Public Health and Public Safety Committee - Regular Meeting

Alright. I declare this meeting of the public health and safety committee to order. Please note that pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2023, this meeting of the city council will be conducted via remote participation. We'll post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City Of Summit website and local cable access government channels. Mister clerk, please call the roll.

Roll call. Councilor Penida Neufeld? Here. Councilor Klingon? Present. Councilor McLaughlin? Here. Mister chair, all members are present, we have a quorum.

Okay. So, we have several items on the agenda today, that I'd like to take out of order. First is item number six, which revolves around immigrant issues and, sanctuary city status in Summerville. Item seven, is our regular occurring, homelessness discussion. And then item two will take up, security boxes around the city. Does anyone on the committee have any objection to taking these item items out of order? Okay. Let's take the first item. Are there any minutes to approve here? I can't see it on the agenda.

Yes. There are. Minutes of the meeting of 11/12/2024.

Alright. I'd like to move to approve the minutes. Any discussion? Seeing none. Let's do a roll call vote and approve those minutes.

On approval of the minutes, council Panader Newfield?

Yes.

Council Klingon? Yes. And council McLaughlin? Yes. Mister chair, all members have voted to approve those minutes.

Okay. And I see a couple people in the audience that I would like to upgrade to panelists to the half of the discussion on immigrant issues. I see Alex Perry and Paula Magnelli. If we can upgrade them and while we wait for that, I'd like to just open up with, you know, just a discussion about item number six, which is dealing with immigrant rights and the sanctuary city status in some of all. And my intention for this is to, explain to the public what this actually means, what it does and what it doesn't do, and maybe dispel some of the rumors and myths around, this issue so that people have a clear idea of what the city is going to do and is not going to do.

So I'd like to just allow people, panelists to speak, allow the council to ask questions, and just talk about, in my mind, just so people know, the questions I'm aiming for is, you know, what is the sanctuary cities? What does it mean? What does it not mean? How is it implemented as a policy? What resources are available for immigrants in the community, both from the city and from nonprofit agencies or community groups, and what can people do to get involved if they'd like to help?

That's a regular current question that I get. So those are my questions just to give people an advanced notice, but I'd like to introduce a few people. So I see let's stop. Well, actually, director Singh, how about I open up with you and if you wanna introduce any city staff here today?

Through the chair, thank you. Director Nagel, is, here tonight, to talk about, the city's status as well welcoming city and, the work that is happening, at Summer People.

Alright. Thank you. Well, I'd like to recognize director Maria Theresa Nagel from the is it now is it Summer Vivo or Sawyer now? K. I I get mixed up.

Through the chair, we're going through a name change. There will be a whole launch. You can refer to us by our nicknames, by whatever you want, we will respond, but it will officially be the Somerville office of immigrant affairs.

Okay. I still call the media center scat, so I will call it Somerviva for now.

That is cool.

Thank you for joining us. If you'd like to give an introduction and maybe just an overview of what your department does.

Absolutely. Through the chair, my name is Maria Teresa Nagel. I am the director of the Somerville office of immigrant affairs, formerly known as Summer Viva, also known as SOIA. We are a division of the communications and community engagement department in the city of Somerville, and our work is to ensure that language and culture are not a barrier to accessing city services, to ensure that language and culture are not a barrier to civic engagement, and to celebrate the diversity and and cultures that exist in our wonderful Somerville. And with that, it takes a lot of different forms from referring folks to various services to sometimes providing direct services to also holding our legal services programming, all of our language access work for the entire city, as well as conducting community engagement and outreach regularly, which we see to be a two way street where we're constantly learning from our community how they want to co build Summerville with the city of Summerville staff and departments, as well as being able to deliver upon the needs and ambitions of our constituents and our summervillians at large.

And so with that brief introduction, and, obviously, I can I can answer any questions about about SOIA more broadly? But listening to the questions that that you had, mister chair, I'd

like

to start first with defining what it means to be a sanctuary city. Right? And I think that the the one of the challenges with sanctuary cities is there's various names. We started as a sanctuary city. We're now a welcoming community. There are some cities that, only have trust acts. There are some cities that go by other names. And with all of the different names also come different ways of implementing what it means to be a sanctuary city. Right? And, I refer to it as different flavors of sanctuary city.

What it means for Somerville, which is the subject at hand, is we are a welcoming community. I like to think of it as there's three main tenets to being a welcoming community in Somerville. The first one is that we understand deeply that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. It is not a municipal responsibility. We pay federal tax dollars to ensure that there is a federal force, law enforcement at the federal level.

And we understand that this is this is, you know, part of their job and their responsibility, and therefore, we do not interfere. Our police in Somerville does not interfere with immigration enforcement. They don't get involved. But, similarly, we do not believe that we should be dedicating, any of our internal and scarce resources in doing the federal government's job. They have their job.

We have our job. Our job is keep is to keep our communities safe, particularly when it comes to, our Somerville police. And so a lot of the confusion sometimes that exists around this is that there are some folks who think that because we are a welcoming community or because another city is a sanctuary city, that that means that immigration enforcement cannot occur in our community. And that is false. Federal government has the authority to come into any community whether they have sanctuary city status or not to conduct immigration enforcement.

But in our community, we believe that we and our police are not going to, again, interfere or cooperate with that immigration enforcement. The job of our police officers in Somerville is to keep our community safe and that they do. It also means that if someone commits a crime, their immigration status does not matter. If they commit a crime, they will be held accountable for that crime. And there, our Somerville police does tireless work to keep us all safe.

Another thing that is very important to always keep in mind is that all of the data throughout the history of sanctuary cities or whatever we wanna call them, as long as they've existed in this country, all of the data shows time and time again that they make our communities safer. That has been our experience in Somerville. We heard mayor Wu testify to that loudly as she kept repeating in congress that Boston is the safest major city in the country. We see that in Cambridge. We see that throughout the country.

And the reason for that is when we have trust that is built into our community, trust that is built with law enforcement, trust that is built with city government, we keep each other a lot safer because people feel more comfortable and safer going to the police, reporting a crime if they've been a witness to a crime, reporting a crime if they've been the victim of a crime. And that just does not happen if you do not trust the police. So the truth of the matter is that our being a welcoming community, it makes us safer, and it has made us safer throughout the years. Where this stands in jeopardy right now is that our welcoming community practices are being challenged by the federal government. And the federal government is attempting to coerce us into doing things that are not in the benefit of our constituents and that put all of that trust building that takes years.

And I I equate it oftentimes to when you enter a romantic relationship, you cannot trust that individual inherently. You have to build that trust. And our community has been building that trust with the police. And now that trust is in jeopardy because of the federal government's actions. Not, and I want to emphasize that, not because we are a welcoming community.

Us being a welcoming community keeps us safer. What it also means in terms of how we implement what being a welcoming community is it means that we believe in the equitable treatment of all people. We don't care about someone's gender, sexual orientation, or identity. We don't care about someone's creed, the god that they prayed to or not. We don't care about someone's race. Similarly, we don't care where someone was born. They are our summervilians. They are our community members, our neighbors, our friends, our family, our constituents. And therefore, we're gonna treat them all the same. We're gonna provide everyone with equal access to services.

And the last tenet of that three tenant welcoming community system is that we believe in the confidentiality of information and maintaining that confidentiality to the full extent allowable by the law. Meaning, that if the law requires us to share information, we will absolutely uphold the law and share information. Otherwise, we will do what is in the best interest of our constituents because we are public servants, and it is our duty to serve our community and serve them well. And so that is what it means to be, a welcoming community in Somerville. I know that there were other questions, but I also acknowledge that I've been talking for a while.

So I wanna pause before going to the other questions in case there's any follow-up or any questions that the council might have.

Thank you for pausing in. Excellent opening statement. I did get a text. So I got a message from Paula McNelly saying that she has to leave to go to a, PTA meeting. So she's serving double duty today. So if we could pause here for real quick, and I'd like to recognize Paula so that she can, address the committee, and then we'll come right back to you. Paula, would you like to introduce yourself and

Yeah. Yeah.

Us who you're Yeah.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. My name is Paulo Manelli.

I am a World One resident, and I I am one of the volunteers for, a community group called Padres Latinos, the Summer Republic School. We, we have, you know, we are a volunteer group, you know, meaning you know, we are not, we don't have a budget. We we we whatever we do, I'm I'm going to present, it might seem very modest to you. But, please bear in mind that we, you know, we work with, very few resources, and, so this is just a a very modest work that we try to do. And, we, however, we try to, as Maria, you know, outlines, we try to have, procedures.

We have to we try to, you know, keep to our mission, and our mission is, consistency. And our mission is to, provide, equal access, improve access, and improve opportunity to the Latino community, to members of the Latino community of our city and families in our schools. So just to be brief, because I I don't want to I tend to yap. So if you don't mind, I'm simply going to read from a statement so to make it easy. But, please, if something here is not clear to you, I don't have to jump right away, but please feel free to to ask me questions.

So, let me read, from this, just to to tell you more about, what we do in the city. And and, sorry, I don't have a definition of what's a sanctuary city or not. I mean, whatever Somerville is, we work with whatever Somerville does. So but in term of I can speak for what we do as a group. So from our experience, cooperation and the shared resources among different organizations are critical for success.

When we receive a request, as I said, we are a small group of volunteers. So if we receive requests from a member of the community, we rarely can, help alone, as you can imagine. So I'm just going to give you examples to illustrate how we work. For instance, a few days ago, a resident contacted actually contacted me, to inform me that, there was an an incident of harassment at a local supermarket, and this person was harassed by an employee. So the the member gave us permission to to find out more and help them.

So we contacted Somerviva and HHS and in the in the intention to find resources and, you know, explain to this, resident what they could do, for instance, to file a complaint and to dissipate their their fears of, you know, being harassed by by an employee, and they were being harassed because they are, you know, Latino. So, another example, another, member request help to sign up for s y l s y s l, so for soccer. Her, this mom, her son has a a hearing disability, so I was contacting the the league, make sure that this, this child is put in the right team, so they can, you know, have a a the proper place to play and access to practices and games. So daily, we work a lot with s y s SFLC because of their work and their social working schools, as you can imagine. We are in close contact with the family liaisons, and we help families in need in crisis or just to improve access for all regardless of language or socioeconomic status.

We, but we also seek input and cooperation and exchange information with the school, after school administrators, nurses, special ed teachers, with rec, with s SYLS, with CAS, SPD, the police department, SCC, and any other groups that help us keep the, the members informed and to also dissipate questions or, you know, direct them when they need assistance. So we interact with these groups because that's the only way to be effective. Right? So we share information. Of course, we try to be as anybody that knows the personal information about the members.

We try to be as discreet as possible. And, but, nevertheless, by, you know, cooperating and doing things together. We have, for instance, recently organized a meeting presentation with police department, where 50 about 50 ma'am release attended, and the issues, as Maria, talks about the role of police and safe streets and safe communities, that, topic was, discussed and presented. We have, also done workshops about constitutional rights and other presentations about public safety. We distributed, by mail, by red by snail mail, 300 red cards.

We also sometimes provide direct service if it is an urgent need, someone needs a place to stay or a ride to the hospital. We sort of try to find a volunteer that will help with that. And, of course, when, if the city of the schools, need, you know, information that we might have, we, of course, help them. For instance, once a mom was having a problem with school, something happened at school, had to go to the police to to to to file a report about a a class problem with a child or or a relative of another child that was sort of harassing her child. So we sort of help these families place the the the the complaints in the right place and do it in the right way so it's effective for them.

And, of course, if anybody asks like, we when we do advocacy, sometimes people want to see, okay. How many families came to this, or how many families want after school or want, swimming classes? When we collect that information from surveys, we we present that as but as a way to advocate for our families. And, and for instance, another way we, interact with the schools is when we see through our, WhatsApp group that, for instance, a lot of families are saying, oh, it's going to be too cold. I'm not sending my kid to school today.

And when we see these sort of trends, we that are, you know, concerning because of school attendance, we, you know, call the school and say, hey. We think that, you know, there is this rumor going on that's going to be too cold, that school will close, or we shouldn't send the kids to school. So that school, for instance, can react and say and and send a message in turn, right, and say, hey, families. School is in session. Please send your kid to school.

So that's one way where we try to do a little bit back and forth. And and but another thing is we cannot cover everything and particularly things about lay legal services, labor disputes, or or labor support, and mental health support, we really always try to do referrals because there's very little we can do with that. So that is about a a very brief description, like, very general. I don't know if that answers your questions on that. Please, let me know if you have any questions now or if there's anything that I can do and and and share with you later.

I I don't know if that is sort of explains how a organization like us works for, the Latino community and the immigrants in the city.

That was excellent. Thank you. And I'm gonna open it up to questions. But I know your time is short. Could you just tell us

I I can I can I can stay a few more minutes? Don't worry. Okay.

If, if anyone was looking to help or participate, how would they do that?

Well, I mean, to help with our group, we always need, you know, volunteers to to, and particular people at least bilingual. It's important because a lot of what we do is, you know, sort of do a a one on one. Like, again, coming back to this example. Right? Like, a mom, I'm at work, and I hear, oh, I was harassed at the supermarket, and someone said this to me.

What should I do? And sometimes, I don't know, but, you know, we need more volunteers that will sort of help someone find where to go first. Right? So, sometimes it's easy. Sometimes for me, it's quick and, oh, I will write to this person, but sometimes, you know, we need sort of what to do.

So volunteers is definitely a way to help. And, we you know, and the all the other organizations that that are actually the ones we just, you know, tell people where to go. So when other when other organizations are very, you know just to give you an example, the the the the way the the way SFLC is organized with the family liaisons. Right? We can contact them directly.

So that that that when that came to be, it was a huge help for us. Right? And if you ask me if the city has more family liaisons, that would be fantastic because there is so much they can do. There is so much that comes through them from us, and we call them. And sometimes I feel like I am asking them too much.

So if the city could, if the schools could have more family liaisons, that would be so, so great. So that's I mean, in a way, the city could, make the the the, I don't know how to say, the life of the the families. Because a lot of what the families need is, I need to help, with, for instance, another example. Now the the this this was this week because there was a fair, the the summer camp fair, and that was great. But now the people need to sign for all these organizations.

They are all different organizations that you need to, you know, put your kid. Go this week here, this week here, this week here. Each one has a different system. Some are multilingual. Some are not. So these multilingual assistance for families to access services, to access educational opportunity besides school. Right? But that's the the point we want to make that to bring all of these opportunities, let's say, my children easily access to families that can barely feel a form. So that is super important.

Well, I definitely I made a note about family liaisons. And in terms of volunteers, is there a way for people to reach out and contact the group?

Oh, yeah. I mean, they can contact me or I mean, the the the coordinators of the groups is me, Sonia. I don't know if you have, but they I can send you later the emails. Ivano Barka, Beatriz Gomez, and Martha, Fuertes. We are sort of the board, unofficial. We need to become a five zero one three c. We also need help with that. We are trying. We are trying. We always we have so much to do that we can never get to that part. But, any of us, if anyone interested can contact any of us and and be part of our team.

Okay. Great. Thank you. Councilor Klingen?

Mister Cheah, thank you. I'll be real quick just to the speaker. You know, thanks for coming on here this evening. I I just wanna say that, you know, I love the work you're all doing is super important. You know, there's this term that we always use in government or and really in harm reduction, as, you know, an organizer myself before I got into office, is that you're the folks that are meeting people where they're at and then guiding them and directing them to the to the, you know, the necessary, organizations and such.

So the work that you're doing and being accessible at the local level is extremely important in, in all the work that everybody else does in in with your community. So so I just wanna, you know, thank you for coming tonight, and thank you for all the work you're doing, and just keep it up. I I was I went to the celebration the other weekend. And

Thank you for coming.

Yeah. What a great community you all you all have going there, and, it's just, it's it's really inspiring. So so thank you for what

you Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you all. And, like like I said, you know, you if any, you know I know I was bumbling and you will keep talking, but if there's anything else you want to learn from our model or what we do oh, Judy, do you have a question for me?

Kunzal Panayden Neufeld.

I don't wanna cut you off, Paula. Do you wanna finish your thought?

No. No. No. No. No. No. Go ahead.

I I I, I don't have a question. I, I'm really familiar, obviously, with your work and with with the work of Summar Viva. I just wanna echo my my colleague's gratitude and thanks. You know, a lot of folks, like council McLaughlin had said, are coming to me asking, how can we help? How can we help?

And I'm so thankful to know the number of people and organizations that are on the ground doing this important work on behalf of our our immigrant families. But most importantly, that you all have been doing this work for years and years and years already and have developed such important and trusting relationships and credibility in the immigrant community. And that is something that we can't you can't start from ground zero, you know, on during crisis. Like, you you have to have been doing that work this whole time. And I think it's really important for people to know and understand we're we shouldn't be, and we're not building new things right now.

Right? We're we should be investing the resources and energy and momentum in the organizations that are that have been building relationships with our families over the last several years, decades in our community. So I'm just really glad to hear all of the hard work you're all doing and, you know, how how much you've continued to do that work over the many, many years you've been involved, and I will continue to send people your way. It's good to know that you need volunteers, and and I will definitely relay that message to people asking me how they can help. So thank you.

Now thank you very much. And and so just to before I go, I just want to say we are I mean, we serve all residents in Somerville. Right? Like, we we are but the we are I mean, not focused, but we believe that, because a lot of immigrants are parents, right, and the kids are in the schools. And so our our focus but it's not exclusive, but we believe that these schools are the gateway to city life.

And the reason that is for an immigrant is that an immigrant might never go to the city council, might never go to this, might never go to that, but it has to go to school because it has to take the kids to school. So probably the first and maybe only city employee, right, or city official that an immigrant might ever meet face to face is a teacher. It's that's why they work off a family liaisons is so important because that's where they access government because they must be there. So we realized I mean and that's what SFLC does. Right?

So it it is a gateway. So I'm not saying that there is no other parts of the city, but when those parts of the city come to school and connect through schools, that is really where you see the effect because that's the the school is the institution that is directly serving the immigrants. Right? They might not understand other parts of our government, but for sure, they know that the school is educating their kids. So I think that making our schools strong is definitely the way.

We might not solve the parents' problems, but for sure, we will solve the kids' problems. So I mean and I will leave you with that because that's our guiding principle. And and, I mean, I'm I'm partial because I'm also in the PTA, but that is it that I believe that that is a channel that the city can really keep using as a foundation for outreach, as a foundation for a very effective action because the the teachers and the the people at the school know know the families, right, in a way that even nobody does. So, I mean, it's a it's a miracle of government. Schools are a miracle of government.

So I need to go, but thank you very much, and thank you, everybody. I hope you have a productive meeting. And please please feel free to to to, ask me any further questions via email. Thank you. Thank you, Matt.

Thank you very much.

Thank you

for coming. Bye bye.

School schools are a great thing, and they started in Massachusetts.

Yes. Public schools. Okay. Bye.

Thank you. Have a good night. Okay. So back to director Nagel. I have plenty of questions, but I'd open it up to my colleagues if anyone had questions.

Chair I'm sorry, counselor. Are we gonna hear from Alex Perry as well on this topic?

If you'd like, yeah, I guess we can recognize him. I figured I I recognize Paula first because she had to run, but if people would like to hear from Alex Perry, we can do that as well. Councilor Klingon?

Well, I always like to hear from Alex, Alex Perry. But just on what has been presented so far by director Nagel, no questions on secretary of what it is, what isn't.

Okay. Thank you. Alright. Let's recognize, council Pineda Neufeld would like to sponsor Alex Perry to speak. Alex, if you could, state your name and, what you do and, whatever you'd like to say as far as the questions that have already been raised.

Sure. I'm Alex Perry. I coordinate the immigrant service providers group on health in Somerville. I'm part of the immigrant services coalition, which Maria Theresa Nagel has shepherded through various kinds of shoals and stormy weather, and here we are again. So I I have an intangible take on what does it mean to be a sanctuary city.

It just means to me anyway that we have a history. At a hundred and ninety years ago, a ragingly mad working class protestant mob burned an Ursula continent to the ground because it was the Irish coming into the city. Then, what, forty, fifty, sixty years ago, the Irish were not welcome. Well, this goes back even further into the nineteen teens and twenties. No dogs, no Irish were signs that appeared in apartments for rent.

More recently, we had to have a federal court order to integrate the the mystic housing development. This was, what, 1984, so not so long ago. So we've had a long struggle as a city to come to terms with who immigrants are and do they belong. And, yes, they do. And I think part of what Sanctuary City means is that we are willing to engage in this struggle and that one of the prime qualities, it's not something you can legislate, is to give people a feeling of being safe.

And I think that's kind of what Soya does. I think that's what SFLC. I'm glad they got a shout out to family liaisons doing an enormous amount of work. And most often are people from the communities that they're serving as parents, which I think is a really important important part of things. So and and I will say one very short story. I'm a person who believes in stories. So here's one. We were in a meeting, and an older person from the Italian community said, you know what I can't stand is these kids on the street corner. They're all speaking Spanish, and I can't understand them. It's evening, and I don't you know, am I should I be scared?

And people were like, oh, no. You know, lighten up a little bit. Conversation passed on. And then she all of a sudden said, wait a minute. She said that was me.

My one of my parents never spoke English. My father only spoke enough English to work in the fish store, and I was hanging out on the corner in East Somerville speaking Italian. And it was like so we had a social worker in the city at the time, Adena Davis, and I had the idea to bring the grandparents together with the teenagers, which we did. And we had two Italian, one three Italian and one Greek grandparents, and then four teenagers from some of high school of various from various countries. And, of course, the elderly elderly people talked and talked and talked, and the young people were totally silent.

And then this particular person, who's a lovely person, I have to say, said, you know, I remember when we were this must have been right at the beginning. It was nineteen forty, forty one, and my cousin jumped ship. He was Italian. He didn't wanna serve in the Italian Navy. So he jumped ship in Boston Harbor, and we hit him in the basement until we could get him married.

I was like and then all of a sudden, the kids started to talk. And Adina and I were, like, looking at you. What happened? And then it was like, oh, everybody's got somebody hidden in the basement somewhere. And, you know, all of a sudden, kids felt safe to speak in the presence of the senior citizens.

Anyway, that's kind of my quick take on what a sanctuary city is because Maria Theresa has has outlined the technical parts which are driving us all nuts on a day to day basis. I will say as a resource, one thing that I that could be shared is some of the companies some of the nonprofits in the city have been developing protocols for what to do if ICE comes to your door. I've it is significant in the the tour, two stories, Adrian Walker column and a story about Chelsea and the Globe today about ICE actions and why it's you have to be careful and have your papers with you and etcetera, etcetera. Yeah. So I think that's probably wraps up my what it means to be a sanctuary city.

It's to be all in, I think. We're all in it for the people from the immigrant communities. Our immediate or not so immediate ancestors were all immigrants too. Hey. Lighten up, folks. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for Alex? Alex, could you just tell a little bit, like, what what does your I guess, I I was about to call a department, but I know you're a one man army. Well, what do you do presently for the immigrant community, and how could people help you if they if you were looking for help?

Take over half of my phone calls. I I mean, it's a funny the the immigrant service providers group started twenty years ago when there were seven different independent immigrant groups in the city. There was a Haitian coalition. We had Considio Hispano, Centro Presente, Brazilian women's group. As some rule is gentrified, the general trend for people is to become you know, they go to Bunker Hill or whatever it'd be.

You have an education. They get jobs. They can buy a home, but they can't buy a home in Somerville. So they're somewhere else. However, we do have an older strata of immigrants who were able to buy or find stable housing in Summerville some time ago, and they are getting new people coming in. And it's these new people who eventually will be moving out of the city, but at the moment, they need services. So part of what I'm doing is sort of being like an old fashioned switchboard operator plugging. Okay. You need to call the Brazilian women's group there at Alston Brighton now FCUSA for the Haitians has replaced the Haitian coalition. They're over at Everett or down in Mattapan.

So it's kind of keeping track of things both in Somerville and outside of Somerville. And that's that and sort of networking, and I have a massive distribution list, which I'm I'm sure inundate people with notices about one thing or another.

Ed, would you be willing to share your email on how to get on that list and how to connect Sure.

I'm not sure how to do it. This is doesn't have a message

chat. You can just say it out loud. This is all for public record. So if you whatever you don't wanna share.

Oh, I better be careful what I say then. Oh, you should've said that in the first place, Noah. Gee. Yeah. I saw the recording. It's a p well, it's long. It's a pirie,apirie,@sunrovillecdc,catdogcat,all1word,.org.

Alright. Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Alex? Councilman Klan?

Yeah. Thank you, mister Jared. Through you. Similarly, I just wanna thank you for your work. That was actually really interesting to hear.

I didn't quite realize that you tracked all of the the organizations that once may have been housed or lived in in some of the organizations that are now been dispersed to other areas. That's a huge service and asset that you bring to the table, being able to connect folks even though they've sensed that institutional knowledge is invaluable, and, you know, hopefully, you'll pass that on to somebody or money people before you go. I know those those institutions may be may be findable, but it that that connection back to some of those is really what it's about. And so thank you for that. I don't have any I mean, I I hear what you're doing.

I think it's really important. I know you're you're at the forefront of all of these conversations and and helping in ways every day. So that's really, you know, speaks to the the counselor's order as far as what you are doing. And so I thank you for that for those answers.

Thank you, Jesse. I I would add one, and I didn't I neglected to mention the welcome project, which is sort of the last organization standing. They've been here actually since the beginnings of the troubles at Mystic. That was their origin story. They're still here. They're coming back strong. And so whatever we can do to support them takes a load off me. You know? It's enlightened self interest. So thank you.

Thank you for reminding me, Alex, because I did talk to the welcome project who was unable to attend today. But if you can give me a minute, I'll pull up let's see. If I could read a quick statement, this is from Sarah, Alex, do you know how to pronounce Sarah's last name? Kirby? Oh, did I lose people? Oh, you're muted.

Yeah. No. I think you've got it.

Yeah. The interim director from the Welcome Project. The Welcome Project has launched a new initiative action for immigrant rights or air or air, to provide crucial resources and information to immigrant adults, youth, families to best protect themselves from current challenges. The Welcome Project has begun holding Know Your Right workshops in ESOL. That's English as a second language class in Lips.

It's a team training program. They have, helped constituents understand their rights under US laws that are related to immigrant enforcement. They also plan to hold, family preparedness clinics to help families understand their options in case of family separation and to fill out legal documentation. These clinics will not be publicized for safety reasons but will be open to the general public. The welcome project also has immigrant rights red cards available to offer in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole, and anyone is welcome to come pick them up for yourselves and your family.

Lastly, the welcome project is sharing resources with this network as available and is collecting feedback from constituents to continue adapting the initiative best fits their needs and changing situation. If you're interested in volunteering at the clinic or another program, particularly if you are bilingual, you can email welcome@thewelcomeproject.org or fill out the volunteer interest form on the welcome project's website. What they really need is funding, wink wink, to be able to continue running these programs and events. The Welcome Project aims is aiming to raise $10,000 for the AIR initiative, and donations can be made through the Welcome Project's website. So, yeah, I would love to have them come for a further discussion, but they could not make it today.

And I just wanna make sure to recognize them. Alex, if you'd like, you could stick around if you wanna pipe in later. But if not, thank you very much for coming.

Alright.

I'll stick around.

Alright. Thank you. Alright. Back to director Nagel. Could I I guess, I'll start with questions. If other people had, something comes to mind, please feel free to speak up. But director, you mentioned council Klingon.

Well, mister chair, I'd be remiss to say that I thought we kinda director had just laid out what a sanctuary city was, but the order asks about sort of what efforts that the city's doing. So we hadn't heard that part yet. Certainly, that could come in the form of a question, but I'll leave that to you.

Okay. Well, you just asked a question so we can have, the director explain that.

Through you, mister chair. I before I jump into that, and since we still have Alex, on the line and since this is a public record, I think Alex Feary is one of the most humble humans I know, and he didn't speak to some of all of the many other things that he's doing for the immigrant community. So I feel like I must take it upon myself because, when I first started with the city back in 2021, he was the first person that I was told I needed to speak to, within that first week. And I quickly understood why, and it's because of years and years of trust building, of being someone who is a huge strategist, but he strategizes with the heart. And it's no less effective than people with fancy degrees who claim to to know how to proceed in these troubling times.

So he is a connector. He is someone that we go to to gut check, and he is an incredible partner in every effort that we undertake. And I know that I can speak on behalf of the many organizations that make up the the the huge movement that is immigrant services, and Alex leads on that. So I I needed to say that before I jump in to talk about what what SOIA and and the city have been doing.

I can real quick. Thank you, director, because I knew he did a lot more. I was trying to get it out of him, and he he wouldn't brag about it. So thank you for bragging for him.

He rarely does. He rarely does. So I'm gonna try to be brief so that I can leave enough room for for questions, and we can focus on things that that you all, want to focus on. But, talking first about know your rights, we have been able to conduct 48 know your rights since late December of last year until, now. That means that over 1,715 people have participated in these know your rights.

These have been held online and in person. We have, for safety reasons and to continue to build on on public trust, gone where people are. We've been at churches, been at the schools, we've been at different, adult learning programs. We have partnered with the welcome project with internally with, the libraries, businesses, you name it, our Union Square Main Streets, our East Somerville Main Streets, wherever we can be effective, wherever people are, even if it's one person, that's one person that goes and shares information with their neighbors. We have also distributed over 4,000 red cards in all of our top most spoken languages.

I should also say the know your rights have, with very few exceptions, all been delivered in language. So without the use of interpretation, we've thought that that is very important so that things, so that folks feel more comfortable asking the necessary questions and and we can address the questions better. We have done all of this in great partnership with folks at ACLU, folks at, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. So always well informed and being able to really understand any policy changes or anything that might affect the immigrants' rights and constitutional rights more broadly. We have also translated what we call our full packets, which include everything from summaries of know your rights to what to do in case of Notario fraud and scams, full family preparedness packets, and these have all been translated into our top most spoken languages and have been uploaded on our website where folks can find them and download them.

And if anyone needs a printed copy, they can always, let us know. We can deliver it to them, or they can come to our office. And we have also recorded know your rights sessions, which are also available, online so that folks can access those in whatever time they they would like and all in language. In addition to that, and I love that that Paula mentioned the work that Par Latinos did with our Somerville police. We also held another session, after that session held in Spanish and Portuguese, again, with our Somerville police to continue to dispel a lot of the misinformation and continue building trust and getting information to our constituents.

We have, been also helping through economic development. We know that there's a lot of folks in our community who are being hesitant about grocery shopping. They're not going out and grocery shopping because they feel unsafe. So, the wonderful Adriana Fernandez over in economic development came up with a whole plan to have neighbors help neighbors get their groceries. So for folks wondering how they can help, this is one way.

So that's going into the other question. We have also been doing a lot of work with family preparedness. The schools have done incredible work around family preparedness and, being able to hold clinics at the schools so that families who need to craft a plan or already have a plan can get the necessary support even with, accessing free notary publics. We're holding some with the library. A huge shout out to our wonderful, library staff and in particular to our new social worker at the library, Jake Savage, who has been pivotal in making himself available to help families and individuals craft plans.

We couldn't be doing this work without him. And we also have been doing a lot of block walks with our economic development colleagues so that we can go to businesses and talk to them about their rights. There, we have even been distributing information that ICE has been distributing to tell folks, hey. Look. Have you have you are you familiar with this?

These are your obligations as a business, and we're gonna provide you with resources so that you can meet these obligations and be in compliance, be lawful, and so that we can ensure that we can keep our businesses, safe from harm and our economy booming, because our small businesses are such a pivotal part of Summerville and and our Summerville economy. And we're doing a lot oh, also, we're doing some workers' rights as well in multiple languages. So more on that. Oftentimes, we're not publicizing a lot of this information for safety concerns. So a lot of the work has to happen by word-of-mouth and in partnership with the incredible, nonprofits that we have with folks like Pares Latinos, the welcome project with amazing leaders like Alex Perry, so that we can connect with families and individuals and ensure that they're getting access to the information and the services and opportunities to learn more.

And then when it comes to what can people do, I know that Alex, and Paula talked a lot about, and and even in in the words of interim director, Sarah Krube, how they can connect with nonprofits and in particular for folks who are bilingual. So there's that. There's always obviously donating to your local nonprofits. And for folks who are not bilingual and still wish to help shop local, that is huge. And it may not feel like it's a big deal, but it's a huge deal.

Our businesses are hurting because our communities are scared. Folks who are lawful residents in this country who have all of their documentation, they are scared because regretfully, the law is not being followed as it pertains to the federal government. People who are green card holders, people who have h one b's, people, you know, who have been residing in this country and contributing to our economy and have been hardworking, god fearing, loving neighbors are in danger. And so this translates into folks not shopping, not eating out, and our businesses are hurting. And if our economy hurts, everyone hurts.

And if our community is scared, this is a disservice to all of us in our public safety and our mental health and our well-being. I'll leave it at that and answer questions.

That's it. That's quite a bit. Thank you. And just a couple of things to highlight is, yes, I appreciate the work you're doing with small businesses. I was able to attend one of those meetings and saw the work, that everyone's doing, which is great. And it is a woodworm Wednesday. I have to go make a plug for a local business. And then also, it's great to hear we're doing food, deliveries like we did during COVID. So I did that myself, so you can call me as a volunteer for that if needed. Do there any other questions or comments, councilor Klingon?

Thank you, mister chair, and, you know, thank you for the work you're doing, you know, as a street organizer. You know, like, we used to mostly have to rely on on the organizations that Alex was mentioning. And now there are only a few shows in town, be it the welcome project and, in Office of Immigrant Affairs being a huge play a huge player in this at this point, which, you know, what people's anxiety when this fur when they when when the the rhetoric was first amped up and and people were reaching directly out to me, immigrants, and saying, like, what is our city doing? What is the city doing? And, you know, based on the nature of the work, you know, there's only so much you can say, but 48, I mean, 48, we know your rights in such a short time is just really impressive.

And and and I'll just leave I'll just end with one more comment and then a question. You know, I was able to find my way to one of those trainings, and I was extremely impressed with the level of organization and and the, you know, the the multilanguages and the way you all held these trainings was amazing. So kudos for that, and thanks for doing the work. The question I have relates to, specifically, what council McLaughlin just said and what I'm curious about is you mentioned the the the sort of grocery assistance delivery, you know, whatever the whatever the the language is. The question is is, sort of who is facilitating that, and how would somebody volunteer if they who would they reach out to?

That that who's leading that effort?

Looks like Alex Perry has a comment on it.

Yes. Through the chair to the council. There's a number of operations, one which is, I'm not sure directly how to how they're integrating volunteers, but the Summer of Food Security Coalition, which is organized through a separate part of the city. I get lost in the bureaucracy. Full disclosure.

It's like, who's talking to? Anyway, the Summerville Food Security Coalition is doing very important work both in coordinating, supplying, and communicating about food access in the city. The schools are doing the similar hard work. There are special food distributions at two of our schools. Again, this is SFLC and the workers there.

Anyway, I just wanted to put put those into the into the mix. There are and then there is MAMAs and other organizations that are more regional, which there I find it a little hard to connect with them. If I wanna give something, I can just call up and say, where do I take it? And you sort of get an answer. But they're loosely held organizations.

Let me put it that way. It's a little hard to connect always with them. Thank you for holding. I think that's something that we could all collectively do a little bit more and say, guys, you know, be a little more organized so we can interface. Bijan is another one, but that's a resource separate.

They will accompany people to visits to the ICE offices in Burlington. They can come to, you know, be present at things where you feel would feel safer within somebody else. So yeah. I mean, we are we are working, particularly in the immigrant services coalition, to provide very simple but very complete set of resources that are easily accessible. So thank you.

Sounds like we should contact you.

Yeah. Just a quick follow-up. Well, yeah, I was gonna say, if it's not highly organized, if it's kind of more I mean, but just the fact that it was highlighted here is important for people to understand, and maybe it's conversations like this that end up, you know, out being born out of this would be a a more of a, you know, a network, highly more organized network where we can we can all participate in some way to make sure that people are getting what they need their needs met. So that's and and I'm happy to keep my ear out based on this conversation for a situation that might arise where just understanding that and and hearing that and understanding that as a challenge for for people who, you know, that are afraid to go to the grocery store is something that I think is really important to hear in this meeting. So thanks for bringing that.

That's all, miss

Thank you. Councilor Pineda Neufeld.

Thank you, mister chair. And thank you, of course, to to Alex. You're you know, good to see you. You're one of my favorite humans in some of them. So glad you're here.

And for those who don't know, Alex was a part of the immigrant services unit during COVID when I was leading that and was a grounding voice throughout that crisis. So glad you're still fighting the good fight, Alex. I guess this question is for Alex and Maria Teresa. I know this is a big question, but, you know, is there a a wish list of Citi resources that you can share with us that, you know, of course, money, funding, you know, anything we can do to continue to support SOIA and our and our community organizations on the ground. But are you know, is there anything else on the resource side, on the coordination side that the city can be doing better that we can be thinking about as as counselors to, you know, to to push that forward?

Alex, would you like to go first? Please.

Alex, you don't work for the city, so you can say it.

Alright. I so I'll stick my foot in in whatever. I in one area where it and it keeps coming up. We we discuss it at peripherally, but regularly at the immigrant services coalition is what to do with volunteers. Back pre COVID, pre when we had the Dance for Dignity, this was, I mean, ten years ago where we raised money for nonprofit lawyer organizations. We had a lot of people sign up to volunteer. We had a table at heartbeat that year. We got a lot of people there. And the list I still have it. It's sitting there.

It's hard to figure out how to coordinate things. You know, there's there's you get into issues of liability and this, that, the other thing with the city. No offense to the city, but sometimes they're very cautious, to put it mildly. And so it's it's hard. There isn't I think Padres Latinos has a core group of people who are willing to put a lot of time into pulling it together and making themselves known.

And we don't have that in a general way for all of the immigrant communities collectively. So that I mean, it's something that I think about a lot is, you know, how do we pull it together? Who has who has the time? All of us here, we all are tapped out and working way late into the night. Yet another meeting.

Here we are. But it needs it needs something to happen to bring together because there are a lot of people you can say, yes. Donate clothes to here and food to there, and endless amounts of money are needed because there just is not enough cash to pay for all the pro pro bono lawyer work that needs to be done for our immigrant communities. But if there are people with lots of time, it seems kind of like a waste. And how how do we how do we mobilize people around an activity or set of activities? And even what are those activities? I I don't know. Anyway, I'm sorry. I put that out there. Is it I I repeat the challenge.

Director?

Yes. Through through through you, mister chair. I would just one thing that I I completely forgot to add that Alex's point is reminding me of, if there's a retired attorney, immigration attorney out in the community, if there are folks who are immigration attorneys who have some spare time, who would like to donate their time by taking some cases on. That could be huge. If you know of opportunities where you can become a, oh my god, a USCIS.

Why am I blanking on the, certified? I'm blanking on the name right now. I'll I'll I'll get back to you on that. But there are ways where even if you're not an immigration attorney, there's, like, a training and a course that you take. You have to be affiliated with a nonprofit to do this, and then you can provide legal services for immigration matters.

Like, this kind of stuff is huge because we just do not have even if you throw lots of money at this issue, like, we oftentimes just don't have enough attorneys taking on these cases. There are a lot of business immigration attorneys. My husband is one of them. They're great. But we need nonbusiness immigration attorneys to also be supporting this cause right now in a pro bono, way.

So I guess it's also a call to some law firms out there that perhaps could be donating more of of their time to helping our community members be able to stay our community members. Yes. I'll leave that at that.

Mister Jack, can I ask a follow-up question? If if we find immigration attorneys who are willing to volunteer their their time or take on pro bono cases, do we send them to you, director? Yes, please. Okay. Great. That's really helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? So I I did have a question actually about the legal services. Is what legal services do we provide? And I guess now knowing that we might have a lack of legal services, what legal services are necessary for people in the community?

Yes. I'm also I'm trying to find the term because I can't believe I'm blanking, and this is very important. So accredited representatives. That's what they're called. Accredited representatives. So folks can become accredited representatives. They have to complete a course. They have to be affiliated with a nonprofit. There's a whole thing. It's not simple, but it is it is a a a very good way of supporting within the legal services field.

Now in terms of what services we have, so the city of Summerville has a contract with a legal services vendor. And, thanks to the approval of our mayor, Katana Ballantyne, and, this great city council, we have been able to continuously, year after year, increase the annual budget that we have through our, stabilization fund, our legal services stabilization fund to be able to fund that contract. This past fiscal year, it was 270,000 that was approved to do this. We have, because of that contract, a dedicated attorney that all they do is city of Summerville cases, and they take on any kind of case. The only qualifiers to be able to join this program are you have to be a City Of Summerville resident, you have to make at or under 80% area median income, and you have to be at risk of deportation.

And what at risk of deportation means is that your current status is precarious enough that you are currently or in the future at risk of being ripped away from our community. Aside from that, they take on any type of case. The challenge becomes that, again, it's one person taking on a batch of up to our contract, you know, states, like, I think it's, like, 27 cases. They've been able to go beyond that and take on more cases, but you reach a limit. So we oftentimes have to pause the program and can't take any more intakes because there just is not capacity to take any more cases on.

The need is extremely high. So what we do to manage that is we are connected to a series of other legal services providers in the area. We try to refer and make use of those legal services providers in a very strategic way so that, you know, if, for example, if we have an unaccompanied minor, they may be better suited going to kids in need of defense who focus strictly on that work if they're taking on new cases, and they take that pro bono. If, you know, there's another nonprofit that might be focused on a particular type of cases, we might be referring to them. We're also going back to the clinic model.

We believe that, the clinic model is also going to be very useful in us being able to provide legal consultations through our current vendor, and that will serve as sort of a filter for, understanding what cases are very complicated and have, upcoming deadlines. And our legal services vendor has said, you know, they will take those cases on when they're really high priority, and the the clinic allows us to to filter for those. And what a clinic involves is it's very much a consultation. It is up to about an hour tops of sitting down with immigration attorneys, going through your case, and then being able to provide guidance, next steps, in some cases, connect to other organizations, or then in in very high priority cases, being able to take the case on. In addition to that, we do have a legal services coordinator and immigration policy analyst position.

Previously, this position was part time. It was held by an standing immigration attorney who worked with the city for, I think, five years. We miss her deeply, Maria Muti. And since she left position, we were able to make this position full time. We actually have an offer out to a candidate, and this is also critical to us being able to provide better legal services because the person in this role is even more equipped and, you know, spends all of their time just understanding immigration policy and changes to it and continuing to build the network of where do we refer folks, how can we best support them so that we can maximize on, city time to really expand supports and services for more people within the city of Summerville.

Thank you. What was I gonna say? Now I'm blanking. In terms of, well, I I did wanna say so. You said, 27 cases. Is that a year?

Yes. 27 new cases, but this is full cases. So though it's 27 new cases per year, it is it also, is in addition to the 27 of the year past. Most of these cases are multiyear cases. Some of these cases don't get resolved until ten years from now, and so that's why the stabilization, fund allows us to continue to pay for the work done on each of those cases throughout the years.

And this was before the current administration as well? 27?

Correct. The only the well, no. That that's not true. So before the current you mean the current federal administration or the current Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yes. That's correct.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I I would say, one, it's it is concerning how many people need this help, but it is also I think it's really impressive that people know where to get that help too because that's often the hardest part. And, Alex, I see your hand raised because you're the conduit That it's a good thing that I'm just happy to know that people know where to get help when they need it because you're talking about people who don't necessarily know what resources are available. So the fact is that many people getting serious assistance from the city is great to hear.

And through you, mister chair, if I may just add one thing to to that I'm very proud of. I know that some people might see 27 and be like, that's so little. We are one of the only cities in the entire country that does full case representation. Most other cities, even surrounding cities, all they do is consultation. Or they have, you know, very strict limitations on the type of cases that they can get. We are the only city that does end to end representation, pays for the entirety of the representation, and does so without any limitation as to the case at hand.

Well, I think 27 we're a fairly large city, but if 27 people reached out to me about an issue, it would be a serious issue. So I think that is good to hear. So, Alex, do you have a comment?

Yeah. Just a quick question to Maria Theresa, and maybe this is something we'll have to take off out into our meeting as opposed to here. But well, it's it's two parts. One is how effective are accredited representatives? I mean, is this something we should be pursuing?

Certainly, I've some of you may know Melissa McQuinney used to work for the ACLU and has been involved in several for years. She, I think, has taken this course. She might have even taught it. I I would be glad to reach out and sort of explore this if it seemed like a worthwhile enterprise. And this also reminds me of when we had the Harvard immigration and refugee clinic come into the city.

And I'm wondering if that's something that's that's still a possibility or we're maybe we're doing it now, and I missed it. Anyway, I just wanted to put that in. And then an alert for the here's the next item that everybody's worrying about, which is public charge, which is a big issue. The Summerville Food Coalition got in touch with me about it. Mira is working on it.

But this is the question of if you are are privileged enough to approach green card status, one of the things that the government looks at and and will deny you your further progress on is if you were a public charge, if you accepted charity. It's wrong in a sense. It's a very narrow definition. It's a very limited area, and very few people are affected. But the government in the past and probably in the future uses it as a scare tactic if you take public whatever, if you go to a food pantry.

All of that is not true, but there's a whole separate educational program that has to take place and probably will be getting into it. Anyway, look to your mailboxes. Thank you.

Thank you. Did you have a comment on that, mister Archer?

Yes. Through you, mister chair. So the three questions were about effectiveness of accredited reps. So they can be very effective. The thing about an accredited rep is you wouldn't have an accredited rep take on a very complex case.

You would have an accredited rep help with things like filing for a TPS, extension or renewing a status. So for a lot of these things, it can still be a very complicated matter for an individual because our immigration law is incredibly complicated on purpose. So accredited reps can go a long way in easing the load of the legal system and of the types of cases that attorneys take on because they can take on the those less complex, more procedural matters so that then we can let, the attorneys take on the more complicated cases and be able to focus all of their time. So that was question one. I'm now forgetting question two, but so I'll jump to question three, and then you can remind me about question two.

But for for the question on public charge. So, yes, public the the public charge rule as of right now has not changed. And so something that we want to continue to encourage people to understand is it has not changed. People should continue to access benefits. Now it was changed in the past.

Well, first, it was challenged in the past, and it survived, but it did suffer some modifications. And when it did, thankfully, the amount of people that were affected by this were very, very, very few. Because under the current public charge rule, there's only two real big types of of benefits that people look at when or that the government looks at when applying for a green card, and that is, cash assistance, and long term care at the government's expense in, like, a nursing home or some other type of health care facility. So I think it's it's just so important that people don't don't do the federal government's job before the federal government does it. Right?

That we don't get ahead of ourselves and that we continue to encourage people to access these benefits. And the moment that anything changes, obviously, we will we will continue to to advocate and and support our our community members so that we can ensure that they have access to to their basic needs. What was the second question? Harvard Law Clinics. Now I remember.

So, yes, so with regards to the Harvard Law Clinics, the the real issue has been a matter of coordination and time. We are definitely not just open to doing clinics with Harvard Law, but any other, organization, including de novo and so many others who are doing tremendous work, using this clinic model so that that way we can have clinics at least once a month where we can be doing that consultative level, understanding again that it won't be for people to have full representation, but instead consultation and guidance.

Alright. So we're running a bit long, which is good, but, I don't wanna take up everyone's time too much. I did I did really wanna touch on the subject of sanctuary cities again and what this actually means and doesn't mean because there's a lot of misconceptions out there. These questions are mostly about police issues. So, director, if you don't know the answer or if director Singh, if you don't know the answer, feel free to say so, and we can, have it addressed another way.

But I think it's generally just general questions. But I remember a while back reading a column by the, Boston columnist, Howie Carr, who basically wrote he wrote this really tongue in cheek piece about how if how it's legal to be legal in Massachusetts, and I could get away with anything if I want if I was an illegal immigrant. And I think this is a conception that a lot of people have that because you're a sanctuary city, it means laws don't apply to undocumented people or immigrants in general. So my question is is how is the law applied, especially on serious crimes when it comes to undocumented immigrants insoluble?

Through you, mister chair. Thank you for that wonderful question. I I can certainly answer that. The law, when it comes to criminal matters, is applied exactly the same no matter your immigration status. The only thing that is different when it comes to sanctuary cities is you will not be penalized for simply being undocumented.

That is to say, if I am a law abiding citizen, I will change one of my words, if I am a law abiding resident of the city of Summerville and I have never committed a crime and I had not renewed my visa status and therefore become undocumented. The city of Summerville, through its Summerville police, will not pursue me for the simple fact that I am now undocumented. Now if I go ahead and I commit a crime, and it doesn't just have to be a serious crime, it can also be a minor crime, I will be penalized in the same fashion as anyone who is also a US citizen. Being undocumented does not give you a get out of jail free card. It is the opposite.

It puts you in harm's way in a multitude of ways. And what we're doing through our Somerville police is ensuring that one of those ways is not your documentation status. And I think something that oftentimes is lost here too is people think of undocumented immigrants, solely as the folks who crossed the border without papers. There are many ways of becoming undocumented. We have a federal government that right now is pushing a lot of our residents into undocumented status by changing the rules on them.

So being undocumented means nothing more than you don't have a particular seal of approval from the federal government on your immigration papers. That's it.

Alright. Thank you. And so I I just wanna get that across, and I tell that to people too, but I wanna it's good to hear from an official source that laws are still laws in the city, and we enforce our laws. But the the question about detention, like, we had how do I explain this? Basically, we're expected to detain someone for their legal status in the country. And we basically will detain people for a crime that they've committed, but not enforcing the federal law. Is that correct? Am I phrasing that correctly?

To you, mister chair, correct. And we are not going to interfere with the federal government doing their immigration enforcement. So the Somerville police, they're not stopping ICE from coming into our communities. They cannot. That is not their job. Their job is to keep our communities safe from crime, be it small or large, and that they do, and they do wonderfully. It is not their job to hold people in detention for the simple fact of being undocumented or having any sort of, challenges to their documentation status.

Right. And on the other end of that, people who are the victims of crimes. So say you're an undocumented person or you're a person who your status in this country makes you concerned to report a crime if you're a victim or if you're just concerned about talking to police in general. Do you have any recommendations for them in terms of their rights in the city?

Through you, mister chair, yes. I can speak wonders of our Somerville police and say that folks in our community should feel very safe reporting a crime, whether they've been a victim of it or they've been a witness to it, because our Somerville police does not and will not enforce immigration, detention or pursue them for their immigration status. They will respond to this reporting of a crime in the same way that they would respond to someone with US citizenship. You know, they will take down their testimony. They will pursue whatever action needs to be pursued against the person who's committed the crime.

Alright. Thank you very much. Those are all the questions I have. With any final questions or comments, we do have other items on the agenda. Any any comments from my, colleagues? Well, thank you all very much. I do think it's important to have these conversations in public so that people know exactly what is and what is not true. I'm definitely gonna share this meeting with my network of people in. I'd encourage people to do the same. And, hopefully, we can get more clarity and let people just know that we're, you know, looking out for the best interest of everyone in the city.

And I definitely appreciate the city and all the people here who are making the city a better place to live. So I'm gonna mark this item work complete, and thank you all for your time. Good night. So I do think director Singh wanted to take up item number seven next. Can we take that item up, mister Clark?

We certainly can. Do like that red?

Yes, please.

That the director of health and human services, director of housing, and the director of housing stability update the city council regularly on progress towards addressing homelessness.

Alright. We have director Carroll here. Very sorry to keep you waiting. Hope you at least enjoyed the conversation. And this is a regular standing item that we'd normally give more time to, but I wanted to address this immediate issue. Director Carroll, do you have any, updates for us?

Good evening through the chair. Yeah. Important discussion, and thanks for having it, and I was happy to to listen. I do have updates. I'll quickly go through them, but if folks have questions at the end.

And as you said, this is a sort of standing item for us, so thanks for the opportunity to come back, periodically and keep you updated on the work that's happening around the unhoused in the city, of which there is a lot. And I will just speak to the pieces I'm involved and know about. So I wanna highlight first, the warming center has been a critical lifesaving, shelter that has operated by the city, through an outside housing families, a vendor. And, we have on average between 33 to 36 or seven folks every night, and most nights, two to three dogs are staying with us as well. So, again, an amazing operation, and we have weekly calls.

So our team in HHS is meeting with our emergency management director and the vendor housing family. So we talk with them every Tuesday, and it gives a chance for city staff to, you know, bring up any issues or questions or concerns and the opposite if there are anything that they need or they're seeing or they're concerned about. We will begin in the next week or two transitioning and providing resources and information for clients and guests of the warming center so that they have information on available resources in the area as we transition to closing that down in, early to mid April. So the other thing I wanted to highlight is the public health vending machines, which we received a grant through the RISE Foundation to match our opiate dollar expenditure on this item. So we'll be piloting this spring and summer two to start with, public health vending machines.

And at the moment, that RFP, I believe, has just closed, so that procurement process is underway. Again, this is a pilot program that was a request of persons who use drugs when we did our focus groups and back a couple of years ago when the opiate funds were, first available to us. These were some of the main issues that came out of that. A need for some public health items, some basic, sanitation items, some, safety items, Narcan, these types of things. So more on that as the RFP process continues and we have a product or a vendor to show you, we will come back and talk with the group about that.

The dual kiosk that we've talked a lot about, the needle needle kiosk, are being delivered, in theory, this week. And our DPW team, it will figure out as spring unfolds and the ground thaws where and how to install them. So that is also underway, and we're happy about that. The weekly huddle that's convened by the mayor's office and myself, that has continued to operate every Friday morning. It we are joined by Maria Theresa Nagel, the school, other, departments in the city.

So it's it's broadened. We're not it's not only the unhoused, but other populations at risk. That huddle identifies issues as they come up and in real time can look for solutions, share resources, and address gaps that we're we're seeing. So, that's a a great, resource for all of us. I wanted to mention you you probably all know that Somerville, homeless coalition will be celebrating forty years of operating next week, so we are very proud of them and their hard work and to be partners with them.

The city also will be receiving a $119,000 from the Department of Public Health. All of the Massachusetts large cities were given an allotment. It's largely based on our population and, I believe, on the pit count as well, but I'm not positive of the exact calculation. And that will be used for a variety of new initiatives for supporting the unhoused, mainly around cold weather sleeping. So cold weather sleeping bags, winter warming kits, hotel vouchers in the event that our warming shelter is full, and Somerville meal vouchers.

So this is, this is an initiative that we would like to pilot with Somerville. The Somerville homeless coalition are going to purchase vouchers from a variety of restaurant and retail vendors in Somerville, that the unhoused community can then go in and purchase food. So it's both a food access as well as a business, economic development kind of project, and we hope it will go a long way between encouraging relationships, with our businesses and the unhoused community. And, you know, we're interested to see how this pilot goes. So we will come back to you on that.

We recently were notified that those funds will be, available to us until June 2026. We originally thought we had a much smaller time frame. So this allows us to pilot things next year during those really cold winter months as well. I wanted to also mention that we have hired within HHS a prevention director who will be starting later this month and has a lot of experience with both youth and prevention. So we will introduce and bring them along at some point to this group.

The community health workers are continuing to do regular outreach in the Davis Square and East Somerville area. They, in their first year in 2024, had a 181 clients, several referrals within the city and externally. They are now all CAC and MassHealth providers, so they are able to enroll people in SNAP and in, MassHealth. So are some other city staff. So we have slowly expanding that program, and, you know, that's the real sustainability piece here is that once we connect someone to a food benefit and to a a sort of, stable medical home where they can receive ongoing health care and have medications covered, then we can begin to move the needle on so many other issues.

So we're really proud of the work of the community health workers and our case managers, and some other folks in the city who are really committed to being at farmers markets, other all kinds of of spaces in the city, reaching out to folks in need and making sure that both the immediate food or, housing need is met, but also that there is this sustainability piece in place. Lots of supplies are also provided by our community health workers, backpacks, sleeping bags, Narcan, menstrual products, applications, referrals, but, I'm not going to go into all of those details. They, have had, as I mentioned, engagement activities at both Connexion and the Somerville Homeless Coalition. And then finally, I wanted to briefly share about the pit count, the point in time count that we do every year. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it.

It's run by our, housing office here in the city. And although we don't have official numbers, they have shared with me that on the night of January 29, there were approximately 12 individuals that were unsheltered. There were 35 on that night in the emergency warming center. So we sort of know that, you know, if we didn't have the warming center, all of those individuals or many of them would have been unsheltered. So, interestingly enough, last year, that unsheltered number was about double, was in the twenties, 26, I believe.

But prior to last year, for several years, that number has remained around 16 unsheltered folks. So, you know, I think it's safe to say that we have seen this increase in the last two years. And in the in the last, year, we've been able to offer shelter to some of those folks in the emergency warming center. We're still waiting for data for some of our other shelter partners, so I am sure that when that pit count is all tallied up and official, they will share those results. So those are some of the very high level big picture activity that's going on in the city to support this community and, for and the agencies that are serving this committee.

Oh, I think one more thing I just wanted to mention is a partnership with Tufts University with their community health program. Myself and Hannah O'Halloran attend the classes for the, community based participatory research class, and they have chosen as their talk topic with our encouragement, the clinic, the health care clinic, health care for the homeless clinic down at the engagement center. So we have a little bit more funding for that program, but not we have a grant for a couple of years. So we really want to evaluate that program, and the students are helping with that. They're doing interviews to see what we can improve with that program, what's working, what's not, and then with the hopes of using that data to be able to apply for additional funding, and more long term sustainable funding.

So that's been a, that's been a great project, not only for the benefit of the clinic and our ability to seek funding in the future, but also building relationships with the students at Tufts, many of which, we're not familiar with. A day engagement center for unhoused, what that might look like, and the services that are offered. So, again, that's been a great partnership, and stay tuned. I'll have more information. So I know you have a full agenda, but I just wanted to give you some of those highlights, and, and I'll be back in in the future.

Alright. Very comprehensive. Thank you very much. It's a long list. Any questions or comments from my colleagues?

I do have a few quick oh, there we go, council Clearing.

Well, I'll just say, I mean, that is a very comprehensive list, and, you know, you definitely came prepared this evening. It sounds, it's just thank you. That's all.

Thanks for

the work for the work of the city.

Alright. Thank you. As far as so you mentioned it sounds like there was a decline in use of the warming center. I'm curious. Is well, maybe I misheard that. I it sounded like there were fewer people this year than last year.

Oh, through the chair. Yeah. Sorry. That was confusing data. I was referring to the actual point in time of unsheltered individuals that were counted, who were not in the warming center.

So what I don't have in front of me is the number of folks last year that were in the warming center at the same January 29. So when we have the more, detailed picture of last year compared to this year, I can come back to you. But I think the the general point there is that there were a little bit fewer folks unsheltered, not in any kind of warming center or shelter this year than last. And we did you know, both years, we had the warming center. Having said that, this year, the warming center has a little bit larger capacity than last year's.

So I think if we kind of add those numbers together, we'll see roughly the same, maybe a little little bit less. But, again, I'll come back to you when we can look at apples to apples with that data.

Okay. And I'd be curious too, if if we can come back to it later or if you know now. Have you seen a increase or decrease in homelessness in general in Somerville?

Again, the only indicator we have is that 12 unsheltered compared to 26 unsheltered last year. Again, this winter was very, very cold, and, you know, so that may have impacted those numbers a little bit too, the the January nights. I think what we are hearing from our partner agencies in the Somerville homeless coalition is is in fact that, no, there isn't a huge decrease. Their day engagement center has been very, very busy. Really, all year, this summer, as you all know, there were a lot of folks that were utilizing the center and the resources there.

And then as the winter months, it was a very cold winter, and they had a lot of people in their day engagement center. And the couple of days that there were holidays, public holidays, or the you know, on a the library was closed and, you know, every all the city buildings and everything would

have been

closed, and the Somerville homeless day engagement center was closed. Our emergency management team did a beautiful job pulling together a a day, you know, kind of, warming center or shelter, if you like, at the libraries. With library staff, they were able to find staff to work and keep that open. They had some meals brought in from the Salvation Army. And there were, you know, a lot of people.

We again, we can't know for sure, but but there were, 50 to a 100, an estimate, both of the days we opened, more than normal. So there is clearly a need. I you know, it's hard to say. It's also fluid. We we've seen in the last six months to a year, Somerville homeless coalition would report seeing some newer folks coming into the community that they don't know as well. But there's also a lot of of folks that have been here a long time. So I do know that the warming center has been at capacity and very, very busy all winter.

Alright. And, Kara said the woman's center itself, how how did you think it worked out as a physical location this year?

I mean, I think it worked out really well. I think that there was an extra amount of space. We had a, a bathroom trailer brought in that allows, for ADA accessibility. You know, the building need had some glitches. A toilet broke here and there, things like that, but DPW and other teams were able to respond to that.

I I think, you know, the security team that works with housing families inside, that's gone smoothly. Our the exterior security firm is managed by the emergency manager. And, you know, I think there were a couple instances that were were kind of fed back through the chain, and people looked into and dealt with. I mean, one was a car fire that had nothing to do with anything. It just happened to be on that street.

So, in general, it's I feel it's gone really well. I think, again, it's a lifesaving operation that has fed and helped many people, every night this winter, and it's been a very, very cool winter as you all know.

So

so you think it was a site you might use again?

Yeah. I mean, the site worked. There's nothing that didn't work logistically about the site. So, yeah, fine with me.

Of course, I know no one was protesting it either, so it seems like we found a good location. Councilor Panadei Neufeld?

Yes, mister chair. Through you. Do you know, director, the frequency of how often the warming center was at capacity? Was it, like, 10% of the time? Or I'm sorry. Overcapacity? Like, no longer taking folks in? Was it 50% of the time? Like, could you give us an estimate of how frequently that happened?

Capacity is kind of a tough one because it's more based on the staffing of the vendor than it is the space. There's, you know, there it there's it's a big room. And so there are a number of cots we're allowed to have. Off the top of my head, I think it's 20 something, cots that are set up that are are kind of, you know, for sleeping. That's based on code.

And then in addition to that, you can have overflow. Because it's an emergency shelter, you can have overflow or, you know, sitting standing room. So the capacity is usually limited first by the staffing of housing families. It seems to be most nights that 35 to 37 is kind of the highest it's it's gone, And there's not an easy way for me to tell from the daily reports was the was the limit just that's how many showed up, or was it because, actually, they do say when they're when they're at capacity and closed. So I could we could go back through and give you more.

And at the end of the season, we do an after action, so we'll be reviewing all this data. Off the top of my head from, you know, quickly looking at most of the reports that come in most days, I would say we were at capacity most days, that they reached that mid to high thirties that was capacity for the space.

Yeah. Thank you. I don't have any

other questions.

And a follow-up on that. Did did you have to give any vouchers for hotels as you mentioned?

We did not. We don't have them currently this year. We we, as we said, wrote them into a grant. And I don't think there were any instances. There are several instances in the reports of folks getting vouchers for transportation to another shelter or somewhere else.

But, again, that would be the question for the operators of, did they ever have an instant where they sent someone to an a Malden shelter and they couldn't take them and they ended up eventually in a hotel? That's possible. I know they do have some hotel vouchers separate from their contract with us that they can offer people in the region. So we can certainly ask them that question too.

Alright. Great. In terms of, you mentioned a lot of equipment coming, vending machine and kiosks and things like this. Are these, what we discussed previously for Davis Square?

Through the chair. Yes. So the kiosks, there'll be two that we pilot, and there will be in one in Davis, one in East at the libraries. And then the public health vending machines, again, we're starting with a pilot of two or maybe three. I forget. And, yes, they will be with throughout the city. I think one in East, one in Davis, and I don't know the exact locations. I'm not even sure that they have been completely nutted out. They'll depend on, where they can be placed and all of that. In theory, I mean, I think, ideally, our hope was they would be colocated next to the kiosk or nearby.

Okay. And and what are they again? What do they do?

The public health vending machines are, they look like a vending machine. The the items are discreetly packaged inside. And, again, we can once we have a vendor, we can come and do a presentation. They're very high-tech. They kind of look like an iPad, and they ask for some very basic inform registration information so you get a code.

And then you can program the limits you wanna put on, you know, how many diapers to be dispensed at one time. There's a lot of data that's captured behind the scenes. Once someone has a code, they can use it whenever and access services, and then we can be collecting the data. The the vendor, who leases us the public health vending machines will be able to provide us with a lot of data around what's being utilized the most, when. We imagine some of these items will be seasonal, like sunscreen and, hydration items.

In the winter, we'll be looking for some warming items. You can use it for whatever. So the the next step in this process is to, again, have some focus groups with, folks who are unhoused or persons using drugs or their friends and families to try to better hone in on what is needed, what what folks need in those vending machines. Xylocene test strips, Narcan, menstrual products, like, what what it can be used for really so we'll be you know, we have some ideas about what what we'd like to be in there, but we'll be working with some focus groups to really make sure we've got that right.

Okay. And did you say one, excuse me, one or both of those will be here within a week, you think?

The kiosk the the needle kiosk, the dual kiosk that can accept both individual needles and then the containers of needles, they will be here this week. They they are supposed to arrive this week, and they'll be received directly to DPW somewhere. I don't know where they're receiving them. And then when DPW is ready, they will be able to put them into the ground. I think they have to put a concrete slab down or something like that.

Alright. Great. Council opinion. Thanks,

mister chair. On that, will these, the kiosk and the vending machine be inside the library, so only accessible during open hours or outside?

The idea is they're outside. Okay. So they're accessible all of the time. And, again, part of the part part of the process of this spring and summer will be to do training with the staff at the library so, you know, they know what to do if it breaks or there's a problem or there's questions. And then some communication to the community around what these things are, what they're not, how they work, that kind of thing. So there will be, some campaigns and some information going out about them as well. So we have a few more steps, but we're getting there on the public health vending machine. Yeah.

Mister Chair, through you, who will be responsible for emptying the needle kiosks?

There'll be a contract for that, for the emptying of the kiosk. Yep. And I believe that will sit with HHS, although I'll get back to you for sure. But I imagine that our plan is that it's all folded into that, process, into the service.

Is there is that contract already in place, or or has not been put in place?

I don't think it's in place for the collection of those. We have a contract existing already for our, you know, clinics and things like that. So I'll get back to you for sure as to, you know, ISD has a contract, police. So there are other city departments that have a Stericycle contract, and I just wanna be certain that we are going to be the holder of the maintenance, the emptying contract. And if we are, we will just add it on to probably our existing contract with, one of the large, you know, companies that removes waste. But I'll get back to you for sure.

Yep.

Do you know what the frequency will be or what you expect the frequency will be? Okay.

Don't. Right. We don't.

Okay. Will there be opportunities to provide I mean, I I assume it's through three one one, like, if we're seeing that it's full or you know? Yes. Is that the place to report that it needs emptying?

Exactly.

Okay. Yep.

Yeah. Okay.

Thank you. Thanks, mister chair.

Alright. Thank you. Director, you mentioned the hiring of a prevention director. Is this someone who cares about prevention, or is this another position?

Through the chair. No. This is the director of the prevention unit prevention services. So, if you remember Matt Mitchell who used to work with us, it's it's his role. And then under that, there is also a coordinator role that, will be is, being recruited for at the moment as well. The tobacco control grant is under there a few other, grants that we have in programs.

Okay. I know Matt Mitchell is someone who cares about prevention, so it sounds like someone has taken his position.

That's who we've recently hired, and they will start. Yes. They will start

you hired a replacement for Matt Mitchell.

You got it.

Alright. Thank you. That's all the questions I have. You mentioned opiate money. And just to give you a heads up, I placed an order at the last council meeting about, funds. We don't need to get into it today because I'd like to have a full discussion about it. But maybe next council meeting, if we can talk about any funds that are specifically allocated from either opiate settlements or money that is exclusively for addressing substance abuse. If we could talk about that, at in the future, it'd be great to have a breakdown of that.

Sure. Sounds good.

That's all I have. Any other questions or comments from the council? Alright. Thank you very much. Thank you for all the hard work.

Thanks for having me. Have a good night.

You too. So I think director Singh wanted to take item number two. Well, I guess, back to the regular order. Mister Clerk, if you could read item two.

How are you doing two? It is an order that the director of health and human services and the chief of police consider installing emergency call boxes in key city locations, including Davis Square.

Alright. Director Singh, do you have an update on this?

To the chat. Yes. I do. And apologies for not being on camera. I just wanted to quickly give an update and say that, we are looking into this.

There are various departments that are working internally, health and human services, emergency management, fire, our police department, DPW, and IT. We're all working internally to lay out some next steps in order to be able to first understand what technology we need in order to have a blue box that will interface with our current emergency communication system. So we're we're finalizing the details of what specifications we'll need, and then we'll finalize a scope for the procurement process and identify a vendor to move forward with procuring this technology for installation. We are looking at a variety of locations throughout the city, but we'll, of course, pilot it first in at a particular location in Davis. So we're looking into it, and and we're working through the next steps and hoping to come back to this committee with updates.

I also wanted to just flag that this is a request not just from residents who are concerned about public safety, but also clients that are being served by our nonprofit such as some of the homeless coalition. So we're excited that we'll be able to implement this. And like I said, looking forward to coming back to this committee with an update soon.

Alright. Any questions or comments? Councilman, and you found this up. There you are.

Sorry. Don't get to my unmute. Doc director mister chair, for you, the director, saying, can you be more specific than soon? Like, what how soon? I'm I'm just sort of curious what what you think the timing is around this.

Thank you for that question. And, also, thank you for sponsoring this item and having this discussion. I don't have a concrete timeline for you right now. As I mentioned, we're still in the sort of initial phases of finalizing the the technology that we need in order to have a scope ready for the procurement process. But as soon as we sort of, advance through some of these initial steps, I'll have a better sense of the timeline, and I'll I'll be sure to come back to this committee with an update on that.

Okay. Mister chair, can we keep this then in committee so we can get an update in a couple months on this?

Sure. Okay. I'm clerk mister clerk too. If I wasn't clear, the item number seven will leave in committee as well, the homelessness item. Councilor Klingon?

I'm sorry. Thank you, mister Cheah. I so I'm sorry because I hopefully, I didn't zone out. I missed this. But did director Singh say wait. Like, what are they using, sorry, prime data to pick locations? Did you mention the how you were gonna come up with potential locations, or did you did you not mention that?

Correct. My understanding is that we are utilizing data shared by our emergency services departments fired in a police department in order to identify a location locations throughout the city. So I don't have more details on that, but, yes, we're looking at data from our emergency departments to identify the location.

Okay. And three, miss Chad. Now I just comment. I would imagine that, you know, in that list, factoring in would be sort of, you know, most vulnerable populate, like, school areas, schools, or senior complexes, and so on. But, yeah, looking forward to this discussion further and hope to see these hit the streets at some point. That's all, mister chair.

Alright. I see no further discussion. We'll leave this one in committee. Next item.

Item number three, that the commissioner of public works work with the relevant city staff to plan citywide community cleanup days in each ward.

Alright. Item after my own heart. I see councilor Klingon, but maybe I'll give director Singh an opportunity to respond first.

Through the chair, thank you for the opportunity. I just wanted to say that we have started having conversations internally with DPW, with Arts Council, mayor's office. I don't have a a complete update on this, just yet, but we've started having conversations internally and, hoping to come back to the committee with an update soon.

Okay. Thank you. Councilor Conan. Thank you, mister chair. Yeah. I mean, this is clearly something that we as a city should be able to get off the ground on our own, but I did just wanna mention each time this comes up, you know, we all, recall the partnership with, local cable company, Comcast Xfinity, who are the major sponsor of our big spring cleanups. So two directors saying in those conversations, has is that part of the conversation, or have have has that come up yet? Or if not, can you bring that back to staff when you do come back with this particular item with information?

Through the chair. I'll be sure to bring that back to staff.

So so through you, miss Chair. So it hasn't been

Through the chair, I I I do not know whether that has been part of the discussion or not. I'm not involved in those discussions, but I will make sure that departments that are working on it are aware of your

Okay. Because miss Cherry, through you yeah. I'm just we're very curious about how we can get them back on board. You know, that was a big big boost, and and it's something that, you know, they can they probably write off or whatever in taxes, but it but something that they were doing that was a good help to us, and it we all win with that one. So hope we can bring them back. Thanks. But if we can't, again, you know, we can still certainly get some cleanups going. Councilor McLaughlin does it regularly with, local org down in East Harbaugh. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Panetta Neufeld.

Thank you, mister chair. It's for you to the director. In previous years, we've done this around Earth Day, which is at the April. Are you optimistic that we'll be able to get the planning done in time to do April 2025, director?

Through the chair. I apologize. I don't know the answer to that question, but I'll be sure to ask the relevant departments and get back to this committee and the councilor on the timing.

Okay.

Director Singh, this is an item that's come up a few times. It seems small, but it is like in my neighborhood, a big deal, where there's just so much trash in the streets. And if I could ask for follow-up on the, like, real detail on the question is what happened? Like, why why did we stop doing this? Did something happen with Comcast? Was there a changeover in staff? I'm curious about what specifically happened. I don't need the answer tonight, but would love to get to bottom of that. I do wanna announce that East Summerville Main Streets will be hosting our spring cleanup on September 26 at 10AM. So if they happen if the whole city is able to do it, that's a good date to pick.

And I do wanna give some recognition to the city's effort for the Civic Day that the mayor initiated, which is, I think, on the third year. That might be another opportunity to get people civically engaged to do some cleanups. So that that's all I have, but I am I'm just so curious about what happened there because, like, did the money dry up? Did the staff turnover? Can we just make this happen again? So I I think I'll leave this one in committee just for further discussion. So this item will be in committee, and I believe director Singh asked for more time on item number four and item number five, so we'll leave those in committee. Are there any other items in committee, mister Clark?

Items eight and nine have not been addressed yet.

Okay. Can we can you scroll up so I can read it, please?

I certainly can.

See oh, the Kensington Connector. Please read item number eight.

Item eight. That the director of mobility update the Waterloo City Councilor on the status of the Kensington Connector.

Any updates, director Singh?

Through the chair, our director of mobility, director Rawson submitted a memo that is attached to the agenda and was shared with the committee. But if there are any, questions in response to those memos, I'm happy to take those back to, the director or have him attend a future meeting.

I unfortunately did not read the memo. Could you tell me, is it happening?

Through the chair, I I can I can I can share sorry? I don't I don't know the details of the There's

no memo attached. I'm sorry, mister chair. There's nothing attached.

There's no memo attached? Okay.

Not to the item. Is it sent separately?

It's We

you know, we're we're not I'd chair. Oh, go ahead, mister Clark.

The that memo was attached to the agenda. If you go into a, legislate, you will see it.

Okay. Well, let's, well, I like to keep meetings at two hours, and this is an important one to me. So let's keep this in committee too. I could also follow-up with director Ross directly. He's very aware that this is an item of concern to me. As a matter of fact, why don't we just mark it work complete? I'll read the memo and talk to director Ross. He's more of a flag for him to make sure he's aware that I haven't forgotten about the hinting name connector. So we'll mark this work complete. And then the final item

Item nine, that the chief chief fire engineer and the commissioner of public works discuss with this council how to ensure fire department facilities are well maintained.

Any update here, director?

Through the chair, a a few different departments are involved, with this item. I so I, I was unable to confirm their attendance tonight, but if I can request that this item be kept, in committee for a future meeting, I'll be sure to have the relevant departments, available for discussion.

Okay. We'll keep this in committee, and I I feel like we got a lot done tonight. So no worries about, some of these items. We'll get back to them. Any further items, mister Clark?

That is the full agenda.

Okay. Very good. Council Pinedem Neufeld well, any further discussion from the council, I should ask? Any issues? Seeing no discussion, councilor Pineda Neufeld moves to adjourn. Let's do a roll call on adjournment.

On adjournment, councilor Pineda Neufeld? Yes. Councilor Klingon? Yes. And councilor McLaughlin? Yes. Mister chair, all members have voted to adjourn, and we are adjourned.

Thank you. Good night, everyone.