Quincy City Council: December 8, 2025

Thank you for watching!

Good evening, everybody. This is the public hearing, 6.30 PM, Utility Mass Electric Verizon, 58 Taylor Street. we are actually going to put this off and wave it and move it over to next week because of maybe some logistic issues as far as notifications and stuff. Do we have to do a vote or anything on that?

Not enough time for advertising, so we can't push it to next week.

So we have to do it tonight? Yeah. Okay. Um, Yes. So I'd like to push this to the next session. Yes. Thank you. So we'll be back in about three minutes for the ordinance committee meeting at 635. And thank you very much.

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Monday, December 8th meeting of the Ordinance Committee.

Madam, I'd like you to draw the roll, please. Councilor Ash. Yes, ma'am. Councilor Cain. Campbell, Clerk, Devine, DiBona, Harris, McCarthy, Minton, Walker, Quincy, Councilor Campbell, Clerk, Devine, DiBona, Harris, McCarthy, Minton, Walker, Quincy, Councilor

Thank you. Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived, by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. So just to recap for folks, the ordinance convening tonight was my hope that this would be an opportunity to have a scheduled all of us, there was a formal hearing where we would call National Guard and Riley Brothers to come and essentially testify and answer questions from all of us. and extremely, I'd still say it's a tragic incident that happened about a month and a half ago on October 22nd where there was an employee of Riley Brothers who was doing work on a city contract and unfortunately,

received extensive, extensive bodily injury due to the lack of, frankly, just care by his supervisors that were on site. It was extremely disappointing to find out after the fact that it's not Riley Brothers' first incident on a site in Quincy where somebody had sustained extreme bodily injuries, again, due to a lack of structure. and oversight from Riley Brothers Management who were on site. And so I want to first and foremost thank my colleagues because all of you unanimously, without any hesitation, voted this through to call them in front of us, to be held accountable to the fact that we hold certain standards for everything across the city, particularly when it comes to the work that's being done particularly in these dangerous conditions and we have the expectation right that the contractors we work with follow the standards that we set and I just appreciate that all of you

and, you know, again, just without any hesitation find it completely unacceptable that folks are not following those standards that we put out. So, unfortunately, this will be a short meeting. As folks can see, National Grid and Riley Brothers are not here. we have letters that I printed out for your packets that you'll be able to see they both had separately sent us letters saying that because it's an ongoing investigation they will not be here to answer questions but they did say that once the investigation concludes that they would be willing to come back in front of the city council and answer any and all questions. And I think that no matter how much time passes, whether that investigation takes a day, a week, a year, a decade, I hope whatever body is up here by the time that investigation concludes we'll take them up on that offer and have them come back in front of the council and answer to these questions because again this isn't the first

Thank you very much. you know taken our questions and been honest about why I can answer this one but not this one or I can give some details here but not this one but I am grateful that they at least didn't say flat out no, they just said not right now. But again, I'm just deeply grateful to all of you, my colleagues, for not even hesitating, not skipping a beat to pass this unanimously and call them to task. With that, I can open up to questions and comments from my colleagues. I don't have any answers on the incident myself, but certainly welcome all of my colleagues to put questions out there so that they know what's to come. when this comes back in front of the body at future meetings. So any, again, questions or comments from my colleagues? Councilor DiBona.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just wanted to elaborate a little bit about Some years ago, we had a lockout with National Grid with the steelworkers and the gas company. We subpoenaed Marcie Reed to come in front of us, and she did not appear. It's sounding very similar that maybe hopefully they'll come in due time. I just also wanted to recognize and possibly through you, Madam Chair, if we have Paul Goodrich from the Laborers Union that's here tonight overseeing this as well. He's been an organizer for the laborers for quite a while, and he has an oversight amongst these type of issues that have gone across the Commonwealth. So through you, if you could, maybe if he wants to appear in front of us. just to elaborate a little bit about our particular situation and or other situations across the Commonwealth.

Yeah, I appreciate that, Councilor DiBona, and I know PG very well. He's one that actually brought this to my attention. And when I knew nothing about, again, the incident and what was going on, you've been a very helpful guide in this process. With all due respect, Councilor DiBona, as a chairperson of the committee, and kind of stringent when it comes to following Robert's rules and always an ordinance committee when there isn't a public hearing formally scheduled. I have to just, again, just making sure I'm following the rules here right that I abide by that and so again in future meetings certainly you know the will of the body can always schedule a public hearing and that way not only PG but other folks who see our public agendas can see that there's a public hearing and come to speak. I do encourage folks to reach out to BG. He's amazing. Again, a phenomenal resource. This isn't the last time. I hope, again, like I said, that this comes before the council body. Certainly in the new term, I think that this should be reintroduced as well. It's not a knock against PG.

I'm just a stickler when it comes to following Robert's rules, Councilor.

Just to elaborate a little bit about the situation, is there anybody that's here that can, the mayor's representative or anyone can elaborate on anything for ongoing, anything that we have for new information?

no no okay so it's just it's just we're waiting we're waiting for them to make a decision on the uh investigation yeah unfortunately and you know again um specifically the Riley Brothers letter at the end and this will be made public record as well their letter said we'll be prepared to provide information following the conclusion of the ongoing inquiries. And from National Grid, their offer is, at the end of the letter again, will be prepared to provide information once the relevant investigations are complete.

at this time I don't have any further questions because we can't really get any answers so yeah thank you no no thank you Councillor any other questions or comments for my colleagues okay with that again just

Thank you, really. I can't say it enough that you all just really unanimously supported this. And I think it's important to recognize that even if they're not going to be here this evening, all of you are here. are willing to hold these folks accountable and make sure that people who are operating in the city are safe. So thank you to each of you. All right, and with that, at 6.42 p.m., I'll adjourn the ordinance committee meeting.

Good evening. Welcome to the Monday, December 8th City Council meeting. We now call this meeting to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash. Councilor Campbell. Devine, DiBona, Harris, Liang, McCarthy, Minton, President Cain.

President. Thank you very much Madam Clerk. Would everyone please stand to observe a moment of silence. Please use this moment as you will. Please turn to the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

Okay, so first we have a public hearing on the fiscal year 2026 property tax classification. Tonight with us, we have Chair of the Board of Assessors, John Rowland, who's going to give us a presentation. And ready to go? Yeah.

Okay.

Good evening members of the City Council. Tonight's meeting is held for the purpose of voting on a residential factor which determines if the City will have a split or single tax rate. This body must decide whether to tax all classes of property at their full and fair cash valuation share of the tax levy, which will result in a single tax rate, will reduce the share of the tax levy paid by the residential property owners and shift those taxes to the commercial, industrial, and personal property taxpayers, which will result in a split tax rate. Since 1984, Quincy has adopted the split tax rate. Before the city can determine the shift, all the city's assessed values must be certified by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. I would like to take this time to thank my staff and the Assessor's Department for their hard work throughout the year to bring us to this night. The property tax cycle starts with the issuance of the assessments in January. That is when our staff begins on working on next year's values.

This is done through the data collection and data analysis phases. Property inspections are underway, whether it be through cyclical or building permit inspections. And requests for information are sent out to our income producing properties such as our commercial, and industrial and apartments. From there, we analyze and gather the data to make our valuation decisions. Once we determine the value, we submit them to the state for approval. Once approved, we come before this body and we must decide how the city will distribute the tax levy amongst the four classes of property. Before that decision is made, I would like to provide the council with a review of the city's assessments. For fiscal year 2026, the total value of all property across the city is $24.9 billion. this is a 4.9% increase in valuation from FY25.

The residential class accounts for 85.8% of the total assessed value in the city, with the remaining 14.2% in the CPI classes, commercial, industrial, and personal property. In review of the past five years, Quincy's property class allocation has remained consistent with the residential classes making up approximately 86% of the total value and the commercial taxpaying base making up the remaining 14%. although it can be seen the past two years, a slight shift towards the commercial class. Slightly, there we go, yep. Going from 86 to 85.9, 85.84. It might be minor, but we count that as a win. Over the past year, residential classes are an increase of 4.8 percent.

Commercial property values are an increase of 5.3, industrial 7.34, and personal property 4.32. While these might appear as moderate increases, you would be hard-pressed to find other communities that are seeing consistent increases in their CIP classes. Again, something I am very proud of that my office is able to do. Here is a more detailed look at the property types breakdown increase with each class code from FY25 to 26. The single family class saw an increase of 5.32 this year. There are over 27,000 taxable parcels in the city of Quincy. This table here has the parcel count broken up by class as we saw in the previous slide. The single family class is by far our largest, followed by the condo units. These two classes make up 74% of our parcel count.

Every year assessors must report the community's new growth to the state. This year we'll be adding over $400 million in assessed tax base. 220 million comes from the residential class with over 100 million from apartments. 179 million comes from the commercial, industrial and personal property classes with 100 million new growth from the commercial class and over 70 million new growth from personal property. New growth does not just come from construction. When an exempt entity sells a property to a non-taxable entity, this parcel can be added to the tax roll. This year we had four commercial parcels added through a sale. One Enterprise Drive, formerly Blue Cross Blue Shield Building, 16 Crown Colony, formerly Point 32 Health, 162 Old Colony Ave, formerly owned by East of Nazarene,

and 148 East Quantum Street, Former Stars Daycare. Combined, these parcels add up to just under 70 million in assessed value. It's pretty evident driving around the city that construction is always ongoing. With local option, the state allows us to pick up new growth up to June 30th. Our office works diligently to this date to maximize the city's return. Here are some of the projects that were added to the tax roll this year, either as complete or parcels still under construction. Our total new growth in tax dollars this year is $6.7 million. Quincy historically ranks in the top 10 every year in new growth, with last year's ranking fifth in the Commonwealth. and while not all communities have finalized their new growth figures this year, this year we currently rank seventh out of 351 municipalities.

38% of our new growth tax levels come from the residential class with 62% coming from the commercial, industrial, and personal property classes. As part of our data analysis phase, sales data is reviewed every year to apply market adjustments to meet the state's certification standards established by the Department of Revenue. The sale prices of comparable properties are the primary indicators for residential property value. Physical year 26 values were determined through analyzing sales that occurred during calendar year 2024. The number of sale transactions saw a slight uptick from the prior year, while prices continued to rise at a slower rate than previous years. while analyzing the sales data, we looked at single family sales by price point. The highest volume of sales fall within a range of 600, 800,000

while there were only two qualified sales under a purchase price of $400,000 and 30 sales over a million dollars. The citywide median sale price of a single family home was $720,000 in 2024, a 6% increase from the prior year's median sale price of 680,000. While analyzing sales data, we reviewed the sale price in each neighborhood. The neighborhood with the highest median sale price was Quincy Center with a median of $810,000. This ends Squanam's long reign atop this category and speaks to Quincy Center and the downtown becoming more desirable. in review of the single family sales by neighborhood.

Something's going on here.

All right, where were we?

Single family calendar year 26 sales. Thank you.

Yep, as we can see here. In review of the single family sales by neighborhood, we saw that Wallace and West Quincy had the highest volume of sales at 14%. For fiscal year 2026, the median single family home in Quincy has an assessed value of $663,400, which is a 5.2% increase from fiscal year 25. In order to calculate the tax rate, The total tax levy for the city is divided by the total assessed value of the city. That number is then multiplied by 1,000 for the price per $1,000 rate, known as the single tax rate. While we do not have the levy until next week, we can still make the classification decision tonight. A single tax rate would represent no adjustment to the class percentages, and each class of property would bear the equal share of the levy.

This would be representing the residential factor of one. The option before you tonight would apply the maximum shift under master and law towards the commercial, industrial, and personal property classes, a 1.75 shift. Tonight, the vote before you will be whether to adopt the minimum residential factor of $87.63, resulting in the lowest residential tax rate the city can provide under the law. This is a decision this body has made over the past two decades, first applying the 1.75 shift in 2004, consistent with what we've done year over year. Tonight, we ask you that you approve the minimum residential factor and shift to the maximum amount under Mass General Law of 1.75. Thank you.

Thanks, John. All right, so now we're going to take testimony from the audience. Anyone who's come to speak in favor of voting on the split or single tax rate is welcome to come to the microphone and speak. Anyone that comes to the podium has three minutes to do so. the voting on the split or the single tax rates.

So will there be more discussion afterwards or questions and answers?

There are no questions and answers, just anyone that would like to speak on the tax rate, the split classification or the single adoption. And please state your name and address when you approach the podium, please.

Mike Carter, Five Post Island Road. And I'm speaking on behalf of myself and my wife, Cindy. Just like to read a brief statement that I think applies. We've been homeowners and taxpayers in Quincy since 1971, that's 54 years. And now at 75 years of age, we're in that large and growing group of seniors on fixed incomes, in our case, savings and social security. We ask that when you vote for the residential tax rate on December 15th, please give this group special consideration beyond the current deferments that are in place. with provisions that allow services, seniors rather, to continue to live in the city we have helped to build and which we love. We all appreciate the great services provided by the city and financed by our taxes.

We count on this and future city councils to be efficient and effective stewards of our taxes, and we thank you for that. This is especially complicated and challenging with a $456 million annual budget and a $1.64 billion debt. We support the suggestions for increased departmental special audits, increased oversight, exploring of alternatives, and revenue sources and reaching out to other cities comparable to Quincy for examples of effectively balancing services with residential and commercial tax levies. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Good evening. Kathy Tran, 234 Everett Street. The first thing I really want to know is do the property tax rates you're proposing include the $16 million PUREC assessment? The large assessment is likely due to a combination of things. Past investment losses, COLA adjustments, and an increased number of pensioners. The 2021 pension obligation bond provided relief, but it's not forever. In 2021, $3.5 million stolen. In 2022, over $90 million investment lost. Hopefully, future investment gains will offset future assessments.

Regardless, it's my understanding you have to include that assessment into the tax rate. Otherwise, the problem will be magnified in 2026. I see that the residential evaluation will probably go up on top of whatever our tax rates are. So this is gonna be really hurting. Furthermore, I'm not sure about how much the commercial rate really works. The majority of our revenue comes, as you can see, from the residential, not commercial taxes. So to really gain revenue, you need a larger commercial base. But has our commercial base really increased? It looks like a very, very small fraction. and I honestly don't know where we're going with the commercial base. Where is IHOP?

Where is El Capocos? Where is the Good Health Store? and most recently we handed Grossman's a big state and local tax break for what amounts to a reduced commercial base. We have to start thinking about that. the commercial base has got to increase. So why did we give tax breaks to somebody who was reducing the commercial base? Why is this discussion always after an election? I would ask the new city council, at least, please put it before the election. It's an important discussion and should, reflect the City Council's performance. The financial gain of relying on new development to keep the tax levy down will end. We had a chance to reduce the budget in May. We didn't.

And I think you're leaving the new city council with a lot of problems. Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Virginia Ryan and I live in 89 Alrick Road in Quincy, Mass. I am here to speak on the tax rate and the calculation. It's kind of confusing which tax rate is most beneficial to the residents. But the ones that will generate the lowest amount of real estate taxes is what I am for. If the tax rate does not include the calculation for the $16 million for the increased pension funds due to salary and COLA increases, I am not in favor of that calculation. I had an opportunity to attend new Councillor training on December 5th. And according to the Department of Local Services, the state will not certify the tax rate if it does not include that funding calculation

and the property tax bills may be delayed, which could result in not one, but two bills being sent to homeowners. I'm sorry, but if this is the same account that lost 3.5 million due to cyber theft and high investment losses, the city administration needs to do a better job in the management of this account. the city needs to ensure spending is within reason and we also need to remember that because the taxpayers are the one that foots the burden for these Projects, these libraries, all of these commercial projects. Thank you and please think about that when you vote on this.

just keep coming, don't hesitate.

Good evening, my name is Ali Shaughnessy, I live at 16 Bay Street in Squanam. I just want to make a comment about the gentleman that just was up here for us talking about those that are on fixed income and how do we try and take some of the burden off of those on the fixed income starting at 65 typically. and still have it so they can stay in their house and not have to move out or give up the house. They're house rich, but they're kinda tax poor. So this isn't my idea, this is a friend of mine. And I suggested this at the, XSTV, the Quincy XSTV during the campaign, and this is going to be my only opportunity to really talk about it now because I didn't do so good during the campaign, but that's okay.

So Mr. Kiley, a friend of mine out in Squanam, had suggested to me during a veteran's event up at Pageant Field that if we could take the burden for the elderly, and I'm now elderly, if we go by the 65, and those that are on fixed income. And let's just, for hypothetical numbers here, you buy a house when you're 25 years old and it costs you $500,000. You live in the city for 40 years, the house goes up to maybe a million dollars. So now you've gone from 500,000 to a million. The house has been assessed every year between that 25 years, 25 age, up to 65. and I would think assessed fairly and those are the years when you can make your most money because 25 to 65 is when we generally make the most money. So now you hit the 65 and it becomes fixed income. So what do we do to try and keep the elderly to help the elderly?

stay in that house that they've been very diligently paying for for years, the mortgage, everything. They had their families, their schools, and all that kind of stuff. And now they're at 65. The kids are all done with school. They're not nearly as much of a burden on the city tax base as they were before. I would tell you that the rubbish they produce is probably like one barrel every two weeks. They're not really putting too much burden on the city. So we've got to give them a little bit of relief, mainly to keep them in their house. But how do you do it? because the city's growing so fast, which is okay because it's a matter of cash flow, right? So if the city's growing fast and the values continue to go up, like you become house rich but you're kind of poor because now you can't pay the tax bill on the house that's like the house rich and you don't want to go and reassess, not reassess, excuse me, you don't want to go and borrow against the house to pay your tax bill.

So what he had suggested, take the original purchase price of the house when you were back at 25 years old and say at the $500,000 rate. Start it all over again. Start the assessment clock. back when they were 25 years old at whatever that assessment was then, and then for the next 30 years, only go up by $300 a year on that assessment. So a lot of persons are 65 and so for 30 years, so they're 95. the most are gonna go up is $300 on top of the assessment that started at the 25 year old age. So I know there's a lot of math involved and I know there's a lot of due diligence and homework. And it's just an idea to throw it out there to say, what can we do to help them?

Thank you very much. Three minutes is up.

Three minutes is up. Thank you. Thank you all.

Good evening. My name is Nick Richardson. I live at 21 Ocean Street in North Quincy. I have a specific comment about how we differentiate residential buildings and business from commercial businesses. and one of the things I wanted to raise attention to is that in recent years there has been a proliferation of short-term rentals being operated in violation of residential zoning, but they happen to be in the residential neighborhoods and are therefore taxed at the residential rates. some of these are very large operations that are being run by non-residents and they're bringing in significant incomes. As an example, I found out last week that one's been opened next to me by operators from out of town and they have a total capacity advertised 35 different people, guests, at four different units in North Quincy. not to ask the question about why we aren't able to shut these down, but I'm trying to understand why they're taxed at residential rates that are intended for residents. They have significant income.

The one next to me is asking over $10,000 a month. and yet they pay the same rate that I do to subsidize their use of our street parking, their use of city services to maintain their properties. So I would just ask you to consider as you go forward to consider whether the residential rates are really being appropriately applied to residents or whether they are being inappropriately offered to commercial businesses. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Hello, my name is Jocelyn Sedney, 85 Monroe Road. And I just sort of wanted to follow up on the last two speakers. In terms of the residential rate, I think a lot of times people think that when we're talking about residential, we mean people's homes. We do mean people's homes, but we also mean these big, huge apartment complexes that have been built in Quincy. We heard during the presentation about construction. There's construction, construction, construction, and that's true. and its construction of building large buildings with apartments. And those buildings are taxed at a residential rate. So the millionaires, the multimillionaires, the billionaires who are building these projects are paying the same tax rate that we are paying as individuals. And so I think the last speaker was pointing out that there was a problem in terms of these Airbnbs or whatever. that they're actually commercial versus residential.

But that's the same problem we have with these big commercial developments. But I don't know that there's much that we can be done about that other than giving some tax relief to the individuals who own the individual homes. And this goes a little bit to what Mr. Shaughnessy was talking about. He suggested a tax exemption that was a little bit complicated, and I would suggest that the City Council consider, this City Council, the next City Council, the Administration, consider a residential tax exemption. 24 cities and communities across the Commonwealth have a residential tax exemption. Now, what this means is not a total tax exemption, but if you have a home that's worth $500,000, If the tax exemption is $100,000, you get taxed on $400,000, not the $500,000. Some cities and towns have a higher rate. Maybe they take off the $200,000 from the valuation. others may take off even less.

It would be a small accommodation for those people who own actual homes in Quincy. and in most of those cities and towns, they qualify the residential exemption to be only for owner-occupied All three occupied buildings, one family, two family, three family, and perhaps four family but they have to be owner occupied. There have been many tax breaks given to these developers of these huge, huge projects. This would be a small way to recognize that there are people who live here in Quincy and they deserve a tax break as well. it would also help the senior citizens that Mr. Shaughnessy was talking about. And I'd also point out that there is a senior tax exemption now in Quincy. However, that tax exemption allows an exemption for $352.74 for seniors.

and they have to have assets of less than $80,000. We don't have to keep to that number. Quincy can increase that. Quincy can increase the senior tax exemption to $1,000. and change the asset allocation as well.

Thank you very much. Your three minutes is up.

All right. Thank you very much.

I appreciate your attention. Just one moment. We're going to open the council meeting. We'll come back to the public hearing. Thank you. Okay. Well, we already did the whole. Okay. We open the council meeting. We're going to take a brief recess. We'll go back to the public hearing. Come back up.

Good evening. My name's Deborah Riley. I live at 9 Landgrain Street. It's always a little hard to follow Jocelyn. I would like to just read into the record because there's been talk of the unfunded pension obligation. I know that there was a lot of touting over the restructuring of the pension obligation through some bonding. however, it seems like just yesterday we were here a year ago and on December 18th, 2024, the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission issued a letter to the Quincy Retirement Board. of approval of funding schedule. This commission is hereby furnishing you with approval of the revised funding schedule you recently adopted and a copy is attached. The schedule assumes payments are made on July 1 of each fiscal year. The schedule is effective in fiscal year 2025.

since the amount under the prior schedule was maintained in fiscal year 25 and is acceptable under chapter 32. The unfunded liability of the system increased by approximately $81 million from the January 1st, 2022 actuarial evaluation. This increase is due to the asset loss over the past two years, the salary loss over the past two years, the payment of a 5% cost of living increase in fiscal year 23, and the increase in the cost of living base from 15,000 to 18,000. As a result, the fiscal year 26 appropriation and all future appropriations increased significantly from the prior schedule. the fiscal year 26 appropriation increased from 11.6 million to 18.1 million, a 56% increase. As a result, the revised funding schedule now completes the amortization of the UAL in fiscal year 39.

So this amount needs to be budgeted. We need to bring this back in. We can't ignore it. and if anyone is ever challenging their property tax bill, we all know that we have to pay that amount while we challenge it. The city needs to do the same thing. We need to fund this and we need to remember, regardless of what the tax burden is, that it all falls on us, the taxpayers. Thank you.

Anyone else? Please keep coming. Just once somebody comes, come on up. This isn't school.

WILLIAM FARRELL, Hi. I'm William Farrell. I live at 43 Quarry Street, Quincy. I came here because I wanted to talk about the tax rate. and some of the reasons why I believe the tax rates are higher than they could be. There's a lot of spending in the city, and I'm not against having low-level services or a low-level government, but I think we have to have a reasonable level of our operation. I mean we have an enormous budget that's very, very large and I think it's extremely disproportionate for the size of our city or the tax base of our city. We also have, as has been mentioned, an enormous number of deferrals that have been given to various contractors who are organizations that are building very large buildings.

And this is just kind of sort of a race to the bottom amongst each community to give large facilities huge tax discounts that are not available to the residents. And I also believe the idea that having the residents get a benefit for being a owner-occupied residents is a very significant thing, as opposed to someone who's essentially running almost a motel when they're having people, especially short-term people, stay there. and also I'm very very upset about the fact that one of the reasons our budget is in such tough shape is because of the really, I believe, astronomical raises that we're given to the city. I'm sure people are very familiar with all this issue, both the mayor and the council members I hope are very familiar with the people who are so dissatisfied with that because

I don't think we should underfund people who are working for the city or representatives of the city, but giving out raises that, especially in the case of the mayor, that are way more than cities that are much, much larger than Quincy and much, much more affluent than Quincy, or even some extremely large national cities but somehow Quincy feels we need to pay more of that. And I really don't see that as being a legitimate method of handing out raises that I think are not even fair. but these are some of the things I think that are most important and are really causing the problem and the big problem we have with the huge debt and I don't see the huge debt as a benefit or an investment. Some people call it an investment. I don't see how the huge debt can be an investment. And also spending on some projects that were really very much overspent and overpriced.

So I hope you'll take that into consideration also when you consider how we're going to proceed here. Thank you very much.

Next.

Hi, everybody. I missed you all. Ann Mahoney, 12 Ferreter Street, Quincy, Massachusetts, newly elected Councillor at large, taking office in January. I'm speaking tonight to clarify the mandatory legal requirements regarding the city Quincy's fiscal year 2026 pension assessment. Under Massachusetts general law chapter 32 section 22, cities must fund their annual actuary determined pension assessments it's not optional. In March of this year, the Division of Local Services issued a statewide bulletin stating that pension assessments must be fully funded in fiscal year 2026. If the city fails to appropriate that assessment in its budget, DLS requires that an entire amount be raised on the tax recap. This is exactly the situation we're in tonight. That's $413 for the average family home. That means it's higher if it's than the average house. Quincy did not appropriate any funds for the fiscal year 2026 pension assessment. This law is absolutely clear.

The entire assessment must be added to the tax recap. there has been discussion suggesting that the city can rely on the 2021 pension obligation bond instead of making their annual payment. That is incorrect. Borrowed money cannot replace the pension assessments and PARIC has repeatedly confirmed this. There has also been a mention of the review by Milliman. That review does not change the legally certified fiscal year 2026 assessment, nor does it alter the requirements to fund it on the tax recap. if we delay this funding Quincy will be forced to pay both the fiscal year 2026 and the fiscal year 2027 pension assessments next year creating an enormous financial burden on the taxpayers that could be 30 million or much more next year that we'll be facing and I'll be on the council at that point. I'm asking you all to consider this because you are the councillors.

If we delay this funding, the other part I want to make sure you understand is that this is a legal requirement. It's a legal requirement. It's not a policy. It's what we're legally obligated to do. When we came up here before and we were talking about the $1.6 billion worth of debt, it was a nice presentation. We were calling ourselves geniuses for the pension obligation bond. that we don't think we have to do this and they can take it out of the future proceeds from that bond. That's not how it works. The law is clear. the guidance from DLS is clear. Parekh's position is clear. The fiscal year 26 pension assessment must be raised now as part of the fiscal year 2026 fiscal tax recap. It's our responsibility. It's yours to make sure that you're watching the fiscal responsibility of our city. And if it doesn't go on, it will go into the tax recap. We're going to get taxed one way or another. So we have to start playing games with our taxpayers. Thank you.

Hello. I'm Andrew Pham. I reside at 154 Sumner Street, Unit 1. I just want to paint some color to the property taxes between residential, commercial, there's a common defense that politicians make to try to increase the commercial tax rate thinking that you know this is going to alleviate the burden for residential taxpayers and but the truth is the landlord practice is to shift that Thank you very much. True solution to move forward is try to see how we can limit city spending. And as councilors,

Over the past year, as I ran for council at large, I was hoping at least one of you would scrutinize or ask the mayor, could you consolidate some of the administrative roles within the city to try to limit some of the spending? Or can we consolidate some of the city events that are happening? Do we really need another Christmas tree lighting or another parade when?

Thank you.

because I went to the previous parade. I see a banner, 75th Annual Christmas Parade. But 75th Annual, as someone who's just... went to go find prices for banners and signs. Those things are expensive. So now the city is going to have to spend another $600 for the 76th annual parade next year. And I'm just trying to you know, can you guys use your position to just say no, Mr. Mayor? Can we consolidate some of the city events because because there are currently Quincy public school teachers on third party donor sites that are requesting for $300 for books and tissues. Meanwhile, we are splashing on city events and parades that are supposed to drive economic, I get it, supposed to drive economic opportunities in the city.

We're seeing dwindling attendance, guys. There's more gaps between the sidewalks than I've noticed in the past 10 years. Something's got to change. thank you for your time.

Annalee, are you coming up? Okay.

I'm Annalee Johnson, 36 Garfield Street in Quincy. It's evident that us homeowners subsidizing these developers because homeowners pay Now what, 85% of running the city. It doesn't seem to be fair that developers who build 300 and 400 unit apartment buildings, and they get the same residential rates as homeowners. They are definitely a commercial business. That should be classified as a commercial. They also have other ways of reducing. They can deduct all the expenses that runs this big development which the homeowners don't have. So this is such a simple, common sense thing to classify the large developers as commercial, and that would solve your problem. Thank you.

Thanks, Emily. Okay, last call.

Good evening. My name is Stuart Schrier. I reside at 69 Shelton Road. I don't think you can fix this this year, but you gotta start thinking about how you're gonna fix this in the future. You're gonna vote for the 175 because who votes to elect people? The homeowners. the commercial, industrial. Often they don't even live in Quincy, so they're not going to vote. So you're going to vote for 175. But that doesn't fix the problem long term. because tax is policy. What you tax, you get less of. What you don't tax, you get more of. So do you want more commercial? you can't keep doing this because you're going to push the commercial out and then the commercial won't be here in the future to reduce the tax burden on the residences. There's really only one solution. and the lady that spoke earlier was absolutely correct. The city of Boston offers a homeowner tax exemption

for owner-occupied single-family, two-family, three-family homes. You want to encourage owner-occupants. Those are the people that are there and take care of their property. Those are the people that shovel the snow. Those are the people that rake up the leaves. Those are the people that take care of the city. in the future. You can't fix it this year, fix it next year. Put the owner occupancy exemption in place and then fix this so you don't overtax the commercial because we need the commercial to subsidize us in the future.

Okay, anyone else?

Good evening, Bills, Amsoff, 46, Tilden, Circle. I can offer comment on how I've long and often noted that the mayor's relying on untapped levy as a proxy reserve fund, as a high risk proposition. However, you would likely not care to hear about it, but here we are. I could also offer comment on how I noted a handful of years ago that going with a pension obligation bond posed well-known and serious concerns. However, you would likely not care to hear about it, but here we are. Additionally, I can offer a comment about profligate spending by the administration, which was approved by you all. However, you'd likely not care to hear about it, but here we are. At the same time, I cannot speak to the crux of why we are here tonight.

and that is what I and all other local property owners are looking forward to in the way of property tax increases in the start of 2026 is no tax rates have been posted by the administration. Further, it does not appear public comment will be allowed next week should the administration actually reach agreement with the DOR on the 26 tax rates. by the next meeting. Such poses the problem of an open meeting law violations along the line of how I saw this body admonished several years ago. seven years ago, I'm sorry. However, you would likely not care about that either, but here we are. In any event, what I can say is I worked long and hard to run the numbers as best I can with the numbers available,

and can so advise local homeowners that Maricopa's expectation of a modest property tax increase looks to be running somewhere in the range of just a bit under 10% toward leaning on 12%, barring, well, a Christmas miracle. further note if the administration does not agree to fund the $16 million PEREC assessment to make progress on funding the shortfall of the city's pension obligations, the Department of Revenue cannot certify Quincy's tax rates for 2026, given the applicable rules and regs. In turn, without going into the steps it would take, what would happen is that the March bills would have to cover the whole nut for what's needed to cover the whole thing. that works out to about a 40 or 50% increase in the average tax bill for that one period. Granted, the mayor slammed PARAC and brought in an outside actuarial firm. However, it will take months to see this addressed and perhaps find problems.

and then likely even longer to convince Parekh that mistakes were made in setting Quincy's rate, a rate which the administration knew was coming at the start of this year, but has only recently begun to challenge. In short, good luck with that. Even so, I fully expect that we're going to listen to more talk about how this, that, and the other in Perak's not a problem. Again, good luck with that. Finally, it's only proper to ask you, will you all go along with the administration's likely to be quixotic quest, or will you do the right thing by local taxpayers? Thank you.

Meeting. Madam Clerk, next item please.

Number 1, 2025-128, adopted residential factor of 87.6332 for Fiscal Year 2026.

Okay. I just had a presentation. Anyone have questions for... Mr. Roland. The president recognizes Councilor DiBona.

Thank you, Mr. President. John, thank you for your presentation tonight. Just had a few questions here. Kind of puzzled here a little bit. Traditionally, we come in with the residential factor and the percentages by classes with the tax rate. The assessor's values, are they certified from the state yet? Yes, they are. So those are certified? They are certified values, yes. And that came up with the... assess values that are on the single family slide that you have, 630,000, 2,025 to 663,400? Yeah, I'm gonna pull the slides back up. Yeah, sure, bring that up, please.

Andrews, Collins.

Did you want to see the detailed version? Yeah, just there's two houses sitting there, 2025, 2026.

Excuse me, Jen, there's an issue with the computer.

I'll ask the question anyway, and you can get to the slide when you can. so you don't need the tax rate to make this evaluation?

Evaluation? This is on the class percentages. We're making an adjustment to the class percentages. Those percentages are known and they are approved by the state. We have the... I can pull up a...

That's why you bring back up copies here. Sure. Wherever it is, here it is. OK, thank you.

Yes, so the shift is on the percentages. We know the percentage. We know the residential class makes up 85.84. We know the commercial makes up the 10.3. Personal Property 2.7, Industrial 1. And the question is whether we shift away from the residential class towards the commercial. And we can do that with these value percentages. A couple more slides and you get the single family home.

That's what I'm kind of like, how did you come up with this number, basically? Go cut more slides. It's not gonna be working in front of us, but the slide regarding the- Single family home, it's 2,025, it's 630,100, which is what we currently- The assessment? Yeah, the assessment, yep. Medium, and Seth's value. Yes.

So how the single-family homes are valued is we look at the values each year compared to the sales. So for 2020, physical year 26, we looked at calendar year 2024 sales. So how we did that is we reviewed last year's assessment versus the new sale price that we saw in 24. And then we compared it and had an assessment to sales ratio to determine, and this is all state standards, to determine what a ratio is. And the state likes to see a 95% ratio on the assessment to sales. and we had a 5% increase because our ratio was 90. So we increased the single families by 5% and that can be seen also in the median sale price of 5.28% increase.

Does this have any factoring with the new growth that we had in the city? This has nothing to do with that. The single-family home value has nothing to do with the new growth. So certifications for the tax level.

I'll correct that in saying that potentially the new growth is making the city more desirable.

Okay.

So certified tax levy, we don't have that yet. Is that correct? And why is that? I will defer to Mr. Walker on this point.

Mr. President, there are a couple factors going on, traditional essentially to every year, end of the year closings, bookkeeping issues, getting to that point where we're comfortable coming before the body with the full levy. This is not, other than the two dates, it's not different than the way we've handled this in previous years. In previous years, the public hearing has been on the split rate at the front end of the meeting and then at the back end of the meeting. the council does its deliberation on the financial orders and the things that the city does to keep that levy down. So it's essentially the same thing, we're just breaking it up into two meetings. Keeping in mind what you'll see next week when we present the financial orders are some of the same things we've done in past years, getting to those numbers where we can baked down that tax levy to keep the increase at a reasonable level for our medium family homeowners.

As we've mentioned year over year, it's tens of millions of dollars that this city, this body, has has approved that has kept down the tax levy, and we talk about this a lot, about that excess levy capacity. We've been able to keep that excess levy capacity in place. Our policy is to stay within the confines of Proposition 2 1⁄2. Underneath Proposition 2 1⁄2 will remain so, and we put a lot of work into getting to that number to keep it under that Proposition 2 1⁄2 levy that if you read some of the news stories, and other cities and towns across the Commonwealth, more and more are facing override votes, more and more are going to that limit, more and more are asking people to pay even more in taxes than we are. And next week what you'll see, again, is our effort

through the Department of Municipal Finance, working with our partners at the state, working together, is to keep that levy as low as possible.

through John or through the president to Mr. Walker, if I could, free cash. Do we have any certification on the free cash yet? Working through that right now. Okay. Do you think that'll be in delivery for next week's meeting? Yes. Okay, so they're in... Why so late? I can't speak to that. Because traditionally... Traditionally, like this particular meeting was supposed to be last week on December 1st. And then we have our last meeting, which is next week on December 15th. Traditionally, we usually get this information. We digest it. We have an opportunity to know where we are in free cash. And usually by then, everybody else in the audience knows that this is where we're at for how much this tax assessment is going to be or this tax rate is going to be. your single family approximation of...

It's been done different ways in different years, Councilor. There have been years where it's gone two meetings. There have been years where it's been one meeting. there have been years where there's been a lot of deliberation that it's gone on multiple hours. There's been years where there's been very little deliberation. It's a year to year. process. This year it's taking a little bit longer than it normally would through a variety of different factors. I wouldn't raise an alarm bell, but you'll see and we'll be talking throughout the week on the efforts that are going to be made to ensure, again, that that tax levy is going to be kept as low as humanly possible.

My last question really is the $16 million from the pension bond, was that or wasn't in the budget, and is that going to be paid for in this particular budget?

I think the body is well aware that that was not included in the budget. We had a rationale for that, and that's one of the issues we're working through with the state right now.

Okay. So you don't know that question?

I will have the ability to clarify at the next meeting. We're in active discussions on that. OK. But it's not. Do you have We have a good sense that we have a solution.

We have clarity. Do you have a general consensus of where free cash is? Do you have a ballpark figure at all? I'm not going to get into that right now. It's very important that we know that number.

Well, it does and it doesn't because keep in mind, Council, we don't have to appropriate free cash to keep the tax levy down. We've done that historically. We've done that more probably than any community in Massachusetts has done. Keeping in mind that this process in virtually every city and town across the Commonwealth is from point A to point B, here's the levy, here's the split, you're done because you're at the max anyways, so that's what your rate's gonna be. We do it, put a little bit more effort into it to ensure we're providing revenue sources in the right places to keep the levy down. And we've done that year over year for, you've been here, 15, 18 years now, that every year we add revenue to offset the levy. and that's provided a great benefit.

You know, I just want to step back here. I've been up here for 10 years. I don't ever remember it ever being split into two nights. It always was in the same particular night as the residential factor, with the percentages and then the tax rates right on top. So we have one, two, three votes right in a row. I'm not traditionally used to breaking it up into different nights.

Sure. I think if the suggestion is, I'd be happy to suggest to the president that we can certainly keep the public hearing open. And if that provides a sense of level of comfort.

Can we do that? Is that up to the president, Mr. President? I just wanted to get some of these questions answered because folks are emailing me and calling me and asking me questions and I don't particularly have the answers to give them. So on the constituent side, I can't give them the answer. So sometimes this came to the, you know, sometimes we don't get this presentation until we're 48 hours out, like it's not enough time. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Walker. We'll talk a little bit more about the tax rate, and I'm not going to get into more discussion about that because it's not on this particular line item. John, I want to thank you for putting this together. Is this your second year doing this? Second. Well, third, I did have one COVID year in there. You know, obviously, I just want to make sure that the public knows and everybody that's in the audience knows what's going on here. So thank you, Mr. President. If I have any other questions, I'll come back. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Ash. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Roland, for the presentation and for the information. My question, Councilor DiBona did to ask some of the questions and the trains of thought I will say that I was going to be asking you about. But really, you know, last year when we had this meeting, the residential shift at the 175 came out to a residential factor of 87 .6863. This is for FY25. And I just use that as a marker, not necessarily for that I think it's pertinent to the question. But this year, the residential factor comes out to 87.6332, which is a bit lower.

So my question really, just as I'm working through the numbers and want to be able to have the right facts to be able to relate to my constituents and people that ask, if last year was the lowest and then this year were even lower, I guess, if you could try to help me wrap my head around how that factor changes year to year. I think in an aerial sense that would be really beneficial to me and to the people at home and in the audience.

Absolutely. So the maximum shift is the 175. That is the most we can do under state law. and that in result, you shift the commercial away from the commercial. So when you start out, our starting percentages were under a 1% factor, 85, 85 and then 14, 15. to shift to the maximum under state law, we multiply the 14, 15% by 175. In doing so, this creates the shift from 75, 24. 25, 75, 25. And the minimum residential factor is the factor of the residential burden after the shift divided by the residential burden before the shift. So those class percentages will vary, will change the minimum residential factor year over year. The reason why,

Our minimum personal factor is lower this year than last year is because we had an increase in percentages of commercial, industrial, and personal property, as I pointed out previously in the presentation, where we went from 86-14 even, and now we're closer. We have 85. 8, 2, 8, 14, 2. We're getting better on that end. Any time we shift closer towards the commercial, industrial, and personal property classes, that minimum residential factor will be decreased.

Thank you. And then I'm unsure if Councilor DiBona asked this particular question, but are we expecting a an opinion or an order or something from Milliman this week with respect to the calculations that will determine the calculations that will be seemingly going into next week? No.

Mr. Walker, did you have a comment? No.

Okay, thank you. That was directed to me and I do not know. Okay, thank you.

Did you have more questions? No. Okay, thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Um... Thanks everyone for your comments tonight. And this is always, every year, I wrote down every year because this happens every year. Nobody understands this process. That's the truth. People interpret it very differently. Sorry to feel insulted, but that is the truth. People get confused. They don't understand it, and so that's why they come here. So point being is tax policy is governed by the state, correct? Correct. So any changes we'd want to make would have to go through our state legislature. Absolutely. Either by home rule petition or through our representatives. Yes. Okay. Just want that to be clear. So we're still at, you know, adopting the residential factor. I don't have a motion. We're going to punt it to next week.

Okay. Thank you. Madam Clerk, next item.

Number three. Oh, you want to go to number two or do you want to talk about that? it's the same yeah we'll move on okay number three 2025-130 order repurposing the Ward 4 mitigation funds to the Quincy Community Action Program Southwest Community Center.

The President recognizes Councilor Devine.

So this is, it was under the word for community center. It no longer exists. So we have the Southwest Community Center. So we switched that. and this is getting mitigation money that I wanted to get into QCAP so that they can use it. I think everybody knows that it's been a hard year for Food Pantries and Community Centers because of SNAP and other programs that were shorted. So this is a very good opportunity that we're able to move some mitigation money. into Ward 4, which was meant for Community Center, so now it's going to Southwest Community Center.

Did you make a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve, seconded by Councilor Campbell.

Ash, Campbell, Devine, DiBona, Harris, Liang, McCarthy, Minton, President Cain.

Yes.

Nine members.

Madam Clerk, if I may, Mr. Rowland, one thing that didn't come up that we usually have available, because again, not everyone understands how this works, there's a book called understanding your taxes that you usually put out. Yes. Is that available yet?

It's not available yet. It will be available come January. We do intend to put it out. It will be online. It will be available in our office, and we'll be happy to answer any questions when.

I send that out every year to people because the same conversations happen, so I want to make sure that that's available to the public. but again, it helps people understand how properties are valued and assess the process of calculating the tax rates generally. and this paper will be available online as well.

The presentation I presented tonight and the paper that is in the crowd will be online tomorrow.

Okay, great, all right, thanks. Yep. Madam Clerk, next item, please.

Number four, 2025-131, appropriation for $6,000, from Ward 4 Mitigation Funds to Traffic, Parking, Alarm, Lighting, TPL for traffic improvements.

Devine. This is just simple funds that we needed to switch from the mitigation money into the traffic department so they can do some Streetworks on around Willard Street, up around Shea Park, Shea Skating Rink. There's a few lights up there. And this money was earmarked for that area, Rosecliff area. So I'd like a motion to approve.

Okay, motion approved by Councilor Devine, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash, Councilor Campbell, Councilor Devine, Councilor DiBona, Councilor Harris, Lee, Councilor McCarthy, Councilor Minton, President Cain, nine members.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next item, please.

Number 5, 2025-132, an appropriation for $9,043.81 from Ward 4 Mitigation Funds to Southwest Middle School and Lincoln-Hancock Community School for PTO activities.

Devine.

Once again, mitigation funds that we're moving into these two schools. One of the constituents came up earlier and spoke about teachers having to come up with some of their own money. I think he said about $300 to try and pay for things. Some of this money here is earmarked exactly for that, for teachers so they can buy personal stuff for in their classrooms, pens, papers, whatever they need, the extra stuff, but also this is, money that was earmarked for Ward 4 improvements and both schools have some very active PTOs that it will help with One of their Southwest Middle School is... they have a eighth grade trip that they do every year.

So this will help lower the cost for those students, which is really good because about 40 of them go every year to New York. Some of this will probably help to reduce each student by $100. And then at Lincoln Hancock, they have a lion dance. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it's a field trip that they do. Some of this is earmarked for that, but not all of it is limited to, they do have some discretion that they can spend it on, but it's something we wanted to move out into the schools so they can use it. I'd like to motion to approve.

Motion to approve, made by Councilor Devine, seconded by Councilor Campbell. On the motion, President recognizes Councilor Asch.

Thank you. Councilor Devine, just these seem like very specific amounts. Is there, like,

This is just money that was sitting there that wasn't used and I came across some of it so I wanted to just get it out because there's no need to be leaving it sitting in a fund that's not being used.

Was it from like one specific project or is it?

No, they're all different ones. So the one coming up for the 956 that we're going to talk about in one second is actually the PTO for Southwest. They wanted to buy a couple of things. a soccer ball net and a, I don't know, it's a Gaga ball. I don't know exactly what it is, but it was something that they wanted to buy for the students. So the $956,019 is paying them back for that exact amount.

But how about this $9,043.81 each?

Well, that's because $956.14 came out of that original fund. The original fund was rounded up to... Okay, all right. Yeah, so then that was taken out of that fund. Okay, thank you.

Motion to approve made by Councilor Ryan, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash, Councilor Campbell, Councilor Devine.

Yes.

Minton, Councilor DiBona, Councilor Harris, Councilor Liang, Councilor McCarthy, Councilor Minton, President Cain, nine members.

Next item please, Madam Clerk.

Number six, 2025-133, an appropriation for $956.19 from World War IV mitigation funds to Southwest Middle School PTO for equipment.

Very simple. We just spoke about it for a couple of sports equipments that the PTO wanted to buy. So, motion to approve.

Motion to approve made by Councilor Devine, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash. Yes. Councilor Campbell.

Yes.

Devine.

Yes.

Council Devona. Yes. Councilor Harris. Yes. Council Liang. Yes. Councilor McCarthy. Yes. Councilor Minton. Yes. President Cain.

Yes.

Nine members.

Thank you.

Next item, please. Number 7, 2025-134, an appropriation for $2,224.64 from Ward 4 mitigation funds to support the Southwest Middle School Ash, PBIS program.

Councilor Ryan. So once again, the numbers are off, Councilor Ash, because it's just a residual amount that's left. I wanted to give this to the Southwest PBIS program. It's a program that at Southwest, they encourage every child to do better. And as they get recognized every day and they get to spin a wheel, and on that wheel, there'll be something like as simple as a pen, a $10 Dunkin' Donuts card, Our belly used to fund that and when I started about three years ago, they had no real funds so I was able to get a local lawyer funded it one year and then we got some other money from some other neighbors and this year we were able to get this mitigation money so I wanted to get it over there for them so that they can keep that positive behavior program going. And it's very supportive to those students there.

So motion approved.

Motion approved by Councilor Hines, seconded by Councilor Campbell.

Ash, Campbell, Devine, DiBona, Harris, Liang, McCarthy, Minton, President Cain.

Yes.

Nine members.

Thank you. Next item please, Madam Clerk.

Number 8, 2025-135, order adoption of Mass General Law, Chapter 90, Section 14 and 14C, an act concerning the safety of schoolchildren embarking and disembarking School Buses.

President recognizes Mr. Walker.

Through you, Mr. President, thank you. before the body this evening is adoption of a state law passed earlier this year, Chapter 90, Section 1414C, an act concerning the safety of children embarking and disembarking school buses. essentially what this will allow the city to do working with the school department and the police department is install stop-arm camera will be able to use the equipment on the stop arms of school buses and will allow us to actually enforce violations of stop arm laws through that. Camera System. This is a recently enacted state law. A couple people have brought this to our attention over the course of the last several months, and we think it's absolutely worthwhile.

Motion approved by Councilor Devine, seconded by Councilor Campbell. On the motion, President recognizes Councilor Ash.

Thank you, Mr. President. I agree the adoption of this section of Mass General Laws seems like a no-brainer. I just wanted to take a minute and I know school committee woman Kathy Hubley, Catherine Hubley brought this up to me actually probably six or eight months ago so I just wanted to note that for the record. Certainly I know that there is interest from the school committee and wanted to make sure that I recognize that. And we had some good conversations about this legislation. I think it was at the Mass Association of School Committees annual meeting that it was first discussed. So I'll be in support of this, but wanted to note that for the record.

The President recognizes Councilor DeVine.

This is extremely important. In just the last couple of years, up in the Grove, Bates, Upton, Unity area. The parents have been having some serious issues with bad drivers driving trying to get to school to work and then home so they're driving through that neighborhood very badly and we've been sending up some police presence to try and help out and We had to move both school buses, one on Bates and one on Upton, because of this exact situation, cars driving around school buses. So we moved them to safer areas.

but it's still very important so I'm glad this is being done and even at about 5 o'clock on my way over here I was speaking with a constituent that lives on Upton Street and they sent me a picture of their ring camera and it was a A mother and child trying to cross the street. and as they were crossing, a car stopped to let them go. They're halfway across the street and another vehicle drove around the stopped car and drove past the child and the mother. which is very similar to what we're talking about so I'm very happy that we're doing this. Thank you. Thank you.

The President recognizes Councilor DiBona.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just pursuant to Chapter 40 here in the amendment in the second paragraph here, is this going to also be instituted into any third party or subcontracted private vendor buses or school buses or driving mechanisms.

through you, Mr. President. As it stands right now, that's TBD, Councilor, but I think the city would and the school department would work initially to equip the city's existing fleet first and then move on potentially with the private vendors.

So will this pertain to children that are being busted into out of district schooling? or is this just straight across the board for City of Quincy?

That gets a little bit into a policy discussion that I think we'd leave to the school department on how they want to deploy, obviously working with the city on the contract. So I would punt that question until we get a little bit further in the process. Sure. I understand. Thank you. Thank you.

Did you motion to approve by Councilor Devine? Yes. Seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash. Yes. Councilor Campbell. Yes. Councilor Devine. Yes. Minton, President Cain. Yes.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next item, please.

Number 9, 2025-136, Order 61-69 and 71, Hancock Street Easement.

Mr. President recognizes the city solicitor.

Mr. President, members of the council, good evening. This is a pretty straightforward matter. The developer of the project down at the corner of Hancock Street and Newport Ave. As part of the project is gonna be installing the utilities the company will be paying for the work, performing the work, and they're working hand in hand. with National Grid. Part of the deal is you have plans that came with the proposed easement, and the plans show four utility paths. they're going to be installed at that corner and that's where the electrical service is going to be brought in. Now, the issue is that Hancock Street's actually, it's a state-controlled way, and Newport Ave is, controlled by the city.

And they merge in a kind of nebulous area at that bend. and so for that reason there were some ownership issues and lack of clarity about who owns what. So what's going to go on is the developers design the project. The utility easement plan is before you. the city of Quincy is gonna grant an easement to the developer so that the developer has control over a portion of the land that we believe is controlled and owned by the city. and within the easement, there's language that says that any work that's done has to be to the satisfaction of the city but for the most part, the developer's gonna be controlling all this. And as part of the project then construct a sidewalk.

I've seen, you've seen, I believe you've seen a number of projects in the city where the developer constructs a sidewalk in front of the building. This will be the same type of approach. So it's pretty straightforward. It's an excellent project. And the easement was fairly simple to draw up.

President recognizes Councilor Liang.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening. I just have a question about our timeline for this. And I had some residents who live in the area who are concerned about and the ongoing construction that's been going on there for quite some time now. But then with this particular project, they're curious about timeline for the work, different points of contact for them to reach out to if there are any questions or concerns. They didn't have any issue with the actual work itself. I think anybody who walks around that area and actually going down Newport all the way towards the 99, I'm thinking of that development over there. when they had redone the sidewalks. I mean, it's just so much safer for the folks who are walking in and around that neighborhood. And so there weren't any complaints that came in about obviously putting in utility work and that resulting in improved and wider sidewalks, but curious about timeline and points of contact for the residents in the area.

and I really don't know that information. I know that the developer has advised me that all the permits are now in place and they're ready to, start the project, but it'll be on their timeline, I believe.

Okay. Do we have any recommendations for folks who are curious about just making sure that they're up to date with what's going on. Again, the questions that I got from folks weren't like, oh, we want to make sure they're starting this date, ending this date. It was just about... being kept in the loop so that they know what to expect and then they can make any adjustments if they need to on their travel schedules, etc.

I'll let Mr. Walker answer this, but before he does, I'll just suggest that the preference we have is once a project is permitted, the developer takes control of the site, they'll have signage up, they'll have information up. and it's easier for us on a project like this and more efficient that there's a direct connect between the developer who's controlling everything and folks who are interested in the project. We'll definitely get, and then I don't know if there's a, municipal official and public works who might be quasi-clerk of the works. I know we've had someone down on the C Street project, but if you know any more, Mr. Walker, you can take it from here. Thank you, Mr. Solette.

Solicitor, exactly as the solicitor said, we'll have a project representative make sure that we find the contact information. and also someone from the oversight team at DPW in terms of what's in the public way. We'll make sure everybody's up to speed.

Okay, that sounds good. If we can find a way or a place to put that information up, whether it's mailing the residents in the vicinity when we get that point of contact, that would be great. certainly have a love-hate relationship with developers over the years. And I have found the one consistent is, again, having folks Under Isle's leadership and from DPW on site, I always tend to find that to be the best route to answer questions. So I'd feel a lot better knowing that someone from his team, someone from the city is on site. or if not on site, like a point of contact for the residents. And so thank you, Ms. Lister. The last thing I'll say is that I just hope that National Grid doesn't have Riley Brothers on that site, but that's all. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Entertain a motion. Yep, motion to approve. Councilor McCarthy, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash, Councilor Campbell, Councilor Devine, Councilor DiBona, Councilor Harris. Liang, Councilor McCarthy, Councilor Minton, President Cain, nine members.

Okay.

Next item, please. Number 10, 2025-137, Order Performing Arts Center Project Use of Chapter 149A, Construction Manager. at risk delivery method.

Mr. Walker. Through you, Mr. President. Before you tonight is language you've all seen many times before. This is the city's preferred method of construction under MGL, Mass General Laws, for major projects. and construction manager at risk. It differs a little bit from traditional design bid build projects. Construction manager risk brings in the GC and the construction manager early on in the process. Early on in terms of design, they help with cost estimates, they help with the overall making of the project prior to the actual bidding process. And we found this to be very effective, particularly when it comes to our school buildings. This is incredibly preliminary. I don't want to suggest that there's a project.

that is remotely close to being before this body, but these are two things that have been discussed for the last several years throughout the city. the Mayor and the Mayor's Office and the team. We're looking forward to engaging in a very robust way with the public on how we move this forward in the coming months. but this sets the table. There's no funding attached to this. This just gets us in the pipeline with the state as it does, as it has with a number of our other projects.

I just like to make a motion to approve and just thank the administration for their work on moving this forward. I remember conversations with folks over the last 10 years who were so interested in having some sort of performing arts center here in the city, right? Just a place that folks can go to instead of going to theaters in other communities. We had the restaurants. We had this beautiful city center that you can walk through. And certainly, there have been desires over the years from folks who are performers themselves or people who are looking to go to local plays and performances to be able to do so here in Quincy. So I'm thrilled. I know we're, like you said, Mr. Walker, so early on in the process. would love to have been able to vote on an actual performing arts center. But I'm super excited to hear that this is finally underway. And I do just want to make sure. I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to John McDonald, for those who don't know. he's done an incredible job across the city putting on events and giving us that same experience as a performing arts center without actually having one and so I know that

certainly I can only assume that this is inspired by a lot of his events and his success and what he's done and I'm just super excited to see what's to come even more right like now that we have this space, hopefully soon, somewhere down the line to have artists come. So, yeah, really excited that this is in the works, and I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Motion to approve made by Councilor Liang. Seconded by Councilor McCarthy on the motion. Councilor Ash.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you Mr. Walker. I know you say we don't have a cost associated or funding. Is there a location that we have that I'm sure folks at home that are really interested in this project as I am would will be interested to hear about.

Yes, through you, Mr. President. It hasn't been finalized, but I think it's safe to say that our focus is on the Monroe Building across the street here. I failed to mention during my opening that the Performing Arts Center would be coupled with the Adams Presidential Center, which we've been also talking about. for a couple of years. There's an incredible amount of synergy between these two visions, and we're looking forward to getting cracking on making something that works for the community.

Thank you. So if we're going to be engaging the public in the process early on in the Performing Arts Center and Presidential Center, What are the pros to approving the design build at this point and I guess what does it do to set the stage for the next steps?

It gives us the foundation. There's also a public process right now that's taking place. I think it's just about finalized for selecting an architect. We want as much of the project team on and available as early as possible. Because when we go out to engage the community, as we have, now this goes back As Councilor Liang mentioned, particularly when it comes to the Performing Arts Center, this goes back six or seven years, where we had a committee put together, made a number of recommendations. looked at different sites for that particular venue. Nothing sort of worked. We went through a couple different iterations. and the same thing with the Presidential Center, which a vision that is really going to be something extraordinary, telling the story of the Adams family.

There is no more, I don't have to tell anybody in this room, no more important family to the American story than John and Abigail. and John Quincy and Louisa Catherine. And the convergence of those two things really seemed to fit. But once we go out and engage the public and we're soliciting ideas finding out what may work, what may not work. we're gonna have to produce something and to have the folks on board that produce design can help us develop cost estimates, help us develop massing, how much space is required for each particular It's important to have a team in place very, very early on even if we're still in the conceptual stages.

what would the first substantive request of this body be down the line when it comes to planning the Performing Arts Center or the APC?

I would think and I'm gonna make a relatively educated answer to that, but saving myself potential for it not to be a, schematic design type of investment that we've done on a number of other projects that gets us to a certain point. And then at that certain point, we would be ready to come back with a full project cost-wise.

Thank you.

President recognizes Councilor DiBona. Thank you, Mr. President. You kind of revealed exactly where you think it's going to go. I know this past year, There was a little bit of discussion about possibly putting it next to the Adams Academy in the green space and possibly taking the Planet Fitness. So that's off the table. Is that correct?

Yes. Okay, so we looked at that site originally for the Adams Presidential Center. There were a number of complicating factors. It was a tight site. There was the potential for eminent domain, and there was not a lot of agreement from property owners there that they'd be willing to sell, so the mayor at some point decided to look elsewhere.

Just a disclosure, I was a member at Planet Fitness and I had a lot of discussions inside the facility and I want to thank you guys for listening and taking that off the table.

To be honest, it wasn't Planet Fitness that was unwilling to sell. There are some other property owners in the area. Planet Fitness, the owners.

Who were the people that didn't want to sell it? It wasn't Planet Fitness. So if you took Planet Fitness, where would you just place them to? Where would you have a relocation? Did you have that in the plans at all?

No, because that would have been, I mean, this is all moot, but That would have been the end of a lease. That would have been a sale of the property. We would never have gone to eminent domain for that. It was part of the reason why we didn't move forward with any of it. not so much, as I said, because it wasn't about Planet Fitness, but eminent domain did loom for one or two of the other properties, and the mayor determined that if folks weren't willing to sell, that we weren't gonna move forward. But it wasn't Planet Fitness.

If they had sold it, where do you think it would have relocated to? That would not have been our issue. So they voluntarily were going to sell?

Correct. The lease would have run up. The property owner would have sold.

and that would have been the arrangement. So they didn't hold up the plan, it was some other entity? Correct. Okay. Thank you, that's all I have. Thank you.

Motion approved by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash. I'll abstain. Councilor Campbell.

Yes.

Devine, DiBona, Harris, Liang, McCarthy, Minton, President Cain. Yes. Seven members. Thank you.

Okay, that concludes our regularly scheduled meeting for tonight. Approval of previous meeting minutes, first from Monday, November 10, 2025. Motion to approve by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor McCarthy. All those in favor? Those opposed? Ayes have it. Meeting minutes from Monday, November 17, 2025 meeting. Motion approved, made by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Campbell. All those in favor? Those opposed? Ayes have it. Communications and reports from the mayor, other city officers and city boards? Seeing none. Unfinished business and proceeding meeting? Seeing none. Reports of committees passed on public works tonight. Ordinance.

Casey here. I have a couple of traffics. The first is out of Ward 1, 2025-126 at Passenger Pickup and Drop-off Zone in front of Broadmeadow School across from 31 Calvin Road. Positive recommendation out of committee.

A positive recommendation and a motion to approve made by Councilor Yank, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash, Councilor Campbell, Councilor Devine, Councilor DiBona, Councilor Harris, Liang, Councilor McCarthy, Councilor Minton, President Cain. Yes.

Okay, last two are out of Ward 2, 2025-122. Remove no left. Turn on Curtis out of that Washington Court. Positive recommendation out of committee.

A positive recommendation and a motion to approve by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilor Ash. Yes. Councilor Campbell. Yes. Councilor Devine. Yes. Councilor DiBona. Councilor Harris. Yes. Councilor Liang. Yes. McCarthy, Councilor Minton, President Cain.

Yes.

Last one, 2025-123. Add two stops. Signs on Arnold Street at 5th Ave. Creating a four-way stop. Positive recommendation out of committee.

Positive recommendation and motion to approve. Made by Councilor Liang. Seconded by Councilor Campbell. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Ash, Campbell, Devine, DiBona, Harris, Liang, McCarthy, Minton, President Cain. Yes. State members.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Petitions, presentation of petitions, memorials, and remonstrance. President recognizes Councilor Campbell.

Thank you, Mr. President. I feel very honored to be the person up here, and I want to thank Councilor Devine for allowing me this opportunity to recognize an incredibly Incredible woman. She's the matriarch of one of the most special families in Quincy and someone who I grew up knowing and have loved from day one. just to send a very special 100th birthday to Mary DePaulo from Bartlett Street. She's truly one of the best humans to ever walk this earth and thankfully I was lucky enough to grow up in a neighborhood where we all considered each other family and Mrs. DePaulo was one of the catalysts that welcomed us all with open arms. Mrs. DePaul was born Mary Mulligan and lived on Chamin Street until 1950. And that's when she met and married Mr. George DePaulo, who moved the family into the DePaulo homestead, which was established in 1880 up on Bartlett Street. Mr. DePaulo was a legendary Custodian at Sterling Middle School, Sterling Junior High at the time, I think.

It actually might have been Sult Junior High when he started there. And he single-handedly kept that furnace running for over 50 years over at Sterling. Mary and George were married for 60 years and had three beautiful children who married incredible life partners. John and Janice DiPaolo, Kathy and Johnny Scribby, Mary Beth and Frank Flora, Mary's grandchildren dote on her daily, Joey, Danny, and Jimmy Scribby, and Frankie, Lisa Marie, and Nicole Flora The true apples of her eye are her great-grandchildren, Amelia, John, Matthew, Mary, Lily, Georgie, and Gloria. They're just an incredible Quincy family. Mary was a neighborhood mom to so many and Apollo, I called the farm back growing up, was like walking onto Fenway Park as a kid. Perfectly manicured and always beautiful flowers and the apple tree, everything was just perfect.

If Hollywood was looking for a real-life Mayberry and Quincy, the Apollos House on Bartlett Street would have been tough to beat. Mrs. DePaulo turned 100 years old on December 5th. I know that the Mayor and Representative Ayers went by to see her special, and she, to this day, is as beautiful as we all remembered her She's kind and sweet in the life of every party she joins. As a neighborhood, if Mrs. DePaulo was going to be in attendance at a family cookout, we knew we were all in for a treat because she is the absolute best. Tonight we celebrate not just the fact that Mrs. DePaulo Mary has reached this incredible age, but how she has lived every single one of those 100 years. She has created a legacy of warmth, wisdom, and quiet dignity that will live on in this community long after the celebrations have faded. My very best wishes to a true one-of-a-kind legend, Mrs. Mary DePaulo. Happy birthday.

Thanks, Councilor Campbell. President recognizes Councilor Devine.

This is one of the reasons why I asked Councilor Campbell to step in and speak for any of my constituents about Granite Links because I'm not supposed to speak of it, but he grew up in Ward 4 and I really appreciate how you just did that really well and you named all these Great people of, it's a real backbone. Most of those names are all backbones of Ward 4. And Ward 4 has a extremely Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Motions, orders, and resolutions? Seeing none. Scheduling of committee meetings and public hearings. So we're going to host a public hearing again next Monday regarding the tax classification and the tax levy at 6.30 p.m. And then we'll start our city council meeting. We'll schedule it for 7. so that, yes, thank you, Councilor. So we'll, no, we punted that to next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, good luck. Okay, so next Monday, December 15th, 6 p.m., be there or be square.

Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn, made by Council. Seconded by Council. All those in favor? Aye. May everyone find true peace, true joy, true happiness and liberation. Good evening.