City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in This

is a meeting of the city council. It is Thursday, January 22. I am Lance Davis presiding. I use hehim pronouns. First off, pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2025, this meeting meeting of the city council is being conducted why do I always read that one? That's not the right one. The remote participation, but I guess it could be. It can be conducted via remote or hybrid participation. This is it is being recorded. And so we will post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City Of Somerville website and local cable access government channels.

Madam Clerk, please call roll.

This is roll call. Councilor Euncampan? Here. Councilor Link? Here. Councilor Scott? Councilor Cleen? Present. Councilor Strezzo? Present. Councilor Saeed? Here. Councilor Wheeler?

Here.

Councilor Hart? Councilor McLaughlin?

Here.

Councilor Mbaugh?

Present.

Councilor Davis? Here. With nine councilors present and two absent, have quorum.

Alright. Thank you. Know councillor Hart is under the weather tonight and is being kind and not bringing anything into the chambers that none of us might want to pick up from her. We wish her well. Pursuant to to our rule 32, let it be known that the city council salutes the flag of The United States Of America and let us up recall our oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth to the best of our abilities and understanding. We begin our meetings with a moment of silence. Are there any councilors wishing to say a few words about members of the community tonight? Councillor Wheeler?

Hi. Through the chair, I just wanted to recognize something I just learned, which was this winter flu season in Massachusetts. Five children and over a hundred adults have died of the flu. What's going around now is very serious. I encourage everybody to take precautions, to keep each other safe by getting flu shots, especially if you're feeling any symptoms, to feel free to pull out those masks. Thank you.

Councillor Klingen. Thank you Mr. President. Through you, similarly more

of a

general, just keep the, there was three fatal overdoses in the last couple of weeks. It was, I think, five total overdoses, three fatal overdoses. And I just want to keep those who have passed away, family and friends and loved in our thoughts and prayers. Indeed.

Okay. Would everyone in the chamber please rise as you are able for a moment of silence. Thank you. Madam Clark, first item, please.

Next item is 1.3, approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of 12/11/2025.

Seeing no objection, that item is or seeing no discussion. That item is approved. And then we'd like to take a few items out of order if there's no objection. And that will be items three and together, items three dot I'm sorry, four dot three, four dot four, and four dot seven. And I will note that I think before we move on, should note, I think this might be the first time in this is my eleventh year in the council that there's no grants of location hearings. I double I had to do a double take. And sure enough. So sadly we won't hear from all of our friends at the utilities, but hopefully that means everything's on its way and moving and we don't have to do anything else. Consort, you encampment on that point?

Mister president, I wanted to sponsor a speaker, Jackie Duffy.

It is it is a question whether we can actually get through a meeting without having Jackie Duck. Yeah. I I will note that it was there was a discussion about an item for which she may actually have been here tonight anyways, but sounds like that's not gonna be necessary from what I understand, but we shall see. Stay tuned. You never know. Alright. So if there's no objection, madam clerk, would you please read so that we could take together items four dot three, four dot four, and four dot seven.

Item 4.3, a resolution by councilor Schrezo that the director of health and human services immediately install menstrual product dispensers that provide free menstrual products in all city owned bathrooms. Item 4.4, a resolution by councilor Strezzo that the director of health and human services immediately install menstrual product dispensers on each floor of city hall that provide free menstrual products. And item 4.7, a resolution by councilor Schrezo that the city council calls for an end to period proverb excuse me, period poverty and an end to barriers making it difficult for residents to be able to afford menstrual products in Summerville.

Councilor

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues and newbies, get used to this conversation because I will keep talking about it until I don't have to any longer, which hopefully, fingers crossed, we're so on the horizon of it happening. Fun fact, city hall does not have a single menstrual product dispenser in any of the bathrooms. Any of of them.

Twenty twenty five, not one. What do you say we do something to change that? Because I don't understand why that is not has ever been considered. So, covering my bases, that is why four point three and four point four exist as they do. Seemingly almost identical, but not because menstrual products should also be free.

They should be as free as using paper towels in bathroom and budgeted as such. And if our new administration, respectfully, who I'm really looking forward to working with, I asking that the administration make an immediate budget allocation to change this and make menstrual products free and available to half the city staff. And that leads us into 4.6. Is that right? Let's see. Digit we didn't talk about 4.6 yet. We'll get to that one. 4.7, which is the resolution you did call this one. Correct? Okay.

That the city council call for an end of period poverty and end of barriers, making it difficult for residents to be able afford menstrual products in Somerville. Period poverty. One out of five menstruators, women and all who menstruate, can't afford period products. That's an issue. And it's real.

And with the cost of living going up and with inflation and all of the extra expenses, it is increasing by the day. Here to speak on that item, Mr. President, I would like to sponsor the Somerville Commission for Women. We have some commissioners here, and we are working we have an idea. And on February and I'm going to let them lead the conversation on this, and I'm so excited that this is happening. They are gonna lead the charge on this. They're gonna talk about it. And to speak on this item, we have here Alex Barbit. Come on forward. Come on.

Molly Lomenzo and Caitlin Firth of the Somerville Commission for Women. And I'd like to sponsor them to speak.

Thank you, Councillor Strzew. Councillor Strzew would like to sponsor the four mic speakers. Seeing no objection. If we would just please read your name in in in the circuit so we can make sure we get it down the on the closed captioning to the record. Then please go ahead.

Yes. Absolutely. Thank you so much for inviting

that mic down so that the folks online can hear you. Thank Thank

you so much for allowing us to speak tonight. I'm Alexandra Barbat. I am one of the co commissioners on the Somerville Commission for Women. And mhmm.

Hi, everyone. My name is Caitlin Firth. I'm a co chair for the Somerville Commission for Women. And I'm Molly Lemon, so I'm just a volunteer supporting them.

Not just. Oh, okay. So

earlier this week, the Somerville Commission for Women voted to unanimously support this resolution, and we're very proud and glad to be able to support something like this. As councilor Strezzo said, we are in the cost of living crisis, and we know that when the, you know, costs of necessities increase, things like food and housing, people are forced to choose between basic necessities and sometimes remove menstrual products from their budget. And we know that this can lead to reduced participation in society, lack of access to public spaces, and sometimes can even have devastating health consequence excuse me, health consequences, including death. And so so this is not just an issue for, you know, a small subset of our community. Fifty percent of people in Somerville do menstruate, and every single person who menstruates should have access to period products.

We believe that this resolution means that the residents in Somerville can walk into a public city building, which is a building that is meant to serve them and actually receive resources that will have a positive tangible impact on their lives. So thank you very much for allowing us to speak.

Okay. Thank you. Councilor McLaughlin like sign on. Councilor Klingen, I'd like to sign on. Councilor Saeed, the whole council would like to sign on. Councilor Strasser, do have anything further?

If I may. Thanks colleagues. Commissioners, is there anything else you'd like me to talk about or hold off on? Not at the moment. Okay. Stay tuned everyone.

Stay tuned indeed. I love the cliffhanger. Alright. Did I see a hand for discussion? Any discussion? No. Those items are approved. Do you want to have this sent to your committee or let the right bring another item when our cliffhanger is ready to be shared with the public perhaps?

Yes. Was thinking that too, Counselor Clean. Public health and public

safety, Okay. Right. So those three items will be approved with a copy to public health and public safety. Next item.

That brings us to item 4.1, a resolution by councilor Scott that the director of engineering and the director of mobility draft a plan to convert the intersection of Ivalu Street and Harrison Street into a pedestrian only open space closed to vehicular traffic.

That item is approved.

That brings us to item 4.2 by councilors an order by councilor Scott excuse me. Item 4.2, an order by councilor Strezzo that this council discuss a pilot program that incentivize backyard cottages and or accessory dwelling units in owner occupied properties.

Councilor Strezzo?

Sometimes I feel like I'm repeating myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm repeating myself. Just as we have discussed last year and the year before that and the year before that in housing and community development, now equity, I would love this to be sent there. I am going to be pushing again for more budget items, budget requests to incentivize and work with neighbors to see what it can take to really bring this into fruition.

Councillor Wheeler.

Thank you. Through the chair, I was excited and interested to see this item on the agenda and it sent me just poking around trying to learn a little bit more. And I thought one reference point that might be helpful to share my not being in the committee to discuss this was it looks like Salem has implemented a property tax exemption for ADUs that rent for below 70% of fair market value. It looks like this required a home rule petition at the time. I'm not sure if it still would.

And it also would require obviously assessors for the city to verify documentation of rental amounts and do do rental assessments, but only for those applicants who are in that situation. So it's interesting to see some folks are already doing this. They're doing it in a way that brings in affordable housing. I'm excited to hear the discussion.

Council Chasseur.

Yep. Thank you. So we've discussed this for three years in a row, possibly for in housing and community development. And one of the and numerous dialogues with economic development and also numerous housing departments and directors and conversations. What I've brought in past years and want to continue to bring forward is the New York State incentivizing program of production of the ADU plus one program.

And that is the budget request for those that are new to the dialogue, welcome. And I'm really glad that we can work together on this and hopefully bring this real. So welcome to the conversation. But we've been talking about this and hoping that because there is an appetite for it with residents and where are barriers and incentivizing it through, like, the example of the New York State program and getting economic development on board with this, we can do some really great things in Somerville and tackle the affordable housing crisis, which is very exciting. So very glad we have some voices that want to talk about. Thank you.

Okay. It sounds like a couple different possibilities and maybe some options that other towns haven't thought of yet. So you want to keep this in housing and community development? I think ultimately my sense is if we do come up with something that would be something that we send to finance to kind of, you know, do get the numbers. But from a concept standpoint, we wanna keep it in not what's not housing. What do we call it now? Housing equity and community development. It's now HCDE. It's housing community development and equity.

I we're have that tattooed

in the back of my hand so I can

Yeah. Mister president, if we had really, like, played around with it, could have made a cool anagram, but we didn't.

Well, you know.

We were we were working on the flight. But I I am open to the idea of of starting the conversation Okay. In housing, and then we can always discharge discharge it and send it elsewhere if necessary.

I have no objection to that. Seeing no other objection, that will be approved and sent with a copy to Housing Community to Vachman and Allen Equity. Thank you. Next item, matter of fact.

That's item 4.5, a resolution by councilor Strazo that the administration purchase and install outdoor patio furniture, including tables and chairs for the patio located outside of the 1st Floor of City Hall on the Highland Avenue side of the building.

Can

you picture it? Can y'all picture it? Imagine we have some some furniture, not the ones that can fly away in a strong windstorm. But we if we put some patio furniture out there, I've already had conversations with DPW in 2025 in making this reality, and they are on board. We have chairs. We create a community space where residents and employees and everyone in City Hall Concourse just have some really great moments on that really picture us face. Let's make this possible. And I'm asking the mayor's administration to send some cash this way to make this happen as soon as possible.

Alright. Seeing no discussion. That item is approved. Next item.

Item 4.6, resolution by councilor Strazo that the commissioner of public works install privacy film and replace the shades of the woman's bathroom on the 2nd Floor of City Hall.

Councilor Strazo.

Oh, another fun fact, colleagues. Did you know that the the windows in the bathroom as described in this order are are people can see into the bathroom on the 2nd Floor women's bathroom and out. And in the men's it is covered. It is there's it is shaded. It is covered.

And in the women's only 50% of it is. Now quite a few years ago, about four years ago, five years ago, there was no covering at all. So okay, 50% of it's covering covered. However, it's still very unprivate and feels kind of violating. And it's twenty twenty five. Five. So can we, like, take care of that? Can we send that to public health and public safety?

I will approve that and send a copy to public health and public safety. Next item.

Item 4.8, an order by councilor Davis that the commissioner of public works provide a written update to this council and the school committee on the status of restoring hot water to all areas of the Capuano early education center, including which areas are affected, actions taken, and an estimated timeline for full restoration.

Thank you. Could I read item 4.9 as well, please?

In item 4.9, a resolution by Councillor Davis that the Commissioner of Public Works provide to the City Council a full time equivalent analysis and recommendations for custodial staffing at each Summerville public school, including distinction between day versus evening shifts, disparities between school size, usage, and current custodial assignments.

Okay. These are both of these items were referred to me by the school committee with a request to place them on the agenda. So there'll be we've seen no discussion. They'll be approved with a copy to school building facilities and maintenance. Thank you. Next item.

Item 4.1, a resolution by councilor Davis that the administration prioritize finalization of a Davis Square neighborhood plan, including updating community input in the content of the plan.

Councilor Davis. Thank you,

mister president. This is pretty self explanatory, but I I wanted to to to say a a few words just to make it clear that, this is certainly not meant to be, adversarial. I have commitment I I I've been given commitment from both, mayor Wilson and, director Galigani that this is an absolute priority. A little back story when I when I was first elected and before I ever took office, then mayor Curtatone came to me and said, hey, we got some lab developers that are interested in Davis Square and we can read all this on red line. It's gonna be great. And I said, that sounds like a really interesting option. Let's have a neighborhood plan and a community conversation about that. So that's actually where the neighborhood this neighborhood plan process started. That was 2005. Sorry.

Nope. That was 2015. Still a long time ago, not quite as long as 2005. 2015, we still don't have a finalized approved neighborhood plan or small biz or what whatever you wanna call it. And so I as I said, mayor Wilson and director Galigani are are fully on board. They've already told me they've made it a priority. So I just thought it was worth, putting an item on the agenda so that if anyone's looking into the issue, they can see this on the agenda, hear this conversation, and hear confirmation that we know, we agree, and we're on it. And I look forward to that process moving forward. Thank you.

I think it's approved.

Thank you, sir. Next item.

Item 4.11, an order by councilor McLaughlin that the er of public works update this council on maintenance issues in the East Somerville, Kapiwanu, and Edge early schools.

Councilor McLaughlin. Thank you,

mister president. I did see another item about schools in general, so I appreciate that. I, of course, am always focused on East Somerville and the schools in my district that I've had over this past winter break. For example, the Capuana School issues with not having warm water, rodents like we have everywhere, the rodent issue persists, and just other basic maintenance issues that I would just like some conversation about, some answers. I find it's the best way to deal with it with this school building committee that we created to make sure the public knows about this as well. I've spoken to the city about it. They're addressing a lot of the issues, but the public always has questions. So I'd like to refer this to that committee so we can discuss it.

Okay. I see no discussion. That item is approved with a copy to school building facilities and maintenance. Just a process note oh, Councilor Schrezza would like to sign on. Councilor Bob would like to sign on. Just a process note. Absolutely no problem to have a couple different items that are related or similar or even overlapping. If those go to committee, the chair can then group them together for conversation. It happens, no worries. It's great if we have coordinated efforts as well. But as you know very well, Councillor McLaughlin, but for some of our newer members or folks in the public, it's not a problem at all if we have a couple different items. Thank you for that. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Item 4.12, a resolution by Councillor McLaughlin that the administration form a commission to investigate the possibility of a ranked choice voting as required by passage of the new city charter.

Council McLaughlin.

Thank you, mister president. As said, thank you. Ranked choice voting was a major discussion in our city charter conversation, and it was decided at that point, it's so complicated that it really deserves its own separate commission to investigate the possibility of it. So, as a part of the charter that we passed, we are required to investigate this. I just wanna bring it up and make sure it's getting its due diligence.

And also on a personal level, something happened to me recently. I can't quite say it. That made me suddenly think that it's very important to have elections where a mere plurality does not determine a race. I don't know what it is, but something to me thinks it's strange for someone to get less than 50% of the vote and not be an inherit a seat like that. So this is of course referring to local races. This would only apply to the city of some of our races. But it's something that we promise the community and I think we can deliver it and I'd like to get to work on it as soon as possible. I think legislative matters would make sense.

So any further discussion on that? So councilor McLaughlin, happy to send this to legislative matters. I can I can confirm that that this process is already very much well in the works? You've all councilors should have an email that went out today, I believe, requesting volunteers for this committee and and the two others that were created by the new charter, as well as recommendations for community members that the city council will be able to to assign to those. So if you wanna, you know, have a a further conversation with legislative matters, we certainly can do that. But in terms of at least getting the process started, we're we're we're definitely on it. I I need your your input and volunteers for for this and the

others as well. I am happy to approve it.

Alright. Very well. So that item is approved. Thank you.

Item four point t 4.13 resolution by councilor McLaughlin that the administration provide monthly updates to the committee on public health and public safety on progress towards addressing homelessness in Summerville.

Councilor McLaughlin?

So this is just a place order, mister president, from our last, couple years discussing this issue. I would like to refer to public health and safety.

Alright. I think my name was on that going way way back, so I'll sign on to that as well just to, reiterate that that's, that that was a repeat of that item. Any discussion? Seeing none, that is approved with a copy to public health and public safety.

Item 4.14, a resolution by councilor McLaughlin in support of an act ensuring law enforcement identification for public safety.

Councilor McLaughlin. Thank you, mister president. This will be my last one. But, senator Pat Jalen, our state senator, submitted this item to basically prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks within Massachusetts. I support it. I'm sure most people support it. We've discussed it around the horseshoe in the past, so I won't go into a big speech about it. But everyone but ICE thinks that it's a bad idea for law enforcement agents to wear masks. And if you're going to be operating within this community, you should at least be showing your face for the sake of the person and people around you that may need to identify you in the future in a court of law. So I would just like to approve this item.

Councillor Eunkemple would like to sign on. Councillor Link, Councillor Klingen, Councillor Seit, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Bah, the the whole council would like to sign on. Councilor McLaughlin, did you note whether there are any exceptions in the proposed statute introduced by councilor

I know there is there are exemptions where it would make sense such as if you had a a person what what would a a high profile individual under in detainment, and they did not wanna identify that officer for the sake of the actual person in question. So there are exemptions and there's also a question as to whether we can do this to federal authorities. But I also think it would be a good message for state and local police to not do the even though they're not doing it now, let's not have it happen in the future and be able to distinguish state and local police from a from ICE. Okay.

I think I noticed there were some few other accounts on your campaign, you wanna speak to that? It'd be better for you to do it rather than meet them up here.

Mister president, just to say, obviously, also exempting reasons for health and safety and things like that.

So, Veroll, so that is approved. Did you want a copy sent to delegation? We'll send a copy to the state delegation, please.

Item four point fourteen and fifteen, order by councilor Ewenkampin and councilor Scott that the director of mobility update this council on the intersection improvements at Webster Avenue and Prospect Street.

Councilor, you on campus.

Thank you, mister president. So the layout of this intersection where Prospect meets Webster, it is one of the most inherently dangerous in the city. It's a total nightmare. Councilor Scott and myself have put in many orders about this, and now we have a new year, new administration. So I wanted to resubmit this so we can share with the public. This is an intersection I get a ton of questions about, so we can share with the public project timelines. This intersection is part of phase one of the Union Square streetscapes redesign. I know that the city has made progress. This council recently approved funding to advance that work. And so I would just really like an update on whether we're moving forward with a quick build in the meantime or whether we're going to actual construction. So I'd ask that this be referred to traffic and parking, please.

Seeing no discussion. That item is approved. A copy to traffic and parking.

Item 4.16, a resolution by councilor Ewen Kempen and councilor Scott that the director of mobility implement colored lane markings for bus and bike lanes on Prospect Street between Webster Avenue and Summerville Avenue.

Councilor Ewen Kempen. Thank you, mister president. So also related to Prospect Street, the the lane markings are really confusing, and I I'm I'm not even sure that they've been updated since the sidewalk was reconstructed there. So the the ask here is really to just get, like, thermoplastic colors down for the bus lane, for the bike lane. It's sort of a free for all now. It's really, really dangerous, especially for bikes, but I'd say for all road users. If we could get, this referred to traffic and parking as well, I'd appreciate it.

Okay. That item is approved with a copy of traffic and parking. Next item.

Item 4.17, a resolution by councilor Ewencampin that the commissioner of public works install waste receptacles near the entrance of the warming center on Prescott Street.

Can we please take up four eighteen and four nineteen at the same time?

I'm clear.

And item 4.18, a resolution by councilor Ewen Campan that the commissioner of public works perform regular litter cleanups along Prescott Street near the warming center. And item 4.19, a resolution by councilor Ewen Campan that the administration investigate the possibility that deliveries, emergency vehicles, pickups, etcetera, occur in the Cummings School parking lot rather than on Prescott Street.

Council Ewenkampin.

Thank you, mister president. So the the overnight warming center that's at the the former Cummings School building on Prescott Street, it's now open for its second year. The weather right now is a perfect example of what an absolutely critical life saving resource this is. I'm incredibly grateful to the city that we have a warming center. And there are absolutely unavoidable challenges with having this facility in the middle of a residential neighborhood that's not particularly close to where a lot of the the patrons spend their days.

And I will say that over the past few weeks, there's really kind of been an uptick specific issues that residents have been reporting. I'm incredibly grateful to say that within a day or two of this kind of uptick in emails, mayor Wilson and his team asked to meet with the neighbors on-site and just have a face to face conversation that was very well attended. And it was really appreciated by myself, by the neighbors. And I think especially that the neighbors were able to to meet directly, not only with their mayor, but with the chief Benford, the director of emergency services, and really just have a a productive back and forth. I know the city staff has been working before and since that meeting, which I'm very grateful to.

And I also committed to putting in a bunch of these orders so that we can have public conversation just to make sure that we are taking care of the the the straightforward elements of addressing this. So these orders are are two of them are really straightforward. The there should be waste receptacles outside the center. Obviously, they they should have been there already. And I I know that they will be soon.

And I just wanted to put this in to to to mark that and also to ask for more frequent cleanups along this. I think that's something that we owe to the neighborhood. And then the third one is maybe gonna take a little bit more discussion. But right now, basically, all of the traffic associated with the center goes on Prescott Street, which is a a not a wide street. And, you know, it it that emergency vehicles, deliveries, people arriving, it it it affects the street a lot in terms of just traffic.

On the other side of the building is a large parking lot. Right? This it's owned by the city. So it seems like a of lot that stuff could be redirected to the parking lot, especially now that the Spring Hill construction lay down stuff has been moved. That said, there there may be issues that that complicate this ADA compliance, things like that, but so I wanted to be able to have a conversation. So I'd ask that all of these I would have asked for them to go to public health and public safety, which is now sustainability and infrastructure.

Still that one is still public health and public safety.

Public utilities and public works. Excuse me. Which one did that become? That is sustainability infrastructure. And infrastructure, please.

Alright. Alright. So no discussion. Those items are approved with a copy to sustainability infrastructure. Item.

Item 4.2, a resolution by councilor Ewen Kampen that the director of mobility pilot the installation of dedicated bicycle yield signals to operate during the walk cycle at several intersections throughout the city, including Washington Street and Summerville Avenue and Prospect Street and Summerville Avenue.

Councilor Ewenkampin. Thank you, mister president. So something like two years ago, councilor Wilson and I filed an order that has to do with safety issues around bicycles at intersections. And in particular, we really emphasized that there is extensive data, including from the federal government itself, back when we used to trust data coming from the federal government, showing that there is really clear public safety benefits to allowing cyclists to get a head start at intersections relative to vehicles when there are obviously no pedestrians or other road users. This is sometimes called the Idaho stop. It's where stop signs can be treated as yield signs, where red lights can be treated as stop signs in situations, again, where there are

no

pedestrians present. And especially because we have really limited resources to dedicate to enforcement, having to do with road safety, there's always a very legitimate question about prioritizing those resources. With the limited resources we have, how do we spend those dollars to actually maximize road safety? And is it worth it to focus kind of these very expensive hours of enforcement on behaviors that don't really cause any safety issues? So that conversation, I will say, it caused a lot of motion and a lot of response, but admittedly not a lot of progress.

I think there's a ton of ambiguity right now. People are very confused about the status of this. So I have a proposal, which is that we select some specific intersections where we've put some thought into this, and then put in specific lights for cyclists that are yield signs, you know, blinking yellow, blinking red, whatever it is, that can run during the appropriate whether it's the walk signal, whether it's a red light cycle, if that's safe, to remove the ambiguity. You start you're starting to see these kind of cyclist specific lights being installed around Cambridge and Boston, and I think this would be a good use for them here in Somerville. I've included two particular intersections in Ward 3 where I think they'll be particularly valuable.

I'm sure that there are others. And I I ask that this go to traffic and parking, and I also just want to say I I recently had a conversation with a person who is an artist who works in Somerville, who was pulled over at the intersection of Prospect and Somerville Ave, and you know, I don't wanna speak to the any intentions here, but that interaction led to this person being arrested, jailed in the Somerville police station, taken to court, and then everything immediately being dismissed because it was completely asinine. So I I just ask, is this a good use of our public safety time and dollars? I do not think so, and I think that there is a lot of urgency around this. Thank you.

Alright. So seeing no further sorry councilor Link.

I just want to thank councilor Unkampen for this. Having kids over at Argenziano, I am regularly a myself a passenger by bike or I guess a bike cyclist with my kids. But I've also seen to to your point, I've seen parents pulled over for trying to cross while there was a pedestrian signal without pedestrians in the way. So I 100% support this and I I I there's a very clear very clear need, especially with it being on a route to school. So I think, you know, safe routes to schools are super important.

So I just I really think that this is awesome. Thank you.

Okay. That item is approved with a copy to traffic and parking.

Item 4.21, a resolution by councilor Ewenkampen that the director of mobility prioritize speed hump installation and other traffic calming measures on Lowell Street between Summer Street and Highland Avenue.

Council, you're on cabin.

Move to approve.

Seeing no discussion. That item is approved. Next item.

Mister chair, could I sign on to that one?

Council, we Wheeler, I'd like to sign on to four twenty one.

Item 4.22, a communication by councilor Wheeler conveying that pursuant to section six two of the city charter, this city council will hold a public hearing on the community's fiscal year 2027 budget priorities in the committee on finance on 02/10/2026.

Councilor Wheeler. Thank you. Through the chair. So Tuesday, February 10 at six p. M, there will be a community budget hearing where every Somerville resident is invited to speak to the City Council's Finance Committee about your vision and values for our city budget. The hearing will be held virtually on Zoom. There will also be the possibility of coming into City Hall if coming in physically is more convenient for you. There will be live simultaneous translation in Spanish and Portuguese with additional languages available on request. The easiest way to request those is to call 311. They've promised me they'll put that request through.

And we'll be publicizing that Zoom link very soon. The city council encourages everyone to participate and everyone to help get the word out. You do not need to be a registered voter to participate. You don't need to be a particular age. You just need to be someone who calls Summerville home. So whoever you are, whatever your part of our community and your needs, we want to hear what's most important to you. In relation to that, mister president, can I make one more logistical note to the council about this? Of course. Colleagues, last year the community budget hearing was held as a meeting of the community of the committee of the whole. Currently this one is planned as a regular finance committee meeting.

The thinking was this is a hearing with the public speaking, not particular members of the committee. So that that distinction didn't matter a whole lot. We encourage everyone to join us and listen live. But if any of my colleagues feel strongly that you'd rather it be a committee of meeting of the committee of the whole, please reach out to me.

Thank you. And I will note that I did ask the clerk and it sounds like the it hit there's a the history is pretty split. There's there's been both regular committee meetings and committee of the whole. With technology, we can help all participate one way or the other. Alright. Thank you, councilor Wheeler. That item is placed on file. That Staying topic, on madam clerk. The next item.

Sorry. That brings us to agenda item 5.1 and officers communications. City clerk conveying information regarding the city council's responsibilities pursuant to the 2025 city charter.

Alright. So this is presentation. We have had the slides since it was first placed on file on the agenda a couple weeks ago. Hopefully, you had a chance to take a look. Our legislative and policy analyst, Brennan Salisbury, is here to speak to this to talk about some of the new things that the Charter says and some of the things that it says that are not necessarily new but still important and relevant. And one of which is the very budget hearing we just heard about. So mister Salisbury, take it away.

Correct, mister mister president. For the record, Brendan legislative and policy analyst. I will once again say that public speaking is not my passion, so I apologize. I will be looking at my notes quite a lot. So with the new charter having been passed by the voters, there are a number of new responsibilities for the city council contained within its provisions. I'd like to take this opportunity to walk you through those new responsibilities and answer any questions that you may have. Some of you did send questions ahead of time. Do I deeply appreciate that. There are some changes to the presentation's notes but not to the slides that I will address those questions through. So first, generally speaking I'm not a fan of wasted slides but I do always feel that it's a good thing to prime people for what's coming next.

So I'm not gonna linger here, just this is what we're going to talk about tonight. I will note actually, sorry if you can go back. This is one of the changes that I made to my notes. You may notice that this does not include anything about the timelines related to the budget. That is because there are no specific tasks for the city council to accomplish with those new timelines. It is just the two budget hearings. So, to the next slide. I'm diving in and ripping the band aid off here. The charter does require some changes to the way that orders and resolutions have historically been handled by this body. The issuance of binding directives to city staff has never been within the authority of the city council.

That is something that is quintessentially executive authority. There has been a historical practice of using orders as requests. In order to avoid frustration that comes from confusion associated with that, we are going to be using resolutions for requests and orders for orders. We will get to the things that you can make demands on in another slide. While this does seem at first blush like a really big change, I promise you that fundamentally, functionally, nothing has actually changed.

The request for actions that you would have typically submitted as orders in the past are still submittable as resolutions. We are just making clear that they are requests so we don't have anybody saying, well, you can't legally tell me to do that. Or having residents or members of this body confused as to why action has not been taken on a request versus, you know, knowing when an order has been submitted that you can demand a a response to that. I will take this opportunity though, as is my habit, as some of you have started to understand, to encourage each of you to make these requests through 311, through the IGA team, or through your own staff. I can promise you that for a lot of these things, we will get you a very quick turnaround on them.

Next, those orders. Access to information. Some of you may know, may have read the charter. I really hope so. A lot of you were around this horseshoe when we were working on it for the last few years.

Access to information is not new. This is something that was in the previous charter, but there are some new standards around it. Specifically, and this is what orders will be reserved for, these provisions do grant pretty broad authority to the city council. This is to obtain information about the affairs of the city, the conduct or performance of any city agency, and there is some language about it needs to be related to the official duties and responsibilities of the city council as elected officials, helping your constituents, you know, finding information about programs and issues that affect them, providing general insight into the functions of city government, informing yourselves on the activities of city departments for conversations regarding budget and things like that. It's a very broad sort of thing.

I am hard pressed to think of any examples where this would not cover a question that you might have. One thing is though that orders may not be framed as a request for information when information is not presumed to exist. What I mean by this is, to use an example, there is a very big difference between commissioning a piece of art and buying a print of it. You can't say, I'd like information about this insert new policy here if that new policy does not exist because there is an understanding that what you are requesting actually is the creation of a new policy and then a discussion of that. That would be a directive.

You are directing staff to do something and so it would be a resolution. We do ask that these be specific. That's very helpful not just for staff but also for members of the public and members of this council who might have questions about what is going on with this question. They do not need to contain every single question that you want to ask about a particular topic, but it should enough to guide people to understand what the discussion will be about. Also, there is a specific requirement in the charter that things stay on topic.

You cannot veer off into other things that are tangentially related. Let's see. Ah, yes. The section does also require fourteen days advance notice. I will once again reiterate that if you work with staff, there is a possibility that that fourteen days will not be required.

If staff are prepared to speak on an issue, if you've already had these conversations in advance and you're simply bringing this into the public, then it might be a lot quicker. So I do once again strongly encourage you to go through IGA and through your staff. Also general note for both orders and resolutions, I do strongly encourage you to let us know what your preference is in terms of response, written or having a person appear in person to discuss. Next up, confirmation of appointments. This is another one where it looks like a lot has changed, but actually not a lot has.

So, city council does retain broad authority over confirmation of appointments and reconfirmation of specific positions. What has changed is that there's now a timeline for confirmation of most appointments. And if the city council fails to act within that timeline, the appointment is considered approved. So for department heads, the city attorney, the chief administrative officer, the city council has thirty days from the date of the regular meeting where the appointment appears on the agenda to act on the appointment. There are some built in guardrails so that we avoid any issues with a appointment coming in right before recess and then being automatically confirmed during recess.

Recess. If you have any questions about those, I'm happy to talk about those later. Didn't wanna waste a whole lot of time on them. If you wish to reject an appointment for these positions, it does require a two thirds majority vote to reject. And for these positions as well as police and fire appointments, the rejection does have to be accompanied by a written reason for the rejection.

The city attorney has a two year term and is subject to reconfirmation if they are appointed to a subsequent term. And the review for that confirmation is the same as it would be for the regular appointment process. This is where the primary change is appointments to multiple member bodies. The city council has sixty days to act on those appointments. And appointments to multiple member bodies for quasi judicial and regulatory bodies are subject to reconfirmation.

The revised charter does codify the city council's current practice, which is to sort of automatically confirm any appointments to advisory committees. So there are no requirements for appointments to advisory committees to be submitted to the city council. That being said, it's my understanding that until we get some clarity through process of the administrative code and the review of multiple member bodies, that the administration intends to continue submitting appointments for bodies that they would have typically submitted those for in the past. Let's administrative code. So I'm going to start with a simple definition here, so we are all on the same page.

An administrative code is a body of law that governs the structure and function of government rather than the behaviors of non governmental entities like residents and businesses that operate in Somerville. Previously, the mayor had unilateral authority to reorganize the city in whatever they way they saw fit. The only oversight available to the city council was through the budget process. Now, you have the ability to review and approve or reject administrative orders or reorganization plans. The city council, and I want to stress this, does not have the authority to make any amendments to the administrative code.

That is the city council and administrative a change to the administrative code may not originate from the city council, but also when an administrative order is submitted or a reorganization plan is submitted, you only have the ability to approve or reject. You can certainly make requests for changes, but you cannot yourself make those changes. So the timeline for these is a sixty day timeline to act on the amendment. There is a requirement for a public hearing. And because of that requirement for a public hearing, we do have those same guardrails that we see with the confirmation of appointments to make sure that we don't end up in a situation where we're not able to hold a public hearing because of recess or something like that.

The threshold for approval or rejection of a proposed amendment to the administrative code is simple majority. And I do really want to highlight here that the city charter does require an administrative code. As a matter of fact, the specific language is that the city may only be organized by administrative code. That means that when the administrative code comes before you and is approved, there are a lot of parts of the ordinances that will need to come out. I would like to reassure you, I'm working on it.

This this is something that will be presented to you in a single package so that you can understand what is happening. The changes are necessary though. This is not optional. The charter very explicitly says that if there is anything in the code of it must come out. It is superseded by the administrative code. Next is group petitions. And I apologize. I am flying through this pretty quickly. But if you have questions, there will be time at the end for them. I'm generally opposed to reading off the slides, but this says pretty much everything that it needs to.

There's a new timeline for holding group petitions, which are petitions submitted by 50 registered voters. A public hearing has to be held within three months after submission, and a public hearing may not be held on the same subject within a twelve month period. That twelve month tolls from the time that the petition first appears on the agenda. Next up, budget hearings. Now that I've had my thunder stolen on this.

The 2025 revised charter does codify the current practice of the city council to hold an initial community budget hearing. It does require that this be held before the annual budget meeting, which gives the public an opportunity to weigh in before the creation of the budget. And it does also require a continuation of the practice of holding a public hearing on after submission of the proposed budget before the city council takes action on it. And that's it. So I am happy to answer any questions that you might have. And also do want to say that any questions that you don't get to tonight, I'm not going anywhere. Please email me.

First off, thank you. Excellent job. Very much appreciated. Any questions?

Councilor Clinton. Thank you. Through you, mister president. So the fourteen day notice, is that is that tied to like, would that be tied to the agenda? Or I mean, the agenda, you know, is seventy two hours. We've been asked in the past for seven days if we wanna have staff up here as a courtesy. So what are the fourteen days? Is it is that just like an email requesting or is that tied to the agenda?

Mr. President, through you to Councillor Klingon. So that is tied to when the item goes to the mayor. So it is not based on the agenda because basically the notice is the order itself. Okay. And so once that is distributed after the reconsideration period, that is when the fourteen day notice would begin.

Perfect. Thank you. Three, mister president. And the second one and this is already obviously in the Charter. It's all been settled and everything, but I I am I always am just troubled by this. So when we reject an appointment, if we if we're being if we're we're basically putting ourselves in the you know, with the Charter. If we put a reason in writing I mean, technically as elected officials, do we really have to give a reason?

Mister president

Isn't it a yes or no vote through you, mister president?

Through you, the charter does lay out some very specific standards for not just the process of rejection but also the reasons for rejection. It does require that generally could is considered sorry. Let me rephrase that statement. There are specific standards for the appointments of individuals based on their qualifications and things like that. The idea of this being that a mayor is not simply putting forward somebody because they like them, and that the city council has the ability to say in writing, we do not believe this individual is qualified.

So it's it's a it's sort of a check and balance on both sides of the equation, making sure that somebody is not being rejected simply because of personal differences and also making sure that somebody is not appointed for personal reasons.

Okay, thank

you Mr. Reza. Through you, I'm just confused about that because so if an individual councillor votes no but the person still passes through, that individual counselor wouldn't have to give a reason why they voted against an appointment.

Mr. President, through you that is correct. Certainly I would expect that that counselor would likely make their case before voting no, but there's no requirement that they do so in the Charter.

Okay, and then Mr. President, so yeah I just think that you know, and again this has already been settled in the Charter and those conversations have happened but I just hadn't really thought much about this one and then I think about would basically be, you know, essentially we're writing ourselves into like, you know, not a law lawsuit but whatever the outcome is going to be with the administration and how it plays out with regards to rejecting an appointment. We'd basically be, you know, giving a written statement that may or may not be used against us at some point?

Mr. President, if I may, I I know that wasn't phrased as a question but I do have a response. I would suggest that if you are concerned about the possibility of a lawsuit, I would strongly recommend speaking with the city attorney.

Thank you, mister president.

Councilor Bob?

Thank you, legislative analyst service. I'm trying to make sure that I get the title right. But I I appreciate you giving me giving us this information because next week, I'm planning to spend a lot of time with the city attorney because there's been I've had some experiences, but I wanna just kinda, like, clarify something right upfront. Imagine I have an appointment. I'm the chair. I got a phone call saying, oh, this person that is coming before you is a bad person. Oh, this this this. You know? Should I reject that phone call? How should I process that information? You know? Like, can you speak to that?

Mister president, through you, I I can't. That is

probably the attorney next week. Yeah. It's okay. There's been some because, I mean, I wanna really follow, like, a lot of this protocol. Like, everything you're saying is, like, top notch. But I again, there's, like, so much that we we that we handle behind the scene that, you know, it will be good to have maybe maybe the maybe that be for the city attorney so I can understand some of the run different scenarios so that I know how to better move this committee forward. Thank

you. So you encamping?

Mister president, just because we're talking about confirmations and there's some new counselors, I I just wanted to share a little bit of perspective on kind of where this conversation originated, my memory at least. So here's the like everything is going very well scenario. The mayor is trying to recruit someone to be the director of a department, and they're trying to convince them to leave their job and move to Somerville and take that job. It would be a challenge to recruit people if there was in our city charter, oh, yeah. The city council can, like, six months after you're hired, can fire you for no reason.

They don't even give you a reason. They can just say they don't like you, and they can just ham string the mayor over some, you know, BS fight they're having. That's what we are protecting against. Right? Where things are going well, you're trying to recruit high quality talent, and you're saying, if if the city council does have to approve you, but if they're gonna not approve you, they're gonna give you a reason. This is gonna be a reasonable process. That's the good scenario. The the kind of bad scenario from the perspective me as a city councilor is we have some god awful mayor and they are trying to get their corrupt uncle to be the whatever director of x y z. We need a break glass in case of emergency. Right?

We need to say like, no, we're not putting, you know, this person in front of this this department and here's scenarios. Right? Like, we're we're hoping and assuming that things go well and they're this is a professional context. Right? But we have these kind of edge cases that we're trying to control against. Did we wind on the perfect solution? I don't know. But that that is that that's the logic behind where it is. So, you know, someone that is considering taking a job here, putting their career at risk to take this job knows they're gonna be treated fairly during the confirmation appointment and also a mayor in the future knows, you know, don't put cranks up for these positions. The city council can stop you.

Thanks, president. Yeah. And thank you to councilor Kemper for that framing of more that's more on the department head HR side. I was just more thinking about how politics can often play out in appointments of of different member bodies that that when those things happen. But, yeah, certainly, I wouldn't be even considering playing around with somebody's livelihood or somebody who's coming here to take a high level position. That wouldn't be what I had in mind when I when I thought about whether or not we were able to just make a no vote without having to, you know, write a statement as such.

Mr. President, to clarify for Councillor Klingon, that is not a requirement for members of multiple member bodies. That is only a requirement for the I'm gonna rattle it off off the top of my head, city attorney, chief administrative officer, and department heads, and police and fire confirmations. So it is not a requirement for multiple member bodies. Okay. I clarified. Thank you. Councillor Wheeler?

Through the chair. It sounds like there are some outstanding questions about exactly how the criteria relate to the vote. And it seems like maybe would be a good idea for for us or you know, for perhaps clerks. I'm not sure. Perhaps you, analyst Salisbury, to to email us an explanation of that in the future. But we don't necessarily need to to get that clarified now.

So I don't actually know, Mr. President, through you, my apologies. I'm not actually sure what questions there would be still outstanding with regard to that.

Thanks. I'll try to articulate mine if that's okay through the chair. Just carrying on what councilor Klingen was saying. If a councilor or a set of councilors were to feel they they want to vote to reject an appointment. I heard a question from counselor Klingen, how does the reasoning for that vote factor into the vote? Do you have to say, I vote to reject and here's the reason? Can you vote to reject and later on state a reason? Can you vote to reject and never state a reason? I didn't hear an answer for that. I did hear that there's a narrow set of reasons.

And it may be that that narrow set stands in place of having to articulate one ourselves.

So mister president, if I I'll attempt to address this. There is nothing in the charter that explicitly states a specific set of reasons for rejection. There is a specific standard for appointment which can be used as a guide. And I will note that this is my interpretation in my professional role as legislative and policy analyst. For a legal opinion on this.

Would again strongly recommend that you speak to the city attorney. But my what I will say is there is no specific standard for rejection. Not one that is explicitly stated within the charter. There are certainly reasons for rejection that might put the city in legal peril. I am not equipped to speak on those and would recommend a conversation with the city attorney if at any point you wish to reject an appointment and you are concerned about that.

Thank you. Mr. Vice President, you take the chair for me. Thank you, mister president. And thank you again, analyst Salisbury, for for all that and and for all the discussion here. This has been really good. And I scratched few a notes here and then forgot my glasses, I'm gonna hope that I remember what I had written down. They're up there. On the point that we're just discussing, there's to my recollection, there's been there I can remember one case where the council rejected something, whether it was an appointment or a or a promotion. I don't recall.

And there was a a a reason given. My recollection and I would encourage the chair of the committee or any members who are, you know, as as the analyst said, concerned to to obviously speak with the law department. But, you know, specifically, if we can look at what what was done in that case, what was My recollection is there was a letter put together effectively, you know, by the chair of the committee on behalf of the committee sort of laying out the reason that I I don't recall specifically but I have to assume there is consultation with the law office in putting that together. So, that's what our that's what our our attorneys are there for to to help us with those questions. But it was I I believe it was done at least once.

I can only recall the one time. So, you know, we might start there to to look at what was done. That certainly that wasn't done under the current charter, so there may be some differences. But excellent excellent discussion. And as council as a good councilor from from war three says, hopefully, we never have to deal with this. And I have no expectation that we will, but you never know. Two other things I just wanted to to touch on. The good counselor from WarForm noted the the fourteen days. And the notice, this was a point that I bristled a little bit over in the in the charter that we would have sort of a a fourteen day, period rather than sort of what what had previously been a seven day period. But just to be clear, this this that is that applies when the council is compelling an appearance.

I don't recall that ever happening in at least my time here. As as as you all know, I and if you don't, then be be rest assured that in in every case, the the the administration is willing to appear when it you know, when it makes sense in accordance with the the the agendas. And I would strongly encourage all of the chairs of committees to to work together with the clerk's office and with IGA to to talk about, hey, before I put this agenda in, you know, and I've got this meeting scheduled in a week, what are you ready to talk about? Is there anything you really wanna talk about? You know, that you want me to put on the agenda?

Is there is there reasons why something might not be right? You know, I I always took that approach in sharing legislative matters and found it tremendously helpful because sometimes I really wanna talk about something, but there's a really good reason why it's not quite there yet. And so that that really helps, and and I've never found the administration any of the administrations with which would have worked, you know, to to be intentionally, you know, putting up road blocks for for no no good reason. Although perhaps some folks might feel differently at times. But any event, so, you know, I I I don't expect there to be a fourteen day period for for that it's my expectation that things will run pretty much the way they have been because we've always sort of approached it from a collaborative standpoint.

I would encourage folks to keep doing that. And then the last thing is the first one of the first items that that, mister Salisbury, you mentioned. And I I thank you for the way you presented the the the the discussion about orders and resolutions. I I another thing that I that that caused me to to bristle a little bit was was when this the way this was first presented to me and and we had a a discussion on it and we we came to realize that we actually completely agree. It was just how it was worded and how it was phrased, and so always a good reason to have discussions with folks that you think might disagree with you because it might turns out it might turn out that you actually are on the same page.

Which is the case here. As as mister Salisbury said, nothing has changed in terms of the council's powers whatsoever as it relates to, you know, orders and resolutions and what we can ask or tell the the administration to do. It is exactly the same it has always been. However, because we have had a practice of of putting what if what legally, effectively, objectively are requests in the contact in in in you know, phrasing them as orders, it's confusing for people. And it it causes a lot of, you know, frustration among the public, among others like, know, they're just ignoring the council.

Well, yeah, mean, it's not we actually can't compel them to do so. That is just an objective fact. So I initially thought, well, yeah, but, you know, I don't want to change it because it feels a little bit better to say order. But I was compelled to change my view on that because if we approach the request and present the request as resolutions, just basically, hey, we are requesting that you do this. It's still there. It's legally the same thing. But when we do order something, it actually means a lot more than it has historically. Right? If we if we keep the order specific to where with the the council actually does have legal authority to compel something, it makes it a much stronger vehicle. And I think that's that alone is is reason for for sort of changing our practice.

And and I think I hope that that will be I hope we don't have to use those. Right? As I said, it's ideally, never have to try and compel the administration to provide documentation or or whatever else. But if we do, it'll mean more because, you know, we won't it won't be something that that we that the folks see all all so often. So my thoughts on those three points that I just wanna reiterate for the other members, for the record, for for, you know, whatever else. Thank you, mister president.

Thank you. My councilor McLaughlin.

I do recall specifically what the case was. It was a civil service case that the city council voted to reject an appointment, and we were required to submit a written explanation because had the mayor rejected the appointment, he would have had to do the same thing in order to justify to the civil service commission why we rejected an appointment. So that was the context of it and I do think it's a good practice. First of all, don't vote against someone just for no reason. Have a good reason even if you don't state it because if you win, you're gonna have to explain it eventually.

But it is important legally to have a written explanation so that if you do get sued, people understand exactly why. And if you don't have a good reason, you're gonna lose that lawsuit. You should think about that when you reject And if you do have a good reason, you could win. In that case, we that civil service decision was upheld because we were on the right side of that issue.

Thank you. Further questions? Further discussion? Alright. Thank you again, mister Salisbury. Really appreciate it. And as always, the other thing that is is worth emphasizing again, as Brennan said, use our staff. We are I am thrilled that we finally have staff to speak of, which was not a thing for many many years. They're fantastic. So so definitely leverage those resources ahead of time as much as possible. It'll make everything run more smoothly and make your job easier. Thank you. Thank you, mister president. Alright. That is placed on file, madam clerk. Next item, please.

Mister president, you, may I ask that we go back to 04/2022 and place it on file with a copy sent to finance so that we have an item to post on the agenda?

Excellent idea. We will it's still the same resolution the same disposition, but we will send a copy of four point two four point two two to finance.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We are now at six point a committee report report of the committee on finance meeting on January 2026.

Councilor Wheeler.

Thank you. Through the chair. The finance committee met on Tuesday, January 2026 via remote participation with all five members present and with the help of clerk Delaney Fisher. We took up a six item agenda in a productive meeting of just over an hour. We recommended approval of two housing bridge pilot programs totaling $220,000 for the office of housing stability.

Those grants do not require a local match. The committee discussed how these bridge programs help prevent residents from being displaced, unhoused, or under housed while connecting them to longer term stable housing. We were excited about that. We further recommended approval of a time only contract extension, meaning no additional money required related to the Spring Hill Sewer Separation Project as well as a $103,421 transfer related to a memorandum of agreement surrounding vacation accrual with the Somerville Municipal Employees Union unit b. Our longest discussion was of the $65,000 municipal road safety program grant for the police department.

And this connects to the the topic of the Idaho stop and of the the sense of bike enforcement that Councilor Ewenkampen and Councilor Link discussed earlier. We had a good discussion with Director of Finance and Administration of the Police Department, Emily Wisdom, and Police Lieutenant Michael Holland about how the department plans to use this grant. We discussed, among other things how car enforcement will be targeted and chosen including how locations will be selected using crash and citation data. And how the program's focus supports safer streets for everyone who uses streets, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. There was discussion as there was with the addition of this grant from last year around what the department intends to do with the component of grant that is for cyclist and pedestrian enforcement.

The department representative said the focus of that component will be taking opportunities to educate and engage cyclists and pedestrians around safety and will also include purchasing and handing out safety items to those who don't have them, helmets, bicycle lights, that was a suggestion of the pedestrian transit advisory committee, pedestrian and transit advisory committee last year. So I was glad to see that added, as well as light up bracelets that are particularly useful to runners. But the department also said that this component will include some amount of stopping cyclists who officers see riding in ways they judge as dangerous. We did some discussing what does that mean. The committee emphasized that often, as councillor Link and councillor Ewencampo pointed out, when cyclists cross an intersection on a red light, they're often doing that specifically to be safe, to avoid dangerous traffic.

We also in our discussion did acknowledge that there are times that cyclists do do dangerous things. A cyclist riding fast can surprise and endanger a pedestrian in a cross walk. That was something important to recognize. There were also some questions about how thorough the safety item distribution was for this grant last year. And the police department agreed to share specific information with us about when and where items were distributed in the past year.

We that is information is still forthcoming, but they promised to give us that. There were also questions about how the driver's citation numbers in the grant application matched up with the citation numbers that we were hearing with the department. The department got back to us with a clarification about that as well, helping explain that those numbers were combining previous two years. So ultimately, overall, though the committee did express a desire for this grant application to be more clear in the future about plans for enforcement, the committee was satisfied that on balance this grant is a step in the direction of greater safety to all who share our streets. And with that, mister president, I ask that the this committee report be accepted as submitted.

Alright. Any discussion on the report? Alright. Seeing none the report is approved. Do we have any votes to come out of that one? No. Alright. Very well. Next item then.

And that brings us to six b one, a committee report, report of the committee on licenses and permits meeting on 01/21/2026.

Alright. In the absence of the chair, vice chair Wheeler, back to you.

Thank you. Through the chair. Yes. Due to councilor Hart being out with the flu, I am delivering this report as vice chair. So the licenses and permits committee met on Wednesday, 01/21/2026 via remote participation with all three members present and the help of clerk Michael Poteer.

We took up a three item agenda and a productive meeting of roughly forty five minutes. We considered a request from Union Square Auto Sales LLC for a class two used car dealer license at 39 Webster Avenue. This is a new business in the same location as a prior used car dealership that had similar operations. The committee voted to recommend approval of that license. And we also took up Eversource's request for a grant of location to install 38 feet of conduit on Warwick Street, just off Cedar Street in Ward 5.

There's a story there that goes back to this first being introduced in December. In short, a neighbor who lives right by the utility pole pointed out that there are already several metal pipes for enclosing wiring that help the wiring go up and down the utility pole. Those are called risers. And the pole is a bit of a crowded mess. So the committee were discussing that and wanted to make sure that this point was being considered seriously by Eversource and that this opportunity was being taken to figure out how to keep things neat and and clean them up.

We decided to discharge this item without a recommendation so we could get more information and and reach out to this neighbor for an update. And I'm happy to say that we were able to speak to with assistance from their ward five counselor Naima Syed. And the neighbor was able to speak with Eversource reps and come to an agreement about how they can lay that conduit while leaving the utility pole in good shape. So it sounds like everyone is happy. So I would like to ask that this committee report be accepted as submitted.

Any discussion on the committee report? So on the committee report, once we approve the committee report, the item on Webster app will be before us. So I have a discussion on that. Let's hold that on the committee report itself. Okay. So seeing none, the report is approved. Then that leaves item what is it?

Yes. Mister president

754?

Yes. That places six b three grant of location in front of the council.

Very well. On that item, councilor Sate.

Through you, mister president, thank you, councilor Wheeler, for the explanation. I would like to make know how we're going to approach this. Yeah. With what council Wheeler just explained, and I would like to make a motion to send this back to committee for further discussion. My constituent had a chance to speak to Jackie Duffy today, and I think they came to an agreement.

But this conversation did not happen in committee, and I think it's worth have having this conversation in public and making sure all the issues have been addressed. There's another point that my constituent made about the there's another project that's gonna happen, installing a cable on that same pole. So making sure or making a request to have these two projects done at the same time instead instead of digging up the street twice, do it once. So this is a request to the city. So, yeah, it sounds like the it's worth having further conversation about the conduit and trying to make this request in committee.

I can give my constituents a chance to express his concerns.

Councilor Wheeler?

Through the chair, Those concerns make perfect sense to me for context because this would involve digging up the street, which can't really happen. Well, the street is frozen solid. Understanding on the committee was that this work can't be done for several months anyway and that there isn't an urgent time pressure. So I think that should be fine.

Thank you councilor Willem. I do also recall the the utility representatives representatives noting that nothing's happening with any urgency. So my my recollection is consistent with yours. Alright. I have no objection from that end. Always best to make sure that all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. So this one will be referred back to licenses and permits. Thank you.

Item 7.1.

Councillor Wheeler.

Thank you. Through the chair, I move to waive the readings of all of the items in the seven section and to lay items 7.1 through seven point four and ten point six on the table. And for anyone who doesn't know what laying on the table means, it just means postponing those items to the next council meeting. And I would like to refer items 7.5 through 7.8, which I also propose to waive if we could refer those to the finance committee. Any discussion?

Mister president, just to be clear, I don't want to waive the readings of seven nine to seven twelve. I believe there's an accidental misstate.

Oh, thank you. Perhaps I misstated. I was only referring to the items up through 7.8. So thank you for for catching that.

Would waive the readings of seven one through seven eight and lane seven dot one through 7.4 plus also also waiving the reading 10.6 and and including 10.6 on the items laid on the table. My understanding is there's a little bit of a wrinkle with the timing with Community Preservation Act and because we have the budget hearing coming up we didn't want to create any timing considerations. Yes.

As a quick explanation through the chair. Fair. Yes. Given the community budget hearing scheduled for February 10, we wanted to keep that focused entirely on the budget hearing and not also address additional items in the finance committee. Some of these items, there's a question around their urgency. And so by laying them on the table to be able to be discussed and and possibly approved at the next council meeting that allows the possibility that we could approve them more quickly.

Potentially makes them move forward actually more quickly than they might otherwise. Is that Exactly. Okay. Very well. Thank you. Thank you for that explanation. All right. So seeing no objection, those items are 7.1 through seven dot four and ten dot six will be laid on the table, and seven dot five through seven dot eight will be referred to finance. Thank you.

And that brings us to agenda item 7.9, request of the mayor, requesting approval of the surveillance technology impact report for under door cameras.

Can we read seven dot 10 seven dot 11 together as well, please?

Yes. 7.1, a request of the mayor requesting approval of surveillance technology impact report for thermal imaging, monoculars, and 7.11, a request of the mayor requesting approval of the surveillance technology impact report for ball cameras.

Thank you. So just so folks understand, these are resubmissions of impact reports. Mister Salisbury mentioned earlier in talking about shoot, which one was it? Documents that we don't own, administrative courts, that we don't own and can't change but we can make requests. Here's another perfect example. These impact reports, we have conversations with the administration, they have been willing to make revisions, and so these three things are the resubmissions of prior versions, that did have a conversation in that committee. So I am grateful to the administration for continuing that collaborative practice. And so these will be referred to legislative matters for discussion or for for action.

Item 7.12, a mayor's communication conveying the temporary appointment of Eric Wiseman as interim commissioner of public works.

That item is placed on file.

Item 8.1, an officer's communication.

I should

turn the mic on. And item 8.1, an officer's communication. City clerk submitting an amendment to the rules of the city council to align with the provisions of the city charter.

That item is referred to legislative matters.

And item 8.2, an officer's communication, chief of police conveying a biannual report pursuant to section two six g of the code of ordinances.

This is the report required by the city's welcoming community ordinance. That item is placed on file.

And that brings us to item 9.1, a license, a new used car dealer class two license USA Auto Hub, 61 Prospect Street, 15 vehicles outside, Monday to Friday, 9AM to 7PM, Saturday, 9AM to 3PM, Sunday closed.

We'll refer that one to license permits.

And 9.2, a license, renewing used car dealer class two license RS Auto Incorporated 3 Craigie Street.

Any discussion on this one? This is an item that we might other that we typically would consider for approval this evening unless there's any wish to send it to committee? Seeing none. Alright. Well, that item is approved.

And that brings us to item 9.3, a public communication from Boston Bike Polo submitting comments about the Founders' Memorial Skating Rink.

That item is placed on file.

And that brings us to item 9.4, public communication from the Pedestrian Transit Advisory Committee submitting comments about bus routes ninety and eighty eight.

Councilor Wheeler? I just wanted to point out with with these comments that the bus routes ninety and eighty eight have been a topic of quite a lot of conversation, a lot of meetings, a lot of really helpful participation by the MBTA. I just wanted to speak as a voice in favor of those conversations happening in a way that really involves the people who use and rely on those bus routes, both in terms of the particulars of where it will go in the future, how that will relate to the McGrath project redesign and the frequency of those routes. I would love that to take the form at some point of in-depth cooperative planning meetings between multiple parties, including the MBTA, mobility, relevant counselors, community members to holistically address those questions. I think that's the best path forward to really having this serve people well.

Okay. Thank you. That item is placed on file.

And that brings us to agenda item 10.1 in order by councilor Seat that the director of infrastructure and asset management and the director of the office of sustainability environment provide a written report to this council on updates to measures and practices taken to assess, monitor, maintain, improve the physical environment in schools.

Can you also read 10.2, please?

10.2, in order by Councilor Sate that the Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management update this council on when the school building's maintenance project website will be available.

Okay. So has been our recent practice with items that are supplemental items, meaning they were submitted after the council's rules for submission on the regular agenda. But these were also submitted prior to the forty eight hours. So we we stay tuned on a further discussion to sort of more better clarify how we wanna how we got this all to work going forward. But my my thought was to to maintain consistency with what we've been doing, which is either lay these on the table or send them to a committee so that they can be without any action, so they can be fully properly noticed and fully discussed there. My understanding is that the the thought assistant to school buildings facilities and maintenance. Is that the preference?

Consciously Yes, mister president. I would like to send both ten point one and ten point two to school building facilities and maintenance.

Okay. So those are referred to school buildings, facilities and maintenance. As a reminder, then that will and a recommendation will be required in committee for that. So it'll be a vote to recommend approval or not, as opposed to just a discussion, which is fine. And that's that's how we'll handle that one. Next item.

And, through you, mister mister president, if I can ask the clerk to read all the items 10.3 through 10.5 Okay. Before I speak to to those. And that

brings us to item 10.3 in order councilor Saeed that the director of engineering provide an update on the construction of the Lowell Street and School Street crosswalks facing the Green Line stations. And agenda item 10.4, a resolution by councilor Saeed that the director of mobility add additional signage helping users of the community path get through Maxwell's Green to the community path and add clear signage directing users to the ramp and stairs on Lowell Street. And 10.5, a resolution by councilor Saeed that the director of mobility discussed with this council strategies for improving the safety of users of the community path, including improved signage, enforcement of the motorized van on the path, coordination with community partners to encourage cooperative use, and regulation of e bikes, including the imposition of speed limits.

And those three items will be referred to traffic and parking?

That's correct, mister president.

Alright. Very well. Thank you. Next item.

And that brings us to agenda item 10.7, a public event. Culture House applying for a public event license for Culture House Polar Putt on February 2 from 10AM to 7PM.

Love when we organically have a counterexample for a different interpretation of the rule. Here is an event that very clearly would need action tonight if it's going to be approved prior to it happening because we don't have another meeting for then. So it is there is some time urgency and that allows us some flexibility. So if unless there's any discussion on this item, aight, then see none. That is approved. And go play some putt putt in Union Square.

And that brings us to agenda item 10.8, a public communication from George Vroom submitting comments about snow plowing.

That item is placed on file. Are there any late items?

There are no late items.

And that is the adjourn. I stepped on your line.

No other items before

everyone. Councillor McLaughlin moves to adjourn and we are adjourned.