Malden City Council 9-9-25

Thank you.

We'll be getting started in just a moment. The council will come to order. I'll rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of our veteran service members and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. We will now conduct our land acknowledgement. We honor and acknowledge the Massachusetts, Pennacook, and Pawtucket peoples whose ancestral lands we now call home and on which we gather today. We express gratitude to the indigenous peoples who have cared for this land for generations, predating European colonization, and continuing to the present. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that the histories, voices, and contributions of indigenous peoples are recognized and respected in the life of our city. The clerk will call the roll.

Councillor Colón Hayes. Here. Councillor Condon. Here. Councillor Crowe. Councilor McDonald. Yeah. Councilor O'Malley. Yeah. Councilor Sica. Yeah. Councilor Simonelli. Councilor Spadafora. Yeah. Councilor Taylor. Yeah. Councilor Winslow. Yeah. Council President Linehan. Here. So we have 10 people in a quorum.

Okay, thank you. Now under the provisions of the open meeting law, for those of you in attendance, please be informed that UMA, Urban Media Arts, will be recording this evening's meeting. So just be aware there will be audio and video recordings of this meeting. The first order of business is public comment. Public comment is allowed under council rules. Each speaker is limited to the subject matter relevant to our evening's agenda, and everyone must keep their comments to two minutes or less. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up for public comment tonight?

We have 11 people this evening and a couple of emails.

Okay, so will you please read the first public comment? Neil Cannon.

Should I go ahead? Yes, please go ahead.

Neil Kinnon, 11 Spruce Street, Malden, Mass. I'm the business manager of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. I'm here to speak on the Mystic Valley and Trafton Endeavor Park. Mystic Valley contends the law is clear. One, Malden's application for a park grant at Trafton and others in section 10 said the city would charge no fees to use the park. The mayor in a signed contract to the state obligated the city to those conditions. Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which also governs park grants, expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of residents. Reservations, membership, or annual permit systems available to residents must be available to non-residents, and the period of availability must be the same. Quote, fees must be reasonable, and in normal, quote, fees charged to non-residents cannot exceed twice the amount charged to residents. where there is no charge for residents but a fee charged to non-residents. Non-residential fees cannot exceed fees charged for residents of comparable state or local public facilities. Local's key here. Trafton Park renovation used substantial funding for community preservation funds. CPA funds also do not allow for discrimination based upon residency and do so would violate public accommodation laws and most likely the civil rights laws against Mystic Valley students who are 68% minority. There are groups not meeting the 90% residential requirement of the new park policy being provided permits today for no fee and are being allowed to use parks in a non-exclusive manner. That's a fact. I don't want to embarrass those groups or anybody else. Four, five, the new 2025 park policies regulation and permits guide passed on March 11th, 2025 was not approved by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as required by law in CMR 301 5.07. Mr. Kenan, you've reached your two minute time limit. Councilor Winslow.

Mr. Kenan, your time limit is up. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Rick Villeux.

My name is Rick Villeux. I'm the assistant superintendent of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. I oversee finance and operations. Been with the school for 20 years. Can I go? Yes. So we hear about kids using a playground and a park. Overview of the process. March 2025 applied for Trafton and Denver Park permit and waiver of fees. June 2nd, a letter from Recreation Department Director Joe Levine asking us to agree to newly installed fee structure. June 3rd, I responded indicating that proposed fees do not align with state park program. July 9th, response from Joe Levine with offer for permit for 25 hours per week at $50 per hour. July 16th, I initiated a public records request seeking what other organizations Permits and fees are in place. August 6th, no public records response from city, so I sent a reminder. August 12th, met with Councilor Winslow, MVRCS Board Member Doug Banghart, and the city's project manager. Councilor Winslow was seeking $2,500 per season to have limited exclusive use of Trafton. I explained we are not seeking limited use. Councilor Winslow stressed that his role is to defend the community against the charter school. August 18th and 19th, exchange of emails seeking our position. I indicated that I was still waiting for information requested to see if we were being treated consistently. August 21st, email from Councilor Winslow directing me to deal with Director Levine, who's running the show. Last week of August, I go to Mr. Levine's office and have a discussion and propose to pay $250 per season and provide park cleaning service opportunities for our students. Follow up call to Mr. Levine, to see if any response. September 3rd, letter from Councilor Winslow saying we need to pay $2,500 per season, 8 a.m. to noon, explaining that estimation of keeping up the field costs $2,500 per season. We can't use the playground, and he went to state that city does not issue permits for playground use, and that Malden provides its school students on-site playgrounds. Affirmative response by next day at noon, or I will not advance this proposal to the council for fall 2025 and its September 9th meeting. Yet here we are. September 8th, the school's response on why we can't accept this proposal, I gave a copy to all of you. And here we are, a staged event just before an election.

Mr. Vey, your time is up.

We are just seeking to be treated fair and consistent within the existing city and state regulations.

Thank you very much. Adam Giroux. Name and address for the record, please. Hello, my name is Adam . I'm so sorry. Thank you, you can go ahead now.

Hi, my name is Adam . I'm from Jefferson Ave in Everett. I have two children at Mystic Valley. So even though they're residents of Everett, they spend the bulk of their day here in Malden. This is my second time speaking in front of the council. The first time I spoke was when there was a resolution that would have harmed our school. I'm here again tonight to stand up for the children in all of Mystic Valley, and my children especially. My concern with this resolution is not about money or fees, it is about our children being treated unfairly compared to other students in Malden. Councillor Winslow, I want to assume good intentions. I know you and the Mayor worked hard to improve Trafton Park, and I respect that you want your constituents to enjoy it. Mystic Valley is simply requesting non-exclusive access to the park during this part of the school day. Mystic Valley was recently ranked sixth in Massachusetts. Our children work hard to achieve this level of education, and they deserve the same access to parks and playgrounds that Malden's public schools enjoy. Why are schools like Malden Catholic, Salemwood, and Linden treated differently than Mystic Valley? They have access to public parks and playgrounds during the school day. Why should our children be forced to play on a bare blacktop when a city park is directly across the street, while other schools have dedicated parks for school use. People may raise concerns about park maintenance, but Mystic Valley families contribute millions to Malden's economy, and the school requires student volunteer hours that could be used for park cleanup. That seems more than fair. Again, this is not about money. It's about fairness and equal treatment. I've spoken to dozens of parents who feel the same way, and several are here tonight. If this discrimination continues, parents will only become more engaged, like I have. More than 400 Malden children attend Mystic Valley, and their families represent thousands of voters. My request is simple. Please show Mystic Valley families that our children will be treated the same as any other student in Malden, with equal access to public parks. Thank you.

Thank you.

Christina Mason. Good evening.

name and address for the record. Thank you.

Christina Mason, CBU AB Ward six. As a resident of Malden for the past four years in Ward six, I've been attending Trafton Park all of those years, but more so the past two years with my toddler. I spend hours there daily, twice a day, two to four hours a day. go home, take a nap, go back to Trafton. I've encountered both neighborhood families. I've encountered Mystic Valley families, students, and the students and staff, as well as the neighborhood children, have been nothing but respectful. They even ask my children to join in when they're playing. I've done my research before coming in here today, wondering why as a community, why have we chosen to single out Mystic Valley over playing at a playground? No other schools within the city also use public playgrounds. Why are we discriminating towards Mystic Valley? I'm not sure if you're aware or not. You guys are probably aware, but the city of Malden receives more than 1.5 million each year. for Malden students who attend charter schools. I look forward to this issue being rectified. And us coming together as a city for these kids. After all, they're outside, they're using their imagination, they're exercising, they're not on tablets, they're using, you know, getting some fresh air after sitting at a desk. They deserve to be there just as much as the other schools to deserve to be at the other public parks. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Patrick Hearn. Thank you, name and address for the record.

Hi, Patrick Hearn, 235 Summer Street, Malden. I'm a nearly 20 year resident of Malden and I have a five year old and a two year old. So I spend a lot of time at the Malden parks and I'm thankful for the city for all that they've done by keeping the parks updated and clean and safe. I'm a little bit in disbelief that I have to be here today to advocate for my son to use a park during school hours. And so my son is a student at Mystic Valley. And I guess I would just stay in here as a parent and ask for the city council to come to a resolution to where Mystic Valley can use that park under the same conditions that Malden schools can use their parks as well. So I thank you for the consideration. Thank you.

Harriet Casozzi.

Thank you, name and address for the record.

My name is Harriet Kasozi at 164 Webster Street. I've been in Malden for 22 years, moving from Brighton. But one of the reasons why I came to Malden was the diversity and the attitude of non-discriminating. But looking at the issue at hand, I feel like our children are now being discriminated. I'm a mother of five and all my children have gone to the modern public schools, beginning from Forestdale and Linden. And during that time, this never came up. They were allowed to use, and they still are because their cousins are still there, They are using the parks for recreation, and me being in healthcare, I know the benefits of activity, physical activity for our children. So limiting them and putting them in class, not getting out, yet as residents, we pay taxes. I've not missed any tax year for the past 22 years. I haven't. But also, I didn't know that the city's paid 1.5 million for the kids who go to Mystic Valley. So then why is it a problem? English is my third language, and I don't know the laws or the rules, but I think this is common sense, that if other students are allowed to use the parks, Why is it different for Mystic Valley kids? I have children who have gone to the other schools, there was no issue. Now they move to Mystic Valley, which I love because the education is superior and I think we should work together so we can spread some of this to the other schools. But now we feel like our kids, my son came home crying. Mommy, we can't use Trafton Park. Why? Ask yourself. I don't know if some of you have children in Mystic Valley, but if you do, this is wrong. And it's not black or white. If something is wrong, it's wrong. So if other kids are using the parks, I think we should be allowed to do the same thing. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Janelle Davids.

Janelle Davids.

Thank you. Name and address for the record?

Janelle Devitz, 3 Sheridan Street. The last time I was up here, I was advocating for Dever Park revitalization. This council granted us quite a bit of money. We spent $3.4 million to do phase one. We're looking at phase two, about $1.5. I just want to encourage, I don't think anybody here is arguing that we don't want kids to be outside and playing at recess. We don't want them stuck inside on tablets. I think everybody can appreciate the outdoors and being running around is a good thing. I think what we are asking is that it's uniformly applied and that there are some ground rules and that there are considerations to take into account with respect to maintenance and cost. And, you know, we hear a lot about why can't the charter school be treated like the other public schools? At the same time, the charter school was saying they're not a public school and subject to FOIA and other public records requests. So I'm I'm hearing both sides of their argument that they're a private institution, they should be treated as such, but they're also a public institution and should be treated as such. And the nuance here, there are a lot of facts where there's gray area and there's nuance. So I would just suggest everybody take a deep breath. I think everybody should assume goodwill, get the facts and the data, have a uniform process, make sure things are being applied fairly and consistently because this will also impact ever. And that's a beautiful investment we just made in our city. The grass is a real thing to upkeep. You can't have consistent continuous use about four to six hours a day on grass and have it thrive and be useful to the public. And as community members have called me several times, I've talked to Paul about this. They are down there four to six hours a day every day. They're doing gym classes there. They're exercising as part of their facility. There's 20 to 30 teenagers down there with one adult. And there are real concerns that we should address. And I don't think anybody's trying to be unreasonable to the charter school. That's definitely not what's happening. But there should be some sort of fear process where all of these concerns can be heard in a uniform manner, whether that's through a commission or the mayor's office or potentially not every city councilor doing their own thing in their ward. I don't think that's a beneficial thing. So I just ask everybody to take a deep breath, take a step back and look at the facts. Thank you, Ms. DeVitz.

Elaine Corpus. Elaine Corpus. Name and address for the record.

Hi, good evening. My name is Elaine Corpus. I live at 35 Second Street in Malden. I have been a resident of Ward 6 for almost 15 years. I have three daughters at Mystic Valley and then a son that attends a different school. Prior to Mystic Valley, my two eldest went to the Linden in which they were able to freely use the city parks, playground, the fields, and the city courts before school, during school for recess and gym, and after school. And when my two younger children were not school age, and when we went to these parks and the children were using them, we just came another time. After that, I transferred my daughters to Mystic Valley, and things were a little bit different than at Linden. The minute my children wore the Mystic Valley uniform, the maroon and the khakis, All eyes were on them whenever they were at Trafton. People were looking to see why they were there, how long they were there for. Was it during gym time, recess time, school hours? Is it a large group meeting? Do they have a permit to be there? And it became really uncomfortable for these children who attended Mystic Valley, and it's not fair to them. In addition to that, there were lots of adults who had their eyes on Mystic Valley and Trafton and would look for evidence as to when these kids frequented Trafton and then would put this evidence on social media for the public to see, which is completely ridiculous. Many of us here have children and we would never want to see our children or anyone else's children on social media for any reason. I'm just here because I want all kids, the Mystic Valley kids, kids who live in Malden, to be able to have access to utilize Fields and parks near their school without discrimination I want kids to not be harassed just because they go to a certain school and to be treated like all the other Kids who live in in Malden and neighboring communities. Thank you so much.

Thank you Okay, next up we have a someone named just Willie Upham Street Come on down Name and address for the record.

Hello, my name is Whitley Jordan. I live at 11 Upham Street in Malden. And I'm just coming up speaking. This is my first time here in front of you guys. And I thank you for allowing me to speak. I just have to say that I have two children that go to Mystic Valley. And I've been living at Malden for about 10 years. And I had the opportunity to send my kids to the Catholic school, the public school, and now we're at Mystic Valley. And what I've noticed is that there was no issues, basically. I want to respectfully emphasize that the concerns here is unequal treatment. Mystic Valley is being held to a different standard than other schools and organizations in Malden. Malden public schools use city parks, playgrounds during the school day without fees. Other organizations, and I've seen them several times maybe doing summer programs, they use the parks, they use the pools. No fees, right? Also, they use the turf fields with lights without being charged. This does not align with the city's published park policies, regulations, and permits guide. While the city has stated that playgrounds are not permitted for school use, in practice, Malden public schools rely on city playgrounds every day. The new policies imposing fees, time limits, and banning playground use has been applied only to Mystic Valley. This is inconsistency. feels both unfair and out of step with how other schools are treated. At the heart of this whole matter, the well-being of the students is what's really important here. The parks and the playgrounds are not luxuries. They're not. They are vital spaces that support children's physical health, mental wellness, social development, and overall growth. Mystic Valley is a committed part of the Malden community, which I'm sure they pay taxes as well in all the, you know, all the properties they probably own, they pay taxes as well. And our students deserve the same access as their peers. I strongly, I strongly urge the city to revisit this policy and work collaboratively, collaboratively. Ms. Jordan, your time is up. Thank you. With us to ensure a fair and consistent approach together.

We can do this together. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Lara Thompson.

Hello. My name is Laura Thompson. I live at 53 Playstead Road. And I also live adjacent to a park that I see children play at all the time. And I really think that it's important for kids to get out and play. I understand that that more than just playing, there's also costs associated with maintaining a park. And we have to take that into consideration, too. I also think the adjacent neighbors in the area need they have a voice that needs to be heard. And I think that's what's caused some of the division over over time. I think that we can reach a solution if just like the lady before me said, if we all work together. That's the key thing here is that the residents, the adjacent neighbors, the school, the kids, and then thinking about the costs because we're already in the hole as far as the city is concerned, as far as money goes. And we all know, especially me, that grass fields cost money. So we've got to find a way to make it work together.

Thank you. Next, we have Veronica Akopia. Name and address for the record, please.

Veronica Akopian from Alden Street, Ward 7. Sorry, it's my first time speaking, but I just wanted to introduce myself, who we are on Alden Street, because I have a lot of family. They live in there, a lot of friends. Alden Street, Malden. We are registered warders. We are disabled veterans that live there. And we have children that go to the school. I have three children that go to Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. To be honest, it's very sad to know that it's possible that they will take their resources away, that they won't be outside playing. Something that we as a parent work really hard. And by the way, I'm also a small business owner that pays my taxes in Malden. And that my children will not have the opportunity to play outside, to be healthy. That's what I worked so hard to do. I would really appreciate and I personally volunteer if we need to make money, let's come together. Let's whatever is necessary to do to keep our parks, to keep our kids healthy, playing outside. I will be happy to work with any of you to make that happen. So please, let's think of some other alternatives and let's keep our children healthy and playing outside. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So that concludes our list of Folks who've signed up for public comment in person. Clerk, do we have any emails that came in and can you summarize the extent of those?

Yes, for time purposes we will summarize. We had three emails come in to speak on behalf of Mystic Valley Charter School. And to summarize, this one says, as a parent of Mystic Valley Charter School student, I am disappointed that the school is being asked to pay to use a public park that was built and maintained with taxpayer money. This is not fair or equitable. What is the difference between public school students and charter school students in this regard? As the city of Malden, you should be proud to host such an outstanding school in your community. Mystic Valley is recognized as one of the top schools in Massachusetts. It deserves support, not obstacles. I strongly believe it is both my constitutional right and my daughter's to have access to public parks during school hours without paying additional fees. This is our park and it is not fair to single out a charter school for payment. Thank you very much for considering my opinion and supporting our students. And then additionally, we had four emails come in from the opposing point of view. And to summarize, this one reads, I am a Malden resident. I purchased my home seven years ago, so excited to live around the corner from Trafton Park. I am also the mother of a toddler, an educator, and an administrator. I strongly oppose Mystic Valley Regional Charter School having access to the parks for their recess and after school programs. As a resident and taxpayer, my family should have access to those spaces first. My child should be able to use the equipment without navigating through poorly supervised older children. The amount of trash left by the school children is disgusting. They are not entitled to Malden's public spaces and they shouldn't have access before residents. May I suggest they take the former business and residential space in Maplewood Square that they raised and convert it to a parking lot and build a playground there. Perhaps they will better care for a space they own themselves. Thank you for your time. Kindly forward my email if you should have landed somewhere else to direct me to the appropriate person. I was the appropriate person. All of the emails that we received in full are attached to the meeting minutes of this evening's agenda. So if anybody wants to review them in their entirety, they are there for public review.

Thank you for that. And can I ask, just for clarity, because I did see that some emails came in after our usual deadline. Do we typically append those to the agenda or do those just not?

Those usually don't get accepted if they come in after 4 PM.

Okay, thank you for that clarification. And for those who are here, obviously we don't engage in a back and forth at this point in the agenda, but we are going to be taking up this order of business in just two more items. So if you do want to stay, please do feel free to stay in the room. We're getting to this item in just a few minutes.

Next order of business. Paper 349-25, petition, extended hours, Burger King, number 922, 61 Broadway, Malden. Hours, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. This is a new petition.

Okay, on a motion by councilor Sica to refer to license. Second. Okay, all in favor? Aye. That motion is referred. Next order of business.

Paper 350-25. Paper 350-25, order that the City Council authorize the Recreation Department to issue a permit to the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School for limited use of Trafton Park, reasonably consistent with the terms of a proposal set forth in a September 3rd, 2025 letter by Council Winslow, sent to Chairman George Warren and Assistant Superintendent Rick Villou of such school. Or in the alternative, the city council directs the city solicitor's office in coordination with the recreation and inspection services departments to undertake such investigations and all actions including legal action necessary to prevent unpermitted use of Trafton Park by the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School to otherwise ensure their compliance with the city parks rules and regulations and to otherwise defend such. This paper was sponsored by Councilor Winslow.

Okay, Councilor Winslow for the paper.

All right. So just I had at the request of Councillor Condon, I made sure that everybody on the council received a copy of my September 3rd letter. I don't know if that was shared with the parents of the charter school, but just to be clear about what you know, I was going back through my notes. This issue came up back in 2022 and I heard things from parents in the neighborhood about the difficulty of using Trafton Park when the charter school was present there. And I then I asked about just a simple thing. I was just a new ward counselor at that time. I asked Joe Levine from Rec Department. I heard from a parent that there's confusion about the time frames that Mystic Valley has exclusive use of some all parts of Trafton. Some parents have been told that they cannot be there by Mystic Valley staff. And there's a lack of clarity of what time neighborhood children who may get out by 2.15 can use the park. And can you clarify? So I reached out to our rec director and he said, well, Mystic Valley used to apply for permits. But somehow they've stopped applying for permits. So for some reason, Mystic Valley stopped applying for permits. I reached out to Mr. Ballou and Mr. Superintendent Dan back in 2022. I'm reaching out to discuss the current and future use of Trafton Park by Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. My understanding is that in the past, Mystic Valley has obtained permits for its use. But at this moment, there are none. The lack of clarity regarding Mystic Valley use needs to be addressed out of fairness to the residents who use the park while Mystic Valley staff and students are present. and to Mystic Valley itself so students and staff have clear guidance on public use. I continue to hear complaints from residents who use the park and have been adversely impacted. And when Mystic Valley students come into areas that members of the public are using. I also want to make sure that Mystic Valley becomes familiar with plans to reconstruct the court and field area starting in mid 2023. Ultimately, all the users of Trafton will need to work together to take good care of the park to keep it in better repair than it is now. So that's the spirit I've been bringing to this whole conversation. And if you look at my letter of September 3rd, you know, the to try to address that, I actually reached out in August because I knew for the first time since 2023, Trafton was going to be fully available. It was under construction for a couple of years. I knew that these conflicts were going to become. I made the affirmative outreach to the charter school to say, hey, let's talk about this. I know you put in a permit. It's not going forward. Let's talk about this and why a permit is important. You know, one key distinction between the public schools, Malden Public Schools using our public parks and the Mystic Valley School is that the Malden Public Schools, the mayor is the head of both the public schools in the city. So if there's some issues about overuse or abuse by students or problems with the neighbors, they get addressed through our principals and our mayor and that type of thing. So we have that opportunity. Mystic Valley Charter School, the only way we really can help make sure that they understand the park rules and are following that is to require a permit. And that's what we do with all other user groups. So to be clear, Mystic Valley Charter School, under the rules that have been updated in 2025, can apply for permits. And so that is one of the key things. But one of the things that I have heard and this is what what has been discussed is that having comments from people, saying that they've actually been at the park, Drafton Park, and been asked to leave by Mystic Valley Charter staff. And at times I even report from a grandparent being surrounded by Mystic Valley Charter kids and being basically forced out of the park. So some people are being asked and almost forced out of the park. Some people are just not going to the park. And to me, it's not I know you want fair use yourself. And but I think what I'm asking for from as a as the board counselor is balance. And so Mystic Valley is basically asked for the use of the park from the prime time of 9 to 3 p.m. And then at 3.30, as you parents know, at 3.30, the park is there. So what I offered was to say, let's share. Let's share it so that Mystic Valley can have it in the morning, and then that students would not come out in the afternoon. So that Parents can come out there. I mean, I talked to grandparents literally putting away my groceries at my house because I live near Trafton. A parent and the grandmother and the grandchild said, you know, we got to do something about this. I don't go to Trafton Park to play in the playground, to have to talk to, you know, to demand staff control students and students, you know, give my kids safe space. And Mr. Velue, when I said that to him, and that's why I brought this to the attention of the charter school, he basically said, oh, they should just bring that up with the charter school. It's like, no, that's not why you go to the park. You go to a park to have some peace and quiet and enjoy your time. It's not there to go and create stuff. So I'm just trying to say we're trying to create a fair balance and to split up the time and be clear. That's all I'm asking is for some clarity here, that that's what their parents and neighbors, grandparents and neighbors would go and enjoy the park They want a time that's free from having a lot, literally scores of students there. That's and so that is what what I put out there. And then so so and I think it's very legitimate. My fellow counselors is have and just as, you know, Janelle Davis is having fair use. So I'm not adverse. And I'm getting flack from people in my own neighborhood about charter school shouldn't be that I am supportive of the charter school. being a Trafton Park, but we need it defined and it needs to be under a permit. So that's just what I'm saying. So that when parents ask me, when can I go to Trafton during the day that I can use the field during the hours my my young kid is awake and be there at the playground without having scores of kids there? So that is what we're trying to define. So that's just simply what's there. And the other thing is like we literally just spent a million dollars in public money to fix the irrigation, the ball court, the field, and there was more on the playground. And that is an important thing. And one of the things, I think Laura Thompson, I mean, her and I have battled over Roosevelt. And one of the things I heard clearly, I think we heard a lot of people in the community want grass fields. And one of the things I always emphasize is if we have a commitment as a city, and this is for the residents here, malden residents a lot of and miss david's she worked for dever to be a grass field to have a grass field you know why why does fenway park look so great when you go there because they only have 82 games a year and they have 20 people taking care of it um you know we have a hand less than a handful of people taking care of our parks and um and at the the type of use that potentially the charter school is asking for six hours a day is more than that part can bear. So I think that's the other legitimate thing of limiting the hours is both a purpose to create some fair balance between legitimately I'm offering that the charter school kids can be there, but we have to both have some time for free play for parents. Some kids are not school age. Some people, even homeschool people, want to be able to use the park during the day. So I'm just saying I'm working to be fair. And that's what I put out there. And the other thing is to be fair, that having scores of students running over the field, I mean, before construction, the charter school was bringing out soccer goals and volleyball nets and leaving them there as if this was not just a public park. They were leaving it as if it was owned by Mystic Valley Charter School. And the field was, if you remember back in 23, before we got the irrigation gun and this level of use, I mean, I can show you the pictures. The field was in horrible shape. And so it's really now that we invested in irrigation and reseeding and that type of thing, I'm interested in making sure that field is still in good condition, not only for charter school kids, but for the kids in the neighborhood. So this is there's very good reasons why I've asked and I'm a very reasonable person. You know I work to get our bike trail have it took me 20 years to make that happen. I'm persistent but a reasonable person. And I think that you know to I say probably most of my constituents I get elected because some people don't like the charter school. I actually stuck my neck out in favor of having charter school use here. But it has to be in a fair balance and what Your leadership there has said is not balanced. And I mean, and it drives me crazy when we're fighting over twenty five hundred dollars a season when literally your school I mean, you should be talking to the leadership. So they spent thirty four million dollars on properties, several of which they said that they were going to actually put in parks and playgrounds on and that they they never did. So you have to really turn around. Maybe you should look at Mr. Ballou and Mr. Kenan. to ask them why the money, the tax money that's supposed to be spent on your kids by the charter school are not being spent on this stuff. They are not investing in you. And we're fed up as a city that we're being asked to invest in you when your own school doesn't do that, when they have literally millions of dollars. So that is one of the things. But I say it's not added discrimination. We it's just the reality that we have we have we have like I say, we have, we're trying to create balance. I represent not only some of the people from the charter school, I represent people who don't go to the charter school, who want to use the park as well. And they, it's intimidating to have scores and scores of kids, literally classrooms full, and let's, out there. And that, we're just trying to create a fair balance that there's time when the charter school can be there during the day, and times that there's free play. And then also that the Impact of having all that use. I mean, I went to our DPW director and asked, well, Bob Knox, I mean, just the basic maintenance of a field. Aeration, because when you have a lot of people use a field, it gets compacted and that and trafting needs to get aerated. And the other thing is that you need to fertilize and seed it to keep the grass in good shape. That a bare bones estimate of that is five thousand dollars a year. So the $2,500 per season that I put in my proposal is based on that. So we're just asking to a fair balance between neighborhood use and charter school use and some contribution from a school who seems to have a lot of money in his pocket and from a community that is looking, we're struggling. I mean, literally, I advocated to get another 25,000 a year for all our parks. We spent only 125,000 a year on all our parks. Kirstead, all that to to maintain our parks. So that's the type of thing. So, you know, we're just asking for a, you know, I put out there small contributions. OK, so that's what I just say. I appreciate the work of Joe Levine and Laura Perez. They literally worked on these regulations over two years to really look at that fairness. I mean, one of the things I actually have worked in this field, I had an issue related to park grants and that type of thing. I actually had to turn away one in Gloucester because of this issue about residency. And the interpretation is a resident is a person, not an organization. So we're we we have we can create classes of organizations and that's what we've done. So it is not about it's a different thing. And we have in that process. I know that the city did consult with the state Department of Conference conservation services that I have worked with in the past, and we feel justified in that. So we feel that we have set reasonable and non-arbitrary classifications based on what we think is reasonable. That we don't expect when a group is mostly made up of people that are almost 90% Malden residents that they have to pay taxes. to charter school, as someone mentioned, over 60% are not Malden taxpayers. So that puts a burden. The charter school is bringing in, you know, people who are not paying taxes and we're just asking for some contribution. I mean, the folks that are Mystic Valley, I mean, I don't think it's that much to ask that just, hey, contribute to help the city of Malden to help help maintain this stuff. So that's that's you may not have heard that story from your that. But that's why I'm here. I'm just I am a reasonable person. This is a pretty fair proposal that I put out there. I don't really understand the power play that your administration is doing there. Thank you for letting me go. Okay, we have a lot of lights on. All right, sorry.

That's okay. Before I start to take some of the comments, I do just want to level set very briefly for the community. I want to explain a little bit about why this is actually before the council, because we do have a Parks and Recreation Policy Manual. that explicitly states that the reason that a question such as this would come before the council is because we're considering a multi-year, what's called a heavy user permit, a multi-use permit that goes beyond one year. So typically when the Parks and Recreation Department engages in a permit with a user, it's for a season or for a year. The Malden City Council has the authority to engage in a conversation and make an agreement that goes beyond that. So that's really why This is even happening at this table. I just want to kind of lay the groundwork for why the conversation is happening here. Respectfully, you do not have the floor right now. Please don't yell out. This is not the forum for that. If we refer it, please stop yelling. If we refer this to committee, you'll all be invited to come to that committee meeting. I don't know if we're going to vote this in the room tonight or at a committee. If we do have a committee meeting, you may attend. And if we choose to allow the public to speak, that would be your opportunity to do so. OK, so I can't have yelling or I'm going to take a recess until we can have decorum in the chamber. Yes. Let me put your light back on.

So just to clarify on the point of why I was in this situation, because, you know, basically, I mean, Joe and Laura, you know, they're great and they're dedicated to offering a lot of recreational opportunities to our our our families and people. They work diligently on these rules and regulations. The charter school asked for exception. They see this level of exemption as something that's really beyond what they can do under the rules and regs. And so there is this, you know, the council itself, when this was brought up a couple of years ago, we actually referred to them. But with the understanding, if there's these longer term commitments, it should come back to the council. And, you know, the interpretation I get from the record is this is such a significant variation from the rules and regulations that they feel that this is a city council issue. That's why it's here, that they specifically talked to the director and that's their feeling is that they don't feel they have the authority under their rules and regulations to make this significant precedent. So that's what that is, thank you.

Yes, understood. And the other point that I was just simply going to make is that there's tiers of users. So the Malden Public Schools are not part of the parks and regulations in the Recreation Department. So discussion of that is not pertinent to what we're talking about here tonight. And I'm gonna rule that out of order if we start to veer into that. The public schools, the playgrounds at the schools, that's public school property. It's not in the park and regulation manual. It's not what we're talking about here. So we're only talking about public parks of which Trafton is one. These permits, the hours, the high intensity use, That applies to parks. It does not apply to public school properties. So that's not part of what we're talking about. And again, what we can do tonight is we can either vote this on the floor if we have a proposal for hours, for fees, anything that's under our purview. Or again, we can refer it to committee, discuss it, and then bring it back to the floor. So that's what we're going to be able to do tonight. And with that, I'm going to take Councilor Condon for our first question.

Thank you, Council President. I have the charter school down in Ward 2, Edgeworth. The high school is there. They do a good job keeping the property up. The seniors down there appreciate what they do to beautify the schools, and I do appreciate it. I trust Laura Perez and Joel Levine to be fear. And I ask them, please be fear, but you have to be consistent. The fact is, somebody mentioned it, it's mostly people not from Malden in the school. It's a great school. Everybody's lucky to go there, and it takes a special kid to be able to thrive in a school like that. So I think a lot of the people may not say it, but they do appreciate the charter school and how well known they are. But this is a difficult situation. We let everybody that is a Malden organization, we don't charge them. As long as they're a modern organization, they have access to Deva Park. Deva Park's twice as big as Trafton. So it's gonna take twice as much work not to lose that field. And that's what I care about. We're not done yet. You know, we worked around everyone. We worked around Roosevelt, We lost the season waiting for them, waiting for them, and they kept going to court. And for that reason, we missed the season. So we're not done yet. We still got millions of dollars to spend on the field. The irrigation system, soccer field, girls softball diamond has to be put in. And then there's some historical changes that we want to make to recognize people over the years that have done such a tremendous job on Deva. The thing I worry about is we have the playground, the little kids. They're up to five years old on one side, And then they're up to 12 years old on the other side. Well, I got high school kids coming down there. They're not 12. So that's a dangerous situation to me. We don't give permits for that playground. Joe's right on top of that, and so is Laura. Two people run that department. It's amazing what they do. And they enjoy it so much. Believe me, you know, they're trying to do the best they can. But they also want to be fair. You know, and I'm just hoping that, you know, the people from the charter school, I know you got your job to do to get the most out of what you can. But, you know, people were saying that they're paying taxes. There's a lot of taxes not being paid. And we all know the properties that are being bought. And I don't resent that. But that people are paying those taxes somewhere because we're losing our tax revenue. We are losing it and getting it replaced with the charter school buying the property. They run a good ship down there. All right. We're not. We're bound to. Many situations don't don't allow us to have that flexibility, you know, to buy, say, a three family house and be able to put teachers in there at a low rental rate. You know, that doesn't happen in the modern public schools. So I'm just asking everybody take a step back. I'm leaving it to Joe and Laura to come up with the recommendations, because I know that there'll be fear. So that's all I got to say, and thank you, Steve, for riling up the people.

Thank you, Councilor Condon. Councilor Simonelli.

Thank you, Madam President. So after trying to take it all in here today and this evening, talking to a few of my counselors earlier today, and the clerk of committees I was talking to as well. And if you look at the city's park structure, you'll see that some neighborhoods in this city have maybe one park or two. I'm lucky enough in my neighborhood to have five, six parks. You know, how many people are paying taxes and how many people are not paying taxes? To me, it's not as important as that the charter school is still an arm of an educational building for children. Some come from Malden, some come from our sister and brother cities around us. So Malden's always been a welcoming city to everyone. So I'm gonna make this offer tonight. I guess until you guys can get this thing rectified. First of all, I think that, you know, You've got to have parity. I don't know if you can... Maybe I'm not understanding this fully, and I'll talk to Councillor Winslow even after the meeting if you'd like to. You know, parity as far as... Having the fees be equal across the board and not just singling out a particular entity. I think when you do something like that, that's why I would hope that it would go into public properties committee, referred to tonight. So we can have some discussion on it and whether or not Madam President will think it's important enough or if we're able, to have people from the charter school in those public property committees would probably be a pretty good idea. So I'm going to make the invitation now that you guys can, and again, Joe and Laura, I know, do a great job at the rec department. They really try hard. It's not easy to find everybody park space and then also have enough park space left over for our people who actually live down in the neighborhoods and the moms and dads that may want to just walk their children down from around the corner and have them go down the slide and then all of a sudden there's an activity down there from an entity. So we gotta look at those things too. And that is why that I had talked when we changed the charter on the parks. This is my second time around doing this. This is my second time doing my parks over. So that's why I find it to be important, and I think that my colleagues agreed with me, especially the ward counselors, that the ward counselors should have the final say on what goes on in those parks and who does what on those parks, because we're the front line of defense. We're the ones that have to go to the meetings. to get the funding meetings, the neighborhood of what they'd like to have down there, the continuation of the maintenance in the upkeep of the parks, especially where money and funding is drying up like puddles everywhere we take a look. So we have to be conscious of those things. But again, I'm going to put the invitation out there that where I do have five or six parks compared to some of my other colleagues here that may only have one, you know, we can sit down and talk about using some of my park space down on Ward 7 for the charter school folks, if need be. You know, because it's hard to take it all on one park when you only have one park over there. And most of the time it was being refurbished, so it wasn't even in use. And I felt that little sting when we had Kersted Park, which is actually right across the street from, I think, the charter school's field house at the old Davidson Chevrolet. So, you know, I think this is something that we really should be sitting down, having many discussions about. And I know this has been an ongoing saga in this city on park space and where we could get more. I'd like to build a school down in my neighborhood. Actually, I'm like the only pretty much ward that don't have a school for being a low to moderate income neighborhood and having five or six parks to go along with those schools. But again, that's for a later date. I can talk to the administration about that later on with the mayor's office, and I'm sure You know, they would like to come up with some other ideas, too. So, you know, I'm just going to say that, you know, while we're getting this thing going, I have no problem with whoever. I know Mr. Kinnan very well. I've served with him. You know, we've we've our families have grown up together. So, you know, I'm a pretty flexible guy. We both have similar tempers, so I think we'll do okay on the discussions. But again, like I said before, you get into politics to help people and not hurt them, so I'm here and my neighborhood has always been a welcoming neighborhood. We even let Everett Lafayette School come down and use Lincoln Commons from time to time for some of their projects. So we want to be open and welcoming to people coming into our neighborhood. So if that helps out at all, if it helps out you, Council Winslow, then I think that would be a good thing to look into. I mean, I don't know how we can arrange maybe the rides from getting over from where you guys are now towards 7. I'm sure my neighborhood would be welcoming and having you guys come on down. And I think everybody can get along, you know. And again, I might be speaking out of school, Madam President, because I don't know all the particulars. Just kind of finding about it this week, just like most of my colleagues. But yeah, we're here to serve you. So thank you. Thank you.

I might be booking that when you're both busy. I don't know. Thank you, Councillor Simonelli. Thank you. Councillor Sica.

Thank you, Council President. My head is spinning listening to all this conversation because I think I'm more confused now than I was earlier this afternoon when I was discussing this issue. And I actually probably may be in the minority up here. Is 26 and did not get into the charter school 21 years ago by way of lottery, but that's okay. Um, but I'm, I'm having a little trouble here. I have a letter up here that was attached to tonight's agenda and it's signed by council of Winslow. I hear him say that this is a council issue. So I want to know why, if it was a council issue, this letter is only signed by council and Winslow would six counselor. I think this is something that should have been discussed before we were actually sitting up here having this conversation. Because I don't know if Councilor Winslow decided $2,500 per season or if it was our Malden Rec Department that decided $2,500 per season. I do know over the past year we've discussed how we were going to charge fees for these particular parks, how we could continue to keep our parks beautiful, especially after the millions of dollars we've just invested into these parks. And as long as everybody across the board is paying the same fee, then I have no issue with it. I feel like the charter school in Ward 6, yes, you are buying up a ton of property or taking away the taxes, it's fine. All your property is in pristine condition. It's immaculate. Even the building you took down in Maplewood Square looks a thousand times better than it did when it was a little mini chain of stores. So I have no issue with that. I am struggling with this because in one sense I hear Councilman Winslow saying that he needs to get fees for this PAC. And then in another sense, he's saying that his residents should be able to take their grandchildren to the PAC during school hours. I do not have that luxury in Ward 8, and neither do my residents. Linden School does not own Linden PAC, but Linden School trumps anybody going to the PAC during school hours. If there are kids If Sally from Claremont Street wants to take her three-year-old grandson over to Linden Park between the hours of 8 and 2, she can't. Whether she drives, whether she walks, whether she puts her to the carriage, she's going to have to find another park, clearly not Trafton, to go to. And Ward 8 only has one park. So why should Ward 8 not be able to use their park and Ward 6 gets to use their park when I thought this started as a fee issue, and I'm not really quite sure we're at a fee issue. I think he just doesn't want the charter school kids at the park after listening to this. I am more confused again now than I was coming into this meeting, and I really spent all afternoon. I have a copy of the park grant. I have the Landon Park programs, and if I'm reading this right, This park grant says that there's a specific area here that says that we're not going to charge fees to use the park and we can't discriminate against residents and non-residents of the city of Malden. So I will not be in support of this paper this evening if we decide to vote on anything. I could entertain sending it to a public properties for more discussion because I don't think I don't I really don't think we went about it the right way and I love Joe and Laura I Council of Spadafora and myself do a ton of things with the Malden rec department and I trust them wholeheartedly But I just don't understand why only council on Winslow was involved in in the in the dialogue and the time I get it's his POC, but we all should have been able to weigh weigh in on it and I think I don't know if it was Councilor O'Malley, somebody had mentioned that, or it might have even have been resident, my apologies. Everybody up here, all 11 of us, although we're eight ward councilors and three councilor at lodges, our city is our city and we should be deciding on parks, any public property together, not individually. any public park any public building it should be 11 of us it shouldn't just be one person deciding what we're doing with that particular space so i um again i'm in the minority and thank you for your time thank you councillor Sica i'm going to allow councillor winslow to respond before i take the next counselor okay councillor Sica i feel that comments very ironic because literally

When I talked about something on town line, Brooke was just some residents. You attacked me for doing something in your ward. So so please. Oh, yes. OK. Yes. Yes. But but first of all, I want to be clear on your first point, on your first point. I'm going to get irate. No. On your first point, I will. I on your first point related to the involvement of Joe and Laura. So I had been for two years. My first outreach was to Joe Levine. We've been working on this for two and a half years. The council, two years ago, I came with this issue. The council directed that to the Stadium Recreation Committee. So I have been working on this for two years, if you remember. And then as this issue came up, I affirmatively reached out to the charter school and I was talking to Joe and Laura. And ultimately what pushed me to bring this paper up is that I talked to Joe And he said, I had had made made, you know, taken a step forward. He said, Steve, I really want your help in resolving this as the word counselor. That's what word counselors do help resolve conflicts between. That's fine. If Lyndon, that's how the dynamic is. I talk to people in Maplewood when the when the Maplewood school was there, they never used the park. The St. Joseph's School back in 65, as far as I know, they did not use this park. This park has been always a neighborhood park. It was not used by the schools. That's the tradition. That's the tradition. I am. Well, Neil, I've been talking to a lot of people. So so no.

So that is in the chamber.

OK, so that is one of the things. And and let me be clear, I just you're putting where I literally said 10 minutes ago that I am supportive of having the charter school use The traffic park at some times, but I'm not supportive of them having it using it all day and not respecting the traditional use of the park as a neighborhood park. So that is my point. That's what I get to do as a word counselor, just like you. I mean, the other thing I say about the schools is that in in 25 years ago, we went through a whole public process when some of the parks were taken for schools. So there was a whole public process to consider. Those playgrounds were designed as part of that public process. When the charter school and that was not a commitment that that maple would, I mean, Trafton Park would be dedicated to the charter school. So there was a public process 25 years ago that laid out all those playgrounds and all those commitments that we made as a city. There was never an agreement when the charter school came to start using Trafton Park. And I say we need to clarify that now, just as Councillor Condon is facing with Denver Park. There was never an agreement. that the charter school when they bought the Emerson School was going to start dominating the use of Denver Park. So that's what we got to deal with. That's why I appreciate Constable Condon speaking up here. We as ward councillors get to help create that balance. And I'm saying that the Monastic Valley Charter School, I'm not opposed to having them use the park, but it's too unbalanced and that's what I'm hearing. And that's why I'm standing up and that's why I'm standing up for my constituents who are saying that.

Thank you, Councillor Winslow. Councillor Sica for the second, and I'm going to say final time so I can get to the rest of the lights.

That's fine, Council President. I appreciate it. I just wanted to remind Councillor Winslow that it's It's a respect thing not to step into another wood council as wood and that's what you did with the town line brook. I'm not suggesting that here. I'm suggesting that before you sent this letter, we probably should have had a meeting and all 11 of us decided what this letter was going to say and what the fee Structure was going to be I am NOT walking in towards six and having a conversation with the charter school Without the word council. I did no such thing and I would never Step into another word counselor up here's wood and try to do something if somebody in from wood seven calls I call counselor Simonelli if somebody in Ward one calls I call peg I know this person. Do you need me to help you or can I give I Excuse me, I am the floor.

Please hold your comments.

And the way that you just acted in your little rebuttal speech is the exact reason why you should not have been in charge of making decisions on this. And St. Joseph's School did use the charter school way back when. They most certainly did. So he doesn't know.

Thank you, Councillor Sica. Councillor McDonald, thank you for your patience.

Yeah, thank you. So I live nearby and I spent a lot of time near Trafton Park and spent a lot of time knocking on doors in the neighborhood. And I have to tell you, I hear a lot of concerns about the presence of the charter school in the community and its use of land. And that definitely includes the park, although it's not only the park, but it is true that I hear regular reports and concerns from parents who live in the neighborhood that whether or not the charter school folks who are there are asking people to leave the functional way that the charter school is treating The use of the park and the way that it's leading its kids that are under its care is crowding out resident usage. That's what's that's what's coming to me as a counselor just organically because I'm talking to the neighborhood. So this is not a regular park use situation where we there are not good comparisons, in fact, to what's happening here, because Mystic Valley Regional charter school is a singular organization. In fact, I don't know of any other charter schools in Massachusetts that have large property portfolios across the city. And we're not talking about res. It's not my concern about the residency of the students of Mystic Valley. My concern is that what we have here is a private enterprise, ostensibly funded with public dollars. Although, again, we don't know a lot about that because there's not a lot of transparency there. that is using a public asset without much agreement about how that should work. And I'm not OK with that. So I am very interested in this question of why has the charter school not built a playground nearby, given that it has recently bought property, bulldozed property just last year, but for eight hundred thousand dollars, another property to bring its total property portfolio close to 20 and yet not built a playground there. It's unthinkable to me that the Malden public's, well, at any rate, that's a lot of money on the table. And it is somewhat shocking to me that we are here talking about $2,500 a year, which I'm just not, frankly, I mean, I'm not sure that that is a fair deal for the city. I'm not sure that that is a fair bargain for the neighborhood for the use of that park. I do want to say to the parents who are here, I really understand and agree that everybody should have fair access to a great education for their kids. I'm not a charter school parent. We didn't apply. It's not the right choice for my kids. But I understand that it is for many. And I want nothing but good things for your kids. And I have to say that I think part of the reason that you are here is because the leadership of the school has not been a good and consistent partner with the neighborhood and the community. consistently treated these conversations as pitting our kids against each other when that does not have to happen. It really does not. We certainly could have had different conversations leading up to this, and we can certainly have better conversations going forward. I'm not against partnerships to use our parks or assets, but it's got to be give as well as take. And that's just not what I've seen at any point. And there's very there's no preexisting trust to build on. This has been a frayed relationship for some time. And the dynamic here, I think, evidences that. So we've got a ways to go. I don't believe I can. I don't believe I could vote for this permit tonight because it does. Again, it doesn't feel fair to the neighborhood. And I don't think we've had enough time to figure out whether this adequately captures what the way the school is using the park. I am very curious, you know, what other kinds of options there would be and why none of those have been considered. But Malden and our students, we're facing a budget deficit in this city. And the millions of dollars in property that Mystic Valley owns does not pay taxes. And could we talk about a payment in lieu of taxes and maybe have a different arrangement around the park? I'd be happy to explore other alternatives because that's thousands and thousands of dollars right there. When we can't solve that problem, then we're gonna have to be laying, if we can't solve that problem, then we have to lay off city staff. And our families feel that. This does not have to be a zero sum game, but that is the way that it has been treated to bring us here today. So as I said, I can't support this permit tonight. I'm happy to, if you want, if we wanna refer to committee, take some more time to talk about it. I really want what's right for your kids. I don't think that whatever has been communicated to the Mystic Valley community is full and honest and fair. And that's what I want to see for our parks. This is a precedent setting agreement. And we have lots of good. We have lots of relationships that we want to have with community organizations who can fairly use the part and contribute to the community. And that's the expectation that I have for entering into agreements like that. Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councillor McDonald. Councillor O'Malley.

Oh, OK. So. You know, I want to also reiterate that I understand the frustration of the parents and I understand why you feel like it's the city of Malden that is to blame for this. But to Councillor McDonald's point, the blame really does not lay at the city of Malden's feet, but does squarely lay at the feet of the leadership of Mystic Valley. But there is some blame for the city of Malden. The city of Malden did Functionally seed fund this school with our public assets we Functionally gave them the Emerson school. We gave them the Maplewood school and fire station the amount of public assets this that this organization somehow dispossessed from the city of Malden is Extreme now they paid for it. Did they pay fair market value? I don't know. I wasn't involved. I do know. Mr. Kenan was involved You know, he used to sit up here at one point To Counselor Condon's point, the charter school does not pay taxes. The charter school buys up taxable property, mostly residential properties, more recently retail spaces like Serena's, and then knocks them down and makes our community less of an attractive place to live. The charter school claimed that it was knocking down Serena's and all of the businesses, the taxpaying businesses there. because they wanted there to be a recess space for their students. And comically, kind of like a laughing in our face, put a little strip of grass with a Grinch. Does everyone remember the Grinch? That was them laughing at us. That was them flexing their power and their control over the city of Malden. They no longer have that control, and they're acting out. I feel for Councilor Winslow. I feel for Councilor Condon. It's not fair that all of the burden is on just your neighborhoods. I appreciate Councillor Simonelli's creative thinking. I think you're asking for a problem though. I think we really need to resolve how do we maintain our parks in a fair manner. So with that, we do need to figure out how the city maintains our parks. We have a duty to make sure that we maintain our parks. And I hear what Mystic Valley is saying. It needs to be fair and equitable. I don't know about the park grant. I don't know about all the different rules that we agreed to, but we should make sure that we're complying with those. And if that requires all organizations contributing to the maintenance of these parks, then so be it. There's been a lot of comment about the Malden schools not paying the city of Malden. That's the same entity. So if Malden Public Schools and the city of Malden, taking one money from one account and putting it into another account. So that's definitely doable. And if we need to do that to make sure we're taking care of our parks, then so be it. I think that that is something to think about. I don't know if it would be the right thing to do. It's up to the school committee and the mayor. But we need to make sure we maintain the parks. Part of that is also Mystic Valley. And as I would mention, Mr. Kenan used to serve with me up here. And I remember him talking about the tragedy of the commons. And that's basically when one group or one subset of group overtake the resources in the commons, that results in a deteriorated public space. And so all we are asking as a city of Malden is that for Mystic Valley to contribute to help maintain our spaces. We're trying our best. We have limited resources. It doesn't appear as though Mystic Valley has limited resources. because you're literally buying up half of Malden, knocking down buildings, and doing nothing with it. I would love to see you guys build a school, because sitting on this land as vacant parcels that you don't use is ridiculous. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor O'Malley. Councillor Colón Hayes. Thank you very much.

I feel like a lot of what I was going to say was just said, so I just want to thank Councillor O'Malley and of course, Councilman McDonald, who were bringing up some very valid points, and also my colleague here next to me that I said thank you very much for what you said about Devereux Park as well. I also know what kind of financial difficulties that we are heading into. I think we all know that, and maybe that isn't clear, or maybe that the school doesn't talk about the city's finances, but we are headed into a real dangerous place And we have to be more diligent on how we spend our money. I heard some of the parents up here speaking from the Mystic Valley Charter School, and I heard some really disturbing stuff, and I feel really bad. If somebody's taking pictures of your children or speaking to your children without your permission, as a parent of three, I would be fuming. I would. There's also like Council Winslow has his property to take care of and he has his constituents to answer to. And I hear from constituents saying that the park isn't clean, that they're being taunted by kids from the school. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's not even really the point because really what I'm going to go down is to saying is like $2,500 as a season seems like a bargain. It is a bargain. As a matter of fact, when I read it, I was like, that's too low. We need to take care of these parks. They're brand new. That's going to take so much money. There was so much fighting over Roosevelt Park to keep it grass. And we we need to put money into Roosevelt Park and open up more parks. We can't be giving away stuff for free. I'd like to see what everybody is talking about here. Mr. Kinning got up and started making accusations that some people aren't paying. I want to see that. So, yeah, if it goes to committee, I want to see exactly what we're talking about here, because that's not fair either. But the administration, I feel the parents, I feel like you're being duped by your administration. I think that you weren't giving the right information. And I feel for you for that. Because I'd be fighting anyone who knows me with my kids, I'd be fighting like crazy if I thought that they were getting a bum deal. But they're not. They're not. And I also have been working with Laura Perez. I work very closely with Mr. Levine on parks. They do a phenomenal job. And I'll be looking into seeing how to help them, because they are short staffed. We need to all be working together here. This conversation went from a very level-headed conversation here, started by my colleague here, down a road. We need to get back to what we were talking about, down some crazy road of accusations and nonsense. We need to work together here. I'd be willing to work with anyone, sit down with staff, go to the meetings at the charter school. I've been putting out stuff online to see if I can get some feedback. One thing like Councilor Simonelli was talking about, maybe we can trade off resources. Maybe something to talk about is maybe we can use some of the park for Mystic Valley Charter School, your pool, your turf, I don't know, trade off. If $2,500 is too much for you to pay, which I know it's not, maybe we can talk about other things. I think as parents, you really need to think about what you've been told and listen about the, because again, I feel for you and I'd be fighting hard for my kids, but I don't think you're getting the full story. And I hope that you hear from the city what a dire situation we are moving into and how we should be working together and not pitting each other against each other. It's not helping anyone. So I'm here to help in any way that's possible. I'll vote it on the floor tonight or I'll vote it to pass with the committee. I have no problem with that. And thank you. Thank you all for coming out. Thank you, Councillor Cologne-Hayes.

Councillor Spadafora.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it. And I will be brief. I just have a couple of questions. So one is I know Councillor Simonelli said it's his park, it's his ward. I will completely disagree with Councillor Simonelli on that because the way the ordinance is written, it is not determined by the ward council. It's actually determined by the rec commission and all the city council board. So there's parity because you said you have parity, but then you can't have, you know, eight different wards having eight different Fee schedule. So I think in that aspect, I know what you meant. You're territorial, you want to protect the park, but the same token is the way the ordinance written is, you have to have some standardization and that's what this does. So my question is, and this is part of Council of Winslow, was the discussion between the charter school and yourself under the high intensity user multi-year permits by our ordinance, or was it underneath the hourly fee schedule or single day permit. I don't know which one.

Councillor Winslow, you can answer to the chair.

I mean, I was just putting out a proposal to move forward to avoid this conflict. So that was really what it was. And then, you know, the the proposal, the Mystic Valley of asking for zero basically fee was was not going anywhere. So I was just trying to resolve this to prevent this conflict from happening. So and, you know, to Councillor Sica's point, I mean, I looked at the option, I mean, and we went through all the consternation about the things with the trustees of library. I looked at the situation where, you know, last week the charter school started using the field as they had without a permit. And I was getting all that. And so I had no choice. I did not have the choice to have this meeting in private to really work, to have the conversation with you all as a counselor. We are a body, our open meeting law. requires there was no option on the open meeting law to talk about a compliance issue this is not a litigation issue yet so that was my dilemma that my only choice was to put something out there and I thought that to put my letter in the record was to make clear that I'm making an effort here and but I am I appreciate and you know I hope all of you I put this forward in the spirit of what you had talked about a couple years ago when when there's an issue that requires some special consideration and especially is going to set a long-term precedent that should come to the council. That's why I brought this paper here and that was you know, I'm I am happy to work with the Public Properties Committee and and Mystic Valley to try to move this forward. But that was the dilemma that that Joe and Laura did not feel that they had under their rules the ability to move this forward. So I step forward with this And it was frustrating that the charter school was starting to use a field without a permit. So that's, I'm just- Councilor Winslow, Councilor Spadafora does still have the floor, I just wanna make sure. I just reached out so that I'm putting this, I put this here so that the council could get involved in it, thank you.

No, this is the reason why I asked. First of all, I was a graduate of Marlin Catholic, I have kids there, I know they pay for their fair share there. And I think everybody in the audience knows, I think everybody said it up here, the city will be broke probably in the next two years. So money is important to all of us. My concern is, and my fear, and again, I think there's a lot of great points tonight, is the way this is read is you can do an hourly fee or you do a high intensity using a multi-year permit. The reason why I say that, this is probably where it falls under, right? Simply because it says a high intensity uses are encouraged to pursue a multi-year permit. That goes to the city council. So I think to everybody's point, it'd be great if we could have this discussion city council. The other one is the Malden, and this is what scares me, the Malden Department of Recreation shall have the right to issue a permit to an individual organization does not conform to the above. And I'm not saying the charter school doesn't, but it does not does not the fee schedule above or does not comport with other policies in the guide in its sole discretion to determine that doing so it's the best interest of the greater good. Each decision shall have no bearing on similar respects a request, excuse me, and shall not obligate the department with regards to future requests. So they can waive it for certain instances without us, without even us getting to it. If it's a high intensity multi-user, it's on us. We have to determine that. So I'm assuming this is going to go under that one. So the council should do that. What I'm fearful of, there's other organizations that we know, I'm not saying that are listed here like the youth that use the park every day, that we're not charging a fee to. I do not want to charge a fee to them. But they could fall underneath that high, intensity use too, right? There's a school in the square that uses a park every day. I don't want to see them being feed. So I want to make sure that we have a discussion that does not hinder other organizations that may not have the same means and don't have the same means to fall into that and then we're in a whole lot of trouble in terms of the community. So I would hope that this body would refer it somewhere. We can have discussions with the school because I'm assuming it's coming to the council, right? That's my request is that based under this high intensity, it goes to the city council. This is what I was trying to explain at the outset, yeah. So I don't know what committee it should go to, but I think we should have a discussion to talk about use, time, fees, etc., and parity. And hopefully we can do that in a setting that is conducive to a place to, I don't know where that is, but that was my line of question is, where does this go? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, thank you, Councillor Spadafora. Councillor Simonelli, are you looking to make that motion?

Councilor Spadafora, even though you and I don't disagree that often, I find tonight that I do disagree with you. because I'd like to see you or anybody else try and come down to my neighborhood and put something in one of my parks that me and my neighborhood say we don't want in there. So honestly, I mean, I think that's kind of, well, I'm just saying, look, I think it should be discussed on with the entire body, absolutely, councilor, I do. No, I get it, but that's why I made it clear in that ordinance when we were going over it, and I think I made it clear with you, right, Councilor Winslow, when you were doing the whole charter review, that the ward council should have some sort of say at the end of the day, because we're the ones that find the money, can go to the meetings. You know, you're there, you're right with me. I know, I know, you know what I'm saying on that though. But I'm going to yield, because I was going to make a motion, but I'm going to yield it.

And I do want to say, Councillor Winslow has given several rebuttals. This is actually his third time being recognized to speak.

This is a motion. No rebuttals. No rebuttals. I'm going to surrender my motion.

I know we want to be proper about how many times everyone gets to speak.

This is your third time speaking.

I'm going to surrender my motion to Councillor Winslow because it's his paper.

Okay, so I think we've had a lot of- So be kind. I think everybody's discussed this. So my motion is, I mean, I really forward this here and put this paper forward to get this conversation going. And but my expectation tonight is that that we there's two aspects of this paper. So my motion is to forward both aspects of my paper, both the Mystic Valley Charter School application as fee waiver to public properties, along with my proposal, as well as to have the legal department and compliance team be on the ready to enforce our park rules and regulations until such time a permit is issued. I think that's the other thing. OTHER THING IS TO UNDERSTAND THAT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT GOT THIS BALL ROLLING WAS THE CHARTER SCHOOL WAS USING THE DRAFT AND PARK WITHOUT A PERMIT SO I THINK WE HAVE TO BE CLEAR THAT WE'RE WE'RE MOVING FORWARD TO TOWARDS A PERMIT BUT AND THE UNDERSTAND THEY DON'T HAVE A PERMIT AND THEY DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO USE THE PARK UNTIL THE PERMIT IS ISSUED SO SO SO I SO I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION THAT THE THE APPLICATE MYSTIC VALLEY CHARTER SCHOOLS APPLICATION FOR A PERMIT AS WELL AS MY PROPOSAL BE FORWARDED TO THE PUBLIC PROPERTIES COMMITTEE But also that we, if necessary, we reach out to the legal department to work on any compliance issues that come up. Thank you.

Okay, so I would- What about representatives from the other- They can come, it'll be a public meeting.

Right, that'll be a public meeting. We can invite whatever departments we need to have there. I would like to briefly speak on the motion in the paper. I don't want to belabor what others have said. I have also heard from a lot of constituents, even though I represent the west side of the city, I have a lot of residents who work at the charter school, have sent their children there. I also have folks who've tried to visit Trafton Park, especially since it's got a brand new playground and have had some of the encounters that Councilor McDonald described, either feeling uncomfortable with how crowded it is or having had interactions where they've been asked to actually leave, which is super disappointing. Obviously, none of us want to have that happen. I don't want to hear about it happening at Dever. I hear about that as well. I think it behooves all of us to make sure that all of the institutions in the city are being treated the same and are also following the same rules. In doing my due diligence on this, I was not able to find another educational institution in the city that does not have a permit. So we clearly need to have everybody having a permit that's going to be in the parks, kind of full stop. That's where I'm at on this. Whatever that amount is, I think we can talk about that in committee. That's clearly the parameters that we need to get agreement on, the hours and the amount. I'm in agreement with a lot of my colleagues. The amount in this letter struck me as awfully low. I pulled the water usage for the park today. It's $1,300 a month. That's not even seating. That's not DPW maintenance. And that's before you even look at whether the amount of time being spent on the park by one entity is even reasonable. So clearly, I think we have some discussion to do about what that number is and what those hours are. But I would echo what Councilor McDonald said. Nobody up here is wanting to take recess or gym or after school activities away from any child in the city. My daughter goes to Beebe. We do not have a field there. They do gym on Blacktop. End of story. There's no field. There's no grass there. They didn't even have a playground for half the kids for most of her time there. If the high school basketball team needs to use the gym there, they don't even get gyms sometimes. These are the sacrifices you have to make. when you're sharing facilities, which Malden Public does, to Councillor Sica's point. I think the place to discuss this further certainly is in the Public Property Committee. I would say that I would either welcome or be willing to draft a paper to discuss Dever as well when we do take it into public property, because I think if we're going to invite you all to come back and discuss this, we might as well discuss both facilities. Since we've brought it up multiple times tonight, I think we should take up all the fields that we're talking about tonight and just Get one policy in place that can tackle all that at once. That would be my preference. So we have a motion on the table. Do we have a second to send to public property? Seconded by Councilor Spadafora. All in favor? Aye. Okay, that motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Next order of business.

Paper 351-25, committee report, the standing committees on rules and ordinance and finance. To whom was referred papers 294, 340, and 341 series of 2025? Having considered the same, make the following report.

On a motion by Councillor Winslow to receive the committee report, seconded by Councillor Crowe. All in favor? Aye.

Okay. Paper 294-25. Be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the Code of the City of Malden 6.12.0602, sale of goods by weight, measure, or volume is hereby amended by striking the table in its entirety and inserting the following as attached.

Councillor Winslow for the paper.

Yeah, so we discussed this paper in the Rules and Ordinance Committee and the decision was to, the committee voted out favorably. Um, there was some discussion of whether we should even enroll it tonight. The thought was maybe, um, that since we have to enroll and ordain, um, councilor O'Malley asked for, um, some documentation that'll help, um, create a, a basis for the fees. Um, the, uh, commissioner, uh, uh, Nelson Miller said that that would be able to be prepared by our next meeting on September 30th. So, um, so, um, September 30th, so that, um, we can consider enrolling and ordaining.

So I don't think we need to table if we're just not going to take it up at the next meeting, right?

Yes. So, yeah, however, whatever the recommendation of this clerk is. But, yeah, so it was recommended out favorably, but not to enroll it tonight. So, yeah.

Okay. Counselor O'Malley, did you want to speak to the paper?

Yeah, I mean, so we're definitely talking about it, so it has to be tabled. And I appreciate Counselor Winslow's willingness. I think once we get the financial basis for the increased cost to justify these THESE INCREASING FEES, I THINK WE'LL BE IN A GOOD STATE. I THINK THIS IS NOT A CONTROVERSIAL PAPER. I THINK WE'LL BE ABLE TO DEFINITELY DOCUMENT IT FROM A FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE. BUT FOR THE LONG-TERM HEALTH OF THESE FEES, I THINK WE COULD ENROLL AND ORDAIN IN THE SAME NIGHT ON THE 30th ONCE WE HAVE THAT. SO I WOULD EITHER MOVE TO TABLE IT OR SECOND COUNSELOR WINSLOW'S MOTION.

THANK YOU. The clerk has reminded me that we're both in error. We do need to table it. We read it into the record.

So I make a motion to table the paper.

Okay, so in Councillor Winslow's motion to table, seconded by Councillor O'Malley, all in favor? Aye. Okay, so that is tabled. Next order of business.

Paper 340-25, be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the code of the City of Malden 2.24.070 Traffic Supervisor Salary Schedule is hereby amended by adding the updated salary schedule chart effective July 1st, 2025. Okay, Councillor Winslow for the paper.

Yeah, so the committee did vote out to recommend this paper. I mean, right now, our traffic supervisors, as most people know, is crossing guards. We have 47 of them. Their salary's been $19 an hour, and then it went up to $22 in the current contract that expired back at June 30th. This will raise their salary up to $25 and then increase it over the next three years. So that the committee voted in favor of the new schedule. So I make a recommendation that the council enroll the paper based on this recommendation.

Okay, on a motion by Councillor Winslow to enroll the paper, seconded by Councillor O'Malley. Yes.

So, yes, I want to thank Winslow and Councillor McDonald for shepherding these two papers through ordinance and finance. And fully in support of this, I think that it's great that they're getting a salary increase, still really low, as we discussed in committee. I do think that they deserve more. They are literally crossing our youth across streets and making our streets safe, so I think that they deserve It's a dangerous job, as we've noticed, that they can get hit by cars. People accost them regularly. I think that, to Councillor Crowe's point, I think we should also look into making them special municipal employees. And I look forward to collaborating with her and others on that. So I am firmly in support and would second Councillor Windsor's motion. Thank you.

Okay, on the motion by Councillor Winslow, seconded by Councillor O'Malley, all in favor?

Aye.

Okay, that carries.

So I have a motion to suspend the rules to be able to- For the purpose of ordaining? Yes, yes.

Okay, do I have a second to that? Seconded by Councillor Crowe. Do we have to do a roll call? Okay, we got time. What are we doing besides your committee meeting? We're gonna get some quality discussion out of everyone. Do I get to cancel it?

Do I get to sue? Is that a motion by Winslow, seconded? Councilor O'Malley, seconded.

To suspend the rules for- Councilor Colón Hayes?

Yes.

Councilor Condon?

Yes.

Councilor Crowe? Yes. Councilor McDonald? Yes. Councilor O'Malley? Yes. Councilor Sica?

Yes.

Councilor Simonelli and Spadafora? Councilor Spadafora?

Yes.

Councilor Taylor, Councilor Winslow?

Yes.

Council President Linehan? Yes. So the rules have been suspended.

All right, so I make a motion to ordain paper 340-25.

Who's seconded? Councilor O'Malley? Yeah. Okay, I will do a roll call vote.

Councilor Cologne-Hayes? Yes. Councilor Condon? Yes. Councilor Crowe? Yes. Councilor McDonald? Yes. Councilor O'Malley? Yes. Councilor Sica? Yes. Councilor Spadafora? Yes. Councilor Winslow?

Yes.

Council President Linehan? Yes. Okay, ordained. Okay, that is ordained.

That's good that traffic supervisors get their money a little bit sooner.

Yes, well worth it.

Paper 341-25, order that the sum of $60,000 be and the same is hereby transferred from salary reserve to traffic salaries.

Councilor McDonald for the paper. I am so sorry, hang on.

Thank you, so this is just the appropriation for this fiscal year to cover the increase in the salary schedules. The schedules are effective as of July 1, 2025, so the traffic supervisors will get back paid till then. And this will cover the increased cost for the rest of the year coming from our salary reserve as budgeted. So I make a motion to approve the order.

Okay, on a motion by Councilor McDonald, second by Councilor Crowe. All in favor? Aye.

Oh, I'm sorry, that's financial. Councilor Cologne-Hayes? Yes. Councilor Condon? Yes. Councilor Crowe? Yes. Councilor McDonald? Yes. Councilor O'Malley? Yes. Councilor Siga? Yes. Councilor Spadafora? Yes. Councilor Winslow? Yes. Councilor President Linehan? Yes.

Okay, the order has been adopted. Okay, the docket is clear. Would anyone like personal privilege? Okay, I have Councilor Winslow.

One week from today, voters in Ward 4 and Ward 6 will be having a preliminary election in Ward 4 for school committee and in Ward 6 for city councilors. So I encourage all residents in those wards to vote. If you're not available next week, the clerk, we still have early voting tomorrow. Thursday here at City Hall and you could actually still pull your mail-in ballot and put it in by the Thursday you could could get that in time to put in by the 16th. So please come out and vote you can hear tonight there are important issues that we vote on as a council and Looking forward to the will of the voters thing Thank You councillor Winslow and I will take that moment to remind folks that because of the preliminary we will not be meeting next week as a council

We additionally will have the week following as a break because of the observance of Rosh Hashanah. So the next council meeting is actually going to be on September 30th for us and for the public to be aware of two weeks off after tonight. Um, so I will next take councilor O'Malley. Nope. Did you just turn yourself off again? There you go.

Uh, thank you so much. So, uh, there'll be a weights Mount cleanup on, Saturday, September 27th at 10 a.m. We're going to be partnering with the Great Maldon Outdoors, so please come out and check out Waits Mount Park. It's a great view. It will be a nice fall day, I'm sure, based on the weather we've been having recently. This Thursday, September 11th at 6 p.m., I will also be holding a question and answer session regarding the library matter outside the library at 36 Salem Street. So if you have any questions and want to learn more, I'll be there to answer your questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor O'Malley. Councillor McDonald.

Next Wednesday, September 17th at 7 p.m., our Malden's new Police Community Advisory Council is having its first public forum. So I hope folks can show up. The Police Community Advisory Council was created to be an independent voice on public safety issues. They meet with Malden Police Department. They meet with members of the community, especially those who have been traditionally marginalized. They review data. They make recommendations. So this is an opportunity for them to share what they've been hearing to get more information from the community. So please join that public conversation. They're meeting in person at the community room at our police station on Eastern Ave. And again, that's next Wednesday, September 17th at 7 p.m.

Thank you, Councilor McDonald. Councilor Colón Hayes. Thank you. I just want to announce, everybody here got a flyer, actually.

The Hispanic Heritage Month Festival is Saturday, 12 to 4, September 20th at the Ed Lucy Plaza here at City Hall. And I just wanted to point out that this will be the first time that we'll be raising the flag here in Malden. The Hispanic flag that they redesigned and that was really led by Juan Lopez and a group that he has been working with and they've been traveling around the world literally to raise this flag. So it's really super special that we're going to be doing it here in Malden. So I hope you It starts at 1145 with the parade and that's 12 to 4 again at September 20th. Thank you.

Great, thank you, Councilor Colón Hayes. Seeing no other lights, just a couple quick things from the chair. I want to thank everybody who came out to Felsmere Pond on Monday, including so many of you for a good dog day. It was a wonderful event co-sponsored by our animal control and police and so many of our local businesses. It was really fun to meet so many of your pets. And we were able to also have the Girl Scouts come out and hang up the new signs reminding folks to recycle their fishing lines. And we have new fishing line containers where you can recycle the lures and not leave it in the trees and at the pond where it can harm the wildlife. So go check that out if you're down at the res. And then I wanted to also invite folks, there's going to be a world music concert this Saturday at three at the pond. That is something that's been funded by the Mall and Cultural Council. And it's free and open to all, family friendly event, so come on down and check it out if you're around this weekend. And seeing no other lights, do I have a motion to adjourn? Okay, on a motion by Councilor O'Malley, seconded by Councilor Winslow, all in favor? Aye. Aye, we are adjourned at 8.52.

All right, Code of Conduct Committee, we're going to meet for five minutes. Five minutes.

I'll stay for five. Five minutes.