Finance Committee

Oh, thank you. Sorry.

You are now live.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I am Ben Wheeler. I use he, him pronouns. I am a counselor at large and finance committee chair. It is 6.02 p.m. and I'd like to call to order the Tuesday, February 24th, 2026 meeting of the finance committee of the Somerville City Council. This meeting of a City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation following Chapter 2 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Acts of 2025. We will post an audio-video recording and a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. We are joined by Clerk Madeline Letelier. Clerk, could you please call the roll to establish quorum?

This is roll call. Councilor Link?

Here.

Councilor Strezo? Present. Hardt? Here. Councilor Scott?

Present.

Councilor Wheeler?

Present.

With all five Councilors present, we have quorum.

Thank you. We will be taking up our 39-item agenda in the order posted. As a general note, if I pronounce your name wrong or I get your title wrong or use the wrong pronouns for you, please do not hesitate to interrupt me. I want to get it right. Question for you, Claire Cloutelier. Do you want everyone to introduce themselves now or just when they are beginning to speak on an item?

Chair, thank you for the question. As you are speaking, please just introduce yourself for the record.

Okay, wonderful. Okay, proceeding with item 1, ID 26-0142, approval of the January 20th, 2026 minutes. Do I hear any discussion of this item? Seeing none, the item is laid on the table to recommend approval. All right, item two, ID 26-0263, approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of February 10th, 2026. Do I see any discussion of this item? Seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval. All right, environment-related grant requests. Mayor's Request ID 26-0112. Requesting approval to accept and expend a $5,000 grant with no new match required.

From the Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Public Works for the Sustainable Materials Recovery Program. I believe we have Interim Department of Public Works Commissioner Eric Wiseman here and Sanitation and Hazardous Material Program Manager Maya Yoshikawa as well. If that is correct, then please, Commissioner Wiseman and Program Manager Yoshikawa, could you please introduce yourselves and tell us about this grant?

Hello, thank you, Chair. Eric Wiseman, Interim Commissioner, Department of Public Works. This first item is a $5,000 grant with no match for a paint shed where residents can recycle paint. And I have, as you mentioned... Sanitation and Hazardous Material Program Manager Maya Yoshikawa with me to answer any questions on the program.

Thank you. I see Councilor Strezo.

Thank you. Through you to Deputy Director, I'm sorry, Interim Director Wiseman, good evening. I can't recall if this is an ongoing program or if this is first time.

Could you... Sure, through the chair. We have always had recycling of paint through the hazardous waste program, but this is Actually, I'd like to invite Maya to talk about the shed and the purpose of it, please.

Thank you, Eric, through the chair. My name is Maya Yoshikawa. I'm the Sanitation and Hazardous Materials Program Manager. So in the past, to answer that question, in the past we have had a shed. It was utilized, but it's badly rusted and not suitable for outdoor use. And as a result, currently we only accept Paints during our city's household hazardous waste collection events which currently takes place eight times per year it will be taking place

Can you please repeat that? Did everyone else's computer just... I didn't catch that last part. Can you please repeat that?

Yeah. Can you hear me or...

I can hear you, share through you. I can hear you um either my computer went spotty and I missed like everything you just the specific nouns you said and so I wanted to capture what you said so can you please repeat that uh the shed is in is deteriorated?

Yes. So currently the shed is deteriorated. And so as a result, we have not been using a shed and we can only have residents drop off paint during household hazardous waste collection events. And with accepting this grant, we hope to purchase a new paint shed, which would allow residents to drop off paint during our regular yard hours which would be Monday through Friday 8 30 to 12 p.m and then 1 p.m to 3 30 p.m

Thank you so much for that. I saw a hand before from Councilor Link. Any questions from you or any other Councilor?

All my questions were answered, Chair. Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much, Director Wiseman and Program Manager Yoshikawa. If there's no more discussion and seeing a sense of approval, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. The next item, item four, Mayor's Request ID 26-0117, requesting approval to accept and expend a $28,000 grant with no new match required. for the Mass Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Public Works for the Recycling Dividends Program. Commissioner Wiseman, can you please tell us about this grant?

Thank you, Chair. Those of you who have been in finance for a while will recognize this grant. We come forward every year. This is something that we get through MassDEP based on the recycling program that we offer to staff. So we... We get awarded this grant and we use it for recycling programs. And I will again invite Sanitation and Hazardous Material Program Manager, Maya Yoshikawa, to answer any questions about this program. and to talk about what we intend to do with the funds.

Thank you. Are there any questions or discussion from our committee? Link.

Just because it was asked, Chair, or because it was hinted at, what do we intend to do with the funds?

Thank you, Councilor Link, through the Chair. So we plan on three main activities with these RDP funds for this year, including household, the main one being the household Hazardous Waste Collection Events. We're planning to add two weekday events, one at the beginning in April. We usually hold them April to November. So one is going to be held April and then one will be held in November. We plan on holding these on Thursday since a lot of the city is open later. A lot of city functions are open at 7.30. in the evening and um so that is the main portion that we're planning on spending the um grant money on the other is 20

Thank you. I see Councillor Hardt.

Thank you so much. Through you, Chair Wheeler. I'm just curious as to the holding the events on Thursdays in terms of How do you see participation differing when I think in the past there had been some Saturdays as well? So like a weekday versus a weekend. Just curious if you could tell us more about that.

That's a great question. Thank you through the chair. We plan on still holding our regular second Saturdays of the month. I should have... mentioned that previously so that's eight total Saturdays during from again April to November we wanted to open it up to other residents and constituents that may have Sabbath or other or may work during a Saturday and so that's why we're adding those two additional weekday or weeknights rather events.

Thank you.

Thank you. I see Councilor Strezo.

Thank you. I'd like to go on screen, but my internet is being stupid right now, so I might just have to be like this. So Mr. Chair, through you, I want to thank you for that recognition. that that is true inclusion. So I appreciate the opening up of Wednesdays and off Shabbat or Sabbath days. That is very important. So thank you. And thank you for that thoughtfulness. And I'm excited to see another year of this go forward.

Wonderful. Are there any other questions or comments? I appreciate this program very much. I appreciate your efforts and your being here. If there's no more discussion on this item, it is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. and if that's the last matter that Commissioner Wiseman and Program Manager Yoshikawa intend to speak on then I thank both of you for appearing before the committee and I wish you a good evening. Thank you Chair. Okay, infrastructure-related contracts and agreements. Item 5, Mayor's Request ID 26-0133. I believe we have Director of Engineering Brian Postelwaite

and also Director of Finance, sorry, Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management, Rich Raish here. Oh, and sorry, now I see you, Michael. And also Director of Finance for Infrastructure and Asset Management, Michael Richards. and I believe we do not have Jonathan Smith, is that right? Okay. Well, Director Richards or any of the other staff that I mentioned, would you please tell us about this contract extension?

Yes, thank you, Chair. Again, my name is Michael Richards. I'm the Director of Finance and Administration. For the departments of Water and Sewer and a dual role with the Department of Infrastructure and Asset Management. Speaking on behalf of the Department of Water and Sewer, these two contracts are similar in function. and that these are three-year contracts for on-call work assisting the water department in their day-to-day maintenance with water main rehab Water System Maintenance, and also the repair and gate valves and appurtenances. These contracts are entering the year three renewal. Beginning in the coming weeks or the next month. And we are looking to align the contract expiration with the fiscal year end. for FY27. In practice, these have expired in mid-fiscal year and these are annual kind of operating contracts and that poses a difficulty with budgeting to make sure that

These are budgeted for properly where you have a new contract starting at the end of a budget cycle. So it's to the city's benefit to extend these both by three, three and a half months to get on to the FY27 and FY28 beginning. Thank you very much.

Are there any questions or comments from the committee? Okay. Well, oh, sorry. Someone began to speak. Was that Councilor Scott?

Yeah, I'm sorry, sir. Please, Councilor Scott. I tend to wave at you. I can try to use the emojis. Oh, waving is fine. You know, these are contracts that I've been critical of for a long time. I appreciate that we're actually lining these up. Hopefully they'll align in a way that we can get rid of these kind of outsourcing contracts as we step up in the water department. Since we had folks here, I was wondering if I could maybe get a quick update on what the hiring in the water department is looking like these days.

Thank you for the question, Councilor. Through the Chair, we have updated the job descriptions for a number of these labor positions, and we have recently posted these. through our HR department they are active now and accepting applications they have been posted within the last two weeks so we should be looking to close those soon and may have an update later on all right

Glad to hear we're moving forward on those. I know it was a long fight to get those labor positions. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm all set.

If I'm not seeing other comments, I have a follow-up question to what Councilor Scott brought up. I'm curious about the relationship between contracting and staffing in a case like this, but also in general. Director Richards, you mentioned The anticipation that there will be another contract with similar work, is that something whose scope might depend on what the staffing situation is come next June of 2027?

Yeah, thank you for that question. As we are entering the year three of this three-year cycle and moving these into about 15 or 16-month contracts, that does allow us some time to kind of evaluate The hiring practices that we have here with these available posted positions and kind of continue to build those departments out with the laborers that we have and working with the union and with HR to fill those positions. As we near the end of the expiration of these upcoming contracts, that is something that we'll work with the procurement contracting services department to rework that scope and something that we look at our budget as well to make sure that we're Budgeting appropriately for the staff that we have versus the staff that we don't have yet and work that we may anticipate for that following year.

Thank you. Do any other counselors on committee have questions or comments? Director Raish, do you have anything to add?

Director Raish has covered that one pretty well.

Well, thank you all very much. Seeing no further comments and discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Moving on to item six, ID 26-0132. Mayor requesting approval of a time-only extension until June 30, 2027 for the contract with E.B. Rotondi & Sons, Inc. for repairs to water main gate valves and appurtenances. Director Richards, could you please speak to this item?

Thank you. Similar to the last item, another contract supporting our on-call water efforts to repair and react to Strezo,

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am staying off screen. I am bummed because I missed what Councillor Scott said. I know where he's been on this and I've been...

Apologies, Councilor Strezo. I heard part of what you said and then it dropped out. Are you able to hear me now?

You can hear me.

Sorry, it came in and out, but now I can hear you.

Okay. It's still doing the thing? Okay. I'm going to try my best. So I missed what Councilor Scott said, and I'm bummed about that. Did you catch any of that? Mr. Chair? Okay, yeah, we did? Okay, that's a thumbs up?

Yes, yes, we did.

Okay, yes. Okay, great. We got that covered. So, because I am certainly curious as well with this, and was, did... With what I missed, did anyone mention a staffing update of the numbers? I heard... Michael Richards talk about that briefly or that you're planning on as we are onboarding employees with the new SMA MEA contract however where has there been a They committed to getting staff updates of where we are at, what the direction looks like, etc. on board. So we can wean ourselves off from these new contracts and do this in-house. Was any of that captured? Please let with the Wi-Fi issue.

There was a brief discussion about that, but I think the questions that you're asking about... The sort of plans for the future. And I'm sorry that we're having these connection interruptions. Clerk, can I ask a quick procedure question? Have you found in the past that if someone is having internet hiccups, that using the Zoom option to call in using the phone is effective?

I have not experienced that personally, but if Councilor Strezo wants to log off and log back in, she certainly can with the link.

Okay, I do know that Zoom provides these phone numbers that offer you a way to call in as well. And Councilor Strezo, if we find that these problems are persisting, you might try taking Clerk Letelier's suggestion to log off and log back in. or you might try looking on the calendar if I invite and there's a phone number it says US and there's a phone number and I believe it'll ask you then to enter the webinar ID. Could be that that could solve the problem, not sure. I see Liaison Radassi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the record, Yasmin Radassi, Legislative Liaison with the Mayor's Office. Just to address this and Councillor Scott's earlier question, I just want to reiterate that the administration is happy to work in collaboration and coordination with the City Council and we're hoping to come back in the future with staffing updates for water and sewer. So just wanted to make sure we didn't get too far off track of the contract discussion and just wanted to reassure folks that we will come to the council when we do have substantive updates on that.

Thank you, Liaison Redassi. Am I hearing any other questions or comments from the committee members? And I do see that Councilor Strezo went away. I might ask us to just wait for a moment. to see if she's able to reconnect. Thank you all for your patience.

I'm just trying to strike a little balance here. I don't want to move on. As chair, we're going to be laying this item on the table to recommend approval at a later time.

If Councilor Strezo does return and has further questions, we can easily pick the item up. and back up off the table and just move on right now.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I also see Councilor Strezo has rejoined. Okay. So seeing no further discussion or questions on this, the item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you all. Okay, sewer-related bonding. Item 7, Mayor's Request 26-0162, requesting authorization to borrow... 1,530,000 in a bond and to appropriate the same amount for the annual fiscal year 2026 sewer system evaluation and infiltration inflow assessment. That is a mouthful. Let's see. I believe, is this a matter that you, Director Raish, are intending to speak on? Correct. Okay, excellent. Please, Director Raish, tell us about this bond.

Through the chair and for your record, my name is Richard Reich, Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management. Scott. For those of you who have been on the Finance Committee for a while, which I guess is only Councilor Scott, you would recognize this as one of our two-part annual bond appropriations to do preventative maintenance on our sewer system. Prior to about eight years ago, the only way we would know that there was a problem with the pipe was that it would collapse and interrupt service and require emergency repairs. We started up a proactive program about eight years ago that involves part one, which is tonight's appropriation. of closed circuit television inspection. The fancy title being sewer system evaluation. of the Pipes to identify pipes that are damaged and are ready to break.

Every year we'll also have a knock-on. We are often able to use trenchless technologies to do that, which yields us significant cost savings. because we were able to repair these pipes for pennies on the dollar trenchlessly. We have for the past Several years been very aggressive on our CCTV program and we've now inspected almost every pipe in the system, all 165 miles of it. Except for some pipes that were very clogged that required additional cleaning to inspect. This is that sort of last contract to get eyes on the last sets of pipes that need inspection so that we can possibly rehabilitate them before they fall apart.

The program will continue along, much like our street investigations, where we'll loop back around and inspect pipes that had been inspected five-plus years ago. But this program will be ongoing. And that's this one. We are ready to bid. And we just need the appropriation.

Thank you, Director Raish. Councilor Link.

Thank you, Chair. So am I, having not been on the Finance Committee before, I'm just curious, so it sounds like what you're saying is that because we're able to kind of proactively address these issues and use trench lists, we're able to actually Create Cost Savings. So overall, this program is actually saving us money. Is that correct? To the chair, that is correct.

In the grand scheme of things, we're not able to... Forstall all emergency interruptions, but we're doing a much better job of that and getting out ahead of this. The ones that we do have to dig and replace. When we contract it out and plan the work, it's a lot more cost effective than the emergency response. Also a lot less disruptive because we can announce service interruptions and plan shutting off people's water rather than have them find out the hard way. Wonderful.

Thank you, Jared.

Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? I have one question, Director Raish. I saw from the Capital Improvement Project request form for this bond. Am I right in reading that it's anticipated that we'll need to borrow similar amounts every year for at least several more years?

Through the chair, that is correct. We're keeping this level funded for the next several years. We may have the opportunity to start scaling this back because we have finally finished the whole city. But we want to keep an eye on the occurrence of failures before we really scale it back. But we are keeping an eye on it and evaluating that possibility.

Thank you Okay, if there's no more discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And if that's the last matter that you, Director Raish, are here to speak on, Then I thank you for appearing before the committee and wish you a good evening. Director Richards, not sure if that's also true of you, and Director Postlewaite, not sure if that is also true of you. Thank you, Councilors. Thank you. Okay, Contracts and Agreements. Item 8, Mayor's Request 26-0166, requesting the appropriation of $154,136. from the receipts reserved for appropriation settlement of claims account to the school department legal settlement account for an insurance Settlement. And pardon my picking back up in my notes.

I believe we have Director of Finance Edward Bean and Somerville Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Robert Beretta here. Director Bean or Officer Perretta, could you please tell us about this appropriation?

Ed Bean, Finance Director. Mr. Chairman, this is really a school department matter, but the law requires that the legislative body, the city council, appropriate any insurance settlement received that exceeds $150,000. So when the insurance settlement comes in, it comes into the receipts reserved for appropriation, which is a central account in the city. Venn needs to be appropriated via your vote to a relevant department, in this case, the school department. So, Mr. Barretta is here to talk to you about these specifics and what that money, what that settlement means. How that settlement was incurred and what it's going to be expended on.

Thank you so much, Officer Beretta.

Good evening, everyone. Yeah, so the school department has a $98,000 insurance policy for employee related matters. This is a settlement that came in as a result of an employee matter. The school department is basically just asking the committee to appropriate this to us so that we can pay out the claim from our accounts.

Thank you. Does anyone on the committee have questions or comments about this? Okay. If there's no more discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And if that's the last matter that Director Bean and Officer Barretta intend to speak on, then thanks for appearing before the committee, and I wish you a good evening.

Mr. Chairman, I'll hang out.

Oh, great. Excellent. Glad to still have you. Okay, communications related. Item 9, Mayor's Request 26-0089. Requesting approval of a transfer of $3,000 from the Communications Department Professional and Technical Services account. to the several public schools professional salaries account for consulting services relating to the inaugural event. I believe we have communications director Denise Taylor or finance manager for communications Marjorie Rizzo. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. My apologies, I just am looking at the participants and I don't believe either Denise or Marjorie are in the panelist group. Is there any chance we could maybe hold off on this item in case they are able to join later on tonight?

That's certainly fine with me. Shall we take this item out of order later in the meeting or at the end?

Up to you. Just in case they are able to join, I just don't see them in the panelist group now.

Got it. Well, I move to take this item out of order at the end of the meeting.

Just lay it on the table, Mr.

Chair.

Oh, thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair Scott. Let's lay this item on the table. and I believe we can move on. Health and Human Services related appropriations and grants. Item 10, Mayor's Request 26-0172. requesting approval to appropriate $324,360 from the Medical Marijuana Stabilization Fund for the salary and fringe of four positions related to youth in fiscal year 2027. I believe we have a finance manager of Health and Human Services, Anup Malik, with us. Is that? Oh, yes. Excellent. Manager Malik, could you please tell us about this appropriation?

True Chair, Anouk Malik, HHS Finance Manager. I would also like to mention that with me are my two colleagues, Acting HHS Director Nikki Spencer as well as Director of Summer Promise Chris Hosman. We are bringing this item to request approval before the council for four positions. Out of School Time Coordinator, Youth Workplace Learning Coordinator, Prevention Services Coordinator, and then Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialist. Three positions are under the HHS side of the fence.

And then the fourth position, Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialist, 0.5 position is on the school side. and so we're requesting uh approval for a total of three hundred twenty four thousand dollar three hundred $324,360 for FY2027

Thank you so much, Manager Malik. I see Councilor Strezo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, are we doing okay right now? Hearing you great. So far?

Yep, sounds good.

Okay, just raise your hand immediately if the Wi-Fi reception starts to get spotty, okay?

Agreed.

Okay, so thank you so much for allowing me to have a moment here. I had a few questions on this.

Sorry, Councilor Strezo dropped out there. Councilor Strezo, if you can hear us, you might want to go back to camera off.

With the out of school time? No? No. Okay, I'm going to do this.

You've disconnected. You seem to be back. Yeah, maybe camera off is better.

Try this. First off, our out-of-school time coordinator, I can't recall. Does this mention if it is full-time or part-time?

Through Chair, Councilor Strezo, these positions, all of the four positions are full-time. and my colleague Chris Osman, Director of Summer Promise. Happy to answer any position specific questions here.

And please feel free to jump in, Director Spencer or Director Hussman.

Okay. If not, may I go ahead? Are we cool?

Please, Councilor Strezo.

Awesome. Second, I had... Okay, thank you.

I'm so sorry, Councilor Strezo. It seems like you've dropped off again.

Okay. And Preventative Services, we're doing okay?

Sorry, we lost a little bit of what you said there.

Okay. Last, thank you for keeping me. Let me know right away.

I'm sorry we've lost you again. I apologize for the technical glitches. I want to make sure that we're getting your questions, Councilor Strezo. Sorry, please try now.

Okay. You know what? If any other colleagues have questions,

Okay, I'm sorry that these problems are persisting. Councilor Link?

Thank you, Chair. Just a real quick question. Out of school time is something as a drum I've been beating on. Is this the coordinator position going to be able to help us improve? The out-of-school time program spread so that there's less disparity across the different schools.

Through the chair, I'm happy to speak to that. So this specific out-of-school time position was created on the city side as the out-of-school time community coordinator. So the focus of this position is more on supporting the outside agencies that provide out-of-school time programming. in addition to the Somerville Public Schools. That being said, the position is being currently leveraged to lead the Out of School Time Steering Committee, which is a partnership between the Summer Promise Department and Somerville Public Schools working on looking at, we just completed the out-of-school time survey, looking to increase the systemic capacity and also looking at the disparities in enrollment data across programs as well.

Phenomenal. I'm really happy to hear that. And this is an awesome role. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilor Strezo.

Thank you. Did it work? Am I okay? Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Okay, let's try it this way. Let me put my hand down. Now... Hey, Director Hosman, how are you doing? Through you, Mr. Chair, my questions aren't for you, but it's nice to see you again. I do have a question as I was discussing the substance abuse prevention and intervention specialist and not sure who is here to speak on that, I assume. Manager Malik or if interim HHS director is here but had a question about the what the plan is as we have a a new year Potentially new approach to all of this. What direction are you going or what research, what statistics are you going on when we talk about prevention and prevention? Addiction.

Going into the new year what is the approach going into this fiscal budget year? And is there room for shifting of trends of addiction, etc.? And I can go into detail after you answer that question.

Hi, Nikki Spencer, Acting Director of Health and Human Services, while our fearless leader, Karen Carroll, is out on a short leave. She, her, hers. Thank you for the question and through the chair. Both the prevention services coordinator is an HHS position, has been and continues to do great work with both youth of different ages, different age groups and also adults. I believe that this group actually just had a community event. with the results of our annual survey of our high schoolers around sort of and other ages I believe around both the protective factors and also the recent trends that you're speaking to, Councilor, so that our activities can be up to date.

We don't have our Director of Prevention here tonight, but if you certainly have ideas or want more information about that role, we can certainly connect offline. As for the school role, which is the substance abuse prevention and intervention specialist, my understanding is that this used to be a halftime More of like a counseling position over an SPS and in conversations between HHS and SPS, there was a sort of acknowledgement of the need to make this a full-time role to better support the school population. So we can certainly get you more information about how that role has developed, but this has been a need that we've continued to see grow. And so between HHS and SPS using these funds to address these concerns across our students and our families.

Through you, Mr. Chair, to Acting Director Spencer, thank you very much for that. And yes, that is a good start to where I'd like to go because I did have concerns Abate, for instance, like vaping in the high school and where the trends are with vaping. I have walked with the principal or members, walked in the high school during high school days to have... Students vaping right in front of you, right there in regular Dale class schedule. So I have a deep concern with this. We know that vaping has been an issue for years. You know, it's highly addictive. We also know it's highly carcinogenic and extremely damaging. And we know it's also very, very...

Frequently how common it is and how some students don't even want to go to certain bathrooms or a bathroom at all because they know that it's just going to be vaping. So I do have concerns about how we're adjusting and modifying and what programs are working and where we're amending that to... to what we are seeing on the ground like I said walk through the high school and you're going to see students vaping just right there with complete confidence of it not being an issue So I am curious to see how we do amend that in going into the new fiscal year. Another question and concern I have is online gambling. My son, I am not a sports fan, but my son really, really is. And so I have sat through numerous football games at this moment and am learning more.

I have a point to this, but any sports fan in any field will see the complete emergence of of online gambling, of betting, of how casual it's going, how celebrities are stepping in to push this out, and how devastating gambling is as an addiction. Being marketed, of course, to 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds, and anybody who loves sports. And so I'm wondering if you're seeing trends or discussions on that yet, and if there is an approach to... The normalizing of sports betting and turning on any game, any sports game, anywhere and seeing constant barrages of advertisements.

that are definitely going to make our teens susceptible to that horrible addiction.

Through the Chair, thank you, Councilor. Those are very astute observations. I can't recall off the top of my head the level of detail, especially around gambling. However, I think that we can find another opportunity to really understand more your concerns. And these positions are really key. to making sure that in addition to the city and the schools that our families and our youth are sort of part of the leadership of addressing the concerning behaviors that you're seeing. and in particular I think our Director of Prevention has really noted that there are protective factors that we should be working on as well and that we have a lot of strengths from our families and our youth to bring to the table. So these roles are really important for that work, and I look forward to engaging more with the insights that you're bringing to us.

Mr. Chair, through you, to our acting director, thank you very much for that. Yeah, this is just the opening of a dialogue. Exploration of where we go from here but yeah definitely just wanted to relay that and thoughts and just how the city is modifying that and how we do modifying our addiction. Services for our youth and beyond. But thank you very much for that. And I'm very much looking forward to the conversation. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Strezo. I have a question for assembled staff related to this. Just to be clear. So first of all, these are roles that would be within health and human services, not within some rural public schools. Is that correct?

To Mr. Chair, the first three, the Out-of-School Time Coordinator, the Youth Workplace Learning Coordinator, and the Prevention Services Coordinator are located in HHS. The final one, substance abuse prevention and intervention specialist, is a role located in the school. I believe half of the funding comes from the school budget and the other half we're proposing would come from this fund.

Thank you. And I note the thematic connection of the Medical Marijuana Stabilization Fund and substance abuse prevention. Is there a legal connection or a sort of planned connection to be using funds? A related question is... Have any of the funds in the medical marijuana stabilization fund come from our cannabis dispensaries in the city or from other related sources?

Drew Chair, Anoop Malik, HHS Finance Manager. This medicinal marijuana bucket accounted for all funds through the various establishments that had previously been established. opened up within the city of Somerville through the agreements and such. There were certain percentages of amounts that were sort of That makes up this bucket. And so... This is the FY2027 funding approval. However, in FY2026, particularly in... March of 2025 and May of 2025, we had done extensive studies to...

See the connection between these positions and how they connect to medicinal marijuana funds and so they are all sort of supporting to put into perspective and this one bucket is funding these positions.

I understand this bucket is funding them. I'm just interested in the question of, is there a legal connection? Was this... Stabilization Fund established with that specific intention and purpose. Director Bean?

Yes, Mr. Chairman, exactly. We vetted this out legally with the Department of Revenue, so there is an absolute connection between the source. In this case, these are community agreements with the... Dispensaries. I want to make the distinction, the sales do not flow to this stabilization fund, the sales flow to the general fund. So these were agreements that were forged early on when the Medical Dispensaries came into being. And that's where the funding is coming from.

And could we, in theory, use these funds on absolutely anything we want? Or is there some requirement that we use them in part for substance abuse prevention?

There has to be a nexus. There has to be a nexus for education or prevention. So we can't use it for any and all things.

Thank you. And just generally, I'm curious... Obviously substance abuse prevention is a hugely important thing. Staffing a position for substance abuse prevention may or may not be as effective as we want it to be. And I'm just curious, how are we making sure, how are we checking to assess whether The value of having, in this case, two full-time staff trying to do intervention around substance abuse with youth, whether that's actually connecting and making a difference or not.

To you, Mr. Chair, that's an excellent question. I believe both of these positions sort of evolved with time based on the needs that we're seeing, especially with the annual survey that is done. where we can see various trends in how youth are engaging in different protective and risky behaviors and particularly around substances. In particular, on the prevention services side, a lot of youth are engaged in the actual work of reaching out to their peers. I don't have evaluation data on hand right now, but certainly we could share the successes that we've seen and how we have All through the programming over time to better meet those needs so it certainly starts with engaging with youth where they are making them

Sort of giving them leadership opportunities to be a part of this, engaging families, and also keeping track of the trends because they do change, as Councillor Strezo noted, year to year. And so there's a lot of good work that goes into that and happy to engage in more detail.

Thank you. Any other staff or any other counselors on the committee have any other questions or comments? Okay, then seeing no more discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you all. And I believe several of our staff are free to go. If that is true for you, then thank you very much and have a great evening. Item 11, Mayor's Request 26-0164, requesting approval to accept and expend an $87,848 grant with no new match required. From the Executive Office of Aging and Independence to the Council on Aging for Health, Wellness, Social, and Educational Programming. And I believe we have Director Ashley Speleotis of the Council on Aging here to speak on this item.

and also I know Manager Malik you may be in a position to speak on this item so Director Spelliotis, Manager Malik can you please tell us about this grant?

Sure, absolutely. Ashley Spoliotis, thank you for having me, the Director of the Council on Aging. For those familiar, this is a yearly grant that the City receives from the Department of Aging and Independence.

And I'm so sorry, Director Spelliotis, sorry to interrupt you. I see a hand from liaison Radassi. Liaison, do you have something to add or ask here?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. A little late now, but I was just going to let you know that Denise Taylor had joined the meeting. So if you did want to go back to the comms item, we could. But since Director Spoliotis has already started, I don't want to ruin the flow there. So just wanted to give you a heads up about that.

Great, why don't we see this item through and then go back to that item. My apologies, Director Spelliotis, please continue.

Of course. So as I was saying, this is a yearly grant that we receive. This is actually half the grant. The first half we received in late 2025. and this portion of the grant is actually broken up over three installment plans so we've received two out of the three Parts of the grants already the final 30,000 will be receiving in late April but irregardless it's split up differently this year how we receive it but we always use it the same way. We use it for direct programming at our senior center. So we use it for almost all of the exercise classes, to defray the cost of meals, to have guest instructors come in. Educational Events, and really defray the cost of what people pay to enjoy programming at our senior centers.

For example, when we have our special lunches with rental of the hall, transportation, the lunch, it can be upwards of over $30 per person and we're charging... Residents $5 to $10 to come and enjoy a performance and a meal together. So really across the board, social work programming. Socialization, Health and Wellness, Nutrition are all covered by this grant that we receive. And I'm happy to take any questions.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Any questions or comments from members of the committee? I just want to informally commend you on your work I've had the pleasure of attending some of these events they're always incredibly well organized it seems like something that really helps forge and maintain community So that's deeply appreciated.

Thank you.

Okay, if there's no more discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Also, now, Manager Malik, are you intending to stay and speak on the Veterans Memorial Cemetery grant? Director, sorry, Liaison Radassi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to take a weight off your plate and just let you know I'm in constant contact with the staff to let them know which items they should stay on for if they're good to leave the meeting. So just wanted to take that off your plate in terms of responsibilities.

Thank you. Well, I wanted to appreciate everybody, appreciate you, Director Spelliotis, and everybody who's come. Thank you for being in contact with them, Leah and Radassi. And for anyone who's all done, have a great rest of your evening. Okay, shall we go back to item nine and take that item out of order with communications director Denise Taylor? Item 9. ID 26-0089. The Mayor requesting approval of a transfer of $3,000 from the Communications Department Professional and Technical Services account. to the Somerville Public Schools Professional Salaries Account for consulting services related to the inaugural event. Director Taylor

Yes, to the chair. This is to cover 100 hours of support for the inaugural event. to pay director Charlie Jabbour, the drama director at the high school, who was a co-producer on the inauguration ceremony. and was enormous help to us in particular with technical stage planning and coordination of youth performers. This represents about 20 hours that went into load-in, load-out staging and rehearsals, as well as a little bit over six hours per week. over about 13 weeks where we planned the ceremony, coordinated the ceremony, and followed up on the necessary steps to produce it. So this is to pay him over time for his contribution to the production.

Thank you. Any comments or discussion from members of the committee? In my opinion, that was an incredibly well organized and delightful event. I appreciate you and please extend my appreciation to him as well for his work. Seeing no more discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you, Director Taylor. Moving on to easements. Item 12, Mayor's Request 26-0160. Requesting approval. of a pedestrian access sidewalk easement and maintenance license at 16 to 20 Medford Street. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I'm hearing. Councilor Scott. Ah, Councilor Scott, sorry, with the way Zoom works, you are not on my first screen until you begin to speak, so I apologize, I didn't see you waving. Councilor Scott.

That's okay. Just letting you know that... This is an easement based on a project that was happening in Ward 2. This is about an expansion of a sidewalk. It's a fairly standard fare. Attorney Selkirk has done it just great. I've reviewed it, and I would recommend approval.

Thank you very much. Special Counsel Kathy Lester Salkert is here from the City's Attorney's Office. Counsel Salkert, would you please tell us about the Seisman?

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think Councilor Scott did a wonderful job already. This is a public access sidewalk easement, which is a standard required through the site plan approval for this project. It was in his word, 50-unit development. And it's an easement for the part of the land that is owned by the developer, license for the part of the land that's owned by the city. It appears as one sidewalk. And the other standard feature is that the developers are responsible for maintaining the sidewalk and for removing snow and things of that nature going forward. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Council. Any questions or comments from the committee? Well, echoing what Councilor Scott said, this sounds wonderful, and thank you so much for your work in this. My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. This item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Item 13, veterans related. Sorry, Councilor Scott, I heard a noise. Do you have any other?

I was just trying to save us time earlier. Let's keep going.

Thanks. Veterans related. Item 13, Mayor's Request 26-0113. Requesting approval to accept and expend a $15,000 grant that requires a match from the Mass General Court and the State Historical Records Advisory Board. The Veterans Service Department for support of the Veterans Memorial Cemetery and the Archival Digitization Project. I believe we have Director of Veterans Services Jerome Thomas or Manager Malik here to speak on this item.

Yeah, how you doing? This is Jerome Thomas, Director of Veterans Services, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you guys today. So here, just to request approval of accepting this grant on this project that we're trying to accomplish, we'll document, well, sorry, we'll digitize documentations and preservation for Somerville Veterans Memorials. Monuments, sites, and related historical materials. The goal is basically to create a centralized public Publicly Accessible Digital Archive that honors veterans here in Somerville and strengthens the historical understanding across the community. Open to questions if we have any.

Thank you so much, Director Thomas. I see Councilor Strezo.

Hi. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, to our director. Dr. Thomas, what does the digitization project look like and how long do you anticipate it taking?

Okay. So the project will focus on archiving and digitizing preservation activities. Photography or documenting through photos of all of our veteran memorials and sites, developing a GIS mapping system for all the memorials and sites as well, digitizing of the Historical Records and Materials, and creating a searchable online archive for public and educational use. Engagement with schools, museums, libraries, and local historical organizations. We're expecting this to go out until the end of this year, December 2026, to gather all that information and put it into a nice database.

One of the reasons why we're looking at doing this is basically it is, I mean, we have over 60 veteran squares, monuments, and memorials throughout the city, you know, with the lack of... Many of them lack, basically, to complete documentations of their meanings. We're at risk of a long-term informational loss. So if we don't do this now, we don't want to lose all the history that we have here in Somerville as time goes on. So we're looking to preserve all that information.

Director Thomas, through you, Chair, to Director Thomas, thank you for that. That's great. So you anticipate this being completed by the end of the year? Yes, ma'am. Cool. and so I appreciate you mentioning How the digitalization process will look like, so you anticipate it being like a website. Is there any way to consider, this is, you don't have to answer me now, but one thing that We may know some of our veterans will not or may not, and some people just, they won't. They won't go online necessarily. And for the past couple of years, as you have heard and you have fought for the veterans of our community that have died,

I've been really pushing over the past years to make the return and the restoration of our monuments more present or accessible in the community and returned in certain locations, right? And some of the pushback from previous conversations, not by you, but, or a point that was made was, well, it's, some of it's online, they can just look online, but we, and I'm sure that you know this too, that Some of our veterans, they won't go online. They won't look online. They're not going to find it or it might not be as accessible to them. To just intrinsically expect to go online to look for it. So as this project wraps up and you are preparing to

I'm happy to talk about this further, but I just make the suggestion or idea that the VFW Hall and even just Dillboy has a computer or some kind of way that right then and there they can get to it to the website or some kind of Database right down in there in those spaces to where we're bringing it to them instead of expecting us sometimes as a city we just expect people to find the information and anticipate that they just know to but but some of our residents just may not so that we figure out a process to bring that to them as well like as a long-term standing way that they can access the database in their spaces thank you

Thank you, Director Thomas.

Any other questions or comments from the committee? Seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting.

Mr.

Chair? Yes, Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see item number 14 is a recommendation of the CPA committee as are items number 21 through 28. Those or 21 through 27, my apologies. These are recommendations that were made from the Community Preservation Committee, a very dedicated group of residents and all of their Reports and explanations have been attached. With your leave, I'd like to take those up together so that we can recommend approval and move on.

Councilor, I hear this motion. The reason why I did not group them together with this one was this is the only CPA-related veterans-related item. and I want to let Director Thomas log off after this item. So I would be happy to take up the other items starting with item 21. Once we get to that chunk, I'm not quite sure how we negotiate if there's a motion and a discussion on the motion.

Sir, this is just a request of a member to the presiding officer. There's no motion on the floor. You can just say, no, thank you, sir, and move on. Okay.

All right, no thanks to the whole idea, but I'm happy to chunk them when we get to item 21. Councilor Strezo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a few questions on a few of the independent... Items recommended for approval on CPA. So I...

Let's let's talk about those when we get to those. Right.

What I'm saying is, is that, yeah, I don't want to lump them. Not saying we have to go go through everyone with a fine tooth comb, but some of the items I do have questions, others I don't. So.

Thank you I appreciate that clarification. Let's move on to item 14, Mayor's Request 26-0152, requesting the appropriation of $306,250 from the Community Preservation Act. Historic Preservation Reserve for restoration of the Veterans Memorial Cemetery and Veterans Monuments. Director Thomas.

Appreciate it. So this project here that we're talking about now, so this project represents the critical investment in the preservation of Somerville's historic veterans memorials. and assures that these sites receive professional conservation treatment that's required to protect them for future generations. So this grant that we're trying to get accepted now is to procure the qualified historical conservation contractor to perform preservation, restoration, and Rehabilitation work over at the Somerville Veterans Memorial Cemetery located at 1330 Broadway. So we are focusing right now over at that cemetery to get the work done.

Thank you so much. Any questions or comments? for the Committee. All right, seeing none. Oh, I'm sorry, Councilor Hardt.

No problem. Thank you, Chair Wheeler, and through you to Director Thomas. Thank you so much for your work. In the city, and particularly at the Memorial Cemetery, can you just tell us briefly a little bit more about what the work, specifically the work that needs to be done?

Sure. Thank you for the question. The core project elements will include the conservation of 69 bronze flat grave markers that are there. Restoration of major bronze features that are located at the cemetery, including the World War II plaque and the Lieutenant Logan statue that is there as well. Cleaning and repairing of the granite memorials, including those honoring World War I, again, or World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam veterans. Full restoration of the historical monuments Well, the historic iron fence and the entrance post that's there at the cemetery and very limited preservation driven landscape. We rehabilitate and improve safety and protection of memorial functions or functionality.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

Councilor Strezo.

Thank you. Lowering hand. Hi. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to Dr. Thomas. What is the timeline you're anticipating on this?

So the timeline on this is... We're trying to be aggressive with it. We do have the memorial... Ceremony coming up on Memorial Day this year. So we're going to try to put the RFP out now, get the contract in by the 1st of April, hopefully, and the work to start very soon after that. So our goal, our goal would be to have at least the majority of the work done by Memorial Day. After that, then, I mean, we may have to push it out until the end of June. Really going to be trying to push for that Memorial Day timeframe.

Thank you. That's very impressive. No, that's wonderful. And if I may, too, thank you, Director Thomas. If I may, Mr. Chair, through you to the administration. One thing that I think is important is that transparency and visibility. And as many of us have seen over the past years of veterans feeling threatened, kind of neglected and not and visible, especially with the memorials. As we do this, Would it be possible through some kind of allocation or sign created through, I don't know, the communications department or what have you, placed... Just communicating that this restoration is happening. I think typically you do put up a sign when a CPA project goes up. There's usually something, isn't there?

specifically if there is not that we are very much relaying that this is happening we see you we're validating This is important. Look at us modernizing it, updating it, making it beautiful for you, for the veterans. I think they'll really appreciate it. I know Director Thomas is going to do everything necessary On his end, and I'm sure that the veterans already know, but just if we have any other visitors coming to the community that they're very well aware of this as well. Would that be possible? Someone from the mayor's office, if you may.

I see Liaison Rosasi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, I'm happy to work with comms and veteran services on this and see what the usual process is and if we can incorporate any of your suggestions.

Thank you. Happy to talk further about it if you wish as well. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Director Thomas. If there are no more comments or questions from the committee, then this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thanks and have a good day. Thank you. Appreciate it. Item 15, Energy-Related Appropriations. This is Mayor's Request ID 26-0199 requesting approval to appropriate $299,460 from the Energy Stabilization Fund. to replace the lighting at Dilboy Field. And I believe we have Energy Manager for the Office of Sustainability and Environment, Garrett Anderson, here to speak on this matter. Would you please tell us about this appropriation?

Sure, thank you.

I'm sorry to interrupt. I saw hands from Councilor Scott and Councilor Link. Are these comments now about this matter before we hear from Mr. Anderson?

Mr. Chair for the sake of expediency I would encourage us to take up items number 15 through 19 which are all appropriations from the energy stabilization fund Just so if anybody has any questions about any of those, they can be asked now and we can dispose of all the items together.

Thank you. I think that's a great suggestion. Can I ask one question in this kind of situation? Is it considered fine to waive the readings of these items and take them up together or shall I read them into the record? Okay, that is within my choices. Okay. Well, I am going to waive the readings of these items. For anybody curious about the particulars to the agenda in minutes, say that we are taking up items 15 through 19 together and then return the floor to Manager Anderson. Please continue.

Thank you and glad to talk about all of them separately or together and however we like. So thank you, happy to be here this evening. I'm excited and glad to be talking about Really kind of two batches of projects. The first is lighting replacements at Dillboy Field and Trum Field. These are Energy saving measures, highly efficient LED lights and replacing older metal halide lights, you know, about a two-third savings in the energy use. So they're just good projects, tremendous. Money and energy savers usually pay themselves back in just a few years. The other batch of projects are a series of treatments to the traffic and parking building between Ball Square and

Davis Square to substantially decarbonize that building and offset a good portion of the electrical of the anticipated electrical use of that building with a new city-owned solar array on the roof. So those three projects together will remove the gas-fired boiler plants and replace it with two kinds of heat pumps. and do some treatments of the basement to you know reduce air infiltration and you know add some insulation and then also adding the solar ramp top so collectively these are you know both Thank you and glad to be here.

Thank you. I see Councilor Link.

Yes, Chair, through you, thank you. Just really quick, just want to applaud and say thank you so much for this project. I really am so excited to see. that we're taking the decarbonization seriously and it looks like it's going to pay dividends. So awesome. Thank you so much.

If there are any other comments or discussion from committee members? Seeing none, these items are all laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Thank you for joining us. Okay, moving on to item 20 if the clerk would scroll down. Mayor's Request 26-0084 Requesting an appropriation and authorization to borrow $2 million in a bond for financing a portion of the Kennedy Schoolyard renovation project. as recommended by the Community Preservation Committee. Now, I believe we have Director of Finance and Administration for the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Ellen Inacio, here. Liaison Radassi.

Through the chair, I might just repeat Councillor Scott's suggestion that we take up the CPA items together just since Alan will be speaking to all those items and can speak to the process of how the funds are determined to be allocated for certain projects. and then he can answer any specific questions about particular projects that counselors may have.

Thank you. I wasn't sure if the bond item was substantially different than the appropriations from the CPC but If not, why don't we take that suggestion and take up these items all together. This is item 20 through... Right, 26 is also, 27 is also, what is the last of these? Oh, I see. 28, I believe. 28, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Scott. Why don't we take up items 20 through 28 together? Councilor Scott, do you have anything else on this matter?

Thank you. To your point, the bond is substantively different. However, it is related to the very first recommendation of the CPA committee. I just for folks who are curious about these grants at home, perhaps a quick summary that will help us These are recommendations of the CPC. The projects have been spec'd and presented to them and conditioned by them. The City Council doesn't have a role here other than Just the oversight. If there was a project that had a great deal of outcry from the community that we should not fund that with CBC funds, but customarily this is simply adopting the recommendations of the CBC. That said, of course, if colleagues have questions, go for it. But thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. I appreciate that context. Director Inacio, would you like to resume?

Thank you for the introduction. I'll just briefly, Alan Anasio, Director of Finance and Community OSPCD for the record. Yes, so 20 and 21, items number 20 and 21 absolutely go together and are Essential to move the project forward. Quick recap for the new counselors. The CPA program runs an annual RFP. open primarily in the summer months to which in the fall the CPC committee evaluates all of those applications and then The recommendations you are seeing now are essentially this fall's set of applicants and awarded projects. So with that, Kennedy School has been a highly anticipated project. It's gone to extensive community outreach and planning.

There will be a bonding component. So the CPC has authorized a $2 million borrowing and for Anyone that wants to understand functionally what that will mean is it will not be an immediate $2 million hit to the CPC. Sort of the beauty or the flexibility that it allows the CPC is We will get the authorization tonight and then annually the CPA fund will only be charged the annual debt service on the bonding. And so that is the Kennedy School and then happy to take any other questions on any of the other awarded projects that you may have tonight.

Thank you, Director Ignacio. Any questions or comments from the committee? I guess first about these Kennedy schoolyard related items. Councilor Strezo.

Thank you. Yes, I guess we could start with the Kennedy School. And no, we do not have a question on every single agenda item. I want to be clear about that, colleagues. Anyhow, with the Kennedy School, thanks, Mr. Chair, with the Kennedy School project. Was the, where, is it in the design process? Was it already, been keeping track of what Kennedy School did? PDA have said and Disability and and Playground Accessibility conversations that have been had, and we've discussed this in the HCDE committee as well. So do you have any updates on that, where they are in the process?

So through you, Chair Wheeler, to Councilor Strezo, unfortunately, both Director Oliveira and Project Manager Brodenkamp were not available The process is essentially wrapping up design and we are hoping with these votes we will be able to go out to bid fairly shortly. I believe the goal is still to at least get one Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. obviously will not be able to tackle the full phase of this probably in the in the upcoming summer months but hoping to get at least one partial phase out to bid and get the project much long-awaited project out and moving

Thank you very much, Director. Mr. Chair, do you prefer if I just ask my questions now or hop back in line?

Thanks. Well, I see a hand from Liaison Radassi. Why don't I call on her and we can come back to you. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. I just wanted to flag that actually the Director Oliveira from PSUF did submit a communication that will be on the agenda for this week that outlines all the community engagement processes that PSUF has. Thank you, liaison. Councilor Strezo, why don't you continue?

Strezo, if you're ready with more questions or comments, please go ahead.

You're right. Thank you, because I'm talking to the computer, but I'm not unmuting. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Director. I look forward to that and the discussion. Quick question. I looked over the Blessing of the Bay. CPA award and it's it's kind of vague so uh director could you possibly just update give like a couple of sentence summary on this

Yes, sure. So this is actually a, through you, Chair, to Councilor Strezo, this is actually a great bang for your book project, Leveraging CPA Money. So- We've invested $500,000 in a previous round. We're asking for an additional $100,000 to round out the project budget. There's a couple of much larger grants. and Foundation Grant that will hopefully wrap this up. This is going to be adding 0.6 of an acre of additional open space. There will be some right-of-way easement work that will add to the Add to the open space, we're going to be adding some urban forestry elements, some shade tree elements, making it a more pedestrian friendly and walkable community path.

and I'm happy to contact you with project manager on this is Meg Coghlan and it's we'll be working very closely with Myra who was actually the I believe we needed a private Applicant for one of the grants. So they are the grantor on one of the matching grants. And so PSOC will be working very closely with MIRA, Mystic River Watershed Association. on the design and implementation of this project.

Mr. Chair, through you to Director, thank you very much. One request, we have a resident in the neighborhood that makes those pretty planters right by the bench. Please leave it alone. Have her free creative expression on that. She brightens the neighborhood with it. So only small requests. But excited to hear about this because I think that whole area is not always... Right. It's not always remembered and will become an update. So I'm really grateful for that. Mr. Chair, may I just ask one? Please. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Number 23. I had him on the agenda about the continued preservation of 59 Cross Street. Can you give me a quick update on that?

Yes, thank you again through you, Chair, to Councilor Strezo. This is hopefully for the time being one of the final phases of the several rounds of projects we have done at the Hispanic Association. Obviously a great historic building along with tons of community work that goes out of there. The elevator is essentially wrapping up and we're hoping to have a ribbon cutting on that. Yep, well, by the reaction, we'll be happy to send you an invite to the ribbon cutting. And then this will be for the final exterior masonry and foundation work that is needed to bring it up to its historical state.

Thank you, Director. I'm so excited through you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Oh, boy. And last, really quick, item number 26, the SHA improvements of open space. and I saw that there was a on the application it talks about open space specifically and then of course by the by the basketball courts and also is as I recall the garden it's it's winter so the garden is it still going to stay in the location it is And if this is too detailed and you're like, I don't want to throw you a curveball question on this, if you may not know it offhand... But I know in the past, I believe the garden was last.

Modernized by Groundwork Somerville, is there still a continued partnership on that or what the status is on that or how do you wish to proceed with the CPA grant?

Thank you, through the chair, Councilor Strezo. A little bit out of my wheelhouse since this is a joint project with both PSUP and the Housing Authority. Not as familiar, I'm sure, both We work very closely together and I'm sure we'll be very involved. And knowing PSOF's affinity for gardens, I'm sure that will be noted and I can certainly have I can't remember the project manager for this offhand, but I can certainly have the PSOF member in charge get back to you with additional details on that.

Director, Mr. Chair, through you to Director, I appreciate that. In the past, there have been some questions and concerns brought up by residents about the gardens location. Okay, is that it? Okay, good. I'm happy to talk offline about that. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Strezo. If that's the end of those questions, I see Councilor Link.

Yes, thank you, Jared. Just one quick question. On item 24, the $75,000 for Buddies, I would be excited to see Buddies come back. I do understand, though, that They need quite a bit more money to actually viably reopen. Last I saw was something like $200,000. So I'm just curious, what would happen It sounds like there's the potential that we would send $75,000 and then maybe nothing would actually happen. So if you could just answer that concern, I'd appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you. Through you, Chair, to Councilor Link. Absolutely excellent and on-point question. This was discussed by the CPC Committee and a couple things of note on the conditions, which I believe should also be laid out in the recommendation and award. Two things to note on that. So from a CPA eligibility standpoint, what we've done is Buddy's CART. The dining cart is actually going to be the historically significant asset or property. So the condition is that In the event that they are not able to bring their establishment back in working order, the dining cart needs to remain in Somerville as a historic asset. And then furthermore, To your exact point, the committee also debated this at length and there is a clawback provision related to their other ongoing legal action that

Should they recover everything that they need to recover through any other legal means, there is a clawback provision written in.

Thank you very much.

I have a comment and I'll try to keep this brief. I had the pleasure of reading through those minutes around these discussions in the Community Preservation Committee and also seeing some of... What you, Director Ranacio, talked about with the funding in particular of the $2 million bond for the Kennedy Schoolyard. Project. One thing I noted, and tell me if I'm not phrasing this right, is that the full bond wouldn't be issued until costs are actually incurred, so that if the project were able to finish under the budget, the entire bond might not be borrowed. Is that the case?

Through the chair, yes. To spare a whole... to spare you the boredom of municipal finance. As a city, we only go out to bond a couple of times a year and we collectively, and I see Mr. Bean jumping in, Director Bean jumping in, We assess our bonding needs holistically and kind of try to efficiently go out for our bonding. So there is an opportunity to rescind and return if the project is to come under budget. Thank you.

Director Bean, please. Mr. Chairman, brief discussion here is that once you authorize to borrow Then we set up a bond account and the city can begin spending on the project. We float the cash, basically. And whatever we have expended between now and June 30th, we would borrow. We borrow annually in May only what we have expended. that's what will happen throughout the so you may be looking at authorizing two million but you might spend a half a million this year but we will only borrow a half a million and then the rest will be borrowed in subsequent years that's how it works

Thank you. Through the chair and to sort of also provide some comfort on this from the CPC perspective, we only take on debt service. We only take on the debt service payment as we accumulate it. So It'll probably start off as a smaller debt service payment and then grow.

Thank you. And then also just on the question of the overall size of this project, I just wanted to share that. I was initially surprised to see this amount of $3 million for a playground renovation whose footprint is relatively small, but I had the pleasure of speaking with Senior Planner for Public Space and Urban Forests, Forestry, John Bronenkant, who explained the scope of the project to me. What I didn't realize is this is not only a playground renovation, it's also a major renovation of the parking lot and driveway areas to install a stormwater holding container below ground. and to expand the footprint of the play area as well as to make the the whole surface of the play area permeable and to make it accessible especially for the many students with disabilities who attend the Kennedy.

So I'm excited to see that project and I was excited to learn about the full scope of it. Are there any other comments or questions about any of these CPA related items? Okay, well, echoing Councilor Strezo's enthusiasm about these, each one is exciting for different reasons. Thank you all for your help, staff, and for your commitment to this. If there's no more discussion, these items are laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Okay, moving on to item 29. Mayor's request 26-0085, requesting approval of a time-only contract extension.

until December 31, 2027 for Crawley Cottrell LLC to complete additional services for redesign and construction administration fees for Junction Park. Is this one that you are going to speak on, Director Inacio?

Yes, correct. Thank you through the chair. This is a very routine item. It's a time only, no additional cost contract extension. I believe some counselors this project actually had its ribbon cutting and is open very significantly late in the fall in 2025. As such, it's open, it's available. There are some punch lists, sort of like last minute details that we are going to address in the spring, early summertime. for which we have to retain the designer on record to kind of like sign off and finalize and button up the project. for efficiency's sake and to not keep coming back we put a very conservative extension date hoping to wrap up way before this 12-31-27 but for efficiency's sake figured no need to bore anyone with this one again

Thank you. Any questions or discussion? Okay, seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Item 30, Mayor's Request 26-0097, requesting approval to pay prior year invoices totaling $3,342.05 using available funds in various police department ordinary maintenance accounts for various services. So I believe this is one that, do we have, Emily Wisdom, excellent. We have Director of Finance and Administration at Somerville Police Department, Emily Wisdom. Director Wisdom, could you please tell us about this invoice?

Good evening, Chair. Thank you so much. So there are a couple invoices that the main one is the bill for Verizon. Unfortunately, Verizon mails out the bills. and when they print it, it's quite large and we never received it at the end of the fiscal year, 25. and it's taken several months for them to be able to reprint a copy and send out to us so we still have a little bit of a prior year purchase order open but it doesn't cover the entirety so um We're asking to pay that bill. And there is some CareWorks, which is our vendor who handles our 111F. Injuries, Case Management. They do not bill timely.

So we just kind of get those whenever we get them. And sometimes they're from... Thank you for watching! and do all our due diligence but we do receive some of these that are a couple dollars here and there that are outstanding bills from them that they've just never collected and then I believe that there is one that came a couple that came right at the end of the fiscal year billed around June 30 and so they just didn't make it in the fiscal year so we had to open PO we'll have to open a PO and pay for those in in the FY26 but just a just a handful there

Thank you, Director Wisdom. Are there any questions or comments from the committee? Councilor Link.

Yeah, thank you, Chair. Just a real quick one. I'm just curious, how late can someone... If someone forgets to bill us, how late can they bill us that we would still entertain it?

There had been some staff turnover when I arrived. Last year, so we've been paying some bills from the 23-24 year that we finally have almost gotten caught up on all of the bills that were outstanding. Thank you so much for joining us. but the the latest we've seen is 23 so far that we've had to go back to and pay but we have set up a process you know it's our hope and our goal not to have to pay Bills. In the past, we've worked really hard to set up a general inbox so that no staff changeover allows things like that to slip through.

the cracks you know just what we can do to be a solution on our side as well as work with the vendors to try to help be a solution for them as well so um unfortunately Sometimes it does happen but it's happening less and less and we're really excited about that as we're cleaning up those bills.

Thank you.

Of course.

Thank you, Director Wisdom. Are there any other questions or comments about this item? Seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Moving on to item 31. So this list is police and fire department grant and gift acceptances. 31 is Mayor's Request 26-0169, requesting approval to accept and expend a $43,000 grant with no new match required from the Boston Office of Emergency Management to the Police Department for software. Director Wisdom, would you please speak on this item?

Yes, thank you. So I wanted to kind of start off. I know that many of you are new to the Finance Committee. I know Councilor Scott has probably heard this spiel from me before, so if he'll bear with me. UASI funds are the Urban Area Security Initiative, and they come from the Homeland Security Security Grant Program and they are when during the application process the state applies for these grant funds on behalf of the Boston region so the state applies for these grants and then once once the state has received an award they um the city of Boston is the fiduciary um office emergency management is the fiduciary that helps manage the grant from that purpose so essentially they form a contract and accept the grant award from from the state, much like I'm doing here tonight for our little ward.

So the city of Boston is responsible for the for the management of the grant and they handle they actually front all of the money for the for the UASI grant and then get reimbursed by the state as as it's spent. So within that there is something called the MHBSR, which is the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region. Each of the municipalities in the region, I believe there's eight, has a representative that kind of acts as a point of contact a jurisdictional point of contact if you will is what they call it to to kind of decide how the money gets spent. A lot of the money is spent by Boston Office of Emergency Management on behalf of the on behalf of the region on behalf of many

Municipalities because we share the resources so you know they do a lot of the procurement however there are some items that they do not procure and this these items will be one of them in the past so In the past, a lot of the software, especially a surveillance software or... Anything that has to do with the brick would have been bought through the intelligence and info sharing line of the grant. However, as the funds are kind of dwindling down with no kind of vision for FY 2025, There's a lot more conservativeness going around this. So we had asked for... Some of our money from a prior year which this is FY23 to be reallocated to a different project so that we could continue using a software that we have previously used on a regional level.

um so the um The two items, the software that we would like to purchase with the $43,000 grant is the first one is called GrayKey and it is a technology for um investigation and the second item is blue key um so we will use sorry director i believe it's blue voice right blue Blue Voice. Yes, I'm sorry. I think I just combined Grey Key with Blue Voice. I apologize. Blue Voice. You're correct. So... So the majority of the $43,000 will be spent on the Grey Key software. That's about $37,000 and some change. Like I said, this is a software that has been previously developed.

Pay for for the entire region however there are no regional funds this year to be able to purchase them to be able to purchase the software and so we have elected to request an allocation of the of the money to be able to pay for that and it was approved and they gave us this award letter when we receive an award letter we don't actually sign individual contracts for each Grant Award that we received from UAC through the Office of Emergency Management. We have an underlying MOA that says we will follow kind of the rules of The protocols for purchasing as in 30B procurement law from the state of Massachusetts and some of those things that, you know, they require some... Sometimes some forms for things. And so we have an MOA, you know, a standard contract that we agree to do the proper steps to spend the money. However, we do not sign a contract.

or anything like that directly with the UAC for the UAC grant. So we are actually a sub-sub-recipient. So in this, we've asked for $37,000 of the $43,000 for the grade key license. and the remaining six that is change we will use towards a partial purchase of the Blue Voice. We will be... Paying for the remainder of the Blue Voice out of our operating funds. Blue Voice is a... It is an AI software, but it is a closed AI software. So the Blue Voice allows for police officers who are... In the field to be able to reference

State Law, City Ordinances, Internal Police Policies So this blue voice is a controlled voice um app and it only it only works off of what we put into it so basically we get it it's a blank slate we upload the policies we want our um Police officers to you utilize and then this gives them a tool at their hand where they can use do quick searches for um State Law, like I said, State Law, ordinances, policy, so that they can answer questions and make better choices.

Thank you, Director. I'm seeing Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, this is, I heard something there. I heard that the Acquisition of the Blue Voice is only partially funded here. You wouldn't happen to know what the total acquisition cost is projected to be.

I am so sorry I don't have that right now but I can absolutely give you a memo with that amount as a follow-up. It will be coming out of our operating budget.

Sure. Mr. Chair, this is one of those where, again, free money. However, the gray key surveillance cracker, it's a phone cracker. It just lets the police department crack open a phone and read it. We've been told it was a regional resource. and I personally am not comfortable with it being inside the Somerville Police Department. When added to that, this Blue Voice AI tool for police, I'm Be happy to have a longer conversation about that, but for both of those reasons, I'll be voting no on this item tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Link.

I would just thank you, Chair. I want to echo Councilor Scott's hesitance on this one. I understand GreatKey is a tool that's been used and I'm happy to look more at that and understand better what important benefits it's created. You know, I tried to do my own research on Blue Voice, and I was unable to find really any information, the included attachments for this, where it was just a Screenshot of the website landing page and I see things like it helps with de-escalation and first aid and I'm not really comfortable with either of those things being rendered by AI.

and I also I would I would really want to understand better what our contracts look like on there and understanding what kind of data goes in where it lives what the large language models how they're trained where they're trained and I just I don't see any of that I have real hesitations around you know letting our our city data and potentially private and so on. I don't want to jump on the AI bandwagon here and say that it's going to be a good thing. I also don't want to jump on it and say it's necessarily a bad thing, but I don't have enough information about it.

Thank you, Councilor. Director Wisdom, do you want to respond to those?

So as the Director of Finance, I have basic information about the kind of the softwares that I was presenting tonight. I am happy to go back to the office tomorrow and have a memo written up with more of the information that you're seeking. I however do not have that tonight.

Thank you, Director. I want to share just an excerpt or two from the Surveillance Technology Annual Report for Great Key. As you mentioned, it's software that the police department has been using for a while now. So I'm just reading from that. Sorry, not the impact report. There's also an annual report entry, but this is for the impact report. The technology would only be used in cases in which a search warrant has been obtained in conjunction with the investigation allowing access to the device in question or with the owner's consent. The great key hardware, including the laptop computer used to analyze the data, will be housed in a secure room, digital forensics room, with access limited to three individuals in the SPD. The two great key trained detectives and their supervisor, their criminal investigation division commander. Access to the room will be limited by keycard access and hardcopy key to these three individuals' officers.

In addition, the digital forensics room is located in an area of the SPD where access is limited to authorized individuals with keycard authority. Elsewhere it says SPD utilizes write blocking software that's also password protected which prohibits copying of any files from the terminal. This device is used specifically in conjunction with a criminal investigation. Authority to use this technology would be granted by a valid search warrant or consent and could not be used indiscriminately. So those were things that were at least partially reassuring to me to read and I was glad to see that that Care is being taken that this immense power would be used, hopefully very narrowly. Is it your understanding that...

Do you think that there is a serious degree to which the police department takes these concerns?

Absolutely. Prior to this, the technology report was reviewed to make sure that the language was accurate. I don't know. I know that If I'm not mistaken, they're usually updated every year or so with any changes. So at this time, I do not know of any changes. As I said, we... The chief did review the report prior to me coming here to speak with you all about the software and he did not raise any issues with the current implementation. A report just wanted me to reassure you that the entirety of the Grey Key software would be purchased with the grant and then to

Scott, and then come back to you. Councilor Hardt?

Thank you, Chair Wheeler, and through you too, Director Wisdom, this may be You know, you may not be able to answer this question, but I'm just curious if you or perhaps someone else here knows the answer when a warrant is obtained for the use of the gray key. Software. Does that specify like a particular part of the phone? Like given that our phones are basically our computers with so much information on them, I'm just curious. If the warrant specifies like only call history or, you know, certain things like that. If anyone has any more information, thank you.

Through the chair, I, sorry, I do not have that information.

Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I think I might have cut myself off a little bit too early there. I appreciate these questions. I think they're fine policy questions here. I just want to be clear that the question for the city council here in this finance committee meeting is whether or not to accept the money from the state to be put towards these purposes. Of course, the police department has a very extensive budget and they can use money inside the department as they've already indicated to complete the purchase. of these and that's a policy matter that's up to the chief and the mayor and while I may take issue with that direction ultimately it's just a question of whether or not the only power we have as city council is whether or not to accept

I don't want to provide more money to fuel those surveillance uses. and of course if the police department would like to pursue that they have budget that can be used for that they can divert from other purposes or the mayor can increase their appropriation in the next year's fiscal budget. Thank you sir.

Thank you, Councillor Strezo.

Thank you, Mr.

I cloned myself. Did you see that? Okay, I'm back. There's what some of you want, but that's okay. So... Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I've reviewed with the administration this, and one of them is one of the requests, because I'm talking 31 and 32, one of them is ongoing. So it's already implemented and I reviewed it and the second is a pilot, as I recall. It seems, after extensive conversation on this with the administration, that this has been thought out. and deeply considered so that that this would be an and I'm willing to vote on it Mr. Chair if you wish to have individual votes for these two items let's just go ahead and do it.

Thanks. The only question in my mind is Director Wisdom mentioned possibly coming up with a memo providing additional information. Is that something that we would like to wait on? Another possibility could be that we... We either lay this on the table to vote in a future finance meeting or discharge without a recommendation So it can be voted on at the council meeting on Thursday I am.

Oh, am I still in?

Yes, please.

In my opinion, I think if you wish we can do a vote on 31. and then a vote on 32. Yeah, I believe that our director offered information on 32, the pilot, But the 32 would be a renewal, right? So it's already in action. And so...

Sorry, we're... 32 is a separate matter.

Wait, no, there are...

It's confusing. There's two pieces of software in both in item 31.

Okay. Oh, my apologies. Got it. If we want to hold on to it and keep it in committee, or I suggest if we keep it in committee after the memo is released... Director Wisdom, is there any timeline on this to where that would be a barrier? Because I'm fine waiting for an agenda. I'm sorry, a response.

So this money does expire. We're supposed to use the money prior to May 31st. So... We are hoping to move the money fairly quickly so that we can get it set up through the accounting process and such. But if you would like... If you want a memo to have some more information, it would be this Thursday. At this point, it's only two days. I could turn around a memo to you for the... for the council meeting on Thursday night if that would help.

Mr. Chair, on that, if we could, and interested in my colleagues' input, like I'm I've already researched, I've thought about it. I'm going to vote yes on this, but I'm also fine listening to what my fellow colleagues say. For that memo, and I respect that, so I'm fine to wait on that. So, Mr. Chair, if you'd like, or... Scott, if you'd prefer that we sever the item like we just move it out of committee and then sever the item on Thursday, I'm fine with that.

Mr. Chair, you're the presiding officer, so you can make that decision. I'm happy to vote on this tonight. A memo isn't going to change my perspective on these items. I'm very familiar with them. that said if it is your intention to leave this as a matter for the entire council I would I would not love discharging this without a recommendation. If your desire is to leave more time for counselors to do homework and have conversations with administration, I'd recommend leaving any committee until our next meeting. But like I said, I'm happy to vote to make. Thank you, sir.

Mr.

Chair. Thank you. Sorry, Councilor Strezo, I'm going to call on Councilor Langford.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yeah, I would really, I would like the memo, if for no other reason than because we've got, you know, some edification for the public, as well as myself, and I think that it would be Thank you. Councilor Strezo?

Thank you. The homework that was to be done was to be done before this meeting. So we'll just lay down, present that. And Mr. Chair, thanks for that. And to Councilor Scott, yes, I'm well aware that The chair has the upper say on where this agenda item goes. I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. That's why I asked. But yeah, I'm fine voting on this and then still seeing that agenda item. Link,

Thank you, Chair. I'm not going to go tit for tat through you, but the homework. is what I would like the police to do so I am perfectly happy to continue on I don't think that we need to make

Lake, and just echoing what you said before, the attachment to this item about Blue Voice Really was, in my memory, a screenshot of the front page of their website. Not a lot of information to go on. I'm inclined to keep this in committee, to look forward to this memo and to some more information about Blue Voice and voting on it at the next finance meeting. I'm seeing Liaison Radassi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to make a clarifying point that Emily Wisdom was saying that she could prepare the memo for Thursday if it was going to be before the City Council for a vote. So if it's staying in committee, just wanted to make sure that everyone's expectation was that she could have a little bit more time to work on gathering that information to submit it for the next finance committee meeting.

Thank you. Agreed. Yes, I do think having a bit more time would make sense. And I'm taking Councilor Scott's point about the scope of dealing with this. If that's something that the committee feels generally okay with, then let's lay this item on the table to keep in committee. to be taken up at a future meeting with thanks for this information, Director Wisdom.

Happy to.

Okay.

Moving on to item 32, Mayor's Request 26-0168, requesting approval to accept and expend a $50,000 grant with no new match required from the Boston Office of Emergency Management to the Police Department. for Target Hardening at the Police Department Headquarters. Director Wisdom.

Yes, so this is an additional award. We've already received $120,500 for this project to... to basically what they refer to in the grant as target hardening, which will be using a gate to secure The back lot where the police equipment is stored. It will not affect any public safety. Any public entrances, the front public entrance will remain untouched. This is just a preventative measure for the back lot where they store cruisers and other equipment. So this would be an additional $50,000 once the quote came back from Capital Investments. They determined that the $128,000 would not be enough, so we were able to request from UASI that...

We reallocated an additional $50,000 and they were kind enough to approve that reallocation. And so we would like to add this to the funds that we already have approved By the previous finance committee to be able to complete this work.

Thank you, Director Wisdom. Sort of a clarifying question. So I'm aware, as you said, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Area Security Initiative defines these national project areas in connection with its grants. You've already said on the previous item, you clarified helpfully that the signatory to those agreements is not the city of Somerville. Is that correct?

That is correct. We have a memorandum of understanding with the City of Boston that we will follow the guidelines of the grant. However, I do know that a lot of people are kind of watching the FY25 program. Notice of funding for UAC and that there's been some discussion on some changes that have been made. Those changes are not retroactive. A contract has already been formed between the state and the federal government and then same a contract has been formed for these this is FY23 money so FY23 This contract was formed between the state and Boston, and similarly, that was encapsulated in our Memorandum of Understanding. So I do not believe that they can just change any...

you know any of the notification of funding they they can't change those guidelines retroactively what they've all been signed they've have contracts that would require extensive discussion and Acceptance by multiple parties that that that's not what's happening so far the FY25 money as it is still up in the air completely and so forth. Again, it's not even anywhere close to the city of Somerville being kind of involved in a decision at this point. It still would have to go through. Thank you, Director.

Councilor Link?

just to uh thank um chair thank you uh so just to reiterate that means that we are for for members of the public uh this is 2023 money um and 2023 grants and um there's nothing That would have been Biden error money.

Exactly. This money, it came out in FY23. These grants have a two and a half year spend cycle for the region. So we're kind of because we asked to kind of reallocate it from projects that weren't completed we're kind of at the end of that cycle but yes this is for a lack of better words older money older funds different different guidelines

Thank you. Do any other committee members have questions or comments on this? And seeing no further discussion, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Which brings us to item 33, Mayor's Request 26-0055, requesting approval to accept and expend A $618,181.81 grant That requires a match from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Fire Department for the replacement of aging breathing apparatus. I believe we have Director of Finance and Administration for the Somerville Fire Department, James Mucci with us. Director Mucci, could you please tell us about this grant?

Yes, to you, Chair. I'm Jim Bucci. I'm the Director of Finance for the Fire Department. Chief Breen is sorry that he couldn't be here tonight. He had a previous commitment for Fire Chief's Convention. So I'll try and give his presentation here. Basically what this grant will allow us to do is to replace 68 sets of self-contained breathing apparatus which allow firefighters to be able to go into hazardous situations and do what they have to do and then get out and be able to, like I said, breathe good air as opposed to what might be in the situations that they're in. Some of the stuff that we have now is very old. What this grant will allow us to do is to bring up our inventory to Current standards in compliance with 2025 standards. Some of the stuff we have goes back to 2007 standards.

So this would help us a lot to get everything up to snuff and give firefighters the best equipment that we can.

Thank you so much, Director. I just wanted to briefly comment on this. This is one of a set of grants that I know there's been A look that our legal team has taken and they've clarified the understanding. This is focused entirely just on this replacement of aging breathing apparatus and no other areas. Just stating what I've learned from inquiring. Do any members of the committee have any questions or comments on this? Scott.

I just wanted to acknowledge this also has terms that some folks might be concerned about, but given the current Ruling in State of Illinois et al. versus Federal Emergency Management Agency. I'm comfortable moving forward this evening. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. And that brings us to item 34, ID 26-0056, the mayor requesting approval of a transfer of $6,166.19. from the Fire Department Ordinary Maintenance Other Equipment Not Capitalized Account to the Fire Department Special Items Grant Match Account to fund the required match for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant. Mr. Mucci, can you please tell us about this?

Yeah, basically you pretty much spelled it out. This is a requirement for the grant. We had appropriated Money, but during last spring's budget cutting, some of the cuts came out of that line, so we now have to come to you to move money in there so we can access it.

Seeing no discussion on this item, this item is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting. Brings us to item 35, ID 26-0156, the mayor requesting approval to accept and expend a $48,000 grant with no new match required. From Urban Area Security Initiative to the Fire Department for the replacement of security cameras at fire headquarters. Director Mucci, could you please tell us about this grant?

Yeah, basically what we're trying to do is replace a very ancient system. Basically what it does is provides perimeter Security coverage for basically the entrances to the headquarters. The equipment, I don't even have an age. I have many, many years is what they were told me how long this has been there. A lot of the stuff is not working well. What this system will do will bring us up to date. It's no new cameras. We're replacing one for one, so there's no new capabilities. The cameras do not record sound, which I guess was an issue. So I wanted to make sure we said that that does not happen. And so basically, like I said, it would help us secure the buildings.

Thank you, Director. Do any committee members have questions or comments on this? Councilor Link.

Yes, thank you, Chair. So it's my understanding that the server for The videos are all stored on as a shared server as part of the BOEM. How sure are we that given that it is video footage facing outward that nobody else can access it?

My understanding is it's a closed system. It is only within our building. It's not connected to any network. So, I mean, that's the security. I don't believe anybody can access it.

Thank you, Director. I'm seeing Liaison Redassi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to flag Emily Wisdom was kind enough to stay on for this item to answer this question, so she's happy to jump in here.

Great. Sorry.

Thank you, liaison. Director Wisdom?

Of course, through the chair. So UASI cameras are part of a network and they are on what's called the PSNet server. However, they, and I actually called up our representative prior to the meeting to confirm my understanding. So each, each location is given credentialed logins that are only available. Able to allow them access to cameras that they're allowed to see. So in the instance, SPD can see SPD cameras and the fire department cameras, but cannot see any of the Thank you so much for joining us.

it is like like he said it is a closed system in that there are strong protections in place there is a formal a more formal process if you and I just know this from my experience with UASI if one jurisdiction has a question for another jurisdiction maybe hey was this scene on your camera or you know do you have footage of something like this that might have happened It's a request process. So no one jurisdiction can allow another jurisdiction access the credentials and assignments. start with the vendor and the actual server system being broken down into categories.

Thank you, Director.

Thank you very much. So, sorry, just to clarify, Director Wisdom, to Director Wisdom through the chair, that means that Newton couldn't get in, but does that also mean that the state of Massachusetts or the United States federal government could not also get in where they have to? Would they be asking us or would they be asking someone else?

I would say that they would have to ask. The contract is signed on behalf of the Boston Office of Emergency Management. for the MBHSR so they are acting on behalf of the region not as a single entity so um So I used to work at the Boston Office of Emergency Management, so that's how I know. When we would go out to bid for these items, we would specify that we are... Executing a contract with this contractor on behalf of the region not just any one jurisdiction there are only eight jurisdictions in in the group um Newton isn't one of them so no Newton but I'm just teasing um so um there are like I said there are eight jurisdictions and um they are solidified so I if someone were to um

want to challenge this, I believe that it would involve a petitioning process and most likely some type of involvement with attorneys to bypass a contract like that.

To the chair, thank you very much.

Thanks. And just to clarify and sort of follow up on Councilor Link's question. is the request process I'm just trying to understand a little bit more clearly there's a vendor who uh Their servers are not located in Somerville, I'm assuming. They've got the data somewhere else. And is it only a matter of sort of... Legal conventions that we hope hold that requests would have to be approved by Somerville?

No. So the region actually owns the server. The region is the owner of the PSNet server on which the camera network operates. So it is owned by the region and It's a regional asset as they call it. And the vendor is, like I said, under contract. They help us do the maintenance and the repair. They help us... Thank you for watching! They don't own the data or maintain the data outside of our network. It is part of the PSNet server.

Thank you. Councilor Scott?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just two clarifications. Director Wisdom, that's Lantell is our contractor for that? Is that correct? That's correct.

Yeah.

and the PSNet system that you're talking about, that is a centralized piece of equipment. That is centralized in the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, correct? In the BRIC?

I don't know that it's centralized in the brick I'm sorry I don't know that information um nobody's ever said that directly to me that that's where it's at um I believe that it is a network of servers built together in the in the um In the region, so like I think that Somerville has servers and they're connected as a network because of the way that they have to flow with fiber and be connected to a system that can maintain them. I certainly know that I am sure that there are servers at the Boston Police Headquarters where the brick is as well. There's no doubt in my mind that there is likely servers there as well, just because I know that there are servers throughout Boston. The Genentech servers. I know that. That's about all I know. That's the name of the brand because we had to buy some new ones not too long ago before I left Boston. and they are maintained with licenses and it is very complex.

I don't think that any certain part of the server is necessarily housed at any one location, but rather is held together by networks such as, because IPS network is basically public safety network. is my understanding so PSNet is what they call it and yes and it is it's been around for a very very long time um it predates most of the networks I know that they've been doing extensive fiber replacement and server replacement because a lot of the equipment had started to reach the and so on and so forth. yeah it involves many locations from my experience with it not just any one particular location

Thank you. I think I phrased my question in a way that sent that off the rails and that's my fault, Director. I'm sorry. I mostly it's just making clear that this is funded through the DHS grant. through the Boston Emergency Management Office. And so it is integrated with the Regional Intelligence Center and the Fusion Center. So they may say we're not going to use that data. Butt. So Mr. Chair, I just for myself, I love the fire department. I would love to get them some new cameras outside the building to keep it safe. And I would like those to not be connected to department homeland security. So if we're going to move on this one tonight, I just request a separate roll call vote so I can register my objection. Thank you, sir.

I'd be happy to make that to have us do a separate roll call vote. Are there any other questions or comments about the sitem? Liaison Radassi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to flag I think we've lost the city clerk.

I wasn't sure who we lost. I saw that the format changed.

I just wanted to maybe we should wait until she rejoins for procedural reasons.

That's probably wise.

Mr. Chair, we could stand at recess for a few moments, give folks some time, two and a half hours into this meeting to compose themselves and then return in five minutes while you communicate with the clerk.

That seems eminently reasonable. Why don't we recess for five minutes?

Alright, thank you.

Okay, how does one end a recess?

Just you call the committee back to order. If you'd like to assure that we have a quorum, you can ask the clerk to take a quick roll call to establish quorum since we're operating online.

Okay, I call the meeting back to session. Is that the phrase?

Back to order.

Thank you. I call this meeting back to order. Clerk, I'm hopeful that these technical glitches are worked out. Would you please call the roll to reestablish quorum?

Yes, Chair, apologies about the Wi-Fi. I do typically try to take these from the office, but city buildings were closed today. Okay, so on a roll call to reestablish quorum, Councilor Link.

Here.

Strezo. Present. Councilor Hardt. Present. Councilor Scott.

Present.

Councilor Wheeler.

Here.

With all five Councilors present, we have a quorum.

Okay, thank you. So just jumping back into the status where we were with item 35, Councilor Scott, you had suggested that we take a separate roll call vote. That sounds very reasonable to me on this item. Before we do that, are there any other comments or questions that members of the committee have about this item? That's a link.

Yeah, thank you, Chair. I'll just say I believe I share Councilor Scott's perspective. I would like to get fire door cameras that will not be part of BRICS system.

Yeah, I... This is a tough one for me. There's... A degree to which I think we used to be able to count on some professional norms holding so that... Even if there was a technical ability for some boundary to be crossed, that it wouldn't be crossed without Clear legal permission, and I think those no longer hold so reliably. That doesn't mean I think that we throw out everything where there's the slightest shadow of a doubt, but... It does make me wonder... If we have another situation like we've experienced in the past where access is happening contrary to what judges are saying should happen,

then I'm concerned about where that leaves us as well. Councilor Strezo.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I spoke to the administration about this thoroughly and I feel okay voting on this. Of course, what you're bringing up is important. However, right now, I feel okay voting on this and I'm just calling for it to move for a vote.

Okay, with no further discussion happening on this, why don't we move forward with a roll call vote on this one, please clerk.

Just to clarify, we're roll calling for approval.

Sorry, yes. Roll calling for approval of item 35.

All right. Councilor Link?

No.

Councilor Strezo? Yes. Councilor Hardt?

Yes.

Scott. No. Councilor Wheeler.

No.

All right, so that item is recommended to be not approved.

Thank you. Moving on to item 36, Mayor's Request ID 26-0167. Requesting approval for settlement of a claim for $10,400 pursuant to Section 2-124 of the Code of Ordinances. Right. I wasn't sure offhand if there was anyone here to speak on this item. Councilor Scott?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just historically, these are settlements of claims that people have made to the city. Sometimes they're injury claims or just Damage to a car. Our ordinance allows department heads to settle claims with the mayor's approval of $5,000 or less. Larger claims come to the city council for approval. uh so somebody in the mayor's office if there's questions about what this settlement relates to um somebody from the mayor's office could of course address that to the extent that it's public information but uh Thank you, Mr.

Chair. I did submit a memo on behalf of the law department as a handout for this item explaining Scott said it's just requesting approval to settle for this amount.

Thank you. I saw another hand, but is there not another comment? Just quickly summarizing that memo, a tree fell on a car. The tree was known to be in poor condition and had been recommended for removal a year before the accident. I think there's some questions this raises. We don't have staff here to discuss this. Thank you.

Thank you.

I see no more discussion on this item it is laid on the table to recommend approval at the end of the meeting Okay, so for items 37 through 39, Liaison Radassi, would you like to discuss these items?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I should know this. Do they need to be read into the record or can I just speak to them together?

Clerk Letelier, do these need to be read into the record?

They do, because we did not read them at the city council meeting.

Thank you. Okay, shall I read these into the record and then... Discuss. Okay. Item 37. Mayor's Request 25-0849. Requesting approval to accept and expend a $127,000 grant with no new match required from the Boston Office of Emergency Management to the Police Department. for Special Response Team Equipment and Training. Shall we just quickly discuss the relevance of this item, Leah Sangrodasi?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just really quickly, administration is not ready to discuss this item. There's a pending surveillance tech impact report for this item that will be up for a vote in front of the city council. Thursday night. So until the stir is approved, we can't move forward with approval for acceptance and expenditure of this grant.

Thank you. I think then we should lay this item on the table to be taken up at a future Finance Committee meeting. Moving on to item 38, Mayor's Request 26-0163, requesting the appropriation of $430,965 from the Unreserved Fund Balance Free Cash to the Special Education Reserve Fund. Liaison with IC.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Also not ready to discuss this item. The appropriation is pending the approval of the establishment of the Special Education Fund, which is currently in legislative matters. So until that item is passed and the fund is created we can't do the appropriation for this

Oh, mute went on a little bit early, but I think we got what you were saying. Then let's lay this item on the table to be taken up at a future finance committee meeting as well. Item 39, the last item, Officers Communication, ID 26-0201, the Director of Economic Development. Convey the potential use of an urban center housing tax increment finance tool, UCTIF, to incentivize housing production.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm guessing this is not the right time to make a joke about how I'm going to have Rachel join the meeting. But no, we're going to hold off on this discussion given that it'll probably be a lengthy one and it's already quite late and it was a long agenda tonight. So happy to have that conversation at a future finance committee meeting.

Okay, thank you. And that brings us to the end of tonight's agenda. Do I hear a motion to recommend approval of the items on the table and then to adjourn? So moved. Mr.

Chair, I just wanted to clarify for the clerk. There was one item that you wanted to leave in committee, but at the time you had said, we'll lay that on the table. I would just want to clarify with the clerk if she has that one marked to be remaining committee as opposed to coming into this vote.

Councilor, thank you. Just to run through, I have recommended to not approve agenda item 35. I have keeping committee agenda items 31, 37, 38, 39 and then move to approval on agenda items 1 through 30, 32, 33, 34, and 36. Does that match?

Thank you. And just to clarify, is there a distinction between leaving in committee and laying on the table separate from the ones we lay on the table for approval?

Lay on the table means we'll take it up at some other point during that meeting. Keeping committee just clarifies that there's no decision that has been made and we'll take up the discussion at the next one. Lay on the table is sort of just a term used throughout the meeting. and then in a city council meeting you may have here that we've like tabled an item and then we'll we'll take that one up at a different it's just a slight variations in the terminology thank you appreciate the lesson

And Mr. Chair, it does have a different context when laying things on the table is used at the city council level. Those items, because you can't keep anything committee up there, they'll show up on the next city council agenda as unfinished business.

Thank you. Okay, so Councilor Link moved to recommend approval of the items on the table and then to adjourn. The clerk already did read the item numbers of the items up for recommendation to approve. Clerk, do you need to read those again before calling the roll on recommending approval of those items in adjournment?

I'll just do it all again just for good measure. Okay, so on adjournment and recommend for so for the items for approval agenda items. 1 through 30, 32, 33, 34, and 36, and on adjournment. Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Strezo? Yes. Councilor Hardt? Yes. Councilor Scott? Yes, please. Wheeler.

Yes.

Those items are recommended to be approved and we are adjourned.

Thank you everyone. Thanks for the marathon session. I appreciate all the staff who spoke and all the discussion. I hope everyone has a good night.

Thank you.