City Council - Regular Meeting

all right good evening everyone I call this meeting to order this is a meeting of the City Council it is Thursday September 10th my name is Lance Davis I use he him pronouns presiding over the council this evening first off welcome everyone who may have strolled up here from Civic Day we are thrilled to be the the the headline event of Civic Day for the first year ever. Sadly, all of our costumes and our backup dancers got stuck in traffic, so we won't have a big song and dance opening number for you, but maybe we'll work on that for next year. But welcome. I'm glad that folks are here to watch legislation happen in live, exciting, thrilling action. Please note that audio and video of this meeting is being recorded and may be shown on live local access government channels in the city of Somerville website and will be available for future review. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

This is roll call. Councilor Ewing-Campin. Here. Councilor Link. Here. Councilor Scott.

Present.

Councilor Klingin.

Present.

Councilor Scherzo.

Present.

Councilor Saeed. Here. Councilor Wheeler.

Here.

Councilor Hart. Here. Councilor McLaughlin.

Here.

Councilor Mba.

Present.

And President Davis. Here. With 11 members present, we have quorum.

All right, thank you. Pursuant to our 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. We begin our meetings with a moment of silence. Are there any members wishing to recognize members of the community this evening? Councilor Ba, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to ask for a moment of silence in honor of a beloved community member who we lost last week, Vijendra Kumar Prahan, who lives on Bradley Street. was a pillar of New England's Nepali-American community and an embodiment of the American dream. A native of Trishuli, Nepal, he moved here as a young man, working jobs such as taxi driver, cook, and most recently mechanic for the Cambridge Housing Authority. In his spare time, he worked to celebrate and bring together the Nepali community. He was the president of the NIWA organization of New England, which works to preserve and celebrate NIWA culture. He was a proud husband and father, and also a dear friend, mentor, and uncle to so many people in our city and beyond.

Thank you. Any others? Councillor Scherzo? Councillor Kling would like to sign on to that one. Councillor Scherzo?

Like a moment of silence for Mary Bedard of Somerville. She passed away on Thursday, August 27th. And she was the cherished daughter of the late Edwin and Marian Davidson. Prior to her retirement, she worked at Burlington Coat Factory as a store clerk. She loved to read, especially romance novels. listening to music and watching movies. She was the devoted mother of Roger and his wife Adelaide and Raymond of Somerville. She was the adored grandmother of Derek and his wife Taylor and Robert, Sean, Nicholas, and Shane. And the loving great grandmother to Jackson and Lena. She was the dear sister to Edwin and George, both of Somerville. And Our family is going to miss her very much and may her memory be a blessing.

Thank you. Any others? All right, would everyone in the chamber please rise however you are able for a moment of silence for the aforementioned individuals. Thank you. Madam Clerk, first item.

Next item is approval of the minutes of the regular City Council meeting on July 9, 2026.

Council Unkampen moves for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved. Next item.

Next item is a resolution by Councilman McLaughlin recognizing the seriousness of myotonic dystrophy and expressing support for the designation of September 15th as International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day.

Councilman McLaughlin would like to suspend the rules to take up item 7.20 together with that item. If there's no objections. Seeing none, would you please read 7.20? Yes.

A mayor's communication proclaiming that September 15th, 2026 is International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day.

All right, thank you. Councillor McLaughlin.

Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, a number of activists in the community approached me to talk about mitotonic dystrophy, which is a genetic multi-system disorder that's caused progressive muscle weakness in individuals. It's impacted by about 1 in 2,100 people. and I want to take the moment to recognize the struggle of this and the residents who care about this issue. I do believe the mayor was going to speak. Oh, there he is. The mayor, I'd like to give him a moment to speak, but then I'd also like to sponsor a speaker as well after that.

All right, very well. Councilor McLaughlin would like to sponsor the mayor to speak. Seeing no objection, Mr. Mayor, please approach.

Thanks, Mr. President. Through you, I'm speaking on item 720, for the record. Myotonic dystrophy, or DM, as it's known, is the most common adult-onset muscular dystrophy. It can affect every system in the body and can affect people of all ages. There may be thousands of people living with DM who are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. It affects one in 2,100 people. So if you do that math, that means roughly 150,000 individuals in the US are affected. That means about 40 of our neighbors here in Somerville. are affected by that if we look at those averages. September 15th is International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day. It's an opportunity to promote greater understanding and awareness, to affirm the dignity of those who are affected by this, and to support the families and caregivers, and to encourage continued scientific research and medical progress on this. uh i we wanted to proclaim uh september 15th uh myotonic dystrophy awareness day here in somerville in recognition of that and i want to thank council mclaughlin for putting this in uh and thank the council for uh for taking this up all right thank you council mclaughlin i'd like to sponsor ward one resident jim dolan to speak council mclaughlin would like to sponsor jim nolan any discussion see an objection please approach

would just state your name and address for the record please I'm Jim Dillon I'm 43 I live at 485 Foley Street in assembly row I'm also one of the estimated 3,400 people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who suffer from myotonic dystrophy. Myotonic dystrophy, as has been mentioned, is a rare muscle-wasting genetic disease affecting one in 2,100 people. It's passed on from parent to child, getting more severe with each generation. It's a multi-system disorder that affects different people in different ways. For me, it impacts speech. sleep, heart, liver, GI issues, and includes crippling fatigue and daytime sleepiness at all times. Issues like this caused me to have to retire and go on disability in 2024. Other common symptoms include joints locking up, cognitive issues, endocrine issues, and reproductive issues. There's currently no cure or even a treatment for myotonic dystrophy. Myotonic dystrophy is also widely unknown, often confused with multiple sclerosis or diabetes. I was misdiagnosed for almost 20 years by the top doctors and their specialties in Boston, and my case is not unique. That's why over 64 organizations around the world recognized International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day on September 15th, laying landmarks green and issuing resolutions and proclamations like this. Thank you all for raising awareness for this important cause. Thank you.

Thank you. Any discussion? Councilor Young-Kappen?

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, I just want to thank Councilor McLaughlin and the Mayor for bringing this, and Mr. Dorr for speaking. There's a phrase you often hear in disease research of each rare disease might be itself rare, but collectively rare diseases are incredibly common. And I just can't let this moment pass. You know, we live in a place that is known for scientific research, biomedical research. And it is just literally under attack by the federal government right now. And it's sickening, it's depressing, and I'm just very proud to be in a community that stands up to support people that are working to cure diseases such as this one. So thank you for sharing your story with us tonight.

council would like to sign on any other discussion council mclaughlin back to you i would at some point like to pause for a photo but i know there's another um another event item with speakers so if you want to proceed to the next one if not i would like to pause for a photo at some point i think now would be a good time for a photo let's take a brief recess so we can take some pictures and then we'll come right back to business

all right i'll call this meeting back to order i can see that a quorum is present uh quick housekeeping note so you saw we took a couple items out of order um already i'll give you the sort of the rundown for the rest of our out of order items um we will unless it's an objection i'd like to take up item 719 next we'll then go back to the regular order we're going to take up a few items And then after that, I'd like to take up 7.21. That is an item related to civilian oversight. It's the first introduction to the council, sort of a high-level presentation, two or three slides, let's put it. My intent then will be to lay that item on the table and then take up item 7.1, which is a new request for executive session. Because some aspects of a civilian oversight will relate to collective bargaining, we will go into executive session with Labor Council to make sure we understand the parameters and what is directly related to collective bargaining, and that would have to be discussed in executive session. It is my hope and intent that we have as much of that conversation as humanly possible back in open session. particularly since we are in a scenario now where we don't have a policy, there is nothing in any collective bargaining agreement specifically related to this, so my hope is that gives us more flexibility than we've seen in recent discussions on other items. So then, after the executive session, which I hope will be relatively brief, uh we will come back to open session so that we can pick up item 7.21 off the table so that we can have that open discussion about sort of the the initial discussion with the administration sort of to hear where where where their thinking is get some feedback from the council so they can then go back and refine uh a plan um as in advance of a future item uh potentially at the next meeting or the one that follows where there will be a broader presentation of, okay, here's the current plan in thinking. As I mentioned, I think it was at our last meeting, we will then at a subsequent meeting after that have a public hearing or that may actually go to... to uh to to committee but we will have a public hearing on the item so we can hear from everyone in the public uh and then that will that process will then be in legislative matters and we will we will move forward with uh crafting ordinance in committee um subject to any other discussions or you know Twister turns that we have that we have to, so that's the general plan. Um, I wanted to, to sort of, um, uh, tease that a little bit because, uh, as I said, we're going to go back to the regular order, but we do have those coming up. And, um, like I said, while we, I normally would, would push the executive sessions as late as possible. Cause I don't like going into executive session when we have folks here to watch us. Um, but this one, um, we, we, we need to get that out of the way. And the whole point of the, uh, of the discussion when we come back is to have that in front of the public, um, so that we can keep that. that whole discussion as open and transparent as possible so long-winded housekeeping summary there that brings us to our first our next out of order item which is 7.19 if there's no objection madam clerk would you please read that item

This is item 7.19, a mayor's communication proclaiming that the week of September 10 through September 19, 2026 is welcoming week.

Mr. Mayor. Thanks, Mr. President. Through you, we proclaim 2026 the year of the neighbor, as you all know, recognizing the strong communities that are built when we look out for each other, when we make meaningful connections, and when we ensure that everyone feels like they belong. Welcoming Week is observed today through September 19th. It's an opportunity to pause, reflect, and plan for the next phase of our welcoming work while reaffirming that welcoming is a core part of who we are. As a welcoming community, it's a commitment that we carry throughout the year. We want to call upon community members to share their stories, to learn from their neighbors, and to join together to build a stronger and more welcoming Somerville. Because we know that we're stronger when we embrace both our similarities and our differences. when we create opportunities to connect and build lasting relationships through food, music, art, storytelling, shared traditions, and through conversation. So this is a really important piece of the Year of the Neighbor, of who we are as a city. I really think it's part of our DNA, and that's why I'm thrilled to proclaim this week that we're in here as Welcoming Week. Thank you. And we have our director from the Office of Immigrant Advancement, Maria Theresa Nagel here.

Good evening, everyone. It is such an honor to be here tonight to accept this proclamation on behalf of the many people who make Somerville the welcoming community that it is. This year's theme for Welcoming Week is Stories We Share, the Courage to Connect. And I have to say, I don't think we could have chosen a more fitting theme because it takes courage to connect. It takes courage to walk into a room where you don't know anyone and introduce yourself. It takes courage to ask someone about their story and to actually listen to the answer. It takes courage to show up for someone whose life may look very different from yours. And it takes courage to let someone see you. That courage feels especially important right now. We're living in a time when it can be easier to retreat into what we already know. to stay with people who think like us, look like us, speak like us, or come from places we understand. There are forces around us telling us to be afraid of one another, to draw lines between us and them, to believe that someone else's gain is somehow less for us. And sometimes the status quo tells us something even more quietly. This is just the way things are. There is nothing you can really do about it. But connecting with one another is a rejection of that idea. It is an act of resistance. Every time we reach across a difference instead of retreating from it, we are resisting the idea that we have to remain divided. Every time we listen to a story that challenges our assumptions, we are resisting the idea that we already know everything we need to know about our neighbors. Every time we show up for someone else, we are saying that the well-being of our community is not someone else's responsibility. It is ours. And I believe connecting is also an act of love. And I'm not talking about sentimental kind of love, but the kind that really requires something from each of us. The kind that says, I see you. I am curious about your story. Your experience matters to me. And when you need someone to stand beside you, I will try to be there. That is what welcoming means to me. It is not simply opening a door and saying, you're welcome here. It is making sure that once that door is open, people that walk through it know they belong. And I think it is particularly beautiful that Mayor Wilson has declared this year the year of the neighbor. Because what better reminder could we have that building community is not some abstract idea. It happens neighbor by neighbor. It happens when we learn the name of the person we pass on the sidewalk, when we check on someone who has been sick, when we help a family navigate something unfamiliar, When we celebrate a holiday we did not grow up celebrating. When we sit together, eat together, laugh together, disagree with one another, and still come back the next day ready to keep building. And in a city like Somerville, our neighbors bring extraordinary stories with them. Stories of migration, stories of starting over, stories of generations who have called this place home, stories of faith and culture and family. Stories of struggle, resilience, loss, joy, and hope. And when we share those stories, something powerful happens. We stop being categories. We stop being strangers. We become people to one another. That is why Welcoming Week matters. So today, we're joining thousands of communities across the country and actually around the world in saying something very simple. We are here. We are here and we belong to one another. We are here to learn from one another. We are here to make room for one another. And we are here to build a community together. One where every person has the opportunity not just to live, but to thrive. A community where our differences do not pull us apart, but give us more to learn from one another. A community where belonging is not something we ask people to earn, A community where every neighbor knows that their story matters and that they have a role in writing the next chapter of ours. So during this welcoming week, I hope we challenge ourselves to be a little braver. Introduce yourself. Ask the question. Listen a little longer. Show up. And maybe, and most importantly, make room for someone else's story alongside your own. Because the future of Somerville will not be built by one person, one office, one organization, or one government. It will be built by neighbors, by all of us, because we are one Somerville. And our story is still being written. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Director. Mr. Mayor, any discussion? All right, seeing none, item 4.1 is approved. Item 7.9 is placed on file. Very good, thank you. That brings us back to the regular order of business. Madam Clerk, next item.

Next item is 4.2, a resolution by Councilor Klingin in support of striking Encore Boston Harbor workers.

Councilor Klingin. Thank you, Mr. President. If the clerk would please read the resolution into the record.

Yes. Whereas Encore Casino and Resort workers are ambassadors for the greater Boston area's travelers and tourists, and whereas the more than 1,400 members of the Unite Here Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 who do the work at the casino reflect the strength and diversity of the city of Somerville and communities throughout the region. And whereas many Encore employees reside in Somerville and other neighboring communities, and the wages and benefits earned by these workers are reinvested in local businesses, housing, and community institutions. And whereas the workers are seeking fair wages, the preservation of health care and retirement benefits, and job security provisions that would allow them and their families to continue living and working in the greater Boston region, and whereas Unite Here Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 workers believe one job should be enough to live in the city they work in, raise a family, and retire with dignity, and whereas after months of negotiations, Unite Here Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 have gone on strike indefinitely at Encore Boston Harbor, now therefore be it, resolved that the city of Somerville goes on record expressing its strong support for the strike of Unite Here Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 workers and their efforts to secure a fair contract, and be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council encourages residents, community organizations, labor organizations, and elected officials to honor the strike and support the workers' efforts by refraining from patronizing Encore Boston Harbor for the duration of the labor dispute. And be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council stands in solidarity with the striking workers and encourages support for lawful picketing and other peaceful activities undertaken in furtherance of a fair agreement. And be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council urges Encore Boston Harbor and Wynn Resorts to negotiate in good faith and reach a fair agreement that respects the contributions of its workforce and be it further resolved that the city clerk and hereby is requested to forward a copy of this resolution to Jenny Holliday, President of Encore Boston Harbor, Craig Billings, Chief Executive Officer of Wynn Resorts and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the leadership of Unite Here Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25. Thank you.

Councilor Clayton.

Thank you for that. Mr. President, colleagues, you may have seen on the news, you may have participated already. I was down there with the mayor a few days ago. I know a few colleagues have been down to the picket line, and there was a parade on Labor Day, which seems celebratory. The spirits are really high in the picket line, but let me be clear. This is a fight. We want these people to get back to work as soon as humanly possible. So I just want to tonight recognize these workers and say that I stand in strong support with the striking workers of Teamsters Local 25 and Unite Here Local 26 that are currently out on strike at the Encore Boston Harbor Casino. When people think about Encore, they see the luxury hotel, the restaurants, the casino, and the enormous profits. What they don't always see are the people behind it, the housekeepers, the cleaners, the gardeners that keep the grounds beautiful, the drivers, the cooks, the dishwashers, the cashiers, the bartenders. All of these positions are what makes Encore a five-star resort. There is no Encore without these workers. And what they're asking for is not unreasonable. They're asking for fair wages, good benefits, job security, and the ability to support themselves and their families. They're asking to share in some of the prosperity their own labor helps create. And furthermore, they're asking for basically parity with what every other hotel, namely hotel groups that aren't nearly as wealthy as this one, pay their workers. And I tell you, as somebody who's worked in the service industry, in restaurants, hotels, in the livery business, I've waited on service, driven some of the most wealthy people in the world. I've been on that side of the line. I've been behind, back of house, front of house. And this is personal for me. And this should be personal for all of us. There are 319 members of Local 25 that live here in Somerville, four different employers, including, I believe, some of our own city staff are now Local 25 members. 723 Local 26 members who live right here in Somerville, 58 of which work at the Encore Casino. Many of them are here this evening. They're our neighbors, and they're part of our communities. Encore markets itself as a five-star destination. Well, five-star destinations don't happen without five-star workers, and I want to give it up for these workers right now. So tonight, with this resolution, I think we should be really clear about where we stand. We stand with the people who take care of these rooms, who cook this food, who take care of these grounds, service these guests, and basically bring in record profits for a casino that is not sharing in that and treating their workers fairly. So I urge my colleagues to support this resolution this evening. Thank you, and with that, I want to... would like to with my colleagues approval support I'm sorry sponsor thank you I lost my train of thought sponsor a few of the workers James Atkins who is the is the head gardener and the horticultural department he's the chief steward for local 25 he's a 10-year Somerville resident and he's here to speak to us tonight with that I'll bring up James and And we also have Freddy Sanchez, who's also a Somerville resident. He's a chef at Rare Steakhouse at the Encore, and he's also here to speak to his experience and want you to share his story.

All right, Councillor Clingen, I would like to sponsor James Atkins and Freddy Sanchez. See no objection. Let's go ahead.

Good evening, my name is James Atkins, and I've been living in Somerville, as you know, for 10 years now. And I wanted to start by thanking you, Councillor Jesse Klain, for sponsoring us to speak with you all this evening, and for having walked the picket line all three days of this Labor Day weekend. It was really an honour. As you know, I'm the Chief Steward for Local 25, as well as Lead Gardener at Encore Boston Harbour, where I've been working since 2022. It's a job I've loved, and one that I take great pride in. But the hard reality is that despite working full-time, I, like many of my coworkers, have a difficult time making ends meet. Most of my coworkers, myself included, are forced to work second or third jobs just to survive. I myself have three roommates and more often than not walk from my small apartment down on Belknap Street right here in Somerville all the way down 16 and across the river to the resort just to save what little I can really. Last year alone, Encore brought in 847 million from this single resort, and we're just asking that a fraction of those massive profits go back to the very workers that earned them. That wealth should stay right here, investing in the working class families in Everett, Somerville, and surrounding communities. These past seven days on the picket line have been a powerful reminder of our shared humanity. We have 1,300 workers out on strike, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, speaking many different languages, living in different neighborhoods. But we are completely united behind this goal. As many of you know, years ago when Wynn Resorts was first building this casino, the city of Somerville stood tall and actively opposed it, because of the traffic congestion, the gridlock, and environmental strain that it would have in our city. Somerville was an outspoken voice then and can continue to be one now. By passing this resolution, you will send a powerful message, an unmistakable message from Somerville right to the corporate headquarters in Vegas that enough is enough. You could send Encore a message that they must be a true community partner and that they must respect the workers who make their success possible. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Freddy Sanchez Vasquez. I'm working here in Somerville. So I'm working for Anchor, so it's a chef and real estate house. So we are in a strike because we want fair wages. So not only for us, for our families, we deserve to have better benefits to stay here in Massachusetts, to stay here in Somerville, Everett, in another city in Boston. So we're not asking for more than what we deserve for our job. So we're asking for what is value for our job to have it in this moment.

So thank you for your support.

Thank you both.

Counselor Yuenkampen.

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, thank you, Councillor Klingon, and thank all of you. I know myself, many of my colleagues have been on the picket line. Incredibly inspiring. My day job, I work at the Harvard Medical School, and the dining workers there are Local 26, and they were on strike 10 years ago when I was starting that job. They won. You all are going to win. It is incredibly inspiring to see two unions working together, obviously. It is truly stunning. to see how this employer is treating the people that do the work. It's shocking. And you get the sense that this organization feels like, well, we're the biggest taxpayer in the city ever. What are they gonna do? They need us more than we need them. And it's just disgusting. And I'm very glad that the resolution explicitly encourages people not to cross the picket line. But I would just say, even for people who it's not like a moral fear of theirs to cross the picket line, I really would not recommend going to that resort right now. The cleaners are not working. The people who do the work, who actually keep that place running aren't working. I would not want to be in that building. So I would take that recommendation seriously. You guys are going to win. Thank you for being here tonight.

Councilor McLaughlin and then Councilor Link.

Thank you, Mr. President. I can see the Encore Casino from my house right in my backyard, so I think I live the closest to it, and I was trying to decide whether I was going to tell the story about me opposing the casino, but someone just mentioned it. I remember years ago, I went to Everett, and I was speaking against the casino for a number of reasons because I just thought it was there was a better location on the table at the time. When I spoke, there was this roar of cat hisses from the audience just basically disagreeing with me, respectfully disagreeing. Those voices were from labor. Labor backed this casino. They made this happen. They fought for this because they was promised good paying jobs, like the jobs that they have in Vegas and that other casinos provide. So if we're not getting that, if we're not getting good jobs out of this, I don't know what we're doing here. So I just want to voice my support. I'll be on the picket line tomorrow supporting organized labor. because that was the only reason that I ever wanted a casino with an eye shot of my house. So to know that the workers are being disrespected like this, we have to reassess our entire relationship with this casino and make sure the workers are the ones who are prioritized. Thank you. Councilor Link.

Thank you, Mr. President. I think the good counsel from Ward 1 hit the nail on the head. We are often promised to our community good paying jobs. The reason that we should put up with all the other pains of this casino, of a future stadium, good paying jobs, good paying jobs. If those aren't coming, yeah, what are we doing? So 100%, you know, we need to actually hold these employers' feet to the fire. And, yeah, thank you for saying it so well.

Thank you. Councilor Scott?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. Everything my colleagues have said is spot on and obviously all support. I'd love to sign on to this resolution as well, but the scale. Really gets to me. Mr. President, the scale of wealth accumulation is a problem that we have throughout our society. The operating profit, I mean, there was a $750 million number mentioned there in terms of revenue, but the operating profit of just this one property has been reported at $230 million a year. $230 million a year, even if you divided that up across every one of those 1,400 employees that they mentioned, that's over $150,000 a year that doesn't come to each one of those employees. It goes into the pocket of a corporation, goes in the pocket of somebody who, frankly, unfortunately, is all too often putting that money to work trying to make our world a less fair place. So, obviously, as a city, we stand with these workers. Obviously, as a socialist, I stand with these workers. And, you know, I'm even welcome to having the ownership keep some of that money. Maybe it can only return $150,000 per worker to the folks that actually make that money for them. But... Yeah, this is the scale of the problem we need to address, and these workers have all the support that I can offer them and that Somerville can offer them. Thank you. Councilor Ba?

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, colleagues. Again, I want to sign on. Again, this is just simply about respect. you know, for the contribution of the workers that actually sustain this company. So I don't, and we will continue to stand with you. I think tomorrow I'll also join you on the PK line just to say we're not going anywhere. We'll continue to stand with you until you prevail. Thank you.

Further discussion? Councilor Sait?

Through you, Mr. President. First, I would like to thank Councillor Klingin for bringing this resolution forward. And, yeah, I want to say that your strike right now is incredibly inspiring. Keep up the fight. You will win. And we stand with you and we support you.

Councillor Willick.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just echoing my colleague's sentiments, one thing I wanted to share that felt so inspiring to me, joining the picket line on Monday, was all of the workers from other unions, all the people from community organizations, all of the individuals, all the activists, all the people who came and showed up to stand in solidarity. There's something really exciting and inspiring happening there and a true sense of common purpose. I was honored just to experience that. It makes me confident that you're going to win. Thank you for being here, and God bless. Thank you.

Councilor Hart would like to sign on as well. All right, seeing no further discussion, thank you, folks, and that item is approved. And Councilor Kling, I would like to, if there's no objection, take up items 4.3 and 4.4 together, please, Madam Clerk. Yes. Seeing no objection. Before we get to that, let's take another quick brief recess for some pictures, and then we'll come right back after.

Hey, Mr. President, am I signed on to that as well? Because I signed on the first time.

If Councilor Schatz was not already, you should have signed on as well.

Yeah, I should have already been signed on to it.

All right, we'll stand and brief recess for pictures. All right, call this meeting back to order. I can see that a quorum is present. Madam Clerk, just for the record, would you read the full list of counselors who signed on? Because I know some folks signed on.

Yes.

When this item was circulated earlier in the week. So let's just make sure we get that full list on the record.

For the record, the counselors who signed on to item 4.2 were counselors Klingin, Ewing-Kampen, Link, Hart, Davis, Strezzo, Saeed, Mbah, and Wheeler.

All right, very good, thank you. That item is approved.

And me, and me, come on, man.

And Councillor Scott, everybody. Now we have everybody. Very good. Councillor Klingon would like to take up items 4.3 and 4.4 together. Seeing no objection, we'll waive the rules to take up those items together. Madam Clerk, would you read those both into the record?

Next item is 4.3, a resolution by Councilor Klingon that the Director of Engineering and the Commissioner of Public Works discuss with the Committee on Public Utilities and Public Works the city's current requirements for restoration of streets following utility and other permitted excavations, including whether the city has the authority and ability to require full lane expanded or curb-to-curb restoration on streets that have passed the five-year street opening moratorium but remain in good condition. And 4.4, another resolution by Councilor Klingon that the Director of Engineering and Commissioner of Public Works discuss with the Committee on Public Utilities and Public Works the feasibility of establishing a street preservation offset fee or similar pavement degradation fee modeled on programs such as Cambridge's to help offset the city's costs associated with utility and other excavations and public streets. Councilor Klingon.

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you. So, colleagues, the impetus for these orders are, you know, somewhat obvious in the wording, but I just want to add a fine point on it. You know, we have a moratorium on – if a utility opens up a street that's been paved in the last five years, they need to – paved curb to curb at that point if they do open the street up, or they typically don't allow it, it has to be for emergency anyway. Oftentimes the street's six years old and the life may be 15 and at six years now they've made a trench down the middle of the street and now maybe two years after that there's another trench made on the side of the street. Basically creating degradation where water gets in, then it turns to ice, the streets, and now you have Thurston Street, for instance, which is like driving on the moon. So what Cambridge does, they have a fee that basically the utilities pay into so that we can maybe not wait the whole 15-year lifespan, but we can do a curb-to-curb. It wouldn't be the whole street, but when we say curb-to-curb, being at least like where the trench was located so that it can help stave off water damage and just the... buckling of the streets and so on so this is really just to see how far we can push i know that you know it's pretty standard to say a five-year moratorium but we could discuss a fee or um perhaps if we can get utilities to go curb to curb uh when they when they dig a trench um or use the fee money to do it ourself. Either way, I think this is something that we can all agree. I'll just use one example. Heath Street was newly repaved right down the middle, and then a year later, they did a bunch of gas replacement, and now it's very bumpy. When we do do streets over, which we only do about 1% a year, it'd be nice if we could keep those streets smooth for a little bit. I'd like to send those to committee and have that discussion with engineering and see where some of it could land on maybe improving the way we interact with utilities regarding tearing up our streets.

All right, thank you. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, those items are approved with a copy to sustainability and infrastructure. And then Councillor Klingon would like to waive the rules to take up items 4.5 and 4.6 together. Seeing no objection, Madam Clerk, would you please read those items?

The next item is 4.5, a resolution by Councillor Klingon that the Director of Engineering, the Commissioner of Public Works, and the Chief Procurement Officer discuss with the Committee on Public Utilities and Public Works the city's current practices for establishing, monitoring, and enforcing construction timelines for municipal projects, including the use of project milestones, completion deadlines, contractor staffing levels, liquidated damages, and other tools to ensure that projects are completed in a timely manner. And 4.6, a resolution by Councilor Klingon that the deputy that the director of engineering the commissioner of public works and the chief procurement officer explore best practices used by other municipalities and public agencies to encourage timely completion of public construction projects including performance incentives liquidated damages milestone requirements recovery schedules and cost plus time or a plus b bidding and discuss which approaches could be appropriate for somerville

Thank you, Mr. President. On these, again, I think colleagues probably know what I'm getting at for the public. I'm sure you probably have seen contractors will bid on a job. They'll tear up the street. They'll get real aggressive for, like, the first couple days. Then they just minimize staffing to, like, one person in a backhoe. And people say, what is going on? We haven't seen people down there for days. Now, again, this is why I don't profess to know everything in procurement. The reason why I have this conversation with procurement and with engineering is so people understand that they may be given an 18-month timeline. Now, if you have a contractor that they pick up multiple jobs, so now they've just dropped one guy over here, and then they're working on three other jobs. It must be a more efficient way to get this done. Well, there are some tools that some municipalities use, which is like A plus B bidding, which basically means you can bid, say you bid $2 million for this project to take 18 months and then it's 2.5 million if you can get it done in 12 months. So things like that that I want to make sure we're using all available. For instance, Tough Street, the same company that's doing Pearl Street, that project seemed, at least in people's minds, to take... an extended period of time. Now, they may be staying within the contract, or maybe not. We do use liquidation damages, but it's at like $500 a day. They can just do the math and say, well, if we don't get it done, you know, what's 500 a day, a month, 15, you know. So we need to be a little more proactive and aggressive in the way that we are doing our bidding process as far as how long projects are taken and whether or not we're making sure that we are pushing these contractors to get work done in a much more timely fashion wherever and whenever possible, you know, up to as far as we can push that outside of whatever the standard is. So, yeah.

Okay, thank you. Any other discussion? All right, seeing none, those two items are approved then with a copy to Sustainability Infrastructure Council cleaning. You want those to go to committee as well? Yeah. Okay. And S and I have had the same conversation together. Those could theoretically be a finance discussion, but I assume you'd want to keep the... Yeah, I'd like to keep it in public.

Yeah, I'd like to keep it in infrastructure because even though there's a procurement piece to it, it's really more about public works projects and bidding. So I can always kick it out after, but I think to start the conversation, we have it there.

All right, very good. So a copy of those will be sent to sustainability and infrastructure. All right, before we get to our next out of order, item 721, I just want to check, is there anyone in the room specifically here for another item that I haven't mentioned, any item other than 721? No, okay. If so, we would take that up out of order so you don't have to wait since we're gonna go into executive session pretty soon here, but hopefully not for long. All right, so Madam Clerk, let's take up item seven. If there's no objection, we'll suspend the rules to take item 7.21 out of order.

Yes.

Would you please read that item?

Next item is 7.21, a mayor's communication conveying an update on civilian oversight.

We have Manager Hellman here. Manager Hellman, would you please get us started on this, what I anticipate will be a very, we'll call it a long process, a long and thorough process with due diligence.

I'll let you make that comment, Mr. President. So thank you for having me this evening. So I'm going to be here to provide some quick history and context on the city's efforts to implement a public safety civilian oversight board. As you're aware, the administration has made establishing a civilian oversight body in the coming months a priority. I'm excited to begin the conversation with you all about it tonight. Next slide, please. Thank you. So, just some quick historical context on this. In the early 2000s, the local human rights commission identified a civilian oversight board as a potential priority for the city. The years that followed saw little movement on that. until the summer of 2020, when then-Mayor Caritone included the establishment of such a board as part of the city's policy in declaring systemic racism a public health emergency. That call spurred a public safety community survey that found 81% of Somerville residents supported a civilian oversight entity. The following year saw local community groups provide policy recommendations to the city alongside a council resolution that called for implementation. That work was supported by a 2021 legislative analysis that the council provided that gave critical context on potential models and community engagement strategies for this work. In 2023, the Public Safety for All Initiative, which created my position, led by the Racial and Social Justice Department, established a civilian oversight task force, which conducted nearly two years of research, community engagement, subject matter expertise interviews, That tax force report is extensive. It was released in February of 2025. It included recommendations on mission, structure, operations, staffing, budget, timeline considerations, the whole gamut. Next slide. So I just want to highlight a few considerations for where we're at this process currently as an administration and a city. With my onboarding at the end of last year and preparing for this work, there are some local primary resources that I identified that I'd want to share with you all. That includes the 2021 Council Resolution and Analysis Report that I named, the 2021 Just Us Somerville policy demands on this issue. There was a series of community workshops led by the Racial Social Justice Department in 2023. That's helpful and obviously the 2025 task force report, which is the most extensive and most recent of this I also like to highlight a couple additional things here quickly the existence of the Massachusetts peace officer standards training commission better known as post The city is currently required to report all police complaints to post currently They hold the ability not only to activate a more thorough investigation of a complaint, but they hold the power to decertify an officer from public service entirely across the Commonwealth. So this form of existing oversight and how any local oversight entity in the Commonwealth interacts with POST is critical for us to consider in this work. We've seen how other municipalities across the state have sort of been navigating this dynamic since post-creation December of 2020, and we expect this to be a key point of conversation for us moving forward. I will add the task force report is pretty extensive on this issue, and it recommends what I will quote it as a accountability backstopping when it comes to activating local investigations that fill in the gaps of post when needed. I will also quickly note the realities of collective bargaining negotiations with our local police unions on this matter. As you're all aware, any change to working conditions requires the city to negotiate in good faith with any union, that includes our police. The administration expects the need for some conversations with you all on the council to occur in executive session, including this evening. However, it's our intention that the majority of policy discussion to occur in public session on this issue as is legally permissible. Last note on this slide, I just want to point to some preliminary work that's already occurred on this. That includes a thorough review and cataloging of primary resources that I named. It's extensive research that we've conducted into existing and comparable municipal ordinances on this topic across Massachusetts and the country as a whole. and ongoing engagement and learning sessions with counselors, subject matter experts, and community advocates. That engagement is going to continue in the months ahead, and we want to encourage the council, the public, to reach out to the administration to provide their own insights and recommendations at an upcoming public hearing when it's scheduled. Next slide, and final slide. So here's just a quick immediate timeline on next steps. It includes this evening, but following this evening, it's our intention to submit an item to the council providing an update from us, the administration, on the policy development process with a likely presentation on that item in committee later this month. following that we want to hopefully the council will hold a public hearing on this initiative in October on that item that the council put forth during the August 27th meeting so residents can respond to ongoing policy development processes and community conversations that are going to occur obviously in the month ahead so we look forward to collaborating with the community the council on this and creating an oversight body that is both effective and sustainable for the long term Thank You mr. president

Thank you, Manager Hellman. And I will note, not in terms of deliberation, but just for the sake of completing the record, because I think it's important to recognize the council's role. If we go back to the first slide, please. In June of 2020, I submitted, or put together, together with Councillor Scott and submitted with Councillor Mbah, a resolution calling for a civilian oversight body, actually, I think it was a two-entity structure that we had at the time. I think we made the mistake of trying to lay out in that resolution a lot more detail than we probably were ready to. But that resolution predated Mayor Carditone's call. That, I think, well... I WON'T I WON'T I WON'T OPINE IN TERMS OF THE DATES THAT IS WHAT LED TO THE TO THE CITY COUNCIL-LED PROCESS THAT INCLUDED BROAD PUBLIC INPUT WHICH THEN PRODUCED THE THE 2021 CITY COUNCIL ANALYSIS REPORT WHICH THE MANAGER MENTIONED IS ONE OF THE What was the phrase you used, the primary resources? So at the end of the day, the important part is there, so I appreciate that, but let the record reflect that there was a key step here, I think, that the council should be acknowledged for moving this conversation forward. And given, I'll speak personally, just I'm thrilled that we're here. So thank you to you, Director Hillman, Manager Hillman, and to the administration for moving this along, as you all said you would. What I'd like to do now, as I mentioned earlier, is to, if there's no objection, to lay this item on the table. We'll then take up item 7.1, which is the executive session. As Manager Hellman noted, there is a need to have some aspects of this discussion in executive session, given the relation to collective bargaining. We have our Chief Labor Counsel here in the chamber. That executive session will take as long as it needs to, but I don't anticipate it will be as long as some of our other ones have been, we'll put it that way. although you never know after that executive session that we will it'll be my intent to come back to open session to pick this item up off the table and then have the the fullest open public discussion that we are able to on this item in terms of that initial sort of you know where we are what our thoughts are in advance of a more formal presentation from the administration at a subsequent meeting. That all sound good? All right. So Madam Clerk, let's lay item 7.21 on the table. And if there's no objection, I'd like to suspend the rules to take up item 7.9. Would you please read that? 7.1. You're right. I'm sorry. 7.1. If I misspoke earlier, I meant to say 7.1.

Yes. Next item is 7.1, Mayor's Request, requesting that this council convene an executive session to receive an update on collective bargaining negotiations.

Attorney Sergu, is this item appropriate for executive session? Could you please approach and give the council an opinion?

Yes, Labor Council, Matt Sergue, our office has reviewed the agenda and the subject for discussion tonight, and this is appropriate for executive session.

All right, very good. Council Bob moves to adjourn into executive session. Would you please call the roll?

Yes, this is a roll call to adjourn and to go into executive session. Councilor Ewing-Campin? Yes. Councilor Link? Yes. Councilor Scott? Yes. Councilor Klingin? Yes. Councilor Strezzel? Yes. Councilor Saeed? Yes. Councilor Wheeler? Yes. Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin? Yes. Councilor Umbau?

Yes.

And Councilor Davis?

Yes, and I think I misspoke. I'm not technically adjourning. We are simply going into executive session, and we will come back into open session at the conclusion of executive session.

Thank you.

Let's start with a roll call to establish a quorum coming out of the next session.

Here. Councilor Link. Here. Councilor Scott. Present. Councilor Klingin. Present. Councilor Scherzo. Present. Councilor Saeed.

Here.

Councilor Wheeler. Here. Councilor Hart.

Here.

Councilor McLaughlin. Here. Councilor Umbau.

Aye.

And Councillor Davis. Here. With 11 members present, we have quorum.

All right. No votes were taken in executive session other than the vote to adjourn out of executive session. I see Citizen Huff in the background. Are you here, Crystal, for a specific item, perhaps 6.7.3 and or whatever the corresponding I'm happy to take those out of order now if you're here just for those items. I don't want to keep you around. All right, so before we pick up item 721 off the table, if there's no objection, could we take up items? Help me out here. Counselor Link, it's 7.3. And then the corresponding administration submission is... Which one? Oh, right, of course. Sorry, so sorry. And yours is 10... 10.1, can we end taking those up together? All right, so Councilor Link would like to move to suspend the rules to take up 7.3 and 10.1 out of order and together. Seeing no objection, Madam Clerk, would you please read those items?

Yes, 7.3, requesting ordainment of an amendment to the following sections of the Somerville zoning ordinance to remove ground story elevation requirements. And then 10.1, which is a zoning ordinance by Councilor Link that sections 3.1.7C of the zoning ordinance be amended as detailed within.

Okay, just in terms of the procedure, given that 10.1 is on the supplemental item, that was sort of due to the Monday holiday and the sort of sequencing and getting that prepared, it just wasn't ready before the submission deadline, so we won't have a deliberation on that, but because it is a zoning ordinance amendment, it also very much overlaps or is sort of essentially the same subject matter as the other item there's just sort of maybe maybe some little differences in approach we will refer both of those items to land use with a copy to the planning board for a scheduled public hearing that way it'll get properly noticed before we actually talk about any of it folks will know and then Hypothetically, if there were two items before in land use that address the same issue and they've both been noticed, we've had a public hearing, it would be then at the discretion of the committee and ultimately the council to work with the administration and or amend one or the other to align with our sort of, you know, single objective for Whichever parts of each we feel is appropriate and that might be approach we might take with with those two items All right, so we'll leave that at that.

Thank you Because I just I just would like to quickly just say thank you to the administration for for 7.3 which was properly Noticed so I just want to say yeah, thank you for that and it's really appreciated that that we're we're addressing this so quickly I really like it

Excellent, thank you for that. So stay tuned for good public hearing and robust committee discussion on those items. Now let's go back to, so we addressed 7.1. Let's take up item 7.21 off the table. This was the update on civilian oversight. We heard Manager Hillman present prior, when we first began discussing this item. I'm told that that sort of presentation will stand. Are there questions or comments or discussion? This is, as I said, this is sort of the opening of the public process to, well, I shouldn't say that. We have, as we just heard, there's been long and robust public processes in many shapes and sizes and forms. This is the council. focusing this conversation now in between the collaboration between the council and the administration to move forward with a concept for civilian oversight of police. Any discussion, any comments, any questions? I know y'all have some. I have a list in my pocket here of things that we brought up in executive session that were more appropriate for open session, so should we start with that? Why don't we do that to get the ball rolling here? Little ice breakers? Councillor Ewen Campin. You mentioned access to information. You wanna touch on that topic?

Mr. President, I'd say the most accurate way to summarize my feelings about civilian oversight in open session are that we've spoken at great length about what we want to see in this process. There have been resolutions from the council. The task force has made recommendations. I stand by all of those. That is how I'm going into this process. That is my position going into this. I want there to be meaningful civilian oversight of the police department. Um, that clearly means they have to play a significant role in, in investigations and disciplines. They have to have the ability to get information, um, subpoenas. Um, and that has to be, uh, that's, you know, to me, there's, there's no meaningful oversight unless they have the ability to conduct those informations and make decisions, recommendations based on the information they collect. You know, it's really that simple. So thank you, Mr. President. Okay. Um,

Why don't we do this? Why don't we, why don't we, I see Councilor Scott raises his hand. We'll go around the room, and to the extent that we don't hit any of the things that were brought up, because to the extent things were brought up in executive session that are appropriate for open session, I want to make sure that they do get stated. So if we don't touch on my list here, then I'll flag it, and if we do, then we're good. So Councilor Scott, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. I think this is kind of an awkward discussion given that we started it and then went into executive session and then came back out of executive session. So it might be helpful just for the public to understand that we as a council, we as a community, have been demanding a civilian oversight function um for a very long time the first council demands back in 2020 uh which were riding along with the community demands of justus somerville and And with that said, all of this impacts a contract with employees that have a union. And we are not the ones who negotiate those contracts. So it is important for the mayor to understand, because the mayor and the Mayor's Labor Council are the one negotiating these contracts, Some of the council's priorities, red lines, approaches, places where – even just thoughts of how to approach the negotiations entirely. So to some extent, that is itself a negotiation between the council and the mayor and his labor council. So it's okay for that to happen behind closed doors. But that said, when it comes to expressing the will of the community, I don't think the community has been shy. Let's put it this way. The people that come to my office hours have not been shy about what they want. And so if you'd like, I mean, again, I have time and again referred us to those source document materials. I think I said it earlier, but I'll say it again, which is since those demands have been made, as communities across the country have attempted to implement effective civilian oversight, I think they've discovered a lot of ways that it doesn't work well. And I would like us to not repeat the mistakes of places that don't work. I think the idea that we are a unique snowflake, yes, Somerville is a very unique place. However, to some extent, it goes to the question of like, well, did this actually ever work for anybody else? No, no. It never worked for anybody else, but maybe it'll work for us. Okay, we're not that special. I think the research that was done six years ago and the proposal that was placed forth by the council, and then later functionally scuttled by the administration, is a great place to start. I think the bedrock foundation that the police department, the officers who are authorized to use force against us, deserve, we deserve to have some level of civilian input and control and visibility into the complaints that happen. I myself as a counselor have filed several complaints to the department about the behavior of officers. One in particular was when an officer actually came, approached this council and lied directly to this council and by extension to the community. It took a lot of follow-up to try to get any response from that. It came back that the incident was investigated and it was unfounded. Okay, I've got it on camera, but a civilian oversight body should be able to look at that and to not just simply have a result of unfounded, but the public should have a body that it can trust knowing that it has visibility. not just into the work product of a completed investigation years later, but that there are people actively involved in looking at the problem in real time. I look at our neighbors in Cambridge who are, despite being very proud of their body camera program, that body camera footage isn't helping a soul right now. It's not getting released. It's not putting the public at ease. The public has no confidence that the incident is being investigated well, at least from what I hear. So I would like us to avoid those mistakes. I think going back to the fundamental principles is a great place to start on it. I don't need to get into the exact details, although I'm prepared to at length when this goes into legislative matters for discussion. But ultimately, we are a government of the people. And there should be no single branch, no single department or entity within that government that stands separate and above supervision or review. And I think that stands for the police department as well. So if there's more you'd like me to elaborate on in detail, Mr. President, I'm happy to do so. But I just wanted to place that as perhaps a foundational starting point for the discussion.

Council Scott, I got to save some of the stuff for when I sit down and talk, so I'll let you stop there if you'd like to. Other discussion?

I'll save some for your shared part of the brain, sir.

Very good. Other discussion? Councilor Link?

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll just say that I'm very glad to see this coming on the heels of body-worn cameras. This was something that I was very concerned about, as were several of my colleagues pointed this out. So it's really heartening to see that we are approaching this with sincerity. As some others have already said, it's really important that as we do this, it's more than theater. This body has to create true accountability, true transparency, and continue to speak more broadly at the moment. I'll just say that, you know, another part that's really top of mind for me is, you know, that making sure that as we do this, that this body can continue to exist, function, and do the work regardless of, you know, right now we've got a wonderful administration who's supportive of this. We want to make sure that no matter who sits in the office over there, that this body can continue to function, exist, and do their work regardless of... of that and other than that you know i'm happy to talk more about it as we get into more details later all right council state

Yeah, through you, Mr. President. First, also glad to see this on the agenda. I'm glad we're discussing this without any delays, as the mayor has promised back in June that we'll be discussing this right after we come back from recess. So really glad to see this. Yeah, I will say that. Yes, the community has been asking for civilian oversight for years now. A lot of work was done with the community, so let's make sure as we do in this process that we include all those recommendations and all the work that was done with the counselors. And in terms of some things that I would like to see, very broadly, I want to make sure that the Civil Oversight Board has people who have expertise. I want to make sure they you know, have a strong disciplinary role, and also they're able to conduct a parallel investigation when there's a complaint, and also be able to access information and footage.

Okay. Council Bob, would you take the presidency for a moment?

I thought you wanted me to share some light, Mr. President. Do you want to speak first? Yeah, no, just, I mean, just everything that Chairman Scott, you know, really, you know, emphasized because this is, I mean, we, I'm glad that this has actually become like the project for the administration this fall. This is something, you know, that was almost going to be a holdout, you know, for, the previous vote and accountability measures that we took, but it's taken us several years, but now it's been taken up and it is important that we actually see what is being presented. I mean, I don't need to, you know, talk about my hopes and aspirations, but I think people, it is assumed that we know what we want to see, you know, happen because we always want to see an effective oversight that reflects the values of the community that we serve, you know. So in terms of composition, they have to reflect the people impacted by the systemic issues that we're trying to address in terms of disciplinary. We want to make sure that, you know, that same oversight have the capacity to be able to implement disciplinary measures and yeah because it says civilian oversight so it actually should be the civilian that should actually have upper hand in terms of like what is the final decision you know on any of this discipline that we we are trying to implement so I think it will be a good end of year celebration to see that we actually brought this home before we move today to our next big adventure. Thank you.

That's all right.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to echo my colleagues in appreciation that we're starting this discussion right now, and I hope that we can keep moving very swiftly through each stage of the process of setting this up, because just to reiterate, From the discussion in past months of the body-worn cameras, we know that for them to be useful tools, that we have to have a meaningful civilian oversight body with significant power and responsibility and authority. So I appreciate all of the comments made by my colleagues so far. And I also really appreciate all of the work that's been done over the past many years. And I was not on council for that work and had not been involved And so I really look forward to diving into that body of work more and learning from it. And just on that point, I wanted to make a request that I really appreciated from Manager Hellman's slide presentation, the key documents that are important, the resources that we can draw on. for this conversation. And I wondered if it's possible to make all of those available to the public in one place so that, you know, while I'm appreciating people, I also really appreciate all of the work that so many activists and advocates in our community have done throughout this whole year on this topic. And, you know, I encourage more people to get involved, even if they haven't been involved in this conversation yet. And so having the resources easily accessible, I think would be fantastic.

Thank you. And manager Helman, you mentioned in the listed on the slides, the pre the primary reference documents. Are those at this stage? Or is there a plan to make those sort of? Is there is there is there a page on the on, you know, somewhere in the city website, whether that's the public safety for all sub page or anywhere to that first, we can attach them to agenda items, but it's not the easiest thing to find. So there's a clear way to get folks to them.

Yeah, Mr. President, through you. I mean, obviously we have the Public Safety for All website currently, right? And so the Civilian Oversight Task Force report is available on that to the public. In reference to the other items, I wouldn't say right now when we would get those up on that website specifically or not, but they're obviously publicly available documents, be it the council resolution, the legislative analysis report provided by the council, the Just Us Somerville policy demand press release that we're working off of. These are available publicly, but maybe some of them are harder to find than others. And so I think we can certainly discuss how we make those just more readily available and alert to folks who want to learn more. I don't think that should be too challenging.

Thank you for that. I think to make it as direct a request as possible, if there's a... there's a reason other than just technical logistics which of course we'll understand we'll work through if there's a reason other than that to not you know put them right on that that sub page within the public safety for all site because I think that's where I'd go to look for them you know if I was and so that then if you could you bring that back to me if there's if there's any of the concerns of that yeah let me happy to have the conversation so I don't want to say like you know please do that but if there's if there's any reason not to do that I can make the request let me know we'll have that conversation and then you know if we if if so then we need to find another avenue for it then great if not then i think that would be the first place folks probably look so mr president three i think with we can certainly commit to coming back to you and explaining yes or no on that question excellent thank you anything further that's it thank you that's a wheeler

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to echo what my colleagues have said. I think there's been a desire for a civilian oversight body that really works for a long time. In my mind, part of why it's so crucial is accountability is not anti-police. Accountability is pro-police. I want us as a city to work towards deep and true trust between community and police and a body like this with real power is crucial to that we use civilian oversight in tons of different contexts and it is a basis every day for our trust on the financial side of the City Council's powers we ask about every dollar being spent, and when we're asking some department or some division, when we're asking the public space and urban forestry division about what they're doing and how they're spending money, it's not because we're opposed to them. It is because we are supporting them and part of how the public is able to really trust and support the work that our city staff do is because they know that our oversight is real. So I think this is part of making Somerville the best place that we can be for professional law enforcement officers to make a career. There's a few points that I don't always hear brought up, and I want to make sure that we remember in figuring out how to make a body like this work well. One is that oversight is not just about individual incidents. It's also about being a constant part of looking at policies and practices and patterns. To quote one of the recommendations from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, NACL, Another is that this body will need some sort of access to funds for expenses that come up, for the need on occasion for support for investigations. And I think an important thing is not just to structure interactions as ones that happen after the fact, but to regularly schedule and build the expectation around opportunities for communication and collaboration from the beginning with the police department. Thank you.

Councillor Bauer, would you step up?

Councillor Davis.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Manager Hillman and Attorney Sirigu and Mr. Mayor, for all your input so far on this. I'll try not to echo too much what my colleagues have already stated, but, you know, As Councillor Scott noted, the history of this issue goes back to 2020. That process, that council process, led to sort of a two-stage effort. One was looking at the state of civilian oversight across the country, and to be fair, Councillor Scott and I actually did that initially ourselves, had countless hours of conversations with folks from as far away as Oakland and as close as Cambridge to just learn about what the state of civilian oversight was at the time. it's of course very much different now even in our own Commonwealth this was before the post commission existed a lot of the input and and sort of guidance that was that was reflected in that 2020 council resolution ultimately got wrapped into the creation of the post commission so you know certainly whatever we do now needs to understand that and reflect that and we know it well and you know I know we will be looking at You know other municipalities in the Commonwealth certainly to see how they've integrated to any sort of civilian oversight and the role that civilian oversight bodies play with the world the post commission plays because it's a very important aspect of it and the civilian oversight task force on which I also served Acknowledge that in that report and recognize recommendation But the the so The primary thrust of this part of the discussion, this part of the process, when the Mayor and I spoke about this a few weeks ago, was to just get some big points out on the table, right? Where are sort of our, kind of what the current thinking is, where are some sort of, primary ideas nothing nothing no list being exclusive no no nothing no no omission being meaningful but to sort of just make sure we're all thinking about the same thing so that as as manager Hellman said then the administration can come back to the council and and in public present you know more sort of formal proposal to go forward and advance the discussion which then of course will still be subject to additional public hearing more public input the committee process And so for the sake of saying those things here in public session, I would say to you all, Mr. Mayor, Manager Hellman, look at that resolution that Councilors Baugh, Scott, and I put in that most, if not all, of the Council signed onto at the time. Look at it with a grain of salt because we then immediately realized we needed to do a better job, which led to the council analysis, which Manager Hellman was on your list. Look at what those recommendations were. Then obviously the Civilian Oversight Task Force. Those don't all align perfectly, nor should they. They come from different eras, even in that small number of years, and none of them reflect the time period that we are right now, as fast as this area is moving. One of the things that was the most clear, at least personally, The point that I learned most clearly was that there were civilian oversight, quote unquote, bodies all over the country, even back in 2020, and had been for years. And for the most part, the consensus seemed to be, at least my interpretation of it, was that none of them really worked well. for a variety of reasons, but to the extent there was a consistent reason or challenge or impediment to these bodies doing what it seemed like people had hoped they would do or might expect when they were researching, was that they weren't empowered. They weren't empowered, and in some cases, they weren't properly funded. I often try and look at things, questions, to the extent I can answer a question in its simplest form, sometimes that's just the easiest and clearest way of doing that, right? A civilian oversight of police, a body that is put in place to have oversight of policing. That body should actually have oversight, meaningful oversight. Those words should mean something or it's not the thing we call it, right? So as a guiding principle, It should be a body made up of civilians that has oversight of policing. Let's start there as a basic assumption. And to be clear, I haven't sensed any objection or conflict. My senses were all on the same page here. But for the sake of putting this on the record in public session, that's my starting point for approaching this. It was in 2020, and it remains so here. What does that mean in less simple terms? And what I talked about, let's take that one point and make it two. I said them just a moment ago, properly funded, properly empowered. Without those two broad things, you're probably gonna end up with what municipalities have had for decades, which is what many consider sort of failed, ineffective bodies. What does that mean on a more granular level? Here's where we get to the, this is, you know, including without limitation and any omission from anything I say should not be interpreted as I don't care about it, it's probably I just forgot. There's a lot of things that we need to consider and we need to look at. We did, one of the things that's on my list of things we talked about in executive session that we need to share in open session is that of course we are looking at other municipalities, both in the Commonwealth and across the country, that have put oversight bodies in place where we're looking at various factors, various metrics, cities that are similar in size, similar population, have similar structures, and sort of measuring how that might translate to Somerville, special snowflake that we may be or not, to use Councillor Scott's term. But things that have been mentioned, having real subpoena power, having real access to information, having a process to sort of allude to the scenario in Cambridge that Councillor Scott mentioned, having a process and understanding for when information will be released to the public. There's a difference between information being available to an oversight body and when that same information might be released to the public. Those are two different questions, right? Um, we need to get that right. Um, the makeup of the body, um, the, um, the ability to have real info. Um, so when I think of oversight at its core, I think, uh, disciplinary actions, right? I mean, that's, that's the thing you hear people talk about probably more than anything else. And so having a real meaningful role in discipline, uh, of course the, the civil service, um, system is the, is the, you know, the, I don't want to say the end-all be-all, but that body of law has the final say. It is the ultimate rule of law in terms of rules that impact disciplinary measures and measure forum for civil service employees but you know the degree to which we can within within you know within the confines of that of that civil service actually enable a civilian oversight commission to have a meaningful role in in in discipline whatever that looks like and I know that's a It's a complicated question, and one that we're going to talk about a lot. Having a meaningful role in policy. The good counselor at large mentioned this. This is something we talked about all the way back to 2020 as well, and I think is reflected in some of those earlier documents. It's not just reviewing and having a role in discipline. It's having a role in reviewing and recommending, if not implementing, policy changes. That's a lot. I'll stop there. Again, that is certainly not an exhaustive list. That's not my, like, you know, everything I haven't said is not important. There are certainly other important things, but, you know, for the sake of sort of getting out, like, the things that are at top of mind and the things that I think, you know, the public will see in the documents that are already public, those are the ones that, you know, consistently come up and that I think we need to find a way to address. And, you know, to the good counselor from Ward 2's point, it Municipalities have screwed this up far more often, for lack of a better way of saying it, more often than they've gotten it right. We will trip over these things, almost certainly, and we will need to adjust, revise, and fix, but I am grateful to the mayor for committing to this, for immediately following through and setting this process in motion. I know it was already in motion um when we had the conversation this summer about body one cameras um but but i want to thank both attorney sirigu and manager hellman for um for uh you know putting the work in and and and coming to the council on this um i usually don't talk this much at city council i mean you should absolutely interpret that meaning i'm really excited um as i said i i if i've probably put it's possible I've put more hours into this one issue in in at least in the last six years if not in my entire almost going on 11 year term as a city councilor than any other issue from that initial from all the work to that initial submission their initial resolution to all the work for that led to the city council analysis to my time in the civilian oversight task force I can't wait until we actually get something done here. And we're not close yet. We aren't. There's a lot of work to do. But I'm grateful that we're here, and it's important to say that. And I'll end with this, Mr. President, to the public. really look forward to hearing your input again it's one of the thing I mentioned this sort of two phases of the city of the City Council process that it was because of you and camp and played a large role in as we as we sort of took that initial resolution and decided to take it in a different direction the City Council's first-ever staff part-time staff led that project Irene de Sima and our Mason one side was getting the putting together a proposal based on different models and that's the document that's out there that's still a really good reference point and the other side was was community input and i think what we learned was the city council's we we didn't have the the sort of scaffolding or the bandwidth or the ability to do community input at the scale that we needed to properly. And that was a good lesson, for me at least. And it's the primary reason why we then were grateful when the Department of Racial and Social Justice was formed and a director was hired, and we moved that process into a collaboration with RSJ that then launched the Civilian Oversight Task Force, which was somewhat repetitive but a much better and more robust community process so that the all of that community input all of that that continues we will have a public hearing before this council or committee of this council we will continue to listen to the public in whatever form you can communicate to us as long as it's reasonable you know knocking maybe not knocking on doors at midnight but emails texts letters coming to the public hearings we want to hear from you because I'll speak personally in the context of the body-worn cameras. I learned a ton and we absolutely improved our body-worn camera policy because of input from the public unsolicited, but it was great. As it always is in this city, we have such smart engaged folks. This is my ask to folks to absolutely let us know what you think. Let us know what we're not thinking about. Let us know what you learned when you went down a rabbit hole last Friday night, because that will all be really valuable to us. I know I will read as much of it as I possibly can, even when it inevitably costs me a lot of sleep, but I get excited about this stuff and I can't help it. I'll stop talking now. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you.

Any further discussion? Okay, so that item will be placed on file. As I said, we will look forward to a new submission and a more formal presentation from the administration, possibly at the next meeting. If we're not right there yet, we don't want to rush it, so then if it's at a subsequent meeting, then that's fine. Obviously, there's... There are timing considerations that are involved, but we do want to get this right. We do want to put the horse in front of the cart this time in terms of having a community process that results in a policy proposal, and then we take all the related steps that we need to implement that. So that's how we'll go forward. Thank you again, folks. All right. Should we start the meeting? We kind of already did because we're through all of our council items. So that's a bonus. The next item on the agenda, Madam Clerk, I believe we get down to finance committee report. Is that right?

We are at the finance committee report.

All right.

So we are at item 6.A1, report of the committee on finance meeting on September 3rd, 2026.

Councilor Wheeler.

Thank you, Mr. President. Give me just one sec to pull it up. The Finance Committee met on Thursday, September 3rd, 2026 via remote participation with all members present and with the help of Assistant City Clerk Madeline Letellier, we took up a 14-item agenda. We recommended an approval of an approximately $330,000 payment from Unifirst Corporation for soil cleanup along Tufts Street, along with creation of a stabilization fund to hold and spend those funds. The committee raised questions about the history of contamination at the site, whether nearby residents have been notified, possible exposure during the cleanup, and whether the agreement limits the property owner's future liability. Staff committed to providing additional information in the underlying agreement before the full council vote. We did get that information. The committee was able to review it. I can't speak for the rest of the committee, not having spoken to them about this matter, but I found the information Satisfactory and reassuring learning that the nature of the toxic soil had been carefully looked at and the mitigation process had carefully followed procedures, was determined to not expose people nearby to anything dangerous, and that there had been notification of neighbors. Moving on, we approved an approximately $285,000 state grant for pedestrian and traffic safety improvements on Eastern Washington Street and an approximately $187,000 state climate resilience grant to expand tree canopy and improve sidewalks in places where planting is difficult because of narrow streets and infrastructure constraints. We approved two Blue Bikes grants, approximately $370,000 for new e-bikes, replacement batteries, and two new docking stations near Blessing of the Bay and Junction Park near Central Street. and approximately $86,000 for replacement Blue Bike equipment. The required local contribution comes from Blue Bike's revenue rather than the general fund. We approved a $315,000 transfer related to the Morrison Avenue and Greater Davis Square sewer separation project, allowing the city to pay short-term borrowing costs rather than carry them into longer-term debt. We approved three public safety-related grants, approximately $20,000 reimbursing police department overtime associated with the World Cup, $12,000 for the first quarter of the Jail and Arrest Diversion Program, and $65,000 for first quarter operations of the Metro Boston Crisis Intervention Training and Technical Assistance Center, which is an exciting program that City of Somerville Police Department staff and Corps staff do that is able to provide training to people from surrounding towns and cities. The committee also raised questions about how client information from the diversion program is stored and shared. We got supplemental information through intergovernmental affairs that, again, can't speak for the rest of the committee members, but I found reassuring. Finally, we approved a $60,000 DPW, Department of Public Works, transfer for temporary clerical staffing while several clerical positions are sitting vacant and proving difficult to fill. And also related to public safety, an $8,800 adjustment for the two deputy chief of police cost of living increases, which was explained is in line with increases for non-union staff. And an approximately $3,600 prior year software invoice caused by a clerical error. Chair, I ask that this committee report be accepted as submitted. Thank you.

All right, Councilor Whelan, request that the report be accepted as submitted. Any discussion on the report? All right, seeing none, the report is accepted. I believe that leaves two items for roll call vote. Is that right, Madam Chair?

Yes, that is correct, Mr. President. We can actually do them up together. That would be items 6.A10 and 6.A11 that require a roll call vote. All right, Councilor Ewing-Campin. Yes. Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Scott. Yes. Councilor Klingin. Yes. Councilor Strezzo. Councillor Saeed? Yes. Councillor Wheeler? Yes. Councillor Hart? Yes. Councillor McLaughlin? Yes. Councillor Umbau? Yes. Councillor Davis?

Yes.

With 10 members in the affirmative, that motion passes.

All right, very well, thank you. Next item.

Next item is 6.B1, report of the committee on land use meeting on September 3rd, 2026.

Councilman Kappen. Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, I'm happy to say that we have unanimously recommended approval of two zoning amendments. The first is what's called an UCTIF zone. This stands for Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing. This is a tool that the state allows municipalities to opt into And the committee recommends a plan from the administration that designates a map, covers parts of Assembly Square, parts of East Somerville, that will allow for projects to negotiate with the city for partial tax relief on a future portion of their taxes. What we're recommending does not lock us into any decision making. What it does is it allows projects to come forward. Each of them will then be negotiated with the administration and reviewed by the finance committee. The premise of this, I think our colleague, Councilor McLaughlin said this very well, We kind of have three options in a situation where no housing is getting built. One option is we could lower our 20% inclusionary requirement, get less affordable housing out of it. That would make it cheaper, right, for developers. Another option is we could do nothing. That's what a lot of cities do. And a third option is that we can try to do something where we're still getting the affordable housing, and that is this plan. So this allows us to have a situation where we're still gonna get the 20%, but we're gonna forego some fraction of the future taxes. So that was unanimously supported by the committee, and there's associated documents that outline all the details of this. I encourage everyone to review them. And the second item that we recommend tonight is a proposal originally from Councillor Davis that makes it easier, less red tape to open homeless shelters and similar facilities around the city. Put simply, in basically any residential zone, These will be an allowable use by right, requiring a neighborhood meeting, but a by right use. And then in the neighborhood residence, requiring a special permit. And the conversation around that was we don't want to prohibit them from neighborhood residences, but we do want to acknowledge that there are gonna be site-specific conversations that should be discussed in a public forum before those are granted, and that would be before a permit-granting authority. So I'm very happy to place these items before the full council, happy to answer questions if there are any. Councillor Davis, I don't know if you wanted to speak to your item directly as well.

Councillor Davis.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you to the good Councillor from Ward 3 and the Chair for that. just want to draw the council's attention to to the point that the council more three made about the neighborhood residents because when I introduced this item I specifically called out that it had it had included allowing homeless shelters, which is a defined term, zoning in neighborhood residents by right, only requiring the meeting and the site plan review, but that I only did that so that we could have the conversation, because I wasn't sure exactly what the right approach was there. We did have that sort of, a little back and forth in committing, I think ultimately it was Council Uncamped's suggestion that maybe keeping a special permit requirement on neighborhood resident zones was a good compromise, and ultimately, I agree. So I just wanted to call that out. Certainly, I think there are other viewpoints. I will note that if you look at the map, the zoning map, which there's a presentation from analyst Carr, which was excellent as always, that sort of compared didn't compare what we currently have into the zoning but what compared what you know the sort of two of the options one including neighborhood residents by right and one not the the one without neighborhood residents still does show the urban residents zone which if you recall it is kind of sprinkled throughout when we when we did the zoning overhaul we effectively mapped it to reflect what was there. So there are a lot of parcels in the city where the thing that was there fit urban residents, even though there might not be necessarily a rhyme or reason based on sort of our modern zoning structure. you know to me that's a it's an important thing to consider ultimately I came down on you know like if you've got a big big apartment building or a big you know whatever I'm in your neighborhood then it's a little bit different than just a row of you know one to three family houses and so appropriate enough to treat those differently as I said I think there's arguments both ways I ultimately came down this the committee unanimously recommended approval. But I wanted to call that out just to make sure, for no other reason than to sort of let the record reflect the full thought process on that. And to make a little bit finer point on, no surprise, This issue was raised because there's been a lot of discussion in Ward 6 about a homeless shelter and where it's appropriate to be. I said this before and I'll note it again. One of the comments in one of the public hearings was, look, if we think this is okay, then we should just change the zoning, go through the appropriate process and say so and make it more clear. That was the original intent. I think that person was right. That's what we tried to do here and this is where we ended up. I'm I think it's a good approach. I will note for my colleagues, for any advocates out there, take a look at analyst Carr's memo, the slides that were in this meeting, or watch her presentation, because she did raise some really interesting questions about what maybe isn't necessarily permitted, even if we do go forward and pass this. There's some interesting nuance in different use types that I think are worth considering in a future amendment after we have a policy conversation about it. I'm not going to move forward with any of those right now at the moment, but I think they definitely are worth considering, so I would encourage folks to take a look at that because I think it's Um, but there's probably a few there. They're not, they're not, you know, these aren't the biggest with our earth shattering issues that will face us. But I think, you know, to the extent that one or two scenarios they were talking, this is as it might relate to different types of family housing and different types of other, um, residences that maybe aren't quite captured, uh, under our current zoning that maybe would be appropriate in different areas. So, um, wanted to put that out there because it'll be a fun future project at some point. So thank you, Mr. President.

with that i ask the committee report be accepted can see a captain moves at the critical except this committed discussion on the report has gotten thank you on the motion for approval committee report uh... i just want to say thank you to the uh... committee for engaging as you described in a very long and thoughtful conversation about these uh... i'm excited to see the active in place i think this is uh... better than doing nothing And I look forward to more that we can do, hopefully between now and the end of the year. That said, I also just want to applaud the pushing forward on making it more possible to create places for services and homes for our unhoused neighbors. I know there can be a lot of concern about this in the community, and I'm glad this body listened to it and responded. I just will say that when people say you don't understand what it's like to live next to one of these, I absolutely do. I live directly across the street from a several housing authority building. i live one door down from uh from a temporary shelter so this is uh i think this is absolutely the moral call for us to enable uh more services uh for more people more integrated into our neighborhoods so thank you uh for everybody on land use committee for engaging with this and i look forward to voting and approval on all of these items tonight council link on the on the report

Thank You mr. President yeah just to echo the council for more to said I really appreciate the efforts on both of these items but I think that the tougher the tougher one is the is making sure that we've got shelters by right through a lot of the city and you know I think that the being able to see that that's something that, you know, we've got a welcoming communities ordinance where we want to be a welcoming community. This is part of being a welcoming community. And, you know, making sure that other, that organizations see that they're not going to have to fight tooth and nail with the chilling effect of seeing lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit. And, you know, being at that, the ribbon cutting for that, the shelter that we have in Ward 6 now. you know the the repeated phrase that I heard was you know having people in our community be able to live with dignity and to how to just just just to have the dignity of you know not you know having an accessible shelter where you don't have to crawl down the stairs the dignity of having a place to shower so you know these kind of things are just so so important and I'm just really thankful for the leadership getting it there councilman often

I guess if we're making speeches about committee reports, I'll weigh in. The UCTF is all in Ward 1, and I do want to just point out that one of the things I'm happy with is that I got East Broadway included in the UCTF zone. It was originally just going to be Assembly Row and a few spots on East Broadway. but I really wanted to make sure that was a priority, and I appreciate the city helping me out with that, because we've got a number of vacant lots on East Broadway. Majority, about 70% immigrant-owned businesses. We're trying to revitalize that area, make it a place to hang out and to be and to live, and I think at least four projects I can think of that have languished for years, long before the interest rates went up, long before building costs went up, these projects have just stalled so i'm really hoping that this leads to increased housing increased density along the transit line and increased business for our community further discussion

All right, seeing none, the committee report is approved. That puts two zoning amendments before us for enrollment and ordainment.

Yes, the first one just requires a roll call once for, and that's 6.B2, requesting approval of the UCTF. Councilor Ewing-Campin?

Yes.

Councilor Link? Yes. Councilor Scott? Yes. Councilor Klingin? Yes. Councilor Scherzo? Councilor Saeed?

Yes.

Councillor Wheeler? Yes. Councillor Hart? Yes. Councillor McLaughlin? Yes. Councillor Imba? Yes.

And Councillor Davis? Yes.

That motion passes with 10 in favor.

Thank you. Sorry. So that's not a zoning change. That's the approval of the act. That's why it only required one vote for my own. I'm on a roll here tonight.

You are. The next item. Next one.

Next one we get a roll and ordain.

yeah supposed to just throw stuff at me when i get it wrong thank you uh next item is 6.b3 and this is to enroll counseling camping yes counselor link yes counselor scott yes counselor clingen yes counselor counselor yes counselor wheeler yes counselor hart yes counselor laughlin yes counselor yes counselor davis yes That motion passes to enroll. And next is to ordain. Councilor Ewan Campin. Yes. Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Scott. Yes. Councilor Klingin. Yes. Councilor Strezzo. Councilor Saeed. Yes. Councilor Wheeler. Yes. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Umba. Yes. And Councilor Davis. Yes. That motion also passes with 10 in favor.

All right. Very good. Good job, team. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Next item is 6.C1, report of the committee on school building facilities and maintenance meeting on September 8th, 2026. Councilor Link.

Thank you, Mr. President. We met on Tuesday, September 8th, and we had an hour and a half-ish, hour and 45-minute meeting. In that, we discussed several things. covered several items related to custodians in schools, roading control, temperature control, and all of those were closed with deep appreciation to the DPW. We continued to monitor the safety improvements at the Argenziano since the Argenziano has taken on the AIM program. We also received an update on the Winterhill School where we discussed the site's ledge, how deep it was, what it was composed of, and if it would allow us to build ground source geothermal and parking, there was no answer for at the moment but we'll find out more as we continue on this journey we also learned that you know there's been several updates that have been made and that from there are several questions that were asked by the MSBCA and the Massachusetts School Building Authority and that we were able to get answers back very quickly which i um have a huge appreciation for from the administration that we're uh continuing to uh you know try to tackle this and get these kids that are um kind of uh you know have been put in a less than adequate school uh over at the edgely uh you know trying to get as quickly as possible that we can get them a new school So we also received the disappointing news that renovating the Cummings School for just about any use would be prohibitively expensive, and that means it won't be turning into a teen center. The city council and the school committee both reflected on the need to find a space for this in the face of years more of the edgerly, which used to be the teen center, being unavailable for that purpose. And I've been reflecting a lot about the idea that there's this concept of anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly. And we may not have the perfect place, the perfect conditions, locations, but accessibility, outstanding. I really, really want this committee, the administration, to work at finding a place that's going to be the best bad answer so that we can get kids, ideally the kids that are in kindergarten right now could maybe see a teen center before they move on to college. And with that, I ask that this report be accepted.

All right. Any discussion on the report? All right. Seeing none, that report is approved. Next item.

Next item is 7.2, a mayor's request, requesting ordainment of an amendment to the following sections of the Somerville zoning ordinance to correct parking maximums.

Madam Clerk, let's take up item 7.2. Counselor, you can, unless you have any objection, 7.2 through 7.7 together and waive the readings. These are all a series of zoning amendments with lots and lots of section numbers that no one really needs to listen to. They are available through any means that you are able to read the agenda. There's dozens of them. So if there's no objection, we'll waive the rules, waive the readings, take 7.2 through 7.7 together. We can have discussion and comment on those if there's any. I see Councilor Wheeler, do you wanna speak to any of the items?

Thank you, Mr. President. I was just curious to ask the administration, and I see IGA Director Najim Williams here, about the background of these, if these are coming out of the Department of Planning and Zoning's ongoing work, if different ones of these are in response to different items. Yeah, I'm just sort of curious about the provenance of this set of zoning amendments.

Director Najeeb Williams and or Chair Ewan Kampen, if either of you want to speak to that.

Mr. President, I'm happy to hear whatever folks want to hear tonight, but as a general matter, these are going to be referred to land use. They'll be in a public hearing on October 1st, and they'll be explained in great detail where they came from and why people want introductions tonight, and that's available. That's fine, but typically we'll hear in great detail at the public hearings.

Or if there's even just a general, if there's any general uniform, uh, uh, Providence, as you said, uh, are these directing the Jean Williams, anything, any context you can share with us?

Through you, Mr. President, Amanda Najum-Williams, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. So several of these items just have a very high level, so I won't speak to all of them. And as Councilor even Campin noted, they will be taken up in land use. What I can say is that a great majority of these items are some tidying up, some cleaning up of some areas that needed fixing, whether it was terminology or just something that was left out for clarity's sake. So not complete overhauls, but really some fine-tuning.

Thank you.

I will add, just in terms of what these are, I read through. My read was that most, if not all, of these seem to relate to conversations I recall us having over the past period of time about various things. And it's like, OK, that must be the amendment that came out of that. Maybe not in all cases, but to some degree, that was the case. So that's sort of how I read them. and as as councillor and captain said we'll uh we will refer all of these to land use with a copy of the planning board for a whole bunch of public hearings and we'll get we'll get all the details um but i will note for folks that each of these do have a little i mean i guess we could it would be appropriate for me to just read the sort of high level for each of these. So in each item there's a sort of a high level description. So the first is correcting packing maximums, removing ground story, oh 7.3 we already did, sorry. 7.4 is streamlining jurisdiction review boards. 7.5 is aligning with state law regarding protected ADUs, accessory dwelling units. Glasses would help me here. 7.6 is clarifying requirements for principal entrances, and 7.7 is updating terminology for affordable dwelling units and commercial spaces. So those are the high-level topics. Again, the devil will be in the details, and my sense is that most of these, as Director Najeeb Williams says, are either sort of just fixes that have been sort of collecting and or sort of follow-up to conversations that we've had over the past months or more. Any further discussion on the questions? All right, cool. So those, let's see, so it ended up, so we did 7.3 already earlier tonight, so 7, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 will be referred to land use with a copy of the planning board.

Mr. President. Councilor Scott. Before we proceed, I know there is gonna be a lot of waving of the readings and referring to committee coming up here. I did wanna point out something that I think might have been an oversight in the agenda this evening. There is no committee report from the legislative matters meeting, which we held on Tuesday. So given that it was a meeting that had three public hearings generated its own set of minutes and also Had the action of approving a previous set of minutes that was amended I would ask that a committee report be generated and added to our next council meeting Thank you, it shall be done, thank you All right next item councillor Whaler

Thank you, Mr. President. So for items 7.8 through 7.15, I move to waive the readings of these items and refer them to the Finance Committee.

Any objection? Any discussion? All right. Reading of those items is waived, and they are all referred to Finance.

And I would like us to take up each of the next two items.

Next item, Madam Clerk, 7.16.

Next item is 7.16, requesting approval to pay prior invoice totaling $1,687.50 using available funds in the fire department professional and technical services account for medical screening services.

I move to, Mr. President, I move to approve this item due to its relatively small size.

Any discussion? Any questions? Do we need a roll call vote on these? I assume not, no, okay. All right, that item is approved. Next item.

Next item is 7.17, mayor's request requesting approval to pay prior year invoice totaling $19.76 using available funds in the immigrant advancement professional and technical services account for on-demand phone interpretation services. Council Wheeler.

Mr. President, I move to approve this item due to its objectively small size.

Any discussion? All right, that item is approved. Next item.

Next item is 7.22, Mayor's communication conveying the appointment of Lena Warnke to the Somerville Arts Council Board.

Mr. President.

Council Bot.

I move to waive the reading of 7.22 through 7.26 and place on five. All right, any objection?

All right, those items, those are all appointments by the mayor to various boards, so folks can read those. Any objection, any discussion? All right, seeing none, those items are placed on file. Next item.

Next item is 8.1, Officers Communication, Director of Emergency Management, conveying the 2025-2026 Cummings School Winter Warming Center After Action Report and Improvement Plan.

Director Najee Williams.

Dear Mr. President, so surprise, surprise, I am not the Director of Emergency Management, but I did want to provide a brief note on this item. We are looking to utilize the Cummings School for the upcoming winter season for the warming shelter, but we are actively working to identify other locations for future winter seasons. Traditionally, we host an after-action listening session once the warming center closes, but as we think ahead, we are aiming to host both a pre and post listening session with abutters in the area. We've also recently submitted an updated MOU to the school committee, and their second reading of that item is happening, I believe, on Monday. this upcoming week lastly staff are looking forward to discussing this more with the council both when it appears in committee but then also when it appears back on the council agenda again as they understand that outstanding questions or may remain that are pertinent to all the council so we will have staff available for both of those opportunities mr. president through you to

Director Williams. Thank you for this and I'm going to ask if the suggestions and information that I gave in the last council meeting was taken into consideration and how you the administration does intend to consider what was brought forward in those that conversation.

you mr president to councillor strezzo um i will definitely check in with the staffers or director of emergency management um on that i would also flag it for them to ensure that those that feedback is incorporated thank you i will put forward a order to address it further in the next committee and then i'm sorry in the next meeting and then we'll send that off to committee as well because i know that the neighbors

butters especially when we talked about the street harassment that was happening and I didn't feel like in the the the post last year talk about a discussion on the warming center I didn't feel like the what was reported of the street harassment of you know high school kids and younger girls was taken seriously or addressed amply and fine if the location is fine and again, nobody's challenging the fact that we need a warming center. We've all made that clear. However, again, some of our residents and some of our abutters are feeling uncomfortable about this. That at least an address or a consideration of this and what the plan is for that. Thank you.

Council Link, then Ewan Campin, then Hart, then McLaughlin.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to point out that, you know, so one of the things that it clearly, that I think we all knew was that a big problem is capacity, that we're continuously over capacity and that the lines that are created because of people worrying about capacity are probably one of the big causes of many of the issues that abutters are facing. And I just want to point out that this isn't, we've talked about how Somerville's not a unique snowflake. This isn't new to shelters. This isn't new to shelters even in Somerville. So while I'm happy that we've identified this issue and that we've conveyed that we want to fix it, it does seem like The improvement plan is more of a plan to improve rather than the actual set of actions. So I'd really like to encourage the administration and the emergency management team to kind of maybe just reach out, find out what the Somerville Homeless Coalition is doing, talk to them and not try to invent the wheel here and just fix it as easily as possible. Thank you.

Councillor Yuen Kampen, then Hart, then McLaughlin.

Thank you, Mr. President. So if the administration does decide to move forward with this location for the warming center, my reading of this year's report differs a little bit from my colleague. I think that they take the neighbors' response feedback extremely seriously and are proposing some fixes for it. I just wanted to name tonight one thing mentioned in the report that I've heard from many, many neighbors is the queuing area. It's currently on Prescott Street. It's uncovered from the weather. And there are people out for long amounts of time in freezing rain and snow, uncovered. It's been a serious issue. Many people have pointed out there is an unoccupied parking lot on the other side of the school. It would be, it seems like quite logical to build a seasonal structure there where people could line up with some dignity and that there's a lot more space there than instead of kind of spilling out onto a small sidewalk. So I just wanted to name that tonight as if this location is used again. To me, I think that's incredibly important to pursue.

Councilor Hart.

I'm all set, thank you.

Councilor McLaughlin.

So, Mr. President, I'd like this referred to the Public Health and Safety Committee, where I have a meeting scheduled for September 30th, 6.30 p.m. I would ask Director Nigel Williams to take into consideration everything said tonight and have prepared response from the city, and we can discuss it then.

Councilor Stresa?

Let's come back to the conversation again and in disconnect, perhaps there was a disconnect of understanding from the ward three counselor. There's a lot of similarities and understanding that yes, there was a positive job overall with the Cummings School and the rollout of numerous years of the warming center there. So let's not conflate and misrepresent that we were all in agreement that there's a need for a warming center what the disconnect is and I would hope that anybody who is the father of daughters and the fact that residents that again No constituents stated that They wanted the warming center. However, they also did not want to feel uncomfortable or feel or feel unsafe and the fact that when we talk about some of our youngest constituents, I would hope would have a voice in this, that the average age that a girl is harassed on the street and sexualized on the street is around 10 years old. And if that bothers anyone, especially fathers of daughters, or any child, that they would consider their youngest constituents too. Any of them walking to a grade school, maybe the Argenziano, or maybe the high school. So that is why all voices should be considered in this as well.

Councilor Young-Kippen.

Mr. President, just respectfully, I have no idea why my colleague is, for any reason, implying that I don't care about the safety of any residents of any age of any gender. I find it, frankly, insane. I don't know why you're talking about that.

That's unsafe. Colleagues.

That's disrespectful. Colleagues, Councilor Schlesinger, you're not recognized. Councilor McCabin, let's keep all discussion on the item. I think that goes for several last comments. That's against the rules. Councilor Schlesinger, you're not recognized. This item is placed on file. It's a violation of the rules. It will apply to public health and public safety. Thank you. Next item, please.

Next item is 8.2, city clerk conveying block party license issued.

If you haven't been to your block party or your neighboring street's block party, go. Look at this list, find a street nearby, check it out, especially this time of year, because this is when the apple cider donuts start showing up. Those are the best block party food. If you can't find a block party near you and you think your street hasn't had a block party, then contact the clerk's office and find out how to have your very own block party on the street here in the year of the neighbor and everything else that we've been declaring this year. What better way than getting together with your block as the leaves turn to enjoy a cider donut and a hot cup of cider and whatever else you might want to enjoy and have a block party. Councillor Link.

If I could just tack on to that PSA there, Mr. President. Last meeting, we saw that there was in there a... batch by one resident of block parties this happens to be in my neighborhood and it's something called play streets and I would encourage if anyone else wants to like if you want it if anyone in the community is interested in this talk to me I can I hook you up with that person it's a really great opportunity to like just have community right the idea is that there's people having dinner kids playing in the street like we all romanticize that we had maybe as in our childhood and it's a really cool it's a really cool concept and you know it's actually really easy to do it sounds like it would be a pain in the butt but you can do it all at once all together so I highly encourage people to try it out

Lest we romanticize what happened in some of our youth, let's just not have any firecrackers or eggs or anything. Just behave, please. Any other discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is placed on file. Next item. Councilor Hart.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I move to waive the readings of 9.1 to 9.10 and approve this evening.

All right, 9.1 through 9.10, we were at the readings. I will note there's some really fun stuff in here. As I mentioned, it is that time of year when we do lots of stuff in the city. So take a look at the list. Keep your eye on that city calendar and go enjoy some of these events for which we are issuing licenses. Any discussion, Councilor Wheeler?

Just on that note of some fun events, I wanted to highlight the theater production of Iphigenia in Nathan Tufts Park, a.k.a. Patterhouse Park, which is just a really cool event. It's free. Anybody can come. You do not need to get a ticket in advance. It's going to be each Saturday and Sunday for three weekends in a row, starting September 26th, going all the way through October 11th, 4 p.m. Really cool. Everyone should go.

Right here. All right, see no further discussion. Those items are all approved. Next item.

Next item is 9.11, Bruce Schluman submitting comments regarding snow emergencies. That item is placed on file. Next item. Next item is 9.12, Mary Ann Wallace submitting comments regarding item 26-1268, comments relating to the following zoning ordinance sections.

Councilman Kemp, do you want that in committee or should it be placed on file? Why don't we refer it to committee?

for that or place on file with a copy to land use next item next item is 10.2 a mayor's request requesting approval to enter into lease agreements with various tenants to provide commercial art space at the somerville armory building at 191 highland avenue

I'll note I had a conversation with the administration earlier this week after the deadline for submitting items for the agenda. I was told that these leases were not finalized in time to meet that, so that's why they're showing up on the supplemental. And they will begin before we will have an opportunity to send them to committee and then back again um so that is why they are on the agenda this evening but we will refer them to finance so they will be duly noticed and folks can have an opportunity to weigh in in advance and so if anyone in the public does have any thoughts on these send them along and we'll make sure they get to uh they'll follow the item to the finance committee uh so that that can be uh that can be discussed any discussion on the items on that on this item in particular okay so that is referred to finance next item

Next item is 10.3, veteran services applying for a public event license for 9-11 remembrance ceremony on September 11th from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. That's tomorrow?

Yes. Any discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved.

Next item. Next item is 10.4, Junkyard LLC applying for a public event license for Junkyard Davis Square on September 19th from 10 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. Another cool, fun event coming up.

Any discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved.

Next item is 10.5, new drain layers license, Knight Excavation Company, Inc. Councilor Hart.

Will I move that we approve that? And the next one as well?

Can we read 10.6 as well?

Yes. Next item is 10.6, new secondhand dealer license, the Heartland Roadshow at 30 Washington Street.

Councilor Hart moves to approve both of those items. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, those items approved.

Next item is 10.7, President of Tufts University submitting comments regarding item number 26-1302 in support of a fair and dignified resolution for an international graduate student at Tufts University.

That item is placed on file. Next item. Are there any late items? I think that's the end of the agenda. Are there any late items?

Yes. Counselor Young-Kampen.

Counselor Young-Kampen. Mr. President, I have a late item that I sent to the clerk. I shared with the clerk and the president that I'm tendering my resignation irrevocably. Thank you, colleagues. This will take effect December 31st, 2026. And I would ask you, Mr. President, on the next agenda to request a special election.

We can't convince you to go any sooner?

I'll leave, you know, tonight.

All right, very well. Thank you. That item is placed on file. Councillor Scott.

Mr. President, I also have a late item. Using exactly the same language as my colleague with the same timing, irrevocably resigning my position as Ward 2 City Councillor, effective December 31st, 2026. and also likewise request that you put in an order at the next meeting for a special election.

Yes, there we go. That has placed on file, and we will have a properly noticed item at the next meeting. Since these are late items that were not listed, we're going to refrain from having any deliberation on them, lest we trip over any rules and make anybody upset. However, you can say lots of things when I ask if there's any other late items.

Mr. President, once the election is scheduled, I would like to know so I can know when to submit my resignation so that my successor can start immediately with the other newly elected.

I'm happy to have a conversation with you about how your succession works according to our charter.

I too have an announcement to make. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.

Councillor McLaughlin moves to adjourn. Seeing no discussion, we are adjourned. Thank you, folks.