City Council

All right, we'll call this meeting to order. Wow, that's a fun echo. Recordings in progress. We've got a fun eco. We got a little bit of an audio setup. As if anyone can't figure that out on their own. I'm going to keep talking here and see if the folks in the back can resolve this because this is not sustainable. Brendan, give me a flag from back there if there's progress. Or you want me to recite some poetry or sing a song? Welcome to the new curtainless council chambers The clerk noted that with the new backdrop behind me, I can get my passport photo from a person who saved me a little time. We can't do this the whole way. This is not going to work. All right. I haven't, I guess I called it to order.

Let's take, call the roll and then we will take a recess see if we get this sorted out.

This is roll call. Councilor Ewen-Campen? Here. Counciler Link? Here Councilor Scott? Present, present, present Councilor Clingan? Strezo, here. Councilor Sait? Councilor Wheeler?

Here.

Council Hardt? Here Councilor McLaughlin? Here, here Councilor Mbah? Here and Councillor Davis?

Here

With 10 members present, we have quorum.

I do like that it sounds like we're all enthusiastically welcoming each other. Hear, hear. All right, we will stand in recess for five minutes or so to hopefully address this audio question.

Thank you.

Testing, testing, testing. That sounds a little better. Testing, Testing, It is a slide, Dylan. Yep. Testing, testing. Mic check. Testing. Are we good back there? Testing. Are we all set? Testing.

No. Can you ask me if I can hear? I mean, I can hear a slight echo but it doesn't really necessarily bother me.

Tess, Tess

Thank you.

Tess, it's still echoing Steve.

Tess, Tess. Is that better? So sorry, could I have everyone be quiet for like five seconds? Thank you so much. Tess is this better? No? I can't hear in my own ears, I'm getting a no. Steve it's not better. It's a delay, Steve. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 This meeting is being held pursuant to Chapter 25, the Acts of 2025. Zoom and audio recording will be available immediately after the meeting.

I'm not really sure right at the moment does anyone know any Dolly Parton you want to get up here Keep going.

Mr. President

Test, test. Can you hear it? Check, check. Volume needs to go up. Is this better? Is there still a delay? Check, check. One, two, three. Is that better? Is it worse? Who said yes to worse?

Good enough? I don't know.

I don't know the answer to that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. This is for the Zoom only. Ben? Can you hear it?

All right, I'll call this meeting back to order. Madam Clerk would you please... Actually no, I can see that there's a quorum in the room so I think we're good there. All right here's where we are. We have a new sound system here in the chambers? It is not functioning the way it did just an hour ago when they tested it, or a few days ago when we don't know why. We'll figure it out. For now, we got a lot of work to do so we're gonna move forward. Hopefully everyone at home and in the recording some years later if you're watching this, hopefully you can hear me. We are still going to use our microphones however the sound in the room is being turned down to minimize the echo. Also, the contract with our closed captioning provider is For some reason, for some issue, we don't have that right now. So we're going to be using the Zoom provided closed captioning in the chambers here if folks aren't speaking loudly enough I will

hopefully you know remind folks too but if you do have any issue hearing folks in the room I hope at some point here we'll see the zoom closed captioning coming up is that right madam clerk all right we're working on that now Apologies for all the technical difficulties, I don't understand the bulk of it but here we are. So with that I will continue to use my Theater Voice, and move forward and get started. We really didn't even start the meeting other than calling the roll and going into recess to fix that This is a meeting of the City Council. It is Thursday, August 27th. My name is Lance Davis. I use he-him pronouns. We established a quorum through the roll call. Please note that video and audio 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.

Pursuant to our Rule 32, please let it be known that the 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 McLaughlin.

I think Mr. President, I want to remember Joanne Fontano of 26 Mount Vernon Street, my direct next door neighbor. Sister Sue Fontano who's on the zoning board has been the chair of that board A very kind woman. I've lived next to her for several years and just grew up in the city, lived with her sister there, ran a hair salon together. There's always the person out shoveling the walk, cleaning the backyard, filling the pool, taking care of her sister. It was very sad to see her go. Just a little thing about her and her sister that I always found interesting is they grew up here multiple generations and oftentimes would not appreciate other long-time residents and their complaints about the changes in the community. and they would always say you know like I'm happy the way the city's going.

I like the direction things are going uh stop complaining so much it's like i'm happy that my streets is safer and that I have good neighbors, and good family, and things like this. And it was just always heartwarming to talk to them. They're always nice to my wife and my son, and just very optimistic upbeat people which is sometimes not always the case with us natives. But I really miss her. She was a very sweet person and we'll be looking out for her sister, and I ask everyone to think about her Councilor Hardt

Yes, thank you. I wanted to recognize the lives of the people who have died since our last city council meeting in July at the hands of or in connection with being detained by a US federal immigration agency Because even when it's not in the headlines, ICE and other federal agencies are continuing to deny people access to adequate medical care holding them in inhumane conditions separating families and detaining and deporting people without rights to due process. So I want to remember Edwin Giovanni Lopez Cornejo, 39 years old who died in Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey Presiliano Trejo-Ricano, 29 years old, who died while being held in Lumpkin, Georgia. Juan Jairo Coronillo Duran, 28 years old. Died while ICE was attempting to detain him in St Augustine Florida

Jesus Manuel Arena Silva, 45 years old, died while being transported to the Folkston D. Ray Ice Processing Center in Georgia. Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26 years old shot by ice agents on July 13th in Biddeford Maine Lorenzo Salgado Araujo 52 years old, shot by an ICE officer during a traffic stop Wheeler.

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to remember Larry Aronson, a Ward 2 resident and longtime Cambridge Ridge and Latin teacher who died last month. Larry had a huge impact on me my family members and friends As a part of the passionate teaching body in CRLS's pilot school, Larry educated and sparked the imaginations of generations of CRLL students. He taught us to ask tough questions about our world and our values. The importance of that couldn't be clearer right now. Larry, our city and our country and our world were more alive and more just thanks to you and your fellow curiosity seeking teachers. Thank you.

Ewen-Campen would like to sign on to that one. Would you like to say a few words? Thank you, Mr. President. As the other Ben on the council, I also went to Ringen Latin Larry Aronson made a huge impact on me personally, but he made an enormous impact on literally thousands and thousands of people. It sounds like an exaggeration if you go Thank you for watching! Truly committed his life to civil rights and equality, and treating every single person like they were special and unique and deserving of love and attention. I don't understand how he did it. If you walked around with him, he knew everybody and they all had a story about him He really succeeded in making people feel that way

and up until the very end he was incredibly in touch with people, former students including his famous former students like Matt Damon and The Afflecks and all this. He was just an incredibly supportive May his memory be a blessing.

Clingan. Mr. President, thank you this evening. This actually one was one that I meant to do before the break. This is Michael Chipperini. He was 58. of Lynn, formerly of Somerville, passed away suddenly on June 5th, 2026. He was born in Boston, raised in Somerville. Michael was the beloved son of Sandra Smith-Henron and the late Michael Ciparini He was proud of his Somerville roots and will be remembered for his warm personality, quick smile, and ability to make everyone feel welcome. Above all Michael was a devoted father and grandfather He cherished his sons and grandchildren, especially his beloved grandchildren who lovingly called him Papa. He was also an avid football fan, lifelong lover of rock and roll, and devoted to his dog Chop. He was the beloved father of Chris Johnson, Michael Ciparini and his wife Alicia, Anthony Ciperini and Joseph Ciperani. Devoted grandfather

Father of Jaden, Ariella, Enzo and Landon and loving brother of Mary Lou, Lisa and Richard. He also leaves behind many nieces and nephews. He'll be remembered for his humor, his kindness and unwavering love for friends and family. And then next, Mr. President, I would like for us to keep in our thoughts and prayers this evening William Billy Fitzpatrick, Fitzo as he was known Winchester formerly of Somerville passed away after a long period of declining health. He was born in Cambridge, raised in Somervill William was the beloved son of the late William Arfritz-Patrick and Margaret Sally Meaney, and loving stepson of Donald Salley. He was he had a deep love for golf and traveling enjoying every opportunity to play around and explore some new Somewhere new above all he cherished his family and friends and often saying that his friends were an extension of his family. He'll be remembered for his warm heart, loyal friendship, and happiness he found in the company of those he loved.

He was the beloved brother of Patricia Fitzpatrick and Diana Fitzpatrich, loving uncle of Katie Rousseau, Gianna Moore, and the late Marissa Fitzpatric, and cherished nephew of Billy Meany and Teresa Dinicola. He also leaves many loving cousins, extended family members who will miss him deeply and then finally Mr. President very recently a young man died who I didn't know but we share the same first name which is interesting because it was really only one or two Jesse's, me and Jesse Westcott. But Jesse Gregory he was a little younger than me and he also We didn't go to the same school, but he was very beloved in the community. We have many mutual friends. He was young and he tragically passed away from a battle of cancer So Jesse passed away peacefully accompanied by the love of his life and family on Thursday, August 20th at Beth Israel Hospital in Plymouth. He was 46. He was raised in Somerville.

He's the son of Peter Gregory and of Joyce Thomas Singh Jesse attended St. Ann's, Matton on and earned his degree from UMass Lowell he enjoyed a long career in property management he lived in Marshfield he loved golfing staying fit and he was a devoted lover of Music, dancing and his family. He was the beloved husband of Isabel Perez and he was the devoted son of Peter Gregory and Joyce Singh. He He was a proud uncle of Gianna, Bianca, Mika and Kayden. And he will be deeply missed in this community as well as his community of Marshfield and by his family and friends. Keep all of those folks and then actually I will say finally especially with our Nepali brothers and sisters in the room this evening here for a Nepali

Nepali Heritage Month, the lives that have been lost in Nepal due to the extreme flooding and extreme weather conditions over there. I ask that we keep those folks in our thoughts and prayers this evening. Thank you, Mr. President.

Okay, would everyone in the chamber please rise however you are able to reserve a moment of silence for the aforementioned folks. Thank you. All right, Madam Clerk, next item please.

Next item is 1.3 approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of June 25th 2026

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

Next item is 2.1 by Councilor Ewen-Campen commending Dan Amlin for eight years of service in the engineering division.

Councilor

Thank you, Mr. President. Congratulations, Dan. So I am very happy to be here in collaboration with the mayor's office to give this recognition to Dan Amelin. Dan has worked in engineering division for eight years has been involved in many, many projects but I'm thinking about the Somerville Ave sewer project and the Spring Hill reconstruction project. These were two of the biggest and most complex engineering projects in Somervill history It's unbelievably difficult obviously for residents, for local businesses but also on the city side just incredibly complex and both of them Dan played an absolute critical leadership role and they have been enormous success after all. All of this work. So we are very sorry to lose Dan but very happy for your next steps and it is our honor to give you the citation

Council, good evening. Again I'm Dan Amell and I work in the engineering department. I am very honored to receive this citation here this evening. I don't want to take all the credit, however. A lot of that I want to give back to my colleagues, peers and friends over on Franey Road over in the engineering department Without their support, their guidance, their experience and their willingness to share their knowledge I would not be standing here in front of you because I would have not succeeded. So that said, I am very thrilled to see a lot of the projects I've managed come to fruition be completed and allow for future generations to enjoy. And I'll end briefly by a quote that our director says quite often. I am very, very happy to be part of a team that builds a better Somerville. Thank you all.

Thank you.

Next item is 2.2, a citation by Councilor Mbah commending Ramon Bueno for his commitment to climate action.

Thank you, Mr. President. Madam Clerk can you read the next item as well please?

Next item is 2.3 a citation by Councilor Mbah commending Eliza Johnston for her commitment to climate action

Thank you, Mr. President. Will those gentlemen come forward and I will say a few words and then I'll meet you guys at the podium. So thank you, Mr. President. Tonight I have citations for these two members of our community who have been incredible advocates for climate action Eliza Johnson served for 17 years on Somerville's Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change, and later on the Interim Climate Action Commission. Bueno, also served for nine years on both iterations on the commission. Climate and sustainability work in Somerville has transformed and grown so much over that period. They have helped lead

At every step of the journey from helping the city win a green communities designation from the state in 2011 to developing the climate forward plan first in 2018 and then in 2024. They played important roles in sustainability programs like our community choice electricity program. So tonight, we want to take this opportunity to recognize both of you for your service as commissioners and also for laying the foundation for the newly formed Climate Action Commission, a body that will push our government and our community to continue acting on and adapting to climate change with the urgency it demands. So I...

Thank you so much. Yes, what the citation says that be hereby known to all that the city of Somerville City Council, and the Mayor offer their sincerest commendations to Ramon Bueno for nine years of service on the Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change. His contributions have advanced the city's goals in reducing climate pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Ms. Eliza, be it hereby known to all that the City of Somerville City Council and the Mayor offer their sincerest commendations to Eliza Johnson for 17 years of service on the Commission on Energy, Youth and Climate Change. Her contributions have advanced the city's goals in reducing climate pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. Thank you so much.

First of all, thank you very much. And it's like before, it's an honor to be brought here with this citation. If I can have just a couple of minutes, had a chance to reflect on the past decade and and what brought me to want to participate in the commission. My background was in science engineering, but then I had worked for like over a decade with climate economists so I came with that perspective on The best science and climate economists were saying was going to be happening, which is that the coming century was gonna be worsening if we didn't take actions. That the cost of action to adapt to things but also prevent future things It's high, but much worse is the cost of inaction because of consequences. and the importance of the socioeconomic conditions in the city being taken into account.

And equally, to make good plans based on science have the staff develop a plan, implement a plan but also the city has the leadership and many more. It's been really very satisfying to see how the city went and developed some of a climate forward plan, now through its second version. How it's really in its key elements includes looking at the vulnerabilities of different parts and sectors of the city. For the last three mayors to have had the support of Joe Cortotone, Katiana Valentine and now Wilson. So for someone like me it can't be more satisfying than to look back I didn't do it, but to have been collaborating with great commissioners, with great

The staff and the development of the staff at the Office of Sustainability and Environment over the past decade is incredible. The staff is super talented, and to see the support from the city council and the mayors It's no surprise that Somerville is now being cited not only nationally but occasionally in international forums for what it's doing. So I'm the one who's really wanting to thank the city and the staff for what its done, so thank you.

Thanks for watching!

I'll just follow with some brief remarks. Just to say when the commission, or when I started on the commission it predated OSC so we were the staff and we were responsible for sort of rolling up our sleeves Becoming a Green Community, tracking the ESCO and you know working really closely with at that time the aldermen to get some of the groundwork laid for what became Somerville Climate Forward but I Echo Ramon and just appreciate the work that we've all done together. The professionalism, the staff, the support, the amazing talent within OSCE that's grown over the last decade is phenomenal and the partnership that we've had with the city council has been a wonderful experience so thank you all and look forward to more work from the outside.

Mr. Mayor, would you like to say a few words?

Yeah thanks Mr. President. I know Ramon and Eliza outside of their work on multi-member bodies but we're here to talk about what they've done I'm not going to repeat that. So instead what I want to say is if you go to look how to join a multi-member body in our city, you go and when I think of these two, I think people who embodied that. They are Somerville. I'm really glad Eliza mentioned that about how their work predated having OSE. Such that they really were carrying the workload on that. And I think it says so much about our community, they're willing to step up and do that and lead us forward to a point where we are now, whereas you heard people do look at us as a city, and others. to embody. And I think that that's everything.

So, I'm just filled with gratitude. Thank you so much for, Councilor Mbah, thank you for putting this in. We were honored to do this with you. To everyone looking at how you can get involved in your city, this is a great way to do it.

Of course, when you're the last to speak, you get all your talking points taken away. But thank you and through you. I am Stephen Nutter. I'm the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Somerville. And as has been said before what is now the Sustainability and Environment Division, we had citizens community doing things All the way back to 2001, 25 years of climate change. And I could sit here and list all the different technical programs and pieces and things like that, and Ramon and Eliza definitely bring those things But the other half of climate action is community work. And it's really only because of our community that we have the wealth of leadership that we do now.

So I just want to say thank you to both Eliza and Ramon, and know that I have your phone numbers so I will be in contact as an informal advisor over time. And thank you so much.

Thank you. Councilor Mbah, I'd like to request a very brief recess to take a couple pictures. Seeing no objection we'll have a brief recess and then come right back.

All right, I'll call this meeting back to order. I can see that there is a quorum present in the chambers. Madam Clerk, those items are approved? Next item please.

Next item is 3.1 Light Path applying for a grant of location to install 41 feet of conduit in Grand Union Boulevard from existing telephone conduit near the intersection of Revolution Drive and Grand Union Boulevard to a point of pickup at existing manhole 29310 next to 188 Assembly Park Drive.

I now declare this public hearing to be open. Is there anyone in the chamber or online here to speak on this item? Sir, please introduce yourself for the record. Go right ahead.

Absolutely. Good evening, my name is Jeffrey Harrington from Lightpath Construction Manager I am here requesting permission to install this conduit for an existing Tenant of a property.

Mr. Harrington, can I interrupt you just to ask a favor? Can you pull that microphone down? I can hear you but I want to make sure folks online can hear us. Thank you.

We're here requesting the application to install new conduits to support telecommunications services For an existing tenant at 188 Assembly Square Row, they're requesting diverse fiber optic services to protect the new internet that they are putting up at that facility. And we've tried to use existing pipe as much as we can which is over 90% of it so Dig up the streets, but this last little section we need to join a power manhole system to a communication manhole systems so requesting that approval for excavation.

Okay thank you is there anyone else here to speak on this item? Anyone online? If you're on Zoom, please use the raise hand feature which is down at the bottom of your screen. Seeing none, all right. There being no further comments I declare the public hearing to be closed is there any discussion? All right seeing none that item is approved next item

Next item is 3.2, Eversource applying for a grant of location to install 208 feet of conduit in Taylor Street and Sidney Street and one new manhole 32883 from utility pole 387 slash 4 passing through the new marble manhole 32883 to a point of pickup at 9 Taylor Street. And we have Ms. Duffy here to speak on the item.

All right, and now let me try that again. I now declare the public hearing to be open. Anyone here to We can go right ahead. So 188 feet on Taylor Street, 20 feet on Sydney Street to a new manhole to provide electric service to 9 Taylor Street. I'm just reading this from the screen because the audio is a little low in here. All right, thank you Ms. Duffy. Anyone else here to speak on the item? Anyone online?

I am seeing none, Mr. President.

All right, seeing none then that I would declare the public hearing to be closed. Any discussion? All right seeing none that item is approved.

Next item is 3.3 Eversource applying for a grant of location to install 201 feet of conduit in Charlestown Street and Allen Street from proposed manhole 32885 to a point of pickup at 37 Allen Street

Alright, I now declare this public hearing to be open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item? Alright, thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak on the item? Anyone online? All right. Seeing none, I declare the public hearing to be closed. Any discussion?

Mr. President.

Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. president. I just had a few questions about this. First of which, this is a long run down the center of the street to provide power to a lot where there is an existing pole with a transformer directly in front of the lot. So through you Ms. Duffy, what is the reason why we need to actually dig up the right-of-way here?

Ms. Duffy, could you pause one sec? I want to get the audio in the room here a little bit louder.

Mr. President, I'll just point out that it seems like the transcription is working well for whatever that's worth as a way of understanding what Ms.

Thank you. All right, go ahead Miss Duffy. Councilor Scott?

Okay. Ms. Duffy, is this power supply to a transformer that is going to be placed on site by this project? Alright, do you know if that's a surface pad mount or a vaulted transformer? Okay, so you're placing a new manhole on Charlestown Street. You run 201 feet of conduit to the property line and then your... That's right, so the 37 it will be a subsurface of Alton Transformer on 37 Allen. Okay, thank you I appreciate it.

Mr. President, the project hasn't actually gotten its building permits yet but it is projected to be a new 24 unit Project there, Passive House. So as much as I know the folks on Allen Street don't deserve any more disruptions after all the projects that have been going on down there the last few years, I'm I can't see any reason to deny this. I would just implore Eversource to see if there's any other way to connect up to that than digging a trench through 200 feet of Allen Street. Thank you, sir

All right, if you come up with a new idea, let Councilor Scott know, will you?

Yeah. Well, hey, at least there's no double poles on Allen Street, sir.

All right. Thank you, Councilor All right, seeing none then that item is approved. Next item Madam Clerk.

Next Item is 3.4 Eversource applying for a grant of location to install 51 feet of conduit in Prescott Street from utility pole 287 slash 8 to a point of pickup at 53 Prescott street

I now declare the public hearing to be open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item? Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak on the item? Anyone online? Seeing none, I declare the public hearing to be closed. All right, seeing none that item is approved. All right and that brings us to the first of our out-of-order items this evening It's a long list, so bear with us. But we want to make sure that we get some important things out of the way just so you all understand. We try and bump things up as close to the beginning of the meeting as we can when folks are here to speak on them, to be present for them.

Normally that happens pretty early, but since we have a long list it's still going to be a while before we get through all of them But I promise we're moving everything through as quickly as we can and then we'll get to all the other stuff after that So we're going to take up, unless there's any objection, we'll take up item 7.31 and then 7.32. Those are two proclamations. We'll then go to 4.2 and then after that 7.1. and then back to 4.3, 4.4, 4 .5, 4 6, then 4 12, then 9 28 And then we have 7.4, 7.26, 7 .29 and 7.30 And when we get to each of those, if there is any objection that you thought of that you can't think of right at the moment, then of course raise it. But that's the plan. So Madam Clerk, could you read our first out-of-order item? Item 7.31.

Yes, item 7.31 Mayor's communication proclaiming July 2026 as South Asian Heritage Month in Somerville Mr. Mayor

Mr. President, delighted to be here with you proclaiming South Asian Heritage Month here in Somerville We have an amazing South Asian community here in our city. We know it's a substantial population, we also know what they contribute to our city So we thought it extremely appropriate to proclaim this. And I'll point out that coming up on Saturday, September 5th is a Nepali street food festival I believe right out here in the concourse, so I encourage people to come to that. Also, I appreciate Councilor Clingan's remembrance for the lives lost here recently in Nepal with the tragedies there. But on a happy note, want to just... Lift up our amazing South Asian community here in Somerville. And we have some folks here on hand. Should I read the proclamation? I know you have a long meeting, but it's a long proclamation.

Why don't you give us the Cliff Notes version, Mr. Mayor?

High level, it's observed annually, celebrating the histories, cultures, traditions and contributions of people with roots in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. and South Asia's home to a rich diversity of languages, faiths, customs, art forms, cuisines and local cultural traditions. reflecting the distinct identities and experience found across the region throughout the global South Asian diaspora. So we have Nepali class Boston that participates in city events and it was a Sunday school program established in 2014 and continually operates in Somerville since 2018. That's an amazing thing that happens over in 80s Somervill School and we're hard at work working with summer public schools to make sure that continues. If you've never gone over and witnessed that, I encourage you to it's amazing. The non-resident Nepali Association NCC

USA Massachusetts Chapter is a valued community partner that promotes cultural awareness, inclusion and civic engagement through events including the annual Nepali New Year flag raising ceremony and the Nepali Street Food Festival that I just mentioned Organized in partnership with the Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Somerville Arts & Culture Division. And they've also demonstrated a long commitment to serving residents in times of need, including during the COVID-19 pandemic by connecting community members with resources and distributing important public information. So yeah, South Asian Heritage Month. It's great that we do it. We have some folks on hand to accept the proclamation and I believe

Mr. President was clear with you ahead of time to deliver some very quick remarks be happy to receive some remarks from the folks absolutely why don't you introduce the folks or have them come up and introduce themselves for the record

Who wants to speak first?

Good evening, everybody. I represent Nepali Class Boston like Mayor Wilson just said we started our program back in 2014 with seven kids and we are now 150 students strong and 150 because we are limited space-wise and resources wise, cause it's a purely volunteer run program. and this recognition really means a lot. And I would love to share this with all my volunteer team members who dedicate their Sundays, it's their entire Sunday To serving these kids who are ages 5 to 15 and it is their second home. It's the sense of belonging, the peer relationship It truly is a place, a happy place for a lot of our children there and I really hope that Somerville continues to support programs like ours. It's been a privilege you know

We are very grateful to the city and also Somerville Public Schools. Thank you

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Samundra Shrestha. I'm a vice president of NRNA NCC Massachusetts chapter Today I'm really grateful for this recognition. First of all, I would like to thank you City of Somerville for this meaningful recognition. We are truly honored and grateful for your support and encouragement. This recognition inspires us to continue serving our community with dedication, unity and pride. We deeply appreciate the city Commitment to celebrating diversity and recognizing the contribution of the Nepali community. We value our strong partnership with the city of Somerville and look forward to working together for many years to come. On the behalf of NRNA Massachusetts chapter, I would like to thank once again for this honor. We truly value your continued encouragement. Thank you.

Good evening, city council members and everyone joining us today. My name is Harmon Carr and I'm a rising senior at Somerville High School. I'm honored to be here as a speaker and I would especially like to thank Mayor Wilson and City Council for giving me these opportunities. Today's proclamation is definitely personal to me because I come from an immigrant Indian family. Growing up, my family and I often had to figure things out on our own. There were resources we didn't know existed, systems we didn t fully understand and moments when I found myself searching for answers and trying to navigate things that was still in me. While these experiences were difficult, they shaped my advocacy. Through my American Civil Liberties Union Club at Somerville High, I work to educate young middle schoolers about civics, their rights and the importance of using their voice Seeing the lack of civics taught in schools, I hope these efforts can help young people feel more informed empowered and confident in participating in their communities.

I also advocate for greater language accessibility for Hindi and Punjabi speakers in Somerville. Through petitions and conversations with community members, I hope to have resource opportunities more accessible Because I believe language should not be a barrier to feeling included and fully participating in our community. For the South Asian community of Somerville, this proclamation is not just a recognition on paper, it's a message Thank you for joining us. For young people like me, seeing our community recognized by our city is powerful. It tells us that we do not have to change between our culture and community. But I also hope it reminds us that recognition should not be followed by continued action, but by listening to our communities and ensuring every family feels included.

But I am proud to stand here today and celebrate not only where my family comes from, but also the community we're continuing to build here in Somerville. Thank you.

Any questions, comments, discussion? I saw a few folks indicate they wanted to have a quick recess to take pictures which is one of our favorite things to do. Do you want to do the other proclamation first? We can certainly do that, and then we'll do it all in one recess if that's okay. All right. Not that we take cues from the mayor here, but I think it's a good suggestion. We like a good idea when we hear it. So that item is approved. Stay put, don't go anywhere, we'll take some pictures in a minute. Madam Clerk if you read the next item, the next proclamation

Next item is 7.32, Mayor's Communication proclaiming August 26th, 2026 as Women's Equality Day in Somerville.

Mr. Mann. Mr. President, fantastic idea of yours to take this up as well before the recess. Thank you so much for allowing us to do a second proclamation here. Man, it seems like we shouldn't have to be here proclaiming something as obvious as Women's Equality Day. But you know, we look around and see the attacks on the rights of women and on women's healthcare. And yeah, it's important that in a community like ours that even when something is at you know a real shared value we still stand up and proclaim it just in times like this so you know it's It's obvious, I think, to everyone in this room how much women's equality means. We don't need to go through what women contribute to this city. We all see it.

I think it's vital, though, like I said, that we issue proclamations, that say this given the national climate and so here we are. To proclaim August 26, 2026 as Women's Equality Day here in Somerville. And we have the chair of the Somerville Commission for Women, Alex Barbat, here with us. I'd like to, if you see it fit, like for Alex to give some comments here to the council. Absolutely, go right ahead.

Hello. I'm Alex, speaking on behalf of the Somerville Commission for Women. We're glad to be here tonight as the city recognizes August 26th as Women's Equality Day. And since the national proclamation of Women's Equality Day in 1973, we know that we've made a great deal of progress in furthering the rights and status of women in society. but one question I have for the city of Somerville is do we know how much progress that we've made and do we as a city know what's left to be done in our community? I've been co-chair of the Somerville Commission for Women since last summer, and one question that's come up over and over throughout our conversations has been do we have the data for this? When we came together to set our strategic priorities We realized that it was surprisingly difficult to find data specifically on women in Somerville. Eventually, we aligned our strategic priorities with the State Commission for Women

which are promoting equity in healthcare, dismantling economic barriers for women and increasing representation for women in politics. And those are definitely important to Somerville but if we don't know where we're going If we don't know where we're starting from, we don' t know where were going. If women and the unique challenges that women face are not intentionally considered in our data and in our community In our policies and solutions, we lose important information about the lives and experiences of 51.1% of our city We lose out on being able to celebrate the growth and accomplishments of our city as we grow into being a more just and equitable community. So as we proclaim August 26th as Women's Equality Day, I want to commend the Mayor and the City Council for the progress that we've made in furthering the status of women in Somerville. But I also wanna ask do we know what comes next?

Thank you.

Any discussion? All right, we'll take a brief recess for some pictures for both of these proclamations and then we'll come right back. Stand in recess.

Thank you.

All right, I'm going to call this meeting back to order. I see that there is a quorum present in the chamber. Madam Clerk would you read our next item please?

Next item is 4.2 by Councilor Hardt and Councilor Link that Chapter 6 of the Code of Ordinances be amended as detailed within.

Councilor Hardt Thank you so much

I want to really appreciate here this so this is a ordinance banning the use of rodenticides on municipal property and i really want to appreciate the work of Somerville, Save Somerville Wildlife and all of the advocacy that they have done on this over the years. And then also appreciate Mayor Wilson and his action on this. And before we... I want to ask a member of Save Somerville Wildlife to come up and speak, but I'll just say that the A lot of people are concerned about banning rodenticides given that we have such a massive problem with The fact is that rodenticides do not work to control rats on a population level. If they did, our

We would have the rat problem under control because we've been throwing more and more poison at it for many, many years. So I just wanted to put a plug in What should residents do when they see rats? You can report rat sightings to 311. It really helps the city to have data about the rat sighting. Also, if you have burrows or a serious problem in your yard or on the street You can apply for the Rodent Control Assistance Program and the city staff will come to your home and really help you identify the causes. So I really encourage people to make use of those resources. And, of course, we know what does work is eliminating access to food, water, things like that.

don't put out bird seed you know put away your bird feeder clean up pet waste if you have fruit trees that are dropping fruit this time of year be sure you pick all of that up Just all of the common sense approaches that we know do work to help control rodents. So I'll stop there and let Councilor Link and then Save Somerville Wildlife speak. Thank you.

Link. Thank you very much, Mr. President, through you and thank you to the good counsel from Ward 7 for including me on this is something that I've Hardt also felt quite strongly about. Obviously we do, as Councilor Hardt said, We continue to try to work to control the rat population, but we know that one thing that actually does control the population are you know owls and other raptors than these natural predators that we're killing with these rodenticides. And I think it's really important that we We already know, just recently there was a bird of prey that died. And we know that there's probably much more than that that we don't know.

It doesn't make any sense to all of the harms that are kind of causal to this, it doesn't So I'm 100% for this. Thank you.

Other discussion? Councilor Hardt, do you want to sponsor the speaker?

Yes, I'd like to sponsor Morgan Penny from Save Somerville Wildlife.

Hardt would like to sponsor Morgan Petty. I see no objection. Afterwards, Councilor Clingan? All right. Go right ahead. Please introduce yourself for the record and go right ahead Thank you

So, my name is Morgan Pinney and I am a Somerville resident and member of Save Somervillewildlife. On August 22nd DPW installed this year's mural created by 11 somerville high school students on Mystic Avenue The painting pays tribute to the majestic and beloved bald eagle known as MK who died in 2023 from rodenticide poisoning. MK died in Arlington, but of course wildlife do not observe municipal boundaries. In the fall of 2023, my children and I marveled at the red-tailed hawk that frequented our small private way swooping and perching in trees and on roofs. Just after Thanksgiving, I found that hawk stranded on the ground next door. She could not fly. I managed to get her to a rehabber, but she did not survive. Her blood failed to clot despite a week around-the-clock treatment by the rehabber.

In the span of a few weeks in the winter of 24-25, three dead owls were found in Somerville. All were tested and all had lethal doses of anticoagulant rodenticides in their blood. Over the last several years, Somervill residents have reported transported to rehabbers and advocated for hawks, owls, foxes, and other wildlife devastated by rat poison in our city. Earlier this month another hawk was found in Union Square rescued and died the next day Somerville's rat problem cannot be solved by poison. Evidence shows that this bait actually provides yet another food source for rodents thus exacerbating the issue A rat's reproductive cycle is rapid, their biology is adaptive and their populations continue to explode in our cities. Raptors are rodenticidal by nature. A single owl is capable of consuming more than 1,000 rats a year yet human irresponsibility is decimating these would-be partners

Somerville must join the 30 plus cities and towns in Massachusetts like Lowell, Newton, and Brookline that have passed home rule petitions and codified ordinances banning the use of these harmful chemicals. Thank you.

Thank you. Clingan.

Thank you Mr. President, through you I want to thank my colleagues for bringing this forward and thank the advocates in the community and activists in the Community happy to sign on to this I'm also happy to see that I believe the Mayor put forth a home rule petition Hopefully allowing us to ban it citywide, not just on city property as this does.

We're going to talk about that right after this.

Yeah, we will be talking about it right after But yeah, just aside from the cruel death, the cruel slow death that rats endure, rodenticides they also Harm Other Wildlife, including our cats and dogs if they happen to get a hold of one that's eaten rodenticide. In the U.S., there are thousands of accidental human rodenticide poisonings each year. So putting this poison into our environment, into our City is uh it's not serving as far as the purpose that it serves it does a lot more harm than good we know that we need to control the rodent population through means of you know making sure food sources water sources aren't available as you all know I got the administration to do de-ratification week and you know the city brought out their uh their machine that that essentially

They'll use CO2 in the boroughs. But we need to be vigilant, and this is really about... Oftentimes in this city it's about absentee landlords Not taking care of their property and so you know as a community we need to come together and really try to encourage our neighbors, fellow property owners what have you I do love the mural. It's amazing they put up this new piece right on Mystic Ave with a tribute to MK. So yeah, happy to sign on this and thank you again. Appreciate it.

Scott.

Thank you, Mr. President and I thank my colleagues for bringing this forward. Hopefully this is indicative of an intention from the executive to change city policy. I know previously our response to homeowner requests about rat control is to dispatch contractors who place out that rodenticide rat bait, so I'm hopeful that we'll hear from the administration A larger systemic change, I know there have been multiple Multiple efforts called for over the years to support the raptor populations. I had a falcon nest just above my house last year with three fledgings and I haven't seen them this year. It's frustrating, although I'm sure my colleagues who are knocking doors for state-level offices have noticed how large and fearsome the rats are in Ward 2. The hawks and the owls that we have are our best tool.

So I really appreciate this, and as I said, I'm hopeful to hear about a larger systemic change of approach from the mayor's office on this. So thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Wheeler?

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate my colleagues putting forward this ordinance and I also appreciate several people including my colleague from Ward 7 pointing out How much more effective, how much more necessary it is in addressing the rat problem to address rats access to food than using poisons. I did some research in the last couple weeks on this as an amateur person interested in this question. It's very consistent, everybody agrees that poison is in some cases useful for temporarily depressing a rat population, but in the long term there is no solution if you are not cutting off access to food. and quite simply we are not at the point as a city where we are doing enough to cut off rats access to food.

and several of my colleagues have mentioned some of the aspects of that sometimes it's landlords who are hard to get a hold of where we're not allowed to enter their properties and do mitigation But there are also some cases, for example commercial dumpsters in Somerville have to get a license every year according to our municipal code. Every single year, we have to as a city say yes your dumpsters are good. We currently in my opinion simply do not have the staff To enforce that, to make sure that in every case a commercial dumpster closes, latches, keeps rats out Keeps rats from having all the food they want all night long So I just want to make clear, this is something where maybe one day we'll get to the point where we're doing so much cutting off access to food that we say we have no choice but to use poison. But we are not there now. Thank you.

Bob would like to sign on. Other discussion?

Councilor Clingan? Real quick, just two other quick points I wanted to make was that I read this really great article in the Guardian recently titled, I Love Rats But We Can't Live With Them. The Headache of the Rise in Roading Populations Rats are dangerous to humans' health. They carry diseases, so that's why he's saying we can't live with them. But they're also very similar to us. The best way is to make sure they're not repopulating. He mentions the mild winters that we've had and how they've really been the impetus for a huge explosion. Just be mindful of that with the mild winters that we really need to be extra vigilant on making sure that we're not feeding and housing rodents as they continue to procreate.

So that item will refer to legislative matters. And then can we read Item 7.1, please?

Yes, 7.1 mayor's request requesting approval of a home rule petition to regulate anticoagulant rodenticides Mr. Mayor, Mr. President

We've heard how despite years of a policy of not using first-generation and second generation anticoagulant rodenticides on public land, Not having those used as part of our residential rodent abatement program, we're still losing raptors. And that's happening because they're being used on private property. We'd love to stop doing that. Problem is, we're not authorized to do that currently under the state. The first thought is let's get the state to ban them statewide, and there's an effort underway to do that. It looked like this year that might happen. We did not see that progress in the most recent legislative session So, I want to put in a home rule petition and join over 20 other communities who've put in similar home rule petitions asking

asking Beacon Hill to give us permission to ban these on private property so we can stop seeing the deaths that we're seeing from our raptors and other wildlife too. It's clear this is the next step in this. It's clearly that we need this here in Somerville, so I'm urging the City Council and I am confident you all will go along with us too for my conversations with you all. Let's put another home rule petition on the pile. Hopefully this moves the state to ban them statewide, but otherwise please approve ours and let us go do the thing that we know we need to do here. Thanks.

Thank you. Any discussion? All right, seeing none that will follow the previous item to legislative matters Thank you Mr. Mayor, Madam Clerk. Next item will go back to 4.3 I think we're at right? Yes

3 by Councilors Hardt, Mbah, Ewen-Campen, Link, Strezo, Wheeler and Davis to end the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Access Crisis.

Thank you so much, Mr. President. So in a moment I want to invite up a speaker resident to speak on this issue and but first I wanna Just provide a little background on this resolution. And I also want to appreciate Director Lisa Robinson and City Staff Alisa Abel who worked very hard on this and have been really advocating on this issue. So what we're seeing in the case of SNAP as throughout All other government services and all the things that we hold in common as public resources is that our government and our collective wealth is really being dismantled and undermined in order to take money from most of us and funnel it upwards to the wealthiest. in the U.S.

So not only do people depend on these services for food and nutrition, but people depend upon the jobs and work they do to help our society function. Massachusetts has an opportunity here to do what is right and push back on the direction that the federal government is moving, to help people keep employment and access to food. So this resolution says it, lays it out very clearly so rather than reading the entire thing though I just want to read some of the key parts that really illustrate the problem. So the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP is one of the most effective anti-hunger assistance programs in the nation. But from January to April of this year, 91.5% of callers who had to take an action or get the Department of Transitional Assistance to take action to get or keep their SNAP benefit could not reach DTA Due to high call volume and insufficient staff to answer the phone lines

That's almost 92% of the calls. So since last July, when President Trump signed the one big beautiful bill into law, the SNAP caseload has declined statewide by nearly 175,000 people including 62,000 children so that this and to be clear this is people who have been cut off and lost their benefits This has resulted in a loss of more than 360 million federal food dollars and and the participation in Somerville alone has dropped 15% from November 2024 to April 2026. That's about 992 residents. and the decline in the 02145 zip code was as high as 20% during this same time period. Across the state, child participation in SNAP has decreased by 18%.

So again, these numbers represent children and community members going hungry from being cut off. The data indicate that much of this decline is due to the lack of capacity to process the applications at DTA. The data show that from January through April of this year, procedural issues led to 70% of application denials compared with just 50% in times of higher staffing. So I'll read the last two clauses of this resolution. While the federal government is focused on cutting programs that have served our residents well for decades, We know that Massachusetts can choose differently by investing in SNAP and DTA's workforce. Now, therefore be it resolved that the City of Somerville

that the Somerville City Council urges the Healy-Driscoll Administration and the Massachusetts General Court to prioritize ending a SNAP access crisis in Massachusetts that is preventing members of our community from tapping into this powerful resource. Somerville City Council requests the hiring of additional DTA caseworkers to ensure those eligible for SNAP are able to receive and maintain benefits. Thank you, and I want to After my colleague speaks, I wanted to sponsor a resident as well.

Thank you, Mr. President and thank you, Councilor Hardt for including me on this. I just want to just uplift the fact that when we talk about access to SNAP it's not simply a matter of whether The benefits exist. It is whether eligible families can reach the system and receive the support that they are entitled to. When we talk about thousands of residents, including children and families losing SNAP because of overwhelming phone lines under staffing and procedural barriers, the consequences are felt directly in households. Food Security and by local organization already stretched thin trying to fill the gaps. So at a time when further cuts You know, I'm making it harder for families to put food on the table.

Massachusetts in our state we must ensure that its own systems are accessible, responsive and adequately staffed. So I really hope that you know through this we just want to reaffirm that this city council urges the administration they held it really Administration, and the Massachusetts General Court to act with urgency by investing in DTA and hiring additional caseworkers so that eligible families and residents can access and maintain the SNAP benefits. So thank you for putting this forward, and I hear my time.

Scott would like to sign on. Any, Councilor Wheeler would like the sign on? Any further discussion? Councilor Hardt you said you had a speaker...Councillor Scherzer do you want to have a comment? I thought I saw your hand up no? Yes?

Hardt. I wanted to thank Councilor Hardt for putting this forward and Expand the conversation because poverty is often silent and so is hunger. Hunger is often and many people don't really know what's in our neighbors cupboards at home or refrigerators are at home, or not. And just some quick statistics with what's going on in SNAP and the new federal regulations and the complications Convoluted process aside from the staffing issues statewide but federally how complicated things have become where Undocumented residents are no longer eligible for SNAP.

And even victims of human trafficking were kicked off. The U.S. eligibility for receiving SNAP And with the work requirements that are now in place federally and how complicated that has become. First off, statistically most SNAP residents were already working They aren't being paid enough. They're not paid a living wage. Their time isn't valued and considered. to make a living wage as we've seen. So it makes it more complicated that that would be Seen with contempt to kick them off the ability to survive and their families to thrive.

where corporations like Walmart and McDonald's in the past have had helplines to get them to snap but not actually pay them living wages. and how unfair that is. and there's, I am genuinely concerned for Somerville residents. And colleagues you've heard me talking about this before it's happening in our backyards next door right around us and I really, I don't know if Mayor Wilson is still here. But if he is, I'm hoping that with the administration we can figure out some kind of creative solutions To really address and work hard to expand food accessibility in every way. I'm grateful that

Mayor Wilson, in his first month of office, worked with me and the CTE program to get that little free pantry, food pantry. outside of City Hall. If you haven't seen it and you've seen that colorful box right outside of the City Hall, the one is a mail-in ballot box and that's cool too. It's all colorful but We worked with the carpentry department and installed that box so you can contribute and bring free dry pantry goods and place it inside of that box right outside City Hall. Also, there's going to be a new community fridge that's about to be installed. I haven't heard of it yet, but the church on Central Ave., the Greek Orthodox Church Our Lady Greek Orthodox. Thank you! Thank you.

I said that, but it's anyway so on Central Ave is about to put forward a community fridge almost in fall so it's very soon in the making so that will leave us with four community fridges that are here, but we know that's not enough. We know that the volunteers and the food acquiring is constant and the increase is undeniable and we have to keep talking about it but we also have to keeping acting on it and pushing to end food poverty, and poverty itself of course. So I'm leaving those thoughts with us tonight and going forward and what we can do to change that. And looking for active, proactive, constant solutions. And bravely talking about it constantly too.

Thank you, Mr. President and through you I'd like to sign on to this I never know what you know Haley's my boss This is asking for more employees, whatever. I can give you some perspective not only from just growing up and On government cheese and going out of the welfare office, it's become much more high tech. And I speak from experience that I work for EHSIT. We support those workers in those offices at DTA. And i hear the amount of people that are in those and just how hard these DTA workers are working to get people their SNAP benefits. And I don't know if they're wrapped up in part of a freeze in state employees or not, but I certainly can imagine due to volume that they need much more help. And so, I'm happy to sign on to this and support my

Union Brothers and Sisters in the DTA offices to get more people, more support so that when people do miss a document and they get kicked off and their benefits get cut off they don't go hungry They have access to those benefits, so I thank my colleagues for bringing this forward and happy to sign on. Thank you.

Thank you so much to my colleagues for the support, and I'd like to sponsor Ray Santana to speak.

Councilor Hardt would like to

And just to note, Ray is going to also speak for another resident who couldn't come tonight. So I hope we can have a little grace in the time limit.

Thank you. Hi everybody. My name is Rae Santana. I'm the president of the Mystic Tenant Association, a resident-led organization serving 455 apartment homes in the Mystique View and Mystique River communities. I'm here to speak about the urgent need for more caseworkers at DTA office. The families I represent include low-income households, seniors, people with disabilities and residents facing language transportation and technology barriers They depend on DTA benefits to meet basic needs, especially as the cost of groceries and everyday necessities continues to rise. The DTA is understaffed. Paperwork submitted on time can remain unviewed. Calls go unanswered, cases are closed and essential benefits are interrupted because workers are carrying more cases than they can reasonably manage. I have personally experienced these problems.

I submitted documents before deadlines multiple times but because they were not reviewed in my portal, my benefits were shut off and then it took weeks and sometimes months to correct the issue. I have also waited on hold for hours only to have the call disconnect and be forced to start over. For a family living paycheck-to-paycheck, this is not a simple inconvenience. It can mean an empty refrigerator in weeks without food. Today, our community received food boxes and within 15 minutes every box was gone. Families who rely on these resources are left without food for weeks or more. Now I imagine that box was a family's only option because DTA had not processed these cases or wrongfully closed their benefits. Food pantries are doing everything they can, but they cannot replace a properly staffed public assistance system. Families should not lose access to food because paperwork is sitting unread and caseworkers should not be expected to manage multiple caseloads.

We need increased funding, more caseworkers, reasonable caseloads, multilingual assistance and reliable ways for residents to resolve urgent problems. I ask this council to work with our state delegation and demand immediate investment in DTA staffing. A delayed case is not just paperwork, it's a child's meal, a family stability, and a community member's dignity. That was me. So I'm gonna read a letter from Kathy, she happens to be a Mystic resident as well. I wrote my speech before I read hers so it kind of ties into each other. So she writes, I'm very grateful for my SNAP benefits but I have difficult time reaching DTA when I need assistance. For example, I have been out of work and at home for the past two months. Throughout that time, I've been trying to connect DTA. I begin calling around 745 or 750 every morning because I know the office opens at 8.

I hope that if I start early enough, someone might answer my call. I continue calling, but I'm still unable to reach anybody. The system says that all lines are busy. As a Massachusetts resident and mother of three children, I believe we should receive better service from programs so many people depend on. As a single mother, I am very busy managing my children's appointments and my own responsibilities. I cannot go to work, visit the hospital, take my children to their doctor's appointments, and go to the DTA office at the same time. I can not be in two places at once. That is why it is important for us to be able to reach DTA by phone. If I am at the hospital or somewhere else, I need to update my information, I should be able call and speak to someone. DTA tells us if we stop work and our hours decrease, we should report it because our income determines the amount of benefits we receive. We must also report when we begin working more hours However, when I'm working, I don't always have time to visit the DTA office in person to provide those updates.

I currently receive benefits but had no income for two months. My children are also out of school, which means we need more groceries and food at home. I have spent two months trying to inform DTA that I am no longer working. Submitting documents is another challenge. Documents must be uploaded using a phone, but I do not know how to do that. Technology is difficult for me so I have to ask other people to help me upload or fax my paperwork. As a Massachusetts resident, I would like DTA to make its services more accessible. It should be easier for residents to contact someone, report important changes and submit required documents. I hope these services can become easier to access for all Massachusetts families and everything she wrote basically supports what I've gone through personally as well. It's a horrible system that they have going. In the DTA office, workers do their best but something has to change for people to be able to get their benefits.

Thank you

Any further discussion? Councilor Strezo Okay, seeing no further discussion then that item is approved. And there was instruction for a copy to state delegation as stated in the item. Thank you. All right, very good. Thank you for that. Next item, Madam Clerk?

Next item is 4.4, a resolution by Councilor Mbah and Councilor Hardt in support of a fair and dignified resolution for an international graduate student at Tufts University.

Councilor Baht?

Thank you, Mr. President. It's a pretty detailed resolution but the main highlight is that an international graduate student at Tufts has experienced significant hardship Arising from a dispute concerning her academic standing and the circumstances surrounding the termination of her program. So this resolution is meant To address not only the circumstances that led to the student's departure from Tufts, but also the lasting academic and financial consequences she may continue to face. International students can be particularly vulnerable when academic disputes affect their educational records. Future opportunities and ability to navigate immigration and employment

We as a city have the responsibility to stand for academic integrity, due process and freedom from retaliation. Why recognizing that the goal of this resolution is not reinstatement, but a meaningful path forward. So we therefore call on the Tufts University to engage constructively with the students Her representatives review and correct any grades that were retaliatory or improperly altered, and provide appropriate compensation for the financial hardship she has experienced. And I really urge Tufts' leadership to resolve this matter fairly, transparently and with compassion so that this student can move forward with her education and career without unnecessarily and lasting consequences

and so that our community can have confidence that speaking up about unfair treatment will never come at the cost of a student's future. Again, I think... I just... It would be nice for us to read this resolution. You know, put it on the record and... Madam Clerk, would you mind reading the resolution please?

I do not mind. Whereas the City of Somerville recognizes the important contributions that international students, scholars, researchers and workers make to our community, our institutions of higher education, and our Commonwealth. and whereas Tufts University is an important educational and economic institution in the city of Somerville, it has a responsibility to uphold principles of fairness, academic integrity Do process and respect for all members of its community. And whereas an international graduate student at Tufts University has experienced significant hardship arising from a dispute concerning her academic standing, and the circumstances surrounding the termination of her program and whereas the Medford City Council previously adopted a resolution expressing concern about the treatment of this student and calling upon Tufts University to address the circumstances surrounding her case,

and whereas since the adoption of the resolution circumstances have changed and the appropriate path forward is not to seek the student's reinstatement at Tufts University but rather to ensure that the student has the best possible opportunity to move forward with her education and career and whereas allegations have been raised that grades were changed in retaliation for the student's exercise of her rights and advocacy concerning her treatment, and that these changes have the potential to cause continuing insignificant harm to her academic and Professional Future. And whereas the preservation of retaliatory or otherwise improperly altered grades on a student's academic transcript can create lasting barriers to further education, employment, professional advancement and immigration related opportunities. And where a student has also experienced significant financial hardship as a result of the circumstances surrounding her case, making appropriate financial compensation an important component of a meaningful resolution and whereas a fair resolution should seek not only to address past harm

but also to give the affected student the best possible chance to continue her education and career with dignity free from unnecessary and continuing consequences arising from the dispute. and whereas Somerville believes that institutions of higher education must be accountable for ensuring that students are treated fairly, and the academic records are maintained with integrity and without retaliation. Now therefore be it resolved that the Somerville City Council urges Tufts University to work toward a fair and comprehensive resolution of this matter that will allow the affected international graduate student to move forward with her education and career with dignity, and be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council calls upon Tufts University to review and, where appropriate, remove or correct from the student's academic transcript any grades that were changed as a form of retaliation or otherwise improperly altered in connection with this dispute and be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council urges Tufts University

to provide appropriate financial compensation for the significant financial hardship and losses the student has experienced as a result of the circumstances surrounding this matter. and be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council encourages Tufts University to engage in constructive process with the affected student and her representatives to reach a resolution that addresses both the academic and financial consequences of this matter, and be it further resolved that the city clerk is directed to transmit a copy of this resolution to the president of Tufts University The Tufts University Board of Trustees and other appropriate university officials, and be it further resolved that the Somerville City Council reaffirms its commitment to protecting the rights and dignity of international students and to ensuring that students who raise legitimate concerns about their treatment do not face retaliation or lasting academic and professional consequences for doing so.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk, could you read item 10.2 as well?

Mr. President?

I'd like to read 10.1 of the record.

Item 10.2, Rocco DiRico submitting comments regarding item 26-1302 in support of a fair and dignified resolution for an international graduate student at Tufts University

I just want to note that that item came in. This is Rock Puerto Rico's community liaison with Tufts. On behalf of Tufts University, a comment related to this item. So I just wanted to call attention to that. We're not going to read it, but that item can be placed on file 10.2. Any further discussion? Councillor Hartley, do you want to speak to this?

Yes. Mr. President, I'm glad you mentioned that because he sent me those stuff so I'm The Vice President of Government and Community Relations sent me the same stuff. So it's online, it's attached to the minutes.

It is a separate item on this agenda. It can be found under Item 10.2 because it came in after the primary agenda was...

So I'll pass it on to my colleague and then... Hunt, we have one speaker for the item.

Thank you, Councilor Mabon. I want to appreciate Councilor Raval's leadership on this and just to say briefly right now the position of international students and students in higher education is so precarious for so many reasons and I really appreciate Our community supporting students and international students especially, and the importance of having a union as well. So I'm grateful that... I could also sign on to support this effort. And I do want to appreciate Mr. Dorico's statement, which said the Director of Labor Relations will be checking in with the union. So I appreciate that action from Tufts. Thank you.

All right, Councilor Ewen-Campen would like to sign on. Councilor Wheeler, you haven't spoken on the item. Councilors Scott and Clingan would like

Thank you Mr. President, thank you to my colleagues for putting this item forward one thing I just want to be clear on is that this resolution does not presume that we know all the details about what happened in this case What it does do is articulate the principles that are at stake here and it calls on Tufts to engage in good faith towards a fair and comprehensive resolution of this matter. And as my colleagues have said, in an environment where our federal government treats shifts in academic status as grounds for street-level abduction, our government and educational institutions must be absolutely sure academic status is being handled fairly and thoroughly. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Mbah?

Thank you, Mr. President. At this point I would like to sponsor Chris Molinari to the podium.

Councilor Mbah, I'd like to Sponsor Chris Molinary. Seeing no objection please step forward and introduce yourself for the record.

All right. Testing, testing. Hello. Never done this before. Thank you, Mr. President, to the members of this council and to members of the Somerville community. Thank My name is Christopher Molinari. I'm a proud member of the Somerville community and a steward for the Tufts University Graduate Workers Union and SEIU Local 509. Somerville is a community of workers and scholars from across the world. My own grandparents were immigrants here from Sicily in the 1960s. That's why I am personally appalled by Tufts University's hostility towards an international member of our community, in the face of evident mistreatment. We first learned of her mistreatment when her summer job at Tufts was suddenly rescinded just a few days before it was supposed to start. As an international student, any threats to her continued employment and enrollment at Tufta could directly threaten her future in this country. It turns out that these issues had gone far beyond the summer appointment In violation of our union contract and rights as graduate workers, her advisor forced her to perform off the books unpaid teaching assistant work during the spring semester for a class he himself teaches.

This was on top of her documented responsibilities as a research assistant, her academic course requirements and her dissertation work. This time commitment aggregated to nearly double what our contract limits and despite her attempts to keep up grading late into the night, proctoring exams, holding office hours and providing continual updates on her work it was never enough. She was constantly belittled sometimes publicly in front of coworkers and made to feel she was not working hard enough that changed unemployment we believe was direct retaliation for concerns over this unpaid work being raised. It was during this time that we had noticed that this person's grades dating back to last fall were retroactively changed to show unsatisfactory research performance when no such grade existed before in violation of Tufts' own grading policy, To make a very long story short, we grieved 11 separate contract violations with the university all of which were denied despite us providing appropriate documentation of these offenses.

Graduate School of Engineering Dean Karen Panetta then sent the worker a letter the day after receiving the grievance response saying that she was being administratively withdrawn from the university using the retroactively edited grades as justification. As of now, Tufts has largely succeeded in evicting this worker from their job and their program of study. When some of my colleagues commented on a similar resolution from the Medford City Council we argued that this worker should be reinstated and given their job back However, given the incredibly hostile atmosphere towards her from her advisor up to Tufts administrators themselves as well as changes to visa rules at the federal level she has decided that the best path forward is to continue her studies at a different university. This will be impossible if these retaliatory grades stay on her record. I implore you to vote in favor of this resolution. A vote in favour is not only a vote for some semblance of justice and a future orphanless country, for a beloved member of our community but also a statement to Tufts that we do not appreciate neighbors who so brazenly trample upon the values our community believes in. I and the graduate workers of Tufts University thank you.

Thank you. Any further discussion? Alright, seeing none, that item is approved. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Next item is 4.5, a resolution by Councilors Mbah, Strezo, Ewen-Campen, Link, Wheeler, Hartt and Davis in support of security officers in Greater Boston and airport service workers at Logan International Airport.

Thank you, Mr. President. This is about the workers who keep the greater Boston offices, laboratories, universities and local international airports safe, clean and functioning. deserve access to quality, affordable health care. Many of these workers disproportionately are people of color and immigrants and they are being asked to provide essential services while struggling to afford the health care they need. Even as the industries they support generate enormous, enormous economic wealth Some of it believe that a strong regional economy must work for the people who make that economy possible. And that employers and major institutions have a responsibility to ensure that contracting

does not become a pathway to lower wages, weaker benefits or diminished dignity at work. This is what we are seeing here so we therefore stand in solidarity with these workers and urge The greater Boston property owners, security clients, the contractors, Marsport Airlines and airport service contractors to bargain fairly. I always use the word fairly. I always read this word like it's not, this is just a fair request in good faith to provide quality affordable employer paid healthcare so we call On our regional economic leaders to recognize that prosperity should be shared by the workers will make it possible and to take concrete action to ensure that no worker is forced to choose Between putting food on the table and getting the health care that they need.

This is ridiculous. And so before I, you know, I will pass it onto my colleague, you and then I would like to sponsor Stanley Wharton to speak to this resolution.

Councillor Strezo, do you want to speak on the item?

Sure, happy to co-sponsor this. I want to raise some and why this is important that we are talking about this and that I'm really imploring everyone to stand in support and solidarity and also to spread the word how important it is according to 32BJSEIU for security officers, 15% full-time security officers and 30% of local airport workers surveyed report being uninsured. 16% of security officers report taking on medical debt in the last five years and 19% of airport workers report skipping meals or cutting back on groceries. So with that, I want to lift up and have our speaker lift up this conversation.

Get some action on this. And have our sponsored speakers speak.

Any other discussion before we hear from the speaker? That's fine. So Councilor Mbah would like to speak. Your name, sir? My name is Stanley Washington III. Councilor, I would like to speak, I'd like to sponsor Stanley Washington. Any objection? Seeing none. All right. State your name again for the record and go right ahead.

My name is Stanley Watson III. So good evening, counselors. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. My name and I'm here today not only for speak from myself but But for my fellow security guards and airport workers who are facing the same struggle, the fight to have affordable quality health care. First of all, I want to thank the Somerville City Council for standing with security guards and airport workers who are fighting for health care. Your support means everything because behind every uniform is a person A family in a community that deserves to be healthy and treated with dignity. For security guards like myself, healthcare is not a luxury. It is a necessity. We work long hours protecting buildings, historical landmarks supporting communities and making sure other people can go to work safely.

But when our own healthcare is uncertain and incredibly unaffordable, it becomes harder to take care of ourselves and our families. This isn't just a security guard issue. Airport workers are experiencing many of the same challenges. They're working hard to keep our airports running Yet they too are being forced to fight for something as basic as access to quality healthcare. Right now, bargaining is dragging on with very little progress. Every day that negotiations stall is another day that workers are left wondering what their future health care looks like. That's why we need your continued support. We're not asking for special treatment, we're asking for a fair strong contract Affordable health care and the dignity that every worker deserves.

Counselors, we hope you continue to stand with us by reminding employers that the people who protect our communities and keep our airports safe deserve to be protected as well. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight and thank you for standing with working people. Thank you so much

Clingan would like to sign on. Councilor Link, do you want to speak together? Go right ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say that... So I sat in a meeting with this union and I heard all these stories, these really, really powerful stories Stories about people who are skipping doses of their medications so that they can still pay their rent. When I think about these things, we were talking about the SNAP benefits earlier. Corporate welfare that we've been subsidizing and just kind of begging for more. It's really, it's just so incredibly frustrating to hear these stories again and again and I really, really hope that It's a whole diaspora of different... Thank you.

Yeah, it's incredibly frustrating to hear and I hope at the very least these companies that are in and around Somerville will listen to us.

Brown, back to you.

Yes, thank you Mr. President. I think since we didn't have to belabor the entire resolution, we just I need the city clerk to send the appropriate copies to the folks that deserve to get that.

As indicated in the item, right? Exactly. Very good. Alright, that item is approved. Next item please.

Next item is 4.6 resolution by Councilors Mbah, Strezo, Ewen-Campen, Link, Wheeler, Hardt and Davis in support of Service Employees International Union 32BJ facility workers at Tufts University

Abbott. Thank you Mr. President, thank you my alma mater I'm sure Councilor McLaughlin too 32BJ you know this is Facility workers at Tufts University, you know and they are essential workers of our community whose daily work keeps the university again clean safe welcoming and functioning As custodians, grounds workers, desk associates and skilled trade people, these workers contribute directly to the success of one of Somerville's largest institutions. and deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and fairness. Just as simple as that. And so their current negotiations are about modern wages

They are about family, sustaining compensation, affordable healthcare, strong benefits and protections that allow every worker including immigrant workers to feel secure in the workplace. As a major employer, Anchor Institution in Somerville has both an economic responsibility and opportunity to demonstrate what good labor relations look like. So we therefore call on Tufts University again to bargain in good faith and reach a fair and timely agreement with SEIU 32BJ that recognizes the essential contributions of these workers and provide the wages, healthcare and benefits and workplace protection they and their families deserve.

We as the City Council stand with the workers who help our institutions thrive and urge staff to lead by an example. At this point, I would kick it back to my colleague before we sponsor James Good to speak to the resolution. Councilor Strezo?

Thank you, Mr. President. So some thoughts on this. That a letter by the union was sent to Tufts and in the current proposal that Tuft's is proposing is not sufficient. including that last time I checked and I'm sure you'll update us if anything has changed but I think it's the same with the information I have that Tufts is proposing that the following Unsettling highlights be included in the new contract. A mere 64 cents by average salary increase in the New Contract and Tufts has rejected a request to reduce the monthly health care premiums for members and Tufts is proposing eliminating the commuting pay when members are called into work. Has anyone looked at the gas prices lately?

Anyway... It doesn't seem like it's there, and this council stands with you. And with that I'd love to sponsor the speaker alongside my colleague.

Strezo would like to sponsor James Good. Any objections? Seeing none, please introduce yourself for the record and go ahead.

My name is James Good Good evening, my name is James Goode. For six years I've been working for facilities as a groundskeeper at Tufts University on the Medford-Somerville campus. I am also a proud member of SEIU 32BJ which encompasses facilities employees across all three of the campuses. I'm here this evening to ask on behalf of our union The Council's official support for a resolution for a fair contract from Tufts University. Our labor negotiations began in April and the bargaining units have met around six or seven times. To this point, we are still negotiating with very little movement from the university on many issues. Two of which we maintain as our most important.

Annual wage increases, which to most recently the university has conceded only to come up 2% per year, which is not only well below the goals for the union that we established before this process but is below Cost of living increases in the area. Additionally, health insurance costs have been big for us. Tufts covers significantly less. Then other universities in the area, which is the standard, which results in more costs put on to the employee. We've simply asked for something a bit more comparable to the other universities Our previous contract expired on July 1st, meaning we have been operating without a contract for just under two months now. This is understandably very uncomfortable for a lot of people that I work with

Being a facilities member for Tufts labels us as essential employees. That label comes with expectations to always be available to the university, which often results in sacrifices in our personal lives. However, we understand the role that we have and the importance of our work. It's thankless work that we provide but we do it proudly. We do view the labor contracts from the university as their way of acknowledging and thanking us for this work So needless to say, this process has been very frustrating for us all as it comes across as the university refusing to truly acknowledge the service and the results that we provide for them on a daily basis. So that is why I'm here before you today, humbly asking for your support and a resolution to this contract. because throughout this process we have found that any support that we gain no matter how small goes a very, very long way.

And so with that on behalf of all of my union members I'm representing today I'd like to thank you for this platform your time and your potential support Thank you.

Thank you Councilor Clingan would like to sign on any discussion? Councilor McLaughlin, go ahead

Thank you Mr. President I'll just speak on all three of them because i feel like every item applied to me directly in one form or another at one point my mother was a janitor at MIT My brother was a security guard at Harvard represented by 32BJ. I went to Tufts University, was a groundskeeper and a custodian of two different points. and at the opposite end of all of these are the most powerful institutions in the region who have plenty of money to take care of the working people who do all the work around here in this community. So I just want to sign on to all three items and offer my support. And thank you all for representing people like myself. Very good, thank you.

Any further discussion? Alright seeing none that item is approved. And that will take us to 4.12. Item 4.

12 by Councilor Ewen-Campen and Councilor Clingan in support of retaining Route 80 service through Somerville. Councilor

Thank you, Mr. President. The MBTA is undertaking a large-scale improvement project for the entire bus network called the Better Bus Network Project and overall this project is incredibly important Really a great project. It's been very effective. The MBTA claims it has already contributed to a significant increase in 20% ridership over the past year, But as part of the improvements that the MBTA is making to the system overall, they are also cutting or reducing removing service elsewhere. One of the changes that has effectively already been approved is a cut to a really important bus route in Somerville, which is the 80. For folks who aren't familiar, this is a bus if you get on it at Lechmere. It runs down the McGrath Highway turn right onto Cross Street left onto Pearl goes through Gilman Square continues up Medford And the argument that the MBTA has made is that this line is redundant because of the GLX.

That's when they made the decision, when the GLx was still in the future. So several community groups, including the Mayor's Pedestrian and Transit Advocacy Committee, the Gilman Square Neighborhood Council have made really, really strong arguments that this section of the 80 bus is really not redundant with the GLX. I could go through some of these reasons. The resolution does so, but I'd prefer to sponsor Alessandra Siter who is here with us virtually to speak to the council on why this route remains so important and just before we do that I want to make this really clear The T is asking for public comment on several changes including this one. The public comment period is open until September 8th, that's a week from this coming Tuesday So for folks who are learning about this now or who have been following this, I really encourage you to make yourself heard. If you Google Better Bus Network public feedback, you'll find links to a survey or email or a place to send mail. And with that, I'd like to sponsor Alessandro Seiter.

Councilor Ewen-Campen, we'd like to sponsor Alessandra Seiter. Any objection? I'm seeing none. We have her virtually. One moment. Can we get the volume a little higher in the room? Try again. We're getting there. There we go, that sounds good, thank you.

I am excited to speak on the 80th night and I want to highlight a few reasons why such a day is so important to Somerville. Thanks especially to... First social housing with permanent affordability.

And yet, our city may not be able to benefit from the age of online.

Thank you. Councilor Wheeler would like to sign on, Councilor Klinger would like

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll also sign on and note that I was riding my bike here today going down Cross Street and the 80 bus was coming right towards me, not anywhere near a Green Line station. Cross Street, Pearl Street, a lot of these areas. You could be standing in front of the entrance to the Green Line Station in East Somerville and not be near the train because you got to walk about six minutes down this long path just to get there so Not accessible area at all. And I don't want to see this bus leave, I don' t wanna see any buses leave. What's frustrating to me with the fact that The MBTA is stating that we're losing these bus lines because of the Green Line, which is something we invested in personally. $50 million, City of Somerville. contributed to decades of work, lawsuits to get the Green Line where it is. And now because of that we're going to lose bus lines and that makes no sense to me especially considering

We have invested in bus lanes all over this city including McGrath Highway, including Broadway, including all these areas. And we've built up new bus stops as well where some of those stops don't even have buses coming to them anymore. So this is just frustrating to me as someone who has this bus cut directly through my neighborhood. To see this happen when we should be getting more buses in this community, I would like Any bus lane in the city should have no more than a 10 minute wait and that would be good for us but it'd be good to show people how we can actually Have a real transit-oriented city. And instead of taking away buses, we should be adding more. So I support this resolution. I'll be submitting my comments to the MBTA and encourage everyone else to do the same.

Thank you Mr. President, through you happy to co-sponsor this thanks my colleague for doing most of the heavy lifting and thank you for the community members who are speaking up this evening you know most you know I grew up in Somerville so and I lived in all different parts growing up The 80 bus has been a bus that I've taken probably hundreds of times growing up throughout my life in Somerville. I agree with some of the sentiments that have been mentioned here. The resolution put it perfectly, we don't have an accessible station on top of that we you know a lot of times the green line isn't even super reliable I mean we shouldn't be cutting out any modes of transportation especially ones that go by our some of our most vulnerable population buildings like was mentioned 240 Pearl which is in my ward So, yeah, I urge everybody to – I know that META every now and then floats these things. They kind of test it.

They've done this with the 95 at least twice on Mystic Ave., and residents of the Mystics came out in force. and put a stop to that. And I know they've tried this with the 80 before, and hopefully we can get them to cover their senses and keep this important vital route in our community. So thank you to my co-sponsor and my colleagues and the speakers. Thank you. Councilor Bott?

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank my colleague for leading the charge on this. Besides this person who spoke online as my boss, just for the record. So any reduction or elimination of Route 80 service could disproportionately affect residents who have the fewest transportation alternatives and also undermine Our broader goals for equitable and sustainable mobility. So, I just want to underscore that we need to continue to advocate for a transit system that connects neighborhoods and ensures no resident is left behind because They cannot afford or access a car. So thank you. Thank you, Corey.

Thank You. Any further discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved.

Mr. President, quick question. Item 7.4 the fire department salary contingency appropriation Is that one we are taking out of order?

It is now second on the list. Great, just want to double check, thank you.

Item 9.28, Ann Ryan submitting comments regarding 90 Washington Street.

McLaughlin on this item.

I would like to sponsor Ann Ryan to speak about 90 Washington Street. Councilor McLaughin would like

My name is Ann Ryan. In 2007, having lived in my car for eight and three quarters years, I became a project-based Section 8 tenant at Cobble Hill. I also became a Somerville resident. And I asked to speak to you, the city council about Cobble Hill, the largest open green space in East Somervill because I am terrified by the current plans to develop 90 Washington Street and I'm also worried about the dynamics of municipal real estate governance. My understanding of the current status is that Somerville Redevelopment Authority has approved and is forwarding a single developer's plan to place housing in commercial space

that will pay back the developer's investment over time and relieve immediately Somerville's $29 million legal debt. I may have the number wrong. is my understanding that during the search for developers, the Citizens Advisory Committee was told by the SRA that expressed interest in preserving the green space was not realistic and had to be revised. It is also my understanding that attention is being given to zoning, to protect the current green space. That much needed zoning is not yet articulated nor do we know how it would be administered.

The worst case scenario is the residents of Cobble Hill will lose not only the sound and 10 degree summer temperature protection, that's provided by the surrounding berms and trees, but also the internal green space because our landlord Corcoran Jenison has to replace 37 parking spaces and increase wheelchair access parking spaces. The extent of the disruption to Cobble Hill residents' lives is not well understood, We live with our own language barriers. Conversations using cell phone translation apps are not in general use The municipal attention given to the arts community is enviable, and the cultural trust strategy is inspiring.

MAPC's support is crucial to the success. I'm equally inspired that the Somerville Urban Forestry Committee has twice published statements about the value of Commodore Hill's trees and berm. Could the elderly living in a beautiful park receive Somerville's serious environmental programmatic attention? Historically, elder services are supervised by the mayor's office. That's the Council on Aging and the Commonwealth takes care of some of Cambridge elder services. We at Cobble Hill are quite isolated. It is my understanding that in the relocation of police and fire services in Union Square, Somerville Fire Department does not yet have a new site.

The Fire Department is our most frequent, relied on and trusted public service. The current control over Cobble Hills Green Space is defined by a project Designed with the economic aim of real estate return on investment. And it overbuilds housing on a very limited space. As designed, it destroys the quality of life for residents at Cobble Hill and it maims the over 40-year environmental cohesion the park now achieves. East Somerville has endemic soil pollution. Cobble Hill is an opportunity to start lasting soil remediation programs.

Sustainaville should not need to NIMBY its soil. Somerville agency interactions are very time demanding, If there is a concerted effort to sustain Cobble Hills Park in the city's ecosystem, I would be grateful to join that effort. Thank you.

Thank you. Any discussion? All right, thank you, Ms. Ryan. That item will be placed on file. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Next item is 7.4 mayor's request requesting the appropriation of $937,409 from the salary contingency account to various fire department personal services accounts to fund a collective bargaining agreement with the Firefighters Association of Somerville Local 76 Union.

Mr. President, very happy to be here talking about this one. We have a contract with Local 76 And this is a very good thing. I want to credit Steve Tolman, senior labor advisor Steve came in. This was the first negotiation that Steve worked on from beginning to end, and we also need to really credit our city's labor council, Matt Sirigu When I talk to our public sector unions, They, to a person, pretty much talk about how amazing Matt Sirigu is to work with. Matt has an ability to... He's a total professional He can negotiate while never seeming to disrespect the other side. I think that's really important when we're sitting down on opposite sides of the table.

But yeah, Local 76 came to us back in February? and we said let's get down to it and it was a relatively short negotiation. I want to thank Local 76 for being really good negotiating partners here. I feel really, really good about this contract. They're going to talk here soon, I think. But we'll let them talk about how they feel about the contract. But I want to give Steve Tolman credit if it pleases the President. I'd like to have Steve say a few words.

Seeing no objection, I'm happy to recognize Mr. Tolman.

Thank you. First, I commend all of you for your good work here tonight and all the things that you're supporting. But to the mayor's leadership, this contract, he wanted it done. He wanted it on time. He values the firefighters. What firefighters do for us. They certainly are the safeguard of our cities and so what The mayor said about Matt Sirigu, you guys should know you have a gem. I've worked with Labor my whole life and I just think he's terrific. He would have been here tonight. He's on vacation so don't let him know We don't want him to get a big head or anything, but literally I say I've never worked with a guy as competent and considerate. The way he treats people, the way he negotiates. He's fair-minded and you're very fortunate. Our city is very fortunate to have a lawyer who is representing us across the table and so it's an honor for me

To be on the other side of the table, I can tell you that. And I just want to say it worked The firefighters, you know, not everybody was fully happy when it was done and that's a sign of a good contract. So Mayor, thank you for the kind words but it's your leadership that said let's get this done and let's And the most important thing is, it's only the first one. The mayor's striving to get all our contracts. You're doing it and you're telling cities and towns in different issues that they want to get things done on time and they wanna be appropriate That's our mayor and that's what he wants for our city, so I'm honored to be part of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike Jefferson, President of Somerville Firefighters Local 76. I just want to thank the mayor. I want to thanks Steve. Obviously if Matt was here we would thank him too. Everything he just heard is true. We came to the Mayor in the end of January. We had several requests before the bargain even started Those requests were honored, so right off the bat we started on the right foot. This is my seventh bargaining team that I've been on. I've done this job for 18 years, bargained for two units, suppression and fire alarm. We shook hands before July 1st, before this expired. Because of the summer break, we had to ratify a certain process to go through. That's why we're just bringing it to you guys tonight. Otherwise, this was... September through May, we would have been here sooner. I have never seen something move this fast in 18 years. I've never worked with people across the table that were respectful, open-minded Every time we left, we had two more meetings scheduled. That is unheard of. So three administrations, seven teams.

It has never worked like this before. I am very happy with the results that we got in the contract. It ratified overwhelmingly and this is what bargaining in good faith is supposed to look like, and I'm excited going forward for all the other unions. We're gonna get a fire alarm for our other unit and hopefully we do the same thing with them and I just wanna again thank the mayor's team. I hope you guys vote to fund this. You're always allies to us, so I'm confident, completely optimistic. But until it's done, I'm going to sit back and wait. Thank you all for giving me the time.

I do see Budget Director Mastroboni in the back of the room in case there are some questions about the numbers. Councilor Wheeler?

Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to see this immediately approved tonight so I move to approve this item.

Wheeler moves to approve. Any discussion on the motion? Councilor Scott.

Yes, Mr. President, on the motion I just want to congratulate the mayor's team and of course the union We've approved a lot of these And there's a distinctive difference between somebody saying thank you The process is concluded, and somebody who was really actually pleased with the process. So this is all credit to the new administration taking a different approach to labor negotiations apparently so thank you I'm looking forward to voting for it Further discussion?

All right, seeing none. Do we need a roll call on that one? We do not. All right. Seeing no objection then that item is approved. I'm sorry, I misspoke Mr. President, we do need to Oh let's take a roll call anyways just for fun Yeah And also because apparently we need to Roll call on the motion.

This is a roll call to approve item 7.4, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Councilor Link. Scott, Clingan, Schuzzo, Sait, Wheeler, Hardt, McLaughlin, Mbah, Davis. with 10 members in affirmative, that motion passes.

All right very good thank you now it's official all right next item madam clerk yes next item is 7.26

All righty, that is mayor's request requesting confirmation of appointment of Michael Avery to the Elections Commission.

All right, the administration has asked that we consider this one this evening for approval. I think if given the election calendar it was pretty clear to me why that might be and that was confirmed that there's some need to get this member into office ASAP. We have Commissioner Salerno here if there's any questions. Commissioner Salarno, did you want to say anything on the item before we go to any questions?

I'd like to say good evening to everyone, and it's very interesting what happened here. And this fellow before me is a tough act to follow. But anyway, my name is Nick Salerno, Chairman of the Board of Election Commissioners. And we have been like one commissioner for several months and we are facing a very serious election next Tuesday The mayor came with a personal recommendation that he had to replace the previous person who was deceased. I happen to have known him for several years. He's a high-ranking officer in the firing department, a veteran and a man about town and I think that we would be very fortunate to have him. He can be very helpful to me, to my staff, to the other commissioners because he has worked with so many departments here in the city

I know he'll be a tremendous asset to us during the election season. He moves pretty quickly for a fellow who spent a lot of years in the fire department, so It's vital to us that we have a fourth commissioner in place. We need the help and I want to thank the mayor for making such a fine recommendation as Michael Avery. And having said that, if you'd like I'd like to through the chair have Mr. Avery come up and answer any questions you may have for him

Absolutely, very well. At my request the clerk did send a note to the council earlier this week just noting that this would be their request so that folks would have a chance to take a look at their requests and come up with any questions. So Mr. Aby thank you for being here. Councilor Clingan?

Mr. President, don't we have like three members here that need to recuse themselves from this?

Sorry?

No.

Interesting question. We'll leave that up to the law department. Any questions?

Is it you? It's no question. I think it's pretty clear to colleagues traditionally this would have been referred to committee, but we've had the circumstances surrounding this so I move to approve.

Councilor Mbah moves to approve Any discussion? All right, seeing none that item is approved. Congratulations and thank you for being willing to help.

Thank you all very much.

All right Madam Clerk next item

Next item is 7.29 mayor's request requesting approval of the technology specific surveillance use policy for body worn cameras.

We get to take that up together with 7.3 please

Yes, next item is 7.30, requesting approval of the surveillance technology impact report for body-worn cameras.

All right, so just a quick bit of background for folks who are regular viewers. There was a special meeting called by the mayor over the summer in order to Put previous versions of these two documents before the council. During that meeting, there was discussion about... There still needed to be some improvements made. I raised many of those myself. But ultimately it was the council voted to approve those two items so that the process could move forward. Speaking for myself, the issues I had were not substantive so much as drafting and clarification Sort of easier to serve the transparency purpose that these documents are intended to serve. I've had conversations with Manager Hellman and with Attorney Sirigu, and these changes reflect those discussions. They are before us. My thought is that just because

You know, putting time into this over the last few weeks. Maybe not everyone had a chance to do that so they are here before us there is no We have a particular time sensitivity to pass these changes, so it will be my suggestion to the council ultimately and we'll hear from Manager Hillman to talk through what the changes are. We do have a public hearing scheduled on legislative matters on this, which was the public hearing that was requested by the community according to the Charter. So it is my thought Send these to committees so they can follow that. And if we hear some good ideas to make additional improvements that we're able to make, then what reason not to do that? So that's sort of the background. Manager Hamlin, do you want to walk us through or give us a sense for what we're looking at here versus what was voted on over the summer?

Yes, thank you, Mr. President, through you. Reminder, I'm John Hillman on the Public Safety Rural Project Manager here in the city. As, you know, Councilor Davis gave some of the background on this but we're just resubmitting for your consideration both Teesup, and The Stir this evening. It was our administration's commitment to collaborate with the council on fixes and revisions so these documents were approved last month Based on the feedback from the council, we have in addition to some format and technical revisions included a few points of clarification and details I would just quickly highlight. These include a commitment to a good faith effort to prioritize any public records request from a civilian subject of body-worn camera footage. We have a thorough acknowledgement of the risks of this technology and the clear need for rigorous oversight included in the STR. Some stronger language emphasizing footage access for post, the Post Commission and as well as any future local oversight body that contains rules and regulations that grant access to footage.

As well as a clear declaration in the event of a conflict between the TSUP Police's body-worn camera policy, the TSAP would prevail subject to the city fulfilling its specific collective bargaining obligations. So we've included some redline attachments in this for you all to review along with the updated documents. And so with the phased implementation of this program upcoming, we look forward to the council reviewing these updated documents Thank you

Very good, thank you very much. Any questions or discussions now? As I said my thought is to send these to committees so we have a chance to digest them in due course and also hear from other members of the public if there's additional input but Any questions at the moment? All right, seeing none then let's refer both of these items to legislative matters. Thank you and then I'm going to ask if you want to take a break but since it was raised here let's go back to the regular order of business and start with item 4.1 because it relates to what was just mentioned. Was it on these past two items, Councilor Link? Okay, let's go to 4.1 and then, yeah. Sorry, Mr. President.

If it's possible, can we just take one more item out of order? 4.10, I apologize.

All right, let' s go to four dot 1 and then we'll go to

4.1 order by Councilor Davis in his capacity as president that this council schedule a public hearing regarding the establishment of an entity to provide civilian oversight of the police department

Okay, thank you. Manager Hellman mentioned some of the provisions in the body one camera documents that were revised to sort of better... Anticipate, a potential oversight commission. That was a A subject that was brought up in the deliberation of the body one camera process and I noted, and we heard from the administration their commitment to move forward with that. Here we are. A couple discussions with members of the administration on a timing for process. No substantive, I haven't had any substantive discussions as yet but This is the first step. This is essentially calling for a to-be scheduled public hearing on civilian oversight. I anticipate over Two or three meetings. We'll have various steps with hearing from the administration on where they are on the process of

Coming up with a proposal, the first of which will be receiving input from the council. We will then hear sort of the... The first draft or sort of get our first Formation of that proposal at a subsequent meeting, and then give both council and the public time to digest that as well. And then after that have a public hearing After which the matter will be in legislative matters where we will then move forward with drafting an ordinance. As members of the council are aware, and for Brad last year as a member of the public to beware this, a number if not a majority of these issues There are significant issues relating to civilian oversight that are required to be bargained with the union.

My intent is to put the horse out in front for the cart this time, and so that's why we've sort of designed this schedule. There will be some discussions that will have to happen in executive session, so you'll see But that's sort of the loose framework of the schedule and the plan. We will all hear more detail as we go forward. And, of course, counselors are welcome to individually reach out to the administration if they have input or thoughts or want to kind of get a preview. That's sort of the plan. So, the reason I submitted this and I'll note with a wry smirk that I submitted this public hearing because, as I noted during the summer, I don't think that's something the mayor can do is schedule a public hearing with city council. So I'm doing it this time because that's the way we want to work going forward. Any questions on that just initially? I wanted you all to hear and the public to hear kind of the initial thoughts on a schedule and plan for this. And I'll note, like... I'm thrilled, right?

This was one of the big concerns and I know I relied on the mayor's commitment in making that body-on-camera vote. And so here we are and we're moving forward. So I'm happy about that and I look forward to working with everyone to get that process moving.

Thank you Mr. President and I just wanted to echo your comments that I very much relied on the Mayor's commitment there and I appreciate you putting this forward at this very first meeting because I'm also excited to see this move forward and hopefully we can move it along very, very swiftly

All right, so this item will be referred to legislative matters.

Sorry, Mr. President, I had one... Councilor Wheeler, go ahead. Just in the spirit of clarity and understanding... You mentioned there being likely some executive sessions coming up. In the spirit of explaining that, am I right in understanding those executive sessions, which are just private council sessions? The reason why we'll have those about such an important public matter is because there is an element here which will have to be worked out with the two police bargaining units in their collective bargaining agreements. to somehow accommodate the existence and role of any civilian oversight board?

Yes, that is correct. Those negotiations are... My understanding is that those negotiations or those discussions are in their early stages, which is good. That's where we should be as I said sort of putting the horse out front of the cart I had a discussion with the mayor last week or earlier this week and he emphasized his Desire to make sure that those executive sessions discussions are really narrow and limited to the topics that need to be had in an executive session. And it's our intent to then have immediately following A public discussion in open session so we can ask other questions that aren't specific to those collective bargaining items. So unlike the way the executive sessions went with Body 1 cameras where those were the only discussions we have, It's my intent and the mayor's intent, and we've agreed that we will have effectively probably two items on an agenda.

One will be the executive session, then we'll immediately be able to continue the discussion in open session for everything that can be discussed. as transparent as possible. Okay? Alright. Stay tuned on that. All right, Madam Clerk, can we take item 4.10 please?

Yes. 4.

10 a resolution by Councilor- Just to be clear I said it earlier but that just so that one will be referred to legislative matters. Thank you.

Mr. President can we have a ten minute break

We're going to take 4.10 out of order and then we'll have a break after that.

And then can we go right in? Thank you. Absolutely.

I'm quick.

Next item is 4.1, a resolution by Councilor Link and Councilor Mbah that Director of Planning work for this council to increase accessible housing.

That's our link. Thank you, Mr. President. The city has a dearth of accessible housing, and we know that we need to do more. And to be clear this resolution is not going to be enough. But, my hope is that it's a start. It's a hopeful start to the city putting in some more effort. Thank you. One of our great residents, Crystal Huff. And it's asking the city to just create incentives for more accessible housing

from private developers to make sure that we are just, that we're adding and always adding. And yeah, that's all.

Bonner, do you want to speak on the item? Go ahead.

Sure. Thank you, Councilor Link for your generosity to include me to this. You know I think accessible housing is essential that is just to ensure that people with disability, older adults and residents with mobility or other accessibility needs can live safely Independently and with dignity in our city. So as our community continues to grow, and housing costs remain a significant challenge We must ensure that new and existing housing is not only available but also accessible to people who need it. So increasing the supply of accessible housing will strengthen our commitment Thank you for joining us.

Identify some of the barriers and opportunities to increase accessible housing including through zoning development, preservation and other appropriate strategies to bring forward concrete recommendations that will make A city, a more inclusive and livable city for everybody. Thank you.

Ewen-Campen, just to sign on. All right, I'll sign on that as well. Councilor Clingan, Councilor Hardt, Council Scott.

This thing has gotten a lot of appetite, man.

All Right, see no further discussion then that item is approved. At the request of I think several of you through words or sharp glares, I will call a five-minute recess, call it ten minute recess for nature break and we'll start our meeting after that.

Oh, I see. I knew it. I never saw that. No, no, but that was smart. And they gave...

I put that on like two weeks ago. Really? Yeah, now I'm going to see it again.

Oh my goodness. Because so many people are like... I mean, I don't even know how I even... Thank you.

Schultz,

All right, I'm calling this meeting back to order. I can see that there is a quorum present. Madam Clerk, would you please... We're going to take one more item out of order. Item 9.25, please.

All right, next item is... Where did it go? Oh, here we go. Item 9.25, Public Communication. 56 registered voters submitting comments regarding zoning ordinance sections as followed below.

Link, you wanted to speak on this? Thank you very much. Yes please so just real quick here This is an ordinance that would remove the two-foot minimum. So there's a lot of people who are interested in this. It came through as a public comment. There is a slightly different process.

Give the folks a little more color on which two-foot minimum we're talking about.

oh that's a good yes sorry thank you so buildings by ordinance have to be raised two feet off the ground and this probably made sense at some point in our past and doesn't there's not really super great arguments for it now and Conversely, it creates some pretty significant issues in terms of accessibility because that means you need to have a ramp going up at least two feet. which means that you're either eating into what could be used for more space in the units or creating a really large cost barrier. That's a problem.

We talked a little bit about trying to incentivize accessible housing This is another way that we can try to make more accessible housing in Somerville So there was some confusion with apologies to the people who have submitted this in terms of how to get this We are going to work to get that happening for the next council meeting.

So you'll work with the community members that submitted these comments to put forth a proposed amendment to the zoning that will be submitted at a future meeting. That, of course, then will trigger what we said to the planning board, will trigger the public hearing to get the formal process started?

That's correct.

All right, sounds like a good plan. Thank you. Any discussion? I see none. That item is placed on file. Councilor Mbah.

Yes, Mr. President. I move to reconsider 7 point 26, hoping that reconsideration fails.

7.26 is the appointment of election commissioner. Councilor Mbah moves for reconsideration in hopes that reconsiderations fails. Does anybody wish to change their vote on that one? All right, say none. Consideration has failed. Sorry to madam clerk.

Next item is 4.7, a resolution by Councilor Strezo that the Director of Health and Human Services discuss the street harassment reported by abutters and pedestrians on Prescott School Street in the area surrounding the warming center and what steps are being taken to adjust this going forward.

Councilor Strezo, quite an entrance.

Pardon me, I was having my dinner of a cupcake.

We're on item 4.7.

We're talking about the warming center now, correct? There's a seven second lag in the back. Okay so when we were When some of us on the council were listening to the 2026 Warming Center Listening session of when it was getting to spring and what worked, what didn't, what the neighbors and the abutters and residents... Participants and many who were involved with the warming center in its location on Prescott this season. One of the abutters, actually a few of the butters in the neighborhood were talking about very specifically how

With the warming center and again or as I've mentioned numerous times this has nothing to do with not supporting the warming Center in our efforts on this This is feedback from our constituents. I'm going to clarify that. So one of the abutters, or a few of the butters, but one sent an email and then at the actual warming center listening session talked about how while the warming center was not yet open and while people were lining up or leaving for the day that as we know that's a path to a high school on Prescott so from there that there was street harassment happening and one of the emails I came in mentioned

and I quote, both in the mornings and in the afternoons I see young girls who are coming in and going from the high school face sexual harassment and catcalling sometimes being followed down the block now when this is brought up at the actual listening session I don't feel like the response was adequate to the situation and i don't think that any plan of action was considered of how that you know doesn't happen And so there's another, and I have another order to consider on this as we go forward. But I think they should be discussed almost heading into fall and getting ready to discuss another warming center. I think we need to be discussing how this, if the warming center is placed in Prescott Street another year What is the conversation on this?

What are we going to do to stop this from happening to anyone, especially you know Young kids walking down the street. So I'd like this sent to committee, I would like to discuss this with our city departments and As I said, I have an order drafted. If we don't hear from the administration, HHS and emergency management on what the plan is On the 2026-2027 warming center well plan, then we can talk about that in committee too but definitely think it's fair to be updated.

That's about all. Okay, Councilor Wheeler?

Thank you Mr. President just echoing my at-large colleagues perspective when I've spoken with abutters on Prescott Street What I've also heard is that these folks are not looking for reasons to complain about the warming center. I have heard support for the mission of the warming Center, I've heard a sense of civic responsibility for this safe haven And sometimes I've heard of some troubling behavior they've experienced, particularly also around issues like human waste. and also echoing my colleague, I think making these facilities able to fulfill their missions well and be something that our community supports in the long term. I think making sure that any ancillary problems are taken seriously is one of the ways we can make sure these missions are supported

Ewen-Campen. Thank you, Mr. President. So I've been in touch with Director Fischer, the emergency Management Director, who oversees the warming center. They are completing the after action review that they do each year He told me that this would be most likely wrapped up by the end of August, and we've asked for meetings with stakeholders to happen after that.

Councilor Mbah?

Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Councilor Strezo for also putting this forward. I just want to lend my voice as where I know some constituents That lived across the high school and they've expressed some situations that happened to them. It wasn't the most fun experience. This is like a very physical, from kids even at the high school. So I just think that residents, pedestrian and neighborhood You know, our borders deserve to feel safe and respected in their communities. So reports of this kind of report or street harassment on the street or school streets

and in the surrounding area just deserve some very thoughtful and coordinated response that address their concerns while also ensuring that individuals are experiencing You know, John House and other vulnerabilities are treated with dignity. So just to also To be clear, the goal here is not simply to respond to individual incidents but to develop a proactive approach that balances public safety and neighborhood quality of life. and the city's responsibility to provide appropriate support and services to vulnerable residents. Thank you.

Thank you. I think that all of these things are extremely important, obviously and making sure Our residents, particularly who live on or around the street and are able to feel safe and comfortable I also just want to make sure we're reflecting on that, you know, we're talking about maybe, you Many of the people that are at this forming center are elderly. There's a large group of people and we're doing a really great thing so I just want to make sure that we're focusing on not just you know the safety of people who are

who are on the street, but also the safety of the people who are in the shelter.

Great. Councilor Strezer, back to you.

Again, to emphasize that I think it's pretty clear that no one is questioning that and We are all in alignment that that is a priority and a value here in Somerville. And we have to make sure as well that our residents, our constituents that everyone feel safe and heard, and valued and respected in this community.

Okay. Public health, public safety? So that will be approved with a copy to Public Health and Public Safety. Next item, please.

Next item is 4.8, an order by Councilor Link that the Director of Inspectional Services provide a report to the City Council detailing the number of short-term rentals registered Councilor Link.

Thank you Mr. President, so I've had a few too many residents ask me about legal short-term rentals So I'm just trying to get some sort of sense of what we know and what we don't and I want to stress that i don't believe this is a case of you know the city sitting on their hands we have a short-term rental ordinance I want us to consider what we're currently able to do, and what more we might be able to We know we've got a regional housing crisis and we've from what my viewpoint seems to be a problem that we haven't quite pinned down. So I want to just start digging into this. See what we can come up with.

Do you want this to go to committee for that discussion? It could go to Housing Equity Community Development for the discussion, and then if we do have ordinance changes, we could send it to Legislative Matters.

Sure.

I mean, I don't wanna push it to committee if you don't want to. It was certainly a conversation we could just follow up with the administration, but... I just wanted to call out, I think there's been

I had asked Councilor Hardt to be a co-sponsor to this one. I don't see her listed though. My apologies to the council from Ward 7.

Councilor Hartley, do you want to speak to the item?

You don't have to, just want to give you the opportunity. If we can, the next item is on the same topic?

Thank you for watching!

4.9, a resolution by Councilor Link and Councilor Hardt that the Director of Inspectional Services and the Director Constituent Services work together to update the short-term rental webpage with reporting instructions and to establish a designated 3-1-1 category for reporting suspected illegal short term rentals.

And either or both, Councilor Hearn?

Thank you so much. And thank you to my colleague, Councilor Link. So this is something I've been working on a lot in terms of... It is such a big problem as Councilor Link summarized the problem of how this is, the lack of enforcement is affecting our housing market and availability for people to have long-term housing and driving up prices. I know that ISD has been working as hard as they can to enforce this. I think we need to have the discussion about how we can enforce it more systematically. Going forward and where have the challenges been? And so I really appreciate Councilor Link coming up with this idea.

Award 7 resident recently reached out about how to report short-term rental You know, operators. And I love this idea to make it easier through 311 to report because even though we don't Want this to be our long-term solution, for sure. This could be one tool in the interim because obviously ISD can't be everywhere All the time. So that's a long way of saying thank you to Councilor Link and I'm hopeful that these concrete steps going forward and larger conversation can push us in the right direction.

Scott, and then McLaughlin.

Thank you Mr. President and I want to thank my colleagues for bringing these two items. Happy to sign on to both of them. I think this just our short-term rental ordinance is something that this council was very excited about as a way to actually make sure that housing stock stays in the rental market as opposed to in the short- term rental market. and it's one of those few things that we could do directly to impact housing availability as a city council. Unfortunately, it has entered the Hall of Fame of Unenforced Ordinances right up there with the Vacant Property Ordinance which does the same thing. I believe Councilor Niedergang's Leaf Blower Ban would also be on that list and Councilor Ballantyne's Plastic Straws and Forks. Ordnance.

Some of those I think have more public benefit than others, but certainly... Oh, Plaster-Straws, Councilor Mbah, I'm sorry, I am sorry. Mbah's Plastic Straws Ordinance. Was Councilor Ballantyne the plastic forks? Anyway, my point stands that as legislators... Our constituents ask us to do something constantly, and we are... Pressed with the limitation that we can only push policy, we can write laws and it is up to the executive to faithfully execute it. But as we've seen in multiple budget processes, the will to devote resources to actually implement the laws duly passed by this body is something that is disregarded over and over and

I appreciate my colleagues attempting to use the other small limited power that we have as a council which is to force City staff members to have their asses in chairs as long as we do to talk about why the things that our constituents has asked for and why we as a body have spent time drafting and passing and ordaining and enrolling into law are not actually being done. So thank you, and I look forward to watching this discussion in committee.

McLaughlin. Where to begin on this one, Mr. President? On the subject of unenforced ordinances. Well, first I got just some background for people who might have went around when the Airbnb ordinance was passed a few years ago. First of all, one of the things I found as interesting is that we heard from ISD that they're not enforcing the vacant properties ordinance because they're very busy enforcing So if we and just as a subject on this, a few years ago I was a part of the whole conversation where some of us were there about how to make this policy. I came up with something that passed at the time, which was if you live in the unit you're renting, you can have an Airbnb. If you do not live there, you cannot have it.

I felt like that was pretty black and white, allows people to have their B&Bs, makes it easier to detect who actually you can go online see all this person is not owner occupied therefore you can't have an Airbnb therefore we will not allow you to do that. That passed, but then years later ISD came up with what I called a very onerous process of registering your Airbnb, having to build an inspection, having all these prerequisites for having an Airbnb. or short-term rental, whatever you want to call it. I'm bringing this up now for when you have this discussion in committee to ask how many units have actually registered? Because I really felt like that was the process we set out. If I had an Airbnb and I was doing it legally, I would not bother to go through that process. So I'd be very interested and I think it encourages people to be bad faith actors because they're not going to go through that process. They're just gonna roll the dice and see what happens

So I would just be very interested in knowing how many units have actually registered compared to illegal units and compared to the amount of people reporting it. Because I think as a person who has used B&Bs all across the world, it's a really nice thing to have but is also not something we want to create a housing crisis over. So I think there's a good middle ground and I would just encourage people to look into that because as far as I know there's not that many units registering and it's not being enforced at all so why don't we go back to the simple approach of if you don't live in the house, you can't have a B&B. Clingan, and then Mbah.

Thank you Mr. President through you thanks to my colleagues for bringing this forward I think these things are kind of cyclical there's definitely been an uptick in discussion around this you'll see it online and I share the frustration with my colleagues as far as enforcement goes. I saw one recently someone was saying that there was a vacant house basically a single family home so It's pretty egregious at this point where you clearly don't live in the home nine months out of the year. It's been vacant for a year and now a bunch of furniture has been moved into it and it's already listed on Airbnb. So that's how blatant it is at this point. I do think, I thought I remember the mayor saying though that he allocated some funds for like new software this particular budget cycle so I think the software is good, but I also agree with Councilor McLaughlin that okay fine we run the software. We see the places then we have to cross check it with this registry

I think that in itself is probably pretty onerous for staff so I don't know. I think maybe we need to look at this whole policy and figure out a way that we can Make it more easily enforceable but not be so onerous and find that happy ground where we're not burning our housing stock on Airbnbs. Thank you.

Yeah, I'll just sign on. I mean, yeah.

Councilor Walensky, sign on? Councilor Link, do you have another comment? Andrew Wallace hasn't spoken yet? No?

Councilman Link? Just to kind of Bus 1 to everything the councilor from Ward 4 just said. Yeah, I just saw from our mayor confirming you're correct there they do have some Thank you for watching! and it truly is egregious. If you go onto Airbnb, there's pages where it just says whole house. I mean, drop dead wrong. So yeah, we can... I think there's a lot of work to do. Thank you.

All right, seeing no further discussion both of those items are approved with a copy to Housing Community Development and Equity. And the next item

Next item is 4.11, a resolution by Councillor Link and Councillor Clingan that the administration organize another citywide neighborhood trash pickup for public spaces this fall.

Thank you, I'll keep this one short. We had a great event in the spring and looking around the city it looks like maybe another round would be a nice chance for neighbors to get together, share community. and also make the city look as good as we think it is.

Thank you, Mr. President, through you. Thank you for Council Link for bringing me on to this. I've advocated for the more cleanups, the better obviously but I do think this makes sense in terms of just kind marrying it together with like the slice of the city so like one in the spring and then you know one on the fall As the leaves start to fall and garbage accumulates over the summertime, I just think at least two sort of flagship cleanups. But then, of course, we have... I suggested a program where citizens can initiate a cleanup if the city can get that going, clean up any time that's convenient for them. and we should champion that. And then also there's just some really great people that are cleaning up in Davis, and then there's a group that cleans up over by the Mystic River in my ward. So yeah, we have some great people who want to make a difference in the community Thank you, Mr. President.

I'd like to sign on today's things are nice

Nice to have, you know, because clean and maintained public spaces are essential to health, safety, and quality of life of every resident. I think a citywide neighborhood trash pickup will provide an opportunity for residents, community organizations and city staff to work together to address later I also think that this should be more than one day cleanup. It should also help build a culture of shared responsibility and encourage ongoing efforts to keep our streets, parks, sidewalks, and public spaces clean and welcoming for everybody.

That item is approved.

Next item next item is 4.13 a resolution by Councilor Wheeler and Councilor Ewen-Campen that the Director of Mobility consider prioritizing the area near the intersection of Belmont Street and Spring Hill Terrace for street painting in several areas

Willett.

Thank you, Mr. President. Some of our small streets are particularly sensitive to the impact of parking in illegal zones because if cars or trucks park where they aren't supposed to on these small, small streets emergency vehicles just cannot get through often vehicles which park in these zones their drivers do not realize these areas are illegal to park in they might be contractors unfamiliar with these particular streets I've heard many of these examples The Mobility Department has been marking streets for precisely this purpose, such as the fire lane that's on School Street approximately near Berkeley Street is marked as a fire lane with stripes. So it would be my hope that they could do that in the area of Belmont Street and the beginning of Spring Hill Terrace as well.

Okay, that item is approved. Next item.

Next item is 4.14, a resolution by Councilor Wheeler and Councilor Link that pay for crossing guards be increased both in recognition of the crucial work that they do serving the children in our schools and as a means to ensure the city is adequately staffed with crossing guards

Thank you again, Mr. President. First I just want to recognize this is an issue that's been worked on and pushed on by many people for a long time including my at-large colleague Councilor Strezo School Committee Vice President Leron Biton, School Committee President Emily Ackman and many others including in this room. Quite simply we struggle to employ enough crossing guards and we need to be able to staff every single crossing guard role consistently We have students crossing very dangerous streets like McGrath Highway to get to school and we should have no doubt that we're paying enough to be confident of having crossing guards when we need them. Thank you.

Councilor Clingan?

President, thank you. Through you I always whenever crossing guards come up I always tell the story of how when you went to the Brown School in the late 80s when you got to sixth grade it became a you got your post for crossing kids across the street I was on a permit. A, the streets were a lot quieter back then. We didn't have so many commuters zipping through our streets. And B, on another note as you mentioned this has been talked about. This is bargained work for a local 888 and and certainly we could increase you know the mayor could see fit to increase but we've talked about solutions everything from having a hybrid position of PCOs because we don't even have the

senior population that we used to as many you know people willing to get out there and do this job and it's pretty scary work So there's a lot of challenges to it. I look forward to hopefully something fruitful comes out of that discussion because I think we can all agree this is something that we need to improve on.

Strezo.

Yeah, sure why not? Okay because this is of particular interest to a few of you in this room tonight and by the way first off Mr. President through you to Councilor Wheeler thanks for the shout out that's awesome I appreciate that very much. And so since we have a few people, Mr. President, through you now pivoting back to my thought on state roads so we have a few people interested in State Roads this A few running for state rep office or state senate office and and some of these roads that are state roads that don't have crossing guards that I don't know, some councilors at large have begged and pleaded with state reps to please, please,

Now that this is on your focus, maybe particularly, can you bring us back some crossing guards from the Statehouse? for State Roads because yes very much so they haven't had crossing guards we've had the blessing of having the crossing guards regularly at what is that cross street no no not cross street um Medford, Ave and McGrath we've held on to them for a long time and I think we still have our crossing guard I don't know what the new school year brings but our crossing garden mystic that one

but we're still really lacking on that and then when it comes to the actual union negotiations of what happens with our crossing guards and when their union contract is up which I think might be another year then there's another conversation to have on that but we are where we are and yeah very much I'm grateful for you guys to have the conversation about this and push it forward as well because, yeah, it's really crucially. And if anyone is interested in a position doing this, please also consider being a crossing guard or helping out in some way to get safe streets happening. That's all.

All right, that item is approved next item

Next item is 4.15, a resolution by Councilor McLaughlin supporting an application to create a state-authorized cultural district in East Somerville.

So Mr. President I'd actually like to withdraw this one because there's a little bit more work needs to be done and I'll resubmit it later

McLaughlin would like to withdraw the item seeing no objection

Next item is 7.2, a mayor's request requesting ordainment of an amendment to section 1-11B of the Code of Ordinances to update enforcement personnel.

That item is referred to legislative matters. Councilor Wheeler? Wave the radian and refer. Alright, Councilor Wheeler moves to waive the reading of those items and have them sent to Finance. Seeing no objection, those items are referred to Finance

And then Mr. President, I move to take up items 7.9 through 7.11 together. My thinking with this is these are three very small dollar items, not that $1,000 is small but in the scheme of the budget and I would like to move to approve all three of these tonight.

These do not require a vote. Could you read items 7, 9, 10 and 11 please?

7.9, a mayor's request requesting approval of an inter-fund transfer of $1,000 from the Sewer Enterprise Debt Service account to the Somerville Avenue Infrastructure Improvement Sewer Capital Fund Union Square Sewer bond account to fund required project expenditures. 7.10, a mayor's request requesting approval of an inter-fund transfer of $1,000 from the sewer enterprise Debt Service Account to the Spring Hill Sewer Separation Project Design Capital Fund to pay for required project expenditures. And 7.11, a mayor's request requesting approval of an inter-fund transfer of $1,000 from the Sewer Enterprise Debt to the Poplar Street Pump Station Design Capital Fund to pay for required project expenditures.

Councilor Wheeler moves for approval of those three items. Is there any discussion? Voice from above. All right, seeing no discussion those items are approved. Next item, 719. Is that right, Councilor Wheeler?

That is correct, Mr. President. 7.19 Mayor's request requesting approval to accept a gift of 200 soccer balls with an approximate value of 5,000 from the United States Conference of Mayors.

Mr. President, I move to approve this item.

Councilor Wheeler moves to approve. Seeing no objection, let's take the soccer balls.

And Councilor Baha. Mr. President, I move to wave 7.21 through 7.25 and 27, I move to approve. These are new police promotions and so they don't require to come before the

Five new police promotions of 7027 is an appointment to the Commission for Persons with Disabilities. It has been in practice with newly appointed officers to not send them to committee. Since they've just gone through the whole process. So any objection? All right, and Councilor Bamus to approve those six items. After having waived the reading, seeing no objection, then those six items are approved.

Next item is 7.28, Mayor's Request Requesting Approval of an Exemption of Mark Antonelli as required by Massachusetts General Law Chapter 268A Sections 220B

This is an exemption. It's one of the things that we've, it's one If you want to speak on it, I'm happy to answer.

No, no, Mr. Chair, I think that's moved to approve.

Okay. Any discussion? Any questions? Okay. Councilor Mbah moves to approve, seeing no discussion, that item is approved. Next item, please.

Next item is 8.1 Planning Board conveying recommendations for item number 26-0835. That item is placed on file. Next item.

I do want a copy of that to Land Use. Yes, let's send a copy to Land use please. Let's waive the readings of items 8.2 through 8.5, please. These are communications from the school committee appointing members to the various rank choice voting and public financing. And place those on file with no objection. Those items are placed on file. Next item is 8.6 City Clerk Conveying Block Party License Issued I do miss getting to talk about all the specific block parties but if anyone's still watching... Check out the list, see if your street's on there. If it's not and you haven't had a block party recently, call the clerk's office. Find out how you can have a block part because they're wicked fun. That item is placed on file.

Next item is 8.7, Director of Economic Development conveying the presentation materials for the update on the 90 Washington Street request for proposals That item is placed on file Councilor Hardt

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to waive the readings of 9.1 to 9.16 and approve

Councilor Hardt moves to waive the readings of those items and approve them this evening. Seeing no objection, those items are approved. 9.7 is with John. Next item.

Next item is 9.18 Davis Square Neighborhood Council submitting information regarding item number 26-1165 a request for formal recognition as a neighborhood council I think we should send this one to legislative matters to follow the related items there

So that would be placed on file with a copy of the legislative matters. Next item?

Next item is 9.19, six residents submitting comments regarding item number 26-1165 Davis Square neighborhood council recognition.

Chairman Scott, that's a little bit of a different item. Do you want those to follow as well? We could certainly place them on file since they're there on the record but if you'd like to have them in committee and put everything on the agenda at once I'll leave that to your discretion

Yeah, you know what? Send them to Legislative Matters. I was just thinking about mending the agenda for that public hearing night to include these just so the reference materials are in one place. Sure, please refer that to the Legislative Matters and I'm sure it'll be discharged with work completed.

Sounds like a good plan. We'll place that in file with a copy of the Legislature Matters.

That works.

Alright, thank you. Next item?

Next item is 9.20, Maria Lysak submitting comments regarding McGowan Square.

Item is placed on file.

Next item is 9.21, Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee and Travis McGrath submitting comments regarding pedestrian safety.

That item is placed on file.

Next item is 9.22, Gilman Square Neighborhood Council submitting comments regarding Better Bus Project That item is placed on file, next item Next item is 9.23 Lisa Schatz submitting comments regarding item number 26-1185 a petition, a public hearing regarding the proposed ethical procurement ordinance That item is placed on file Next item is 9.24, Joey O'Neill submitting comments regarding illegal dumping That item is placed on file Next item Is 9.26 for residents submitting comments Regarding body worn cameras

That item is placed on file.

Next item is 9.27, Zach Farm submitting comments regarding Central Avenue. Next item is 10.1, Derek DuPont and Emily Sandler submitting comments regarding item number 26-1268 a proposed zoning amendment to the following sections Councilor Ewen Campen you want that one in land use or do you want to place it on file?

Okay, we'll place that on file and send a copy to land use. Next item?

I believe that is it Mr. President.

Are there any late items?

There are no late items.

All right, there being no further business before the council, Council McLaughlin moves to adjourn. And we are adjourned. Welcome back. Hey, actually, before we go away... Before we go, even though officially adjourned. First off huge round of applause to our tech folks who got this all working tonight Thank you so much. I know some folks have gone home, deservedly so, but that was – I mean it sounds great. So great job. Thank you for that. And I also just want to shout out we don't have holes in the ceiling. We've got some fresh paint.