City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, we'll call this meeting to order. Wow, that's a fun echo. Recordings in progress. We've got a fun echo. We've got a little bit of a new of an audio setup. As if anyone can't figure that out on their own. I'm going to keep talking here and see if the folks in the back can resolve this because this is not sustainable. Brendan, give me a flag from back there if there's progress. Or you want me to recite some poetry or sing a song? Welcome to the new curtain-less council chambers. The clerk noted that with the new backdrop behind me, I can get my passport photo from a person to save me

I do like that it sounds like we're all enthusiastically welcoming each other. Here, here.

All right, we will stand in recess for five minutes or whatever it takes to hopefully address this audio question.

11:12•WMWilfred N. Mbah

And everyone's so sorry. One more time. Quiet, Coyote.

All right, I'll call this meeting back to order. Madam Clerk, would you please, actually, I can see that there's a quorum in the room, so I think we're good there. All right, here's where we are. We have a new sound system here in the chambers. It is not functioning the way it did just an hour ago when they tested it or a few days ago when they tested it. We don't know why, we'll figure it out. For now, we got a lot of work to do, so we're gonna move forward. Hopefully everyone at home and in the recording some years later, if you're watching this, hopefully you can hear me. We are still gonna

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to remember, I want to remember Joanne Fontano of 26 Mount Vernon Street, my direct next door neighbor, sister of Sue Fontano, who's on the zoning board, has been the chair of that board. Very kind woman. I've lived next to her for several years and just grew up in the city, lived with her sister there, ran a hair salon together. There's always the person out shoveling the walk, cleaning the backyard, filling the pool, taking care of her sister. It's very sad to see her go. Just a little thing about her and her sister that I always found interesting is they gre

Yes, thank you. I wanted to recognize the lives of the people who have died since our last city council meeting in July at the hands of or in connection with being detained by a US federal immigration agency. Because even when it's not in the headlines, ICE and other federal agencies are continuing to deny people access to adequate medical care, holding them in inhumane conditions, separating families, and detaining and deporting people without rights to due process. So I want to remember Edwin Giovanni Lopez Cornejo, 39 years old, who died in Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jerse

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to remember Larry Aronson, a Ward 2 resident and longtime Cambridge Ridge and Latin teacher who died last month. Larry had a huge impact on me, my family members, and friends. As a part of the passionate teaching body in CRLS's pilot school, Larry educated and sparked the imaginations of generations of CRLS students. He taught us to ask tough questions about our world and our values. The importance of that couldn't be clearer right now. Larry, our city and our country and our world, we're more alive and more just thanks to you and your fellow curiosity-seeking

Mr. President, thank you this evening. This is actually one that I meant to do before the break. This is of Michael Ciparini. He was 58, of Lynn, formerly of Somerville, passed away suddenly on June 5th, 2026. He was born in Boston, raised in Somerville. Michael was the beloved son of Sandra Smith-Henron and the late Michael Ciparini, He was proud of his Somerville roots and will be remembered for his warm personality, quick smile, and ability to make everyone feel welcome. Above all, Michael was a devoted father and grandfather. He cherished his sons and grandchildren, especially his beloved

Okay. Would everyone in the chamber please rise, however you are able, to reserve a moment of silence for the aforementioned folks. Thank you. All right, Madam Clerk, next item, please.

All right, seeing no discussion, that item is approved. Next item.

Thank you. All right, Madam Clerk, next item.

32:34•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Councilor Ba. Thank you, Mr. President. Madam Clerk, can you read the next item as well, please?

32:48 – 35:36•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Thank you, Mr. President. Will those gentlemen come forward, and I will say a few words, and then I'll meet you guys at the podium. So thank you, Mr. President. Tonight I have citations for these two members of our community who have been incredible advocates for climate action. Eliza Johnson served for 17 years on some of these commission on energy use and climate change, and later on the Interim Climate Action Commission. Ramon Bueno also served for nine years on both iterations on the commission. Climate and sustainability work in Somerville has transformed and grown so much over that perio

All right, I'll call this meeting back to order. I can see that there is a quorum present in the chambers. Madam Clerk, those items are approved. Next item, please.

All right, I now declare this public hearing to be open. Is there anyone in the chamber or online here to speak on this item? Sir, please introduce yourself for the record. Go right ahead.

Mr. Harrington, can I interrupt you just to ask a favor? Can you pull that microphone down? I can hear you, but I want to make sure folks online can hear you. Thank you.

Anyone online? If you're on Zoom, please use the raise hand feature, which is down at the bottom of your screen. Seeing none. All right. There being no further comments, I declare the public hearing to be closed. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, that item is approved. Next item.

All right, and now let me try that again. I now declare the public hearing to be open. Anyone here to speak on the item? Jackie Duffy? We can, go right ahead. So 188 feet on Taylor Street, 20 feet on Sydney Street to a new manhole to provide electric service to 9 Taylor Street. I'm just reading this from the screen because the audio's a little low in here. All right, thank you Ms. Duffy. Anyone else here to speak on the item? Anyone online?

All right, seeing none, then that I would declare the public hearing to be closed. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is approved. Next item, Madam Clerk.

All right, I now declare this public hearing to be open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item? Jackie Duffy. All right, thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak on the item? Anyone online? All right, seeing none, I declare the public hearing to be closed. Any discussion?

Thank you, Mr. President. I just had a few questions about this. First of which, this is a long run down the center of the street to provide power to a lot where there is an existing pole with a transformer directly in front of the lot. So through you, Ms. Duffy, what is the reason why we need to actually dig up the right of way here?

Ms. Duffy, could you pause one sec? I want to get the audio in the room here a little bit louder.

Mr. President, I'll just point out that it seems like the transcription is working well, for whatever that's worth, as a way of understanding what Ms. Duffy is saying.

Thank you. All right, go ahead, Ms. Duffy.

Ms. Duffy, is this power supply to a transformer that is going to be placed on site by this project? All right. Do you know if that's a surface pad mount or a vaulted transformer? Okay, so you're placing a new manhole on Charlestown Street. You're running 201 feet of conduit to the property line and then you're... That's right. So the 37, it will be a subsurface of Alton Transformer on 37 Allen. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Mr. President, the project hasn't actually gotten its building permits yet, but it is projected to be a new 24-unit project there, passive house. So as much as I know

Ms. Duffy, you get all that? All right, if you come up with a new idea, let Councilor Scott know, will you?

Yeah, well, hey, at least there's no double poles on Allen Street, sir.

All right, thank you, Councilor Scott. Any further discussion? All right, seeing none, then that item is approved. Next item, Madam Clerk.

All right, I now declare the public hearing to be open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item? Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak on the item? Anyone online? Alright, seeing none, I declare the public hearing to be closed. Is there any discussion? Alright, seeing none, that item is approved. Alright, that brings us to the first of our out-of-order items this evening, and It's a long list, so bear with us, but we want to make sure that we get some important things out of the way, just so you all understand. We try and bump things up as close to the beginning of the meeting

Why don't you give us the Cliff Notes version, Mr. Mayor?

Be happy to receive some remarks from the folks, absolutely. Why don't you introduce the folks, or have them come up and introduce themselves for the record, and the floor is yours.

Any questions, comments, discussion? I saw a few folks indicate they wanted to have a quick recess to take pictures, which is one of our favorite things to do. Do you want to do the other proclamation first? We can certainly do that, and then we'll do it all in one recess if that's okay. All right. Not that we take cues from the mayor here, but I think it's a good suggestion. We like a good idea when we hear it. So that item is approved. Stay put. Don't go anywhere. We'll take some pictures in a minute. Madam Clerk, if you'll read the next item, the next proclamation.

Any discussion? All right, we'll take a brief recess for some pictures for both of these proclamations, and then we'll come right back. Stand and recess.

Right I'm going to call this meeting back to order I see that there is a quorum present in the chamber Madam clerk would you read our next item please next item is 4.2 By Counselor Hart and Counselor Link that chapter 6 of the code of ordinances be amended as detailed within Counselor Hart thank you so much so

I want to really appreciate here. So this is a ordinance banning the use of rodenticides on municipal property. And I really want to appreciate the work of Save Somerville Wildlife and all of the advocacy that they have done on this over the years. And then also appreciate Mayor Wilson and his action on this. And before we... I want to ask a member of Save Somerville Wildlife to come up and speak, but I'll just say that a lot of people are concerned about banning rodenticides, given that we have such a massive problem with rats in the city. And the fact is that the rodenticides do not work to

Thank you very much, Mr. Preston. Thank you to the Council from Ward 7 for including me on this. This is something that I've also felt quite strongly about. Obviously we do, as Council Hart said, we need to continue to try to work to control the rat population, but we know that one thing that actually does control the rat population are owls and other raptors and these natural predators that we're killing with these rodenticides and I think it's really important that we we already know just recently there was a bird of prey that died and we know that there's probably much more than that that w

Other discussion? You want to sponsor a speaker?

Yes, I'd like to sponsor Morgan Penny from Save Somerville Wildlife.

Council Hart would like to sponsor Morgan Petty. I see no objection. Afterwards, Councilor Clemon. All right, go right ahead. Please introduce yourself for the record and go right ahead.

Councilor Klingon. Thank you, Mr. President, through you. I want to thank my colleagues for bringing this forward and thank the advocates in the community and activists in the community. I'm happy to sign on to this. I'm also happy to see that I believe the mayor put forth a home rule petition, hopefully allowing us to ban it citywide, not just on city property as this does.

We're going to talk about that right after this.

We will be talking about it right after this. But I'll just speak on this. I won't speak on that then. But, yeah, just aside from the cruel death, the cruel, slow death that rats endure, rodenticides, they also harm other wildlife, including our cats and dogs, if they happen to get a hold of one that's eaten rodenticide. And then there are many in the U.S. There are thousands of accidental human rodenticide poisonings each year. So putting this poison into our environment into our city is it's not serving as far as the purpose that it serves it does a lot more harm than good we know that we ne

Thank you Mr. President and I thank my colleagues for bringing this forward. Hopefully this is indicative of an intention from the executive to change city policy. I know previously our response to homeowner requests about rat control is to dispatch contractors who place out that rodenticide rat bait so I'm hopeful that we'll hear from the administration about a larger systemic change. I know there have been multiple Multiple efforts called for over the years to support the raptor populations. You know, I had a falcon nest just above my house last year with three fledgings and haven't seen the

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate my colleagues putting forward this ordinance, and I also appreciate several people, including my colleague from Ward 7, pointing out how much more effective, how much more necessary it is in addressing the rat problem to address rats' access to food than using poisons. I did some research in the last couple weeks on this as an amateur person interested in this question. It's very consistent. Everybody agrees that poison is, in some cases, useful for temporarily depressing a rat population. But in the long term, there's no solution if you are not cutting o

Councilor Bob would like to sign on. Other discussion?

Councilor Clayton? Real quick, just two other quick points I wanted to make was that I read this really great article in The Guardian recently titled, I Love Rats, But We Can't Live With Them, The Headache of the Rise in Roading Populations. And this guy's been working with rats for decades in the sewers of New York City. And, you know, we recognize that rats are dangerous to humans' health. They carry diseases, so that's why he's saying we can't live with them. But they're also very similar to us. They're very smart. So the best way is to make sure they're not repopulating. And with the last,

Okay. So that item will refer to legislative matters. And then can we read item 7.1, please?

Thank you. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, that will follow the previous item to legislative matters. Thank you, Mr. Merritt. Madam Clerk, next item, we'll go back to 4.3, I think we're at, right?

Thank you so much, Mr. President. So in a moment, I want to invite up a speaker, a resident to speak on this issue. But first I want to just provide a little background on this resolution. And I also want to appreciate Director Lisa Robinson and City Staff Alisa Abel, who worked very hard on this and have been you know really advocating on this issue so what we're seeing in the case of SNAP as throughout other government services and all the things that we hold in common as public resources is that our government and our collective wealth is really being dismantled and undermined in order to t

1:25:35 – 1:27:16•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Councillor Hart, for including me on this. I just want to just uplift the fact that, you know, when we talk about access to SNAP, it's not simply a matter of whether benefits exist. You know, it is whether eligible families can reach the system and receive the support that they are entitled to. So when we talk about thousands of residents, including children and families, losing SNAP because of overwhelming phone lines, understaffing and procedural barriers, the consequences are felt directly in households. Food security and by local organization alread

Thank you. Councillor Scott would like to sign on. Any Councillor Wheeler would like to sign on? Any further discussion? Councillor Hart, you said you had a speaker. Councillor Scherzer, did you want to have a comment? I thought I saw your hand up. No? Yes?

If you'd like to speak, now's the time, and then we'll go back to Councillor Hart.

1:27:40 – 1:32:20•KSKristen Strezo

Thank you. I'm happy to sign on to this. I wanted to thank Councillor Hart for putting this forward. expand the conversation because poverty is often silent and so is hunger. Hunger is often silent and many people don't really know what's in our neighbors cupboards at home or refrigerators are at home or not. Just some quick statistics with what's going on in SNAP and the new federal regulations and the complications and the new recent convoluted process aside from the staffing issues statewide but federally. how complicated things have become where undocumented residents are no longer eligibl

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, I'd like to sign on to this. I never know what, you know, Haley's my boss, this is asking for more employees, whatever. I can give you some perspective, not only from just growing up and, you know, on government cheese and going out of the welfare office has become much more high-tech and I speak from experience that I work for EHSIT and we support those workers in those offices of DTA and I hear the amount of people that are in those offices every day and just how hard these DTA workers are working get people their SNAP benefits and I don't know if they'

Thank you so much to my colleagues for the support, and I'd like to sponsor Ray Santana to speak.

Council Hart would like to sponsor Ray Santana to speak, seeing no objection.

And just to note, Ray is gonna also speak for another resident who couldn't come tonight, so I hope we can have a little grace in the time limit. Understood. Thank you.

Any further discussion? Council Streisand? Okay, seeing no further discussion, then that item is approved. And there was instruction for a copy to State Delegation as stated in the item, thank you. All right, very good, thank you for that. Next item, Madam Clerk.

1:39:47 – 1:42:12•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Thank you, Mr. President. It's a pretty detailed resolution, but the main highlight is that an international graduate student at Tufts has experienced significant hardship arising from a dispute concerning her academic standing and the circumstances surrounding the termination of her program. So this resolution is meant to address not only the circumstances that led to the student's departure from Tufts, but also the lasting academic and financial consequences she may continue to face. Because international students can be particularly vulnerable when academic disputes affect their educational

1:42:17•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Madam Clerk, would you mind reading the resolution, please?

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk, could you read item 10.2 as well? I'd like to read 10.2 in the record. Sure.

On behalf of Tufts University, a comment related to this item. So I just wanted to call attention to that. We're not going to read it, but that item can be placed on file 10.2. Any further discussion? Councillor Hart, did you want to speak to this?

1:46:50 – 1:47:21•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Yes. After Councillor Hart. Mr. President, I'm glad you mentioned that, because he sent me those stuff. So I'm glad you brought that up. And so I will pass it on to my colleague. Yes. The vice president of government and community relations sent me the same stuff. So it's online, it's attached to the minutes. I'm glad.

It is a separate item on this agenda. It can be found under item 10.2 because it came in after the primary agenda was said. Amazing.

1:47:30•WMWilfred N. Mbah

So I'll pass it on to my colleague and then we have one speaker for the item. Councilor Hunt.

Thank you, Councilor Mabau, and I want to appreciate Councilor Mabau's leadership on this. And just to say briefly, you know, right now the position of international students and students in higher education is so precarious for so many reasons, and I really appreciate appreciate that our community supporting students and and international students especially and and the importance of having a union as well so I'm grateful that I could also sign on to to support this effort And I do want to appreciate Mr. Dorico's statement, which said the Director of Labor Relations will be checking in with t

All right. Councilor Ewen Campbell would like to sign on. Councilor Wheeler, you haven't spoken on the item. Councilor Scott and Klingon would like to sign on, and then we'll come back to you for a second crack. Councilor Wheeler, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you to my colleagues for putting this item forward. One thing I just want to be clear on is that this resolution does not presume that we know all the details about what happened in this case. What it does do is articulate the principles that are at stake here, and it calls on Tufts to engage in good faith towards a fair and comprehensive resolution of this matter. And as my colleagues have said, in an environment where our federal government treats shifts in academic status as grounds for street-level abduction, our government and educational institutions must

1:49:23•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Thank you, Mr. President. At this point, I would like to sponsor Chris Molinari to the podium.

Council Bob, I would like to sponsor Chris Molinari. Seeing no objection, please step forward and introduce yourself for the record.

Thank you. Any further discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is approved. Next item, Madam Clerk.

1:52:51 – 1:55:00•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Councilor Bhat. Thank you, Mr. President. This is about the workers who keep the Greater Boston offices, laboratories, university, and Logan International Airport safe, clean, and functioning. deserve access to quality, affordable health care. Many of these workers disproportionately are people of color and immigrants. And they are being asked to provide essential services while struggling to afford the health care they need. Even as the industry they support generate enormous, enormous economic wealth. Some of it believe that a strong regional economy must work for the people who make that ec

1:55:01 – 1:56:12•KSKristen Strezo

to speak to this resolution sure happy to co-sponsor this why do you raise some and why this is important that we are talking about this and that I'm really imploring everyone to stand in support and solidarity and also to spread the word, how important it is. According to 32BJSEIU, For security officers, 15% full-time security officers and 30% of local airport workers surveyed report being uninsured. 16% of security officers report taking on medical debt in the last five years, and 19% of airport workers report skipping meals or cutting back on groceries. So with that, I want to lift up and h

Any other discussion before we hear from the speaker? That's fine. So I, Councillor Baugh, would like to speak. Your name, sir?

Counselor, I would like to speak, I would like to sponsor Stanley Washington. Any objection? Seeing none. All right. State your name again for the record and go right ahead.

Thank you. Councillor Klingham would like to sign on. Councillor Link, do you want to speak to the item? Go right ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say that I sat in a meeting with this union and I heard all these stories, these really, really powerful stories. Stories about people who are skipping doses of their medications so that they can still pay their rent. And, you know, when I think about these things, you know, we're talking about the SNAP benefits earlier, this corporate welfare that, you know, we've been subsidizing and just kind of begging for more. It's just so incredibly frustrating to hear these stories again and again. And I really, really hope that it's a whole diaspora of differen

Read the discussion. Council Bob, back to you.

2:00:17 – 2:00:30•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I think, you know, since we didn't have to, you know, belabor the entire resolution, we just need the city clerk to send the appropriate copies to the folks that deserve to get that.

As indicated in the item, right? Exactly. Very good. All right. That item is approved. Next item, please.

2:00:54 – 2:03:02•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Councilor Batt. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. My alma mater, I'm sure, Councilor McLaughlin, too, 32BJ. You know, this is... facility workers at Tufts University, and they are essential workers of our community whose daily work keeps the university again clean, safe, welcoming, and functioning. As custodians, grounds, workers, desk associates, and skilled trade people, these workers contribute directly to the success of one of Somerville's largest institutions and deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and fairness. Just as simple as that. And so their current negotiations are abo

2:03:03 – 2:04:14•KSKristen Strezo

Thank you, Mr. President. So, some thoughts on this. Tufts is that a letter by the union was sent to Tufts and the current proposal that Tufts is proposing is not sufficient. including that last time I checked, and I'm sure you'll update us if anything has changed, but I think it's the same with the information I have, that Tufts is proposing that the following unsettling highlights be included in the new contract, a mere $0.64 by average salary increase in the new contract, and Tufts has rejected a request to reduce the monthly health care premiums for members, and Tufts is proposing eliminat

Councilor Straza would like to sponsor James Good. Any objections? Seeing none, please introduce yourself for the record and go ahead.

Councilor Klingin would like to sign on. Any discussion? Councilor McLaughlin, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll just speak on all three of them because I feel like every item applied to me directly in one form or another at one point. My mother was a janitor at MIT, represented by 32BJ. My brother was a security guard at Harvard, represented by 32BJ. I went to Tufts University, was a groundskeeper and a custodian at two different points. And at the opposite end of all of these are the most powerful institutions in the region. who have plenty of money to take care of the working people who do all the work around here in this community. So I just want to sign on to all three

Very good, thank you. Any further discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is approved. And that will take us to 4.12.

Councilman Kempin would like to sponsor Alessandro Seiter. Any objection? I'm seeing none. We have her virtually. One moment. Can we get the volume a little higher in the room? Try again. We're getting there. There we go. That sounds good. Thank you.

Thank you. Councillor Whaley would like to sign on. Councillor Klinger would like to sign on. Councillor Link would like to sign on. Councillor McLaughlin.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll also sign on and note that I was riding my bike here today going down Cross Street and the 80 bus was coming right towards me. Not anywhere near a Green Line station. Cross Street, Pearl Street, a lot of these areas. You could be standing in front of the entrance to the Green Line station in East Somerville and not be near the train because you got to walk about six minutes down this long path just to get there. Not accessible area at all. And I don't want to see this bus leave. I don't want to see any buses leave. What's frustrating to me with the fact that the

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, happy to co-sponsor this. Thanks to my colleague for doing most of the heavy lifting. And thank you for the community members who are speaking up this evening. Most of you know I grew up in Somerville, and I lived in all different parts growing up. The 80 bus has been a bus that I've taken probably hundreds of times growing up throughout my life in Summerville. I agree with some of the sentiments that have been mentioned here. The resolution put it perfectly. We don't have an accessible station. On top of that we you know a lot of times the green line isn

2:16:41 – 2:17:25•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank my colleague for leading the charge on this. Besides, this person who spoke online, that's my boss, just for the record. So any reduction or elimination of Route 80 service could disproportionately affect residents who have the fewest transportation alternatives and also undermine Our broader goals for equitable and sustainable mobility. So I just want to underscore that and that we need to continue to advocate for a transit system that connects neighborhood and ensure that no resident is left behind because they cannot afford or access a car. So

Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved.

Mr. President, quick question. Item 7.4, the fire department salary contingency appropriation, is that one that we are taking out of order?

It is now second on the list. Great, just want to double check, thank you.

I would like to sponsor Ann Ryan to speak about 90 Washington Street.

Councilor Goffin would like to sponsor Ann Ryan. Seeing no objection, Ms. Ryan, please approach.

Thank you. Any discussion? All right. Thank you, Ms. Ryan. That item will be placed on file. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Tillman. If there's no objection, I'm happy to recognize representatives from Local 76.

I do see Budget Director Mastromoni in the back of the room in case there are some questions about the numbers. Councilor Wheeler?

Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to see this immediately approved tonight, so I move to approve this item.

Councillor Whelan moves to approve. Any discussion on the motion? Councillor Scott.

Yes, Mr. President, on the motion, I just want to congratulate the mayor's team and, of course, the union. We've approved a lot of these, and there's a distinctive difference between somebody saying thank you, the process is concluded, and somebody who was really actually pleased with the process. So this is all credit to the new administration taking a different approach to labor negotiations, apparently. So thank you. I'm looking forward to voting for it. Further discussion?

All right, seeing none, do we need a roll call on that one? We do not, all right, seeing no objection, then that item is approved.

Oh, let's take a roll call anyway, it's just for fun. Yeah. And also because apparently we need to. Roll call on the motion.

All right. Very good. Thank you. Now it's official. All right. Next item, Madam Clerk.

The administration has asked that we consider this one this evening for approval. I think if given the election calendar, it was pretty clear to me why that might be and that was confirmed that there's some need to get this member into office ASAP. We have Commissioner Salerno here if there's any questions. Commissioner Salerno, did you want to say anything on the item before we go to any questions?

Absolutely. Very well. I did. At my request, the clerk did send a note to the council earlier earlier this week, just noting that this would be the request so that folks would have a chance to take a look at the request and come up with any questions. So, Mr. Avery, thank you for being here. Councilor Clingan.

Just don't we have like three members here that need to recuse himself from this? Sorry.

Interesting question. We'll leave that up to the law department. Any questions?

2:33:29 – 2:33:40•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Mr. Chair, it's no question. I think it's pretty clear to colleagues, traditionally, this would have been referred to committee, but we've had the circumstances surrounding this, so I move to approve.

Council Bob moves to approve. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is approved. Congratulations, and thank you for being willing to help.

We get that take that up together with 7.3 please.

all right so just a quick bit of background for folks who are regular viewers and there was a special meeting called by the mayor over the summer in order to put previous versions of these two documents before the council during that meeting there was discussion about there still needed needed to be some some improvements made and I raised many of those myself but Ultimately, the Council voted to approve those two items so that the process could move forward. Speaking for myself, the issues that I had were not substantive so much as drafting and clarification and just making it easier to serve

Very good, thank you very much. Any questions, discussions now? As I said, my thought is to send these to committees so we have a chance to digest them in due course and also hear from other members of the public if there's additional input, but any questions at the moment? All right, seeing none, then let's refer both of these items to legislative matters. Thank you. And then I'm going to ask if you want to take a break, but since it was raised here, let's go back to the regular order of business and start with item 4.1 because it relates to what was just mentioned. Was it on these past two i

If it's possible, could we just take one more item out of order? 4.10, I apologize.

All right, let's go to 4.1 and then we'll go to 4.10.

okay thank you manager Helen mentioned some of the provisions in the body one camera documents that were revised to better anticipate a potential Oversight Commission that was a subject that was brought up in the in the deliberation of the body one camera process and I I noted and we heard from the administration their commitment to move forward with that here we are I've had I've had a couple of discussions with members of the administration on a the timing for process no substantive I haven't any substantive discussions as yet but This is the first step. This is essentially calling for a to-

Thank you, Mr. President, and I just wanted to echo your comments that I very much relied on the mayor's commitment there, and I appreciate you putting this forward at this very first meeting because I'm also excited to see this move forward, and hopefully we can move it along very, very swiftly. Thank you.

All right, so this item will be referred to legislative matters.

Sorry, Mr. President, I had one. Go ahead. Just in the spirit of clarity and understanding, you mentioned there being likely some executive sessions coming up. In the spirit of explaining that, am I right in understanding those executive sessions, which are just private council sessions, the reason why we'll have those about such an important public matter is because there is an element here which will have to be worked out with the two police bargaining units in their collective bargaining agreements to somehow accommodate the existence and role of any civilian oversight board.

Yes, that is correct. Those negotiations are – well, my understanding is that those negotiations or those discussions are in their early stages, which is good. That's where we should be, as I said, sort of putting the horse out front of the cart. I had a discussion with the mayor last week or earlier this week, and he emphasized – his desire to make sure that those executive sessions discussions are really narrow and limited to the topics that need to be had in executive session and it's our intent to then have immediately following that a public discussion in open session so we can ask other

After really quick. So that one will be referred to legislative matters. Yes, thank you.

2:44:01•KSKristen Strezo

Mr. President, can we have a 10-minute break?

We're going to take 4.10 out of order, and then we'll have a break after that.

2:44:06•KSKristen Strezo

And then can we go right in? Thank you. Madam Clerk.

Councilor Link. Thank you, Mr. President. The city has a dearth of accessible housing, and we know that we need to do more. And to be clear, this resolution is not going to be enough. But my hope is that it's a start. It's a hopeful start. to the city, putting in some more effort where we really need to, which is to create more accessible housing. This came from some great discussions I had with one of our great residents, Crystal Huff, and it's asking the city to just create incentives for more accessible housing from private developers to make sure that we are just that we're adding and alwa

2:45:39 – 2:46:50•WMWilfred N. Mbah

You know, I think accessible housing is essential that is just to ensure that people, you know, with disability, older adults, and residents with mobility or other accessibility needs can live safely, independently, and with dignity, you know, in our city. So as our community continues to grow and housing costs remain a significant challenge, we must ensure that new and existing housing is not only available but also accessible to people who need it. So increasing the supply of accessible housing will strengthen our commitment to inclusion and also help residents remain in their community as t

Thank you. Any further discussion? Councilor Wheeler would like to sign on? All right. Councilor Young-Kevin, would you like to sign on? All right. I'll sign on that as well. Councilor Klingon? Councilor Hart? Can't answer Scott.

2:47:05•WMWilfred N. Mbah

This thing has gotten a lot of appetite, man.

All right, see no further discussion, then that item is approved. At the request of, I think, several of you through words or sharp glares, I will call a five-minute recess, call it a ten-minute recess for nature break, and we'll start our meeting after that.

2:54:31•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Oh, I see. I never saw that. No, no, but that was smart. And they didn't

All right, I'm calling this meeting back to order. I can see that there is a quorum present. Madam Clerk, would you please, we're going to take a couple of, one more item out of order. Item four, sorry, 9.25, please.

Councilor Link, you wanted to speak on this? Thank you very much, yes please. So just real quick here, this is an ordinance that is going to, or proposed ordinance that would remove the two foot minimum. So there's a lot of people who are interested in it. This came through as a public comment. There is a slightly different process.

Give the folks a little more color on which two-foot minimum we're talking about.

Oh that's a good yes sorry thank you so buildings by ordinance have to be raised two feet off the ground and this probably made sense at some point in our past and doesn't there's not really super great arguments for it now and Conversely, it creates some pretty significant issues in terms of accessibility because that means that you need to have a ramp going up at least two feet, which means that you're either eating into what could be used for more space in the units or creating a really large cost barrier. that's a problem we talked a little bit about trying to incentivize accessible housin

So you'll work with the community members that submitted these comments to put forth a proposed amendment to the zoning that will be submitted at a future meeting. That, of course, then will trigger what we said to the planning board, will trigger the public hearing to get the formal process started?

Thank you. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, that item is placed on file. Councilor Ba.

3:06:11•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Yes, Mr. President. I move to reconsider 7.2. 7.26, hoping that reconsideration fails.

7.26 is the appointment of election commissioner. Council Bob moves for reconsideration in hopes that reconsideration fails. Does anybody wish to change their vote on that one? All right, seeing none, consideration has failed. This item, Madam Clerk.

Councilor Strezow, quiet at entrance. Item 4.7.

3:07:13•KSKristen Strezo

Pardon me, I was having my dinner of a cupcake.

3:07:20•KSKristen Strezo

4.7, we're talking about the warming center now, correct?

3:07:27 – 3:08:25•KSKristen Strezo

Okay, so when we were – when some of us on the council were listening to the 2026 warming center – listening session of when it was getting to spring and what worked, what didn't, what the neighbors and of the abutters and residents and participants and many who were involved with the warming center in its location on Prescott this season. One of the abutters, actually a few of the abutters in the neighborhood were talking about very specifically how With the warming center, and again, as I've mentioned numerous times, this has nothing to do with not supporting the warming center and our effor

3:08:27 – 3:10:47•KSKristen Strezo

So one of the abutters, or a few of the abutters, but one sent an email, and then at the actual warming center listening session, talked about how while the warming center was not yet open and while people were lining up or leaving for the day, that, as we know, that's a path to a high school on Prescott. So From there, there was street harassment happening. One of the emails that came in mentioned, and I quote, both in the mornings and in the afternoons, I see young girls who are coming in and going from the high school face sexual harassment and catcalling, sometimes being followed down the

That's about all. Okay, Council Wheeler.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just echoing my at-large colleagues' perspective, when I've spoken with abutters on Prescott Street, what I've also heard is that these folks are not looking for reasons to complain about the Warming Center. I have heard support for the mission of the Warming Center. I've heard a sense of civic responsibility for this safe haven. And sometimes I've heard of some troubling behavior they've experienced, particularly also around issues like human waste. And, you know, also echoing my colleague, I think making these facilities able to fulfill their missions well and be so

3:12:18 – 3:13:52•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Streisand, for supporting this. I just want to lend my voice as well. I know some constituents that live across the high school and they've expressed some situations that happened to them and it wasn't the most fun experience. This is like a very physical, like from like kids even at the high school. So I just think that residents, pedestrian and neighborhood, you know, our borders deserve to feel safe and respected in their communities. So reports of, this kind of report of street harassment, you know, on the street or school street and in the su

thank you I think that all these these things are extremely important obviously and you know making sure that that our our residents particularly who live on or around the the street and are able to to feel safe and comfortable I also just want to make sure we're reflecting on that you know We're talking about maybe many of the people that are at this forming center are elderly, there's a large group of people. And we're doing a really great thing. So I just want to make sure that we're focusing on not just, you know, the safety of the people who are on the street, but also the safety of the p

3:15:06 – 3:15:35•KSKristen Strezo

Again, to emphasize that, I think it's pretty clear that no one is questioning that. And that we are all in alignment that that is a priority and a value here in Somerville. And we have to make sure as well, that our residents, our constituents, that everyone feels safe and heard, and valued and respected in this community.

thank you mr. president so I've had a few too many residents ask me about legal short-term rentals so I'm just trying to get some sort of sense of what we know and what we don't and I want to stress that I don't believe this is a case of you know the city sitting on their hands we have a short-term rental ordinance I want us to you know consider I guess what we're currently able to do what we're doing and you know what more we might be able to do you know we've know we've got a regional housing crisis and we've got from what my viewpoint seems to be a problem that we haven't quite pinned down

Other discussion? Do you want this to go to committee? That discussion could go to Housing Equity Community Development for the discussion, and then if we do have ordinance changes, we could send it to Legislative Matters. Sure. I don't want to push it to committee if you don't want to. It was certainly a conversation we could just follow up with the administration, but I thought it took from your comments that you wanted to have the discussion with committee, but that may have been me reading into it.

yes yes no that would be great also I believe there's I just wanted to call out I think there's been I had asked councillor Hart to be a co-sponsor to this one I don't I don't see her listed though what's that I can have her at it okay please thank you yes my apologies to the council from Ward 7 councilor Hart did you want to speak to the item

You don't have to, just wanna give you the opportunity. If we can, the next item is on the same topic.

Could we read in 4.9 then, please? Yes. No, I'm sorry, did I get this wrong?

Yep, you're right, you're right, you're right. 4.8, we're on, so let's take up 4.9 together.

Thank you so much, and thank you to my colleague, Councillor Link. So this is something I've been working on a lot in terms of, you know, it is such a big problem, as Councillor Link summarized, the problem of how this is, the lack of enforcement is affecting our housing market and availability for people to have long-term housing and driving up prices. And I don't think that... I agree, I know that ISD has been working as hard as they can to enforce this, but I think we need to have the discussion about how we can enforce it more systematically going forward and where have the challenges been

Thank you, Mr. President, and I want to thank my colleagues for bringing these two items. I'm happy to sign on to both of them. I think our short-term rental ordinance is something that this council is very excited about as a way to actually make sure that housing stock stays in the rental market as opposed to in the short-term rental market. And it's one of those few things that we could do directly to impact housing availability as a city council. Unfortunately, it has entered the Hall of Fame of unenforced ordinances right up there with the vacant property ordinance, which does the same thi

Councillor Laughlin. Oh, where to begin on this one, Mr. President, on the subject of unenforced ordinances. Well, first, just some background for people who might have went around when the Airbnb ordinance was passed a few years ago. First of all, one of the things I found is interesting is then we heard from ISD that they're not enforcing the vacant properties ordinance because they're very busy enforcing the Airbnb ordinance. Just as a subject on this, a few years ago, I was a part of the whole conversation where some of us were there about how to make this policy. And I came up with someth

Thank you, Mr. President, through you. Thanks to my colleagues for bringing this forward. I think these things are kind of cyclical. There's definitely been an uptick in discussion around this. You'll see it online. And I share the frustration with my colleagues as far as enforcement goes. I saw one recently, someone was saying that there was a vacant house, basically a single family home. So it's pretty egregious at this point where like you clearly don't live in the home nine months out of the year. It's been vacant for a year and now a bunch of furniture has been moved into it and you're li

Councilman, I'll just sign on. Councilman Link, do you have another comment? Anyone else haven't spoken yet? No?

Councilman Link? Just to kind of plus one to everything the council from well word forger said yeah I just saw from confirming you're correct there they do have some budget allocated to some fancy new software so that might be helpful to definitely see be interesting to see what that does I do think that there's there's more to it than just the software and it is truly it is egregious if you go onto Airbnb there's there's pages where it just says whole house it's I mean it's drop dead wrong so yeah we can I think there's a lot of work to do thank you all right seeing no further discussion both

Councilor Link. Thank you. I'll keep this one short. We had a great event in the spring, and looking around the city, it looks like maybe another round would be a nice chance for neighbors to get together, share community, and also make the city look as good as we think it is.

Thank you, Mr. President, through you. Thank you, Council Link, for bringing me on to this. I've advocated for the more cleanups, the better, obviously, but I do think this makes sense in terms of just kind of marrying it together with the slice of the city, so one in the spring and then one in the fall. As the leaves start to fall and the garbage accumulates over the summertime, I just think at least two flagship cleanups. But then, of course, I suggested a program where citizens can initiate a cleanup if the city can get that going, initiate a cleanup any time that's convenient for them. And

3:29:23 – 3:30:14•WMWilfred N. Mbah

You know, because clean and maintained public spaces are essential to health, safety, and quality of life of every, you know, resident. So I think a citywide neighborhood trash picker will provide an opportunity for residents, community organization, and city staff to work together to address litter, beautify neighborhoods, and strengthen community pride. You know, it's the year of the neighbor. So in that stewardship and shared spaces. So I also think that this should be more than one day cleanup. It should also help build a culture of shared responsibility and encourage ongoing efforts to ke

All right, that item is approved. Next item.

Thank you, Mr. President. Some of our small streets are particularly sensitive to the impact of parking in illegal zones because if cars or trucks park where they aren't supposed to on these small, small streets, emergency vehicles just cannot get through. Often vehicles which park in these zones, their drivers do not realize these areas are illegal to park in. They might be contractors unfamiliar with these particular streets. I've heard many of these examples. The mobility department has been marking streets for precisely this purpose, such as the fire lane that's on School Street, approxima

Thank you again, Mr. President. First, I just want to recognize this is an issue that's been worked on and pushed on by many people for a long time, including by my at-large colleague, Councilor Strezow, School Committee Vice President Leron Betone, School Committee President Emily Ackman, and many others, including in this room. Quite simply, we struggle to employ enough crossing guards, and we need to be able to staff every single crossing guard role consistently. We have students crossing very dangerous streets like McGrath Highway to get to school, and we should have no doubt that we're pa

President thank you through you I always whenever crossing guards come up I always tell the story of how when you went to the brown school in the late 80s when you got to sixth grade you became you got your post for crossing kids across the street I was on a permit I lived on charles Ryan Road outside and they revoked my permit in sixth grade so I didn't end up getting to be crossing guard but the point is is that a the streets were a lot you know quieter back then we didn't have so many commuters zipping through our streets And B, on another note, as you mentioned, this has been talked about.

3:33:41 – 3:36:05•KSKristen Strezo

Yeah, sure. Why not? Okay. Because this is of particular interest to a few of you in this room tonight. And by the way, first off, Mr. President, through you to Councilman Miller, thanks for the shout out. That's awesome. I appreciate that very much. And so since we have a few people... Mr. President through you now pivoting back to my thought on state roads so we have a few people interested in state roads this year a few running for state rep office or state senate office and and some of these roads that are state roads that don't have crossing guards that, I don't know, some councilors at l

Councilor McLaughlin. So, Mr. President, I'd actually like to withdraw this one because there's a little bit more work needs to be done, and I'll resubmit it later.

Councilor McLaughlin would like to withdraw the item. Seeing no objection, the item is withdrawn. Next item.

Yes, Mr. President, thank you. I move to refer to the following amendment. Wave the reading and refer. All right, Councilor Wheeler moves to waive the reading of those items and have them sent to Finance. Seeing no objection, those items are referred to Finance.

And then Mr. President, I move to take up items 7.9 through 7.11 together. My thinking with this is these are three very small dollar items, not that $1,000 is small, but in the scheme of the budget, and I would like to move to approve all three of these tonight.

Could you read items 7, 9, 10, and 11, please? That would work.

Council Wheeler moves for approval of those three items. Is there any discussion? Voice from above. All right, seeing no discussion, those items are approved. Next item, 719. Is that right, Council Wheeler?

Mr. President, I move to approve this item.

Councilor Wheeler moves to approve. Seeing no objection, let's take the soccer balls. And Councilor Ba.

3:39:24 – 3:39:41•WMWilfred N. Mbah

Mr. President, I move to waive 7.21 through 7.25 and 7.25. I move to approve these are new police promotions and so they don't require to come before the committee.

Five new police promotions of 7027 is an appointment to the Commission for Persons with Disabilities. Yes. It has been with new newly appointed officers to not send them to committee. since they've just gone through the whole process. So any objection? All right. And Councilor Ban moves to approve those six items after having waived the reading. Seeing no objection, then those six items are approved.

Discussion on this one. This is Council Bob. Did you want to speak to this one? This is an exemption. It's one of the things that we've, it's one of the items where we have a conflict. If you want to speak on it.

3:40:46•WMWilfred N. Mbah

No, no, no, Mr. Chair. I think that's moved to approve.

Okay. Any discussion? Any questions? Okay. Council Bob moves to approve. Seeing no discussion, that item is approved. Next item, please.

I do want a copy of that to land use. Yes, let's send a copy to land use, please. Let's waive the readings of items 8.2 through 8.5, please. These are communications from the school committee appointing members to the various ranked choice voting and public financing and place those on file. No objection. Those items are placed on file. Next item.

I do miss getting to talk about all the specific block parties, but if anyone's still watching... Check out the list, see if your street's on there. If it's not and you haven't had a block party recently, call the clerk's office. Find out how you can have a block party because they're wicked fun. That item is placed on file.

That item is placed on file. Counselor Hart.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to waive the readings of 9.1 to 9.16 and approve.

Council Hart moves to waive the readings of those items and approve them this evening. Seeing no objection, those items are approved. 9.7 is with John. Next item.

I think we should send this one to Legislative Matters to follow the related items there. So that would be placed on file with a copy of the Legislative Matters. Next item.

Chairman Scott, that's a little bit of a different item. Do you want those to follow as well? We could certainly place them on file since they're on the record. But if you'd like to have them in committee and put everything on the agenda at once, I'll leave that to your discretion.

Yeah, you know what? Send them to Legislative Matters. I was just thinking about mending the agenda for that public hearing night to include these just so the reference materials are in one place. So sure, please refer that to Legislative Matters, and I'm sure it'll be discharged with work completed.

Sounds like a good plan. We'll place that in file with a copy of the Legislative Matters.

Councilwoman Camping, you want that one in land use or you want to place it on file? Okay, we'll place it on file and send a copy to land use. Next item.

All right, there being no further business before the council, Councilman McLaughlin moves to adjourn. And we are adjourned. Welcome back. Hey, actually, before we go away, before we go away, even though we're officially adjourned, first off, huge round of applause to our tech folks who've got this all working tonight. Thank you so much. I know some folks have gone home, deservedly so, but that was, I mean, it sounds great. So great job. Thank you for that. And I also just want to shout out, we don't have holes in the ceiling. We got some fresh paint.