Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters Committee - Regular Meeting

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good evening, everybody. Welcome to this meeting of the city of Summerville's, city council committee on legislative matters. I'm JT Scott, your host and chair for the evening, award two counselor, and pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2025. This meeting is being conducted via remote participation, and we will be re posting the recording to all city channels shortly after the conclusion of the meeting. As such, we will go ahead and start this meeting off with a roll call to establish a quorum, led by our esteemed clerk Latalia.

May ask Roll call. Councilor Davis? Councilor Mbaugh?

Present.

Councilor Junkampin?

Here.

Councilor Strazo?

Present.

Councilor Scott?

Present.

For counselors present, we

have quorum. Delightful. Thank you. We have a brief agenda tonight, which hopefully we will go through in good time. And it starts with the approval of the minutes of the legislative matters meeting of 02/17/2026. Is there any comment on those minutes? And seeing none, I'll go ahead and lay those lay those minutes on the table for approval with single roll call vote at the conclusion of the meeting. Then we will go on to the first substantive item. That is the mayor's request twenty six zero one six one requesting the acceptance of mass general laws chapter 40 section 13 a to establish a special education reserve fund. Alright.

This is a pretty straightforward, a pretty straightforward item. Attached to the item is a record of the December 15 school committee meeting and a copy of the general law in question, which simply says we are going to establish a we are allowed by state law to establish a reserve fund to pay without appropriation for unanticipated or unbudgeted costs of special education and recovery high school programs or for out of state out of district tuition or transportation. So, to that end, I guess, who do we have here to address this from the school side?

Hi. Good evening, everybody. My name is doctor Breda. I am the, interim chief financial officer of the district. Happy to talk with y'all a little bit of tonight about the rationale behind establishing the special ed reserve fund.

Wanna start by saying I think this represents, like, a really awesome partnership between the city and the schools and just evidence of our continued collaboration in trying to support, you know, the work generally of the district, but particularly of our most needy students. What we're really trying to do here is basically some risk management. Right? This is not a savings account. This is some very prudent long term planning that we've engaged in, knowing that special education costs can change quickly from year to year and even during the year because of out of district placements, because of the related transportation costs for that, and even for required services for individual students.

So this stabilization fund would help us address some of those unexpected costs related to providing those services without disrupting, you know, the general budget for that year and, you know, potentially endangering the general education program that we have. Excuse me. Similarly, it helps protect our special education students. You know, our special education students are often our most needy students. We wanna make sure that we have funds set aside to serve them, to provide them with the education that they're legally entitled to when, you know, new students might enroll in the district or we might have a better placement, a more appropriate placement for a student.

And, you know, I think finally, it it's really designed to increase transparency and and public trust. We don't ever wanna absorb costs in a, you you know, unpredictable costs in a way that's hard for the public to sort of keep track of. So I think having a dedicated fund, sends the signal to everybody that we're planning for, you know, known both unknown and unknown financial risks.

Alright. Thank you for that very much, director Baretta. And, I sounds like a great idea to me. For those who are looking for more detail, the conversations that happen in committee, they start at the end of page 11 of those minutes that are attached to the agenda item and go through about halfway down page 13. I see a couple questions from colleagues here, so we'll start with councilor Strezzo and then go on to Mbah and Ewan Kamman. Councilor Strezzo, you have the floor.

Thank you, mister chair. Let's start with happy to see this and hear all about this. And, yes, we'll be catching up. But for those who may be new to this and and first time hearing about this, what is the process for distributing the funds and and also who is in charge of distributing the funds? Yeah.

Yes. Through the chair. That's a great question, council person Trezo. I think Ed Bean, if if he were here tonight, would have, a little bit more, expertise in explaining some of that. My understanding is that, in disbursement of these funds requires approval not only of the school committee, but also of city council. So this cannot just be tapped into without following proper procedures. But I think Ed would be able to speak much more explicitly to the exact steps, but I do know when we were talking about this initially that it does. We we were looking at statutes that other districts and municipalities have used, and we adopted a similar one. The the process does require multiple levels of approval to disperse the funds.

And, councilor Trezo, just to let you know, the second paragraph of 13 a indicates the funds shall only be be distributed for the reserve funds after a majority vote of the school committee and a majority of vote of the city council.

Thank you so much. Alongside that, will will these could these funds be used, for legal fees for the for the special department or the school district?

I think legal fees in terms of such as, like, we were engaged in a lawsuit and, you know, we had, like, a lawsuit sort of I I think if the if that's what you're referring to, the answer is is no. I think we've we've outlined, I think, in the statute, like, some explicit reasons that we could use this, and it's generally related into providing direct services to students. So, you know, covering the cost of, like, any kind of lawsuit for for lack of services or compensatory, you know, dollars, I don't think would be an appropriate use of this.

I'll hop back in in line, mister chair. And, also, is there a a deadline for approval on this? Or, mister chair, through you to mister Barrera, when when are you looking to activate this? But, also, when yeah. Is there a a a timeline on when this has to be approved?

Great question. There is no urgency in terms of, like, we have a desperate need for these dollars right now to address any acute issue. We were just looking at this as a great opportunity, you know, and I work with Ed and and finance team over there regularly, and we had identified, you know, potential source of unused funds from the prior year for the district and just, you know, for a long term planning. So there's really no urgency to address an acute need. You know, all of the budget reporting that we've done this year suggests we're well in line to to address any any costs.

Mister chair, I'm gonna let my colleagues hop ahead, but I will be back in line, after they're done. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you, counselor. Counselor Mbai, you have the floor.

Thank you, chairman Scott. Director Berreta, it's always good to see a fellow classmate on the other side of the table. Likewise. It's, thank you for for the work you do for the school. I guess this is, you know, like chairman Scott said, this is pretty, you know, like, standard, and and it's pretty straightforward request.

But I guess one of the curiosity I've always had is, like, the methodology to assess, like, the special needs in the various district. Like, I've never really wrapped my head around that because it's always like this a little, when sometimes you talk to a family, they always have, like, different experiences. You know? And and this is just me just curious in terms of, like, the kind of the the kind of assessment that goes into, like, the whole process. But other than that, you know, I think I just I'm most excited just to see you, like, coming before us.

I'm like, wow. This guy. You know? I can't believe I will wanna squeeze his elbow here for my first time to you know? There's that excitement, and then there's also that curiosity about, like, the process behind the assessment.

Thank you so much for the question, councilor Mbah. You're referring specifically to the like, how we assess students with special needs? So, you know, as the chief financial officer, like, special needs is not my area of expertise, but I am a former principal. So I do know a little bit about this, and I work closely with our director of special education, Ildefonso Ariano, who's fantastic. He would be best able to speak, you know, to to how we kind of, you know, create our our specialized services for students with special needs.

But, you know, generally, what we're doing is, you know, we have a a kind of a process where we we try to address, any kind of deficits that students might have, like, through interventions early on. We track data. We try to make sure that, you know, we're we're seeing whether or not students are making progress. And then if we see after we've tried some interventions that students are not making progress, we generally make a referral for, you know, for some psychological testing for, you know, special education services. Exactly how the programming is is put together and, like, how IEPs are written, it's certainly different here in Somerville than, you know, from where I came in Philadelphia.

So I think director Ariana would be best poised to, you know, to speak on the specifics of that. But, you know, again, as a relative newcomer to Somerville and having worked in education for twenty years, seems to me like we actually have a a really great staffing model to service our students with special needs, and, you know, we're fairly well resourced. I think the goal of this fund is just to make sure that, any unexpected costs wouldn't detract from that, you know, planned work that we have year, every year with our students.

Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, chairman Scott. I'm all set.

Alright. Thank you. Councilor Young Camp, and you have

Thank you, mister Scheer. I'm fully in support of this and ready to move forward. The question I have was just reviewing the minutes from the school committee recommendation on this, and I wanted to make sure I understand. It sounded like one of the issues is when the city does put aside money for this purpose and it is not spent, then it flows back to the general fund. And that's one of the things that's trying to be corrected now, right, is so that if money is appropriated for this, it stays for this and doesn't have to kind of roll back and be rebudgeted every single time. Can you just through the chair, is that about right? Did I understand that correctly?

That's a great question, counselor Yuncan. Again, I Ed Bean would probably be the best person to sort of talk on that, but I can tell you, I think, generally, what you're saying is is right. Like, the idea here is, you know, the school the school department gets an appropriated amount every year. Anything that that we don't extend does flow back to the city, you know, often gets booked in in as free cash. The idea here was to establish a a fund that would exist in perpetuity so it wouldn't be subject to annual appropriations.

And, you know, again, fairly I don't wanna say fairly common, but, you know, certainly other districts and municipalities have established this because those year to year fluctuations in special ed costs can, again, take away from the appropriated amounts and, you know, what we were expecting to expand in a or invest in a particular area.

Mister Shea, through you, thank you for that. I I see that, liaison Rodassi also has her hand up if it's on this.

I'm happy to do that. I would also point out that this is functionally a a special reserve that's built. The statute does say it cannot exceed 2% of the annual net school spending of the district, but it would allow for a durable, pool of money that could be there for the fluctuations as pointed out for, say, a surprising number of out of district placements that need to happen in a given year. Liaison Radasi, you have further on this?

Thank you, mister chair. Ed Bean wasn't allowed, wasn't able to join for tonight, but he did send us over some talking points for us. So just to address through you to counsel you and Kempen, he shared a talking point saying funds can be used in future fiscal years and carryover, allowing districts to manage unpredictable high cost student placements without needing immediate new appropriations.

Yeah. Makes a lot of sense to me. I appreciate all the work that the school committee and school department put into this, and I'm I'm ready to go, mister

Thank you. As am I. Sounds like, as usual, Ed Bean said it, better than I could. Alright. Councilor Streisel, you said you wanted a second bite at the apple. Are you all set, or do you still want one?

Certainly do. Yeah. I I am I am bummed that we do not have, director Bean here today, though it is is nice to have mister Baratta here. So it had through you, mister chair, to mister Baratta, what I know this is getting becoming this is established and, yes, this is great. I support this.

I think it's important as well. What, outreach has been done through the to the special needs families in the district and special educators in the district on this coming? And have you approached CPAC? Can you please elaborate on that?

Yeah. That's a great question, council Strazo. To be honest, I can't talk specifically to outreach that's been done regarding this. I do believe we brought this up at one of our CPAC meetings. And I do know that director Ariano had a a special education specific budget presentation last Wednesday to several stakeholders.

I think, like, I've had a couple of meetings with individual members of the CPAC, and I think that this has come up. And, you know, I think, generally, the the rationale that I've given is, like, much of what I've said here tonight, which is, know, we have an amount every year that's appropriated for, our students with special needs. And, you know, sometimes cost can fluctuate, and we never wanna interrupt the services that we already have planned in any given fiscal year to address additional needs. And, you know, I think, anecdotally, the reception that we've that I've gotten from I can't speak for others, but the reception I've gotten from stakeholders, you know, in our in our special needs community has been very positive and very warm. You know?

I think folks are just generally happy that we are paying a lot of attention to the, you know, to the needs of our of that community and, you know, trying as much as possible to increase the stability of services there.

Okay. Thank you, mister chair. Through you too, mister Baretta. I had one more question. Oh, yes. So once if and if a vote is approved and it goes to the council and then it's approved, what are the immediate first next steps to this establishing this?

On the legislative side? I'm I'm not I'm not No. No. Just on the district side?

To yes. To elaborate, what what does immediate implementation look like with this? What once and if it's approved. So once it is approved to the council, etcetera, and then it's, I assume, pumped it back to the school committee. What what what happens with the SPFs and this after that happens?

Might I take this one? Please. This is the authorization to adopt the master general law to create the fund. My understanding from the administration is that the next step would be an appropriation through the city council to deposit money into that fund so that it would be available to to create the funding for it. And then as it was needed, the appropriation would need to be approved by the school committee and the city council. So I would anticipate funding request to come in in our next meeting or two from the city council. Perhaps liaison Raddasi knows what the schedule is for that. Liaison Raddasi?

Thank you, mister chair. Yes. There actually already is an item for a transfer to the fund. It's sitting in finance committee. Assuming that the committee votes to approve this item tonight, then it will be on the agenda for next week's finance committee meeting so that we can, in tandem, approve the enabling legislation and then the transfer as well, assuming that is, of course, what the finance committee wants to do.

Yes. Thank you. My yes. My question is more how how and, yeah, appreciate the the the response on that. My question is more the immediate implementation of once it once it is established, and then will the general public be aware of it? Will special needs families be made aware of it? Will will special education educators be made aware of this? And and and and additionally, yeah, how how poised and prepared is the special department and the superintendent prepared to handle this?

Thank you for that question, councilor Shoso. I think we're very well poised. You know, I think my immediate next step would be to work with our chief communications officer to put together some communications. And this is really something to celebrate, you know, in our community. And I think we also need to make sure that we have something explicitly on our website about the stabilization fund, you know, outlining the exact uses for it and, you know, what it's intended to serve. But our communications department does a fantastic job of getting that kind of information out. So I think it's you know, once assuming this goes through all the appropriate channels and passes and gets appropriated to us, then, you know, we have some rough drafts of communications that we would put out regarding it.

Mister chair, I'm all set. And thank you thank you, through to, mister Brett. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Alright. Thank you. Then, I guess, seeing no further discussion at the moment, I will, make a motion to approve. Looking for any discussion on that motion. Alright.

Seeing none, then we'll go ahead and lay that item on the table for a single vote for approval at the conclusion of the meeting. Thank you very much, director Veretta. Alright. And let's see here. Then we will move on to our next substantive item, which is item two six zero one four five, a mayor's request requesting acceptance of master general law chapter 59 section five clause 22 j to authorize an increase in the exemption amount granted under chapter 59 section five clauses 22, 22 a, b, c, e, and f, which are, also included in the item as a PDF, citation from National Law.

I know we are joined by assessor Golden, our chair Golden of our board of assessors, who has been very excited to see this happen. And, quite frankly, based on what I've heard of it, I'm excited to see it happen as well. So apologize, for the delay in getting it here, chair Golden, but, please, if you'd like to lay it out for this one, and then we will move on to the next one, which is, further implementation of this as I understand. So, go ahead. Please introduce a force.

Chairman Scott, can you hear me?

Of course, sir.

Through you, there's a little bit of a backstory here that I'd like to share. Please. During classification on 11/25/2025 at the conclusion of my presentation, I was approached by then councilor Wilson who thought that it was due time to adopt the HEROES Act. We had a board meeting on January 28, and the board voted unanimously to accept the HEROES Act. A little bit about the HEROES Act.

Basically, what it does is it's gonna bring the COLA or the cost of living to the veterans exemption, which is a number that is annually given to us from local assessment of the Department of Revenue. So we have other exemptions that are subject to the COLA, but this is the first time that the COLA will be applied to the veterans exemption. You're talking roughly about 90 exemptions exist for our veterans in the city. The reason why it's twofold, 21 22 I and 22 j, is because when you accept the new exemption, you have to also accept the up to double. And the up to double is every exemption in the city is up the double, and that was voted May 2015 by the honorable council so that a $400 exemption is an $800 exemption.

Most, if not all, cities and towns in the Commonwealth have accepted the up the double. Beverly being one of the last where I'm the chairman a year ago. So it it pretty much everyone is up the double on the exemptions now. The the Kohler is a nice addition to our veterans. That is above and beyond the up the double.

So it'll be a little bit more money for every veteran beyond anyone that's already reached that $800 level. The exemption a little bit about the exemption, just so the counselors understand, is veterans have different levels of disability. They have to provide a letter at the assessor's office annually to how severe their disability is, and that really drives how much of an exemption is available to them. We sadly have some that are a 100%. It it's just it's really what the VA gives them in a letter annually that drives that.

That's out of our control. That is a letter that is shared with us, and then we apply the exemption. So just a little bit of backstory there that it is in place. We'll have the COLA shortly. This would go into effect for fiscal year twenty seven.

Hopefully, that's a good enough background for everybody. But, again, we were doing everything for our veterans prior with the exception of roughly a 2% COLA or or whatever it may be. It's not a number determined by us. It's determined by the Department of Revenue.

Alright. Looking for questions from the committee. I see councilor Mbah. Councilor Mbah, you have the floor. You are muted, councilor Bah.

Oh my god. Sorry, chairman. I'm sorry. Jeez. Director Gordon, I wanna I said thank you for the work you do for the city. Appreciate seeing you. It's been a while. And this is a this is a great program. I guess one thing I I'm I'm trying to understand just for curiosity is, you know, how many veterans, you know, or deceased, you know, soldiers, families they are in the city. And and if you had to, like, do, like, some simple math, you know, what would that tax revenue be, you know, amount to?

That would take some time for me to do to determine that. I am aware of the 90 plus or minus that do receive the exemption currently. Total tax dollars for those 90 would be a number I could get at very easily. Obviously, that's confidential, but I could I could certainly tell you what the tax ramifications would be for those folks that receive that exemption without naming them?

Yeah. No. It it's yeah. No. This is, again, you know, it's just good. You know, we see the value we are doing and quantify it. You see what I mean? So I do. Yeah. No. It's just helpful, you know, data point. But, no, thank you. Thank you, chairman Scott.

Alright. Sounds good. Looking for any other questions from members of the committee? Alright. Seeing none, then I will make a motion to approve, this item.

Looking for, any discussion on the motion? Alright. Seeing none, then we'll go ahead and lay that item on the table for approval with a single roll call vote at the conclusion of the meeting. And then that brings us to the final item on our agenda, which is item two six zero one four five, which is requesting acceptance of master general chapter 59 section five clause 22 j to authorize an increase in the exemption amount granted under chapter 59 section five clauses twenty two twenty two a, b, c, e, and f. So any further expansion, to elaboration to put on this one, chair Golden?

Through you, chairman Scott, it's just, really just the formal procedure when you add a new exemption that you apply the up the double to that exemption. That's what the j signify in here, and we're on board with the honorable council to approve that.

I'm personally on board with it too. Looking to my colleagues for any questions or comments on this item. I see a thumbs up. That's a good one. Alright.

Well, then I will make a motion to approve said item and look to my colleagues for any discussion on that motion to approve. Alright. Seeing no discussion on that, then, why don't we go ahead and take up all three items that have been laid on the table or all four items, my apologies, including the approval of the minutes that have been laid on the table, for approval? And we can take those up for a single roll call vote along with, a vote to adjourn, which I will move for. Clerk Lutellier, if you wouldn't mind.

And on approval of agenda items one, two, three, four, and adjournment, councilor Mbaugh?

Yes, please.

Councilor Yankampin?

Yes.

Councilor Strozzo? Yes. Councilor Scott?

Yes, please.

With four councilors in favor, those items are approved, and we are adjourned.

Alright. And I just want to, relay as sorry. I didn't at the start, counselor Davis is traveling tonight, and was unable to join us. Would have needed to be recused from the first item, but otherwise, sorry. Couldn't make it with us tonight, due to work travel, but, we'll see us all very soon. So thank you, chair Golden. Thank you to the director, and thank you to all city staff who are here tonight. We'll call it a night here at 06:31PM. Thank you, everybody, and I will see you shortly.

Happy Saint Patrick, chairman Scott.

Happy Saint Patrick's to you as well, sir.