Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay, thank you all, and good evening. I'm Ben Wheeler. I use he, him pronouns. I'm a counselor at large and the Finance Committee Chair. It is 6.07 p.m., and I'd like to call to order the Tuesday, May 26, 2026 meeting of the Finance Committee of the Somerville City Council. This meeting of a City Council committee will be conducted via remote participation following Chapter 2 of the We'll post an audio video recording and a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. We are joined by Clerk Delaney Fisher-Cassiol. Clerk, could you please call the roll to establish quorum?

Yes, I can. This is roll call. Counselor Ling. Present. Counselor Strezzo. Got it. Counselor Strezzo. Present. Counselor Hart. Here. Counselor Scott.

Present.

Chair Wheeler.

Present.

All right. With that, we do have all numbers here. So we have.

Thank you. So as a general note, if I pronounce your name wrong or I get your title wrong or use the wrong pronouns for you, please don't hesitate to interrupt me. I want to get it right. We will be taking up our 16-item agenda in the order posted with at least one exception. So just at the outset, regarding item 16, ID 26-0378, the $231,635 grant for body, word, and camera program, it's been suggested to me by the city's Intergovernmental Affairs Office that it would make sense to take this item up after the council's May 28th meeting, where I believe, although I have not seen an agenda yet, that we will be taking up the collective bargaining contract of the police department. Liaison Radassi, do you have any comments on this suggestion from IGA?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the record, my name is Yasmin Radassi, Legislative Liaison for the Intergovernmental Affairs Team. Yes, we are hoping, I'm not sure why the agenda hasn't been posted yet, but we're hoping to have the appropriation for the ratification of the collective bargaining agreement on the agenda for this Thursday. so that we can engage in an open conversation with all of the city councilors as a whole, as a whole body, and discuss everything that's been going on in executive sessions and have that all out in the open to give additional context and inform the decision for this grant.

Thank you, Liaison Radassi. I'll just say that timing does make sense to me. I'm just curious to hear from anyone else on the committee if there's anybody who feels otherwise.

uh counselor scott thank you mr president uh and i'm only speaking as one counselor um but if my city counselor were to vote to ratify a collective bargaining agreement on the night that it was submitted uh with the attendant cost to the city as well as bundling in this topic which has been uh one of great discussion by the council up to this point, I'd be pretty mad. And as one individual counselor, I absolutely have no intention of allowing a discussion leading to a vote on these two items to happen in a single council meeting. I think that's wildly irresponsible. So do as you will, certainly there's room for discussion, but if there is any attempt to move these items to a vote, there will be a problem.

Vice Chair Scott, I think those are great points. And I think Liaison-Rodasi has a comment on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, our intention is not to ask for a vote on the 28th. I think the intention is to introduce it and then lay it on the table so that we have time to get public comment and then discuss it on the meeting of June 11th.

That's certainly a better suggestion. I am Curious, Mr. Chair, what is our upcoming meeting cadence, given that we have a budget season going on here?

That is a great question. So the next finance committee meeting is, I believe, on Tuesday, June 16th. Sorry, the next one that is a regular finance committee meeting and is not, say, a departmental presentation meeting. is on Tuesday, June 16. And then my understanding is that may be the final one of the fiscal year. This is a question, actually, that I am curious to ask of the clerks as well. I'm forgetting if I do not have one on my calendar for the last Tuesday in June, the 30th of June. And I'm just forgetting if that's by design, if that's sort of because of an expectation of a recess or what. It may just be my own fault for my own calendaring. Yeah, so I'm sorry. The chair is yours, Vice Chair.

No, just the floor.

I keep saying that word.

That's all right. That's all right. I paid for the whole chair, but I only use the edge of it. These meetings are so exciting. Um, so I, I would just say customarily your cadence on that would, uh, I believe be to have a meeting July 7th, um, which might be good to give a little breathing room. Um, that said, you know, keeping that June 30th open for say the scenario, the unlikely scenario in which, uh, for example, the city council, uh, votes to reject the budget. Um, there will potentially be need to scramble to meet those, uh, June 30th, uh, deadlines. So I'd say keeping that meeting date open makes a lot of sense to me. Given that our only committee meeting which is not dedicated to the budget season is again on June 16th, I can understand the desire to have this held in city council. I might just say that asking him for its approval on the 11th when our departmental reviews haven't really started yet. Might be a bit of a stretch. It might get approved on the same night as the budget itself on the 25th, which would seem to be appropriate to me if it was up for approval. But given that the plan is to talk about these in front of the whole council at once, sure, I don't have a problem with discharging this one without a recommendation if that's the desire of the chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Scott. Yeah, I wasn't sure about the two alternatives of discharging this with a recommendation or keeping it in committee. I guess the official words would be postponing it to a known date. I never have the words quite right for these things, but we could... discharge and put it back in the hands of the city council. Or we could keep it in committee to be discussed in more detail in that Tuesday, June 16th meeting in preparation for then going back to the June 25th city council meeting.

It's also fine by me, Chair.

Any other members of the committee have a preference. Then oh yeah Councilor Hart.

I was just gonna say I if i'm understanding everything correctly, it seems like discharging it back to the Council will give us the most flexibility, because then Council, we could send it back to committee if desired.

In my mind, it's really a question of if there will be more context to hear a presentation, hear more information from the police department on this item, it seems like the finance committee would be the appropriate place for that. And then we could come back with a recommendation to the whole council.

Sounds good.

Okay. Well, then I move to... Clerk, would you please help me with the correct language for this to postpone this item to the next finance committee meeting?

So we want to keep this in committee. Oh, sorry. Counselor Scott.

I just was going to say, you don't need to postpone for a date certain. You can simply keep the item in committee, Mr. Sheriff.

Okay. Thanks. I'm learning these nuances. I just met with our new head clerk today to try to ask for a bit more detail on some of these. So we will keep this one in committee. Okay, thank you all, and I appreciate your patience with the learning curve. Okay, moving on to the Regular Schedule Agenda, item one, ID 26-0724, approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of April 21st, 2026. Any comments from the committee? Then this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Okay, appropriations. Item 2, ID 26-0803, a $182,469 appropriation for health care for the homeless program. I believe we have a finance manager for health and human services, Anup Malik, on this call. Is that the case? Yes. And Finance Manager Malik, do you also have anyone else from HHS?

True, Chair. I have my director as well for the HHS Health and Human Services.

Wonderful. So Finance Manager Malik and Director of Health and Human Services, Karen Carroll. Could you please tell us about this appropriation?

True, Chair. Anup Malik, Health and Human Services Finance Manager, along with Director of Health and Human Services, Karen Carroll. This item, we are requesting approval to appropriate $182,469 from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Stabilization Fund for the Healthcare for the Homeless Program. I have a little blurb I would like to share as well. The healthcare for the homeless program is a necessary service for the unhoused in Somerville and has been operating since 2020. The program builds trust and creates pathways for reliable care, including more in-depth assessments at the Somerville-based clinic access to health insurance, referrals to wraparound services, and direct admits to the hospital when necessary. A significant percentage of the beneficiaries of this program also suffers from substance use disorder. This street medicine program provides life-saving medical care when folks need it the most.

Thank you so much, Mr Malik anyone from the Council from any members of the committee have any comments on this item. I see counselor link.

Thank you chair through you, I guess, my first question is that it was there's the term the vendor used several times, who is the vendor.

Through Chair, Councillor Link, the vendor has yet to be determined because we're working with procurement. We want to make sure procurement requirements are met and fully adhered to. But a prospective vendor out there is Cambridge Health Alliance.

Okay. Um, that, that makes sense to me. Um, and I guess my, my next question is, um, while healthcare for the homeless is 100% of what we should be doing, um, is this, um, are we sure that this is an appropriate use of the abatement funds? I know there are restrictions on like what it can be used for. It's, you know, specifically that it has to be used to help people who are suffering from substance use disorder. I don't know. I'm not an expert, but it is,

it did raise a little bit of an alarm bell to me.

So can we confirm that this is an appropriate use of these funds?

Through Chair, Councillor Link, yes. Over the last about two months, myself and Director Karen Carroll and Tina Lowes, the Director of Prevention Services who couldn't be here today, have been looking more closely into it, particularly Tina Lowe's, who has been the lead in ensuring that opioid funds are being used where applicable, especially that we're meeting the restriction requirements here. The purpose, the funds were given to the city of Somerville, and it has been determined that the funds are being appropriately used. And so she's been a lot more involved, but I myself have been as well because we yearly have to report on opioid to the state as well as part of the spending. And whether there is spending or not, we still have to report the... basically what our plans are for the use of the funds.

Okay. I think that's good for me for now. Thank you, Chair. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor Link. Councillor Hart.

Thank you, Chair. And through you, I just wanted to say I think that this program is really important, and I'm really glad we have it. I also just have a couple of other questions because I want to understand the program better. So it's been operating since 2020. Has Cambridge Health Alliance been the vendor since then, or is this a change in vendors potentially?

Through Chair, Councillor Hart, my understanding is that they are currently providing the service and I would like to look back in my notes and together with confirmation from Tina Lowes, the Director of Prevention Services, I'm happy to share back the exact response to your question. I believe they have been providing for more than a year, these services, but I'm not 100% sure if they were since 2020.

Okay. Through the Chair, thank you so much. I just have two more kind of interrelated questions, so I'll just ask them both. at the same time. So one is I understand the point that you made through your chair to Mr. Malik about the trust building and the relationship building. And I'm wondering if there's a, since it is a contracted vendor, if there's a way that, if there's a system for sharing information, among other providers in the city in a way that can be most beneficial to the recipients of the care. And then also wondering, there was a line in the memo about working with the vendor on a long-term sustainability plan. And I was just curious if you could tell us more about that and what that means, exactly what that would look like. Thank you.

Through Chair, Councillor Hart, the long term here is the hope is that, and this is the hope for Director Karen Carroll and Tina Lowe's together with me that we have a successful vendor who can provide the services in full, but the understanding is that the funds appropriated for approval in this meeting would only cover the year 2027. But as we assess this together with, you know, long-term plan, we want to be sure that we have a sustainable vendor who can fulfill our needs and you know, if they can also provide the services in the future, but that, that would be a, um, it would be a testing phase for us for FY27 to be sure that, um, you know, maybe the vendor that would provide the services in 27 would maybe the vendor in the future years, but we want to be, uh, sure that we are following the procurement requirements and, um, we would go from there for our future plans. But that is a question we have been assessing internally for the three of us.

Through the chair, thank you so much. And if you have any comments about the first question about, you know, how is care coordinated with other service providers?

Through Chair, Councilor Hart, I will have to get back to you on that question. I would love to get Tina Lowe, the Director of Prevention Services, taught on that. She couldn't make it tonight, but I would be happy to get back to you on that through IGU.

Through the Chair, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Malik, and also Director Carroll. And I appreciate my colleagues' questions. I feel like asking questions about our services is a really important form of support. And that's the spirit that I hear these questions being asked in. I'm glad to have these inquiries and this attention to detail on the part of everybody, including the city staff. Thank you. Thank you so much, Hugh. Okay, if there's no more discussion on this item, it's laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Moving on to the next item, item three, a mayor's request, ID 26-0738, requesting approval to establish an Arts Council furniture account and to use $2,000 in available funds from the Arts Council Professional and Technical Services account to purchase new desks and chairs for staff. I believe that we have Executive Director of the Summer World Arts Council, Rachel Strutt. Director Strutt, could you please tell us about this request?

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Very quickly, we have a few staffers sharing a workstation. And when they both come in on the same day, some of them are part time. There's not enough room in our office. So we're looking to get a couple of desks that are the same size so we can put them back to back and create good workstations. Historically, we've always used stuff that's come up through the city or even found stuff on the street. But in this case, we're looking to by a few matching desks. Thank you.

Wonderful. Any questions from members of the committee? Okay. Seeing none, this item is laid on the table or the desk, so to speak, to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And thank you for coming.

Thank you.

Okay, item four, Mayor's Request 26-0733, requesting approval of a transfer of $4,000 from the Community Preservation Act Undesignated Fund Balance to the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve. Now, sometimes... Oh, yes, there, I see. Sometimes I don't immediately see the person who I think is here to speak. I believe that we have OSPCD... Director of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Director of Finance and Administration, Alan Onasio. Director Onasio, could you please tell us about this transfer?

Thank you. Through the chair, this is a minor budget adjustment correction from stemming back a couple of years that is catching up with us now. A couple of years ago, we underestimated our debt service payment on the historical reserve account. It didn't really impact us last year because. The timing of when we had to encumber the contracts, we were kind of onto the next year. But this year we kind of moved through our award cycle a little quicker. So we have to replenish that historic reserve account in order to fully encumber all of this year's historic awards in the historic CPA category. So with that, I'll open it up to any questions.

Thank you, Director Inasio. Any questions or comments from the committee on this? Okay, seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. You too. Okay, contracts and agreements, item five, Mayor's Request 26-0763, requesting approval to enter into a 60-month contract renewal term with Waste Management of Massachusetts, Inc. for solid waste disposal. I believe we have Commissioner of Public Works, Eric Wiseman. Commissioner Wiseman, can you please tell us about this contract renewal?

Yes, thank you, Chair. Eric Wiseman, Commissioner of Public Works. We are coming to the end of our disposal contract with waste management. And just as a reminder, this is the contract that covers the tipping of the waste, not the hauling of the waste or the tipping of recycling. This is specifically tipping municipal solid waste. And We were in the process of negotiating this contract, speaking to other vendors, and they made an offer for a, I think we shared a memo, but they offered a three-year and a five-year deal. We had subsequent negotiations to lower the cost of the five-year deal. And it has the potential for significant savings to the city. So that is why we are requesting a five-year deal in this case.

you commissioner wiseman um i want to open the floor to any members of the committee uh counselor hart thank you chair um and thank you commissioner weisman um i i really appreciate the the savings and um and the work to negotiate that um i just have a question i'm hoping that we're going to move as a city towards municipal composting and compost pickup you know within the next 60 months you know hopefully much sooner than 60 months so i just wondered is there a flexibility in the contract that would allow for you know that kind of change

Sure. Through the chair, this contract is, as long as you're following state disposal rules, they don't care. So this is a per ton rate. So composting, we anticipate, will lower the total tonnage. So we will, I think, realize additional savings that way.

Thank you. Through the chair. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I'm not seeing other hands from other members of the committee. Commissioner Wiseman, you used the term tipping. Yes. Would you help me out here as someone?

Thank you, Chair. I believe the term comes from when trash trucks tip out their waste into a landfill or a transfer station. So hauling is moving and tipping is dumping. Thank you, appreciate that.

My other question, this is sort of in the spirit of acknowledging how little I know, just speaking for myself, about some of the items that the city spends quite a bit of money on because it's of great value to the city. I appreciate how this memo breaks down some of the reasoning around why we're doing the 60-month term, that that offers better rates than a shorter contract. Is there anything else in considering this type of contract that we should be considering? I'm sure there are many things that your office has considered.

Yes.

Thank you, Chair. That's an excellent question. So I think one of the key issues we have to look at is the logistics of transporting solid waste. It's possible in theory we could get like lower rates up in New Hampshire, but that wouldn't like... It would be very difficult logistically to haul to New Hampshire every day. So those sort of things are also taken into account. I'm trying to think of other issues. Tipping is sort of – know there's just uh there's limited uh variables it's really location and um you know terms of the agreement um it's a pretty pretty straightforward contract thanks and then oh i'm seeing a hand from counselor scott counselor scott i mean please go continue your questions i'll just jump in after you sir sure thank you uh

I'm always curious. I imagine there's not a long list of different companies that could provide this service for the city of Somerville or any surrounding municipality. I'm curious how we approach making sure we're getting a good price in a situation where there may not be that many possible vendors.

Sure. Thank you. So we, over the past couple of years, have spoken to many haulers dumping locations. You're right that there aren't that many shops in the area and many of them There are limited locations to dump at. There are dumps and then there are transfer stations. One of the things that we did was talk to a couple of locations and looked at whether we could include a backup location, things like that. But yeah, we're able to negotiate directly with them. with disposal sites for this kind of contract.

Thank you, Commissioner. Councillor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick one. So our existing contracts for collection with Boston Carting remain in service, and this is just simply the place that they transfer their pickups to, correct?

Through the chair, yes, that's correct. This is where Boston Carting and our own trash trucks dump our solid waste.

Yeah, just making it crystal clear, folks. And there are only so many folks who accept solid waste like this. I will admit, I looked into just cursorily, are we aware of whether or not this waste management or these collection sites, the primary site and the backup site, are those... Do we know if they have any active union contracts?

uh through the chair i'm not sure uh i i should know this i know um casella's a teamster shop waste management i'm not sure the answer to that but um they yeah i don't i'm sorry i don't know the answer to that i should but i don't i mean i'd love to find out yeah i'd be happy to find that out for you

That would be great. Waste innovation saga, I guess, is the entity in question. So, yeah, I think I'd be curious to know about that. I think it'd be helpful for my colleagues.

Thanks.

Absolutely. Thank you.

If there's no other questions or comments from members of the committee, then this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And thank you, Commissioner. Okay. Thank you all. That takes us to the next item. Mayor's request ID 26-0740, requesting approval of a time-only contract extension until May 22nd, 2027 for the contract with UEL Contractors, Inc. for the completion of improvements at Junction Park. And I believe we have Director of Finance and Administration, Alan Anasio, to speak on this item as well.

Director Anasio, is that right?

Sorry if there was somebody else who was going to speak on this item. I'm sorry, Councilor, could you repeat the item? No problem at all. The Junction Park item? Oh, yes.

This is just a... I apologize. No, no problem. This is just a routine extension to finish up some punch list items. The project is essentially complete. There's just some wrap-up items that we need to... Tidy up with the general contractor and then the contract should be wrapping up well before the extension date. We just don't want to have to come back.

Totally understand. And just a reminder to everyone, a time only contract extension is no more money from the city, just more time legally for the contractor to finish. Any comments or questions on this from the committee? Seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And thank you. Okay, financial districting. Mayor's request ID 26-0745, requesting approval of an amendment to the Assembly Square District Improvement Financial Financing District Map and Program to include the Assembly Square Fire Station, 45 Middlesex Avenue, and improvements to the intersection of Middlesex Avenue and Mystic Avenue. Now, I believe we have Director of Finance Edward Bean. Director of Economic Development, or sorry, Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Tom Gallaghani, and Director of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Rachel Nadkarni. Is that correct? And did I get anyone's name or title wrong? Okay, I'm seeing some thumbs up. Okay, directors, I'm not sure who wishes to speak first, but please take it away.

I'll take over if you don't mind. Thank you, Chairman. This is Tom Gallaghani, Executive Director of OSTCD. Tonight, we're requesting approval of an amendment to the Assembly Square District Improvement Financing Program and Plan, which was approved first back in 2010. This amendment reflects two important infrastructure investments that have emerged since the DIF was originally established in 2010. The acquisition of the new Assembly Square fire station at 45 Middlesex Avenue and planned safety improvements at Middlesex and Mystic Avenue intersection. By incorporating these projects into the DIF district, the city will have access to more favorable financing tools that can reduce long-term costs and support critical public infrastructure investments in one of Somerville's most active growth areas. I and Director Bean are available to answer any questions you might have.

Members of the committee, I see Councilor Link.

Thank you, Chair. Through you, I'm just curious what kind of, you know, I know that the, sorry, I'm looking at the intersection of, you know, Middlesex and Mystic. I feel like that's, that's, had a lot of work done already. Maybe I'm wrong. So I'm just curious, like what, what else is what needs to be done there?

through the chair, yes, you've seen a lot of improvements, mostly related, well, there are two different things that are happening. You see the improvements that the developer has made on that block that includes the fire station, the parking garage, and the building at 188 Assembly Park Drive. You've also seen a lot of mobilization and work from MassDOT as they try to fix that whole massive intersection where Route 28, 38, and I-93 all come together. This is a third and supportive project. And the concept is to straighten out this specific intersection between the intersection of Mystic and Middlesex to turn it over so it makes a right angle so that it's not this odd angle that the approach provides. So it's really just fixing that specific piece of the intersection. Very nice.

All right. Thanks very much. I see Director Bean.

Yes, I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. My video doesn't seem to be working here. But one of the advantages of including, let's say, this new assembly square fire station under the DIF district is the law gives us flexible borrowing terms. In other words, we may be able to borrow on a short-term basis at lower rates over a longer period of time. than we would under the general municipal borrowing laws. So we're going out to borrow $7 million in a couple of weeks for the assembly square fire station, and we'll be borrowing on a short term basis, a bond anticipation note. And we would have the flexibility to continue that type of borrowing over a five year period, which we would not have under normal circumstances.

Thank you, director. I have a follow-up question on that. I'm a bit new to the idea of district improvement financing. And as I understand it, part of the idea is that the incremental tax income from developing that district and getting more real estate income gets sort of specially designated to be used for further investments in that area so that the the sort of outsized investment the city is making in a particular area is paid for in part by the rising taxes that that development is enabling. Is that a decent summary or am I missing something?

In theory, that's the case. The increment is actually not segregated. It's still part of the general fund, but in essence, that is how the law was conceived, popularly known as TIF throughout the other parts of the country. But to me, as I said before, the big advantage here is we have flexible borrowing terms. We can borrow at a short-term rate over five years, a lower rate. The short-term rate's now at 2.5%. If we had to borrow this long-term right now, we'd be paying about 3.5%. So it will save us money, give us some flexible terms here. We see how the market goes over time and determine how we're going to borrow it.

And that's because the state's framework for the DIF? provides for those borrowing terms?

Yes. Yes. The normal framework is this. You can borrow short term for two years. Then you must borrow long term, which means principal and interest payments. All right. So we adopted the DIF back in 2010. It really helped us finance the infrastructure pretty quickly. And the development income came in to relieve the debt in a pretty quick fashion.

Thank you. Are there any reasons why a municipality would not want to add more areas on a map to a DIF?

I don't see a reason why we wouldn't at this particular point in time. Assembly Square is going to grow over time. There's going to be further development down there, further development revenues coming in to expand the tax base.

Okay, thanks. Any other questions or comments from members of the committee? Okay, seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And thank you, Director. Okay, bond servicing. Mayor's request 26-0818. requesting approval to appropriate $3,940,905 in Street Reconstruction and Resurfacing Stabilization Fund to the Street Resurfacing Bond Fund to pay down street reconstruction and resurfacing expenses. Director Bean, I imagine you may be interested in speaking on this item. And I'm also seeing there's some other folks, but why don't we go to you to begin with, Director Bean?

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So as I noted in the presentation a few months ago, back in April, the city is facing a deficit. We're ready to close that deficit and submit to you a balanced budget on June 4th. Part of that strategy is to shift financing of these capital projects. So you'll see a number of appropriations from stabilization funds to finance amounts that we would need to borrow in two weeks in June to recompense these bond accounts. So these are insured expenses. These are projects that the council's approved some time ago and we've paid out. and we would be going to market. The total of all of these monies, not just this one item here, but all of them in front of you, would be $8,719,964. If we were to go out and borrow that amount, that would add $751,557 into next year's budget. By paying cash, we don't borrow, we save money in next year's budget. And also importantly, we save money over the life of these loans because the savings will be more dramatic over time, whether it be for 20 years or 15 years or 10 years. So this is a key strategy that we're employing here. We will be drawing more stabilization funds down at budget time as well for some other capital projects. So that's just the general overview of all of these appropriations for each of these capital projects. There may be project managers who are related to each of these projects that may want to speak on them. I hope that I explained that well, not that we have questions to be asked.

Yes, thank you very much. And before I go to the committee, I just wanted to check because I know we also have Director of Finance and Administration for Infrastructure and Asset Management, Michael Richards, and Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management, Rich Raich. Um, so I just wanted to recognize, uh, them as well. I'm not seeing a microphone go off.

So, uh, why don't we go to our members of the committee counselor, Scott chair Wheeler, if I could just very quickly, um, are we interested in taking all of these items up together or are we going to be taking them up individually?

Um, that seems like a perfectly reasonable suggestion. Uh, I'm inclined to take them all up together. Um, shall I read them? all in together and with apologies to counselor scott thank you give me just a bit of patience um okay uh so in addition to the one we already read mayor's request id 26-0808 requesting approval to appropriate 2 million 381 625 dollars from the street reconstruction and resurfacing stabilization fund to the somerville avenue streetscape bond fund to pay down capital expenses Mayor's request ID 26-0810, requesting approval to appropriate $320,000 from the Street Reconstruction and Resurfacing Stabilization Fund to the Union Square Streetscape and Plaza Bond Fund to pay down streetscape improvement expenses. and mayors request ID 26-0807 requesting approval to appropriate $999,000 from the facility construction and renovation stabilization fund to the building improvements bond fund to pay down building renovation expenses. Okay, thank you for your patience. Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was just trying to get my head around the existing balances in the stabilization funds. I know there is one that's posted online on the finance page. And I'm just trying to make sure I line up the requisitions here because it looks like just back at the envelope, we're at about $4.7 million out of the street reconstruction and resurfacing fund. And honestly, it's tough because it's hard to search this PDF here. I see the Street Tree Stabilization Fund.

Mr. Chairman, for Council Scott, I've got it right in front of me. I can read off the unexpended balances in any one of these.

That'd be great. What's the current unexpended balance in the street reconstruction and resurfacing?

It is $8,081,843. All right.

I hesitate to ask, but why can't I find it on this sheet of the City of Somerville stabilization cash balances that's posted on?

I have the latest, Councilor Scott, as of today. So this is unexpended. So maybe a portion of what you have on there is committed. So I see $3,009,924 committed in facility constructions and renovation stabilization. and an unexpected balance of 20 million seven ninety seven. I mean, I'm sorry. Excuse me. I'm reading the wrong thing. Committed projects to three million forty six thousand three fifty five and unexpected balance of eight million eighty one thousand eight forty three.

I'm also speaking. I'm sorry to interrupt, Counselor. I do see a hand, and I'm wondering if it's on this matter from staff member Michael Mastroboni.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to Counselor Scott, the fund number is 7920. I think that might be an easier way to find it, I think, if I understand your question right.

Got it. Yeah. So I see that as an 11 point, well, call it $11.2 million balance as of the April 2026. So you're saying it's gone down by?

No, what it is, what it is, Counselor, is that's the cash balance, but there's encumbrances of $3 million that are committed. So the unexpended balance is $8,881,843.

Oh, so when you say an encumbrance on a stabilization fund, generally to encumber a stabilization fund, it requires a vote of the city council. Is that already been something that's been approved?

All those votes have been taken, sir. Yeah.

Oh, OK. All right. All right. Just want to make sure. So that's something that we approved. It just hasn't gone out the door yet.

That's right. You know, as you know, these these projects, you know, just don't snap your finger. It takes time to fulfill each of these projects. these capital projects. Mr. Raich can attest to that.

Yeah. And on the $1 million request in item 11, that's from the facility construction and renovation stabilization, which the most recent balance I see on that is $23.8 million. Is that encumbered value or post-encumbered value different for you?

Yes. The unexpended balance is $20,797,203. this is one that we want to be building up because we have a new elementary school we're going to need to build uh down the line right so this will be about a five percent hit to that fund uh whereas the the hit out of the street reconstruction resurfacing stabilization fund is is significantly higher uh i'm sure there was a reason for that um well what's the dominant reason here is to net down this potential borrowing well So that's the key thing to provide relief on the fiscal 2027 budget. Now, I would note that at the end of the line here at the budget season, we're going to be appropriating some free cash back to some of these stabilization funds. So as we normally do.

We haven't determined that amount yet.

We have to look at any other expenses that have to be appropriate for free cash, notably the snow removal deficit, which is going to be in front of you Thursday night and a few other matters. And then we look at the remaining free cash and see how we can get that back into these reserves.

That's right. And, uh, I think I've already seen a raft of, uh, free cash requests starting to come in here at the end of the year. Uh, do we know what our anticipated free cash balance at this point, obviously knowing it's subject to change?

I don't have it in front of me, counselor. Um, we, uh, you know, the, we probably, I don't want to guess I can get that, that get that for you, but it will be a rash of appropriations. There are a few that have to go in, uh, for various things, the snow removal being the big one. I think there's a few legal settlements that have to be submitted and whatnot. And maybe some closing costs for this $7 million purchase of the Assembly Square Fire Station that's still in the closing phase.

Right.

I mean, I know- And then of course, as you know, we had a number of collective bargaining agreements this year. So it's incumbent upon us to put some money back in the salary and wage stabilization fund for the future.

Yeah, I was going to say, surely the salary and wage stabilization fund is being used to fund those settlements, but getting ready for the next one that's out. I do see about $1.9 million in free cash appropriations coming up on our meeting on Thursday. Maybe you can give me an order of magnitude. Are we talking about $30 million in free cash or $100 million?

No, no, no, no, no. I mean, the overall... The overall certification was like about 23, but we've already paid out, as you know, for the eminent domain case for the Army, for example. We paid $3.5 million out on that one, okay? We've had a few others. I didn't bring it in front of me here today. I'm very happy to go over that with you or with the finance committee.

Okay, just asking questions, Director. I appreciate it.

Sure, sure.

Mr. Chair, look, I think this is a fine use of stabilization fund to cut down on our borrowing costs and to, let's say, keep our powder dry for appropriate borrowing. But I think given all the conversation happening around our municipal finances in this particular moment between layoff notices and budget season, it's helpful to get that kind of information in the open. So I appreciate the conversation and I'm all set.

Thank you, Counselor Scott. I did see during this conversation, Infrastructure and Asset Management Director Rich Raich's hand go up, but then go away. I wonder if the moment passed, but...

To the chair, just to sort of clarify and reinforce what Director Bean was saying and along Councilor Scott's questioning, we've already appropriated from streets reconstruction. That is intended for this year's construction, so we won't. Well, it's encumbered this year. We won't substantially draw it down until this year next. And we are eyeing the balance of building facility stabilization for a number of projects that we have in design that we're going to get bid ready. So our longer term strategy is rather than bond for the next group of buildings, which are school facilities, not coincidentally, we'll be looking at stabilization rather than bonding.

Thank you, Director. I see your hand up still, Director Bean, but I assume that's just from before. And I wanted to check in with Councillor Link, whose hand also went up and then went down.

Chair, my questions were all along the same line of Councillor Scott's. Just making sure that we're not drawing down accounts to the point where we're going to be in trouble later on. And it sounds like we're not, so I'm satisfied.

Thank you. Counselor Strezzo.

Hi. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Through you to Director Bean, I had a brief conversation with the administration this afternoon on these items. And I could not articulate the exact phrase I was looking for. So I'm going to just describe the information I'm trying to get. With what we're doing and the strategy we're using on this, are any of these items affiliated with The process that some of our contractors, not contractors, our utility corporations such as Eversource and the strategy they've used. Remember a couple of years back when this new strategy was going to start being emphasized, used with road paving and when Eversource did work. They were going to be paving the center of our side streets and our streets and leaving the outer part of the street unpaved as the work was getting done. And that was, as I recall, completely the obligation of these utility companies doing the work. The agreement that the city made with them. Are any of these items before us on this bond servicing? Are any of these connected to that strategy or any of the utility companies? Or are we... going to be paying down any debt where any of these corporations are supposed to be either paying the city or helping the city pay some of this, some of the work of what the city does.

This is really a question for Mr. Raich, Councillor.

Yeah, I say generally no, because the way that we use those funds when Eversource and NatGrid pay into our fund, we spend that money first as our contractor invoices come in. So we pay down essentially out of that account that the utility company has paid into first. And then once that account is exhausted or depleted and that our contractors are continuing to do work, we'll then apply those later invoices to what has been appropriated as bond authorization from the council. So what we're now doing with these actions, these are expenses that would have gone to those bond, but we're now, instead of going out long-term,

on bonds uh reimbursing ourselves out of stabilization for that uh mr chair through you to director race okay uh so and what again was that that term of of that that uh procedure of the utility companies doing that because it is just i can't it's

What we've done over the past couple of years is when a utility company disturbs our pavement, they are obligated to repair their trenches. And they really only do the trench repair where they've disturbed. They don't do the full width. What we've negotiated with them is rather than them self-performing that trench repair, which requires a whole bunch of our staff time as well to oversee that. We have them pay us the cash value of that trench repair. And then we use that with our own contractors to do more thorough paving, like a wider width of paving than what they would be repairing. And so it sort of works out for both parties. And we're pretty happy with the results. So what happens is on an annual basis, we tally up how many miles of trench that they would have had to repair. And we reconcile those numbers and come to an agreement on the cash value of that. They then pay us and we have to go to the council to receive those funds and put it into a special account. And then engineering has access to those funds in that account. And as our bills come in from our contractor, we draw down those funds first before we start tapping into anything that we would have to bond for. We also do the same thing with the Chapter 90 monies, too. We get money from the state, as does every municipality in the state gets Chapter 90 monies. And we always draw those down first. first on an annual basis before we start leaning on what we would otherwise need to borrow from a bond.

Okay, great. I'll hop back in line, let my colleagues digest that alongside me, and that's all.

Thank you, Councillor. I wanted to step in and make a few comments with some help from Liaison Radassi and IGA. I took a look at what the street reconstruction and resurfacing items were. that were named in the original appropriation for the bond fund in the first place that we're now paying down. And I wanna just run this by the directors that I have to understand, I think for the first one, the $3.9 million street item, That was related to an appropriation request sheet in November 2025. And I'm naming these items because a few residents asked me, you know, what is this money covering? And even though this appropriation is just covering the bond, I think it's relevant to name what that bond fund was borrowed in the first place in order to pay for. And I just wanted to check if my understanding is right that this involved, and here I'm just quoting from that appropriation request sheet, design and reconstruction of streets, sidewalks, and ADA accessible ramps on various public roads throughout the city. Work includes design, engineering services during construction, excavation, gravel borrowing, machine adjustments, drainage inlet reconstruction, curb removal and resetting, curb extensions, median islands, installations of Massachusetts Architectural Access Board slash ADA compliant curb cuts, crosswalk lines, stop lines, double yellow lines, white lines, colored lane markings, and other work as necessary. in locations including West Pearl Street, Holyoke Road, Grandview Avenue, and Aldersey Street. Does that sound correct, directors? I don't mean to put you on the spot about every last detail, but just wanted to see if I'm in the right ballpark there.

It's to the chair. It's in the right ballpark. I think what was about to go to bond that we're deflecting is actually all all the rest of what you said would be what we do. But I think this is actually associated with Western Washington, the area near Argenziano and a lot of the traffic improvements through that stretch. I believe that was what was about to go to long term bond.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

And for the building line, item number 11, a lot of that is associated with the work at Argenziano, the kitchen, the Argenziano kitchen, the Kennedy School chiller, and some of the improvements at City Hall.

Uh, thanks. That's the, uh, the 999,000. Correct. Thank you. Um, that that's helpful. I did note that, uh, for either this exact bond fund or related bond fund. Back in 2024, Councilors Scott and Saeed expressed concern about, I guess the timing of that appropriation was that it was known that this money was gonna be needed for a variety of different school building improvements and repairs, but it wasn't known yet exactly what it would be spent on. And I know there was a bit of uncertainty about that. I'm glad to follow up and get a little more specifics. I know sometimes to quote Director Raish at the time, we have to change the tires while the bus is moving. That sounds like me.

But we also take direction from the school bus driver while changing those tires. So in the case of a lot of the school things, we take the prioritization from the public schools. And so in this case, it was the Argenziano Kitchen was sort of their priority. So we follow their lead on that prioritization.

Thank you. And then for the $2.4-ish million item, for that one with some assistance from IGA, it looked like that perhaps was related to stormwater management, sewer work, trees and plants and bike lanes along Somerville Avenue east of Union Square. Correct.

To the chair. And that you were just talking about the diff for Assembly Square, which is Director Bean described to you, allows us to go short term for a longer amount of time. This was associated with the Union Square diff. And so this is this is work that was performed. We actually completed it around the time of the pandemic, but we've been short term. under the, you know, what's allowable under the DIF for that and only need to go long-term now. So rather than go long-term and have that, you know, debt service be on our books for a number of years, we're going to use stabilization for that.

Thank you, Director. Members of the committee, any other questions or thoughts? Okay, well, with appreciation for all this work and for your presence here, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you. And moving on to item 12, Mayor's Request ID 26-0819, requesting approval to appropriate $545,985 from the Capital Project Stabilization Fund to Fire Pumper Bond Fund 51855 for the purposes of funding a new fire pumper. And let's go ahead and take this up together with... Item 13, Mayor's Request 26-0820, requesting approval to appropriate $532,449 from the Capital Project Stabilization Fund to the Fire Pumper Bond Fund 5187 for the purpose of building a new fire pumper. And then maybe we'll just take those two up together and then come back to the next one. And I believe we have Fire Chief Charles Breen here to speak on these items. Chief Breen.

I think Ed Bean would probably be best to start off on these items.

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I would love to hear from Director Bean.

Same situation as the others we've just approved. We would be borrowing for these two pumpers in a couple of weeks. We want to use stabilization funds to net down the cost.

Thanks so much for that financial context. And if I could pass it back to Chief Breen, just to invite you to give any context about the role of fire pumpers, the importance of a new one.

I think you've all seen we've been having some maintenance issues on the trucks. They're getting older, due for replacement. One of the pumps will be here in the city, I hope, at the end of this week or the beginning of next week. That's been on order since October of 23. It's finally going to arrive to us. We'll have a second pumper that was ordered in June of 24, and that should arrive this year in October. So we'll be in much better shape in a couple of months, years end.

Thank you so much. And I saw a hand from Councillor Hart. Councillor Hart, do you still have questions or comments?

I think that answered my question. Thank you.

Thanks. Chief Breen, just to ask some very uninformed quick questions. A fire pumper is an entire fire vehicle that is distinct from a ladder truck. Is that correct? The pumper carries the water. Thank you.

They each carry a tank of 500 gallons of water. And once that runs out, we have to hook up to the fire hydrant.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. I see a hand from Councilor Link.

Thank you, Chief Preen. I'm just curious. You said the first one was ordered in 23 and the other one was ordered in 24. Is it typical for it to take... Was there something that we... Did we make it take that long or is it just typically take that long for the pumper to come?

No. Ever since... a combination of factors since COVID and, um, there's been buyouts, um, to wealthy industry, um, Fortunately for us, the company that we buy is a company called Toyn, and they're not part of the conglomerates, so to speak. However, they do, the chassis that they buy is part of, they have to buy them off of a company that is part of the Rev Group. It's a conglomerate of different companies. different manufacturers, so they sort of are at the mercy of when those chassis can be manufactured. But they've seen this company here, although they're a smaller company, they have seen quite a number of orders also uptick in the last couple of years. But you had a combination, you had APA funds available that departments were using, you had COVID, whatnot, with delayed projects and whatnot. So it's been a bunch of different factors that have caused the delays, but we are seeing much longer delays than we've been used to. It sort of, you know, caught a lot of us off guard. And moving forward, we need to take that into consideration now. When we're going to need a new truck, we have to plan that. to order it earlier than we would like to.

Yeah, I can appreciate that must be challenging. And then my last question is just, you know, that we've heard some questions around, you know, like the where that safer streets, street calming, um, traffic calming, uh, has on, on these, uh, machines is, do we think that these newer, like, yeah, it's not lost on me that some of the, some of these are, you know, you, I think you said 30 years old. Um, so I'm just curious, like, do, do you think these will, um, kind of wear better, uh, on some of those streets?

I'm not totally convinced it's the safe streets that are causing the issues, to be honest with you. I cannot honestly say if it's not the potholes. I don't want to throw any shade on the DPW because it's not their fault or anybody else's fault. But the streets are not in the greatest shape right now. You know, we know the speed bumps are out there. We know where they are. But when you're responding to emergency, you can't plan on the potholes. And we hit a lot of potholes. And I think they're causing a lot of the damage, more than the speed bumps and the flex posts or anything like that, to be honest with you. That's my opinion. I don't think we have any data one way or the other that can prove if it's the speed bumps or if it's the portals. If the streets were in immaculate condition, I would say it's gotta be the speed bumps, but the streets aren't, and I don't know. I can't say one way or the other, to be quite honest with you.

Thank you very much, Chief. To the Chair, thank you very much, Chief.

Thanks so much, Councillor. Any other comments or questions from the Committee? Okay, seeing none, these items are laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And that brings us to the next also fire-related item. Mayors request ID 26-0732, requesting approval to accept and expend an $11,000 grant and a $4,200 grant with no new match required from the Department of Fire Services to the Fire Department for fire safety education and supplies for schoolchildren and senior citizens. Chief Breen, are you going to speak on this item as well?

Sure, thank you to the chair. This is a grant that we get every year from the state. It funds two different things. The SAFE grant is to go into the schools, and we teach school-age children fire safety education. We also buy fire safety equipment. by your safety gifts or whatever you might, I don't know how you, I'm trying to think of the word, Those red fire helmets that you see that we give out.

Just to interrupt, I remember those vividly as a kid going to public schools in Cambridge. I wanted one so bad.

We have plenty if you'd like one. We'd be glad to share one with you. But that's where we get the money to pay for things like that. Pencils, stickers, anything that promotes to school children fire safety. Um, we have firefighters that go into the schools. This helps to pay overtime for them to go into the classrooms and spread the fire safety message. And with the, with the safer, uh, it's for the, uh, senior residents of the city. It allows us to do, uh, safety talks. We worked, we worked very closely with the council on aging and, um, we, um, we are able to go, uh, We work with the Council on Aging. We visit senior residents' homes. We purchase smoke detectors and carbon oxide detectors, and we're able to install them for anybody in need. So they're both very, very good and well-worth programs to keep the residents of the city safe.

Thank you, Chief Breen. Any other comments or questions from the committee? Okay, seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you very much.

Okay, next item, and this is the last item in our agenda for today. Mayor's request, ID 26-0707, requesting approval to pay prior year invoices totaling $6,660 using available funds in the police department maintenance software account for fingerprinting machine software. Now, I believe we do not have... Chief Benford or Emily Wisdom here to speak on this item today. But Liaison Radassi, I think, is prepared to speak on it. Liaison Radassi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will not speak comprehensively on this. Unfortunately, Emily is out on vacation this week. But I did ask her to prepare a memo, which I shared last week with the committee to explain some of the circumstances around this prior year invoices. And Chief Breen did want me to share that the use of this software is for gun license background checks and for private sector employment background checks on request. So just wanted to share.

Thank you, liaison. And just for anybody tuning in who has not had the chance to read this, you can see the memo on screen. The story with this appears to be that there was a former employee who's no longer with the organization who has sent this invoice. And as a result, the invoice was not seen for many months. And it has been investigated and appears to be valid and for services rendered and money owed. So we're always hoping to not have too many of these and not have surprises. But I'm hopeful that there are not many more of these. Any other comments from members of the committee? Okay, seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And that brings us to the end of our agenda. Do I hear a motion to recommend approval of the items on the table and then to adjourn? I'm seeing a nod from Councillor Link. Councillor Link moves to recommend approval of the items on the table and then to adjourn.

On the motion, Mr. Chair.

Please, Councillor Scott.

I just want to be clear that my vote as part of this whole bucket to recommend approval of the waste management contract is pending the answer that I'm hoping to get before our next council meeting regarding the union status of the Waste Management Innovation Saga site. And hopefully we'll get that answer shortly.

Thank you, Councilor.

I'm happy to sever the item if it comes to that when it comes up before the Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. That makes sense to me as well. Leah Zermardassi?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just through you to Councilor Scott, I've made a note of the request, and I will connect with Commissioner Weissman tomorrow morning to get you a response before Thursday.

Thank you, Leah Zermardassi. Okay. Could the clerk please read the agenda item numbers on the items up for a recommendation to approve and call the roll on recommending approval of those items and adjournment?

Yes, I can. And so just to confirm, are we still good to recommend approval and take these all up together? Or do we want to do that one that Councillor Scott had a concern about separately?

I think we'll do them together and sever that one on Thursday if necessary.

Perfect. Okay, so this is recommending approval for items number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 through 11 together, 12 and 13 together, 14 and 15, as well as for adjournment. Councillor Ling?

Yes.

Councillor Strezzo? Yes. Councillor Hart? Yes. Councillor Scott?

Yes.

Chair Wheeler. And yes, I'm me. This is Councillor Strozzo. Got it. Thank you. No worries. I got you.

And Chair Wheeler.

Yes. Thank you.

All right. With that, it is 7.23 p.m. and we are adjourned.

Thank you all. Have a good evening.