Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters Committee

Welcome everyone. I call this meeting to order. This is the meeting, the council meeting on confirmation of appointments and personnel matters. It's Monday, February 2nd at 6 p.m. 2026. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Act of 2025, this meeting of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio video recording. in transcript and other comprehensive records of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Clerk Poutier, would you please call the roll?

Yes. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hardt. Councilor Link. Present. Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Here.

Chairman Mbah. Present. We have a quorum with two absent.

Thank you. Well, I see even our honorable mayor is in attendance today. So I guess we will What will happen is we will proceed by laying item number one, which is the minute of the previous committee meeting. We'll pick it up at the end. McLaughlin, Hello. Yeah. Are you okay? Oh, I'm here. I just wanted to be remarked for attendance. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Click with you. You know, my customer McLaughlin present, please. So noted. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, so I was saying that we're going to lay the first item to pick it up at the end. And so what will happen is Before we, you know, proceed, I just have this general, you know, high-level overview again of confirmation of appointments, you know, that before... I want to make sure that we actually provide this overview because the city charter guys are work this evening with respect to confirmation of appointments and promotions. So under the revised charter, the City Council's authority to confirm or reject appointments is clearer, broader, and more structured than under the prior charter. and the charter now explicitly covers department heads, members of boards and commissions, police, fire employees, the city attorney and the chief administrative officer.

No, I'm not done yet. Thank you, Chris. Saravadat. So the charter also establishes standards for review. Appointments and promotions are to be evaluated based on fitness demonstrated by examination. Past performance and other evidence of competence and suitability and candidate must have the experience, training, and education necessary to perform the duties of the position. In addition, the Council is directed not to unreasonably reject or withhold approval of an appointment, and in the event of a rejection, the Charter requires A written explanation particularly for police and fire promotions where review must adhere to applicable merit principles including civil service law.

and then the revised charter further imposes defined timelines for city council action, establishes higher thresholds to reject certain senior appointments and reinforces the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. So our role is to serve as a meaningful check through the confirmation not to engage in executive management. And I also just want to be clear that I consulted with the city attorney regarding the appropriate scope of our discussion tonight. So I will ask committee members as we proceed to keep questions focused on the duties of the position professional qualification and job related experience when we are in open sessions. Any questions involving confidential personnel information such as performance history, evaluations, or other protected matters

should be reserved for executive session consistent with the open meeting law and applicable civil service requirement. Do members of the committee have any questions before we proceed? Thank you. See, appreciate that. Seems like it's going to be a quick, fast movie. So, Barron, any members of the council? I got a request from the administration to take An item out of order. Let me make sure. Clark, were you apprised to that item as well? Trying to have like double screens here, but I think it's... Yes, Yasmin.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the record, Yasmin Rodasi, legislative liaison with the mayor's office. I would like to request to take item six out of order so that the mayor can join the school committee meeting later this evening.

Absolutely. Thank you. If no members of the committee have an issue, I will move to take item 6, Mayor's Request Referred. requesting confirmation of the appointment of Kimberly Wells as Chief Administrative Officer. And I see our Honorable Mayor here, As well, you know, good to see Mr. Mayor and I see Claire Wells. It's somewhere in the audience. So take it away, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you Mr. Chair for the recognition and for taking this item out of order for the reason you heard earlier. Through you to the Honorable Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters Committee members, I'd like to introduce Kimberly Wells as my appointee for Chief Administrative Officer. You all know Ms. Wells from her work with this body as the City Clerk of Somerville for the past five years. From my work as a member of your body in the previous four years, I am utterly convinced Ms. Wells has the exact set of skills we're looking for in our chief administrative officer. Her background in municipal government administration and organization is absolutely first rate and she has an incredibly sharp mind. I've personally spent countless hours nerding out on municipal government structure and operations with her. So for all these reasons, I'm delighted to appoint her as the city's next CAO. I ask that you all confirm her appointment. I thank you all for the consideration of this request and I'm happy to answer any and all questions from the committee.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let the record indicate that Councilor Hardt has joined us. Welcome, Councilor Hardt. Thank you. So, Club Wells, are you there?

I am indeed, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Of course. Good to see you. I just, you know, before I even give you the floor to speak, I want to Say, you know, thank you on behalf of our committee for your dedicated service to our city and the professionalism, care, and steadfastness you've brought to the city clerk's office. Your work has made a lasting impact on our operations and on those of us who had the pleasure of working with you.

Thank you Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Do you have any, you know, insight for the new... Oh, Councilor Ewen-Campen has to sign up. I'm sorry, Councilor, I didn't see you.

Oh, that's fine, Mr. Chair. No, if Kim wants to say a few words, that's fine. Otherwise, I just have my comment.

So, Claude, do you want to provide some insight? Because we have some new... Councilors, yeah, you know, before we, you know, so do you have anything otherwise I can just pass it up to the good councilor, but I think it would be nice for the newest councilors who don't have an Had a privilege of like being with you for all these years. It will be nice to hear from you.

Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity through you to the committee. As much as I am going to very deeply miss serving as your city clerk I am enthusiastic about taking on this challenge in the role of your chief administrative officer and really working to build this position into a true operational arm of the city working cross departmentally with all of my colleagues and as well with you all on the city council to really get at the systems that underlie our city government and help us function in the most efficient and effective way possible so that we can do all the cool things we want to do as the city of Somerville and really live out our values and I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you. Councilor Ewen Campen, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Through you, I think the purpose, as you mentioned in the charter, of this oversight step is for us to make sure the candidate is professionally qualified. Suitable for the role. Obviously, having worked really, really closely with Kim as city clerk for years, assistant city clerk before that. I served as president so I in that capacity worked really really closely with her I've Just been totally blown away throughout every professional interaction we've ever had. Someone with just absolute integrity, paragon of public servant. I have total confidence. I have no questions. Ready to vote.

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. I appreciate those sentiments. I think I share. That's why I mentioned my introductory remarks, just so that we all set a standard. you know opening up to maybe my colleagues but maybe before I do that you know um Thank you for your service. I guess, you know, one thing, you know, it would be helpful for me to understand is that So the city clerk's role is fundamentally about process, integrity, neutrality, and compliance. Why the chief administrative officer must exercise broad executive judgment

make trade trade-offs across departments you know I guess no no again I'm talking when I'm having yes okay later grace again can you close the door I'm in a meeting thank you So, um, so Claiborne, can you, you know, like, just kind of like, you know, describe how you will approach, you know, that shift, you know, kind of like, this is like a transition, just kind of. Give maybe a little example of a time when you had to move from a strictly procedural role into making a strategic or operational decision with competitive priorities.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, happy to share more information on that. As you may know, the role of the city clerk in the city of Somerville in particular. goes a bit beyond the ministerial tasks that you see in a town clerk's office or a smaller city clerk's office perhaps and really in support of the city council has taken on challenges that involve Citywide initiatives, excuse me. The city clerk also does support some functions of the administration, specifically our city archives and our licensing operations in the city. So I already do have deep background in working with my colleagues across all city departments to move strategic initiatives forward. I also, from my background working at the Collins Center for Public Management, have about a decade worth of experience working with city governments throughout the Commonwealth. on things like software implementation, like strategic planning, like document management, and a whole host of other operational functions.

So I think all of those things combined make it so that I am really ready to take on this challenge working in the city as your CAO and I think that I've worked for the last four and a half years as city clerk to really build the relationships with colleagues in order to enable me to hit the ground running and to get started on all of the amazing things that we want to do here in the city of Somerville.

Amazing. Thank you, Claire Wells. And one last question that I have for you, and then I'll open it up to our newest colleague, if they have any. You know, insights. So as CEO also, I think, you know, you'll be responsible for resolving conflicts, you know, cannot be addressed at the departmental level, including labor issues, you know, interdepartmental disputes. you know is it can you walk me you know like say walk us maybe through how you will handle a situation where legal compliance you know and that kind of stuff like

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I think you've really sort of targeted the functions of a few different individuals. Our city solicitor's office, our city attorney's office, pardon me, really is the responsible body for legal compliance. and any advising of the mayor on legal issues would come from the city attorney. I am not an attorney and so I would not ever purport to make a legal recommendation or issue a legal opinion. I certainly would work very closely with the city attorney and their team in order to bring the right information to the mayor in order to make decisions. So that really would be the role of the CAO in a situation like that would be to serve as the conduit. to get the necessary information to synthesize it to process it to package it up and to make sure that the mayor has what he needs in order to make The right decisions on behalf of the city.

Thinking about labor issues, the CAO does serve on some bargaining committees and is involved in some negotiations at that level. But really the day-to-day management issues, staff management issues are the purview of the chief of staff. So there would not necessarily be a role for the CAO short of advising and certainly helping as I would with any issue that arose in the office. in managing the people on a day-to-day basis.

Thank you, Claire Wells. I think I'm all set with my questioning to the committee members. Hardt, take it away.

Sure, I just wanted to add that just having worked with you, through you, Mr. Chair to Kim, since November I have utmost confidence in your leadership and integrity and abilities and I'm just super excited for the whole city of Somerville. to get to benefit from you in this role. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Hardt. Any member of the committee? Councilor Link? Ika? Any? Any last minute question before the motion is in order? Mr.

Chair, I do not have any comments. I know that he's going to do an amazing job.

Mr. Chair, I have a question. Sorry, I don't see the hand emoji here. Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you. I'm also supremely confident in Kim's abilities. I'm very happy this position still exists. However, I do have a very real question. Because this position was up for cut twice because of the dynamic between the council and the mayor's office. This is going to be, we called it the second mayor or the, whatever we call it, the city manager that's not a city manager sort of thing. So a very real question, though, is as someone who has been on the city council side for a long time, and now you move into the executive side, how do you view that relationship? And what... How do you view your role in relation to the City Council?

Through the Chair, thank you for the question. you are correct that I will be representing the administration now and as it happens the lead from the administration that I am taking is that the there is a real goal to build better relationships and work more closely and collaboratively with the city council and I'm excited for that there's a lot of things That Mayor Wilson is looking to sort of put in place as process that I am excited about that make me want to take on this role and that is one of them. So I will reinforce that it still remains the role of the Intergovernmental Affairs Director and to work with you all on your initiatives on a day-to-day basis. But what I look forward to doing is really thinking about how we can bring city councilors to the table for some of the bigger, stickier projects

Thank you so much for joining us. and so I think that just generally the administration is really interested in building a collaborative relationship with the city council and I'm excited to be part of that.

Final question. I have some side streets that need snow removed. Can you give me a hand with that? We'll put a pin in that one.

Just making it a priority for me. Gas on McLaughlin. Point of order. I think if there's no more questions from the committee members, I think I make the motion to approve. Do we need a roll call clerk?

Mr. Chair, through you, yes, if you're, yes, we do. So can you call the roll, please? Yes. Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Chairman Mbah. Yes, please. With all in favor, this is recommended to be approved. Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you. I appreciate your work. So we will now maybe return back to the regular part of business. So which is requesting the confirmation of the promotion of Sami Misudi to the position of police captain. I see, I think the Chief, I see Chief Ben for this year. I think I see the, yep, I see Samir is also in there. So Chief, you know, the floor is yours.

Mr. Chair, thank you very much for the opportunity to present this dynamic candidate. I do want to just put forward a point of clarification for all the members and those in the attendance. If it is for the rank of captain, that is going to be Lieutenant Diogo de Oliveira. I just want to ensure that that is the item that we're going to be addressing.

What agenda am I looking at?

You mentioned Captain, but you mentioned Samir Musabu, who is up for Lieutenant. So I just, whatever the order is.

Okay, no, no, my bad, my bad. Okay, so I was, I went to the third item. Sorry, my apologies. Yes, so we will take item number two. Thank you for that, you know, clarification. So requesting the confirmation of the promotion of Diego de Oliveira to the position of police captain.

Dynamite, thank you, Mr. Chair, again, and through you, I'd like to thank the members of the committee, as well as my city colleagues, and most certainly the candidate who is here this evening that is up for promotion. It gives me great pleasure to present Lieutenant D'Oliveira to this committee and the broader City Council, assuming and presuming and working to get your support this evening. to the rank of captain. Lieutenant D'Olivero really meets and checks many of the boxes that support and play to the value set of this city as a person of color. He will be entering our ranks as executive leadership. and will help us in our efforts to ensure that we have a police force and a police administration that is diverse and represents our respective community So it gives me great pleasure to present Lieutenant D'Oliveira to this committee.

Lieutenant D'Oliveira has been with the Somerville Police Department for 20 years and has dedicated his time in service to this community. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in April of 2015 and again to the rank of lieutenant in April of 2016. Lieutenant D'Oliveiro holds a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He is multilinguistic in no less than two languages and has been an integral part in our efforts to combat misrepresentations about our department and our community as it relates to supporting our immigrant community. He has been a stalwart in helping us to navigate As we currently do up to this day, that very difficult landscape. Lieutenant DeOliveira, if confirmed, will be supporting this department and our city as we build out our community policing command.

and helping us to reposition this department particularly our community policing strategies for and into the 21st century so Mr. Chair with that I will pause there and again humbly Thank you, Chief. Lieutenant De Oliveira, welcome.

Do you have any introduction to members of this committee?

Mr. Chair, thank you very much. Good evening to you and members of the committee. I thank you for your time, for this opportunity. Thank you, Chief Banford, for the kind words. I'm humbled by your words. As the chief said, I've been serving this community for 20 years and I look forward to continue to serve the police department at this next level. And I'm glad to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you so much. Thank you for your service. And thank you to the chief also for that generous introduction. I guess I have maybe I have two questions but I can make it one first I'm really excited you know for your candidacy So how do you see this new role contributing to the department's mission, accountability and service to our community?

Mr. Chair, thank you for the question. I think that accountability within the department starts with authentic leadership self-awareness leading by example, treating everybody fairly and equal. Understanding the needs of the department, understanding the current environment that we find ourselves in, where there's a need to regain that trust from the community, rebuild that legitimacy and Understanding that the officers that work under Ackman are a main part in this movement that This objective to regain that trust with the community I think that we have the responsibility as executive leaders to

Be a friend and a mentor to our officers, but also do our job as supervisors. Hold everybody accountable. Monitor, mentor them, reiterate our goals, our objectives, policy, procedures, regulation, make sure that they understand what is expected of them, work in collaboration with them, right? We have to understand that our officers are humans. They're going to make mistakes, but we also need to make sure that they understand what's required of them. I think that if we work in conjunction with them We can get more out of them, make them better servants for the community. And it will help everybody, not just the department in general, but also the community when they have a police department that they know Thank you. Thank you for that elaborate response. Appreciate it.

Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you, thank you very much for being here. Thank you for your many years of service to the city. My questions are really kind of just more for my understanding. Am I correct? My memory is that there's three captains in this police department. Is that correct? Is that number right? Maybe that's the chief. Sorry, Councilor, my apologies.

That is correct. There are currently three captains with this captain's position that will be filled that will constitute a fourth captain's position in the department.

Gotcha. Um, and is it, do the four different captains have kind of different purviews? Do they work on different issues within the department? And if so, you know, which one is, um, Lieutenant De La Vera, uh,

Thank you very much for the question. Yes, you're absolutely correct. Each captain commands a division. with a very specific and distinct set of responsibilities. So we have one captain that oversees our criminal investigations division. We have one captain that oversees our Administrative Services Division. We have one captain that currently oversees our Patrol Division. Captain D'Oliveiro, if confirmed, will oversee our community affairs division and he will be specifically charged with two primary roles. One, helping us to build the community policing command and more importantly, as an executive level leader within the department, he will have the responsibility of ensuring that all of our initiatives that we embark upon across the department are in alignment with our values as stated and committed to our community policing program.

Got it. Through you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. That's very helpful. I'm jogging my memory. And does that include the co-response model or is that under patrol?

Thank you very much again for the question. Our co-response model that we are working to build out and pilot will fall under the community affairs division that the good captain would oversee. So yes, we are looking to rethink that, reimagine that, and put that Under the Community Affairs Division.

Understood. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, thank you. So I guess I really appreciated the answer that you just gave to Mr. Chair. And I wonder if you could just speak a little more kind of on your... vision philosophy for that co-response model in general you know this is something that the public has had kind of a lot of interest in and I'm interested to just hear your approach to it Lieutenant DeLiverre.

Yes, thank you, Counselor Yucampa. Through you, Mr. Chair. Counselor, I believe that co-response is the future of policing. It will provide partners and resources to better serve our community. And I see it as a very promising addition to the already great level of service we provide to our community. I think that the best part of co-response is that it provides follow-up care referrals that aim to prevent a need for further police response. We find ourselves repeatedly going to the same addresses to handle the same issues. And we've learned a long time ago that arrest is not always the solution. and having this co-response, having clinicians and social workers that can work with these individuals, these families, these addresses, sometimes it has the possibility of alleviating some of the work

For the patrol division and coming up with better solutions that will actually solve the problem that that person may be going through. And the Somerville Police already engage clinicians and social workers on a regular basis via our core team. and our officers often opt for a medical hospital disposition as opposed to arrest as it is. And most officers today, they already practice de-escalation as mandated by law and policy and procedure. So I think it's important to keep the police involved, right? That's why it's called co-response. I think that the police officers In collaboration, in a partnership with the co-response, with the clinicians and the social workers, continue to training officers on CIT. Helping them see people's problems and situations from different lenses, from different perspectives.

It will not only make those officers better police officers, For regular calls, right? Because we don't always go to a call knowing it's going to be a mental health crisis or a psych emergency. Sometimes we respond to a regular call and later we find out that it is that. So having that... Collaboration, that partnership with social workers and clinicians will help make our police department better in general.

Through you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for that. I really appreciate it. I mean, obviously there's a whole separate kind of policy discussion that the council, the mayor, the community are very invested in. From the perspective of considering your appointment, I really appreciate that perspective and the way you speak about it. I'm happy to yield to colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Any member? McLaughlin. Does anybody have any further questions?

Yes, Mr. Sheriff, no one else is in line.

No, I think, Councilor Ewen-Campen, were you here? So you've already spoken to Councilor McLaughlin? Of course, yeah.

Councilor McLaughlin? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll throw you. So, you know, I've been on this committee for a few years. I don't always speak up and sing people's praises because I think Probably people just want to get to the appointment. But I want to say something about Diogo and Samir as people who I've A lot of community events. They show up when They really don't have to, and they're a very welcoming and warming presence in the community. And I'm very excited. I saw these appointments and thought, oh, these are the perfect leadership positions for people. to hopefully get the next generation on board with the style of policing we want in this community the only downside is that I will lose two good people off the street.

So my question for both candidates through you to Officer DeOliveira is what are your thoughts about preparing the next generation for the expectations for Somerville specifically?

Thank you, Councilman McLaughlin. Through you, Mr. Chair, my plan, my vision for this position, Council, is to be very involved, hands-on. I know that as an executive, there's a lot of meetings there's a lot of other things that are priority but I hope that I will have and I know I will have the chief support on this I'll have the ability to get involved in as many and as much as I possibly can, I envision going to community events, meetings, try to get involved with the school again, Council of Asian, Officer Immigrant Affair, Teen Empowerment. These are things that I already do now as a lieutenant supervisor for the Detective Bureau. But obviously I have a job, so I'm limited on how much time I'm able to do this. And hopefully now with this position, That will be my full-time job.

I can't wait. I love to just ride my bicycle up and down the city, going to these meetings, having breakfast with the elderly, with the veterans, going to school. I really hope that I'm able to accomplish everything that I have envisioned for this position. and I think that that also speaks to the second part of your question that is leading by example, right? I think that if the officers, the young officers see that we have at the executive level, the chief, the deputy chief captain Getting involved with the community. Collaborating with the community, reaching out to the community to obtain input and feedback on problems that are going on in their community, right? Going to these festivals, to these meetings, talking to people right shifting the focus from law enforcement only to customer service service providers right because that's that's what we are we are

and Service Provider. We provide the service that we should be providing the service that the community wants and needs. Be reactive. While it's great to be proactive police, we also want to be reactive. We want to find out from the community what's going on in their community and then see how we can best help them. So I think it starts by leading by example, right? So once the officers see that the work is coming from the top, I believe that you can have buy-in and You're able to influence officers in different ways, right? Mentoring these officers, I've been mentoring some of these young officers since I was a sergeant. As a sergeant, as a lieutenant, now you see these officers coming up, stepping up to positions, even positions of supervision. And now they understand. They know that this is not just something that came out of nowhere. They see that as a patrol officer, as a sergeant, as a lieutenant, I've always tried to help an immigrant community.

Using my language skills to reach out to that community that sometimes don't have a voice and don't feel comfortable talking to people. Going to schools, doing some of these community, going to some of these community events. So they see that. They see that it's sincere and genuine. And I believe that through that, through being a role model, leading by example, you were able to influence the officers and get the buy-in and the hope is to at some point get everybody involved right I think that in terms of um increasing further increasing the morale of the department getting officers out of their cruisers and more involved in the community going to community events and all of these things They love doing this. We have several events, events with the children, basketball games. There's so many other things that we do, right? The Council on Aging, Veterans Breakfast. Our officers love going to these things.

If they could choose, I guarantee you that they would choose to do this instead of their patrol function. Unfortunately, obviously, we can't have the whole department doing community policing exclusively, but the goal is to get more officers involved in the community so that this becomes first nature to them.

Thank you. That's not McLaughlin. Are you satisfied? I think I'm more satisfied than you that asked the question. I'm very satisfied. Thank you. Yeah, no, and thank you for even mentioning the fact that yes, I see these two offices everywhere. That is for sure. And I think this is This is a huge addition to the city, you know, having leadership that reflects the community. So thank you. Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So with this being obviously the first time the committee is meeting, we've got new members. In the past, when we're looking at promotions within the police department, the only way that members of the committee can review like disciplinary history right we often get members questions to the public like how do you know that You know, XYZ officer hasn't committed some horrible act in the past. Obviously not speaking about the candidates tonight. And we say, well, we can go into executive session, we review their files, and we make sure. Alternatively, obviously... Members of the committee could meet with the chief and the solicitor outside of a meeting and discuss this, but I just wonder if you have come up with a strategy for how you'd like to proceed with these tonight. It's obviously up to the will of the committee and you, Mr. Chair, so I just wanted to...

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. I was waiting, you know, to make sure that they are not for that question. And then I will. You know, proceed, you know, by pursuant to, you know, Mass General Law, Chapter 38, Section, you know, 2. I spoke with the city attorney. This committee will enter into executive session. to discuss confidential matters like you mentioned related You know to the candidates promotion you know including professional competence and this is just exactly how you mentioned I spoke you know with the city attorney and the chief you know I think it's as a matter of best practice we will you know instead of Belaboring each person, including myself, to always have to go, you know, have this conversation. It's... My role is to make it a custom.

We'll enter into executive session, discuss these matters. No vote will be taken. and just to also make it clear that this is just customarily this is not should not be a call for consent So if there's no further questions, I think we will enter into executive session.

McLaughlin.

So to the members of the public, no, no, no, no vote will be taken in executive session. And to my committee, each candidate will have a separate We are entering the executive session for just, you know, Captain de Oliveira. And then after that, we're going to exit executive session. And then we'll now come now and take the roll call vote in open session.

Is it listed as Office of De Oliveira?

I think the clerk should be able to answer that question.

Mr. Chair, through you, there is one executive session link that we will use. Okay, nice. Okay, very good. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Clark, would you take a roll call for us in the executive session, please?

Mr.

Chair, through you, just a point of clarification. It might make sense from a logistical perspective to lay the items you would like to take up in executive session on the table. Enter into an executive session on one occasion and then return back to the regular meeting after all the items are taken up in executive session. Of course, we do defer to the discretion of the chair.

No, Clay Potts, what happens is the current item we are debating, and this is the sole item we are taking into executive session, so we're not going to, it's already, it's still, we're not, It's, there's no, it's already, it's, so we're not like laying into combat. Yes, I don't know. It's, we have not. We don't consider it as laying on the table because we are still actively having a conversation about it. so we're just gonna go to executive session for this sole item number two you know and then after that we'll exit executive session come back so we don't lay it on the table and then Come back and then take it back off the table to discuss it. But I think, Councilor Ewen-Campen, do you want to chime in?

Well, Mr. Chair, in the past, we have done it the way you're describing, where we take up each one, one at a time. It's really annoying to do. If the clerk is saying that it is technically and legally possible for us to go into executive session once... and have the two sequential conversations after we've had our open session that would be logistically great avoid jump around obviously it's up to you Mr. Chair but that if we're allowed to do that that would be great instead of jumping back and forth multiple times

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. I asked the same question and IGH told me otherwise. Liaison, Radassi, can you provide input to this conversation? I literally suggested that and the IGA said it has to be you know one executive session per The candidates. So that was my initial thinking just as you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. So I would want to hear what their thinking was when they said each candidate should appear You know, for one session and then we come back and take another candidate. So, Councilor Link, would you want to yield to IGH and then I'll come back to you, please? Okay. Liaison, Redashi.

Through the chair, yeah, it sounds like it's up to your discretion. What I was clarifying earlier is that the two police candidates should not be in the same executive session at the same time. So if it's easier for you, I can just hop back to the main session and let them know when it's the turn for the next person. That's the only thing I was saying.

Okay, no, I think that would be, honestly, that would also be great for me. I didn't know that this was, I just thought maybe like procedurally, you know, you prefer it the other way around. So, okay, so we will lay this item on the table. and then take the next police promotion which is requesting you know the confirmation of Semih Nesade to the position of police lieutenant so chief You have the floor.

Mr. Chair, through the chair, thank you very much again. And again, I'm acknowledging and thanking the members of the committee, as well as city colleagues, as well as the candidate. It gives me great pleasure to Present to the committee for the rank of Lieutenant Sergeant Samir Musaoudi. Sergeant Musaoudi is an integral part of the Police Department, and very similar to Lieutenant DeOlivero, he is linguistically Blessed in speaking multiple languages, which really helps us in our mandate in our very diverse city. The good sergeant was promoted. He's been with the police department for 13 years now. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2023. He has a graduate and advanced degree in criminal justice from UMass Lowell, a bachelor's degree in public affairs from Northeastern University.

and as with the good lieutenant both of these candidates have served our country and our armed services for which we are extremely grateful. For the rank of lieutenant, it's extremely important to know that the rank of lieutenant is a central rank in being the buffer between frontline supervision and our sergeants. and that conduit to executive level management. They often are the first line in pushing down mandates and policy decisions from The police administration down to the operational level and the supervisors. So it's a critical position. Again, as I mentioned with The prior promotion, his promotion will speak to our commitment to diversity and reflecting our community and being a man of color.

I appreciate the comments by by Councilor McLaughlin around These two individuals in their commitment to our work, they have stepped forward in each and every instance, voluntarily taken on a difficult task. and we feel confident that they are going to be helpful stewards, extremely invaluable again in helping us meet our mandate in the 21st century and moving our department forward on behalf of our city. So, Mr. Chair, it gives me great pleasure to present to you Sergeant Samir Massoudi being presented for the rank of Lieutenant.

Thank you, Chief. Sergeant Sade, you know, when I call you Captain, it means I was speaking into existence, so I'm pretty sure you're going to work hard for that new role. But anyway, do you have anything to say to the members of this party? Before we begin our questioning.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chief Benford, for the introduction. And thanks to everybody here for the opportunity. As Chief Benford said, 13 years with the police department, working patrol. and the Compliance Office for last year. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Sergeant Sade, and I appreciate your service to our community. I guess you know I will start by just asking you know what are some of the you know immediate because this is I'm so appreciative of you know your growth within the department and What leadership transformation do you see that is needed to be able to change how people think about policing in the 21st century?

As a lieutenant of the ship commander, I'll be responsible for the entire ship, making sure that policies and procedures are being followed, holding everybody accountable. Constant supervision, obviously very important as a return to where everything is being followed. But also, Changing the culture of the police department as a whole. Making sure that de-escalation is emphasized and lawful, something that we don't simply do here at the police department. Prioritizing services over arrests and making sure that all the policies and procedures are being followed.

Yeah, thank you. And when my colleagues ask you questions, maybe increase your voice a little bit. So the members of my colleagues have any questions. Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you. Thank you very much for your service to the city and to the country. Sorry if I missed this. You've been working for the department overseeing a lot of internal compliance, I know, and I'm curious, in this new role following the promotion, will that continue?

No, I will most likely... go back to patrol and be working as a shift community.

Got it. And through the chair, can I ask, is that something that you were Looking for, is that something that, you know, in your career is important? And could you just speak about kind of what you're hoping to bring to that?

Yes, I would prefer to go back to patrol. Obviously, every time we get promoted, we want to go back to patrol to, you know, learn again, learn the skills and being a compliance sergeant, I will bring back everything that I have learned. Here, as a compliance sergeant, bring it back to patrol all the policies that I've worked on for the last year. And maybe sometimes down the road again, come back to administrative law.

Through the chair, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Any other member of the committee have any question?

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Absolutely, Councilor McLaughlin.

Thank you. Through you, same question that I previously asked. How do you picture your role in mentoring the next generation and preparing them to be Somerville officers?

Yes. Again, constant supervision, being out there with the police officers, prioritize services over arrests, using discretion when possible. making sure that uh everybody's a community police officer that it's going to be it's not a it's not an option everyone will participate in community police and it also comes with the training since officers get from the minute they get here through the FTO program which will be emphasizing the importance of community policing and you know set clear expectations for them and make sure that we coach them and guide them, provide them with the tools they need to be successful police officers and provide the best service for our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor McLaughlin. Any other members of the committee have any questions? Seeing none, then we will... Now, you know, enter executive session pursuant to, you know, Marginal Law Chapter 38, Section 21, you know, to discuss confidential personnel matters related to, you know, The two candidates promotion including professional competence and disciplinary history. as allowed under Marginal Law. So any vote will occur in open session. So clerk, would you call the roll for us to go into executive session?

on recessing the regular session and entering into executive session. Councillor McLaughlin. Yes. Councillor Hardt.

Yes.

Link, Councilor Ewen Campen, Chair Mbah, we are recessed and we will be entering executive session and I will be starting that meeting shortly.

Mr. Klepp?

Mr. Chair, just giving folks one second.

Absolutely.

Chair, through you, I do see we have everyone in the panelist list. On resuming the regular session of this committee meeting, Councilor McLaughlin.

There.

Councilor Hardt. Link, here, Councilor Ewen-Campen, here, Chair Mbah, present, the regular session of this meeting is resumed.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Thank you, colleagues and to members of the public. So we are back from executive session. No vote was taken. We are back to the regular session at this point. You know, I think we've conducted our interview thoroughly and at this point I feel comfortable to make a motion as chair, you know, to recommend the confirmation of Diego de Oliveira to the position of police captain. Mr. Chair, would you please call the roll?

On item two, Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Link, Councilor Ewen-Campen, Chair Mbah, this item is recommended to be approved.

Claire Potter, did you hear I actually call your chair? Would you please call the roll? So I actually call your chair so you can take the position of the chair. Anyway, thank you. So, the next item is also, I still feel comfortable as chair, you know, to recommend, you know, the confirmation of the promotion of Semih Misardi to the position of police lieutenant. Will you please call the roll?

Clerk for two. Mr. Chair, on item three, Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Chair Mbah. Yes, please. This item is recommended to be approved.

Congratulations. And so it's not official until the next city council meeting. And yeah, so appreciate your time, Chief and colleagues. Thank you for your indulgence.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, the committee members. Greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, committee members. Appreciate your trust and your support. Of course. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your trust and confidence. Looking forward to continue to serve the city of Somerville and the residents. And I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you. Thank you for your service. So we move to item number four, requesting the confirmation of the appointment of James Plokken as municipal hearing officer. Claire Wells? Oh, no, no, no, no, Chief. Oh, well, okay. Yes, Claire Wells. I cannot wait until the next council meeting before we can actually give you your official title. So, Claire Wells, take it away.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here in that capacity, so I'm going to use it anyway. Kim Wells, Chief Administrative Officer, and I am here to introduce our Municipal Hearing Officer, Jim Plotkin. who is not with us this evening so I will actually leave it to you and the committee to determine if you would prefer to move forward with the introduction and take up the item you are welcome to do that of course in the absence of the candidate or if you would prefer that I save that and we can keep the item in committee until the next confirmation of appointments meeting.

I guess, you know, one question I would ask is why is the You know, the municipal here and the officer here. Because when I met with the city attorney, this is also a very significant... you know like position this this role actually you know i was mostly interested to knowing you know i actually didn't know that it was actually in the law office because i was like i was speaking the city attorney today i thought this was like a Parking Officer or ISD because it requires strict adherence to ordinances with fairness and public trust so it would be nice to just have somebody in that role like you know come describe you know How they will apply some of these technicalities. That is my opinion. I don't know why, you know, I guess I would defer to you why the municipal hearing officer is in here.

Mr. Chair, I don't have the answer to that question, but I certainly am happy to speak to the role. It is one that works actually most closely with the city clerk's office, although it does sit in the law department. So I do have a good understanding of that. The specifics of what the role requires, although of course I am not in fact the candidate, so I can't speak to their particular approach.

Okay, no, I think we'll keep this in committee. It's good if it's before us. It is, you know, it's just the custom that the person, you know, that we do not get any memo, no call, no show. We can sit here and think, you know, if it's like, so we'll keep, if no member of, you know, I will make, I would recommend keeping this in committee. Unless any member of this body thinks that it's okay to just move without questioning. Councilor Ewen-Campen. I saw Councilor Link and Councilor Hardt already nodding. But anyway, I'll defer to my colleague.

Yes, take it away, Councilor. No, no, Mr.

Chair, I think that that's right. This is an important role and, you know... Don't want to vote for someone without information. Is there some time sensitivity that we need to be aware of?

Through the chair, no, there is not.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. I also would have thought that if there's a time sensitivity, the individual will be here maybe 15 minutes earlier. you know so but I appreciate that in our line of questioning so we will lay this we will keep this item back in committee so we'll move to the next one which is requesting the confirmation of the appointment of O'Herman, Stramatin, as Director of Parks and Rec. Did I pronounce that correct?

Yes, yes, you did. Thank you.

Thank you. Actually, I spoke with IGH. I learned how to pronounce it. Spoiler alert. So, Clegg, would you please introduce the director?

Mr. Chair, thank you so much. Kim Wells, Chief Administrative Officer. And I am here to enthusiastically introduce to you Ohemeng Tremeteng. who comes to us from the city of Hartford with a very deep background in recreation and in community services. Most recently serving as the deputy director of recreation for the city of Hartford but has been involved in a whole host of things throughout his career including strategic planning, budgeting, capital improvements, grant funding. all of the things that we love to do on a day-to-day basis that keep our city running so we are incredibly excited to have him on board leading our Parks and Recreation team and with that I will turn it over to the committee.

Thank you, Chief Administrative Officer Wells. Thank you, Director Stramatin. Do you have any intro to the members of this body?

Through you, the chair, you know, it's a pleasure to be here. Like Kim has said before, I've been in recreation for a very long time. I've actually don't remember a summer where I have not had to run a summer camp. So it's the only field I've ever been in, the only field I've ever wanted to be in. I went to school for it. I got my Mbah and specialized in recreation as much as I could. So this is just a dream job for me and I'm very happy I can be here and help support the community at Somerville.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm really also thrilled to see your candidates. Candidacy or resume is very rich rich background like you mentioned I guess I just have like one question um maybe two but let me just go with this one because like Somerville has like limited recreational space Very high demands across neighborhoods, age groups, programs, you know, so how would you decide which programs, facilities, or capital investment get prioritized? and how will you ensure that these decisions you know are equitable and transparent to the public?

Thank you and through you the chair you know I really um value the community service I understand I'm not someone who's grown up in Somerville I'm not someone who is Not yet at least familiar with the ins and outs of the locations and where our people or where the people really need the most help. So I'm really going to rely on your help as God and the committee's help first and foremost and then my staff as well who've or majority of individuals who've grown up in Somerville. I'm really gonna rely on your expertise and your knowledge there to help guide me through this process. in terms of the programming you know that's something that's a lot easier for me you know um collaborating with other departments collaborating with other non-profits it seems as though everyone has their own variation of recreation going along it's just a matter of how we can put all of our All of our programming together to make it more efficient and more equitable and more accessible for everyone. So the programming piece of it, it should not be a problem. It's just more so, you know, how can I reach those who really need to be reached? Martin.

You can see me nodding my head. I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes. So thank you. Thank you for that response. Yeah, so Councilor Link. I don't know who put their hand up first, but Councilor Lin, you haven't spoken. So, Councilor Ewen-Campen, give me some slack. Let me hear from Councilor Lin.

All right. Councilor Ewen-Campen did have his hand up before me, so I'm happy to defer. No, no, no. I yield, please. Okay. So, through the chair, thank you so much for being here. I'm really excited to see, you know, a new face in our parks and rec. And I'm curious, you know, do you Understanding that you're only just kind of getting a view of what's happening, do you see any low hanging fruit in terms of areas where the, you know, We can maybe improve services or initiatives that you want to start or improve.

Thank you. And through the chair, there are a lot of areas of improvement that I've been talking to my team about. We actually have a team meeting tomorrow to kind of hammer out what our goals and our objectives as a unit should be for the next year. I don't really want to spoil any of those topics just yet but there has been a lot of conversation as like you know in terms of location and where we do our programming and who was in those spaces of where we do the programming and um How can we reach, again, like I said before, how can we reach those who need to be reached, you know, with individuals without cell phones and internet access and we have language barriers, you know, how can we really... Thank you so much for joining us.

The ability to participate in and it's just a matter of how do we have those people trust us first and foremost to come out to our programs and then how can we properly provide them with the services that they need to have overall well-being, better well-being.

Councilor Link, are you satisfied?

Do you have any follow-up? Yeah, I guess... Yes, I guess I have one follow-up in that... do you envision I guess talking about access and equity you know I know that both personally and through what I've heard from other people there you know there's definitely like the The website and the way that people are able to connect is not I'm curious, are you aware of that? And yeah, are you aware of that at this point?

Thank you for your question. Through the chair, I understand. My rec isn't the most optimal solution for getting the message out to our constituents. However, there are very limited Recreation-based websites out there. That is one of the touching points that me and my team have gone over. We are looking into to see if there's any additional changes, maybe something more modern or find different ways to communicate with just the community as a whole. So it's definitely on our to-do list. That's something that we're 100% looking into.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm a yes, definitely voting yes. Extremely excited to have you come into the city. Really, really impressed by your background and your answers tonight. But I just want to take this opportunity to Do some advocacy. I have a five-year-old, so I'm around a lot of parents of five-year-olds. And one thing I regularly hear is, especially compared to some of our neighboring cities... Somerville doesn't have a lot of kind of regularly scheduled indoor rec activities on weekends on Friday nights whatever um you are new to this role I'm not asking for you to give me some brilliant answer tonight but I do want to kind of put this out as I think it's a really high priority for a lot of families in the city if you do have a response you want to give that's great otherwise I'm happy to just kind of get on my soapbox

Yeah, I do. Through you, the Chair, that's definitely another great point that me and my team were looking at. I have found out that the facility space is very tight here. and we're going to have to play nice in order to get more facility space and see if there's any additional options or alternative options you know ultimately when the weather is nicer we can definitely incorporate more outdoor programming and make use of some of the natural resources that we have in the playgrounds So, whereas we might not have an immediate response for the wintertime, but that's definitely something we can look forward to in the spring and summer.

Thank you.

Councilor Ewen, can we have any follow-ups? Just to say, I'm sure that you do need to play nice, but you will have a lot of allies on the city council. If it comes to when we don't have to play nice, just take that space for the kids.

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Your department is a very integral part of our city government because one thing you have to know just as a comment, the success of your department is dependent on multiple departments. So DPW, schools, you know, all this, you know, so, you know, yes, and like the good counsellor said, you know we are here to support you you know like succeed so that is our job and whatever you need let us know absolutely thank you mr chair thank you council thank you uh any other question from this body See none. Mr. Chair, I have a question. Oh, sorry, Councilor. Councilor McLaughlin, you've got to come off camera.

I know, I'm sorry. I'm slow with the button pressing. Yes, quick question through you. Well, first a statement that it's okay to not be from Somerville. No one is anymore. No one but me, of course. but you'll find I'm sure a lot of the same experiences in your past work where yes there are Thanks for watching! and I'm not even going to ask a question because I feel like you already know how to answer it but just keep that in mind as Councilor Ewen-Campen said is please just put the kids first always a real question Could you speak to your experience with pools? We have a number of pools in this area and we want to make sure that they're well maintained. We had an ongoing issue with a pool that we want to make sure.

continues to have the full use of all city members thank you for your question and uh through you the chair i do have a plenty of experience with uh pools um I was formerly not currently but I was formerly a certified pool operator so I understand the mechanical processes of how a pool operates in terms of and also um you know being able to balance the chemicals and making sure the um The safety of the body of water is proper for our constituents. In terms of the actual maintenance of the pool, I understand that that is a Gray area between Recreation and DPW. We are primarily focused on the programming of the pools, whereas DPW does more of the heavy maintenance. We can do small repairs. But to my knowledge, I'm not sure the extent of the conditions of our pool just yet. So as long as it's nothing drastic or major where it's outside the scope of recreation's purview, we're going to try and stay on top of it as much as we can.

Wow. Thank you, Councilor McLaughlin. Do you have any follow-ups? That's it. Thank you very much. No, I just want to say thank you also for asking that. You know, you guys are just speaking on my behalf because I can go on and on you know about the pools and uh yeah again as you can uh uh uh director you know strong mountain like you can hear these questions they are coming from parents So, just bear that in mind. For what is what? I'm a parent, Councilor McLaughlin is a parent, Councilor Ewen-Campen is a parent, Councilor Link is a parent, so... Please prioritize families because we've come to realize that we are a minority voting bloc in the city. So please, do not forget us.

Mr. Chair. If I may, do not prioritize the parents, prioritize the kids.

That's what I'm saying.

Families. You said families, but oftentimes it's the parents. Focus on the kids. That's all I'm saying.

Thank you, Councilor McLaughlin. So, I will, you know, seeing, no, it's Danny, I don't want to, like, rush anybody, like, I know, you know, our formidable Councilor from what's said, hasn't said it anywhere, I don't want to, like, You know, make a motion when, you know, Councilor Hardt, you got any insight, any thoughts?

No, I really appreciate the discussion and all the questions. I'm trying to hold my questions because we'd be here all night, but I'm excited to meet you.

Thank you. Thank you. No, seriously, even myself, I just... Thank you for watching. Seeing no members mentioning any more questions, I move to approve Director O'Herman-Stromartin as Director of Parks and Rec.

On item five, Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Chairman Mbah. Yes, please. This item is recommended to be approved.

Wow, it seems like we're going really fast. We have our last item, you know, that was sponsored by the chair that the city clerk implemented. The hiring practices in auditor within for positions in the city council and city clerk's department. Chief Administrative Officer The owner you know I know this is not but I also want to thank the good chair for even you know like respecting by keeping this economy. Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen, because usually we have like a hundred things going on. I probably, you know, when I saw that, I held my chest and said, Thank you. You know, even though I didn't call you to say thank you, I want to officially appreciate you. So, Chief Administrative Officer, can you speak to this?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Kim Wells speaking in my capacity as city clerk, as this is directed to the city clerk regarding the city clerk and city council departments. So as you know, there are a number of components of this order. Starting with looking for some information about the hiring practices for these departments. So I want to start by sharing a little bit about how we go about doing that, which is that for all positions that have a component where they engage with the city council, the city council president names either themselves or a designee, sometimes more than one from the city council to serve as a part of that hiring panel. So the city clerk works behind the scenes with the HR team in order to go through all of the resumes and figure out who the candidates are going to be.

Alley. and then of course as you know many of them do come before you for confirmation though certainly not all depending on the level of the position. So I think that addresses some of sort of the first component of the order. Related to the request I think around having outside residents serve as part of the panel, that is not a recommended practice because so much of the hiring process is confidential. I think it's great when the one candidate who gets put forward can say, oh, everybody in the community loves me. They signed off on my appointment. What it does for all of the candidates who don't get selected is difficult.

Whereas when a panel is comprised of city staff and folks who are more professionally trained to be doing this work, we can We can really enforce that confidentiality a bit more. So I'll pause there to see if there are any questions before I sort of take the next piece in the order.

Chief Administrative Officer, in fact, I want to say I appreciate you. You've really regained my confidence. You're the Chief Administrative Officer. I'm even happy to have this conversation with the next city clerk. And so I appreciate you. you've made my day to stay and to just even you know have this conversation I think you know not to belabor this my colleagues I just want to say you know I think I'm grateful that you even started shedding light on this. I would want to have this conversation, you know, with the next city clerk just to save us time and energy, but I appreciate you, Chief Administrative Officer Wells.

Sure, Mr. Chair, thank you. I will say I don't envision that the process would change too much because we really do try to keep the process in line and consistent with the hiring practices throughout the city. We don't have specific rules that apply just for the city clerk's office, for example. So just if I may briefly kind of touch upon some of the other elements of the order. Where did we leave off? Thinking through the candidates that are put forward as finalists. So one of the things that we work with the HR team on specifically our recruitment team is to think about how we evaluate the resumes without actually knowing a lot of demographic data. because we want similarly to not put forward people for specific demographic reasons. So it's difficult to say that we would

include at least one qualified candidate of color because that means that we would have to be collecting that information and assessing people based on those demographics and we prefer not to ask them. and we don't want to make assumptions based on what we read in particular resumes so I do just want to put that forward as something that the city as a whole considers a best practice is not collecting demographic data from every applicant which ties in in fact to the last piece of the order about reporting on some of that information. Again, sort of concerns about collecting that information and transmitting it publicly because I really do think that that would have a chilling effect. on the candidates that apply if they were forced to to give their demographic information up front even just to submit A resume to the city.

So that is something that I want the council to really think a lot about before we would consider moving forward with any policies in that arena. But then really what I want to say overall is is that I hope that it's clear that both the city clerk and the city as a whole are really committed to equity in our hiring processes. and to diversity in our workforce. We really do go out of our way, especially on the front end where we're recruiting to cast a wide net, to capture the largest pool of candidates that we possibly can, because that is a great way to build out diverse workforces. Thank you so much for joining us.

and we think a lot about what goes into the interview processes to developing interview questions to how we prepare for interviews to the format of those interviews to who's asking certain questions in order to really make sure, like I said, that we are providing what we would consider a universally equitable hiring process. So that applies in the city clerk and city council departments, but truly I think universally across the city.

Thank you, CEO. I guess, you know, I'm still doing some homework about Boston and Cambridge. So this usually when I put something I'm talking to. various cities you know I haven't completed that work so and I don't want to belabor you again on this you know so I just want you know I appreciate you know like all the input I don't I expect you to kind of like when I will have that data and then we can compare and contrast what the city of Somerville is doing. We have like Boston, we have Cambridge, we have even our own little cities Yeah, thank you, Chair.

I would think through the chair to Kirk Wells. I'm just thinking back to our Lessons just recently about the differences between orders and resolutions and I'm curious is would this be and does this council have the power to make these orders or is this a resolution?

Through the Chair, thank you, Councilor, for that question. You may notice that this was submitted in 2025 based on the item number. If submitted today, it would in fact be a resolution. The council does have some oversight as to how it hires for its own positions, though. So certainly the council and the council president has. have been involved in that decision making, but we would not want to implement an entirely different practice exclusively for the city council. I think that would be something that we would roundly caution against.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Link.

Councillor Ewen-Campen.

I'll just say I'm very happy that we are in a place where we're having a discussion about the City Council hiring people. That did not used to be the case, and it's a good problem to have. having been on a hiring committee before some of this stuff was set up I'm really really really glad that HR is very involved in the process it's really Legalistic and complicated to do it right. And I'm glad that we are utilizing all the resources we have on the city council to make sure we're doing it right. So happy to continue this conversation in the future with our new city clerk. Exactly.

We're going to save ourselves some time, Councilor Young. That is so true. So, but again, again, Chief, I appreciate you again staying back to address this, you know, this item. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Seeing no other item, we will keep this item in committee and then with the other one of the municipal hearing officer. And then, Mr. Clerk, can you take everything off and, you know... Link, in a move in order to adjourn.

So moved. Mr. Chair, through you on the items on the table, which in this case is item one and on adjournment, Councilor McLaughlin. Yes. Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Ewen Campen. Yes. Chairman Mbah. Yes, please. We are adjourned. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, everyone.