City Council - Regular Meeting

Yep. Hey. Recording in progress.

Colleagues, if you can take your seats, please. We have a we have a pretty full evening this evening. I am going to invite all of our council elects inside the rail. Councelor Elect Roach, thank you for observing protocol. You get credit for that. Some of the other counselor elects get demerits, so you're on. All right. [laughter] It's a new campaign platform. Um, Council Lip Off, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, visible, liberty, justice for all. Good evening, colleagues. I hope everyone had a very restful Thanksgiving weekend because our work now begins in earnest this week uh tonight uh tomorrow night, Wednesday night, next week, and then we finish up the term on the 15th. I've got um a pretty full complement of folks this evening. uh two online, councelor Wright and councelor elect uh sober. Um and I think other than counselors Mickley and and guests uh we otherwise have a full complement of folks. So um this is uh meeting is being recorded both audio and uh video. Uh we're going to start off with the items on first call. We then have a number of

items on second call. We'll take them up in the appropriate order. Uh just as a heads up, there is one item, a late filed item that's been docketed or being requested to be docketed by the chair of finance. And because it relates to my future actions, uh, as the mayor, um, in an abundance of caution, I'm going to recuse myself from any consideration or discussion of that and vice president Kalis will take the podium at the appropriate time. So with that, Chair Kelly for the land use committee.

Thank you, Mr. President. So excited to give one of the final reports of the year. Um the land use committee met on November 18th. Um we took up several items. Um tonight we have one on second call. We have two on second call, though they're related. They're both the Riverside ones, so we'll get to those later. We took up also item 261-25 which is a request to allow parking in the front setback at 47-49 Ripley Street and that was approved 7 to1. We took up item 335-25 which was a request to amend a special permit number 189-81E at Eldridge Street. Uh that was approved 8 to nothing. There was a request to allow daycare use. um and and wave parking stalls at 60 Needm Street. That was item number 336-25. We approved their request to withdraw without prejudice. And then there were a bunch of uh class 2 auto dealer licenses. All were approved. I'm just going to read each one into the record. Number 343-25, which is Newton Auto Group. Number 344-25, which is Jacob and Associates. number 345-25, Robert's Towing, 346-25, West Newton Auto Service. All approved uh by the committee. And finally, we accepted another request to withdraw without prejudice on item 355-24, which was a request to allow a mix of for-profit education, personal instruction, non-accessory parking, wholesale bakery, vehicle storage, and vehicle repair, sales and service, and

to wave 41 parking stalls at 28-30 Riverdale A. And that was all we took up, but I would like to request some public hearings. Councelor Kelly, do you need to take up the 11:25 meeting, too? Sorry, the 11:25 meeting as well.

Oh, yes. Let's do that, too. Um held held. Land use approved number 339-25, a request to exceed F at 12 Garden Road. That was approved. Um, number 340-25, a request to allow an oversized dormer, a dormer with an uninterrupted wall plane to exceed F15 Clinton Place. That was approved. Thank you for reminding me of these. and number 341-25 uh request to approve special permit 65-96 from 1996 to allow a second parking stall in the front setback at 63 Hyde Street that was approved 62

and now you have a public hearing and now I would like to request some public hearings go ahead please uh number 348-25 on December 2nd which is on our page 280 Items 238-25 and 239-25 are on second call for tonight. Those are the Riverside ones. Great. Thank you, Chair Kelly. Chair Baker for zoning and planning.

Thank you, Mr. President. The uh committee report, as you may have seen, was an extensive document because it had supplemental information, but the only two actions we report this evening are 37. This is on page 273 of the reportet number 375242. This is zoning and planning committee requesting discussion and possible amendments to chapter 30 zoning to allow additions to buildings with existing non-conforming height that increase the nonconforming height but do not go higher than the existing ridge line. And this was approved uh by the committee six to zero and with one not voting and one absent. And then um on page 274 4424 requesting re-evaluation and possible amendments to the inclusionary zoning ordinance uh that was uh approved u by a vote of 601. And the information describing the changes is uh set forth in an extensive attachment to the uh committee report which uh is available to everyone in the council and as well as the public. But I just want to indicate how much I appreciate uh the work of the committee but also the work of our consultant and our uh colleagues in the planning department and the law department in getting all of these changes done by the end of the term. So that's the report.

Thank you, Chair Baker. We've been joined by Councelor Mickley uh who's participating remotely. Chair Karn for programs and services, please.

Thank you, Mr. President. Report begins at the bottom page 274. Programs and services committee met on November 19th. Uh first item's on second call. Item 287-25, the appointment of Ellen Penso to the Council on Aging was approved by uh unanimously by vote of 5 to zero. Item 314-25, requesting a home rule petition. This is the mayor requesting a home rule petition to uh modify the posting of legal notices for public hearings. Was approved by the committee by a vote of 5 to zero. And item 327-25, the creation of an older adult services gift account was approved by a vote of 8 to zero. With that, I'd move the report. Thank you, Sher Cman. Next for public safety and transportation, Sher Gman.

Thank you, Mr. President. The report begins on page 275 and the committee met on November 19th. The first item 337-25 was the appeal of traffic council decision TC50-25 which was a request to consider restricting parking along either one or both sides of a block of Islington road between Commonwealth Avenue and Ryder Terrace. Uh that was approved 7 to zero. And then item 342-25, the appeal of traffic council decision TC44-25, uh, which concerned, uh, 15 permits for staff to park on the Austin Street municipal lot without paying the kiosk during enforcement hours. That was denied 6 to2. With that, I move the report.

Thank you very much, Chair Gman. Next for public facilities committee, Chair Albbright.

Thank you, Mr. President report also begins on 275. [clears throat] Uh 324-25 was an appropriation of $297,400 for a pump station rehabilitation project and that was approved. Six in favor, none against. 325-25, an appropriation of 325,000 for the Cheesecake Brook subbasin. That was also approved 6 to Z. Uh 32625 request for discussion and ordinance to require energy use reporting by owners of buildings that are not subject to Newton Berto. This was voted no action necessary. 60 and 347-25 is um request for discussion and ordinance to allow voluntary energy use reporting by owners of buildings that are not subject to Newton Berto. That was also voted no action necessary 6. I should explain that those last two items by the energy commission were um we gave them a lot of homework to do so. So they have left to come back in the new term with something else and that moves the report. Thank you, Chair Albbright. Uh, Chair Jental for the finance committee, please. [snorts]

Thank you, Mr. President. The finance report begins on page 277. Um docket item 157-24 councilors Gentile Block Laredo and Crinceman requesting that the mayor through the law department solicit proposals from outside special counsel to assist the city in the analysis of the city's rights and remedies to ensure compliance with an enforcement of applicable permits at the Turnal Lane site in Aenddale. Um just a quick commentary which I don't usually do on first call but we we were joined by the law department that gave us an update and also informed us that they had um solicited outside uh council because recently the project owners had filed for uh bankruptcy and to make sure that the city's interests are protected which is a tricky thing with the bankruptcy filing. They have gotten outside counsel. So, the committee voted no action necessary 8 to zero. Uh, next item is on second call followed by 31825 which is on second call and we have 324-25 or honor the mayor requesting the appropriation of 297,400 uh from the sewer fund surplus to fund the design and repairs and rehabilitation of three important sewer pump stations. This was approved by a vote of 8 to zero 325-25. Um, her honor the mayor requesting the appropriation of 325,000 from the storm water operating reserve to fund the development of a comprehensive storm water infrastructure analysis

for the cheesebake brook subbasin. This was approved 8 to0 and 327-25. Her honor the mayor requesting the creation of a department of older adult services for an upper limit of a million dollars to help fund affordable programs, events, and scholarships for older residents. Um, this was approved by a vote of 8 to zero. And this is where I need to request a uh suspension of the rules. So I want to let councel vice president Kis preside for the moment. Go ahead. Councelor Gentile is asking for a suspension of the rules. All those in favor, please let me

Yep. Um Mr. Acting President, let me just briefly give you the number in the description. It's 362-25 on page 282 and it's an item requesting some information on the future staffing of the executive department. So I'd ask for suspension of the rules. Thank you. Councelor Gentile. Councelor Gentile is asking for suspension of the rules to file late file docket item. All those in favor please say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you very much. All right. I move the report.

Thank you councelor Gentile. Yes. Councelor Kalist did such a good job. Maybe you just relinquish this for the rest of the evening. Um, last but never least, uh, Councelor Danberg for real property reuse. Thank you, Mr. President. There's no report tonight. All right. Thank you all. All right. So, uh, Mr. Clerk, we're ready to call. First call. Sir Albbright. I. Councor Baker. Hi.

Bixby. I with the exception of 341-25 from which I am recused. Councelor Block. I. Councelor Danberg. I. Councelor DS. Hi. Councelor Ferrell. I except for item 26125 on which I vote no. Councelor Gentile. Councelor Gats. Hi. Councelor Greenberg. Hi. Councelor Gman. Hi. Councelor Humphrey. Hi. Councelor Kis. Hi.

Councelor Kelly. Hi. Councelor Kinsman. Hi, Councelor Liry. Hi, Councelor Lipoff. I councelor Lobovitz. I councelor Lucas. I with the exception of 34 2-25 for which I vote no.

Malaki. Um I with the exception of number 44-24 and 342-25 on which I vote no. Councilor, do you vote no on both items? You councelor Mikley I. Councelor Oliver I. Councelor Wright I except with the exception of 342-25 which I vote no president Laredo I

on first call votes are 24 to zero with the exception of 341-25 where there are three no votes and 261-25 No vote 23 to1 and 242-25 also a no. 44-24 it's a no and 34-25 is also a no. So three no votes on um 341-25. Uh thank you Mr. Clerk. I'll note we have a full complement of counselors here this evening which is always nice to see. Uh and except for councelor Mikley, everybody else is in the chamber. Uh so we are now going to proceed to second call. I'm going to recognize chair of the land use committee, chair Kelly. Uh these uh first three items because they're broken up. One of them is broken up into two parts. Uh relate to the Riverside project. Once uh Chair Kelly does her presentation, I'm going to suggest that any discussion be had on all of them, but then we will take separate votes on each of the items. Chair Kelly.

Thank you, President Laredo. As he just said, this item has been turned into three items. They're all related. Many of you have been following this project for seven years and four proposals. Um, I'm just going to try and encapsulate what happened at our last meeting, uh, and and stuff that's relevant for us tonight. Uh, the land use committee met on November 18th to review and vote on the Riverside project, which is before us and now three related parts. Um, 238-25A and B, which is a zone change. Um and 239-25 which is the request to construct a mis mixeduse development with residential commercial parking and public open space. The original docket item requested 750 residential units which has now been changed to 755 due to resulting site and building configurations in response to previous comments from the committee and the public. The petitioner summarized text amendments which um which included net reductions in lot area, maximum stories and height of buildings and changes to access requirements and post construction arrangements. Members of the public spoke, including many from the Carpenters Union who emphasized their view that this project should be built by union labor. The law department clarified for everyone that this is not a decision within the capacity of this Newton City Council to commit to or enforce. Planning and law staff presented and clarified text amendments, draft conditions and findings which we can go over some of that this evening for everybody's information and the public hearing was closed. Regarding the resoning item, this was split into two items each requiring a vote. 238-25A refers to the text changes outside the height and stories and the zone change and 238B which is the construction of

the project. Both are subject to second call tonight. Discussion of the request to construct the project followed. We went over our council order item by item, every single item. planning pointed out that the conditions are very similar to the previous versions approved for prior Riverside special permit proposals with some modifications reflecting recent changes. A new issue arose recently that we hadn't been aware of before. Fire Chief Gentile is asking for a two-way radio communication system which is like these are my words like a radio tower or antenna required by fire code. There was much discussion and explanation for this which basically will provide safety and public benefit to the surrounding community in addition to this development local. The location construction method and costs are not yet determined, but the committee agreed to cap the expense to the developer to $500,000. If costs go over that, the excess will need to be funded otherwise, such as through city or mitigation funds. We went through the findings which are in compliance with dimensional standards, text amendments, and comprehensive plans. The findings include roadway improvements, appropriate setbacks and architectural design. It was noted that the project meets energy and sustainability provisions and had the appropriate parking studies. The number of units for the project was discussed. It was noted that any increase to the 755 currently proposed number of units will require an amendment to the special permit. The committee discussed and approved the item subject to second call tonight. That vote was 8 to zero, a unanimous vote of all land use members in order to review the edited language of the draft council order, which is why this is on second call. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Kelly. Um, is there anyone who wishes to speak on any of these items? Councelor Block.

Thank you, Chair. Well, it's been a long road for Riverside. [clears throat] On April 22nd, 2018, the Lower Falls Improvement Association held its semiannual meeting. And at that meeting, drawings were presented of the Riverside plan at that time. [clears throat] Um, it was a controversial presentation of one and a half million square feet, a hotel, two office buildings, 675 residential units. And before us today, after subsequent amendments and um the latest proposal, we're at a plan before us which is 897,000 square feet, no hotel, no office buildings, but over 750 housing units. So this evolution has been something that I've been involved with every step of the way and I'm very happy to say that I'm able to [snorts] support this. It's not a perfect plan but then there probably is no such thing. [clears throat] So at the appropriate time, Mr. Chair, I will move to approve this zoning changes and the special permit petition. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor PL. Councelor Krensman.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I first got involved in [clears throat] the Riverside development in 2007. I was president of the Lower Falls Improvement Association. The MBTA said that they were going to put out an RFP for the land and the LFIA at that time decided we wanted to submit comments. We wanted to put in um an amend an addendum to the MBTA's solicitation. Since then, I've been involved um in numerous ways, including as a city councelor and including as a member of the Riverside uh liaison committee. This is not the ideal project. I agree with councelor Block. Um I had hoped that there would be actually some uh commercial component. I thought office space was good uh both for the site and for the city. I had hoped that there would be more retail. Um there's a little over 20,000 square feet of retail. I had asked for more retail. I thought that would have been beneficial. There's a lot of housing there. A lot of housing. Um I had also asked to sort of keep the parking down because my my position continues to be that the more parking we allow, the more traffic it's going to cause. Uh I am pleased to be able to support this uh project tonight. I hope you all will as well. Uh I want to say that this project came about uh as a result of the hard work of a lot of people. Um and in particular I want to mention um Barbara Gruinthal and Liz Morabi from Lower Falls as well as the entire LFIA. Uh Robert Corf, Steve Bookbinder, uh Steve Roach, Randy Hart, uh Brent McDonald and Kathy Winters did a lot of work on this obviously from the development side. Uh former counselor Chris Marowitz worked worked pretty hard on this as well. So I very much appreciate all the work that those individuals put in. Uh, last but not least, I want to mention um that Chair Kelly and the land use committee did a fantastic job at going through this and going through this quickly. Um, I'm pleased to support this and I hope that you will as well.

Thank you, Council Kman. Any Oh, Council Gentile.

So, thanks to Councelor Kelly as the chair of the land use committee. This has moved through uh quite efficiently and with a significant amount of support as it turns out and with very little comment from me. So, I'm not going to push my luck and uh I'm going to keep it short, but I just wanted to indicate um that I too support the project. Um hope you all heard what councilman said. He wasn't a mistake. It was 2007 that we first um heard about the project. I can still remember being on the outside deck at the Indigo looking down with um then Alderman uh Saniolo and Alderman Hani and we were being briefed on the prop a proposal for the site and it was at least a million and a half square feet and even more I think and I just remember looking at the two of them and we were shaking our heads. So, it's been a long road. Um, this project, I'm supporting it for pretty much two reasons. Number one, it provides more housing than any of the other iterations that we have seen. And we hear daily the need that we have for housing and for affordable housing of which there will be a significant number of units. And then secondly, while I understand that people would rather see some more commercial, the good news for the two neighborhoods being lower falls and Abundale is that all of the other projects had two highrises in them, towers, 10, 11 stories, maybe even 12. and the traffic

that was going to come along. And this particular project, all of the studies show that the traffic will be significantly less, which is what we've always been concerned about at the site. So, those are two of the reasons, the two main reasons why I plan um to support the project. Thank you, uh, Councelor Gentile, Councelor Oliver.

Great. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, in all, in [clears throat] all due respect to everything we've heard, uh, and I completely agree with everything I just heard. I'm still going to vote no on this project. I expect to be the sole person who does not. Um, and that's okay because I'm only doing it so that I can stand up and simply ask this group, what do we feel? And this is a rhetorical question. I don't expect answers tonight. Anyway, at some point, properties like this are no longer going to exist in this city. And Newton doesn't just need housing. We have to protect all of the interests of the city. It's the only reason I can't support this project. Just like I couldn't support the amended version of Northland. We have to find a different way to balance the needs that we know we all know we have. Unfortunately, I'm going to be voting no, but I'm with you all in spirit at least 98% of the way. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Oliver. Anyone else who wish heard? Councelor Maliki. Uh, thank you.

Um Um, I too am going to be voting no for basically the same reasons that councelor Oliver stated. Um, I also voted no on the Northland revision. Um to me um I would rather see wait uh and see a development that does include uh a worthwhile proportion of um commercial space on something that we're calling mixed use. Uh we can't keep approving project after project with minimal amounts of commercial and expect to get anything different. um once it's once it's built on, we're not going to get that space back. And to me, it feels like we're looking at short-term interests when we should be looking at the long-term sustainability and fiscal sustainability of um the city. So, thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to be heard on the item? All right. Seeing none, councelor Block, I believe you wanted to make some motions and we're going to need three. Um, so what order would you like them as? I think there are two zoning two zoning. I think we should do the two zoning ones first. Sure.

And then the land use special permit one. I will note for the first zoning change that only requires a um majority vote. The second one which relates to height and um the number of floors requires 2/3 and I did I get that correct Mr. Clerk? All right. So, Council Block, do you want to move uh the first portion of the zoning item? Yes. Is it um item 23825? Is that correct? A um that's correct. Um a

Is there a second for the motion? Seconded by Chair Kelly. Uh we're going to do this in a roll call, please. Councelor Albbright. I councelor Baker. Hi. Councelor Bixby. Hi. Hi. Councelor Block. I councelor Danberg. Hi, Councelor DS. Hi, Councelor Frell. Hi, Councelor Gentile. Hi, Councelor Gats. Hi, Councelor Greenberg. Hi, Councelor Gman. Hi, Councelor Humphrey. Hi, Councelor Kis. Hi,

Councelor Kelly. Hi, Councelor Kinsman. Hi, Councelor Liry. Hi, Councelor Lipoff. Hi, Councelor Lavitz. Hi, Councelor Lucas. Hi, Councelor Maliki. No, Councelor Mikley. Hi, Councelor Oliver. Hi, Councelor Wright. I President Bedo

I I apologize on this motion. The eyes are 23. The name you distracted me councelor Gentile. All right. Next the second part of the zoning item. Uh again councelor block. This is item 23825B. All right, it's a motion to approve by councelor Block. Do I have a second? Councelor Gentile. Uh, pardon. Any further discussion? We are going to call the role on this one. Again, remember this is a zoning item. Councelor Albbright. Hi. Councelor Baker. Hi. Bixby.

Hi. Councelor Block. I councelor Danberg. Hi, Councelor DS. Hi, Councelor Frell. Hi, Councelor Gentile. Hi, Councelor Gats. Hi, Councelor Greenberg. Hi, Councelor Gman. Hi, Councelor Humphrey. Hi, Councelor Kalis. Hi, Councelor Kelly. Hi, Councelor Kinsman. Hi, Councelor Liry. I councelor Lipoff. Hi, Councelor Labovitz. Hi, Councelor Lucas. Hi, Councelor Maliki. No,

Councelor Mikley. Hi, Councelor Oliver. Just to clarify, Mr. Clerk, are we This is 23825B, correct? Correct. Yes. I councelor Wright. I President Laredo. I on this motion the eyes are 23 the nays are one. All right. So the third in the trilogy of the Riverside project. Councelor Block. Move to approve item 239-25 special permit petition.

Do I have a second for the item? Seconded by councelor Krenman. Any further discussion on this item? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, call the role, please. Councelor Albbright. I. Councelor Baker. Hi. Councelor Bixby. Hi. Councelor Block. Hi. Councelor Danberg. Hi. Councelor DS. Hi. Councelor Frell. Hi. Councelor Gentile. Hi. Councelor Gats. Hi. Councelor Greenberg. Hi. Councelor Gman. Hi. Councelor Humphrey. Hi. Councelor Kais. Hi. Councelor Kelly. I councelor Krenman

I councelor Liry I councelor Lipoff I councelor Lobovitz I councelor Lucas I councelor Malaki no councelor Mikley I councelor Oliver no councelor Wright I President Laredo I this motion the eyes are 22. The naysay are two. All right. I'm going to recognize uh councelor Gentile. I think you have a motion you want to make, council gentile.

I do. Thank you for uh recognizing me. At this point, at this time, I would like to move reconsideration of docket item 238-25, PNS A in PNS B, and docket item 239-25. So, councelor Gentile just so we have an explicit record. I'm going to suggest we take each one up separately so we have very clear records. So, there's a So, we have a motion by councelor Gentile to reconsider 238-25A. For our new colleagues and those watching at home, reconsideration is something that a party on the moving side of a vote can ask for within 24 hours after the vote. And councelor Gentile's motion this evening is so that somebody doesn't wake up tomorrow morning who voted in favor of this have a change of heart run into the clerk's office ask for reconsideration and we then take it up on the 15th. We typically do not do motions for reconsideration unless there are substantive items like this one, like the budget, other things where we're near the end of a term and we want to make sure that actions completed. So, there's a motion for reconsideration by councelor Gentile. Do I have a second? Seconded by councelor princeman. Um, can we do this in a voice vote, Mr. Clerk? All right. So, if you are in favor of reconsideration, that means you want to relitigate this item, you vote yes. And if you're happy with the result that you just voted for, you vote no. So, there's a motion to reconsider the first item.

All in favor of reconsideration, please say I. No eyes. Against reconsideration, please say no. No. All right. Reconsideration fails. Councelor Gentel. Second item. I move reconsideration of docket item 238-25B.

All right. Do I have a second for the motion for reconsideration? Councelor Krenman. Again, voice vote. If you want to revisit your vote, you vote I or yes. If you're happy with your vote, you know, you vote no or nay. All in favor of reconsideration, please say I. All against reconsideration, please say no or nay. No. All right. You got two for three. Councelor Gentile, go ahead. Final item two 239-25. I would move uh reconsideration.

Uh do I have a second for the motion? Councelor Kinsman. Again, yes or I is in favor of reconsideration. No or yay is against it. We'll do this on a voice vote. All in favor of reconsideration, please say I. Seeing none against reconsideration, please say no. No. All right. Reconsideration fails on all three items. They are officially passed by the city council. Um before we go to the code of conduct item, which I suspect is going to take us a fair amount of time this evening, we two we have two uh items that councelor Gentiles placed on second call. I I would hope that they are quick and that we can dispose them. So I'm going to recognize councelor Gentile. Uh you can speak to both of them collectively, councelor Gentile, but we are going to take separate votes.

Thank you, Mr. President. So the two items are 299-25 and 318-25. Um they're matters related to workers compensation um in finance. At the last meeting, we were doing some uh agenda cleaning, some house cleaning, and there was sufficient interest in order to um see this carried over to the next council. um under our rules. In order to be able to do that, um I need to ask for a suspension of the rules to refer the items to the 2026 2027 council and which is the motion that I'm making now.

So, councelor uh Gentile has a motion on 299-25 to refer to the new council. Do I have a second for that motion? Seconded by Councelor Greenberg. Any discussion? Let's Can we do this in a voice vote, Mr. Clerk? So, um, if there's no discussion in favor of sending it over to the new council, please say I. Councelor, Hold on, hold on. Councelor Oliver,

sorry. This is um I'm just curious. I'm supportive of the idea of pushing it out to the next uh council for next term, but I am curious like what are there dockers attached to it? Is this how what's the mechanism? The the mechanism if it's referred to the new council, the new council takes it up with all the precedent that's behind it. The only things that you cannot refer over are land use items. They cannot be sent over because we sit in a quasi judicial capacity and the same judges need to be in place. Great. Thank you.

Okay. Anyone else wish to be heard on the item? We'll do it in a voice vote. All in favor of referring it to the new council, please say I. I. Opposed. All right. The eyes have it. And you have a second item, councelor Gentile. Yes, it's docket item 31825. Same um subject matter. And I would move uh suspension of the rules to refer this to the 2026 2027 council. Do we have a second for that? Council Greenberg second it. We'll do this on a voice vote. Again, all in favor of referring it to the next council, please say I. I. Opposed. The eyes have it. Both items referred to the new council. Uh I'm going to recognize Chair Kinsman from programs and services for our last item of the evening.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh this is item 25-24. Item to develop a code of conduct for the Newton City Council. Programs and services met on November 19th. Uh ultimately the code of conduct after a series of votes um series of amendments uh many language changes many uh iterations of of the discussion the committee voted six to zero to one to approve the item subject to second call. Um, by way of background, I don't want to speak for the doctors, but um, I think there were situations that came up within the city council over the last number of years that that some folks were frustrated there was not a mechanism to handle um, either through uh, the city's HR services or otherwise through the city council. And so, uh, it became the thinking that there was a code of conduct that was needed to be put in place uh, for the city council. This was the docket item that handled that. We handled it in programs and services and largely through the rules subcommittee though this was not docketed as a amendment to the city council rules officially. So there will sort of be more on that later. Um but at this point I think I can conclude the report and leave it up to maybe councelor Humphrey um to manage his amendment.

So let me uh because I do anticipate some amendments let me just try to give you a quick overview of how I intend to proceed with this tonight. Right now before us is an item from programs and services which is a code of conduct in and of itself. It is not a for as of now not a formal rule of the council but merely merely is the wrong word a policy that has been set forth by the programs and services committee that we as a collective body are being asked to approve. There are some amendments, proposed amendments to this code of conduct. I think councelor Baker has a couple. I know uh councelor Humphrey has a couple. My plan is to take what I would consider the more technical amendments, the linguistic amendments first. Then there are a couple of more substantive changes that are proposed. I'll hear those next and then hopefully uh we'll be able to vote on the item. however it's amended, whether it is no amendments, some amendments, or a series of amendments. So, with that, uh, Councelor Baker, I know you have a couple of proposed changes. I'm going to recognize you first and, uh, then I'll recognize Councelor Humphrey and, of course, anyone else who wishes to add anything, that's of course in order. So, we're going to we're going to deal, I hope, with the amendments one at a time. So, Council Baker,

thank you, Mr. President and I want to thank the chair of the committee and the colleagues on the committee and especially councelor Humphrey for the uh uh degree of effort that he has put in on this project along with uh and he'll speak to the process himself but I just think that should be acknowledged right up front. Um the text that we are talking about is the last part of the attachment to the programs and services report. So, in order to find what we're talking about as the base document, I would refer you to the end of the report. There's a red line version of a prior u excuse me, there's a red line version of the proposed code of conduct that shows lots of changes and then a clean version at the back end. My amendment relates to the clean version at the back end. Um, [clears throat] and they are really uh some small amendments that as I understand from councelor Humphrey, although he should speak for himself, he's comfortable with uh entertaining because they really relate to language and and trying to keep the language parallel. Um, the clerk, I think, has access to that through Miss Holden. Can you put that up, Mr. Clark?

Coming up now. So um this is u these are the changes uh basically in subsection E where it says safeguarding the institution of the council and respecting the public trust. The earlier portion of the docu document if you look at it speaks of shoulds rather than shall and I felt that it was important to clarify. So that language would be should strive to be well informed. Then item two is no change. Then item three is counselors should show respect for the public they serve including during public comment or hearings. That's slightly rewarded. And then u item four is no change. Item five is counselors should conduct themselves so as to main public confidence. That's again slight modification. And then um at the uh item B uh or excuse me 4A it said counselors uh rather than it is the duty of elected officials that said counselors should self police and hold themselves accountable to the code of conduct. So those are I think clarifying amendments um and I would move them at this point. Thank you. I'll be glad to speak to them if necessary.

Do I have a second for the amendments seconded by councelor Humphrey. Is there any um discussion on these amendments? Council, right? Just on the amendments for the moment. I wonder why um E3 didn't change to should because it has a shell there for changing all the shells to should. Um I think the let let me go back to the original text. Um the one I kept was

or four I should say. Four has a shell. Yeah. Uh this one I think is important to maintain because shall safeguard confidential information that's the I think is important mandate that is different from the others which are advisory. Okay.

Any further discussion on the amendments? Uh seeing none let's try to do this on a voice vote and we'll try to adopt all the amendments together. Those if you are vote yes or I you're in favor of the language amendments proposed by councelor Baker and seconded by councelor Humphrey. If you're opposed that's a no or nay vote. All in favor of the amendments as proposed please say I. I opposed. The eyes have it. The item docket item is now amended with councelor Baker's amendments. I'm now going to recognize councelor Humphrey and again let's take up the smaller amendments first and then we'll get to the more substantive ones.

Thank you. So, uh, you know, just briefly on process here, this is, um, the docket item from councelor Albbright near the beginning of the, uh, term, or maybe it was, uh, yeah, I think it was the beginning of the term. And, um, we did discuss, as councilors, uh, as councelor Krinsman said, we we did discuss this somewhat in the rules committee. We weren't quite sure where this should live. Ultimately, the law department made a few suggestions. So, when the time is right and we've dealt with all of the language, we'll get to a point of voting on whether or not to include it in the rules formally. Um, but we heard a presentation from a Newton North High School intern, Malia, who was assigned to research a whole bunch of different codes of conduct. Um, Carol Moore, our previous clerk, had also been working on that. Um and so we sort of compiled all those things together, different sections, different options, um from around Massachusetts, from around the country. Uh the document that you see before you is what ultimately came out of the programs and services discussion. And then the amendments that we're going to be considering now are things that we either didn't really find consensus on, I think, in committee, uh or there was points where the committee didn't agree, but I thought that the full council should at least have the opportunity to consider them. Um, we'll start with the uh what I had labeled amendment two. That's the closest we have to a technical point. Some people may disagree. That's fine. We can have a discussion, vote it, and then move on. Um, so this is uh section uh 3D. Um, and basically what this section is doing is incorporating the harassment prevention policy that we have for city staff into a body of text relevant to the council specifically because that doesn't currently apply. Um, the committee had a few very small wording changes there. Um, I would like the council to at least consider the version that we had

originally looked at. Um, which I have highlighted. I don't know if we can put that up on the screen. Um, is that a redline version, Council Humphrey? Uh, I had put it in blue highlights to make it very easy. However, however you do it, I'll just call it highlight.

Yeah, there we go. So, so um and and these I'm considering these together, right? If you if you don't like it or whatever, just vote no and we'll go back to how it came out of committee. That's, you know, doable. I just I prefer this language. This was the language that we had worked out in discussions with the law department and the HR department. I think it's a bit stronger. I understand that there is a separate question of what you mean by will not be tolerated in that we are kind of discussing how if any enforcement mechanisms we should have but this is the proposal that I would like us to consider for that language. I think it's a stronger statement to make and it is consistent with the language in the staff policy. Is there a second for that?

Seconded by council Albbright. Uh on the amendment only right now we'll entertain discussion. Councelor Baker.

Thank you Mr. President. Um, I did not support this the uh language that councelor Humphrey has proposed because I thought that um this was in different from tone than what we were trying to present. Um so I'm not going to support his amendment. I think that the language we have is important. U but I think that the changes here are not going to be helpful to trying to make sure that we follow what we need to do in this particular way. So the committee voted I think wisely in this case to remove the language. I understand his desire to return it, but I think the committee vote should stand. Thank you, Councelor Kis.

Just a point of clarification maybe through the uh president. Um councelor Humphrey, can you read what you're changing through the council Humphrey? Go ahead, please. I'm sorry. We'll let the chair programs of service. Okay. And I'm talking from to

right originally you you can't see the the language that came out of committee here. The way it came out of committee where the first uh highlighted word harassment that actually was instead of a period before it it was a comma and it said including. Okay. So it read it is the goal of the city council to promote an institution that is free of any harassment including because of one's race, color, national origin, ancestry. And then it ends at the word harassment. Does that make sense? Yes. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. And the second piece is just will not be tolerated in my my red line is crossed out here. It's just in there. So So it ends at the word harassment. The will not be tolerated. It does not appear.

The will not be tolerated is additional language that councelor Humphrey's proposing. And what he's proposing is in the second creating a second sentence beginning with the word harassment rather than the comma uh and the word including but no including was in there. Correct. Okay. Any further discussion on this item? Councelor Albbright. I'll just add that I think that harassment is a pretty important one and for all the reasons that are listed there, color, national origin, ancestry, age, etc., etc. So I think adding will not be tolerated at the end makes the statement even stronger. Thank you.

Anybody else wish to comment on this? Councelor Farrell. Thank you. Is there a clarification about what that will not be tolerated means, how that will be implemented? Uh if if is that a question to the president or councelor Humphrey? Councelor Humphrey you could try to answer that. Thank you Mr. President. Uh as I said I think we're in this we're just making a statement about general principles of what we do and don't tolerate. There is no mechanism discussed in this portion and there may not be a mechanism on that but I think it's a statement point.

Councelor Farrell go ahead. You may conclude your remarks. I understand the importance of the statement but when you say will not be tolerated it seems to me there is a consequence attached to that and if there is I think it should be expressed thank you anyone else councelor Baker I'll recognize you again I think councelor Frell has pointed out that the difficulty it's there is first you need an actor and an act or whatever the right grammar is here but I think the problem is that um you have addressed the issue that really uh led us to delete that in committee. I think the statement is very strong uh without these additions and I hope the council will approve.

All right. So, no further discussion on this item. We're going to call the role on the amendment because I I know there's several who support it at least. I don't know what the count's going to be like. So, if you are in favor of councelor Humphrey's amendment is seconded by councelor Albbright. You'll vote yes or I. If you are happy with the language as it came out of committee, you'll vote no or nay. Mr. Clerk, please call the role. Councelor Albbright, I. Councelor Baker. Bixby. Hi. Councelor Block. No. Councelor Danberg. I.

Councelor DS. I. Councelor Frell. No. Councelor Gentile. Councelor Gats. No. Councelor Greenberg. Hi. Councelor Gman. No. Councelor Humphrey. Hi. Councelor Kis. No. Councelor Kelly. Hi. Councelor Kinsman. Hi. Councelor Liry. No. Councelor Lipoff.

No. Councelor Lavitz. No. Councelor Lucas. Hi. Councelor Malaki. No. Councelor Mikley. No. Councelor Oliver. No councelor Wright. No. President Laredo. No. On this motion, the eyes are nine, the naysay are 14. So, the amendment fails. All right. Councelor Humphrey, you have additional amendments to propose.

Thank you. Yes, I do. Uh, this I've labeled as amendment one. This is under section two. So, in committee, it had been condensed down to just the part that's not highlighted in 2A. Everything else was dropped. Uh, this is my proposal to put that back in. Um, you know, not make or break, but I think it would be better to do it this way just procedurally for making it clear what's happening. Is there anyone who wishes to second this motion? Councelor Lobovitz, you want to second it? Okay. All right. I'm going to recognize councelor Baker to speak to the item.

Well, first, Mr. President, I think it's hard to read, so I think that u it may be helpful to have it read out. Um, but [clears throat] I will just indicate that uh I don't know whether councelor Humphrey could do that or the clerk could do that, but it's maybe it's visible to his computer, but it's hard to read on this screen. Um,

so I I'll try to I'll take the liberty of of doing it. As I understand it, A was strictly the first sentence that was there. Councelor Humphrey's proposed amendment adds additional language in B and A in A and a new B and a new C. The additional language in A is as follows. This signed acknowledgement will be kept on file and remain easily acceptable to everyone, including other officials, municipal employees, and the public. In the event that any member declines to sign the form, that fact shall be noted by the city clerk on the form. B. Signed statement to accept the code. quote, "I have read and understand the Newton City Council code of conduct will comply with the requirements set forth in this document." And then C, the acknowledgement process shall be repeated during the term if the council amends the code of conduct with immediate effect. All of that is brand new language. Councelor Baker,

thank you. Um, I appreciate the intent behind this, but I do think that the short version says what it needs to say. Um, and I think the rest of it produces a rather cumbersome process and one which I think will make it difficult to make this as effective, oddly enough, as it should be. So, I'm I'm respectfully going to oppose the motion and that's the way it came out of committee and I hope the committee recommendation will stay. Others who wish to be heard wish to be heard. Anyone else? I'm sorry, Councelor Albbright. So, um, it makes it cumbersome to create a file folder and put the forms in a file folder and put it in a file drawer or else digitize them and put them online. I I don't see how it makes it very cumbersome to just save the save the signed statements and put them in a file drawer and make them accessible. That seems pretty simple to me. Um, and they they could be digitized and put online. Um, and also I like the fact that um, councelor Humphrey has decided what that signed statement should read. I've read and understand the Newton City Council code of conduct will comply with the requirements. It just seems very basic, so I I'm not sure what there is to disagree with on this one, but thank you.

Councelor Gman and Lucas. Thank you, Mr. President. A clarifying question to my colleague from W 7 through the chair. It seemed to me that my colleague was not suggesting that that we decline to save and file the forms, but rather that we just decline to include this language because it's extra language that's not necessary to support the point. I I'm going to uh to counselor Baker if you want to respond directly. I

think that's correct. Also, if this ends up being a sub section of the rules, you'll have a portion of the rules which is going to be subject to a special process as opposed to the rules in general. Um, and again, we were all given a copy of the rules at the beginning of the term. So, I think that the deletions that the committee made were made made sense in this context. Um, and the information will still be available. Thank you. Uh, does that are you all set, council?

Yes. I just my inclination with this type of thing is that simpler is sometimes more elegant and more effective as my um colleague from W 7 had stated. I certainly think the process that's suggested here makes sense and is something we can easily and almost definitely would adhere to anyway. Um I just don't know that it needs to be spelled out here. Um and I think there's something to brevity as well.

Thank you, Council Lucas. Thank you. So, I'm going to be all over the map, okay? So, bear with me. Um, so is this u, you know, it says you have to sign this this code of conduct. Is that something we have to sign every term or is it you sign it once and we're done with it? or is it going to be a case where we sign it once and then if it's amended we might have to sign it again for the next term.

So I I think councelor Lucas uh it says upon taking the oath of office you take the oath of office each time you're elected. So, it would be every January 1st, a member of the city council would have to sign this document uh without councelor uh uh councelor Humphrey's amendments. Okay. So, without the amendment, we have to sign it no matter what. You sign it to begin it it says upon taking the oath of office and you do that typically on the 1 of January of every two years.

Yes, that's right. Okay. And then the other question was um and I think councelor Baker um I think might have stated my question and that is if the code of conduct if it becomes a rule and we vote on the rules at the beginning of the term why do we have to sign the code of conduct? Uh I I'll I'll make that a question addressed to the chair of programs and services since that is in the original item.

Sure. I can say that I at least I believe the thinking in council was that we uh acknowledge receipt of you know things when we're signed when we're sworn into office. You uh receive different policies of the city. You receive your paperwork. Um you acknowledge receipt of those. So this was one more thing that you could acknowledge receipt of. Oh, thank you. All set. All right. I I'll let councelor Humper, you wanted to offer something on the amendment.

Well, yeah, just briefly, um, you know, I think this provision we found was relatively standard in terms of other codes of conduct. Um, but respectfully, I don't think most of us are reading through every page of the rules when we're taking office, even if we're voting on it. You may, but plenty of people don't. And the reason it's often called out in that way is to say that you have read through this particular document. Okay. Uh councelor Albbright. Yeah. If people think that it's too long, then perhaps a statement could be added to the first to to the to um I can't read. If you're going to do that, you need to do that through a friendly amendment to what councelor Humphrey has.

So let me make this statement and then ask councelor Humphrey if you a friendly amendment. Um, so it would say if they received and received this code of conduct and then there would just be another sentence. This signed statement will be maintained by the clerk and be available to the public. So, councelor Humphrey, that's a what she considers councelor Alre considers a friendly amendment. Are you going to accept that? Well, I I mean, I don't really object to it, but and I guess it's simpler, but I don't know this. I mean, we have there's a section that was adopted by the committee, and that's fine. If people feel that this is too complicated, then

Can I make a suggestion here, folks? Uh, we have an amendment by Councelor Humphrey. It's proposed. Let's vote it up. Let's vote it down. If this thing passes, there's nothing to prevent the council next term from making modifications to this. And this is committee work right now. I mean, I'm I'm respectful of what councelor Humphrey's doing, but the idea that we're going to amend amendments to have other amendments with linguistic changes on the floor of the council, I don't think is good policy. So, councelor Albbright,

I just want to quickly respond that I I think I docketed this item maybe two years ago. So, it really isn't that easy to amend the rules or add codes of conduct or do things. It's not very easy and it doesn't happen very often. So, my suggestion is we do the best we can tonight. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Humphrey. We all set? Yeah. I I think just for the sake of simplicity and getting us out of here sooner, we'll say I'm going to stick with this as the proposal and people can take it or leave it. It's not going to, you know, break. Any further discussion on that item? We're going to call the role on this, please. If you're in favor of the amendment, you vote yay or I. If you're against, you vote no or nay. Go ahead, please, Mr. Clerk. Councelor Albbright. Hi.

Councelor Baker. No. Bixby. Hi. Councelor Block. No. Councelor Danberg. Hi. Councelor DS. I. Councelor Frell. No. Councelor Gentai. Councelor Gats. No. Councelor Greenberg. Hi, Councelor Gman. No. Councelor Humphrey. Hi. Councelor Kis. No. Councelor Kelly. No. Kinsman. No.

Liry. No. Councelor Lipoff. No. Lavitz. Hi. Councelor Lucas. No councelor Malik. No councelor Mikler. No councelor Oliver. No councelor Wright. No President Loredo. No. This motion the eyes are seven the nays are 16.

All right. So we are still with the initial proposal lot of committee uh with the amendments proposed by councelor Baker having been accepted. Councelor Humphrey, do you have further amendments?

Uh yes I do. So uh we'll go to amendment three which is a proposal on 4B and this would be uh dealing with what what's marked as section two subsection two there. Um and again this gets into the question of uh enforcement. How is this enforced? Um because what made it out of committee essentially didn't really have an enforcement mechanism. Many of the examples that we looked at typically had a role for the president in basically, you know, taking someone aside and dealing with what happened if there was a violation of the code of conduct. So this is in line with that proposal. And again, it's just that particular one. I've separated these out because they're substantively different from each other.

Uh is there a second for the motion? Councelor Albbright. Second of the motion. Discussion. Councelor Baker. And because it's just difficult to read, I hope the president would do the same. I will be happy to read this then. I'd like to comment. Thank you.

All right. So right now this is uh addressing and remediating violation section B one every C is is in the initial language and councelor Humphrey is proposing to add three additional paragraphs. Am I correct? Could you scroll down a little bit Mr. Clerk? Just the first of those three right now is what we're talking about. So Roman numeral two any city councelor.

No that's three. Uh Mr. President, do you want me to read the way it appears now at a meeting? I agree. Your your new number two is it is the role of the C city council president to enforce the code of conduct as needed or to recuse themselves in favor of the vice president or president a emeritus in case of a conflict of interest for or an accusation against the president. That is additional language that you want. That's one piece of the additional language you want. I'm I'm suggesting that we consider these separately as I think they all deal with a separate thing. All right. So that is the separate second item. Councelor Princeman,

just wondering if you want me to read the way it appears out coming out of committee. I would like you to do that so we can actually see what the differences are. Okay. So 4 A is the way it came out of committee. Council should self police and hold themselves accountable. Okay. Could we put these up? Is there any way to put these up side by side, Mr. Clerk? It's going to be difficult. Never mind. We'll just let councelor Crman read it as it came out of committee. Go ahead, please.

4B read as follows. Uh the enforcement of the code of conduct is summarized as follows. Every counselor is encouraged as part of a bystander intervention approach to speak up about perceived violations of the code of conduct and to offer support to affected colleagues, city staff, or members of the public. Hold on. Can you get it back on? You want me to read that again? Yes, we're going to get it back on. Section say should I think and then my amendments just to be clear. Back now.

All right. So, this is this is as proposed by program services and we're in 4B. Yes. Go ahead. You want to read that, please? The enforcement of the code of conduct is summarized as follows. Every counselor is encouraged as part of a bystander intervention approach to speak up about perceived violations of the code of conduct and to offer support to affected colleagues, city staff, or members of the public. And then I'm I'm trying to understand, forgive me for my [snorts]

So what came out of committee, Mr. President, it just ends there. The part that he read. So everything everything after that is up for discussion because we couldn't come to an agreement in committee. Well, it sounds like it came to an agreement, but the committee came to an agreement, voted it out, and and you're differing with the vote there. there the the the tenor of the discussion in on that particular area of the code was that one person had one proposal another person had another proposal and then at least two of us had another proposal so we were not able to reach an agreement so we said okay here's where it ends if it ends there tonight it works I am suggesting that there would be additional language

right so the I I just want to be clear the committee issued a report it voted out an item it voted out that item with the language that was presented by councelor Kinsman. You wish to change that language. You're making your amendment. We clear on that? Yes. All right. So, um you have three different paragraphs you want to add and you'd like each one considered individually. Yes.

All right. And councelor Albbright, did you second the first one? All right. We're going to debate the first one then, Councelor Baker. So again, part of the challenge of this process is to figure out uh where we've come from and where we're going. So I want to just preface my concern about the amendment. Um because what we have did in committee was to formalize uh we have statements of best practices. Members of the council will have seen them on the website. We also have a provision in section three of the rules relating to uh city councelor conduct. And the question that ultimately came up was what is this? Is this a statement? Is it a part of a rule? Is it an ordinance? That wasn't clear at the time. Subsequently, the law department has indicated that these uh changes really, if they're going to be binding, should be part of the rules. Um I think that's an important clarification and that's why I can support the item at this point. That wasn't clear at the time of the committee discussion. However, the question then of in committee we discussed what is the appropriate enforcement mechanism and at the time it seemed that the committee agreed that the committee, excuse me, that the um [clears throat] fundamental idea behind this was to set forth standards as the preface of the or the preliminary language in the actual uh approved document, excuse me, approved by committee indicates, set forth standards so that everybody knows what they're expected to do and but it's ultimately upon each counselor to take on the responsibility of enforcement. Um what this does is to give the enforcement power to the president. I I think there was difference in the opinion of those who favored enforcement whether the president should be the right enforcing authority and we have possible other amendment for an alternative that may come before us this evening. But the point I think is is is key here is that this is formalizing the conduct that we want to undertake and be

accountable for, but we're ultimately responsible to the voters. And so the process of having an enforcement mechanism built into it is not something that the committee favored, I didn't favor, and indeed is not part of our rules in general. So, I think it's important that we keep the draft that came out of committee um with a slight amendment that I made earlier and go on from there.

So, look folks, is there this I I will just share with you while councelor Humphre is entirely within his uh rights to grace this in the full council. That's what the full council's here for. This is in many ways words smithing type things that often take place in committee and the committee hammers it out and if the the will of the committee is such we move on. Uh but with that said is there anyone else who wish to be heard on this item before we vote on the amendment. All right seeing none we're going to call the role in the amendment. If you favor it you vote I. If you're against it you vote nay. And remember it is just what councelor Humphrey has labeled bullet point two. Go ahead, Mr. Clerk.

Councelor Albbright. Hi. Councelor Baker. No. Councelor Bixby. Hi. Councelor Block. No. Councelor Danberg. No. Councelor DS. No. Councelor Frell. No. Councelor Genta. Councelor Gats. No. Councelor Greenberg. I councelor Gman. No. Councelor Humphrey. Hi. Councelor Kis. No. Councelor Kelly. No. Councelor Kinsman. No.

Councelor Liry. Hi. Councelor Lipoff. No. Councelor Lovitz. Hi. Councelor Lucas. No. Councelor Malaki. No. Councelor Mikley. No. Councelor Oliver. I councelor Wright. No. President Laredo. No. This motion the eyes are seven, the nays are 16. Okay. So, Councelor Humphrey, do you still wish to go on to your other amendments? Yes, they are severable. Um,

so your next amendment, just so we're clear, is state would state, let me could you go scroll that back would say, make sure I read this correctly. Any counselor who violates the code of conduct should be encouraged to make an apology to the affected party acknowledging the harm and intent to avoid subsequent harm. Such apologies should be made during a public meeting when the violation has occurred in a public meeting or has been generally known to the public to maintain or restore public confidence in the institution of the city council. That's what you're proposing. Councelor Humphrey, it is.

All right. Is there a second for this? Seconded by councelor Albbright. Is there anyone I'm going to recognize councelor Baker to speak on this and colleagues? I think the committee report reflects the fact that we felt that this was something that was beyond the scope of a good start on the code of conduct. Um I think the difficulties of trying to imagine this being implemented is are self-evident. So uh respectfully I can't support the emotion amend. Okay. Further discussion. Councelor Krenman.

Thank you. Um I I also didn't support this uh in committee. Won't be supporting it now. I had some problems with the enforcement provisions uh for a living I interact with legislative bodies um in different parts of the country and I am very familiar with uh codes of conduct things like that and what most uh elected bodies do is they have a committee of the elected body that handles ethics complaints or complaints about the code of conduct so that they can police their members. Again, elected individuals are ultimately accountable to the voters, but within the body, there has to be some mechanism to enforce. It's why many of you received my email, which was proposing a uh ethics committee be formed of the city council, but that was proposed as a amendment to the rules. Uh, and as the president explained earlier, we're not talking about the rules. So, I've been told that that's out of order. But the point is that um I didn't prefer this uh enforcement mechanism. I preferred an alternative enforcement mechanism. and I continue to uh oppose this one as well.

Thank you, Councelor Kman. Councelor Larry, I learned that information in kindergarten. Um and I I just think it's not appropriate here. Um it's getting way into things that we First of all, I just want to say what councilman said is absolutely right. That's where I think it belongs. I just think this is unnecessary language. Thank you. Anyone else wish to be heard? We're going to call the role on this. If you favor what has been labeled uh number three by councelor Humphrey, you vote yes or I. If you're against, you vote no or nay. Call the role, please. Councelor Albbright, no. Councelor Baker, no. Bixby,

no. Councelor Block, no. Councelor Danberg, no. Councelor DS, no. Councelor Frell, no. Councelor Gentile. Councelor Gats. No. Councelor Greenberg. Hi. Councelor Gman. No. Councelor Humphrey. Hi. Councelor Kis. No. Councelor Kelly. No. Councelor Kinsman. No. Councelor Liry. No. Councelor Lipov. No. Councelor Lavovitz. No. Councelor Lucas, no. Councelor Malake,

no. Councelor Mley, no. Councelor Oliver, no. Councelor Wright, no. President Laredo, no. On this motion, the eyes are two, the nays are 21. Councilor Humphrey, do you wish to proceed with number four?

Uh, yes. So this is the final uh proposal that we had considered. I'm honestly not sure what was so objectional about it that it got removed in committee. Um but this is just a simple proposal um encouraging um the president uh to refer people to trainings if there's uh some ongoing issues here although I just changed it to violates and it says may it's not a requirement uh but you know facilitating setting that up. Um, so I I think it's a good step. Is there a sec? Is there a second for this? Councelor Lobovitz has seconded this discussion. Councelor Baker, you mind reading it again?

Uh, of course. Uh, is it if or when? Councelor U.

Uh, it's when and then I took out repeatedly. When any member of the city council violates the tenants of the code of conduct, the city council president or the vice president or president ameritus in case of conf of a conflict of interest for or an accusation against the president may ask the member to attend a training session to be arranged with the help of the clerk of the council's office in the city of Newton human resources department. Such training might be offered in-house or externally by the Massachusetts Municipal Association or another organization the department or clerk might recommend. Again, Mr. President, I think this language is laudable intent, but unfortunately I think it it creates a whole process possibility that uh didn't seem wise in committee and I don't think is wise of council. I don't recall anything where members of the c of the council are required or even advised as a possibility to undergo training uh for a violation of the rules. So um I respectfully will oppose it.

Is there anyone else who wish to be heard on this? Seeing none, let let's call the role please. Again, a yes or an eye is in favor of the amendment. A no or a nay is against it. Councelor Albbright. No. Baker. No. Councelor Bixby. No. Councelor Block, no. Councelor Danberg, no. Councelor DS, no. Councelor Frell, no. Councelor Gentile. Councelor Gats, no. Councelor Greenberg, no. Councelor Gman, no. Councelor Humphrey, hi. Councelor Kay,

no. Councelor Kelly. No. Councelor Kinsman. No. Councelor Liry. No. Councelor Lipoff. No. Councelor Lavitz. Hi. Councelor Lucas. No. Councelor Malik. No. Councelor Mikley. No. Councelor Oliver. No. Councelor Wright. No. President Laredo. No. On this motion, the eyes's are two, the nazs are 21. All right, councelor Humphrey, do you have any further amendments?

That concludes my amendments, which means that we have a completed code draft here. I had submitted uh to the city council a uh proposed amendment to the rules. This was at the suggestion of the law department as a mechanism for incorporation. Um this would create the what we have just agreed on as a new article. This would be article 13 of the rules and orders of the city council. Um and I think that that is the most appropriate mechanism. Uh you know there are other things that could be considered. they felt that that was the most comfortable place to situate it. If it were instead to be something like a um best practices document, that is sort of pretty loosey goosey. Um not really binding in any way and I think it's more appropriate to have it be incorporated as part of the rules.

Okay. Thank you. Is there a sec? Hold on. Hold on. Is there a second for councelor Humphrey's motion? Seconded by councelor Lobovitz. Discussion. We'll recognize councelor Baker then councelor Oliver. So I would rise to indicate I my support for this uh u uh incorporation in the rules. My reservation in committee was that it wasn't clear to me where and how this uh code of conduct would live as part of our city council uh uh process. As indicated there is a statement of best practices. If you go on the city council website you'll see that statement from 2018. Um it was a copy was attached to the committee report but that is something that was promugated by a prior president and is not binding at least as part of the rules. It'll be part what everyone on the council expects to u read and be available to the public. Um and I think it's a wise way to put this otherwise we have to make it an ordinance and that requires the signature of the mayor and a whole different process. So I think this is the right place for to put the uh revised code of conduct. Thank you.

Can I just make sure I understand you're you're you're speaking in favor of councelor Humphre just because I disagreed with him so much I wanted to make sure I just I want clarity that's all councelor Oliver

thank you again um it was my understanding and perhaps a question to councelor Humphrey through the uh through the president or perhaps even the chair of programs and services was my understanding that If the city council did did not want to adopt this as part of the rules, it could still exist as a nonbinding element that we are provided at the beginning of every term. I didn't hear anything in the legal um uh uh opinion that we received I think on Friday or perhaps even today that said anything about having to created as an ordinance for the mayor's signature. Can we just clarify that please?

Let me let me try to respond procedurally if I may. If we do not accept uh Councelor Humphrey's amendment, we can still vote this item, this code of conduct, but it would be a policy, no more than a policy. It would not be embedded in any ordinance or any rule, but it'd be a policy much like other policies that we've put together from time to time. Uh sometimes called best practices, but the same thing. If we adopt this, then it becomes part of our rules. Just to be clear. So, we can still either way we can we can and will vote on the proposed code. The question is whether it's incorporated in the rules as councelor Humphrey has suggested and councelor Baker supported or not. Councelor Humphrey, go ahead please.

Yeah. So, I think you know there are some range of options. The question is what is the best strongest option? The law department I think did clearly say that this was the most uh straightforward option to incorporate into the rules because for example you have to readopt the rules on day one at the inauguration. It's part of the ceremonies. You're voting on the rules. That way when you're signing that statement we discussed earlier that you've acknowledged you've read it. You have already as a body readdopted the rules. if it's a best practices document, if it's something more nebulous, if it's an ordinance, that gets into much trickier territory in terms of carrying it over from one body to the next, whereas this we know is going to carry over if it's part of the rules. I think that's the cleanest way of doing it and you know, the most straightforward.

Thank you, Councelor Humphrey. Councelor Oliver, great. I appreciate the clarification because it just it simply means that if we want this to have more teeth, add it to the rules. I think that's a fair statement. And if we don't add it to the rules, it doesn't go away. It's just nonbinding. That's I just wanted clarification.

That's also a fair statement. It's a statement of intent, not part of the rules. So, there is a difference. All right. Anyone else wish to be heard on the amendment? I'm still going to do the amendment on a um Did we get a second for that amendment? Seconded. Uh, was there a second for that amendment? Councelor Baker seconded. Let's do a roll call quickly on this one so we're really clear. I'm sorry. Councelor DS, could you speak into the microphone? Councelor DS and rise, please. I don't understand the amendment we're voting on.

We're voting on councelor Humphrey's amendment to make this code of conduct part of the rules of the city council. Thank you. Okay. And if without it, it becomes a statement of intent, not a part of the rules. Okay. Uh on the amendment, if you call the role, please. Councelor Albbright. I councelor Baker. Councelor Bixby. I Bixby. Hi. Thank you. Councelor Block. Hi. Councelor Danberg. Hi. Councelor DS. I councelor Frell. Hi, Councelor Gentile. Councelor Gats. Hi,

Councelor Greenberg. Hi, Councelor Gman. I councelor Humphrey. Hi, Councelor Kis. Hi, Councelor Kelly. Hi, Councelor Kinsman. Hi, Councelor Liry. I councelor Lipov. Hi, Councelor Lavitz. Hi, Councelor Lucas. I councelor Malaki. I councelor Mikley I councelor Oliver I councelor Wright I President Loreda I on this motion the eyes are 23 the nays are zero

okay we're now prepared to vote on the main item I did have a motion at some point to move it but I'll take another one councelor Humphrey you want to move to adopt I would love to move to adopt and I think we can probably do it on a voice vote given that. All right. Can we vote on this in a voice vote or would we prefer to have it on on the record? You can unless it appears that it's going to be a close.

All right. Uh I'm happy to do this in a voice vote. Do I have a second by the way for this? Uh councelor Albbright seconded. All right. All in favor of passing this code of conduct as amended to become part of our rules, please say I. I opposed. The eyes have it. We are adjourned at uh 9:21 p.m. Thank you all very much.

You're welcome.