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Good afternoon everyone. I call to order today's meeting of the Boston City Council. Viewers may watch the council meeting live on YouTube at boston.gov backslash city dash council dash TV. At this time, I ask my colleagues and those in attendance to please silence your cell phones and electronic devices. Also, pursuant to Rule 42, I remind all in this Chamber that no demonstration of approval or disapproval from members of the public will be permitted. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll to ascertain the presence of a quorum.

Coletta Zapata, Councilor Culpepper, Councilor Durkin, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Flynn, Councilor Lujan, Councilor Mejia, Councilor Murphy, Councilor Pippen, Santana, Councilor Weber, and Councilor Rowe. A quorum is present. Thank you, Mr.

Clerk. I've been informed by the Clerk that a quorum is present. Now it is my pleasure to invite our colleague, Reverend Councillor Culpepper to the dais to introduce our guest clergy today. Following the invocation, we will recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. It is with high honor and my pleasure to introduce you this morning our A guest pastor who will bring on invocation, Reverend Laura Ray, the pastor of the United Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain. I have known her all of my life and we have had Many wins, many victories, and so this morning I introduce and present to others the beloved Reverend Laura Reyes.

Good afternoon. to all the councils and their representing districts. I greet you this afternoon in the only name that matters. It's my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's an honor to be here once again. I was here years back when Councilman was here and John Flaherty. And so I just want to offer a word of encouragement before we pray. And we're living in a time where there's so much chaos and so much turbulence. We're better together than we are apart. And that's not just being councilmen, but the community, family-wise, church family, wherever you... Attend or don't attend a church, it's okay. But we need to be unified. And we need to be on the side of not right or wrong, but the side of light. and when you're on the side of darkness, nothing can get accomplished. So I encourage you, stay together, pray together, work together, and yeah, fight together too, it's healthy.

But in everything we do, make sure something's accomplished and nothing goes away here unaccomplished. And I want to leave you with this one quote from Amos before I pray. And it says, but let judgment run down its waters. and Righteousness as a mighty stream. Stay on the side of light and leave darkness where it belongs, in the dark. Our Father in God, we come before you this afternoon anticipating this is going to be a great meeting. Anticipating because you're a great God and you know none other than light and you there is no darkness. So I pray for everything that's done here today God that be done in decency and order. I pray God that everything that's done here today that something would get accomplished. and nothing would get unresolved. Then the anger would not be an option, but only harmony would be an option. We pray for the president of this council. We pray for all who work with her, all who stand with her, and everyone in this city hall, including our Mayor Wu.

We ask our God that you move by your spirit in this place, and if you move by your spirit, we know surely that we'll come out. We're not just being at a meeting, but there'll be joy in this meeting. There'll be contentment. and long working with each other that you'll go home being with no headaches and no frailties. We love you and we honor you this day in Jesus name. Amen.

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

Thank you Reverend Reeves. This morning we now go on to presentations. We have one presentation. I'll invite Councillor Murphy to come to the dais. Councillor Murphy to introduce your Guest this morning and you've got five minutes and Councillor Fitzgerald's coming up as well.

Good afternoon everyone. It's wonderful to be here and the first presentation of the new session and if you could come up with us Pedro when we Rightfully say some wonderful things about you and the work you're doing. And I'm joined here with Councilor Fitzgerald to present this to you. You can come right up here. Yeah. Okay. So before I present this resolution, I want to say a few words about why this work matters and why today is important. Uplifting young people is not something we do once a year or at a single event. It is a responsibility that requires sustained attention, investment, and leadership every day. When we talk about youth engagement, we are talking about whether young people feel valued, supported and connected to the city that they all call home. Pedro Cruz understands that responsibility deeply.

His leadership of the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement reflects a year-round commitment to creating space for our youth To make sure their voices are heard, give them opportunities for leadership and civic participation across Boston. The programs his office oversees do not begin or end with the summit coming up. They are part of ongoing work to ensure that young people are seen as partners in our city's future. The Mayor's Youth Summit is a moment to celebrate that work. It is a visible, joyful gathering that reflects months of effort, relationships, and engagement that happen throughout the year. It brings together young people from across our neighborhoods to be recognized to connect and see themselves reflected. This resolution that we're going to present to you and later in the council meeting will hopefully all suspend and pass recognizes the 2026 Mayor's Youth Summit

That is the third annual and thank you to you Pedro and your office for bringing it back. Mamonino had it for many years and it took a little hiatus but this will be the third consecutive year. But it also recognizes the consistent work behind it and the leadership that makes it possible. So I'm proud. But before I present it, I will let my colleague, Councilor Fitzgerald, who's joining me in presenting this to you today.

Thank you and thank you Council Murphy for allowing me to come up here today. Not new to any of my colleagues but for anyone else I am a former alumni or I'm an alumni former member of the Mayor's Youth Council. Class of 1999, I believe was the last time. And I actually was the host of the Mayor's Youth Summit, and that was one of the last ones we had before Pedro here with Lindsay did a great job about bringing this back on. If you look at that tape, they will tell you how not to host a Mayor's Youth Summit looking back. Mayor Menino was the mayor at the time. and if I could tell you the whole story looking back on it, it's amazing I even got a job at City Hall in the first place given some of my antics up there. But that being said, I just want to thank Pedro and the work he did, whether it's going to the support that you give our youth is why I continue to show up for you and for Lindsay. And it's because whether it's an alumni event, whether it's the Mayor's Youth Summit itself,

or any of the multitude of things that we offer our youth, the future of our city, I want to make sure that we are all there to support it. So Pedro, thank you for your efforts. Lindsay, thank you for your efforts and continue doing the great work that you do.

So before we hand the microphone over to you, I do just want to read this official resolution. It's presented by myself and Council of Fitzgerald and the entire city council, to Pedro Cruz, to Lindsay, and the entire team. for your leadership and dedication to uplifting Boston's young people and for your work advancing youth engagement, civic participation, and leadership development across the city of Boston. including your support to the mayors you summit which we'll talk about later in the council meeting but hopefully we'll you'll see all of us they aren't supporting you but you have the microphone so congratulations thank you thank you so much

I didn't know how I was going to have to talk, but we're just speaking from the heart. Honestly, building this office these last two years has truly been the best job that I've ever been assigned, man. I feel like everything I've done since I was a young person Working a summer job up until those three years ago, it's literally worked my way up to that. I feel like this has been my dream job, being able to serve every young person across the city with no limitations, as long as you live in the city. and you're within the age brackets it's truly been a blessing and I couldn't have done any of that first and foremost without my team who shows up every single day and dedicates their lives to the work and trust is my crazy visions and ideas and seriously the leadership you know under Chief Jose Marceau and Lisa Conley just for the support they really put me in the position I'm in and just kind of let me run with it and then also the council truly man every single one of you have shown up

Individually, whether it's coming to the events, whether it's giving me guidance, whether it's pushing me in a healthy manner or holding me accountable. I couldn't have done any of that with all of you that are sitting here today, so I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to the next few years and the works only just getting started. I appreciate being codified recently, which really puts us in play in terms of for the future of the city. So it's just one big thank you to all of you. Seriously, man, I can't. Thank this leadership enough or this council enough and I look up to all of you and just look forward to continuing the work and hold me accountable, put me to work. Appreciate you guys.

I invite Lindsay and my colleagues from City Council to come up for a photo. Thank you.

I appreciate it Councilor, thank you.

I know, down there.

I don't know.

Thank you, thank you everyone. That's what I was trying to remind them.

Thank you.

Thank you everyone. Unfortunately Ellen our stenographer is still under the weather and she will again be working remotely to ensure and also to ensure that we have stenographic record for this meeting. We wish her a very speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her back in the chamber next week. and we all send her our best wishes Ellen for a speedy recovery and hope to see you very soon. Before we approve the minutes I'd like to call on Councillor Durkan to make a short statement. Councillor Durkan you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Council President Breadon. As required under Rule 38, I do want to offer an apology to my colleagues. Although it wasn't captured on the record, our body had a moment of reflection during last Friday's hearing. One where many of us paused, acknowledged areas of improvement, and recommitted to working together. I apologize at that time, but I want to reiterate that here. I recognize my behavior wasn't a right way to kick off the term. I also want to thank Councilor Breadon for her thoughtful leadership in helping guide and refocus us on our shared responsibilities. I think we've been in conversations over I think it's really important that we have a leader that really does care about every single person's opinion. I look forward to passing the council rules today and moving forward with the important work our constituents deserve. And just wanted to say a note to my dear colleague, Councilor Fitzgerald.

I definitely there have been times where we you know it's we are all going to be on different sides of different things but I just want to say that I really value your leadership and In this moment, I think the city wants to see us all come together. They want to see us working on issues. And that's what I'm committed to. And so I'm grateful to work alongside all 12 of you. So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Durkan. Now the first order of business would be to approve the minutes from the last meeting of January 28th, 2026. All in favour say aye. All those opposed say nay. The ayes have it, the minutes of January 28th meeting have been approved. Mr. Clerk, would you please take docket 0157 out of order.

Docket number 0157, the Committee of the Whole, to which was referred on January 28, 2026. Docket number 0157, order to adopt rules for the Boston City Council for municipal years 2026 and 2027 submits a report recommending that this matter ought to pass in a new draft.

The Committee of the Whole had a meeting on Friday, January 30, 2026, to discuss Docket 0157. In order to adopt the rules, proposed for the Boston City Council for municipal years 2026 to 2027. This docket was filed in accordance with Rule 47 of the temporary rules of the body, which states that the rules of the City Council shall be adopted by a majority roll call vote no later than the first regular meeting in February. The purpose of the meeting was to provide Councillors with an opportunity to ask questions, seek clarification, and discuss the proposed rule changes prior to consideration by the body. In attendance were Councillors Flynn, Murphy, Fitzgerald, Pepén, Durkan, Mejia, Culpepper, Santana, Coletta-Zapata, Worrell and Webber. A letter of absence was received from Councillor Louijeune.

At the outset of the meeting, Councillors identified several overarching goals and concerns that framed the discussion. including a desire to understand the intent behind proposed rule and committee structure changes. During the meeting, the committee engaged in a detailed discussion of several proposed rule revisions. The discussion focused primarily on Rule 7, 12, 40A, 46, 48 and 39, as well as proposed changes to Committee descriptions under Rule 36. With respect to Rule 40A, Councillor sought clarification on revisions made to voting language. In light of the seriousness of actions taken under 40A, Councillors proposed re-adding language to require and ensure that any such action be taken by roll call vote. Regarding committee structures outlined under Rule 36, Councillors express their thoughts and concerns about the descriptions and oversight abilities.

Councilors also discussed the scope of the Education Committee and whether education-related budget dockets, including components of the Boston Public Schools Budget, should be included within the Committee's jurisdiction. Discussion supported expanding the school committee's role to provide focused oversight on education policy. Concerns were raised that fragmenting budget oversight and assigning budget measures to multiple committees would create procedural confusion and inconsistencies With matters addressed by the Committee on Ways and Means. Before adjourning the meeting, the Committee also discussed procedures for summoning members when votes require two-thirds vote of the full Council. The role of Robert's rules of order when council rules are silent.

Rule 38 on questions regarding enforceability and free speech considerations and the value of a future Committee of the Whole meetings to address concerns of the body as a whole. The rules as proposed have been amended to include gender neutral language, Throughout, a new committee event type known as public testimony sessions has been added under Rule 35A. Minor revisions have been made to committee descriptions for the Committee on Human Services and the Committee on Public Health. Homelessness and Recovery under Rule 36. And language that would explicitly require a roll call vote under 40A has also been added. As Chair of the Committee of the Whole, I recommend moving the listed docket from the Committee to the full Council for discussion and formal action.

But this time my recommendation is to the council, full council, will be that this matter ought to pass in a new draft. As the chair of the committee as a whole, I'd like to also add that this has been perhaps the most thorough and transparent rules process in council history. It is the first time in nearly 30 years that the rules were not suspended and passed at the first meeting of the year. And as far as I or the central staff are aware, it's the first time ever that there's been a working session on the rules. I would like to thank my council colleagues for their commitment to this exercise, for showing up to the working session with ideas and feedback. and for their overall spirit of cooperation and collaboration. I feel deeply that the Council as a whole is better off having worked through this together and believe that my own commitment to transparency as President has been demonstrated throughout this process.

Moving forward, I look forward to continuing this collaborative work with my colleagues on the body. Would anyone like to speak on this docket? Mejia, you have the floor.

Thank you Madam President and I really do appreciate your leadership and walking us through the opportunity to be able to I am rising because there are some rule amendments that I'd like to offer. I'm going to start...

Pardon me, Councillor, but we, the clerk did not... Recognise me? Receive any rule amendments?

We were going to do some rule amendments on the floor.

Here it is.

Did you get it?

I just got it.

Okay. Have all of my colleagues got Councillor Meheia's proposed rule amendment? Okay. Councilor Mejia?

Mejia, you have the floor. Thank you. So I am going to start off with the description of the Education Committee. And so I noticed that some of the language that we wanted has not been inserted, whereas the matters of that fall under Education Committee but are included in the formal description the Education Committee. And it is essential to state these items explicitly to avoid confusion about appropriate committee filings, where they're going to be sent, and what the Education Committee has oversight. and therefore be it, I'd like to advocate that the description for the Education Committee in Rule 36 be as follows. The following words and phrases shall be inserted to the first sentence.

Quote unquote and availability and programs and their families as well as their services and programs available to Boston Public School teachers, staff, and administrators. The sentence the committee shall have oversight of Boston Public School facilities, including applications, proposals, contracts, closures, mergers, reconfigurations, move, and all facility matters that impact education, student, families, teachers, staff, and administrators shall be inserted after the third sentence. The sentence, the committee shall also concern itself with matters of early childhood education and higher ed, including historically black colleges and universities, and Community College shall be inserted into the fourth sentence. The sentence, the committee shall have referenced, shall have referred to

It all matters concerning appropriations, the budget, expenditures and loans that are related to the Boston Public Schools and have previously been voted on by the Boston School Committee shall be inserted before the last sentence. The phrase including Boston public school teachers, staff, and administrators except individual personnel matters shall be inserted to the last sentence. The amended rule in full shall read as follows. Committee on Education shall concern itself with the quality and availability of equitable educational Services and programs provided to all school-aged children, residents, and their families in Boston, as well as services and programs available to all Boston public school teachers and administrators. The committee shall explore developing programs to provide assistance and academics and extracurricular activities for families.

The committee shall monitor educational policy, in particular, special education, bilingual education, and Technical Education with the goal of eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps for students of color, English language learners, students with disabilities, and children living in poverty. The committee shall have oversight of the Boston public school facilities including applications, proposals, contracts, closures, mergers, reconfiguration, moves in all facilities related matters that impact education, students, families, teachers, staff, and administrators. The committee shall work to strengthen cooperation among city and state government, private enterprise, and institutions of higher Learning to provide students with the necessary education, training, and skills for further education and future career opportunities in the new economy. The committee should also concern itself with matters of early childhood education,

and Higher Ed, including historically black colleges and universities and community colleges. The committee shall have referred it to all matters concerning appropriations, the budget, expenditures, and loans that are related to the Boston Public Schools and have previously been voted on by the Boston School Committee. The committee shall exercise oversight with respect to the Boston School Department, including Boston public schools, teachers, staff, and administrators, except individual personnel matters, educational-based programs, and all other city related to education. So we can take one step at a time. Let's start off with that.

Which point of clarification? Which rule are we talking about? 36. 36? Because we've got several dockets here. Murphy, you have the floor.

Thank you, Councilor Mejia, and anyone who has amendments coming forward. I think we had a great conversation, but there's always Time and place to continue to talk to get this better. One thing that stood out that I appreciate is that this understanding or this belief that the education committee is only students in BPS and we know so many of our students. do not attend BPS so to include all the other schools and ways our students and our children in the city of Boston are educated I think is very important so I'm glad that you added that language so I'm looking forward hopefully to put that into the rules thank you

Worrell, you have the floor. Thank you, Madam President, and thank you to Councilor Mejia for putting this forward. I stand in support of this amendment. I think it's a continuation of the work that Councilor Santana has done. and the Education Committee. We're having the policy briefings last year and I think that the next step in the work around education is to make sure that our policy briefings are connected with the budget. Our budget is reflective of the values that we share in education and the only way to make sure that those are interconnected is to make sure that the education committee has control of not only the policies conversation but also the budgetary conversation so I'm very and much supportive of this and also just hearing and seeing all the conversations around education I think we need to have a hyper focus on this conversation. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Worrell.

And thank you to Councilor Mejia for bringing this forward. I'm the longest serving city councilor here and I don't think we've had this level of discussion on a particular issue as it impacts rules. So I want to acknowledge Councilor Mejia for bringing it forward. Madam Chair, I also want to acknowledge your leadership that you had in conducting a very informative meeting last week. I believe it was three hours and you gave everybody the opportunity to Weigh in on particular matters as it relates to the rules. So I just want to acknowledge your leadership, Madam Chair. As I mentioned, what council me here has Thank you.

Thank you. are not just BPS issues, but also on the BPS budget. There are different types of leadership. There are different types of experiences. Mahia's lived experience as a single parent navigating BPS is a different type of leadership that we should embrace in the city. Some traditions are good. Some traditions are not good. but we also have to acknowledge that many in Boston have historically been harmful to communities of color across the city. At this point in time, I believe it's important to celebrate and welcome the leadership

of the Education Committee Chair, Councillor Mejia has an important voice and unique perspective in my opinion. One that she shares with many residents across the city and I feel like she has She reaches a constituency that is not normally heard and at times not respected in the city. I believe she has a critical voice and role to play on this council in representing A unique opinion on the Boston City Council as it relates to the Boston public school system. Lived experience. And I know and I trust that council here will hold accountable BPS and advocate for our BPS families. And I know she would do a tremendous job if given the opportunity to conduct that important oversight

Not just on BPS, but also the financial aspect of it as well. I'm here to support Councillor Mehear and her important amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Councillor Webber, you have the floor.

Thank you very much. I think the big ticket item in these amendments is the movement of the BPS budget from Ways and Means to the Education Committee. I do not support that. I think we're playing politics with the BPS budget. The Ways and Means Committee is set up to handle the budgets of various city departments, which it has done since the early 1980s when this committee, Ways and Means, was established by a councilor named Tom Menino. The process creates efficiency and stronger advocacy around the budget since we aren't arguing over 20 plus budgets at once. Taking one third of the operating budget out of that committee would cause confusion and complicate our oversight of the budget and it wouldn't serve our kids. There is a cornucopia of important issues that the Education Committee has to grapple with right now. There are policy debates about how BPS should best serve multi-language learners, how the inclusion model is working, how we should teach reading, what schools are going to close and why, what impact the hub school model is having.

Declining enrollment, the exam school admission process, a district-wide cell phone ban, and just this morning the Globe reported that one-third of BPS seniors have not completed enough MassCorp credits to be on pace to graduate this year. The Education Committee certainly has a lot of important work to do. It wouldn't serve the interests of our kids to further saddle that committee with one-third of the operating budget. Additionally, arguments are being made about racial equity. I think some of these arguments are not being made in good faith. Again, this is about politics, who the chair of the Ways and Means Committee is versus who the chair of the Education Committee is. I look forward to a council. where there is a consensus to put racial equity at the top of our priorities, especially with regards to our schools. That certainly hasn't been the case in the past. On Monday night, after coming home from a nighttime meeting at the First Baptist Church in JP, I texted Elliot Payne. If you don't know who that is, it's the city council president for Minneapolis.

He told me how council members had organized local groups to protest and observe ICE, to bring food and mutual aid to families too scared to leave their homes, and to connect families with legal services. Despite dealing with the worst case scenario in Minneapolis, demonstrators have managed to remain non-violent. In my text, I thanked Mr. Payne for the example Minneapolis has created for all of us to follow. I wish I could say our city council is ready to handle the same kind of challenge. I really hope we can. We can adopt the rules today. and get back to business and doing what's best for our kids here in the city. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Webber.

Councillor Murphy, you have the floor. I'm going to try and have people who haven't spoke I think Councilor Murphy, you seconded the motion. Hold on. Councilor Culpepper, you have the floor.

Madam President, I rise in support of This amendment to the rules. After reading the article this morning concerning one third of the students may not graduate in 2027, I think it's important that we do something now. I think we've got to do something different. I think we can't continue to do the same thing. We've heard it over and over. If you keep doing the same thing, expect to get different results, then Something's not right. So I move because I think at some point we have to look at exactly what's happening. We have to make some changes, some amendments. Everyone may not agree, but I do think that everyone agrees that something has to happen Something has to happen now. I don't think we can wait. I don't think we can keep kicking the can down the road.

I think it's today, this day, that we say to the students in the Boston public schools, we will work to make sure that every student will graduate in 2027 and we'll do whatever we can to make that happen. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilor Culpepper, Councilor Murphy, and then Councilor Fitzgerald.

Thank you. Rising again to speak specifically to this part of the amendment shifting the BPS budget. As someone who has voted against the BPS budget each of the past four years I want to be clear about why. It has never been because I oppose investing in public education. It is because I believe that a budget now exceeding $1.7 billion has not been given the time, scrutiny, or accountability it deserves by this body. I come to this as a former Boston Public School student, parent of Boston Public School children, and as someone who spent 24 years as an educator in the BPS system. I understand how budget decisions directly affect classrooms, staffing, student services and outcomes. I also understand how quickly harm can occur when decisions are rushed or disconnected from lived realities in schools.

Year after year, I have raised serious concerns about the state of our school system. More than 80% of our students are not reading at grade level. Chronic absenteeism continues to undermine learning and stability for thousands of families. We spend roughly 180 million dollars a year on transportation yet buses are often late or unreliable disrupting instruction and family schedules. At the same time, we invest very little per student in athletics and extracurricular programming while central staffing budgets continue to grow. I have filed hearings over these past four years, issued public statements and used my vote to elevate these concerns, including around the recent $52 million shortfall we know BPS is now facing.

But the reality is that when Ways and Means schedules departmental budget hearings, Boston Public Schools is often allotted roughly the same amount of time as departments with budgets of only a few million dollars. A system of this scale and complexity cannot be meaningfully reviewed under these conditions. The result is that we acknowledge the problem, express our concern, and still pass the budget. Councilman Mejia gets this right. This amendment is about giving the council the opportunity to stop saying we have no power because it is the school committee and instead take responsibility for the authority and oversight role we do have. Moving this work to the Education Committee allows us to slow down, ask better questions, follow issues across the year and directly connect spending decisions to student outcomes. This is not about diminishing ways and means. It is about recognizing that education is too important, too complex,

and two consequential to be treated like just another line item. This amendment gives the council a chance to do the work the people elected us to do. For those reasons and based on my record and lived experience, I strongly support this.

Murphy. Councillor Fitzgerald, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. Just some clarifying points around this. To Councillor Webb's earlier point about taking this out of the budget, when I'm reviewing the amendment, I don't think, I don't, I'm not, unless I'm missing something, I'm not reading anything that It specifically takes the BPS budget out of Ways and Means. I think it should be long in Ways and Means. But however, I just want to propose maybe a potential hybrid here where the budget absolutely stays in Ways and Means. I think it's correct to keep it there. However, given the state of BPS at the moment and some of the things surrounding it, we should have further conversation building on Councillor Santana's from last year and the previous two years in the meetings we had with BPS. I think it would be appropriate to have The more conversations we have around all topics education-related,

I just want to be clear that the budget would still stay in ways and means. It's the school committee, right? But I think, I know that Councilor Mia, that may not be what you want, but to sort of say, can it stay in Ways and Means, but we still offer the ability to do a deep dive on all education-related issues. Thank you, Councillor Fitzgerald.

Anyone who hasn't spoken yet? Councillor Colletta Zapata, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Madam President. And just to clarify, from the red lines that I'm looking at right now, it does say to address the Councilor from District 3's point, it says the committee shall have it referred to it All matters concerning appropriations, the budget, expenditures, and loans that are related to the Boston Public Schools. And I've been previously well drawn by the Boston School Committee. Just clarifying that point. Thank you.

Thank you. Peppin. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I just want to rise and echo a little bit of the sentiments of Councillor Fitzgerald, where I truly do believe that The Education Budget should remain in the Ways and Means Committee but I know that Councillor Mejia has been a very strong advocate for education and BPS in general. I do fear that if we go down this path this could open up the conversation for another bigger Thank you. Thank you. When he even ran for office, the reason why he ran for office was also to advocate for a closure of his kids' school. So I know that BPS is part of his commitment. And I know that BPS is part of a lot of our commitments here in the city of Boston. But I just wanted to make sure that I wanted to say, yeah,

I support some of these amendments in here, some of the worrying, but not the removal of the budget from the Ways and Means Committee.

Thank you, Madam President. Durkan, you have the floor. MS.

Thank you so much. We obviously had a hearing where we all spoke together, so I don't think any of my positions on this stuff is going to be surprising. Mejia being the chair of the education committee. We'll give her the ability to have conversations on every subject regarding BPS. I also want to share my deep trust and admiration for Councilor Weber, who I think is going to do a great job with Ways and Means. in an effort I know it's important that we have these conversations I also just want to say that we did have these conversations as a body so I think a lot of us are prepared to Steele, and so on. I think it's incredibly important to vote on these amendments. I'm not trying to stifle anyone's conversation but I think it is incredibly important. Part of my charge at last

If there aren't any questions regarding this, I do think we should vote on these amendments.

Thank you. Councillor Flynn, you have the floor, and then we'll go to Councillor Webber and then back to the lead sponsor. I get my W's mixed up sometimes.

You have the floor. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I do want to push back a little bit on a city councilor that mentioned, I don't know who he was referring to, in terms of playing politics on this issue, but I certainly know it's not me and it's certainly not Councillor Mejia. Councillor Mejia, a woman of colour that has a child in the BPS system, knows the BPS budget and operations as well as anyone. I think what she's advocating is for a stronger role for BPS families and accountability. So that's not about playing politics. That's about doing her job. And maybe it's a reference to me. I don't know. But I'm certainly not playing politics on this issue. What I want is what's best for all BPS students.

So I just wanted to clear that accusation up, Madam Chair, because I didn't think it was appropriate. We're having a civil conversation. and already politics is brought up in this debate. I thought it was unfair. What I do know is we don't have a city, no councilor of color has oversight of any budget or legal language. It hasn't been that way for many years. I also know that councilors of color are not in the President's Office. They're not in the Vice President's Office. They don't have the Chair of Ways and Means. I do think it is important for a person of color to play a critical All right. Thank you.

on the budget. I know Councilor Mejia can do that job. She will ask the right questions. She will hold BPS accountable. She will advocate hard for her constituents. Traditions need to Good traditions need to continue. Bad traditions need to be addressed. I think what this opportunity presents is giving an opportunity to BPS families To have a greater say. To have communities of color in the city have a greater say on BPS. I don't think we could dismiss this recommendation made by Council Mejia lightly as if it's irrelevant or it's meaningless. That's an important Finnegan.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. And just want to just clarify a few things is the description of the Education Committee inside of our rules or the rules that we're voting on. The committee shall exercise oversight with respect to Boston School Department educational based programs and all city programs related to education and I think you cannot do that without having oversight of the budget. because educational based programs is what makes up the budget. All city programs related to education is also within that budget. The other thing that I want to point out as Chair of Ways and Means in the previous term What ends up happening during the budget cycle is the Ways and Means Chair has the hearings on inclusion, multilingual learning, special education services, post-secondary outcomes, arts and music, health and wellness, the list goes on.

So that then undercuts the ability for the educational chair to then pull BPS to then have those conversations. So this is trying to give the educational chair the power, diving into the The description of what's here inside of our rules when it comes to what the committee should be doing and then on top of that I just want to push back on the last fact of there are four budgets that we vote on. We cannot separate out the public safety. We cannot separate out BCYS budget. We cannot separate out all the departments within the operating budget because that's one operating budget that we do have. The educational budget is a separate budget that we vote on and it's pretty much we're just appropriating dollars. By the time that it comes to us,

The school committee has already determined the programs and the dollar amount that we will just be solely appropriating dollars to. So we're not amending anything on the School budget. All we're doing is doing an up and down vote and this is more of a policy push and making sure that someone is focused on this at the same timeline that the school committee and the district is working on their budget. Thank you.

Thank you. As the lead sponsor, I would like to offer colleagues an opportunity to speak to your amendment, and then you'd speak at the end, okay?

sorry just a quickly let's see so on the issue of you know having committees that to have their policy issues that they're dealing with touch on the budget. I think that that is true for every single committee when you're talking about parks and that's going to touch on the budget. but we still have a parks committee to talk about parks issues we have a public safety committee talk about policing issues but when we talk about the budgets for those committees We deal with it in the Ways and Means Committee and that has served this body in the past. And then I would say that as somebody who is For people who don't know, in these committees, essentially there's a chair and then everyone else can attend the meetings for all the hearings for that committee.

Mejia. In the budget part of the hearings, and I think people still have influence, just to address some of the comments being made in support of Mejia's amendment, that people will still have a lot of say in how this goes. Like I said at our first meeting, to pass the budget We all have to work together. The goal is to get everyone on board. It's something that we can all support. Certainly, the chair of the education committee is going to get a lot of chances to weigh in on how that process works, especially We're talking about the BPS budget. Thanks. Thank you, Councillor Webber.

Councillor Mejia, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to thank all my colleagues that have weighed in. I really do appreciate your feedback and insight. This is what democracy looks like, right? We're all 13 individuals here who were all elected. None of us were appointed, right? So we utilize this microphone to speak our truth. and to bring our realities into this chamber. Period, full stop. I want to acknowledge a few things. is that when I was the chair of education, actually similar to my colleague, Councilor Murphy, I've always voted down the education budget because what we have done here in the city is what I'm calling educational malpractice. I grew up here in the city of Boston. I'm a BPS graduate. I'm a BPS mom.

I was an education organizer. Listen. It's not just about me being a woman of color. Yes, thank you very much. I acknowledge that. I don't want to be a diversity case here. But what I will say is that My level of understanding in terms of what this moment is calling for goes beyond the world of politics. My mom was undocumented. when I was growing up here in the city of Boston. I dropped out of high school. I went back. I know what it's like to be an English language learner. In fact, I was on the EL task force. So people tend to want to define what leadership looks like based on some other facet of standard. but lived experience matters. And the other piece of this conversation is that people have lost trust in this body.

So you need an independent voice who is going to hold BPS to the fire. And right now, a lot of folks out in these streets do not believe that we have the will to really step into that power and do that work. And so my advocacy, I'm not new to this, okay? In 2022, it was Councilor then Arroyo who suggested and planted the seed that we take the education budget into the education committee. Chuck Turner, City Councilor Chuck Turner did that. It has been done before. A black man had the education budget taken out of ways and means and he shepherded that through the process. So I just want to be really clear. It has been done before.

I am not asking for something that has never been done. There is precedence already for this. So I want us to be really clear. And for those folks who are tuning in, the only politics that are happening right now is that we have to fight for every single little crumb that we get. and Councilor, President Breadon, I said to you when you offered me this chairmanship that I did not want a ceremonial committee. that I was not going to assume a role Optics made it seem like I had power but in reality, at the end of the day, the real power lies in our ability to really be the checks and balances to the school committee because we don't have an elected school committee. We have an appointed one. So who are we?

We are the closest thing to that body in terms of making sure that we are making This process in ways that center the voices of the people that we serve. And so bringing the education budget into the committee allows us to be leader full. like to really assume our roles as leaders, not watering down our ability to really hold this administration accountable. and the real politics is, the real politics, had this been anybody else advocating for it, I bet you there would be no question about it. But the fact that it is me, My tone and tenor on this council has been all about accountability and transparency. Nobody wants that heat coming out of this committee. That is the truth of the matter.

And why I'm really excited about this opportunity is because the Vice Chair is Councilor Worrell, who was the Ways and Means Chair. And so it's not like I am going to be out here all by myself so y'all don't have to worry about me and my passion. Because I'll be working alongside somebody who has been there and done that. So y'all can tame this down a little bit if that's what you all are fearing right now. Because the truth is... And people know it. They may not want to say it, but people don't like the fact that my job has been on this council to be the checks and balances and be the voice of the people. And we're not going to shut it down just because people are afraid of what would happen if we really allow power to be shared. And right now, the way this whole construct has been created We have no power.

And what I'm trying to do in this moment is reclaim that power. So no, this is not political for me. No, this is not about me being a woman of color. This is about me understanding that I've been here for six years, and every single time it's time for us to vote for the education budget, I say no, but I feel powerless. This is an opportunity for us to reclaim that power and to really say no. We're not going to do business as usual. This is our moment to demonstrate that we are a body willing to ask the difficult questions and bring the administration and the school committee folks into the school department into the space. I have been incredibly patient. I have provided a lot of grace. and it gets to the point when enough is enough. And this for me is enough.

And I will say it publicly, as I said it to you privately, I do not want to be the chair of education unless I have the power to do my job. And if I don't have the power, then you can assign me to something else. But I won't be sitting in a seat like a lame duck acting like I have something to say and do and then be I offer that for consideration.

Thank you, Councilor Mejia. Anyone else wish to speak on this matter? Mr. Clerk? Mahia has offered an amendment in a new draft of 0157. We move to a roll call vote please.

Rule 36 Education Committee. No, no. This is the one we've just been speaking to. There's only one amendment, the budget one. And you have another one, Rule 36, a separate one. So this is a roll call vote on Rule 36 to amend the Education Committee language on Docket Number 0157. Councilor Breadon? No. Councilor Breadon, no. Colletta-Zapata? No. Councilor Colletta-Zapata, no. Councilor Culpepper? Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan? No. Councilor Durkan, no.

Councilor Fitzgerald? Yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn?

Yes.

Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, no. Councilor Lujan, no. Councilor Mejia, sí. Councilor Mejia, sí. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Council of Append. Vipin, no. Council Santana, no. Council Santana, no. Council Weber, no. Council Weber, no. And Council Worrell, yes. Council Worrell, yes. seven votes in the negative and six votes in the affirmative thank you Mr. Clerk amendment does not pass

I understand that Councillor Meheia has another amendment. This one is pertaining to clarification of assignments of committee chair, vice chair, etc. You have got several dishes.

Which one do you want to speak to next?

Beg your pardon. Sorry. Hang on a second. Sorry. Councillor Mejia, which amendment would you like to speak to? One amendment.

But there were a number of different items within the education, the historically So we need to do this line by line. So motion to reconsider the vote. I'd like to take a recess, please.

I must take a recess. Hold on a second. We'll have a short recess so we can decide how to separate out these different issues. Thank you.

Thank you for watching!

Thank you for watching!

Thank you.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you for watching!

Thanks for watching!

Thank you.

of New Year's. I'm calling you a meeting back to order.

Mejia, you have the floor. Thank you, Madam President. I want to thank my colleagues for their patience. So I just want a motion to amend. Second. I have four, I have one, two, three, four, five. I have five amendments that I want to do one by one.

We have to start Amendment A first.

Amendment A. Exhibit E, y'all. Amendment A. We good? Before I start mine or wait? Because I'm already talking because people can wait their turn.

Hold on a second. So I'm not going to be able to speak? Is that what I'm hearing?

Mr. Durkan, what's your question?

I'd like to make a motion to limit debate on the rules to an hour. So for us to by 2.30 vote on the rules. So that we would have an hour to discuss the rules in total. And I would like to ask my colleagues potentially if there's a second on that motion.

Second.

That was organized.

Thank you. We should do a roll call. I was about to speak. Hold on a second. Mr. Clerk, there's a motion to limit debate to one hour. Can you second it? Can we take a roll? We can have a discussion. Is anyone, Councillor? I'm already up. Councillor Flynn?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to ask the clerk, before we vote on this amendment, on this amendment. Wasn't there already a motion that was being discussed by Councillor Mejia? Was that formally brought? We weren't discussing that during the... She was about to.

and then I didn't get to. She didn't get a chance to do it.

But she was, I understand she was recognized, is that accurate? She was, yeah. Does she have the right to continue her discussion?

Flynn. Yes, Councillor Mehear will continue. I think there's a motion on the floor to limit debate on the rules to one hour, and it's been seconded, so we're going to have a vote on that. We have a very, very long agenda today. We have to pull last week's dockets from green sheets. It's going to be a very long agenda. So in the interests of efficiency, I'd like to limit the debate to one hour and then we'll will move on to the rest of the business.

Brayden, yes.

Yeah, let people talk.

You can have a discussion, yeah?

Thank you. Culpepper.

I'm not against the motion, but I do want, if we vote for the hour, to ensure some way that everyone who has something to say has an opportunity to say it. I think the worst thing that we could do is to vote for an hour and then start cutting folks off when they Have something to say. So if there's a way that we can parse throughout the time to make sure that everyone who has something to say has an opportunity to say it, I think it would move things forward. I think we need to figure out how do we make sure that everyone who has something to say has an opportunity to say it. I'm all for efficiency, but I'm also for 100% One thousand percent the right for folks to speak and be heard.

Thank you, Councillor Culpepper. The way it works is if Councillor Durkan withdraws her motion, then everyone has got 10 minutes to speak on the motion. We had a three-hour working session on the rules on Friday. We had a very extensive discussion on Friday. I feel that in the interest of efficiency we need to try and move this forward as quickly as possible. I don't want to preclude anyone having their opinion, but given the rules, if something's before the body for allowing all of us to speak for 10 minutes, we could be here for a very long time.

and we have a very very long agenda to get to. we didn't get a chance to discuss these amendments when we met in that session last Friday and I think that may have been part of the reason why we're dealing with these amendments now because like I have an amendment that we didn't get to discuss. Right now we're discussing the amendments to the rules. I don't even think we've gotten to the rules yet. That might make it easier if we get through the amendments first and then maybe limit debate on the rules to an hour. But I think we should get through the amendments. The reason why we're still discussing them is that we didn't have an opportunity to discuss them at that Friday session.

It would have been very helpful if folks who wanted to offer amendments had brought them to us ahead of time, but here we are. Mr. Clerk, Councillor Durkan, do you wish to withdraw your motion?

I was already called and I was going to go through my items. So before we take the vote on Councilor Durkan's Motion. The order of sequence, since I was already up speaking regarding my amendments which I submitted in writing So I don't know about everybody else, but I know I did my homework. So let me finish, Council President Breadon, is that I want to go through my amendments and then we can take the motion, but we're not going to take me out of turn because I was already up. and in the process of speaking. So what we're not going to start doing is silencing members of this body. You will get your opportunity. I'm going to finish my task because I was called before her.

We'll take a short recess.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you for watching!

We are to continue.

And for those who are tuning in, you know, we have to start really understanding the dynamics that are happening here in this council. So I hope somebody takes the time to break it all down at their leisure. But right now. I am here to speak on amending Amendment A. It's the following words and phrases shall be inserted to the first sentence. and availability and programs their families as well as services programs available to Boston Public Schools teachers, staff, and Administrators. The amendment rule in full shall read as follows. I'm going to read this as follows. Committee chair on education which shall concern itself with the quality,

and availability of equitable educational services and programs provided to all school age residents and their families. in Boston, as well as services and programs available to Boston public schools, teachers, staff, and administrators. That is the line that I'd like to amend.

So you want to do a roll call vote on each one? Would anyone like to speak to this amendment?

Do each one separately. Councillor Louis Jeanne, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I think this amendment is fine. I also think that this amendment and this language and that there are some of these amendments where it's already under the purview of the committee, especially the one about historically black colleges. Last year, I co-sponsored that hearing with Councilor Orrell. Under the Education Committee, it's already within the purview. I think there's broad jurisdiction when it comes to some of these additions. I'm in favor of this amendment and would like us to move to a vote.

Is that seconded? Thank you. Mr. Clerk, can you... Take a roll call vote on Amendment A to Rule 36.

Roll call vote on Amendment A. Councilor Breadon.

Yes.

Councilor Breadon, yes. Councilor Kaleta-Zapata. Yes. Gallardo, Yes, Councilor Culpepper, Yes, Councilor Culpepper, Yes, Councilor Durkan, No, Councilor Durkan, No, Councilor Fitzgerald, Yes, Councilor Flynn, Yes. Thin, yes, Councilor Lujan, yes, Councilor Lujan, yes, Councilor Mejia, yes, Councilor Mejia, yes, Councilor Murphy, yes, Councilor Murphy, yes, Councilor Pippin, Councilor Santana, Councilor Weber, taking a roll call. Councilor Weber. Yes. It's now.

Do you want to take the other two in turn?

Council of Penn. Amendment A. Okay, Councilor Weber? Yes. Councilor Weber, yes. And Councilor Worrell?

Yes.

Councilor Santana?

Yes.

Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Le Pen? Yes. Amendment A has received 12 votes in the affirmative and one in the negative.

Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to limit debate on the rules to one hour, which is allowed for Robert's rules. And I'd like to ask if I have a second. Second.

All those in favour say aye. Mr. Clerk can you take a roll call vote? Anyone like to speak to the issue of limiting debate to one hour? Councillor Flynn, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to rise in opposition to this proposal. I don't want any city councilor not to have the necessary time to speak on a particular matter. Yes, it's almost two o'clock, but We only come in here once a week and we should do our due diligence and spend the necessary time it takes. to make sure we get the rules right. That's what's important. The important issue is not spending hours in here. The important issue is getting the rules right. If it means that we're here until 7 or 8 o'clock at night, then that's our job. That's what other people do, other city workers. They just don't have the luxury to leave at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock. Give our colleagues an opportunity to be heard. That's respectful. We're also talking about important issues as it relates to Boston public school system.

We haven't really had any hearings on public education in Boston at the city council level in two years. Why are we trying to limit debate in ensuring people don't have their voices heard? That's the job of the city councilors is to stand up and advocate for your constituents. even when it's politically incorrect. Give the city councils the opportunity to be heard. And when you give the city councils the opportunity to be heard, that means you've given BPS families the opportunity to be heard as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Anyone else wish to speak? Councillor Murphy. Thank you Madam President and thank you Councilor Flynn for uplifting. I have the same concern and I know I mentioned this last year at a hearing when we were being rushed We only meet 32 weeks a year. That means 20 weeks, five months out of the year, this council is not in this chamber. Five months. And so this day, yes, sometimes it may be long, sometimes it's short, but if there's work in front of us, we should not be limiting or quieting down our colleagues who are, like Councillor Flint said, when we speak, we're speaking for the residents and the residents of the City of Boston. deserve that when we come in here at noon on Wednesdays or remember five months out of the year we don't even have to be here so I think it's important that we never limit our colleagues time to speak.

Thank you. Durkan, you have the floor.

I'd like to move for a vote on my motion. Is there a second?

Mr. Clerk, can you take a roll call motion on the on the motion to limit debate to one hour.

Councillor Breadon.

Yes.

Councillor Breadon, yes. Councillor Zepeda. Yes. Councillor Zepeda, yes. Councillor Culpepper. Councilor Culpeper, no. Councilor Culpeper, no. Councilor Durkan? Yes. Councilor Durkan, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald?

No.

Councilor Fitzgerald, no. Councilor Flynn?

No.

Flynn, no. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, no. Councilor Mejia, no. Councilor Murphy, no. Councilor Murphy, no. Councilor Pepén, yes. Councilor Santana, Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber?

Yes.

Councilor Weber, yes. And Councilor Orrell? No. Councilor Orrell, no. Seven votes in the affirmative and six votes in the negative. Motion prevails.

You have the floor. Mr. Clerk.

Clerk, upon further review of the motion to limit debate to one hour after reviewing my parliamentary information regarding ranking of motions, the limit or extend the limits of debate requires a two-thirds vote and the motion fails.

Thank you. And I want to know for the record that we did spend some time speaking about these. And while I do appreciate the president saying yes now. We could have avoided all of this had these things already been put into the committee report as we had recommended. So I don't want to hold people hostage. You know, President, this is under your jurisdiction. I added and advocated fiercely for language that did not make it here so we can end the debate. and if you could just make the decision right now and we can just keep it moving. I don't need to hold up the process here.

No, you've asked to break it down into separate amendments, so please go ahead.

I just want to make sure that everybody knows I'm not the problem. This could have already been handled. So, Amendment B, the sentence that I want to bring attention to is the committee shall have oversight of Boston Public Schools facilities including applications, proposals, contracts, closures, mergers, reconfigurations, moves, all facility related matters that impact education, students, families, teachers, staff, and administrators shall be inserted after the third sentence. and the amendment rule in its full entity shall read as follows. Committee on education shall concern itself with the quality of equitable educational services provided to all school-age residents in Boston. Further, the committee shall explore developing programs to provide assistance with academics, extracurricular activities for families. The committee shall monitor educational policy, in particular special education,

Bilingual Education and Technical Education with the goal of eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps for students of color. The committee, language learners, students with disabilities, and children living in poverty. again have oversight over Boston Public Schools facilities including applications, proposals, contracts, closures, mergers, reconfigurations, moves, and all facility-related matters that impact education students, families, teachers, Staff, and Administrators. And I want to know for the record that there has already been, President Sett, in previous iterations of this Council, where issues of facilities actually ended up in the Education Committee and because it was not explicitly stated in this iteration of this term, I wanted to advocate that those matters fall under the Education

Do you have a second? Second. Councillor Murphy, second. Anyone else like to speak on this issue? Councillor Flynn, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I rise to support the proposal, the amendments outlined by Councilor Mejia. I think they're common sense proposals, but they provide an opportunity for the Education Committee to discuss critical issues that are impacting our BPS families. Councilor Mejia mentioned them, but students with disabilities is a critical issue that we need to ensure that we provide The proper oversight and leadership ensuring that students with disabilities and their families have equal access to public education and services. That's an issue that's that's very important to me and my family. And I'm glad Councilor Mejia raised it in a huge, a large number of our students in BPSR students with disabilities.

But we need to ensure that we have the critical leadership of the City Council that advocate for students with disabilities. I want to see us elevate that issue. provide the common sense and oversight that is needed and advocate for our families. That's an important part of our job as city councilors in ensuring that their families also get the necessary support and services that they're entitled to as well. I think this is a civil rights issue. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Councillor Webber, you have the floor.

Thank you very much. As filed, I think I'm opposed to this. I think it goes a little Too far into the ways and means purview by referring to applications and contracts. I mean, certainly I feel like the Education Committee should have oversight over again like what schools are going to stay open what schools are going to close how those facilities are serving our students but you know I think if if If we removed applications, proposals, contracts, that might be appropriate. Otherwise, I'm worried that as proposed that, again, we're going to have this sort of Back and forth between Ways and Means and the Education Committee, which for the reasons I stated earlier, I don't think would be a service to our kids. Thanks.

Thank you, Councillor Webber. Anyone else wish to speak?

So I would like to just ask Councilor Weber if through the... Councilor, through the chair, please.

Councilor Durkan, you...

Thank you. I plan to vote no on this amendment. Thank you.

Councillor Mejia. Thank you, Madam President. So if Councillor Webber would like to amend the language as written. I'm curious, through the Chair, if a Councillor from District 6 would be willing to support the amendment, if it's amended further.

Councillor Webber, you have the floor.

Yeah, it's a valid suggestion. My proposal would be, let me see if I can look at this. We've got lots of amendments to discuss, and let me see if I can figure out language, and then you can bring it up again with my amendments or not. I'm through the chair. Would that be okay for Councilor Mejia? Just give me a little extra time to think about this. Well, I don't know if it's a motion. It's mine. It's just whatever Councillor Mejia wants to do. Right. Councillor Mejia can bring this up for a vote or let me look at this We'll just table this. Thank you, Mr. Webber.

There's a motion to table this amendment for now and come back to it later. Mr. Clark, could you take a roll call vote, please?

Motion to table Amendment B. Councilor Brayden? Yes. Councilor Brayden, yes. Councilor Colletta-Zapata? Yes. Councilor Colletta-Zapata, yes. Councilor Culpepper? Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan? Durkin, yes, Councilor Fitzgerald, no, Councilor Fitzgerald, no, Councilor Flynn, no, Councilor Flynn, no, Councilor Lujan, yes, Councilor Lujan, yes, Councilor Mejia, yes, Councilor Mejia, yes, Councilor Murphy, yes, Councilor Murphy, yes, Councilor Pepén, Pippen, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. And Councilor Orrell, yes. Councilor Orrell, yes. Eleven votes in the affirmative and two in the negative.

Go ahead, Mr. Trump.

Amendment B is placed on the table.

Thank you.

Councillor Mejia, you may move on to Amendment C. Yeah, so Amendment C, I believe we have already killed, which was the budget. The committee shall be for all matters concerning appropriation budgets. Y'all killed that one already. So we're moving on. That one's dead. You want to vote on it? We can vote on it.

Colletta Zapata, you have the floor. I think this one has to do with historically black colleges and community colleges. Do I have the same copy as everybody for Amendment C?

Oh, I have the wrong one. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Okay, going back to my letters that I need to go back to school myself. I got my letters all alphabetically wrong. So Consul Mejia? Yes. Amendment C? Yep. It's... The sentence that we are unpacking is the committee shall also concern itself with matters of early childhood education and higher ed, including historically black colleges and universities and community colleges shall be inserted into the fourth sentence. We want to be explicit in terms of making sure that this is not just about Boston Public Schools, but we're looking at the whole Thank you.

Thank you. The committee traditionally has done in the past, and so I want to make sure that we have this assurance.

Thank you, Councillor Mejia. Councillor Louis-Jeanne, you have the floor.

I know we tabled the other one too, but again, I think this committee has held a hearing on this matter. The committee has held a hearing on mergers and reconfigurations. And so I already think that a lot of this is paper. A lot of this is already within the purview of the council. And I'm excited to continue to have these conversations. Thank you.

Flynn. You have the floor.

Thank you Madam Chair. I rise to support the amendment and I think Councilor Mejia added critical Partners in the City of Boston, but especially community colleges that are so important to residents of Boston, but also to BPS students. Bunker Hill Community College, Roxbury Community College, the Urban Community of the Urban College as well, which is located in Chinatown, but those three institutions are educating our BPS students. They're doing an exceptional job. And what we need to work on is really a clear pathway from high school graduation into these community colleges and then partnering maybe with a school like UMass. I know there are partnerships. Suffolk University.

But to have that two years that you receive an associate's degree, applying that towards a potentially a bachelor's degree, bachelor of science degree for for a student. But that community college process is a critical part of education in Boston. I'm glad Councillor Mejia brought it up.

Thank you. Councillor Murphy, you have the floor.

Thank you. I do just want to rise to highlight that I appreciate Councillor Mejia wanting to tighten up the language and although it may be past practices and maybe This committee has already held hearings and made these issues fall under the Education Committee. I think the changes, Madam President, that you brought forward and you made, I would argue are also just tightening up language so there's no question because the last two terms when we had the old rules we worked fine under the past rules so These changes, although some might argue, don't really matter. They do matter when we're a body who's trying to stop conversation or stop making sure that debate happens. So I think it's important that we do listen to the changes. And if you're in favor, Dirkken.

I fully stand behind the committee's responsibility to host things on these Subjects, but for the reasons that Councillor Louijeune outlined, I'll be voting no on this amendment.

Councillor Culpepper, you have the floor. Thank you, Madam President, and I'm 100% in support of this amendment. especially with regard to the historically black colleges and universities. One of the things that we've seen is that when we were younger, we had trips where we took vanloads of young black Children, high school kids down to see Howard or Hampton, Virginia Union, the historically black colleges. They don't have that funding these days to take the young folks down. to see the HBCUs like they did when we were younger. So what this amendment speaks to, and I look forward to bringing the HBCUs to Boston so that the young black folks will have that interaction with the HBCUs that do have the funding to come back to Boston.

And I remember that event last year when the HBCUs over at Harvard, how excited all the kids in the Boston School System became because they've come to Boston. So I look forward to doing that this year even more so that the young black children in the Boston public schools can have that interaction and the opportunity to at least touch The HPUs when they come to the City of Boston. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Culpepper. Anyone else wish to speak? Mr. Clerk, could you have a roll call vote on Amendment C to Rule 36, please?

Brayden.

Yes.

Councilor Brayden, yes. Councilor Kaleta-Zapata. Yes. Councilor Kaleta-Zapata, yes. Councilor Culpepper. Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan. No. Councilor Durkan, no. Councilor Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén. Bookman, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. And Councilor Worrell, yes. Councilor Worrell, yes. Amendment C has received 12 votes in the affirmative and one in the negative.

I want to just reiterate again for the record that we would not be going through this entire process had this original language been inserted into the committee report. as relates to the rules. The only reason why we're going through this line by line and people are in agreement is, I don't know, maybe it's procedural, maybe it's just for the drama of it, but we do not need to have this conversation, but here we are having it. So let's continue. The sentence, the committee shall also concern itself with, oh, I read that one already. The phase, okay, the phrase includes, this is Amendment E. D. D, yep, well. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The phrase including Boston Public Schools teachers, staff, and administrators except individual personnel matters shall be inserted into the last sentence.

We traditionally in this committee have concerned ourselves with all issues that impact the educational outcome of our students. Therefore be it, we are advocating to ensure that it is explicitly stated. Do we have a second?

Second.

Which one is she? Just a point of clarification, Councillor Meheia, we have Amendment D as pertaining to The committee shall have referred to it all matters concerning appropriations, budget expenditures and loans that are related to Boston Public Schools. It seems we have gotten those two mixed up. Yes.

All right, so do you want to go to that one? I think, didn't you guys already kill that one earlier today? That was already dead. Yep. So that's why I didn't talk about it. Y'all killed that one already.

Yeah, but it's listed.

It's listed. Okay. Sorry.

So the next amendment was including Boston public schools, teachers, staff, and administrators. on Personnel Matters. Yes. Okay.

It's not that deep, y'all. This is deep. This is deep.

Deep.

Just to be clear, this amendment is pertaining to... The language including Boston public school teachers, staff and administrators except individual personnel matters. So please continue, Councillor Mejia. Okay, we have a second?

Second. Councillor Louijeune? Can you please tell us what amendment we are on? I think the amendment that you just spoke to, the one that's excluding personnel matters, is one that we've already voted on as a body. Wasn't that the first amendment of Councilor Mejia's proposed amendments? Someone tell me what amendment we are on right now voting on. What's the amendment letter?

There's no amendment letter on this one.

There's no letter.

No.

Are we done with the amendments, the lettered amendments? A, B, and C. Okay, thank you.

So it's Amendment E pertaining to Boston Public.

So this is Amendment E then?

Yeah.

So we have to put that in there because I'm not going to be able to change it.

OK. Anyone wish to speak to this issue? Mr. Clerk, can you please take a roll call vote on Amendment E to Rule 36 pertaining to Boston Public Schools teachers, staff and administrators. Oh, beg your pardon. Pardon? Councillor Webber, you have the floor.

Yeah, just a suggestion. I don't mean to burden Councillor Mejia's staff, but I think there was supposed to be an E. It just doesn't have a letter. If I think it would just for our sakes, so we know what we're voting on, just take however the council president wants to handle it, just to reprint this out with a letter attached. Otherwise, nobody knows. There is no E, so yeah, I don't have an E. I have an E. Mine says E on it. Okay, yours says E. Yeah, I think that what you're talking about is just on our desks is just says Rule 36. Okay.

and so the concern is like whether we're voting on the original you know the whole thing or just this could it be helpful if I just read what we're voting on and then we could just vote on that and that's it well they'll have to

But I can tell you what it is and you can... Because for minutes I have to list it A, B, C, D, and E. So I have mine listed as E.

Councilor Culpepper, you have the floor.

Madam Chair, I move that this amendment be Amendment 36E that we are now taking up. That it be listed as 36E. Thank you.

Point of information?

Yes, Councillor Durkan, you have the floor.

Yeah, I think it's been made apparent that some of us don't have this on our desk, so I'd like to know what I'm voting on.

Reprinting.

Your recommendation has been taken. Central staff are working on it. Thank you. Councillor Meheia, would you like to just restate the amendment that you're proposing?

The phrase includes Boston public school teachers, staff, and administrators except individual personnel matters. shall be inserted into the last sentence. I just want to be explicit.

That's all. Thank you. Councillor Durkan?

Thank you. So Section 17G of the Boston City Charter, Acts of 1951, provides neither the City Council nor any member, committee, officer, or employee thereof shall directly or indirectly on behalf of the city take part in the employment of labor nor in the conduct of executive or administrative business of the city or county nor the appointment or removal of any city or county employee I would just like to state for the record that I'm not saying that this amendment is going against the city charter but the city charter always trumps I would prefer that the word personnel not be included in anything that we vote on given that Section 17G of the Boston City Charter. I want to make sure that anything that we vote on enshrines that the city charter stands not over the rules.

Thank you, Councilor.

Councilor Mejia, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. And I want to reiterate that the document explicitly states except individual personnel matters with With that feedback from District Councilor 8 in mind is that except individual personnel matters, we want to explicitly say that we have no jurisdictions over personnel matters. Now, if it feels more comfortable to just delete that all completely, then I'm open to that as well. But at the end of the day, I wanted to explicitly state that we do not have any jurisdiction

We're just waiting for central staff to bring out the amended copy.

I feel like I'm being punked today.

Does everyone have a copy of the amended document? Any further discussion? Mr. Clerk, could you please take a roll call vote on 36, Amendment 8.

Councilor Breadon. No. Councilor Breadon, no. Councilor Colletta-Zapata. Yes. Councilor Colletta-Zapata, yes. Councilor Culpepper. Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan. Durkin, no. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén, yes. Ben, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. And Councilor Worrell, yes. Councilor Worrell, yes. Eleven votes in the affirmative and two in the negative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. You have a few more. Mejia. Oh, hang on. Councilor Mejia? Councilor Culpepper, sorry. You have the floor. We haven't finished with Councillor Meheia's amendments. We'll come back to you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. So I defer to you in terms of what you believe is the best course of action. I have other amendments that I'd like to unpack. But if people are tired of hearing from me, I don't mind going to somebody else if you want.

No, please continue.

All right. So I'm going to move on to Rule 35. I'm looking for an amendment. it's um I'd like to insert a line all committee events shall have uh this is y'all gonna hear this for the first time maybe But I'm looking to advocate that all committee events shall have records of the discussion posted online available to the public, either as a recording, minutes, or other appropriate Format with the format at the discretion of central staff. After the fifth sentence of the first paragraph of Rule 35, you should have copies of this amendment in front of you. So this is Rule 35 amendments.

Does everyone have... I don't have 135.

So the central staff get these or do we do it? Because I'm sorry, I made a mistake then.

The staff is supposed to do it.

Do you want me to go? I got it. I can go copy it. Do you want me to go? I can copy it.

I don't have a copy of here. Mejia.

You have the floor. Thank you. You know, I know that today I'm taking up a lot of time, but you know what? I worked really hard to be inside this chamber, so I'm going to take my time, and I appreciate everybody's indulgence as I do just that. So what is happening here with this particular amendment and the reason why I'm advocating is because during our working sessions, policy briefs, I believe that we need to have some sort of public record that is posted online, whether it's a video, minutes of our Deliberations because oftentimes people are asking what happened and we have no real record of pointing back to it so I just want if we want transparency this is an opportunity for a have you know for having systems in place that will help us do that.

There's very limited trust right now in city government with the lack of transparency is leading the cause here. The content of committee events such as meetings, working sessions and more should be available to the public just as hearings are. This amendment ensures that a record of each committee event is published online and publicly available, but leaves the format at the discretion of central staff in order to not overburden them and to account for the technology limitations of different rooms we hold committee events in. For example, they can post minutes online. The whole bottom line is that this is really about for increasing government accountability and transparency and accessibility. This is an opportunity for us to have the tools that we need to make sure that people know what conversations are being had

Murphy.

Thank you, Madam President. I was going to ask Council Mejia which meeting she was referring to, but she did. But I will also just stand to support this. When a working session or a meeting is outside of the INL chamber and people want to see it, we then go to Zoom, which happened at the rules meeting, which I was told it went to Zoom because The public wanted to watch it. And I have often had conversations with Ethan about there is a need, and I will probably file it soon, for an upgrade to technology that every room here that we use, if it's the curly room, The aisle and aisle of the chamber that no matter where we are meeting that we can still meet as a body together and if we do want to stream it and have it live so the public can watch it We're not limiting ourselves when and where those meetings can happen. So thank you, Councilor Mejia, for bringing this forward, and I will be supporting it.

Thank you. Councilor Durkan?

Thank you so much, Chair. I, in spirit, support this amendment. I think that in terms of Some of the work, it's going to be split between both our staff and central staff. And I do have questions about the use of AI note takers. and AI. I put forward a hearing order last year about the use of AI in city government which was met you know to a lot of chagrin of unions that we all support saying you know we want I do have concerns about this amendment from the AI perspective and not necessarily having put safeguards and obviously I think a lot of us are using AI in different ways to make our lives more efficient but I do have concerns about this amendment from that respect and I also do have concerns our central staff are often overloaded

During busy times, we did get a note from the clerk last year that we had 2,000 filings and 200 hearings. So, and that was, you know, our committee agenda was very full. So knowing that the type of arduous labor we already put both the clerk's team through Our central staff through, and my own staff works very, very hard. Love you guys. And I have a concern about this amendment. I do think we could do a better job those of us that are committee chairs in making sure that we do arduous sort of committee reports after hearings to make sure that there's a publicly available document summarizing and that's something that I will commit to do but I do have concerns of this from the AI perspective and I think it's really important that we have that conversation on AI before we put something like this in place because

I've been in a lot of community meetings recently where AI has been used and oftentimes it credits the wrong person with saying different things. and while it's making our lives easier in some ways there's a lot of safeguards that we need to think about so I respect the council that are my at-large counselor who I brought this forward thank you for thinking of this and and your focus on transparency but at this time given Given, I think, the conversations that I've had with union leaders and with city government leaders about AI, we need stricter safeguards. And I do want to thank Chief Santi Garces. I know we are one of the first cities to actually have AI guidelines, which I don't know that The Council follows to a T. So I would like to have a hearing on this before I support anything of the sort. But thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Jerkin. Councillor Flynn and then Councillor Coletta Zapata.

Thank you Madam Chair. I rise to support the proposal. I think this is common sense. It's about transparency, ensuring that we communicate with Boston residents about exactly what's happening here in city government. at the Boston City Council. Residents do follow these council meetings and hearings and they do want to know more what is happening. My recommendation, Madam Chair, is Instead of having meetings in the Curley or the Piedmont, let's encourage hearings here, right in the Ionella. Chamber, where they are broadcast and residents could watch it on television, but also it can be posted on social media following the meeting. That might help, but I'm here also to support this proposal. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Councillor Coletta-Zapata, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I do just generally support something like this. I think other cities and towns have proven that we can do this. I do wish that we would have had a conversation on this in the appropriate venue of the working session because then we could have talked about it. I think I could have gone back to central staff and asked, you know what are the broader implications and the impacts on their workload and their work output and then in addition to that some of the the financial aspects that may come with this whether that's new technology or whatever and so I think that we do have We do have a charge here to get this done. I just would want to seek advice and counsel from our beloved central staff as to what the impacts would be on this. And I don't have that in front of me right now. I also just want to call out that we do have minutes that are provided although I'm unsure as to how those are put forth to the public so I think that in you know I do support making sure that the minutes are are and all of that.

They are sent via email and so they are FOIA-able, but that doesn't mean that we can't just proactively and affirmatively make sure that they're available to the public. for those reasons I think I won't be supporting this although definitely support something long term to understand again what the impacts are on central staff and making sure that we're doing it successfully so that we're not getting in trouble later on down the line. Thanks.

Mejia, you have the floor. Thank you, Madam President. So a few things for the record. The reason why this was inspired was because we wanted to go back. I thought that because we were on Zoom that we had a recording of our working session, and we didn't. And so that was what triggered this particular amendment because I realized we don't have access and anything that shares any type of record of the time that we spent together. And so that's why it didn't come to you all during the working session, because this was an afterthought of like, oh, wow, we don't have anything. And I also just want to clarify for those folks who are tuning in. that this has nothing to do with AI. I want to be really clear. As someone who is big on labor and working alongside my union brothers and sisters, there's nothing that I would do Put them in any type of jeopardy or their jobs.

So I want to be really clear. And we did speak with central staff regarding this particular amendment just to make sure that we were not going to be creating any unnecessary extra work. they can just post the minutes right online because the minutes have already been shared and there are transcripts that are already get produced that we can share as well. I know transcripts get a little crazy, but there is that option. And then the other option is that We're in this chamber. If we host our meetings here, Ethan is already in the production room. We could just put the video on YouTube and it is already as simple as that. There is no reason why we can't consider

something that would allow the public to really see our deliberation and so because of all of those reasons and because we did speak with central staff and they assured us this is not extra work I feel incredibly comfortable fighting for more transparency through this mechanism.

Thank you, Councillor Mejia. Councillor Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. And I think what Councillor Claudia Zapata said gets at what I was trying to get at and I think obviously we are governed by lots of laws including open meeting law so there's a lot of things that are already in place to ensure that our I do want to commit as a committee chair if we vote on the rules today and there are committees today that That I will work to make sure I do more committee reports because I think those are such a helpful tool in ensuring that the conversation that actually happens in committee and in hearings is available to the public. That being said, the real work of getting community involved in hearings is really inviting them and working with community to hold hearings that are substantive and about the work that is happening in our neighborhoods.

So I think the best way to make people interested in our work is really not to put more stuff online. It's to go into your community and have those conversations and get people in this building. which I've seen many of you do, especially Councilor Mejia. I've seen her do that in a great way and a lot of respect. So I just want to thank you for putting this forward. I will be voting no, That is not, I think the spirit of this is 100% correct, and I think it's something that we can work on together this year.

Thank you. Councillor Culpepper, you have the floor.

Madam President, I generally support this amendment, but I did have a question. In clarification, looking at the last sentence of the amendment, it says, and I don't have a problem with the docket number, the title, the date referred, the sponsor, the date. of the meeting, the policy briefing, the working session. Where I do get a little confused is where it says a hearing where applicable A discussion of the provision of the legislation, summary of the information received at the meeting. Trying to figure out what meeting. Is it any meeting the committee has that has to be recorded or any policy briefing?

or any working session or any hearing or in the case of amended or substituted language or discussion of the changes and impacts of the original legislation and the rationale for the recommended action. My question is, whether every time a committee meets that it has to be published and recorded whether every time there's a policy briefing our committee meets whether every time there's a meeting a committee has to make sure that that's all and I just want to clarify whether everything we did with regard to meeting and hearing and policy briefing, whether that working session in our committees, whether that's something that has to be made publicly available, recorded and that the staff liaison has to be there for everything.

Councilor Mejia, you have the floor. Thank you. Culpepper. So I'll give you another example. I didn't get to participate in some of the education policy briefings that the previous education chair had. and those were not recorded or televised and so that information was not easily available instantly. And so that's why I included policy briefings as an example. But working sessions, anything that is publicly noticed should be entered into the record. Yeah, meetings within the constructs of things that have been noticed for 48 hours.

Committee business.

Meheia? In light of the debate that we're having right now, I think this issue is very, very more complex than we maybe have anticipated. And I would respectfully ask that We table it for now and refile it and bring it to a committee of the whole and discuss it in more detail because I think it has much more implications than we're maybe anticipating at this moment. Is that to your... Would you like to make a motion? I made the motion.

I can't make a motion because I'm the chair I'd like to make a motion to lay it on the table

Do I have a second?

Do we have a second? Thank you. Flynn, you have the floor.

I rise to object to this to this, but I do think it's important for Councilor Mejia be given the opportunity to continue on and discuss her proposals. She brings a lot of credibility to the discussion. And I don't want to see us as a body limit that discussion, limit that leadership, limit that opportunity that she's discussing. She's representing probably more so than any city councilor. The BPS families that are not heard and I think it's important that we continue with her proposals and give her an opportunity to discuss these matters because they are important. Yes, it is taking time, but it's worth it. We have to get this right. And transparency is a critical part of it, accountability, responsibility.

I think Council Mejia is doing her job advocating for people that are not heard in the city. Let's give her the opportunity to continue. Thank you Madam Chair.

No, Mr. Clark. No, we're going to go to the talk now.

Madam President, if I may, that was one of the points that I brought up in the session last time. You did say laying on the table was debatable. I think that was the question that we were discussing that we never finished answering last Friday at the meeting. I would also say, if I may, With regard to Council Member Mejia, I think it's critical that some of the issues that she raised in here that we continue to discuss carve out what I think really, really would be helpful. Some things may not be. But I also raised the issue of someone that might be audio or visually impaired when we have that information. How do we make it available to them?

And I think that's something that we need to discuss also.

Thank you, Councillor Culpepper. I think you speak to my issue. This is a very complex issue and that it deserves to have much more consideration than we can give it in this context today. I think we need to Lay it on the table and bring it back for a full hearing and further discussion. Councillor Louis-Jeanne, you have the floor.

Thank you. I'm just going to offer an alternative recommendation to withdraw the motion and just have a vote on it. I think there are people who know how they feel. This is something that I think there are that I want to make sure that central staff and that there's a lot of capacity. This is complex. Even if this is voted down, it doesn't mean that there are not other opportunities and venues for this body to think about how we are sharing information with the public. Other councils have filed it in the past. It does not necessarily need to happen via these rules. So I would, you know, there's a motion on the table, I'm not going to add another motion, but I, you know, my recommendation is that you withdraw the motion, you just take a vote on it, and for those who want to continue working on it, we can continue working on it even after this real session. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Louijeune. Durkin.

Is a vote to lay on the table debatable under Robert's rules?

Here it says no.

So if it's not debatable, then this debate, we should move to a vote to lay it on the table.

Not to be available. Further, please take a vote.

Vote to lay on the table Rule 35 Amendment. Councilor Breadon.

Yes.

Councilor Breadon, yes. Kaleta-Zapata? Yes. Kaleta-Zapata, yes. Kalpepper? Yes. Kalpepper, yes. Durkin? Yes. Durkin, yes. Fitzgerald? Yes. Fitzgerald, yes. Flynn? No. Flynn, no, Councilor Lujan, yes, Councilor Lujan, yes, Councilor Mejia, present, Councilor Mejia, present, Councilor Murphy, Murphy, no. Councilor Pepén, no. Councilor Pepén, yes. Councilor Santana, no. Councilor Weber, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. Councilor Worrell, no. Councilor Worrell, no. 8 votes in the affirmative, 3 votes in the negative and 1 present.

This amendment has been laid on the table. You have the floor.

Alright, so I have two more. This is rule 36. Do you guys have that? I believe, and I'm just going to try to be as brief as possible. I'm just making a motion to amend by inserting which shall be co-terminus with two years term of the city council. a chair or vice chair may be removed due to unanticipated circumstances or refusal to carry out duties of the chair or vice chair at the council president's discretion shall be inserted at the end of the third Sentence in the first paragraph of Rule 36.

So in Rule 3, the terms of the City Council President is specified as it states. The term of the City Council President shall be two terms, coterminous with the term of the City Council. Rule 36 should be amended for consistency throughout the rules and that the assignments of a committee chair Vice Chair and members is concurrent with the two-year term of the City Council. I understand that this is already what we do in practice, but we should establish something officially. The current language refers to no length of appointments and should instead be stated explicitly so that members of the public are aware that the assignments of the committee chair

and Vice Chair and members is for the current two-year term of the City Council. Additionally, Rule 36 should be amended to clarify and put guardrails on when it is appropriate to remove a committee chair or a vice chair. The phrase unanticipated circumstances includes such as but not limited to illness, family emergency, call to service of a member of military, reserve, and more. This language was included to account for Council Breadon's concerns about needing flexibility for situations that we may not be able to predict. The guardrails are to protect all councilors' leadership, ensuring that they cannot be removed as chair or vice chair without cause.

I think we're in an interesting moment here where anyone could decide, oh, they didn't hold enough hearings. I just want something that is in writing. If we're going to be assigned to be, unless something egregious happens where you get arrested or something like that. I just think that if you are appointing us for two years, then we should be two years in our role. And I'd like that to be in writing because we're in very interesting times.

Anyone else like to speak on this issue?

Who's second?

Oh, can we have a seconder for this amendment, please? Councilor Worrell? Anyone else like to speak? Mr. Clerk, could we have a roll call vote on this amendment to Rule 36?

Council agreed. No. Breadon, No. Councilor Zappata?

Yes.

Councilor Zappata, yes. Councilor Culpepper? Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan?

No.

Durkin, no. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Papin, yes. Vipin, yes, Councilor Santana, Councilor Webber, yes, Councilor Webber, yes, and Councilor Worrell, yes. Ten votes in the affirmative and two in the negative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mejia.

You have another amendment. That's my last one. Yes. Madam President. That's right. Okay, so Madam President, I rise to make a motion to amend Docket 0157 by doing the following in the fourth paragraph of Rule 39. So rule 39, the phrase that is to be assigned to the committee shall be struck from the first The phrase, any additional original co-sponsors should be struck from the first sentence and replaced with all other members. The sentence, if docket sponsors request suspension of Rule 33 in passage of a newly introduced docket, remarks shall be limited to three minutes for the docket sponsors and two minutes for all other members shall be struck from the paragraph.

You should have a copy of this amendment in front of you. Although the appropriate time for debate is usually in committee and we hear that often, it is important for the council to have conversations at this council meeting as well. It is rare that all 13 city councilors are in The same room together as a body. We don't all go to the same hearings. There's open meeting laws. There's all of these reasons why This particular meeting allows us to really be fully expressed. And so while I do appreciate the time issue of being efficient, I also recognize that There is something that we can all learn when we hear from our colleagues even sometimes when we don't want to hear it. I think it's important for us to create space for folks to be fully expressed.

And so some hearing orders never get hearings or yeah, they don't get hearings. So the council meeting is the only opportunity we have to speak on an item. We all understand and the desire that we need to keep the council meeting to a reasonable length of time, but all councillors should have the opportunity to voice their opinion on items before the whole body and doing so transparently and in front of the public eye. It is our job to weigh in on matters before the council and if we must be in the council meeting a little longer in order to do our jobs right. then I believe we should and so I know this is going to be a sticky a sticking point here for some folks but I do not agree With anything that minimizes our ability to speak in this chamber.

Thank you, Councillor Mejia. Would anyone else like to speak to this issue? Councillor Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. I definitely respect that intention but at the same time I think that it does not reflect well on the body that both the Folks who are watching the meeting can't follow the meeting because of how long we debate certain motions. And I think it actually becomes a transparency issue when parliamentary procedure and efficiency aren't prioritized because it means that regular working people can't watch three hours of debate on the rules. So I do think it is a transparency issue. It's also just an efficiency issue. And I don't have a particular I mean reading through this I don't think there's essentially there's not much that you're changing except for that sometimes original you know original co-sponsors are the main people to speak and hearings are really the place where we can get into the weeds.

I think that's important, but I'm also, I think that it is at the discretion of the chair to let folks speak on things especially things that ordinances that are being debated and things that but what I found at least my two and a half years on the city council is that it's a lot of talk and unfortunately There's only one ordinance being provided at today's meeting. And so I think that that speaks to the type of work that we're doing. And I think speaking is important. Making statements is important. But more importantly I think people want to see I mean we have our firefighters waiting right now for their contract to be passed which was a hard-fought contract for them Go Local, you know, 718, thank you for all of your work. I think that this is getting in the way of really important business, essentially, and so I think This meeting is probably the greatest example of why we do need limits. I have 10 minutes to speak on this particular thing.

I don't think we should have 10 minutes to speak on Rule changes and so that being said I'm grateful to my colleague who has amendments and I think it's important that we all operate in a way that we can all work together so but I'm going to be voting no.

Thank you Councillor Durkan. Councillor Flynn you have the floor.

Thank you Madam Chair. I support the proposal by Councillor Mejia. I just wanted to add that You know, some colleagues and some councilors don't necessarily have the opportunity to speak at committee hearings simply because they're not scheduled. And so some city councilors do use the opportunity on Wednesday to speak about a particular matter that's important to them and their constituents. If they call for a hearing and the chair of that particular committee doesn't hold that hearing, that doesn't provide that city council from talking and discussing particular issues. So that's why it's critical these Wednesday meetings give colleagues an opportunity to speak. They're elected representatives of the people.

District Councilors, City Councilors, but they do have the right to speak on any matter and advocate for their constituents and city residents. That's their job. And yes, it might take longer, but we should be in here you know five days a week anyways talking and addressing basic city services neighborhood concerns and challenges but that's our job is to be here you know nine to four nine to five and then to be in the in the communities after that. But our number one priority should be here and advocating for our constituents.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I may like to just read remarks by councillors at the time a matter that is to be assigned to a committee. is introduced shall be limited to three minutes for the lead sponsor and two minutes for any additional co-sponsors. The appropriate time for questioning and debate is in public hearings and working sessions. If a docket sponsor requests suspension of Rule 33 and passage of a newly introduced docket, remarks may be limited to three minutes for the docket sponsors and two minutes for all other members. I think the intent of this rule is that if a docket if it's a matter that's going to be sent it's not up for a vote and it's going to be sent to committee the place to have that debate is in the committee

So this is really just in the interest of making sure that we're clear about when is the appropriate time to debate a motion. A matter that is going to be assigned to committee. The time to discuss it is in that committee when it's held. So would anyone else like to speak on this issue? Mr. Clark, would you please take a roll call vote on this amendment?

Amendment on Rule 39. Councillor Brayden. No. Councillor Brayden, no. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Coletta-Potter, no. Councilor Culpepper? Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan? No. Councilor Durkan, no. Councilor Fitzgerald? Fischel, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, no. Councilor Lujan, no. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén, no. Councilor Santana,

No.

Council Santana, no. Council Weber?

No.

Council Weber, no. And Council Worrell? Yes. Council Worrell, yes. Seven votes in the affirmative. I mean seven votes in a negative and six votes in the affirmative.

Thank you Mr. Clerk. Thank you. Councillor Mejia, are you finished with your amendments? Well, we lay something on the table. Is it still sleeping? We'll do that later. Councillor Webber, we had a motion to lay on the table. Are you ready to bring forward and readdress that issue? Durkan.

I believe that it requires a two-thirds vote to reconsider.

Councilor Durkan. Just as a majority.

Oh, hell no.

Thank you for the suggestion. So I have provided some language to Councilor Mejia's staff. I think we need another five, ten minutes with Councilor Mejia's I know there's a couple other amendments from other Councillors. I promise to, I think we can work this out. And if not, Councillor Meehan can decide. We will move forward.

We'll come back to it. Councillor Worrell. Thank you for that motion.

Madam President, I would like to

for amendment to amend city council rule four. Rule four should be amended by striking from the final sentence two-thirds and inserting majority in its place. The appeal of a referral and the more I listen to these discussions about the overlapping jurisdiction, how one committee has some of the jurisdiction, another committee may have similar jurisdiction, there may be differences on inferences of languages for different committees. And so what I think, because I think there'll be more and more debates and discussions over what committee has jurisdiction over a certain issue or certain hearing. So I would just like to lower the threshold from two-thirds to a majority so when there are those debates over

which committee has jurisdiction that we don't end up in a big debate over a re-referral and that appeal can be simply made with a majority instead of the two-thirds because I think The more and more committees have language that overlaps, the more and more will have appeals of the referrals. This just makes it easier, instead of having I think it also adds to the efficiency of the body so that we can move right on with re-referral, just keep on moving and not get stuck on whether it's Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Culpepper. Are you moving to amend Rule 4 then?

Yes.

Second. You've seconded. Durkan, would you like to speak to this issue?

Yes, thank you, Chair. So I did a little bit of history on Rule 4, and it appears that this was changed in a last session, but that previously You weren't able to make a motion to amend the decision of a chair on committee assignments. So I think what's happening here is that it's essentially being brought back to a simple majority which is in line with Robert's rules but previously before last session you weren't able to and so forth. We're going to debate what committee assignment docket got into according to having talked to central staff. I think I'm prepared to support this amendment but I would like to answer the question through the chair I would like the sponsor to answer the question if whether the intent of this was for to to be a half

to be a simple majority on committee assignments or if this was just to speak to broader issues because I do think there is some Aboff, Ackman, Biton, Brockelman, Carmona, St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis, Steele, Steele, Steele, Steele, I agree with Rule 4 being edited for other cases, but for strictly committee assignments, I really think that this should be few and far between.

because it's very clear to me that having read some of the committee descriptions that it should be clear cut whether certain things go into certain committees. And so what I don't want this to be a procedural move just so that people get things out of committee that they don't want to see it in because they don't like a particular committee chair. I commit this term to work with every single counselor on their dockets. and knowing that sometimes there's not time to you know we had 2,000 dockets presented last year and 200 hearings and I think that's an important statement to make here is that not every single filing can be heard if there are so many filings. So I mean even in today's dockets there's multiple filings on snow removal. I wish that we were all talking to each other more so there was one filing and we were all working in a unified body on a specific proposal. That's the type of leadership that I'm looking to see this year and the type of collaboration I'm looking to see this year.

Let's find people that agree with us on certain issues and work together on ordinances, draft them together, Not let one person draft and then ask for it to be a second and third. I've seen a lack of collaboration in my two and a half years on the council in different waves and flows. and I think today we need to commit to collaboration and that's why I'm asking through the chair that the amender clarify whether he is meaning this for committee assignments which I think could clog up the process given that many of those roles are outlined in the rules or just in general looking to appeal the decision of a chair on other issues.

Councillor Culpepper, would you like to address this issue?

Yeah, please, thank you. Here's a good example. I beg your pardon. And I've thought about this a little bit with regard to a conversation that we had, Madam President, with regard to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, AFFH. And so when you have an Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing issue, the issue is gonna come up, and I'm also a co-chair of the Housing Committee, but the issue is gonna come up where they go to the Civil Rights Committee. That's the discussion that we had. There would probably be something to go to the Civil Rights Committee, but I'm sure Councilor Santana is going to wonder whether something going to the Affirmatively Fair Housing issue goes to the Housing Committee. And so the reason why I did this, it would make it real simple. We could just have, instead of a two-thirds vote, a simple majority. determine which committee it would go to. So I think a lot of it has to do with committee assignments.

I don't think it was intended to be used on a more broader basis, but I think it's used to kind of simplify matters so that If we do have that issue, and I'd be willing to defer to him, let the Affirmatively Fair Housing issue go to the Housing Committee, but it was just one example that came up where this would really simplify and become more efficient. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Durkan. Thank you. I beg your pardon. Sorry. Councilor Pepén. I'll come back.

Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Weber. Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. Given that explanation and given that in prior years, prior to last council session, it was not, You couldn't make a motion essentially to appeal the decision of a committee chair or sorry of the president on committee assignments and given how honestly the first month of the council has gone I think I just I want to caution us here it's very important that not every single meeting get caught up in procedural woes Eason. I just would like to see some collaboration from my colleagues with the council president. The prior council president who did a great job. I could talk to her prior to the meeting about why I felt. And I think we all have that open door. The door is always open. and you can always have that conversation.

And I think that the committee descriptions which we have not yet voted on are the most important factor in determining where a docket goes. Amending, you know, amending it to a simple majority essentially says that if you can get seven together who don't like the committee chair, that docket will go somewhere else. And I think that that is harmful to the body as a whole. It's harmful to our efficiency. And it's harmful to the work for all Bostonians who want to see things shifted into committee. They want to see hearings. They want to see ordinances being voted on. and so for efficiency's sake I think we really need to question if this really is about it not going to the committee that people want whether a simple majority would be best.

Thank you. Culpepper.

I just want to reiterate for the record that the purpose for which I stated that I brought that amendment forward is exactly what I would expect to happen. I couldn't think of a better way of starting collaboration, Councilor, is to vote for this amendment.

Thank you. Webber. You have the floor. Carwyn Jones AMB. Yes, thank you. I think it's It's not lost on me that the person filing this amendment is Councillor Culpepper, who over the last two years, if you had seen the debates over when a hearing order is sent to one committee over another, I feel like those debates are among the least substantive, least productive, and silliest debates we can have because if you care about that issue, It's going to be heard in one committee. It's going to be heard in another committee. And we, you know, I feel like we, you know, often this is a decision that is, it's the... Council President calls balls and strikes and you know if we want more of those debates you know we've been we've now met for a month and we've had We've had working sessions. We've had council meetings. We still haven't gotten to the substantive work of the body.

I do think that this rule would promote more of those procedural debates and for that reason I don't support this but if it's part of the rules we'll work together on that. Thank you.

Pepén, and Seta Santana for the housing. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Councillor Flynn, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I think one of the concerns I have is over the last two years, depending on what committee a particular matter would be assigned to, that that committee chair would not have a hearing on the subject if they didn't agree with the subject matter or if the administration asked them not to hold it. That was a major concern some city councilors had, including myself, about city council chairs just sitting on hearings Many city council chairs were chairs of two major committees, and we just couldn't have any hearings because the chair would not be available, the administration would not be available, and so What would happen is you wouldn't have the opportunity to have a particular hearing on an important subject.

For example, I know, Councilor Mejia, you've been discussing and advocating effectively today on public education. but we didn't really have any public education hearings the last two years on the Boston City Council. We didn't ask the right questions to the Boston public school system or superintendent on what is happening. In the school system now we're seeing a lot of reports coming out talking about the challenges and academics that are that are that BPS is struggling we all knew that but we didn't We didn't hold or ask the right questions. There were schools that were closed or closing, and residents were asking us to hold a hearing. to discuss the matter in terms of why is a particular school closing? What are the options for new students? But the Boston City Council did not want to have that particular hearing because it was controversial.

that's my big concern is the committee chairs are just able to sit on dockets and not have a hearing because of because of various Various reasons including they simply don't agree with the matter or the administration has asked them not to go forward. Thank you.

Mejia is next.

So if we're still doing things the way normally, yes, then I would be next, and then Councilor Santana. Councilor Santana is after you. No, for the record.

I'm sorry?

It's different.

Oh, so then I'll sit down.

Go ahead.

You had your light on, so. I did, but you know. Councillor Santana, would you like to? I really don't want this to deteriorate into personal accusations.

I understand, Madam President, but a comment was made about the committee that I chaired last year and I think that was totally out of line, Councillor Flynn. If you look at the numbers and the data, out of any counselor here, I held more hearings for you in the education hearing. We work collaboratively, so I think your statement that I was not doing my job last year as an education chair is unfair. and it's not true. So I totally disagree with what Councilor Flynn just said. I take pride in my professionalism. I take pride in working with every single one of my city councilors here. I think that was a personal shot regardless of you not saying my name. So thank you Madam President for the time.

Thank you Councillor Santana. I also want to, as the Council President, I also want to make it clear that if any councillor feels that a docket that they have sent to committee and it's not being addressed in a timely way, that's time for a conversation. We don't need to, it doesn't have to be a long jab, To the earlier point, if we get 2,000 dockets and we can only have 200 hearings, we really need to collaborate with each other and consolidate hearings so that two or three people can sponsor the hearing rather than two. But it's really, we're in a work in progress. We're trying to make our body more collaborative and to move forward in a positive direction. So thank you. Councillor Mejia, you have the floor. That was on a minute ago. Councillor Mejia, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to thank Councillor Culpepper for bringing this amendment Having experienced what it looks like to be on the receiving end of things that I have filed and where they ended up oftentimes felt like a procedural was being used to block debate. And so not everyone has had the same experience because, you know, different strokes for different folks. At the end of the day, we are at a time when we really have to start thinking about how we collaborate. Because even when we get something assigned to different committees, sometimes your speech is limited, you know it just you get a different outcome and so I want to just note for the record that as much as we want to talk about how important it is for us to collaborate and work together

I often see the opposite happening and it's always the same cohort of folks working more collaboratively with some and not others. And so under your leadership, Madam President, it is my hope that this body really starts thinking about What our job is and our job is to represent our constituents and to put all of our little petty political problems to the side including myself because we're not going to get down to the people's business if we keep showing up in this way so Having Rule 4, I just want to stand in full agreement of Councilor Culpepper. Thank you.

Mr. Clerk, there's a motion from Councillor Culpepper. Do we have a, is it properly before, and second it. Mr. Clerk, can you please do a roll call vote on Culpepper's amendment.

Amendment on Rule 4. Councilor Breadon? No. Councilor Breadon, no. Councilor Colletta-Zapata? No. Councilor Colletta-Zapata, no. Councilor Culpepper? Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan? Durkin, no. Councilor Fitzgerald? Yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn?

Yes.

Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan?

No.

Councilor Lujan, no. Councilor Mejia?

Yes.

Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy? Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén, no. Councilor Pepén, no. Councilor Santana, no. Councilor Santana, no. Councilor Weber, no. Councilor Weber, no. And Councilor Worrell, yes. Councilor Worrell, yes. Seven votes in the negative, six in the affirmative.

Worrell. Do you have an amendment?

Oh, Councillor Culpepper.

I don't have these documents. I don't have this paper. Hunter O'Reilly, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at amend rule number 23. And this is basically just trying to provide More of a process and clarity around when we all work on hearing orders legislation, if it was to get tied up or stuck, or we couldn't come up with an agreeable date with the committee chair, what happens next? So this basically just says after a certain amount of days, which is 60 and 90 days that if there's no agreeable hearing set for you know a counselor's hearing order or legislation then it then reverts back to the committee on the whole which then we're hoping that The council president is able then to hold that hearing for said lead sponsor. So this is just providing a little bit more clarity or process around what happens after

A hearing order or a piece of legislation can't be heard in said committee because right now there's no, it ends at, It reads in Rule 23, within 30 days, a mutual agreeable date for a hearing. It's set and conducted. like there's nothing that happens after that so this is just trying to create another process another way for that counselor or the lead sponsor to then find to hold that hearing on the thing that they have worked so hard on thank you

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you. Just through the chair, I would like to ask if this is rule... 23 or rural 34 because obviously there are rules on the same subjects but one covers the amount of days and the other does not so just wanted to ask that question through the chair The text says 23.

So it's rule 23. Yes. Thank you, Councillor Worrell. I've lost track of who's. Councillor Murphy.

Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councillor Whirl, for bringing this forward. This came up a few times last year, so through clarity, either to the sponsor or to the clerk. there were also times in those days coincide also when you can pull from the green sheet and then take action so if the counselor files a hearing order and the hearing doesn't happen and any other member. After a certain number of days, it makes more majority needed to support it, but you can pull a hearing order and take a vote or move on that hearing even if the sponsor isn't The one moving forward with it. And so just wondering what your thoughts may be, Councilor, on that. Because I know that happened last year on like a tax one and something else where myself as the sponsor was waiting for the chair to schedule a hearing and then somebody else on the floor just pulled it from the green sheet when I was still trying to get the hearing order Schedule. So if we could just address that concern I have. But overall, I do like your amendment. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy. Please address your questions through the chair. Councillor Worrell, would you like to respond?

Yeah, and I think Rule 24 kind of more speaks to that. And I thought about proposing an amendment to Rule 24 to go back to, you know, What the 2007 limits were. However, I didn't propose that amendment just because I felt I am comfortable with this, but I think there's you know opportunity you know to to actually address what what you have said um and I think that further discussion through the rules committee we can definitely have that you know added into the rules I think that is something that definitely needs to also be addressed. Thank you. Thank you.

Councillor Flynn, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, before I I would like to ask Councilor Rall a question about this but before I do that I do want to acknowledge your important leadership especially last week at the and many other important hearing we had on the rules. Most of our colleagues were present asking very good questions. I just want to acknowledge your leadership and professionalism, Madam Chair. But Madam Chair, may I ask Councillor Worrell a question?

You may address.

Okay. Councillor Worrell. Please do it to me. Okay. How would a committee chair prioritize the schedule of establishing what would go first in terms of conducting a particular hearing? Don't you think it should be based on when something comes into the committee chair first and that's what the committee chair would have? I know that's not what your amendment is about but just want to see is it is it possible that we could have a discussion about how we get the committee chairs to have a hearing on what comes into the particular committee in that order. And just in the interest of being fair to everybody, because when someone does propose a hearing, That's important for that city councilor.

And I do think it's important for that city council chair to treat that hearing With professionalism and recommendation and go forward with that based on when it does come into a hearing. But I would appreciate Councilor Worrell's response.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Councillor Worrell, would you like to respond to this?

Yeah, thank you, Madam President, and thank you for the question. I mean, we've had a working session for three hours where three and a half hours now until the rules again so we could definitely continue to dive into the rules more and more but you know there's there's no you know Murphy, and I think, you know, similar to what Councilor Murphy had brought up, I think there's an opportunity to kind of lay out more ground rules or just maybe checks and balances or someone watching what's going on inside the committees. But again, for further discussion.

Thank you, Councillor Orrell. Councillor Webber, you have the floor.

Yeah, thanks. Sorry to badger Councillor Orrell. Another question through the Chair. In terms of, like, I know for example labor we file a hearing order at the beginning of the year to have the hearing on the Boston residents jobs policy like technically That hearing might not take place for 60 days. Does that then go to the Committee of the Whole? The same would go for ways and means through general hearing orders that go on. I just don't know how this rule affects I know it's not the intent, I don't think, to have them removed from their committees, but just asking for your input.

Worrell.

I mean, yeah, the committee rules currently reads within 30 days a mutual agreeable date for a hearing. So if you had the BRJP hearing inside of a labor committee, As long as you have a mutually agreeable date for a hearing, then you wouldn't be subjected to this rule.

So if a committee chair has a hearing order that the committee chair filed, they could have a mutually agreeable hearing date because they're the same person? Is that how you interpret that? like a mutually agreeable day so a date right for the hearing so if I file a hearing it goes into my committee I can potentially agree on any nobody's gonna be challenging that Who knows? There's the old saying, two Jews, three opinions, so you never know.

Thank you, Councillor Webber.

Councillor Colletta Zapata, you have the floor. Thank you so much, Madam President. I want to thank my colleague for bringing this forward. I will only speak for myself as chair of the government operations committee in past years, but there were many dockets that were filed that the lead sponsor, and my policy was, and it's different, it's up to the discretion of all the chairs, was to wait for the lead sponsor to reach out and schedule in partnership with us. And so sometimes that meant I think we had over 70 filed in government operations. I don't have the exact number. but that meant that there was a lot of dockets that languished in committee just because you know for whatever the reason is and I'm not going to presume to know why a lead sponsor didn't move on something everyone's busy But that it languished in committee. And so what I'm thinking in some unintended consequences, and this is definitely not the intent of what Councilor Worrell has put forward, but

Some unintended consequences that could happen is that some sponsors could ultimately decide not to move dockets on purpose. So if they disagree with the They could purposefully not move their dockets at a certain time frame. essentially stalling on purpose. And so that would not be at the fault of the chair. I mean, at what point? How do you adjudicate that? What does that mean? So that's just something that I'm thinking of. Additionally, this is a compelling case. And so I think that everybody who wants to remove something out of committee should. There's Rule 24 for that. There's some misalignment and conflicts with this proposed rule with Rule 24. So I mean friendly amendment to this if Council Worrell wants to move forward on it.

I think in Rule 24, and I don't have it in front of me right now, but we allow based on the timeline that he suggests in Rule 24, it's 90 days that a matter is referred to committee. He has 60, so I would recommend changing it to 90 so it aligns with Rule 24. And then instead of after 90 days, it's 120 days. And then instead of in that second Point there, after 90 days, you can have that say 120, a matter referred to committee is not reported upon or scheduled for a hearing. So I do have issues with the term is not reported on. There, like these timelines exist for a reason. So we are trying to protect a really thoughtful legislative analysis and review process. And so in government operations, for example, it's a little bit different than some committees where

We have to ensure that there is careful legal review, fiscal analysis, departmental coordination, and ensuring that this is something that we can be implemented, funded, staffed, and sustained. So that it is successful. So that does require a little bit of time. And so that's why I support Rule 24. But I would just suggest that if this is something that goes forward, it is in line with the timeline that is put forth in Rule 24. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Colletta Zapata. Councillor Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm sorry. My point, my question was... originally was if I read this at the end of rule 23 add if within 60 days a matter referred to the committee other than a committee of all members is not reported upon or scheduled for a hearing it may be called by a majority vote of all members Such matter shall not again be committed to any other committee than the Committee of the Whole. If after 90 days a matter referred to the committee is not reported upon or scheduled for a hearing. Any member without a vote may recall such matter from the committee and shall the matter not be committed to a committee other than the committee of the whole. If you read Rule 24, within 60 days it's literally the same text but different timelines and so essentially this conflicts with rule 34 so I don't we Without amending rule 24, we cannot vote on this.

We will essentially make two rules in conflict with each other. That's what I was trying to get at.

Thank you. Worrell.

My understanding of Rule 24 is it being pulled for a vote. This is for a hearing. that's my understanding between the difference between rule 23 and rule 24 is that rule 24 is bringing someone something before the body to be voted on opposed to it being moved from one committee to another committee to have a date for a hearing.

Just responding. Councillor Durkan, you have the floor. Oh, thank you, partner.

Thank you, Chair Breadon. I mean, to my knowledge that these are duplicative because if the goal of Rule 23 and the goal of 24 is essentially to pull things I think it's getting to the same issue. I think what I originally said, at least in my eyes, it still stands. I think that we should have the clerk or central staff look over these two rules to see if they are in conflict with each other.

Thank you, Madam President. And for those folks who are tuning in, I'm sure you're wondering, like, wow, we're spending a lot of time on rules. And I think it's because oftentimes these are tactics and things that are put in place to prevent us We're moving our work forward and so I want to thank all my colleagues who have proposed amendments thus far because what we're doing is maintaining the integrity of what we're supposed to be doing here is making sure that we have Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The last cycle that we recently went through, I know why this is so important because I would file a hearing and I would have to fight just to get on a calendar.

and my work would just literally die in certain committees unless I pushed forth. And my first term, I got through so much work. I was able to host hearings and pass legislation, my second term as well. And then my last term, the one that I just experienced This last year, it was just crazy. We didn't get to do much. And so I think that there has to be a structure in place and a rule that ensures that our work continues to move. And if it's not, then the president of this body ensures that we are able to do just that. And I'm not talking about committees. I'm talking about also just policy

I would see other things get passed before things that I passed and I passed my things beforehand and it just got a little bit crazy so we need some clarity around how we're going to do business moving forward. So we're not fighting.

Thank you, Councillor Mejia. Councillor Atasapato, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. And I think what I will just... I was going to say something else, but just reiterate. I think there are existing timelines right now. And I do think that it is... The calling something for hearing is noble and valid and I totally appreciate that and I agree I still have the same concerns as to a lead sponsor letting it almost on purpose languish even though there's been repeated calls from the committee chair to move it forward. like how again how do we adjudicate that in which do we present you with documentation and emails that say hey do you want to push this forward hey do you want to push this forward um so i i do still have those concerns but i there there are these timelines for a reason again Pushing responsible legislation forward is not about intent or personalities. It really is to make sure that things are and can be implemented, funded, and sustained in just ensuring the success of something.

And so that is always the intent. And again, I'll speak for myself as government operations chair. So I will, I guess, be voting no on this, but I appreciate the move on behalf of Councillor Worrell. I do think that there are things that we still have to hammer out, but committed to a longer-term solution. Thank you.

Mr. Clerk, could you please take a roll call vote on Councillor Worrell's amendment to Rule 23?

Councillor Brayden. No. Councillor Brayden, no. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Kaleta-Zapata, no. Councilor Culpepper? Yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan? No. Councilor Durkan, no. Councilor Fitzgerald?

Yes.

Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, no. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén, no. Councilor Santana.

No.

Council Santana, no. Council Weber? No. Council Weber, no. And Council Worrell?

Yes.

Council Worrell, yes. Seven votes in the negative, six votes in the affirmative.

Thank you Mr Clerk. Councillor Webber, are we ready to return to your amendment, the issue we laid on the table?

I believe there was some back and forth between our staffs and I think Councilor Mejia's staff has a revised version. I'm not sure. So can we take a short reset? Can we take this up? Oh, you have to vote on the rules, correct? So this is the last thing. Which one is he talking about? I think... Yeah, I'm not sure what Councilor Mejia's team has decided. We have a version we've proposed. I think we need a two-minute recess. I apologize.

We'll have it constantly here.

Move to recess.

Two-minute recess, please.

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Hey, Cindy, can everyone skittle?

We're back in session. We're now addressing Councillor Meher's Rule 36, Amendment B. It was laid on the table. Do I have a motion to take it from the table? Webber, move it from the table. Mr. Clerk, could you please take a roll call vote on the motion to remove, to bring the docket back to the table?

Councillor Breadon.

Yes.

Councillor Breadon, yes. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Calpepper, Councilor Durkan, Councilor Fitzgerald. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia. Councilor Murphy. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pippin, yes. Councilor Pippin, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. And Councilor Worrell. I didn't hear that. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Motion to take off the table the amended version B. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Worrell.

Yes.

10 votes in the affirmative. Councillor Durkan. 11 votes in the affirmative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. The motion to take the matter off the table has been passed. Mejia.

We're waiting for Councilor Mejia.

and Markets.

Make wise decisions, okay?

Nerds?

Mejia. There's been a motion to take the matter off the table. Your amendment was seconded and we had a majority vote. You have the floor. Thank you.

So what I'd like to propose based on the feedback that Councilor Weber suggested Guys, this was all about a comma. If you guys don't know much about commas, y'all better go read about commas, but we had to drop a comma. So the new language will be the committee shall have oversight of Boston public school facilities, closures, mergers, reconfigurations, and moves that impact education, students, families, teachers, staff, and administrators. In the case of HVAC systems and things that impact the quality of instruction, those are the things that will fall under the facility's realm of things. In other words, things that

Webber. strikes that.

Thank you, Councillor Mehear. This is a friendly amendment. Councillor Mejia has offered to substitute language that includes Councillor Webber's friendly amendment. Can we call a roll call vote on this amendment, please?

Roll call vote on amendment B, version 2.

I beg your pardon. Councillor Louisiane, you have the floor.

So can I ask what the actual language is? Is it what we have before us? This is the current language? Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

It's the one that I just read, right? Does everybody have that?

Can I just see to confirm?

Unless they did a switcheroo on you guys, but that's what I read.

Are we good? Mr. Clerk, could you please take a roll call vote on the amended version of this amendment?

Councillor Brayden.

Yes.

Councillor Brayden, yes. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Councillor Colletta-Zapata, yes. Councillor Culpepper.

Yes.

Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, Murphy, yes, Councilor Pepén, yes, Councilor Santana, yes, Councilor Weber, yes, and Councilor Worrell, yes. Version 2 has received a unanimous vote in the affirmative.

Thank you Mr. Clerk. The Chair seeks acceptance of the committee report and passage and adoption of docket 0157 in a new draft as amended. Mr.

Clerk, could you please conduct a roll call vote?

Second.

Mr.

Clerk. The chair seeks acceptance of the committee report and passage of adoption of docket 0157 in a new draft as amended. Could you please conduct a roll call vote? Okay. Councilor Louisiane, you have the floor.

I don't.

I'm fine. You have. I'm fine. Got your light? Nope. Councilor Murphy, you have the floor.

I want to make a statement on the rules now that we'll be voting on. I want to acknowledge the work that you, Council President, have put into proposing the changes in the Council rules and committee structure. which if I am correct you were working closely with central staff who helped you so thank you for that. I also want to thank my colleagues for participating in the working session last Friday. We provided an opportunity for discussion ahead of today's vote. and the work that we've done here together the last four hours. I raised concerns because I believe process matters and I appreciate that we did take this step of coming together as a body before voting. This discussion is very important. That said, my concerns remain. Our responsibility as a legislative body is oversight. The rules we adopt should strengthen the Council's ability to slow down, ask hard questions, and ensure accountability. particularly when it comes to major policy and budget decisions.

I spoke in support of Councilor Mejia's education amendment because it reflects that core responsibility. It recognizes that the Council has power if we are willing to use it and do our job. Despite the discussion we had and the amendments that were prepared, some that passed, some did not pass, I do not believe the rules before us go far enough in strengthening the Council's oversight role of ensuring that these rules work for the councilors rather than the administration. This vote is not about opposing collaboration or change. It is about setting a governance structure that truly supports our responsibility to the residents we represent. and for those reasons, I will be voting against the rules today.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy. Councillor Mejia, you have the floor. You've got your light on. Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Council President Breadon. I just want to thank my colleagues for a spirited conversation. I also want to thank you for your leadership. I know we have traditionally voted on this on the first meeting of the year, so now 10 hours into discussing these rules, I would like to move to take a vote.

Thank you, Councillor Durkan. Do we have a second? We've already moved to go to a vote. We've moved to go to a vote. Clasper Flynn. Mr. Clerk, could you please do a roll call vote on docket 0157 in a new draft as amended?

Is there some discussion on this?

Once we've moved to a vote, there's no further discussion.

who made the motion?

Councillor Durkan made the motion. Councillor Murphy seconded it. I'd like to remove it.

I didn't realize Councillor Flynn's light had been waiting to be called on.

Councillor Flynn, you have the floor.

Thank you Madam Chair for giving me the opportunity to speak. I'm going to be voting no. On the rules, but I do want to acknowledge your leadership, Madam Chair, on this issue. I believe you did give an opportunity for everybody to express their opinion, whether you agreed with them or disagreed with them. and just wanted to acknowledge your professionalism and including people that may have disagreed with you. You've been open and you've been fair. Thank you Madam Chair.

Thank you Councillor Flynn. Okay, do I have a motion? Oh, anyone else like to speak on the matter? The Chair seeks acceptance of the committee report and passage of adoption of docket 0157 in a new draft as amended. Mr. Clerk, would you please conduct a roll call vote.

Councillor Brayden.

Yes.

Councillor Brayden, yes. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Yes. Councillor Colletta-Zapata, yes. Councillor Culpepper.

Yes.

Councillor Culpepper, yes. Councillor Durkan. Durkin, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, no. Councilor Flynn, no. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Murphy, no. Council Papin?

Yes.

Council Papin, yes. Council Santana? Yes. Council Santana, yes. Council Weber?

Yes.

Council Weber, yes. And Council Worrell?

Yes.

O'Reilly, yes. Docket number 0-5-1-7, excuse me, 0-1-5-7 has received 11 votes in the affirmative and two in the negative.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll move on to communications from our Honourable Mayor. Murphy.

Now that we've passed the rules, I'd like to make a motion that we take docket 0124, 0125. 0126 and 0127 out of order thank you to local 718 you have been here since before noon and I hope that we could take that vote as soon as we can thank you

Point of order I just want to make sure that the committee chair

The committee chair of the public hearing was the committee of the whole. Brayden did not follow her own rules and she did allow someone who was not the vice chair to chair that meeting but that was fine. Thank you. Thank you. It's true.

Mr. Clerk, I know it's, could you please go forward and read the communications from Ronald the Mayor? We're going to get to the firefighters contract very quickly. Please go ahead. Wow. Need a motion. Was there anyone to second it? Second. Could you call it? All those in favour say aye. Aye. Take them out of order. Excellent. Mr. Clerk, could you please read dockets 0124 to 0127? Docket number 0124.

Message in order for your approval in order to reduce fiscal year 26 appropriation for the reserve for collective bargaining by $18,118,488 to provide funding for the fire department. for fiscal year 26 increases contained within the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Boston and the Boston Firefighters IAFF Local 718 filed in the Office of the City Clerk on January 26th. 2026, document number 0125, message in order for a supplemental appropriation order. for the Boston Fire Department for fiscal year 26 in the amount of $18,118,488 to cover the fiscal year 26 cost items contained within the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Boston and IAFF Local 718.

The terms of the contracts are July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025 and July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, The major provisions of the contracts include a base wage increase of 2.5% to be given in July of 2024 and a base wage Increase of 2% in July of each subsequent fiscal year of the contract term. The agreement also includes salary adjustments in January of 2025 starting at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service. Docket number 0126, message in order for your approval in order to reduce fiscal year 26 appropriation for the reserve for collective bargaining by $1,307,901 to provide funding

for the Boston Public Schools for the fiscal year 26 increases contained within the collective bargaining agreements between the School Committee of the City of Boston and Boston Association of School Administrators and Supervisors. filed in the office of the city clerk on January 26, 2026 in document number 0127. Message in order for a supplemental appropriation order for the Boston Public Schools Department for fiscal year 26 in the amount of $1,307,901 to cover the fiscal year 26 cost items contained within the collective bargaining agreements between the school committee of the City of Boston and the Boston Association of School Administrators and Supervisors. The terms of the contracts are September 1st, 2024 through August 31st, 2027.

The major provisions of the contracts include base wage increases of 2% to be given in September of each fiscal year of the contract term. The contract also adds a new step to fiscal year 27 and a new degree to the educational differential.

The Committee of the Whole held a hearing on Monday, February 2nd, 2026 to discuss these dockets 0124 through 0127. Testifying on behalf of the Administration were James Williamson, Budget Director, Renee Bushey, Director of the Office of Labour Relations, Paul Burke, Commissioner of the Boston Fire Department, Jeremiah Hassan Director of BPS Office of Labour Relations Patrick Ellis Chief of Operations at the Boston Fire Department Field Services Rodney Marshall Chief of Operations Boston Fire Department Support Services and Alou Mandarini, Senior Labour Advisor for the City of Boston. In attendance were Councillors Flynn, Murphy, Webber, Durkan, Fitzgerald, Worrell, Culpepper, Colletta-Zapata, Pepén. A letter of absence was received from Councillor Louis Yen.

I'm not going to repeat all of what the clerk has already read. The major provisions of the contracts include a base wage increase of 2.5% to be given in July of 2024 and a base wage increase of 2% in July of each subsequent year of the contract term. This is for the firefighters agreement. The agreement also includes base salary adjustments of five, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service In January of 2025, July of 2025, July of 26, and July of 2027. During questions from Councillors, Commissioner Burke explained that the Fire Department has purchased three new fireboats and the marine unit portion of the contract is meant to ensure that those who apply to work on the boats have a marine background and proper licensure to operate the boats in Boston Harbour.

Director Bushy stated that the Transitional Career Awards Programme, TCAP, and longevity changes in the contract are requested by the union and are meant to reflect a greater reward for length of service to the city. My senior advisor Mandarini stated that TCAP has been part of the union contract since 1987 and is meant to be a longevity program. This contract changes TCAP, allowing firefighters to accrue longevity benefits at various points in their careers. They are providing greater benefits for longer terms of service. The other dockets that we considered in the hearing were Docket 0125 to 0126, The major provisions of the contract included wage increases of 2% to be given in September of each fiscal year for the contract term.

The parties agreed to extend the current collective bargaining agreement from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2027, with an estimated cost of $4.4 million over three years. The financial year 25 costs will be paid from existing reserves. BPS is requesting $1.3 million for financial year 26 and contracts were ratified by the union on December 2, 2025, and the contracts were approved by the School Committee on December 17, 2025. As Chair of the Committee of the Whole, I recommend moving the listed docket from the Committee to the full Council for discussion and formal action. At this time, my recommendation to the full Council will be that this matter ought to pass. Would anyone like to speak on this docket? Councillor Murphy, you have the floor.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you for taking this out of order. Before speaking to the contract itself, I want to acknowledge the hundreds of hours that went into this work and recognize that the result is fair and a strong contract for our members. I also want to thank IAFF Local 718 President Sam Dillon, Vice President Leroy Haywood, International President Eddie Kelly who was with us earlier, Randy Greeley and the entire executive board who have Stayed with us here this afternoon. Thank you for being here. I also want to thank Commissioner Paul Burke, Chief Ellis, and Chief Marshall and the department's leadership team for their engagement, collaboration and commitment to reaching an agreement that supports both public safety and the workforce. This agreement reflects

that collective effort it provides fair compensation respects the experience and dedication of our firefighters and recognizes the sacrifices made not only by those who serve but by their families as well and for those reasons I am proud to support this contract and will be voting in favor of it today. I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of our first responders who Work hard and put their lives on the line to keep us safe in cold weather and in the storm. I know many of them had to work extra hours and helped our residents across the city, so thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy. Councillor Durkan, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Chair. I know this contract was hard fought. I want to thank all of our firefighters in our neighborhoods. That work hard to help people on their worst night. I got to go to the fire relief Sorry, the Relief Funds Gala. And understanding some of the folks that were winning awards there had done such heroic things in my district that I never heard about. you know putting a face with a name I just want to thank all of our firefighters who serve with distinction it's it's the things we see it's the things that we don't see and it's also the expertise it's not just putting out fires I've learned there's so much more that goes into being a firefighter and I'm really grateful As you know my family we have a long history of people who have been in service and so just seeing

Seeing like and putting real stories to the work that you do every day this contract is deserved I'm grateful and look forward to partnering with you and making sure that the next contract is just as smooth although this is our only power I think it's really important that we stand by our first responders whenever we can and we stand by collective bargaining. So thank you. Thank you Councillor Dirk and Councillor Flynn you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also rise to support this contract. I think it's a fair contract. I want to acknowledge Sam Dillon and the men and women of Local 718 for their exceptional work. in this city, but also for their commitment to our neighborhoods as well. You know, they're active in our community. They're youth sports coaches. They're youth mentors or they're involved in the PTA programs, community activists, but just want to acknowledge their contributions they also make to the communities, but also want to acknowledge the firefighters' families. and their service and their sacrifice as well. They're real unsung heroes. as far as I'm concerned. During the last four hours that we were in here, there was a number of fires actually in Boston during this period of time.

There was one in Dorchester I believe a two-arm and one in Charlestown as well. So while we're working here, the firefighters are out supporting and representing and keeping our city safe and I want to acknowledge them and honored to be here and to support the men and women of the Boston Fire Department. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Flynn. Councilor Weber, you have the floor.

Okay, I thank you very much. I just want to thank Council President and Central Staff for having both these sort of hearings on an expedited basis so we could Get to vote on these contracts, which were approved a while ago. If we had approved the rules, this hearing would have been, I think, in my committee. And just to add, To your sentiment, I am supportive of this and just to add in my two cents. Thank you. Thank you.

Councillor Santana, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise to support this contract. I want to echo a lot of what my colleagues have mentioned. I know this was hard fought. Kudos to your leadership, Sam Dilley, and your entire team. And I want to echo what one of my counselors said. We all know that you keep our city safe. and because of that we keep running. But you are all more than that. You are our neighbors. You are, as someone said, coaches. You are involved in our communities and I see you all out there. I even got to eat one of the turkeys that was prepared by one of you. So just really appreciate all the work that you all do. It was not that good by the, no, I'm joking. But really appreciate the work that you all do. The sacrifice that you all make on behalf of the city, and I'm proud to support this contract. Well done. Thank you, Madam.

Thank you, Councillor Santana. Councillor Culpepper, you have the floor.

Madam President, I rise to support this contract 100%. And here's what's amazing. I can go to church this Sunday and I'll see a smile on my deacon's face. One of my deacons is a firefighter. He comes right from the fire station to church on Sunday mornings. This Sunday, when he came to church, he looked at me and he said, when are y'all going to approve that contract? So I'm happy to say that when I get to church this Sunday, I know he'll have a big smile on his face. Sam Dillon and all the firefighters, we really do lift them up. We keep them in prayer because we know every time they go out, There's a possibility that they might not come back. So we really thank all that you do. I'm excited and happy to vote in support of this contract. And we'll continue to lift you up in this Sunday. I'm glad that I'll go to church and that Dick is going to have a big smile on his face. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Culpepper. Councillor Mejia, you have the floor.

Thank you. Madam President, and you know, y'all know I don't do a lot of compliments, but I will just today, today only. You better get this in writing, but I do want to thank, it's on tape actually, you can rewind it later. But I just really want to thank the firefighters for their service to Councilor Culpepper's sentiments. You know, it is true. They are literally putting their life on the line every single day that they go out. to serve and so we want to acknowledge you for your service and I also I would not be Councilor Mejia if I didn't throw in a little bit of shade here but I wanted to also just thank the Vulcans The black firefighters for being such an amazing thought partner alongside our office when it comes to issues of diversity and racial equity within the force. Elector Tavares, you know, Mr. Higginbottoms, and all of the black firefighters who

There's still a lot of work to do to make sure that restorative justice happens and that you get your due in time, but I just wanted to thank you all for your leadership and how you continue to show up despite all the challenges that you face.

Thank you, Councilor Mejia. Councilor Louijeune, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. And I just want to join my colleagues in echoing a congratulations to both the firefighters and to the administration. for working together. I know that collective bargaining is not always easy, but being able to come together and get a deal that works for our firefighters is incredibly important and a job well done. So to Sam, to Leroy, Lector, to everyone, congratulations. I've also just, you know, last week many of you were at the funeral for Robert Franklin, and to just know How important and how much you all show up for each other. Just like the flood of cars at 12th Baptist was just a sight to see. And to just learn so much more about the sacrifice, especially when it comes to increased risk of cancer and all that you expose yourselves Two, in order to serve our city, I really appreciate it. I know that so many others and so many of our neighbors really appreciate it. And I think one of my colleagues said it, you all do so much more than just put out fires.

Thank you, Councillor Louis-Jeanne. Councillor Fitzgerald, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The day after Inauguration Day, I came into work, and I think like many of us, I decided to get some air and take a walk. When taking that walk downtown, a man fell down in front of me. I waited with him, as several of us did, watched first responders show up, and of course, Fayot was the first on the scene. And wouldn't you know it, a Dorchester kid gets out and starts performing CPR. I coached his son in Little League, and we're not even that close, but we just know each other through the neighborhood type stuff. And here I am watching it, and the man did not make it, by the way. And so my prayers go out to that anonymous individual who that was. But watching them perform under pressure, and then after the fact, talking to the firefighters and EMS, the guy came up, hey, Fitz, what's up? I was traumatized. They're just going to the next call.

And so with that, I'd just like to say I saw firsthand how you guys respond, how you guys take in the trauma, and how you stay professional. So every single penny here is earned. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor Fitzgerald. Councillor Pepén, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I would like to just stand as well and congratulate the firefighters because it's well-deserved. Something that Sam Delanovi says, and I love this line, he says, there's no politics inside a burning building. And that's that's so true because you don't know if you're gonna make it out you don't know if you're gonna be able to save the lives and when you look at a contract like this it doesn't only positively impact Your members and the firefighters it also positively impacts your families because this is a career that it's everyone's everyone's impacted by it so I'm just very glad that we're voting on this probably one of the easiest votes for me an entire year just you guys are so deserving of it you all know how I feel about firefighters I have a very profound appreciation for you guys my previous role with the neighborhood services I was responsible for also going out to a lot of the fires

and work closely with your victims assistance unit and just see how you guys just truly and positively impact people's lives during very tough moments. And I commend you for that. I look forward to continuing working with you all and thank you for all the work you do Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Pepén. Councillor Worrell, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I'll just continue to echo what has been said by a lot of my colleagues is thank you for your service and we know this is one of those jobs that It's not only you that's serving, it's everyone in your family. Just worried about every day when you go out there, worried about our firefighters. So thank you and also thank you to your family that serves alongside you. Shout out to Local 718 for your leadership and also shout out the Vulcans and their leadership as well. We're all in this together to make sure that we're providing the service but also that Our fire department is also reflective of our city, so thank you for your help in that work, but also, again, thank you for your service.

I think I should put you in different seats. I might do better. I just want to express my profound appreciation and gratitude for the work that the Boston Fire Department does day in and day out. A few years ago we had a fire in Brighton. It was a few days after students and young people had moved into new digs and there was a fire on Perthshire. We heard the sirens, we went over and A young woman had got out onto a porch and the fire department got there, they got a ladder, they shimmied up, they got the young woman, rescued her from the porch, but her boyfriend had gone back into the building and he didn't survive. And I just watched as we saw what happened, the dedication, bravery, and just sheer determination of our fire department in that moment.

and how devastated they were at the fact that one person had lost their life. I know you deal with this day in and day out, but I just want to express my profound appreciation and thanks for all you do every day. and I have two cousins back in Northern Ireland who are firefighters. So I could say this international firefighters association. I've got some folks in the international space who are firefighters in my family. So I want to thank you so much for all you do. As the chair of the committee on the whole, I am seeking acceptance of the committee report and passage of docket 0124. Mr. Clerk, would you please conduct a roll call vote?

Roll call vote on docket number 0124. Councillor Breadon. Yes. Councilor Breadon, yes. Councilor Calera-Zapata, yes. Councilor Calera-Zapata, yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan, yes. Councilor Durkan, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pappin, yes. Councilor Pappin, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, yes. Webber, yes, and Councilor Worrell, yes. Councilor Worrell, yes. Dock number 0124 has received a unanimous vote in the affirmative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. As the Chair of the Committee on the Whole, I am seeking acceptance of Committee Report in Passage of Docket 0125. Yes.

Council Breadon, yes. Council Colletta-Zapata, yes. Council Colletta-Zapata, yes. Council Culpepper, yes. Council Culpepper, yes. Council Durkan, yes. Council Durkan, yes. Council Fitzgerald, yes. Council Fitzgerald, yes. Council Flynn, yes. Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén, yes. Councilor Pepén, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, Webber, yes, and Councilor Worrell.

Yes.

Councilor Worrell, yes. Docket number 0125 has received a unanimous vote in the affirmative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. As the Chair of the Committee of the Whole, I am seeking acceptance of the Committee Report in Passage of Docket 0126. Mr. Clerk, could you please conduct a roll call vote?

Councillor Brayden. Yes. Councillor Brayden, yes. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Kaleta Zapata, yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Culpepper, yes. Councilor Durkan, yes. Councilor Durkan, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Fitzgerald, yes. Councilor Flynn, yes. O'Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pippen, yes. Councilor Pippen, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councillor Santana, yes. Councillor Webber, yes. Councillor Webber, yes. And Councillor Worrell, yes. Councillor Worrell, yes. Document number 0126 has received the unanimous vote on the affirmative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. As the chair of the Committee of the Whole, I am seeking acceptance of the committee report and passage of Docket 0-127. Mr. Clerk, could you please conduct a roll call vote?

Councillor Brayden.

Yes.

Councillor Brayden, yes. Councillor Colletta-Zapata. Yes, Councilor Culpepper. Yes, Councilor Culpepper. Yes, Councilor Durkan. Yes, Councilor Durkan. Yes, Councilor Fitzgerald. Yes, Councilor Fitzgerald. Yes, Councilor Flynn. Flynn, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Lujan, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Mejia, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Murphy, yes. Councilor Pepén, yes. Councilor Pepén, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Santana, yes. Councilor Weber, Webber. Yes. And Councilor Worrell. Yes. Councilor Worrell. Yes. Document number 0127 has received a unanimous vote in the affirmative.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Thank you, everyone. We're moving back to communications from Her Honour the Mayor. Mr. Clerk, could you please read Docket 0257?

Document number 0257, message unknown, authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $500,000 in the form of a grant for planning neighborhood development funds awarded by Boston Redevelopment Authority. to be administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion. The grant will fund the launch and early implementation of the commercial acquisition assistance program.

Thank you Mr. Clerk. Docket 0257 will be referred to the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation. Mr. Clerk, could you please read dockets 0258 and 0259?

Document 0258, message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $71,977.82 in the form of a grant. the Department of Transitional WPP grant awarded by Mass Hire Department of Career Services to be administered by the Office of Workforce Development. The grant will fund Employment and Training Assistance, Career Counseling and Job Search Assistance for individuals in need who receive cash assistance, food assistance, and housing assistance to help transition from temporary to self-employed. Sufficiency. Docket number 0259. Message in honor of authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $27,674.95 in the form of a grant. The Jobs for Veterans State Grant awarded by the United States Department of Labor passed through the Mass.

Higher Department of Career Services to be administered by the Office of Workforce Development. The grant will fund enhanced employment services for eligible veterans. prioritizing disabled veterans and those facing significant barriers to employment with the goal of improving their job search outcomes and economic self-sufficiency.

Thank you Mr. Clerk. The Chair recognizes Councillor Worrell.

Thank you Madam Chair and these are small dollar amount grants that are going to workforce development programs for our veterans. and those individuals who are receiving SNAP and TAFDC benefits. So I'm just asking my colleagues to suspend and pass The small dollar amount grants that are going to help increase workforce development inside of the communities of veterans and those who receive SNAP and TFADC benefits. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Worrell. Councillor Flynn.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I rise to support this important funding. I think it's important for me to Acknowledge that disabled veterans play a critical role in our city, in our country. I am glad that they're getting the training and services and support that they've earned. This is an issue very important to me. I'm going to continue advocating and fighting for veterans, disabled veterans. In fact, I'm going to Washington DC in two weeks for the National Disabled American Veterans Conference and I will let the Members there know of the work of the Mayor and the City Council in support of disabled veterans, not only here in Boston, but across the country as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn. We'll take these two dockets separately. The Chair of the Committee on Labour and Economic Development seeks suspension of the rules in passage of Docket 010258. All those in favour say aye. All those opposed say nay. The ayes have it. Docket 058 is passed. 0258. The Chair of the Committee on Labour and Economic Development seeks suspension of the rules in passage of Docket 0259. All those in favour say aye. The ayes have it. Thank you. Docket 0258 and Docket 0259 have passed. Mr. Clerk, could you please read Docket 0260?

Docket number 0260. Message in order for the confirmation. of the appointment of Samira Ahmadi as a member of the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance Berto Review Board for a term expiring May 23, 2026.

Thank you Mr Clerk. Councillor Murphy, you had your light on.

Yes, I just wanted to address that last term. There was an understanding, and I'm pretty sure I'll have to go back and look. It was put in writing with Claire, an intergovernmental, because we had concerns when Appointments came on the agenda and if there was any information about whether or not this appointment, the term had expired, if the person had voluntarily left, if we weren't meeting certain requirements so there was the administration said that it would always let us know before we voted on an appointment I hope we can work on this together I need to put it into writing again for this term but I think it's important that this body knows there's a lot of appointments that come through and not just the question about whether or not they're qualified the question for me was in the past

How this position opened up and if it was replacing someone that we would be inadvertently kicking someone off of a board that they didn't want to and we weren't aware of it when we were taking a vote. So could I get your commitment that we could work on that going forward? Because there'll be plenty of board members.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy. This docket will be referred to the Committee on Environmental Justice, Resiliency and Parks. So I think we'll take the issue up in that forum. Thank you. Docket 0260 will be referred to the Committee on Environmental Justice, Resiliency and Parks. We're moving on to reports of public officers. Oh yes. All those in favour say aye. Thank you. The docket 0260 will be referred to the Committee of Environmental Justice, Resiliency and Parks. Mr. Clerk, could you please read dockets 0261 through 0265? And yes, the clerk has to leave very shortly because he has a death in the family and he will be passing over to the assistant clerk. So, Mr. Clerk.

Thank you. I saw my wife Nancy's here, so we did have a death in the family in the Wakers tonight, and I'd like to be there for that, and I'm going to leave it in the capable hands of the assistant clerk for the rest of the agenda. I'll just read the reports of public offices and others and then after that I'll have to depart. Thank you. Yes. Docket number 0261, notice received from the mayor of the appointment of Claire Taluni as a member of the Participatory Budget External Oversight Board for term expiring November 15, 2027. Docket number 0262. Communication was received from the Mayor, transmitting information received from the Boston Inspectional Services Department pertaining to the 2025 Annual Rental Registration and Inspection Report pursuant to CBC.

9-12.3. And document number 0263, communication received from Council President Liz Breadon to address the open meeting law complaint and respond accordingly on behalf of the Boston City Council. Talking number 0264. Communication from Council Flynn regarding the ongoing investigation into BHA Ruth Barkley elevators. Talking number 0265. Communication from Councillor Flynn regarding snow removal.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. These communications will go on file. Flynn. COUNSELOR FLINN.

Madam Chair, may I speak on 0264?

Which docket is that again?

COUNSELOR FLINN.

You've got two minutes.

Last week I sent a letter to the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board regarding the ongoing investigation into the elevators at Ruth Barclay, which is the old Cathedral BHA in the South End, which I represent. BHA and its contractors must be held responsible and accountable for elevator failures and all related complaints must be promptly reported to the Massachusetts Access Board. Residents continue to call me about their shared cases of persistent breakdowns, and they feel as if they are unwanted, neglected, and Forgotten. These are my constituents. This is unacceptable. Our neighbors in public housing, particularly our seniors,

People with disabilities, persons with people of color deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and I'm going to continue working on this issue because it's critical to the quality of life and safety of residents. and I do have to remind people that I've had constituents at Ruth Barclay that couldn't get down on their fifth floor apartment down to the first floor to go to a chemotherapy appointment at a hospital because the elevator was down. I can't accept that. I represent the most constituents living in public housing of any district city councilor. I take that responsibility very seriously and I'm going to continue to advocate for My constituents, even though there's a lot of pushback from Boston Housing Authority administrator. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Thank you for your advocacy for BHA residents. Councillor Culpepper, you have the floor.

I just wanted to express my condolences to our Clerk and his family and to let them know that we will keep them in our prayers. Thank you.

Thank you. I think Councillor Culpepper speaks for all of us. Thank you, Mr Clerk. Docket 0265 through 0261 through 0265 will be placed on file, excluding Docket 0263, which will be referred to the Law Department. We move on to matters recently heard for possible action. Madam Clerk, could you please read dockets 0, 1, We did that already, haven't we? We've done that one. Orders and resolutions. We've done that already, haven't we?

Madam Clerk, could you please read docket 0266.

Docket 0266. Councillor Culpepper offer the following. The use of Boston City property for civil immigration enforcement activities by the United States Immigration of Customs Enforcement.

Councillor Culpepper, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I'm following this ordinance because ICE has been terrorizing our neighborhoods around the country, our people, our immigrant communities that make this country and the city of Austin great. For too long. This is a statement to ICE, the federal government, and anyone else who wants to bring harm to Boston that we're saying no more. No more will you use your illegitimate use of force to harm our neighbors. no more will you use threats of tearing families apart the force of communities that make us great into hiding no more will you reign your reign of violence and justice silence us and The immigrants that make our city great. This is also a message to our immigrant communities who are seeing what's happening in our country and are scared. We hear you. We see you. We want you here.

And we have your back. City property belongs to you as much as it does to anyone else. And we will make sure you feel safe accessing the buildings and services that all Bostonians are entitled to. I want to thank Governor Healey for signing an executive order prohibiting ice from using state property, keeping ice out of the most vulnerable places of our communities, including our schools, hospital, Courthouses and Places of Worship. ICE will no longer use the streets of Boston as staging areas for its grotesque operations that are shattering our communities. Boston will not stand idly by Watching these injustices. We won't allow them to take place in our city. Madam President, I'd also like to ask that you add Council Mahia as the second original co-sponsor of this filing. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Culpepper. Seeing no objection, Councillor Meheer is duly added. I see Councillor Pepén, you have your light on.

yes I just want to stand up and commend and thank Councillor Culpepper for introducing this ordinance I think that it's very necessary at these times it's just I've been also looking at how other municipalities have been reacting I believe Providence I believe that our city buildings and city structures should be safe places for our Thank you. Thank you. This is very personal for me and just, yeah, just full support of this. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councillor Pepén. Councillor Louijeune, you have the floor.

I just rise to say thank you for following this, Councillor Culpepper. This is incredibly important. We have to do everything we can to defend ourselves and defend our city and defend our immigrant residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Culpepper. I forgot to add, Councilor Worrell as an original co-sponsor. Thank you.

Well, you are added. Will suspend rules. Councillor Culpepper seeks suspension of the rules in addition of Councillor Worrell as a third co-sponsor. Hearing and seeing no objections. All those in favour? Okay. Councilor Worrell, you're added as an original co-sponsor. Cantor Mehear, you were the next co-sponsor. Cantor Mehear, you have the floor.

Thank you Madam President. I appreciate the opportunity to rise up and speak, but I want to thank Councilor Culpepper for his leadership in this space. In these moments in time, it is so important for us to work in partnership with people who see us and who affirm us and who understand what our civil rights are. But as someone who grew up with a mom who was undocumented, everything that we're seeing here is very triggering to us. And so utilizing our platform to fight for and stand up against ICE is what this moment is calling for. So I want to thank Councilor Culpepper for his leadership. Our office was also thinking of doing something like this back in November. I believe it was Chicago who first did it. They signed an executive order. Really looking forward to seeing that happen here in the city of Boston and thank you for your leadership.

Thank you, Councillor Meagher. I've just been reminded that we voted on a rule to limit comments on motions. So I will just limit our comments to the original co-sponsors. So we move to Councillor Worrell. Thank you.

Thank you Madam President and I just want to just thank again the lead sponsor for putting this forward. This ordinance is something that we here in the city of Boston I believe needs to make sure that we don't see the same atrocities That has happened in Minnesota, allowing you know masked people with no name tags and semi-automatic weapons in our municipal buildings is a danger to our residents so this is the type of preparation that we need to have in our city This is straightforward and a very thoughtful ordinance and I wish that we can extend this to even more property. So thank you again for putting this forward and thank you for having me.

Thank you. Would anyone like to add their name? Councillor Coletta Zapata, Councillor Durkan, Councillor Fitzgerald, Councillor Flynn, Louisienne, Councilor Murphy, Councilor Pepén, Councilor Santana, Councilor Weber, Councilor Worrell, and please the Chair. Thank you. Docket 0266 will be referred to the Committee on Government Operations. Madam Clerk, please read Docket 0267.

Worrell offer the following ordinance to codify the equity and inclusion cabinet in the City of Gosling.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Councillor Worrell, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to add Councilor Mejia as an original co-sponsor. Councilor Mejia is so added.

Hearing no objections.

Thank you, Madam President. This is a refile, and as we enter into Black History Month, We have codified a lot of the departments within the Equity Cabinet, and this is just making sure that we codify the Equity Cabinet. So just looking forward to continuing this conversation. That was started last term in making sure that we give the Equity Cabinet the direction and power and resources that it needs to identify and tackle the disparities that we face here in the city. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Worrell. Councillor Mejia, you're the... Yeah, so I'm going to be mindful of time.

So thank you to Councillor Worrell for adding me.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to add their name? Councilor Durkan, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Flynn, Councilor Louisian, Councilor Murphy, Councilor Pepén, Councilor Santana, Councilor Weber, and please add the chair docket 0267 will be referred to the committee on government operations Madam Clerk could you please read docket 0268 it's a refile and for those folks who are Bringing forward refiles, there's an extensive number and it's a matter of efficiency for refiled matters. I kindly ask councillors to limit the remarks to no more than one minute. and co-sponsors to defer to lead sponsors for their remarks. Thank you.

Oh, beg your pardon, Madam Chair, after all that. Madam Chair, could you please read the docket?

Docket 0268. Councillor Flynn offered the following petition for a special law regarding an act relative to pension benefits for firefighters Leo J. Bracken, Refile of 2025.

Thank you Madam Chair. Councillor Flynn you have the floor.

Thank you Madam Chair. Madam Chair may I make a motion to substitute the language for minor editing. Spelling issue rather.

Seconded. Thank you. Do you have the substitute language there? Has everyone got the substitute language? Thank you. Councillor Flynn, you please.

Please go ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair. As you mentioned, it's a refile. I'll be very brief. This is a home rule petition for Leo Bracken, fire lieutenant, sustained serious injuries while in the performance of his duties. 2019 totally and permanently injured and incapacitated for their services as a firefighter firefighter Fire Lieutenant Bracken is currently retired and receiving an accidental disability retirement pursuant to Chapter 32, Section 8. This home rule petition seeks to secure further benefits Flynne.

Durkan, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Murphy, Councilor Louisianne, Councilor Pepén, Councilor Fontana, Councilor Worrell, Councilor Culpepper. And please add the chair. Thank you. Docket 0268 will be referred to the Committee on Government Operations. Madam Clerk, could you please read Docket 0269?

Docket 0269, Councilor Flynn, offer the following. Order for hearing to review the missions, goals, objectives, and challenges at this Office of the Police Accountability and Transparency.

0269. I see that this is recognising Councillor Worrell, but that's not. Councillor Flynn, are you the lead sponsor on this docket?

Yes, I am, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am withdrawing this docket at this time. I am going to defer it to Councilor Orrell probably next week. Next week. Thank you.

Thank you. Docket 0269 has been withdrawn. Pappin. Madam Clerk, could you please read Docket 0270?

Docket 0270. Councillor Pappin offers the following. Order for hearing to explore snow removal reliefs and options.

Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilor Pepén. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. Last week's winter storm gave us a reminder of what Mother Nature is capable of, bringing close to two feet of snow in under 24 hours. I'm sure my colleagues were hearing as many concerns from residents as we had in District 5. We heard from residents, many of whom we tell for the first time, facing issues caused by, obviously, the most recent snowstorm. We received a lot of calls. Specifically from elderly and disabled residents who don't have the physical ability to shovel their own property and don't have the means to pay for a private service. A lot of calls had to do with the height of snow banks on sidewalks and snow left on streets. Cleaning up after this storm has not been easy for our Public Works crews and our residents, but I do want to thank all of our diligent crew members of the Public Works, especially our District 5 superintendents, Dustin and Freddie, who showed up during the storm and after the storm despite being shore staffed to clean the roads and sidewalks for residents. I also want to thank our 311 department for taking a lot of calls during that storm

But I also want to thank our residents who showed up for their neighbors, assisting with shoveling sidewalks, driveways, crosswalks, and bus stops throughout the week. Our own initiative, Pepén's Snow Angels, received over 40 submissions from young people across the district who cleared fire hydrants and paths for their neighbors. I'm grateful to represent a district that continues to support their neighbors. My hope with this hearing is that we can look into the city's snowstorm policy and explore other snow removal strategies as we can expect to see more severe weather events as the climate changes. I know my colleagues have filed for other hearings about snow. And I'm open to combining these conversations if they're interested. We know that the team over at Public Works has faced with a tremendous task. So let's find a solution to weather and combat these future challenges for our residents. So yeah, this is, There was an idea sparked from the city of Somerville where they were able to gather volunteers or pay teenagers to actually shovel the private sidewalks and just help people that, as I mentioned, they couldn't do it on their own. And I think it takes a village when we get as much now as we did.

Luckily, it isn't as usual as we expect, but this is my hearing order. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councillor Pepén. Would anyone like to add their name? Coletta Zapata, Councilor Culpepper, Councilor Durkan, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Flynn, Councilor Louisianne, Councilor Murphy, Councilor Santana, Councilor Webber, Councilor Worrell, and please add the chair. Thank you. Docket 0269 will be referred to the Committee on City Services. Madam Clerk, could you please read Docket 0271, and this is a refile.

Docket 0271. Councillor Flynn offered a following order for a hearing to discuss the status of the elevators at the BH BHA, Root, Barclay Apartment, Refile 2025.

Chancellor Flynn, you have, since this is a refile, I'll allow you one minute if that's okay. Thank you. Yes, it is.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a refile. I will try to be brief. I need to do my due diligence for my constituents. I can't accept broken elevators in Ruth Barclay BHA development. I can't accept it at any BHA development. And I'm going to do everything I possibly can for my constituents and BHA residents as well throughout Boston. I don't think this is just a District 2 problem. I think there are other BHA elevator related challenges throughout the city. Residents have emailed me across Boston asking me to advocate for them as well. But I do want to ask my colleagues to support me as I advocate for my

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Culpepper, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Pepén, Councilor Worrell. Thank you. Docket 02. Councilor Santana. Anyone else? Thank you. Docket 0271 will be referred to the Committee on Housing and Community Development. Madam Clerk, could you please read Docket 0272, which is also a refile.

Dr. 0272, Councilor Flynn, offer the following order for hearing to discuss the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report on Boston Housing Authority, refile of 2025.

Thank you. Councillor Flynn, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a refile. I know Councillor Mehear just stepped out. I was going to add her as an original co-sponsor. On February 25, 2025, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, released a report on the BHA and found that BHA did not consistently maintain its program units and buildings, public housing programs units, in decent, safe, and sanitary conditions and in good repair and did not consistently perform its annual self-inspections and correct identified deficiencies in a timely manner. In 2024, the Boston City Council held a hearing to discuss issues relating to the frequent elevator issues. As I mentioned, our public housing residents are some of the most vulnerable. Residents in the City of Boston. We must do everything we can. Again, this is a civil rights issue, and I'm not going to rest until we make progress at BHA Developments.

I'm requesting to add City Council Mejia as an original co-sponsor.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Councillor Mehear, you've been added as an original co-sponsor. Since this is a refile, we're just going to have the principal sponsor speak. Would anyone else like to add their name? Culpepper, Fitzgerald, Mejia, Murphy, Worrell. Docket 0272 will be referred to the Committee on Housing and Community Development. Madam Clerk, could you please read Docket 0273?

Docket 0273, Councilor Flynn, offer the following. Order for hearing to discuss the long cancer rate among black veterans, refile of 2025.

The Chair recognizes Councillor Flynn. You have the floor. Thank you.

Madam Chair, may I suspend the rules and add Councillor Santana?

Councillor is seeing no objection. Councillor Santana is so added.

Yes, this is a refile. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among US veterans. With African-American veterans facing higher risk due to military-related exposure like asbestos, as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states, veterans have a 25 to 75 percent higher risk of lung cancer. African-American veterans experience challenges in the VA system. We need to improve our VA system so veterans of color are included and treated with the respect that they've earned. I'm going to continue to work with Commissioner Santiago on all issues relating to veterans. I also want to welcome Councilor Santana, who I had a conversation. I know he'll do a good job as chair. I'm going to continue to focus on veteran issues working with the chair of the committee as well. Thank you.

Thank you. And since this is a refile, we'll just stick with Councillor Flynn. The chair, does anyone else like to add their name? Durkan, Councilor Culpepper, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Louisian, Councilor Mejia, Councilor Murphy, Councilor Pepén, Councilor Worrell, and please add the chair. Docket 0273 will be referred to the Committee on Veterans, Military Families and Military Affairs. Could you please read docket 0274, which is another refile.

Thank you. Docket 0274. Councillor Flynn offered a following order for hearing to discuss services for women veterans. Refile 2025.

Flynne.