City Council - Regular Meeting

Council to order. Please note, as the longest serving city councilor and not the oldest, pursuant to our new charter, I hereby call this meeting of the city council to order on this Thursday, 05/14/2026. Please note that video and audio of this meeting will be recorded and may be shown live on local cable access government channels and the City of Somerville website. I am pursuant to rule 32. Let it be known that the City Council salutes the flag of The United States Of America, and let us recall our oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth to the best of our abilities and understanding. Madam clerk, please call the roll.

This is roll call. Councillor Ewingkampan?

Here.

Councillor Link?

Here.

Councillor Scott?

Here.

Councillor Klingen?

Present.

Councillor Strezzo? Present. Councillor Sait? Saeed? Here. Councillor Wheeler?

Here.

Councillor Hart? Councillor McGough? Yeah. Whoop. Yep. Sorry. That's my own edit. Councilor Imbaugh and Councilor Davis. With eight councilors present, have quorum.

Alright. Roll call has been taken by the clerk. Please note that councilor Hart has entered the building. In order to have a presiding officer for the remainder of this meeting, the first item of business this evening will be the election of a President Pro Temper to the City Council. The floor is open for nominations.

I nominate Matthew McLaughlin for President Pro Tem.

Thank you. Councilor Ewen Kamper nominates Councilor McLaughlin. Is there a second? Second. Or a second option?

I move to close nominations.

Closed nominations. Seeing no further nominations, it is now closed. Will the clerk please call the roll?

It's roll call on the nomination. Councillor Euncannon.

Councillor McLaughlin.

Councillor Link. Councillor McLaughlin. Councillor Scott.

Councillor McLaughlin.

Councillor Klingen.

Councillor McLaughlin.

Councillor Schozzo. Councillor McLaughlin. Councillor Saeed. Councillor McLaughlin. Councillor Wheeler.

Councillor McLaughlin.

Councillor McLaughlin.

McLaughlin. Thank you. You'll you'll never get rid of me now. For those of you in the audience who don't know what's going on, president Davis and vice president Mabaugh could not be here today. So, as the oldest counselor, I am gonna be the president for this meeting. We will begin this meeting with a moment of silence. Council Estrasso.

I wish to have in our our thoughts, our prayers, and our minds, Vera Ventura, who passed a couple of weeks ago. She was an incredible woman and a friend, and she was someone who just was just this incredible advocate directions in so many ways. She was a community builder. She was not just like she's the real deal, and she she was this fierce spirit that just will never be able to be replicated. It's been a long couple of weeks just crying, and I think very deeply about her family and her friends and her loved ones as well who are trying to make sense of this loss.

She me personally, what I witnessed her as a woman who reminded women of their power. She reminded others of the universal spark in all of us, including me. And to me, personally, pausing and meditating with her changed the energy of my weeks months. She never stopped presenting ideas. Never.

She was uncompromising in her vision, which is exactly what you need to be when you want your dreams to happen. But we are human forms born of matter, energy, and spirit, and she was a force that will always be a force, whether in physical form or spirit form. I'm grateful that her babies were gifted to see that firsthand, that spirit, her determination, her dedication, although I know it wasn't easy. Biology is tricky though. Her physical form, her body had other plans.

And she had survived and kicked cancer's butt so many times that it was just kind of assumed that she would just always continue to just persevere. And so we got comfortable in the fact that it was still cancer. She was always busy. She was a teacher, a media teacher, even in one of her, I don't know, four thrones of cancer, teaching at the high school. She was incredible.

She inspired all these high school kids. It was it was great. Her body may have caused her to pause or recalibrate sometimes, but she never stopped until she had to stop. But she's gone in her physical body now in this lifetime. Her essence, her spirit, her reminders for balancing and centering oneself will live on. I know she'll still be around. Those who knew her will know that. But for now, we just grieve. May her memory be for a blessing. But her memory is a blessing, and she will continue blessing others in her memory and legacy she left behind.

Consul Klingon would like to sign on. Consul Hart, sign on as well. The whole council would like to sign on. Any further moments of silence, councilor Klingon?

Mister president, I'd like to ask that we keep Doris Pawinski Landry in our thoughts and prayers this evening and her family. Doris was born in Canada. She's the daughter of the late Willie and the late Francois Cormier. Doris came to America from Canada at age 16 and became a US citizen at the age of 24. She was a homemaker and worked doing daycare to be able to stay home and raise her family.

If you recognize her last name, it's because multiple members of her family are on the fire department. She is survived by her three sons, Joseph Pawinski and wife, Francina Billerica, James Pawinski and his wife Peggy of Somerville, Michael Pawinski and his wife Linda of Medford, son in law's Thomas Evans, sister-in-law Therese Cormier.

She had 12

grandchildren. She was predeceased by her daughter Deborah Evans, her first husband Ernest Joseph Pawinski, and her second husband Leonard Landry. Her six sisters Olivia, Yvonne, Rita, Bernadette, Darilla, and Aldina, four brothers, Leo, Edward, Armand, and Francis, as well as many cherished brothers and sister in laws. And as I said, I think Jimmy is retired. We all know him from the fire department, and then his son is also in the fire department.

Known family in the community, and I just ask that we keep them in our thoughts and prayers this evening. And then yeah. Sorry.

Go ahead. I was just gonna say I'd like to sign on as well.

And then the second one is it's not for a death, but I do wanna keep the Felix family in our thoughts and prayers this evening. Mister Felix is the father of eight children. He lives in Ward 4. I'm sure some many people might know a family member. I know my daughter went to school with his youngest son, and I know his one of his daughters went through teen empowerment.

Actually, reached out to I spoke to through text recently, and she just said that she was she appreciated it and that her dad was recovering. We thank God he is alert, awake, and talking. We're doing our best we can with this experience as it impacted our family. And I did hear from the news outlet that he was released from the hospital. And this is, you know, this this tragic occurrence that happened the other day, where you had this gentleman just doing his job, working doing the for the ride.

He's a local twenty five member. He he drives for the MBTAs, the ride. He was shot while just carrying out his duties and then drove himself hospital. He this is an amazing person who who has raised a lovely family in our city, and I I just I keep him in our I wanna keep him in our thoughts and prayer this evening. Thank you, mister president.

Councilor Yuncannon. Thank

you, mister president. I would like a moment of silence as well for Steve McCluskey. Steve McCluskey was 40 years old when he died in March, but many of us became aware of this only this week because the news media reported that he died after becoming stuck at the bottom of an escalator at the Davis Square Train Station. Truly devastating, unthinkable circumstances. Mr.

McCluskey was the father of two, carpenter, ran a home improvement business beloved by his family, his community. And it's particularly difficult because as many of us have now seen from the footage that was reported, this happened very early in the morning, five in the morning, but many people walked by as this man was stuck in the escalator. It took eighteen minutes before anyone called 911. The elevator wasn't stopped for twenty two minutes. It's can it's hard to imagine how this could have happened.

You can watch people pass by. This is what, you know, psychologists refer to as the bystander effect, where people assume that someone else is gonna help, and in the end it was too late before someone finally did. It's it's completely devastating obviously for the family and I also just want to ask us to to use this as a reminder of how important it is to to step up in situations like this, to look out for one another. And so please keep the McCluskey family in our thoughts tonight.

Are there any further moments of silence? If not, those who are able, rise for a moment of silence. Please be seated. Alright. Madam clerk. Next item.

Agenda item 1.3, approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of 03/26/2026.

Seeing no discussion. This item is approved.

Agenda item 1.4, approval of the minutes of the special meeting of 04/14/2026.

Seeing no discussion, this item is approved.

Agenda item 1.5, approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of 04/09/2026.

Seeing no discussion, this item is approved.

Agenda item 2.1, a citation by Councilor McLaughlin, commending Lillian Bartolucci on the auspicious occasion of her one hundredth birthday.

I look forward to presenting this, to the family, and this item is approved.

Agenda item 2.2, a citation by councilor Euenkampan, commending the Salvation Army for their dedicated commitment and generosity in supporting the city.

Councilor Euenkampan.

Thank you, mister president. The Salvation Army has provided an immense amount of support to the city. In particular, this citation is to recognize their support over the previous winter at the warming center where the Salvation Army provided really really important support during the extended hours when there's excess snowfall and many other times over the last two years. And in addition, on several occasions, assisting people who are displaced by fire. So I would like to welcome the Office of Emergency Management Deputy Director, Lauren Mahoney, to say a few words and introduce the recipients.

Councilor Yoon Camper would like to sponsor a speaker. I'm trying to keep this on. It's a live mic. Okay. Good.

Thank you, counselor. Through you, mister president. During this national Salvation Army week, Somerville Emergency Management extends our sincere appreciation for the Salvation Army's valued partnership and commitment to service. Many thanks to you and your team for your unwavering dedication and willingness to answer the call, usually my call and a short notice call, and step up even more beyond the occasions mentioned by counselor Ewencampin this evening, but to support all residents here in Summerville. The Salvation Army support continues to make a meaningful difference, and we are so grateful for your partnership.

There we go. Thank you. Great. So if you were, you're welcome. You don't have to.

I'm I'm a little shy, but not really.

I haven't been Can I please give your name, sir?

I haven't been to a council meeting since my father was a city councilor in Waltham. But I would like to say thank you to the the city Summerville and we continue to look forward to working with you and helping the community as much as we can. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Can we have your name for the record?

Oh, my name is Andrew Duffy.

Andrew Duffy. Good name. We're gonna have another Duffy coming up soon. Uh-oh. Thank you.

Agenda item 3.1, a grant of location from Eversource applying for a grant of location to install 10 feet of conduit in Hudson Street from Utility Pole 202 Over 9 to a proposed new handhold next handhold next to 135 Hudson Street.

Alright. So we have three public hearings for utilities. I declare this public hearing open. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to testify on this item? Please step forward and give us your name and address.

My name is Katja Henderson. I live at 135 Hudson Street. I am in a butter to the location where the EV parking is going in. I'm supportive of the EV parking. My concern is there are driveways for 135 and 139, and so I just wanna make sure that we are keeping those in mind when we're thinking about where the parking goes. I think the current plan shows the parking potentially shifting closer to those driveways. And so, I just have concerns about egress in and out of those active parking spaces.

Alright. Thank you. Is there a representative from Eversource Energy remotely testifying? Jackie Duffy of Eversource Energy. You have the floor.

How are you today? We'd like to install approximately 10 feet of conduit on Hudson Street to provide electric service to the city's sound of all engineer at EV charging stations.

Alright. Thank you.

See that we are near 01:35. I think that was a misprint on the, if you look at the plan, the the feed is going from poll two zero two over four over to, number 17 Hudson Street. I think 135 was a misprint.

K. It says next to 135?

Yeah. I'm seeing 19 Hudson Street, 17 Hudson Street.

To sure I'm going you're to time. I'm in Hudson Street,

which is where Hudson you're Street zigs. That is my house. It's 135. The drawings show 135 And 139 Hudson Street. Okay.

Which ward is this? I believe, councilor Yeah.

Through you, mister president. It says 135 Hudson Street on the city council agenda item 3.1. And so I'm not sure why we're talking about 17 Hudson.

I'm not too sure.

Could we lay this one on the table and have a side discussion about this? Are you able to do that, Jackie?

Sure.

Okay. We're gonna lay this on the table, do the other two public hearings, and we won't take it up until your issue is addressed. Okay. Thank you. That'll work. This item is laid on the table. Next item.

Next item, 3.2, a grant of location from Verizon New England applying for a grant of location to install four feet of conduit in Pearl Street from Manhole 44 Over 52 A to propose new handhole next to 115 Pearl Street.

I now declare this public hearing open. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to testify on this item? Alexander. Coming remote.

Yes. Good evening. My name is Alexander. Last name Marrero, m a r r e r o. I'll be representing Verizon on this petition.

Alright. Is there anyone in the audience who has any questions or comments on this item? Seeing none, this public hearing is closed. Any discussion from the council? This is my ward. And, I will move to approve. Next item.

Agenda item 3.3, a grant of location from Verizon, New England, applying for a grant of location to install 61 feet of conduit in Medford Street from existing manhole 44 over 430 to a proposed new handhole next to 350 Medford Street.

Alright. And now to clear this public hearing open, is there anyone in the audience who wishes to testify? Alexander.

Yeah. I'm Reid representing Verizon again. Basically, are requesting to place 61 feet of new four inch conduit to meet a new shared handhold at the base of the streetlight.

Was everyone able to hear that? Basically read the, order item. Any other comments from the public on this item? Seeing none, I declare this public hearing closed. Any discussion from the council? Council Klingon?

Yeah. Thank you, mister president. Through you, I know this is technically Ward 3, but I'm just curious what exactly is this for?

Alexander, did you answer that?

Yeah. So this is for an a an existing cell site located at the intersection of Medford and Pearl Street. Basically, right now, it's being fed by Crown Castle Fiber, so we're trying to get it over to Verizon fiber. So we need a new convert to connect it to the Verizon network.

Okay. So it's just for a cell cell service?

Yeah. A small five g cell site.

Is it for cell service, sir?

Yes. Oh, okay. Thank you.

Okay. Seeing no further discussion. This item is approved. Are we all set? Or do you need more time, council site?

Mister president, I would like to send item 3.1 to licenses and permits for discussion.

Okay. Item 3.1 will refer to licenses and permits. So, this will be referred to a separate committee for discussion and no vote will be taken until it comes back from

Excuse me.

On. Jackie Duffy.

I I it was my I apologize. That was my fault. I had the wrong plan in the in my folder. The it is for 139 and 135. That was my my bad. And it's 10 feet of conduit.

Okay. This one still says 135 and not 139, so it

sounds like there's still

some questions.

It is 135, but wasn't that a better from 01:39?

Okay. Councilor Syed.

Through you, mister president, to Jackie Duffy. Jackie Duffy, it is 135. However, we're talking about concern regarding However, the plans that were designed and approved by the engineering department. I'm sending it to committee so that we can have staff from engineering in committee to speak to the concern before we approve it as a council.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you. But that part was my bad about the other I had the wrong sketch in there. I'm sorry.

Alright. Thank you. So this item, we refer to the license and permits committee. Okay. Thank you very a couple items out of order. Item six point a point one, which is confirmation of appointments report, and item 2.3, which has to do with octave. Seeing no discussion, madam clerk, please read the next item.

Agenda item six a one, a report of the committee on confirmation of appointments and personnel matters meeting on 05/04/2026.

Councilor Hart. And if we can, I know number of firefighters in the audience? If they someone can tell them to come in. Councilor Winkham. Sorry. Councilor, you're camp, and you're the chair. I thought you were the chair.

Mister president, I am not the chair, but the the chair is not here. So I'm the vice chair. The confirmation confirmation committee has a number of recommendations before us tonight. We're thrilled to have before us tonight three candidates for promotions within the fire department. Dennis Sullivan to district fire chief, Michael Marino to fire captain, and Sean Marquis to fire lieutenant. We'll take them up in just a minute. And I also just wanna mention we have a number of other important confirmations. We approved the confirmation of Logan Brill and Valerie Locker to the Conservation Commission. Eric Weissman to be the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works. And Courtney Henderson to be our next City Clerk.

This is the last city council meeting with Kim Wells as our clerk. We are very lucky to be in good hands and we are very sad to not have Kim Wells as our city clerk anymore. We love you Kim. With that I ask that the committee report be accepted as submitted.

Seeing no discussion the committee report is accepted as submitted.

So now I know we have a number of families here for the promotions. You want to take it clerk? And, if there are folks who want to take pictures, please make yourselves at home. Come right up. Come wherever you need to.

You're all welcome to come up and take pictures. And we'll also do a recess after this to take family photos.

Thank you. Let me have you

raise your right hand.

You solemnly affirm and faithfully perform the duties incumbent on you as district chief for the fire department in the city Somerville, Commonwealth Of Massachusetts under the pains and penalties of perjury.

I do.

Alright. Then I'm

gonna have you sign

right next to where your

name is printed up there. And then give me one second to sign.

Congratulations.

Do you solemnly affirm that you'll faithfully perform the duties incumbent on you as captain for the fire department in the city of Somerville, Commonwealth, Massachusetts under the pains and penalties of perjury? I do. Okay. Then you'll sign.

Right next to where your name is printed. There. And give me just a second to sign.

Do you solemnly affirm that you'll faithfully perform the duties incumbent on you as lieutenant for the fire department in the city of Somerville, Commonwealth Of Massachusetts under the pains and penalties of perjury?

I do.

Okay. Then you'll sign

right next to where your name is printed right there. And then I will sign.

Congratulations.

We're gonna take a brief recess if anyone wants to take photos in the middle. The item.

Agenda item 7.3, a request of the mayor requesting approval of the urban center housing tax increment financing, OCTIF zone, plan and form of agreement for Assembly Square and East Summerville.

Alright. Do we have a representative from the city to discuss this item?

Got quiet.

Thank you, mister president. My name is Katie Weiss. I am an economic development planner with the OSPCD. So, OCTIF is a tool to incentivize affordable housing development, particularly on vacant lots and vacant commercial spaces. We are proposing this tool for parts of East Somerville and Assembly Square. We recommend this to be forwarded to the land use committee since there are no financial components at this time. We are simply looking to define a geographic zone within which this tool could be used in the future, and I look forward to hearing more questions and talking about this further at the committee. Thank you.

So, there's no presentation today. Correct?

Not today.

Are there any general questions about this before I refer to committee? Councilor Yun Kampen.

Thank you, mister president. So, through you, just so I understand and public understands, this is not like a TIF for a project. And if this were ultimately to be approved by the city council, individual projects would then come to the council for consideration for does the city want to enter into a TIF agreement with a specific project. But in order to get there we need a map first. Okay. And second question through you. Most things that go into land use are zoning amendments. Most things that have to do with TIFFs go to finance committee. Can you just explain why we think land use is appropriate?

Sure. Through you, Mr. President. There are no financial components as you councilor noted to this specific item at this time. It is only to define a geographic area of the city where we could potentially in the future look at financial agreements, but at this point there are no specific projects that we would be passing as part of this item.

Consul Scott.

Thank you, Mr. President Pro Tem. Seen as how not on land use, I just crystal clear. So this is a this is creating an area within which projects would be eligible to apply for an octave. We have entered into several octave agreements in on previous projects. Is it would it be correct to assume that there was a special active zone created for each one of those that was just kind of bundled in as part of the process for approving the active for example the Broadway project?

Thank you. Yes, to you Mr. President. The 299 Broadway project was the octave that was previously utilized in Summerville and that zone was the entire zone was basically the entire project. The purpose of this tool through the Commonwealth Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is to define a broader zone within which projects within that can be passed, but it's intended to create a larger zone within which that tool can be applied.

Right. So, thank you for that, Ms. Frazen. Through you. This is basically saying that the city is open to negotiate on tax relief for major projects that might be pursued in within a given geographical area. So, I appreciate it. I look forward to listening to the conversation and land use, but I can appreciate that the city is looking to find ways to encourage more major housing construction in the area. Thank you.

Any further discussion?

Yes.

Oh, councilor Strazo.

Through you to director Katie Weiss. Academic development. Pardon me. Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. And so but so we're clear that the city then negotiates project by project how many if any affordable housing units could be per building, meaning project by project?

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, Mr. President, to Councillor Istrazo, any project that to even qualify for this program underneath the Commonwealth's requirements, it has to qualify for it. The intention is to create affordable housing and one of the ways that we can do that is to meet existing inclusionary zoning requirements, which in Somerville is 20%. So, any project that does come through the program would have to be approved by the council and any project that comes through would need to meet minimum affordable housing requirements. Requirements.

Ms. Trezza? Through you to okay. Am I missing something? From what I understand, pardon me, through Katie, and this is not a grilling, but that means that certain projects with economic development can negotiate to have no affordable housing or units at 110% AMI or only 110% AMI or only certain, I don't know, three units of 30% AMI with each potential project. Pardon me. Through you. Am I missing that because everything that I have

Thank you. Through you, Mr. President. I I that is not the case. They would have to meet Summerville's inclusionary requirement, is 20% affordable inclusionary units on the the tiered system that we have with the city of Summerville according to the zoning ordinance, is at multiple different tiers not just one ten. This is not to override our existing inclusionary zoning ordinance. It is a minimum that must be met.

Through you to our presenter. We can talk further about this from what I understand then. Then each project will be negotiated with the yes, thank you Director Tom Gelgoni. I mean no it's great to work together but

through you Mr. President, this program has nothing to do with our existing inclusionary housing zoning ordinance. So nothing we would enter into an agreement about would have any impact on our existing 20% inclusionary requirement

Okay. And so each project that is negotiated is negotiated with the city. Correct? And so I am asking through you to OSPCD That who is at the table representing the city does include our housing department and our office of housing stability, both the housing director and office of housing stability in that negotiating table. I think that with them on the ground knowing all of the variables of what's going on with housing insecurity, housing displacement, etcetera, I think that opinion is essential.

Can we get a commitment to that?

Through the President. We have had a team approach to develop this zone that included housing stability, including members of the community, including some elected officials and including staff and economic development and in OSPCD. So that's the approach we take because this is a project that would have economic development impacts and housing impacts. But like I mentioned before, this has no impact at all on our existing rules regarding inclusionary housing.

Okay. And so when we get into when we get deeper into this, I'm sorry through you to director. When we get deeper into this very much want to be clear that I want those two departments in addition please. I don't want to say you but I'm requesting that those two departments are are their voices are brought forward with this because that does have impacts or I'm sorry they they know the the short term impacts of what's going on with housing as well.

Where are you looking to utilize this tool? On vacant properties? Vacant lots? Yes. Where there's no existing housing? I know. Thank you.

If I could just add

to this as someone who has been a part of this conversation, I'm not speaking for or against the item. But as I understand it, the octave is to ensure that housing gets built with the 20% inclusionary rate as opposed to opposite option which would be to allow housing without an inclusionary rate. Would you say that's correct director?

Okay.

That is correct.

And, I want to be clear too. So, you anticipate no discussion on percentages or numbers or any money in, if this was referred to the Land Use Committee?

That is correct.

Okay. Councilor or President Davis did previously want us to yes.

One mistake. I'm sorry. I I I that is the minimum. We are definitely open to having discussions and incentivizing using this tool to maybe reach deeper levels of affordability beyond what our existing inclusionary housing ordinance requires. So, be very precise, yes. We're looking to go a little bit deeper. That's the mayor's intention, to go a little bit deeper than our existing framework.

So, the intention is to go higher, not lower?

Yes. Okay. More affordability.

I just so I wanna be clear. So, consulate Davis did previously previously wanted wanted this to be referred to the finance committee. I wanna be very clear that the no math, no numbers, no money is gonna be discussed in legislative in land use. Otherwise, I would agree that it should be referred to the finance committee.

Mister President, that is true. There's one extra piece that I neglected that I forgot and that the land use committee is set up to do public hearings and we need to have a public hearing in order to create this district.

Does that work for you Chair Ewen Kampen? Okay. Any further discussion? Council Wheeler.

Thank you Mr. President. Just a few quick notes. One thing is that even though the finance committee did not decide on an item related to this, we did have the honor of having a presentation by Planer Weiss and others about the Octave, which I think was very helpful. That doesn't mean that we couldn't handle having more hearings or something, but from my perspective I am perfectly fine with this going to land use.

I also I had been wanting to make the point that Director Galigani just did that it's not just that the octave does not interfere with the 20% inclusionary requirement which it does not, that remains in place. It also offers this opportunity to go for more affordability. And you know that comes at a cost. It comes at a cost of these deferred taxes. But as part of a vision that's been articulated by the mayor and others of trying to go above the 20% inclusionary, 20% affordable subsidized units in new housing developments in order to try to get the city as a whole to have a higher percentage of affordable units.

This is a really important tool if that's a goal that we're serious about.

And I'll add too that any future negotiations would have to be approved by the mayor and the city council. Correct?

That is true. And our intention is to bring recommend that this come to land use. But any agreement that we negotiate, we expect would go through the finance committee because there would be financial implications.

Okay. Any further discussion? Seeing none this item is referred to land use.

Thank you. Thank you. Next item.

That brings us back to the order of the agenda. Agenda item 4.1 a resolution by Councillor Mbala and Councillor Hart that the administration, the executive director of the office of strategic planning and community development, the director of health and human services, the director of the office of housing stability, engage with leadership of Saint James Church to explore opportunities for partnership between the city and the church to activate underutilized space for community serving purposes.

Consular Hart.

Thank you. So, the Saint James Church is right in Teal Square, and they have

a

beautiful building and space and that is underutilized and they're very open to working with the city. So we'd love to see this conversation happen. And which would that be? I would suggest sending it to HCDE if the chair is open to that. Wonderful.

Seeing no discussion. This item is referred to housing and community development and all the other letters involved.

It's approved with a copy sent to

Approved with a copy. Thank you so much.

Agenda item 4.2, a resolution by Councillor Mbaugh and Councillor Hart that the director of mobility install speed bumps on Elm Wood Street and assess whether closing the street to non residents during rush hours would be possible and useful to reduce the cut through traffic to and from Cameron Avenue.

Councillor Hart.

Thank you so much. So since we've gotten the speed reduction on Cameron Avenue, unfortunately many drivers try to avoid Cameron by going through to Elmwood, which is a narrow two way street with increasing amount of potholes and dangerous conditions and especially with speeding drivers. So, Councilor Mubadan I would just like some attention given to assessing what can be done on Elmwood to make the street safer and cut down on the cut through traffic. So can we refer this to traffic and parking?

Seeing no further discussion, the item is approved. With a copy sent to traffic and parking.

Agenda item 4.3, a communication by Councillor Mbaugh conveying a report of the Job Creation and Retention Trust Fund.

This item is placed on file.

Agenda item 4.4, a resolution by councilor Saeed and councilor Klingen that the director of public works place a portable restroom at Hoyt Sullivan Playground.

Councilor Saeed.

Super president, I would like to send this to sustainability and infrastructure. Parents have reached out to both myself and counselor Klingen on the on asking why this playground was not selected. So I would like to hear from Pisaf on that and yeah. And also figure out a solution if ADA compliance is the reason why this playground was not selected.

Yep. Councilor Ian Cambern.

Thank you Mr. President. Through you, thank you very much. As the parent of two children who spend a lot of time there, I'd like to co sponsor this. And I'd also just like to put on the record for this discussion right across the street is beautiful Junction Park which has a lot of flat ADA accessible. So if it's not possible for a truck to back in DeHoit, that's another perfect location that's you know across the street.

Seeing no further out, councilor Link would like to sign on. I'd like to add that my son goes to this park as well. He refers to it as the Woods Park. Seeing not the train park, it's the Woods Park. Seeing no further discussion, this item is approved and will refer to public health and safety. Oh no, wait. Sustainability and infrastructure. I apologize. Next item.

Agenda item four point six four point five excuse me, a resolution by Councillor Cey.

I'm sorry, point of I'm sorry, Councillor Wheeler. I'm not sure at what point to interject. I want to just ask about item 4.3, the report of the Job Creation and Retention Trust Fund. I understand that Councillor Mbaugh is not here. I was looking forward to hearing that and there isn't an item attached I believe in Legistar. Is that something where we'll get a chance to hear that report? Or am I just wrong about it not being there?

Madam Clerk?

What's that?

Yeah. There are are media minutes available.

Okay. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. Councilor Klingon. Miss Fred, those are also video recorded as well.

Okay. There we go. Thank you. Everybody ready? Next item. Next item, please.

Agenda item 4.5, a resolution by councilor Saite that the director of mobility install a speed bump on Vernon Street.

Councilor Saite.

Mister president, I would like to send this to traffic and parking.

This item is approved. Copy sent to traffic and parking.

Agenda item 4.6, a resolution by councilor Strezzo that the Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator submit a written report to the city council regarding the timeline for ADA web content accessibility guidelines 2.1 under title two and the plan for its completion. And

can you please read 4.7 as well and additionally other ADA agenda item.

4.17?

Yes. Is that right?

Please read item four point seven and four point seven together is fine.

Agenda item 4.7, a resolution by councilor Strezzo that the administration submit a written report to this council regarding the timeline and process for staffing the ADA coordinator role and update this council on the plan to process ADA complaints and accessibility coordination when this position is vacant. And agenda item 4.17, a resolution by councilor Link that the chief information officer provide this council with a summary report on the current accessibility status of city operated digital properties, including websites, platforms, and portals, and share any plans to ensure new properties comply with the web content accessibility guidelines using principles like accessibility first design.

Anza Estrasso.

Thank you. I at least I prefer to send these all to committee. However, in addition, I'm open to having if don't want to put anyone on the spot but if the administration has any input on who is taking the ADA accessibility complaints, ideas, or information in the vacant position. I know this is important for all of us to get back to our constituents. So happy to create that space. If not, we can just talk about it in committee. However, we're here now. Might as well talk about it the second.

I got a head nod that says they're not

Send to committee? Okay no problem.

I'll send this, these items all approved and sent to council Klan and council Ling. Sorry.

Thank you Mr. President. Three I'd to sign on to all three. I wanna thank the council for bringing us forward. I know I don't wanna misspeak, but my understanding is that the deadline for compliance was recently we recently passed and, you know, I have faith that the administration is is working

on

this. I just like to know how close we are and what exactly how long before we're in full compliance on our websites. As for the ADA coordinator, again

I don't

want to misspeak, but I'm not, it's not a 100% clear to me because this was brought to my attention as well and it's been said that you can't, you have to, aims in the legislation specifically have an individual human person that you can talk to and not just like a generic email address. So it's important that we get that position. Whether it's somebody that's currently in the administration who could you know be listed as the ADA point of contact for ADA compliance. Thank you, councilor Schedul.

Consul Lenk.

Thank you Mr. President. So the yeah, I'm really hoping that we can get kind of just it sounds like so the the WIG CAC or whatever, however you pronounce it, it's my understanding is that it passed and was extended. But we still have to do it because it's we're gonna run into the bit again. And regardless of whether or not it's the deadline is extended, it's just a service that we should be making residents should have access.

You know I spent a little time kind of poking around different websites that are city council or not city councils, properties. And some of them failed pretty miserably honestly. So I definitely want to see what the plan is and I want to make sure more importantly you know things happen, people rush to get stuff out, it happens, but we need a plan to make sure that going forward we're always stepping in there with the right foot and not kind of working backwards trying to to you know fix the cart as it's rolling down the hill. Thank you. Any councilor Wheeler?

Thank you chair. I am aware that there is an ADA task force that the city has that has been working on a digital transition plan. I just am eager in committee to hear about the status of that for the administration.

Mrs. Estraso?

The task force has commenced the it's kaput, it's finished for the time. I was on that. I was one of the members.

Sounds like a councilor Wheeler.

Oh thank you to my colleague through the president. The other comment I wanted to make was I've done some work in the past in my career on web accessibility and I just want to encourage us to keep in mind like with any set of rules, the web content accessibility guidelines are a combination of wonderful total common sense needs that we should absolutely no question due to the letter and some formulas that are mathematical and approximate some needs, but not perfectly. And in some cases there have been claims by some people in the disability community that some of the WCAG guidelines when followed to the letter can make accessibility worse. Now I'm not saying most of them do, but there are some in there. I just want to make sure as with any tool that we use, any set of rules that we use, that we are keeping in mind that the ultimate goal here is accessibility and we're using all these tools in service of accessibility not as a substitute for it.

Thank you.

Seeing no further discussion we'll have a lively discussion in public health and safety. These items are approved to public health and safety.

Agenda item 4.8, a resolution by councilor Ewenkampen and councilor Wheeler supporting the governor's executive order facilitating safe and affordable single stair multi family residential buildings.

Councilor Ewenkampen.

Thank you, mister president. This is a resolution about single stair buildings which sounds like an incredibly boring topic, but is actually incredibly exciting. So I want to explain why. We are in an affordable housing crisis and we need to protect tenants from displacement and we also need to build a lot more housing. And the housing that needs to get built really needs to happen across the region. Obviously not just in Somerville. The state estimates that we need 220,000 new homes statewide in the next ten years. Up to 180,000 of those have to be in the Greater Boston area. These are minimums. Obviously this is not just Somerville, this is a really regional issue.

There are a lot of things that make it difficult to build new housing, particularly what we refer to as the missing middle housing, modest sized apartment buildings, things you know you think of five, ten, 15 apartments. Zoning is obviously a key part of this as are tariffs and interest rates, but there are many other challenges too. So earlier this year, Governor Healy signed an executive order looking at one particular aspect of this issue which is called single stair buildings. Currently the building code in Massachusetts requires two staircases for basically all buildings above three stories and this requirement makes it particularly hard to build these missing middle apartment buildings, especially on smaller lots. Think of, you know, nine to 20 unit apartment buildings.

The geometry really doesn't work on smaller units if you're required to have two large staircases. There was a recent study from a group called Boston Indicators. It was actually authored by a member of our planning board, Luke Schuster, which concluded, and this kind of blew my mind this number, that single stair construction if it was allowed could unlock a 110,000 new units in Greater Boston alone. So this is really significant in theory. But there's also concerns about this and I really want to acknowledge these.

The concern of course is fire safety. That's why there's a multi stair requirement. And I know that many firefighters including here in Somerville are really concerned about the idea of single stair buildings. I very much respect that. There is also a lot of evidence that this code was written before the invention of a lot of modern fire suppression technology that has made single stair, some argue, just as safe. And on that side of the argument we can see many countries in the world and many states in our country have now legalized single stair buildings. And there are studies showing that, you know, the safety is indistinguishable. But we obviously on the city council are not in a position to make that call. So that's not what this resolution does. This resolution does not say let's do single stairs.

This supports the governor's executive order from earlier this year, which creates a technical advisory group to do that work, to to analyze that data for real, rigorously, and then to provide recommendations to the building code. And I obviously, I know that we can all agree that we should be following facts here. And so that's what this resolution is doing. It's supporting these efforts wherever they might lead. And I am I'm really looking forward to seeing whether this is something that can get traction in Massachusetts. I think it could make a real difference. And I also wanna submit for the record a letter of support from a local architect named Sean Selby who he couldn't be here to speak. But, I've I've shared this with the clerk and it'll be attached to this agenda item and that'll be attached for future reference. Thank you, president.

Thank you. As our councilor Link wanted to sign on. Council Hart, councilor Saeed, and councilor Willard, do you wanna speak? Councilor Willard.

Thank you, mister president. And, with appreciation to my colleague from Ward 3. As my colleague, councilor Yun Campan said, this resolution and the governor's executive order call for research and group process to explore this question. They don't and shouldn't have a preexisting conclusion. As my my colleague did, I want to recognize that some firefighter groups including some firefighters local seventy six opposed single steer design.

This working group that's being formed and is very important to me and I believe to many others is including the fire chief of Massachusetts or their designee, a representative of the professional firefighters Massachusetts, a representative of the fire chiefs association of Massachusetts, a practicing fire safety engineer, and a number of other members with fire protection expertise. So this is something that I feel confident is going to be to really be looked at from all angles. We have a declared housing emergency in this city and clearly a housing emergency state in the Greater Boston area. So everything that we can safely have that helps with that we need. Thanks.

Any further discussion? Seeing

none of

the setups approved, do you want to refer to anyone counseling in Camden? Copy sent to the governor.

There's copies sent to the delegation for Thank the you.

Item.

Agenda item 4.9, a resolution by Councillor Euncampan that the administration work with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to ensure that extremely loud construction does not occur overnight.

Council Ewan Camper.

Thank you, mister president. There was recently work done called test borings for the McGrath Highway for the eventual grounding of that. I heard from many residents who live on Highland Ave where it meets the McGrath in that area that it was incomprehensible how loud this work was, and it was in the middle of the night. And I reached out to the city, obviously, and the city said the mass DOT, they imposed this condition on us and we will advocate, but they imposed these conditions. They don't want to block traffic. I understand. Construction that blocks traffic is very disruptive. No one wants to do that. You can't do this kind of work at night. It's unbelievable to me.

I mean, they're clearly just taking advantage of the fact that we can't do anything about it. There are kids that can't sleep, little kids. It's just completely outrageous. I don't know how to make them accountable to us, but blows my mind that they're doing this in the middle of the night. And I just really want our city to emphasize this over and over to the DOT. This is not an acceptable option.

Councilor Lank.

Thank you, mister president, and thank you for my colleague in Ward 3. I that's this happens not too far for me. I luckily was away while it was happening, but many of my friends who live in that area described how awful it was for and it wasn't just to be clear, this isn't just one terrible night. This was like ten nights. That kind of prolonged sleep deprivation is like actually has truly like measurable impact bad impacts on people physically and mentally.

So I I do think that while I'm sympathetic to the fact that it might make traffic bad for those ten days, I am much less I don't think that there was a proper balance and I do believe that you know it's supposedly was this is for the work for the grounding of McGrath, which we've been told time and time again is to kind of heal wounds that were, you know, inflicted upon this our residents and having a it's ironic then that this new wound would be inflicted on residents. Thank you.

Council Scott.

Thank you, mister president. I'm happy to cosign sign on to this. And I just say I'm sure that the residents of of the hill there are have the sympathies of the residents of Brick Bottom who endured midnight work on the GLX for a very, very long time without even the excuse of blocking the public right away. So this is just to say cheekily that it's an ongoing disrespect that happens, and I'm hopeful that this administration will be better at interfacing with the the state than previous ones were to help spare our neighbors from some of these disruptions. Thank you.

Discussion? Seeing none, the item is approved. I'd like to make a motion to take item number two point 7.23 out of order, please. We have some people in the audience for this. Now, clerk, please read item 7.23.

7.23, a mayor's communication proclaiming that the week of May 10 through 05/17/2026 is Taiwanese American heritage week. And the text of the language?

Yes.

Whereas The United States has long been shaped and strengthened by immigrants who arrived here to build their lives, and whereas each brought part of their own heritage, which over time became part of our common heritage, and whereas more than 20,000 Taiwanese Americans have made it their homes in Massachusetts, including a vibrant community in Summerville, and whereas Taiwanese Americans have played pivotal roles in shaping the cultural and economic landscape in Massachusetts, achieving excellence in academia, science, medicine, and entrepreneurship, and whereas the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as the pioneering state in The United States to legalize same sex marriage, shares a profound connection with Taiwan, the first country in Asia to make such strides in the pursuit of equality and freedom. And whereas the year of 2026 marks the forty seventh anniversary of the enactment into law of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which together with the nineteen eighty two six assurances forms the cornerstone of US Taiwan relations, and whereas Taiwanese Americans are proud of their roots and heritage defined by a quest for freedom, democracy, and self determination, and whereas Taiwan has consistently demonstrated resilience and perseverance in the face of ever growing geopolitical challenges, and whereas this week recognizes the long standing friendship between The United States and Taiwan, Now, therefore, be it known to all those present that the mayor of the city of Somerville respectfully proclaims May the seventeenth twenty twenty six as Taiwanese American Heritage Week proclaimed on this May 2026 by mayor Jake Colson.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, the item is approved. Thank you all for attending. Sorry to keep you waiting. You could speak if you like. I don't wanna put you on the spot. Spot.

Thank you for

Oh, come to the podium. And, please introduce yourself. I would like to sponsor a speaker.

Name is Sonia Huang. I live on 435 Washington Street and I just want to express gratitude for everyone for being you know such supportive and diverse community. And, I'm very proud to be a Taiwanese American living in Somerville.

Alright. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. This item is approved. Back to the regular.

Agenda item 4.1, a resolution by councilor Hart that the executive director of the office of strategic planning and community development develop a share with the public develop and share with the public a list list of all the spaces that are available for community use, including and especially those that are part of private developments.

Councilor Hart.

Thank you, president. So, I know in Ward 7 we have the Kala Building, which is private development, but there are spaces that are part of it that are available for public use. But I think not enough people know about that to take advantage of it, and my understanding is that this is true throughout the city and a lot of private developments. So I would love to see a centralized location where people can find out and you take full advantage of these spaces that have been negotiated, maybe one off, but are a big benefit. So yes, Oh, sorry.

You you have a floor?

I was just gonna say to h c d.

Alright. Consular Clegan and then

consular Sprezzo. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to sign on to this. And I'd like to say, and hopefully again, hope I'm not misspeaking.

But, my understanding is is that it's been said to me in the past and I've actually utilized this was when a project, when a when a entity takes CPA money that also opens the door to public use. Like I had meetings at the temple before, temple Benai Rith, who we helped get an elevator installed there. So and I don't know that that's every property that takes CPA, so that's probably something that will come out of that conversation that could be helpful that may may unlock other spaces that people may not even realize that they could hold a public meeting at. So long as it's ADA compliant. Councilor Streisand.

Thank you. And I want to thank, and I'd like to sign on to this as well, I want to thank Councilor for putting this forward because this is one of those historical knowledge fun facts of the city. Like, councilor Klingon, I forgot your name for a second. Threw you to mister president. I found I forgot your name for a second, councilor Klingon.

Anyhow and and that's true. And you're so right. And I'm so glad you brought this forward because, right, it it's like those that know or remember and those that that don't because you just have lost the conversation or been in the conversation or not. For instance, that the Public Storage Building, that little room in Ward 1, that is technically one of those spaces ADA accessible. The Partners Building has a space.

For a long time, I don't know if this is still, Mr. President, I don't know if this is still accurate, but the Stop and Shop over on McGrath Highway had a space on the 2nd Floor that sometimes way back in the day community groups used to have meetings in. And so just random weird spaces but are totally accessible to as community spaces. And you're right, we should be using these. We should at least know about them.

And I'm very happy to have the conversation in my committee but also I'm hoping that we can find a city employee to not only keep the database up, but a website that is accessible or heck, maybe posting at a library every so often or updating once or twice a year or something. I think we definitely should be finding ways that we can enhance the community and and find spaces for each other to connect. So right on. Thank you. Councilor Link.

Thank you, Mr. President. I was

going to basically say that we should

have a website that has this at the end result,

but Been yeah. Done. Alright.

Thank you. Tom Sulla Klan.

Thank you, Ms. Presby. Just for the record, the storage place, that was part of the Mystic task force settlement and that actually requires a little bit of a fee for the guy to come down. So, that's not completely but it is available to the public to use, but it's not free.

Councilor Wheeler.

Thank you, President. Someone discussing this with me pointed out that events at these private public places would help bring people in who could then be familiar and come back. So, one of the many great ideas that this conversation opens up. Thanks.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, the sign was approved and sent to housing community development.

Agenda item 4.11, a resolution by councilor Hart that the director of water and sewer provide an overview of the water and sewer metering and building practices.

So I heard.

Thank you. So we've had some great discussions in some of the committees lately in terms of that have really been useful to me. We're about crossing guards and three one one and and I thought the water and sewer and the metering and the bills are things that constituents have asked me about and I wish I knew more about. So I thought it would be great to have a public kind of educational moment about these issues and in I would like it sent to sustainability and infrastructure where there are other issues related to water metering and billing before the committee.

Any discussion? Councilor Sai.

Through you Mr. President, Councilor Hart, thank you for putting this resolution forward. Yeah. Earlier this year, like January, February, March, so many of my constituents have reached out about water bills, interest. They're accumulating. And,

yeah,

I have I had to help every single one of them and, you know, make sure that's sorted out. So one request they would like to make is for the for staff to speak to the bill the folks who have a w on their bill. So these are the old meters. My colleagues know the whole story of the old meters, but we still have constituents, you know, who are not aware that if you have a w on your bill, it means that you have an old meter And if it's not replaced, then yeah. I would like staff to speak to that because we know that those bills are increasing and also the accumulating interest if you don't pay them.

So, yeah, making sure that's, you know, made very clear. Yeah. Thank you.

Seeing no further discussion, the item is approved and sent to sustainability and infrastructure.

Agenda item 4.12, a resolution by councilor Wheeler, councilor Link, councilor Klingen, and councilor Mbaugh that the director of planning, preservation, zoning zoning consider revising the demolition review cutoff date to 1945 rather than a date relative to the present year.

Consul Wheeler. Thank you,

mister president. I will try to keep this brief and not go down too many rabbit holes. As just a bit of background, people are probably familiar that like a lot of cities, Somerville can designate specific properties and certain sets of properties in an area as historically preserved. But in addition to that, there is what's called the demolition review ordinance which was originally passed in the nineties and then revised in the late twenty teens and 2020. And that says that you know for buildings that are not on that specific historical preserved list, but are are old enough to make you want to double check first.

That before you might demolish a build a house or or a building and build a new one there, you have to file with the city and indicate this intention and it gives our friends at OSPCD a chance to do a little research, find out is there some historical significance here, do a report that does not obligate the owner of the property to not demolish, but if they want to work with OSPCD on this, they can work out a plan right away in a timely fashion. If they don't, there is an eighteen month waiting period. Now when this was originally passed in the nineties, the cutoff for what's included was fifty years ago. So at that time that that fifty years ago was I think 1946 maybe. I may be getting the the year wrong by a year or two.

Then when it was the years went on that fifty year window advanced and advanced and advanced and started going into the nineteen fifties. Meaning that more and more buildings in Summerville were were covered by this. Even though those buildings didn't, hadn't gained in historical significance. And that I think was not really an intention of the original ordinance. Then in the in the late twenty teens it was picked up sort of among other intentions to say we should revise this to kind of move the date back.

And it was changed from a fifty year window to seventy five years so that it would not include quite so many more recent buildings built in the fifties. But now the same problem's happening. The year marches forward and it seems to me that the original intention was to sort of pick a time roughly in that World War two era when there was not a lot of building and to say, know, by by default we're not considering buildings built after that to be very likely to be historically significant. By default, at some point before then they're more likely to be. So this is just an attempt suggesting to planning preservation and zoning who are currently doing some revision of how they approach historical preservation rules in their process to consider instead of having this seventy five year window just saying, you know what, we'll pick a date.

For example, 1945, which is approximately what it was at the time that these ordinances were passed. Thank you.

Consolor Scott.

Thank you mister president Pro Tem, through you to my colleague at large. I appreciate you bringing this. The demo ordinance has been one of my favorite topics over the years. And, well, you know, not for nothing. The vast majority of the structures in Somerville were built prior to 1920 when the Somerville's first zoning code was built.

So, I appreciate this resolution. Obviously, I'd like to support it. But while we're rethinking our demo delay ordinance, I would encourage the planning department to think bigger, particularly given the amount of friction that it provides in the housing production process and how nearly every structure in Somerville currently falls under that extensive delay provision. I'm glad to hear that the planning department is revisiting those rules and hopefully we can make some progress. Perhaps we can collaborate on a further amendment. Thank you, sir.

Any further discussion? Did you want this referred to committee or disapproved?

I would be happy to have this approved. It is a suggestion for consideration, not an ordinance.

Very good. Seeing no discussion, the item is approved.

Agenda item 4.13, a communication by councilor Wheeler conveying the existing body worn camera policy.

Council Wheeler.

Thank you, mister president. This is entirely just an FYI that I don't have any point that I'm making by filing this. Quickly as backstory, back as I understand it, in 2021, the mayor administration did create an initial body worn camera policy. Body worn cameras were not implemented that year, but the policy remained. Though to my knowledge it was not posted on the city website.

In the course of recent conversations about body worn cameras, some keen eyed members of the public have pointed out that that the city's recent grant application about body worn cameras mentions including the existing body worn camera policy, which raises the question of, wait, what is that policy? Where is it? I asked and the city attorney's office readily and helpfully provided it to me and pointed out it's a public record. It's not needing to be redacted at all. Not seeing any other way for me to promptly make this document available to people who have been asking about it and are interested. I'm submitting it as a communication today. Thanks.

Any discussion? I see none. The item is placed on file.

Agenda item 4.14 is zoning ordinance by councilor Davis, councilor Ewen Campin, councilor Klinging, councilor Link, and councilor Imbaugh proposing amendment to section 11 of the zoning ordinance regarding homeless shelters.

Councillor Ewen Kampen.

Thank you, Mr. President. This was led by Councillor Davis and he reached out to me today just to ask me to say just a very brief introduction to this before we send it to land use. So, as many of us are aware, there was a lot of attention around a potential homeless shelter in Davis Square recently. This amendment does not directly speak to that situation whatsoever.

That situation is covered by what's called the Dover Amendment because it's happening in a church. But it started a conversation, right, around should we relook at where and we do and don't allow homeless shelters in the city. So this is councilor Davis' attempt to put that into ordinance so that we can have a discussion about it, about changing those rules. And that's what this is, and I ask that it be referred to land use with a copy to Planning Board,

please. Thank you. Council Hardworn has signed on, as well as Council Syed and Wheeler. I guess we can just approve it right now. Now, we will refer this to the Land Use Committee with a copy sent to the Planning Board.

Agenda item four fifteen, a resolution by councilor McLaughlin that the commissioner of public works install a streetlight at the corner of Tufts And Washington Streets near the East Somerville Station crosswalk to increase visibility and pedestrian safety.

If I can speak from the floor because I do not we do not have a vice president right now. I would like this to just be approved, and I'm looking at liaison Radasi that this is a simple request that I don't need a full discussion on, but I hear DPW is more open to it. Could Could I get a head nod that you will talk to the DPW commissioner? Thank you very much. This item is approved.

Agenda item four sixteen, a resolution by councilor McLaughlin that the director of mobility use urban neighbor ways art on Perkins Street in front of the playground to increase pedestrian safety.

So, I would like this one to refer to traffic and parking, and the reason why is this is a little playground in the neighborhood. I've been told that we can't put a crosswalk there. A speed bump is on the list for maybe a year, but some community artwork, I think, would go really far in slowing down traffic on this two way street. So, I would like to get input from the city on this. This item is approved with a copy sent to traffic and parking.

Agenda item 4.18, an order by councilor Lincoln, councilor McLaughlin that the commissioner of public works provide an update to this council on improvements made to custodial staffing at the East Summerville Community School.

Councilor Lincoln. Thank you, mister president. This is just a follow-up item to the conversations that we've been having in the school buildings, facilities, and maintenance committee to, you know, make sure that we're we're taking care of our kids. You want Sorry. If we could refer that

to the school buildings, facilities, maintenance committee.

Okay. This seeing no discussion, this item is approved. It was sent to the schools committee.

Agenda item 4.19 in order by councilor Lincoln, councilor McLaughlin that the commissioner of public works provide an update on the improvements made to the temperature in the Edgerly Education Center, Caffatorium, and Kitchen following the installation of the air conditioning unit.

Councilor Link. School buildings, facilities and maintenance, please. This item is approved. Copy sent to school building maintenance.

Agenda item 4.2, a resolution by Councilor Link and councilor Ewen Kampen that the director of mobility evaluate the feasibility of implementing a raised intersection or crosswalk at the intersection of Columbus Avenue, Prospect Hill Parkway, and Stone Avenue, and report findings to the city council.

Councilor Link.

Thank you, mister president. So this one is near and dear to my heart because it's a place that I go regularly, but it's a place that my neighbors talk about regularly. There is a lot of different problems, one of which is that people will regularly go the wrong way down a one way street. The other problem is of course that people speed and don't stop at the stop sign. And it also happens to be the road that funnels everyone in my neighborhood to the argentina school. So it is a pretty major school route. So yeah, I would love to see some some attention paid here at Tahoe to make this safer for the kids.

Alright. Would you like this referred to committee or

Yes, please.

Traffic and parking. This item is approved. Copy sent to traffic and parking.

Agenda item 4.21, a resolution by councilor Link and councilor Saeed that the director of public space and urban forestry consider snow clearing requirements to maintain inclusive winter use when selecting turf materials for the new Kennedy School inclusive playground.

How's the link?

Thank you, mister president. So through this is a we've heard from the from various parties that the materials that we have at some of our schools cannot be maintained as they stand in the winter. So we should we're redoing this whole park right now. We should maybe be looking at how to make sure that we can maintain that through the winter, especially given the fact that it's meant to be an accessible playground. We want to make sure that all abilities are able to to use it throughout the year. So if we could send that to school buildings, facilities, and maintenance, please. Alright.

Seeing no discussion. The items approved. Sent to school buildings.

Agenda item six b one, a report of the committee on land use meeting on 05/07/2026.

Councilor Ewan Camper.

Thank you, mister president. The land use committee has two ordinances recommended for the full council tonight, but one of them we cannot act on because we do not have the recommendation from the planning board yet. So we're gonna lay that one on the table and I'll talk you through this. Just one moment. Excuse me. So the first amendment is to the affordable housing overlay. Among other things, this will allow a 100% affordable buildings to go to eight stories from the current seven. And the reason for this is to accommodate mass timber, a new building construction technology that is very wonderful and you should Google mass timber buildings. They're extremely beautiful. It also removes upper story step backs.

So above the third story like you no longer have to jut back because we were losing affordable units because of that. And they're maintained if you are directly abutting much smaller buildings. It's like a neighborhood residence for example. But in most of these there's no longer upper story step backs. That was serious feedback that we were hearing from the affordable housing community. There are a few other relatively minor fixes. I'm excited to say that this was unanimously approved. I'm excited to have that before us for a vote tonight. And the second item which was unanimously recommended after several amendments has to do with dormers. So this was proposed by members of the public who worked with the planning department for well over a year.

We also have many letters of support on tonight's agenda regarding this dormer amendment. But I just want to say it's not common that members of the public propose zoning amendment that is ultimately recommended for approval because it's really hard to do zoning and these folks really really put in a lot of work with the planning staff and with the community. So basically for folks who don't know, dormers, if you have a house with a slanted roof, dormers are like those things that give you a little bit extra room that kind of stick out of the slanted roof. Right now in our current zoning, there is a lot of restriction on how dormers can be built. And in particular, they can only be 50% of the width of the house and they're required to be basically covered in windows.

And it's created a lot of hardships for people who want to build, you know, more space for their kid or a family member or rent an apartment. And the applicants did a really compelling job of showing the challenges that these pose and just to, you know, residents that are trying to get more livable space in their house. And they also did a great job showing across the city non conforming examples that no one finds offensive, know, that just you couldn't build these but no one has a problem with them. But the committee did make three changes to the public's proposal, and I just wanna walk through these quickly. These all followed recommendations from planning staff.

So the first change that we made is to require a two foot setback from the front of the house. Now this sounds minor. I think it is minor. But basically, without a front setback, basically you can turn any building into a cube is what that would mean. You know, not exactly a cube, but basically a cube. Not to say there's never a time and place for that, but we really felt like these are dormers. They should look like dormers. You still have a house like this that has dormers. So it's two feet. But I think it does actually make quite a bit of difference in the architecture and the committee agreed.

The second change that we made, this is actually not really even related to dormers, but there was an independent part of the proposed amendment that would allow any building in NR, backyard cottages, to be three stories. Just a flat cube basically. The issue that we had with this was that first of all it moots everything we're doing with dormers. So like we're changing, making it easier to build dormers, but then we're saying forget all that you can just do full three stories. And what that mean would in practice is that all these regulations are fully moved because you'd go to ISD and they'd say, yeah, you could do anything up to three stories.

That's how zoning works. Know, if if the maximum is like a flat roof, you can do anything under that. So we felt like if we do, as a city council, want to basically get rid of slanted roof houses as a building type in Somerville, okay, but we should take that up separately as a meaningful conversation because kind of just slipping it into this dormer amendment did not seem like the appropriate way to have that conversation. And last, we removed these new dormer allowances from backyard cottages. So, there's a separate conversation that's gonna happen you know in the coming months around backyard cottages ADUs.

We did not feel like this was the time to make them significantly bigger, which is what this amendment would have done. So, we're gonna have a separate conversation about ADUs in the future, we removed that. So, before I asked for the acceptance, in order to actually make those amendments, we had staff prepare those changes, changes, and the director of planning has submitted item 10 dot two on tonight's agenda, twenty six zero eight five one. So, I'd like to move to replace the dormer amendment with that item from director Bartman.

Discussion on the motion? The motion is approved.

Excellent. And the affordable housing overlay, there was like a very minor amendment that we made, that was actually made to the text. So with that, I I think I'd like to ask for the committee report to be accepted. Sever Okay. So I move to sever the dormer amendment, which is do you have the item for that, madam clerk? The one that is that we're not going to do tonight is the dormers. Excuse me. It's 6 b three. So, I'd like to sever this so that we can lay it on the table because we cannot act on it tonight.

Seeing no discussion, the item is severed. And now, we will approve the committee report. I see no discussion. The committee report is approved as submit it.

So that puts the ordinance before us, right? The affordable housing overlay ordinance? I think we're Six b three is the dormers. That we are laying on the table.

Oh, your reference to the other.

Six b two.

Yes. And that puts six b two twenty six zero two zero four in front of the body for enrollment and ordainment and on enrollment. Councillor Eunenkampin?

Yes.

Councillor Link? Yes. Yes. Councillor Scott?

Yes.

Councilor Klingon?

Yes.

Councilor Schrozzo? Yes. Councilor Saeed? Yes. Councilor Wheeler? Yes. Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Mbaugh is absent and Councillor Davis is absent and on ordainment. Councillor Euncampan?

Yes.

Councillor Link? Yes. Councillor Scott?

Yes.

Councillor Klingon? Yes. Councillor Schrezo? Yes. Councilor Saeed? Yes. Councilor Wheeler? Yes. Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin? Yes. Councilor Mbaugh is absent, and Councilor Davis is absent. The item is ordained.

Alright. Well, now we have the seventh item in front of us.

Mister president, if I may, that was our first zoning amendment of this city council. I'm glad that it has to do with affordable housing. It'll lead to more affordable housing getting built. Congratulations to us. And, yes, I move to lay item six b three on the table until our next meeting, please.

Okay. Seeing no discussion, the item is laid on the table for the next meeting. Next item.

Agenda item six c one, a report of the committee on legislative matters meeting on 04/28/2020

Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. President. We met for a brisk and productive two hours on that evening. All members were in attendance. At this meeting, the topics of conversation were the 2025 Surveillance Technology Annual Report as well as two Surveillance Technology Impact Reports, one for something called Crime Tracer and one for body worn cameras.

The Surveillance Technology Annual Report is a very interesting document that I encourage everybody in the community to read, which goes through all of the different surveillance technologies that have been approved for use within the city of Summerville. How many times, for example, they were used, in what manner they were used, what was done with the data. It's very helpful and it's also intended to include some information about how much it costs us to operate these surveillance technologies. There was a lot of conversation there and at the conclusion of that conversation, the committee had various amendments that we were requesting in terms of additional data that we felt should be included in that annual report. So that annual report was kept in committee.

It is my anticipation that the administration will be submitting a new revised one, I believe at our next meeting. Then for our surveillance technology impact reports, these are somewhat different. These are specific to any given technology that a city department wants to employ in the city. And the city council must approve that impact report before that technology is used. Now, in case of our first submission here, which is for Crime Tracer, that's a database technology that was previously known as CopLink.

And the city has been using that for, well, longer than we've had this ordinance. So this is a, let's say, delayed compliance with the ordinance to have a surveillance technology impact report filed for it. And it is a actually a stunningly large piece of surveillance software. So there was a lot of conversation around that. There were some questions made to update that and update the impact report.

I believe a version, a revised version has been submitted this evening, which will be referred to legislative matters for further discussion and potentially adoption at that point. Finally, there was a surveillance technology impact report for body worn cameras. There was an extensive discussion there. My thanks to Derek Rice who came and gave a presentation on body worn camera policies and in particular an analysis of the one before us. There was no appetite from the committee to move forward on that that evening.

So that also remained in committee. It is my understanding, just as a further note, that the administration has not communicated an intention to provide an amended body worn camera impact report. So they're they're going with what they sent us. With that said, I would request that this committee meeting be accepted as submitted with all items either remaining in committee or marked were completed for public comment items.

Any discussion on the committee report? Seeing none, the committee report is accepted as submitted.

Agenda item 61, a report of the committee

on I'm sorry. I see a roll call vote for one item.

Next one. Oh, sorry.

I'm reading the wrong legislative matters report. There we go.

I got another one coming for you, sir.

Agenda item 61, a report of the committee on legislative matters meeting on 05/05/2025.

Council Scott.

Thank you. Back to back because we had a bonus week this month and we've had a lot of items. So, this meeting was a brisk hour and twenty three minutes. One councilor absent, everybody else in attendance. And this was all about a variety of amendments to the rules and operations of the city council.

Most of this is in the weeds. For those of you who are particularly interested, it went into modifying the submission deadlines for agenda items, which is now making it giving us actually a little bit more time to submit our items for agendas. I believe now it's Tuesday at 12:30 when they have to be in by. And also constraints when items will be accepted from the administration so that we remedy prevent for all time in the future, I hope, the practice of past administrations of heavily loading our agendas with late supplemental items. There was also a ordinance that we discussed which has been put forward by councilor Davis with the well, I guess you're still our clerk for a few days to recommend changing the date of our city council meetings to Tuesdays.

So there was some discussion around that. I encourage you to check-in on that, and we will be talking about it again before too long. But for now, that remains in committee. We'd love to hear everybody's opinions about that at some point before we bring that back for a vote. We also discussed a secondhand dealer license ordinance, which was a great discussion.

I know there are a few more items that are being worked on there. And so while that will not be on our next legislative matters agenda, I do anticipate wrapping that up and getting it out of committee soon. And then the final thing to be kept in committee was the prohibition on the use of taxpayer funds for self promotion. I know that was something that Councilor Davis and then Councilor Wilson put forward. But comms still wants to go over it and make sure that they they understand all the guidelines and what the exceptions are.

So I guess we'll hold on to that one as well, sir. So, that does give us one item for a roll call vote that was recommended to be approved. That would be the deadline for submission of agenda items. And with that, I request the report be accepted as submitted.

Alright. On the committee report, report, I would like to add my 2¢ about the Tuesday versus Thursday meeting change. I personally think if it's not broke, don't fix it. I'm satisfied with Thursdays. I think the whole city, their schedule operates around this Thursday, late Thursday, early Friday schedule. That's just my opinion. I would love to hear the city's opinion in these meetings. So, I just wanna share my 2¢ on that. Seeing no further discussion, the committee report is accepted as submitted.

And that puts agenda item sixty four twenty six zero three five four. The rule four of the rules of the city council be amended to update submission deadlines for agenda items consistent with the provisions of the open meeting law. Councillor Yuncanpin?

Yes.

Councillor Link?

Yes.

Councillor Scott?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Councillor Hart? Yes. Councillor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Imbaugh is absent. Councilor Davis is absent. The item is approved.

Alright. Next item.

Agenda item six e one, a report of the committee on licenses and permits meeting on 05/13/2026.

That's consular heart. There we go.

Yes. Thank you.

Right committee this time.

Yes. We had a short meeting yesterday evening with one item agenda. We did recommend approval for the Eversource grant of location on Kent Street, and we did put in a condition for the leaning pole, which is slated to be repaired soon. We understand.

Through you, mister president. Council

Scott.

So could you could you read us the condition that's that was added to the to the permit?

Pardon me. I actually don't have it with me at the moment. Could through you, mister president, would it be possible for the clerk to read that?

Which item?

The condition on the grant of location, Item26DashO525.

You got that, madam clerk?

Yes. Give me one moment and I can pull it up. Apologies. The system is loading.

All right. Condition, just for anybody who didn't have a microphone there, was for Pole 191 Dash 0 to be repaired. Is that before the work on that grant location is conducted. Alright. This seems like a grand experiment, mister president pro tem. Let's see if a condition requiring a pole to be repaired actually results in that pole being repaired. Just through you to the chair, when would you like to circle back around on the completion of that work?

I will check-in at the next meeting.

Great. You know what, I'll also just keep my eye on the area and if they dig the trenches before they actually fix that pole, I guess we'll have to get more pointed in our language next time. I mean, I could, but I trust I trust the chair. Okay. Alright. Let's see how this works, mister president.

Madam clerk, this will be the last time I ever tell you should step up to the podium when you speak. Don't let me make me say it again. Next, can we continue with the report? I apologize.

Yes. I move to accept the report as submitted.

Alright. I see no discussion. The committee report is accepted as submitted.

Agenda item six f one, a report of the committee on school building facilities and maintenance meeting on 04/30/2026.

Counsel Link. Thank Mr. President. So we met for just over an hour and we continued our conversation about the potential of using the Cummings School as a teen center learning that it may cost as much as $30,000,000 to bring so the coming schools to actually two buildings kind of stuck together, which adds a lot of different complications and bringing both those buildings up to code would cost maybe as much as $30,000,000. We also talked about air conditioning in the Edgeley School cafeteria, which in particular the kitchen, which at various times was either far too hot or far too cold.

And we learned that there's a five ton AC that is going to be added to control the temperatures in the kitchen so that meals can be prepared year round without anyone having any risks of fainting or anything like that. Speaking of temperature control, we also spoke to commissioner Wiseman about fixing a faulty radiator that led to an especially hot classroom. We talked about some concerns for mold and humidity in a closet in the Kennedy Building. And one of the things we learned from that is that kind of there's not really a there hasn't been a process put in place for how to deal with that kind of concern. So in addition to DPW going to investigate the problem, they also are gonna be working on a way to systematize dealing with these kinds of potential issues.

And then finally we also got an update on the MSBA process at 115 Sycamore Street for the new school. We learned that the MSBA wanted more information and the really great news was that director Reich and his department foresaw that request, had the information ready, and was able then to therefore you know skip what could potentially have been months of delay. And interestingly, one of the questions that was asked was what a school the size that is proposed for 115 Sycamore, what if that was put onto the Brown School instead, which would have resulted in something like a 17 story school, which obviously nobody really wants. But it was an interesting little fun fact. With that, I submit that this report be accepted as submitted.

Any discussion? Seeing none, the committee report is accepted as submitted.

Six g one, report of the committee on sustainability and infrastructure meeting on 04/29/2026.

Council Clinton.

Thank you, mister president. Through you, all members were present. We had a two hour and twenty two minute meeting. We discussed a variety of things. I had a couple of snow related items that I sent back to committee. They were all related to ADA compliance and making sure that our streets and sidewalks are cleared for people with disabilities. I didn't feel at the first meeting that we gave it its proper attention. Seen as it's such a huge issue especially with regards to curb cuts. So, that was the bulk of the conversation. I'll get into that in just a second.

But, the first thing we, one of the things we discussed was in order to break Councillor Hart as far as about street sweeping. Director Postaway stated that one of the reasons is consistency but the other big reason why we street sweep so much, like so often, and we don't go to a once a month system, is because it prevents debris and chemicals like salt and gas and just vehicle chemicals, oil, etcetera, from entering the public waterways. So it helps keep water quality in our waterways better. We discussed an order by Councilor Wheeler to three eleven about constituent services. Director Craig came and gave a good presentation on the process of how they route three eleven calls and other things they have in the works to improve three eleven's ability to help people when they call.

Especially with regards to the example that was given around people that are maybe trying to help someone who is unhoused or looking to get into substance abuse treatment.

We discussed

the process for disposal of surplus items. We were given a memorandum with a legal explanation as to why we cannot readily give away items to city staff or the general public if an item is valued more than $50. Definitely check out the video on that. That was good. And then, like I said, the bulk of it was regards to these to to the store removal and also to putting dumpsters in if a dumpster ends up in a handicapped spot.

That, the contractors are supposed to, if if if it, if there's a handicapped spot in front of where their project is and naturally that's the closest closest location, you know, they're not gonna wanna be across the street lugging stuff, they should they are not allowed to put it there in a handicap spot. They are supposed to work with traffic and parking to temporarily relocate relocate the the spot. As for the snow removal, you know, I I really just wanted to have a conversation. Essentially we had Holly Simeone was on the call. She had supplied me with some really a bunch of photos that she took around the city with her where there was snow in put into handicapped spots or they weren't properly cleared.

And so, know, obviously the DPW does a great job and they do the best they can. I mean, plow guys are out there to keep the roads clear and safe. We all agree that there needs to be a a much bigger effort as far as keeping the curb cut safe. And the mayor, my understanding is they're working on a potentially like a, you know, sort of a shovel brigade that would would help go out out where there are like business district curb cuts or like like areas where the city is is definitely on the hook for. But obviously, we need enforcement around getting the message to people that if they abut a curb cut that it technically is their responsibility.

But it wasn't to sort of beat up Director Weissman was gave a ton of time to this in this committee. The first one being a really long presentation about how they go through this process. And then this one was really just eye open I think for everybody just really to do a check and say we can do a lot better. I certainly it's going to cost more money, it's going to take more resources and more labor. But right now you know we're getting the bare minimum down which is making sure vehicles can get around safely.

But we have so much more to do and and I think if we work together and certainly I think it was really educational and eye opening. Obviously we're coming into the summer so I think like a revisit discussion you know as we approach winter I think would be really helpful to just kind of remind people. It's You know when you look at some of the pictures you just realize that if you're trying to traverse the city as somebody either in a wheelchair or with a disability, you know there's just a lot to be desired. We have a long way to go before we're we can safely say that we're doing all we can to make sure that that's the reality on the ground. And everybody's on the same page as far as getting there.

It's just like I said, it's going to take time, money, resources and labor. So we had a good discussion about that and hopefully we'll have some solutions going forward. With that, I ask that the committee report be accepted as submitted.

Any discussion on the committee report? Seeing none, the committee report is accepted as submitted.

Agenda item six h one, report of the committee on traffic and parking, meeting on 04/27/2026.

Councilor Syed.

Thank you, mister president. The traffic and parking committee met with all three members present. Most items were kept in committee due to clerk coverage issues. We met for just one hour and a half. We took up three items related to parking on Oak, Bolton, and Prospect Street.

We heard from a cons constituent who spoke on behalf of 64 neighbors who submitted a letter to the committee that outlines ongoing parking and safety issues from neighboring construction projects and what they described as insufficient enforcement. We heard from director. She said that traffic and parking have been issuing tickets and have this area as high priority. We heard from. He shared that the projects have traffic plans and there's communication between engineering and the police and also ISD when there's clear violation of safety protocols.

He added that when a developer doesn't follow traffic plan, the enforcement is done by ISD, and SPD is in charge of towing. We kept these items in committee so we can take them up this month, next week, actually, so that we can hear from ISD and SPD regarding enforcement. We kept the rest of the items in committee. As I mentioned, we only had an hour and a half as the clerk had to leave. With that, I ask that this committee report be approved as submitted.

Consul Scott. Thank you, mister president Pro Tem. Through you, I just wanna thank the chair and the members of committee for voting such time and attention to very ward two issue in some ways, but also a citywide issue. I mean, the wherever we up zone, there will be construction as what we want to happen. But I I think it's clear from the experience of these neighbors and the research that they've done that we need more proactive mechanisms here.

So while folks are appreciative for the discussion, I believe there are still more questions to be asked and perhaps more of a discussion to be had. I've already heard tell that some of them are motivating for a public hearing about some of these issues. So hopefully, I look forward to the discussion in the next time traffic and parking meets. And I just wanted to extend my gratitude to the chair and members for for really diving in and taking that constituent letter and going through point by point. Thank you.

Seeing no further to council Wheeler.

Thank you, mister chair. To to these points and with appreciation to my committee chair, councilor Saeed. I wanted to to appreciate the participation from city staff and from the traffic and parking department on this. One of the things they explained that they take very seriously is that when there are contractors whose vehicles have outstanding tickets and they are coming asking for a parking permit for a new project or a new parking permit for an existing project, that they're insisting that they they pay off these tickets. That they they can't just accumulate tickets more and more and more.

One thing they're not currently doing but they were patient about entertaining the idea around is is connecting the contracting project that a given contractor vehicle might have a hanging green parking permit for to the ticket itself. And they shared that that would require some different procedures. It could be a more complex process, but I think many of us were curious about the possibilities for that moving forward of saying whether it's this particular vehicle that's got a bunch of tickets or it's a contractor or a developer who has a project and that project as a whole is frequently getting lots of parking tickets and perhaps not taking parking rules in the neighborhood terribly seriously, that that be something that's taken into account when they are coming and asking for parking permits. We want to reward people who are trying to do right by the community as they're juggling all the things they're juggling. Thank you.

Further discussion? Seeing none the committee report accepted as submitted.

Agenda item 7.1, a request of the mayor requesting approval of an amendment to the Assembly Square district improvement financing district map and program to include the Assembly Square Fire Station, 45 Middlesex Avenue, and improvements to the intersection of Middlesex Avenue and Mystic Ave.

In this item, we refer to finance.

Agenda item 7.2, request of the mayor requesting approval of a home rule petition to authorize the city of Summerville to regulate leases and tenancy at will agreements.

So, refer to legislative matters.

Agenda item 7.4, a request of the mayor.

Council Wheeler.

Hi. Thank pardon the interruption. I move to waive the reading of items 7.4 through 7.16 and refer them to the finance committee.

Seeing no discussion, these items will be referred to the finance committee.

7.17, a request of the mayor requesting approval of the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven housing and urban development one year action plan for the community development block grant, home investment partnership, and emergency solutions grant programs.

This item will refer to housing community development.

And equity. H c d e.

Yes.

Agenda item seven eighteen, a request of the mayor requesting approval of the surveillance technology impact report for crime tracer.

This item referred to legislative matters.

Agenda item seven nineteen, a request of the mayor requesting approval of an exemption for Lindsey Buffington as required by Massachusetts general law chapter two sixty eight a section 20 b. Finance.

Mister president? Yes. Councilor Ewan Cameron.

Can we take up this with items seven twenty, 21, and 22 and take them all

at the Yes. Same Wheeler Councilor Ewan Cameron moves to waive the readings of seven twenty, 21, and 22 to discuss. Seeing no discussion, the items are before us. Did you have a comment? Council Wheeler?

Thank you, mister president. Just being new, I was curious about exactly what these types of items are. Are they requests by Thank you, councilor Scott.

Council Scott, and I must also wave into liaison Radasi.

Yeah. These are routine requests from the administration to basically provide a disclosure of financial conflict under conflict of interest law. It's to allow somebody who works for the city to also have a second job at the city or somebody who does volunteering. So these are usually very routine, but I'd encourage you to take them into finance since they are financial conflict of interest matters and you can look them over there if you like.

I see liaison Rodasi moving to this front.

Thank you Mr. President. Through you to Councilor Scott, thanks for the explanation. I just wanted to say we would like to seek immediate consideration on all four of these items. As councilor Scott explained, I think all four SPS staff that would like to have coaching jobs with Parks and Recreation. So, you'll see it says Recreation Specialists. I know Council McLaughlin you had asked about that. So it's coaching jobs that are usually seasonal.

Council Wheeler.

Well I move to approve these items.

Alright. Seeing no further discussion, these items are approved.

Agenda item 7.24, a mayor's communication proclaiming May 2026 to be Jewish American Heritage Month.

The mayor's office asked for us to lay this on the table for full discussion at the next meeting. Is there any discussion on that? Senate will be laid on the table for our next meeting.

Agenda item seven twenty five, a communication from the mayor proclaiming May 2026 to be Haitian American Heritage Month.

Any discussion? Seeing none, this item is placed on file.

Agenda item seven dot 26, a request of the mayor requesting confirmation of the appointment of Christopher Camara to the position of police officer.

Discussion, has a item to approve or refer to confirmation of appointments? Does anyone have a preference? So the chair is not here right now. Liaison Radase.