School Committee - Special Meeting

Alright. Good evening. Is a meeting joint meeting of the of the, city council facilities and maintenance together with the school committees, school building facilities and maintenance committee. My name is Lance Davis. I use hehim pronouns.

It is, what is it, Monday, April 14, pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2020 of the joint committee. The this joint meeting of the two committees, is being conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the summer and or local cable access. Government channels, clerk for Silesi, would you please call the roll for us to establish a quorum?

This is a roll call. Councilor Syed?

Here.

Councilor Wilson?

Present.

Councilor Davis?

Councilor Davis? Again, Peter.

You're cutting out. Yeah. You're cutting out on me too. Councilor Davis?

Here.

Mister chair, all members are present. We have a quorum.

Alright. For the other members of the city council committee, hopefully, you can hear me. I'm going to we're going to go in a brief and start their meeting. I'm going to log out and log back in and prove, my situation. And if not, we'll figure it out from there. So, we will stay in the recess until the school committee, subcommittee has started their meeting.

Thank you, chair Davis. I will try to extend this time just a little bit to allow you to reestablish your connection. I was also having trouble with my connection. So whatever is going around, I hope it ends soon. So we'll establish quorum. I will begin the role. Sarah Phillips.

I'm here.

Laura Petone. I

am here.

And I am here, Leron Petone, for the school committee. That establishes us with quorum, and I will turn the mic back over to Chair Davis if he is available to take it. And if he's not, this is a great opportunity for me to, tell everyone about my summer plans.

Sure. Don, I'm happy to jump in if, if you wanna give

us some

kind of a a secret unless there'd be too many too too bigger crowd there following you around.

It's all yours.

Alright. Very well. Hopefully, this hopefully, the connection works better here. We will call this meeting back to order. Would the clerk please recall the role to

This is a roll call count

Here.

Council?

Present.

Councilor Davis? Here. Mister chair, all members are present. We have a quorum.

Okay. Thank you. So I'm still having some technical problems. I'm gonna leave my video off in hopes that that helps. If, counselors Wilson and Sai are able to keep your video on so that we still, can establish a quorum through, having video on, that would be much appreciated. And I'll turn mine on when we're if and when we're taking any votes. And, hopefully, that'll, that'll do the trick for us. Liaison Radasi, do you have any is there any preferred order you'd like to take up the items that are before us?

Hi, mister Cherry. Yes, please. I was wondering if it'd be possible to take up agenda items three, four, five, six, which are all related to the pool, the Janice Miller's pool altogether, first, if that's possible.

Alright. Seeing no objection on this end. Quick for us, Lacey, given my, connection challenges here, would you please read those items for us?

Make sure I'm having some problems here myself. Item item three, that the director of parks and recreation report on the process by which Ginny Smithers' pool patrons are promptly notified of pool cancellations or schedule changes, including any modifications that could be made to the in light of the March 2025 temporary pool closure. Item four, that the director of parks and recreation and the commission of public works update this council on the continued closure of Ginny Smithers Sanders pool and address the lack of communication with users of the pool. Item five, that the administration report to this council on the cause of the reported chemical imbalance at the Ginnie Smithers pool and the process being used to address the imbalance. And item six, that the administration develop a new process to address ongoing maintenance at the Ginny Smithers Pool and report to this council to describe that process.

Okay. Thank you. So we have, several members of the administration, several directors, including commissioner Latham, director Yerkes, doctor Antonika. I I see your hand up. Do you wanna, start the conversation off and tell us which direction you'd like to go?

Yes. Thank you, mister chair. So just wanted to flag for everyone here for the committee that we submitted a memo that serves as a narrative for the inspectional services department inspections division that was requested at the previous school building facilities and maintenance committee meeting on March 31. So that was submitted. And then we also have here present, as you said, mister chair, director Jirkes, commissioner Lathan, and, director Antonovica.

I think if it's possible, I'd like to start with, some introductory remarks from director Yerkis. And I believe, commissioner Lathen might have a couple comments to make afterwards, and then, happy to take questions. Commissioner Lathens will sorry. Mister Lathans, will answer your question regarding maintenance, processes at the pool. Director Antonivika is here to answer questions about chemical imbalance. And, yep, just wanted to give that brief overview. Thank you.

Okay. Very well. I I appreciate that. And if we could, I I we do have the memo, although, as members of the public wouldn't have seen it. Actually, is that quick first, Lacey, is that memo attached to the agenda anywhere for folks who are watching from home? Do you know?

It is. This is

It's Okay.

I see it. Attached to tonight's agenda.

At the agenda level. Okay.

So it's not not within the items of the agenda. So if you're if folks are watching at home or watching this later, at the agenda of the meeting, there's an attachment up there that says SBFM four fourteen member response to this for this post. You can look at that. Alright. Very well. Liaison Rodazzi, you cut out right when you were saying who wanted to go first. So who whomever it was you said, take it away.

Good evening to the chair. This is Sue Yerkis, parks and recreation director. I'd like to personally apologize to the community and to the residents of Summerville to the residents of Summerville for the inconvenience caused by the closure of Jenny Smithers' pool. The safety of our patrons is my number one priority. I recognize that the pool is an important community resource, and I'm committed to a safe and accessible experience for all.

The attached inspectional services report submitted tonight has highlighted several ways that our department can do better. I take full accountability for actions by parks and recreation staff that contributed to the delayed pool inspection on 02/27/2025. To ensure this does not happen again, I've taken steps to ensure that all directions from inspectors are followed. In coordination with director Anna Nandavica, I have reviewed the lifeguard manual protocols with him and to reinforce proper procedures. During closure, we've taken, the opportunity to retrain the staff and schedule in service trainings as it relates to duties at the pool.

I would like to thank director Anna Naveka and commissioner Lathen for their support and assistance throughout this process. We are all dedicated to reopening this pool and keeping it open while prioritizing the safety of our pool users. In addition to our efforts to safely opening the pool, our department has been working on ways to improve our communication protocols, our and outreach strategies regarding pool closures. We are scheduled to meet with the city's communication department to review potential outreach approaches. Additionally, we will be, meeting with Summerville Public Schools Administration to discuss how we can do better to align our communications with the school's operational needs.

Lastly, I'm committed to making any swimming lessons, that were canceled due to the pool closures. And, again, I thank you for your time.

Great. Thank you. Liz, I would ask you, did you it was or or director Yerkes, are you passing it to, someone else to

to Commissioner Latham? Yes. Commissioner Latham, please.

Alright. Or or to to to swim this lap, I guess, as be more appropriate. Commissioner Latham?

Hi. Commissioner Joe Leithen, our banking committee and chair. Yes. So we've I I needed to correct the record on the memo. I was in error. The dates that we actually decided to drain the pool was April 3, and it was clean on on April 7. The dates in this particular memo was another process where we did some walk throughs for that. So it was my error in communicating those dates. I want to correct that for the record. We we started we we decided after the the time period had passed to really just do a reset for the pool.

And so DPW just, you know, talked with Parks Recreation, and then they were in agreement. And we decided to step in and just drain the pool and have them totally restart. And so we've started draining on the third. We completed on the seventh. Since then, we've done a comprehensive cleaning of the pool and the deck and inside the pool and the the grouts and everything like that.

And so we're hopefully we have also looking to replace some drains in the pool. Once we drain the pool, there's there's some mandatory drains that have to be inspected and kind of renewed every five years, and we wanted to make sure that we were in compliance with those those drains in those pools. So we had ordered new drains. Hopefully, those will be in either today or the next day, and then we could start refilling that pool. And, hopefully, once we refill it, we'll get it back to the chemical proper balance, and then we will hand the keys back to Parks and Recreation, and then we'll go back to just really monitoring the filtration systems and the pumps.

So DPW's role once deep once Parks and Rec steps back in, it's really just to look at the facility and the pumps and the filtration. Will continue to do the daily full management and pool testing that's required, and we kinda go from there. So that's kind of where we are. And, also, they had an outside consultant come in that recommended the the this kind of a pool moss, which basically is like a peat moss that acts as a filter. And so we're going to once we get the chemical balance back to where it should be, we'll be purchasing we have we'll we'll be purchasing those full mouth kind of tea bags that will be placed into the the tank on the deck, and that acts as a filtration system, and those will need to be changed monthly.

It's basically just an additional cleaning system. I use the analogy of, you know, like, using mouthwash after you brush your teeth. It's just an additional bacteria, you know, fighter. It does not replace having to brush your teeth. It is simply an additional method to help with the cleanliness of the fluid. So that's kinda where we're at, and I look forward to getting the pool back open and and handing the keys back to Parks and Recreation.

Okay. Thank you very much, commissioner Leithen. Anyone else in the administration wanna say a few words before we get to questions? I I didn't hear anything. Did I cut are we good?

Mister Charity, we're all set in terms of the opening statements.

Okay. Very good. Thank you. Alright. Questions from the one first, if I could, and then we'll go to councilor Sate. Actually, you know what? Let's let I changed my mind. Councilor Sate, since you had introduced a couple of the items that

You can go ahead, chair. I'm okay with that. Well Okay.

Yeah. Alright. Let let me ask you. It's just a quick question. Mhmm. Because it relates it relates to the memo and I to whomever is appropriate to respond to this. You know, there's I think there one could perhaps do a little reading in between the lines in the memo here, but do we know why this happened? Like, do we have a sense? Was it that that there were and I you know, I don't but let's start with I don't necessarily need to know the specifics. I might.

Right? But but but at at the just first level question, like, do we do we actually know what it was? Setting aside what actually it was, do like, were we able to figure out here's what we were doing wrong or here's what we weren't doing or here's what we thought we were doing right and it turns out it wasn't or here's the piece of equipment that wasn't working? You know, like like like, do we know what happened? To to whomever can respond.

Director Yerkis here. We don't have an exact answer. We're still investigating as to why it happened, but there is no, specific piece of information that we can give you that's the reason why.

Okay. So our our our responses then are based on when this happens for whatever reason, here are the various things that one can do, any number of which might address the thing that it turns out was the reason or not, but, you know, we're we're going on on sort of the the the best practices to address the, you know, the the chemical imbalance, but we don't actually know yet at least what it was. Okay. So thank you for that. I'll stop there and recognize councilor Sahid and then councilor Wilson.

Thank you, through you, chair Davis, to all the directors here. I think it would be helpful for if the director, ISD, and DPW commissioner can tell us what everyone's responsibility is in this scenario. I just wanna understand what is the process when something like that happens. A lot of constituents are asking this, what has going on since February 28, and we just heard from commissioner Lathan that April 3 is when DPW started draining the pool. So just so we understand what the what the current process is.

Do the chair, if I may, take this first?

Yeah.

So, what's the use of the process for aquatics? So for DPWs, we over we just kind of maintain and kind of oversee the filtration systems and the pumps. It's kind of a facility. Parks and Recreation does the actual daily pool management and chemical checks and those kind of daily standings that are required for state regs. ISC can come and talk with their they they will frequently, inspect the pools just like they do other other areas, and they will there's certain state standards that have to date the pools that ISC will check on that.

So when this initially happened, we immediately came in and checked our filters and our pumps, and those were working in proper order. Now I do need to say this this Jenny Smithers pool has always historically been a little quirky, and it's always kind of taken a lot of extra kind of due diligence and kind of some pampering with this pool. So although this particular situation was more extreme, this the pool in the past has had situations where it had to be, you know, really closely monitored and kind of looked at because it's just kind of quirky pool, how this was designed and how things have been happening with that pool. It's never it's never been ever smooth sailing for this Jenny Smithers pool. Now for DBW's part, we also, once we kind of came in recently in the last year or so and took over the pool facility maintenance, it's really important that you do an annual closure of this pool, and that's usually a thirty day closure where we drain the pool.

We check the systems. We check the the grouting. We check the tiles. We check drains and things like that, and we do a a thorough cleaning, a deep clean with the pool. When initially took this pool over, gosh, I wanna say maybe, you know, eight or so years ago, someone can correct me on the time frame.

You know, the at that time, we took it over. It had never been drained before. So at that time, you know, when this was under DP under, you know, eight or so years ago, we started this kind of system. So when I moved over to DPW as commissioner and we took over the facility again, we reinstated that practice of actually closing the school every annually for thirty day for thirty days. Now because we've done this deep cleaning and kind of fair review and and kind of dissecting what's kind of going on now, this is going to this is going to, you know, negate the the need for us to close this pool, you know, mid mid August of this year.

So we've we've done this this part early. The reason why DPW stepped in and decided just to kind of just kind of drain this pool and have it give have a restart, we wanted to give parks and recreation just a fresh start and a fresh opportunity to just start over. Whatever was happening with this chemical imbalance for this extended period of time, that was unusual, and it was really the our best practice thinking to just really just step in and say, let's just do a reset. Let's do our intensive cleaning and draining now and give Parks and Recreation a good good opportunity just just to have a do over. So that's kind of DPW's role and our our continual role moving forward.

Again, Parks and Recreation, they do it the daily pool management, the daily testing, the daily monitoring of the of the the water and the chemical chemical balance, the daily cleaning of the pool. That that is responsibility of Parks and Recreation. Again, we stepped in right now to do a deep clean and do all this to give them a just a do over and a fresh start to help to set them up for success moving forward. I hope that was helpful.

Thank you, commissioner. Yeah. It is helpful to know who's doing what and, what the DPW responsibility, is. So follow-up to that. So why from February 28, this one here from constituents to until DPW started draining the pool, what was happening? Why did it take that long for to make a decision to drain the pool, and who was responsible for what was happening during all those weeks, and what was DPW's responsibility during that time versus parks and recs?

Through the chair. Deep again, DPW, we we checked out the exhaustion systems and pumps immediately. They were found to be in working order. It's really this pool is managed by Parks and Recreation. So, you know, they they had their their shaft and their certified pool operators and pool manager working on a daily basis with this the chemical imbalance.

And we that's not really our role at that time. So we decided to after such a long time had passed, and then really just seemed to be everyone was kind of stumped as far as why this was continuing to happen. We just wanted to step in and support Parks and Recreation and just really say, let's let's just step in and just sustain this pool and start over. So, you know, it's not really DPW's role to intervene in the daily pool management of of their of their pools. So that's kinda how we got got there.

Thank you, commissioner. I think if we can hear from the director then what was happening from February 28 all the way to April 3, and why did it take that long to like, after a couple weeks? I I don't know how these things work, but what I'm hearing is why after two weeks, we didn't make the call to, do something else.

Yes. Through the chair. Yes. We we went through the proper standard procedures of shocking the pool, and that takes, you know, few days to see the results. We shocked it twice, and we we were not getting the results that we were, needing.

And so we brought in, some long term pool operators in our neighboring cities that has been doing this for, umpteen years and just to make sure that we were doing our due diligence and doing our proper, testing. We just we didn't know what we thought maybe we were testing it wrong, and so we went through that process. Turns out we were testing it correctly. The pool, numbers were still off. And so we hired a consultant, and that, took an extra couple days.

But, you know, through these each week, we were trying to troubleshoot and do so it wasn't that we were doing nothing. I promise you we were doing everything we could humanly do to get the pool back to operational, status. And the, expert that we brought in, he teaches all the courses for the pool operators. So, he was the one that was able to advise us about, other other methods of keeping the pool water clean. So

Okay. Through the chair. Thank you, director. So, yeah, what I'm hearing is different things were tried on different weeks, and you were actively working on something. So it sounds like this situation is unusual.

So, therefore, you had to try different things. I will say that during that time, what I'm hearing from pool users, it would have they would have appreciated if the parks and recs was just transparent about what they were doing. Because just saying chemical imbalance for over a month is not is very frustrating. Like, what is happening? Who's doing what?

Like, are we doing anything? So that's the message I'm getting from my constituents, from a lot of parents. We want transparency. I understand things happen, but I think that's a where a lot of the frustration is coming from in terms of the pool management. I do have other questions, related to communication.

In terms of communication, we have all received a lot of emails, a lot of calls. We had office hours with, with the school committee, a member of Laura Pitton here on Ward 5. We have. We've heard about the pool for a really long time. And a lot of people have not been receiving those emails.

They opted in because they ended up receiving the emails. It's just the timing of the email is not great. Receiving an email one day before the class starts, I'm actually one of those people. That's why I knew that I know that I opted into the emails. I received my email on Friday afternoon when my son's class was supposed to start on a Saturday morning.

I, obviously, knew that it was closed, but other people could have made other plans. We have heard from parents also during the office hours that even instructors for the classes did not know that the pool was closed until the very last minute, which I think is very concerning. And other things regarding communication, some, they receive the emails as spam emails. So I recommend checking to make sure the Proxynorex emails are it's on identified. I don't know what the process is, but they shouldn't be receiving those spam emails.

I shook in my notes. And I will say that reading the memo, lot of the answers regarding communication, what I have been hearing the past month about the pool, it really contradicts the memo. So I really, recommend reaching out to the pool users or figuring out somehow who is getting the emails, who's not getting the emails, then they get phone calls because many have not received the email. And people who have received the emails have received them again very last minute. And, so that's that this would be my request.

Question to director, Yerkes is, is there a communications person at Parks and Recs? I know a lot of your staff are part time. Like, who is in charge of sending those emails, through the chair?

So we have a software system, the MyRecs system, and the pool manager sends that out to any of participants that have signed up for swim lessons. He's responsible for sending that out, prior to canceling our, any of our swim lessons. But I think in the very early are we talking about the very early stages, or are we talking further in? Because I wanna make sure that we're addressing it internally.

Oh, for the communicate my last question regarding communication. I think just in general, parks and recs communication to pool users, how does that happen? Is there a main person? Is that part of their job responsibility to do that? Is it multiple people? Yeah. Yeah.

Yes. So it's the, the manager of the the the program. So the program is run by, the aquatics division. So our aquatics staff sends that email out through the MyRec system, and notifying the participants that we've we've had to cancel a class.

So this is a for the chair, is this a team or just this one manager?

So for for the aquatics, it's it's the it's the aquatics division. Yes. It's the pool manager that sends that out.

Okay. So this is a one person Yeah. Responsibility? Yep. Okay.

And yeah. Because I will say that we have had this conversation back in the fall. There's a major communication issue. And I think many people right now are just we just want better communication from parks and recs, especially after this experience. I understand that you've been dealing with a lot of different things, but not knowing what's happening and not and not receiving timely emails in a timely manner is, I think, is not it's it like, for a month is not great.

Absolutely. That would be my request because as we've heard from commissioner at Latham, this is this pool just will will have issues. I think it's unavoidable. So making sure that we're communicating that to poll users is the least we can do. I will stop for now and let my colleagues ask questions. Thank you.

K. Thank you, councilor Syed, councilor Wilson, and then we'll, flip it over to, school committee.

Thanks, mister chair. Like our colleague from Ward 5, I have questions about both the maintenance and and comms aspects of this. I'll start with my maintenance questions. How often is the pool typically tested by ISD in under normal circumstances? And apologies if some of this was mentioned in the memo. I just saw it at the start of the meeting, so I've been trying to read that while paying attention to this. We'll see how much I actually processed of both the conversation here and the memo. But, first question, normal frequency of of testing.

I'm gonna hand this off to Nick. Nick kind of was, like, have the expertise on that.

To the

chair, as far as required testing, all pools get an annual checkup when we relicense them. So and then and then just throughout the the course of the year if we get any complaints or, if there's any other questions that we get. But, typically, we only do an annual inspection, right around the time of relicensing.

Through the chair to director Antenna Vica, was this the annual checkup, or was this spurred by

a complaint? No. This was actually part of issuing our annual license that came out.

Alright. Through the I just asked because reading this through, it seems that, there's an expectation that it'd be scheduled ahead of time. So, that is that is interesting to to know. Expectation on the on the part of the school of the the pool maintenance personnel, the pool manager, to be clear. And I asked this just because, you know, the pool was drained, thoroughly cleaned, acid washed as described by commissioner Lathen just five months earlier by my math.

So that means we had a fresh start on the pool at that time. So that seems like a really short amount of time for things to go so awry with the water quality. Were we are are we I I guess I'm I'm I'm just trying to understand how we could get to this point that quickly. And I saw the the part about the expired chemicals. I guess I'm I'm just really wondering how we could have possibly gotten to this point.

Through the chair to whoever wants to to weigh in on that one.

Through the chair from I was gonna say I'll let director Yerkes respond to that.

Oh, okay. Are we talking specifically about the expired, testing kit?

Through the chair, I mentioned that as one possible explanation. I'm just curious how it can go off the rails so quickly given the fresh start it had just five months earlier.

That, I I don't have a specific answer for. I I will say that we should not have had expired testing kit, but we, replaced that testing kit that same afternoon. So they were it was fresh testing kit. I don't think testing kit was the issue.

Right. I guess, through the chair for for the public who you might be worried that they'd they'd slam in a pool with unsafe levels of chloramines. Are we talking to hear about monochloramine? I guess, director Antanavica, you might be the best one to address this. Monochloramine is the one I'm most familiar with. It's a mild disinfectant that's that's found in our MWRA water supply.

Through the chair, what what we had the total level of was our total chlorine. It's it's all of the combined, chemicals that came through, and that was the level that was, viewed as high. It can come in from several different areas in in the pool level depending on what chemicals have been added, the amount of people that have been in the pool, the amount of filtration and circulation that that the pools had. So that's, what we did and when we saw the the test that came in, it was the total chlorine that was high in that area.

Through the chair, to the director. One the things on back channels I've heard, and I'm curious if you could dispel this or or confirm it for us, is that, MWRA water, the water that comes out of our taps, has higher allowed levels, under under EPA guidance for chloramines than is allowed in pools. True or false?

Through the chair, I have not done any tests on the water that comes out of the taps that go into the pool. I will leave that for somebody that actually has test results.

Through the chair, both DPW and Parks and Rec, you know, did some testing of that water. That's that's that's not unusual. That's always been that case for this pool. Like I said, this pool's always always been a little quirky. The the water that that comes in may be high and tested high, but that's not anything that's unusual or not my interest concern because it's always been that way. It's always had to be particularly managed, and the the chemical imbalance chemical balance of that pool is always needed, you know, needed oversight and supervision. So both Parks and Rec had that concern, and DPW looked into that as well as Parks and Recreation. That is the water that comes in is no different than that's always been the case.

Through the chair to to commissioner Lathen, I I know UV treatment is one of the ways it's been shown to to deal with with chloramines is my understanding. Is it possible we have not seen this crop up at the the dual way pool, for example, just because of the UV light that that pool is subjected to just from the natural sunlight outdoors?

This year, that is correct. So, you know, with this indoor pool and as we're trying new things moving forward in this this pool moss, and there's also, you know, very expensive UV, you know, equipment pieces you can use for certain renewable pools. We're not at that we're not really looking at that right now just because, like I said, this pool has always been quirky. It's always been had to be specialized maintenance for that. But the an outdoor pool is gonna be a little bit different because of the sunlight and those kind those kind of things.

But, again, you know, we have checked the filtrations. We checked the the pumps and the systems. And we're gonna we're gonna try this new kind of peat moss filter thing that we're gonna try to once we get everything back back to where it should be. And, hopefully, again, that that sets Parks and Recreation up for a daily success as they do their, like, full management for testing.

Alright. Through the chair to to commissioner Latham then, assuming this moss approach you know, hopefully, it works. If it does not, is there a world where we start looking at the UV, approach to this? I know it's gonna be really time consuming, with a brand new pool full of water, but, possibly, like, once it's once it's been in there, circling the water through a UV treatment, to try to help with this. Is that something that that we're thinking about at this point?

I think it's always something we can consider, and it's a possibility to see what kind of complete renovation it would take for this type of system. Again, this system has never been needed in the past because of the, what's required for the daily, you know, full maintenance for this for this. But I think anything is possible. I think we're continuing to look at, you know, options and kinda go from there. But we're gonna continue to move forward and give them a stress fresh start and try this moss situation. And then, if something continues to kinda go away, then we have to consider to go back to the table and look at other other suggestions.

Through the chair. I appreciate that. Just a a a couple quick comms questions here. Just so I understand this, there my views, there are four main methods of communication that that Parks and Rec could use. There's the email to Summerville MyRec account holders. There's social media, both Parks and Rec's accounts and the city of Summerville accounts. There's the alert banner on on the Parks and Rec my web MyRec website. And then there's always the option, you know, for a big thing of a of a news article, you know, on the city of central website. Am I am I forgetting one? Are those the main four through the chair to to, director Yurkas?

Yes, sir. Through the chair. Yes, sir. Also posting on the, actual door of the pool.

I will

Yeah. That that that would be sort of a a last resort. I'd prefer if people did not show up to to something expecting to use it, for that unpleasant surprise. I I know back in the fall, there was the comms issue around the cancellation of the fall festival, where it wasn't really widely communicated to the community. I think it was there might have been an email sent out to certain, Parks and Rec, MyRec account holders, and maybe it was posted on certain social media channels, but it wasn't on the cities.

You know, it definitely you know, personally, my my teenager showed up to that expecting it to be happening and and was was disappointed to see it wasn't. I guess we just wanna make absolutely sure that we're doing everything possible to to keep people from showing up at things and being unpleasantly surprised to to find out they're canceled. Comms is hard. Let's let's name that. I just encourage Parks and Rec to develop a a comprehensive comp strategy for any cancellations or changes to scheduled programming or facility opening hours where you're hitting all four of those, well, five if you count the sign on the door, but four before people actually get there just to make sure people are are getting an alert on that. That's all I had, chair.

Okay. Thank you, councilor Wilson. Chair Bhutan, thank you all for your patience. Over to you all for questions.

Thank you, chair Davis, and I appreciate all the questions from, city councilors. Before I turn it over to, doctor Phillips, I just want to thank Director Yerkis for her opening remarks, apologizing to community members, and for director, sorry, Commissioner Lathan and apologies for my butchering of your name, director Antavaneka, some or some permutation of that. Apologies. But I I do wanna just commend you all for the seriousness with which you're taking, both responsibility for and attempting to move forward in what is, you know, a distressing situation where you're trying to fix a problem that should have a logical solution and running into obstacles and, trying your darndest to, come to the solution. So I just wanna name that and share appreciation.

And, also, you know, no matter, you know, this really does affect our community in a significant way, and I appreciate that you're you're listening and wanna reflect that we're hearing that as well. So, I will pass it to Doctor. Phillips before, I jump in the queue myself. Doctor. Phillips.

Thanks, Drew Chair. I have a couple questions, but I'll just ask one right now. I I appreciate all of you coming. I appreciate the memo. I appreciate everything you're doing to try to figure this out, but I just wanna make sure that I understand. We know we have kind of a funky pool. We do not know what caused this chemical imbalance. We do not know if what we have done is going to fix it, although we're hoping it will, and we don't know how to solve it if it happens again. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of that.

The chair. Again, even though this pool has been incredibly I have a history of being a little quirky. And we've never had this sort of extended imbalance. We just don't know really what happened in these last five months that brought it to this point. I think director Yerkis and her team has been trying to figure that out.

We've brought in several consultants. We've brought in our consultants for the pools that work with our filtration system and our pump system. We've done such a thorough job over these last few weeks of draining and cleaning and regrouting and power washing and really changing some things in there. I'm just I'm I'm gonna remain really helpful. I I just again, aquatics is very, very, touchy and sensitive.

We've got to do some really intensive daily due diligence in operating aquatics and pools. I think director York has, can be commended for taking, you know, responsibility and ownership and really trying to really retrain the staff and kind of change some some practices potentially. They really have stepped up and and decided to, you know, really do a deep dive into why they got to this point and how can they improve and do better. And that's, I commend them and her staff for for for being that open and vulnerable for to admitting error and mistakes and kind of going from there. Again, DPW will continue to support them in that effort, and we will continue to brainstorm, should the situation come up.

ISD will be very involved as well, making sure that, you know, the the the testing is is occurring. And if we have any kind of abnormalities from the get go, you know, we will all we'll be all hands on deck, and this will be an intensive team approach from BPW, Parks and Recreation, and ISV to make sure that we are working together to solve this problem. Again, we're gonna this, you know, this this pool moss is a it's a great idea as far as kind of a filtration system. It adds an extra cleaning element to the the pool. All this fails, we'll have to look at some more intensive renovation with changing out a complete system of our filtration and pumps, that that'd be a next next level of assessment we'll need to to to go through.

But I'm gonna I'm gonna remain hopeful. I mean, I think there's no guarantee in life. I'm gonna continue to remain hopeful. This team has worked fairly well together solve this problem and and move forward from here, and we'll kinda have to see what happens. But like I said, director Jokic and her team have are making some monumental changes and and some processes. And, you know, we're gonna we're looking forward to give them an opportunity, to to show that, and we'll support them in that effort.

Doctor. Phillips, did you have a follow-up?

I have a thank you, and it's a new question, so I can be in the queue.

Alright. In that case, Ms. Patone, you're next.

I thank you through you, chair Patton. Thank you for everyone taking the time tonight and talking about something that's obviously been incredibly frustrating for everyone on the team that has been trying their best to get this pool up and running. I think my I appreciate all the questions that my colleagues on the city council and school committee have put forward, and so I don't wanna duplicate. But, the piece that moving forward, I wanna request that the parks and rec coordinate with the district around whatever possible rescheduling we can do for students who missed out on their classes through the school. So I know that probably is tricky, and and I appreciate that.

And I know it could even involve some of the programming being truncated for all the rest of the kids or but I really would appreciate getting a report back. And this can be through the superintendent's office. So if you guys come up with a plan and the superintendent reports back to the school company about how we're going to make sure that our kids get this really important and and very unique educational experience that we do for students, many whom would not get, swim lessons through another avenue. So, again, I have all the same concerns everyone has, and I I just didn't wanna duplicate questions. And I just wanted to add that follow follow-up.

And I look forward to hearing more about the results of the pool analysis as well as any thoughts or plans around communication moving forward. So thank you.

Is there anyone from schools who can take that back to the superintendent?

Yes. I will let, doctor Carmona and Amara, I'll keep them updated, and we'll work with Parks and Rec to come up with a plan.

Thank you. And and for the record, can you state your name and position?

Sure. My name is Danielle Barry, and I am the soon to be facilities transportation and safety coordinator.

Welcome, Ms. Berry.

Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. I will, take this. So, Ms. Patone asked, one of my two questions. So thank you to my colleague. We were having some synergistic thoughts. My question my other question is about what has happened since April 7 when the pool was refilled after draining. Is the pool now open? If not, what are the current activities to reopen the pool to users?

And, I I think I see on the REX website that the the banner states that it's, open, although just just visiting it moment a few moments ago, and it says that swim lessons will resume as of March as of three seven. I'm hoping that's a typo, and it should be four seven. So just looking for some clarity there.

Through the chair. I will have to check that. I don't the banner I know of is that the pool is closed until further notice.

The the myrec somervillema.myrec.com. Maybe I'm on the wrong website, but, it says alert. The Ginny Smithers pool is now open. Small pool is closed. Swim lessons will resume as of three seven.

Okay. We need to make a correction on that. That is an old banner. My apologies. So that that it should be it should be that it's closed until further notice.

Got it. Okay. I appreciate that clarification, director Yerkis. And, you know, I think this underlines the point that councilor Wilson raised that we really do need a kind of a comprehensive communications plan. Communications is hard, and I agree with his sentiment there as evidenced by, you know, all of these moving parts that we have in the various different venues, be it websites, emails.

All of it is important, having a coordinated strategy, I I I agree that that is an important piece of this. We're we're always gonna have difficulty with, facilities. It's just you know, the pool, as we heard, is quirky. And as much as we would love to explore that and figure it out, but how we communicate about it is definitely under our control. So, really appreciate your efforts on that respect. Commissioner Lathen.

Yes. The chair. So I just wanna clarify. The pool is still drained. We it was fully drained as of the seventh. Our next steps is that there's are there certain the Virginia Baker drains that are required by the state that have to be in compliance on all pools. Those pools, we when we when we drained the pool and did our thorough, you know, diagnostics and drainage of inside the pool, we noticed that some of those drains were out of compliance, and we wanna make sure that they're back in compliance, we put water back into that pool. So we immediately have, you know, ordered those replacement cool drains that are necessary and required. We need to be really functional and not cracked. Once those come in, hopefully, we could the the company was gonna get those overnighted.

Hopefully, they'll be in tomorrow with the latest on Wednesday. We will get those immediately installed. Once those are installed, we can start refilling the pool, which will take about three or four days to get the pool back full. And then we have to start adding chemicals to that the pool to get the balance where it needs to be, and then the pool will be will reopen. So that's kind of the set.

So what we've been what we've been doing, these last few weeks has been intense. My staff has been working, you know, eight, nine, ten, twelve hours a day. We've been doing enormous amount of overtime. They had literally, when I tell you literally, been scrubbing on their hands and knees, scrubbing this the inside of this pool when they have done extensive power washing to the decks, to the pools, to everywhere in the facility. This pool looks amazing.

It looks it's like I've never seen this pool be so shiny, before. We have tiles that were tan and not a white. You know? But what I tell you is my VPW custodians and my my crews have been literally working overtime and on weekends on their hands and knees, hand scrubbing the grout and the tiles, making sure that this is gonna be the opportunity for the best part of success when we hand the keys back to Parks and Recreation. So hopefully, the coverage come in tomorrow.

We can get that done. If they come in Wednesday at the latest, we'll get that installed, and then we will get that the water back in and get the chemicals back in the water. And at that point, we'll have ISC come back and and do another review and get a and get cleared to open. At that point, we'll hand the case back to Parks and Recreation.

And director Yerkes?

I I went to the website. You are correct. As of yesterday, however, it was closed, and to to further notice. So I I wanna apologize. I don't know what happened. I work from home today, so I will check with the staff and find out why the ribbon was changed. But it was as of yesterday. It's the ribbon said, closed to until further notice. So I will follow-up with staff and find out what happened there. I apologize.

Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you for the follow-up. And to Commissioner Lathan, thank you, through you to your staff for, the yeoman's work to get this pool in as, pristine a condition as, I'm sure users will be, welcomed to see it, when it when it is finally open. And and I'm glad that you've had this opportunity to to do that.

So no shade on on the good work being done, by DPW. Doctor. Phillips, did you still have another question? Nope. Seeing your head shake. Okay. In that case, Chair Davis, I will turn the mic back to you.

Okay. Thank you, chair Vatan, and doctor Yarkis and doctor Antonovi. You know, I so my inclination on these items is and I'm getting a warning about my connections. Even if if I if you can't hear me. You know, reading through It just came in this afternoon.

So I you know, like councilor Wilson, was trying to get to to to sort of get through it. And, you know, in the inspection report that's attached at the bottom, I mean, it we'll just say that. It it it it really seems to paint a picture. And I don't know if that's just sort of the nature of inspection reports. I don't read these a lot, so I you know, I'll I'll acknowledge that it's, you know, it's not a format that I'm familiar with in in my, you know, professional expertise.

But just as a a member of the public, I I read this and and it raises my eyebrows. And so, my my question or or comment is is really to to liaison Raddazzi as as the as the representative from intergovernmental affairs, as our liaison to the mayor's office. You know, I I read this, and it it it it strikes me as another scenario where there seems to be a lack of clarity between departments as to who does what, who can do what, who's supposed to be doing what. There's lots of discussion in here about and there's reference about folks that may or may not have been yelling. It's not clear.

But but it certainly paints a picture that that that it wasn't clear who was supposed to do the testing just on this one particular day. That's probably not the biggest issue in the world, but when you have a pool that, you know, has been characterized as being quirky, I think, you know, at the very least, I would hope that we that if we have nothing else locked down, it's it's it's it's coming out of this. It's our process. Right? And so, you know, as it relates to items item five on the agenda, which is, you know, what happened essentially, we've we're told we don't know yet.

So I'd like to keep that in committee because I I'd like to hear when we know to the extent that we do ever figure it out or at least what the sort of final conclusion is, even if it's a conclusion of we think it's one of these three things or whatever. We don't know. But also item number six, which which really goes to the process. You know, we we've had a lot of conversations in the last couple years about resources to help manage different departments together and oversee the the the collaborative work of different departments. And this is not the first example where I'm not seeing that.

And maybe it's all happening behind the scenes, but if you read this report, it certainly doesn't look to me like there's a lot of of good seamless, you know, collaboration, and not for any lack of effort on, you know, any of the directors or any of their staff, to be let me be clear. So I have significant concerns about our ability to manage this pool and any other assets when we we can't even figure out who's supposed to do the the chemical testing, and there seems to at least on paper looks like almost a fight over it. And and maybe, again, may maybe on paper, looks worse than it really was. I don't wanna characterize it. But, you know, doctor or or, liaison Raddazzi, I I'd like to when I'd like to keep this in committee.

I'd like when I I'd like to hear from, the mayor's office on how we are going to clarify the process for managing the pool. I'd like to see a clear, I I assume all of the the the discussion that was in the memo will lead to a, I assume, let's hope, revised pool document structure, something that's actually written on paper or on space, whatever. But, you know, something that's that that anyone can look at and say, here's the process. Here's who does who does what. Here's when they do it.

You know? And here are the steps, at least to some extent. Because I also as like some of my colleagues, I remain confused as to how five months after we drained the pool, we we and reading the report doesn't doesn't really give me a whole lot of confidence that that we at least had a a clear plan for how to manage the pool. And, again, there's a lot of reasons for that. At the end of the day, I think we need the buck has to stop at the three hardworking directors here and I and and liaison office on this at our next meeting or the next time we when that makes sense.

Because that from what we I've heard today and what we have in the memo that, you know, we we will follow one one one note says we will follow all all the, you know, going forward. Were we not following best practices before? Like, I don't know what that means. Right? So, you know, the item on the agenda is a request to develop a new process to address ongoing maintenance at the pool and So it sounds like you're working on that.

Like, you know, this was two weeks ago that we put that item in, so I don't expect you to have a fully, you know, baked new process now. Totally understand. But when we when we when we finish the discussion on this item, I'd like to see that process. I think we owe that to our I I feel like I owe that to my constituents to to to give us give me and give my constituents confidence that we have a plan going forward that will avoid these types of things happening at least to the best of our our ability. And and I'm I I know that that commissioner Leithen, doctor Yerkes, probably doctor Antonovich, you and your staff will will be the ones that do a lot of work towards that, but I wanna see the mayor's office at least come report to this council on it because this is another scenario where I just I feel like having three different departments here with three different roles in the process, I I'm not feeling like we have my sense is we don't have the the the sort of central guidance here.

Something went wrong, and the pool's been shut down now for going on two months. So, that's my request to you, Liaison Rodazi. And I see doctor Yerke's hand, but I'm because I directed that question to Liaison Rodazi, I'd like to go to you first if that's okay, and then director Yerke is happy to hear from you as well.

Thank you, mister chair. Yes. I'm happy to bring that back to the Mayor's Office. I do wanna flag that at the last, committee meeting, we spoke specifically asked that the department heads be present, which is why I have the three department heads in charge of the different aspects of the pool. And as you mentioned throughout the memo, there are, some highlights of what processes are being implemented and what's being adjusted based on what hasn't worked in the past, what didn't work in this situation, and how we can, make sure that everyone's on the same page going forward for following safety pro testing protocols, really making sure that we lock down any discrepancies in those.

But, yes, happy to, bring that back to mayor's office and come back for the next meeting with a more detailed response.

Okay. Thank you. And, yes, absolutely. I'm I'm doctor Yerkes her aunt Tanavika. Thank you for being here. In no in no way do I meant to suggest that I I'm, you know, having the three of you. It's just that reading the memo here in the description, as we heard that there's there's multiple parts here and and, you know, at at the end of the day, you know, we need some coordination here. And I'm I just not I I I don't feel like I'm seeing it. So I I will look forward to to seeing that. And and, you know, Liz and Razzi, it it might not be I think our next meeting is in a couple weeks.

We might I I I we know that that's probably it'd be great if we have a fully fledged maintenance plan for the pool in two weeks. I'm not expect saying I expect that to be the case. I just at the end of this, I wanna be I'd love to see, like, okay. Here's our pool plan. Here's how it's gonna work. Everyone knows the roles. Everyone knows who's supposed to check the the dates on the test kits to make sure that we're always, you know, have have fresh and unexpired materials and whatever. Like, all of that. Right? And because it's just it's just so many and, you know, with a with a finicky pool, let's be, you know, let let's be extra diligent to whatever extent we can. Director Yerkes, you had your hand up for a bit here. I'm happy to.

Yes. Through you. I, just wanted to lend some clarity, for the testing of the pool. So I guess to get a little into it, the, pool manager that we have did not think he was supposed to test the pool, so that was, unclear on his part. And so I apologize.

That was that was an apology I made to Nick, directly because his staff showed up for the inspection, and our staff should have complied. We had somebody that worked in other locations, and, that's not what he did. He normally let the inspectors do the, testing. So that that's not how we operate in Somerville. And so, I just wanted to lend some clarity to, why that happened. So, it won't be happening again.

Okay. Back to you.

Mister chair, could I ask a follow-up question on what we just heard? Through the chair too. Go ahead. Do not wanna get into a personnel review in open session, but I couldn't help but notice, the use of of past tense pronouns or sorry, past tense verbs when describing the, the the the pool manager. Is there a vacancy right now?

My apologies. No. It no.

Thank you for that. Thanks, Sharon.

Okay. Thank you, for that clarification. I I would like to unless there's an objection, I would like to keep items five and six in committee. I my my sense is that we've had a conversation on the communication three and four as we're complete, but, four at least came from from you, council Wilson, you as well.

Mister chair, can I just make before we put this one to bed, since I'm guesting here and I'm probably not gonna be at the next meeting, can I make a quick, quick point?

Go ahead.

Yeah. It it's budget season's gonna be here momentarily. I can't help but think back to the the huge increase in subsidization the city did, for the for this pool in the last budget season. I think a $300,000, increase to the enterprise fund subsidy of the city coffers. So it just you know, obviously, we all know the importance of having this pool open. It's particularly important when the taxpayers are are funding that, increasingly more and more, through the general fund. So I just wanted to make that point. You know, obviously, there's the, you know, the programmatical importance of it, but also the stewardship of of public dollars importance. So just finance chair, gonna finance chair. Sorry.

Okay. Thank you, councilor Wilson. Alright. As to the disposition of items three and four, I suggest that we mark those or complete or place on file whichever is the appropriate disposition unless there's objection. Alright. Seeing none, whichever is the appropriate disposition on three and four and then five and six, I'd like to keep in committee unless there's any objection. Alright. Thank you. Thank you very much to, the directors. I I don't know if I suspect you may be hanging out for a couple of these other discussions, but, to whatever extent you're not, thank you for being here.

Liaison Razzi, is there on that note, is there any preference to take another item up, next so that we conscious of folks' time as, as we can.

Yes. Thank you, mister chair. If possible, just so that I'm mindful of commissioner Latham's time who will be speaking on these items, if we could take up the Kapuano items, for the three one one item.

Okay. So that's items seven and eight. Any Seeing none. I'm get I'm my audio is cutting in and out again on my end. So would the clerk please call or could please read in item seven? We could talk about that first, and then we'll do item eight separately.

Item seven, that the commissioner for public works provide an update and timeline for repairs, the damaged play structures at the Papillano Early Education Center School District.

And, actually, chair Battalion, do want to I remember the the conversation we had that there was between the two around the, the twentieth anniversary. Do I remember that correctly?

Thank you, chair Davis. And and this discussion relates to both items seven and eight for you. Was Yeah.

So so quick for us, Alicia, would you mind reading item eight two? Hopefully, you can hear me came from this our president, We can take up item seven and eight together. And, I'll let you lead this one, and then hopefully, by the time we get through my have gotten back and, we can hear from the the city council committee. Does that sound good?

Yep. That's good for me.

Alright. Would Cook please, read in item eight as well? We'll take those up together.

Item eight, that the commissioner of public works plants natural turf in the muddy green space area at the Papawana or early education center in family fun day celebration for the Papawana's twentieth anniversary.

Okay. Thank you, clerk. Thank you, chair Davis. Just a little bit of background on how these items came to our attention. We met with the, PTAs from across the city, few weeks ago now.

And, one of the requests from the, from the PTA at the Capuano Early Education Center, was related to their upcoming celebration, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their of their school. I reminded them at that meeting of, the prior repairs, but they indicated that there were still still some structures that had not yet been repaired. So, that is what is item seven on the, city council agenda. And, also, wanting to address the muddy area that should be grass, but, I understand there's some drainage issues there. But really wanting there to be, a beautiful space, for the upcoming May third family fun day.

So this is a a time sensitive request and really, wanting some help from our friends over at DPW. So, that is the setup. And, Commissioner Lathan, I will defer to you or, anyone else who would like to speak on this matter.

Yes. To the chair. Regarding item number seven, we're just waiting for a car to come in. That that has come in. We plan to get that, repaired this Wednesday. It's gonna be a really easy repair. It should should take maybe thirty minutes to get this fixed and new part put in so that'll be taken care of. Regarding number eight, my team took a look at this area, and so we need to kind of, like, meet with the principal about this area. If we there's always a possibility we can reseed that, but that means there's there's no way that's gonna be reseeded and and grown by May 3. So it's gonna take a a bit for the grass there.

See if we decide to re actually reseed that and do it properly to actually kind of root health in a healthy way. That's gonna take some time. So my team is really just wanting to kind of reach out this week to the principal and kind of, like, look at this area. We were out last Friday. We're kind of we're kind of we're not really sure exactly the space.

We're kind of making the assumption that this is where that muddy area was, but we wouldn't confirm with the principal and then make some decisions from there. There may be some things we can remediate just for optics and how it looks by May 3, but there's no way to actually plant and get that that seed rooted by May 3. But we're gonna meet with the principal and kind of see what some options are, for this area before your family's time today.

K. Thank you, Commissioner Latham, for that. Doctor. Phillips?

Thanks, chair. Through you. Thank you, commissioner Latham. I think the community will be really psyched to have the the playground equipment fixed right away. I think what we heard from the PTA, and I'm sure you will hear from the principal too, is that their primary concern is just having a mud pit on May 3. They don't wanna have a mud pit. It sounds like you're already thinking of ways for them not to have a mud pit that is maybe not solving the root problem, but getting them through May 3 before solving the root problem. So just wanted to add that for your consideration.

K. I have nothing to add. I will, turn it over to Chair Davis to answer the questions on your side.

You all set, Chair Baton?

I am. I was turning it over to you. I'm not sure.

Yeah. Sorry. That that that bit didn't get through. Alright. Thank you. Councilor Wilson.

Yeah. Thanks, chair. Through you to commissioner Lathan, we probably had similar when we saw this. I, you know, I spent a lot of time at Capuano. I won't I won't say more than anyone else here on the Zoom, but maybe.

I'm trying to imagine the areas in question here. There's a lot of of would be grassy areas sort of ringing the the athletic field there. The challenge being, right, those are very popular areas for spectators to stand while watching soccer, and we're currently here in the the very rainy month of April. So I'm imagining the challenge there. You know, I guess the the, you know, question would be, like, do you think sod, if laid, would stand up to spectators standing on them, and what would the impact be, here ahead of May 3 in terms of of people looking to to spectate the soccer happening on the field there?

Through the chair, you know, I have an incredible Brown superintendent, Ben Waldrop, who has incredible cribiculture background. And, I'm really gonna defer to him once we kinda get out there and meet with the principal and see what can be done. The long term fix to have you know, whether it be sod or or seed, it has to root. You know? But we are going to be creative prior to this May 3 event and kinda goes from there.

We are just now opening the fields tomorrow, our natural grass fields. So all of our fields will be heavily used, including our synthetic turf fields, as you know, and our natural grass fields. So, again, we need to have to take a look at that with the principal and be creative for this May 3 event and then kinda go from there. Putting down sod or seed, typically, best practice is that those areas are closed off so they can root. So having spectators, you know, with chairs and standing is not going to have that be successful.

So we need to kind of see what we can do in the interim to avoid those kind of closures or things to root see. Our first priority is trying to mitigate for this May 3 event. And then the our next step will be to see what we can do long term in those areas that are gonna be heavily trampled. And so what's really the best the best route for those areas?

Chair, just a follow-up question on that. Commissioner, I think, came close to answering this, but I just wanna get clarity on this. Three to to commissioner Lathan. Were you to pursue putting down sod, would that preclude it being actually, you know, played on and used at the May 3 event just because of the the time the timeline you mentioned?

Through the chair, if that were to happen, that sod would not be the same sod as we would. It would just be for us for looks because you you won't be able to to root and be sustainable if there if there's people on it and and using it and discretion on that. So, usually, when we lay down sod or seed, we've pulled off that area for extended period of time for a season to grow. But if we were to lay down sod, if if that's the direction that we decide to go in for temper temporarily, it will just merely be for the the looks for the event. There may be other options there may be other options for this event such as, you know, mulch or see something, you know, there's there may be some other options, but whatever we do to get it ready for May 3 will be temporary.

Okay. Thank you, commissioner. Looks like I saw a thumbs up from, councilor Wilson. I think you're all set. Any further discussion on these two items? Alright. Seeing none, echo the and all the folks I've done. I know we'll work hard to make sure that the, the community that in advance. So those two items, are we closing those two out then? See no objection.

Yep. Okay. So that will bring us back two on the agenda, which is 25 dash zero two three three. Commissioner of public works work with relevant city staff to development to develop system school building conditions and proactively address potential concerns on the city council side on this last week. But, I know that the school committee folks weren't, weren't able to participate miscommunication.

So happy to have it on, to defer I do see liaison Raddasi's hand up. Shall we hear from the liaison first? Okay. Liaison Raddasi, what do you have for us on this one?

Thank you, mister chair. Mostly just repeating, what I said at the last meeting, which was that, this is something that's being worked on by our chief administrative officer, and that we had submitted a memo for the last meeting. So happy to carry back any questions that are outstanding from this, but they are working on it.

Okay. Thank you for that, Bob. Since, you folks didn't have a chance to ask follow-up questions last time, if if any care to, and then we'll go from there.

I apologize. Chair Davis, were you releasing the the control over to us? Okay. Thanks. Sorry, guys.

Sorry. Cut out a little bit at the end there. So I'm pleased to see the progress in the coordination between the city and, SPS on this matter. I know it's of deep interest to, our folks and facilities, and will be of great value to, miss Berry, who is here with us today, and I'm sure we'll be making good use of it. I guess my question for the administration is when can we anticipate that the tracking system will be fully ready for use?

Through the chair. Not quite sure what you mean by ready for use. The administration and, SPS administration are working. They meet with DPW on a re a regular basis. Sorry. I didn't look at this before. DPW and IAM to look at outstanding, requests that have come in, and they kinda prioritize that based on, this tool. So they're already kinda using this tool. I'm not sure if that answers your question.

Thank you, liaison Radasi. I I guess what I'm trying to ask, what what the the process that you described and that was described in the memo is, you know, a meeting process, a process for elevating items. What and it's been a while since I looked at that memo myself, so apologies if it does say something that I'm forgetting at the moment. But my my understanding of the need is for for schools to be able to refer to the tool at any time and identify what the status is of, of an item, whether it has been closed. If it has been closed, why, you know, hopefully, that the item was addressed, or potentially that, you know, we can't address it now for some reason that there's you know?

But it's basically my understanding was that this the desire was for this tracking system to be a kind of a standalone tool that both SPS and Citi can can use, but didn't necessitate necessarily go having meetings to go over every item, that it was a a system for information exchange and, really tracking the status of any item at any given moment.

Through the chair. Yeah. So this is a tool that is being used by, again, administration, DPW, IAM, and SPS administration. SPS administration does have access to this tool. Think the meetings are helpful because it helps them prioritize and because some of the work is done by IAM, some is done by DPW. It's really helping to to work in that coordination. But that tool is functional and being used. They're just, I think they mentioned this in the memo also, but that they're going to continuously be improving it over time to add additional capacity and capabilities.

Okay. Thank you for that clarification, and that is, reassuring to hear. Do my colleagues have any questions about this?

Okay.

In that case, seeing none, I will turn it over to Chair Davis if there's any questions on your side.

Okay. Any further discussion on this item? Alright. This went out as well. Chair Bettone, you satisfied? Yep. Okay. Alright. So we'll mark that complete. And I believe, clerk Vosalisi, that takes us to the end of the agenda other than our approval of the minutes. Is that

That's that's correct.

Sorry, Clark. Can you try that one more time?

It's in the in the German. Coming through now. Apologies

again for the the connection issues here. Alright. So we have one item left. That's 250659. Approval of the minutes of March 31. I'll move for approval of those. Any discussion? Seeing none. Councilor Wilson moves to adjourn. We'll we'll we'll put that, motion on the table, laid on the table. Councilor Wilson moves to adjourn. Motion to approve the minutes off the table and take up the motion for adjournment. Thank you again, liaison, commissioner, and to everyone from the administration that was here this see no motions. Would the clerk please call the roll?

On approval of the minutes and on adjournment, councilor Syed. Yes. Councilor Wilson?

Yes, please.

Councilor Davis? I think Councilor Davis? Yes. Thank you. And we are.

Alright. Thank you, everyone.

Alright. Thank you. We are adjourned. Have a good night.