Malden City Council 10-28-25

We'll be getting started in just a moment. We're having a little issue with our team's broadcast, so just bear with us. We'll be getting started in just a moment.

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Council will come to order.

All rise and salute the flag.

you can be seated thank you

We apologize.

We apologize.

We apologize. Thank you.

OK, we're going to try to move forward with our agenda. We may have to pause again. Thank you so much for bearing with us. I'm going to do our land acknowledgment next. We honor and acknowledge the Massachusetts, Pentecost, 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, from the day we are in 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. Next, the clerk will call the roll.

Okay, 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 to be aware, there will be audio and video recordings of this meeting. First order of business is public comment. Public comment is allowed under council rules. Each speaker is limited to subject matter relevant to the evening's agenda and must keep their comments to two minutes or less. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up for public comment tonight? No, we do not. Do we have any email comments? Not for public comment, okay, thank you. Next order of business. Next order of business is the consent agenda. The consent agenda tonight consists of meeting minutes to be approved, one appointment to be referred to personnel, three appointments to be placed on file, and 11 petitions to be referred to the license committee. Does any councilor have a desire to remove any of these items from the consent agenda for the purpose of further discussion? Okay, hearing none and seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Okay, I have a motion by Councilor Sica, seconded by Councilor Simonelli. All in favor? Aye. Okay, all in favor? Opposed? The agenda is approved, next order of business. Seconded by Councilor Sica, seconded by Councilor Simonelli. All in favor? Opposed? The agenda is approved, next order of business. Seconded by Councilor Sica, seconded by Councilor Simonelli. Thank you. ¶¶

No, I think we just need to move forward. I'm going to stay for folks watching on Teams and just remind everyone you can stream the meeting on cable and on YouTube. So if you're experiencing the audio issues, I think We won't have that if you switch to YouTube or to UMA, so maybe try that.

I'm so sorry for the issues that we're having tonight. We're really doing our best, but I don't want to delay Nate's presentation and our voting to discuss this really important agenda item, so maybe come before it. Thank you. Just for clarification, using the description, I don't know if you can see from the beauty of it. You should be able to use that microphone, yes. Basically, this presentation is a series that I've had for the past nine years, except for the benefit of the science. We'll see what the difference can be in this series.

So, thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you. what the minimum residential factor is. and historically long produced. So the time frame we're discussing tonight, so these fiscal 26, this is an actual bill for fiscal 26. The time frame to come up to determine these values is calendar 2020. A little grass frog. So this page is MRF, Minimum Residential Factor Options, with a 30% residential exemption. So one thing the residential exemption does is increase the residential tax rate. So you can see there that with a MRF of one, we still wouldn't have a single tax rate. It would be a 12% tax rate. Thank you. The residential will be allowed in the foyer. The foyer will stay the same because the residential is open to the public. Seven. Six. Seven. Six. ¶¶ And this slide shows the average rise age of women. This is from the end of the 19th century. This is just the beginning of the 19th century.

This is part of the 19th century.

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Thank you. because they're required to pay a minimum benefit. And then, as the buildings get bigger, so do the benefits. So, 16 each of the 23 families, 48 each of the 76, nine plus units, which is everything from nine units all the way up to .

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So I'm trying to understand why, so even if you're owner-occupied, that one of these residential units, your tax bill would be less.

And I'm trying to understand. the benefit would not be there. And that's because in order to pay for the residential exemption, we have to increase the tax rates. And then the reductions result in the reductions in the benefits of the higher tax rate, which is why they separate the year. Because I was trying to figure out why is the bend, why?

It's from the higher texture.

So, what happens is the tax rate goes down. So, so even though there is no tax bill, the tax rate goes down. So, so even though there is no tax bill,

Because what I've been trying to figure out is why would there not be a benefit to all of their occupied properties? ... ... ... ... ... ...

I just want to underline that because I think that's a question I get a lot too. Nobody is rejected from it because of my value. Everybody gets it, but it diminishes if their value is so high that it doesn't affect them. It's not like you can get an application and say, oh, your house is worth $1.4 million. You don't get it. It's still applied. It just essentially doesn't make sense.

Correct. Not that it doesn't make sense. Right, it doesn't.

I just want to make sure, because I think that is a question that's starting to come in a little bit more, even though it's in so few properties. I think because we've been talking about it a lot more, there's folks that are thinking, oh, my property might be close to that amount. I shouldn't even apply, and we do not want that message getting out there.

I love this table. But a lot of other communities that I've been to, it doesn't affect my time.

Which is so prominent in residential, and so important for me as a citizen.

Which is a real benefit of staying away from the dorms.

Slathering is just a difference between being in the dorms.

Thank you.

Thank you.

so so

so so

Do you have questions about science?

Do you have questions about all that?

I mean, I believe it.

It is wild though. So can you just clarify for me?

The reason Chelsea is able to ultimately end up with lower tax rates is that because their commercial and industrial property base is so large that the tax shift relieves that much of a burden upon the residential community.

Like, it's proportionally so large compared to here. Yeah, they do have, uh, they don't have nearly as many people. The next slide. So, I think historically, I don't know how many people. Yeah, Chelsea's not on there. Okay, how's this going to go? i would just say you know the first thing i would comment is everybody in that list but i also find it interesting just uh

um i say that because there's a paper right now tax 30 or more units, an additional 10%, almost the same as the cost of commercial tax to make up for that tax. So we're trying to shift the burden like everybody else is to more commercial space and realizing that if you have a 30, you know, if you have a building that has 30 apartments and then you build a building right next to it that has 30 you know, type of WeWork scenarios, you are paying more money for the WeWork space with, you know, you know, the tax rate for the residential is so much dramatically lower. I was trying to impress you because I knew the number. I don't want you to look at the screen. But my point is, it's a math problem that everybody's trying to figure out, right? And we even, we've already counseled with Don and I when we went to talk about the school funding formula. We lost, you know, town of Tossfield having the same challenge. They get 6,000 residents and zero commercial space. So everybody's in this conundrum right now, and you've got to find that balance, but... I'm glad to see Lawson's at 35. I think we deserve to be at 35. I think there's a little bit of ballast in terms of shifting that. And right now it gives us the opportunity to kind of pretend we have a higher commercial rate by shifting it.

And I'm going to watch and see what Lawson does in terms of earning more profitability because if they can pass that, if we do that, that gives us some ammunition to go forward and say, maybe we can do it.

Yes, and I just, I do really want to make sure that we get to the hearing, so I want to make sure that we are focusing on questions to clarify Nate's presentation, not commenting.

We'll work on assessing hearings from time to time. So I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on with the audience today.

Okay.

Just to follow up on Councillor Spadafora's statement, I had agreed with what you were saying until our last meeting when I discovered that the high-value residential buildings significantly increase the average residential property value.

So if we were to reclassify the large apartment buildings as commercial, that would reduce significantly the average residential value, which would push more people above the median value.

So if there's a way to do that without doing that, that would be ideal. I just don't know how we do that. You get what I'm saying?

If you take all of the highest value residential properties out of the average, you now bring the average significantly down from the 1.1 million to who knows what.

But that's something we need to think about.

If you're able to add on top of it as a surtax without reclassifying, I think that's the best way. We definitely want these large public buildings to be part of the average value for residential. The same way with the CPA tax, that's a surtax. It's on top of the tax. That would be the ideal way to do it. So you're just adding on and not taking it away. Do you want me to comment on that?

I have no idea what those numbers would look like.

I understand completely what you're saying. And it's something I could probably find out. I have no idea. But I think it would be interesting to see if that could work. Just to see if it works. I mean, just to... This is... It's just where other... .

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Thank you.

I'm going to now declare our public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of the residential exemption and or the residential factor, please come forward and state your name and address for the record.

Anyone who is here to speak can say it.

Okay, hearing none and seeing none, I'm going to declare that portion of the hearing closed.

Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the residential exemption and or the residential factor, please come forward and state your name and address for the record.

. . . . ¦ ¦ Here you can see no one else I don't know if it's clear enough or something, but here it is.

I sort of appreciate our city assessor's job. I've been here for 10 years and this has taken me a decade to fully understand how complicated this is all. And I think the presentation this year, having them come early so we can get our juices flowing and really understand it rather

Okay, I do have a couple of lights for discussion, but we'll make sure that we word that correctly. I think we do need to sit meeting the state specifically. Right, so we need two motions, right?

Can we do them, we can do them together, correct? We need to...

9054, residential factor.

9054, residential factor. And we need to adopt a residential exemption of 35%. ¶¶ ¶¶ Okay.

So we have a great motion. I'm going to allow Councilor McDonald to climb in to see the motion.

Councilor McDonald.

Yes, so I do want to support this shift and just want to clarify a couple of things that I think might be confusing to people watching. First, I do want to recognize that just the sound has made this really hard to watch online. Folks can't get the direct audio, so they're relying on captions. So I just want to say I think it's really important that we try to get an additional communication from the city out via, like, alerts or Facebook or something, because I think this is one of the more consequential yet complicated things that we do for our residents. So I want to say, one, just really clearly, this is a tax shift, not a tax cut. And I know we say it every year, but it's really important for residents to understand that this does not reduce the amount of income the city gets, it just shifts how it's paid within residential taxes for the residential exemption. And that part on the opposite side of residential, the residential taxes, obviously the commercial residential shift impacts both. But that residential exemption, as we've discussed here, does not create any worse a budget gap. It doesn't solve the budget gap. It's just budget neutral. It does help folks who have lower-value homes, have lower property tax bills if they live in them, if they're owner-occupied. I take the point well that there's an analogy to commercial property management paying more in taxes. I also want to note that some of the questions and comments I've gotten about this are about whether whether renters will pay the tax difference for these higher value residential properties And what I want to say is that there is not a clean answer on that. Obviously, they do not pay the bill directly. The landlord does. But if you read the research and the economic theory about this, most of rental rates are set by the market. And only in serious, like, big changes in the tax rate, it might be possible that some of that could get passed on. But it would really have to depend on market right now. And so I don't think that that is at all a one-for-one idea. I think that the rental market is very strong in this area and that that will ultimately govern the rental rates. So it's not a direct change. So I want to state that as part of my position on this. And lastly, I want to say that while we have been talking about this in parallel to a potential request for an override or an actual increase in local taxes, property taxes, they really are independent.

We cannot link

or make conditional our tax rates here to what happens in any potential future override vote. I do think that part of the Part of the reason I hear this council, and say for myself, really wanted to consider this this year in particular, is because I think it does soften the blow for many, but not necessarily all, of our residents if we end up ultimately proposing and then passing an override. But there's a lot of hypotheticals in that, and I just wanna be clear that we're gonna set the rates tonight. That's what the rates are gonna be. That is separate from whether we pass an O'Brien or not. Whether those things net out for you or not, if we do, that will also vary. So while they are happening in parallel, it doesn't make our message any easier.

I do think it has the impact of softening on the impact of speed.

Thank you, Council President.

i know

Maybe they keep some people in this community instead of the trouble that we have from the absentee landlords.

I'm afraid we might have an excellent place to watch this time and address these issues. Why did father do it? He was scared of the half of the city. He didn't want to leave the place out of it.

Because he didn't care who they are.

He didn't want to possess the will to go into the office. He didn't want to possess the will to go into the office. He didn't want to possess the will

Thank you very much. there are really tough times right now so i did a lot of the research and search and So we can just reach out to me and let me know if you hear of anything that we can keep an eye on.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councillor Cologne-Hayes. Councillor Spadafora.

Thank you very much for the last time I promised this topic. I just want to thank the council and certainly Nate and his team. We've attempted this, I think, two other times. It was unsuccessful. And listen, at the end of the day, we all know no matter what happened tonight, the shift of 30 to 35, we were raising everybody's tax bill. I mean, that that is the way it works. We're going to raise we're going to give back a little to a certain amount of people. We cannot promise it. And the way I look at it is. If we can give back, I think it's important to make sure that we focus on our community and the people that are owner-occupied. I mean, nothing against the renters, they're great people, but we do know that that is a business, and the renters, unfortunately, sometimes are the ones that take the brunt. I do agree with Councillor McDonald where it really is supply and demand and what the market's going to be. I think Councillor Um, every tale, last time we discussed this, it was something like, I think the old Granada, it was $22 per, per, per door, as they say in the, in the real estate business per year. Um, Do I know?

Can I guarantee they're not going to raise their rent? They're not going to raise their rent.

They're not going to raise their rent. .

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Yeah, no, I appreciate the efforts of fellow councilors to support this, especially after the past two years. I think it was a little bit more of a question of the points that we were getting from the Senate. We have some people who are going to lose the benefit from it, and I think that's something we have to do.

The substantial people are going to be benefiting, and we're not really expecting a big increase in anybody who's not going to benefit. And the fact that we can, particularly for people who are at the lower end of the housing, a homeowner, that we can reduce those taxes. And those people will see that direct reduction in their tax bill, and we know that for certain. I am supportive of this. So I will be supporting this. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Winslow.

Councillor Taylor. Thank you. I just I want to speak a little bit. I have a unique perspective being a renter now, having been a homeowner and a landlord for quite some time. And I think one of the things this does is open a pathway to more home ownership because it does lower that tax rate, which is a barrier to affordable housing. Um, and also it gives us a path to hold absentee landlords accountable because one thing that we overlook when we think about housing is dignified housing and the conditions people are living in and, you know, being able to balance that I think is extremely important. So I am fully in support of this to help our residents, to help homeowners, to help renters. Um, I, you know, realize This could affect me in one of two ways. They could go up on the rents, but I think most landlords, if they're doing it correctly, they want people who are going to stay and give back and be good tenants. So they don't want to necessarily increase it too high. So I am I am definitely in support of this. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Taylor. And I just wanted to briefly say from the chair also, since I know we talk a lot about making sure that the word gets out and making sure that folks understand how they're eligible. I also want to remind folks that owner-occupant landlords are also eligible. If you are a landlord and you own a multifamily and you live in one of the units, this is applicable to you. There's a fair number of units that that applies to. I think that there are, when we talk about absentee versus non-absentee landlords, this actually does help the landlords that live in the community and rent out units and live on site. That is, I think, a benefit to the program as well. You know, we're helping some of the landlords that we're looking to benefit. So I know we had a motion on the floor from Councilor O'Malley. I missed who seconded that. Councilor Sica. Thank you. So the motion that I had was to set a point nine zero five four residential factor and to adopt a residential exemption of 35 percent. Does that sound great? OK. Do we need a roll call on this? OK. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Colón Hayes. Yes. Council Condon? No. Yes. Council Crowe? Yes. Yes. Council McDonald?

Yes. Yes. Council O'Malley? Yes.

Yes. Council Sica? Yes. Yes. Council Simonelli?

Yes.

Yes. Council Spadafora? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Council Taylor?

Yes. Yes. Council Winslow? Yes. Yes. Council President Linehan? Yes.

Yes. Passes unanimously. Fantastic.

Thank you everyone. Thank you Nate. Okay, next order of business.

Paper 399-25, Communication, Malden Historical Commission, regarding 15 Ferry Street, the M. Ida Converse Building Memorial, I'm sorry, Malden Industrial Aid Association Building.

Okay, clerk, will you read the letter into the record? I'm sorry, do I have a motion to receive the communication? Okay, on a motion by Councilor Crowe, seconded by Councilor Taylor, all in favor? Aye. Aye, okay clerk, now will you please read the letter, apologies.

DMA Christianson, Council President Linehan, and city councilors. As directed by the Malden Historical Commission, this letter serves to update and remind you of the unresolved status of the preservation of 15 Ferry Street, namely the M. Ida Converse Building, Malden Industrial Aid Society Association Building. One of the remaining three converse buildings in the city, and of great historic significance to our community, as documented in the attached Massachusetts Historical Commission Inventory Form Mal 491. The preservation of this historically significant building, created by Mayor Elijah S. Converse's daughter, Mary I. Converse, is extremely important. The distinguished philanthropic The legacy of Mayor Elijah S. Converse and his family, whose substantial contributions were instrumental in shaping the city of Malden, is now imperiled by the threat of demolition. Mayor Elijah S. Converse, his elder brother James W. Converse, his wife Mary D. Converse, his daughter Mary I. Converse, and his son-in-law Costello C. Converse all made significant contributions to and for Malden. The Converse has not only provided thousands of jobs for Maldonians, They created the various economic, social, infrastructure, and cultural objects critically important for the city's successful development. Boston Rubber Shoe Company, First National Bank, Converse Memorial Library, Malden Hospital, Malden Maternity Hospital, Malden Nurses Home, Malden Home for Aged People, YMCA, Malden Industrial Aid Society, Malden Historical Society, Malden Auditorium, Old City Hall, Felsmeyer Park, Pine Banks Park, and Spot Pond. Unfortunately, many of these properties were destroyed or ceased to exist in their initial capacity for different reasons. Marlin cannot afford to lose any more historically important buildings related to the Converse family. Any further loss endangers the city's historical integrity and shows disrespect towards such outstanding benefactors as the Converse family. The destruction of important historical buildings and One after another literally erases the traces of the city's long and glorious history, converting it from the visual to the virtual. In June 2019, the commission determined that the building at 15 Ferry Street is a preferably preserved building. The preservation of this historically significant building has not been resolved for several years and now due to an imminent demolition threat requires your immediate attention. With the issuance of the demolition permit and property owner's pending filing of the application for the special permit required for the proposed new development, time is of the essence, even more than before. Most recently, the commission received the attached letter dated October 16th, 2025 from property owner's attorney, Roberto DeMarco, who indicates that owner, quote, has been placed under time constraints due to the property being left untouched for so long and is moving forward quickly, end quote. Mr. DiMarco emphasizes this in his letter that the owner, quote, remains open to a resolution to save the building, but time has grown short. At this point, it appears saving the building is becoming a harder possibility, end quote. The commission still strongly supports the preservation of this building, symbolizing the converse's historical presence in Malden, and their heritage, and its remaining within the historic Converse Square area. The commission recommends that this may be accomplished through relocation to the previously identified site at Malden High School, preservation at its current location, or incorporation of the intact building into the design of any future project on that property. The commission understands that 15 Ferry Street is part of a development site that includes the property 1 Salem Street. One Salem Street is the site of a demolished building, which the commission also determined was preferably preserved. And any new development must comply with the architectural design requirements set by the commission in its January 27, 2020 decision, which is attached. When the application for the special permit for the new development is filed, the commission will submit its formal recommendation to the city council in accordance with Title 12.12.010.C code of the city of Malden. The commission thanks you in advance for your ongoing support and assistance to save this important historic building. Please do not hesitate to contact with us with any questions. Thank you sincerely, Michelle A. Romero, city planner, clerk to the Malden Historical Commission.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The letter is received into the record. Next order of business.

Do we have to take a vote to place on the file? It's just a communication. I think we don't have to. I think that's fine. 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.

This was something that was enrolled, I'm sorry, enrolled and just needs to be ordained. Okay, Councilor Winslow for the paper.

Yeah, I mean, as you recall, Building Inspector Miller looked at the weights and measure fees now that those were under his bailiwick and made recommendations. He also provided an analysis of how those have been calculated in comparison to other people. We did vote to enroll this last week based on that further information and I just ask that we make a motion that we ordain this so those fees can go into effect this.

Okay, I see a light from Councilor O'Malley.

I just wanted to thank Building Commissioner Miller and Ordinance Chair Winslow for gathering the information related to the anticipated amount of time it takes to do some of these inspections. as well as the cost per hour. And one of the things that I think is important is the documents that we reviewed to make this determination did not include general overhead or costs for insurance and healthcare and retirement. So I definitely think that the numbers that we put out there do support the increase in the fees.

Thank you. Thank you, Councillor O'Malley. Okay, so on a motion by Councillor Winslow, seconded by Councillor Crowe, motion to ordain. All in favor? Aye. Okay, that carries. Next order of business.

Paper 400-25, committee report. The standing committee on rules and ordinance to whom was referred papers 275 and 361, series of 2025. Having considered the same, make the following report.

Motion to accept. Okay, and a motion by Councillor Winslow, second by Councillor Crowe to accept the committee report. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

Paper 2's, well, I'm sorry. No, that's okay. I'll read them one at a time. That's fine.

Paper 275-25, be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the code of the City of Malden 1.04.070 procedure for selling tax title property is hereby amended by striking in its entirety and inserting the following.

Councillor Winslow. Councillor Winslow for the paper.

Yeah, this was a paper that was referred to Rules and Orders back in May. And we had met, and one of the questions I had was just to have legal review. Sometimes on something that, this is an issue that's affecting every community and how they process tax title. If people are familiar, there was a Supreme Court ruling that affected Massachusetts in particular. When we take a tax-title property, we're responsible for, you know, we can't just, if it's a property that's worth $500,000 and our taxes are $50,000, in the past, we could technically just keep the $500,000. That now is clear. We can't do that. We have to create a process where the excess above what we're owed is kept, and then if nobody claims it, we can then claim it but we have to have a process to allow the former owners to collect any excess above the taxes so this is really what that's setting up and you know our treasurer Grover developed this we had legal review it they dated since this is somewhat newer there's really no kind of model ordinance so I think we were fine with the language we were just trying to make sure that you know, if there was sort of a model that was used in other communities, maybe we'd follow that. But I think this is perfectly fine. So the recommendation of the committee was to, we recommend out this paper favorably to be ordained. Thank you.

Okay.

As without amendments.

Without amendments. Okay. Any discussion? Do I have a second to the motion to ordain? Oh, I'm so sorry. You are. Okay, motion by Councillor Winslow to enroll, and a second by Councillor Colón Hayes, all in favor? I'm so sorry, Councillor O'Malley, you can go ahead.

So I couldn't, I guess the ordinance was having some technical difficulties earlier tonight, so those of us who were online couldn't hear. But reviewing what has been presented by Councillor Winslow, I think this is a good process. I think the fact that the council is still involved in this determination and that public properties is involved, I think, kind of hits all of the boxes that we need to hit to make sure that we're doing our due diligence. It's quite something to take someone's property and then sell it. So I think it is important that we do have that proper due diligence. And I appreciate the work of the ordinance committee and Treasurer Grover for coming up with this process. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor O'Malley. Any further discussion? Okay, so we have a motion on the floor. By Councillor Winslow, seconded by Councillor Colón Hayes. To enroll, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay, that carries.

Next order of business. Paper 361-25, be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the code of the City of Malden 2.24.015 Department Head Salary Schedule is hereby amended by adding the updated salary schedule chart effective July 1st, 2025. Councillor Winslow for the paper.

Yeah, so do we need to make a motion to accept the- Committee report.

We did.

Okay. All right. So good. All right. So, um, we discussed this in the committee. This came, uh, was referred a couple of weeks back, you know, originally, um, you know, there's a memo of agreement between this, that the mayor's office and the negotiating team made between them and the, uh, department heads union, um, that MOA was signed before the mayor sent down a paper related to, um, looking at our financial situation and considering prop two and a half override. You know, it came up in committee of the paper as proposed was to change the salary schedule for department heads for the next three this fiscal year and the following two fiscal years. And the discussion came up of, you know, we have the money, you know, you know, encumbered for this fiscal year, but we're not certain what's going to happen in fiscal 2728. So the committee decided to amend the paper and just change the salary salary schedule for this fiscal year fiscal 26. You know, it was very clear from counselors that that was not a decision that against the scale that was agreed to. But we want to take it one kind of bite at a time. And that was The paper was amended by the committee to and a recommendation is to to, you know, make the. To adopt the paper as amended with a recommendation that we only changed the salary schedule for fiscal 2026. So thank you.

OK. Any further discussion? OK, so on a motion by Councillor Winslow. Oh, sorry, Councillor O'Malley. Go ahead.

Yeah. So in committee, I had I had stated that I think that it would be a little bit cart before the horse to to take up this paper without having more clarity in terms of what the financial outlook is going to be like, particularly with an override or a debt exclusion in that we're looking to try to restrain costs as much as we can in this fiscal year. So that next fiscal year and the years after are not as painful. And so I think it does send a conflicting message to the community about increasing costs at this particular moment without really fully knowing what we're going to be getting ourselves into. I also don't think it's fair necessarily to try to You renege on a commitment that has been made when it comes to a contract. So I just think more clarity is important. Unfortunately, I cannot support what is being presented tonight, especially considering it's going to be people's jobs. We're talking about losing people's jobs. And I cannot vote for something that is going to put our rank and file employees at risk. Thank you.

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

Yes, thank you. I was going to ask a similar question if this. Yeah, if we would be breaking a contract, I also feel very uncomfortable about giving a department head salary increase when we're talking. We haven't even looked yet at anything regarding cuts. But if we have to do this per union, that would be different than. Yeah. So if someone could not sure if anybody has the answer to that, but I would. Like to wait on this, maybe if we could. I'm not sure if there's timing on this until we hear back from the mayor's office that Chuck Rand again was talking about getting a list of people that we may have to look at their being cut. That's a tremendous decision that we have to overtake. And I do feel uncomfortable right now about, you know, giving increases when we might be losing jobs. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Cologne-Hayes. Councillor Winslow, did you want to respond to that, or I could go to Councillor McDonald?

This will, essentially, we have the money that's been appropriated for this fiscal year, so this is approving, and Comptroller Rannigan explained that normally when we have a salary chart increase or change, it's accompanied by a financial paper. But because this is just the individual department heads, I think there's about 13 department heads that are impacted here, that the few thousand dollar raises that people will be getting, and this is only since July 1st, there'll be a little bit of retro pay, that's basically being funded out of their current appropriations for their budget. But it just seemed right. I mean, one of the things by sort of just calling and thinking about this, the negotiation team is sort of made clear with, you know, across the city that given that we have, you know, we we don't know what our fiscal twenty seven budget is going to look like. And we're not promising three year contracts at this point. We need to get through this. So so this is just, you know, so so we're going to respect the contract and you know, for this fiscal year, because we've already appropriated that money, and make sure the folks, if we vote tonight to make this change, then, you know, people can get caught up, you know, as we often do, people will get some retro pay, and then this will go forward until, you know, budget season comes up, and then we will look and see where we're at financially. So, and it was clear from the committee, you know, we're not saying that this might, you know, what the schedules will be in 27 and 28. And, uh, but just, we want to take it one step at a time. And there was, you know, you know, uh, kind of, you know, contradictory things in terms of what we want to do. But the recommendation of the committee was to given our serious fight financial situation we're in that, um, you know, we want to, um, spend the appropriated money, but be, be cautious about spending, you know, committing to twenty seven and twenty eight. So so I think that's really what there's no that by voting yes or no on this. There's not going to be any impact to any current employees. But, you know, as we know, the specter of what we're going to need may do related to a potential override and ultimately the decision the voters make is going to impact the fiscal twenty seven budget. So we just felt we weren't comfortable about you know, extending, uh, you know, something that we know now that we know the situation. So there are contracts, I believe that, that do extend into that. We have changed the schedules into 27, but just seems, you know, it just seems that we should take a pause. Um, it's one of the things we can do as a council, as we're struggling with the finances of the city. So, so that's, you know, what was discussed in committee and, you know, actually that was the recommendation of the committee is to, to go ahead. with this fiscal year is where we know that we have the money, we've appropriated that. But till we, you know, Controller Ranigan was saying that what they will propose is come when the city budget comes down, they will address the MOA at that time for 27 and 28. So we'll figure it out from there. So it's not a rejection of what's going on with the proposed for 27 and 28, but we just want to take it one fiscal year at a time sort of thing.

Okay, thank you, Councillor Winslow. Councillor McDonald.

I just want to add my support for this and to try to make sure that we are being clear about what our real choices are in this. So because they were in negotiations, we didn't update the salary schedule. The previous contract had gone out, so we hadn't updated the salary schedule as of July 1 of this year. So I think, as Councillor Winslow pointed, focusing on for the override conversation for the tax rates is all the next fiscal year that's what we put a pause on that's what this puts a pause on and that's right um i both don't want to make the department directors as a bargaining unit you know i don't want to make them the target of this i also don't want them to have to be i don't want them to get an you know an unfair benefit given that they are our it's our highest compensated bar you know set of set of um unit members and so I think this is fair I think it sets a good precedent I think it's reasonable that we start here honestly with the department heads and that this is going to be the tone for the next couple months if we were to not approve this our choices are one just table it and not deal with it which I think is you know I think we could do that to improve the optics of it but I'm not sure that it's really that honest and I think we would be paying the back pay anyways there's no version of that where we wouldn't end up with a salary adjustment this year because almost every other unit has that salary adjustment. Going into the future, I think that's a very different story because it hasn't happened yet. And so, yes, I think that's right to pause on that. The other thing we could do is say we don't approve this agreement and send it back to the mayor to reopen, which I think is time consuming and disruptive. And this doesn't strike me as out of line with the other kinds of contracts and rates of increase that we've approved, which is what I'm looking for. We don't review all of the benefits and details to the pay. We just review the salary schedules. We don't review the contracts in detail. That really is on the mayor and his team to negotiate. But in terms of what we approve, this seems in line with other city employees. I think it's important to try to keep everybody on the same page because if we do end up in a situation where we need to negotiate layoffs and then other types of things like potential, what do you call it, where you have to take a day, a furlough, furloughs, anything like that, Those are going to need to be applied equitably across all of our bargaining units. So we would be having to try to make sure that our department directors were considered in that anyways. It's a conversation with the unions anyways. So I just think that really, you know, we could delay on this if we wanted to. That's not my preference, but I understand if my colleagues want to do that. I'm comfortable approving this year's increase, which is already budgeted. But I don't think that we can, I don't think that it is a direct trade-off of like, oh, we can save jobs because we didn't do, this is not really a raise, it's a cost of living adjustment. It's a 3% cost of living adjustment to our department directors who, not for nothing, are some of the folks that need to do the most heavy lifting in management to navigate a financial crisis or a budget crunch. So that's my take on it. But I just want us to be clear-eyed about what our real choices and trade-offs are. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor McDonald. Councillor Simonelli.

Thank you, Madam President. And you know what? Councillor McDonald may have already answered this question for me, but I was just always under the impression that the council didn't have the ability to negotiate or deny or get involved in any ratified contracts. But I may be wrong on that, but that's what I've always understood, that that was with the mayor and his budget team. that did that. So. So are we saying so we're not looking at this as a three year contract, we're just looking at it as as the money was budgeted for this year to give them a raise. And if we didn't do that, we'd be reneging on on this. So. So I guess what I'm saying is we give them the percentage raise for this year. And then what is it the next two years are like wage openers or zeros or what would that what would How would that work if it's a ratified contract now or three years?

Well, so our language on this paper doesn't speak to the contract at all. It merely is it amends the paper to reflect this fiscal year. That's it. It actually doesn't even speak to future fiscal years. It simply states that we're voting for this fiscal year. That's the amendment from committee. Correct. Correct me if I'm stating that misstating that, Councillor Winslow.

Sorry, I'm trying to get your light on. Just we in our ordinances, in our ordinances, when salaries go up, we vote on changing our ordinance to be consistent with the contract. We're just saying we're just going to do that this fiscal year. And what we'll be asking the mayor to do is when the budget is proposed for fiscal 27, they would be free to reintroduce the schedule for 27 and 28, whatever they want to do. But We just sort of want to take it one step at a time. So we're not you know, it's just the timing of when the council takes action to change the salary schedule in the ordinance. And we're just saying we're comfortable with just changing it for this fiscal year because we as the mayor and the council already voted to appropriate that. We're not asking that this be renegotiated at this time. We're just saying, let's take this one step. There's no we're going to be voting on a budget again by, you know, in May or June. Let's consider the salary schedule for twenty seven when we're voting on the twenty seven. But that's all we're doing. So.

Okay. Okay. Thank you, Council. Thank you. Okay. Councillor Colón Hayes for the second time.

Thank you. So. I would entertain or like to ask if we would wait until after we've had a few more finance meetings, but it does sound like from my colleagues and people that that might not pass. So I'm going to say that I can't vote for this tonight. Yeah, I'm not prepared to vote any increases right now. But I'd be willing to vote on this after we have a few more finance committee meetings. But I will pass on that since it sounds like people already did their work and want to move forward. But I wouldn't be able to support it tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Colón Hayes. Okay, so we have a motion to enroll as amended by Councillor Winslow. Oh, sorry. Understood. We need a motion to approve the amendment. Do I have a motion? Councillor Winslow, would you like to make that motion?

I make a motion to amend the paper as inconsistent with the recommendation from the Rules and Ordinance Committee to limit the salary schedule change to fiscal 26th.

So the motion from committee was to amend the paper to adjust the salary schedule to reflect fiscal 2026. Okay. Seconded by Councilor McDonald. All in favor? Aye. That carries. You said you voted no? Okay. You voted no. So Councilor Connaught and Councilor Cologne-Hayes. You voted yes.

Council President, I'm wondering if we would, for the safe side- You want to do a roll call? Do a roll call vote on the amendment and then another roll call vote on the amendment.

I think that's a good idea. Okay.

Okay, so- Let's do a roll call. On the motion to amend, Council Colón Hayes? No. No, Council Condon? No. No, Council Crowe?

Yes.

Yes, Council McDonald?

Yes.

Yes, Council O'Malley? No. No, Council Aciga? Yes. Yes, Council Simonelli? No. No, Council Spadafora? Yes, Council Taylor? Yes. Yes, Council Winslow? Yes. Yes, Council President Linehan? Yes. That is seven to four, the amendment passes.

Okay, on the motion to enroll as amended, let's call the roll.

Council Colón Hayes? No. No, Council Condon? No. No, Council Crowe? Yes. Yes, Council McDonald? Yes. Yes, Council O'Malley? No. No. Councilor Seager?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Simonelli? No. No. Councilor Spadafora? Yes. Yes. Councilor Taylor?

Yes.

Councilor Winslow? Yes. Yes. Council President Linehan? Yes. Okay, so that also passes by a seven to four vote. Okay, so that carries.

I'm sorry, thank you.

These tech issues are really flustering me tonight.

OK. OK. Moving on. Next order of business paper. Yes.

And I should have asked earlier in that vote. I understand how people feel in that. My question is, is this something we're going to be seeing going forward where instead of because this is this is my challenge with this is you can't you can't shortchange the last group to come in for a raise when everybody else already got their raise. That that is to me. we're playing devil's advocate and and that's a challenge now my question is going forward though i hope all and i know our union friends left i hope they understand that going forward i think it's probably the will of the council that these contracts are not going to be multi-years given we don't know what our finance is going to be next year never mind two years from now i just hope that we stand united as a body and say that we hope that the contracts moving forward while we respect everybody's ability to get a raise, might not be indicative of a multi-year contract until we have a better line of sight. I would just hope that's the way, because I think if you come down, and let's just pick one. Let's say the teachers want a three-year one, and then somebody else comes in and says, oh, we're only going to do a one-year one. That's not fair to the union. So I just hope that now that we've cleared what was in the past, going forward, we should be mandating that contracts are not looked at in multi-years, unless that's what we're going to do. I'm just trying to set some standards and guardrails and understanding going forward. There's a challenge. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Oh, I couldn't even see you over there, Murray. Did you want to go up and speak to that?

I didn't know if she wanted to speak.

Yeah, that's fine. You can come on over to the podium. Thank you.

Yeah. The the issue with this particular contract is that the negotiation started a very long time ago and there was reasons on both sides why it was delayed this long and it was signed some time ago. But moving forward, we've already met with, let's see, the DPW union as well as patrol. Those are the two we're in negotiations with right now. And both unions have been made aware that we're only doing a one year contract. So that's the process that we're gonna follow.

Thank you very much. Okay, moving on to our next order of business.

Paper 401-25, committee report. The standing committee on license to whom was referred, papers 349, 357 through 360, and 371 through 373, series of 2025, having considered the same, make the following report. Committee recommends these petitions out favorably to the full council.

Motion to receive the committee report.

Okay, on a motion by Councillor Sica, seconded by Councillor Simonelli to receive the committee report. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Clerk will read the petitions into the record.

Paper 349-25, petition, extended hours Burger King, 922, 61 Broadway, Malden, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, new. That was a new petition. Paper 357-25, petition, class two, Sega Auto Sales and Service, 455 Ferry Street, seven cars, new. Paper 358-25, petition, Lodging House Metro, North Housing Corp. 22 Charles Street, 11 Rooms, renewal, paper 359-25, petition, Lodging House. Cedar House, LLC, 116-118 Cedar Street, 14 Rooms, renewal. Paper 360-25, petition, Lodging House, Metro North Housing Corp, 115 Washington Street, 14 Rooms, renewal. Paper 371-25, petition, Class 2, Andy Service Center, Incorporated, 356 Lebanon Street, 3 cars, renewal. Paper 372-25, Petition Class 2, Auto Tech 2, Incorporated, 1236 Eastern Avenue, 5 Cars Renewal. Paper 373-25, Petition Class 2, Sega Auto Sales and Service, Incorporated, 451 Ferry Street, 10 Cars Renewal.

Okay, Councillor Sica for the committee.

Thank you.

Do you have a recusal, Councillor Colón Hayes? Yes. I'm so sorry, hang on. These microphones are just not cooperating tonight. Okay. Okay.

Yes, I am very honored to be on the Metro North Housing Corp board. So I'm going to recuse myself for us.

We probably should have taken the vote before we read the paper.

Well, she can recuse herself now if she feels the need to, but there's no money involved. I know. I'd rather do it.

Out of an abundance of questions. Out of a very much of abundance of questions.

Thank you. Okay. So that's fine. On a motion, do we need to take a vote on that or she can just recuse? Okay.

Okay, so last week the license committee met to discuss all these petitions. They are all pretty much renewals. The only new one is for Burger King and it's technically not a renewal. Everyone will just be happy to know that it's now going to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, just like McDonald's came in a couple of. Months ago for the same thing, so the committee voted for all of these to be recommended out favorably, so I have a motion to grant all these petitions. That is news my family did not need to have.

Okay, on a motion by Councillor Sica, seconded by Councillor Simonelli, all in favor? Aye. Okay, that motion carries. Next order of business.

Paper 402-25, committee report. The standing committee on personnel and appointments to whom was referred paper 369 series of 2025. Having considered the same, make the following report.

Okay. Thank you, Councillor Crowe. Seconded by Councillor Taylor, the committee report is received. Councillor Crowe, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Councillor Crowe for the paper.

Would you like me to read the paper for you, counsel?

Yeah, I'm losing it tonight with these tech issues. I'm so sorry. Thanks to Carolina. I wouldn't be. The meeting would not be running today.

Paper three sixty nine dash twenty five. Mayoral appointment. David Camel, thirty five. William Street, Malden, as a member of the Board of Registrars of Voters filling the unexpired term of just Sherman expiring March 31st, two thousand twenty eight.

Counselor Crowe for the paper.

Thank you, Madam President. So we met with Mr. Kamala earlier this evening and had a wonderful conversation and multiple committee members that asked some questions. And Mr. Kamala really reiterated his commitment to ensuring fair and equitable elections here in the city of Malden and his continued support for the advancements that we've made in trends, alliteration and trying to work to get some multilingual poll workers, and some other things. I think, again, Clark Desiderio had mentioned that they do a lot of spreadsheets is one of his favorite things to do. So we make a motion to approve this appointment. And so we can get him to work tomorrow, just to be ready for next week's election.

Second. Okay, fantastic. On a motion by Councilor Crowe, seconded by Councilor Winslow, we do need a roll call. Councilor Cologne-Hayes?

Yes. Yes. Councilor Condon? Yes. Councilor Crowe?

Yes. Yes.

Councilor McDonald? Yes. Yes. Councilor O'Malley? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sica? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simonelli? Yes. Yes. Councilor Spadafora?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Taylor? Yes. Yes. Councilor Winslow? Yes. Councilor President Linehan?

Yes.

Yes. That was unanimous.

Okay.

He has been confirmed.

Fantastic.

Congratulations, Dave. Next order of business.

Paper 403-25 order that the city council will vote whether to go into executive session with legal counsel for the city. For the purpose of exemption three, Massachusetts general law chapter 30A, section 21A3. For the purpose of discussing strategy as to possible future litigation related to grants. Where such discussion in open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigation position of the city, if so declared by the chair. And if so, allowed by the body to admit Maria Louise, special assistant to the mayor and Alex Pratt, director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. Roll call is required.

OK, so citing exemption three of Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Section 21A, wherein discussing paper four zero three dash twenty five in open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the city's litigating position. I'd be looking for a motion to enter executive session. Motion by Councillor Sica, second by Councillor McDonald. Councillor Winslow, I see your light on. Do you have a question? Okay, yeah, we'll get to personal privilege. That's no problem. So I'm going to have the clerk call the roll so that we will enter into executive session.

Council Cologne-Hayes? Yes. Yes. Council Condon? Yes. Yes. Council Crowe? Yes. Yes. Council McDonald?

Yes. Yes. Council O'Malley?

No. No. Council Sica? Yes. Yes. Council Simonelli? Yes, Council Spadafora. Yes. Yes, Council Taylor. Yes. Yes, Council Winslow. Yes. Yes, Council President Linehan. Yes. Okay, that passes by a ten to one vote.

Okay, so we are going to first take personal privilege. After that, we are going to enter executive session. The body is not going to reconvene for any further business this evening, and we will adjourn directly from executive session. So for personal privilege, I have Councilor Winslow first.

Yeah, I want to thank the Maplewood Association and the volunteers, including a lot of Malden High students who helped at Salemwood School this past Sunday for the Maplewood Halloween. Thanks to Artie and Brian at Salemwood making that successful event. They were there at 9 o'clock in the morning when I pulled up with the U-Haul with everything, and they were there at the end of the day helping and making it happen. Also thanks to the Lions Club who helped know run the pizza and popcorn concession and all the sponsors who uh for all the raffle gifts and that type of thing so that was a great event um i just want to remind everybody that the next tuesday november 4th is election day people can vote in person up to this thursday here at city hall and um and if you've gotten a mail-in ballot remind you be reminded you have to turn it in by what day

Has to be turned into the clerk's office at City Hall by 8 p.m. on election night. It cannot go back to the polling place.

It has to come to City Hall. Okay, so just make that clear. And then, so the council's not meeting next week because it's a Tuesday, and we're also not meeting before Veterans Day. So I want to send regards to all our veterans out there. And I guess if our clerk can make sure that council finds out about any Veterans Day activity happening. I know lately it's been over at Bell Rock Park, so. I would assume. So I'll let Councilor Crowe fill us in on that. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Councilor Winslow. Councilor O'Malley.

I just want to let the community know that, you know, starting in November because of the shutdown, SNAP benefits will be paused or not be paid. So there are different resources that you can take advantage of to try to make up for any missed food. The first thing you can do is call 211. which will connect you to social services, food banks, et cetera. There's also Project Bread and the Greater Boston Food Bank. If you're a senior, you can sign up for Meals on Wheels. And if you want to stay informed, you can go to the Department of Transitional Assistance website to stay up to date on your potential SNAP benefits. Thank you. And actually, to Councillor Winslow's point, we are up for reelection. I don't have a particular challenge of this year. But regardless, I do appreciate the support of our community. There are a lot of challenges, as we know, when it comes to the budget and various other things, keeping our streets safe and making sure that Malden can be a livable community. So thank you to my colleagues. Thank you to the community. I'm looking forward to serving next year. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor O'Malley. Councillor Sica.

Thank you, Council President. I just want to remind everybody that Councilor Spadafora and myself have a second annual Pumpkin Smash this Saturday from 12 to 2 at the Linden Steam Academy parking lot. Last year was a lot of fun, whether you're just looking at get rid of your pumpkins or breaking up with an ex and Don't laugh. We had a lady show up last year and she was saving her pumpkin so she could kind of blow off some steam by smashing the pumpkin in the back of the truck because she had just gone through a breakup. It was like whatever your you know, your frustrations are come and bring your pumpkin And smash it off the back of the the truck. It's a lot of fun. It really was a lot of fun Council of McDonald came with his kids. I think they thoroughly enjoyed it So if you have any cobbed pumpkins that you're looking to get rid of come on down to Linden school 12 to 2 on Saturday. Thank you.

Great Thank You councillor Sica councillor McDonald

A couple of things from me. First, just on the expiration of SNAP benefits, food stamps for the government shutdown. Two of our local organizations are also doing food drives and fundraising. Housing Families is trying to get people Market Basket gift cards. So if you can donate to that drive or if you need a gift card, talk to Housing Families. And Bread of Life is also doing a fundraising drive, which is posted in the Malden Helping Neighbors group as well. So I hope we can all find ways to support that I also want to just send prayers to folks who may know people in Jamaica or other islands in the Caribbean that are in the path of Hurricane Melissa, which looks really, really scary. So sending those prayers. I have two of the things. One is that we I have I have a letter that updates you all and the mayor from our Climate Action and Sustainability Commission. They just missed the cutoff for this meeting, but they are one year in and focusing on some great opportunities for implementation. They'd love to hear from you. So we're gonna forward that to the council and make sure that that's on the docket to be received as a communication hopefully when we get back after the two-week break. And also to let you all know that folks who are watching, we are planning a forum on the Proposition 2 1⁄2 override proposal. This will be an opportunity to, yes, offer your comments, but also ask questions, try to get some insight, offer your ideas and suggestions. It's meant to be a community conversation. We're looking at the evening of Wednesday, November 19th, time to be, you know, to be determined, but probably like six o'clock in a large public area where we can, where we can accommodate a lot of people, perhaps the senior center. So stay tuned for more information about that. But since we won't be back in council before then, I hope folks will come and send their good thoughts and questions. We are always open to more solutions and more ideas. So please come ready for conversation on that date. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor McDonald. Councillor Colón Hayes.

Hi. So I wanted to just give a shout out to Salemwood Trunk or Treat. That was a first. It's really taken off from Ward 1 over there. So it was really fun to go there and support the kids over the Salemwood School. But also, I wanted to give a big shout out to John Sayah and the Disabled American Veterans Association for a tremendous health fair that they put on. It was National Health Education Week. So this is the third time we've all done this together. And it's more important now, especially with cutoff of a lot of federal benefits. So thank you for talking about that, Councilor O'Malley. There was a lot of tables there helping folks sign up for different types of benefits, like fuel assistance. So check out ABCD Boston. They're still doing their fuel assistance. And I will be posting all these resources. I have done it on my Facebook page, but I'll continue to do that and spread it around because we're going to need to help our community a lot in the next coming, I was going to say weeks, months, but it's probably years. So stay tuned. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Colón Hayes. Councilor Crowe.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to say thank you to everybody that came out to Saturday's Trunk or Treat on the bike path. Whether you are a trunker or a treater, it is all because of you that it's a success. And I want to thank the councils that came out and the organizations that participated in this really family, fun, relaxed kind of event. So I think it's all about community at this point. And I do not have the exact time, but I think it is going to be at 11 o'clock on Veterans Day. It is going to be the Veterans Day celebration at Bell Rock Memorial Park. We'll be dedicating a bench to Malcolm Bennett, who was a retired firefighter and a veteran and a wood one guy and someone I've known my whole life. So come on out and really show your appreciation to all the veterans and all the work that they've done for us.

Thank you, Councillor Crowe. Councillor Spadafora, you had your light on, right? I did. Okay, you got the floor.

Is that on? All right. Yeah, it should be good. I want to thank Councillor Crowe for putting on a great trick or treat. Councillor Sica for, again, decorating me up and putting me on the bike path. It was a great opportunity for those who didn't see it. We did a McDonald's theme, so I want to thank McDonald's for giving us a real good deal on that food. That was very helpful. What? Not this McDonald. What did I say? Oh, OK. Right over my head. Right over my head. I know it's not. First of all, happy Halloween, everybody. That's coming up. But I know it's never too early. But Councilor Sica and I will be looking to hopefully get raised more turkeys for Thanksgiving for the bread of life. Maria Louise and myself already met a couple of weeks ago with the bread of life to start planning on that. That is going to be November 27th this year. 12 to 2 is the dining in at Malden High School. That's the Francis and Barbara Brown Thanksgiving dinner. We will be looking for drivers and donations. I'm going to coordinate them again, but we want to make sure we start early. As everybody's already mentioned, we know it's going to be maybe even hotter year than previous years for obvious reasons. So we're looking to start that kind of cadence now. So look forward to that. And finally, It's hard to believe, but today is my son's 18th birthday. So I've been told based on me driving him to get better grades in school that I might not be getting his vote this year. This is his first opportunity to vote. So he said he'll get me back inside the election booth. So I told him I'm going in with him to make sure. But happy birthday, 18 years old, to my son Mariano. Thank you very much.

Okay, well, seeing no more lights, we will now enter into executive session. Just a reminder, we're not coming back, and we're going to adjourn from our executive session. Thank you, everyone.