City Council Meeting 10-27-25

Good evening, I'd like to call this regular meeting of the Everett City Council to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Alcy Jabouin. Present. Councilor Councilor DiPierro. Present. Councilor Garcia.

Present.

Councilor Hanlon. Present. Councilor Marchese. Present. Councilor Matewsky. Here. Councilor Rogers.

Here.

Councilor Smith.

Present.

Councilor Van Campen. Present. Councilor President Martins. Present. We have 10 members present. Madam President. Present.

We have a quorum. Please join us in saluting the flag.

Congratulations 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.

Madam President. Council Rogers. May we hold a moment of silence for the two construction workers who tragically passed away this week?

Sure, if you could please join us in a moment of silence.

Thank you.

And before we get started today, we actually have three special recognitions this evening. Well, first we want to celebrate Mr. Clerk's birthday, who turned 40. Happy birthday.

Thank you.

And in recognition of Italian Heritage Month, we have a very well-deserved recognition, and I would like to invite Councilors Marchese, Pietrantonio, and Councilor Hanlon to please come up and present the citation.

Madam Chair, before we do, we do have to, as a matter of parliamentary procedure, I would move to have the clerk read items one and two. We have to open those public hearings, as I understand it, and then lay them on the table.

Yes. Items number one and two.

Second. Items one and two are both public hearings offered by Councillor Stephanie Martins as president. We want a petition from Comcast requesting permission to install approximately 38 feet of new underground conduit from the existing Comcast manhole on Charlton Street to 160 Broadway to provide Comcast broadband service. A petition from National Grid requesting permission to install approximately 20 feet of 2 to 4 inch conduit from existing pole 1253-0 on Park Terrace to private property at 27 Spalding Street to provide a permanent overhead to underground siphon service.

Madam Chamberlain. Two questions.

Second. Second motion has been made and seconded to table items number one and two. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The items have been tabled. And we can now have the councillors please come up and present the first citation.

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At this time, I'd like to present the citation with the complete council, sponsored by Mr. Hanlon, Councilor Hanlon, Councilor Pietrantonio. And this is to Mr. Dale Palmer, who's the director of the Senior Center on Chelsea Street. And he's been there for 20 years. Actually, he was hired by Councilor Hanlon at the time he was mayor. I'm going to read you a quick citation that we'd like to have Mr. Palmer come up here, if we could, for Dale Palmer. Dale, why don't you come up here, and we'll read it to you here. One of the people who helped the city of Everett put a positive spin on everything that goes on in the city. Dale is a superstar when it comes to employees in the city of Everett. He has been for the past 20 years. being hereby known to all that the Everett City Council, in his honor, Mayor, offer his sincerest congratulations to Dale Palmer in honor of Italian Heritage Month and recognition of over 20 years of public service to the city of Everett winning running and expanding programs to serve our senior community while preserving and celebrating Italian culture and pride. The entire city government extends its very best wishes on its memorial occasion and expresses the hope for continued good fortune going forward, given this 27th day of October, 2025. And Dale, we've been lifelong friends, so It makes me proud to be the person that's presenting this to you. And also, I believe if Councilor Pietrantonio would like to say a few words, or Councilor Hanlon.

Thank you. I've known Dale for, I don't want to tell you how many years, but he doesn't want me to tell that many years either. But Dale's the guy to go to if you have a problem with an elderly parent or an elderly person or some event that's going on down in the armory. And he takes good care of you. You belong to him. He's that kind of a person. So I appreciate him. I appreciate what he does. And I hope he does it for a long, long time.

Dale, it's a great honor to present this to you. Me and Dale worked side by side for six years when I was down at DPW director. You always ran a tight ship there. I was in charge of the buildings, but I went into your building. That was your building. You were under control. But congratulations on this award.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

If you know me, you know I take my city of Everett very proudly and with a lot of love for the city. I also take my Italian heritage very deep. If you know me and you follow me on my social media or just in general, you'll see all the things I do participate in promoting Italian heritage and culture, not just in Everett, but everywhere in and around the state. in different states and stuff like that. And I want to thank you. You know, no man is an island unto himself. And I have a great staff and a great council, members of the council on aging that I couldn't do anything without them. And I have to applaud them for their hard work. I've never been here and lost the words, and I might have lost the words today, but thank you very, very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.

If you want to stay there, I would like to invite the members and the members of the council, the members of the Council on Aging that are here tonight, and let's take a group picture with the citation.

You want to stand here?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much. For our next one, I would like to invite Councillor Van Campen to present this very well-deserved recognition to one of our members today that had a very special day. Councillor Van Campen.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we as a body are celebrating a very special occasion this evening. It's a tremendous milestone in the life of one of our colleagues that we're acknowledging tonight. And the word resilience to me comes to mind when I think about this accomplishment this evening. So I'd like to have Councillor Garcia come up. As some of you know in this room, we've been supporting her in this effort. She recently found out she passed the Massachusetts Bar Exam and is now a member of the... Is now a member of the... is now a member of the Massachusetts Bar. And I will say, I remember, this is deja vu for me, because I remember it was probably 20... Four years ago, in this chamber, at this podium, I was given a citation by, I think, former Alderman Chuck DePerry when I passed the Massachusetts Bar. So you're the next link in the chain here. So I do want to present this citation to you on behalf of the entire city council, be it Hereby known to all that the Everett City Council and his honor the mayor offer their sincerest congratulations to Holly Garcia in celebration of your dedication and admission to the bar as a Massachusetts attorney. You'll get that little card as I told you get you into a lot of places. The entire city government extends its very best wishes on this memorable occasion and expresses the hope for continued good fortune given this 27th day of October 2025. And this is sponsored by all of your colleagues here on the City Council, so congratulations.

Attorney Garcia, you have the floor. Thank you, I did perfectly.

Yeah, right, I do everything for free. So I did prepare a little something. I promised to stay under two minutes. But this morning, I actually had the privilege of being sworn in. So now it is official. And standing here today as a newly licensed attorney feels both surreal and deeply humbling. This journey has taught me that dreams don't come easy, but they are always worth chasing. There were moments of exhaustion, fear, and uncertainty. But every late night and every sacrifice led to this moment. If there's one message I want to share, it's this. Never let obstacles discourage you from chasing what you truly want. The road may be long, but every step you take, no matter how small, moves you closer to your purpose. Passing the bar wasn't just my accomplishment. It was the result of countless prayers, encouragement, and support from family, friends, mentors, and everyone who believed in me. To all of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The biggest thank you goes out to my mother. She's my number one fan. See? She's been there with me every step of the way, and I couldn't have done it without you. We did it!

All right, I would like to invite the family and the counselors back up so we can take a picture and celebrate Attorney Garcia. Final citation, but just as exciting for the third one. I would like to invite councillor Rogers to present Thank You madam president

So this citation is for Kevin Angulo, who just completed a Blue Jay mural at Walgreens on Broadway. Be it hereby known to all that the Everett City Council and his Honor the Mayor offer their sincerest congratulations to Kevin Angiolo in recognition of your artwork that has been displayed featuring the Blue Jay mural. You are a talented artist whose work has significantly enriched the cultural landscape here in Everett. The entire city government extends its very best wishes on this memorable occasion and expresses the hope for continued good fortune in going forward given this 27th day of October 2025. Sponsored by Councillor Katie Rogers and the entire city council. So we'd like to invite Kevin up. This project was sponsored by the Everett Cultural Council, and it was an ongoing, long journey. We worked together to find the right location for this project. We had a long discussion about what kind of bird to showcase, and we decided to feature a native bird. And you put countless hours into making it a reality. It was a huge feat. So if there's anything you'd like to say, I'm going to give you the floor.

I wasn't totally prepared, but I'll just speak my mind and express myself the best that I can. First of all, I want to give thanks to the Everett Cultural Council for awarding me the grant that enabled the project. Without that, I wouldn't have been able to do really anything. I also want to give thanks to Alyssa Kozlowski, Mike Joyce, Katie Rogers, Chris Morera, Frank Santaniello, Sebastian Carrera, and Jason Gaboury. I'm pronouncing that correctly. If I'm not, I'm sorry, Jason. But just people that supported me that were part of the project from being project partners or giving me some creative input or... giving me in-kind donations. Special thank you to Jerry Navarro, also director of DPW, who supported me with the project by providing a mechanical lift. I wouldn't have been able to actually do anything without that also, just with the height barriers. You know, I started with a ladder, and he just, you know... basically extended the handout to me. The artwork itself, I want to talk a little bit about the artwork. If you guys have a chance, just please go check it out because photos will never do justice for artwork. But my work is centered around perseverance. I've been trying to make all my murals based off of perseverance. And so when I collaborated with Katie, she kind of came up with the idea of nature. We just... talking about nature and talking about just the love for birds. And we figured that a blue jay is not only native to the state, but also just the idea of it being able to resonate with the community in that sense. And so... The actual image depicts a blue jay taking off. So the message in Perseverance is, you know, a bird is born with the ability to fly, but they have to learn how to fly. And so this mural kind of depicts that. It'll show when you see it in person, you'll see the evolution of it taking off. And so, yeah, that's really all that I got. I'm grateful to the city. I hope to continue the conversation with public art, all politics aside. I think there's a lot of things to be said about public art. You can send a message. There's economic growth that is involved with public art making. you know, an opportunity for artists to be able to express themselves also. I believe, I believe in that. And, you know, drawing and painting is, is just one form of making art. And I believe that the students here are just the youth in the community could definitely benefit from public art making. Right. And so, yeah, let's continue the conversation and hopefully there's some more public art coming to the city of Everett.

And if the council would like to join us again for another picture.

Thank you all for your patience.

We're now ready to move along with our meeting. All the counselors can return to their seats. Reopen. I would entertain a motion to reopen. Wait, to reopen public hearing? Take them off the table. So moved. Okay, motion's been made. We have a second to take the public hearings off the table. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. So we've already read the items. The petitioner is here. If you'd like to invite him up. Would you like to make a motion to invite the petitioner?

So moved.

Second. The motion has been made and seconded to invite the petitioner from National Grid to speak on items number one and two. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Mr.

If you can please just state your name for the record and if you have any information on these two Thank You madam president one Jose Luis Azaria 170 Medford Street in Malden I actually just have item number two. I think I don't remember one is for Comcast My apologies.

Okay Number two for National Grid.

The gentleman from Comcast is signaling from the audience.

Okay, so we do have the gentleman from Comcast as well.

So on the original motion.

Motion has been made. Do we have a second? Motion has been made and seconded to invite the petitioner from Comcast. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Welcome. Good evening. And so if you would like to provide any information on item number one. Oh, I'm sorry. Your microphone, if you could just hit the right button.

Good evening, Dave Llewellyn, Comcast. We'd like to speak in favor of the Comcast petition to place 38 feet of conduit on Charlton Street for the purpose of providing service to number 160 Broadway.

Do you have any questions for the petitioner from Comcast?

Item number one. Seeing Council Matewsky.

Thank you, Madam President. This must be for a new development, is that it?

It's for Granger's 165.

Oh, Granger's doesn't have Comcast?

No.

Okay. And you'll repair anything you disturb? Yes. It's all been done over, you know, sidewalks and streets. Understood. Okay. Thank you.

Any further questions for the petitioner from Comcast? Seeing none, if you'd like to excuse.

So moved.

Motion has been made. And seconded to excuse our petitioner from Comcast. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. And now, do you have any questions for the petitioner from National Grid? And if you would like to offer some information on the project.

Thank you, Madam President. I'm requesting to install 20 feet of conduit from the existing pole to the private property at 27 Spalding Street. We're going to provide a permanent underground service for the new residential building at 27 Spalding Street. Thank you.

Councilor Pietrantonio.

Is this a new building going up? Yes, it is. It's not up yet, but it will be. So everything is underground?

Yes, so it's going underground from the existing pool, and it's about 20 feet to get over to the property. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Any further questions for the petition? Council Rogers?

Thank you, Madam President. So is this a request from Comcast or National Grid? I'm not clear.

We have two separate items. Okay, so number two is National Grid. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Council Matewsky.

Thank you, Madam President. Jose, a couple of weeks back, we mentioned that the utility electrical thing boxes next to the post office needed to be painted. Now, that's a small job. Are you on top of that? Yeah, we took care of the graffiti last week.

But you just primed it. Is that the way it's going to look? So we used the spray paint, like the green spray paint for transformers. We covered over the graffiti areas. Is that the best you're going to do in our square? We're going to go back to do another coat. Paint it all one color.

Right now, Madam President, it's primer. And you can see the graffiti through the primer. I mean, you put a little weapon into it. We've been very good to you up here. You know that. That's not a big request. Paint those boxes, please.

Yeah, we'll take care of it. It's just, you know, it's surprising when we got out there because we saw so much primer paint on those transformers. We don't typically do that. I don't know who did that.

Well, vandalism did it, and it has to be. But you're responsible. It's in the middle of our square next to the post office. Please take care of that. We'll take care of it. Thank you, Jose.

Any further questions for the petitioner from National Grid? Motions have been made and seconded to excuse our guest. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. Chairman, I'll entertain a motion to open public hearing on item number one. Item number one first so much has been made and seconded to open public hearing item number one all in favor Opposed the ayes have it we have now open public hearing on item number one Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in favor of item number one? There anyone in the audience so like to speak in favor of item number one Anyone that would like to speak in favor of item number one See none. Is there anyone who like to speak against item number one? Is there anyone that would like to speak against item number one? Anyone that would like to speak against item number one?

Seeing none, we have now... Move to close the public hearing and favorable action on item number one.

The motion has been made and seconded to close public hearing on item number one. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it.

Move to favorable action. Second.

The motion has been made and seconded to favorable action on item number one. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. And is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in favor of item number two? Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of item number two? Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of item number two? Seeing none, is there anyone that would like to speak against item number two? Is there anyone that would like to speak against item number two? Is there anyone that would like to speak against? Seeing none.

Move to close the public hearing.

We have now motion has been made and seconded to close public hearing on item number two. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it.

Second. I want to be recorded as a no, please.

I'm sorry. So motion has been made and seconded for favorable action. Is that the motion? I think it was. Okay. So Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Alcy, do you want to?

Councilor Alcy?

I'll give her a moment.

Yes.

Councilor DePiro? Yes. Councilor Garcia?

Yes.

Councilor Hanlon? Yes. Councilor Marchese? Yes. Councilor Matewsky? Yes. Councilor Pietrantonio? Yes. Councilor Rogers? No. Councilor Smith?

Yes.

Councilor Van Campen? Yes. Councilor President Martins?

Yes.

Ten yays, one nay.

Ten yays, one nay. The petition has been approved. The chair will now entertain a motion to open public participation. So moved. Motion has been made and seconded to open public participation. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. We'll start with our list on agenda items. Mr. Clerk, how many speakers do we have? And we have two minutes per speaker. And if you could please state your name and address for the record. Seven on agenda items. And we'll start with the first one in a second.

Our first speaker is Peggy Serino.

Peggy Serino Everett. Have opera monies ever been handled appropriately by the guy in the corner office? We got the 47 million opera monies in May 2021 and it's being distributed in 2025 in election year. Do you really believe the guy in the corner office had to take four years to distribute this money? Or is a guy in the corner office doing this because it's an election year? What about the APA money gift cards with 25 cents, 50 cents on them when someone went to use them? What happened to the rest of the money that was supposed to be on the gift card? Are the business APA grants being given out fairly or are buddies of the guy in the corner office getting them? What about the APA money we got in 2020 and wasn't spent, so $2.3 million was returned in the fall of 2021? Can you just imagine what any of our effort people could have done for their families with $2.3 million? The house you could have bought so everyone in the family had their own bedroom? I shared a bedroom with my sister. Do you remember the roof in the old high school being called a renovation? I don't. I remember it being called a new roof, plus a renovation is when you make something as good as new. Do you think covering over a roof that has been leaking for many decades and must have mold in it? making it as good as new, I don't. A waste of 10 million in upper money. I would like to thank Councilor Marchese and anyone who signs on to his resolution requesting that all parties, businesses contributing to any mayor's legal defense fund not profit from the city. I think this would solve a lot of problems for our city. How many cities or towns have a guy in the corner office who refuses to do a host agreement in the city or town, and their property taxes have doubled in 10 years? That's what happened in Everett. Thank you.

Next speaker is Reverend DeRocha.

Good evening, honorable members of the City Council. Over 100 years ago, that's 113 years ago to be precise, Mayor James Chambers stated in this chamber, let us meet the issues at once, honestly, openly, and fearlessly. And yours will be the reward of a satisfied conscience. That's why I'm here tonight to ask that the city of Everett and you honorable members of the city council to assist EHCC in demanding that the city of Everett remove EHCC's name as a sub recipient of the ARPA funds. $464,721.53. Let me repeat, $464,721.53 was submitted to CHA and for EATC as a subrecipient. We served in the advisory board. And when EATC decided that there could be conflict of interest, so we decided that we were not going to apply. And then after we thought about it, we said, OK, well, then we're not going to apply as a grantee because we felt there was conflict of interest. We're not judging anybody else that participated. But we will be a subrecipient of CHA. Then afterwards, we received the funding. I mean, CHA received the funding. And then we thought about it. We said, you know what? We don't want any of it with a clear conscience. And we ask CHA, with meetings and in writing, to ask the city remove our name in its public record, and whatever record that is, of this grant. We send an email to Madame DuVernay, Cici to the mayor, and also leaders in our community. To date, the public record shows that EHCC is a subrecipient. Now, if you were to receive 464 and plus or $112,000 members, would you not want your name to be cleared out of that because you're not receiving that money? And to know if this money is going to residents of the city, the taxpayers' money to recover as it was intended to. We ask you to help us do that.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker is Paulistaree.

Good evening. For the past four years, many of us have come up here to raise concerns about fraud, waste, and abuse by the Mayor and his administration. The agenda tonight highlights the concern I believe the council sees with the Mayor's spending in business practices, especially with the handling of the ARPA funds. But first, I want to talk about the curb cuts at Rich Street. the property owned by a mayor's supporter. How does the mayor explain the DPW cutting out a curb cut without any approval, and only to have it pay a private contractor to restore it, the sidewalk, back to a normal state after a butter complained? Someone sent me a picture of the mayor's front yard, and ironically, his sidewalk isn't a sidewalk, but pavers that match his driveway. I put in a public request to find out if he got a variance, who paid for the pavers, because they look pretty much like his driveway. For months, this council has raised the request to have an overflow day. The mayor's chief of staff stated it cost $48,000. So how or where did the mayor find money for the homecoming and the temporary speed bumps, which I'm sure cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, but can't find $48,000 to do something for the residents of Everett who really want the trash overflow? By the way, I noticed speed bumps on Prescott Street are gone. But now I want to offer, and I want to give the Reverend an applaud for being brave and conscientious. for standing up and calling out the whole process for this opera. We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant firm to manage the handling of the opera. It's a disgrace on how the money was spent and dispersed. But I give her kudos. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joanna Guerin.

Joanna Guerin, Ward 2. I would like to speak tonight about the resolution to formally condemn the misinformation posted by Tricia McLaughlin of Homeland Security regarding the 13-year-old boy taken by ICE from Everett. It is my understanding that juvenile criminal records are sealed, and yet Ms. McLaughlin posted on social media about how this boy was... boy, quote, had a history of violent assault with a dangerous weapon, battery, breaking and entering, and destruction of property, end quote. How could she have had this information? I think what is more likely is that she had simply made it up in order to justify the actions of ICE taking this boy out of state. When a government decides that they can label certain people as criminals without evidence or due process, then we are all at risk. It is a tactic that dictators use to keep people frightened and complacent. That is not what America is supposed to be. I urge all of you on the council to vote yes on the resolution to condemn Ms. McLaughlin's remarks. Thank you.

Our next speaker is David Fortin.

Good evening, councillors. Thank you for having me here this evening again. My name is David Fortin. I live in Ward 4. Congratulations to you, Holly. Proud of you. You did a good job. I have two things on my agenda. One is I list as an agenda item. And the other one, I'm not sure if it's non-agenda or not. So I'm going to leave that one for the non-agenda items. I'd like to talk about the kidnapping of an immigrant youth. Rumors have it, and they're floating around the city, irregardless of what anyone says, rumors have it that ICE agents hang around the police station. I doubt this, seriously, but that's one of the rumors. And if so, it needs to be looked into. What will happen if we can't get this young man back?

Are we looking at another lawsuit?

And when can we expect to have him back? And what are we, as a city, doing about this? Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jeff Parenti.

Good evening, counselors.

I also wanted to come up here to talk about the kidnapping of the young child from our city a few weeks ago. You all know that I'm a veteran. When I enlisted, I was under no illusions about our government being trustworthy in a lot of cases. But the current administration and Minions have taken it to a new level. We know that he did not have a gun on him. Whether or not he had a record, it doesn't matter. He shouldn't be in Virginia away from his family. He should be here. And who among us hasn't made mistakes when we were teenagers? We wouldn't be where we are. None of us would be where we are if it wasn't for those mistakes. And when you're that age, you don't have the same capacity to understand the consequences of your decisions. So he may not be an angel. I don't know. I don't know him. But that's not for the administration to come out and lie about him on a national stage so that they can get their worst supporters to cheerlead for them. It's despicable, it's disgusting, it's not why I serve. This country has gone downhill in the last 20 years at least, and I support this resolution.

Our final speaker on the agenda item section would be Cynthia Salazar.

Good evening everybody. Cynthia Salazar, Ward 4. Congratulations. I just wanted to come here as always to kind of remind you guys of your jobs. First of all, I do want to commend you all because I do think that I really appreciate your action to investigate and look deeper into the transparency of how the ARPA funds are going to be or how they've been distributed because it just doesn't really make sense, right? We know that some groups have been getting several millions whereas some groups are only getting tens of thousands. Why the disparity, right? Are we asking these questions? Who's in charge of this? Who's deciding these things? I really appreciated earlier, Councillor Matewsky, when you were talking to the New Grid guy and you were really honing in on that one interruption or whatever that's in the intersection. I really appreciate that. But why don't you do that also with the finance department or whoever's doing that with distributing the ARPA funds? We should really look at everybody, not just the National Grid guy. And then on top of that, we have people that are criminals, people that have done things wrong, people that have stolen over $200,000 from the city and are still in charge. Meanwhile, we have a 13-year-old whose picture is publicly posted on the news, national news. This is unacceptable. Why is it... That a person that has stolen over $200,000 from the city is still in charge. And a child that is 13 years old is being sent to Virginia and is now in the hands of somebody else. I really applaud you guys for what you're doing to really bring justice to the city. And I hope that you stick to your guns and don't let anybody make you sway in their direction. So thanks, that's enough.

So that concludes the public speaking, public participation portion on agenda items. We're now moving on to non-agenda.

On non-agenda, the first speaker is Azbel Lopez.

Good evening to everyone. My name is Azbel Lopez. I've been living in Everett for almost 30 years. And I'm at 53 Cleveland Ave. And I'm also a taxpayer. The reason why I'm here tonight is because more than two years ago, I've been having a sewer problem. I found out that my house was getting wet, my basement was getting flooded. So one night that I came down, and it was because of my sewer. So I had to call the plumber, and the plumber came, sneaked it out, opened it, and then two months later, it got clogged again. So I had to call the plumber again. So they came over and he said, there must be something else stuck in there. So he had to open it and it's like a camera through the sewer. And he found out that it was a wire rod that was coming from a pole that is right on my sidewalk. And that's a wire coming all the way down. And he said, that rod is stuck in there, and it goes through my sewer, causing the clogged up on all the stuff that is thrown in there in the drain. So... And that metal roll is coming from the wooden pole that is on the sidewalk. But I came to the city and spoke with the engineering department. They told me that they will take care of it. And that was almost over two years. And I still having those problems. So every six or eight months, I have the sewer problem again. The smell is bad, as you know, and the backup is very terrible. So I can't live like that. And so the engineering department told me that they will take care of that. They talked to, I don't know who, but National Grid, and they said they will come over and take care of it. And until now, nothing happened. Just talking, but... Nothing is being solved. So I'm here tonight, so maybe you guys can help me to solve the problem, because I can't live in a house like that, and I can't live with a smell, and you know how bad it is.

Thank you.

So it's very bad. So I appreciate you guys paying attention on that, and give me a solution.

Thank you. The two minutes have expired, but if you want to leave the information on your address with the council, then we'll follow up with you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Our next speaker is Peggy Serino.

I'm going to read a letter that I received. I think the public should know that the mayor is trying to hijack homecoming for its political benefit, trying to influence the election on November 4th. Homecoming is October 25th, 10 days before the election on November 4th in an attempt for reelection. All homecoming expenses will be paid for by the mayor's office instead of the school department. Everett's homecoming is going to be larger than it has been these last few years with many events for our residents at both Everett High School and Everett Stadium. And continuing with his reelection barbecues around the city, the mayor is hosting a food festival at Everett Stadium. This sounds like another barbecue, only larger and more costly. How much of our tax dollars is he going to spend for his personal gain? Where did the guy in the corner office find this money? He claimed he found it. Did the guy in the corner office open his desk drawer and find all this money and just keep spending it? Don't expenditures have to be voted on by the council? There is a city budget that was voted on by the council, and to make changes to the budget, doesn't the council have to vote on it? Is this another case of the guy in the corner office thumbing his nose at the council? We all want a nice homecoming for our children, but we don't want our children to think you don't do things properly. 2025 is an election year, and I have heard that there are people who are afraid to vote because the guy in the corner office will know who you voted for. If you go to the polls, no one has the right to look at your ballot. All you have to do is put it face down on the machine and put it through. If you have to vote by mail-in ballot, have someone you trust help you. And remember, you have to put a stamp on your ballot and mail it in. Remember, the people at City Hall have no right to see or tell anyone who you voted for. If you don't like how the guy in the corner office is running the city or how a council always votes with the guy in the corner office, you have the right to vote them out. The only way you can change anything is to vote. You can't complain if you don't vote. Thank you. And once again, if I may say, I really feel badly that whoever is writing me these letters isn't writing to their own counselor. That is terrible, that they don't feel that they can. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tina Marie Oliveri.

Good evening, counsel. Well, my background is in human services, and in my travels around the city in the last few weeks, in my visit to Glendale Towers, I am beside myself about the condition that those individuals are living in. Why are the most vulnerable residents elderly, veterans, and disabled living in subpar conditions? I saw evidence of residents having sticky traps outside their doors, and there were dead cockroaches in them. I spoke to some of the residents and they shared that there are also bed bugs and mice within the building. Now, I do not know much about who is in charge. I'm starting to learn some things for the track that I've been on. The state and all the city, but someone is responsible for how these individuals are living and being treated. These are our aunts, uncles, grandparents, children, and this is unacceptable. We must do better. Where is the accountability for this property? They are human beings and their quality of life matters. Maybe we should concentrate on current buildings that are occupied instead of building new ones that are empty. And what about that $2.3 million in 2021 that was returned to APA? We probably could have redid that whole building over. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Paula Sturee.

Good evening. We received $47.1 million in May of 2021. How many people in Everett still don't even know that we got $47 million? It's the biggest criminal use of money I can think of. It started in 2020 when we got a little over $3 million in CARES money. And like Tina said, we sent $2.3 million back to the state because we didn't have enough time to spend it. But the city had enough time to pay George Regan $100,000 to do a PR piece on the city's website, but couldn't pay the school department $470,000 in COVID expenses that they had receipts for. The excuse Demas gave you was that they were too strict. They're not too strict that they couldn't spend $100,000 and pay Regan Communications to do a PR puff piece on the city's website. Recently, you paid off the legal expenses for the lawsuit without getting an unredacted version of it. There are names on that bill that were not part of the lawsuit. So what did you pay for? You don't know. And how much did we pay in the lawsuit? What are the details in the lawsuit? It's our money, we should know how much this costs. The bad behavior of the people that sit in that lawsuit, we should know and they should have to pay the expenses and not the taxpayers of Everett. Flooding in Everett is a major problem throughout the city, not just in the new developments. It's on Carter Street. It has been happening for the last 20 years.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bill Thompson.

Good evening, Councilors. Bill Thompson, 142 School Street, Sacro Plaza, Ward 6. Just to be real brief here, I came across this actually a few days ago. I said four days back or so. And I know there's a lot of controversy for the last number of years in the city. I've been living here over 24 years now. And It has the, it's not a title of this here, but it's about being fooled. There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what is not true. The other is to refuse to believe what is true. And I think that sums it up what's been going on. without getting into names and nothing like that. Election day is coming up, November the 4th, nine days from today, or eight days from today, excuse me. And I just hope whichever way people want to vote, they get out and vote. Because to me, if you don't go vote and you want to complain about something, then shame on you. Thanks, that's it. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Dave Fortin.

Good evening again.

David Fortin, Ward 4. I believe this to be a non-agenda item because I couldn't find anything on the agenda for it. But it's regarding city traffic, scooters, and bicycles. Last night, I was driving, doing an errand, and this young boy, I think it was a young boy, dressed all in black, had a black scooter, electric scooter. He went between two cars, two parked cars, and dashed right in front of me. Well, I threw my brakes off, of course. What is being done about safety in this city? We need something by the police department, I believe. They used to always give out license plates or some form of identification to enable the person or the child to ride the bike. That's probably before most of your time, but I remember it. They need to, we need some kind of a safety program in which to train these young kids in how to ride these things. I don't want to be the, to have my name blasted in the paper saying, da-da-da-da, kill so-and-so on the road because of. They're not gonna say that that little boy was coming between two parked cars. They're not gonna tell how it happened. They're just going to say that it happened. And Everett, we need really to do something about this. It's getting more and more hazardous as time goes on. Thank you.

Our final speaker is Jeff Ferentzi.

Good evening again. So... I'm here because last week, I and some friends and some organizations that I'm in, fellow veterans, we stood out in front of the State House and we called on the governor to refuse to allow the Massachusetts State Guard to be used in any of these deployments that President Trump does across the country in cities that don't need it like Portland and Chicago where it's only antagonized things in LA and Washington DC too. It's only antagonized things. It's not what the National Guard is meant for. They're supposed to be there for emergencies. And so I tried getting some of our state representatives and Senator DiDomenico, I tried getting them to come out or make a statement. But I'm just one person that most of them don't know. So I would ask that the city council try and get the state, our state representatives, our governor to be more proactive in this. I know the governor has said that it's not necessary for these deployments to come to Massachusetts or to Boston. And the Attorney General has said that these deployments are illegal, but they haven't said what will happen if they try and call up our National Guard. And once it's done, it's done, it's going to be hard to reverse it. So we need to be proactive in it. This is incredibly wasteful. The money that he's spending on this to intimidate our fellow citizens could be used to greater effect anywhere else.

Thank you. And that was our final speaker. Motion to close public participation. Second. Motion has been made and second to close public participation. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And now item number three.

Item number three. Madam Chair, I move to approve the minutes of the regular city council meeting on September 8th, 2025, as well as the minutes of the regular city council meeting held on September 22nd, 2025.

Second. Motion has been made and seconded to approve the minutes of the meetings of September 8th and 22nd. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it. The minutes have been approved.

Item number three.

Item number three.

Is an order offered by Councilor Stephanie Martins as president. An order requesting approval to adopt the city's municipal aggregation plan attached herein and authorize the city administration to take any and all necessary action to prepare the plan for submission to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 164, Subsection 134. And we do have a representative here from the City of Everett Planning Department, Jonathan Frias, in case you needed...

Just for clarification, we've already voted on this before. This is now a vote to send it to the Department of Public Utilities as approved previously, and he's here to answer any questions. So what's the pleasure of the council?

Chair, I would make a motion to refer to the Committee on Legislative Affairs and Elections and invite the appropriate city officials. Second.

The motion has been made and second to refer the item to the Committee on Legislative Affairs. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred.

Madam Chair, I move to suspend the rules to take items four and five collectively.

Second. Which has been made and seconded to suspend the rules and take items number four and five collectively. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Mr. Clerk, please read items number four and five collectively.

These are where under petitions and licenses. Items four and five are both petitions offered by Councilor Stephanie Martins as president. Four, a petition requesting a new mechanical repair license for Everett Auto Center, Inc. at 35 Orient Ave. And five, a petition requesting a new Class II motor vehicle deal license for Interior Auto Sales Corp. at 70 Chelsea Street.

Move to refer to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Should it be Committee on Business Development? Yeah, CBD. No, I'm sorry. Second. So much has been made. I'm sorry, do you have a question on the motion?

Yes, I'd like to send to Community and Business Development. Second motion. By the way, Madam President, I just want to recognize the petitioner is here tonight. He didn't know our procedures. Could you just stand, sir, so the members can meet you?

Thanks for being here tonight.

Could you bring your information at the... Okay, that'll be in two weeks, that meeting?

That will be scheduled before our meeting of the 10th.

Okay. And thank you for being here this evening.

Yeah, thanks for being here. And if you want to leave your materials with the clerk, we'll take that and we'll add it to the committee materials. So motion has been made and seconded to refer the items number four and five to the Committee on Business Development. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The items have been referred. And thanks for being here tonight. Item number six. and we'll attach to the packets for the committee meeting.

Item number six, Madam President, is a petition offered by Councilor Stephanie Martins as president, a petition requesting the renewal of a Class II motor vehicle deal license for Everett Auto Gallery at 1847 Revere Beach Parkway. All paperwork is in order.

Favorable action. Motion has been made and seconded for favorable action on item number six. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

The petition has been approved. Thank you. Now item number seven.

Item number... 7.

Is a petition offered by Councillor Stephanie Martins as president. A petition requesting a new tire repair license for Mel's Tire and Auto Service at 1865 Riviera Beach Parkway. This was in the Community Business Development Committee. It was recommended for favorable action.

Madam President, I ask for favorable action. The petitioner was here this evening. All his paperwork, her paperwork is in order. Second. On item seven and eight.

Motion has been made and seconded for favorable action. Item number seven, support. Please call the roll.

Counselor, I'll cede you the button.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Second. Which is made in second for fee-by-action. Ms. Aguirre, please call the roll.

Councilor Alcy Gibbon.

Yes.

Councilor DiPierro. Yes. Councilor Garcia. Yes. Councilor Hanlon. Yes. Councilor Marchese. Yes. Councilor Matewsky. Yes. Councilor Pietrantonio. Yes. Councilor Rogers. Yes. Councilor Smith. Yes. Councilor Van Campen. Yes. Councilor President Martins.

Yes.

Levin Yays.

Levin Yays. The license has been approved.

Item number nine, we're under unfinished business now. Item number nine, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councilors Katie Rogers, Gurley Nelson-Jabuen, and Wayne Matewsky that the city address the construction debris on Bailey Street, which is taking up parking spaces and producing mosquitoes. Councilor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President. So we did receive a correspondence from Eric Swanson, our director of engineering. And just to update residents on that, he said that he is meeting with the contractor tomorrow to discuss the schedule and milestones. And when he has firm dates, that he will communicate that information back to us. And that they will also inform the residents in that neighborhood directly about what's going on. They expect to resume the work shortly, continuing through the winter months. And that they will remove all of the excess debris. And I'll yield the floor to Councilor Matuszki.

Councilor Matuszki. Well, I'm just pleased to see that there's movement made here after two years of the start of the project. and the pipes will be removed according to the city engineer. The storage structures and piping will be removed from the temporary location. That will create at least 10 parking spots in that neighborhood. So the sooner the better, and let's get this project completed. And I want to thank Councilor Rogers for her assistance in this matter. Thank you.

And what's your pleasure on this item, Councilor Rogers? Refer back to sponsor second, which has been made in second to refer item number nine back to sponsor all in favor Opposed the ayes have it the item has been referred back to sponsor.

I don't know number 10 I don't know my 10 Madam president's resolution offered by councillor Stephanie Martins and Guerline Alcy Jabouin that the administration provided status on the business opera grant application decisions and information on the committee

I'd like to make a motion to invite Ms. Devaney.

Second. Motion has been made and seconded to invite Ms. Devaney. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Good evening, Ms. Devaney.

Good evening. Good evening. For the record, Erin Devaney, Chief of Staff.

Counselor, I'll sit you in.

Thank you, Ms. Devaney. Um... We're all wondering where this stands, and we have businesses calling us asking when they will get the help, if everything's all set. I did try to call some businesses, but then I got a call from the Chamber of Commerce saying that I was complicating stuff, but I was basically going by the sheet that was provided to me with outstanding information from businesses. So I'm just trying to figure out where we stand with that.

Thank you. At this point, from the last spreadsheet that was provided to the council, we had, at that point, six applicants that we were continuing to work with because their applications were incomplete. At this point, there are three applicants, despite multiple efforts to reach them, they've been nonresponsive. So given the fact that we've We've tried to work as much as we can to help all of these applicants, but at this point, it seems that waiting any longer is doing a greater disservice to the rest of the community. So we've authorized... Accenture to go forward this week, calculate what the remaining eligible applicants should receive so we can proceed with the awards. Unfortunately, we're just not going to be able to wait any longer for the last three applicants that haven't responded to our efforts to complete them. As far as the question for when checks will be issued, I don't have a date, but in speaking with the CFO, we should be able to work with the treasurer's office to authorize a special check run so that once we have agreements that the recipients acknowledge they're going to receive the funds, we can just start getting those checks out. We wouldn't have to wait for the normal check run. So this week, we're making the decision that we can't wait any longer. And all of those who've been determined eligible at this point, we're going to proceed with those awards.

I don't know, maybe you could correct me. I don't know where the disconnection is, but I did speak to those businesses. And I was told that whatever the piece of paper stated that was missing was sent with the application. And some of them said that they sent it twice. But it was still showing on the piece of paper that it's missing. And also, I'd like some clarification on, I know there's a small business on Norwood Street. that was struggling during COVID. And they were about to close their doors. They did apply for this grant and was told that they're not in the affected area. I don't know what that is because the whole country was affected by COVID. So I'd like some clarification on that, please.

I don't want to give you wrong information. I do know that we had applicants that did not fall into what the federal government defined as, I believe it's the qualified. census track, and that's not a designation that the city made. So if you'd like to share with me that individual business, then I will give you the specific reason why their application was determined not to meet the federal rules and guidelines.

Sure, bakes and cakes.

Yes, I will get you the specific language as to why they didn't qualify. They also, that applicant did ask if we would accept them to be able to submit an application under a different category. We did not allow that because it would be essentially a new application. And we did not allow other businesses to submit applications past the original deadline. But I will get you the specific reasons why their initial application did not meet the federal rules.

I think, again, maybe that was a misunderstanding. I think what she wants to do is- pick a different category, not a new application, which she would be qualified for.

All applicants had to pick the specific category that they were applying for. So each applicant had to indicate one of the categories that they were applying for. So if they applied under one category, they were evaluated under that, what they were asking to do is submit an application under a new category, which is essentially a new application. And because we didn't allow groups to submit applications after the deadline, it wouldn't have been fair to give them a second bite at the apple when we had said after June 30th, we didn't let other businesses submit an application.

I'm glad you made that point because when I looked at the list, There's a specific individual that applied four times for the same grant and was able and was qualified to get four times what the small businesses will get. So that one person will come out with $73,296, that one individual for four businesses. So how is that made available, but a small business that's just asking to check a different box is not qualified? And also, the Chamber of Commerce is paid to do this work, but then they're qualified to apply and are getting money. So isn't that a conflict of interest?

We did vet that, but they're not making a determination on eligibility. So they did not have any ability to make any decision as to which entity qualified to get funds under this program. So who makes the decision that they could get money? So on this process, unlike the prior public grant process where grant applications were scored and evaluated, in this process the determination was made, does an applicant meet all of the requirements to get the funding? If they did, then we accepted the application. We didn't make a determination that one applicant should get more than another applicant. We're looking to see if you applied under this grant program, you meet the federal rules, would you get a grant? So we would divide it out to try to have the biggest impact as possible. With respect to a single individual, I believe what you're referencing is that a person could own different businesses in the city, and each separate business would qualify for.

That's correct, but it's one owner that's going to get $73,296, where a small business that's in our city that was about to close during COVID are being told they're not qualified just because they can't check a different box. That doesn't sit right with me. But then the person that is managing the grant is able to get money. They're being paid to manage the grant. They applied and are getting money. But the small business that's about to close cannot get a measly $18,000. There's something very wrong with that. They pay our salary. It's a small business. I think that we should be fair and let them check a different box. They're not doing a different application. They're checking a different box. That's all they're doing. I really think we should reconsider the application. They already have all this stuff in.

Well, thank you, but then there's a difficulty distinguishing why we would allow a different set of rules for one business than we would for the other businesses that asked us if they could submit materials after the deadline. So essentially, it's an effort to be fair to all small businesses, and not all small businesses were able to have an application considered. So ultimately, at the end of the day, we weren't able to satisfy all of the requests from small businesses, but we were trying to treat all small businesses that were similarly situated in the same way.

My honest opinion, I don't think this process was fair. I mean, if someone's looking at this, you see one person getting over $73,000. I think if I was on that committee, I would say, we have limited funds. We can't give that one person four times what they're asking for. It's just not fair. While other businesses, they're probably going to close because they can't. I don't know what else to say. Thank you.

So we're going to move on to the next speaker, Councillor Garcia.

Thank you, Madam President. Very briefly, I just have a question. I did have a business reach out to me last week. They had applied. They received the email response. We got your application, but they just haven't heard whether they got it or not. So I'm assuming that holdup is because you're still waiting for the others. So is there like an estimated timeline on when we're going to?

So at this point, upon confirming that there's been multiple efforts by phone and email to reach the last three that have been non-responsive, we are authorizing that the application should proceed. And unfortunately, we're just not gonna be able to extend any further consideration. Because that's been holding up the determination on how much money we're able to distribute to the rest of them. So at this point, we're moving forward and we'll go ahead and start the process to actually make the award notification to those businesses and then issue the actual checks to them.

No, that's great. And if someone, for some reason, isn't awarded the grant, they'll receive notice either way, correct?

Yes, we will make sure that they're notified for the reason why, including those who haven't been responsive. We'll let them know that we didn't receive enough information. And those that have been determined to be ineligible because they didn't meet the requirements will get the notice as to why.

Perfect. And then finally, just in case I do ever get another call, I should refer them over to the Chamber of Commerce? with additional questions or just emailing it?

They can submit it to the Chamber of Commerce or they can submit it to the city. We have our ARPA, I apologize, I don't know it off the top of my head. On the city's website, we have the ARPA email that we've been using for all inquiries. They can check with the chamber if they'd like. But at this point, the chamber doesn't have information, would not be the best party to explain why somebody was determined eligible or ineligible, because that wasn't their role. They were just helping compile information. I would suggest if anybody receives a determination that they're not getting funds or why they're not getting the total amount they requested, those should be directed to the city.

Perfect, thank you so much. Councilor Hallin.

I'm not sure I know what the questions are now that I wanted to ask. Some of this has gone by, but you talked about six people that are still waiting for some six answers, and you also indicated that three gave you, you're not going to get any reply. What was the difference between those not wanting to reply and those not giving a request? Was there a difference between them?

To clarify, it's the last council meeting. There were six applications that were incomplete. Since then, three of those we've been able to work with. Three have been non-responsive to our requests for additional information. So at this point, we've made the determination to issue the awards and not consider those last three applicants eligible for consideration.

So that's another three with the six. You said only three of those, but you guys are going to give it to all six of them?

Six of them have been, of the last six, three of them have been responsive and were able to make a determine on their application. The last three have been non-responsive, so we're going to essentially deny their applications.

So the last three are part of the six? Okay. Correct. Okay, thank you.

Council Rogers. Thank you, Madam President. So I commend my colleagues for their special interest in following up on this. This started before my time on the council, so a lot of the ARPA situation is new to me. I did get a constituent concern that they applied and that they haven't heard anything back. Is that because we were holding off on waiting on the other three applicants?

At this point in time, it could be because they submitted their application entirely completely and they haven't received a final notification because we haven't made the awards. That's what we're proceeding to now.

Thank you. And my other question is, is any money being lost out of the ARPA funds that we received as a result of the non-responsive applicants?

No, for the city allotted $745,000 for this portion of the spending, we will make sure that all of it is spent and distributed to the eligible applicants. All of the eligible applicants had asked for the maximum amount, which was $45,000. Because of the number of applicants, we won't be able to meet that, but we will be able to make sure all the money's dispersed. Thank you.

Mr. Hanlon answered my question.

So last meeting there were six, now there's only three left. Three are non-responsive, yes. When you say non-responsive, that they're not giving you the proper paperwork or are they just not calling back?

They submitted applications initially that were incomplete. They haven't responded to follow-up efforts to help them give us the completed application information. So we've tried to get the missing information. We haven't been able to get it from them.

Okay, so additional information you're trying to get from them, which then haven't got back to you with. That's correct. Okay, my second question. We pay the Chamber of Commerce to help disperse this money. Did I hear that right?

We partnered with the Chamber of Commerce on outreach efforts and then to work with the applicants if their information was incomplete. So basically they provided a service to to the city to be able to work to get information out into the community. However, they're not making any determination as to which businesses should get money under this grant application. That's why there's not a conflict of interest for them to apply and demonstrate why they were qualified as a grant applicant.

Yeah, I'm not asking if there was a conflict. I didn't ask that. But So don't we have a contract? Didn't we have a contract on the contract to help us purchase money, too?

Am I wrong? I think maybe what you're referencing is the contract that is now currently held by the company that was previously known as Answer, and it's currently known as Accenture. They're the technical... Compliance contract with the city to make sure that all of the money is being spent in accordance with the federal guidelines.

So the city of Everett is paying two people to help disperse this money. We're paying the chamber and we're paying this contractor that we couldn't do in house.

Correct? Yep, there's two different purposes. Yes, the chamber is part of the communication engagement effort in the city. And then Accenture evaluated the application to make sure that the people submitting requests for funding met all of the federal rules for distributing the funds.

Is that a normal practice with other cities, surrounding cities? They hire two people, two companies, two individuals to help disperse money. Is that normal? Do we know that?

I do know that when it started Answer, Answer had contracts with other communities for advisory services. I do believe that Other cities have used other entities to help with their communication and their engagement efforts throughout the process.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Now for the second time, Councilor Gerlain, and then we'll go to Councilor Allen. Sorry.

Thank you. Do we have a timeframe when we can update the system, the website, to reflect current information? I know we had an earlier speaker about all of our issues. And people have been asking, who are the businesses that are getting the grants? Are we going to post that? so people will know who in the community. I mean, it's public knowledge. And also suggesting that I would like to make, you know, next time we get federal grants to help small businesses, that we would, instead of giving an outside firm that does not know anything about the community's struggle, the small businesses, that we earmark some part of that money to hire someone in-house where someone can actually find someone to call or email that will respond to them to take care of that. And I think if we did that, we would not have all these issues with that grant. Thank you.

Councilor Hanlon.

Last question. We received $40 million in the beginning on these grants. Was that what it was?

It was over $40 million.

Okay, the amount that we received, whatever it is, will we know exactly how much of it is spent when this is all over and who it went to?

Yes, absolutely. Just to clarify, we received funding from, I think we received $13 million initially in ARPA funding from the federal government because it was using the entitlement city model, which shortchanged the city of Everett. Because at that point, our census data didn't show us as being over 50,000 residents. So the mayor then advocated to then Governor Baker to have the state come up with that, to address that inequity. So then that resulted in the state giving the city of Everett, I believe it's an additional $33 million. We were one of the communities, we received more money as a result of that advocacy. Chelsea also did, Randolph also did as well. So we were able to get more money from the state's ARPA funding. because we were shortchanged initially by the federal government. And yes, we are responsible for accounting for how all of that money is ultimately spent. And it all needs to be spent by December of 2026.

That was my next question. Thank you very much. So then it'll be all over. A final report will come out and so forth, I would imagine.

Yep, we'll be responsible for the full and final accounting of how all the funds have been dispersed and spent. Thank you.

Councilor Alcy, do we have any further questions for the guest? If not, we'll return to the sponsor, which has been made a second to excuse our guest. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Councilor Alcy to win. What's your pleasure on this item? Would you like to postpone it for updates?

I would like to postpone it to our next meeting so we could get an update of who received checks and what the next step is. Thank you.

Do we have a second? Second. Motion has been made and seconded to postpone the item to our next meeting of the 10th for updates on the disbursement of money. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. I'm sorry, your microphone. Some motion has been made and seconded to spread the rules and take item number 16 off the calendar. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Mr. Quirk, please read item number 16.

Mr. Chair, item number 16 is a resolution offered by Councillor Stephanie Martins that the administration and procurement office provide the winning bids and the expenses incurred by the old high school roof renovation project to date.

Councillor President Martins.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to make a motion to invite our Chief Procurement Officer, who has been patiently waiting in the audience. Second.

Motion has been made and seconded to invite our Chief Procurement Officer to appear. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Yes. Have it, if you would.

I believe we received extensive updates today, but we haven't had the opportunity to go through the information. But thank you so much for appearing. I know you have to return to your kids, so we appreciate you being here. I'm not sure how much of this is from your time, but it appears that you can speak on it somehow. But my main question is, I'm just... Trying to understand from a limited knowledge and smaller scale construction How do how can we spend ten million dollars on a roof? So and I haven't seen the paperwork to see the bids to understand the pricing But I'm so I'm not sure what you what you're able to offer on this piece Hi, thank you.

Good evening so from the packet information what I gave you was their last requisition and And the requisition is the contractor's bill. So you can see the full amount of what has been bid for. So I believe there was $10 million in total. But the final contract or the original contract sum was for $5.6 million. The architect on the job, their fee was $424. So we haven't spent $10 million. We're currently... Trending about six point one million dollars with all Consultants on the job and I think that leaves about three point eight million left the requisition Let's you see on the cover page if you look at the last bottom it tells you the net change orders to date Which is currently at seventy thousand three hundred and seventy seven and nineteen cents And this requisition is based off of the work period from September 1st to September 30th And then all of the bids I provided so that you could see the bids that were won by the GC, that they match. And then I also gave all of the change orders that we received to date that tally up to the $70,000.

We appreciate you submitting all the documentation. We haven't had the chance to go through, but without seeing it, do you expect that we will reach $10 million by the end of the project?

No, I don't. Based off of what I've seen, I haven't been indicated that there'll be any significant changes. And for us to have $3.8 million worth in changes, we would know now something would have to be drastically wrong. And it would change the project schedule. It would change everything right now. Everything is still trying to be completed at the date that they intended to. The change orders have been to improve the building. They've had some envelope issues with the bricks falling off, so that was repaired. The building is 100 years old, so you can imagine OSHA was different then. So they have installed rails to keep everyone safe and different hatches for them workers to safely get on and off the roof when they do service any of the rooftops.

Are you able to tell us if the job is being performed by union for a union contractor?

I would assume so. I would assume that they have union members working on the job. I'm not sure the mix-up, but I am aware that there are union workers.

I'm not sure if that question pertains to your department because it's more like a financial question, but what happens with the leftover amount that we don't spend at the conclusion? I would ask you guys. Okay. So it goes... Well, the question, I think... probably not for you, unfortunately, would be, does it go back to general...

My assumption is we just wouldn't bond the additional $3.8 million. We wouldn't borrow the money.

I'm sorry.

I think we'll, so we can postpone the item and perhaps we can submit additional questions after we go through the paperwork. But we appreciate the update. We appreciate you being here. And my final question is, do we have, so what is the anticipated completion date, if you're able to tell?

I want to say the first, second week of November. Second week of November, no later than the 15th. I haven't had any changes in schedule, so I want to say no later than the 15th.

And if you can remind us again, when did it start? When was the start date of the job?

That I am unaware of. From what it looks like, these bids went out in February. I'm going to assume we waited to start because of the winter season. So I would say, yeah, maybe as early as June, but I wasn't here when it started.

So again, I appreciate you appearing today. We're going to go through the paperwork to better understand and see who we have questions for. But it's great to hear that we did not spend $10 million on a roof. That was my main question. But for now, I'll yield to my colleagues if they have any questions. If not, I'll make a motion to excuse our guest. Second.

Thank you. Are there any other questions for Ms. Freeman? Hearing none, thank you very much for appearing.

Thank you. A point of clarification, if I may.

Councilor Smith, on a point of clarification.

If I may, can I ask Councilor Martins, this was ARPA funds, right, that we did the $10 million of ARPA funds? Okay, so my question to the CFO is going to be because we missed the deadline that you had to spend the ARPA funds in terms of what it was spent for, how to be done at the end of 2024, to be spent... 26, I think it was. But now we can't change. So my question is, do we send that money back? But we can ask the CFO. It's a very good question. Because it's opera and not regular borrowing, it doesn't go back. And I don't know. Do we get $3.8 million we can give out to more small businesses? I don't know. But thank you.

Thank you again for appearing. Motion is made and seconded. Postpone this item to our next meeting. All in favor?

Aye.

Close the ayes have it. Clerk, read the next. Refer to the regular order of business, please. Oh, I see Senator DiDomenico is in the back here. So if the chair would entertain a motion to suspend our rules and take item number 15 from the calendar. Second. All in favor? Aye. Close the ayes have it. Mr. Clerk, please read item 15.

Item number 15, Mr. Chair, is a resolution offered by Councillor Katie Rogers, requesting an update from the city's state legislative delegation on the status of using rogue denticides in Massachusetts. Councillor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to first start with a motion to invite Senator Sal DiDomenico and Representative Judith Garcia. Second.

Motion has been made and second to invite State Senator Sal DiDomenico and State Representative Garcia. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Good evening. Thank you so much for appearing tonight. Council Rogers.

Thank you again, Madam President. Thank you to both of you for taking the time to join us tonight. Appreciate that. I know that there is a lot of movement and discussion about rodenticides up at the State House. And I don't necessarily know that we know what's going on in Everett, but we do get a lot of questions from our constituents about pest control and rat issues. So I'd like to yield the floor to you to maybe sort of give an outline of what exactly that discussion entails.

Sure, I'll begin and then Representative Garcia can talk about the hearing that happened today. So the bill itself is, there's language in there that will try to provide, actually ban, the language itself will ban the chemicals, restrict the chemicals that are in the current method of how we address the issue. Within the rodenticide itself, there are two chemicals. One is alive and active for seven days. The other chemical is alive and active for up to four weeks. So I think that is addressing some of the issues that you're concerned about. When a rodent is given this poison, it will be active for other animals who are who are coming into contact with the animal itself. So it does have a negative effect, not just for the animal that we're trying to eradicate, but also for cats, dogs, birds, anyone else that is in the community itself. So it is a problem, and it is one of the most co-sponsored bills in the entire state legislature right now. I'm a co-sponsor of the bill. It is, you know, it's a big issue, but also, you know, I want to also be clear because there's 6,000 bills that are filed every single year. 5,000 are pretty good. we only have a certain amount of bandwidth to pass legislation within a two-year session. So this is an important bill that we're trying to get addressed. We are advocates for the bill. We are pushing the bill on both chambers, but also we're working on SNAP issues. We're working on housing issues. We're working on Medicaid, education. There's a lot of things that are happening that are coming our way right now that are very much in front of us to address at this moment in time. Immigration law is what's happening around us. We all know what happened in our community here, too, as well. So this is a bill that has got a lot of attention, but also we want to let the public know that we're also working on a lot of other issues that are really important. that are really in front of us at the moment. And lastly, before I turn it over, the governor is also working on addressing this issue as well. They're doing a scientific review of other potential chemicals and ingredients to make it less harmful, make it less dangerous for other animals to be infected by this poison. And that review just happened in this past August. So they're compiling all that information right now to see if there's another option.

Thank you, Senator. Good evening, honorable members of the City Council. It's an honor to be here with my colleague, Senator Saul DiDomenico. Thank you, Councillor Rogers, for really calling our attention, keeping us alert about this bill. Bill 965, for members who are watching live, has been sponsored by many members. There's a House version, a Senate version, and I can talk to you a little bit about that. other aspects of this bill that are important. It actually requires clear labeling, written justification, post-use reporting with long-term rodent control plan. So the reason why this bill has gathered a lot of attention is because I'm sure as many of you hear from your constituents, it's a quality of life issue for many residents of Everett. So we've heard you. I've personally had constituents from Chelsea I represent Chelsea for those who don't know me and also I am honored to represent a portion of effort which is work to precincts 1 & 2 a and I've heard very loud and clear from constituents that this is a concern because there's a big commitment also to preserve wildlife So in terms of where we are with this bill, as our senator very well mentioned, there's 6,000 bills. But this one actually had a hearing today under the Joint Committee of Environment and Natural Resources. And that committee needs to deliberate and decide if they will vote in favor of it. A call of action to all of you as city councilors, you can submit written testimony. If you missed today's hearing, and also for any residents of the city of Everett who are currently watching, you are also invited to submit written testimony. These are clear action steps that you can take to make sure that that committee votes in favor. If it is voted in favor, it moves up the chain. And maybe, just maybe, it might come formally before the floor. But as our senator explained, it is a process. But obviously, we invite you for that. I'm proud to say that I'm a co-sponsor.

Thank you. And who exactly can residents and ourselves submit these written letters of support?

Yes, so you can submit it to the chair. And if you want, I think the easiest way would be send it to us, either to your senator or to myself, and we will make sure to forward it to the chairs of that committee. So I know Chair Roche, and I'm blanking on the other name of the other rep, but send it to us and we can escalate.

And it is also a way to do that online as well for residents that want to go online and submit testimony. They go to masslegislature.com, or .gov, I should say, and they can search through different committees, but it's environmental and natural resources, and they can submit their testimony electronically if they wish as well. And, you know, it takes a little while for the community to deliberate this, so bills have to be reported out by mid-December. to see action going forward to either rules or ways and means, depending on if there's a money issue, then it goes to ways and means. If there's not money, it goes to rules. This one here will probably go to rules because money is not associated with it, but as it makes its way to the committee process, wording changes, language changes. So as it was filed, might not be the same exact language that it will come out of committee looking like. So there's a lot that goes into the committee process, a lot of negotiations that happen between different parties. As you can imagine, the people that are currently using these chemicals, commercial grade, you can use these chemicals residential, by the way. This is not residential use, what's happening today, this kind of chemical. It is mainly commercial use. So it is a much easier way for the big companies to take care of the issue at hand and much less expensive than it would be to do it in a different way. So opposition would be from folks that are currently using this chemical who don't want to pay a little more to do it in a less harmful way for wildlife and for pets in the area. But it is something that we are tracking. It is something that, again, it is one of the most co-sponsored bills. We were looking at it and we were amazed to see how many people have signed on to this bill in the House version and the Senate bill. The House was filed by Rep Hawkins. The Senate was filed by Michael Moore. And, you know, we see a lot of bills and we go to a lot of bills. This one here, for whatever reason, it's got a lot of attention. So it is something that is and I commend you for bringing it up because it is an issue that is widespread across the state.

Thank you both for joining us tonight and taking the time. I know I know you have a lot on your table right now. And just so residents really understand what this is about. On one hand, we do get a lot of calls about pests. But on the other hand, we do have constituents that do find a dead cat in their yard or something like that, where we don't want to kill the natural predators as a result of the rodenticides that are currently being used. So we want to make sure that we have that perfect balance to protect our environment and the animals that live here. So I will yield the floor to my colleagues if they have any questions. And thank you again for your support on this.

Council Hanlon.

Thank you. You had indicated, you know, this is being distributed, but you can't get it in homes in Everett. So where is it being distributed?

Yeah, so that's commercial grade. So anyone that is, you know, like the... No, no. Anyone that's doing pest control, the bigger companies that come in, if you hire a company to get rid of any of the bigger companies that you would call to come in and do that at your home. You can't go and buy it yourself, but the companies that you call to do that have used this very frequently. This is their main source of this is what they use.

So this insecticide is going to If it goes into rodents and another animal attacks that, is it just one bite that will do it?

Yes.

Because, you know, sometimes you see a dog or a cat chasing one of these things, and then they sort of scurries off, kind of wound up, and then the animal, our animal is also wounded then if they take one bite out of it. Is it that bad?

It is. So it has been reported that it is a anticoagulant for the animal who does ingest it. So I'll give you an example. I had a constituent from Chelsea show me images of an eagle who bit a prey. So its prey was a rat and the eagle died. And the eagle was actually a protective species. And we've lost that eagle given the fact that it bit this rat. So that's the, unfortunately, it's the spillover externality of this pesticide, which is pretty dangerous. And I should clarify, And I think the senator did an incredible job in mentioning this. The idea is to restrict the use, to make sure that we hold the users accountable, and to explain and justify the need for this widespread use. Obviously, we want to tackle a quality of life issue, which is making sure that we get rid of rats. You hear it often. It's a quality of life issue that residents care deeply about, but it shouldn't be at the expense of affecting other wildlife that is precious for our communities.

One main question. Is there an end in sight to this? I think it's difficult to say. You mean that it will pass? No, it will get rid of all these rodents. You think it'll happen?

I don't know about getting rid of all the rodents, but this is one of the ways that people are using this chemical to take care of that. And we're saying that other options are available. It might be a little more expensive. But it is a gruesome way, unfortunately. And it does have impacts on our pets as well, too. So it's not just birds of prey. It's also dog or cat, like you mentioned. So we don't want to have... Any exposure to our pets as well with this kind of chemical in our neighborhoods. Okay, thank you.

Which is expensive as well.

Councilor Pietrantonio.

How long have we known about this problem? The actual poison itself?

Yeah, that it's that bad.

Yeah, the bill was filed last several sessions. So probably three or four sessions. This has been going on.

So in a session is not to cut you off.

Yeah, two-year term. So just how government usually works, unfortunately, it takes several sessions before a bill will get to a point where it's ready for passage. So we have all filed bills, multiple sessions to address issues. If there's something like SNAP, for instance, where this is a big issue now going on with SNAP, where the federal government is cutting SNAP November 1st, we're trying to find ways, the state government, to try to mitigate that damage because... you know, November 1st, you're going to have 1 million people in the state without SNAP benefits. So that is how, you know, that will move faster, right? So that will be addressed in a meaningful way. But this issue here is built up over time, too. It was not co-sponsored the way it is today as it was before, and more attention being brought, like this kind of forum gets people more knowledgeable about what actually is in our neighborhood because people really didn't have an idea that was happening. So if you... If you want to help us get this done, hearing from the general public is a sure way of getting things moving in the right direction on this.

And you said that a resident can't go on the Home Depot shelf. It's not stuff on Home Depot shelves. It's just stuff like, if I have a car, my private pesticide that comes in, that's in the black boxes. Even what the city puts out, when they

Yeah, I'm not sure what the city uses, but commercial grade. This is commercial grade.

I would think any company would be commercial grade.

So I think the city uses it commercially. They have a choice. So there is other ways of doing this, too. So this is not just the only way that they can address the issue. So this is saying this one option to restrict this one option. The only time you can use it if the bill does pass. would be in an emergency use. And I don't even know, that is not even defined in the bill. So that is what the committee process is made up to do. So the committee process will not release a bill that will say an emergency use without defining emergency. So that's where the bill is sitting today and that stage.

Okay, so some of the commercial groups, some of the commercial companies right now could be using a different brand and not this stuff. They could be using it already. Different chemical. They could be. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thanks for your parents. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you for inviting us.

Further questions before we return to Council Rogers? Council Rogers, what's your pleasure?

My only question would be, would it be wise for the city to take matters into our own hands and create an ordinance, or would it be better to wait for this to go through the state?

It's up to you. My feeling is a patchwork system across the state is difficult to maintain, but It is entirely under your purview if you wanted to do something like that. And, you know, it would be enforceable locally. But again, it would be commercial grade. So you'd have to, you know, anyone that's coming into the city that hires, you know, a resident hires somebody, they'd have to be aware that they couldn't use this kind of chemical within the city itself. That itself, the enforcement piece is really difficult because, you know, we're not going to have city workers trailing, you know, following trucks and companies and then testing the chemicals that they're using on someone's property. So it is a difficult thing to enforce on a local level.

But it's something you can definitely set the president if you want. And I believe that the city of Lowell tried to implement a local ordinance that I highly encourage you to check out to see if that's something that you want to follow. But there's always great ways. I think there's multiple ways to tackle an issue and you can tackle it at the municipal level while we move through the process at the state. But check out Lowell and see what they're

Yeah, it'll take us a little bit to get this done. So if you're in a rush, get us to the audience.

We have a lot of competing factors.

I bet.

Thank you both for your time. Part of the reason I brought you up here tonight is to raise awareness, and I think we accomplished that tonight. So thank you so much.

Thank you for your leadership. Before we excuse our guests, I think also he only has another question.

Sorry to keep you. No, it's fine. I asked you when it was going to end. I have another question now. When did it start? You know, when I was, you know, 10 years ago, I didn't know about this. I don't think anybody knew about it. And if it was this, whatever insect that it is that's bothering you, was it around, or where did it come from? Do we know?

So I can say that we know that one of the biggest organizations that raised the alarm was MSPCA. They are a huge animal control organization. I think they also have a satellite office here. But I think it was very difficult to point it out immediately because obviously you see animals and wildlife that are being affected, but it's very difficult to figure out what was the cause. And once they identified that, They were the ones who really raised the alarm to some of our colleagues who are leaders in the environmental space and said, hey, can you carry this bill through and make sure? This is something not new. They've been advocating for it. They have briefings every single year. They bring owls to the statehouse that have lost certain body parts, some that, unfortunately, not many survive. But they try to raise awareness as much as they can because, as we've mentioned, we deal with 6,000 bills. And for us to attend every briefing and to really understand when something started, I think it's very difficult. But for us, what's more important is to hear from you, but also from constituents of the issues that actually matter and why they matter to you. So we're not as concerned about when it started, but we're more concerned about why it matters and why it's relevant to you. So we've heard enough.

Yeah, and we tackle big issues at the state, and we tackle issues that... our quality of life issues like this. So there's two tracks. We deal with the larger issues in housing and education and Medicaid and health care and food security, which is really a big issue for our communities that we represent. Then you also tackle the issues that local folks, and we live in, she lives in Chelsea, I live in Everett, so this is an area that has seen a lot of activity when it comes to rodents, unfortunately. So And it's a quality of life issue, but it's also a public health issue as well. So you have to balance all those competing interests. When you have public health, I think that takes precedence, right? So that's something that I have, you know, I'm going to be on the side of public health. But there's also the underlying fact that if there are options to do it in a certain way, then we should take those options as well.

Council President Tonio?

Quick question. If a rat bites a child, could that child get poisoned? Do you guys know that?

I'm not qualified to answer that question.

You don't know that? No, the way it works, and I don't want to get into it too deep, but I guess it's an anticoagulant, so it's the blood. Basically, anyone that ingests this kind of chemical as poison has internal bleeding. And that's how... Okay. So that is where the piece of this, the more humane piece of this comes into question.

Council Rogers.

That's it for me. Thank you again. Would you like to excuse our guests? Most of you excuse our guests. So the customary thanks. Which has been made and seconded to excuse our guests. Thank you so much for being here tonight. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, Senator. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you, Senator Garcia. Have a good night. Have a good night. Council Rogers, what's your pleasure on this item? Refer back to sponsor. Second. Second to refer this item back to sponsor. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred. I believe our next one is 11.

Item number 11 is a resolution offered by Councilor Stephanie Martins that the administration provide information on the process to ensure APA funds distributed to local organizations are being properly advertised and distributed in accordance with each application and intent.

I think we're just looking for any additional updates, right? Are there any updates? Okay. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to postpone this item to the next meeting. For any updates about advertising or any movement on this issue, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Item number 12. Clerk is making his way back. I think he doesn't know that it's next item. So item number 12 is an order requesting approval to appropriate $185,000. I think we have to wait for our clerk.

We can't continue a meeting without a clerk. Okay, that's what I was wondering. So maybe if you want to call a recess until then.

We can grab Mengen.

We'll get one of them.

Thank you. Item number 12. Thank you.

Item number 12, Madam President, is an order offered by Councilor Stephanie Myers as President. An order requesting approval to appropriate $185,000 from the Capital Stabilization Account for three DPW one-ton pickup trucks.

Okay. Do we have any questions on this item? Councilor Hanlon.

I'm sorry, I don't remember this, but did we start with $185,000? Yes. The first time was $185,000 for three vehicles? Yes. That's what it's saying?

Yes.

I guess I'll let it go, but I don't think it was that high for three one-ton vehicles.

Do you have a comment, Antonio, on the motion for feeble auction?

Yeah, we got the information. at the beginning of our last meeting, and I've got it here. And I'm satisfied with the information, but I just want to make a point here that, I mean, we were called that we slow things down in this government, the council does, just for information. So the... fleet manager sent this to the DPW director on September 26. This information that was supposed to be supplied to us. Right here in an email. I'm not making the dates up. And we didn't get this until October 14th, 649 before our meeting. So my point is that It's not just the council slowing this down. Some of the managers are slowing this down with information that we try to request. I mean, it's right there in black and white, and it's not the first time, and I'm sure it's not going to be the last time. When we want information to keep the government moving, keep the council moving, we need it on a timely manner. So for it to be said that we slow things down in this city, I think the managers of this administration slow things down too. I second Councilman Matuszki's motion for favorable action.

Second.

Second. Second for favorable action. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Alcy Dublin.

Yes.

Councilor DiPiro. Yes. Councilor Garcia.

Yes.

Councilor Hanlon. Yes. Councilor Marchese. Yes. Councilor Matuszki. Yes. Councilor Pietrantonio. Yes. Councilor Rogers. Yes. Councilor Smith. Yes. Councilor Van Kemp. Yes. Councilor President Martins. Yes. 11 ayes, 0 nays.

11 ayes, 0 nays. The order has been approved. Item number 13.

Madam President, as a resolution offered by Councilors Gurleen, Alcy Gibran, and Peter Pietrantonio, a resolution requesting that the Director of Elections come to our next Council meeting to explain to the community how someone can get up-to-date information regarding the November 4th election without having to come into City Hall, what other plans are in the works, as far as visibility throughout the city for the upcoming elections.

I believe the Director was out today and submitted a written response. Would you like the Clerk to read the response, Councilor?

Well, thank you to the director for the response. I did notice throughout the city after the meeting that some signs have been popping up throughout the city. But I still would like to see banners. I know it's next week's election. We need to do better next time. It might be too late now, but we need to do better next time. So thank you for the information.

What's your pleasure in this item, Council?

I refer item back to sponsor.

Second. On the motion to refer the item back to sponsor, Councilor Pietrantonio.

Just to reiterate what she says, we could put banners up. We put banners up. I said, like, last meeting, three different locations. We can make them up and put them up, you know, so everyone knows when voting is. I mean, it's not hard when we have different programs and stuff. We put banners up. So I think maybe, you know, refer this back to sponsor. But, I mean, I would like to see banners made up for election. Thank you.

Which has been made and second to refer the item back to sponsor. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred back to sponsor. Item number 14.

Item number 14, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councilor Peter Pietrantonio that the Director of Inspectional Services, Engineering, and DBW are prepared at the next meeting to discuss 23 Ridge Street curb cut and apron.

I believe we have not received an update. Councilor Pietrantonio?

No.

Yeah, I got a communication here from the operations manager. I figured he'd be the only one that would answer it, but I got a communication. Just refer it back to sponsor.

Motion has been made and second to refer the item back to sponsor.

Madam Chair, on the piece, if I could, do we have that communication? Could we have the clerk read out the communication? I don't even know what the response was.

Okay, one second.

I don't have it on my desk.

This is from Mr. Scott Martinelli, operations manager from the DPW. Hello, counselor. I'd like to address the curb and sidewalk at 23 Ridge Street. I had my highway crew working on Ridge Street when I was going to ask if we could put his driveway back, stating that when they worked on the street, they removed his driveway. He did show me pictures of an existing driveway that was at the location, so we put his driveway back. When I was informed that there was no permit and the driveway should not have been put back, I then repaired and replaced the sidewalk and curb. Thank you. From Mr. Martinelli.

So motion has been made and second to refer the item back to sponsor. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Item number 15.

We're on item 17.

That one is the one that we have. So 17.

Item number 17 is a resolution offered by Councilors Michael Marchese, Katie Rogers, and Holly Garcia that the city establish rules and regulations for using bike lanes.

Councilor Marchese.

Yes, I believe I missed the communication with our city solicitor. I think she wanted wording for what should be provided on this. And obviously, I believe the last meeting I was talking about bike lanes should be used for bikes that are used by your legs, just pedals. There shouldn't be engines on anything that's in the bike lanes. That's what I intended to send to it. Bikes only with no added power to them. That's all. That's what they're supposed to be. Not supposed to be those stand-up, whatever they are, What are they?

Motorized scooters.

Motorized scooters or motorized bikes. That's what my intention is to have done to it. And to not have people go on the sidewalks with their bikes or their motorized vehicles, whatever it is. That's it for me.

Okay, Councilor Garcia. Thank you, Madam President. So about this, last week, Councilor Alcy actually was almost my witness. She had just walked by 30 seconds before it happened. There was a motorized scooter in the bike lane that was not paying attention and sideswiped my parked car and took off. So that's not okay. I do agree with what was said today, public participation, that there does need to be more ordinances or something relating to these motorized bikes and scooters. Especially because in the morning time, I've seen the past week, kids getting dropped off at the Lafayette on the back of these motorbikes. Parents don't have helmets, kids don't have helmets, and it doesn't even look like a secure seat. So I did reach out to the city solicitor who responded, and this is kind of something that we should really be referring to the Traffic Commission, but I'm going to be speaking with them, too, about... Any questions said to them, that's what it is. Yeah, I'm going to be speaking with the Traffic Commission directly to see what they can do to help us get some ordinances going for this, because the solicitor did provide me with what other cities are doing, and we need to have... more rules with these because right now it's just a free for all and it's not going to end well.

Thank you. Councillor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President. I agree that we do need to collaborate with the Traffic Commission to find out about these rules and regulations as we do see an increased usage of bikes. My main concern is the bikes on the sidewalks, particularly on Ferry Street and Broadway. It's definitely a danger to our pedestrians when they're zipping on and off the sidewalks, and sometimes it's not clear why they're using the sidewalks when we do have the designated bike lane. So at the very least, something that I think that is within our jurisdiction now that we can do is request that there is some kind of signage or increased awareness about discouraging people from using the sidewalks and make sure that they do stay in the bike lanes and not where the pedestrians are.

Thank you.

Thank you. I would just suggest to the members interested in this, like myself, that we do refer to the Traffic Commission and actually attend the meeting. I think we'll get a lot more done with having a dialogue rather than send questions back and forth and things come up. So let's all get in the room, not break a quorum, and have an open dialogue. Thank you.

Is that a motion?

I would refer to the Traffic Commission. I'll defer to the sponsor, but... I'll second on that.

So motion has been made and seconded to refer to the Traffic Commission. On that motion, Councilor Pietrantonio.

Yeah, it's funny. We were at a coffee hour, me and Mike, with residents. And they mentioned that, that the residents were, you know, she almost got hit by the bike. And we talked about that briefly. We said Mike had something on the calendar. So the residents are worried about it, too. So that's good that we can do something.

So motion has been made and seconded to refer this matter to the Traffic Commission. Would you like an answer by a certain date or would you attend the meeting?

Well, just to interject, their meeting is the third Wednesday of the month. So I would say just send it over to them and they'll put us on their agenda. That's usually what happens when I talk to them.

And our clerk usually notifies us of those meetings.

Perfect. So motion's been made and seconded to refer this item to the Traffic Commission. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Now we're moving on to new business. Counselor Smith.

Thank you. Just wanted to give a point of information, Madam President. So something came up after the agenda submission deadline, so we were unable to Include an update on the mayor's longevity, but I wanted to note for the record that on October 23rd 2025 Attorney General Andrea Campbell on behalf of the Office of the Inspector General Filed a notice of motion to dismiss in the mayor's case against the Inspector General so just wanted to let everyone know that the AG has filed that notice of motion to dismiss it does not help us to recover the money, but it helps in putting the process forward that the Attorney General agrees with the Inspector General's report. So just wanted to let everyone know this is public record, but it came out on October 23rd, which was after our submission agenda deadline. Thank you.

Thank you. We're moving on to new business. Item number 18.

At number 18, Madam President's resolution offered by Councillor Katie Rogers, a resolution formally condemning the misinformation posted by Tricia McLaughlin and demanding an immediate public correction from Homeland Security concerning the detention of a juvenile arrested by the Everett Police Department. Councillor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President. I do have a pre-written statement to collect my thoughts on this issue. So I also provided each of you with something tonight with the information I'm referring to. Colleagues, I put this resolution before you tonight, not just as a local representative, but as a concerned citizen of the United States. As elected officials, we have an obligation to openly discuss the increased federal presence in Everett. And when a federal official uses their authority to slander our community, we have a civic duty to correct the record. The city has been navigating a challenging situation following the detention of a minor by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, ICE. I'm grateful to the person who reported the threat and to the Everett Police Department for responding swiftly to intervene. However, ICE's subsequent removal of a 13-year-old from Massachusetts, separating him from his parent and attorney without due process is simply unacceptable regardless of why he was arrested. We must now address the misinformation that followed this incident from the Department of Homeland Security. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, publicly and repeatedly claimed the minor was in possession of a firearm. This claim directly contradicts public statements from Carlo Di Maria, Mayor Carlo Di Maria and Police Chief Paul Strong on October 14th. When this incident was first brought to light, city leadership worked proactively to balance the public's need for information without compromising an investigation or privacy laws. Having never communicated with our chief of police, Trisha McLaughlin rushed to social media to willfully embellish the situation on a national platform by selectively sharing a partial police report, doxing a minor and undermining Chief Strong and the city of Everett, creating confusion and fear for residents and people around the country. Simultaneously, official federal social media accounts were used to distribute the core falsehood in possession of a firearm with a graphic using the official Department of Homeland Security seal. Even as their website was updated on October 16th to dispute the following facts, ICE detaining a 13-year-old boy from Massachusetts in a Virginia facility. This is a fact. Mass 13 year old was picked up by ICE after a police interaction, now he's hundreds of miles from home, also a fact. Her 13 year old son was arrested, then taken by ICE to a detention facility. The police chief calls it a first for his city, this is also a fact. So when they went on their website to clarify this misinformation, they added more misinformation. On the same day, in a letter from US Senator Christopher Murphy, which I provided for you. He addressed to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, Tricia McLaughlin was cited for releasing contradictory statement regarding a dangerous weapon to justify use of force in an ICE-related incident in Chicago, which resulted in a legal United States citizen being shot by federal agents. This pattern points to a systematic failure to provide facts on the behalf of the Department of Homeland Security. And it must be corrected, particularly when this is the same agency responsible for the masked men picking up people in the streets of Everett without reporting to our police department. This is a safety concern for all Everett residents. The city council must be united in truth, and we must demand a public retraction and correction to the falsehoods spread about Everett, as well as an apology to Chief Strong and the city of Everett. We have an obligation to stand by the facts and restore the most fundamental public safety tool we have, trust. The Department of Homeland Security can immediately correct the public record by providing the facts and releasing the report in its entirety with the ages and names redacted. Facts matter, and I stand by Chief Strong. My motion is to refer this to the Department of Homeland Security to request that they amend the information shared online, as well as relaying this information to the offices of Governor Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Senator Ed Markey, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, so they are aware of the situation as well. Second. Thank you.

The motion has been made and seconded to refer the item to all the offices mentioned. If you can share with the clerk afterwards. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred.

You can't speak on this piece? It's new business. It's what?

New business.

Oh.

Sorry. Okay. Okay.

So, okay.

So on, so item number 19.

Item number 19, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councillor Stephanie Smith that the administration provides an update for when the overflow trash day this year will be as discussed during budget hearings.

Thank you. First, I'd like to update this to put my colleague from Ward 4, Holly Garcia, on this.

Which has been made. Do we have a second? Second. We made a second to amend the item to add. Councilor Garcia, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been amended. Councilor Smith.

Thank you. So during budget discussion, we had this discussion with the mayor and the DPW director that we actually were going to have monies left the DPW account and could we use those monies to instead of going to free cash to do an overflow day and they told us it would be a good idea and they would look into that and it is now almost November and we've yet to have one so I just wanted an update about when overflow trash day will be other cities around us have it I know some cities you even are allowed to put one piece out a week. It's something that if you look around the city, the trash is exploding. People are putting it in their backyards. They are not getting it removed. If we could have a cleanup, I think it would go a long way with our residents and with just cleaning up the city. And, you know, the mayor and his administration did say that they would look into it and it was a good idea. So I would just like an update back on that.

Councillor Garcia.

Thank you, Madam President. Just to add to that, I know that this was something we had brought up in the spring, so I agree with the frustration of waiting. I do remember that we were told the issue was other residents were just dumping trash in front of homes. That actually happened in front of my own home. But where it has been time, hopefully they can come up with a plan. And I know with the holiday seasons, people like to clean out too. When they get the new toys for Christmas, they get all the boxes they want to get rid of. So this is definitely something that we should consider. Thank you.

I'd like to refer it with a response back at our next meeting. It can be a written response.

The motion has been made and second to refer the item to the administration council for a response to the next meeting. All in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it.

And now item number 20.

Item number 20, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councillor Katie Rogers, a resolution regarding the status of Louis Oswaldo, who was reportedly detained by ICE in Everett on September 10th.

Councillor Rogers. Thank you, Madam President. So again, in your packet, I provided a little bit of information on the context of Louis Oswaldo, and this is just one example of sort of how ICE has been impacting our community, and it raises multiple concerns regarding My primary concern here is that I read, well, I saw on the news that Louis Oswaldo was detained by ICE on September 10th. And his family claims that he has no criminal record. And since this has happened, I decided to use Mr. Oswaldo's situation to learn about what exactly is going on with ICE. So I decided to call Homeland Security, and there was no answer. And so I used the online search system and there were zero results for Luis Oswaldo. So I went to the Everett Police Department and I asked them to look up if there was any reports of a Luis Oswaldo. There's no record of a Luis Oswaldo. So you mean to tell me that there's a video of these masked men walking around on Broadway detaining a man in our Everett Police Department doesn't get alerted when somebody is detained? What's to stop masked men from going around and grabbing people for sex trafficking? This is a serious concern. It goes beyond the debate about immigrants. We need to have checks and balances here so that our police know what's going on in our community. I don't think people should be being detained if our police don't know. It should go both ways. In the instance where somebody gets fingerprinted and it alerts ICE, wouldn't it go both ways? If somebody's picked up on ICE on Everett property, the police department should be aware. It should go both ways. So again, this raises a lot of concerns about due process. It raises concerns for me as a woman. How do I know a masked man is not going to come and abduct me, particularly if my skin wasn't white? And nobody's gonna do anything because we've become complicit with masked men in our streets. So we need to start having discussions about our relationship here with ICE and we have to do it openly. I know that that's uncomfortable, but it's here and it's a reality and it's a concern for all of us that goes beyond just immigration. So I will make a motion to refer this to the mayor and also the police chief for any applicable information pertaining to the case of Louis Oswaldo and just general protocol. What is the situation when somebody is detained on a public street? Do they get reported to the police just as it happens in reverse?

Second.

For clarification, are you sending this resolution to them? This expression of sentiment? I just want to make sure if we are, then we have to suspend Rule 18 before we send it. Or are you just referring questions to them and not this?

We can just refer questions to them pertaining to if they have any information pertaining to this. Thank you.

Thank you. One second. Are you looking to be added or do you want to speak on it because it's new business? We can't because it's new business.

Can I make a motion to add, Councilor Alcy? Would you like to be added? Okay. Sure. Okay.

So... All right, so I'm going to make a motion to add, Councilor Alcy Jabouin, to... Motion has been made. We have a second to add, Councilor Alcy Jabouin. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Councilor Alcy Jabouin.

On the subject, I also wanted to add that As a community, we should be worried what's going on in our city, like Councillor Rogers said. People are going missing and their families can't locate them. We have issues out there with organ, where people need organs and they're willing to pay anything to get them. We have immigration issues. So if someone is being snatched out of our city, at least I think at least the police should be aware of where that person is being taken and their family should also know. So we should, this isn't an immigration thing. It's a community issue where the community is scared and people should be aware of where their families are being taken. Thank you.

The motion has been made and seconded to refer the item to the administration and the police chief. Would you like an update for the next meeting, counsel?

Yes, if they can provide any update. Thank you.

Okay.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred.

Item number 21.

Item number 21, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councillor Katie Rogers. Resolution requesting the United States Post Office upgrade mailboxes with digital keys to improve security.

Councillor Rogers. Thank you, Madam President. I know Councillor Matewsky has talked about this issue many times, so if we could make a motion maybe to add him as a co-sponsor.

Which has been made and seconded to add council Matewsky as a co-sponsor. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been amended.

So I recently was alerted by my neighbor who was having issues with our mailbox on Elm Street with a piece of mail being stolen. He reached out to the post office directly and he also was speaking to our mailman and he was informed that they actually have now what's called a digital key and So they can use their phone or like a special card to scan it, which means that they can't actually copy a physical key. They can be turned, which is the problem, which is why mail has been getting stolen over the past year or so. So I would like to request that all of our mailboxes be upgraded to this digital key to make them more secure so that we no longer have this problem. Male stealth issue. Sure.

Would you like to refer this item to the postmaster with the request? Yes, please. So all in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred. Item number 22.

Item number 22, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councillor Anthony DiPierro requesting an update on plans to address the ramp curbing at the intersection of Ferry and Sycamore Streets.

Councillor DiPierro.

Thank you. I did receive a response from Mr. Swanson saying that the city can correct the corner of Ferry and Sycamore after MassDOT releases the vendor from their contractual obligations and turns the street back over to the city of Everett and they can do work in the spring. I'm not looking for this to get ripped out. I'm simply looking for DPW to clearly identify this curbing and raise platform, whether it's by bright paint, a flower box, trash receptacle, something so people don't trip on it. I would refer this piece to DPW to take action to mark these raised sections off.

SECOND. SECOND. SECOND. SECOND. SECOND. SECOND. SECOND.

SECOND.

Item number 23, it's a resolution by Councilor Michael Marchese, a resolution requesting that the Traffic Commission considers issuing 25 parking placards to the Greats Episcopal Church for usage on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Councilor Marchese.

Yes, I was approached about the lack of parking when the church, unfortunately it's on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., so I don't know what the effect will have on the business down there. But they would like to try it if they could get placards, which they would collect after each one is used and see if they can have some pockets so their congregation can meet down there. But they only want it between 10 in the morning and 2 p.m. That's all they want on the placard. So I guess we'd have to refer this to the traffic commission.

Second. It has been made and second to refer this item to the Traffic Commission. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it. The item has been referred. Item number 24.

Item number 24, Madam President, is a resolution offered by Councilor Michael Marchese. A resolution requesting that all parties slash businesses contributing to the mayor's legal defense fund not profit from the city.

Council Marchese.

Just the amount of money that can be donated per person is $1,000 a year. You buy in a little influence by donating the maximum. And no matter who you are, you buy in the person's ear. What is this mayor, Eddie Mayor? But we've just been faced with a lot of legal expenses this year. And the amount of money that these people allow to come in and donate for a legal defense fund is outrageous. I mean, I see $50,000, $25,000, $10,000. All this is is Bribery, whether it's this mayor or any other mayor, so don't take it that it only happens here. I don't know what the state law is on it. Obviously, it's a legit law, but I think it should be overhauled. And I don't think that there should be any legal defense funds collected from anybody. And if you do accept legal defense funds from a developer or whatever, they should be disallowed from profiting in the city of Everett or from any city they're from. I mean, that's just my take there, how crazy it sounds. But I just can't see how you can limit on donations, but if there's a legal defense fund, you can lay it on. It doesn't make sense. It's buying too much influence for any candidate to vote. to receive. So I don't know if we would refer this to the- Office of Campaign and Public Finance, I think is the appropriate place. I guess that'd be the place to refer to and see if they could come up with some idea. I know they'll frown upon it because it's been used by half the state, I'm sure. But I mean, just the influence that it buys, it's not fair, it's not right.

Council, would you like to refer to the city solicitor as well? Excuse me? To the city solicitor so we can see if there's something at the local level that we can... Yeah, I mean, it'd be great if we can send it to him. Could I make a point of information?

Yes, Councilor DePere. Political donations are a form of free speech protected under the First Amendment, so whatever the councilor's issue with it is, he may have to take it up with Congress or the Supreme Court, but I don't think our city solicitor can do much with that. Thank you.

Well, I'm sure that I understand about the free speech, but I think $50,000 donation is a lot more than free speech. That's me. I don't know. Maybe I'm stupid.

So the motion is to refer to OCPF only, or would you like to refer to the city solicitor as well? Okay, so motion has been made and second to refer the item to OCPF. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. That was our last item. Before we conclude? Councilor Councilor DiPierro.

Aye. I just wanna give a hats off to the community for a tremendous homecoming celebration between the fireworks Friday evening, to the candy the council I saw handed out, to the lineup of events Saturday honoring Coach DiBiaso. It was a nice to see the partnership in hometown pride between Mayor DeMaria, Superintendent Hart, the city and school employees, especially Rosemary Hughes, who really spearheaded the event. It was a good positive weekend. Secondly, as we all know, Election Day is coming up. Early voting. City Hall is running tomorrow to the rest of the week. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th. No matter who you support, get out and vote. Make your voices heard. Thank you.

Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. Motion has been made and seconded to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. We have adjourned.