Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters Committee

Just give it one moment to... There we go. Welcome everyone. I'm the vice chair of this committee and we're having technical issues so we're going to promote Councilor Mbah who's the chair of the committee to be a panelist and then he can actually start the meeting properly.

Thank you Mr. Vice Chair. I have sent through that permission. Just wait for it to kick in. There we are.

Wow. My God. I'm not even sure where to start when you enter a meeting where Everybody is there waiting for you. I think I apologize for my late entrance. So who's the clerk? Is it Mike?

Good evening, Mr. Chair. Yes.

Okay. Let me just see. I think. Yeah. I think let's just roll you know we will figure this thing out as we get along I don't know what happened you know with my uh I did not get the link I got the link my computer doesn't charge So let's roll. Let's roll. Hit that button.

Mr. Chithiru, yep, we are live. Are we live? Mr. Chair, through you, yes, we are. You just read it in the beginning of the meeting.

Oh, thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. I appreciate that. Good evening, everybody. I called this meeting to order. This is the Council's Committee on Confirmation of Appointments and Personal Matters. It's Monday, March 30th. at 6.32pm. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation. will post an audio recording, audio-video recording, 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 channel. Look, would you please call the roll?

Absolutely. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hardt.

Here.

Councilor Link. Councilor Ewen-Campen. Here. Chairman Mbah. Present. With four present and one absent, you have a quorum.

Thank you, Clark. I think we will. What's the next item on the agenda? I think the first one is the approver of the minutes of the previous meeting. We will lay that item on the table to take it at the end for approver. and before we we proceed uh i think there's a couple of it's like one item or so that we need to take it out of order i'm not sure which I think the Chief Administrative Officer mentioned we'll probably have to take item Item 5 out of order. Is Jessica Smith in the audience?

Yes, I am. Let me get to a more convenient location real quick.

Amazing. Hi, Jessica. So, Mr. Clegg, would you read that item?

Absolutely. Item 5, referred for recommendation by Councilor Davis, that this City Council appoints Jessica Smith to the Public Financing of Campaigns Committee.

Amazing. Hi Jessica, how's the baby doing?

Hi, he's good. He's in the other room with my friend. So that's why I had to run.

Yeah, no, no, we'll be quick. We'll be quick. No, but so good to have you. You know, I think we are excited. You've been a... A valuable community member. I guess the importance of you showing up here is just so we can do our due diligence. I think you'll be a stellar... Representative on that committee. I guess one question I have for you, just for the sake of helping the audience and the public in your Stellar Road that you're going to be playing. How would Somerville's... Let me see. Let me change that question. So how would Somerville's public financing system, how do you see it? How would you ensure that transparency and accountability in the use of public funds, you know, with your role on that, you know, on such a...

Yeah, good question. So one of the reasons that I talked to a couple of different counselors about maybe being on this commission is that I've helped a couple of different candidates, one or two of which are current city councilors, like become councilors. I've run their budget. In one case, I was a treasurer. So I'm pretty familiar with like what it takes financially for... You know, a campaign to win in Somerville, both at large and award campaign for council at least. And I'm also pretty familiar with what the reporting requirements are for OCPF for campaign funds. So Yeah, I mean I think I'm sort of like generally supportive of the idea of like providing some money for people to run their campaign. I mean there is a big barrier to entry that like Working members of our community, many of them probably couldn't afford some of the basic startup costs to do a campaign.

So I think it's really reasonable to investigate what we could do with public money to make that barrier to entry lower for people. I think that's a really good question is like should we impose any additional like sort of transparency requirements above and beyond what OCPF requires? I don't know, I haven't really thought very carefully about that. I know that it's already kind of onerous to be a treasurer and make sure that all of the boxes are checked, so I don't know that off the bat I think adding things is good, but I do know that... Those funds would be subject to all of the same scrutiny as any donated campaign funds or self funding from a candidate. Yeah, I think that's a good answer.

Excellent, excellent. I will maybe, you know, let my colleagues again, you know, when you have a stellar candidate, you got to get stellar questions as well. So, Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Through you, thank you so much, Jessica, for stepping up to this role. I'm really excited that this was in the Charter. I'm excited for this work to get started. I'm very impressed by the answer, and I move to recommend approval.

Absolutely, there's emotion on the table. Councilor Ewen-Campen, I probably would have, you know, like maybe if it's okay with you, let's see if other colleagues, you know, if they probably have some questions. We want to give them also the floor to, you know, so thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. So it looks like we will table the councilor's questions. So, Councilor Hardt.

Oh, I was just going to say I am in support and I really appreciate Jessica stepping up and I'm excited for this as well.

Amazing. So I will just integrate that as deliberation on the motion. So Councilor Ewen-Campen, your motion is still in order. So I think we will move to... you know by adding any objection uh Jessica Smith you are approved thank you for being here and we appreciate your time thanks guys bye-bye bye So I think that's the only item that we're supposed to take out of order. Mr. Clerk, can we return to regular order of business?

Mr. Chair, yes through you. Did you want to take a roll call on the last item?

Oh, sure. If that's the will of the club, I thought we will. Yep. Okay, let's do a roll call.

My understanding is that it does need a roll call vote. Absolutely. Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Hardt?

Yes.

Councilor Link? Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Chairman Mbah. Yes, please. With four in favor, that is recommended to be approved.

Excellent.

Next item is the plan. The next item is item two, referred for recommendation, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Ashley Catato to the position of police sergeant. I hope I said that correctly.

Wow. Thank you. Chief, you have the floor. Introduce to us those strangers. Sure, thanks. I know those two officers, so Chief, do your job.

Absolutely, sir. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And I want to thank, obviously, the other committee members here this evening, my city colleagues, as well as the two candidates being presented this evening. has been a member of the SPD for 15 plus years and has given us 15 years of dedicated service to our department and city. She currently serves as a detective in our special investigations unit. which is under the umbrella of our Criminal Investigations Division. She's been in this role for the past three years. Detective Catato holds a bachelor's degree and several master's degrees that she brings to the table and what she uses to complement her stellar service to our community. She is a passionate advocate for Mental Health Counseling.

Her extensive investigative experience combined with her advanced academic background reflects a strong commitment to both public safety and the well-being of the community she serves. Mr. Chair I humbly enthusiastically present her before this committee and I would be remiss if I didn't mention before this committee as we are welcoming in the equitable community to really recognize the significance of The work that both of these candidates have put in and taking the last promotional exam, they answered the clarion call and with Detective Cotato's appointment. that represents a 100% increase in female candidates at the supervisory rank. So it's a proud day and I humbly present her for. presentation to this committee for confirmation of appointments and lastly share that there is nothing in her professional portfolio that will prevent her from satisfactory confirmation

Thank you, Chief. Appreciate the time. Detective Cataldo, welcome to the committee. And do you have anything you want to say to the committee members before we, you know, extend our rounds of questioning?

No, thank you. I'm happy to be here and very excited. And thank you, Chief, for the introduction.

Wonderful. You know, I'm also happy to see your candidacy. When I saw the names, I'm like this, you know, I recognize these two, you know, female officers. And I'm like, wow, the chief is actually... Thank you for watching! It's about how would you ensure that your work as a sergeant advances equitable policing practices in Somerville, particularly in building trust with historically marginalized communities.

Thank you for the question. So as the chief stated, I've been here for 15 years. I have a strong connection to Somerville. My parents immigrated here from Portugal when they were younger. They raised me here. They raised my sister here. I raised my son here for the first few years of his life. So I have a very deep connection to this community, especially to the immigrant community because I come from an immigrant family. My sister and I were the first generation to go to college. and because of our parents hard work and dedication and love for us, we've been able to come so far in our careers and I'm blessed. So I know what it's like to grow up in that type of family, in an immigrant family. And I see Somerville as an extension of my family. I have family here still. I have friends here. I have dedicated my...

I am dedicated to this community and I treat everyone that I interact with as how I would want to treat someone I would want a family member of mine to be treated by the police.

Excellent. I think, you know, one thing I always think about is just the makeup of our city. And so when I see the kind of officers that are being presented before the council, It's like, this is the future of policing. So, I'll leave it there. I usually have a lot of questions, you know, Detective Katado, but I think You've hit the key notes, you know, for me. Councilor Ewen Campen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, thank you, Detective, for your service to Somerville, for being here tonight. Through the Chair, would you mind just telling us what... How are you thinking about this new role? Is there kind of a philosophy that you're bringing to... to this new degree of supervisory authority.

So words I like to live by is be the change you want to see in the world. And I want to be part of this department in making it better. I want to be able to be there for the officers to support them and to advocate for them as well as for this community. So for me it is an honor to be able to accept this position. It's bittersweet because I will be leaving my position as a detective in SIU. But this gives me a chance to have a louder voice and to be more involved with helping this department grow to be the best that it can be and to help officers be the best officers they can to serve this community.

Thank you very much. Through the chair, I appreciate that. I look forward to you serving in this new role. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Any other questions for my colleagues? So I don't see any. So Detective Cataldo, were you told that there will be an executive session for this?

I told it was a possibility, yes.

Okay, it's not a possibility. There will be an executive session and... So, and hopefully, you know, and during the executive session, you have the right, you know, to represent yourself, you have the right to You know, I mean, it's just a custom. So, like, I don't want to, you know, just kind of like we'll talk about it, you know, much later. So, at this point, we'll do it, you know, together. So... I think we've probably gotten everything that we need for public session and so we will table your Your session and then we will now move on to the next candidate and then after that we will now invoke as an executive session where I will actually talk about why we are getting into that space and then we'll come back and they will take a vote. Does that sound good?

Sounds great. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. May the record reflect that Councilor Link has joined the committee. Welcome, Councilor Link. Apologies, Chair.

I was in the Davis Square Neighborhood Councilor meeting and I got wrapped up in it.

No worries. Sorry. So, Clef, what's the next item, please? Mr. Chair, the next item is Item 3, Referred for Recommendation, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Courtney Reese to the position of Police Sergeant.

Chief Benford, take it away. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Again, special thanks to you as well as the other committee members, city colleagues, as well as candidate Detective Courtney Reese. Detective Reese has been with... The Somerville Police Department has faithfully served this department for the past 11 years. She is currently assigned as a property crime detective again. Under the umbrella of our criminal investigations division. She's been in this role for the past two and a half years. Detective Reese holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, as well as a master's degree in criminal justice. Again, using her academic foundation as well as her life experience, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her role and has served as a real beacon of encouragement in our department. and faithfully and professionally carrying out her duties.

Again, I highlight the tremendous work by Detective Reese as I did with Detective Catato and performing at the highest levels on this most recent exam. And again, With her confirmation this evening, she too will represent an additional 100% increase, bringing a total of 200% increase in little under a year with female candidates serving at the rank of supervisor. Again, as I close out my comments, sir, she does not have anything in her professional portfolio that will prohibit her successful confirmation this evening. I present to you as well as the full committee Detective Courtney Reese for confirmation to the rank of sergeant.

Thank you, Chief. Wow. Well, Chief, you've been hyping all these candidates, but, you know, I think that's your job anyways. So, Detective Reese, welcome.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chief.

Is there anything you want to share with the committee? Good to see you.

Good to see you too. I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you all very much. I'm very excited for this opportunity.

Nice. We are also excited for you. I also have you know you're also like a known face I've seen around and oh my gosh like when I was looking at your resume I'm like wow like I can't it's like There's some stuff that I wish that I probably asked you offline. What is this? What is that one? But I guess, you know, as a sergeant, how would you mentor junior officers and foster a culture of Continuous learning, accountability, and professionalism within your unit.

I think it's, thank you for the question. I think it's one, to me, it's very important to lead by example. So I think going out there and setting a good example. I think now it's so important. One of my big things is community policing, breaking down those barriers. So I'd like these newer officers to get out of their cruisers, walk around, Meet the people that work and reside in the area that they patrol. And that's something that I had started from the beginning when I first got there. And you become this familiar face. and I think that helps you know produce legitimacy it produces trust like you say you may not know me on a personal level but it's that familiarity that familiar face and I think that's very important On the other hand, you need to hold people accountable, and that's why we have policies and procedures, taking people under your wing, making sure, something you mentioned in my resume, I love to take training. I like to be very well-versed in many different areas.

and some of the newer officers, I send them my resume and say, take this training, take that training because I think being so well-versed just makes you a better officer. So those are some of the things that I would do.

Excellent. I like all what I'm hearing, for sure. Any other questions from my committee members? Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, thank you very much for being here and for your service. How do you feel about taking on this level of supervision? Are there aspects of it that you're concerned about, excited about? Just talk to us about that a little.

Thank you for the question. I'm definitely excited. This is a great opportunity. to kind of like Detective Cattato said, help shape the direction of the department. Like I said, From my teenage years on, I've had different roles where I've been a role model, a mentor, an instructor in various just areas of my life. And it's something that I think is Very important as a supervisor to kind of mentor new officers. Policing is changing and we need to change with the times and I think that that's something that's going to be very helpful in you know getting some of these newer officers out of the academy taking them out of my wing showing them the way that we do things now you know not these stories from 20 years ago um but showing them you know Somerville and who we are and what the community wants to see from us So I'm very excited about it. I don't really have any reservations. I'm just ready to go out there and try and make a difference.

Mr. Chair, through you, thank you very much for that answer. I appreciate it and happy to support you tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen. Any other questions from committee members? I don't see any. Okay. At this point, we will move to... and then you know invoke executive session you know because uh Pursuant to Marginal Law Chapter 38, Section 21, the Council will enter into Executive Session to discuss confidential personnel matters related to the candidate's promotion, including Professional competence and disciplinary history as allowed under open meeting law. So any vote will be taken in open session. So Mr. Clerk, I guess, do we have the links for the executive session?

Mr. Chair, that link has been circulated to panelists in advance of this meeting.

Yes, so because why I'm asking is because my computer that this link is sent to is dead. So the computer doesn't charge. So if you can forward that link to committee members, send it to me to ordermanbah at gmail.com. and then, but take a vote to enter into executive session.

Mr. Chair, one quick second. Could you repeat that email address one more time so I can send that invite out to you?

Sure. So Alderman, A-L-D-E-R-M-A-N. Then my last name, M-B-A-H, at gmail.com. Thank you for that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That invitation has been sent to your Gmail account. On... Yes.

Yes. Do you have any questions?

Yes, Mr. Chair, I just want to make sure for executive session that both candidates, that my colleagues in either IGA or HR has their numbers to communicate with them when to join the session because I believe they have two separate sessions. I see the director's hands up as well.

Okay, Director Nagin.

Mr. Chair, good evening. To Chief Benford's point, yes, I do have the numbers for both candidates and I will text them respectively as to who should go in first and second based on the direction of the chair.

Excellent.

Clark, can you call the roll for executive session, please? Absolutely. On executive session, Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes Chair Mbah Yes This committee is in recess for an executive session.

Excellent

Mr. Clerk, are you there?

Mr. Chair, yes, I am. Wonderful.

So, yeah, would you please, you know, call the roll? Sure. To return to regular session, Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Blank.

Yes.

Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Chair Mbah. Present.

We are resumed. Wonderful. So no vote was taken in the executive session. We are back in open session. I just wanted to come back to the two items that we have before us the first was requesting Mr. Clerk, can you bring that stuff down again? I'm trying to juggle. Yep, wonderful. Requesting the, you know, confirmation of the appointment of... Ashley Katado to the position of police sergeant, you know, so I move to recommend approver. Any conversation? Seeing none, Mr. Chair, can you please call the roll?

Yes, Mr. Chair. Council McLaughlin?

Yes.

Council Hardt?

Yes.

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

Excellent. No applause right now, Detective Kataro, because the next council meeting, that's when it will become official. But thank you for your time. And so the next one is requesting the confirmation of the promotion of Courtney Rees to the position of police sergeant. And at this point, you know, barring any objection, the chair move for approval. Mr. Chair, could you please call the roll? Yes, Mr. Chair.

Councilor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Councilor Hardt?

Yes.

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

Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you to our newest promotion of our offices.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I greatly appreciate it and I appreciate the work of the committee. Thank you.

Thank you. And I apologize for all this. I can't believe I caught up with this chaos with my Computer being dead here, like no, the computer is not even, it's all gone, but yet, I wasn't sure, but it's good to just roll. So the next item is the clip.

Item four, requesting confirmation of the appointment of James Plotkin as municipal hearing officer.

Oh, yes. Mr. James, good to see you. Good to see you, Mr. Chair.

Counselors, thank you for having me in.

Of course, we missed you last time. So, Chief Administrative Officer, would you please introduce us to Mr. Mr. James.

Yes, Mr. Chair, thank you so much. Kimberly Wells, City Clerk. Here to introduce our municipal hearing officer, Jim Plotkin. Counselors, you may be aware that the municipal hearing officer is in sort of a strange space for a city government position where it reports to the city attorney. but it works most closely with the city clerk and it in fact is designed to hear appeals of non-criminal ticket violations so this position does not work with traffic and parking It is not about police tickets. It is exclusively about the noncriminal tickets that are issued throughout the city, most typically for things like trash or snow or overgrowth and that type of thing. So if you've had a chance to look at the resume attached to the item, you will notice that James Plotkin comes to us with a great deal of experience as a hearing officer. And so we were very excited to be able to put this this appointment forward before you.

and I will happily turn it over to the committee for any questions that you might have of the candidate.

Thank you, Claire Wells and slash CEO. Good to have you, Mr. Plotkin. Do you have any things to say to committee members before we start with questioning?

No, nothing directly to the members, but I would say that I've come to this position with I've been a hearing officer in some way or another since 2001 and I've always enjoyed this work. I treat everyone fairly and Everyone gets a fair treatment. I'm also very cognizant of the fact that often people come to these types of hearings and it's their first and maybe only opportunity to have some kind of interaction with government. So they need to be treated with respect, compassion and understanding because they can be very nervous or concerned about this type of ticket. Wow.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Plotkin. yeah you give me some some comfort there because it's like especially when you're trying to interpret interpret municipal codes you know it can be a little ambiguous so i guess um and when you're dealing with regulations so how how like let me say how would you you know approach ensuring like impartiality and consistency in your decisions especially When handling cases that may involve vulnerable populations or conflicting accounts?

Well, the accounts will conflict if the the respondent is appearing and arguing against the ticket so that's the conflict the inspector has issued the ticket the respondent is arguing in some way a defense the defense may be an admission requesting some type of mitigation for maybe a hardship case and I always try to be as compassionate as possible while understanding that The code is the code and they have to be, the code has to be treated fairly just like the people do.

Thank you Mr. Brockelman. I guess, no, you have a ton of experience. You see, I'm just kind of like asking those questions because it's a pretty, you know, like you remember I even mentioned In the beginning, just how, you know, the codes, you know, all these regulations that we have, you know, if there are... It's not like nothing is straightforward, you know, to be able to like get it. But I guess, no, I think you will do an excellent job. Thank you, you know, for passing the torch to Councilor Ewen-Campen.

Thank you. Through you. Thank you very much for being here with us. I think it's very helpful for me to hear you speak on this and to get to ask you a couple of questions. You know, I think similarly to what you described, oftentimes city councilors are the first person that, you know, a member of the public speaks to and, you know, it's often... First impression really matters. And I guess I'm just wondering if you could speak a little bit when I imagine, maybe this isn't the case, that you occasionally get people who are angry, feel like they've been mistreated. And I wonder if you can speak to how you approach Those interactions, how you maintain professionalism in those situations where people feel like they've been wronged.

Sure. I've also had many years back some pastoral training and have been taught how to mirror people's language. Thank you so much for joining us. to express their frustration, express their disappointment, explain themselves, then they're usually appreciative of that even if the result doesn't go the way they had hoped. So again, I really try to treat people with respect, let them speak, answer any questions that they might have, especially in an environment like this where No one is represented by an attorney or some other kind of legal representative.

They're all pro se and some of them are coming to this where English is a second language for them. So it can be a bit challenging. So we have to slow it down. We have to tone it down and give them an opportunity to really express themselves. And I think that's very important.

Through the chair, thank you for that. I very much appreciate it. And you mentioned people for whom English isn't their first language. How does your office handle those situations?

Well, I haven't had that occasion here yet. I've had three months worth of doing these cases solo without Bill Roach helping out. He and I worked together briefly in December, but since then I haven't had the need to get any kind of Language services, but there have been occasions over the course of my career where someone needed a language assistance and there has always been a method by which we can get them that kind of service, whether it's a language line or it's a Personal interpreter or someone from the family, whatever is necessary that complies and comports with the regulations and statutes so that we make sure that it's a fair opportunity for the hearing. So that's where that's happened. I've done a lot of work in New York.

I used to practice in New York City where, you know, there were probably 100 different languages that were spoken. Occasionally that we had to pull up on language line here it's not as robust a A background of various languages, but we do see Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and various other languages that have occasionally in my other jobs been useful to have available in terms of an interpreter and so when that happens we slow it down even more and make sure that the interpreter understands what's going on and the respondent understands what's going on through the interpreter.

Excellent. Mr. Chair, I'm all set. Thank you. Thank you for those answers.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Councilor Green, Campen, and thank you, Mr. Plotkin, for those responses. Councilor Link. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mine is less of a question and more of a comment, just based on what we just heard right there. I would just ask that you get in touch with SOYA, the Office of Immigrant Affairs, and I think it's Meredith. Samaritan Gamble, who was able to give the city council guidance on all the different services, the translation services and whatnot that we have. So you're ready to roll when that does happen.

Thank you for that and I would also note that I've been working very intimately with Janine Pagliaro in the clerk's office and she's been fantastic helping me all along the way, guiding me and really whipping me into shape. Fantastic. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Excellent. Thank you. Let's see. I might have to call out Councilor Hardt because I see everybody's just here. No, I mean, you don't have to say a word. Do you have any questions, Councilor Hardt? No, I don't see. Okay. Yes.

Okay.

Okay. Because I don't see, you know, like when you see people in a box and then everybody's spoken, you just want to make sure that nobody was left out. So, at this point, thank you, Mr. Plotkin. I don't see any issue with your confirmation. I think by any objection from my colleagues, I move for approval. Mr. Clerk?

Yes, on approval, Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

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

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Blocking, for your time, and we're happy to have you.

Thanks. I'm happy to be here. Thanks to you all, and thanks to Ms. Wells for the kind words at the beginning of this.

So next item, Mr. Clerk. Item six, that this city council appoints James Leo Bedard to the Ranked Choice Voting Committee.

Claire Wells, would you, you know, and Claire Wells, I apologize, you should have introduced Jessica Smith, but as you rightly said. We started this meeting in chaos and so we are now back sailing through.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No problem at all. This candidate is not able to be with us this evening. We are working to figure out if there is another time or if the candidate is going to be available for a future meeting. But what I will say here is As with the next item that you'll see before you, the Ranked Choice Voting Committee is a new committee that was formed out of the most recent city charter and something that I know several city councilors are interested in exploring. And so this is the start of forming that committee and beginning to get to work with the research and putting some recommendations before the council and the mayor as to how Somerville might be able to implement ranked choice voting.

Excellent. Thank you, Clerk. Oh, Councillor Ewen-Campen?

Oh, once you're done, Mr. Chair. I just have a comment on these two. Okay, absolutely.

No, I think... I see Crystal Hoff is in the audience, so I just wanted the clerk to introduce Crystal to us and we can then take questions. in action on the item that is in our befores. So, Claire Wells, would you like to introduce Krista?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd be happy to. So your item seven before you, I don't want to overstep, but to read that item, which is that the council appoint Crystal Huff to the ranked choice voting committee. I think most of the counselors will be familiar with Crystal as a regular attendee. of City Council meetings and someone who is deeply invested in city government in Somerville that is not something we get from every one of our 80 plus thousand residents and so we are deeply appreciative of it when we do get it I know this is also a topic that has been the subject of some academic study by the candidate and I truly just cannot think of anyone more qualified to serve the community in this way and to provide recommendations and to do deep research to to inform the city council and the mayor in making the best decision possible. So with that, I happily introduce Crystal Huff as an appointee to the Ranked Choice Voting Committee.

Thank you, Claire. Well, did you notice when you were talking I did this? It's like, it's that excitement. I almost said, all rise, you know. But thank you, you know. Christa Hoff Long time no see. Do you have anything to share with members of this body? With the experience and thoughts you have for this new committee.

Hi, everyone. My name is Crystal Huff. My pronouns are they, them. I live in Ward 5. And I... In particular, did a project last semester in Solidarity Economies on co-governance, co-democracy, and group decision-making that included a workshop to help people Understand and like go through the steps of different options for making Group decisions at different levels including ranked choice voting, approval voting, fist to five, and first past the post with the same decision so they could really see it and placed as this is how this is working. And one of my thesis potential topics, we won't go into why I haven't narrowed that yet,

One of my potential thesis topics is How do we as a community make decisions about who we are and what we care about? And how can we shift our decision making? And so I've done I'm happy to answer any questions.

You're muted, Mr. Chair.

Oh, thank you. Thank you, Councilor McLaughlin. I'm here. The first thing that came out from my mouth was, wow. you know for that uh intro i guess you know just for the sake of the public and just the education piece i think you know having you You know, in this space will be huge. As you know, you and I go way back. I guess the question I have is just about community engagement piece. You know, like how would you... Kind of like engage diverse communities, including those with language or accessibility barriers in this conversation about round choice voting. Do you have any? Like thoughts, this is just me out of curiosity, but I'm thrilled just that, you know, to have you in this space.

Thank you for the compliments. I think that obviously this will be a committee and we will make a lot of decisions together about how to Make the work that we do be as accessible as possible and in different modalities and with different outreach mechanisms and and hopefully each committee member will bring different experiences to the table to to leverage in those in those ways as well obviously one of the One of the things that I do a lot of work on is MAMAS and the community fridges and I interact with different members of the community through those mutual aid groups. I also just think that some amount of work

on this project in general in the city will involve a bunch of people gathering at different library branches and talking with their neighbors. But we will make a lot of those decisions as a committee, I firmly believe. That's certainly my intention.

Excellent. And you know, one of the things, honestly, when this appointment came, for me, I almost wanted to even approve them almost automatically. But again, this is useful for us to come here. and you know people can express some of their desire intentions through these conversations you know just so that you can see How, you know, once you leave from here, you start governing. You can think about, you know, like what some of the committee members have shared about their thoughts and also hear from your members of the public and also watch and say, wow. These people, this is the direction that they are taking. So thank you for that response. Councilor McLaughlin.

Thank you, Chair. I'm very excited to have this committee move forward and to hopefully get ranked choice voting up to the statehouse as soon as possible for the whole charter process. Don't have any questions. I would move to approve both candidates because these are the council president's appointments. I know them both and I know they're going to be committed to this position. I wanted to add my two cents about ranked choice voting because I'm not going to have any role in this committee at all. But I just want to flag that. When the ranked choice voting was on the ballot a few years ago and it failed across the state but passed overwhelmingly in Somerville, That ballot question excluded at-large or multiple-choice races, something like the at-large race where you can pick up to four candidates. That wouldn't be ranked choice voting under the ballot question. And I think that makes a lot of sense because we already have multiple choice. You can pick up to four people. I think it would be great for ward councilors.

I think it would be great for mayor. And if we can apply to state that in a race myself, rank choice voting would be very beneficial right now. But I just want to put that out there because I see the Cambridge system of multiple candidate ranked choice and the problems that that causes. So that's my own personal preference that I just wanted to put there just so I don't I would move to approve both of these positions

Thank you, Councilor McLaughlin. I appreciate that. Vote for me, number one. Number one choice. Everybody is number one. But again, Councilor McLaughlin, I think if it's okay with you, you can hold your motion since Councilor Ling hasn't spoken. you know it's a so that we don't kind of like usually if everybody has spoken i think we can move ahead with emotion but at this point would you mind reconsidering your emotions wonderful McLaughlin, move to reconsider his motion. So that motion is off the table. Councilor Link.

Chair, thank you to Councilor McLaughlin. I just wanted to say as the that's going to be on the Ranked Choice Voting Committee. I can't imagine a better partner. So I'm really excited to see Crystal on this team.

Excellent. Thank you, Councillor Link. And Councillor Ewen-Campen, you also had something to say before. We're going to take Councillor McLaughlin's motion to approve both, which I'm also fine with. But, Councillor Ewen-Campen.

Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. I was actually going to say the exact same thing, that if any counselor has a problem with these appointees, first of all, I disagree, and second of all, it was your job to find somebody, and you didn't, so... No, I happen to know both of these candidates and think very highly of them and think I'm glad they're going to be on the committee. Happy to support both of them tonight.

Same, same. Thank you. So at this point, thank you, Krista. We are thrilled, as you can tell. So we'll move to our approval candidate. Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll?

Yes on items six and seven. Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Councilor Hardt.

Yes.

Councilor Link. Yes. Councilor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Chairman Mbah. Yes, please. Those items are recommended to be approved.

So at this point, we take everything off the table. I think the only last thing that we did not approve was the minutes of the previous meeting. Take that, you know, do a roll call and then also like a motion to adjoin. Mr.

Clerk? Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the motion, excuse me, on the item on the table, Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Hardt, yes, Councilor Link, yes, Councilor Ewen-Campen, yes, Chairman Mbah, yes please. The minutes are recommended to be accepted. And we are joined. Thank you so much. and Mr. Chair a vote on adjournment? Sure. Councilor McLaughlin? Sure. Councilor Hardt?

Yes.

Councilor Link? Sure. Councilor Ewen-Campen? Okay. Chair Mbah? This committee is adjourned. Thank you, colleagues.