not pass and that we basically want the most qualified candidates from wherever they're from. So again, I'm not really sure what that data is going to help support where that's already been brought up on the floor over and over again. Um so so that's another concern I have with it. So thank you. Council Mercio, would you be able to take the podium uh the mayor spot, please?

May I get here?

Thank you, Council Mercier. I think that the intent of the motion is all over the place based off of the yes on the question and the pursuant to chapter uh 268A. after listening to people because there's a lot of employees if you go back many years that got here through civil service. So they had to take a civil service exam to get here and at that point there was no who do you know who do you this or that. You were on a test you scored a grade and you got hired that way. So if you went back that far I think that most of us were here when we passed that applicant tracking um it was four years ago. was I believe um manager Donnie who was here at that time and we passed it because we couldn't track things as well as we wanted to and then we went into this tracking system that said okay we can start looking at individual applications and see where they are. Uh the hard part of a lot of it back then was that we couldn't force people to apply. We we we put it in every single application place we could but we weren't really getting the diversity that represented the community in a lot of ways. and um the ones that did apply didn't really meet the qualifications at the time. Uh today may be very different. It would be very interesting to see how that report transitions to today over the last four years. But prior to that, I think this council and um everyone within it had the same questions that council Leang has and we all asked the same questions, but we had no way of tracking it. We were told back then. So, um I guess I would agree with everybody as if we removed I think what council Leang is saying is keep the portion where it says request the city manager have the HR department provide a summary of the demographic report including city staff residency Lwellians versus non Lwellians by leadership levels. Is that where you're ending at that point?

Council Yang, I'm sorry. Yeah, council Yang. Yes. Okay. Is that all right with you? what he's suggesting. Uh it's like removing what you asked for. Um for now, yes. Uh yes. Um today I would just remove that

or or we or we can just have a file like all of us file motions and when we get the report back you you it's a working document. we work from the document and then you communicate with the manager in between a a meeting to see, you know, is that what your expectations were and you set the uh motion response based off of that. I think that that makes sense, but to try to dial everything in and we've all filed motions that we worded differently and it was up to interpretation to a lot of people at the time and then we got different uh responses back that we had to make adjustments to. So, um, it would be up to the maker of the motion if he wants to just end it there and then see where the motion response comes from and make adjustments based off of the motion response.

I agree. So, are you amending that motion? I I'll make a motion to um make a substitute motion request the city manager have the HR department provide a summary of the demographic report including city staff residency Lelian versus non-lewellian by leadership level. So there's a motion. Would you like to second it? I second that. Okay. Motions stands. Sure. That's all right. Yeah. Just a roll call. Did you you want a roll call? Okay. Roll call as amended. Council Non. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. No. Council Scott.

No. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. No. Mayor Gia. Yes. Council Jirean. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Yes. Council Marcia.

No. Thank you. Six yays, four nays, one absent. Motion passes. Seeing it's passed 7:00, we have to go back to the regular portion of the meeting. The public hearings for general public hearing scheduled for 7:00. 4.1 vote acceptance mass general law chapter 40 section 71 school bus violation detection monitoring gives second reading Mr. Mayor, I'm going to be out there for the next couple motions. Okay. Recusing. Yeah.

Council Mcdana is going to recuse himself. Vote accepting the provisions of section 71 of the Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40, insert pursuant to chapter 399 of the acts of 2024, the act concerning the safety of school children embarking and disembarking school buses, which authorizes cities and towns to install and operate a school bus violation detection monitoring system on a school bus to enforce violation pursuant to section 14 and 14 C of chapter 90. We're going to open the hearing. Hearing's open to all those wishing to speak in favor. In favor. In favor. Just state your name and address for the record.

Michael Gorman and company that you're with. Roar over Brook Road Middleton. Thank you. Could you restate that so we could hear that please? Yes. Michael Gorman. I'm at four over Brookbrook Road. I live in Middleton and I represent the company bus patrol and I I'm here just to support the effort the council in the city of Lowel is pursuing. And if I'm here if there are questions and if there are any concerns just ask.

Thank you Mr. Gman. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor? In favor. In favor. That portion of the meeting is closed. Anybody wishing to speak in opposition? Opposition. Opposition. Seeing none, that portion of the meeting is closed. The wish of the body. Councelor Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I was hoping that the chief was going to be here if he had any other concerns with regard to this u bus patrol. Um, I did some uh fourth grade arithmetic and I did speak with Mr. Gorman and it looks like u they'll be charging $250 a bus for 12 months at with 55 buses that are going. That's about $170,000 that we would pay bus patrol. But then I looked on the opposite end where the revenue would be and that would be let's say conservatively each bus would have 50 violations moving violations times 250 times 55 buses that comes out to and that's a cons that's conservative that's about $700,000. So looking at it from that perspective I think this is a no-brainer and a revenue source for the city. I really do. And obviously putting it into a um stabilization fund I think is a great idea. Um I would I would urge my my colleagues to vote in favor of this. Um I would ask Mr. Gorman were my was my fourth grade arithmetic correct Mr. Gorman?

It was all right. Thank you. All right. Like I said I think that's a conservative number. Mr. Mayor, um we talking 180 school days. Um each bus is going to do probably more than that. We'd probably be looking over a million dollars, I would imagine. Um, my only concern is, uh, maybe through you to the city manager. Um, I was going to ask this to Chief Hudon. I think we would have to actually put on some, uh, a policeman or a designate to, uh, to go through these violations because I believe that's the process. Then they would have to sign off, then they go right to court. So, um, I would think that would probably come out of that the monies that are gener generated through that. So, like I said, I think this is a no-brainer. I I think this is really good. Thank you very much, Mr. manager.

Uh thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Through to the council, councel, we wouldn't be looking to add anybody on in particular, but their time would be counted towards um uh whichever company is chosen at the end of the day. You know, what um what the cost would be. We have uh officers that are that are over on JFK that are consistently looking at things like this with violations. So, that would be something that we would uh charge back on that. All right. And I and I believe there's a couple of of these companies that are on the state vendor list. So I don't think we have to go for an RFP on this. We just uh talk to the companies that would be on the list at that point. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Dan.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um so I appreciate uh that uh councelor Dakota did the math. Thank you. Because I didn't know what the costs were. Um, I would appreciate from the city manager through the mayor to the city manager whether the analysis about the expected ROI is what you anticipated because I would want to make sure that this is worth the investment for us. Mr. Manager, be careful. [laughter]

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Three to the council. Uh, councelor, our hope is that nobody would do this to be quite frank with you. Uh but uh the number of complaints we do get we do believe it'd be in the positive side. Now if that's not going to work in years to come because typically when you start to find people uh attitudes change um so it would be my hope that city of L would be the first city that wouldn't have anybody jumping the bus or trying to go around buses in that matter. But uh from what from what I understand uh with the number of complaints that we do get that people uh are not being responsive. Well, if they're not going to be responsive, then the uh uh general court obviously in I think it was 2024 passed this for that very reason. But we would be keeping uh a watchful eye on this that this would not be costing uh the taxpayers anything and and there'd be a revenue I guess plus. But quite frankly, once again, I' I'd like to state uh I wish we didn't have to do this and that when people do see buses pulling over or picking up children that uh I know you're late for work. I know you're running leave 10 minutes earlier because uh we don't want to see people get hurt in this, we shouldn't have to do this. But hopefully that answers the question that you're looking for.

Yeah. No, that's helpful. Thank you. Um and I think if I understood the um proposal correctly, and I think this might be helpful for folks um watching. Um, so there'd be cameras installed in each bus to detect uh if a car is passing when the red lights are flashing. There have to be signs posted on the buses that they are subject to this system. The goal of the system is to identify the vehicle and not people, not um so it's intended to not be a way to do um a lot of surveillance. Um and there are rules about under the state statute about um how the data can be reviewed and how it should be deleted. Um which I think is very important uh to our residents. Um I also understand the school committee is supposed to approve this measure. So we assume this will go before the school committee at some point soon. Um, and uh I just wanted to make sure that that my my summary made sense and was correct, but it sounds like from looks like from the nods that I understood it correctly. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Duran. Councelor Robinson.

Thank you. Um, I think I filed the original motion to take a look at this when the governor passed this law allowing communities to pursue this. Um, I'm glad to see that we're pursuing it and and I get it. there is a cost associated with it, but I think it really comes down to how do you put a cost on on safety for the children that are they're trying to get off a bus or or trying to get on a bus. So, I mean, I'm not looking at this as say a money generator as much as sending a message to the community that we're trying to protect the children that are taking the buses off and on. period. I hope it ends up being an expense for the city to be honest because that means people are are not blowing past buses and not jeopardizing school kids trying to get off on a bus. So I mean I think this is great to test out. This isn't about monitoring this as my colleague said. This is about sending a clear message that when you see a bus with the flashing lights and that stop sign come out, stop. And if not, this is a penalty that will be coming to you. Now, the collection end of it, I know, is is a little bit shaky as far as how much we can really collect, but at the same time, I'm glad to see we're taking whatever measure is afforded to us to protect the school children. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Robinson. Councelor Marcia.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I wholeheartedly support this motion. This is about the safety of our children. And I have on occasion stopped for a school bus and the car in front of me did not even with the red lights flashing. I I was shocked. But that does happen probably more times than you understand. So, Mr. mayor through you to a person that was very instrumental in the transportation at Lowel High School. Uh, Councelor Dakota, I I'm just curious about this. Maybe it means nothing, but I just out of curiosity want to know. It will be very expensive to put these cameras on the buses. I support that 100%. But now, I don't know much about the bidding process. Uh are there many companies of bus companies? Uh what my concern is do we spend all that money and put them on the buses and then it goes out to bid like 2 or 3 years later and it's another company that gets the lower bid or whatever and in the meantime we just put the cameras on a bus that we no longer have the contract with. Do you know what I'm trying to say? So what do we do in a case like this? I'm trying to think ahead. Uh those cameras are ours. Do we then go around and take them off and put them on the new contract? I don't know. I I don't know what to say. I don't want to uh say, gee, you know, let's get an go out to bid and a lower bidder gets the bid and they don't have cameras and we got to foot the bill all over again. Do you hear what I mean?

Yeah. There was discussion. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. So, it can't be answered without having a contract. We've been informed from the city solicitor. So the the any answer that you get tonight is not a function of a fulfilled contract. So you have to wait till you get the contract in place to say whether the cameras are yours or the cameras are theirs. It's part of a contract process.

So in other words, we can spend all this money to put the cameras on a bus and then three years down the road or two years it goes out to bid and we're footing a bill all over again. It would it would be like your phone as you reup a phone if you change companies you may have to get something that's adaptive and at that time sometimes they just go out of sync with technology so things change quick in that industry. Well well I am going to support this but if we could have a report as to my concern I'll recognize the city solicitor city solicitor Williams.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh just to clarify what um the mayor means and what the city manager was getting at is is we don't have um a vendor yet that we're working with. So we don't have a contract in place with with anyone. So these discussions that have come up about you know the cameras and ownership and and buses. We haven't even got to that part of the of this process. Um and that is these are discussions that you know normal course of business as we move forward we would have these and we would work through them but it hasn't happened yet. But we we don't even we wouldn't have an answer for you anyway. But your your point is noted and that would be a part of the discussions.

Okay, that's all I want to know. Make it part of the discussion so we can be informed as to what's where we stand here. Otherwise, I'm not saying I don't support it. I certainly do. Thank you. Thank you, Council Mia. Councelor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually was going to cite a similar concern, I guess, just around the cost of it. And as councelor Duran has stated, if we can get some type of breakdown about what this will will cost. Um, but I do agree with it. I did do some research myself. I saw a pilot that lasted about a month in Peody and in Salem. Um, one town had 661 violations in a month. Uh, Salem had 1,094 violations in a month, which does not surprise me at all. I live on Wuben Street, a busy road. I see cars swerve out around Wuben Street around the bus with the stop sign all the time. like daily I see this happen. Um, so I think this is a very good thing no matter what, but it would be nice to see a breakdown of what it's going to cost us. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Scott. Motion to adopt by Councel Robinson, seconded by Councelor Mercy. A roll call, Council Nun. Councelor Robinson, yes. Council Rock, yes. Council Scott, yes. Council Chow, yes. Council Dakota, yes. Mayor Gier, yes. Council Direan, yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Council Marcia. Yes.

Take the 10 years. Motion passes. Um motion to take 8.1 out of order by councelor Leang, seconded by councelor Chow. 8.1 vote establish [clears throat] school bus violation stabilization fund. Wave full reading and second reading by title. We're in a public hearing. Is this 8 point something a public hearing? We asked to suspend the rules to do this. Mr. Solicitor, is it okay to do this? Is this a vote? It's for the same thing as you just voted on. We're just attaching the It's the vote. Okay.

Mr. May I think just procedurally wise we take the uh public hearing first and read it into the record and then you bring up the um 8.1 that just in my history but however you want to do it the boss. Okay, we we'll go back to 4.2 [clears throat] as recommended by councelor Marcier. I think you bring it right back to the to the violation on 8.1. It's all good to me.

4.2 ordinance amend chapter 222.24 24 school bus violation. Give second reading by title. 82 82 an ordinance amending the code of ordinances city of l Massachusetts respect to chapter 222 entitled peace in good order by adding section 222.24 entitled school bus violation detection enforcement. open the meeting. All those in favor? Any um any anyone wishing to speak in favor? In favor? In favor? That portion of the hearing is closed. Anybody wishing to speak in opposition? Opposition. Opposition. That portion of the meeting is closed. What's the wish of the body?

Roll call. Move approval. You want to take 8.1, Mr. Mayor? Nope. We're just going to go right through the regular way. Councelor Noon. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gier. Yes. Council Jirean. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Council Marcia. Yes. Nine. Nine. Motion passes. Five. Utility public hearing scheduled for 700 p.m. 5.1. National grid request installation of one so pole at 242 Church Street. Give second reading. 5.1.

Open the hearings. All those Anybody wishing to speak in favor? In favor? Um hello. I'm Alec BSong. I'm here to represent National Grid in this matter. Um we're seeking to install a pole on Church Street. Uh poll 13.5. It's a midspan pole to pro to provide power at three at four 242 Church Street.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor? In favor. In favor. That portion of the meeting is closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Opposition. Opposition. Seeing no one, that portion of the meeting is closed. Wish of the body. Motion to refer to the wire inspector for report and recommendation by councelor Ror, seconded by councelor Scott. Going back to the city council motions, I need a motion to bundle 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4. Remove them until next week, February 24th, 2026 meeting because councelor Nun is not here. Seconded by council, motion by councelor Robinson, seconded by councelor Mcdana. 6.5 Council Dakota request an update from Skansa SuffK on progress of Coven Hall renovation seconded by Council Chow Council Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um it was four weeks tonight ago that we uh had the OPM, Mr. Kaine, telling us that they're they're looking at apparently a problem with the Coburn Hall. and he had said that there would be a report coming out within a week. Although that has come and gone and it's now been four weeks, which is a bit troubling to me because the longer it waits, maybe the news isn't as good as we thought. So, um through you to the city manager, city manager, I'd really this council needs a report, what is going on, and where do we go from there? So, if you can put some pressure on, I'd like to open up my packet next week and have this in it. Manager Golden.

Uh, yes. Uh, council, excuse me. Sorry, Miss May. Three to the council. Uh, councelor, thank you very much. Um, we are waiting on the on the final scope and the final dollar figure, and I will get that as soon as possible. They've been telling us they're waiting. We're in a waiting game as well, but I'll make sure that um, assistant city manager calls them first thing again tomorrow morning.

All those in favor signify by saying I. The opposed. So ordered. And just uh for the record, Council Mcdana recused himself. 6.6 Council Mcdana requests the city manager work with the appropriate department to ensure property owners in mixed use and commercial areas are aware of the ordinance regulating the storage of dumpsters, trash bins, and other items on city sidewalks to take appropriate action to ensure compliance with these requirements. Seconded by Councelor Scott. Council Mcdana.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, also, uh, through you, thank you to Assistant City Manager, uh, Mashado for getting a few of those dealt with today and last week. Um, this motion comes from one, living downtown and two, a a significant number of my neighbors downtown and then also throughout the district in uh, commercial areas in Bag Central as well as pockets of Centerville. Uh there's not much for business in the district 4 section of Pucketville. Um property owners aren't don't always seem aware of where they're allowed to put their dumpster and their trash bins and how long they're allowed to be there. Um occasionally it's for weeks. Sometimes it is so long that I think everyone in the city has decided that that's just where those trash cans live until somebody until somebody tries to push a snowblower down the sidewalk and they can't because all of the trash bins for three streets are on one sidewalk. Um the other piece of this comes from a conversation at the disability commission. Um which is why I included the other items piece. Um as we it's the middle of winter. We're not looking for outdoor seating right now, but once we move back to outdoor seating, thinking both thinking through and then also making sure property owners are aware going into the outdoor dining season um what that setup can look like and where those items are stored so that we're not obstructing the entire sidewalk. Thank you.

Thank you, councelor. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.7 Council Jiren request the city manager to work with the appropriate departments to consider opportunities to en enhance safety for sledding at shed park by removing any tree stumps removing any tree stumps in considering installing a snow fence or similar barrier along the parking lot. Seconded by councelor Leang, councelor Jan. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, in 1910, uh, Freeman Shed gifted 50 acres of land to the city of Lol to quote, "Forever be used as a park and recreation or playground for the citizens and children of the city of lol." Um, that that gift has brought joy to the citizens and children of the city, not just the Belvadier residents, um, ever since, including for sledding in the winter. and it brings joy to my heart every winter to see kids and family sledding there and having fun and I never want that to end. Um, but a resident um of LOL mentioned to me that it's often hard for her when she's watching her two grandchildren to keep an eye on both of them while they're sledding and if the snow is fast that you know uh it's possible that a kid can get too uh while sledding too close to the roadway or to the parking area. So, um she suggested some sort of uh fencing. Um uh so maybe a snow fence or something like that. Um another uh parent mentioned that you know there are some tree stumps that um may be on the hill or somewhere in the area that are covered now by snow, but that could pop up again or become um you

know a safety issue for folks. So I I think um we all want sledding to continue and to be safe. So if there are some lowcost uh ways that we can improve safety at shed park uh and make sure that we can all enjoy it forever. That would be great. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Juran. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 6.8. Councelor Jirean. Council Leang request city manager to have the appropriate personnel answer questions about national grid work authorization process perhaps at a technology and utility subcommittee. No second needed. Council Duran.

Um thank you Mr. Mayor. Um we uh I know that uh councelor Non has also put on some requests that relate but I think the they're somewhat different from this one in that we've seen a large number of requests from national grid over the last couple of weeks um uh and now have the opportunity to compare these requests uh and I think since several of us are new to the council and also residents aren't really aware of some of the terminology and the process Uh certainly I was not um you know aware of how this process worked. Um I think it would be uh helpful to be able to ask our questions to uh either through um the appropriate person uh in the city andor a national grid representative so that we are fully informed as we're making these decisions um going forward and we can share that information with residents. Council Yang,

I I do agree with uh councelor Janine because I mean for we we're quite new but at the same time we don't know a lot of process about the national grid um how these um polls or the process of getting their work you know going going through. So we just want to get get some more detail information on it. That would be nice. Thank you, Council Leang. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 6.9 Mayor GI request the city manager send a formal letter to the joint committee on environmental and national resources chair Christine Barber reiterating the critical importance of House Bill 965 and House Bill 4266. The deadline for action of these rodenticized bills are March 18, 2026. Seconded by Council Mcdana.

We have a registered speaker on Zoom

2026. Joan Dawson. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mr. City Manager, members of the city council. My name is Joanne Dawson and I live at 61 Enfield Street in Lel. I'm here tonight to express my support for Mr. Ger's motion 6.9 and I will be uncharacteristically brief. There are currently 17 House rodenticide bills sitting in the committee waiting to be voted out favorably, including H965, the statewide bill restricting the use of anti-coagulant rodenticides with some exceptions, and H4266 LOL's home rule petition requesting authority to manage rodenticide use in our city. These poisons pose a daily and serious threat to our environment, pets, children, and wildlife. The facts, the science, and the harms are indisputable. There is a March 18th deadline for the committee to move the bills along in the process towards approval. All that remains is for the Mass State Legislature to act in the interest of their constituents. I am thankful to live in a city that understands the stakes. Thank you once again for all of the good work currently underway in multiple departments to making our city a safer and healthier place for all living beings. Thank you.

Thank you, Joanne. Motion speaks for itself. All those in favor Oh, Council Robinson. No. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Council Robinson. Uh, may I make [clears throat] May I make a motion to suspend the rules? Can we just finish the last motion and then suspend the rules? Yes, sir. Thank you. 6.10 21 mayor get you request the city manager reach out to the inspector general's office in regards to having them perform a forensic audit on the low high school project finances. All those in favor seconded by councelor Dakota. So ordered. Motion speaks for itself unless someone has something else to add.

All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. Council Robinson. Thank you. I'd make a motion to suspend the rules and take 7.4 4 out of order in case we have anybody here that'd be willing to speak. Motion by councelor Robinson to take 7.4 out of order. Seconded by councelor Rock. Councelor [clears throat] 7.4 communications reappoint of Allison Keegan and Erin Jenn to the board of health. Motion to accept by councelor Scott, seconded by councelor Jirean. Let's take a roll call and then we'll let Miss Genman talk. Roll call.

Council Non. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. Yes. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Coun. Mayor Gier. Yes. Council Direan. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Yes. Council Mercia. Oh. Uh. Yeah. Nervous. Miss [laughter] Gend. Miss Jendon.

Thank you, manager um Golden Counselors, Mayor Gier. Um I was first appointed to the board of health five years ago and it has been my absolute pleasure to serve the city in this capacity. Um my first two years were baptism by fire amidst a global pandemic and I'm happy to report that the last three though very busy um the focus has shift shifted back towards improving health and quality of life in our city. I'm proud of the work the board of health has been able to accomplish with the support of this council and the law department. Uh I'll be brief, but here are some of the highlights that in addition to our regular oversight. We are the first city in Massachusetts to ban the sale, use and production of an unregulated harmful drug that mimics opioids and prior to the ban could be bought by a 10-year-old at a gas station. This has created a ripple across the state and has gotten national attention. There are now 15 cities and towns and five that are in the process who will use the same regulations that LOL has paved the way for. We collectively banned second generation anti-coagulant rodenticides. I know you guys love that word. [laughter] Um from city-owned properties which has helped give real point in time data to the effectiveness of alternative pest management systems. Um, our state delegation has also championed this and if the bills pass, it will give a real chance at survival for our wildlife and pets across the state. We work tirelessly with the law department to change our cosmetology regulations to allow microblading and an apprenticeship program. Previous to this change, very few cities had these regulations and shop owners here in LOL had to go to Newbury Street in Boston or Austin to practice their trade. This allows them to now live and work in in l contributing to economic growth of the city. I thank you for the appointment and I will continue to serve

fairly consistently and with the trans and with transparency at the forefront. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you, Miss Chandra. 7 7.1 motion response traffic comment. Council noon is not here. Does anyone wish to speak on this response? Council Mcdana.

Thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor, I have a sorry I added out of order. Um, I have a quick question on the traffic calming, particularly there was a piece about uh ADA accessibility with inter uh in certain crosswalk intersections that were getting a another look. Um, absent from the list, I I know it's come up under previous councils, but was the the crosswalk on Jackson Street from the parking garage to the LOL Community Health Center um I get it's a it's a sand pit. Just if we're if we're looking at intersections for um accessibility and and ease of crossing the street, getting getting into the community health center would be a be a pretty big one for me.

Mr. Manager, sorry. Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Alman. Hi, if I may. Uh the city has received a shared streets and spaces grant to provide a raised crosswalk from that at that intersection. So that will be constructed this summer. Thank you. You're welcome. If I didn't ask, I was going to get email. Thank you, Miss Alman. Thank you, Mr. Mcdana. Councelor Robinson,

thank you. Um I just have a question for the traffic engineer. Um I don't know where the flashing stop line uh stop signs the four-way at um West 6th that been installed. I don't know if that was something through a grant or what, but um I was it's been brought to my attention in the future if any grant opportunities or anything similar exists, could we possibly take a look at um Bridge Street at the beginning of the steps leading up to the Robinson School? because that's a very high pedestrian traffic area and tons of kids from the neighborhood actually use that that walkway to get on the stairs to head up to both the the Mclliff and the Robinson. So, if that opportunity presents itself in the future, I think if you could take a a peek at that location, it'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Robinson. Council Jiren.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um this report was very useful and I would um especially the advice on the second page under the heading traffic coming program progress. Um which I think our neighbors should read so they understand the process. Um I agented there of studying the need for speed humps on a neighborhoodwide basis makes sense because otherwise um we will be chasing our tails as um you know traffic moves from one street to the next. Um, I also think it's helpful to understand the criteria used to select streets to get speed humps. Um, if I read it correctly right now, it looks like it's a combination of the squeaky wheel that is neighbors complaining. Um, along with insights of where speed humps can't be cannot be installed because of things like slope and other things. So, um I think at least for me understanding what the criteria are um for how uh trafficcoming is prioritized in the city will be helpful and I may um put a motion on to that effect um going forward. But I do think that um residents will um learn something very valuable by reading this report. Thank you.

Thank you, Council J. Council Mcdana, sorry. Very quickly, I wanted to apologize for my question. Um, I panicked on the time limit because I actually see that I have a giant smiley face in my notes next to that raised crosswalk. So, instead of the question that I already asked and got answered, thank you again for the raised crosswalk at Jackson Street. Thank you, Council Mcdana. Need a motion to accept and place on file by councelor Chow, seconded by councelor Dakota. 7.1B motion response snow and ice. We have a registered speaker, Ryan Faria.

Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Ryan Faria. I live on Campbell Drive in L Massachusetts. Um I just wanted to say appreciated this motion response. When I read through it, one of the things that stood out to me and that I was hoping to see was more of a detailed storm response. So I view that as um you know, you can segregate storms into the volume of the storm. maybe a response for under 6 in 6 to 12, 12 and up. Um, and then kind of a you look at each DPW employee that's out there working the storms each day, day one post storm, what what are they responsible for? Day two, day three and so on and so forth. If we have that, then it becomes transparent as to what's supposed to be done when it's supposed to be done and we can have accountability to that. Um, the reason I asked that is because inside this motion response, it talked about how sidewalks are generally managed within 24 hours and prioritization goes towards schools and high pedestrian areas. 9 days after the snow ended, I had to reach out to the city and say, "Hey, right by the daily school where the water tower is, there's a sidewalk that had been cleared yet." Once I reached out, the very next day it was taken care of and it's all set. So if there was a metric or a matrix that said here's what each DPW person should be doing, it can have some feedback or input from the neighborhoods or the residents and then from there we at least know what's supposed to be done. I understand we had an 18in or greater storm. That's something that comes very rarely and there's a big backup for that. But I think you know that's probably a little bit too long for a sidewalk near a school to be maintained. Um hopefully you know when we have storms of this size there's a lot that can be learned from the storm. the feedback from residents. Hopefully the DPW will have a storm debrief or reflection to try to improve the SOPs for future storms. Um, and I think that, you know, a little bit of an overhaul is needed. Some things to consider might be what other cities do. Um, during the storm, there's certain roads where the parking ban takes effect and other roads where people can park. So, there's areas in the Highlands, Centerville, where garages aren't easily accessible. So, having stratifications of roads that can be parked on and cannot be parked on

during the storm could be helpful for those people. Um, but overall I think it was a good response. It would just be helpful to have some transparency and accountability to what is expected, what areas are supposed to be serviced following a storm. Thank you. Thank you. The motion response went to Councelor Mcdana, Council Dan, Councelor Scott, and Councelor Nune. Who wants to go first? Councelor Scott,

I'll go first. um on on my request which was around the parks and parking in the parks, alternatives to downtown because our neighborhoods it's really kind of unrealistic at least my issues going around and driving through the neighborhood after the snowstorm. You can easily see that the roads that had cars parked down them are the roads that are a mess still today, two weeks later that you can't get down. Um the roads that were wide open and people had driveways, they're they're well plowed and that's because the plows had easy access. So, it's not, you know, they didn't choose one neighborhood to do a better job. It's it was a difficult situation for them with all the cars parked there. So, the cars have to come off the road. Um, you have down that they'll try a pilot for the parking in the parks. I hope that happens. I I know there was supposed to be a pilot for street sweeping. We haven't seen that happen. So, I'm hoping there's some timeline for this pilot. Um, that it's just not floating out there. Um there's still ongoing issues in my neighborhood as far as businesses that have not done their big businesses too, large corporations that have not done their their sidewalks out front. Um perhaps they've been fined. Um when do we go and do it and and build them back or or what is the next level when they don't take care of it, I guess, is my question for the city manager. Thank you,

manager Golden.

Uh thank you very much, Mr. Mayor to the council. Um we have been finding on a very regular basis. Uh we're well over 180 fines currently right now and that is not uh those violations are pretty serious. Um we were just finding as as late as just yesterday I believe. So we are still out there doing this and some folks won't pay it and we'll continue to find them and then obviously we'll collect that at a later date. We try not to find uh we've stopped towing vehicles to my knowledge. Uh but we're we were north of 200 vehicles that were towed as well. Um you're right, this was a one of the more difficult storms and uh I think that our DPW has done a fabulous job to be quite frank with you. uh the 30 hours of work. Uh I I believe that uh I read a report in talking to the commissioner that uh just uh just today we were we had the ability to send out um some a pothole crew because currently right now if anyone takes it takes an opportunity to go by the old district court you'll see the amount of snow that we're storing over in that area as well as over in Hamilton Canal. We are snoring storing an awful lot of snow. Um the comparison to this with people thinking in years past most of the storms that we come in 2 to 3 4 5 in at a time it's it's manageable with the brining and with the salt. Uh we get an opportunity to um uh to to essentially melt some of that off with this 20-in storm followed by days upon if not a week of freezing temperatures. Uh this has really caused a a real problem. But, uh, the primary job over the last 2 weeks for, uh, the DPW and parks and what whatnot, they've been out there removing snow, bringing it into some of the storage areas that we have. So, I think they've they've been doing a great job, but to get to your point, uh, we have been finding people. If anyone has a has an issue

with that, please let us know 311 or just give us a call. We'll send people out. our DDS folks have been out uh making sure that the uh people are doing this. Uh it is difficult. We're going to ask everyone to once again bear with us. Uh this is a a 20-in storm uh that we haven't had an opportunity really to be truthful where it's warmed up. Uh it's warmed up for a day, maybe maybe two, but everything that we're dealing with currently right now is is is frozen. So, um, I just want to say thank you again to the DPW folks that have been out there hustling it. But, um, to your point, councelor, I I know that I drove through your neighborhood on Saturday. There's a couple of neighborhoods, a couple of parks in that area I think we could try to do that pilot program u which are going to be easy enough to to uh to be able to clear a a pathway or runway for cars to get in and out of to try to, you know, take them off those streets. Uh I I mentioned this with council Robinson over in his neck of the woods. Uh it was very very tight neighborhoods. Council Leang, we've had some challenges, some issues. We've um we've talked about sending out yet another piece. Everybody knows that we sent out a trifold to remind everybody what to do and what not to do. We try not to find it. We honestly are not looking to find anybody. This is kind of like the bus piece, but um you know, quite frankly, if we start seeing people again throwing snow out in to the street, that's going to be a problem. and we're dealing with uh you know it's a city of 250 miles of roadway. Uh we have a lot of uh I would say independent contractors or bandits uh that are just out there that quite frankly are putting snow wherever they're not getting caught. So we're we'll try to buckle down on that but uh I hope that answers your question councel. We we will get to it. I know this is a pretty uh lengthy report and um I think with the freelance you know plow that we have out there the issuing of fines uh we are still I just

signed four new contracts today uh as a matter of fact for uh snow contractors so if anybody is out there and looking to do additional work please let us know and the snow storage you know is also a challenge that council Scott thank you councel Jiren.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I do want to thank the DPW for its hard work and, uh, assistant city manager Mashado for responding to so many requests from neighbors and residents. Um, I know it's been several years since we've had a storm like this, and I don't think any of us remember what to do when it is this kind of storm. Um, but I think, um, Mr. Faria's points about um how we think about what the how residents understand that the city has as good a handle as it can on these situations is helpful. That is understanding what the procedures are when it is you know as you suggested a small storm versus a major storm. um if you know understanding the priority of streets is the first thing but if streets can't be um plowed quickly um because perhaps there's not enough equipment what when then should residents expect the next step and again for a big storm that may be a lot longer and we may have to have more patience um as a a community than we do otherwise. Um I think the report was helpful but for instance I I there are a lot of terminology particularly in section three that I really didn't understand. Um and so I think it would be helpful to make this report um easier for everyone to understand. Um and uh I think the sort of last point I want to make is on the communications piece. Um, I used to get uh the reverse 911 calls when snow emergencies were declared, but that hasn't happened this year. And I'm signed up for Civic Plus, but I got no notice by either email or phone. So, I either I'm doing something

wrong or something is wrong in the system. But, um, I know someone else in the prior storm never knew about the, uh, snow emergency. So again, maybe it's just me, but um and if so, I'm happy to take a lesson, but um if there's something else to be addressed, that would be good to fix before the next time around. Thank you. Thank you, Council Jun. Council Mcdana.

Thank you, uh Mr. Mayor, and thank you for the report from the DPW. Um, I I have a I have a few questions and I I'll phrase them that way. Um, when I when I was looking for winter operations and high pedestrian traffic locations, this came out of both my experience and having to walk around my district and also from more pictures and emails and phone calls and text messages and I I can still count. Um, one one of the questions that keeps coming up and and I lived this earlier last week. When we are prioritizing high ped high pedestrian traffic locations, at what point do we get to the canal bridges over western canal that connects downtown to the the market basket? Because that's that's like a really that's a very high impact piece of sidewalk.

That's Thank you. That's to whoever can answer it. Thank you, Commissioner St. Sia. Thank you. Um, so I'll be happy to follow up with um the the parks department. We we generally as far as like the clearing of bridges and things like that and and I'll have to look at that one specifically. I wish I knew beforehand I would have taken the ride by to to to find out the particulars, but I'll be happy to get you an answer about that tomorrow about when it was done or what we need to do to it to come back to it. We found that there are some places that we do have to keep going back to and it's we've been there a few different times, so I'll be happy to get you that answer.

Okay. Thank you. Um, while you're up there, just uh Mr. Mayor through you to either the city manager or the DPW commissioner. Uh, the Mr. Saintier, you just mentioned the parks department. I don't and I may have missed it in the report. I did miss something in in Miss Alman's report earlier, so I'm open to the possibility. Is the parks department responsible for for sidewalks or is it the DPW or or how do we know which department is in charge of what? M. So, the parks department is a division of the DPW,

right? And so as part of it, we take up different portions, different work that we do. And quite typically just with the kind of machinery that they have, they do do a lot of that work that's that's centered around um sidewalks. There are certainly some contractors that we have that we use skids for, but they also have some other smaller equipment. They are out on with snowblowers. They're occasionally having to shovel in places where there might be steps coming down to a walkway and things like that. So they they tend to take the bulk of that work on.

Okay. Um, sorry. As I go back to this, the other piece here, and it's just I and I'm I just don't see a a whole lot of specifics to to the city of LOL in this particular section of the report. Um, when should resident and I understand 18 inches of snow and it's it's a historic amount of snow and all the things that go along with that. However, two to 3 weeks out from a storm, we still can't get across the intersection in front of city hall because there are piles of snow at the Lad Whitney and at the not now. Now they're clear. They are clear now. Thank you. But it took took several weeks. Um what is the I mean what what is the protocol? What what is the winter operation protocol in high pedestrian traffic locations, I guess, is what I'm asking. I read this report and I come away no smarter. um as to how we're prioritizing areas both in downtown and out and and who's responsible for what and when residents can expect that work to be done.

Mr. Sia,

so basically the way this the the city is broken down into separate areas by you know more or less by neighborhoods and then broken into subsections of that. um within that a spotter is responsible for that area and they take on different tasks depending on where whether they have several schools that are there and things like that. So there's kind of a checklist that they go through for those kinds of items. I'd say you know one of the frustrations that many of us I'm sure you've seen it if you you know driving around that that you get a street clear and then somebody is filling the street back in. Um it's not helpful and it makes it very difficult for us to try and get our job done. um understanding all the while that you know where does the snow go especially when you're getting better than 20 inches at one whack. Um I think some of the other things that that you know make it difficult is the the staffing for it when the snowstorm goes on for such a long period of time. being able to keep staff on and up and get through that makes it really difficult as well as the fact that contractors, you know, it's it's a a challenge for all communities. Um, but in particular for urban communities because there are much easier places to plow when there are no no cars on the streets, when there isn't a car taking the corner with that that a plow can't get around or um cars parked on sidewalks. It makes it just, you know, that much more difficult to try and get through this process. There's no choice but especially when there's a a hefty snowstorm like this. That that makes sense. I guess I'm I am just looking for a a better understanding of what the pedestrian piece of this looks like. I I understand that the difficulties of getting contractors, the difficulty of getting the streets clear, but I also see that there are two sidebysides in my parking garage on most days. And so, I guess what I'm looking for, and I I'm

not looking [snorts] to tell anyone how to to do this job. I'm just looking for clearer information about about how this piece is is being done. So, thank you. Council Leang, you're the last one. We had a motion on this. So, you're up next if you'd like or we can go to someone else. I'm sorry. I just want to know thank you uh for the manager for the uh motion respond. I hopefully we get some information. Uh thank you so much for doing that. I don't have anything else. Thank you, Council Yang. Councelor Robinson.

Thank you. Um, thank you for this report. It's I mean, realistically going through this report, one thing that's clear to me by reading this report, there are no SOPs. We're winging this. I think half of this report looks like it was generated from chat GPT. I mean, we're asking about prioritize pedestrian walkway areas and what's the protocol and we get sections about calibrating salt and sand equipment and then there's mention of sand where EPA has banned us from using sand. So, I don't even know why that's included in this. One of the problems that I see is we have no roots. There's no established routes and as far as walkways and bridges go and and we're we're saying the parks department handles that kind of work. Where's the list of of of their responsible walkways and bridges, pedestrian canal bridges, Rock Bridge, bus stops, um all public areas, Beacon Street up by Kitridge Park, all of the pedestrian walkways, those have been identified. I get it. This was a a 20-in plus storm. We got 20 plus inches in every community. In 2015, a 20-in storm happened three times a week. We had no problems like this. I mean, I I can point to the point where West Sixth and Hampshire Street, I've pointed this out for 4 years. It's a 15 child bus stop. To this day, it still has not been touched. We have spent it looks like uh on contractors so far, you know, max exposure 2.186 million this year. I understand that. But we we're calling contractors in and they don't even have guidance or direction.

It's like they're running around the neighborhoods trying to figure out what to do. Most communities only call contractors in towards the last third of the storm. and and and there's a system I know in in one community contractors come in only to do the side roads that the large equipment that in-house employees can't get down and and they called in the last third so they can scrape that so by the time the mains and the sides are all scraped the the regular employees go back and salt there's no coordination going on and it's it's apparent in many instances at least in center I can speak to cars were moved we still didn't open curb the curb. I had the call today for Vincent Street where they went down the middle of the road. It's a two-lane road and left 10ft banks on each side. Here we are a month after a 20-in storm. I mean, so a lot of this stuff that that is responded to in here, it sounds great on paper, but in actuality, it's not happening. I mean, yes, we had cold spell. We didn't get melting in between. Salt is only to break the bonding barrier between the surface and precipitation. It's not meant to to melt away our walls. Once we pre-treat with a with cold weather like that in a 20-in storm, we should just be scraping until you get ice pack and then you drop a little material to break it. I mean, that's the the function of winter operations. If we look across the street here, we have snow banks. So in a situation where you have that frigid temperatures, why wouldn't we pivot into a heavy focus on snow removal during straight time? It doesn't have to be on overtime because we can work in areas, especially the the dense areas. Senville, I mean, Elmwood Street, a perfect example again, you still are slipping and sliding all the way up and down the thing. You you can barely get down it. That's where we're not pivoting into the snow removal. You

cannot plow. I I see not many big trucks that are run by the city unless it's snowing. But I do see city employees jumping in one tons and being directed to go do parking lots like if that's a priority. For the 15 years I was an employee here. Parking lots were a last thought. We made sure everything was open curb to curb. Corners were pushed back. If we knew we pushed back corners, your spotters should be keeping an eye on the contractors to ensure that they're doing what they're brought in to do. We're giving blank checks to contractors and the work's not getting done. And and our employees don't just come in when they want, decide what they want to do, and and have at it. It starts at the top. It starts with a clear focus plan and guideline for our employees to come in so everybody knows what they're doing in a 20-in storm or a 2-in storm. It doesn't matter. I don't see us having a solid plan of attack. And I think that's why we're all being bombarded from the residents saying, "What about us?" And and and I'm not pointing fingers to anybody, but I think we have a lot of work to do to improve on this. I'm hoping that there's a running list of equipment for capital improvements going on over the next x amount of years that that you're generating to to allow our employees and yourself to do a better job. I'm hoping that there is an accurate plan and and list of who's responsible for what what are our high pedestrian areas. I mean, outside of obviously the emergency to and froms, we still have to focus on the side streets. I I've had a woman that's a nurse reach out to me. Her side street didn't get touched for 3 days after the storm. She has to respond to medical calls in her daily activities. I mean, it and I get it. People get exhausted. It is 30 hours straight. I do it myself. I understand. But what I think has to happen is maybe that's the time when when our employees are getting

exhausted, you bring contractors in. I don't see how contractors are coming in from this first snowflake until they had enough and then they come back. I think we need to coordinate better and come up with a better plan of attack, standard SOP uh SOP on all of this. And that way it shouldn't take 3 4 weeks to spit out a report when when a question is raised by the council saying what are we doing for for high pedestrian areas. It should be a matter of going to the computer and press and print. It shouldn't be I have to generate this whole report where I think a lot of this gets lost. It it's not I mean we there's talk in here about figuring out better ways to to plow it in an angle for the curb. You scrape curb to curb. Unfortunately, residents at home, here's how it goes. You are going to get snow on your sidewalks. It's inevitable. That's the reality of it. I tell everybody, if you clear your driveway, leave the last 2 ft of snow there until the storm is completely done. Because as plows go by, the snow's going to find any void it can, and it's going to back fill you. So, if you don't want to be competing with our plows as they're trying to get the roads done, leave 2 ft of snow at the end of your driveway so the snow bounces off of it. We need to do better because I mean, yes, I understand it might be the first 20-inch storm for for a lot of this management team, but it's not the first 20-in storm the city of law has been through. And I hope the next 20-in storm we see major improvement. Thank you.

Council Mercy, could you take the podium, please? May I get you? Thank you. Um, you know, when you look at this report, Mr. Manager, I'm hoping that in the future we don't combine four motions together because it gets so convoluted. Everything is all over the map. Half of this report was generated through cut and paste. when you look at it. Can I uh throw you um council Mercia to the DPW director?

Do you guys have any wing blades? No. You reported you do. There's a there's a typo there. It should have a an X out through it. I'm sorry. Do we put sand on roads? No. Okay. So, the cut and paste pieces are the piece that are bothersome. This to me looks like a public relations report more than it looks like a DPW function. When you start looking at some of this stuff, do we have routes for the sidewalk machines to go to? Yes. How many routes do we have? Uh well, it's broken up depending on the the type and amount of equipment that we have available. Um and so it's broken up and assigned by spotter or uh to the the person running parks.

So we don't have an answer to how many routes we have. How many roots do we have? If you had all the equipment in the world, how many roots do we have? I would say it's six is how it would generally break down. So, six roots and you got four sections of the city or is there six sections of the city? No, it's broken down by kind of the density and how much work is in in a particular area. So, obviously there's a lot more for downtown as a for instance. So if we're breaking downtown into two and then breaking the other four parts of the city apart. So other no other real section of city gets that type of equipment is what you're saying. So no other section of the city gets the sidewalk equipment

downtown gets how many pieces of the six? So for sidewalk equipment downtown there's probably seven or eight types of equipment that are down there in total. Uh and then there are contract um pieces that are spread amongst the other parts of the city as well as um some of the parks equipment.

In your report you highlight that you talk to the police, you talk to different divisions, but you don't highlight you talk to the schools. Do we talk to the custodians and see where they end off, where we start? How do we create these safe areas around the schools? So we have um those areas are are all highlighted and by the type of equipment that goes there through the GIS system we have um and so that is something that's shared with the school department they know you know where our part portion is where we pick up and where their part portion picks up uh it was it was this has been in place for years you know even when I was on the school side we used the same version

do you think it should have an update to it because it's not meeting the expectations of the residents people are walking in the middle of the roads a while. So, shouldn't we look at these pieces and update these things that have been in place for years? I I agree that it could use some updating, counselor. And I I think the other challenge that we have to get around is is the fact that as little as 5 years ago, we had more pieces of equipment that were able to do this type of clearing. So, what happened to them? So, I think like every community and what they're facing, getting uh contractors to do this work has been a huge challenge. I'm sure you've seen the the MMB boards that have have been around everywhere and and on our website. Um we're we're looking for contractors all the time.

You led me right into my question. So the contractors, we hire contractors. Half of them I wouldn't let plow my driveway. They don't know how to tuck corners. They tuck them right at the corner rather than going 5 to 10 feet down the corner and pushing it back so people can see stuff. Do we have qualifications when we hire contractors? Do we have specific people that we know actually can plow or is it Eric's plowing company puts whoever he can find for that night in the truck? Do do we know who the employees are or is it just they can put whoever they want in the truck?

They can't just put whoever they want. They they provide all of that with going through the contract process including you know their insurance and so on. Um and then um many of them are are repeats uh who have not fallen off at this point. There are not a lot of new uh contractors that come on, but there are certainly um they're the places where where um spotters can be doing their role um stiffening up, you know, what those expectations are.

When I drive this city, to me, it looks like people just got their first real storm and they decided that they were going to push corners at 10t high banks rather than go 6, seven, 8 feet down the road. Push it in. So on your end, it makes more work for you and your guys. So to me, it's a joke when you look at the DPW staff and how much now they it's costing us. We're almost 3 million over what we budgeted because of that's or projected what we're going to be over. I'm sorry, Mr. Manager, correct that. We're projecting 3 million over what we budgeted. And half of the cost is doing things twice and three times. It's like hiring someone to cut your lawn and it's 4 in high and they cut off an inch and say, "I'll be back." Well, let me hire, you know, the homeowners out there cutting it. We're putting banks on corners that are a joke because if you pushed it five or seven feet down the road, you could push it right onto the sidewalk and go, but they're just they're going around in a circle. And I'm sure you noticed that. You're not the plow driver. You're just the guy who has to manage the middle management that has to manage through. And the sad part is the DPW workers are killing themselves trying to make corrections for people who have no clue on how to plow. And we're at the bottom of the barrel in this hiring process of plow drivers for the contractors. You can see it. I get more calls on this one red truck from one section of the city who keeps going around burying people. And then I'm getting calls on people who are watching somebody from our staff do things they shouldn't be doing. And then when you look around and you say, "How come my phone's ringing this much?" I worked in this for 36 37 winters doing the same stuff. I've never seen the calls I've seen and had to drive to and watch. And and I'm just I'm not saying it's a DPW staff because I would hope that they're not the ones burying these corners and doing these things, but it seems like people in a rush. If you go to the top of Florence Road, they did it again. They pushed the snow across Pine Street and onto the guy's nice wall. And

I got to call Mr. Mashado, who I hate calling because I feel like I'm bothering him every 5 minutes and say, "Do we have that same guy over there or is it They don't know how to go around a corner with snow." And it and it just piles up. It's like a pig pile on this and I don't know where our spotters are. They should be telling these guys, look, and and maybe they are, maybe they just don't have the quality of people to work with. And when you look at some of these things that are in this report, it's so vague. Sidewalks. Do you brine sidewalks?

It depends where we there we are times that we would uh brine sidewalks down and to downtown places that we would be able to get that equipment on the road. Um but collectively across the the um the city no

when I'll just look at one of the procedural things you write roadways what what sequence they go in and you say the major minor roads the collectors and locals. We don't even highlight the hills in here. The hills in Main Road should be highlighted directly in this. And we don't even highlight hills. I just I'm at like a loss for words at the amount of money, Mr. Manager, we're spending on this and the time we're spending more time. Yes, we can all sit here and we can all clap our hands. Everybody was out for this many hours. But do we need to be out this many hours? I don't know any employee wants to be out 48 hours fixing someone else's problem that they should have done in the first 24 hours. So now you're out there more hours and now you got to bring trucks to move the snow when it's not a necessity. We need to do better and we've been talking about this. The problem with our department is we sit on our heels for three years. We four years we really didn't have snow. So now we get snow. We don't know what to do with snow in New England. It's like a new miracle. Snow fell in New England at 20 in. And we're going to say 20 in. But Mr. Baldwin, you out of all people in here should look at this report and say that there's wasteful spending within this because we're not having qualified people who are holding holding accountable. It's just tough to do. And I get that the pool's down that low to get there. But there has to be a rational and reasonable way to get this done. I drove by the senior center again today on February 3rd. I sent over something asking that the senior center and in front the crosswalk be done. There's a snow pile that go is in front of the crosswalk on the senior center side, not market basket side. Theirs is all nice and shoveled so you can actually walk across that thing that we paint across the road called the crosswalk. You go on the senior center side, the mound's this high and people got to crawl over it to get into the crosswalk to go over to Market Basket.

I would say, you know, a senior center, a crosswalk to a um market basket would be a high priority. You walk out front here. You go over to the employees parking lot. Try to walk across that crosswalk without walking into the parking area of the uh parking lot. The crosswalk has this much snow in it. I tried to walk through and I'm like, does anybody do it in front of the crosswalk?

Simple little things. And we drive by it every day. So that excuse is we don't know. and you need Shawn Mcdana to call or counselor Chow to call you and tell you that the snowbank is in front of the senior center or the employees who walk out to the parking lot can't realize that they're going to walk over a snowbank and not into the path of people entering into a parking lot is ridiculous. Simple expectations would change what people think of all of us. And believe me, I agree people worked a lot of hours. I agree that whole thing. I got phone calls that people weren't even called in in the beginning of the snowstorm because we were spreading out the staff so that they would stay longer hours. I don't know if that's true or not, but these are things that we're getting that we're not keeping up. People need to be at work. We need to get all emergency vehicles to their priority places and we need to get schools open as quick as possible and the safe routes to schools. And that's something that you can find the safe routes to schools through the DPD or you can actually go over to the traffic engineer and they can tell you what the safe routes to school is and where we get that spending and they're not being done to what we do. When you left the DPW today, if you go by Putinham on Middle Sex Street, there's a church on the corner.

Was a sidewalk shoveled.

It's got this much snow all the way across it. While the street in Middle Sex Street, there's a complex right there. All the sidewalks not shoveled. Kids are walking in the middle of the street to get to their bus stops. And we got to tell people that who drive trucks and machines by these locations every single day. That's hard to take. I can see if it was a back road somewhere and something wasn't done, but it's right in front of the people that we expect to do the positions. I thank you for your report. I just think that we should have solid information in here. When Mr. McDunnana asked for a detailed report, I would think that you would bring in a separate motion and it would have on it where exactly your plow routes are or your sidewalk roots are and it would highlight here are my 13 sidewalk roots. These are what we do. This is my priority. That's efficiency. That's how it works in every other community. You get a motion like that. They say, "Here's what we do. It's within 24 hours after the storm. We get these sidewalks and we move." And we don't see any of that. We see five mo four motions put together with five counselors on it and none of them are really the counselors who've been here except for councelor Scott, which um I agree with you. It's a parking issue and and we have to take care of it. So, I thank you for your time. I'm hoping that we can get better at this and we start looking at um ways of managing our money because you know what? At the end of the day in this thing, your projections, there's a lot of wasteful spending.

Councelor Scott, just a Thank you. Just a couple follow-up questions, I guess. Um, I I also have the concerns around the crosswalks all not being done in the district. Is that also the responsibility for the homeowner to do if they have a crosswalk out in front of their home? Um, because none of the crosswalks around the going to the Butler school down Moore Street, none of them. They just hit a dead end. That's what you get for them. Um, so that's definitely a concern that's been brought to my attention by a lot of residents. Um, and my question that comes to mind from uh, Mayor Gia's comments is how many spotters do we have on at any point in time or every point in time during a snowstorm? And like how many across the neighborhoods do we have consistently?

So there are eight and the those spotters actually um mostly are responsible for dealing with contractors within their area. Um and then we have um some different levels of of foremen that that are actually um watching out for for the routes for city vehicles and where they're going, whether they're, you know, heavy or loaders or or even, you know, some of our smaller equipment that's going into different parts of this the city.

So during this last storm, we consistently had eight spotters on during the storm. I'm just curious because I drove around during the storm and you know, there was a a lot of things that I I brought it up. I said it. I feel bad for DPW works and the plow drivers trying to plow in this district in the city. Um it's very difficult. The cars, like I said, are blocking the roads. I think it's a a huge issue um that I think unless that is addressed, then we're just going to keep having this conversation every time we have a big snowstorm because I think we're putting everybody in an impossible situation. It's true. Um so that that's my concern. Thank you, Council Robinson.

Um I just have a quick question through Mr. mayor threw you to the DPW commissioner. I know year round we reimburse our employees in house uh for lensure hoist and licenses in particular. Yes. How many bobcats do we have that go out on a storm like that now inhouse? I'm talking seven. Seven. And so pretty much are you doing one per area? Because again, I mean, if we have operators by title that we're we're paying that operator rate of pay all year,

we're reimbursing for the licenses, why would we be putting them in one ton trucks? I if if that's the situation here and and I I understand I know some people do not like to operate, but unfortunately that's the job. and and in dense areas like lower, back central, lower highlands, um over over in South LOL, certain areas in South LOL, we don't see the bobcats. We don't see the small pieces of equipment. We see the one tons, a lot of the subs are coming to those areas, but in reality, they're not effective. In reality, it's there's really no creative effort to try to address some of the areas we know. Another perfect example was in Centerville. We had 3 weeks of ma missed pickups for recycling and trash. When asked what's going on over here, well, the trash company is telling us that they can't get down a lot of these streets. My simple question was, do we have an active list of those streets? and are we prioritizing that? I don't know or no. Those are the problems that that our residents should not have to deal with. When I'm seeing snow banks with nine purple overflow bags scattered on the snowbank and trash just sitting out in the open for weeks on end due to our lack of snow removal, we have a major problem here. And and and again, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here. I'm trying to really emphasize from the standpoint of the council, I have never received that many calls. When I was an employee here in 2015, I never received complaints like that just out and about in the public on on and that was unbelievable. I I I don't

know if you were working in the city at that time. We had to utilize the Dutton Street snow dump and we still had snow that was melting in June. That's how much snow the the city was hauling away. But I think we all have to get together, figure out a plan that works for everybody because from an employee standpoint, I'll tell you one thing. One of the reasons I think we're having a hard time keeping our employees on the clock is because if they don't feel like there's any guidance or direction on a frustrating occupation as is when you're in for 30 plus hours, nobody wants to be there. And when you have no clear-cut guidance or or or pretty much marching orders, you feel like you're spinning your wheels and staying in place and and it ends up being overwhelming. And so I think the more we can improve on on direction, leadership, guidance, and how we go about attacking this, the more you'll see employees start to buy in and and ride that that wave and and stick out and do the little extras. Grab that extra load of material to make sure that their area is better than just good. And and I think it's it's a long process and I think you are up for the challenge. I I know I've seen in other areas you you've stepped up and really addressed above and beyond and I'm hoping that we can get to that with this winter operations. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Council Mcdana, thank you. I only have two questions. I think almost everything that can be said has been said. Um my first question is I'm just looking for a little bit of clarification on what these miscellaneous charges are. I don't not like an item by item here, but I mean that that is a that's a really big amount of money and a considerable overage. CFO Baldwin. Sure. Thank you.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, in the the snow and ice budget as a whole, there are four different accounts. Uh one for overtime for uh DPW employees, one for the cost for contractors uh for the snow plows, one for the cost for the salt that we buy for the streets, and then one for everything else. Now that is a a miscellaneous account. So by nature uh it includes all types of things. We charge um you know I think the largest single expenditure would be parts um for the vehicles when they're damaged or uh when they need repairs for winter related accidents or wear and tear on the vehicles. It is also the account that we charge the fuel related to the snow and ice events. So we prorrate the cost for the fuel and apply it to that account because it is related to the storm. Um there are other types of expenses like our collective bargaining agreements require us to provide food for the DPW employees in 1705 and the other bargaining units. Those amounts are charged to miscellaneous etc etc. Um I I would say that the single largest um expenditure would be for sort of parts um for equipment and when things break, plows, frames, etc. Um they have to be broken during the storm to be eligible for snow and ice. And I it it does bear mentioning that this is one of the very few accounts under the general laws that we can deficit spend against. So we budget 1.35 million. You can see from the report that with the incumbrances we will exceed that and perhaps to a larger amount. However, um it is a the normal course of business that we have incumbrances for the full value of all the contracts. Uh we will only be build for the the time that is uh spent and authorized by DPW and then we'll close out those incumbrances. So by by the time we get to uh April or May, we'll have a better sense of what if any

deficit there is in the snow and ice counts. I hope that helps. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. I was just curious at the size of the number, but I mean parts for vehicles and fuel that those are both very expensive and I'm sure we used a lot of it. Um my last question is um do do I need to to file this again or or can I get a a better response to the original motion with some standard operating procedures? Thank you, man. Gola, we can take that back if you wish. Council Jiren.

Yeah. And I I would ask for a similar kind of improved response. Thank you. Thank you. Motion to accept the plan and place it on file by councelor Jirean, seconded by councelor Dakota. 7.1 C. Motion response pedestrian safety. Council Leang, [snorts] I already mentioned that one already. So, um, let's move on. Thank you. Thank you.

Motion to accept and place on file by councelor Mercier, seconded by councelor Robinson. 7.1D Motion response FY26 year-to- date budget update. FY27 budget outlook and forecast. Councelor J. No, we have a registered we have a registered speaker. I'm sorry. Ricardo Solless

mayor and the respect members. I'd like to say one thing. We have one of the best police departments in the nation. The low police department has integrity. They have looked over each one of us and have made sure that we're protected. But I have to say one thing. I came from Los Angeles, which is one of the largest jail systems in the nation. If we do not provide the low police department with the equipment they need, we're setting them up. Also, with the opium crisis that is occurring right now, we're tying these officers their hands behind their backs. It's not fair. They have a duty to protect each one of us. These officers have the greatest responsibility in protecting you and I and the community. And for us to take them away to take care of the opium crisis, we're making them vulnerable. I say that we do not forget these officers at all. But if we set aside a special budget for them to keep doing their job because there's going to be a future and that future is going to come consequences if we're not prepared. We need to prepare the police department here on low because low is growing and as everyone knows low is also the tunnel of all the drug activities. Everyone knows come to low and buy the drugs. Everyone knows and it's up to us the community you as the committee to make sure the low police department has everything they need. I respect them. I honor them. And I'm

proud that they're my officers to protect me. And I just say this. Thank you. Thank you. We have another registered speaker. Ryan Faria.

Uh thank you. Uh Ryan Faria Campbell Drive. Again, um I just wanted to say uh you know, Mr. Baldwin, thank you for the update. This is really informative. Um there were a few things. Uh first off, I want to say I appreciate the listening sessions. I think having five different ones separated by category is really helpful. So the people who are interested in those specific areas of the budget, some of them much bigger than others can come. Um I had a couple concerns. I'm really looking forward uh Mr. Manager and and Mr. CFO as to what the plan is with the sunset of ARPA and how we're going to manage the nearly $2 million of employee salaries under ARPA. Of course, the three individuals that are administering ARPA, those will be easy to fall off, but we have nearly a million dollars in the MIS department that needs to be either taken on by the taxpayers or reduced from a budget perspective. Um, and then finally, I had a question around the trash and recycle detail. So, the motion response very similar to this back from the end of last term, December 16th, it talked a little bit how the overall need to to break even was about $8 million for the uh for the totes. that boiled down to around $36 per household. Um, there was an increase in the senior rate from 50 to75 and it sounded like there was a decrease in the two and three families, but it wasn't very clear to me and it also didn't touch on how the single families are going to be impacted. So, I'm all for um, you know, known non-owner occupied paying more than the 306, but I'm really curious as to why multifamilies would receive a discount if if they're using three times the trash or two times the trash than a single family. So, I'm hoping to understand that a little bit better as part of this. Thanks. [snorts]

Thank you, Mr. Furia. Council Duran.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so this is a a quite extensive report. Uh, and I think we probably all will have questions as we dig into things in detail. The listening sessions I think are going to be an really helpful and informative. Um, and I have spoken with my colleagues on the finance subcommittee. So, we will hold off on having the finance subcommittee meeting until we've had at least one or a couple of the listening sessions. Um, and I've confirmed that with uh CFO Baldwin. Um it would be helpful I think for um folks in the audience to know because the first listening session is next week uh at from 5 to 6 p.m. where that will be held and um if there are any other instructions for folks and I think then you know after that we'll be digging in more deeply into the details of this 48page document.

Thank you councel Duran. Motion to accept and place on file by councelor Mcdana, seconded by councel Chow. Oh, did you have a comment? CFO Baldwin.

Thank you. M Mr. Mayor, I'd just like to uh address councelor Duran's questions about the listening session and uh some of the commentary from the public. We'd be happy to address that. uh there's a trash item that's a separate item in anformational report and maybe we can uh provide some clarification under that when we get to it in the agenda. Um we are very much excited about the listening sessions. We've offered these uh albeit at a smaller uh batch in the past, but we're doing five this year. The next one, as was mentioned, is next Tuesday. That'll be here in city hall in the mayor's reception room at 5 o'clock. Uh each one of these will have a separate theme. Um, so you can pick your favorite theme or come to all five. We'd love to have everybody there. We look forward to uh members of the public. We'll have sort of an opening uh overview from either the city manager or myself and there'll be sort of a video that'll walk through some of the challenges and then we'll save some room at the end within the hour for some question and answer from the public. But the schedule, Mr. Mayor, if I may, u the first one will be on uh February 24th at 5:00 in the mayor's reception room. second one on March the 10th. Uh again in the mayor's reception room. That one will be focused more on capital improvements, on debt, on how we fund the bigger things. Uh the third one will be focused on the Department of Public Works funding some of the uh items we just spoke about a minute ago. That'll be on March the 24th at 5:00. Again, these are all in the mayor's reception room here at city hall, 375 Marramac Street. Uh the fourth one will be in April, uh April the 7th at 5:00. And that one will focus on uh the department of planning and development, some of the development projects and economic development initiatives as well as some of the park projects, ARPA, etc. that DPD has been working on for the last year uh few years. And then the final uh listening session will be on April the 21st, again at 5:00, again at city hall,

mayor's reception room. that will be focused on public safety. Uh the L police department, the L fire department, uh perhaps development services, uh to round out the holistic public safety. Uh and that will be the five of them. Uh these are subject to change if there's weather in the meantime, but those are uh that's the schedule as we have it now. Thank you very much from Mr. Mayor. Thank you, CFO Baldwin. Motion to accept and place on file by councelor Mercia, seconded by councelor McDonald. Mr. Mayor, councelor Mercier,

before we get into 7.2formational reports, if I could suspend the rules and um ask the council if I could suspend the rules and talk about a particular note that I got in my door today. I just wanted to it would motion by councelor Mercy suspend the rules talk about a note that you're going to mail me today. Seconded by council Mcdana. Council Mia.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. We tend to hear a lot of complaints and rightfully so at times about snow and this that and the other. I'd just like to interject a note that I received today by a neighbor in my a person in my neighborhood lives alone. Uh kind of panicked a bit. I didn't realize it. I wasn't around but managed to put a note in my door and I'd like to share it with the audience here and my colleagues because I thought we hear so much of complaints and things like that and I thought this was I think when people do a good job they should be uh acknowledged. She says, "Attention, Rita Mercy, Alo City Counselor. I just wanted you, the city council, the manager, and the mayor to know what a very nice experience I had with the city of Lel." Isn't that amazing? With the city of Lel water department on Super Bowl Sunday, I discovered a leak in my basement. Thought it was my washing machine. All the mats were soaking wet. However, it was my water meter that was leaking. I called the water department in the morning and was pleasantly greeted by Miss Kelly. Now, I I don't know who she's talking about, so I'm not doing it to feather put a feather in their cap, but I think they should be commended. I explained the situation and she said she would have someone out there within an hour. Now, this is Super Bowl Sunday. I would have been watching the Super Bowl, but that someone has to work here. She also gave me her extension and told me to call back if I had any questions. A very nice gentleman, Scott, arrived within the hour. He got right to work,

had all the necessary equipment with him, replaced some parts, and all was fine. because he had to shut off the water. He went the extra step and gently turned all my faucets to a very slow stream so as not to damage any pipes from the high water pressure in our area. The service I received was better than any private contractor or service person that I have dealt with over the years. Kudos to the city of L water department, especially Kelly and Scott. I just had to bring that up. We always will be the first and I would be the first probably to complain. This is something nice and a woman that could care I don't think you know wouldn't bother anybody was so grateful I wanted to share that with everybody. Thank you so much.

Thank you councelor Mercier. Going back to the agenda 7.2 to information reports. Information report SS4A Mr. Manager Alman Miss Alman I'm sorry.

Hi everyone. I um just wanted to put in anformational report saying that over the past year uh we have been working with the communities in um three of our denser neighborhoods to put together a supplemental vision zero action plan to supplement um the NEMCOG regional vision zero action plan. Um the report is quite extensive. Um it is online. I did not want to put it in your packets. Um, but I am happy to um talk to a subcommittee or I can certainly bring it to the whole um city council if you would like. Um, but the end result was we came up with um three streets that uh we prepared some concept plans for speed management. Um, one was Central Street in Back Central, Westford Street in the Lower Highlands, and um, Fletcher Street in the Acre. Um, once we have, um, the council's approval of the action plan and the resolution that is before you later on this evening, it sets us up for more federal funding through this um, safe streets for all program. Um I we did a we had a great consultant. We had a good turnout from all the neighborhoods when we went and visited them. Um good response online. So I think we got a really nice report. Um I encourage you all to take a look at it and if you would like me to come to a subcommittee meeting, I'm happy to do that or present it to council.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um thank you for the uh report and for that lead. Maybe we can refer this to the appropriate subcommittee, the neighborhood subcommittee of public safety. Motion by councelor Chow to send this to the neighborhood subcommittee transportation subcommittee. I I would suggest maybe. Okay.

Motion by councelor Chow to send it to the transportation subcommittee. Seconded by councelor Scott. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? So ordered. 7.2 2 information report city hall gol uh assistant city manager. Oh, Miss Alman, here I am again. Um so I wanted to uh just provide you all an update on the city hall [clears throat]

um gol project. We have a contractor under construction start date sometime in the next few weeks bearing the the weather. Um, and I the concept plan that is in your packets is a slightly outdated but gives you the general idea of what's happening. Improved crossings, uh, reduced width for people to cross, better bus stops, um, just a better layout for pedestrians, and to make the front of city hall much more welcoming to the general public. um uh where you see the flowers that are faded now, that's pretty much where the bumpouts will be. Uh there will be a two l two-way bike lane that extends from city hall down to the acre crossing project at Cabat Street. So that will not remove any on street parking. Um so we are hoping to increase our ability to connect with the UMass LOL students um in um the university crossing facility and to the various campuses that way so we can encourage more students to take their scooters and their bikes and come downtown. Um so you'll see a lot of activity on Marramax Street in the next uh six months and uh bear with me as um we construction can be disruptive but I think we'll have a great product at the end. Um we will have a website that we will update regularly with what's happening when so people will know what's going on. Access to city hall will be maintained. Um, no problems with any of the festivals or ceremonies that happen here.

Thank you, Miss Alman. Council Durant.

Uh, thank you, Miss Alman. Um, and Mr. Mayor, um, the uh, I thought it's helpful to see the um photo of what the um what this will look like. and on Cardinalo Connell uh Parkway it looks like there will be um I don't know how you'd call it sort of angled parking along there will that uh and then on the the question will be whether we have sort of the same number of spaces but I wanted to understand on the other side on the Smith maker side what um will happen there and how if anything about what's going on with the Smith maker center will impact parking there so how many spaces or is it equivalent? And then how will the Smith Baker work affect things?

Right. Right now um with the Smith Baker as it is um the Jersey barriers are prohibiting our final vision for um Cardinal Okonnell. What I would what we would like to what I would like to do and what the designers have envisioned too is fixing the intersection of Market Street and Cardinal Okonnell, which I'm sure if you've driven through it ever, you know it's very confusing and wide and hard on pedestrians. So, the vision is to make it a a better four-way stop at the Smith Baker side. So, make that two-way, essentially keep the um parking that's along the Smith Baker removed um to make that a two-way street um and then replace the parking um with some angled parking on um the cafe eclipse side. Uh so that will also enable that section of Cardinal Okonnell to um be closed off for various events and um emergency services during Folk Fest and things like that. So it makes it we can still get by on Carninal Cardinal. If the um jersey barriers still need to stay, we will still have the two one-way um traffic flow for the time being. But at the once we have a solution for the Smith Baker jersey barriers, uh we'll make that a two-way road. Council

Dre. Um and so maybe that is the question. Um, how what is the timing of the Smith Baker Center work and its impact on the And I'm not sure if that's to you. Yes, I understand. It might be to uh assistant city manager by Rose. Assistant city manager by Rose.

Sure. Um, so we have to get to a sale of the Smithbaker property. Uh but a part of the RFP um when that property was put out uh included pretty strict timelines for ensuring that um there was uh work done to either secure uh the shingles on the roof um or wrap the building within 6 months. Um and so that is the the the timeline that the respondents had agreed to. Um, obviously they can't do that prior to taking ownership of the building, but um, we prioritized the need to secure those um, shingles or at least wrap the building knowing that we eventually do want to get to a place where we can um, make these improvements to Cardinal Okonnell. So, it sort of they have six months, but from when you know ownership happens and we don't have a clear timeline yet on that. So the g the geometry wouldn't change. So it's just striping, right? So as soon as um something happens with the Smith Baker, we can go in and stripe it the way we'd like to.

Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Juran. Councelor Dakota. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To uh Miss Bayz Rose, you just said you don't know when or do we have a timetable here or this? Why is this taking so long? anybody I guess. Yeah, I think I would defer to the law department on whether or not they have an idea on the timing. Mr. Williams, solicit Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, um at this point, I spoke to Well, we spoke to um attorneys for the buyer and let me bring it up right here. We are couple two weeks out at this point was as of last week that was the plan. Um then we can move forward shouldn't I don't foresee any issues couple weeks. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Thank you councelor Dakota. Motion to accept and place on file by councelor Mercia seconded by councelor Robinson. 7.2 two information report refu C u city manager uh Golden

thank you very much u Mr. May and three to the council. Councilors, this is something that we've uh been working with at least since I've been here and quite frankly since 2008, as everybody knows, in 2008, well, most people know for the edification of the folks listening at home, it's when we actually had the opportunity to uh see the burgundy cart. Prior to 2008, people were allowed to to um put as many barrels out as they wanted. So, back in 2008, the decision was to go to a 64gallon cart. uh and if anyone remembers the green box that we had uh that went along with it. So throughout the years uh we then went to a larger uh green recycling bin and um at that time u there was another country that was taking every bit of recycling that the that uh the cities like LOL could uh provide. In 2018 uh that recycling uh went away for the most part 2018 2019. So getting into the cost pro the cost process in 2008 it was $125 is what we had charged. Uh back in 2024 we had recognized that it would be an increase in costs. Uh the council at that time decided to go up $100 to $225 for homeowners uh $425 to absentee uh or investors landlords and $50 for seniors. So, what we're looking at is the deficit that um this fund has been running, as you can see in the report, is almost close to $50 million over the time. How has this been happening? The tax levy essentially has been picking up this service. Uh so, what we're looking to do is to bring something to everyone uh next week and really change this into a FIFA service. Now a FIFA service would be um exactly what we do with water, waste, water, even parking to some extent. Uh but the deficit is really I think um making a ne negative impact on

our general fund this year. what we're looking to do and I'm very proud of what uh DPW uh um Commissioner St. Seir as well as his team has done on this because we what we've done for the first time in probably 10 years plus we've lined up the collections and lined up the disposal fee. So that is your tipping fee as well as the folks who come to your um your home. That economy that economy of scope has really made a difference. uh over the past uh but uh over the past bidding season we had four bidders. So we know that u surrounding towns are paying in the average about $425 per household per year. And as we can remind everybody and anyone knows this, it's 52 weeks a year they show up to your house and then they show for 26 weeks to pick up your recycling and then I believe it's 13 weeks for le uh your leaf and things of that nature. So, um, we're looking to bring this forward. Uh, we've picked up, uh, extra trucks, rooted. I think that with this bidding that we had put forth, with those four biders, we've really, uh, truthfully done a great job in this in this matter. However, I think it's time that this council and and this administration quite frankly look to move forward to an enterprise fund. And the enterprise fund, I am I would I'm going to say it anyways. The pricing that we're looking at right now is for single family homes would go from 225 to 325ish. And it it's a dollar figure that we're still pushing for the next for the next week. Uh the absentee landlords or the investors are going to go from 425 to 525 and our seniors would stay at $50. Now, why is this important? because I think that this will uh give some relief to our uh overall budget and actually pay for the service that people

are receiving. So that is uh in a nutshell with the the hauling and disposal expenses that are before us uh we're going to be locked in for the next three years. So with this new rate my anticipation would be um that it will not go up. item number one and item number two. Uh it gives the budget as a overall the budget uh once again gets hit anywhere from as high as $4 million to $2 million $1.9 million anytime in that in that range. So u this is uh something to be brought forward in in a couple of weeks and then an actual vote if the council is looking to do that. But once uh once again I think it's important to note that I'm very proud of lining up both of these pieces and it's the first time we've actually gone out for a bid in 10 plus years and I think that the bid uh in in a few week next week next week next week when when we bring it forward I think that you're going to see that uh there is a savings here uh and and quite frankly when we start to look at what other people are paying um I think we've done I think we've done a darn good job to be truthful. Uh this like I stated earlier the surrounding towns paying $425 and my hope is to be at least $100 under that for single family homes and giving providing some release relief overall to the general fund. I'll gladly take any questions on this at this time, but this is what I'd like to try to do for next week. Um allow allow people to know what is going on and what is happening with this. But once again, this would be the opportunity for us to um actually charge the correct amount for the fee that for for the service that is being provided because if we don't do it this way, it's going to come out of the budget uh as it has been for the last um well since 2008. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I have a few questions on this. Um, so if we switch to an enterprise fund, then we're basically taking the $3 million that we fund through the general fund and we're going to move that over to taxpayers, correct? To to to fund that instead. It's going to be a self-s serving self funding fund. So, we're going to obviously have increases as you just said. Um, do we still have a solid waste and recycling committee? I I know back in the day we did and some of the things that they looked at were, you know, uh yard waste cuts, whether or not we should be doing yard waste. Like as someone that maybe doesn't use the service, everyone might not want to be paying for that. Um could you move to smaller size barrels going forward? You know, we we use we fill our recycling overflowing every two weeks. The the trash barrels, you know, empty almost every two week every week. Um so I'm just curious if there's other things that we could look at. And then on the other side of things on enforcement, do we have cameras on all the trucks right now? The trash trucks, is that part of the contract?

That is part you to the council. Uh that is part of the contract. I would I'll have to check by next week. We'll have that answer if all the uh vehicles have have those cameras, right? because they should not be picking up overflowing barrels because, you know, you're asking for an increase that basically I'm going to be subsidizing people that just don't follow the rules and and that really gets people annoyed, you know, residents annoyed. So, those are kind of things that I'd ask that we look at before we move to this, especially like I said, the smaller barrel possibly. You know, maybe there's a three tier type of system where, you know, you don't use as much trash, you don't pay as much. Kind of like a pay as you throw type of system, um, except with barrels. So, thank you, Mr. Manager. Um, Council Direan,

um, I just had a question, uh, uh, through you, Mr. Mayor, to the city manager. You mentioned you'd align two things. Maybe you could explain what those are because I'm not familiar with the concept. Manager Golden. Uh, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I threw you to the council. Uh, council, the collections is the company that comes to your door and then, um, they're the folks that we see every single day, literally every single day here in the city. Uh the disposal company is where we actually tip the uh the trash. Uh hopefully that believe me there's different language that I've even learned. So it's the disposal part is where we actually get rid of waste management currently right now when they show up to your to your property. Yeah. Wheel liberator.

Yeah. Wheel liberator actually is the uh disposal company and I think they're in Hil up off of 495. So, one company picks up the trash, that's the collections, and then the company that actually takes it to the landfill or or is the landfill is the sec is the disposal. Thank you. And sorry, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Miss Mayor. Through to the council, uh, councel and once again, what what we had at one point was the disposal was uh a year after the collections. So by you know bringing them together the way we did um we had a the econ like an economy of the scope of what we were providing and um that actually once again for the first time we went out uh which is better than 10 years that we have uh we had a real competition within four um four four large collection companies u from the disposal uh in the disposal world there's only so many organizations our companies that dispose that is going to be a problem that um not just the city of LOL is going to be dealing with, Commonwealth of Massachusetts is going to be dealing with. We have a composting program that is coming in in 2030 that is going to be mandated by D. Uh and that will uh that will set um pricing is going to be extremely difficult in the in the years to come. But from this point forward, we believe and I by next week I should have the um the final numbers. But I I'm I'm pretty confident that uh 325 is is the number. And if it's not 330, but it'll be right in that that range. Um and then the absent or the investor go going from 425 to 525 and the senior staying at $50.

Council Mcdana.

Uh thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor, this is remarkably something that I have almost zero stake in because I I pay a my building has to pay a private trash company to haul all of our stuff away as do most people that live in downtown. Although back central and center, it gets messy in the rest of the district. Um I think councelor Scott actually had a really good idea um on on making sure that we're charging for use. um building I live in, we we were able to get our we we pay about $500 a week for six barrels. I said, four trash, three recite, no, four recycling and three trash cuz cardboard is really bulky. Um but we were able to reduce that because we don't actually produce that much trash. And I think when you're looking with um older residents, and I know the senior rate is already low, but when you have just a couple living in a home or a single old person, they're they're not producing 64 gallons of waste. And they're not not even close. It's much smaller. um in making sure that we're charging people appropriately if they have overflowing barrels or that we're charging for the second barrel. That we have a pricing that incentivizes people for putting less of a strain on this system so that we're not kicking the kicking the can to everybody for for one, you know, real waste happy neighbor. That's all.

Manager Golden.

Uh thank you very much, Mr. Mayor through to the council. I can assure you council is that when [clears throat] that happens people are fined. Uh and I can tell you because I hear about it and u quite frankly people are even fined when they're not putting stuff in the recycling bin the correct correct way. So we do our team does go out um essentially 5 days a week to check on areas to the point uh to ensure that that is actually indeed happening. Uh, so I can tell you that people do get fined for for excessive um uh uh I I suppose excessively overfilling their their trash bins. That's what those the purple bags are for. So if you drive through the city as much as the city the assistant city manager and I do, there are times that you'll drive down a street and you will see a pickup a pickup a pickup and a miss. It's not missed. you'll see the orange ticket on the top of it and then people will make that phone call actually over to DPW and complain about why did I get missed? You didn't get missed, you got you're getting fined. So, because of um the act the action that that uh was taken. So, that is definitely happening. But just to be clear, we're looking at the senior rate and keeping it flat at $50 per year. The these are numbers that are per year.

Okay. Thank you, Council Mcdana. Council Yang. Yeah. Um, council McDonald also said what I was going to say also. I uh same along idea with uh councelor Scott where I believe some household do not produce that uh much waste and I think there should be some option comes with that also um improvement in services. Um I don't know what it looks like but I think that uh option would be a good idea and also a huge improvement into you know trash collection that would be a big plus. Thank you.

I just have one quick comment where there's a reduction there's an increase for somebody else just so everyone understands that the large ones will go up if the other ones go down. Um, all those in favor I mean motion to accept and place on file by councelor Mercy and seconded by council Mcdana 72 information report letter school funding for FY 2027 CFO Baldin I'm recusing myself Sean McDonald is recusing himself.

Thank you Mr. Mayor um and and counselors, this on your desk in the packet this evening is uh a copy of the letter we send each year to the superintendent of schools uh to notify them of the the budgetary expectations for the next year. We also and and this is also mentioned in the earlier motion response uh we've been notified by DESIE of last year's certification of net school spending. So for the last year of net school spending, LOL exceeded the requirement by $7.9 million. Uh we are projected in FY2026 to exceed that requirement again by $8.1 million. Uh so in looking forward to FY2027 um we have received the uh chapter 70 figures, the draft chapter 70 figures from the uh the governor's budget which was released just a few weeks ago. the uh projected increase for chapter 70 is over $14.5 million uh for the schools. And so our our projection for the single line item appropriation uh to the LOL public schools is $287.9 million. A copy of this letter was sent to the superintendent uh in an effort to try to coordinate as early as possible with uh with the school department. But that is uh that is the communication. Mr. Mayor, thank you. Thank you, CFO Baldwin. Motion to accept and place on file by councelor Dakota, seconded by Councelor Chow. 7.2 information report FY27 budget instructions. CFO Baldin.

Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. And there are a number of financial items, so uh I I beg the patience of the council. Um next year's budget has begun in earnest. So this is a general update for the council. we have provided and what is included in the packet is a copy of the instructions that were sent to department heads. So the process uh is governed by statute and the uh the timeline we uh we pursue is is according to that timeline in the statute. Uh so we've asked all the department heads for their requests for next year. Those have come in. We have also as you can see in the instructions asked them for a plan B. Uh so they they've been required to submit to us in addition to their normal request a 10% reduction. Uh we have a lot of concerns about the ne next fiscal year. Some of those are laid out in the instructions. They have also been communicated uh in other um other communications to the city council. But we have uh concerns with fixed costs. Uh our debt service we have talked about uh in this chamber a number of times. So, I won't belabor that point. Debt service, pension, um health insurance, those are all fixed costs that will be increasing next year. There is a 2% uh cost of living uh included in the existing collective bargaining round that will need to be included in next year. So, all things being equal, we were looking at about a $7.7 million gap to to close. with those requests coming in that had uh the gap had widened a little bit but we have uh we are still determining uh the second round of requests with the 10% reduction. So the purpose of this communication is to inform the council where we're at in the process. Uh we do intend to deliver a balanced budget, which is our obligation under the law, to the council sometime in May, which you will note is an earlier date than

what has been the case for for many years. We're trying to get it to the council earlier so that there is an opportunity for more time at the council level to have uh a series of public hearings if that is that is your desire. Uh but I'm happy to answer any questions that any of the counselors may have. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Uh CFO Baldwin, Councelor Dakota.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh through you to the CFO. Uh this is my third budget with this council and I know the first two budgets we had brought up about the chart of school reimbursements and I believe we had sent a letter city manager Golden to the legislators and nothing has happened. This is a budget buster. I mean, it just seems to be going up and up and up and nobody seems to to care. So, I I would hope that we would contact our three state reps and say, you know, let's let's make something happen here because this this is getting serious now. And this is this is one of those budget areas that, you know, this needs to be taken seriously. Thank you,

CFO Balden.

Thank Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And and your point is well taken, Councelor Dakota. uh the charter school assessment has for many years been a significant challenge for the city to meet that uh rising assessment. I guess yes, we have communicated our concerns and our our need for legislative relief to uh Beacon Hill. Um the one relief the the one component of relief that has come has not been legislative. it has been rather that the uh the charter school on Middle Sex Street has reached its capacity. And so, you know, we have seen a bit of a leveling off in terms of the assessment because the grades are not they're no longer expanding. Uh but in the report from the motion response earlier, and I hope we can dive into the the weeds a little bit more during the subcommittee, um that assessment still went up $1.7 million. Uh so it is less burdensome but still a burden and your point is well taken. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you councelor Dakota. Motion to accept the report and place on file by councelor Scott seconded by councelor Mercier. 7.2 information report FY25 free cash certification and explanation. CFO Baldin.

Thank you again Mr. Mayor. Uh there is a companion piece to thisformational report. It is a vote later on in the agenda. So for the uh this is our notification to the council that the city's free cash uh for last year has been certified by the department of revenue. Uh kudos to the city auditor in in doing uh submitting the balance sheet to the department of revenue in a timely fashion. It is uh reporting is so incredibly important for the finance team and uh we we've gotten all of our reports in um very timely this year. So the there is a planned appropriation uh listed under the vote. We do have enough this was a concern uh from budget time last year that perhaps we may not have enough free cash to pay ourselves back for stabilization. I am happy to report that we do. So we will be able to replenish and that is included in the vote uh an amount sufficient to pay ourselves back for the these three separate items that were budgetary in nature. Number one uh the $2.8 8 million that was used to mitigate the tax impact in the FY26 budget. Number two, uh the amount that was used to plug the parking enterprise. We'll be able to pay ourselves back for that. And then number three, the $2 million that was appropriated to the school department as part of the uh supplemental appropriation in FY2026. So, we will be able to pay all of those back as well as meet our commitment to fund our oped policy at 5% of the free cash total. Um it is still a a small amount towards a very large liability. Um but the rating agencies do look favorable upon those efforts. They do give us credit so to speak for um you know fighting against the tide of those giant liabilities for pension and OPE. Uh so you know later on in the agenda we do have a recommendation. We would recommend the council approve that vote tonight so

that we can uh move forward. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you, CFO Baldwin. Councelor Direan, a quick question. Um, so once if assuming that the vote is taken and um the money is moved from free cash to the various um the three other um line items that you mentioned, how much will be in the stabilization fund once that transfer occurs? Excellent question, Mr. Mayor. CFO.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I I hate to do this, but I will estimate it will be around $17 million. So uh re and that's fresh in my mind because we were in the video last week. $16.9 million was the amount that we were saying. Uh we so we took the money out of stabilization to stabilize the budget. We will be paying it back. So we'll be back on even ground. Unfortunately, this year we do not have sufficient uh free cash to increase the balance, but we will be back at even footing. that will satisfy the rating agencies. Uh so we will be just right around $17 million which is a high for the city of law. Thank you.

Thank you councelor Jirean. Motion to accept and place on file by councel jirean seconded by council yang. 7.3 communication reappoint of George Varis and Troy Depza to the historic board. Motion to accept by councelor Mcdana, seconded by councelor Jirean. Roll call. Councelor Non, Council Robinson, Council Rock, Councelor Scott, yes. Council Chow, yes. Council Dakota, yes. Mayor Gia, yes. Council Jirean, yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes.

Council Murcia, yes. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Is anybody here from those appointments? No. Thank you. Eight. Vote from city manager. 8.1 vote. Establish school bus violation stabilization fund. Wave full reading and second reading by title. Mr. Mayor, I need to recuse myself again. It's a big night for it.

Mr. McDonald would like to recuse himself. Vote to establish a school bus violation stabilization fund as authorized by Mass General Law, chapter 40, section 5B, fourth paragraph, and to dedicate 100% of revenue collected from the school bus automated traffic enforcement camera fines into said fund to be used. subject to appropriation by a twothird majority of the city council and at the sole discretion of the city's chief financial officer to offset high transportation costs for the low public schools including but not limited to out of district special education transportation fuel and maintenance cost and safety improvements at bus stops as well as additional enforcement measures and any other related expenses pertaining to enforcement measures. Move for approval.

Move to approve by councelor Dakota. Seconded by seconded councelor Mercier. Roll call. Councelor Non. Councel Robinson. Council Rock. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Councelor Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gier. Yes. Council Duran. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Oh, he rec. And council Marcia. Yes. Seven yays. Motion fails. Seven yays. Wait a minute. 1 2 3 4

8.2. Vote accept expend 250,000 FY26 earmarked funds Hall Street Bridge. Wave full reading and second reading by title.

Did we council mercy? Did you have a question? Vote. Authorize a city manager acting through the Department of Planning and Development to accept and expend fiscal year 2026 earmark funds in the amount of 250,000 in dollars from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Motion to accept a motion to accept by Council Scott, seconded by Councel Mercia. Roll call. Councelor Nune, Council Robinson, Council Rock, Council Scott, yes. Council Chow, yes. Council Dakota, yes. Mayor Gier,

yes. Council Direan, yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes. Council Mercia, yes. Council, Mr. Mayor, can we bundle 8.3, four, and five? Motion by Council Mercy to bundle 8. No. Can I sorry I'm sorry Council Mcdana point of point of I have a qu point of question if we bundle this I can't vote on 8.4 because it is going directly to the schools.

Okay. It only it only take a minute to go through these anyway. So let's just do them by line item. Um uh council mercy would you wave that motion?

Thank you. 8.3 vote accept and expend 56,250 hazard mitigation grant fire. Wave full reading and second reading by title. Vote authorizing the city manager accept and expend a hazard mitigation grant award by the federal emergency management agency mass emergency management assoc agency in the amount of $56,250 for the city of l fire department. Motion to accept councelor Scott seconded by councelor mercy. A roll call.

Council Non. Council Robinson. Council Rock. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yep. Mayor Gier. Yes. Council Jirean. Yes. Council Leang. Yes. Council Mcdana. Yes. Council Marcia. Yes.

8.4. Vote. Apply accept expend 250,000 mass officer disability grant. Wave full reading is second reading by title vote authorizing the city manage to apply accept and expend funds from the Massachusetts Office of Disability in the amount of $250,000. Motion to accept by councelor Leang. Seconded by councel Jirean. Roll call. Councelor Non. Councel Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gia. Yes. Council Jirean, yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, Council Mia,

yes.

8.5 vote FY26 free cash certification recommendation. Wave full reading and second reading by title vote ordered by the city council of the city of L by a twothirds vote as follows. that the amount of $8,949,41 be appropriated from July 1st, 2025 certified free cash more fully described in attachment A to various accounts more fully described in attachment A. Motion to accept by councelor Leang, seconded by councelor Dan. I'd like to recuse myself on the portion of the city clerk and the um elections department.

Mr. Mayor, [clears throat] um I just have a quick question for the manager. Um on the recommendation piece with this, I'm supportive of this, but on the recommendation piece, will the council see any additional potential um recommended funding through the budget cycle going towards um traffic calming measures? cuz I noticed there was a recommendation with this piece. I think it was uh the tune of 200,000 out of the free cash certification. What will we see additional monies potentially in the budget also aimed at that? Mr. Manager.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Three to the council. It's possible, but there are some traffic calming measures that wouldn't be in capital. So it, you know, it's it is possible, but I don't see us creating a uh general fund portion on that and and anything that uh I'll I'll be talking to Miss Alman as well as uh the assistant city manager about that to figure out um which part of capital we can do because there is only $200,000 in free cash that is that we figured we could expend at um on something that's very popular here with the council, which is traffic safety. Thank you very much. We have a registered speaker,

Ryan Faria. Mr. Mayor, just while the speaker takes the podium, I just want to note that I'm recusing myself from the portion that has to do with the school department and the workers comp for the school department. Thank you.

Thank you. Um I'll be really brief. Um I just had a few questions about this. Um the first one is, you know, for the last several years, we've had a deficit in our parking enterprise fund, and it seems like that's generally stemmed from the HCID debt service. Um and it's created a significant deficit that we don't see any foreseeable way to come out of in the near future. Is there any plans to reduce that is my first question. Um they have three total. The second question is, uh the last two years we saw 15 12 and 21 million respectively in free cash. this year was only about 9 million. Um could you discuss some of the the drivers in the decrease? I presume that means maybe we're staffing at much better levels so we don't see as much free cash. Um and then finally, one of the uh items that stood out to me was the $150,000 going to the treasures office for stamps. Um that budget for the start of the year was 167K and it's been encumbered by 96 which is right about where you'd expect through seven months of the year. I don't know why it needs to double. That'd be over 200,000 residential letters going out. So, that one is a question I have as to kind of how that 150k is going to be utilized. Thank you.

Thank you. Motion to accept by councelor Duran, seconded by councelor Dakota. Any questions on the motion? Council Scott, just just a quick question through you to the city manager. Um, the additional work is comp claims. I understand that that's unforeseen that you can't necessarily see that, but it is quite a a large amount on the school side of them of of this. Um, is that typical that we run into this on kind of like a frequent basis or can [snorts] you kind of just talk about that a little bit? And I also had the question about the postage, but that so manageable.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, through the council. If there's any other further questions with this, I'll talk to the CFO. But it we have seen an increase in that particular line item. Um over the past few years due to due to some of the claims, that correct CFO?

Yes. Uh so typically for the last several years, we've used free cash as a avenue to supplement the needs to fund school department workers comp claims. Uh it is something a few years ago we had a there are other ways to fund it. Um there is a a possibility for an injury revolving fund in which case we could make appropriations into the fund and it would it would revolve. That is something we're examining. I I don't know that it's it's the right way to manage it here in LOL. Um but you know it's difficult to predict the amount of injuries that will happen in any particular year. Uh but we have seen a spike uh last uh not last year, the year before there was a significant amount of catch-up that needed to happen. And so you know the solicitor's office and he can certainly get um provide more detail if needed has resolved a lot of that catchup. And so now we're we're dealing with claims as they come, but they are they are significant in the school department. They are somewhat seasonal. And so we uh try to include as much as we can in the budget to fit within our our tax policy, but it is typically sometime in the middle of the year that we realize it's not enough. And so free cash is our our way to supplement those needs for the year.

Thank you. And the postage that was brought up as well, is there a reason? Sure. Uh line line item is still, like you said, still has quite a bit of money in it.

The the treasur's office is is the cost center for the mail room in the city for all mail that runs through city hall. The actual machine itself is in the elections office, but when they add more money to the machine, it runs through the treasurer's office account. There has been a significant amount of mailings that have uh that have gone out this year. Uh a number of mailings to residents as well as our normal uh our business as well as notifications for the elections uh the special election, etc. which is uh as you'll notice on free cash, there is also a a supplemental appropriation for the uh the special election itself for wages uh for the poll workers as well as for overtime for the staff to administer the special ele the the primary for the special election which already occurred and then the general election uh coming in the future. Uh so all of that in the aggregate has led to an increase in cost. However, like workers comp, the postage amount is another one that um typically does need supplemental needs. And so, if you look back at free cash over the last few years, you'll see that uh we we've had to supplement that budget in the treasur's office with free cash.

Thank you. Roll call. Madam clerk, councelor Non. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow, Council Dakota, yes. Mayor Gia, yes. Council Jirean, yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes. Council Murcia, yes.

Nine resolutions. 9.1 resolutions adopt vision zero policy. Wave full reading in second reading by title resolution. from the city council of the city of Lola wishes to go on record in support of adopting a vision zero policy. Motion by councelor Robinson, seconded by councelor Dakota. Roll call. Council Non. Council Robinson. Yes. Council Rock. Council Scott. Yes. Council Chow. Yes. Council Dakota. Yes. Mayor Gier. Yes. Council Jirean. Yes. Council Leang, yes. Council Mcdana, yes. Council Marcia,

yes. Thank you. 10 reports. There are none from subcommittees. 11 petitions. There are none. 11.1 claims, one property damage. Motion to refer to law department for report and recommendation by councel Scott, seconded by councelor Dakota. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? So ordered. 12 announcements. Councelor Chow.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh very briefly, I want to wish everyone a happy Luna New Year. 2026 is the uh symbol of the horse, which is very rare. It comes only once every 60 years. It's a very powerful uh symbol. So I wish everyone uh good health and prosperity. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councelor Chow. Any other announcements? See, seeing none. Motion to adjurnn by councelor Jirean, seconded by councel Mcdana. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? So ordered. Winter festes is next week. Winter fest next week. Heat. Heat. Okay. [music]