City Council

Good to see you. 1, 2, 3, 4, close enough. All right. All right, we're calling this meeting to order. My name is Lance Davis. I'm using him pronouns, service council president. This is a meeting of the Somerville City Council, Thursday, April 9th. Please note that audio and video of this meeting is being recorded and may be shown live on local access government channels and on the City of Somerville website and will be available for future review. Would the clerk please call the roll?

This is roll call. Councilor Ewen-Campen? Here. Councilor Link? Here. Councilor Scott? Present. Councilor Clingan?

Present.

Councilor Strezo? Here. Councilor Sait? Here. Councilor Wheeler?

Here.

Councilor Hardt? Here. Councilor McLaughlin? Here. Councilor Mbah?

Present.

Councilor Davis? Here. With all Councilors present, we have quorum. Thank you.

All right, pursuant to our Rule 32, let it be known that this City Council salutes the flag of the United States of America, and let us recall our oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth to the best of our abilities and understanding. We begin our meetings with a moment of silence. Are there any Councillors wishing to say a few words about members of our community tonight? All right, seeing none, would everyone in the chamber please rise as you are able for a moment of silence. Thank you. All right, first item, Madam Clerk.

Item 1.3, approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of March 12th, 2026.

Seeing no discussion, that item is approved. Next item.

Clingan. Agenda item 2.1, a citation by Councillor Clingan, commending Theresa M. Perro on the auspicious occasion of her 100th birthday.

Councillor Clingan. Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, as we often do, have these special occasions of Somervillian turning 100. This evening I am really proud and excited to honor and recognize Teresa Pirro. I'm going to read a little bit about Teresa and then I'm going to have Teresa's granddaughter Emily come up. To accept the citation on her behalf as she is in an assisted living situation. Okay, so Teresa Pirro was born April 19th, 1926 in Cambridge. In 1945, she and her husband Walter purchased the big yellow house at 392 Medford Street where they raised their family, where she remained for over 75 years. A devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Mrs. Pirro is the proud matriarch of two children, five grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren. She was a familiar presence in her Winterhill neighborhood, a long-time parishioner of St. Anne's, and worked for over 30 years as a telephone operator at Furman Lumber. Her son Walter Piro Jr. went on to serve the City Council for many years as the Ward 4 Alderman, serving in these very chambers and continuing the family's long-standing connection to community. Now residing at an assisted living facility in Lower Mills, Dorchester for the last three years, Teresa continues to enjoy her time with her family and proudly holds the distinction of being the oldest resident in her community.

On this occasion of her 100th birthday, I proudly recognize Theresa for this remarkable milestone and honor her lifetime of dedication to her family and to her community. As was mentioned in the text, she lived right there on Medford Street. I met her a number of times before she parted from Somerville for an assisted living. She was a very warm and welcoming person and certainly well-known in the community. And as was stated, some of you may remember Walter. Her son who served on this body as a public servant. So Teresa is thriving and doing great in her assisted living community. So I believe they're watching. Hopefully she's watching a stream right now.

And with that, I'd like to present the citation to her granddaughter, Emily Perrone. Emily, if you want to come up to the podium and accept this on behalf of the City of Somerville. Be it hereby known to all that the Somerville City Council and the Mayor offer their sincerest commendations to Teresa M. Pirro, a long-time Somerville resident who is celebrating the auspicious occasion of her 100th birthday. The Councillors and the Mayor extend their best wishes for good health and much happiness offered this 9th day of April, 2026, signed by the entire Council and the Mayor. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

I just wanted to say thank you to Councilor Clingan and to the entire City Council. I really appreciate this. will be absolutely thrilled to receive this. She's been in these chambers many times, especially when my dad was here as an alderman. So again, sincerely appreciate it. If she were here, she would tell you that her secret to a long life Thank you. Thank you.

All right, thank you very much. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Agenda item 3.1, a grant of location from Eversource, applying for a grant of location to install 318 feet of conduit in Kent Street and Somerville Avenue from existing manhole 14831, two points of pickup at 22 Kent Street, an additional conduit from manhole 14831 to an existing manhole 8634. All right.

And now to clear this public hearing to be open, is there anyone here to speak on the item?

Jackie Duffy online hi who are you tonight well thanks welcome thank you and we'd like to install 25 feet of conduit and everett street to provide electric service to 24 webster avenue

Okay, anyone else here to speak on the item? If you're online, please use the raise hand function. No, seeing none. All right, I now declare the public hearing closed. Is there any discussion, questions? Councilor Scott?

Thank you, Mr. President. I hate to have to do it, but this is on Kent Street and there is a pole at Somerville and Kent that is leaning at something like a 15 degree angle off the vertical. It's a hazard. It's been reported multiple times. We still haven't gotten any action on it. And I believe on tonight's agenda is a communication from one of my constituents. That would be item 260633. I just like to send this one to License and Permits so that we can get Get some answers and some follow-up on that. I believe there's also several items on the agenda tonight relating to that matter. So if we could send this item to license permits.

Is the poll that you're talking about related to the grant of location?

It's right down the street, sir. Okay.

The reason I ask is because while that is a conversation that we've had in licenses and premises before, if we're going to have a larger discussion about polls, that might be something that would be better sit in what used to be public utilities and public works, which is now sustainability and infrastructure. Because licenses and permits, we're really supposed to talk about the license that's before us. We certainly can send it there. I'm not objecting. We're just having a conversation. I want to set up the other items. Put them in the best place to be addressed by whomever might be able to attend the meeting.

Mr. President, you're familiar with my song and dance at this point. I'm attempting to use the very little power that we have as city councilors to bring the state utility to the table to discuss and remedy these problems.

Scott moves to send this item to licenses or to committee licenses and permits any objection all right CNN will send that one

Can I just go through the chair on this one? Sorry, I read the wrong thing. I read the one for Webster Avenue. Sorry, I didn't read the Kent one. So that was my bad. But Kent one is going to go to licensing, correct?

That's correct.

Okay, thank you.

All right, thank you. All right, next item out of court.

Agenda item 3.2, Eversource applying for a grant of location to install 184 feet of conduit in Broadway from existing manhole 1969 to a point of pickup at 382 Broadway.

All right, and now declare the public hearing to be open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item?

Jackie Duffy Eversource would like to install 184 feet of conduit in Broadway to provide electric service to 382 Broadway.

Okay, is there anyone else here to speak on the item? If you're online, you can use the raise hand function. No? Okay, seeing none, then I'll declare the public hearing closed. Is there any discussion? Any questions? All right, seeing none, that item is approved. Next item.

Agenda item 3.3, Eversource applying for a grant of location to install 25 feet of conduit in Everett Street from utility pole 118 over 0 to a point of pickup at 24 Webster Avenue.

I'm having deja vu. And I declare this public hearing to be open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item?

Jackie Duffy, Eversource, would like to install 318 feet of conduit in Kent Street. Oh my God. Hold on, I have the wrong thing now. Sorry, my bad. 25 feet of conduit on Everett Street to provide electric service to 24 Webster Avenue.

Okay, is there anyone else here to speak on the item? All right, anyone online? No, seeing none. All right, I declare the public hearing to be closed. Is there any discussion, any questions? No? All right, then that item is approved.

Thank you.

All right, we have requests to take a few items out of order this evening. The first will be the report of the Committee on Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters. Do with some promotions that we have this evening and then after that we'll take up items without if there's no objection we'll take up item 4.2 and then 4.3. Then at that point we have an executive session that we do have to go into, so the council will move into executive session for discussion. We will come back. Potentially take up items 7.4 and 7.5. Sorry, the executive session is 7.2. and then after that there's another executive session that we have to go into and that will be 7.1 and then after that we will take up 7.3 out of order and after all of that we'll start the meeting. So just so folks have a heads up. So the first item we'll take out of order, if there's no objection, will be item 6A. Madam Clerk?

6A1, a report of the Committee on Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters, meeting on March 30th, 2026.

Councillor Bott. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the opportunity. It was a brief meeting. The Confirmation of Appointments Committee convened on April 30th with all members present. and consider several personnel appointments. We review and recommended approval of two police sergeant promotions, Ashley Catato and Courtney Ruiz, both experienced detectives who emphasized community policing, professional development, and building trust with residents. Then the committee also recommended approval of James Plotkin, As municipal hearing officer, highlighting his extensive experience and commitment in fairness, particularly in handling unrepresented or anxious residents in his role.

Jessica Smith was approved for the Public Financing of Campaigns Committee and finally James Leo Bedard and Christa Hough were approved to the Ranked Choice Voting Committee. All great community members, I ask that the committee report be accepted as submitted. All right, any discussion on the committee report?

All right, seeing none, that item is approved. Councilor Bali, you want to lead us through the promotions?

I will ask the two sergeants, you know, we can just kind of like take them both together. So Ashley and Courtney Reese, if you guys...

So folks can step forward. If there's anyone in the room that wants to take pictures, please plow right ahead. Come right within the horseshoe. Go up here, anywhere you want to be. Tell us to move out of the way. Don't hesitate to get where you need to be to get some good shots, all right? Okay.

I'm like... Hold on one sec, Madam Clerk. Let everybody get in the room here. Don't want anybody to miss anything.

Okay, we'll let them get in. Yeah, we'll. It was busy. Everyone wanted to chat instead.

For the folks who just came in the room, I said a minute ago, if you want to take some pictures, please feel free to come anywhere you like to be to get a good angle. Don't hesitate. Come right up on the inside or the outside, or you can stand next to me up here, whatever works. All right?

You got it. Okay, perfect. Good. Perfect. All right, I'll have your raise your right hand. Do you solemnly affirm that you'll faithfully perform the duties incumbent on you as a sergeant for the police department in the city of Somerville, Commonwealth, Massachusetts under the pains and penalties of perjury? I do. Then you'll sign. So that is going to be right next to where your name is printed. And then I'm going to sign as the witness to that.

That's official.

Yeah, get a side angle.

Thank you for watching!

Thank you.

Perfect. Let me have you raise your right hand. Do you solemnly affirm that you'll faithfully perform the duties and comment on you as a sergeant for the police department in the city of Somerville, Commonwealth, Massachusetts under the pains and penalties of perjury?

I do.

Then you'll sign right next to where your name is printed.

Thank you.

Alright, we will take a brief recess so we can take some pictures.

There we go. All right, calling this meeting back to order. So the next item that I would like to take out of order, unless there's any objection, is item 4.2. Madam Clerk.

Agenda item 4.2, a resolution by Councilor Sait, Councilor Mbah, Councilor Link, Councilor Clingan, and Councilor Hardt in support of the plant-based treaty.

Councilor Sait.

Thank you, Mr. President. It was an honor to work with the plant-based treaty advocates and our policy analysts in drafting this resolution. This resolution calls on the Mayor to incorporate plant-based solutions into Climate Forward, implement plant-based purchasing practices for city events, and use municipal communications channels to promote plant-based food and drink practices throughout the city. It also calls on the City to promote a Somerville Plant-Based Restaurant Week, highlighting local restaurants offering plant-based options. A copy of this resolution will be forwarded to Somerville's sister cities. Also to encourage them to endorse the plant-based treaty. Supporting the plant-based treaty, We'll build on Somerville's broader climate goals.

It will help raise awareness around environmental and health benefits of plant-based diets. It will help reduce consumption based emissions. It will educate and encourage individuals to shift to plant based options. It will encourage businesses to offer more plant-based options and reduce dependence on high emission food sources. I think it's an important step in having food policies that help maintain secure, sustainable, and accessible food supply for all. As a former educator, I believe that the city has an important role in terms of educating individuals on the benefits of plant-based diets, improving health. Addressing food access and reducing consumption-based emissions. This resolution puts that into action by including a number of ways for Somerville to take action in educating the community and promoting more sustainable and equitable food systems.

The speakers will be sponsoring, they will speak to the work they're doing To get municipalities to support the plant-based treaty and what drives this important work, I would like to sponsor Veronica Potter, Brendan Liu, and Rosa Diaz-Rivera.

Sait would like to sponsor the four named individuals. Any objection? All right. Seeing none, please step forward. If you would, just when you start to speak, just repeat your name so the clerk can get it on the record and go right ahead.

Good evening, Councillors. My name is Veronica Potter and I live at 665 Somerville Avenue. As a plant-based eater who cares deeply about addressing the climate crisis, I wish to express my support for Somerville endorsing the Plant-Based Treaty Resolution 260508. The Plant-Based Treaty is a global grassroots initiative addressing the environmental impacts of our food systems by working towards three main goals at the global level. Redirect our animal agriculture based food systems to plant based ones. Relinquish the use of additional land for animal agriculture. Restore ecosystems to promote biodiversity and create natural carbon sinks. One strategy we hope to help Somerville implement is serving plant-based foods as the default option at city events. which is shown to greatly increase the uptake of plant-based options, reducing the environmental impact of events without taking away the freedom to choose animal products.

I'd like to emphasize that endorsing the plant-based treaty and prioritizing policies like plant-based defaults will not take anything away, but instead increase access to and education about plant-based foods. By endorsing the plant-based treaty, Somerville would join a global movement promoting a more equitable and sustainable world through plant-based eating. I hope we have your vote to pass resolution 260508.

Good evening City Councillors. My name is Brennan Luo and I live at 1 Watson Street. A shift from industrial agriculture to plant-based food systems is urgently needed. Animal agriculture is a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and is a major driver of deforestation, water pollution, and land degradation. Somerville's own consumption-based inventory agrees. The leading contributor to emissions in Somerville is food with meat and dairy as the largest sources. We can drastically reduce local emissions by making it easy for citizens to switch to plant-based foods. This resolution calls upon the City to implement recommendations in Somerville's own Climate Forward Plan by promoting a Somerville Plant-Based Restaurant Week, which highlights local restaurants offering plant-based options and by emphasizing plant-based foods for city procurements. I urge you to vote for this resolution for the future of our planet. Thank you.

Good evening, councillors. My name is Rosa Diaz. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. As a Cantor Bridgian, I'm encouraged to see Somerville considering the bold step of becoming the second city in Massachusetts to endorse the plant-based treaty. By joining neighboring Cambridge, Somerville can lead the way in promoting plant-based eating as a practical solution to climate change while also lowering food costs and improving public health inclusivity. I'd like to share a statement from Zahar Ahmed, owner of Somerville's only 100% plant-based restaurant, Koshari Mama. Being a plant-based business owner is about more than serving food. It's about honoring traditions that have always existed in our cultures. Many of the dishes I grew up with were built from the land. Beans, lentils, grains, vegetables, herbs, and spices. Plant-based cooking isn't new, it's ancestral. These foods tell stories of resourcefulness and care for the community.

They are nourishing, deeply flavorful, and often the most affordable way to feed people well. When we cook this way, we show that good food doesn't have to be exclusive. It can be simple, generous, and shared by everyone. Somerville has long been a leader in climate action, and it now has the opportunity to take decisive steps toward supporting local plant-based businesses to succeed and thrive. I urge you to vote to endorse the plant-based treaty for the climate for local businesses and for a more inclusive food culture. Thank you.

Hardt. Thank you all. Councilor Sait, back to you. Anything else? Okay, I saw Councilor Strezo, Councilor Ewen-Campen would like to sign on, and then after Councilor Strezo, we'll go to Councilor Hardt.

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you to Councilor Slade, and first I want to thanks for bringing this forward and some of the other Councilors who did. Through you, I'd love to have our speakers come back forward. And if I may just ask some questions because I think this is great. The dialogue is important. And we're talking about food right now because there's a lot going on. Come on forward. Thank you. To the podium, if you don't mind. Thank you very much for caring. You clearly are very compassionate and caring. So my question is really just a couple of days ago, three days ago, Boston Globe. issued a article saying that 40% of Massachusetts households are reporting a food insecurity. So how can we share, do you have thoughts on like how we can share information on

Low-cost plant-based options and how if you have suggestions ideas and how we can implement that citywide and with food banks and what the thoughts are on that and what products help address food insecurity with our sponsored speakers. to ask the question yeah feel free to if you yeah

Yeah, so there's a couple of things we can do. So we know that some of the most affordable foods are whole plant-based foods like beans and legumes and rice and that kind of stuff. So something we can do is put together like a public campaign of flyers and different tools that we can use to spread that knowledge because not everybody knows that and and so that could be step one and we can certainly work with food banks to make sure that they have that in stock Plant-based Treaty has a team in the Boston area of very knowledgeable volunteers and staff that can definitely work with the city to implement this.

Mr. President, to you, to our speakers, great. I know that here in Somerville, with Food for Free, with our food insecurity going on here in the city, I know that we have a lot of diverse palates as well as we want to be culturally sensitive to those who are receiving our food for free boxes, etc. So I just Hardt, and then Councilor Bhat.

Thank you. I want to thank Councilor Sait for her leadership on this and thank the advocates of plant-based treaty who I had the I'm happy to support this effort because even though I think that cows and sheep and animal agriculture In the appropriate places and with the right management, like holistic management, can be an important part of restoring biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and creating a healthy food system. The fact is that over the past few decades, animal agriculture in the US has become more and more concentrated and industrialized. with the goal and effect of producing profits for some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. So this combined with the fact that the U.S. is among the top countries in the world of per capita meat consumption

Means that a key part of what we need to do to transition to more sustainable food production and greater food security is to consume less industrially farmed meat and instead Eatmore Plants. So thank you all. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Councilor Mbah. Thank you, Mr. President. It's always hard to follow Councilor Hardt. But I just want to thank you for the comments, and thank you, Councilor Sait, for your leadership on this. Thank you to our speakers as well. I met with one of your colleagues you know Kimi for over an hour in Cambridge and the first few minutes I just I knew that this was like a no-brainer for something that I would like to support because this resolution recognizes something we can no longer ignore. The climate crisis is not just an energy problem. It is also a food systems problem. The science is clear that What we eat has a profound impact on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water resources. So supporting the plant-based treaty is about aligning our local actions with global urgency

Somerville has already shown leadership through our climate forward plan and also our commitment to net zero emissions. and this is a natural next step the way I see it. By promoting plant-based options we are not asking for perfection. We are creating opportunities for residents, institutions and businesses to make more sustainable choices that collectively have real impact. Just as importantly, this is about equity, health, and community. Expanding access to plant-based foods can improve public health outcomes, lower food costs over time, and ensure that sustainability is not a luxury but something accessible to everyone in our city. Initiatives like Somerville Plant-Based Restaurant Week not only support local businesses but also celebrate innovation and cultural diversity in food.

This resolution is not about limiting choice. It is about expanding it in a way that reflects our values. Supporting the plan-based treaty sends a message that Somerville is ready to lead. to partner with other cities and to make meaningful, practical steps toward a more sustainable and just future. Thank you.

Okay. Any further discussion? Councilor Strado, back to you.

Thank you, Mr. President. One last question to our speakers and also, or possibly Councilor Seidt. I assume we all know, but can you define exactly what plant-based foods are?

So I do want to stress that plant-based doesn't mean... Sorry, can you hear me? I do want to stress that plant-based is not... We are not asking people to forgo animal products completely. We are not asking people to give up anything they love. We are just saying perhaps highlight plants more. Plant-based mainly means that like the majority of the food itself is from plants and that we are stressing kind of that those ingredients are perhaps more sustainable, require less land, require less water and are better for the So perhaps shifting away slightly from animal agriculture but not imposing specific restrictions on anyone.

Okay, thank you, and thank you all for answering those questions. Appreciate it. All right, seeing no further discussion, that item is approved. Madam Clerk, next item.

Next item is 4.3, an ordinance by Councilor Ewen-Campen, Councilor Link, and Councilor Hardt proposing an amendment to Section 2.6 of the Code of Ordinances, the Welcoming Communities Ordinance to further enhance civil rights protections in Somerville.

Councilor Ewen-Campen. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank my colleagues, Councilor Link, Councilor Hardt, for working on this so collaboratively, as well as Mayor Wilson's staff, who have been really helpful over the past few weeks, and the ACLU of Massachusetts, who have been really invaluable. and in fact we're joined here tonight by a lawyer from the ACLU who I'll be sponsoring in a moment. So I don't think anyone in Somerville needs to hear that we are living through a completely unprecedented time of federal assault on our constitutional rights. Somerville had a resident abducted off the streets by disguised, masked federal agents that shoved her into the back of a van and incarcerated her. A far-off state away from her family and her friends for months for the stated reason that the president did not like an op-ed that she had written in her college newspaper about Israel.

We have seen local and state governments, local universities targeted and punished for exercising their constitutional rights. We are seeing unconscionable attacks on people for privately seeking medical care for themselves, for their families, and of course, We are just seeing an all-out attempt to terrorize immigrants, sending militarized federal agents into cities across the country. Many residents in Somerville have been doing unbelievable organizing against these efforts in incredibly inspiring ways, and many people have been reaching out to us and the local government Asking whether the city is being bullied or co-opted or somehow our work is somehow being co-opted into being a tool for these federal efforts to track people, to investigate people for...

So, what we are introducing tonight, this is a series of amendments to make it very clear that the City of Somerville does not and is not going to participate in any of these federal attacks on constitutional rights. I'm very glad whenever I get these questions from members of the public to be able to say and to be on really firm ground to say that the answer to this question is no, right, Somerville does not do this. And I'm also very glad to say that Somerville has a really strong record on this topic. In particular, everything we're proposing tonight is these are amendments to an existing piece of legislation called the Welcoming Communities Act. which President Davis introduced in 2019 and which itself builds on a long history of work in Somerville to ensure that everyone here can safely use city services, can seek help from law enforcement without being worried that they're going to be interrogated on their immigration status.

And what these amendments do is they just lay out very clearly, enshrine into law, that the city of Somerville is not going to participate in anything with the federal government or with any other out-of-state agency that we know is going to be used to penalize people for Participating in constitutionally protected activities, speech, protest, helping people. And this will apply not only to direct city activities, but also to any agreements Task Forces, accepting grants from the federal government, agreements that the city participates in. It feels insane that an ordinance like this is even relevant, that we're saying we need an ordinance that we're not going to participate in abuses of our constitutional rights. But this is the times that we're living in, and we cannot pretend otherwise. So I'm happy to say we're joined tonight by Gideon Epstein, who's a lawyer from the ACLU. I'd like to sponsor him to address the council, please.

Ewen-Campen would like to sponsor Gideon Epstein. Seeing no objection, please step forward, state your name for the record, and go right ahead.

Hey, good evening, everyone. My name is Gideon Epstein, and I'm a policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. And I'm here today to speak in support of the proposed amendments to Somerville's welcoming community ordinance. And I want to thank the Council and the sponsors of this resolution for protecting immigrant communities and having such a strong record on that and also upholding Somerville residents' constitutionally protected rights. The amendments before the council today strengthen Somerville's commitment to being a true welcoming city, not just in name, but also in law. And just to talk about what the amendments do, they close critical gaps. City employees, including the police department, are explicitly prohibited from assisting federal or out-of-state agencies conducting civil immigration enforcement except where required by federal law or by a court order. Somerville taxpayer dollars should not be used as tools of federal immigration enforcement. There's another key addition.

The amendments prohibit cooperation with any federal operation targeting people for First Amendment-protected activity, assembly, speech, protest. And this matters now more than ever. because we see federal agents targeting activists, protesters, and organizers, including here in Somerville. So our community must be clear that we will not be complicit in the chilling of free speech or the punishment of dissent. One of the most practical additions through these amendments. Before any city contract is awarded or renewed, the law department will have to review new agreements for compliance with the welcoming community ordinance. Cities can unknowingly and often do enter data sharing and surveillance agreements with companies that contract with ICE or DHS that violate the spirit of this ordinance. And this provision brings real accountability to procurement and ensures that our values are reflected in vendor acquisition and our relationships with those vendors.

And ultimately these amendments are only as strong as their enforcement mechanisms. The new language gives this ordinance teeth meaning that violations constitute a legal injury and residents are able to seek injunctive or declaratory relief in court. and further there are whistleblower protections for any city employee to report potential violations to ensure that people can speak up without fear of retaliation. So in closing Somerville has always led on immigrants rights and these amendments ensure that not only the way we speak about our values but also city policies meet the moment. We're living under a shared reality in which there's a limited number of things that municipalities can do to prevent federal overreach. and we should be clear the proposed policy changes before the council this evening are some of the most consequential actions we can take at the local level to protect immigrants and residents civil liberties

So I urge the council to vote in favor of this when it goes to committee and eventually comes back to the full council. And thank you for having me this evening.

Thank you. Councillor Ewen-Campen, anything further? Okay, so we'll go to Councillor Link and Councillor Hardt first as his co-sponsors, and then we'll go. Go ahead.

Thank you, President Davis, and through you, thank you to Gideon and the ACLU for working on this. I was thrilled to work on this amendment For me, this helps to make it clear that Somerville will not accept the attacks from our federal bodies on our communities and that we are not going to stand by while people's rights are suppressed protecting free speech in our community for for me is one of the most important things and it's one of the most essential jobs we have here you know we every day That we come into this room, one of the first things we do is remember that we're here to uphold the Constitution. So I think this was a fantastic team effort. I want to acknowledge that some of what we've got in here is also some of what the city was already doing and they were already doing some good work, but this makes it more durable and puts it in print.

which is a huge thing and I'm hopeful that this is just one more push and one more ounce of pressure against a body of hate and antagonism that we've all been exposed to and one more you know just push back to keep us from falling into something really truly terrible. Thank you.

Thank you and I really appreciate the leadership from my colleagues on this amendment and I appreciate being brought in on it and for me During this time that is so scary and sobering, one of the things that gives me a lot of hope and inspiration is the way that we've seen neighbors helping one another. looking out for one another and upholding the rule of law. And we see this right here in Somerville with rapid response networks, mutual aid work, and the importance of people exercising their rights to free speech, assembly, protest. And I know in Somerville that we are united in wanting to defend democracy and ensure that everyone's civil liberties are guarded and protected. And we want a high degree of trust and public safety throughout our city. So I think that this is another important step that we can take to ensure that that's the case. So thank you.

Thank you.

So I saw Councilor Scott and then Mbah. Thank you, Mr. President. Of course, thanks to my colleagues for this. I'd love to co-sponsor this. And I also just wanted to highlight something that was included in here that is perhaps one of my favorite parts in 13b. which is in addition to all of the directly immigration related things it does prevent the assistance in any out-of-state or federal agency in apprehending or arresting anyone Engaged in activities protected such as the provision of food, medicine, shelter, clothing to anybody who has come to Massachusetts. for whatever reason to avail themselves of our freedoms as long as those activities are fully legal within the Commonwealth. So I think that's an important role. As we not only protect our neighbors, but protect our neighbors across the country who may be needing someplace to go.

Thank you for that thoughtful inclusion and thank you for all the work in making sure we live up to the values that we profess.

Clingan would like to sign on. Councilor Mbah and Councilor Seed.

Councilor Seed. Thank you, Mr. President. Also, to my colleagues, thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Hardt, and Councilor Link. I really appreciate your leadership. I remember back in January, Councilor Link and I, we attended like an hour-long Zoom meeting, you know, with some councilors in Cambridge who cannot I wasn't surprised when I heard that Councilor Ewen Campen was already like a mile ahead of this. So I was like, okay, that is really great. And for me, I've read this almost like three times. and one of also the things that I really love you know it is the fact that we just keep building you know on stuff just to kind of like put more Mead. One of the things that I see in this one is like it moves beyond again the symbolic sanctuary city, you know, language and establish enforceable rights, which is like really powerful accountability mechanism and reporting requirement.

also create avenues for residents to file complaints that's big you know and seek legal remedies and receive whistleblower protection that's like they might take away that it's like this is Something while requiring regular public reporting on ICE-related interaction. I thought this is something worth emphasizing. At the same time, it affirms public safety priorities by allowing limited police involvement Only for safety and order during federal operations, not enforcement. And overall, the update strengthens trust between immigrant communities. and local government. Clarified legal boundaries for city staff ensures that local resources remain focused on serving Residence, and equally rather than supporting further immigration officers. And one of the things that today, again, when I looked at it, I wasn't sure why

I'm sure when it was drafted at first the reporting requirement it says six months I just thought like with this heightened this is just me like looking at it this even again with this heightened environment like I you know will it The award, maybe from the legal mind, will it be worth us getting a monthly reporting? Why six months? I mean, it's just, even if it's a month... of Activities. If there's nothing, at least we know there's nothing, but we can't wait six months to figure out what has been going on. So I'm wondering, from the legal mind, if it's worth making a friendly amendment to have the reporting every month instead of every six months.

Ewen-Campen, do you want to speak to that?

Mr. President, through you, thank you. This is going to go to committee, so we'll have a lot of time to talk about the details. Not asking you to vote on an ordinance at a council meeting.

I thought exactly. That sounds like an excellent thing to raise in committee. We can talk about the merits of the time frame there. Okay, Councilor Sait.

Through you Mr. President, deep gratitude to my colleagues for putting these amendments forward and for working with the SALU to really find a way to protect our neighbors. Hardt said this is one of the things that makes our community so special is that we show up for each other and I'm glad we have something like that that will protect and our neighbors as they continue to do that. Thank you.

Cutzer, Wheeler, did I see your hand yet? Go ahead. Through the chair, thank you. I'm really excited to see these proposals, and I appreciate the hard work on them, the leadership of the ACLU. on these measures on a larger national scale, and the values of Somerville in how clearly I think our community stands for making sure that Our welcoming of immigrants is substantial, real, and backed up by all of our efforts together. And I just want to say as someone fairly new to reading and trying to analyze things, There's a lot that's complicated to me as an early reader. I look forward to learning more about this and also about the questions about the practicality of how it's applied. And I'm just reminding myself Those questions are for things that we deeply support as well as for things that we might not. This is something I'm tremendously excited about and I look forward to the discussion that will happen in legislative matters. Thanks.

Any further discussion?

All right, seeing none, then that item is referred to legislative matters. And that brings us to the first of our executive sessions items, I believe, right? So item 7.2, Madam Clerk?

yes agenda item 7.2 a request of the mayor requesting that this council convene in an executive session to discuss the purchase exchange lease or value of real property located at 122 assembly park drive

All right, and I see we have a city attorney in the chambers. Attorney Amara, can you confirm whether this item is appropriate for executive session? Attorney Amara said to me I could hear her say yes for those who are listening online. All right, very well. Vote to go into executive session.

Roll call to enter into executive session. Councilor Ewen-Campen?

Yes.

Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Scott?

Yes.

Councilor Clingan?

Yes.

Councilor Strezo? Yes. Councilor Sait? Yes. Wheeler?

Yes.

Councilor Hardt? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Mbah?

Yes, please.

Councilor Davis?

Yes. All right, very well. We will return to open session when we come out of executive session.

All right, I'll call this meeting back to order. I can see that we have a quorum. There were no votes taken in executive session other than the vote to leave executive session. Madam Clerk, next item. which is 7.3. I'm sorry, you're right, 7.4 and then 7.7. Do we want to take those up together? Do we want to take the 7.4 and 7.7 together for discussion? Will you do a roll call? We'll have to do a roll call. To come back. I'll have to do a roll call to come back. Hey, I know. Let's do a roll call to come back out of executive session, even though I can see there's 11 of us here. Madam Clerk, would you please do a roll call to come back out of a second session?

Roll call to return from executive session. Councilor Ewen-Campen?

Yes.

Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Scott?

Yes.

Councilor Clingan?

Present.

Councilor Strezo?

Present.

Sait, Here, Councilor Wheeler, Yes, Councilor Hardt, Yes, Councilor McLaughlin, Yes, Councilor Mbah,

Yes.

Councilor Davis.

Here.

All Councilors present, we have quorum.

Okay. So now that I've got my head screwed back on straight, The next two items we'll take out of order are 7.4 and 7.7. Unless there's an objection, we'll take those up together for discussion. If we decide to move forward, those each would require a roll call vote. So we can do that both separately, but for purposes of discussion, we can talk together. So would you read those two items into the record, Madam Court?

7.4, a request of the mayor requesting authorization to execute a purchase and sale agreement for the acquisition of 122 Assembly Park Drive, Unit 45, and Agenda Item 7.7, a request of the mayor requesting authorization to borrow $7 million in a bond to appropriate the same amount for the purpose of procuring the fire station condominium unit at 122 Assembly Park Drive.

Somebody from the administration want to explain to the public what we're talking about?

Good evening. Yes, we are here to... Gallaghani, we all know who you are, but some folks watching at home might not. Tom Gallaghani, I'm the Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. Thank you. This evening we are asking for authorization to move forward on an acquisition, a $7 million acquisition of a condominium, commercial condominium unit that currently houses our Assembly Square Fire Station. We went through a bidding process over the last couple months and were the successful highest bidder. And so now we're seeking authorization for two things, to enter in a person's sale with the intention of acquiring this site, This condominium and also seeking authorization to borrow $7 million in order to pay for this acquisition. Happy to answer any questions you might have.

Just for context for folks, why don't we currently own our fire station?

We rent this fire station and we went through a competitive bidding process back in 2021 and we were seeking opportunities to either acquire or to lease A site for a fire station. And the successful bidder, the only bidder, was the entity owned by Biomed Realty. and so we have moved forward back in 2021 and have invested somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to ten million dollars in addition to that to fit out that commercial condominium unit into a full-fledged We have operated that station for the last six months. It's been open, although we've been paying rent for 18 months. Great opportunity opened up as a result of the Transmedics deal. Transmedics is leasing an entire building and assembly and that is

Spurred that property owner to decide to liquidate basically the parking garage of which this commercial condominium is a small portion. and so they've offered it up for sale they made us aware of this opportunity back in late January and we and we've been going through the process of positioning ourselves to acquire the space that we currently rent and as a result over the long term it will save us About a million dollars overall over the next 28 years. So it seems like a logical and prudent move for the city. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Councilor Ewen-Campen?

Councilor Scott.

I don't have a question. I was going to say why I support it, but if others have questions, I'll... Mr. Scott, questions?

Thank you, Mr. President. So my understanding is tonight the administration is seeking immediate consideration and approval of these two items? All right, well, I apologize to my colleagues. There has been an innovation known as a committee. Normally, these things go to. So I hate to drag this out by having to ask a few questions here. But when it comes to the cost of this, this is the... This is a 10,000 square foot facility that we are purchasing at a cost of roughly $700 square foot, correct? Correct. All right. Like I said, it's cheaper than a condo in Union Square. Now we are, as part of this condo association, what percentage of the condo association would the city's ownership constitute? Through the president, 5% ownership. All right.

And how many square footage is the entire building? Great question. Through the chair, through the president. I don't have that square footage figure. It's a commercial parking garage. It has approximately 1,247 spaces in the garage.

Okay, sir. I ask because it's a pretty straightforward calculation. And if we have... I mean, unless this is a... 200,000 square foot parking garage, 5% seems a little bit high. Do we know how that was calculated and negotiated?

We did not form, through the president, we did not create the commercial condominium. The current owner created it.

Okay, all right, and in terms of the taxes, so currently we lease, we lease this space, and that means we're in the unusual position as a city of having to pay ourself Real Estate Tax because while we are renting the facility it is owned by a private entity and the way triple net leases work is the tenant has to pay the taxes on the space. So are we currently paying 5% of the real estate taxes for that building?

Through the president, I don't believe we pay 5%. We pay what that portion of the real estate is valued by our assessors.

So you're saying the assessor makes a separate valuation for the space that we are renting?

I'm speaking out of my league for sure. That's a question that could be best answered by our assessors or our tax collector or our chief financial officer. That's a great question.

I see Director Beaton approaching. Director Beaton, care to field that question?

Mr. President, to Councilor Scott, the lease calls for an applicable share of the taxes of the building. That's a debatable point with Biomed at this point. The Assessor, we have a bill that's been given to us, but the lease calls for, they have an appraiser, and of course the Assessor here, so we don't agree with the number that was given to us, so the Assessor's not here tonight. We're going to have a discussion with them in terms of the proper allocation of those taxes.

All right. Through you, Mr. President, generally the equitable share of common area maintenance or real estate taxes is calculated on a per square foot basis in commercial leases. Are you saying that's not the arrangement we have here?

Again, this is a little bit out of my league, too. I think the assessor has to... It's going to be based on valuation. This is a question for the assessor, really, to answer on this one.

Okay, part of this is I'm just trying to understand our all-in costs here, right? Because back when this was presented in 2021, there were projected costs of this over the long term and I want to make sure I understand. For example, there was the core build-out and core and shell build-out, and then there was the interior fit, the tenant improvements. The tenant improvements are complete. The fire station is complete at this point, yes? Yes, sir. All right. And through you, Mr. President, as part of our acquisition, acquiring this condo, all of those fixtures would then return, they would... and so forth. Thank you.

and Community Benefits money that the Biomed Realty had originally committed to providing to the City of Somerville and we gave back to them as part of that lease agreement we signed. Not for nothing, is that money gone or is that baked into our acquisition or do they credit that back as part of our $7 million acquisition? Through the president.

We made that $4.2 million investment in order to buy down the cost of the lease. And that basically cut the lease cost in half. The net result is that that reduced the value of the property. Another way to think about it is that we invested $4.2 million that has now grown to over $12 million in benefit. So actually that $4.2 million

Okay, so through you, Mr. President, if I'm understanding this correctly, you're saying that by giving them the out on $4.2 million out front money that they otherwise would have had to give to the city, that the lease terms were negotiated such that they were lower and therefore our acquisition price based on those lease terms return over 30 years. is correspondingly lower.

Exactly. We were very aggressive in negotiating a lower rate and using that money in a smart way. And again, we did not foresee that we would be buying this commercial condo unit that would be sold to us. But as it turns out, By reducing that lease cost, reduce the overall value of this real estate asset and that's benefiting us right now.

Certainly, right? Because any third-party purchaser would be acquiring this as a revenue stream and so they'd be looking at what their income and they've got a locked-in tenant at a very low rate. Everybody knows landlords hate tenants that pay low rates. All right, so I appreciate that. Mr. President, I want to be very clear. I am not critical of this acquisition. Those of us who are old enough to remember that, Remember how critical I was at the lease because I felt like we should be purchasing and actually investing the taxpayer's money in a sustainable way. I applaud the director and the mayor for bringing this forward. I do, though, feel maybe a responsibility or just the spirit of Bill White sitting on my shoulders saying that we have to ask these hard scholars and sense questions. Our constituents expected of us.

I just want to make sure that I'm clear when we talk about I'm still just a little bit hung up on this condo so we'll have to pay a condo fee presumably as part of this ownership of a commercial condo yes what's the Is that established in any of these documents we have before us tonight, sir?

Through the chair, the condo has been established, and our expectation is that we're going to be... I don't have it in front of me actually, but I'll be paying esteem on Ed. Oh, yes. The initial yearly condo fee is $6,444. We would anticipate that would go up with the rate of inflation over time. And we factored that into our analysis in terms of the overall cost savings over 28 years for this purchase versus the lease.

All right, and that condo agreement isn't, because I don't see it in, I don't see a purchase and sale agreement attached to this item. Do we have a purchase and sale agreement before us? We do not. It's being drafted right now. All right, so the administration is requesting authorization to execute a purchase and sale agreement sight unseen this evening.

We have an offer letter that's quite detailed and that's been accepted and that has become the basis of the purchase and sale agreement which is being worked on By the city attorney and their attorneys. All right.

But as a city council, we have to vote to approve that item. I hate to say it, Mr. President, generally, I require more than trust me bro as source material on what we're signing up for here. And I do. I do, of course, implicitly trust the director here, but it makes me nervous to vote on something that I Can't Look At. Likewise, the condo, you said the condo was created, and I will admit, I had a hard time finding some of this because the original Assembly Square fire station lease was was for I believe five Middlesex and the documents that we have or the document or the request we have in front of us tonight lists an address of Well, not that. Where is that address? Maybe you can remember. Oh, 122 Assembly Park Drive, Unit 45.

So is the condo agreement on file with the Middlesex Registry of Deeds under that address?

It is registered under the Middlesex County Deeds. I don't know under what address specifically, but that is the legal name of that condo unit. Alright, um...

Well, you know, Mr. President, I think I need to go do some research with the Mass Land Records and Middlesex Registry of Deeds before I can ask the next series of questions. So I want to yield the floor to my colleagues who might have other questions and ask to come back. Ewen-Campen

Thank you, Mr. President. So, as I understand it, we rent the fire station. It's not a good situation to rent a fire station. Now it's being sold, it would definitely not have been a good situation for us to be renting from some new, unknown, random landlord. Much better for us to buy it. As I understand it, we'll be saving a million dollars. A little over that, over 30 years. Not a huge deal, but it's better that we own it. I wish we had owned it from the beginning. Totally support this. Thank you.

Other discussion?

Wheeler. Thank you, Chair. And just to clarify, I can imagine anybody watching at home might be saying, man, $7 million in a time when we're short, that's tricky. Just to clarify, my understanding is that in situations like this, and one of these items is about taking out a bond, We borrow the money through a bond and we pay that back at a certain rate. It sounds as though, without having the precise numbers in front of me, that the amount that we would be paying per year in paying that bond back is comparable and maybe a little bit lower than the amount that we'd be paying in rent.

That is certainly true, and our CFO certainly has the details if you need the details, but yes.

Yeah, Director Bing, can you just confirm that that's the correct understanding? I think that's what I believe I heard you say earlier here, but just want to make sure.

Mr. President, yes. First year, I would be looking to borrow this on a short-term basis, at least the first year, given... So if we were borrowing short-term at 2.5%, the debt would be, first year, $150,000. 75,000, whereas the rental payment is $363,699. We will save at least for the first two years. We will be on the negative for another three, but for almost 20 or 25 years. Close to 22 years will be in the positive every year. Thank you.

And can I just ask maybe Director Gallaghani or the mayor or anyone who can answer, how long have our other fire stations that we own been in use? Longer than 28 years? The answer is yes. Thank you. I make the point because we won't have to be paying rent beyond that period. Scott, back to you.

All right. Thank you, Mr. President. I apologize. I'm only 12 pages into the 41-page master deed for the Condo Association. I'm moving as quick as I can here. But just on a due diligence standpoint here, the three different, this is just the parking garage itself that's being condoed out. The two different phase one and phase two parking units are each roughly about 200,000 square feet, which dwarf are 10,000 square feet. But it... It does make me wonder why our share of the condo fees would be set at 5% when we actually would only be occupying around 2% of the structure, 2.5% of the structure.

Those questions are completely valid and unfortunately they're irrelevant because they created the condo association in January and they have sold this unit based on their terms.

All right, and that's certainly not something that we could modify because we would be the vast minority occupant in there. Well, that's true. All right. Yeah, again, this is, in the large strokes, this is, I think, where we should have been all along. I appreciate that in the long term the cost, I believe, Director Bindy, did he say $12 million in total with condo fees and the financing? I'm sorry, I just wanted to... I was trying to listen out of one ear and read with the other.

Mr. President, the debt would be $12.1 million. The lease payments, if we carry that out, would be $13.4 million. and the condo fee would be $327,235. Okay, so we're talking about a 12.4.

So I guess I'm curious, the present value 30-year lease from the presentation that was given to the Finance Committee on October 26, 2021 listed a present value on that lease of $10 million. True. So I'm not sure I'm understanding where the discrepancy is there. We're buying it for $7 million. It's $3 million less. Right, but there's a financing piece of it, which is going to end up... You can thank Vladimir Putin.

The invasion of Ukraine drove interest rates up, and when interest rates go up, the value of that cash flow goes down. So we probably saved $2.5 million. As a result of interest rate hikes that have really doubled right after we signed this lease, actually, a couple months later. That's when everything shot up.

All right. Well... You know, trying to do right by our constituents to exercise their financial due diligence. I will say, Mr. President, it does make me very nervous to vote on something that I can't read. and that's what the purchase and sale agreement we're being asked to authorize tonight is so but that said In theory, I approve this and perhaps it's just time for us to take a leap of faith. I appreciate the good faith efforts made by Director Bean and Director Gallaghani, not only to negotiate on the city's behalf, But to answer my questions this evening, I will say that you know I undertake this in the spirit of just double checking the columns and I'd probably undertake that job a lot less seriously if I hadn't caught

White, Scott.

You had a question in there in your earlier statement. Did you want to pose a question to the city attorney to confirm that the requirement that the council approve a document can be given for a document that is still in Association?

I think that's a great question, Mr. President.

Would the city attorney please approach and advise us as to what we're allowed to do?

For you, Mr. President, thank you for hearing us.

The purchase and sale is going to be... Attorney Amara, since this is the first time you're speaking on this item, if you wouldn't mind just introducing yourself for folks in the public know. We all know who you are, but...

I'm Cindy Amara. I am the city attorney, formerly known as the city solicitor. We've been working on this, the terms of the purchase and sale. are outlined in detail in the offer that was accepted and the purchase and sale must comply and that's what my office will verify to the terms of the offer that was accepted. So you're authorizing the approval of a purchase and sale according to the terms that you know subject to our review that there's nothing wrong. O'Neill.

Okay, so in your opinion, if the council were to move forward with approval of the authorization of the purchase and sale, based on what we have, that would be within our authority to do so.

Yes the authorization for the borrowing and authorizing the purchase for that amount of money is really the required vote to go forward on this project.

So, Mr. President, I guess my concern is just the things that we don't know because we haven't read, for example, that offer letter. At least I haven't. I'm sorry if it was provided in email to the council in advance.

I wouldn't have done that. I don't know. But we have the offer letter. The terms have been outlined by Director Gallaghani. It's basically the $7 million, and I believe there are... I'll let Tom... I'm going to speak to some of the other terms. It's basically the time period within which we're going to do our due diligence and close. That's a fine summary. And down payment.

Yeah. Oh, that is true, too. We're putting in a deposit of...

350,000 that's in the offer letter yeah and that would be the earnest money on the offer thank you yes but are there any other terms or givebacks or forbearance For example, another $4.2 million in community benefits funds that is being forgiven as part of this. I mean, the parcel next door was just acquired in a transaction. Are any special terms being Are there any of those terms in this acquisition?

No, it's pretty straightforward. Again, you know that $4.2 million, because we're buying it, it basically turned into $12.2 million for us. And that's locked in because we're buying it for such a low price. That's great. It's straightforward in terms of we're buying it, we're putting down earnest money. That will lead to, once we go through the state due diligence of notifying the world, that we're going through unique acquisition. That's four straight weeks of publishing in the Central Register. That expires in early May. Then we'll be ready to sign a purchase and sale agreement. We can't do that until that due diligence period or that state notification deadline is past us. Staff is working already to finalize the terms of, I think, is a very straightforward purchase and sale agreement. The only other items I'm thinking, oh, I mean, typical due diligence, so...

Assuming we get a vote tonight, tomorrow we start the process of ordering an appraisal, ordering an environmental site assessment, getting our folks in. We have access to our space. We're operating as a fire station. But allow us to go through the parking garage because as anyone knows who's bought a commercial or bought a condominium into a condominium. You need to know the status and the long-term future and the plan for and so on. and this will be a little different. We're just making sure and babysitting to make sure that the Condo Association will be operating in a way that makes sense for the city and to protect our interests. And again, that Condo Association is formed It hasn't been organized. There haven't been any meetings.

And of course, we wouldn't be participating in meetings until we close on the property. But that is all ahead of us. But we have easily a month to six weeks of necessary due diligence. We're in the building. We know the building. There's a lot of data that we already have because we permitted this project and we have access to all the environmental site assessments. We don't think there will be any surprises, especially since we're just buying a concrete box that sits at the base of this parking garage. Just opened up six months ago, 18 months ago for the entire parking garage. And by the way, the parking garage is barely used. It can't be used until they actually have some tenants next door. So there's not a lot of wear and tear. It still has that new car smell.

All right. Well, Mr. President, I think it would have a no-car smell. Anyway, my apologies for the dad joke. The hour is late. I will say, so the offer letter that was made is something that can be sent to me for review? Absolutely. Alright. Well, then, Mr. President, what I would advise, given this explanation, again, I just like to read the fine print to make sure there's not a sweetener that we might be missing. So if I could get that sent to me tonight, I'd be happy to vote in favor of this with the understanding that while there may be a month and a half of due diligence before the city, as a city council to do our due diligence, we have tonight or in this case I would guess 48 hours in which I can move for reconsideration if I find something in that letter that raises raises alarm so I would

With your forbearance here, I'll go ahead and request that that copy of that letter gets sent over to me as soon as possible. And I'm happy to move for approval for these two items.

Scott moves for approval of these two items any discussion on the motion if you have further questions that's the motion before us so you can still ask them

Wheeler. I just have a small comment. I just want to point out we have a tendency, of course, to consider the merits of every financial matter that comes in front of us. For something like this, we're talking about 3% of our annual budget. Now, that would be spread out, but we're making the decision now. I appreciate us crossing our T's and dotting our I's. Thanks.

All right, seeing no further discussion, we need a separate roll call vote on each of these. Madam Clerk, we'll start with 7-4.

Agenda Item 7-4, requesting authorization to execute a purchase and sale agreement for the acquisition of 122 Assembly Park Drive, Unit 45. Councilor Ewen-Campen?

Yes.

Councilor Link?

Yes.

Scott.

Yes.

Councilor Clingan.

Yes.

Councilor Strezo. Yes. Councilor Sait. Yes. Councilor Wheeler.

Yes.

Councilor Hardt. Yes. Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Mbah?

Yes.

Councilor Davis? Yes. With all councillors in favor, that item is approved.

All right, and the next item?

Agenda item 7-7, requesting authorization to borrow $7 million in a bond and to appropriate the same amount for the purpose of procuring the fire station condominium unit at 122 Assembly Park Drive. Ewen-Campen? Yes. Councilor Link? Yes. Councilor Scott?

Yes.

Councilor Clingan?

Yes.

Councilor Strezo? Yes. Councilor Sait? Yes. Councilor Wheeler?

Yes.

Hardt, McLaughlin, Mbah, Davis. With all councillors in favor, the item is approved.

All right, very well, thank you. We have two more items to take out of order. The first is... For better or worse, another executive session. So that's item 7.1. If there's no objection, Madam Clerk, would you read 7.1?

Agenda item 7.1, a request of the mayor requesting that the City Council

convene an executive session to receive an update on collective bargaining negotiations attorney mark can you confirm that this item is appropriate for executive session I hear the attorney say yes, this is appropriate for executive session.

Mr. President, what collective bargaining are we discussing? Can we say what unit we are discussing the collective bargaining with? Looking towards our labor council.

Could you, would you mind approaching just so I can't hear you so I'm sure folks at home can't.

It's the police union, SPEA.

All right. Only SPEA, not SPSOA?

Yes.

All right. Thank you, Mr. President.

Very good. All right. Roll call to go into executive session.

Roll call to enter executive session. Councilor Ewen-Campen?

Yes.

Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Scott?

Yes.

Councilor Clingan?

Yes.

Strezo? Yes. Councilor Sait? Yes. Councilor Wheeler?

Yes.

Councilor Hardt? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Mbah?

Yes.

Councilor Davis?

Yes. All right, that item passes. We will return to open session when we exit executive session.

All right, we're going to call this meeting back to order. We will take a roll call to return from executive session.

This is roll call to return from executive session. Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Yes.

Councilor Link.

Yep.

Councilor Scott.

Here.

Councilor Clingan.

Present.

Councilor Strezo. Present. Councilor Sait. Here. Councilor Wheeler.

Here.

Councilor Hardt. Here. Councilor McLaughlin. Here. Councilor Mbah.

Present.

Davis. All councillors present. We have quorum.

Thank you. No votes were taken in executive session other than the vote to adjourn from executive session. And I want to correct the record. Before we went into executive session, there was a Apparently a bit of miscommunication, misunderstanding, so the discussion was in terms of which bargaining units we were discussing, so it was both the Police Superior Officers Union and the Patrol Officers Union that we discussed in executive session. All right. We have actually a late request to take another item out of order so that we can be respectful to our very, very patient member of our volunteer fire department, I think. The Auxiliary Fire Department, thank you. I was given bad information. I was very patient, and I apologize for making you wait. If I'd known you were here for this, we would have done this before we all disappeared. So we're going to take up the Finance Committee report out of order, unless there's any objection.

6B1 Report of the Committee on Finance Meeting on April 7, 2026

Wheeler. Through the chair, the Finance Committee met on Tuesday, April 9th, 2026 via remote participation with all members present after an initial technical hiccup. and with the help of Clerk Madeline Letellier, we took up a seven-item agenda. At the outset, the committee postponed the body-worn camera item to our April 21st meeting as the administration and police department continue assembling documentation and clarifying proposed policy. We approved an approximately $104,000 street resurfacing grant from Eversource covering work on West Broadway and Holyoke Street where Eversource will be digging trenches that need to be covered up. Staff explained that this payment instead of Eversource doing the work themselves is the city's preference. Rather than Eversource just patching the road in these spotty sections, the city can use the money to do the whole roadway the way we want. We recommended approval of a $15,000 Fire Department vehicle gift from the Town of Medway, which will provide a lighting and pump support unit for the Auxiliary Fire Department.

These vehicles have been crucial in the past in situations including, but not limited to, water pipe breaks. The vehicle has been inspected and is in good working condition, so it seems like this donation is a clear net gain for the city. We recommended approval of a $100,000 website redesign grant from the Mass Department of Revenue for Phase 1 of a long-needed overhaul of the City's website, which currently includes tens of thousands of pages and documents and has not been substantially updated in over a decade. We discussed the patchwork of websites written at different times with different code and the improvements if various city department sites can be brought under the same system. Staff noted that a webmaster position has recently been posted to support this work. and that we'll try to use the opportunity of this consultant work to build the in-house expertise of our staff. We also recommended approval of an approximately $48,000 grant from the Mass Department of Mental Health for police training in crisis intervention.

This will support certification and recertification training for officers, including de-escalation, behavioral health response, and coordination with community resources. Finally, we recommended approval of an amendment to a $365,000 Community Preservation Act grant to the Somerville Community Land Trust. This amendment trades in the current historical preservation restrictions around the SCLT's 12 Pleasant Ave building for a new, more flexible approach that the Community Preservation Committee is trying. where preservation restrictions are time-limited rather than indefinite. The committee discussed how this approach balances long-term affordability gains with historic preservation and the practical realities of project financing. Clerk, Chair, I ask that this committee report be accepted as submitted.

Any discussion on the committee report? Seeing none, there's a fire truck in there too. Firetruck was in there.

All right. Mr. President, pump, pump, pump, pump it up.

Pump it up indeed. Very good. The hour is so late that I literally thought for a moment that we had a volunteer fire department, which of course I know we don't. It's just, I'm... All right, we still have one more item to take out of order, because why not? Madam Clerk, item 7.3, if there's no objection.

Agenda item 7, wait.

Right, did I write that down wrong? Oh, sorry. I see no objection. Go right ahead. Thank you.

Agenda item 7.3, request of the mayor requesting approval of a home rule petition to authorize the appointment of special police officers.

Attorney Sirigu, introduce yourself for the record, please.

Good evening, Council President, through you, Matt Sirigu, City Labor Council. So this special act is designed to create another mechanism to appoint special police officers, which in the past has been used to Provide police powers to Somerville Housing Authority officers and other officers around the city who serve in a limited capacity. The former charter had a provision for appointment of special police officers, which is the mechanism through which we used to Higgins, and Higley. The new charter does not include that language so we are pursuing this special act so that the housing authority to support our partners in the housing authority to provide a new mechanism where the city can grant police powers to their employees. Liaison Radazzi, something to add?

Thank you, Mr. President. For the record, Yasmin Radazzi, legislative liaison with IGA. I just wanted to add that we are hoping to seek immediate consideration tonight because our state delegation has informed us that we are getting very So that is our hope. So just wanted to add that context.

Scott. Thank you, Mr. President. As chair of legislative matters, this was flagged to me on Friday, and I think I got the text Monday or Tuesday on it for review. So I have been reviewing this. And I really want to thank Deputy Solicitor Siriu for working with me on this. It did raise a lot of questions, some of which have been addressed, some of which have not. Functionally, this is Different than the situation that some of you, but at least six of you on this council will remember from the appointment of special officers which was undertaken In the Curtatone administration, I want to say, where some appointments as special police officers were placed before the council and then withdrawn.

There are concerns that I have relating to the duration or extent of the service. That these special officers would have. My concerns also extend to the exceptions in Mass General Law that are laid out. And I will say at the end of this, the home rule petition, for example, exempts any of these appointments from civil service. which to a certain extent makes sense, right? We are trying to deputize existing members of the Civil Housing Authority, so taking through a civil service process doesn't necessarily make sense. It also removes any of these special officers being appointed from collective bargaining and does not allow them to participate in any collective bargaining which is

For me, a question that I have, it's certainly a concern. and there are also questions about we have not in fact accepted the chapter 147 sections 11 through 13c Steele, and so forth. There are three definitions of reserve police officers that can be appointed, which would allow the city to appoint up to, I believe, 20 reserve officers. Text is being implicitly referenced as a definition of what the duties and limitations on a special officer appointed under this Home Rule petition would be. But that's not explicitly put in the definitions of it. So I know the hour is late. I don't want to go into too much detail here.

Perhaps I ask you to trust me when I say that there are a lot of issues still here and I think this is a good faith effort by the administration to craft language that would allow Bringing the Somerville Housing Authority police officers, which have been a sore point for this council for at least the entirety of the time that I've been on it, Under more direct supervision and control of the Chief of Police of the Somerville Police Department, my concern is to ensure that in so doing we do not I think there's a lot good here If it is the council's desire here at 10.38 p.m. to dive into the questions, Assistant Solicitor Sirigu has stayed behind to answer questions. However, it would be my inclination...

to lay this item on the table given that the next meeting of the legislative matters committee does not happen until April 28th and then subsequently on May 5th. and then we do have some crowded agendas there. I'm happy to take it into that committee if there are outstanding questions but I would encourage my colleagues to read the submission here tonight. Feel free to call me with your questions. Feel free to also call Attorney Sergue because this is something that I think really does... Really would benefit from the reading from a perspective of, again, proofreading as opposed to trying to catch somebody out on a sneaky maneuver. Mostly this is about future proofing what we pass here tonight or pass here at some point in the future. So I know I've discussed this with you, Mr. President.

Rather than send it to committee and then be forced to discharge it later, my inclination would be to lay this item on the table this evening. So that we can take it up again at our next council meeting in two weeks if everybody's concerns have been addressed and if there are revisions that address the concerns that the council has. If there are questions from my colleagues about what's in this tonight, I'd be happy to answer to the best of my ability to understand, and I know that Attorney Searger was here to do the same. I'll leave it there for now.

Thank you. Just to be clear, so you're not making a motion to lay it on the table at this point? You're inviting discussion, and that would be a...

The item is before us right now, so it is open for discussion. That being a privileged motion, I want to make sure that you're not making it because then we'd have to discuss only that.

My intention would be to make the motion after discussion. After discussion. Very well. For the discussion, I think, Councilor McCamp, did I see your hand? No. I imagined it. Okay.

Wheeler. Through the Chair, I hear my colleague from Ward 2's concerns. I never want to make a decision under I do want to point out the next council meeting after the next ledge matters meeting is in five weeks. I do want to take the time sensitivity that our legislative liaison mentioned seriously and also you know with a There's a ton of understanding about wanting to future-proof our decisions for future administrations. There's some time before the next administration. We could come back. Correct me if I'm wrong. We could come back and revisit aspects of this at some later date. Maybe not, no? I guess since it's a home rule petition.

Home rule petition is a home rule petition, so that will be what goes up.

Touche. Home rule petitions really only get considered so often, although I will say we know that maybe if we just put a provision in here that requires us to submit a photo proof of our identity, maybe we could get the Mass State House to consider it in about 48 hours.

Wheeler, anything further? Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you, Mr. President. I don't have strong feelings about this one way or the other. I heard obliquely about it from former Chief Femineau, who now works for the Housing Authority. The idea of passing a home rule petition relating to police that I haven't read at 10.30 at night, it just doesn't seem wise. I'm sensitive to the time sensitivity here too, but... I don't think that I'm compelled to like vote yes without fully understanding what we're talking about and I'm not in a headspace to fully understand what we're talking about. That's where I'm at.

Cleen. Thank you, Mr. President. I agree with the word Council from Ward 3, although it isn't that long of a document. And I certainly appreciate the effort here as somebody who You know, has been working on reforming, especially with regards to the housing police and bringing them under some sort of supervision and control since we essentially allow them to go out into the streets armed. But yeah, I'm not really... I'm still trying to wrap my head around I'm wondering you know JT's talking about the council Scott's talking about this and I'm like okay so this is new this isn't like because we've had special police for a long time so this is just this is a homework petition to codify sort of like But yeah, I would like to probably have a little more time with this. I don't want to muck it up so much that it, you know, that...

that we end up sticking our little council fingers all over it to the point. But I would like to at least, you know, You know, consider it. Have a little more consideration over it before just voting on it tonight. It does seem pretty straightforward. Like I said, it's pretty short. I would prefer to deliberate on it a little bit.

Thanks. As a point of information, Mr. President, The other special officers that we have in the city were authorized by a separate Home Rule Petition Special Act of the State House many, many years ago. That specifically restricts it to retired officers that could only be recalled for details. And so this is just a much broader scope.

President, sorry, and last point on that, especially since I don't know that we've fully decided what we're doing with constables, special police, whether or not they're going to fall under the states. New System, or if we're going to continue to empower them as special police, as a council. So I don't know if that's been considered in this conversation at all, but certainly think it should be.

Further discussion? Liaison, you're hovering over the microphone. Do you wish to add anything, or are you just there, available?

Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to say that the administration is amenable to laying the item on the table until the council meeting on the 23rd. We just really ask that you submit your questions between now and then so that when we take it up on the 23rd, folks are ready to take action on it. Thank you.

Seeing nothing that looks like an objection to that approach from the body, that certainly feels better to me. I first really dug into this yesterday and have questions as well that I won't speak to because I'm standing up here. Scott. So Councilor Scott moves to lay this one on the table. And so we see no objection. We'll lay this on the table. All right. Shall we start the meeting?

What are you looking at me like that for?

We're literally going back to the top now. Now we start a regular order of business. Madam Clerk, next item.

Mr. President that brings us back to the order of business agenda item 4.1 a resolution by Councillor Sait that the Commissioner of Public Works address the radiator dysfunction in one of the Kennedy School classrooms.

Councillor Sait.

Mr. President, I would like to send this to school building facilities and maintenance. The classroom is at 90 degrees, and I appreciate that DPW tried to fix it, but it's not yet fixed, so we can keep track of it.

That seems too warm. All right, that item is approved for the copy to school building facilities and maintenance. Next item.

Link, that the Director of Mobility add the intersection of Durham and Hanson Street to the list of crosswalks that require daylighting improvements to enhance visibility and pedestrian safety.

Thank you, Mr. President. This was something that a constituent neighbor reached out about, and I'm happy with it going to traffic and parking.

Scott on the item on the item I didn't want to thank councillor link for filing it I would like to co-sponsor it and I would like to acknowledge that he did in fact email me about this two weeks ago and it is in fact six pages Thank you for taking it up and getting it on the agenda. Further discussion?

All right, so that item is approved with a copy to traffic and parking. Or public safety? Yeah, so I was wondering infrastructure, whether it's sustainable infrastructure or TMP. Clingan, what do you have in T&P that would be, do you have other things that would group well? I see you standing up looking again like you'd like to share your wisdom with us. Please feel free to do so.

Thank you, Mr. President. I think Director of Mobility is more used to going to the Traffic and Parking Committee meetings, so that would be our preference. Thank you.

Okay. So that is approved to the copy of Traffic and Parking. Oh, wait, Sustainability. You said he's more likely to go to Sustainability than to Traffic and Parking? I need another Red Bull. All right, so that's approved with a copy to traffic parking, as I said. Next item.

Agenda item 4.5, a resolution by Councilor Link and Councilor Davis that the Director of Mobility evaluate and implement appropriate traffic calming measures on Herbert Street between the city parking lot and Davis Square Plaza, with particular attention to enhancing pedestrian safety during the Somerville Farmers Market.

Mike. Thank you, Mr. President. It's, I mean, this pretty much covers it. There's, we want to make sure that people are safe as they're crossing through the plaza into the farmer's market. As farmer's market season approaches, indeed.

Yes, it does. All right, do we want to send that for discussion or you want to just follow up? We can, you and I can follow up. Yeah, that'd be good. Okay, so that item is approved. Next item.

Agenda item 4.6, a resolution by Councilor Link and Councilor Mbah in support of House Bill... Link, and Senate Bill 475, an act promoting housing stability for older adults across the Commonwealth.

All right, so our bridge program, as many of you know, helps our low-income older adults who face severe housing insecurity and potentially homelessness. We talk a lot about aging in place, but without programs like this, aging in place is not only improbable, but it's more likely that some seniors would become homeless. So this resolution calls on the council to support the state legislation, it's H4015 and S475, and it would expand Somerville's We want to expand it statewide This provides temporary rental assistance to lower-income adults who are waiting for long-term subsidized housing.

and helps them stay in a house rather than becoming homeless or being sent to an emergency shelter. The last thing I'll say about it is that the pilot's been recognized as not only more humane, more compassionate, but also cost-effective, and it's a replicable model, and it would be in the... In our state's best interests to move forward with this.

Okay. Councilors Clingan, Wheeler, and Hardt would like to sign on. I'll sign on as well. Councilor Mbah? McLaughlin would like to sign on, Councilor Strezo, Sait, everyone would like to sign on.

Nice. Thank you, Mr. President, to you, to Councilor Link, thank you for your leadership on this. and for including me on it. I just wanted to go on record that this council expressed their appreciation to Director Ellen Schachter for helping initiate and advance this impactful effort in Somerville. So let it be known that our favorite city director It's the champion behind this that will be taken statewide. Thank you.

That item is approved.

Mr. President, waive the reading of item 4.8 and send to infrastructure, sustainability and infrastructure, please.

Seeing no objection, that item is approved to the copy to sustainability infrastructure. Next item. So 4.9?

Mr. President, I was just going to ask if we could take 4.9 and 4.10 together.

See no objection. Madam Clerk, would you read those two items?

Agenda item 4.9, a resolution by Councillor Hardt and Councillor Scott that the Commissioner of Public Works and the Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management appear before this council to discuss the process of monitoring progress on addressing double poles and abandoned wires with the goal of eliminating the potential hazards Harts, Tree Damage, and nuances associated with both. And agenda item 410, a resolution by Councilor Hardt and Councilor Scott that representatives from Eversource, National Grid, Comcast, Xfinity, Astound, and Verizon appear before this council to discuss plans for addressing double poles and abandoned wires with the goal of eliminating the potential hazards, tree damage, and nuances associated with both.

Councillor Hardt.

Thank you.

So these resolutions, I want to thank Councilor Scott. In licenses and permits, we have been discussing and trying to address Double Poles, and Hanging Wires on an ad hoc basis. But really, in order to make progress on this, we need to address it systematically across the city. So these resolutions are an effort to do that. I also wanted to ask when we send it to committee is it possible to also or and if it makes sense to include Public Communication which is item 10.4 on the agenda which resident you know took the time to assemble a lot of Evidence and documentation of these issues, and I just thought it would make sense to include that along with these agenda items when it goes to committee.

I would see no objection. Would you read in 10.4? We'll take these three together.

Agenda item 10.4, public communication from Chris Duan submitting comments regarding utility double poles.

Thank you. So I think because, as you noted, license and permits is sort of an ad hoc conversation, this systemically probably would be a better fit in sustainability infrastructure to have that conversation. I see the administration nodding their head. Scott. Okay. Councilor Scott, do you want to speak to this item?

Oh, you betcha. Sean, Mr. President, I can talk about double polls. I can't wait. First, I want to give a shout out to my colleague from Ward 7 who has just been absolutely kicking it in the License Appartments Committee. I do turf a lot of things there, and she has been just... in some ways drinking from the fire hose but absolutely eating it up so I appreciate these the effort to draft these I just want to point out that there's really two pieces to this One of these is about bringing the external parties to the table to ensure that they do the things that we need done, that are actually required by state law. and the other piece is internally focused to say how do we make this not just a one-off how do we make this not just something where the ward two counselor has to be a jerk again and hold up somebody's permit

How do we make this something that we do as a city proactively and ensure that we clean up the scourge and increase the safety for our residents? I never want to see another Leaning Pole that's been leaning like that for five years end up on top of somebody's car again. So I really thank the Chair of License and Permits for bringing this and working with me on these and going Very deep down the rabbit hole in utility world. And I also thank my colleague from infrastructure for bringing this up. And hopefully that'll be a really good conversation, sir. Thank you. Very good.

I just wanted to make one more communication to anyone who's interested. So at the last council meeting, we reported back about engines, which I don't know what the letters are. But it's the database where they track whose responsibility it is. So I do now have access to that, and I believe you can too. So communicate with the city clerk's office. So we're in, and anyway, so I wanted to share that. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Hardt. All right, seeing no further discussion, that item, those three items are, the first two items are approved with a copy to sustainability and infrastructure, and item 10.4 is placed on file with a copy to sustainability and infrastructure. Next item.

Next item is 6C1, a report of the Committee on Land Use, meeting on April 2nd, 2026.

Councilor Ewen-Campen. Thank you, Mr. President. The land use met. We had one item on the agenda, which was working on a proposed amendment series to the affordable housing overlay. There was a very clear presentation from staff and we had a good discussion. For folks following along, the video and the attachments are very useful. That'll come up at our next meeting. I ask that this be accepted.

Any discussion on the report? Seeing none, that is accepted as submitted. Next item.

61, a report of the Committee on Licenses and Permits, meeting on April 8, 2026.

Councilor Hardt.

Okay, we had a brief meeting considering a new used car dealer class 2 license, and this was on the site of an existing car rental. Sorry, my words are leaving me. Carbon until business, so they're expanding to also Sell Used Cars. And so questions were asked about the history of that business and ensuring that this would not require any on-street parking. The committee was satisfied and recommended this to be approved. And I would like that report to be accepted.

All right, very well. Any discussion on the report? All right, seeing none, that is accepted as submitted. Next item.

Agenda item 7.5.

And Chair, I move to waive the readings of items 7.5, 7.6, and 7.8 through 7.21 and refer them to the Finance Committee.

All right, any discussion, any objection? Seeing none, those items, the reading will be waived and the items will be referred to finance.

Agenda item 7.22, a request of the mayor requesting confirmation of the appointment of Aiden Slattery to the position of police officer.

Councilor Bhat? Mr. President, I move to approve. Councilor Bhat moves to approve. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is approved.

Agenda item 7.23, a request of the mayor, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Logan Brill to the Conservation Commission.

That item is referred to... Confirmation. Next item.

Agenda item 7.24, a request of the mayor requesting confirmation of the appointment of Valerie Locker to the Conservation Commission.

That item is referred to confirmation of appointments.

Agenda item 8.1, an officer's communication. Retirement Board notifying the City Council of a vote at the May 21, 2026 meeting regarding a 2026 cost of living adjustment for eligible retirees.

Any discussion? All right, seeing none, that item is placed on file.

Agenda item 8.2, an officer's communication from the city clerk conveying block party license issued.

Block parties. If your street isn't on this list and you haven't had your block party recently, reach out to the clerk's office and they'll tell you how to do a block party because block parties are awesome and we want as many of them as possible. I say that every time because I really like block parties.

Mr. President, the Calvin Street block party is on this list. It is an annual absolute banger, and I invite everybody down there on May 16th.

Everyone to Calvin Street. All right, seeing no further discussion, that item is placed on file. Yes, thank you, Mr. President.

I would move to waive the readings of 9.1 to 9.63 and approve them this evening.

9.1 to 9.63. I will say that anyone who has been working on licenses and maybe things didn't move as quickly as they might have, 63 licenses tonight so thank you to everyone who's been putting in Ewen's work to get these things and I know that you're all working to get all the others moving forward as quickly as possible as well. Seeing no objection though, the reading is waived and those items are all approved. That might be the most we've ever approved. Did I see a hand? No, that might be the most we've ever proved in one fell swoop. Check the records. Triple digits? Ugh. All right, next week. Next item.

Agenda item 9.65, a public event from the Somerville Museum applying for a public event license for Somerville Patriots Day Colonial Fair 2026 on April 20th from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Any discussion?

That item is approved.

Agenda item 9.66, a public event from the Somerville Museum applying for a public event license for Trolley Tour Revolutionary Line on April 25th from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., rain date April 26th.

Sounds like fun. Any discussion? Item approved.

Agenda item 9.67, a public event from Veterans Services Department applying for a public event license for Salute to Service Parade on May 16th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. That's going to be fun.

Any discussion? Seeing none, item approved.

Agenda item 9.68, a public event from Bow Market, applying for a public event license for annual curated vintage market on May 31st from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., rain date June 27th.

I see no objection. That item is approved.

Agenda item 9.69, a public event from the Arts Council applying for a public event license for Summer Streets Carnival on June 7th from 1130 a.m. to 8 p.m. rain date June 14th.

See no discussion. That item is approved.

Agenda item 9.70, a public event from the Arts Council applying for a public event license for Big Gay Dance Party on June 27th from 2.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., rain date June 28th.

See no discussion. That item is approved.

Agenda item 9.71, a public event from the Arts Council applying for a public event license for fireworks celebration on June 30th from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m., rain date July 1st.

See no discussion. That item is approved.

Agenda item 9.72. A public communication from Tamara Grazzi and Emma Ryback submitting comments for item 26-0485, Surveillance Technology Impact Report for Crime Tracer.

That item is placed on file. Do you want a copy to legislative matters? Place on file with a copy of legislative matters. Next item.

Agenda item 9.73 a public communication from five individuals including two residents submitting comments about 26-0204 amending the zoning ordinances for affordable housing projects.

That item is placed on file. Councilor Ewen-Campen, you want a copy of those ones to land use? All right, copy to land use. Next item.

Agenda item 9.74, a public communication from three individuals including two residents submitting comments about agenda item 26-0234, amending the zoning ordinances for accessory dwelling units.

That item is placed on file with a copy of the land use. Next item.

Agenda item 10.1, a resolution by Councilor Mbah that the Director of Parks and Recreation and the Commissioner of Public Works coordinate with local stakeholders, including the Somerville Garden Club and other community and volunteers to evaluate the feasibility of transforming the currently unused lawn space located at the small white church across from the West Branch Library into a community gardening space.

So we can lay that one on the table or send it to Sustainability Infrastructure. Which would you prefer? Sustainability Infrastructure. So we'll send that to Sustainability Infrastructure because it's a supplemental item that will be duly posted. Doody noticed before that discussion so the members of the public can participate. Next item.

Agenda item 10.2, a public event from Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville applying for a public event license for Mama's Free Store on April 11th from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain day April 25th.

Seeing no discussion, that item is approved. Next item.

Agenda item 10.3, a public communication from Jenny Raposo and Danny Resendez submitting comments about items 26-0327. 26-0328, 26-0329, and 26-0330 amending the zoning ordinances regarding zoning board of appeals, board rules, affordable dwelling units, and backyard cottage.

See no discussion. That item is placed on file with a copy to land use. Next item.

Agenda item 10.5, a public communication from 64 residents submitting comments about parking on Oak, Houghton, Bolton, and Prospect streets. Councilor Sait.

Scott.

Yes, and on that, y'all, if you haven't been down to Oak Bolton Houghton lately, it is. Wow, something to be beheld. It is part of the consequence of upzoning to UR and there's four or five apartment building projects happening at once and it really impacts the neighborhood. This is just another plea amongst a very long list of them to say maybe we need to revisit the way we do construction permits. and the only reason we haven't gotten an exact same letter from Allen, Linden and Merriam is just they haven't finished their petition yet. So I look forward to the conversation and committee and I encourage all to read the letter. Thank you. Very good. So that item is placed on file with a copy to traffic and parking.

Einstein, Mr. President. Yeah, one second. So item 10.1, I think we should just lay it out on the table instead of sending it to sustainability so that we can actually approve it to the next You know, City Council meeting before sending it to...

So, Councilor Bauer would like to move for reconsideration of item 10.1. I see no objection. That item is now before us and we will lay that item on the table.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Next item.

Agenda item 10.6, a public communication from Alexandra Thorne and Daniel Wong submitting comments about item number 26-0378, grant for body worn camera program.

Wheeler. Chair, could we have a copy of that sent to the Finance Committee, please?

Okay. I see no further discussion. That item is placed on file with a copy to Finance. Next item.

Agenda item 10.7 a public communication from Jake Grossman submitting comments about item numbers 26-0257 requesting a zoning map amendment for 2 and 9 Union Square 286, 290, and 298 Somerville Avenue.

Any discussion? Seeing none, that item is placed on file with a copy to land use. Next item.

There are no further items before the bottom. Any late items? No. Okay. Brings us to the end of our agenda.

With that, Councilor Scott and his twin six-shooters move to adjourn. We are adjourned. Thank you, everyone. Good work.