City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening everyone. Welcome to the Worcester City Council meeting. If you can, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner.

oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming And the rocket's red glare The bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

Roll call. Councilor Bergman? Here. Councilor Bilotta? Councilor Economo? Councilor Fezzolo? Here. Councilor King? Councilor Mitra? Here. Councilor Hader? Councillor Rivera? Here. Councillor Rosen? Here. Councillor Toomey? Here. And Mayor Petty?

Here. Okay, we have a couple items to be held. Kate Toomey's holding 13L, which is the DOJ request, and I'm going to hold 23F, which is the Civilian Review Board, and I need a roll call for that. Roll call.

Chairman, is there any kind of discussion to be allowed on that or is it just being out?

I'm going to ask people to maybe wait for the comments for the next meeting, but I can't prevent people from talking. But if you talk at this meeting, you can't talk at the next meeting.

All right, thank you.

Okay, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta?

Yes.

Councilor Economo? Councilor Vizzolo? Yes. Councilor King? Councilor Mitra?

Yes.

Councilor Hader? Yes. And so we're yes, it's a rose and yes, it's a to me yes, I'm a party.

Yes, so we have to the minutes a roll call.

That's a bright man. Yes, that's a lot of yes, that's a condom comes to Brazil low come to King. It's a meter. Yes, I'm sorry to come to a yes, it's a brother. Yes, it's a to me. Yes, I'm a party.

Yes comes to court.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Rule 39, items of public interest at every meeting of the city council on the public participation portion of the agenda. The chair shall recognize any person seeking such recognition for the purpose of addressing the council on any eligible item on the agenda for the meeting both in person and remotely. Any person who wishes to speak on more than one agenda item shall combine their testimony to the microphone in one appearance. And shall speak no more than two minutes for any one speaker, 30 minutes for all speakers. rule 40 petitions on the first occasion any petition appears on the city council agenda the primary petition may address the council for no more than three minutes on the subject of their petition thank you so public participation the person may speak for no more than two minutes on the agenda use your name see residence in the agenda item

Fred Nathan Worcester, item number 13G, the item by Councilor Mitra to get the two winners of the Nobel Prize from UMass Chan to speak to the kids. I think that is a great idea. 13J, WITH ALL THE MONEY THAT'S BEING SPENT IN THE CITY ON SEWERS, WATER FILTRATION THAT WAS DONE YEARS AGO, WE STILL HAVE WATER ISSUES FROM THE DIFFERENT STORM WATER. I WOULD THINK WITH ALL THE MONEY WE SPEND WE CAN GET THIS I WOULD THINK WITH ALL THE MONEY WE SPEND WE CAN GET THIS I WOULD THINK WITH ALL THE MONEY WE SPEND WE CAN GET THIS SOLVED. SOLVED. SOLVED. 13M. 13M. 13M. CSX. CSX. CSX. I WONDER HOW MANY MORE YEARS I WONDER HOW MANY MORE YEARS I WONDER HOW MANY MORE YEARS WE'RE GOING TO HEAR ABOUT CSX. WE'RE GOING TO HEAR ABOUT CSX. WE'RE GOING TO HEAR ABOUT CSX. CSX. CSX. CSX. CSX. CSX. CSX. I THINK IT'S TIME TO UP THE I THINK IT'S TIME TO UP THE I THINK IT'S TIME TO UP THE ANTIE THAT THEY CONTRIBUTE TO ANTIE THAT THEY CONTRIBUTE TO ANTIE THAT THEY CONTRIBUTE AT SOME POINT, WE NEED CSX HELD RESPONSIBLE. I ALWAYS HEAR PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT HOLDING THIS ONE RESPONSIBLE, HOLDING THAT RESPONSIBLE, HOLDING EVERYTHING RESPONSIBLE. THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING. ONE MORE ITEM HERE. OH, YES. 25H. all the things that are going on here in this city, we need to have people accountable. If it's a developer that wants to develop this possible land in Greenwood Street, more information should be known to the people.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, we have one calling user online. David Webb, I'm gonna try to meet the resident now. Can you please state your name and city of residence?

Hear me?

Can you please state your name and city of residence?

Yes, we can hear you.

Are you able to hear me?

Yes.

okay thank you uh david webb city of worcester unfortunately um i just have to go to my backup script so um saying people can't talk at the next meeting if they deal with this one is a gross abuse of power of the chair but if this city cannot handle emergencies or important topics when they matter most and your manager needs to protect cop feelings and cater to their unions but i guess i can address that specific item at another time 23g acknowledging that the so-called quality of life task force isn't actually helping anyone just displacing unhoused people and funneling them to the neighborhood response team so they can be locked up instead of helped i guess i'm in support of exact discussion 23h 23i acknowledging that ice never left lister and the city administration has done nothing to stop it on the same note i think it's worth mentioning that alex maracayo has been known to threaten people with ice to get cooperation during drugs 24f the discrepancy between the department of justice report and how the worcester park sees itself aka why it hasn't done anything about the rapist racers racists and liars on it i'm in support of having a conversation about the discrepancy but it seems like uh other people need to avoid that conversation 136a maybe make sure they're not beating their wives before giving them 60 grand for both that was supposed to be used for road infrastructure that csx train yard really is former counselor carlson's gift that keeps on giving huh Speaking of which, how about we don't keep the Carlson developer family in the redevelopment authority so they can keep paying themselves instead of caring about constituents? And not forget 13L celebrating the city of Worcester with the Department of Justice and avoided accountability without firing any of the rapists, racists, or ensuring all justice were promoted. And of course, 24E, 24D, acknowledging that the city cannot actually look into its own traumatic practices because it doesn't want to stop any of them. The Worcester government is not going to hold itself accountable. It cannot financially afford to and does not want to. So does the city want accountability? Then make it happen. Start reporting cops. Maybe a little less loudly than me when you ask who they serve, who do they protect. But get their badge numbers. Ask them their name and write it down. This council doesn't have the heart or balls to do anything, so do it yourself. Hold the cops accountable. Step up, people. Make your city safer. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, seeing nobody else, we are gonna go to hearings and orders.

Mr. Chairman.

Who's speaking there, I'm sorry.

Mr. Chairman.

Oh, is that Chris? No, Council King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules. For what? It's non-debatable.

Okay, roll call.

Council Bergman?

Yes.

Council Bilotta? Yes. Council Economo, Council Rizzolo? Yes. Council King?

Yes.

Council Mitra?

Yes.

Council Ojeda?

Yes.

Council Rivera?

Yes.

Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey? Council Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty? Yep.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, colleagues, given the horrific events that have taken place today, I appreciate the mayor holding the item that he chose to hold and the other related items. Mr. Chairman, colleagues, I do believe that's important that we pause tonight. Out of respect and in solidarity with everyone impacted, Mr. Chairman, I'm asking that we suspend tonight's meetings. I did not want to interject in the public process, so I waited until it was done. There are moments when our responsibility, Mr. Chairman and colleagues, is not to move forward with business as usual, but to recognize when our community needs space. As a social worker, I know the importance of the space that's needed to grieve, to process, and to come together. tonight our thoughts i know are with those directly impacted their families everyone in the community who is hurting out of respect for them mr chairman i believe the right thing to do is to pause city council and postpone mr chairman that would be my motion to postpone we thought about doing that and we had some items we just wanted to get through That's the motion, Mr. Chairman. Are you saying that there's a couple of items you'd like to do?

Yeah, just the petitions.

So my motion would stand minus the items that you'd like to do. But I do think that tonight is a night of solidarity.

Petitions and the financial items.

That would be my motion, Mr. Chairman, minus those items.

Okay. Mr. Ruckel. Mr. Chairman. Councillor Bergman.

Has anybody from any other department asked us to postpone tonight's meeting? From any city agency, any departments?

No.

And when do we meet next?

September 8th.

So that's three weeks from now. I don't want to be disrespectful in any way. Nobody's asked us to cancel it. We've got a lot of work to do. We don't meet for three weeks. I'm concerned about we either cherry pick and do a few items. It seems to me we should just go through the entire agenda. That's just the way I feel.

Well, most of the items are the council items. I think we can go through the other ones pretty quickly.

Go through council orders too?

No, we can skip those, but the rest of the stuff is going to take like five minutes.

and nobody's asked us to cancel the meeting, so that's why I'm puzzled by it, but all right, thank you.

Okay, so I guess this is a roll call.

Councillor Bergman? No. Councillor Belata?

Yes.

Councillor Economo, Councillor Rizzolo?

No.

Councillor King?

Yes.

Councillor Mitra?

Yes.

Councillor Ojeda, Councillor Rivera? No. Councillor Rosen? Yes. Councillor Toomey? No. Mayor Petty? Yes. So, Mr. Mayor, we need eight votes. We have one, two, three, four, five votes yes. One, two, three, four, and five votes no. I'm sorry, four votes no.

Okay, so let's just go on. So do the petitions, and we'll save the odds for the last anyways. See where we are. Okay, so we have hearings and orders.

The motion is to open the hearing, roll call. Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bellotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Councilor Fezzolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Council Mitra? Yes. Council Ojeda? Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey?

No, yes, sorry.

Mayor Petty? Yes, anybody opposed to this item? Any of these items? Seeing nobody opposed, motions are closed in hearing to adopt a roll call.

Council bergman yes, the water, yes, I'm trying to come to the solo, yes, come to King. Yes, that's a major yes, I'm sorry to come through there. Yes, that's a rose and yes to me. Yes, I'm a pretty yes.

Petitions a to a P. And 8, C. 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,

Council Bergman. Yes. Council Bilotto. Yes. Council Economo. Council Rizzolo. Yes. Council King. Council King.

Yes.

Council Mitra. Yes. Council Ojeda. Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey.

Yes.

And Mayor Petty.

Yes. Okay, petitions 9A to 9Z refer to traffic and parking, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bellotta?

Yes.

Councilor Economo? Yes. Councilor Rizzolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Hayter? Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes.

And Mayor Petty. Yes. 10A to 10R, refer to traffic and parking. And we have 10S to 10T, refer the vets, vets memorial parks. 10U to 10W, study here from September 8th, 2026. And 10X, refer to the city manager. 10Z, refer to the city manager. I'm sorry, 10X. Roll call.

Council Bergman. Yes. Council Bilotta. Yes. Council Economo. Council Rizzolo. Yes. Council King. Yes. Council Mitra? Yes. Council Rueda? Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey? Yes.

Mayor Petty? Yes. So we have anybody here for any petitions? I should have asked that before. Sir, do you have a petition? I'm sorry, go ahead. You should name, see your residence, and the item number.

How you doing? Nathan Hicks, 608 Lincoln Street, 16 Alpha. The planning board for the petition of the Stephen Kerrigan Kennedy Health Center right there. Yep. Stand by a second. I'm losing it. So as the direct abutter to Kennedy Health Center and as a rep of the North Lincoln Street Neighborhood Association, I respectfully ask you to consider making a motion to file item 16A, which would otherwise be first even Jay Kerrigan's petition to amend the zoning map for 600-604 Lincoln Street to the Economic Development Committee. Our concern is that the Edward Kennedy Health Center has not provided residents with sufficient information about the intended use of these properties or what they ultimately plan to build. The descriptions provided thus far have been vague, leaving the residents unable to make an informed assessment of the proposal. Approving a zoning change without clear understanding of the proposed... USE COULD OPEN THE DOOR TO LARGE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES THAT MAY BE DISRUPTIVE TO THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD AND BRING THEM CLOSER TO THE SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES ON THE PASADENA PARKWAY AND SEATTLE STREET. REQUESTING THAT MR. CARRIGAN AND THE HEALTH CENTER HAVE A SPECIFIC PROJECT IN MIND FOR THESE PROPERTIES. WE BELIEVE THAT THEY SHOULD PRESENT A FORMAL SPECIFIC PROPOSAL AND PURSUE THE APPROPRIATE SITE PLAN REVIEW um and any necessary variances with meaningful uh input to the abiding residents the neighborhood should not be asked to support a zoning change without first knowing what's exactly being proposed we are also concerned that mr kerrigan has repeatedly relied on the representatives to appear on his behalf rather than attending these meetings himself Given the significance of this request and the potential impact on the surrounding neighborhood, residents deserve the opportunity to hear directly from the person seeking the zoning change and to receive a clear answer to their questions. Thank you for this consideration and attention to our concerns.

thank you that's the motion is ascended well we'll get to it later but it goes to the committee what you know of course the committee when the hammer will be and uh you can we'll invite you to that okay you can maybe tomorrow and call the cork leave your name and number or write down and give it to him tonight okay okay where do we leave off oh we did all the petitions right okay we are on the appointments Make a motion to file just information communication road to the appointment of Alex monocle into the bus, the U.S. Council was just a file roll call.

Some Bergman yes, that's a lot of yes, I'm so kind of comes result. Yes, that's a king.

Yes.

That's a major yes, that's a hitter. Mr. Rivera. Yes. Mr. Rosen. Yes. Mr. Toomey.

Yes.

And Mayor Petty.

Yes, okay. Motion on 11.4A is adopting the roll call. Roll call.

Mr. Chairman, could you read the item please?

So recommending adoption of an order to authorize the municipality's purchasing director to procure a contract with a four year term.

Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty?

Yes. I recommend adoption of the resolution to approve the Urban Center Housing Tax Agreement Finance Agreement for 16 to 32 Lakeside Avenue and 18 to 20 Garland Avenue. Motions refer to economic development. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Yes. Councilor Rizzolo? Yes. Councilor King?

Yes.

Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Hayter. Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey.

Yes.

Mayor Petty.

Yes. Public Works motions to advertise regarding adoption of an ordinance amendment roll to the placement of items for trash collection roll call.

Councilor Bergman. Yes. Councilor Bellotta. Yes. Councilor Economo. Councilor Rosolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Council Mitra? Yes. Council Hader? Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty? Yes.

We have three items that we're going to refer to traffic and parking from the Department of Transportation Mobility. A is transfer information communication relative to the functional classification of streets in Worcester. B, Transmitting Information and Communication for the City of West Division Zero Annual Report. And C, recommending adoption of the proposed ordinance amendment to the establishment of the toll zone on portions of Albany Street and Fantasia Drive. We'll take those collectively, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bellotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Councilor Zolo? Yes. Councilor King? Please yes to meet your yes, I'm sorry to come to Rivera, yes, come to bro. Yes, it's a to me. Yes, I'm your petty.

Yes, I'm going to six ages of information to the case of the financial up to the period ending June 30th, 2026. Most of us in the MLO roll call.

Council Bergman. Yes. Council Bellotta. Yes. Council Economo. Council Frizzolo. Yes. Council King.

Yes.

Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. We have finance items 11.35A through V, 11.36A, 11.37A through H. Motion is adopted on the roll call.

Councilor Bergman. Yes.

Councilor Pallotta. Yes.

Councilor Economo. Councilor Zolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes, that's a major yes, so he to. Yes, that's a rose yet. What's it to me. Yes, I'm there.

Yes, Jim is also a to 12 H. Most of the top.

That's a Bergman that's a lot of yes, it's economy. It was all. Yes, that's a king.

Yes.

Councilor Mitra.

Yes.

Councilor Hader. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty? Yes. We have orders. We can come back to those. We'll just go through, so people who are here, the rest of the council agenda. 14A is Refer the Missile Operations, Transmitting Information and Communications, the Process Used by the City Court, Office to Establish Death Records in the City. Send that to MLO, roll call. Council Bregman? Yes.

Council Bilotta? Yes. Council Economo? Council Rizzolo? Yes. Council King?

Yes.

Council Mitra?

Yes.

Council Ojeda? Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey?

Yes.

Mayor Petty? Yes.

15A, motion to adopt on the roll call.

Mr. Fergman. Mr. Chairman.

Sure, it's Christy Turgid, cook of the school committee. Request the city council to authorize the public schools to enter into an additional three year software license and service agreement with the Renaissance Learning to support reading, mathematics, and early literacy. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bellotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Yes. Councilor Rizzolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. Mayor Petty?

Yes. 16A, motion to refer to the economic development, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bellotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Yes. Councilor Rizzolo? Yes. Councilor King?

Yes.

Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty?

Yes. 17A, motions to accept. 18A, motions to accept and adopt on the roll call. 18B to 18J, a motion to accept and to adopt. 18K to 18S, motions to accept. And we have all the ordinances on 19A to 19V, motions to advertise the proposed ordinances. Roll call.

Council Bregman that's a lot of yes, the economy of the solo, yes, that's okay. Yes, that's a meter of yes, I'm so I don't want to Rivera, yes, it's a rose and yes to me.

Yes, I'm a pretty.

Yes, 19 W to 19 C, motions accepted to adopt. 20 A to 20 H, motions accepted to adopt. 20 I to 20 Z, motions to accept. 21 A to 21 G, motions to accept. And 22 A to 22 N is ordained on a roll call.

Mr. Chairman, can you just slow down please? What's that? I'm trying to keep up here. Okay. The last one was 22 A.

Yeah, we can hold that, we'll do every one except 22A.

No, no, I'm just asking, so 22A through 22N. Yep.

Okay, thank you.

Roll call.

Councilor Bergman. Yes. Councilor Bilotto. Yes. Councilor Economo. Councilor Pizzolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes, some intro yes, so it up. It's Rivera, yes, it's Rosa, yes to me. Yes, the mayor petty.

Yes, we're back to the council orders. What item is that Mister chairman you're on 13. A council is all have I want to go on. 13 a. You want to take 13 J a lot of. Okay, go ahead.

Mr. Chairman, through you. We had the pipe break and surge.

I should read the order, I'm sorry. Requesting the manager to request the commission of public works to provide council with a report concerning this sanitary sewer overflow with approximately 15,000 gallons of untreated wastewater that was discharged from the underground pipe in the vicinity of 23 Southwest Cut-Off. Councilor Fazil.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, through you, I was contacted by many residents, at least a dozen residents that have lived in that Lake Ave Route 20 area for decades. They educated me saying that this is at least five or six times that we've had issues with a surge into the lake. And I see the commissioner of DPW is here tonight. I was hoping he could address what the city, they'd like the city to go after the contractors that do the work in that area. And I told them I would have that addressed. And with the commissioner here, I'd like to see if he could answer what the game plan is to go forth regarding The incident that occurred commission is Jim.

Through the chair, good evening to the counselors. A report is forthcoming on the brakes. Just as a little bit of background, there are two force mains that run down Route 20. And they are both 16 inches in diameter. And they are discharge pipes from the Whitley Drive sewer pump station. They are both approximately 10 years old. They were both installed as part of the same contract by the same contractor. And as the counselor stated, there's been failures five or six times. But the report will articulate the exact number. Both pipes have failed at one time or another. What the DPW has done is we're working with both the engineers who were part of the design and the inspection of the work and also another engineering firm to try to determine exactly what the cause is. At this point, we have checked the material properties of the sewer pipe. We didn't find anything out of the ordinary there. We have replaced air release valves in both sewer force mains in the event that there was a buildup of pressure. That hasn't solved the problem, so the investigation goes on. At this point, we don't have an answer to the actual problem, but we're not done with our investigation.

Mr. Commissioner, to you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the update. I wanted to educate the general public and those constituents that contacted me, and I appreciate your answer and your response. So if we could keep the vigilance on that, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I just want to give credit to the sewer division and the folks at the DPW. Every time there's been a break there, they have responded almost immediately, have turned off the pumps that are serving the failed pipes to try to limit any discharges. And not all of those breaks have resulted in a discharge into Lake Quinsigma, and the most recent one certainly did. but giving credit to them and our partners at RH White who are very responsive to making those repairs in a short order, as well as MassDOT.

Thank you.

Thank you. So we'll file that in. Roll call.

Council Bregman. Yes. Council Bilotta.

Yes.

Council Economo. Council Rizzolo. Yes. Council King. Yes. Council Mitra. Yes. Council Ojeda. Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes, okay, we are on the a because the man request commission public works conduct the media review of the overgrowth of Japanese. No weed in the vicinity of 45. So my street to remediate the base of point issue at that location comes over.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just pretty much just that Atlas parcel lines indicate that 26, 47, and 49 Marcy all adjoin. 45, the assessment records show that 26 is a single family residential lot. 47 is the small and developable residential parcels and 49 is the separate larger parcel. The 47 and 49 records list different owners but use the same assessor, mailing contact through Myron Katz. I do not think any of that establishes whether or not we started or which property is responsible for it. It does show that the problem may cross several private parcels as well as the Marcy Street right of way. Rather than assuming the city right-of-way is the source, I think the city should determine where the significant nine-week colonies around 45 actually lie. Within the right-of-way at 26, 47, or 49 Marcy will cross more than one of those boundaries and then decide what coordination is needed. I think it is important to look at the whole roadside in a journey parcel situation rather than treating this simply as a private property vegetation complaint at 45. If we can get confirmation of the Marching Street right away around 45, field determination of where the major knotweed stands are actually located, an assessment of whether the infestation crosses public and private property lines, and a recommendation for coordinated management and follow-up. We want to avoid letting this become a simply cutting the visible plants once. Japanese knotweed usually requires follow-up management, and treating one portion while leaving in the journey colony untouched may not solve the resident's problems. I can tell you that I've been learning a lot about this knotweed problem during my council term, and it's much more significant than even I thought. So hoping that we can get to the bottom of this. Thank you.

So the motion is referred to the Commission of Public Works. Roll call.

Council Bregman? Yes. Council Bilotta?

Yes.

Council Economo? Yes. Council Fazolo? Yes. Council King?

Yes.

Council Mitra? Yes. Council Ojeda? Mister Rivera, yes. Mister Rosen, yes. Mister Toomey, yes. And Mayor Petty. Yes.

13 been. The question to me a traffic impact we have to hold on to one more hearings to gauge public pro and con interest in having City Council dot was a solution that we passed the phone cities to install traffic speed cameras in the school zone to the municipal streets said hearing. to include discussion with the regulation being tied to the website is 575 million dollars to the development plan as well as allow for the legislature. Instillation of 40 speed cameras in the city which would lead to the fine to drive a scene. Post it's been once by 11 miles per hour up to $100 per offense council Rosen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we all know, especially by the number of speed humps that have been and will be installed in the city of Worcester, we do have a speeding problem on the streets in the city of Worcester. and even though i don't think it's been completed yet and voted on yet the state's economic development bill 575 million has this very interesting item in it about curbing speeding in cities and towns by erecting speed cameras not the red light cameras doesn't deal with those and i know that's very controversial doesn't deal with cameras like flock cameras which even more controversial these are just speed cameras and it would give the city of worcester the right to install up to 40 of these cameras if we were to vote that and if someone exceeded the 25 mile an hour per limit speed limit in worcester by 11 miles an hour so if they went 36 miles and above they could be facing a hundred dollar fine up to a hundred dollar fine per offense now my intention is not to say that i agree with this policy or i disagree you know we certainly needed discussion and study i thought it would be good just to get ahead of it get it into our traffic and parking committee and the chairman of that committee can decide if and when they want to hold a public hearing or two and before we ever take a vote in this let's hear from the public on what they think about speed cameras here in the city of worcester they seem to favor speed humps and maybe speed cameras is something that they would favor because maybe it would slow traffic down and maybe it would save lives and different injuries here in the city of worcester so i'm not advocating far against it i'm just saying let's send it committee have it there looks like soon this fall this uh economic development bill with the speed camera item in it will be passed by the legislature thank you mr chairman thank you we'll send that to the committee

Mr. Chairman. Councilor King. On the side of the board.

Yeah, I'll do it after this. I just have a point of order after this vote.

Okay, so we'll send that to the committee, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Yes. Councilor Pizzolo? Yes. Councilor King? Abstain. Councilor Mitra?

Yes.

Councilor Hayter? I'm sorry to. He's on the council here can yours. I'm sorry to hear us. We're going. Okay, come to Rivera, yes, that's a rose. Yes to me. Yes, I'm everybody.

Yes comes to King.

Thank you Mister chairman. Appreciate that I just as a point of order. I like to do a reconsideration my understanding is I can explain it was not debatable to confirm that with the clerk could be done at any time.

Um, through your chair, to the council, correct. So you can ask for reconsideration. You need eight votes to reconsider the item.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to make a motion to reconsideration of postponement of this meeting. I have been contacted by folks in the community who have been impacted by this in multiple districts, including folks who have- Well, we can ask for reconsideration.

You can speak on it after the reconsideration.

Excuse me?

You can speak on it after the reconsideration.

Okay, but that's the purpose of the reconsideration, right, to state it. That's the reason that I'm doing it. I've been reached out to by multiple folks. I just want to give folks an opportunity- That's not the rule of law. With their vote. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, reconsideration?

Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. Roll call. Is there going to be- Council Bregman?

No.

Council Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? No. Councilor Rizzolo? No. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? No. Councilor Ojeda?

Yes.

Councilor Rivera? No. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey?

No.

Mayor Petty?

Yes. So what can we have? So that's fields. What were the numbers, Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman? Five to four. I'm sorry, go ahead, Mr. Clerk.

I think it was Councilor Hayden. It was not me, but it was one, two, three, four, five. Five to five. Five to five. Okay, reconsideration of the fields.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Going back to 13C, request the manager, request the Commissioner of Transportation and Mobility review the existing crosswalk on Lincoln Street and the vicinity of 274 and Lincoln Street. for the purpose of making both short and long-term safety improvements to the crosswalk. Council Bellata.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. We did a walk audit in this area of Lincoln Street earlier this summer with folks from the Economic Development Department, DTM, and representatives from the Lincoln Street neighborhood. So we're really trying to do some improvements here and take a look at improving lower Lincoln Street holistically. So this is one of the issues that we wanted to tackle. So this is why this petition's here. Or excuse me, order. So thank you.

Okay, we'll forward to the manager. Roll call.

Councillor Bergman.

Yes.

Councillor Belata.

Yes.

Councillor Economo. Councillor Zolo. Yes. Councillor King. Yes. Councillor Mitra. Yes. Councillor Ojeda. Yes. Councillor Rivera. Yes. Councillor Rosen. Yes. Councillor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes, 13 D request to see manager across the commission transportation mobility work with the commission public works and sure that the step off the sidewalk at the intersection of King Phillips Rd in was in many an app which is going at the 11 to 12 inch step is brought to the acceptable and safe stand it comes to a common. He's not here so send that to the same major.

Roku concert Bergman yeah, it's a lot of yes, it's a common. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I'm sorry very yes, I'm some rose and yes to me. Yes, I'm a pretty.

Yes, 13 a request a man to request the fire chief by counts of the comprehensive report considering the status of renovations improvements to 5 stations for the city said report to include the status of equipment including not limited to extractors exhaust fans bathroom fixtures as well as structural improvements that complete at the each station for requests every point also include

both the timeline estimated budget for each project council toomey thank you mr chair um certainly that's been a topic of discussion um with the recent release of the movie that was done locally which we're by the way spending 43 million dollars to replace that station we recognize the importance of making sure that fire stations are places that are healthy for uh firefighters uh to work and uh to live in we'll go back after this excuse me i'm sorry i was just talking to the clerk okay um so uh this is i think it pretty much speaks for itself i think it's important that we have a full uh understanding of what has been done what can be done what needs to be done and planning for future budgets thank you thank you i'll go send that to uh c manager roll call

Council Bregman? Yes. Council Bilotta? Yes. Council Economo? Yes. Council Zolo? Yes. Council King? Yes. Council Mitra? Yes. Council Ojeda? Yes. Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey? Yes. Mayor Petty?

Yes. Council Ojeda has asked us to go back to 13B, Council Rosen's item. RECONSIDER THAT SO HE CAN TALK ON IT AND HE TRIED TO AND I THINK I CUT HIM OFF BY ACCIDENT SO ROLL CALL.

WHAT'S THE MOTION TO RECONSIDER? YEAH JUST TO GO BACK TO THE ITEM.

13B.

OKAY.

WHICH ITEM ARE WE GOING BACK TO?

13B ON THE CAMERAS. OKAY GOTCHA. OKAY. COUNCIL BERGMAN. YES. COUNCIL BELATO. YES. COUNCIL OCONOMO.

Rizzolo yes that's a king yes that's a mitra yes that's our hater yeah concert rivera yes that's a rosen yes that's a tumi yes the mayor petty yes councilman thank you mr champion uh i'll be quick and i'm sorry i had issues getting on earlier but um i just had a question regarding where are we at with our uh new speed sign that we're supposed to be posting up i know you know this is something that you know a lot of residents have been asking about and um you know talking about these cameras in the city and things like that um but at the end of the day where are we at with that and obviously because unfortunately can uh to the chair to the city manager can you let us know where we're at with uh speed time

Speed humps? Okay. I think so, I think. Is that on 13B? Oh, speed sign, I'm sorry, Councilor Hayden, you cut out a little bit there. You're talking about speed humps or signs or?

The speed signs. Correct, the new speed limit signs.

Okay, gotcha, thank you.

uh through the chair to the council yes i think the commissioner of uh of transportation and mobility has spoken this about before one of the challenges is that there was state statute that wouldn't allow us to to uh to um to implement signs across the city we try to put some in some of the peripherals uh that legislation changed in the state of massachusetts so it has allowed us Now, to be able to do that, we've contracted that process, so we should be able to be underway in putting up those signs across the city. There's an effort that's going to be on many different fronts, on many different streets. Now, there's a lot of neighborhood streets. You won't see those signs. They're going to be more so the arterials. But that's going to be an effort that's going to happen starting soon and hopefully through the fall.

Okay, thank you. And to the chair, what type of assessment is going to be done to know if these locations are beneficial and if these signs are really working for our city?

Mr. Mangia?

I'm just trying to understand the question. You're talking about the signs of beneficial or the actual reduction of speed in those areas?

Correct.

The only thing I'm asking is because it seems like with Rosen's request to have meetings or some I REALLY WANT TO SEE WHERE WE STAND WITH THESE SIGNS FIRST BEFORE WE CONTINUE IN THAT DIRECTION. SO HOW WOULD WE KNOW IF THE SPEED IS REDUCING?

manager yeah through the chips of the council i think there's going to be some efforts across the city where the department of transportation mobility will assess different road uh different roads and different arterials where or to understand if there has been changes in how the efficacy of the 25 mile an hour statute has done in the city we've seen some areas already that they can they have data that can show for that and that's something that we're going to plan to communicate to the council and try to keep people up to date. But there is some benefits to it. But again, it's an ongoing work to evaluate the effect efficacy of the actual statutory speed limits.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, I would love to see that data when it's available.

Okay, we'll send that to the stand committee. Roll call.

Councilor Bregman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Councilor Economo? Yes. The solo, yes, that's a king staying. That's a meter. Yeah, that's a hitter. That's Rivera, yes, that's a rose and yes to me yes, the mayor Patty, yes.

We're on 13 F council rules and because man by comes with the one rate recommendation steps the city can it should take to prevent the frequent summer causes that could cause reservoir in the end late with sensory band swimming boating fishing connect contact to the high levels of bacteria and toxins come to Rosen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Every hot, humid summer, we can be sure of these two things that somewhere along the way, probably once or twice anyway, Coase Reservoir, swimming, boating, fishing, animal involvement there, contact with the water. and same at India Lake, and especially the swimming area for all the families and kids. And these two beaches are heavily used when they're clean and they're safe to be used. But we can be sure that In 2027, closed reservoir, Indian Lake will be closed at least twice each. Every year it happens, and it's too bad it happens, and it's nature and all that, but it seems to me we have a lot of months ahead of us now, Mr. Manager, to try to figure out how we can stop this from happening. So it would be good if we can take some steps And we got WPI, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They're always looking for projects. There's two locations for them. I would think this would be good projects for the students over there. I mean, there must be some way we can get these two beaches under control so we don't have to close them down during the months of July and August when they see, obviously, the most use during summer vacation. I would ask the city manager to take a look at that, and don't hesitate, and I just mentioned WPI, but there's Clark University, Holy Cross, and they all have good science and ecology programs, but WPI was my alma mater, so I always give them a little extra publicity. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, we will send that to the manager. Rocco.

Council Bregman. Yes. Council Pallotta. Council Economo. Council Rizzolo. Yes. Council King. Yes. Council Mitra. Yes. Council Ojeda. Yes. Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

Yes, 13G requests the city manager organize an event where the city's Nobel, Dr. Victor Ambrose and Dr. Craig Mello of UMass Chan Medical School are given the opportunity to speak in front of the city's youth regarding their lives and discoveries. Further, request city manager work with the superintendent of public schools to ensure that all high school age seniors are permanently included in such an event in hopes of inspiring the students as they continue their own educational ventures. For a request, may I consider providing said Nobel laureates with the appropriate recognitions, including keys to the city of Worcester, et cetera. Councilor Mitra.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, to you, to the city manager. This order that I have placed here has already been, I have discussed about it with the city manager one on one meeting with him. I am putting this order really to see how we can inspire our young students, particularly those who are graduating class. And this would be one good opportunity because we're really blessed to have these two world renowned Nobel laureates in our own city, Dr. Victor Ambrose and Dr. Craig Mello, who have received Nobel Prize. And I always thought and dreamt that maybe our students should get an opportunity to listen to them, to see their Nobel medal, and kind of listen to them and see how They have achieved all these and make it possible for any student can get inspired that I can also do it. With that thought, I thought it would be a great idea. They're being in our own city, and it will be probably easy for the manager to contact them and with the superintendent also to see this could be done. I had also spoken to Mr. Superintendent, and he's very much excited about it. So I'd like to make that happen. At the same time, I think when we invite these students Nobel laureates to organize this event, any venue, maybe Mechanics Hall or maybe where the students can be accommodated. I request, Mr. Mayor, if it has not been done, to also recognize them. This city is key or any way you think would be most appropriate. I think it would be a very nice gesture from our side if it is not done yet. At the same time, it will inspire probably even if one student gets inspired that, hey, I can do it. I met a Nobel laureate.

I'LL MAKE MY DREAM COME TRUE SO THAT'S THE ORDER HERE I APPRECIATE IF THIS COULD BE REALLY ORGANIZED THANK YOU OKAY LISTEN NOW TO THE MANAGER ROLE CALL HUNTER BRUGMAN YES THAT'S BALADA YES THAT'S ECONOMO THAT'S PIZZOLO YES THAT'S A KING YES THAT'S AMITRA YES THAT'S OHEDA Yet through Vera, yes, it's rose, yes to me. Yes, I'm a pretty.

Yes, 13 age was a major of the police chief of the mission transportation and mobility. But I see counts of the report concern the measures currently in place to ensure orders are being speed and travel costs in the city for request a major clue to set report information concerning information measures additional measures and practices in the sink implement to ensure speeding and traffic laws compliance with the city. Councilman Trump.

Thank you again, Mr. Chair. To you, to the city manager again, I think we have come to that crossroad in our city that we see, we hear every neighborhood meeting that I go to and the residents have been complaining that most people are driving too high speed and we have citywide 25 miles per hour posted but we don't have a monitoring system for a good reason that we don't have enough law enforcement officers at the same time as we will be talking about the maybe can put the speed camera that could detect the speed and also detect the license plate number so we can make sure that it's announced properly. Everybody knows that the city is going to have the camera, so nobody is surprised. So I know there is a privacy law that's enforced there. So what can we do? I think we cannot just give excuses that we cannot put the camera, we don't have enough law enforcement officers. Should we have our retired officers to come and help us out in this? Or should we give them overtime to the current officers to kind of monitor the speed limit? i think 25 miles per hour is a good speed limit to maintain the reduce the you know accident so but if this is not monitored people are driving 40 miles 50 miles an hour we hear that all the time from residents that everybody's going to the red light everybody's speeding high my goal was to see the what can we do what measure can we take to really reduce this possibility of accidents and bring some safety in our city. So that was my request, if you could really consider finding a report on how is the 25 miles per hour working? How many speeding tickets we have given? Has it increased? where we stand and what measure we can take and we do the cameras after we make a citywide announcement that everybody should know it's not secret that everybody knows that we're going to have the cameras so they will better shape up and not drive beyond the limit of the SPEED LIMIT THAT HAS BEEN DESIGNATED BY THE CITY. SO IT'S MY CONCERN ABOUT THE SAFETY. IT'S MY CONCERN ABOUT THE NOT HAVING THE ACCIDENT, LOSING LIVES OR GETTING PEOPLE INJURED. SO THAT'S THE REQUEST, MR. MANAGER, IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU CAN DO CONSIDERING CONSULTING WITH THE POLICE CHIEF WHAT OTHER MEASURES THAT WE CAN TAKE. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. SO SEND THAT TO THE MANAGER. ROLL CALL.

COUNCILMAN BERGMAN. YES. COUNCILMAN PELADA.

YES.

I took on a move to resolve. Yes, it's a king. Yes, it's a major yet until he got. Yet country very yes, it's rose and yes to me. Yes, mayor Perry.

Yes, because the man of the right counsel report concern public safety, cleanliness, maintenance and enforcement act. Act the act of the most common in surrounding streets of the portrait include current conditions existing enforcement outreach efforts, recommend measures that can be done to make sure the was the common safe welcoming and usable as a part of the pack as well as its workers, families and business comes from the truck.

Thank you again, Mr. Chair, for giving me the opportunity to talk about it to Mr. Manager. Again, we know that there were some disturbances in the Worcester Common in the past, and I see some of the law enforcement officers are now situated in the common. But many people, those who are doing businesses there, those who are coming to visit there, those who are coming for eating, having dinner there at night time, I think many people have been concerned. I would just like to get a report on what have we done or what are we doing to really bring some safety there and bring some kind of peace in the minds of people who are trying to visit the downtown area, the businesses. So that the business owners can feel that, hey, we have some measures taken by the city. And we should not have any disturbance in our business, having our clients or customers come to our place. And there is an opportunity for everybody to feel safe. So once again, just like the traffic, this is like in the downtown area. There is a report I read. Maybe you can take a look at it. This is in Philadelphia where they have created some kind of system with the private equity to kind of reach out to people and try to help everyone. And I'll give you this report that kind of gives you something that we can probably talk about. It's called the Center of Philadelphia Development Corporation as a private corporation. private sector business improvement district and approved by the city council under the Pennsylvania municipality law. So I think I can give you this. And I thought it was a very good article that what we can probably also use maybe to bring some safety in our downtown area, which is growing, where we are getting so many businesses coming in. We're going and ribbon cutting almost every week, which is great. We want them to stay here, feel safe. With all this news that we have had some time back, I think people are a little bit fearful. We want to take that fear out of their mind and provide some kind of solace and safety so that they can do their business in a proper way without any difficulties, facing difficulties of any kind of terrorism or any kind of bad activities in there. That was my request to see if we can do anything. And I'll give you this article to read that might help you to see if we can do something like that or Philadelphia has adopted. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Toomey. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What purpose do you rise?

I rise to file an amendment, if not, then a separate order. I thank my colleague for filing this. That's certainly something I've asked for in the past few months as well. I know that a great deal has been done because I'm involved in a lot of different meetings on this issue. But I think it's very important that if you don't mind, as an amendment, that we ask for an explanation of what has happened. I know within the first, I believe, 30 days of this being an issue, there were over 100 arrests for real violent reasons. violence and drug use etc um and uh find out what happened to those arrests uh and you'll find that they they were those folks were released um so i think that we need to have everybody at the table uh so could include all all of the efforts that have happened and what the uh results have been um in addition to the fact that um We've had a lot more people who are out on the streets that are providing services. I think it's also important to hear from our crisis intervention team, quality of life team. I know Officer Lovely has had a lot of concerns about how many people are coming into this city that we don't even know who they are very recently. And so I think that's all important to include in this.

So, all set Dr. Mitchell with the amendment?

Yes, I'm good with that. Thank you very much.

So, I'm for aye's amendment. Send that to the manager. Roll call. Mr. Chair, what was the amendment?

I didn't get the amendment.

I think it was, Councillor, can you repeat your amendment? I thought it was for the, go ahead.

So, it was basically to add all the information about all of the things that have been done and what hasn't worked what has worked why it hasn't what has worked and why it has as well as include people who are actually on the street have real comments from them because they're involved in the day-to-day issues okay that sounds the manager has amended roll call that's a bergman yes that's belotta no

Councilor Economo, Councilor Rizzolo. Yes. Councilor King. No. Councilor Mitra.

Yes.

Councilor Heda.

No.

Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

Yes. Okay. The J we did or K request a man's right counts of the report concern the current strategies in place to mitigate overgrowth in the city so we put those include information wrote to any additional strategies to see his plan to implement concerning the issue as well as information with specific plans to mitigate overgrowth in the city of Jersey barriers. Okay, the route 20 comes was all.

So you Mister chairman. I rise to speak on the overgrowth throughout. I'll just, pertaining to my district alone, this year just seems to be above and beyond what I've seen in the past. I know the manager has put a team together to address the tree pits that are growing from, again, the ground and the base of the tree. So they look more like a bush than a tree, but we're addressing that and I appreciate the manager taking that aggressive approach. I also remember the last Conservation Commission meeting that an item was filed by the Commonwealth, DCR and DOT, that they had a plan to address overgrowth in certain areas of our city that come under their control. And again, I was surprised to see that they mentioned Jersey barriers as something that they will address with some type of spray, I believe, that they had to go in front of a conservation commission and make them knowledgeable what their plan was. And on Route 20, from Granite Street to going west down to the Blackstone Treatment Plant, there are Jersey barriers there. To my colleagues and to the general public, I don't know if you've been by, but there are actually weeds three and four feet high growing out of the barrier. It looks like a tree. The branch has turned into a tree that's about four or five feet high. And I spoke to the manager about it. I know he put a call in to DOT. It still hasn't been addressed, but I know they'll be out to address that. But it looks like a third world country. I really, I can't believe how bad it looks in that area. And not to toot my horn, but when I was in the legislature, when things like that would happen, I would call DOT up and get them to go out and address clean, that type of That type of overgrowth. I also mentioned to the managers that a state owned property, the bridge over 146 going toward Wal-Mart, huge overgrowth on the islands and the medium strips on that bridge and I went by today to make sure what I wanted to speak about tonight to see if it was addressed and I was surprised that the grass on the medium strips were cut But the weeds that grow out of the curb and the curb where it connects to the street are still quite high. So maybe the Commonwealth sent people down and mowed the grass and the high weeds on the grass, but it still exists. So in the end, I would like to encourage the general public and the business owners of this city to go out and clean in front of your house and clean in front of your business if you would help us out because uh... it's a total total eyesore when uh... the weeds get that high and you actually need shears to cut them you cannot pull the weed out of the ground you need shears to cut the weeds so i would encourage people if they would to uh... take some pride in our city and help out. But I know, again, the manager has come up with a team that are going out to address this issue, and I appreciate that. And I'd be curious to see. I'm going to... contact the conservation commission and see exactly what the state intends to do with their properties but i appreciate them coming to the city and and helping out which in all honesty is their property so they should be taking care of it so uh again i would also uh Ask the general public to call their state reps and their state senators when they see overgrowth on a roadway like Route 20 or 122. I'm just using those two state roads because they're in District 3. they're there they drive by and they have to see it and obviously uh no calls have been made but uh mr chairman i appreciate the opportunity to address this issue and again i thank the city manager for his uh seriousness in trying to address the overgrowth that we have uh here in our city thank you and thank you was uh send that to the manager roll call

Council Bregman. Yes. Council Bilotto. Yes. Council Economo. Yes. Council Rizzolo. Yes. Council King. Yes. Council Mitra. Yes. Council Ojeda. Yes. Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. Council Blasdaft said that we reconsider 13 I. That's a roll call. Roll call. 13 I, right, Council?

Yeah, I just wanted the opportunity to just speak to the vote, yeah.

13 aye.

Councillor Bergman?

Yes.

Councillor Belata? Yes. Councillor Economo? Yes. Councillor Zolo? Yes. Councillor King?

Yes.

Councillor Mitra? Yes. Councillor Hayter? Yeah. Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty. Yes.

Council Buota.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Not that I oppose this order, but I just worry that, you know, it's kind of a continuing narrative that, you know, the common in downtown Worcester YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT SAFE, WELCOMING AND USEABLE AS A YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT SAFE, WELCOMING AND USEABLE AS A PUBLIC PARK. PUBLIC PARK. AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, THERE'S AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF WORK HAPPENING BEEN A LOT OF WORK HAPPENING THIS SUMMER, PARTICULARLY SINCE WE THIS SUMMER, PARTICULARLY SINCE WE HAD TWO, YOU KNOW, UNFORTUNATE HAD TWO, YOU KNOW, UNFORTUNATE VIOLENT INCIDENTS ON THE VIOLENT INCIDENTS ON THE COMMON. COMMON. YOU KNOW, THE POLICE HAVE BEEN YOU KNOW, THE POLICE HAVE BEEN DOWN THERE. DOWN THERE. I THINK THE CITY HAS DONE AN I THINK THE CITY HAS DONE AN EXCELLENT JOB WITH AC you know downtown i believe is is becoming more safe and more vibrant and i and i just worry that kind of the chilling effect that we keep asking for these reports that i think with just communications amongst counselors and to the city manager into the administration we can find out this information um so i just wanted to felt you know my colleagues in the public deserve an explanation to uh vinovo because i think there is a lot already happening to address these issues so thank you thank you mr chairman

Counsel King?

thank you mr chairman my vote was in the negative as well for similar reasons and i'll reiterate that vote i will say that i don't question the intent of the filer of the motion but i too am very concerned about the labeling of the city of worcester we're proud to be from the city and while that's not the intent here when you couple it with statements that have been made by the Chamber of Commerce, by Timmy Murray of the Chamber of Commerce, the attack upon the city that we're not doing enough or we're not doing anything. The city manager's not doing anything. All of those inferences have a negative impact on us here in the city of Worcester, Mr. Chairman. And again, I understand that's not the intent of the filer of the motion. I don't question the intent whatsoever. But I want to be very calculated regarding ascribing my name to things where folks will infer that it's not safe here. And as mentioned, we've had a number of events. I've worked in the parks. IN CAPACITIES, USED SPORTS FOR OVER 30 YEARS, AND I KNOW FIRSTHAND, SO LIVE NEXT TO A PARK, THAT THE MORE ACTIVATED IT IS, THAT'S THE BEST RESPONSE. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, PEOPLE BEING PRESENT, YOU KNOW, AND SCHEDULING OF EVENTS, ET CETERA, IS REALLY WHAT MAKES THINGS SAFE, THE PEOPLE MAKE THINGS SAFE. AND, YOU KNOW, THAT'S THE REASON FOR MY VOTE. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

Councillor Bergman?

Yes.

Councillor Bilotta? No. Councillor Economo, Councillor Zolo? Yes. Councillor King? No. Councillor Mitra?

Yes.

Councillor Ojeda? No, it's Rivera just rose and yes to me.

Yes, I'm your party.

Yes, 13 else with held on the privilege. 13 am requesting manager organized me between the city state delegates and represents to 6 which are real cards Karen saw the waste to not I'm in the city. Cause of causing fall oldest remain in the air around the business and residential properties around Canberra Street in other streets in the area. I'll be real quick comes to King do.

Mayor Petty on 13M.

Okay, as you know, I think we've seen some of the, in the press, and some of the complaints I received regarding the foul odor coming out of CSX vehicles. Most of that is trash, and it's sealed even. in containers i had a chance to talk to csx after i followed the order and they've moved the trains but he can't guarantee there's a lot of things going on nationally a lot of the uh the sites where you drop the landfills are closed and so things get on the trains gets backed up it has to travel down south uh so maybe a good meeting with them just to understand uh how we can prevent this because it's not down in there and i've heard complaints up in the franklin street area too uh so and also to amend this i'd like to also get a report on the derailment uh that occurred was it last week uh there were four empty cars all the others i could think of was What if something was in those cars and there was weight in them and it fell over? So I just want to give a report what happened in that derailment and how we prevent that going forward. And this affected a lot of residents who were complaining on the order, going back to that, along with some restaurants in the area. And that was down there. You could smell it. So it was pretty bad. So I'll send that to you, Mr. Manager.

So the motion will be to send it to the city manager with the amendment to include a report related to the derailment that occurred recently, roll call.

Council Bregman? Yes. Council Bilotta? Yes. Council Economo? Yes. Council Rizzolo? Yes. Council Mitra?

Yes.

Council Ojeda? Yes. Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? COUNCIL TOOMEY. COUNCIL TOOMEY. YES.

YES.

MAYOR PETTY. MAYOR PETTY. YES.

So the motion is that we're going to go out of order and take item 13Q. Do we need a vote to take it out of order, Mr. Clerk? No. Okay, so let's take it out of order. 13Q, request that the city manager request the commissioner of public works immediately review and repair the stone wall in the vicinity of the Burncoat Street Preparatory School, located at 526 Burncoat Street, which was hit by a plow during winter snow operations, filed by Joe Petty, Mayor Petty.

Thank you. And I think the district council, the previous district council had brought this up before. And this, see, my understanding is a meeting probably next week because we have a lot of these in the city of Worcester. We have these pillars on these streets that cause damage. So this is probably one of these that you can add up to the list and see if we can get this fixed. Okay.

The motion will be to send to the city manager roll call.

Council Bergman? Yes. Council Bilotta? Yes. Council Economo? Yes. Council Rizzolo? Yes. Council Mitra? Yes. Council Ojeda? Yes. Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Yes. Council Toomey? Yes.

Mayor Petty? Yes.

And Vice Chair Council Giddens?

Yes. you take my okay

We are on 13 and I request the man to request a commission public works and commissioner of transportation will be installed either a double single yellow line on the West Chester Street as soon as possible in the interest of public safety.

Council Berkman that's a lot of. That's accountable for the result. Yes, it's a tank. Yes, it's a major yes, it's a hitter. yet for a very yes to Rosen to me.

Yes, everybody.

Yes request to manage a request to come to public works and the show just a small boat to repeat the double yellow lines on Perry Road extension as soon as possible in the public safety come to a common. Roll call.

That's a Bergman. It's a lot of yes, it's a condom comes result. Yes, it's a king. Yes, it's a major yes, it's a hit up. Yes. Council Rivera? Yes. Council Rosen? Council Toomey? Yes. Mayor Petty?

Yes. Okay, 13R, request the City Manager request the Commissioner of Public Works and the Commissioner of Transportation Mobility renew review and repair the damage curb cut at the crosswalk on northern side of foster Street at the intersection Norwich Street Council bought as it reads to point order. Mister chairman, I think 13 P is held a held out. Yeah, I'm not to say that 13 P was held the privilege by Council King. Okay, so on the comes pull out of sight and we're going to vote on roll call.

That's a Bergman comes a lot of yes, it's economy. It was all yes, it's a tank. Yes, it's a meter. Yes, it's a hitter. come to Rivera, yes, it's a rose in. Come to me yes, I'm a pretty.

Yes, 13 s request to manage request to the public works and show the trenches created by utilities at the section East and have the Central Street in my common way be resurfaced council a lot of.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've had conversations through, excuse me, I've had conversations with the city manager, with the commissioner of public works since being elected about this area of this intersection, Eastern Avenue, Central Street, and Mount Carmel Way. recent development alta on the row the you know the rows are cut up pretty bad and i've you know asked repeatedly for this to get addressed i know there's a lot on our plate uh but i wanted to bring this to council and put it here in hopes of finally getting this address so i'd appreciate if we could have some movement on this um i know some time i don't not sure if there's any additional utility work scheduled but again these utility trenches are in very bad shape and this is an area that has EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC. SO I'D APPRECIATE IF WE COULD GET SOME TYPE OF MOVEMENT ON THIS. I'D APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU.

OKAY. ROLL CALL. COUNSELOR BERGMAN. YES. COUNSELOR BALADA. YES. COUNSELOR ECONOMO. YES. COUNSELOR PIZZOLO. YES. COUNSELOR KING. YES. COUNSELOR MITRA. YES. COUNSELOR OJEDA. YES. COUNSELOR RIVERA. YES. COUNSELOR ROSEN. YES. COUNSELOR TUOMI.

Yes, 13 T request to see manager request commercial construction services review address concerns associate the empty lots will can 0, Ascension Street 478 frequency for 98 Franklin Street Council.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I've had conversations with the manager about this. I know there's something in the works to address these properties, a coordinated effort with Inspectional Services and Worcester Fire. But these properties, Zero Ascension, which is on Franklin Street, where there's a paper street there, it's on the corner, 478 Franklin and 498, these properties are horrible. They're deplorable. There's absolutely no... The property owners have not secured these properties at all. There's significant runoff happening under Franklin Street now, and they just look horrible. So I think it's really about time that we crack down on these property owners. They're all absentee property owners from out of town, and these lots have been... VACANT AND EMPTY AND IN HORRIBLE CONDITION MY ENTIRE LIFE. I'M SURE EVERYONE IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD CAN SPEAK TO IT AS WELL. BUT I'M JUST REALLY HOPING THAT, NOT HOPING, BUT WE REALLY NEED TO GET A JUMP ON THESE PROPERTIES AND START ENFORCING IT BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST TERRIBLE. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. A ROLL CALL.

COUNCIL BERGMAN.

YES.

COUNCIL BELOTTA.

YES.

COUNCIL ECONOMO. YES. COUNCIL PIZZOLO. YES. COUNCIL KING. YES. COUNCIL MITRA. YES.

Yes.

Council Hader.

Yes.

Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes, request to be managed by council to report concerning the open positions and over staffing, overall staffing levels in the Department of Public Works, Council Bellana.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Submitted this because I think it would be helpful for council and the public to have an understanding of what are some of the challenges DPW is facing if there are still staffing challenges. Had some issues last week and this week with some trash routes not being picked up, and I know it was because of uh where i was told some people were called out uh or called out and there was a backup driver that didn't quite know the route uh also know that the keep worcester clean initiative there were some vacancies this summer and it really does impact the ability of the dpw to keep our neighborhoods clean and to address issues uh so wanted to see if we can get a better picture on this and hopefully figure out some ways that we can really fill these seats and and fill these positions and to improve the quality of work that DPW does, because residents get a lot of complaints about different things throughout the district. And I know DPW does what they can, and I've had plenty of great interactions with DPW. They've been incredibly helpful with different constituent complaints, but I know that there's still gaps and there's still challenges with getting some things addressed with the urgency that they need. So I would appreciate if we could get some type of feedback on this. Thank you.

Chairman, I stand for clarification. I'd like to know, if possible, through the city manager, through you, Mr. Chairman, how are we doing with the vacancies? I know people that are on the civil service list that are looking for employment and have not got called. I hear the same issues that we still have vacancies there. So can you clarify? Are we still aggressively trying to fill those positions, please?

Mr. Mangia?

Through the Chiefs of Council, the clear answer is yes. We are doing everything we can to try to fill these positions. We're filling them pretty quickly in anticipation of the winter season that's coming. We need a number of laborers. We need drivers. We need CDL folks, licensed CDL folks. We need a number of individuals in the department. I think one of the challenges related to the civil service list, oftentimes you get a list of 100, 120 people on that list, and you're going to go one by one on the certain prescribed processes that civil service requires you to do before you then request another list. And so you may have a list that has 100, 120 individuals, but then you may have another list that has 120 or so individuals waiting as well. That process to go through about 100, 120 individuals or so, To go to that prescribed process that civil service requires, it may take four months, it may take six months. And that's what we're trying to advance. We put an effort, the council put an effort in trying to remove ourselves from the civil service. So it gives us the ability to move quicker and hire people much faster. um that failed at the at the state level that didn't move forward and so we are working every single angle every opportunity we can to move forward and go through those lists as quickly as possible we're pretty hopeful that we'll have a larger number of folks added to the department for the upcoming season the upcoming winter season but right now actively hr and department of public works every single day actively we have a one person dedicated to dpw hr on hiring and recruiting interviewing that's actually we have more than one we have two people right now dedicated a hundred percent of the time there in addition to all the support that hr is providing so we're actively on that and we'd be happy to provide a kind of a status update uh where we can have better data to inform uh not only the council but the public okay roll call

Council Bregman. Yes. Council Bilotto. Yes. Council Economo. Yes. Council Rizzolo. Yes. Council King. Yes. Council Mitra. Yes. Council Ojeda.

Yes.

Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

Yes, we are on 23B. It's a cute you can't just see court transmitting information communication concern the process the quiet City Council hired overseas City Council office staff. The Senate, the ml.

Can we take that can currently would be.

That was the was a nice to see a B. I miss a hang. I'm sorry to get a right to the case, the city court has made a new survey to the City Council regarding the ministration operations, the City Council office. Thank you to send both of those to ml all roll call.

Council Bergen. Yeah, that's a lot of concert Connolly come through solo. Yes, it's a king. Yes, come to me true. Yes, and so hate up. Yeah, that's Rivera, yes, that's Rosa yet to to me.

Yes, the mayor pretty just 23 seek in cases the man's recommend a point against cost. The was to redevelopment authority. On the car from a roll call roll call comes from him.

Council King like to speak on it.

Council can.

you mr chairman i stand in opposition to this appointment this particular appointment involves an individual who had allegations filed against them that have not been resolved with the personnel in this city that initiated it and if i stand corrected i'd like to stand corrected to the man to to the mayor to the manager. But not that investigation has been completely finished. In addition to that has the folks that filed the complaints been informed that the investigation is complete and has it been fully resolved to the chip.

Yeah, through chair to the council at this time the investigation has not been resolved and that's not something that I have available to the council.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that it is irresponsible to make this recommendation. This particular situation also involved and had a direct impact on city council operations to the extent that we had to have folks perform their duties outside of the city hall building. um due to concerns um i would ask this matter be sent back to the city manager for further reconsider further consideration mr chairman that's my motion council um bergman i i strongly support the manager's recommendation you know

That word allegation gets thrown around here so easily, as if something is proven just because something is alleged. All of us in public office have allegations that people that don't like us say every day on Facebook. My background, education, training as an attorney often offends me when I hear people assume that allegations are truth. And they could be, but they're not necessarily. They're allegations. That's why they're called a different word. The person, Kenny Merrick Carlson, is being appointed or presumed appointed to the position has Excellent qualifications in our time on the council and the economic development office. The dispute that my previous colleague speaks about, the allegations I witnessed, several of the councilors, if it's what I think the issue is, make the same misgendering of the same person. at various council meetings. The only difference was they claim it was accidental, but they're willing to point a finger at councilor, mayoral council and say she's not deserving of this appointment because of an allegation that remains unproven. The chaos that came to the city council could have easily been avoided if the person had showed up to work. And I had said that multiple times, including an order asking this council to take action for the person's failure. And the chaos that happened over a year is because the person refused to come to work, took a paycheck, and unfortunately caused the rest of us to carry an extra load of the work. I could go deeper into motivations for why the suggestion is that this be denied, but I think, Mr. Manager, you've given good thought to the qualifications of the person. And if we're all going to be judged by allegations, we're all in big trouble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, so the way the council rules work is that the recommit would go first. Councilor Kim, for a second time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to respond to the assertions that were made. And let me be clear. Mr. Chairman, we just heard from the city manager there's an ongoing investigation into this matter. We just heard, ah, could be true, ah, could not be true. Mr. Chairman, that in and of itself is enough to pause. This particular matter wasn't about a misgendering. It was about an allegation of calling a human an it. Mr. Chairman, that happened quite some time ago. We're at a point right now in city government, we're talking about the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, I think that gentleman left, that they are investigating things. Mr. Chairman, through the chair to the administration, how long ago did this complaint come before you?

Mr. Manager?

To the chair, to the council, I don't know the exact time. I know there's been perhaps over a year. The current DEI office is not investigating this matter. This is an outside council, outside third party entity that's investigating the matter.

Through the chair to the administration, has DEI office been involved?

Mr. Mangia.

Through the chair to the council, in this matter, no, because it pertains to a city council.

DEI has been involved, Mr. Chairman. They have been involved.

TO THE CHIEF OF THE COUNCIL, DI HAS NOT BEEN INVOLVED DIRECTLY WITH THE CITY COUNCIL MATTER. THEY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE INDIVIDUAL RELATED TO THE ACTUAL OFFICE, NOT THE CITY COUNCIL ITSELF.

AND THAT'S WHAT I REFERENCED IN MY STATEMENT. SO THIS IS BEING A BIT MISREPRESENTED. I'M GOING TO REITERATE. THIS PARTICULAR MATTER HAD AN IMPACT, AS I STATED, ON THE OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL. AND AS SUCH, IT HAD AN IMPACT ON elected officials and city councilors. And I'm saying, once again, I reiterate, it's not about allegations. There's an investigation. We had a situation where city council staff had to leave the building to conduct their work. It is irresponsible, given the fact that this matter has not been resolved, to make such a recommendation. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to reiterate, this is the reason. It's not about allegations, it's not about misgendering, it's about slurring and allegations of slurring and the impact it has had on the workplace within City Hall. And that investigation is incomplete, probably approaching a couple years now. The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has been involved with that. And if we're talking about oversight from that office, this is not an example of how effective it is.

Okay, so the motion is to recommit. The yes vote would be recommit. No vote would not to recommit. So if that passes, it's recommitted. If it doesn't pass, we'll take a vote on the appointment.

Excuse me, can you repeat that again, please? I'm sorry.

Okay, so the first, under the rules of the council, there's a motion to recommit the item back to the senior manager. So the first motion, the first vote we take was on the recommittal. A yes vote would recommit it, a no vote would not recommit it. Then if that fails, we then go ahead and vote the confirmation. So the motion now is to recommit. That's a yes or a no.

Roll call. Councilor Bergman. No. Councilor Belata.

Yes.

Councilor Economo. Councilor Zolo. No. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra.

No.

Councilor Haida. Yes. Councilor Rivera. No. Councilor Rosen. No. Councilor Toomey. No. And Mayor Petty.

A no. Motion is to confirm. Roll call.

That's a Bergman yes, that's a lot of know what's economy. That's a solo. Yes, that's a King know that's a major. Yes, that's a hit up. That's Rivera, yes, it's a rose and yet to me. Yes, the mayor.

Yes, we are in 23 D communication same measure recommend the appointment of Jared Madison to the trust fund commission. The motions of the firm in a row call to roll call.

I'm to bring men. Yes, a lot of yes, I'm so kind of a result. Yes, the King. Yes, I'm to meet your yes, I'm sorry to. Yeah, contrary of era. Yes, it's rose and yes, it's a to me. Yes, I'm everybody.

Yes, you can catch the same and recommending a point of shape in the sense the service and the commission. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman. Yes. Councilor Belata. Yes. Councilor Economo. Yes. Councilor Zolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Haida. Yes. Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

Yes, 23 G request to see me to fight Council with the water report concerning outreach efforts and police activity in the canal district regarding unhoused individuals report should include case work and outreach data from service providers to see something human services department call your life team. First report should include police data on service calls and the rest of any unhoused individuals. Council. Did you follow that comes we hold this one. MOTIONS TO ADOPT?

YEAH, AS IT READS, JUST WANTED TO, NOT AS IT READS, EXCUSE ME, WAS HOPING, WANTED TO GET A REPORT OUT TO REALLY ADDRESS QUARTERLY WHAT'S GOING ON TO DO SOME OUTREACH TO UNHOUSED INDIVIDUALS IN THE DISTRICT AND ALSO WHAT'S GOING ON WITH PUBLIC SAFETY. THANK YOU.

OKAY. ROLL CALL. COUNCIL BERGMAN. YES. COUNCIL BELOTTA. YES. COUNCIL ECONOMO. YES. COUNCIL RIZZOLO. YES. COUNCIL KING. YES. COUNCIL MITRA. YES. COUNCIL OJEDA. YES. Yeah, I'm sorry very yes, it's rose and yet on to me yes, the mayor petty.

Yes, 23 H request a major install signed at the appropriate locations for the seas stay in the property may not be used for so immigration enforcement activities for requesting major create draft ordinance for the city council consideration. We to the force of such signage so can.

Thank you Mister chairman when asked the city clerk if he could pull up the image that I'm referencing this is being done another municipalities we've had the city administration. We've had state legislation that speaks to this was going to wait until it's pulled up and would like the city manager to go through the process of Trying to find my item here. Which item is it, Mr. Chairman? 23H. 23H. Considering, I'd like to see a draft ordinance to allow us to do this in perpetuity, so we don't have to worry about who the city manager is, what the political whims of the day are. Is that on large? Through the chair to the clerk, can you just read the signage for the public through the chair?

Through the chair to the council, the property of the city of Linn may not be used for similar immigration enforcement activities, and it's also bilingual.

It's also bilingual, I think is what he said. Mr. Chairman, anything that we can do to support our immigrants here in the city of Worcester that upholds and reinforces the executive orders of the city manager, Mass General Law, Mr. Chairman, and the steps that this council has taken in regards to 287 and and other matters. As you know, as we're dealing with the situation in Haiti and other countries, we have a host of folks here who are not feeling safe. We need to continue to have a consistent message that's put out and I would like a cost analysis maybe to see from the city manager if in fact there was potential for this what would the locations be and a draft ordinance for the consideration of the council Mr. Chairman at that time um you know i'd hope that it would come back and the council could vote it up yay or nay based on a fully informed proposition mr chairman thank you okay council bergman mr chairman if i if i may i rise for some clarification and possibly to oppose but i need the clarification first so through you to the city solicitor

If I could ask her a question. I don't know if she wants to come down to the table. Thank you. Through the chair, the city solicitor, as I read this language, the property of the city of Lynn may not be used for civil immigration enforcement activities. If that language was substituted for the property of the city of Worcester, it may not be used for civil immigration enforcement activities on public properties in the city of Worcester as what's being proposed. Do we have any teeth to enforce that?

Madam Solicitor?

Through the chair. So this, well, we currently have this in part of the executive order that the manager issued in the policy. So that is something that we currently do put immigration on notice that we don't use any funds or public property is not used. If you adopted an ordinance, I don't know how much authority you would have, but it would be putting people on notice, putting a sign like that.

But through the chair, do you know the federal authorities are obligated to abide by that?

No.

No, you don't know?

No, they are not. So the federal authorities can come onto any property and they can pursue a detainment or an order. I mean, we can say that we're not using public property for civil enforcement. However, I don't know what action you would take if they violated the ordinance, but...

So if I understand you correctly, putting a sign up really doesn't have any teeth, so to speak, as far as preventing federal agents from going on public property that's owned by the city of Worcester. Is that correct?

I guess we would hope that they would comply with just the executive order that we have. Again, you can't really prevent the federal authorities from entering public property, but Okay, thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I couldn't hear the answer to the question.

Can you repeat that answer one more time?

Through the chair, the counselor asked if putting a sign would have any authority against federal officers to come onto public property. So we currently have an executive order and policy that states that public property shall not be used for civil enforcement of immigration laws. Ultimately, do we have the authority to tell the federal agents not to use public property? I don't think that's been challenged anywhere, but we already have made that seem out there that the sign would just offer notice to the public.

Councillor Rivera? I'm sorry, Councillor Berger, I based that down.

That's all right, thank you.

I'm outside with the city solicitor, but I just have a few moments of comment before I finish. I think I'm well within my first five minutes. So if I may, I'm not convinced that putting a sign up is going to prevent federal authorities from pursuing immigration activities if they so choose. What concerns me is, I think everybody's concerned. On the one hand, nobody wants to see, it goes to the debate of ICE and the liberties of people that are here, whether they're here documented or undocumented. I think anybody wants to see people that are here that have lived a life of

you

Abiding by the law, I've been productive citizens. Whether they got here legally or otherwise, I don't think anybody wants to see a small infraction resulting in them being deported. But I do have an issue with just saying that federal authorities can't go on public property, i.e. city property, two reasons. One, I don't think the sign is anything. I think it's a paper tiger. The federal authorities want to go on the property. Well, but number two, and equally, perhaps even more concerning to me is, I don't want to be answering the family whose family member got raped or murdered or assaulted, that we prevented the federal authorities from stopping that person from committing the crime because there was kind of this free zone on Worcester property where, even though they were present, nobody could go after them. So there's this tough balance between not wanting to hurt good, law-abiding people, whether they got here through legal means or not, versus this somewhat of a blanket saying, Federal authorities cannot go on public property to enforce civil immigration law, which very well could mean that somebody who shouldn't be here because of a violent, and I mean violent history, gets away with not getting deported. And I have struggled with that. And if I'm going to have to err on the side of which way I'm going to go, since I don't think the sign's going to accomplish anything anyways, because as the city solicitor said, and I agree, although it hasn't been challenged, I know federal authorities don't have to stop, say, uh-oh, City of Worcester says we can't go on the climate. They're not going to do that. Let's be realistic. So for those reasons, grant the city of Lynn has done it. I'm sure other cities have done it. We're always looking at other cities for examples. But many cities haven't. And I don't want to wade into that situation where we're second guessing anybody. Again, I don't want to see people that commit minor infractions deported. At the same time, do I want to see people that commit violent crimes deported? Yeah, I do. Thank you.

THANK YOU. WHO'S NEXT? WAS IT HIM OR YOU?

GO AHEAD.

COUNCIL RIVERA, DISTRICT FIVE.

THANK YOU. I GUESS MY ONLY CONCERN IS THAT their stance on this is I'm already aware of how hard it is to get signage on whether it's speed limit signage or crosswalk signage or park signage, all kind of stuff that the residents want. And we don't have the money for it to spend money on signs that federal ICE officers don't have to follow anyways. So that's my only concern.

Mayor Petty.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the order, and I know probably over a month ago, I'd see a manager, myself, Congressman McGovern, form the committee, a bunch of providers. How do you assist the Haitians and other immigrant groups here in the city of Worcester? I have visited the Haitians over the last three weekends, and this could be somewhat performative. The reality, Mayor, is we have a lot of scared people. And very scared. People who go to work every day. Who pay taxes. And raise families. Afraid to send their kids to schools. Afraid to go to work. Now they're in this situation, this catch-22, where you're trying to educate both employers. Because the Haitians, by the way, they're part of this economy in the city of Western. Big part of this economy. when the healthcare, construction, a number of different industries, and probably most of them work two shifts, and they're part of the community. It's pretty sad when you go in to talk to the Haitians, like I have, and how scared they are, how upset they are. And so I know maybe the sign, maybe not mean anything, but I think it would mean something to some of the immigrants here in the city of Worcester. And I know Councilor King has already amended it to ask for a cost analysis and to see if it was done in what particular areas would you do it. I know we have our own policy we signed. The governors came out, maybe with additional properties, courthouses. What's that? The Protection Act, the courthouses, schools, there's a few other properties, public properties I think she had on there, but I don't think it, I'd like to get a clarification if it includes churches or not. So I'm not sure if it does or doesn't. I don't need it tonight, but I think it has some type of authority over certain non-public places, and as long as it's not a place open to the public. So I'm going to vote for this, but I think Councilor Rivera has asked for a cost. I think Councilor King has asked for a cost analysis, which Councilor Rivera was asking for too, to see how this would work out. So I'm going to vote for him anyways. Thank you.

THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR.

THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. WHEN HISTORY LOOKS BACK ON THIS, WHEN HISTORY LOOKS BACK ON THIS, IT'S GOING TO BE VERY BAD, IT'S GOING TO BE VERY BAD, AND IT IS BAD. AND IT IS BAD. AND TO GO OFF OF WHAT THE MAYOR AND TO GO OFF OF WHAT THE MAYOR SAID, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SAID, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN OUR CITY, RESIDENTS PEOPLE IN OUR CITY, RESIDENTS THAT HAVE COME HERE, THAT SEND THAT HAVE COME HERE, THAT SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL HERE, THEIR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL HERE, THAT LIVE AND WORK IN OUR THAT LIVE AND WORK IN OUR COMMUNITY THAT ARE TERRIFIED. COMMUNITY THAT ARE TERRIFIED. AND IT'S DISGUSTING WHAT'S AND IT'S DISGUSTING WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THIS COUNTRY RIGHT HAPPENING IN THIS COUNT CASTING DISPERSIONS ON THIS, AND IN ONE TOKEN SAYING THAT THERE IS NO TEETH TO IT, AND THEN IN THE SAME BREATH SAYING THAT IT'S SOMEHOW GOING TO PREVENT ICE FROM GOING AFTER CRIMINALS AND FOLKS THAT SHOULD BE DEPORTED. SO I DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND THAT LOGIC. ACTIONS MATTER AND SYMBOLISM MATTERS AND WE SHOULD BE DOING WHATEVER WE CAN TO FIGHT GET BACK AGAINST JUST THE TERRIBLE THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN THIS COUNTRY IN IN THE NAME OF IMMIGRATION REFORM BECAUSE IT'S NOT IMMIGRATION REFORM IT'S HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND IT'S AGAIN GROSS INJUSTICE AND WE SHOULD BE DOING WHATEVER WE CAN THANK YOU COUNCIL REVERA I'M COUNCIL KING FIRST FOR SECOND TIME AND COUNCIL REVERA

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to reiterate the signage. The language is to be determined, but the language we were looking at is that there would be not participation in these areas in civil immigration enforcement activity. Now, there was an assertion, there's a rape, there's a murder. My God, there's a sign. We're not talking about criminal enforcement. To make the analogy by an attorney is less than disingenuous. We hear these talking points all the time, right now, in real time. Of course we assist with murder and rape. Come on. It is not the same, Mr. Chairman. It is not the same. These false correlations are hurtful. We have kids. We have teachers. We have parents in schools that come up to me looking for more, happy with some of the leadership that we're doing. We're not looking to do anything outside of that. We're certainly not looking to harbor criminals. Come on. Mr. Chairman, it's just difficult to stand and not speak to that sort of Trumpian talking points. The executive order, if that's the case, if folks disagree with the executive order, there's nothing we can do. Stand up in opposition to the executive order. I supported it. This is a simple measure that goes a long way. And I appreciate the support of the mayor. I'm looking forward to the vote.

Dr. Rivera, for a second time.

Just for clarification purposes, we're talking about signage here. We're not talking about allowing ICE to come in here and have a free-for-all. We're not talking about stopping them. We're just talking about signage. And we're talking about if the city don't have no T, THEN WHY SPEND A MONTH? THAT WAS MY CONCERN ON THE ISSUE. THAT WAS IT. MY VOTE ON THIS IS NOT BASED ON I SHOULD BE GOING RAMPAGE ON HERE. NO. I MEAN, THEY HAVE THEIR LAWS. THE STATE HAS THE LAWS. WE HAVE SECURITY VOTERS. IT IS WHAT IT IS. BUT MY THING IS WHY DO CITY COUNCILS WANT TO GIVE MONEY TO SOMETHING WE CAN'T? IT HAS NO TEETH TO IT. THAT WAS MY CLARIFICATION.

I'm done.

He's done. for the second time? Yeah, I'll be quick.

You know, it's interesting that the dumb lawyer shtick has played out over a number of years I've been on the council. Oh, Councilor Bergman, the lawyer should know better. I know what I read, and I read it carefully before I said it. Officers may locate, question, arrest, or search non-citizens suspected of being in this country without legal permission or violating visa terms. Well, guess what violating a visa term includes? It includes committing an act of criminality. So to say that... ICE agents aren't looking for people who committed serious crime is just foolishness. Just foolishness. That's all it is. So yeah, I do do my homework. I'm not always asking where we are on the pages. I do know where we're at and what we're talking about. And whether I'm a lawyer or just somebody who tries to know the topic, I'm not going to sit there and take the dumb lawyer shtick like I've been hearing for the last decade. Because I've done my homework, and I would challenge anybody to say that I'm wrong on that issue. Now, you can be for or against the item. That's your business. And I know Trumpian comments and fellow Democrat comments, that's fine. I disagree with deporting people who have lived their lives in America and have lived them in accordance with our law. I disagree with that. But I cannot say I disagree with deporting people who have committed serious crimes. Sorry, I can't say it. I may be different. If the signage in any way inhibits that, I have a concern over it. Did I say it's a toothless tiger? Probably is. City solicitor says, we don't know. It's been unchallenged. So you know what? I said in my first vote, if I have to err on the side of making a decision on this, I'm going to err on the side of caution. That's simply what it is. Now the incels don't have to fly just because we disagree with each other, but I guess that's just the way things are.

Okay, so we have a motion to adopt. on this item. And I should just mention to all these people who came here legally into the country so we should know that it was okay roll call motion to adopt.

Council Bergman now comes a lot of yes, I'm so kind of a. It was a low, yes, it's a king, yes, it's a meet your know what to hate up. Yeah, it's a river. No come to Rosen. Come to me. Now the mayor petty yes. Samara that motion fails 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, votes comes a lot of comes with solo King or hate a mayor petty.

Okay, our next item is 23J, communications, city court transmitting information and communication relevant to one vacancy within the support staff of the office of the city council. Motion is to send to MLO. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Pallotta? Yes. Councilor Economo? Yes. Councilor Rizzolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Hader? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty?

Yes. Okay, it brings to the end of me, Councilor Rivera, is asked for suspension of the rules, roll call.

I just asked for reconsideration on one item. I could have asked for it at the time, but we were moving pretty quickly. It was the appointment of Council Carlson 23C. I'd like to ask for reconsideration on that so I can put that to bed.

Reconsideration of 23C. Roll call. Council Bregman?

No. Council Pallotta? No. Council Economo? Council Pizzolo? No. Council King? No. Council Mitra? No. Council Hader? No. No, that's Rivera, no, it's rose and no to to me now everybody know.

I comes from a river is special the rules roll call. I know it's only one quick on.

That's a Berman yeah, that's a lot of the economy because there's a low yes, the King yes, that's a major is going to hit up.

Yes.

Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty. Yes. Council Rivera.

I just want to remind the folks here in the city of Worcester that this Saturday, Coles Pond Family Fun Day, this will be giving kids 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Backpacks, free haircuts, free food. Just come and enjoy the good time at Coles Pond there in District 5. Thank you.

Okay motions to adjourn by doing so comes with for the just so which counts are ahead a happy birthday tomorrow. I don't know how to write a happy birthday have to be mine as well, but we are going to make the day. The motion is to adjourn roll call.

That's a burden. Yes, a lot of the economy of the solo. Yes, that's the king. Yes, it's a major. So here. I think there have been yes to Rosa yet to me yes, I'm everybody yes.