Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, welcome to the Winter Town Council meeting for Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. Here in the Harvey hearing room, we are on Zoom. The meeting ID is 82066827964. Passcode is 509355 and the phone number is 309205335. Call the meeting to order a roll call, please.

Council Costigan. Here. Council Tassinari. Here. Council Malah. Here. Council Dimes. Here. Council Romano. Council Reardon.

Here.

Council Fenn.

Here.

Vice President Swope. Here. President LeTerry.

Here. Meeting is open. See the quorum.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We made standing with two citizens over the past few days. One, Bernard Costigan, is a lifelong resident of Winthrop attending St. John's and Winthrop High School. Bernie served as a proud member of the Winterbanks Auxiliary Police for many years, which he felt was a fitting way to give back to the community he loved so much. Bernie reunited with his fellow drummers and missile men, who could be found playing the bass drum, bass drum, for any town events, most notably Memorial Day and Flag Day. As co-worker, he coached Little League softball and was a dedicated commissioner of St. John Church. But it was all about family, faith, and community, and our condolences as well to the Possigan family. We also lost another individual who's, you know, you talk about the Mount Rushmore or different things, and this gentleman was certainly up on that list, Mr. David Hubbard. Many decades of service, he held numerous leadership. roles in the town including town moderator in 25 years from 1981 to 2006. One of his prominent honors was being named town historian in 2015. I know Dave did a lot of things and reading about him is just amazing and I do want to read some of his accomplishments. In addition, Dave was a chairman and secretary of the Winthrop Advisory Committee, president of the Winthrop Hospital, president and secretary of the Winthrop Improvement and Historical Association, and a town meeting member for 42 years. His involvement spanned various organizations, including the Winthrop Industrial Commission, the Town Government Study Committee, co-author of the Town Meeting Members Handbook, Dave also served as the president of the Highland School PTA, treasurer of the Dalrymple School PTA, treasurer of the board of directors of the Winthrop Cottage Park Yacht Club, member of Winthrop High Band Parents Association, and Winthrop Savings Bank trustee. He was also instrumental in organizing the Oceanside Big Band and jazz festivals. He was a proud Eagle Scout, past unit leader for Winthrop, assistant district commissioner for local scouting america council in addition dave was a 32nd degree mason and served as a chapter advisory for the acacia fraternity at bu and the university of new hampshire he was active he was an active Republican Town Committee. He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Republican Convention. In retirement, he devoted himself to documenting and sharing his deep love of local history. He authored several books on the history of Winthrop and published over 900 articles in the Winthrop transcript under the column Winthrop, Then and Now. Dave shared this passion with the community, delivering talks on the history of the town of Winthrop to students at Winthrop Public School System and public alike through the library, the parks, and recreation department. He was a remarkable man. Our condolences go out to the Hubbard family. Please take a moment of silence for these two individuals. Before I get to general information and recommendations, we have an old business item to adopt that has a mitigation plan. And we have a consultant, Martin Hare, from MAPC. And I'd like to have a motion to take that out of order.

Council Costigan?

Yes.

Council Castaneri? Yes. Council Mula? Yes. Council Dimes? Yes. Council Romano? He is raising his hand. Council Reardon? Yes. Council Bent? Yes. Vice President Swope? Yes. President Letary?

The motion is passed, so we end our old business. Town Council vote to adopt as a mitigation plan. Vice President Swope?

you know so yeah we've spent uh several hours on this it's uh it's a long one it's about 220 pages so i've read it thoroughly twice so has mr marino so yes certainly the person the author has done it a lot but it's very interesting to read for those of you who haven't seen it it does demonstrate how serious as problems are unfolding. And what we're going to be able to do now itself, it's really . It's one that we pulled out after 10 years. So now we have to actually act on it. And we have to make it active in our community and do something with it. So thank you very much for your work. Thank you very much for speaking to us. Thank you. And so it is in accordance with the MGL 40, Section 4, or the Charter and the Bylaws of the Town of Winterfield.

Thank you. There's a plan coming out of committee with positive recommendations. It does not require a second. Any further discussion? And I thank the committee, I thank Martin for his work, and our manager as well. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please.

Councilor Costigan. Yes. Councilor Tassinari. Yes. Councilor Malak. Yes. Councilor Dimes. Yes. Councilor Romano. Councilor Finn. Yes. Councilor Reardon. Yes. Vice President Swope. Yes.

general information recommendations, we're happy to have Michael, Sarah, and Steve from Massport to give us a brief presentation.

Mr. President, thank you for inviting us here today. We have a couple ongoing Massport projects. This is the second phase of a runway Sarah Denichuk, she'll talk about the runway closure, and Steve Silprizio will also talk about the noise evasion program. So, Sarah.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I think we're here, what, September or October? So, a lot of these slides will be familiar, but if you want to advance it, I can give you an overview of the 2-7 Safety Area Improvements Project. So this kind of just gives you a visual of where we are working. 27 is circled in green. That is the location of the project. The limits are within the city of Boston, but we're very close to you. We're just glad we're visiting you again this year, just prior to construction starting. Next slide. So the FAA mandate is that Massport bring the runway 27 runway safety area up to the federal safety standards. So the Runway 27 approach end was last enhanced in 1992 with the construction of an inclined safety area. It was mattresses filled with rocks. But newer technologies allow even closer adherence to FAA safety standards while minimizing environmental impacts. So the purpose of the project is to increase safety for aircraft and their passengers in emergency situations by enhancing the end safety area consistent with FAA requirements. So the east end approach of runway 27 does not meet FAA design standards for a runway safety area undershoot or overrun. Runway 9N safety area currently does. So a typical safety area is about 500 by 1,000 feet. The existing safety area at the end of 27 is 500 feet wide with 150 feet along the center line. So a standard overrun is 1,000 feet long, undershoot is So this 2.7 safety area improvements project, which we are in year two, will enhance the safety area consistent with FAA standards. This is a required FAA safety project. We do not extend the runway or change the operational capacity of the runway. No different aircraft. It's really a safety project. So we are constructing a pilot-supported deck. This extends the safety area to a length of 650 feet and a width of 306 feet. By installing an engineered materials arresting system, which I will talk about in a minute, within the footprint, it gives us an equivalent level of safety per FAA standards. We're also constructing emergency access ramps on either side of the deck in the event that our fire rescue staff do need to get into the water. So if you look at the picture, that is runway 33 left at Logan. The gray in the middle is an EMAS. So an EMAS is a safety system get into it you can kind of crush it up on that can slow an aircraft in an overrun situation like if you think a runaway truck ramp these are different they're meant for aircraft each emass is designed for the specific runway fleet use the aircraft fleet using the runway is an approved fa measure for achieving the safety standards and to date massport has four emass total two at logan and two at worcester and this will be our fifth this kind of gives you a where we stand with our environment We went through the Boston Conservation Commission in 2025. Our MEPA review was 21 to 23. MEPA, along the same timeframe, 2022 to 23, we received all our permits between 2023 and 2025 prior to starting construction. We started construction last year in September. I believe it was the day after Labor Day. This year we start August 31st. Labor Day is very late, so we would be finished mid-November. So yes, actually, September 2nd is when we started. We reopened the runway on November 14th. We're starting on August 31st. So I believe that brings us to November 13th, 12th or 13th, if my math is correct. So we will be completely funded in November. One different piece this year is that we are installing a jet glass deflector, which you can kind of see a picture in the lower corner. This will allow for limited use of Runway 27 for Group 3 aircraft, like think 737 or smaller, not taking off over Winthrop, taking off in the other direction. And it's very limited based on wind direction and visibility. It's temporary and will be removed after completion of the project. So nothing to be able to land 27. It's just if we need to be able to depart 27 during certain configurations. I think the last year, just some construction photos from last year. These are the piles being driven in. We want to keep advancing. You can see our silk curtain around it. But, I mean, it's a massive construction project. This kind of happened over two 75-day windows. If you want to go to the next slide. last year into early November. And then the next two slides show what it looked like at the end of construction last year. So partially completed decking will finish the piles and the rest of the concrete infrastructure inward.

And then the EMAS blocks, the concrete, and all the other improvements will take place this year.

So feel free to call in thoughts, concerns for the community, whatever they need. We'll be there to answer questions. Work time and timelines, stop time for construction.

So we started August 31st, same work hours as last year. The noisy work is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. We start at 8 o'clock on Saturdays and 9 a.m. on Sundays. They may be doing some work on the overnight stopping noise, a bridge of two 75-day windows. I don't see that often anywhere. We're also in constant contact.

If there's lights pointing in the wrong direction, if it's too loud, make phone calls.

We do have daily calls every single morning with the construction team, so Michael lets me know if there's issues and we address them right away.

Do you have any questions on this project?

All right. Thanks, Mike. So as Sarah mentioned, we came and gave an update to you guys last year around September. So these first couple of bullet points are kind of repeat. And, you know, we were at, you know, we kind of relaunched in 2020 to 2022 after FAA gave us permission to treat homes that were treated prior to 1993. It opened up eligibility to a lot of homes, especially in winter. So one new part of the program is these HVAC upgrades, which previous phases of the program weren't eligible for HVAC upgrades, which is a huge bonus for homeowners that participate in the program now. And Jones Payne is, who some people might have heard from in Winthrop, they are our prime consultant for the project. So they are organizing a lot of the day-to-day and contact with the outreach with homeowners and things like that. And we launched our initial pilot program. Back in 2024, we started, but we completed construction of that in May of 2025, five homes in Winthrop. We've actually done, I think, three additional homes in Winthrop in this past spring. So currently, we've treated eight homes in Winthrop, and we'll be building off of that as the program goes into full-scale treatment coming up here soon. So we have East Boston pilot starting in the fall. In 2026, East Boston hasn't done the pilot yet, so they're a little bit behind the rest of Winthrop. Winthrop and Revere. And then we have additional homes being treated for Winthrop 26 home package, which should be starting late this year, early 2027. So that's 26 homes that I went through now, I'm going to be tripling that, come here late in the year to treat those homes. So those homes are actually the most severely noise impacted. We have all 26 are within what we call the 70 P&L noise contour, which is the highest noise exposure that we have on our map. So those homes definitely need the treatment. And that's how we're prioritizing homes too, as far as who goes first for the program. It's most severely noise impacted first. So highest will get treated prior to homes that are closer to that 65 number. So there's no real deciding who gets treated first. It's strictly by the numbers and by the modeling effort we do for aviation noise. And we're also in the process of designing a 60-home package. So we'll be doubling our output after that. And actually, we're reaching out to homeowners now, scheduling some acoustical testing, i said those homes will be treated most likely uh later in 2027. um so like i said this program's in full scale now we've kind of hit our numbers and continue to expand and we'll probably level up the 60 number for future phases until we treat all potentially eligible homes so

Is there a way for residents to see if they were to qualify or not qualify based on ?

Yes. So on our website, and it'll be our last slide here with a link to it, you can actually go onto the website, type in your address, and see where you are relative to the contour. If you're within basically this red line, you're potentially eligible for the program. But to be fully eligible, you still need to be treated prior to 1993 or never been treated before. So there's some homes you can see in these maps here. So you can see the parcels are all lit up here. Those are potentially eligible properties. The ones that are white, those are most likely treated after 1993 and are eligible to participate. But all those colored parcels are potentially eligible properties. And these maps are a little busy, but the lines are basically are noise contours. So as you can see, when we came and reached out to Winthrop originally in the 2022 timeframe, we had a very small noise contour due to COVID impacts for 2020. That's that dark blue line. And then you can see in 2021, as operations built up, we continued to do updates to noise exposure map. And you can see now our most recent FAA approved our 2024 noise exposure map, which is that red line. So again, we continue to expand the contours, expand eligibility. And basically, the Point Shirley area from Cottage Ave southward to Maryland Ave is kind of the boundary. So if you're within that zone, potentially you could be eligible. And then the Court Road area to the left there, if you're within that blue line, those purple parcels, you're potentially eligible. So that goes from Court Road to Lorne Road is the contour there. And again, the parcels that aren't lit up are most likely treated after 1993 and aren't eligible. But you can see there's a good number of properties here, 432 potentially eligible properties in Winthrop to date. So a good number of homes that we'll have to test and get through the process.

Do they have no homes in the area, let's say, one street coming over Belle Isle? There is a couple.

Yeah, there's some homes there. It's a very small number. I think we've already reached out to some of those homeowners there, but there is a small chunk, like you said, over by Belle Isle that kind of next to the car wash there that are potentially eligible. But the contour is a little bit smaller in that area as it gets a little further away from the airport. But there's a couple of properties there as well. And that's part of

Thanks for coming.

Sure.

432, that's a lot.

Yep, yep.

So I take it now that you're doing mini splits, I think in some homes is that true?

Right. So if the HVAC components to the home, they don't have a pre-existing forced air system, typically we'll come in with a mini duct split system to give them air conditioning. If they have a pre-existing forced air system, usually we can just add an AC coil and a condenser and get the people AC. So it depends on... Each individual home will have an HVAC option, whichever is best for the homeowner, what they have currently in the home. So each treatment option for each home is going to be different because construction is different. What they have pre-existing in the home is different. So we actually design each home individually, and they get customized treatments.

And when you say 430, does that include the homes that had been previously treated? before, but they are going to be out of compliance.

Right. So the 432 is homes that were mostly treated prior to 1993 with them, had a very high participation rate. So a lot of the homes in our contours were treated before. There's very few that were never treated as part of the program, which they'll be potentially eligible to. But it's definitely a heavily pre-'93 housing stock here that we treated before and are now looking to retreat.

Sure. No, Precinct 3. Councilor, Councilor Romano had his hand raised. Can you?

Can you guys hear me now? Yes, you have. Thank you for coming today. I appreciate the presentation. I just wanted to ask, what's the best way for residents to keep up with the time

Sure. So probably the best option is to call the noise abatement office, Massport noise abatement office, and we can track down and coordinate with the consultant, Jones Payne, about where the property is in the timeline as far as treatment goes. So we're in constant contact with them, meet with them weekly to biweekly to talk about the status of the program, which homes we're looking at. so it's a you know it's a constant a constant process and you know we're constantly uh applying for faa grants to fund the program so uh the program is constantly moving like i said we're finally reaching our uh bigger numbers for treatment packages so um you know people will be hearing from us more regularly as we you know kind of up the home treatment numbers here uh to get the 30 and then 60 in 2027 so uh the program is you know definitely ramping up

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Mato. And just if people cannot see the screen or whatever, that number for the Massport noise abatement is 617-561-3333. Again, 617-561-3333. Councilor Finn. Thank you, Council President. Just a quick question about the HVAC.

Say, let's say 1993, I think you said this would not. say they've got new windows or something, would they still have to wait for HVAC? You know what I mean? Like, how do I say this? Since, you know, they got their stuff done, so you're prioritizing the other ones. But as far as HVAC, would that be different or no?

So you're saying if the home wasn't pre-93 done, would they get...

If it was done, like, let's say the windows are soundproofing in 93, HVAC's a little different, right? Is there a different... waiting list for that wide area?

So in order to be and to get the HVAC upgrades, you'd have to be fully eligible for the program. So you'd still have to be. And when I say pre-93, it's actually the cutoff technically is January 1st, 1993 or later would not be eligible. But, you know, 12-31, 1992 would be eligible. So that was the cutoff that the FAA used for determining eligibility. So the packages are together. So the window door treatments, HVAC, are all included in the treatment package. But you still need to meet those eligibility criteria you know, of being in the contour, pre-93. And we also have to verify via acoustical pre-testing that the home has an interior noise level of 45 decibels or greater. Not to get too technical, but that's the full eligibility criteria. We actually got clarification from the FAA. I know there was a lot of homes that were treated in the time it went through the MWA program back in the 1990s timeframe. And FAA has determined they are potentially eligible as well. So you're not necessarily out if your home was treated under the MWRA Town and Winter Program. They can still potentially receive treatment. So those maps you saw include all those homes, because Point Shirley had a bunch of homes that were treated under that MWRA program that are still considered potentially eligible pending a Kusilville pretesting. Thank you very much. Sure.

Counselor. Yes. Now I'm actually up over by Ingleside Park and I've actually noticed sound levels over by Ingleside Park have steadily increased. I honestly feel and I know it's not up to you how many in total get done because we would love the whole town to be done. The one thing I think that's missing here with all these studies and having pretty much a lifelong experience with sound. We can deaden the sound, but the vibration is still there on the outside of the house. I have not seen any studies done from the vibration of the planes flying over the house. I can tell you, being in Ingleside, my house actually Every flight that was coming by, I could feel it in the house I was living in there. So we can deaden the sound, but there's still vibrations happening to the house on the outside.

Right. And like I said, the Point Shirley area, with that map, we showed that 70 V&L contour, that's the highest noise exposure, Coughlin Park.

damage.

Right, right. So vibrational impacts are tougher to deal with than, as you mentioned, the noise. I will say with these homes in the points earlier in that 70DL contour, they're getting some additional treatment options to lessen, again, it's going to be sound lessening. But they actually treat the exterior walls with thicker drywall in order to, again, alleviate those sound impacts. Vibrational, as you mentioned, is tougher to deal with when it's coming from the ground up, basically, right, and rumbling the structure. So we deal with noise as best we can, and the treatment options do get elevated with the higher noise exposure. But the vibrational impacts are, as you mentioned, more difficult to deal with.

Anybody else? Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We'll be calling you back. Anytime. We appreciate you being here. Thank you. Going to open a public hearing with town council to appropriate $1,100,000 for water meter

The Finance Committee met earlier this evening on this motion. It came up with a favorable recommendation. I will read the motion from July 15th. Submitted by Anthony Marino, Town Manager. I move that the Town Council adopt the following order. The Town Council appropriates a sum of $1,100,000 to pay costs to replace water meters, exercising the town manager to issue bonds or serial notes under the provisions of Massachusetts general law chapter 44 as amended or any other enabling authority and to take any other action relative thereto. The funding details would be received from general bond obligation and be placed in the water meter valve replacement project year three of that project. Director Callahan outlined for us in the committee meeting, $300,000 would be dedicated to new meters, $300,000 to excise valves, $500,000 for water valve replacement. The exercising of the valves and the valve replacement are very important to be able to isolate crates and make repairs when needed. And then we're also trying to avoid those estimated reads that we had an issue with earlier this year. are replacing old meters with new, more accurate meters. Thank you. Does anyone else want to ask?

Director Cala, if you have any input on this. Yeah, no, you're coming in pretty well. Three very important programs, as Councilor Cassaneri spoke to. Meters certainly helps us with revenue, helps us with Valves, my example in the finance committee is like, you know, driving a car, not knowing if your brakes are going to work, right? You want to be able to know that you can isolate your water main brakes. The valve exercising identifies the faulty valves. It identifies, helps us better understand hydraulic issues in the town so we can identify, you know, we have water main improvements, you know, need to be made as well. THREE VERY, VERY IMPORTANT PROGRAMS TO CONTINUE MAKING FOR THAT. THANK YOU.

VICE PRESIDENT SCHWARTZ.

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU. ARE PRIVATE PROPERTIES REQUIRED TO HAVE A SCHEMATIC ON ALL OF THEIR WATER VALVES AND WHATEVER?

There's no requirement. I would strongly recommend having it. You mean like complexes?

Yeah, like complexes.

Absolutely. Again, they're responsible. It's private property. They're going to be responsible for the maintenance of their water mains. They're going to be able to isolate their mains just as well. The longer they go, if they can't isolate a break, that translates into...

A lot of money.

A lot of water loss because of community influence.

So absolutely, it is recommended that they- I don't know if it would be worth reminding the community of that. Just a quick example of what happens when you can't isolate it because they would be responsible for the lost water. And so since I know that that's not true in every- There are certain complexes in town

it well governor's park is one that has a very good uh valve and isolation system um sale harbor as we know when uh we had a break over there that ran for quite a long time because they couldn't isolate and uh i haven't seen any any additional work done since then so hopefully and i take it all new properties with quite absolutely

Anyone from the public history? Anyone else from the council?

Councillor Poston. Just a quick question. Thank you, Town Council President. I take it some of this aids and helps the issue we had in February as far as that valving issue down at the main house at the short beach. Is any of that intertwined into this money?

Certainly, the valve exercising and valve replacement helps anyway. a miscalibrated surge relief valve that allows an excessive pressure spike to go through the system, which caused six simultaneous water majors that we have to deal with. It was now, this valve exercising program and valve depletion program now helps that component, right?

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. And second question is does any of this related to the underrate funds at all?

No, okay.

Thank you This is what kind of width of money that's why we're yeah, this is a general donor, right? Good one.

Thank you Yes, I Can you hear us

Hi, it's Karen Charles speaking too.

My question is for Director Calla. Is any priority being given to those houses that you have been unable to change the water meters over the years?

Yes, so we are certainly trying to go after those older meters, Karen. There are certain properties that

And as I know that in the past, you always said there were always a few that, for one reason or another, they just might allow you to change the meter. That's correct. Thank you.

Anyone else wish to be here? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing. And I'll let the ten in motion. TO TAKE THIS ITEM OUT OF ORDER. SECOND BY COUNCILOR DIMES. ANY DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION? SEEING NONE, ALL THOSE ROLL CALLS WILL INCLUDE.

COUNCILOR COSTIGAN? YES. COUNCILOR TASSONIERI? YES. COUNCILOR MULLAH? YES. COUNCILOR DIMES? YES. COUNCILOR ARMANO? YES. COUNCILOR RIERTON? YES. COUNCILOR FINN? YES. VICE PRESIDENT SPOKE? YES. VICE PRESIDENT LITERI?

YES. MOTION PASS. There's a motion to waive the reading for a second time from Councilor Tassinari. Motion by Councilor Dimes. Second by Councilor Finn. Any discussion on that? Seeing none, roll call, please.

Councilor Costigan? Yes. Councilor Tassinari? Yes. Councilor Malad? Yes. Councilor Dimes? Yes. Councilor Romano? Yes. Councilor Reardon? Yes. Councilor Finn? Yes. Vice President Spoke? Yes. President Letary? Yes.

Motion passed. So, again, there's a motion on the table for the $1.1 million for the water and needed replacements. It does not need a second. It came out of committee with a positive recommendation. Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call.

Councilor Costigan? Yes. Councilor Tassinari?

Yes.

Councilor Malab? Yes. Councilor Dimes? Yes. Councilor Romano? Yes. Councilor Reardon? Yes. Councilor Finn? Yes. Vice President Swope? Yes. President Letary?

Yes. Motion is passed. We have a continued public hearing on the taxi fare And we have been asked by Winter Taxi for their increase, which is rules of the town, as we have them. Anyone wish to be heard on that? John, before you speak, John, we're going to have Winter Taxi speak on their behalf.

Hi, everyone. My name is Sean Cohn, owner of Winter Taxi. Good evening. I sent Ms. Quist some information we've been passing on to the council in regards to the fare increase. We had an increase about two years ago of a dollar. A little disappointing to the employees and the staff at the taxi office and the drivers. We're seeking a $2 increase from... $8 to $10 for local fare. I think it's pretty spelled out in my letter to the town due to the increases. Cost of living, et cetera, fuel. On my behalf, it's more maintenance than anything. Insurance increases, et cetera. Cost of doing business. I speak on behalf of the drivers and my personnel. They are looking for increases. They are not making it currently. We are down three drivers now. We are trying to bring that back due to the cost of operations, basically. The Lyft operation has picked up 1.2 million rides last year in the town of Winthrop. Uber has just did 1.4 million in the town of Winthrop last year. Basically, it has increased because of Uber Eats and other variable things that they do. Not only do they do rides, but they deliver food, et cetera, other things. That also drives them into the town. So not only do they come in for the rides, they come in bringing food, delivery items, things of that nature, which brings more competition into the town. We lost a lot of our airport employees due to the Massport bus that comes in at one, two, three, four, five in the morning. It takes a lot of the airport folks to the airport, which has hurt our mornings with our drives very heavily. We used to do 70 or so rides to the airport, just airport employees. I think we're now down to 10. We do offer a discount for the airport employees. especially if they go in multiple groups. I am aware of most of the flight attendant homes that are here in Winthrop, crash pads if you will. We offer a 10th ride in and out of the airport. We don't have any coming out of the airport anymore because of Uber and Lyft, they have a special program now for all the flight attendants and pilots. That is just part of my knowledge. I'm not aware of exactly what it is at the moment. It's new. Insurance rates are going to increase by 14% privately, 28% commercially in September. That is across the board. That is right here in the town of Winter, 14% for private vehicles, 28% for businesses like myself. That's the biggest increase in 25 years in my industry. I've been in business since 1999. It's the biggest increase ever. We are in the process of purchasing more vehicles to replace some of the older ones. Again, that all costs money to do these things. I think it's... I think, honestly, the dollar was very disheartening to the staff on the last go-around. I think you took away all of the taxi stands in the town of Winthrop. The last time we were here, there was one. And now that the bus lane has come in, you've taken away the only taxi stand in the town and removed it. I've also submitted another letter on a different note for two parking spots dedicated to the taxi stand in front of the office on Rivian Street. We have a lot of seniors that walk to our office on a daily basis from the Golden Drive area, the Overlook and Kennedy Drive that come into our office from the grocery area and wait there to go up to senior homes with their bundles and things like that. And the bus stop across the street, excuse me, and the bus stop across the street. They are very familiar with it. The taxi stand has been there for 70 years, as far back as I can see on any photo that's been taken away now. So we are asking for dedicated parking again across the street in front of our office. The increase is essential to stay in business in town. And I'm here on behalf of all of the staff at Winter Taxi. Denise has a copy of my letter to you folks. I think I'll leave it there. Thank you, Cheryl.

Thank you.

Mr. Morgan.

Hi, John Morgan, Precinct 4. And a Winter Taxi customer. What you just heard from the gentleman said there was a fuel cost involved. They have been for some time. The gentleman also mentioned that his staff are in favor of this increase. Every staff member I've spoken to, it's only going to hurt the company. It's going to hurt the drivers. And I'm totally against it, this increase of $2. As the gentleman also stated, it wasn't a very good idea. Going from $8 to $10 as a senior citizen, if you take the taxi frequently, adds up. And as I stated earlier, the drivers that I spoke to and some of the other staff are this because it's going to hurt the company. It's going to hurt them and their tips. Also, the gentleman mentioned Uber and Lyft. I'm going to switch gears a little bit. Yes, Uber and Lyft have a smartphone and they're more likely to show up because of the limited taxi drive. But when you get an Uber and Lyft, you don't know who you're getting. There is several stories in the news about the incidents. I hope it never happens here, but with the winter taxi drivers, they know their customers. They know their limitations and go above and beyond to help their customers. A taxi increase will only hurt the drivers, mostly the drivers, because it'll take away their tips, which they have to pay for their own fuel. And everyone knows, well, I don't know how much fuel is, because I don't drive, thank goodness. I'd just like to say again, I'm against this fear increase. for those reasons. I hope that you will take my words into consideration and do your due diligence and your best to help everyone in the town of Winthrop who does or does not take the Winthrop taxi. Thank you.

Flight attendant illegal crash pads. Do those equate to an illegal Airbnb? And if so... I never said anything about illegal crash pads. But you have these airport employee crash pads. Do those equate to an illegal Airbnb? And that we have a limit on the amount of Airbnbs we can have in town. Would that affect them?

That's fantastic. Point of order.

It's not part of the public hearing. No, it's not part of the public hearing. It is important information for them to know. My impression with the public hearing is we definitely have to think for it and ask for locations. And I'm sure these are a group of people who have taken part in this day and age at different times. Thank you. Anyone from the Council of Vice Presidents for

Is there a senior citizen discount? There is not. Do you all ever contract with families to take kids to school every single day or anything like that?

We do not. We used to. We don't anymore. Liability business.

Thank you, Mr. President. Is it true that the taxi drivers actually pay for their own... And we pay for everything else.

All maintenance, all insurance, everything that has to do with the vehicle, operations of the vehicle, everything that has to do with the vehicle.

Thank you.

Just one question. I don't take Uber and Lyft that often, but What's the average price in town to take an Uber to a marketplace and back?

So, mass general would be $35. How about locally and here in town? $10. That's $8 at the moment. Town to town is $8. So the price varies. So if you order right now, it'll be about $12. From here to my office, it'll be about $12. And it varies. So they have the opportunity to change their prices at any moment. So I ran some numbers today. It was $11 to go from 65 Revere Street to my office, right to this building. At 4 in the morning, it could be $15. Depending on the time. Friday afternoon, it could be $24. So I ran them all over. I've sent Denise many times different variables. It could be $4 if there's 20 of them in town. If there's none in town, it could be $30. So it depends. So longest distance would be from here to Dare Island would be $29. So... It just depends on where you're going and the time of day that you're going. But again, they can fluctuate at any time and any moment that they want. They have the opportunity to do that. I've come before the council many times, and every time I've come, it's been $1 or $2 on the increment. So over the years, I've been here since 2010 or 2011. I think it's 2011. And in that period of time, when I came here, it was $5. And now I'm $8. I don't think that's what it jumped since 2011. I'm sorry that it's the increases upsetting the folks, but gas is $5 a gallon. You don't go far on a gallon of gas. Now in the Thai community, and I do have hybrids, so it's not as though the drivers are knocking the, they're not doing 30 fares a day anymore. They're doing eight to 12, maybe 15. That's the difference. 12 years ago, they were doing 35 fares a day. With Uber and Lyft now floating around, they are not doing those fares. And that is the problem. That's why the drivers are leaving. Some of the drivers who used to work for us have their own vehicles, and they are poaching the people that have worked with us, and they are using their own vehicles for their lives.

my concern I don't think I don't feel three years which is substantial and it seems unfortunately with technology and such is for having a smaller pool who paid more money basically instead of getting 30 rides so you know the company's still trying to get to the magic number but they haven't lost people pay more to get to that number um and i don't see that changing unfortunately in the future with and i don't know what type of business model we can try to adjust to that, you know, I know Francis won't talk about rides to school and such, but I'm hoping that other people can look at a business model that might help because I do think Basically, the business is being run by a smaller amount of customers. You always want to try to increase your customer base so then you can maintain or reduce your price instead of the other way around. I do think there's crazy fluctuation with Uber and Lyft. Like you said, it could be a $5. I think Mr. Morgan made a great point about the drivers. You know who you're getting with the taxi. You know you're getting somebody who's familiar with the area, who you trust.

And I totally agree with everything he said. On the other side of that, that all costs the window taxi operations, the finances to do all of that through the town. All of the cars are inspected. All of the cars go through a regular inspection. All of the cars are licensed. All of the drivers are inspected. All of the drivers are inspected in Supertown. All of the drivers have PAC licenses in Supertown. All of the Uber drivers that flow through here, none of you know. The drivers are just set up and making $4 on a ride.

Totally understand that again. But my concern is that it's not going to... You're angry. I do also understand, Mr. Morgan, It's a lot easier giving a driver a $10 and say, keep the change. When it's $10, there's no change to give. And that will definitely have an effect on tips. It just will. I understand that. That's unfortunate. I mean, I don't want you to go to $12 to make it $3. I'm saying making that even number is tough. It's almost better to keep it at $9 and say, okay, the percentage might not increase per driver. It's just a tough situation. My concern, again, is just how to grow the customer base because if the customer base doesn't grow and fuel goes up and insurance goes up, you have no option other than to raise the price, and that's just a potential problem. I don't know if you think having additional taxi stands within the town would increase I understand what you're looking for. I'm just trying to get to a point where, you know, we want you to sustain and be sustainable into the future because you help winter residents. And there's that trust factor that's there and we appreciate it. But it also gets to the point where eventually you price yourself up.

And I don't want that to happen. I totally understand that. And that's why I'm staying at the $10 mark and not going higher. Last year, in the town of Winter Park, It's unheard of in my industry for the amount of taxis I have in this town. It's unheard of. In history, I don't think I've ever done that in 10 years on my other side in Riviera. Just because of the construction that's going on here in the town. You can't keep up with it here. finally coming to a conclusion. But now we're going to move on to another sector of the town, another sector of the town. The cows can't keep up with it. If you want me to stay in business, you have to increase the prices. And it has nothing to do with... I mean, I pick up at the grocery market and deliver to the senior citizens' homes. I deliver the food. Every order that goes out of that store is 70, 80 bucks. I'm sorry. I apologize. $10 is the number. can't go down, everyone's making more money. It's just a fact of life.

I'm sorry, President. I have a question. Yes, thank you. I agree with Mr. Obong and President

question why it's $2 now, when historically it seems like they've done $1 increases. I just think $2 at once is a pretty big change. If we do it in a phased increase, it'd be better. So if you have any other ideas, I just think going for $2 now is tough.

I feel for you completely. And in this age that's data driven and technology driven, it's hard for small town businesses to thrive, but I don't think it's going to be a single approach. I think if they said today, $2, $5, you can have your cold hard cash, that's going to be a very short timeframe. So I think, yes, maybe consider using for an increase, but maybe do something with technology. I think the biggest reason why you lose out to Uber and Lyft is because it's easy, it's accessible. You sit right here. Right now, from here to your stand, $10, right? But it's easy to tip, too. Now, that doesn't really help a lot with the elders, but it helps with folks that are renting that are working at the airport. I think, yeah, this is one stop, but you need to think outside the box. Maybe legislation that will take some of the revenues and regulate some of this Uber and Lyft and offset impact to small businesses like yours.

And I can appreciate everything you're saying.

Yeah.

But with all that HAPR rules already, and things like that cost an enormous amount of money to protect your information. So where does that money come from? Do you want me to go to $15 to do all that application work? That's what that costs. I have another business in Roivia, and I know exactly what it costs to do all of that. I'll talk to you.

I know some people that work in that space, and it's more accessible than you think.

And that's lovely.

And I know this interplay doesn't fly in town council meetings, but I just wanted to say out loud, I think that there are solutions to be found in this room, and I don't think it's just the one. No, that's all. Thank you for your time. And I'll talk to you after.

Mr. Morgan, please, and then I can appreciate it.

Again, John Morgan, Precinct 4, New Winthrop Taxi Customers. I just heard so many different prices around town and it blows my mind that if it would have cost $29 to go to Deer Island and $8 as a senior rate at the moment for a winter taxi, what would you pick? Also, the gentleman spoke about the Winter Marketplace and his deliveries. The delivery charge two years ago was $10 plus whatever tip you decided to get. Now it's $14. That's just in the last two years. How could he, how could the gentleman explain that? Now also, again, I'm going to flip a little bit. If you're able to get a delivery from anywhere through Winter Taxi, that's I don't fathom it. And also I didn't mention, because this isn't part of the Winter Taxi, the gentleman owns another company. He has a contract with the state. Many times His other company, if they're short a driver and they need another taxi voucher, they'll take a winter taxi. I'm going to interrupt you right there.

No, excuse me, sir. One organization has nothing to do with the other. You can make a comment after the comment.

That's what I was trying to avoid. But to take his cab off the road to do a taxi voucher, which... At times in the past, I haven't come across it recently, leaves one or two cabs that cover the town. If a cab goes out of town, the wait hasn't been in the past 45 minutes to an hour. How can you explain that by taking your cab off the road and to use it for another company? I like that. And again, if we lose Winter Taxi, it will be an incredibly devastating to the town of Winter. And again, I hope you take my words into consideration and use your best judgment on this decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Vipassi. I know there's a lot to consider when you're making a new business plan, and I think that's what the gentleman has to understand. Times are changing. The app would help. And also recognizing that your clientele is in need of a reduction. I'm a senior citizen now, but I walk around the

I'd like to address your concerns. So without my company in Revere, I wouldn't have taxed it without being in business. Ride-Rite Transportation in Revere has many state contracts and has many state contracts in years. And I've had multiple discussions with Denise about that. My organization in Revere, based on all of the operation here, This would not be in business without that. And that's the end. And I'll say no more forever. That's as simple as it gets. No, Riviera, you certainly know this. This is absolutely a wash. If something happened to me in Riviera, this would go away tomorrow. And no one would come here to do any business. Please believe me. I've been in business a very, very long time. I'm struggling to make it work because I care about the town and I care about the senior citizen. And I've been in the senior citizen business since 1999. And anyone questioning my integrity about it,

I don't know what the number is, but I'm assuming drivers get a percentage of the fee. The drivers do get a percentage of the fee. Is it the same thing? It's 50-50. We're making it down the line. Everybody gets the same percentage. Yes. Like any, like other cities and towns. Same thing.

We do the same thing, yes. We've been in this a long time. I'm doing the same thing. Everyone else did when they were here before. No different. Any other? Yes, sir.

Oh, sorry. Aaron Marcellus, Precinct 5. I'm just going to throw this out here, just listening to all of this. And this is not, it's just an idea, and not for right now anyways. But, like, maybe utilizing the Winthrop Taxi and the ferry, maybe next spring, and some kind of a pilot program. Because every time we say, let's bring more people here to come experience Winthrop, People are like, there's no way for them to get around. Well, how great would it be to have like old school taxi cabs getting you around the small town of Winthrop right outside of Boston where you get to actually relax for the day. Just a thought.

A few years back, I think prior to COVID, as a matter of fact, Winter Tech, he purchased three golf carts for the town of Winter to introduce people coming off the ferry from Quincy to bring them to the golf course. I think Denise said it on that meeting as well. I think we spent $50,000 on golf carts for that program, and we did nothing with it. As a matter of fact, Winter Tech... So we did have two taxi spots down the way. And you know what's in front of it? The bathroom. The outhouse is the bathroom.

I'll leave Foley Precinct. I think we're getting off topic. I just have one question was, why is the town, which doesn't have to be answered obviously here, but why is the town, why is the taxi company asking the town for approval for a fare increase? And my other suggestion was, why aren't seniors getting a reduced fare, which could be purchased through vouchers, and then the town subsidize the $2 difference to make sure that the taxi stays in business? That's a great question.

Disabled. Seniors disabled and low income. On the first question, I think before if you had a tax company, it's the only thing in town. The town is protecting from them monopolizing the town. I guess that's not really a situation. I said that several meetings ago that that could be something that is changed and the tax company you know, whatever. I think it was a safeguard years back. And I had said a couple of weeks ago, I don't know what that safeguard is. And on your other point that, again, we could continue this public hearing and get more information or we could happen it now, but that's not something we could go into right now because there has to be justification on the talent platform. Any other questions?

Questions for me. I asked my question. Do we wish to close the project?

The recording is now closed. It's actually by Councilor Dimes to suspend Council rules and take this agenda item out of order. Second by Councilor Dimes. COUNCIL COSTIGAN?

YES.

COUNCIL TESSONIERI? YES. COUNCIL MALA?

YES.

COUNCIL DIMES? YES. COUNCIL RAMONDO?

IS THIS A MOTION TO TAKE IT OR NOT? CORRECT. CORRECT. YES. YES.

COUNCIL REARDON?

YES.

COUNCIL FINN?

YES.

VICE PRESIDENT SPOKE? YES. VICE PRESIDENT LITERI? YES.

There is a motion that the Town Council vote to increase the taxi fare from the current price of $8 town to town to $10 town to town. Current prices will be as follows. To go to Logan from Winthrop, $28. Exit Logan from Winthrop, $33.50. I assume this is Winthrop to the Seaport, $38 plus the toll. Winthrop to the Heights, $10. Winthrop to Beachmont, $10. Winthrop to Stop and Shop, I assume that's revere, $14. Winthrop to MGH Boston, $35 plus toll. That is the motion that is on the floor. Is there a second to the motion? Second by Council of Dimes. Discussion on the motion. Vice President Swartz.

I've always been concerned about, and since you brought this up before, Secretary, but I'm not sure, given the environment now, that we should be deciding on fairs for rental tax. And given that there's lifts there, a difficult thing for us to try to determine rates and then not provide any other service, essentially. It's all for maybe one dollar. Cassie?

No, I don't disagree with that. I had said that, again, several meetings ago. The lone reason now for us to be doing this is to protect I think Sean made the comment that, and I don't know if I misspoke, but that the rides are down 30%-ish from 30 rides a day to 10-ish or 8-10.

Well, factor on the number of drivers.

That's 60%. That's great. So, I mean, we're setting the bar for a smaller number of residents. My assumption would be, I could be wrong, that those residents are more...

over 40 than under 40.

So my thought is why we're doing it is we're a protector, I guess. But there is a market now. There is a common market, but there are people that don't have the ability to use Uber or Lyft or other technology-driven, you know, type of device to do that. So it would be dramatic, as Morgan said, if the task was not to be around. So I think that's a good point. There's a motion, there's an amendment made by Councilor Armano to change the proposed fare from $10 to $9. Second. Second by Councilor Costigan. Discussion on that amendment. Councilor Tassinati.

Thank you, Councilor President. I understand what Councilor Armano is putting forward. I think it's make a compromise between having a business survive in the town and then also having a minimal effect on its customers who are our constituents. But if our constituents are left without the option of winter taxi, how are they going to get around town by Oberlin? If a $1 increase is not enough to make ends meet, is that a gamble that this council is willing to take?

If I may respond to that, I will say that in the past it seems to me they've done one dollar increases before and I think it'd be better if you just do one dollar at a time and if they want to come back to us in let's say six months

that I'm not against the amendment if I knew it had clarity on how we can go about it, what it would take for us to go about having a discussion and changing the policy that the town council was not responsible for raising fears. And if I knew that that policy could potentially be changed in six months, I would be much more amenable to going to nine and then potentially changing the policy and then with the taxing. does what we actually thinks is best for them. Do we, town managers, do you know the process involved with that potentially?

It's in our ordinance now. It's not a statement. It's not a statement, yeah.

It's in your ordinance. So I know. Is it just a simple, I know it's not in the chart. I just don't know if it's as simple as an ordinance change, which nothing simple in a municipal government. But if it's a three month thing, or if it's a three

I do want to just quickly mention that I know it sounds nice to split the baby in the middle, right? But the cost of car insurance went up exponentially over the last three years. Car insurance alone. I'm not talking about gas prices. Car insurance. I don't know how many vehicles did you say you had, Mr. Cronin, on the road? We have eight vehicles in Winthrop. Eight vehicles to insure commercially. Totally different than personal vehicle. I don't know if the other councils have seen those kinds of increases in their own personal car insurance payments. I don't know how it's tough for everyone to make ends meet right now. And I think the risk, I just think the risk of losing our own taxi service that services went through, which is it's 1.6 square miles. That's kind of a, that's a luxury to even have in town. I think it's too great to the people who are dependent on that service and do not have access.

Thank you, President Oteri. I just want to clarify that the last... Just for clarity, we're still talking about the amendments that we're going to... Yep, I just want to... And it does have to do with that. It has to do with the last increase only being $1. They asked for $2. I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT'S CLEAR IN OUR DECISION MAKING WITH THIS OTHER SPLIT.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. BASICALLY, IN AGREEMENT WITH COUNCILOR TESTIMONY, IT'S A BIG GAMBLE. OVER A DOLLAR, PLENTY OF TAXI FROM A FEW TOWNS. LIKE YOU SAID, WE'RE A SMALL TOWN. TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN THAT. overlook, you know, to the marketplace and stuff like that. And I would just hate to see that service go away over a dollar. So, just wanted to state that.

Councilman Millar.

Just kind of a point on the amendment, where some are vocalizing that let's move forward to a taxing term in their own rates, but then in the same breath, let's point instead of giving them what they're asking. So to me, it's a little confusing to say, yeah, let's move forward and try and eliminate this, but at this point, let's just regulate it.

So I think that's where my mind is divided on this. I think Dr. Romano's point is that we understand there are increases in everyday expenses, fuel and such. We feel that $2.20 increase is tough to take for many seniors who are probably predominantly the customer base that we're looking at. And I think our job is protecting them in this situation, which I think they to get out of the taxi business. And I think the thought is, if it takes X amount of time, if it can be done in a relatively short period of time, this gives some support to the business in that three-month period that they can then decide what's best for them. And it gives some help to the seniors who are seeing a 10% increase instead of a 20% increase. So I think that's where Councilor Romano is coming from on this. Councilor Tessinari? Thank you for It does make a lot of sense when you put it out that way.

I still think though the risk is still there whether because it might not. Let's be totally frank about the speed of government and whether we say three months at the table today probably will be at least six before we even hear it again before. This table after it goes through rules and ordinance, it has public hearing there. I really like the way that Councilor Millar put it out there and said, if we are willing to allow them to make their own decisions on fares and rates, why wouldn't we be willing to give them what they're asking for today in this motion and then let them decide future motion? My chief concern is that we're not serving the seniors and the people who are dependent on winter taxi. If we put winter taxi out of business, I over-regulate.

As long as we still have control over the taxi, we need to do what we think is best to protect our senior citizens mostly. I am for getting benefit, but until that happens, we need to be responsible.

Seeing none, I'll take a roll call on the amendment. Just for clarity, the amendment is to alter the increase from 8 to 10 to 8 to 9.

Council Costigan? Yes. Council Tassinari?

No.

Council Malag?

No.

Council Dimes? No. Council Romano? Yes. Council Reardon?

No.

Council Fenn?

No.

Vice President Swope? No.

I would really like to see, with this increase, a senior citizen discount though, if there's not going to be one.

We're going to vote on this, and if it does get voted through, I think the

taxi company to have that discount. I couldn't agree more. However, this is another situation where we're making financial decisions for a company that we have no idea. If 95% of their customers are senior citizens and we're giving them a 10% break, then they're back to the $9. So we're making financial decisions when we don't have any of the financial data. So that's, yes, I agree, but that goes back to the point that it should be nine instead of ten or whatever. But, again, it's hard to make decisions when we don't know the composition of the personal basis. Councilor, did you have anything else? No, I was just painting my pen, sorry. I'll say the last thing. Councilor Tessinone.

Thank you, Councilor President. I think, I do agree with Councilor Romano that it is our responsibility to protect people who are dependent on with the taxi and not able to access Uber and Lyft for whatever reason. And part of that is making sure that Winthrop's taxi stays around, which is why I will vote in favor of the fare increase, why I was opposed to the $1 amendment.

Any other discussions, amendments, thoughts? Seeing none, let's put it to a vote. Please.

Council Costigan?

No.

Council Tassinieri?

Yes.

Council Malah?

Yes.

Council Dimes? Yes. Council Romano? No. Council Redding?

Yes.

Council Fenn?

Yes.

Vice President Swope? Yes. President Letary?

No. Motion to pass. I would like to make sure that that's on the agenda.

I HAVE ON YOUR PAPERWORK THE MEETING INFORMATION FOR THE NEXT WEEK. IT'S THE 11TH. I WAS WONDERING AND HOPING THAT YOU COULD PUT IT ON THE SIGNAGE THAT WE HAVE FOR ON EACH ENTER OF THE TOWN AND I'M HOPING in Tileson will attend this meeting and get the information that was presented here and ask their questions. And I'm hoping that we find the funding, $4.5 million, to do the job the right way. It has to be done. Find the changes real. We all heard that the water level right where the road is so it has to be fixed and I think mr. Cala but the placing the pump there the pump is a band-aid approach and every time it rains I call this dimes my precinct counselor and say I am nervous and sometimes the weather's with us sometimes the weather is not but I think having the signage here you'll get more people to come to this meeting and Hopefully and and voice their concerns and then hopefully they will push for the money that's needed to finalize this project these projects and There's more projects to be done because climate change is real as you watch the news every day We're burning and flooding all through this country. So we have to be proactive.

Thank you So much

Slash Bearer, Hewitt Precinct 1. Just circling back about the Massport presentation, it's unfortunate that members of the audience didn't get an opportunity to comment or pose questions, even if they could be answered at a later date. It seems that they described a seven-day-per-week schedule for the upcoming enhancements to the runway. Last year, they described that when they came to the meeting that the reason why they were on a seven-day schedule was because Their contractors were behind schedule. Now it seems like it's just going to be a standard operating procedure. My big concern is that pile driving is really maddening. To do it 12 plus hours a day, most days a week, and it all on Sundays. I know it was really, really intrusive. So that's one big concern. The other thing, too, with the noise abatement, they characterized over 400 homes that would potentially fall on the contour. At this current rate, how many hundred, you know, about 100 years we're going to take to get them all addressed. I mean, if we can get them to accelerate that timeline, and if we can understand a little bit, I don't think that the explanation that folks who are interested in being involved and having their houses addressed should call is an effective process. I think this should be something a little bit more proactive with them reaching out to residents. Thanks.

center precinct two and i want to circle back to that passport as well um since the reconfiguration of the runway when the new runway open and then we pay for with louisa baby nothing is for free um The volume has increased greatly in the Pleasant Street, Girdlestone, Tidalston area. There was a jet coming in last night at about 10 o'clock when I had my dog out, and it was a wave off, and it was loud. It was super loud. I was on the phone with Jeffrey Turco earlier in the day, and there was another wave off that I witnessed in the Ace Highway parking lot. These jets coming in are noisy. They're even noisier going out. And since they've had the new configuration, All those jets are that much closer to Winthrop, and I would like to know about their concourse study, when it was done. Was it pre-runway reconfiguration or post-runway configuration? That's what needs to be answered, and they need to come back and answer these questions. Thank you.

Mr. Depp. I'm Howard O'Connor from DBA. I'm looking for transcripts. concerning, you all have a picture of the seawalls that are in Winthrop. There's an article that the council is here and wants to undertake improvements to the wall that starts I mentioned it in the past. It was dismissed as not necessary. Obviously, if you look at it, it's very, very necessary. I have pictures of the wall from the ocean side.

I haven't published those.

Concrete has been washed down to the steel bars, which means it's probably six or eight inches of concrete. City Council and Revere is undertaking a study to find out how they can fix them. I think Mnuchin should look closely at this study that Revere is doing to find out if we can join teams with them, so to speak, and learn about how they want to get the money. And I know it's a long process. So if you don't stop, it might be too late. On any seawall you stop. It should be a small committee, maybe from volunteers or whatever it is, maybe, to study every seawall. If you have any concerns, stop on the point of that seawall down in Greenview. We just talked down there about increasing the height of that wall. The tide's coming in. It would be detrimental to the people down there that have a water porting over here. I think there should be a study done concerning all seawalls, especially this short beach seawall. Follow the city council and read there.

I just want to share some information with the council. This is a personal thermal imaging camera. Game changer, life saver. Okay, apparently we don't have these in Winthrop. Except for the firefighters gear, we use it for search. So during typical destruction fire, as you know, once we go in there, you can't see your own hand in front of your face. You've got to put one hand on the wall, can't leave the wall. Go along the wall with your other hand, on your hands and knees, searching for a victim. It's not a clean search. You're hitting beds with arrows, tiles, and clothes. It takes a long time to go through a room. With this camera, you can stay at the doorway, scan it, and it'll pick up a child under a bed, a baby in a crib, a person unconscious on the floor, instantly. You get in there, get them out. If you scan it and pick up nothing, you go to the next room. Game changer, okay? And also, a lot of fires are electrical. Behind walls and in ceilings. traveling, so you can chase it and knock it down quick. Last January, State Rep Turco called me and said, is there something your firefighters need that you know you don't have the money for? I said, yeah, I need cameras. A lot of the partners don't have these. They're $1,400 a piece. I need $46,000, $50,000. I forgot about the conversation. He called me last month and said, get your $50,000, order your cameras. I just wanted to share that with everybody. Bet you know what I know, that WebTurco has on behalf of public safety. We also got the police $25,000 upgraded to evidence.

Thank you, Council President. Finance Committee met this evening. We discussed the appropriation of the $1.1 million in water meter dollar replacement project in year three. That came up with Bureau of Organization and was passed earlier this evening.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, it was an ordinance met on July 30th at 5 p.m. in the Harvey Room. It started off with a couple of minutes, which we allowed to report on meetings. Public comment policy, I did put that forth to the committee. I was reading up on what, how some committees handle public comment. There was one, there's a few throughout the state that actually follow the policies of other committees. So I put it out to our committee to review it and just have them make a couple of changes to it. comment from Councillor Swope about a parking study that was sent to me. There was also a question on the policy that I did present to the committee, which was about two minutes for committee members to speak, which I did quite fine. And then there was a request from Councillor Swope for more details then there is mr dow who spoke um about the resolution of the council so on the agenda we'll cover with sections one to four for the rules and procedures uh we did not make any additional edits to going to hold off on Section 8 until we actually review President Lothary's public comment and answer Perry's previous public comment, which we're going to ask President Lothary to work through some more ideas for it. A small review for commercial vehicle allowance for small vehicle I did mention that we did submit the parking study. We recommended that. And then we would hold off on the small commercial vehicle. It did state that we actually started a ordinance in the event that we move forward with it that I will be sending out. So the next thing is about the parking study. And then we did cover the committee new reappointment

Thank you vice president for public compensation Terry we as I said we have a meeting on the mitigation plan and this is we did tonight come up with a favorable view on it and That's what we've been spending the last couple of meetings on we did also present to Councilor Cipolletta, our sidewalk and tree proposal, and that's in his hands now, so he's going through that. And also, I did do a draft of a parking proposal, and I sent it to him, and I'll send it to you. I think I sent it to you all.

School Department report, school committee met a week ago yesterday. There was nothing subsidized. There was a very, very brief meeting just to sign warrants. Update on policymaking committees. Board of Appeals has not met. Conservation Commission next meeting is August 5th at 7 o'clock. On the agenda 252, work in a resource area. Same request for one task out for resale harbor request for certificate of clients for revetment repair project. Town manager's report has been circulated. For Tony speaks in the open up for questions I will ask to since one is if we can give us an update on the status of that's working. I think it's good news on the software system for the Airbnbs for us to get a better handle on that.

Sure.

I'll answer the last question first. Diatector Technologies has been contracted. They're in the process of finalizing the letter that will go out to all the, like I said, they have the algorithm and software that will be able to identify all the Airbnbs, illegal or not, in town. And then we'll send out the letter to all the ones that are listed online, whether it's Craigslist, Airbnb, VRBO, wherever, and we'll hit all those people and let them know about our new Airbnb rules, and they have to come in and get a license, so that will stop that ball rolling. That'll happen in the next two weeks or so. With regard to the, we're putting the RFP together to put it out. I've contacted a few companies, and I've also taken a look at some recent parking study RFPs that were put out by Andover, Littleton, other towns, just to pick and choose, see what we want to put in there, but that's all getting drafted. It hasn't hit the street yet, but it will shortly. I also hit on there in the town manager report, we had our bonding call with S&P today. We're going out for the additional $25 million for the fire station and then a couple of million for some water projects. We had a good call with S&P. They're very happy with the progress Bluetooth's made and strong financial footing, so I don't anticipate any issues with maintaining our AA plus rating. That was increased a few years ago. And also we talked about, you know, that's the second highest rating they have, you know, AAA is the next one. You know, some of the things that keep us back from getting to AAA in town is, you know, some of our pension liabilities, OPEB really, pension we're pretty good on, but OPEB, the other personnel employee benefits, you know, for retirees and things like that, that is a pretty high number for Winthrop. And also the median income is a little lower than some of the other towns that are in AAA. for example, is AAA income. In Ipswich, right around between $155,000 and $160,000 per year. In Winthrop, it averages around between $125,000 and $130,000. So those are some of the things that keep us from getting AAA. So hopefully we can work on our reserve fund balances. We can work on paying down our real payable liability. And then it's a combination of everything, right? So there's a chance maybe down the road that we'll increase that. But they were very happy with us, and I anticipate a We've got to keep our bond rating and be able to go out in the street to bond that money. I'll certainly open it in the other direction.

Before I open it and direct the council, I'd just like to thank you again for your history. It's up and going pretty much, and I know we've had some weather issues that has prevented Stripe being funded.

Yeah, they're actively rescheduling.

I would get a permanent schedule to tell me and hopefully continue. I don't believe it's going to take more than a night or two to complete. Once they get set up, they move pretty quickly.

Thank you.

Questions? Vice President, sir.

How long will the parking study take, do you think?

I don't even want to guess. It's been a while since I've done one. When we did the sidewalk study a few years ago, that took them four or five months. They've got to collect all the data, do analysis, drive in on the streets, do a lot of Google map analysis, things like that. So I would guess probably that time frame once we contract with the company. Once I get a price to the council, we identify funds, and we contract with somebody to do that.

There's a lot of data we probably could collect.

Oh, yeah, they'll ask us for that and we'll supply it, but then they'll want to do some of their own data gathering. But, yeah, usually. I'm just guessing. I mean, maybe they'll do it quicker, but I just wanted to say how long the sidewalk study took. VERY BUSY, AND WE'RE GETTING EVERYTHING DONE. THANK YOU TO COUNCIL SWOPE AND THE TEAM. THAT WAS A LONG PROCESS, BUT I THINK WE ENDED UP WITH A BETTER PRODUCT AT THE END, SO I'M HAPPY WITH IT. SO THANK YOU FOR THE VOTE TONIGHT. THANK YOU.

THE OLD BUSINESS FIRST TWO ITEMS HAVE BEEN DONE. THIRD ITEM, COUNCIL PRESIDENT REQUESTING A PUBLIC COMMITTEE QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD, WHICH IS NOT SOME LAST CITIZEN COMMITTEE. I WILL BE HAPPY TO ATTEND THIS MEETING. meeting town council discussion deletion subcommittee back to us in a few things going on but have a discussion there before the council would be good in a quick order there were two items that the council That's sent to TSAC. Discuss the one-way, well, do the other one first. Town Council discussed a stop sign. We had asked, Councilor Finn requested that, and to look and discuss a stop sign on Lincoln Street at the corner of Brookfield and Beale in both directions. So there would basically be a three-way stop. Beale is a one-way, going that way, so the stop sign would be there. I was at the meeting TSAC had. Basically, TSAC is recommending revisiting Lincoln and Brookfield in 90 days and having DPW replace the faded no parking here in the corner signs in the hope that that will improve visibility for cars coming off Brookfield. And that was one of the major questions there. We have more cars parking. of Lincoln Street heading up the hill, and they're getting close to the corner, so when you're coming down Brookfield, you really don't have a good line of sight. There's a faded sign. There is a sign, and Director Cala has a firm decision to replace that sign. And there is a sign on the side of Lincoln, on that same side of the street coming down towards Brookfield, there is a sign there also. The other item I requested was a one-way on Court Road. TSAC is recommending Court Road become a one-way from the southwest corner of the intersection of Court and Circuit near 265 Court Road to Pleasant. circuit and Sargent where Court Road becomes Johnson would remain two-way at this time so that the cars coming out the south end of circuit aren't forced back into the base. Basically what they're saying is they're recommending a one-way from the, I would say south West, I would say the top of Court Road where the intersection of Circuit Road is, so there's probably four houses that remain on Court Road after that that goes into Johnson that would not be affected. The one way would come in the direction towards Pleasant Street for a couple of reasons, one being it would keep parking with the right tires to the curb, it would not have DPW needs to change signs from one side of the street to the other, and it seems to be a much better flow. So that has been recommended. The next step for the council would be to have a public hearing, which we will have, and it would require an ordinance change to change the name. There is an ordinance that lists all one-way streets. thank you ordinance amendment use variance this has been sent by us a while back the my understanding is planning board has 65 days to report back to us with the recommendation and have a public hearing They did start their public hearing, but they have not finished it. They continued it. However, they have passed the 65-day mark. We are required to have a public hearing, which we will have at the next meeting. And we can, my impression is, we can vote on it after the public hearing. So this will be voted on at our next meeting. Hopefully, we will have some sort of recommendation from the planning board. In the meantime, if not, we can vote. Treat Ordinance Amendment is currently still with the Planning Board. Small commercial vehicle allowance. Video recordings of committee meetings to be posted. Now, I did talk to Michael Ball a couple times, and I know Denise talked to him. My understanding is everything is up. If there is not something up, please let us know. Because I did go on WCA YouTube, WCAT YouTube, and they had a list, and you could click on it. It's a different committee, and it would come up, the dates and the meetings. Yep.

And then I update them every Thursday.

Nice presentation.

Just one thing, President. It's your... Could we make sure that they do closed caption on WCAT?

Yes. What did he say about closed caption? They started doing it here. They started doing it, right? Yeah. Yeah, they started doing closed caption on our meetings. Okay. And I don't know. He did mention something about closed caption. I will follow up on that. He can do it. But I think he can't do it.

I think it's really important for a lot of people that have hearing loss.

Motion to amend Town Council Wounds as Consular License. Now, looking at the schedule again, we did look at it at the last meeting, and this is a different item. This is something that Vice President has talked to me about many times over the past six months. I was trying to have a roundtable council meeting just for the council together, which we've had twice in the past. it would be better to have it open to the public so we will well this would be to amend the council rules to change our regularly scheduled august 18th meeting to a special meeting with a limited agenda so we could get through these items that we've been discussing tonight and then discuss account a town council strategic plan um basically looking for uh council goals and a strategic plan for the town um i would council to come to the meeting with their thoughts already in their minds. And we could discuss, I hope to have some sort of agenda out for that specific meeting to see how we can roll it out. We're talking about maybe a PowerPoint or maybe just discussion amongst the councilors. This would probably take two meetings. But our manager thinks this is important. I know Vice President Oswald thinks this is important. and um and i think it's a good idea to try to have an open dialogue with the with the citizens here watching us uh to see what individuals thoughts and goals are and their strategic planning for with this future especially uh so vice president i've finished reading the win 2030 plan which is on the website it's on the website and it suggests that

think about what we want to accomplish if we're going to go through this plan. And at least that's a good start.

Yeah, I think it is important to look at that and see what has been done and not done. Well, so do I, well, do I have a motion to put it on the table to suspend council rules for August 13th meeting, make it a special meeting with limited agenda and include a discussion from town councils for teacher plan? Motion by Council of Downer, second by Council of Tassinati. Any discussion?

that um just concerned about the public hearing for the experience of public hearing from the courtroom one way can we include those as the limited agenda items yes that's what we've discussed all right there's still business that we want to make sure all right there's a motion that's been seconded uh roll call please also cost again yes council tass and eric yes that's a lot yes also dimes yes pons romano

Yes. Council Reardon?

Yes.

Council Finn? Yes. Vice President Spohr? Yes. President Letary? Yes.

Motion is passed. Thank you. Public comments? John. Mr. Morgan.

Hi. John Morgan, Precinct 4. I hope you're getting used to my voice by now. I'd just like to comment on the Revere Street project. I'm so glad that it's almost over. And then the line painting, but I was curious to what the crosswalk materials would be. If the thermoplastic, which is the high visibility, which is a blue or green, at any time there's moisture on the road, those become very slippery for walking and for cars. If you ever If you ever come across one of those and the road is wet, you can hear the car tires going over it. It's a pretty chilling sound to me. I know these thermoplastic high-visibility crosswalks have a longer lifespan. They don't have to be painted as the old lines. I just would like to... IT'S PROBABLY ALREADY EDGED IN STONE, BUT IN THE FUTURE, WHEN THESE CROSSWALKS ARE DUE FOR RESURFACING, THAT ANOTHER MATERIAL COULD BE USED. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

DIRECTOR CALL.

YEAH.

REAL QUICK, JUST WANT TO SPEAK TO THE that making Court Road a one-way is certainly the proper thing to do safety-wise. That said, I don't know the full scope of the pocket study. I know TSAC is challenged a lot with trying to make decisions on one-way and two-way roads. I would love to see the one-way, two-way study added to the pocket study. I'm not looking to add cost to the study, but it's Easily 25 to 30% of our roadways in town don't meet the requirements of the two-way road with parking. You need a 10-foot travel lane minimum. So one-way street with parking, you need an eight-foot parking stall. So you need an 18-foot minimum for a one-way street with parking on one side. TWO-WAY TRAVEL, YOU NEED 28 FEET WITH PARKING ON ONE SIDE. YOU NEED 36 FEET IF YOU WANT TO HAVE TWO-WAY TRAVEL WITH PARKING ON BOTH SIDES. SO, AND I'M NOT LOOKING TO, YOU KNOW, TO CHANGE THE TRAFFIC PATTERN IN TOWN, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY ROADWAYS THAT YOU JUST, MANY OF THEM IN THE MAZE AREA WOULD JUST CHANGE TO QUART ROAD. BUT I THINK IT'S CERTAINLY WORTH IDENTIFYING IN A STUDY SO THAT WE KNOW whether or not you want to adopt the policy that TSAC has already adopted to make these decisions. Otherwise, they come to our committee and we really can't even make a recommendation on it because they don't meet the policy that we've established. So I certainly think it's worthwhile adding to your study and just identifying the roads. Let them recommend, you know, if you want to keep the road two-way travel,

I'd like to ask Tom to do that. He's willing to subsidize the additional costs. Honestly, I was always thinking of that. Thank you for saying that.

Tom. Tom DeDarian, precinct three, and your beloved tree warden. But I'm going to say something that's not about trees. Is that okay?

Yeah, I was wondering, the number 300, that's the number 200.

How did I get to that number? I was wondering, what is a public parking space worth? Well, I looked at the average property tax for average homeowner in Winthrop, the average one into the other, and then I multiplied it by the square feet of a public parking space, your average size. And I got the number 300. So that would be a source of revenue for the town. $300 and you have your parking space. And then we could use the $300 to buy trees and And those parking spaces have a great deal of value. So I just want to throw that number out, 300. You can modify that. Now what do we charge? $10 for parking? $5. $5, yeah. Money.

I see that now.

I'd like to just say, Marcy Hamilton, Precinct 2, I'd like to say this meeting has been very calm and moving forward, and I appreciate that. Last meeting I came to, I had to leave because of the decorum that was happening at that time, and I appreciate your respect for each other, the respect for the audience there, your constituents, and I hope moving forward we will have the money that we haven't even whispered about, and that is the state's health. And we need to know that this state needs to help us because we have been falling behind. And I'm sure that we will be falling behind in the school systems. I'm sure that we'll be falling behind in our infrastructure and our strategic plan if we don't become especially after the exemption case was thrown out and I would like you to rethink your views on how you can make this town this community thrive because your children deserve it your elders deserve it and all your taxpayers deserve it so unless we want to be taxed more As a homeowner, as a student, or as anything in our cars or our parking spaces, we need to partner with our state. It is a law, constitutional law. And that's all I have to say. Thank you so much.

I just wanted to just voice, and I know that y'all can't answer me, but the traffic study that was done back in 2021 on the Main Street and Pleasant Street intersection still pointed out a lot of ADA issues and safety issues and still to this day. If you want to cross that street, there's only two buttons to press in the four intersection. There's only two crosswalks for that giant intersection. And luckily, if y'all ever want to take a time, you can sit out there and watch how easy it is for people to cross the street. But you could also go down to the police station and watch it on the vlog camera that we have right there that watches it. So you guys can just all just watch it.

That's it.

read from the minutes two weeks ago. Concerns of Erin Bussellis, who's in five. These are the emails she sent to the town council in reference to procedural disputes, ongoing drama during the evening. What is going to happen? How can this be resolved? To not happen tonight, It's a very personal issue with me, these comments, because a few months ago, I don't know, four or five months ago, I was standing out here by the stairs, leading up to the front of the town hall, and I was accosted by people wielding flashlight in my face. An ongoing case. It's against the law. The law started in California about 30 years ago, the Bain Act, or the Bain Law, I don't know which one it is. That was a mass general law. It's against the law to blind somebody with lighting. Of course, blinded by lighting, you're left unprotected. It's close quarters then. So the ongoing drama that was talked about at the last meeting. How can this be resolved to not happen in nine minutes? These are poor kids, by the way. You can resolve the drama of telling a parent that the other person isn't blinding me. The two women sitting right here in the audience that lined up here with their phones to resolve this matter is for these two people to stay home.

Thank you very much. That was so close. Cynthia.

Cynthia? Can you hear us, Cynthia?

Oh, we're waiting. Cynthia's here. Can I ask the town manager if we, now we just talked about the BBS Street tips project. The next phase of that project potentially would be for

State, but we are doing the engineering work. I think we had $900,000 this year to keep going because we've got to do the engineering work to get to 10% of the project cost, and then once we get that engineering work done, then we'll keep going on it. But that's through with MassDOT, I believe. We're on their list, and then we have to apply to the MassDOT program after that. We're working on it, though, but just keep in mind. And we, when I talked about this, but as we get forward in that progress, one of the largest expenses for the town, excluding the utility work and the engineering work with the easements, you know, we had the ARPA money before that paid for almost $800,000 worth of easements that it'll be a similar amount of money, maybe a little more, close to a million for that stretch of roadway. So we have to think about where we're going to get the funds for that. That was on the town to supply to pay for those temporary and permanent easements for that.

Thank you.

Mr. President, what is the, public meeting will say about aggressively discouraging participation by regular citizens in an open meeting. I'd like the town attorney to investigate that and I'd like to request a detail officer here for the remainder of the meetings while we have that kind of aggressive discouragement of participation.

Cynthia is not.

Cynthia? Yeah, can you hear me now? Yes.

Yes.

Oh, finally. Sorry. Yes, I wanted to make a little announcement that the town...

I'm sorry, Cynthia. Can you just identify yourself and precinct?

Oh, yes. Cynthia Hastings, Precinct 3.

Thank you.

I wanted to let everyone know that the town, the DCR has given the town... at the little beach house of car and mermaid and shore drive and they have inflatable tires or inflated tires and they're very cool they look like a lot of fun actually so i want i don't know if people know about them so i wanted to let everybody on the town council and everybody in the audience know and spread the word

August 11th, 5.30 p.m., there's the public meeting that was discussed earlier on Tiles and Girdlestone and eco-drainage projects. August 22nd to the 27th, early voting. State primary, September 1st, 2026. Location for early voting will be normal business hours in the town hall. August 29th, Deer Island, 12 to 3, Accessible Adventures Commission on Disabilities. I encourage people to attend.