City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Alright. We call this meeting to order. Appreciate the the patience. We're dealing with a few little technical issues, so we got those all squared away. Today is Tuesday, March 26. I should have my glasses so I can read this. Bear with me a moment. Yeah. They're in there. Good. My name is Lance Davis, city council president. I use hehim pronouns. This is a meeting of the city council. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

This is roll call. Councillor Ewenkampin? Here. Councillor Link? Here. Councilor Scott? Present. Councilor Klingon? Present. Councilor Strezo? Here. Councilor Saeed? Here. Councilor Wheeler? Here. Councilor Hart? Here. Councilor McLaughlin? Here. Councilor Mbaugh?

Present.

Councilor Davis? Here. With all councillors present, we have a quorum.

Alright. Thank you. Please note that video and audio of this meeting will be recorded and may be shown live in local access, government channels, and on the City of Somerville website and will be available for future review. Pursuant to our rule 32, let it be known that the city council salutes the flag of The United States, and let us 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 councilors wishing to say a few words about members of our community tonight? Councilor Bah.

Thank you, mister president. I want us to remember the life of Marvin Ray Nutter, the that of our friend and colleague, Steven Nutter. Marvin's journey reflected resilience, service, and deep devotion to family and community. Born in humble beginnings in Harrison County, West Virginia, Marvin's early life was shaped by love, strength, and toughness. He went on to serve as our country with honor for twenty years in the United States Navy as a proud member of the Seabees, traveling the world in service of something greater than himself.

At the center of his life was his beloved wife, Deborah, whom he called decision he ever made. Together, they built a life grounded in love, sacrifice, and unwavering support for one another and their family. I us to remember him this evening. And then with your permission, I have another moment of silence. We also you know, we should I want us to remember Phil Revis, a remarkable man, you know, whose life was defined by excellence, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to others.

An Olympian, you know, a teacher, a writer, and a musician. His accomplishment alone set him apart. But what made him truly extraordinary was not just what he achieved, but how deeply he gave of himself. He was a mentor, a guide, and a steady presence in the lives of so many. He inspired not only true words but true action, true discipline, compassion, and a passion that resonated across generations.

His influence stretched far beyond any one classroom or field, from some of it to communities across Asia, especially in Macau. He uplifted thousands with his spirit, his charisma, and his belief in the potential of others. He didn't just teach, he transformed lives. Here in Somerville, we are reminded of his enduring legacy every time we pass by the Somerville High High School soccer field that bears his name. That field is more than just a place for sport.

It is a living tribute to his dedication, his love for the game, and the countless young people he inspire to strive for greatness both on and off the field. Today, as we honor his life, we also carry forward his legacy in the lessons he taught, in the courage he instilled, and in the lives he changed. His spirit remains with us.

Thank you. I'd like to sign on to that one as well. Councilor on any of those two or okay. On that one, go ahead, councilor Clint. You and Kevin.

Thank you, mister president. Through you, thank you to councilor Mbaugh. I actually had not heard that Phil Revis had died. His his partner lives around the corner from me so I saw him all the time. And just for anyone who hasn't, go look up the cover of Sports Illustrated that Phil Revis is on doing the high jump. The the field that this is namesake, my understanding that is the first thing that was memorialized for a black person in Summerville. And he a is major part of Summerville history and just a class act. He was such a such a wonderful wonderful sweet person in addition to this remarkable life that he lived.

Councilor Clegan.

I have a moment of silence. Thank you, Mr. President, through you. I ask this evening that we remember Joanne Gallo. Joanne was 85 years old. She was a lifelong Somerville resident. She passed away on March 20. She was the beloved wife of the late Peter Gallo with whom she shared sixty three years of marriage. Joanne was a devoted mother to John P Gallo, Deborah Mahoney and her husband Edward Mahoney junior all residing in Summerville. She was the cherished grandmother of Thomas Mahoney, Angela Sealy Gallo and Anthony Gallo, and loving great grandma to Renata Jay Gallo and Caden Sealy.

Joanne is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister Barbara Hanscom. Joanna found joy in many activities including visits to Salisbury Beach, dining at Brown's restaurant, playing bingo, going to the casino, and playing cards. Above all, she treasured spending time with her family, especially during Christmas parties. I've had the pleasure of meeting Joanne a number of times. She was a resident of Pearl Street Park at 240 Pearl. She was, you know, she would come to the the meetings about Gilman Square potential projects or whatnot. And her her her request was simple. She said, I don't care what you do over there. Just want a Dunkin' Donuts nearby.

And she was just such a firecracker, really always cracking jokes. She will be missed in that community and she'll be missed by all that new and loved her ass that we remember her this evening and our thoughts. Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. Would everyone in the chamber please rise as you are able for a moment of silence for the aforementioned individuals. Thank you. You.

Madam Clerk, next item.

Agenda item 1.3, approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of 02/26/2026.

Seeing no discussion. That item is approved.

Agenda item 2.1, a citation from Councilor Saeed commending Summerville Carbon Free And Healthy Schools for their advocacy to ensure that our community is more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Councilor

Thank you, mister president. I am very excited to be giving this citation to an amazing group, some of the carbon free and healthy schools. Thanks to the members who were able to be here tonight and to the ones who couldn't make it, especially parents and educators. It's a weeknight, we understand. The members I will be sponsoring shortly will tell more about their accomplishments, their goals, and what they would like to work on with us and with the administration.

Healthy climate resilient school buildings as you know it's something that I've been advocating for since I got on the council and before that when I was an educator. So this group means a lot, means so much to me and so much to the school community and I'm very honored to be celebrating their work tonight. This group is incredible on so many levels. The work they're doing is especially important right now as climate action is facing significant threats from the federal government. And some of the carbon free and healthy school members are school parents, educators, students, community climate activists.

I remember very clearly when the group started to come together after realizing that it's more powerful when all the stakeholders have a unified message and when they all speak in one voice as they advocate for climate resilient schools. Personally, I met and worked with many of the members way back when I was an educator at some of the high school and a union organizer with some of our educators union. And today,

as I

was preparing what to say to introduce the group, I was trying to remember how this group came to be. So back in 2021 educators, myself included, worked with a group of high school students on climate action in schools from climate justice work, climate education, to resilient school buildings. Organizing alongside that small group of student was who are very passionate and very knowledgeable was extremely inspiring to me. So 2021 marked the beginning of climate action in some of your public schools, and I'm really glad he was there for it. It was honestly some I've said it before where I think that's like when I think about what got me to run for office.

I always remembered like those students and what they really wanted to see. And so after that educators started integrating climate education in their curriculum and through the educators contract that was ratified in 2022. An agreement to receive regular updates from the city when actions that have been taken to make the school buildings healthy was something that was that was part of the contract that you are the very first, I said this before, city in the Commonwealth to have that in as part of an educator's contract. And little by little school parents and climate activists joined the educators and the students in organizing around climate resilient schools. Some of my colleagues here on the council will remember that a few years ago, the council unanimously passed a resolution that it introduced on actions to promote student and community health and resilience in the era of climate change.

So did our school committee. Both myself and the school committee member Baton worked with some of the carbon free and healthy schools to come up with that resolution. So we have immense admiration for this group, its dedication, their mission, and their bold advocacy. So I wanna say thank you for continuing to send the very strong message that healthy schools make healthy students and that all students in Somerville, regardless of where they live, receive educational programming in buildings that use zero fossil fuels. I would like to sponsor two of the members.

The first one, Corey Duneholm. And also the student, Babika Kalya.

Alright. Councillor Saiy would like I'm to

go first.

Sponsor these two members of the public. Seeing no objection, go right ahead. Just if you wouldn't mind just introduce yourself for the record. Thank you.

Hi, City Council. My name is Corey Donahue. I'm a resident of Ward 2, climate justice advocate, parent of a future Summerville Public Schools student, and a proud member of the Summerville Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Coalition. I'm here to talk about the need for healthier and safer school buildings in Summerville, the work of our group, and what the city must do moving forward. Schools are Summerville's largest public consumers of energy.

According to the city, somewhere between 50 to 60% of municipal carbon pollution comes from school buildings. Over the past few years, we've seen the immediate consequences on students, parents, and staff of deferred maintenance and neglect of the quality of school buildings like the Winter Hill School. We need to consider how this will affect other school buildings and the long term consequences on our environments, on the learning conditions for students, and on our budget. Transitioning schools away from expensive polluting fossil fuels has major positive impacts on our climate goals, on student health, and the city's finances. It was these goals and the desire to improve the Winter Hill School and all Summerville public schools that brought together the Somerville Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Coalition in the 2023.

I was involved due to the community organizing of another group called the Green New Deal for Somerville Public Schools, which was a collection of environmentally focused activists whose mission perfectly overlapped with coalition. The Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Coalition was a cross cutting group that brought together parents, Somerville Public School students, SCU teachers, climate activists, and representatives from a variety of advocacy groups. Through this work, we've helped raise awareness of the need for better school buildings. In 2024, as part of our advocacy, the city council and the school committee passed resolutions urging the city to prioritize decarbonization and commit to creating a timeline and a plan. The April 2024 Climate Forward Plan included, for the first time, goals related to the decarbonization of municipal buildings.

And members of our group were selected to advise the city on the future Winter Hill School, including its size and placement, as well as building specifications, giving us a voice to advocate for carbon free and healthy schools. As part of this work, Mayor Wilson has also committed to including initiative in November 2027 for Summerville residents to not only vote on the funding necessary for a new Winter Hills school, but also to vote on a second simultaneous debt exclusion that will fund ADA, safety, health, and improved building quality needs at all of Summerville schools. In order to benefit families across the district and minimize the likelihood of future unplanned building failures that could displace children and harm the city's schools. The city has clearly prioritized the improvement of SPS schools in no small part because of our work. And, I'm proud to have been a part of this group and to raise the importance of this issue in the community and to city leaders.

And, I want to thank the City Council, especially Councillor Saeed, for recognizing our work. However, there's much work remaining. Summerville has lofty environmental goals including net negative carbon emissions by 2,050, and the electrification of all municipal buildings by 2,050, which to be honest is not nearly fast enough. However, there is still no concrete plan to decarbonize and make more efficient the school buildings of Somerville. I'll say that again.

There is no plan and no timeline. There are intentions, there are commitments, and there are goals, and yet there's no clear plan for when or how it will happen. Somerville must show leadership in the caretaking and education of our students, and in the climate crisis by reducing emissions and protecting the future of our youth. The children of Somerville deserve ambitious action. Thank you. Thank you. Bhavika is going to speak.

Yeah, great. Thank you so much. Hi everyone. My name is Bhava Kakalia, and I'm a Ward 4 resident and a junior at Summerville High School. I wanted to first start off by expressing my gratitude, for the Summerville Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Coalition being given this citation.

And, I also wanted to just share my perspective today as a high school student and why the work we do is so meaningful to me. So I was first able to connect with Alex Hershey, who is amazing who is an amazing amazing educator, sorry, Who has spearheaded many great initiatives surrounding climate change my freshman year, which eventually led to me joining this coalition. And in just a few years, I learned so much about the climate action work occurring in Somerville and how students could get involved firsthand. And although there were certain aspects I had no knowledge about, and quite frankly, there are still some things that I don't understand as well, it was just such an amazing experience to be involved and learn about so many different things. And the coalition welcomed me so kindly, and I'll forever be grateful for that.

I've also been able to connect with so many wonderful people and organizations through this work. And I was even able to support and mentor students younger than myself with their own climate action initiatives. And that's what really brings me back to why I strive to do this work in the first place. Somerville is such an amazing and vibrant community, and I wanna ensure all of our students here are able to thrive in this city. And especially now that I'm able to run climate action clubs, educating students and, encouraging them to run their own climate initiatives at the very schools facing these difficult and challenging conditions exacerbated by climate change.

And I've also seen firsthand the impact one school's built one school building can have on their education. And I believe that every student deserves to learn in healthy and safe environments. And I also wanna emphasize that our coalition doesn't just believe that having we also don't just believe that having climate resilient school buildings is important, but also having school curriculums that reflect the importance of climate education. So I just wanted to mention that I feel so privileged and honored to be able to be involved in such amazing climate action and climate education initiatives. And, yeah, I just wanted to say thank you so much once again, and I can't wait to see the work that we do in this coalition in the future and the work that we can do in partnership with the city council.

Thank you so

much. Thank you. Councilor Syed? Wanna read the citation?

Okay. Read the citation again. Be hereby known to all that the Somerville City Council and the mayor offer the sincerest commendations to Somerville carbon free and healthy schools for their tireless advocacy for the highest environmental standards for any new school buildings and a clear timeline and binding commitments for comprehensive retrofits of all schools. The council is grateful for their commitment to making Somerville a leader in resiliency. Thank you. Thank you.

Do you want to take a quick picture?

Yes.

Alright.

Somebody jump up and I want everybody? Alright. We'll have a brief recess while we take a picture.

There we go. Thank

you so much.

Alright. I'm gonna go

back. Alright.

Priorities, my friend. I

need to remember that there's an explanation.

Yeah. Right

on that side is perfect. There we go. Ready? 123. Stay there. I'm gonna come a little closer and I'm gonna go the other way.

Alright. We'll call this meeting back to order. Madam clerk, next item. We're all here. Think we need to. Right?

Next agenda item is 4.1, a communication by councilor Davis in his capacity as president conveying this council's standing committee assignments and commission appointments for 2026.

That item is placed on file.

Agenda item 4.2, an order by councilor Wheeler that the director of constituent services update this council in the three one one system, recent and upcoming improvements, open roles, and the approach being taken to directing the wide variety of resident needs to provide answers, solutions, and follow through.

Councillor Wheeler.

Through the chair, I've had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Constituent Services Director Steve Craig and seeing not only the hard work that the whole three eleven team does on a daily basis, but the planning and coordination work that's happening behind the scenes. I would love to invite Director Craig to present to this council on that ongoing work and I'd be happy for that to happen in any forum in a particular committee, perhaps sustainability infrastructure or in the general council.

Answer. Craig?

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you. I'm happy to take it into sustainability infrastructure. I have a 03:11 related ticket also that I planned on saying there.

Sounds good. Seeing no further discussion, that item is approved with a copy to sustainability and infrastructure. Next item.

Agenda item 4.3, a resolution by Councillor Wheeler that this city council supports the state legislation known as the Municipal Empowerment Act, which would provide flexibility in setting fees, reduce reliance on home rule petitions, and streamline procurement, enabling more efficient, locally responsive municipal operations.

Council Wheeler. Through the

chair, this resolution supports the Municipal Empowerment Act. Let me say that again. The Municipal Empowerment Act. A state proposal to give cities like Somerville more practical control over how we operate. Right now we are often constrained by outdated state rules.

We can't easily adjust fees to match actual cost levels. We can't shift the balance of local meals taxes or short term rental taxes as the case may be. We can't easily streamline routine purchasing without jumping through hoops. This bill would change that at least in some some ways. It reduces reliance on home rule petitions and it makes procurement more efficient through tools like cooperative purchasing, which is when you can use existing competitively instead of duplicating the entire bidding process ourselves.

It's about letting cities respond more effectively to real world conditions. This effort did not pass the legislature last session last year, but it has been refiled and there's renewed momentum to move it forward year. I will add that in February this council was one of the first in the state to pass a resolution in support of the protect act, a push for equal protection for all regardless of immigration status. And that bill just passed the mass state house yesterday. And a legislator involved in that effort commented that Summerville's early support made a difference. So I know sometimes it may feel like we're just talking here, but we are part of a growing chorus. Thank you. Alright. Councilor Hart.

Through you chair, I'd like to thank my colleague for bringing this forward, and I'd like to sign on. And I also just wanted to add another aspect that's included in the act, which is as the chair of licenses and permits I've been getting educated about the years long effort of city staff and counselors to deal with double poles. These are double utility poles that are prohibited by law in Massachusetts but there is no enforcement mechanism. This bill does include an enforcement mechanism and would allow us to be able to make some real progress on that issue. So, wanted to highlight that, but I appreciate all of the things in the act and I'm glad to sign on.

Thank you.

Alright. Sounds good. I think I've seen the entire council would like to sign on to that one. Very good. No question. Send that with some gold plating right up to Beacon Hill. Yep. Councilor Cassioon Kevin?

Through you mister president, I want to thank you for making me aware of that. Let the world know any rep who does not vote for this supports double polls. Scream it from the rooftops. This is the election year issue. So thank you.

Councilor Scott.

Mr. President, I thought the expanded property tax exemptions for seniors was my favorite thing about this, but I got a brand new one. Thank you, Councilor Hart.

Alright. Very well. That item is approved. Next item.

Agenda item 4.4, a resolution by Councilor Strezzo requesting that the Summerville Public Schools Chief Financial Officer submit a detailed line by line FY '27 school department budget to this city council in the same or similar format as the city operating budget for community transparency and considering the current deficit going into this budget cycle?

Thank

you Mr. President. And yes, that is a resolution agenda item with a lot of solubles and there's a reason for that. I wanted this agenda item and resolution written exactly as to be as as clear as possible, the intentions. Now full disclosure, of course, city council does not have the ability or or any ability to tell the school committee SPS what to do.

That is the school committee's jurisdiction. A However, I and some of my colleagues have been in numerous budget cycles where when we are presented with the Summerville Public Schools budget, it is simply, in a lot of times, a PowerPoint presentation of, you know, millions of dollars. And, we aren't really presented the down and dirty line by line budget items. Now, I've been in the council since 2020 and okay fine we were going through a pandemic and everything was everything was up in the air and what everything was going to be but we've stabilized since then. We have an opportunity to get back into line with past procedures of thorough and transparent budget presentations and books and there is absolutely no reason that I can think we should not.

The the we now of course have a CFO that is in the rhythm of of the budget and has been for a while now. We don't have any excuses why we can't. I've heard from a lot of parents in the district who have requested salaries or information on departments and have not received really clear information on that. And I don't think that's very fair either. So, we need and deserve department breakdowns.

We deserve and our constituents deserve, our teachers, our students, our parents deserve, how many employees each department has, what their salary line items are, of course names extracted. Expenditures, projections, we deserve that. And colleagues, so here we are in the start of an exciting budget cycle. And there's enough time to make this possible. There isn't a reason why we should not have this. Of course, at the end of the day we're an up or down vote and there aren't so a lot of in betweens that but we should have this information. Thank you.

Alright, thank you. That item is approved. Next item.

Agenda item 4.5, a resolution by Councillor Schrezo that the administration discuss the process of disposal of city surplus items and whether those items may be offered to employees or the public through the creation of a free cycle style system.

Council Chasso.

Thank you. Finding ways simply to be green and recycle, free cycle what we have in front of us. So, at city hall when items are no longer used or upgraded, or not necessarily city hall but within the city departments, etcetera, lot of times tables, printers, computers, what have you. I think we should find ways to to simple sustainability through making this available. Mean, order of course speaks for itself or the resolution.

Alright. It's a resolution. It speaks for itself. However, I think we should really be going here and get really creative about being green. Yeah, of course top line items of of being green but also in our simple routines of how we choose to consume or not. It's also really valuable and has an impact on being green. So, I think we should start simple like this, and really I'm employing the administration to take this not only into consider, takes consideration but implementation.

Okay. Councillor Clayton.

Thank you Mr. President. I'd like to sign on and happy to take this to sustainability and infrastructure to have this discussion. I know I work for the state of Massachusetts and I know that what they, you know, every piece of equipment, every piece of furniture has sort of a lifespan and

you know they

wear everything out until it's you know final end. So I'm curious to see what the city does for a process in terms of inventory and and getting rid of items. Happy to have that in my discussion.

Okay.

I have councilors Ewen Kempen, Scott and Ba would like to sign on as well. And that item's approved with a copy to sustainability and infrastructure. Next item.

Agenda item 4.6, a communication by councilor Mbaugh conveying a report of the job creation and retention trust fund.

Councilor Ba.

Thank you, mister president. The Job Creation and Retention Trust met on March 19 to review its ongoing programs and plan for the next round of grants that will be offered by the RFP to workforce training providers in the fall. Currently, the trust is funding 13 projects, three of which received their grants in November 2025 and will be starting in the spring and summer. These are the pathways to employment summer internship program conducted by CAS with Mass Hire. Then the program of training for building trades conducted by Asian American Civic Association, and then the next class of per scholar English language for jobs training that starts in April.

In addition to this new program, the trust has committed 81,000 to cover the program of development expenses of a new small business entrepreneurial training specialist who will work with OSPCD to kind of facilitate all those processes. So the city will pay the salary of this new hire. But looking forward, the trust expect to put out an RFP for about $1,000,000 in funding in the fall out of its anticipated 2,600,000.0 reserves. Because there are no new commercial or industrial construction projects in the pipeline, the trust will not receive any additional revenue during this fiscal year. I ask that the communication be accepted as submitted.

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

Agenda item 4.7, a resolution by councilor Klain that the administration explore the creation of a neighborhood cleanup assistance program as detailed within.

Councilor Klain.

Thank you, mister president. Through you, this isn't a, you know, fleshed out program. It's more or less floating an idea that I think makes a lot of sense. We really sort of encourage block parties every time, certain times of the year when it's block party season. And in my mind, this would be something where there would be sort of a public facing calendar where, say, a resident could essentially initiate a cleanup for the area and it would I know that some this is happening sometimes with citizens already.

There's a group group that cleans in between the Route 93 and Route 38, mister Gav. Some cleanup happening in Davis Square, but I think this would really help facilitate as far as like, you know, the city's portion of it would be they would coordinate with DPW to pick up the bags, but also DPW would drop off bags and gloves that you know the city could provide for anybody who wants to take that initiative and get a cleanup going. You know happy to discuss, figure out what what the details might be on, but this is really on you know the administration to take this idea and run with it and hopefully come out with something that could really encourage cleanups, which I know the administration is already excited about this round of cleanups that are going to be happening this spring in the in the awards. So, Adam, I guess just place on file.

I would say you could place on file if you wanted to have the follow-up conversation about those act specific resources. Sustainability infrastructure would probably be the place receive TBD.

Yeah we'll send it to committee. Mean I just I know that's going to take some bandwidth and time of step to try to figure out how you know what this would look like but happy to yeah I'll send it up. Housing and community development, we'll send it too. I think that they can have a conversation there. Okay.

So, before we get to that then, I guess I'll have councilor Linkwater to sign on. Then I have councilor Scott and councilor Wheeler.

Thank you, mister president. I'm just really excited about this. And I also wanted to give a shout out to the very nice folks down at Rococo Floral and some of the lab who hosted a little Ward 2 cleanup not too long ago along with some of the other folks in Union Square Main Street. This is something that absolutely in the same way that we have our block party kits now that the city clerk provides to help folks with getting it going. You know? Hey. Here's a here's a basic kit full of stuff, full of gear to go do it. And, honestly, we don't even need it sponsored by Comcast. We don't need be handing out t shirts. We just need to have the stuff folks need and an opportunity for folks to come together and take care of their neighborhood. So I just think this is great and I'd love to sign on too. Thank you.

Well, think whole council wants to sign on it looks like. I'll go to councilor Wheeler and then councilor Hart.

Thank you chair. I think this is a great idea and I was speaking about this item with some residents who frequently give me thoughtful feedback and they asked what else could we do this with? Where you know just as my colleague from Ward 4 said a small amount of city effort, a small amount of resources can can help support and unlock a lot of community building. This is after all the year of the neighbor and this gets my gears turning in my head of what other kinds of neighborhood based activities and community activities could the city help do a small amount of coordination and support for.

Councilor Hart? Stand on? Okay. I love all the year of the neighbor ideas. Year after this is gonna really stink though. I'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Councilor Mike?

So I also just wanted to say one thing that people can do right now just as like kind of a PSA is me and some neighbors did some stuff in Prospect Hill not too long or I guess a year ago. And you can just three one one if you've got a bunch of trash bags that are full that you cannot deal with. 11 is a great resource. You can use them. They took it away the next day. Fantastic. Until this amazing thing happens.

Gotcha, Clayton?

Yeah. No, absolutely. The DPW has already been great about if somebody does organize a cleanup getting out there picking up the bags. That's no question that they always are responsive to that. And just on one other on the point that councilor Wheeler made, I remember this constituent of mine, Ian Edelman, who moved away. He used to have this idea of like a almost almost like a local like sort of safety net like where, you know, and it would have been really great if something like that was in place before when COVID hit where you would, you know, talk to sort of your your senior elderly neighbors and basically create sort of like emergency response, neighbor led emergency response to be able to help people in times of need like that. Something like that. Council Wheeler?

Through the chair. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful MAMA's organization. One of many organizations that are doing that kind of work.

Alright. HECD? It right? Did I Yes. Okay. Good. Alright. That is approved with a copy to housing equity and community development. Next item.

Next item. Agenda item 4.8, a resolution by councilor Klingon that the director of constituent services appear before the committee on sustainability and infrastructure to discuss the process by which three eleven tickets routed or closed after rerouting?

Councillor Clayton. Thank you, Mr. President. Through you. I know a lot of us see postings online or have experienced this ourselves where you'll a three eleven ticket, you'll open one up, it'll be closed.

I don't fully understand. I heard different different things at different times, which is that it's an auto close where when say the ticket is forwarded on to say ISD, which then generates a work order in citizen serve, but there's no kickback of any of that information in the in the comments, in the three one one things when they close it. So a lot of people just think their tickets are getting closed. And so I just wanna, you know, have a discussion about what exactly is happening when we see that and if there is a way to tweak the system to have it sort of kick back and auto generate a comment that says, give some sort of information so people aren't just in the dark about what's actually happening with the ticket. Thank

you Mr. President. In solidarity with our constituents, think we should simply mark this item work completed and make him file it again next week.

Touche. I saw councilor Sai.

Yep. Through you, mister president. I just wanna thank councilor for putting this order in. I hear about this all the time from my constituents, not understand what happened with their ticket. The other one is also when they call about the same issue, like they call a few times a week and then they it's just like the one ticket instead of creating a new one when the situation usually just gets worse.

So I would love for yeah. Like this to be entered in that committee where it's like what happens with these tickets. I know like their procedures change and just getting those updates as a council would be great so we can better help our constituents. And did I say

that you said you wanted to sign on? Yeah. Okay. Any further discussion? Alright. So, that item's approved. Do want to send that to sustainability infrastructure as well? Alright. Very good. Next

item. Agenda item 4.9, a resolution by councilor Klingen that the director of water and sewer appear before the committee on sustainability and infrastructure to discuss the process by which it is determined whether a residential unit requires a one inch water mirror meter or a five eighths inch water meter.

Councilor Klingon. Thank you, mister weeds, but I'll just try to explain real quick what the situation is. As the last water rate increase, billing cycle, what have you, they tiered the base rate. The base rate used to be like somewhere around $40 for a residential home, say that had 5 and a they didn't they didn't even have a differentiation between the different sizes of the of the the meters. So, now that we have this tiered system, I'll just give you an example of how this came up and why is that, you know, my thought is that maybe my or what I've heard is that we haven't gone up in our base rates in a long time and this is sort of, you know, we're moving in a a direction that is in line with other cities and towns.

The problem is is that I think what it assumes is that like a one inch pipe is needs to deliver water. Say if you have like, I don't know, three floors or or so on. Again, don't know too much about the sort of like the needs of what pipe it requires for what, but I but I'll just you I'll just explain it this way. There's a six unit complex over by me. Each one is individual individually metered.

It's not that it's they're splitting the base fee. So, in other words, when the installations were happening, the six units, some of the people were asked, oh do you want you don't probably need a whole, you know, the pipes going to the units were one inch. Why? I don't know. I mean you don't want to lose pressure say if you have a sprinkler or something like that.

You don't want your shower to lose pressure. But the point is is that, so now this person who's on a fixed income who wasn't afforded that information that they could, you know, the installer would just throw an adapter and put in a five eights on their their one inch pipe. So they're now paying over $300 more a year for the full for the base rates versus you know they used to pay 48 now they're paying a 100 and something per quarter. So I just want to know how or why the installer in some cases asked or just maybe on their own install the five eights versus another unit they installed a one inch pipe. Because I don't know that our intention was to, you know, hit a one or two bedroom condo unit that's individually metered.

Like if this was why we tiered the residential in the first place? I'm not sure. The water you're using is the water you're using. So I'm not really sure where the it definitely feels a little I don't wanna say punitive. I mean it sounds like we're trying to make more money. And so I just wanna understand when the installation happens that in situations like this person's how we could have avoided this. Like we're pretty much done with the installation program but it will happen again in the future and I think there's still some households that are like this. And, you know, if it's really a matter of if somebody's on a fixed income and you're talking over like I think it's like $350 more than they would have been paying if they had just been opted to have the right. Right now, he's getting a new meter. He's gonna have it.

The city is he has to pay for the meter. It's like 500 and something dollars, but it's worth it. It's still gonna it's gonna save him $350 every year. So this is just something that's one of those things that's come up that again, you know, I think if people were educated, they would most likely if you don't need an entire one inch pipe, like in other words if you're not running a an irrigation system system or you know, you certainly don't need to be paying that extra $350 especially if you can if you're on a fixed income. So I just want to have a conversation in sustainability and infrastructure as to what what led the contractor to in some cases, you know, I've already said it.

In some cases ask the person if they want, you know, they'd oh you don't need this one or whatever or if they just were doing it on their own. But there's a little inconsistency in in the protocol and in the installation process I wanna address. Thank you.

Alright. That item is approved with a copy to sustainability and infrastructure. Alright. So, barring any objection, we're gonna take legislative matters up out of order, which is item six c. And the reason for that is there's an item that was recommended out of that committee relating to special education reserve fund. That has to happen first before a related item in the finance committee that was also recommended to be approved. I need to recuse myself from that topic for both of those items, so I'm going to pass the gavel here to the good vice president, and I'll see you when we get back.

Next item, madam clerk.

Brings us to agenda item six c one, a report of the committee on legislative matters meeting on 03/17/2026.

Thank you, mister president, mister vice president. We met on February 17. It was a brick meeting. It was only a half hour, and it was some pretty detailed thing detailed stuff. Great. Alright. Thank you, mister president. So there were two main substantive items before the committee, three in total. I'll take the last one first which was the acceptance of National Law Chapter 59 Section five Clause 22 J, etc, etc. This is a tough read even for state law which is a lot.

Functionally, what this is is this is enabling legislation that was passed by the state to allow us to increase the amount of real estate tax exemptions that we offer to certain classes of people. We're not allowed as a city to say we're gonna give a tax break to, I don't know, folks who show up to community cleanup days. Right? Or any other kind of class of person that we wanna incentivize, that's governed by state law. And the amount of the exemptions that cities and towns can offer is also governed by state law.

But rather than set that as a universal standard across the commonwealth, they make it an option that cities and towns can adopt. Now, for some reason, rather than simply increase the limit of the deductions that can be offered for these categories, they added more clauses that allow us to double the current levels of exemption. Now, in this case, are exemptions for disabled veterans, veterans who had injuries in the line of service, and also for surviving spouses of military veterans who died in line and inaction. So this is pretty straightforward. But for those wondering why this whole mouthful of two items is on our agenda, that's what it is.

And so hopefully, have adopted these, we'll be able to provide a greater tax break to folks who are injured in our military services. So going on from there, our other large item is also an acceptance of master general law. This is chapter 40, section 13 E, establishing special education reserve fund. So when money is finance is very complicated and our school's budget is very separate from our general fund budget, although it certainly is approved by the City Council, it's not something that we get into the weeds on. But it is very fixed.

There is not so much ability. We can't necessarily slide money from say DPW into schools as easily. And one of the hardest to forecast items in the school's budget is the outside placement of special education students, special education students whose needs are maybe not getting met by the district, district, who need transportation to other districts and placement in other districts, and that costs our district money. And it's impossible to tell in any given year how many of these cases are gonna come up and it makes for a very lumpy process and one that can sometimes really put a pinch on the school's budget. So this is a new enabling legislation that allows us to create a separate fund, like a stabilization fund for the schools that has a pool of money that would can only be used with appropriation from the school committee and the city council to absorb those kind of impacts.

If we have extra students who need extra help, this is a way we can make sure that it goes in there without having to cut the whiteboard marker budget. The other nice thing about it is that it will allow us to for money that it goes into it, that is appropriated into it in any given budget year, to stay in that stabilization fund and kind of build up a rainy day account for those special education placements. Again, without the creation of this particular vehicle, this special education reserve fund, we wouldn't be able to do that. It would just roll back into the general fund every year and we'd face ourselves in a similar kind of budgeting situation for the next year. So this item is simply us adopting that general laws enabling legislation to create the fund and then hopefully in our next finance committee report having been created we will be able to deposit money in it and get started.

So thank you for allowing me a few minutes here to explain the very, very dry nature of legislative matters. But I ask that the committee report be accepted as submitted.

Any discussion on the committee report? Seeing none, the committee report is approved. So I believe there are three roll call votes, madam clerk.

Correct. That puts three items for roll call vote in front of us. The first being six c two, a request of the mayor, requesting acceptance of Massachusetts general law, chapter 59, section five, clause 22 I, to authorize an annual cost of living adjustment increase in the exemption amount granted under chapter 59, section five, clauses 22, 22a, 22b, 22c, 22e, and 22f? Councillor Ewenkampin?

Yes.

Councillor Link?

Yes.

Councillor Scott?

Yes.

Councillor Klingon is recused. Councillor Strazo? Councillor Saeed? Yes. Councillor Wheeler?

Yes.

Councillor Hart? Yes. Councillor McLaughlin? Yes. Councillor Mbaugh?

Yes.

Councilor Davis is recused with eight councilors in favor. That is approved. Next agenda item is six c three, a request of the mayor requesting acceptance of Massachusetts general law, chapter 59, section five, clause 22 j, to authorize an increase in the exemption amount granted under chapter 59, section five, clauses 22, 22 a, 22 b, 22 c, 22 e, and 22 f. Councilor Ewencampin?

Yes.

Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Scott? Yes. Councilor Klingon is recused. Councilor Strezzo? Councilor Saeed? Yes. Councilor Wheeler? Yes. Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Mbaugh?

Yes.

Councilor Davis is recused with eight councilors in favor. That is approved.

The last item.

Agenda item six c four, a request of the mayor requesting the acceptance of Massachusetts general laws chapter 40 section 13 e to establish a special education reserve fund. Councilor Euncannon?

Yes.

Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Scott?

Yes.

Councilor Cleon is recused. Councilor Strezo? Strazo? Councilor Saeed? Yes. Councilor Wheeler? Yes. Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Mbaugh?

Yes.

With eight councilors in favor, that item is approved. Thank you. Yeah.

No. No. We can just take the finance items since, you know, they are also recused before we bring them back. So let's just is that okay? I

think that's right. I think there's a related item to the same issue why they're recused in the finance.

Yeah. So, okay, so next item, madam. Go ahead.

That brings us back to the order of business. Agenda item six a one, a report of the committee. Report of the committee on finance meeting as a committee of the whole on 03/24/2026.

And may the records also reflect that both councilor Davis and I would assume councilor Clinton to us was recused for the place item. So both councilor Clinton and councilor Davis are recused. So councilor Wheeler.

Through the chair, the finance committee met on Tuesday, 03/24/2026 in person in this chambers and via remote participation as a committee of the whole with all councilors participating. And with the help of clerk Delaney Fisher and a number of city staff, we took up an 18 item agenda. We approved the minutes of our March 10 meeting. We recommended approval of a $15,000 internal transfer to establish a grant match account for veteran services so we could pay the local match for a state grant on preserving the many veterans monuments in the city. We recommended approval of a $75,000 appropriation for the bike share stabilization fund for a blue bike station at sixteen to twenty Medford Street development in very near Twin City Plaza.

As with another recent blue bike appropriation, these funds were provided to the city by a developer and then the city buys the equipment and bikes. We also recommended approval of an approximately $431,000 appropriation from free cash to the newly created special education reserve fund. This action effectively restores an earlier earmark that this funding is intended for special education and places the funds into a reserve designed to cushion the year to year variation in special education costs as has been discussed. We then recommended approval of a set of five Community Preservation Act appropriations. These included funding for historic preservation preservation at the Somerville Museum, open space acquisition, support for the Affordable Housing Trust, a transfer to the Community Housing Reserve, and improvements to open space at the Mystic River and Mystic View Homes.

These items reflect both this year's funding round and adjustments following the finalization of prior year revenues. Finally, we held a Committee of the Whole discussion of Council budget priorities for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. This was not a voting session but an opportunity to surface priorities and begin framing the choices ahead in a constrained fiscal year. Across the discussion there was broad alignment on the need to protect core services in the face of a projected shortfall. Counselors emphasized many priorities including but not limited to, housing stabilization and production programs, public school funding including special education after school and programs to reduce disparities, immigrant legal services, and transportation infrastructure.

It was a lively discussion and I encourage all members of the public to take a watch. These communications were recommended to be marked work completed. Chair, I ask that this committee report be accepted as submitted.

Any discussion on the committee report? Seeing none, the committee report is approved.

Reconsideration of the two items in legislative matters from which these two counselors are not in fact recused.

Okay.

And then we'll revote those.

Gotcha. Okay. So I think I'm sounding right?

You are good. Yes. Okay. Okay.

Thank you. Yeah. Sure.

But we haven't taken it all. Right. That's fine.

Okay. Yeah. Thanks, sir. Sure. Alright. Thank you, mister vice president. So we have now two items before us from that for the finance committee report. Roll call. Is that correct? One item. Item.

Two items from election matters.

One item for so okay. So, so we have the one item from finance, and then we're gonna revote on the two items for which that did not relate to the special ed cast because councilor Klingon and I did not need to be recused from that. And so the city clerk advises that we take that vote again. So we're gonna do what she says. So we'll do the finance. Right now, finance roll call. Yes, please.

The item in front of us for a roll call vote right now is six a three, a request of the mayor requesting approval to appropriate 75,000 from the bike share stabilization fund for installation and startup costs of a blue bike station at 16 To 20 Medford Street development site. Councillor Ewenkampin?

Yes.

Councillor Link?

Yes.

Councillor Scott?

Yes.

Councillor Klingen? Yes. Councillor Strazo? Councillor Saeed? Yes. Councilor Wheeler? Yes. Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin? Yes. Councilor Mbaugh?

Yes.

Councilor Davis?

Yes.

With 10 councilors in favor, item is approved.

Mr. President, if procedurally necessary, I'm happy to move to reconsider on the items from the finance or from the legislative matters report so that y'all can vote on them.

I'm inclined to accept that motion for reconsideration because that, to my mind, sounds like the right thing to do. So, let's do that. I'm seeing nodding even though that was okay. Scott moves to reconsider. Does anyone have any objections to reconsideration? Any discussion? Alright. Seeing none, those two items are now back before us. And we can do them together in a single roll call vote. And these are items 20442045. Anyone need the items re read again? This is the two. Okay. I'm seeing shaking hands. Alright. Madam Clerk.

And on those items 6c2 and 6c3, Councillor Ewenkampin? Yes. Councillor Link? Yes. Councillor Scott?

Yes.

Councillor Clean?

Yes.

Councillor Strazo? Councillor Sate? Yes. Councillor Wheeler?

Yes.

Councillor Hart? Yes. Councillor McLaughlin? Yes. Councillor Mbaugh? Yes. Councillor Davis? Yes. With 10 councillors in favor, those items are approved.

Alright, very good. Thank you for your patience with that, everyone. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Brings us to agenda item 6B1, a report of the committee on land use meeting in joint session with the planning board on 03/19/2026.

Count to you on Kempen.

Thank you Mr. President. The land use committee held public hearings on two proposed amendments. The first one is a series of changes to the affordable housing overlay district that represent a combination of input from councilor McLaughlin and myself having to do with allowing affordable buildings to go to eight stories instead of seven, as well as some recommendations from the administration based on their work with our nonprofit partners. These changes are described in the attached materials, the video, and they will be discussed at our next land use meeting.

The other item was a series of proposed changes to backyard cottages, otherwise known as accessory dwelling units, otherwise known as ADUs, submitted by Councillor Strezo. So this one we're not going to put on an agenda again until May at the request of Councillor Strezo and this may ultimately be taken up alongside a number of other proposed ADU related ideas from we have a number of proposed amendments from members of the public as well as some from city staff, so stay tuned. And then we had a long and very detailed presentation about potential conflict between our local regulations of backyard cottages and this state law which passed more recently that requires cities to allow ADUs. And the the the state law, just to speak frankly, has just created this incredibly dumb conflicts that no one supports or intended and that we're still working working out how we're gonna get through this. ISD and planning is working on it, but just to give you one specific example, the state law says an ADU can only be 900 square feet, so it's a small building.

But you cannot have special standards just for the the backyard cottage. You have to whatever the standards are for that zoning district have to apply to this. And it's a way of kind of finger wagging at more restrictive communities to say like you can't, you know, allow them but then not really allow them by having all these impossible standards. But what that means for Summerville, our most restrictive zone neighborhood residents allows triple deckers. So you know at face value a developer I think the fear is could come in and say, hey, this state law says I can build a three story ADU.

It can only be 900 square feet, so it's like this big. But and it's just not the outcome that was intended. It's quite frustrating to be honest, and I think we're gonna have to spend some time working it out. Staff is still, you know, is working basically on a set of recommendations, but that's where we are. It's not the end of the world, but it's a frustrating situation. I ask that the committee report be accepted.

And any discussion on the committee report? Councillor Strasso?

Thank you. Yes, quick addition to that and as stated numerous times and want to make sure that there's not conflating between what some of the ADU lawsuits are putting forward and the actual intentions on what my what my draft ordinance and and what is before. There are good intentions in the hope that this expands affordability within the city and yeah I want to make sure that we do it right but they're two separate birds and we want to make sure that what is of course best for Summerville and residents here and the preservation of Summerville residents here so very much looking forward to that discussion and all the things that go from that. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. President. I just wanted to express my appreciation for the chair for that explainer. I will say it is not an uncommon sight in Ward 2 these days and I get a fair number of constituent questions of why behind the new triple decker there is another triple decker. And so this is a great explanation. So thank you for that. Also, I kind of missed when we used to do land uses committee of the whole all the time. Not for nothing. You might be the only one.

Any further discussion? Alright. Seeing none, the report is accepted. Next item.

Agenda item 61, a report of the committee on license and permits meeting on 03/25/2020

Councillor Hart.

Thank you. So, I believe that first I would like to sever 63 from the committee report.

Councillor Hart would like to sever that item. Seeing no objection, alright.

Thank you. So I'll give the committee report first and then come back to that item. So we had a short meeting yesterday and you'll hear about the severed item shortly, but we also approved approved with a condition grant of location on Heath Street at Edgar Avenue. And the condition that Ms. Duffy thought would be acceptable was to have work start after nine a.

M, which was conditioned because it's a major route to school for the Healy School. And I would like this committee report to be accepted.

Any discussion on the committee report? Alright, seeing none that has been approved, that leaves item 20 six-three 11 before us. Councillor Hart.

Thank you. Okay, I would like to amend the condition. Do I need to read it first or does it need to be read?

Yeah, if you want to go ahead, can read it in, give us some context.

Okay. So, this is Eversource applying for a grant of location to install six feet of conduit in Line Street from utility pole to 11 Over 7 to a point of pickup at 62 Line Street. So, we had discussed the possibility of conditioning this on the fixing of a double pole at utility pole two eleven Over six, but I would like to amend that condition by striking it in full. Then

Alright. Councillor Hart moves to amend the Let's see, yeah, because we voted to add the conditions. The item before us has a condition with it. Councillor Hart moves to amend the item before us to remove that condition. Any discussion? Any questions?

I believe I'm amending the condition and not the item at this point.

Well, think you're amending the item to remove condition, right? Because the item is what's before us. Very good. Alright. So, Councillor Scott, question?

So, on the motion, I'm sorry. Hit me again with this. So, we're removing the conditions on it the intention of approving the item tonight?

That's correct, yes. After consulting with the law department, I believe that it's too, being that it's a separate utility pole, that that would not be a wise use of a condition.

Okay. Got it. Well, I guess I'll have to go vigilante justice for double polls on this one. Thank you.

Councillor Harts, do you want to note the conversation that we did have regarding that second poll and the promises that were made?

Yes. Yes. Thank you President Davis. So I did have a lot of back and forth with Jackie Duffy and RCN. So RCN has moved their wires. So now it's back to Eversource and Ms. Duffy did say that she would work on getting it fixed immediately. It just won't be a condition of the

Scott?

You know, I don't want to muck up the works here. My inclination would be to condition this on the completion of that ever source move of their lines. But you know what? Let's extend a little grace tonight and we'll see.

My recollection and and councillors councillor Hart, correct me if I'm wrong. My recollection was that miss Duffy believed that there was yet a different third party utility that would be next in line to remove their stuff and so on and so forth as it's, you know, the list has an order of operations. I believe that's what she told us on that, regarding that poll. Councillor Scott, on that?

Yeah. Have we confirmed if the poll in question is in the engine's state database?

Councillor Hart, on that?

I believe it I believe she my memory is that she said it was.

Okay. Great. And, Councillor Hart, do you want to recount the request that you made regarding the engine database?

Yes. So, we are Ms. Duffy is looking into if we have access as a city to the engines database as well.

Press was made to let us take a look so maybe we can answer some of these questions ourselves. So, we're working on that.

You, Mr. President. Thank you very much.

Any further discussion or questions? No. Alright. Councillor Hart moves to approve the item as amended. Yes? Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. Alright. That item is approved. Next item, madam clerk.

Agenda item six e one, a report of the committee on school building facilities and maintenance meeting on 03/23/2026.

Mister Link.

Alright. Thank you. Through you, mister president. On Monday night, the school building facilities and maintenance committee held a joint meeting with the school committee's counterpart committee for one hours and thirty minutes. It was a very collaborative meeting.

We covered eight items. The highlights being we got a custodial staffing report from DPW, and we raised our concerns about some of the coverage, particularly at our largest school, East Summerville. And at that time commissioner Weissman let us know that he doesn't think we need more staff, but we did talk about different ways we might potentially spread out the staff. We also talked about building maintenance. We got updates on the East Somerville, Capuana, and Edgeley Schools.

And the great news that the Capuana School finally after what was described as a game of whack a mole, they've got hot water fully restored to all of the classrooms, which is pretty amazing. And on environments in schools, we had councilor Seitz order which got us a report on some of the decarbonization and climate goals. And while we were very happy to have that initial data, we also did discuss that we probably needed some better data and some maybe more specific data. And then the last few was the MSPCA process for the Winter Hill and Brown schools where we learned the next big milestone is the preferred schematic report, which is due in August. And then we got a look at the asset management plans and learned that open that I'm is going to be using OpenGov, which is very exciting for me because it finally opens up the potential for us to have a public facing dashboard for projects that are ongoing in the city.

And that I think is huge, so I'm gonna keep on you know banging a drum for that one. And then finally there was the Kennedy School inclusive schoolyard renovation, which everyone was really excited about. School committee chair baton had a great slogan that kind of encapsulated I think how things went with this process, was nothing about us without us. Well, which, you know, obviously he didn't say it

was his, but he shared

it with us. And it was I think just really a great way to express how this was done and the community input that was involved. That's my report. I request that be accepted. Any discussion on the report?

Alright. Seeing none. That item is approved. Next item.

Agenda item six f one, a report of the committee on sustainability and infrastructure meeting on 03/18/2026.

Councilor Klingon. Mister president, before

I go with my report, I'd like to make a motion to sever items five and six from that agenda and send them back to committee. So that would be

Twenty six zero three three seven and twenty six six zero three three eight? Yes. Okay. Councilor Klingon moves to sever those two items. Any discussion? Alright. Seeing none, those two items are severed. Councilor Klingon?

Alright. Thank you. Alright. Thank you, mister president. Before that meeting I had mentioned at the last council meeting that we were gonna have a big sort of snow discussion and DPW commissioner, now commissioner Eric Weisman did not disappoint.

He came with a great presentation. Essentially took up all the items together and we covered what was essentially Councillor Ewenkampen's sort of post mortem item number four which was that the Commissioner of Public Works discussed with the Council lessons learned from the recent big snowfall about resources and policies needed to improve snow clearance, including MBTA bus stops, business district sidewalks and parking, private ways, dead ends, accessible ramps, and bike lanes. And, you know, it was a really great discussion. There were the commissioner mentioned that they they made some mistakes and they're retooling and they're they recognize some of the shortfalls and some of the things that didn't happen. Obviously, it's a unique situation.

We had two major storms back to back, so it's a little bit of a a unique situation, but nonetheless, he is earnestly working on, you know, plans for next year. I mean, hope if we hopefully, we don't get any snow. But yeah. So, So was a discussion that pretty much covered all of these snow related items and it was a two hour conversation and what I left that meeting feeling like we fell short a little bit on the ADA, the accessible ramps and the handicapped spots. And I just felt like we, you know, we kind of got to the end of the road and then we kind of had a little bit of a rushed conversation about it, really didn't do do it justice.

And you know, before we can we can kick it down the can the can down the road, but before you know it, it's gonna be next winter. And I just think I know there's no easy solution. We're talking about you know, we're talking about labor, a serious amount of labor that would take place or whether or or enforcing, which was my you know, the the whole discussion we had last year about Counselor Klingon, let

me interrupt you for a minute. So, this is now on the two items that are severed?

No. Thought I was giving you just my report.

Handicap ramp and then I

thought I thought that was settled. I send that back to the committee.

Yeah. But, so those two those two are severed. The report is on all the other items. Correct. If we're done with that, can set the report and then talk about the two items that are for us and send those back.

Yeah. This is just the report. And report. Okay.

Carry on.

Rhythm.

No. Anyway, that's pretty much it. The the the video you can go watch the video. There's a presentation attached to the to the agenda item that that the commissioner gave. You know, I really do appreciate and respect staff time when they come and give two hours, you know, and give a presentation, but I feel strongly that there needs to be more discussion about how we come up with a plan to better serve our most vulnerable folks in the community.

I've seen pictures since then of different areas where, you know, it's clear that we can do better. I don't Again, I know there's no easy solution, but I think that we we it deserves further discussion. So, with that, I ask that you you all accept the report as submitted.

Any discussion on the report? Alright. Seeing none. The report is approved. And now the two items before us, twenty six zero three three seven and twenty six zero three three eight. Any further discussion on those items?

Yeah. I Those would be I guess I kind of covered my feelings on I I kind of pre jumped the gun on that one, but essentially feelings have been noted and we're sending those back.

Duly noted. See above. Alright. So, those two items are referred back to actually referred copies sent back to committee. Right. Okay. Back to sustainability and infrastructure. Next

item. Brings us to agenda item 7.1. A request of the mayor.

I think we have one more committee.

Oh, my fault. Sorry. Agenda item six g one, report of the committee on traffic and parking meeting on 03/16/2026.

Councillor Sai.

Thank you mister president. The traffic and parking committee met with all three members present. I was a councilor Wheeler, councilor Mbat's first meeting. All items were marked as completed. We had a really great meeting regarding the item on installing a no turn on red sign at the intersection of both street and Warren Ave to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Director of director Rasson reported that the team has reviewed the order and completed evaluation determining that a new sign should be installed. He added the installation is being scheduled likely in the spring when the weather improves. We had great discussion on the recommendations of the pedestrian and transit advisory committee regarding the 25% design document of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation McGrath Boulevard project. Director Rawson shared his enthusiasm for the progress of the Mass DOT project noting that it reflects more than twenty years of work. Director Rawson stated that he feels confident in the current direction and appreciates input from community members and advisory groups adding that MassDOT continues to meet regularly with advisory committees and the McGrath coalition.

He reported that the project is approaching the 25 design milestone with construction anticipated to take approximately four years with the goal of improving neighborhood connectivity and enhancing pedestrian and commuter safety. As the project advances, the next phase will focus on advancing utility coordination and drainage design, building on the framework in which street connections and crosswalk locations have generally been identified. Mass duty expect expects to begin construction in 2027 with projected annual expenditures of 20 to 30,000,000. Director Rossen noted that the next design milestone is anticipated in about one year and that there will be meaningful opportunities for community engagement. He also shared that the project team meets regularly including weekly and biweekly meetings and design sessions and that city staff have been invited into the process as collaborative partners describing this as the most collaborative approach he has experienced.

So that was really great to hear that. Committee members and director Rossin expressed appreciation for the contributions of advocacy groups and the broader community. He also noted that the city has not completed its technical review. Yeah. So this is the last item of the proposed Aldridge Virginia Street intersection change and suggest a wait and see approach until after the McGrath project is implemented.

We took up items together. So this is yeah. So something that's still we'll we'll wait and see. And you will submit this report as the sentence.

Gotcha. Sate moves to further report to be submitted as submitted. Any discussion on the report? Councillor Link?

I just wanna was in the audience and I there was a very great conversation about the Hawks. And I just want to continue beating on that drum. Just today I was going into Assembly Square and I was nearly hit by a car running the red solid red light up the Hawk for the Kensington owner presser. It's Yeah.

Thank you, counselor Link. I highly recommend watching the meeting. It was very informative meeting. Just be a brief, really it was a long but again informative meeting. We discussed all the concerns that were raised by PTAC from reinstating the full synchronization of artistry, reconsidering the target speed, continuing working to shorten the distance between crossing segments across street, considering further reductions in median width to support wider sidewalks, ensuring that the design is flexible enough to support future North South bus service.

So if you're interested in any of these things, highly recommend watching the meetings because we definitely learned a lot from that discussion.

Alright. Very good. I see no further discussion. That item is approved. Councilor Wheeler?

Oh, sorry.

Next item, seven dot one.

Yes. Thank you chair. I move to waive the readings of items 7.1 through 7.5 and refer them to finance for recommendation.

Seeing no objection. Councilor Scott on that motion?

Not on that motion. I have another motion made.

Seeing no objection. Those items are referred to finance. Next item.

On items seven point six and seven point seven, sir, I move to waive the readings and refer those to legislative matters. Seeing no objection.

Those are referred to legislative matters.

On the motion itself, I just want to let folks know that we will not be having the meeting of legislative matters this coming Tuesday. None of the major items are ready for it, but these items that are going into committee I anticipate pulling up coming before the committee in the later meeting in April. And I will be giving members of the committee a heads up on when those will be on the agenda. I encourage any colleagues to submit questions or concerns in advance of that meeting. I want to make sure I give everybody two weeks to get those in. I know we're already getting a great many constituent communications about these items and I assure my colleagues and members of the public that there will be a thorough discussion in commission and committee. Thank you.

All right. Very good. Those items are referred to legislative matters. Next item.

Agenda item 7.8, a request of the mayor requesting confirmation of the appointment of Eric Wiseman as commissioner of public works.

So, a little bit of a gray area here. Our our our practice has been, at least with regard to director positions that were in place prior to our new charter. We didn't send folks who were already doing the job into committee and folks who were newly appointed we did. Technically, is a new appointment even though we all know acting commissioner Weisman quite well. I'm inclined to send this committee just to stay consistent with that that approach. However, I would not object at all if people wanted to just take it up this evening for approval. Councillor Cleen?

I just have a question on the item. Have so So, are we still calling this commissioner or have we officially changed it in the charter or elsewhere that it's director of DPWR?

That's an excellent question and I don't remember the answer. I'm looking at our acting city clerk who's approaching approaching the the microphone.

Thanks, mister president. Kimball, city clerk, through you. The titles are actually mostly not spelled out in the charter. And according to the city budget, which would be what dictates that, it is still the commissioner of public works.

Do you have other different suggestion, councilor Clayton?

No. No. But just another on the item thing. Go ahead. I mean, I'm I'm fine with moving forward this evening.

Any discussion? I don't see our Well, I see our chair of confirmation departments, but he's not in the room. Any discussion? Any opinions on that? Councilor Klinger, you wanna make a motion?

I don't care. I'm not on the committee.

No. We'll go through the process and send it to committee. I'm not gonna make a motion. I don't see or hear any

Very well. So that that item is referred to confirmation of appointments and personnel matters. Next item.

Agenda item 7.9, communication from the mayor conveying the appointment of Klaus Schultz to the ranked choice voting committee. That

item is placed on file.

Agenda item 7.1, a communication of the mayor conveying the appointment of Barry Rathkind to the ranked choice voting committee.

That item is placed on file.

Agenda item 7.11, a communication of the mayor conveying the appointment of Kat Rutkin to the public financing of campaigns committee.

That item is placed on file.

Agenda item 9.1.

That's her heart.

Thank you, mister president. I would like to move to waive the reading of items 9.1 through 9.65 and also 9.67 to nine point seven two and nine point seven four and approve them this evening.

Counselor Hart, that that doesn't align with the list I have. So, I want to make sure we're on the same page here. So, I've got nine dot one through 938 with 939 going to committee. Is that not your intent?

She's she's right.

Okay. So did you get those numbers? Those 91 through 965?

Repeat them just a minute.

Go right ahead. Yep.

Just repeating to confirm with you, counsel Hart, 9.1 through 9.65, 9.67 through 9.72, and 9.74 you'd like to waive the readings and approve this evening. That's correct.

Okay. Alright. Yes. Any discussion on the motion? Alright. Seeing none, those items are approved. Councillor Hart?

Then I would like to move to waive the reading of item 9.73 and refer that to licenses and permits.

Alright. Seeing no objection. That item is referred to licenses and permits.

And then? Councillor Wheeler? Well, first, can I Then I'll note for the record that I'm recused from item 9.66 as an abutter to the applicant?

Very well. Councillor Wheeler?

I move that we waive the reading of 9.66 and refer it to committee. No. To approve it immediately?

Councillor Wheeler would like to waive the reading of nine six six.

I wasn't sure which one I wanted to do but now I feel very clear. I would like us to approve that immediately.

Excellent job reviewing the issues, considering them, and making up your mind.

Absolutely. I

see no objection. 966 is approved. Next item.

Okay. And that brings us to agenda item 9.75, a public communication from Digital Forth submitting comments about surveillance technology annual report.

That item is placed on file with a copy of legislative matters.

Agenda item 9.76, a public communication from Harvard University conveying its spring twenty twenty six accountability report.

That item is placed on file with a copy to HECD.

Agenda item 9.77, a public communication from Adam Steiner submitting comments about the YMCA redevelopment.

That item is placed on file.

Agenda item 9.78, a public communication from Urban Forestry Committee submitting comments about anticoagulant rodenticides.

Giving our chair of legislative matters a moment to run-in the room if he would like to. Let's let's place on a file with a copy to legislative matters just in case there's something there he wants to talk about. And if not, we'll dispense of it that in that committee.

Agenda item 10.1, a resolution by councilor Link that commissioner of public works conduct a citywide sweep to remove large debris from the community path and bike lanes now that the snow season snow season has concluded.

That item is do want that sent to a committee or should it lay on the table for next meeting? So just as a reminder, these are supplemental items so we we won't deliberate on them this evening because they haven't been properly noticed, but we can send them to committee where they will be properly noticed. Yeah. If that's your preference. Can send

it to committee. That'd be great. Which committee on that one?

Sustainability probably? Yeah. Alright. That item is referred to sustainability infrastructure. Councilman Yunkampan, no deliberation.

Question, Mr. President. Am I allowed to mention something that I hope is discussed at that meeting or no?

I think let's keep our deliberation until it's been properly noticed. Next item.

Agenda item 10.2, a resolution by councilor Davis that the commissioner of public works discuss with this council practical solutions to clearing snow from schoolyards without damaging play services to allow students to access outdoor play areas.

Can I read the next item as well, please?

And agenda item 10.3, a resolution by councilor Davis that the administration update this council on plans to upgrade electrical and air conditioning equipment for the gym and cafeteria at the Edgeley School.

Those items are referred to school buildings, facilities, maintenance. Next item.

Agenda items 10.4, a public event from Saint Benedict Parish applying for a public event license for Easter vigil on April 4 from 07:30PM to 08:30PM.

Given the date, there is a time and nature of this item. So, any to any discussion? Alright. Seeing none, that item is approved.

Agenda item 10.5 of public communication from Gilman Square Neighborhood Council submitting comments about McGrath Boulevard.

That item is laid on the table. It's never it hasn't shown up on an agenda, I saw.

10.6 of public communication from Hala Jadala submitting comments about surveillance.

That item is referred to legislative matters.

Agenda item 10.7 public communication. Three residents submitting comments about item number twenty six zero four eight five surveillance technology impact report for crime tracer.

And we refer that item to legislative matters as well. Any additional items? Any late items?

That brings us to the end of the agenda. There are no further items before the

Mister president Alright. Councilor McLaughlin? The McGrath Highway item, could I have that referred to public health and safety? Got a number for this is Yeah. Okay. So, the one that we laid on the table. Well, that's so that's item 10 10 dot five. We'll send that to public health and public safety where it will be duly noticed and can be deliberated at that time. Got that Madam Clerk? Yes. Excellent. Alright. With that, Councillor McLaughlin moves to adjourn. And we are adjourned. Thanks everyone.