Watertown City Council (Tuesday November 25, 2025)

I'd like to call the meeting to order. This is the City Council meeting of November 25th, 2025. This meeting is a is being broadcast and recorded by Watertown Cable Access. It is a hybrid meeting and the Zoom information as well as telephone numbers and email addresses is available on the city website. Clerk, please call the roll.

Bays, Feltner, Gannon, Gardner, Izzo, Palomba, Piccirilli, Sideris

Thank you. Can I get a motion to go into executive session for two items? The first is to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation. if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body, and the chair so declares, which I do, We're talking about the Department of Public Works Union, the Watertown Municipal Employee Group Union, the Library Union, Fire Union, Police Patrol Union, and Police Supervisors Union. and second to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel which is the city manager in this case. So moved Is there a second? Second Roll call please

Gardner, Izzo, Palomba, Piccirilli, Rays, Bays, Feltner, Gannon, Sideris.

Thank you. We'll be returning to open session at approximately 7 p.m. Okay, I'd like to call the meeting back to order. The next item is the Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is public forum and we have some people that have signed up. Just to remind people, please identify yourself for the record. You are allowed two minutes to speak and we do not respond to your questions at that point. First I have Jean Denoyer.

And the time clock is in the corner.

Jean du Noyer, 17 Adams Avenue. I'm here to ask the council to consider developing a private property tree protection ordinance highlighted by a situation involving the potential removal of a mature, healthy tree at 17 Adams Avenue. This tree stands on a property developed in 1915 located on historically significant estate land identified in Watertown's own topographical history. the situation extends beyond the one tree. It highlights a structural gap between the city's extensive climate investments and the vulnerability of mature canopies on private land. Watertown has made extraordinary commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving climate resilience. The city has invested over $340 million in net zero school construction. It has secured over 1.5 million in grants and American Rescue Plan Act funding, specifically for urban canopies, stormwater, tree trenches, Cooling Corridors, and Equity-Based Community Greening. The Forestry Division continues to plant over 350 street trees annually.

Given these investments, allowing the removal of healthy century-scale trees on private property without review, mitigation, or replacement undercuts our climate goals, heat reduction efforts, neighborhood character, and the city's long-term planning. I urge the council to consider a private property tree protection ordinance similar to those in Somerville, Newton, Cambridge, Belmont, Wellesley, Arlington, and Lexington, minimum mitigation standards for removing healthy mature trees, a permit or review pathway for significant canopy trees, on private parcels, Mediation or advisory options for neighbor disputes involving trees that carry neighborhood-wide benefits. Watertown's investments demonstrate that trees are a form of climate infrastructure. Our policies should reflect that reality. Thank you for your leadership.

Thank you. Jolly Tagger.

My name is Jocelyn Tinker and I'm a resident of Watertown. I'm here in support of the Danielles in their request that city council pass the tree ordinance written. by WE3C entries for Watertown at the request of WE3C. It was heard and unanimously passed by WE3C to the city and it has languished I'm probably in the DPW cyberspace. Watertown zoning for housing has changed substantially. Yet there's nothing that requires net zero building, although because of this zoning, carbon sequestering green space, which in Watertown is mostly on private property, is not protected and is already being destroyed. We cannot solve the homelessness problem, we cannot solve the affordability problem, but we can increase our and the world's homelessness and make housing more expensive by destroying our green infrastructure

which protects our climate. The tree ordinance would at least help Watertown stop the destruction of its green infrastructure and help it meet its climate goals. Second, there's no such thing as private property rights or property rights. We have zoning, which means owners can't do whatever they want on their property. We have to have all kinds of things like stair railings, smoke alarms, three feet whips, whether we want them or not. We can't paint with lead paint, and if we have lead paint on our houses, we can't sand it, particularly if our houses were built before 1978. We can't have home offices that include clients and residents coming. The list of what we can and can't do is quite long. There's no such thing as property rights and there probably haven't been since colonial days. It's time to pass the tree ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you. Libby Shaw.

My name is Libby Shaw. I'm a resident of East Watertown and president of Trees for Watertown. I just want to remind our city council that Chances are really good that the canopy study that the DPW is doing, it's gonna be longitudinal covering the last 10 years, is undoubtedly gonna show that we're losing green space and trees at a steady rate. And that rate is going to accelerate unless we do something to put in some guardrails, some sensible, sane guardrails. Trees are incredibly important in the urban environment. The gradual disappearance of big trees and green space in our city can only hurt us tangibly and financially by putting our homes and neighborhoods at greater and greater risk aware and outright damage from heat, from drenching storms, from flooding.

Removal of big healthy trees also affect us in other really important ways. It stresses the ecological environment both locally and regionally. It also stresses us psychologically, which affects both the individual and the community by disconnecting us more and more from the experience of the natural world, which we really, really need and which we are a part of. We need to recognize that we are part of an ecological environment here in Watertown. We need to be supporting the important role that big trees play in our environment. no tree in a city as dense as Watertown is an island. Every tree is impacting not only its homeowner, but the neighbors and probably has for decades before the homeowner moved in if the homeowner is recent. We need to recognize that trees are really important and we need to protect the trees on private property a lot better than we do.

It's a hard task because there are a lot of things we're balancing. Not every tree can be saved. Not every tree should be saved.

Your time is up, unfortunately.

But we need to do a much better job than we're doing. Thank you.

Thank you. Gretchen Denoyer, you are allowed to speak.

Thank you. My name's Gretchen Dunway-Yeh. I'm a resident of Watertown. There's a construction project currently going through the permitting process next door to us at 29 Adams Avenue. This project imperils our treasured 100-year-old vibrantly healthy black cherry tree. The black cherry is situated on the property line, with most of the tree residing on our property. It's been a source of personal joy and admiration for our family for the 26 years that we've lived here. It sits just off of our kitchen where we've marveled at the many bird species, playful squirrels, and families of raccoons that depend on the tree for home and sustenance. We've appreciated the canopy of shade for our deck and home, and possibly most importantly, we value the extensive root system of our black cherry tree. that prevents the flooding of our basement, which is situated downslope from the tree.

Yet this magnificent tree represents far more than what I've just described. Our cherished tree, as well as all the trees of Watertown, are integral in the fabric of what Watertown has been striving for. over the years, becoming a climate conscious community. On a deeper level, this tree is very spiritual to me. Whether you've experienced the peacefulness of nature and the quiet force of a beautiful tree or not, my hope is that the possible loss of our noble black cherry will not be in vain. Perhaps it will open the eyes and hearts of the Council to consider implementing a tree protection ordinance so that others do not have to mourn the loss of a beloved tree and all that goes along with losing Watertown's urban forest.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Good evening. Not knowing that this subject was going to come up, I just jotted down a few notes quickly. you know I know trees are very important and they are a benefit to many places in town and other places but you know some of them are growing in places that aren't meant to be they've self-rooted a lot of the maple trees have you know self-rooted over time and grown into huge trees that are causing problems for our own houses you know if they grow too close the animals can jump from the trees and get on your roof and get in through chimney and everything. And I just don't think that we should impede on people's rights to have trees or not to have trees. you know the lots are very small in Watertown and if you want to put a fence in which I had to do a few years ago the trees were right on the line and if I didn't take them down I would have lost my land to push in to put the fence.

So there's a lot of circumstances that I think need to be considered but I just don't think we should start controlling people's land. there's just too much control going on in general on a lot of things and you know if they put the ADUs in in the backyards they're probably going to take trees down for that too so you know that's you know you have to balance everything that's going on but I just think we really have to look at this carefully before you decide. We need more input from a lot more people. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Is there anyone else either here or at home that wishes to speak? We have one email.

Thank you, Mr. President. I got an email to read at the first public forum. It's from Zachary Darbaloff at Westminster Avenue. He says, I am a Watertown homeowner who's lived in Westminster Avenue for 12 years. I'm writing to provide comment on the middle school renovations. It is really unfortunate. I have to write this letter giving the promise that was made by the city council when the high school project was approved. and as a homeowner, I feel extremely betrayed by the city. For four years now, our neighborhood has shouldered a load of losing our community park along with a student population that has more than doubled. We have dealt with extreme change to traffic patterns and overwhelming amount of new vehicles on our streets. Most importantly, the loss of the only green space in our neighborhood. We also have two elderly communities full of folks with disabilities who rely on that space as a safe space to remain active. There's no replacement for the field, so children in the community simply lost a large open space they had to play in.

there's no other neighborhood in the entire town that's been asked to shoulder a burden when the high school project is pushed against our will the neighborhood's continuing concerns, we were assured and promised that the park would be immediately restored following the completion of the new high school. It seems obvious the only reason we may end up getting our park back is if the city cannot afford to do the renovation they want. assigned at the end of the day that people who live and inhabit the actual area where these schools are being constructed are not an important consideration to anyone in the city council. City Council treats Watertown residents as placeholders for the mysterious, idealized future residents they hope to attract in the disgusting luxury condo construction that has replaced all historic single-family homes on our street. There's been zero outreach to our community about the fact that you may not be removing the modular buildings as promised. Given that the high school final project vote was delayed because you did not give direct community any notice,

It's extra insulting now to us to be looking at round two of this debacle and once again have no outstanding invite from the city for us to comment on what's happening in our neighborhood. I hope the council and other residents have it in their heart to care for the people who live here and we have spent the last five years accommodating extreme inconvenience for the health of our town find an option that doesn't continue to punish us and prove to us that you aren't vile development fiends hellbent on pricing current residents out and turning Watertown into Cambridge.

Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else? seeing none I close the public hearing and move on a public forum and move on to president's report I don't have any items I'll be speaking a little further on the middle school at some point the next item is Petitions, Proclamations, and Similar Matters. And I have an Arbor Day proclamation that was requested by our tree warden. So I will read it and then present it to you. whereas in 1872 J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the plantings of more than one million trees in Nebraska.

and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate temperature, clean the air, produce oxygen and provide a habitat for wildlife. and whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products, and whereas trees in our cities increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of our business area, and beautify our community. And whereas trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. now therefore be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Watertown is proud to proclaim December 6th, 2025 as Arbor Day and urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the hearts and promote the well-being of present and future generations.

and witness whereof, I hereby set my hand and cause a great seal of the city of Watertown on this 25th day of November, 2025. And I want to introduce our Tree Warden Mike Maselli, who this is a special issue and related to the December 6th, if you don't mind telling everybody about it.

Yeah, of course. So as I stated at the last city council meeting, sorry. So as I stated at the last city council meeting, we decided to do something a little bit different this Arbor Day. We've been in need of a permanent holiday seasonal celebration tree over at the Commander's Mansion. With that being said, I am very happy to let you all know that today with the assistance of several divisions at the Watertown DPW, we were able to plant this new tree, which I think looks amazing. Obviously, I always think any tree looks amazing. But I really do think it's excellent. I think it's really going to be a source of inspiration and community gathering for the foreseeable future.

Thank you. Can I get a motion on the proclamation? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. Okay, the next item on the agenda is motions, orders, and resolutions, and 8A is a consideration and possible action on the construction, reconstruction, renovation, and or reuse of the middle school and or consideration and possible action on continued leasing and or purchasing of modular classrooms as are currently in use for the high school construction project and this is going to, I'm going to first turn to the manager and then our project manager will be providing some information and I may provide comments afterwards. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to start by thanking the council and the community for the extra time to look into some options as we Bounce this off our last council agenda so that we could take a little moment to do this and to look at where things were standing here I want to take a step back and remind everybody that When we finished the preliminary budget overview and had looked more deeply into the middle school project, I basically suggested that there were two challenges for the council to address. One was whether to do a new middle school project or not do a new middle school project. And with the possibility of doing a new middle school project, I explained some of the financial challenges involved in that and what that might mean for some of our financial challenges and where our projections were going forward. And then if we choose not to do a large middle school project, we really had four choices at that point of what to do next, whether to just do nothing with the existing school,

to do improvements to the existing school over a series of a number of summers, to do a project over one year using the modulars for an additional year and moving the middle school students into the modulars, or seeking out some new site for a future middle school project in the future so that we could release the modular buildings and not worry that we don't have swing space if we move to a point where we would do the project in the future. I think I reasonably heard from the city council feedback that the do nothing option wasn't that appealing to anybody. So I'm kind of going to pull away from that for a moment. and say that the time since we've had the last discussion about this to now, the council president and I and Christie, our project manager at Vertex, have spent a lot of time looking at different options of what we could do. I think the biggest challenge that I've felt in this process is that the modular buildings themselves and the limited swing space for middle school students in the city has put a substantial time pressure

on a decision-making moment that has been difficult to sort out and difficult to address because if we had a little bit more time and we had a little bit more flexibility and we weren't constantly dealing with the clock running on the monthly modular rental payment that there could be an option to look at everything from doing the project for example as going back to a standard design bid build project rather than construction manager at risk or even applying to MSBA something the council president and I were not particularly optimistic might be might happen in the near term, but even spending the time to do so was costing us money under a circumstance where we're looking at the monthly payment for the modulars and not

getting an architect either working right now on designing a year-long project, designing a summers project, or designing a new middle school was really becoming a stressful moment as it relates to that. So the reality came down to that we really either need to do substantial enough work to make the school last for another decade or more and then sort out what our swing space plan is or do the larger project. So I've shared the challenges with the larger project and its finances. I also think One of those four ideas to get around this situation was to find a new site that we could build a school on, and I will share that Council President and I also did our share of research into that situation and came to the conclusion that that is both an expensive option and a very complex option. But tonight we did come up with one idea which we would like the council's feedback on. And that is essentially to buy the modulars.

Now I want to stress that doesn't mean that our intention is to buy a modular building and leave it on Moxley Field forever. Like that's not the suggestion here. But the suggestion is that if we buy the modulars using funds from the high school project, and then remove that monthly rent payment from the project, take some stress off both the high school and the middle school project, It allows us an ability to do either the short term or the major middle school renovation or new building, I should say, the major new middle school rebuilding in better positioned ways. there will be some costs for managing the building for longer there may be some costs or benefits to removing the building when we're done with it and I think there's some things that the school building committee would need to work out in detail

but what I'd like to do is have Kristi share the financial information and some of the data that we've collected on doing this. I'll share that I think it makes a lot of sense but I'd like Kristi to explain the details and then if I may Wrap up and then give it back to you, Mr. President. I think that's probably the best way to give some more information on how this option works, what it could do, and how essentially to me, it provides flexibility, it provides time, and it potentially provides some financial benefit. And the combination of those things make it pretty interesting. So turn it over to you if that's okay, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. So I thought the best place to start obviously is with the high school and some of the history and terms of that original agreement. So we completed the construction of the modular high school on Moxley Field in the summer of 23. So the start of the lease, the lease terms that were contractually bid as part of the high school project, 32 months started. September 1, and they end on April 30, 2026. As many of you know who got the chance to tour the high school, we're working through a challenge that the GC has come across. where actually the majority of the concrete slabs are having a delamination issue and we're needing to mitigate those. It has presented a schedule risk. That's all we're calling it right now. We do see a path to finishing on time, but it's a compounding issue where

we aren't starting up the mechanical equipment right away. And we're not commissioning the building right away. And so we could find ourselves in a position where you could open the school and take occupancy but not have all the systems shaken out and working quite properly. And I understand you took that on because you needed to with one of the elementary schools and it was quite challenging for the school. to be in it while things were being shaken out. So what I put here is the potential risk for extending the lease for the high school in a range of two to four months. Please don't hold any weight with that. It's just simply for math right now, it would show you that that lease extension would be somewhere in the range of $800,000 to $1.6 million. and then contractually we still have 2.2 million dollars left in the contract with the contractor who

put up the modulars for us. And that's essentially to remove them and put the site back to a place where the next contractor that would restore the field would pick it up. so that's kind of a summary of the high school. And then we have, as the manager said, the options that were presented to you about a month ago for the middle school projects where the modular lease terms for that range of projects from capital improvements all the way to a new building range from $1.8 million to almost $4 million. and so what's before you this evening is a proposal to purchase the modulars for 2.2 million dollars by the end of this year. and what that does in summary is negate the need for either paying a potential extension to the lease or just contractually what we owe that contractor for the high school in a range of 2.2 to 3.8 million dollars.

and then of course for the middle school options for upgrades or add reno or a new building, the modular costs range was in the 1.8 to $4 million. So that's my summary.

Mr. Manager, did you want to continue or?

Yes. Okay. So, Mr. President, I have tried through this entire process to guide the council with my best advice and understanding that I'm giving the council options along with advice as we have gone through this. The first process involved in doing that was I shared my my concern about the cost with doing the school project. And when I came back in October, I shared a path to do the school project and what it would mean from a financial perspective. I am now looking at paths to do the school project or paths to do even the capital improvement plan upgrade. both of which have more challenges with timing than anything else. And looking at those situations and understanding that I'm still trying to figure out if there's options on the school project and options on the capital improvement plan.

I think that no matter how you slice this situation, it's my opinion that this makes the most sense that actually purchasing the modulars understanding first challenge is that starting in January we we manage them and we have to manage so far we've had another company that's been the owner and we've been in their buildings. But if we purchase the structure, we own the structure, we own our control of the situation, and we gain back control of the timing rush that is on the decision making related to the middle school project. we also mitigate a risk with the high school project the downsides are we have to understand the operational costs and manage the operational costs and we have to understand a removal cost at some point but

all of that at the end of the day also means though that we own a building that is often these pieces can often be reused in other places too so that's we also own an asset that could potentially be reused somewhere else I don't know That's the extent of what I know right now, of where we are right now. I don't have an answer beyond this at this point, but the reason why I think this makes a lot of sense is because the capital improvement plan proposal and the new building proposal for the middle school both make more sense and are easier to move forward on with this decision made than not. and that while it probably closes off the do nothing option I didn't hear a lot of support from the council on that and it probably makes the find a new site option not very not make It didn't make much sense, but it wasn't making much sense once we were looking at the numbers on it anyway. So I think that it makes sense.

I think the one other downside challenge, and acknowledging that it was probably you know addressed in the beginning in public comment is we are keeping the buildings here longer and at this moment in time if you were to guide the school building committee to keep them here longer it would not I wouldn't have a date when they're disappearing. You know, like right now the date when they're disappearing was always going to be, you know, mid summer 2026. with the middle school. If we went right into a new building project, we timed out the new building project, I could tell you what that date is right now. I can't nail down that date. I mean, if MSBA expressed interest in putting us through the process, then it took a round to get us into that. could slow things down a bit. So I just want to be honest about that. But I think that what I'm looking for right now, what makes me more comfortable as a manager trying to address the issues surrounding this project,

is having flexibility and options, which is exactly what I talked about as it related to my challenges on the finances of the full project to begin with. And this is a step towards flexibility and options that we don't have otherwise. And that's why I think there's a lot of sense to this and why Council President and I talked about bringing it to you tonight. Thank you, Mr. President. That's all I have.

Thank you. I want to expand on a couple of things before I open it up for comment. First, the thing that's in red is troubling because this issue with the concrete is still not 100% resolved and I'm gonna go back to when we did the Lowell School, we put the kids in there, I feel, too early and we had several months of construction disruptions in the building, so I don't think that it's feasible to do the same thing with this high school. We have a place for them, it makes sense, but if we if we don't take an action, let's say this evening, to purchase these, we're potentially looking at costs from 800,000 to 1.6 million dollars to keep them rented. that's kind of money we're throwing away in the way that the manager has pointed this out.

Going down to the next item, which is the options for the middle school, I will personally say tonight that I will not support the capital improvement plan upgrades because it does nothing for the education. it does nothing for bringing the building up to code. It doesn't make any sense. I would not support it. It would be like us taking 15, 18, $20 million taking it, putting it out front and setting them on fire and having the fire department come put it out. It's a waste of money. I don't think that that's the prudent. But the manager pointed out also that Christy and I and he have been looking at ways to mitigate costs and one of the Significant ways to mitigate costs is this gives us the flexibility to go back to a design, bid, build project rather than a construction manager at risk.

which gives us a premium, and I don't want to put a number on it, five to 8% additional savings, potentially, but there could be some cost escalation because we're not doing it. but I do think that one of the prudent steps that we could take, and Christie and I have discussed this, I discussed it with George, at some point we should consider using the Middle School Stabilization Fund to enter into a contract with AI3, who's the School Building Committee's choice, and Vertex to design the project bring it to fruition, put it out to bid to see if we can get a decent, because bids have been coming in a little bit lower lately because there's not a lot of money out there. and if we don't get the bid that we like, we just let it sit but we have a design, we have all the, and that's not for tonight but I think we have a path to do this building

which will be significantly less pressure. We're not here pushing the button saying we have to do this because now we could potentially, if we choose, we own the modulus so there's not that time pressure and that's why we were escalating it to a point where we wanted to get a vote on it but Christie to her credit has been in deep negotiations with the owner of the modulus and we do feel that and Christie, correct me if I'm wrong, there is going to be a market for these, not maybe not the whole building, but different parts of it going to different places. Other people are gonna do projects. So, you know, I think, I want to give Christy a lot of credit here for all the work she's done on behalf of the city and on behalf of the city council, the school committee, and the school building committee in getting us to this point where The pressure is a little bit, if we do this, the pressure is off. And as she pointed out, we're not borrowing any money. The money's there.

So we're not gonna be borrowing money and paying interest. to the manager's point, we're just going to be taking over the maintenance of the building. And again, I have to apologize, but we're not gonna be taking the modulus off in the summer of 2026 and that is a little, that is a burden to the neighbors, but the good news is you're not gonna have all the high school kids going there anymore. So there's no high school kids, no high school teachers. So there are some benefits to that. So I want to open it up for discussion and I would like to hear, love to hear what everybody has to say. Councilor Piccirilli.

So I thank you Mr. President and obviously being on the school building committee and talking with the council president and our owners project manager I know a lot about what sort of challenges facing us. So I just, so Christie, just to this slide here. So the second bullet with the red, if we weren't to do this and the substantial completion of the high school is until say June 30th and we need an extra $1.6 million to pay that rent. Where would that money come from? Because right now we don't have that available in the contingency in the high school project. So would we be going to the manager and the council to ask for more money?

correct what I think we would be doing is borrowing against what we are projecting is the IRA funding similar to what I presented at the last building committee so the IRA incentive that we're excited it looks like the high school is going to benefit from We never carried that in our budget and now we see it as an opportunity. So we would be borrowing against your reimbursement. That's what my answer is.

but that would still be money we would actually have to write a check to. Correct. And that money that if we didn't have to do that $800,000 and $1.6 million, would end up being a surplus of unspent funds for the high school project, which we could then close out the high school project and use it on the middle school project. So that's real money that we'd have to check would have to be written. My second question. the $2.2 million. So that represents, if we look at the schedule of payment with J&J, that's the remaining money in their contract that we would have to pay them to remove the modulars and restore the field. and what this would do is we would say we would close out their contract on December 31st, 2025. and pay them that $2.2 million and then

the title of the modulus transfers to us and then at some point we have to have to pay to restore the field which was included in their 2.2 million dollar contract.

Not to restore the field.

Well, to remove the infrastructure.

Right, just to remove and get us back to a base level.

Right. So we would do that, but that's something the school building committee would do. We would not have to ask the council or the manager to give us $2.2 million to do that because we actually have the money in the budget. committed to do that so we don't actually we would execute a change order and pay them close with the contract and then on own the modulars, the title. And then my other question is we're going to do the middle school project and then we're going to be done and then we need to get rid of the modulars. These modules were brand new when we bought them, right? They came right here from the factory in Indiana or wherever it was. So they've only been used once. So what do you think we could get on the market to resell these when we're done with them?

So I will tell you, I've not done a study on the number, but here's a couple things that I've been thinking about. So much of it is timing. If these companies that exist that do these modular projects have an opportunity to use it, the value could be as much as the rates that you see here and what we spent to build it the first time, quite frankly. but I would say I'm just gonna be honest with you the way I in this moment I would write your removal package would be to simply put it out there into the market as a removal and then it might cost the least to just demolish them. I would say the way we would write it is simply to put it out there as that. That's today how I see it.

and see what the market determines. Somebody paid four million, somebody paid a million.

Somebody might want only half of them and demolish the rest. So it's really about the timing for the people out there that do this work.

And if that's Five years from now, I assume schools will still be being built in Massachusetts five years from now and there'll still be demand?

They get used on some of the military bases, swing space, housing. I mean, they have a lot of use, not just schools.

Okay, thank you. Councilor Palomba.

Thank you. I have a number of questions, so I'm going to do some and then let Council President identify someone else.

Tony, put your microphone on, please.

I have a number of questions that I think I'll do some and then let Council President pick someone else and then come back to you. I just want a clarification and maybe I took the minutes, maybe I was wrong, but I thought in the presentation last time in October. I thought I asked the city manager or you how much it was per month and I have a figure of $136,000 per month. Over here, if we extended two months.

There's an explanation for that.

I could explain that. It's a great point.

I wasn't wrong, right?

No, that's 100% fair. So we bid the modular package for the high school. and the lease value was about $400,000 a month. That's what the market told us at that time for the high school contract. Since then, we have discussed and negotiated with the same vendor for the middle school use before I presented those numbers of current market value of $136,500 per month. So you are correct.

If we did the project for 22 months, we would be paying $136 per month. But because he was going to have 20 months of payments, because we're not extending the lease for 20 months, he would charge us the market rate for each month that we keep it.

And the 22 months you're talking about is...

If we had done the middle school. If we had done the middle school.

Yes. Correct. Okay, so we're going to supposedly purchase back these buildings. We have no idea what the future holds about getting rid of them, though you say there's options out there. and we don't know when we're going to get rid of them at this point. And there's operational costs and there's maintenance costs. There might be two different things. and maybe the city manager can help us there. What are the operational costs to keep these buildings there, right? Well, we're gonna own them in January, right? And then January of this coming year, it's 25, and then a year and four months, the students will be gone. They'll be back at the high school in 26, April of 26, which is in four months. Four months. Four months from January.

So it would be back in that school and we have these empty buildings. Correct. What is it going to cost us per month to maintain them, and is it an operational cost plus a maintenance cost, or what is the cost to have these?

So I don't know the dollar value, Councilor, but I can tell you.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. I apologize. I had my mic off.

No worries. I do not know the dollar value. I'm sure Public Buildings does, but you currently pay the utilities for those for the building under the current lease terms. So we're not currently, you're not taking on new utility costs, you currently pay those. You also currently, as part of the lease terms, do the changing of the HVAC filters as part of the lease terms. So yes, there'll be things that, you know, things break and you need to fix a door handle and in public buildings would take on some of that. To be honest with you, sometimes even now, when a student some things happen and there's been something that is not normal wear and tear the school public buildings has fixed it as their cost versus normal wear and tear than the current owner, J&J Contractors, has come and fixed it.

So in my mind right now, I don't see a big change in your operations costs.

if I can add to that, if the students move out and the building is empty, there's going to be minimal cost because we're going to have minimal heat, minimal people going in and out, and The only thing that I would say is it's kind of like the North Branch Library where it's vacant. We're not doing anything. and the manager did a recent study and this thing was still in great shape. So I would say that there are gonna be some costs, Mr. Manager, maybe you and the director of public buildings had this discussion, but I would say that once the students move out, it's a more minimal cost than it is today. Okay, thank you.

So we're gonna have, we're gonna, We're going to buy these buildings for how much again? $2.2 million, right? And they're ours, right? And then we have to maintain them and so forth, right? Whatever, maybe not much money. And as council president said, if the students on in, in April, then there may be no much a lot of costs. We do then have to be responsible for getting rid of them and you're saying that either the market will allow us to sell them or we knock them down. is that right? Correct. And then we have to renovate the park and so forth. But we have no idea of how much these buildings will draw. How much at this point? You have, how many there are? but if you say half of them could be sold and maybe some of them could be demolished but we don't have any real hard figures

on what we could get for these buildings, when we could get it, right, or what it would, well, I don't know if you want the cost of demolition, but we don't have any hard figures at this point, correct? Correct. Okay. So then, can I keep going country when I recognize some? Go ahead. Thank you. So now turn to the situation that upsets me the most. I'd like to know, this savings that we're having, I'm looking back at your presentation in October, and I'm looking at the cost of, and I could be wrong, because I, of a new building. And I came up with, I don't know if this is the correct figure or not, of $124 million. 124 million.

Was that my off on that? Is this this option?

That was the initial feasibility study, that first slide. You're correct. and then we looked at it as CM at risk, releasing early packages, reducing the time and it went to 1 12th.

It's the 112th. Correct. That's the figure that we're looking at. Correct. So I'd like to know what the how that figure would go down based on this decision to by the modules. And then your other figure, which had this very nice, I'm not sure if it's in this one or another, he had like a list of things that we could do and maybe it was another presentation. and I forgot the cost of that list. This was a sort of the bare minimum. Oh, it was I think 14,000 was it? 14 million, I apologize, 14 million. So I'd like to know how those figures go down based on the decision to purchase these modules. And I don't know if that's your question or city manager's question.

I can take that. So this middle box right here for the capital improvements plan, that $13.9 million, it would go down by 1.8 million for one academic year. That's what we carried in that 13.9 million is $1.8 million.

that was the 14 million.

For the modular lease. And then for the new building option, the 112, it would go down by almost $3 million, 2.97.

a project that is costing $112,000 million would go down by a total of $3 million. Correct. That's all it would go down.

for the lease, correct?

I'm asking for, I'm sorry, maybe I'm just looking at I'm looking at what we thought it was going to cost to knock down and build a new high school. And I think the figure you put here after you renovate, after you did some work, was $112 million estimate. Correct. So it's not going to be $100 million. 1 million, 12.

112 million, I'm with you.

It's not going to be that anymore. I want to know how much it gets reduced.

if you own the modulars and we do not have to lease them, it would go down by $3 million. So 100.

So the project now to rebuild the high school.

But if I can add to that, Christy, I'm sorry to interrupt Tony. it would also potentially go down much further if we did the design-bid-build versus the construction-manager-at-risk method. which is the design, bid, build is how we did all our other schools. When you put a construction manager at risk, they're taking all the risk for cost escalations so you pay a premium for that. I'm going to say, as I said in the outset, 5% to 8% additional savings potentially if we go that way.

Okay, thank you.

Gannon.

Yes, I thank you, Mr. President. Let's talk about the modules themselves. So obviously the biggest benefit to me, as I see, is that we got options. We don't have options. the lease is gonna end and we have to vacate. And one element and maybe Council President could talk about. or actually you'd be best to advise. So the reason why there was delays is the subcontractor on the flooring, the cement flooring and the leveling and all that. Is there a liquidated, yeah. some construction contracts I've reviewed as a city attorney have liquidated damages clauses where you have a target date and if the contractor is on risk to make certain payments Is that something that this contract has?

It does. $2,000 a day.

$2,000 a day. So that would reduce the amount of, you know, if we get the liquidated damages, that too could go toward the cost of the modulars, right?

Yes, it could, but if let's say $60,000 a month you're just taking 60,000 off of 400,000 to use a loan number. You're still upside down.

Oh sure, so I'm talking about the 2.2 million, but be that as it may, the biggest value I see is we have options. We don't have options if we have to vacate. among those option times Christy talked about soliciting bids which are preliminary estimates that you prepared were based on estimates of what bidders I'm sorry what contractors would our bids would come in at. So we would have some opportunity to know the rule of thumb in a down economy is that contractors are going to bid lower to keep their employees working and to keep their business running. and that's happened on numerous occasions. I've seen it. The city of Somerville, we had a hand in extending the Green Line. during a downturn in the economy, not only was the winning bid able to fund the Green Line below cost,

but they were able to add extras or the wish list which eventually created an additional two miles of bike path and community uses that has become a really popular amenity in the city. There are benefits that nonprofits and local governments have during a downturn in terms of bidding that for-profit developers do not have. that's one thing but I think it's a wise decision to take this path because we need the modules anyway to extend the classroom time because of the flooring issue. And I've spoken before at the school building committee, it does not make sense to have students in buildings while active construction would be going on, which was a thought. I lived it.

When I graduated, the last few years of my high school experience, construction, dust, loud noise as we were building additions around us students. it makes sense to keep the students in the modular classrooms while any construction is remaining on the high school but I do see like I said before, the opportunities we're having. I mean, this is similar to having a swing space like the St. Jude's School in Waltham when we needed to build to the two elementary schools and the third modified schools. So I think it's a wise cost. I credit the team for coming up with this option. and I also want to look back at the middle school itself. I spoke very passionately the last time we discussed the issue we have a building that's full of disability Americans with Disabilities Act violations.

The city has been on notice when I prepared that report back in 1993 that the 32 years ago, we were well aware of all the violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and also even looking at the, anyone who's been in the 1922 edition there are dark stairways there are very narrow stairways if anyone's been in the the stairway leading from the at the down at the lower level gym the stairway leading to that is a very narrow corridor. I mean, even for able-bodied people, let alone folks with disabilities, there is completely no access. there's a lot to be said for studying this issue further keeping it alive and maybe one question would be if we kept the modulars if they had to be warehoused for a certain period of time is there any

is there any time before, if they're kept stored for too long without use, is there a certain amount of time where they become unusable?

I'm going to say no on that, but I don't know exactly, but I would just caution you on we wouldn't want to move them and then move them back. We had to build an elevator shaft. because it is two-story. So that would truly be a demolition. The cost to move these is very expensive, not in play in any of these scenarios. but we did review it, just so you know.

And just to follow up, I mean, there's a lot of benefits to keeping this option, to keeping our options open. because this is a building I analyze in my own mind how many buildings have been rehabbed city buildings would be rehabbed over the last 30 years I look at from the the DPW garage, brand new building, the library, brand new building, all the schools, brand new buildings, fire stations, a lot of capital upgrades. this portion of the middle school the 1922 portion has not been upgraded I mean it's been you know sitting it's a continuing violation and our students deserve good learning environments and also we talked before about the learning experience and having a

a continuum of world-class educational environments all the way from kindergarten preschool to graduation high school is very valuable in the student experience and interrupting putting them in a building that's over 100 years old and has not had substantial renovations since the decades that I was there is kind of a setback for the student educational experience. but we have to start at baby steps as the Council President has done. stated. This is acquiring the modular classrooms is a wonderful idea. It creates the options and we can go further and get better information. So thank you very much.

Councilor Izzo.

Thank you Mr. President. So I guess obviously there's gonna be a gap in time between when the high schoolers move out and then when the middle schoolers move in. is there any anticipated use of how maybe we could use like rent it out for someone and gain some I don't know if that's a question for you or

it's certainly something to consider we also have to consider the the neighborhood impacts of anything we do of that type but you know if if there was a year when it was gonna sit dormant and if there was some program, city program or private daycare program or other community school program or something that said, hey, I really need to use a building for a year. as long as we could get them back out of there when we want to get the middle school students into there. I wouldn't take it off the table. I'd certainly consider the possibility that occupied buildings are sometimes they're certainly more expensive to manage but they're sometimes a little easier to manage because if something starts leaking there's someone in the building the next day seeing it happen versus having to schedule someone to go check out an unoccupied building on a regular basis to make sure it's it's in okay shape. So it's certainly, I wouldn't say no, but I would need to know more about what it would be.

Like I said, this is a plan that provides options. That's really, and that's a part of it. So, thanks.

I would just add that there may be someone in the situation we were in where we got to St. Jude's we needed that for temporary swing space somebody in the nearby may want to do the same thing to a private school or another public school for a short period of time. So it is definitely a possibility because we do have quite a bit of work to do if we were going to move forward with the design anyway.

We could share it with the MSBA.

As a matter of fact, let me just also, I was going to state that the manager stated that we can also turn to the MSBA and the superintendent and I have signed up for a forum in January to discuss how to present or how to go about getting a statement of interest. to the MSBA. Again, we're not comfortable that given that we just participated with our high school, we're not sure how quickly we would get in, but it's a step that we're also going to continue to work towards to try to find some additional relief to do a project there. Feltner.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank the team for all your hard work. It's obvious that you're very dedicated. regardless of the outcome of our beautiful elementary and our exciting to be open soon high school. The options I think are great. It's giving us more than one option. The numbers also make sense. Frankly, I'm really happy to see the options even if the numbers were tighter. I just think it's really important to continue working on making the schools the center of really the heart of our community and stay committed to the education of our children and improving that and have that continuity with the middle school. So I'm really heartened. I know we've all been nervous about the numbers, but I think there's a lot of creative thinking going on here and dedication, and I'm definitely going to support this approach. Thank you.

Christie, if I may, I know you and I have seen the slide a thousand times, but we talked about at one point if we leased them to do the middle school project. We did ask him for a cost at the end of that as well. And I think that was a significant number.

That was the 2.2.

Pardon me? Okay. That was the 2.2. I just wanted to make sure. I looked at too many numbers with you.

Nope, that's okay. The significant number was at the end of the high school. Okay, yeah. Yeah, and that was... Which was significantly different than this.

Right.

was what, about seven?

Yes.

Yeah, if we want them, on April 30th, he wanted originally $7 million for them. That's the number I was thinking about. Councilor Palomba.

Thank you. What I'm hearing is that there provides us some flexibility if we purchased these modules. What I'd like, and I'm not sure what that flexibility does. City Manager Pariocas said it gives him some time to redo the figures. on the two options that we had. Council President Sideris is one of those options. It's not really a viable option, so it leaves us with the option of rebuilding. and it appears that this option allows for that. It allows for us to reconsider the figures of the benefit of $2.4 million, and then potentially bring back and maybe this is a question for City Manager Parokas, to bring back a new figure for the building of this new school.

So that's what this does. it doesn't do anything in terms of giving us the flexibility not to do that so if he came back with figures that said you know even after I looked at this I still think this is not what I would do as a manager. We would then have these buildings, correct? So it gives him the option of saying, okay, let me play with the figures. and what his options could be would be, I think I can lower that one one to 112. Sorry, $112 million. I can bring that down. I can take some more stuff off of capital improvement for the next few years, and I can bring that down to something that's, you know, $100 million.

He may come back and say, no matter what I do, I still think this is not well for the city. It's not a good use of the money for the city to build this. So that's what this gives him is those options, and it gives him a decrease of a certain amount of money on the rebuilding, right? I understand that and I think I might support that option given him, but it feels like it doesn't do anything for Okay, let me ask you this question. Council President Sedersen, I apologize because I don't understand it. I don't understand it that much. When you came up with that 112 figure, that you reduced from one, two, three. Wasn't that based on what this whole, the same idea of how we built the high school and the middle school in terms of What's the term? I apologize. Construction manager at risk?

Design, bid, build. Design, build, build. Which of those two were you using when you came up with the 112?

the 112 million is construction manager at risk. And the easiest way to think about it is because we reduced the duration of the project. by bringing on a construction manager at risk. That's how we reduce the cost. Because we could issue drawings and packages from the design team iteratively to keep us moving, to start earlier, which reduced the entire duration. That's why, essentially, it cost us.

So construction manager What's the other word? At risk. So the construction manager at risk. Is that the same approach that you used for the high school and the two elementary schools?

No. Okay, and let me just explain to Christie's point, because we were under a time crunch for leasing the modulars, I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, Christie, this would give us, if we choose and the manager authorizes the school building committee to negotiate with AI3 a contract and Vertex to design the project We're not paying any lease money because we bought them. And then when we design the project, it's gonna take a while, we put it out to bid to see what that number really will be. I feel that there's potential savings in doing it that way as well rather than the construction. The construction manager at risk puts a premium on it, but the premium was because you had to get it done real quick. this gives the manager, and if we go that route, if we choose to do the school, an opportunity to use potentially

some of the stabilization fund to begin the process and work with the school building committee to design a school and then put it out to bid and say here's the real number. I mean, if I correct.

To design it in full, right? That's the difference. You're saying exactly right. To design it in full, to do our iterative cost estimates we do to make sure it's on track, to do that in roughly 12 months, you know, 12, 14 months to do it correctly, to have it be a biddable set of documents. that's the design, bid, build model.

The design what?

Design, bid, build model.

Design, bid, build. And that's what you used in the other schools?

Yes, that's what we used for the other schools. and I just want to make the point, it is very much again about what the market says. Gannon talked about the market right now is very good. There are people that need work. We know life science work isn't happening. Higher ed work isn't happening. There's contractors that need work that that would likely render good results on bid day.

Okay, so let me just end this because I know there's other people. When will we know how much this building will cost?

a new middle school? If that were the selected model?

If City Manager Perocas said I can afford $100 million instead of $112 million. I can afford that. Somehow I can make the figures work. When will we know how much it actually cost?

if the scenario that President Sideris said that we could start right away with AI3 and start designing schematic design of this building, we would do our first estimate in likely three or four months. and that would tell you what we think the cost of a new middle school would be. So you could do that in three to four months? Let's say four months for now because we've got to get everybody back up to speed.

Could you do that right now? You could do that in the next four months.

Correct.

What's the plan? Well, then why don't we do it? Mr. President.

We're ready to go.

The team's ready. I can tell you that. Mr. Manager.

I want to answer Councilor Palomba's last question because I think this is important. The reason they're not doing that is because we put them on hold. And the reason we put them on hold is because of how concerned I was that after the last iteration of where the numbers could go, we were still at 112 million when I wanted us quite a bit lower than that. And I knew that the gap from where we were and where we need to be had now opened up to $28 million. I think this is the way I look at this and I know maybe one of the reasons why I'm saying there are options here is because literally amongst all of us at the table we're describing the options as being different but I still also believe that there are options here. The first thing that buying the modulars does is it reduces the 112 million dollar project to 109 million dollars. It takes 3 million off the number.

that said we also know the 112 million dollar project price is going up because of the time we are spending discussing the project just in terms of potential cost escalations out there in the field, but design, bid, build, I'm sorry, I said that backwards. This is, okay. CM at risk, the method that the 112 number was created with, was created as the low-cost option only because we were chasing a time clock. And because we were chasing a time clock, the higher cost the otherwise higher cost of going CM at risk became lower because it's offset by renting modulars for fewer months and getting architects going faster. We hit a time point here in early September where I was asked to essentially say, let's keep the architects going.

Let's keep the designers working full speed on designing a school. And at the time, I instead brought to the council a concern about the cost and we kind of put everything on hold at that point because we really weren't sure what was doable and what was going on. At this point, I look at the 112, I look at the ability to bring it to 3 million lower, I look at the possibility of moving away from CM at risk because the initial time pressure is off, I look at having more detailed design documents to be able to bid off of a few months from now allowing us to have more information and I also look at by the way settling the question of whether or not we're going to have a home rule petition passed on on the tax split. And the reason that's important to me is because I think if you got anything from the four box diagram presentation I did at the end of the of the budget review in October.

The most important thing in that diagram was that the combination of the middle school plus giving people tax relief based upon the tax split was not a viable option the way I saw it at that time. And I still think it's a challenging option and it means that if the tax split petition isn't passing and we decide to do the project, I can't do anything but present a budget that includes a pretty substantial tax increase. So we have to deal with that. for all of those reasons, I was not yet willing to take the capital improvement plan item completely off the table because if we go down these paths and every single one of them falls apart, I'm going to come back to that as a suggestion, but only if every single one of them falls apart. I think the opportunity here is if we buy the modulars

It allows us to continue exploring the middle school options, exploring getting rid of CM at risk and seeing how much it saves, exploring going a little further in the design process and getting another estimate and seeing how those estimates are refining. exploring, seeing where the market is on construction projects because as much as it surprises me to say so, most of the stuff we're putting out to bid now is coming in under the estimates. It wasn't like that when I first started working here and it has been like that the last 12 months or so. and then the other thing is as much as it's an outside moonshot kind of suggestion filing an MSBA application and seeing what happens while we're in the middle of this design process jeez I mean if they end up wanting to pay for 20, 30, 40% of this project, that's going to solve the problem that we have in the gap. So I think that

but the only reason I'm hanging on to the capital improvement plan probably a little more than the council president is, is because I do think the fallback is still there if all of the other stuff doesn't work. if we come to the conclusion and I'm still sitting here as doom and gloom as I was in September saying we still haven't found a path to do this we still have the modulars that allows that to happen we still have the modulars that allows us you know I mean even every worst case scenario I can think of is better with us owning these than with us not owning these. That's essentially, that's the only point I am definitively able to make tonight. Beyond that, I do think there are a whole bunch more questions to ask and a whole bunch more to do. and I think to some extent that has to go back to the school building committee to have some of those conversations about should they recommend authorizing having the architects do more work and get another estimate?

Should they recommend having Vertex start running numbers pulling CM at risk back out of the program and seeing where that goes. I think those are some nuts and bolts conversations at the school building committee, but fundamentally, I think the fundamental kind of threshold question, the council question is, do we repurpose an amount of the high school budget to do the purchase so that that option set suddenly becomes available and and all I will say beyond that is I think it still opens up options. So that's kind of where I'll leave it.

And let me just add one more thing. Christy, you can correct me again if I'm wrong. this is a proposal that Christie has negotiated with the owner, but the caveat to this is it has to be done by 1231 or the price is gonna change and the price is gonna go up, correct?

it's things like he doesn't have to reinsure it for the next year. It's kind of like a good demarcation point. Not responsible for the remainder of the lease, those things.

Thank you, Mr. President. So just to keep it very simple, if we spend the 2.2 to buy these and we own them, we'll save at least 2.2 that we would have been throwing out the window as rental costs, correct? 2.2 to 3.8, that's what that first bullet underneath Purchases.

The 2.2 was the remaining contract value to remove it.

Right. So we won't be spending $2.2 million to $3.8 million in rent. Correct. We'll be spending $2.2 million to own a capital asset. Correct. So it really doesn't cost us any extra money. That's right. Number one. Okay. And if we go ahead...

Except if we want to remove it. That's the only time.

I was going to get to that. And it may save us additional based on this ability to shift from owner at risk to buy, build, plan, plan, build, buy, whatever the heck it is. I don't have those three words in my head right now. So I know you can't possibly predict if these are gonna be worth zero on the rental market or a lot later on. but do you have any sense at all if we had to just trash them, which I would hate to do for waste reasons, but if we had to trash them, what would that roughly cost us?

I wish I had done this number. I've been regretting this several times in this moment, I'm gonna tell you. In my mind, I'm doing a number that's around three million dollars. but I could be off on that. I'm thinking about cost per square foot, trying to do math quickly at 63,000. So I don't know. I think it could end up being around the same, to be honest with you.

Yeah, that's bigger than I thought. I thought it would be less than that, actually, so that's helpful to know.

And it could be. Yeah, and it could be. Because you could have a couple of demo contractors that need work.

Right.

And they say, this is easy. Oh and I need a couple of modules for my yard to store something so I'm going to get some value out of this and on that day you get a very low number.

Well, and I'm glad you mentioned the strode that on my yard because the other, I was really sad to hear you say these can't be moved because in my mind I was thinking we have the sterile lumber site, we have the demonstration project, we have a lot of things, right? So could we move it over there and maybe do some preschool there? We're committed to universal pre-K. there's so many potential uses within the city or by other organizations but it's really just a complete non-starter and I was very sensitive to the letter that was read earlier you know being able to move it down there kids can be bused there just as easily during the build years as to Moxley.

To clarify, it can be moved. It was much more expensive. It was in the $5 to $6 million range.

an additional five to six on top of the 2.2 or total? Correct. Ah, okay, that is a lot more money. All right, that's helpful, thank you.

Gannon.

Yes, and one final point for me. I think we, Councilors, have spoken about how this is a benefit and it provides us with many options. I feel so much better than I did the last meeting where we talked about essentially flushing 14, 15 million dollars down the toilet for something that's not going to give us our students an educational environment it's just going to kick the can down the road this allows us to look at all the options not just the bids, but also the ways of creative financing to pay to $28 million extra cost. That's $1.4 million per year over 20 years. Surely we can find that. as a stopgap certainly we talked about the free cash certified over 33 million dollars for the this past fiscal year.

And essentially we can write out even four fiscal years We're paying money to pay off our OPEB liability with a goal of fully funding that by 2031. already paying a few million dollars towards that. There's some extra gap there. We may be seeing the results of our building projects, the Watertown Square Apartments, we have developers looking at building projects there. So that's going to add to our new growth. So having an extra cost of 1.4 per year for debt service for 20 years becomes a lot smaller in the long run. And what we do have presently is a building that's 100 years old at the front, It is unsafe. There are dark spaces. Bullies love dark spaces.

There are deficiencies and accessibility issues all around the buildings that were untouched by the changes that were made over 25 years ago. and as I outlined all the other city buildings that have had improvements or brand new buildings over the last 30 years, this front part is the only one that hasn't. and its 1922 building. It's time to get to 2020 standards. So with that, I'll stop. Thank you.

Thank you. You've made mention of the 1922 building more than once this evening, and we're aware. Councilor Palomba.

I think we're voting on this tonight, aren't we, Council President?

If we choose to, yes.

Okay. In order for me to feel comfortable voting, and in some ways I want this issue to come to a rest. and I shouldn't be looking at you, maybe my colleagues and the city manager. I have advocated for different use of the money. that we could have. I would like to be able to stop. I'd like to be able to say either we're gonna do the building or we're not. Whatever we do in between that, Okay, let's discuss it. There was other things besides wasting 14 million in your presentation. There are other things that we could look at. So I would like to know,

If we pass this, which gives George greater flexibility, I want to know when we could actually say, this is done. either you and mine. I've done a lot of different things in different parts of my life. I'm not afraid of losing. I'm not afraid of voting against something and having it 7 to 2 or 5 to 4. I just want to know when. So can you give me a sense, or maybe George, you could give me a sense, once we get this flexibility, when will we be able to put this issue to bed?

I would say I can bring you new numbers and I'm going to say a little because we're coming into the holidays. I'd like to retract what I said earlier. I said three to four months. I'd like to say four to five. we all know we lose this month of getting people up to speed right but if I could bring you refined numbers in five months four to five months and then

So obviously there's a wild card with MSBA here that we may or may not be able to use. The school building authority, when they fund a building, really helps substantially. and that would be a very, it would just be a very different conversation with the council if I had a sense that that was doable and let me just say they run on their own schedule and it's not that fast. It's a couple of years probably of answering that question. But let's say absent that, let's set MSBA aside and assume that it's not a doable path here for a moment and say, Let's say we're looking for a non-MSBA path to do a middle school based upon the new numbers that Christy gives me. What I will say is this. I don't think it's my role to be the one making the decision. I think it's my role to be the one telling you what the implications are of the decision.

I tried in October to do that with the best data I had available. We have new data, we have new information, we have new possibilities. We have a capital plan we're supposed to put together in January, which is a little tricky to do with this up in the air, which means probably we're doing versions of it that show two options of what we're doing with the middle school just based upon where we are. Or maybe we'll just hold the 70 million number in the capital plan for now and then realize we have an additional gap we still have to address depending upon what it is. but I would say if you were to deliver something in the April timeframe, that lines up with the timeframe in which I'm building the fiscal year 27 budget. I would hope that as we present the fiscal year 27 budget and have to put the debt service numbers in that budget and have to put the three year projections for 28 and 29 in that budget and have to determine what's going on with the tax split petition as we put that budget together that we would also be able to answer the question of

I can give you what I think is the best path forward and I can build in a system in that budget that gives you that best path forward and then you can tell me if you agree that that's the best path forward which would be either we're doing this school and here are the things that we are shifting around in order to make that possible or we still don't have a path to do that school and we have to figure out what we do with that information at that point. that path would be a lot easier for me to handle if I knew where the tax split petition situation was. I really feel like that's an important piece of it right now just because if we commit to the school and we commit to the other capital project work we're doing and we figure out our way around it. And even if we slow OPEB to zero over the next couple of years,

if the tax split petition doesn't pass, I'm either asking you to slice millions of dollars out of the operating budget in 27, 28, and 29 or I am asking you to vote an 18% tax increase. That's essentially what it comes down to and I've tried my best to explain that in the October budget presentation. if we commit reducing OPEB to the school project or we commit reducing some of the other stabilization funds to cover the costs on the school project plus cover the deficits that are already in the projections because I don't want to forget the fact that We already had deficit projected budgets that we're building off of. OPEB in 29 was already dicey under those circumstances. use this funding over and over again for multiple things. If I say I'm not going to do X, I can only do Y. I can't do Y, Z, A, and B. There's only so much you can do there.

There are circumstances that make me a little more optimistic than I was in September and October. This being a part of it, the bid environment being a part of it, and even though my plan is always for the housing in Watertown Square to really be covering the Watertown Square borrowing, which I'll remind everyone is also not in the capital plan, and needs to be put in the capital plan somehow. I do think that if things are taking off in other circumstances, in other ways, we're seeing more fit out in lab building, and our existing lab buildings than I expected to see, although we're certainly not seeing anything in the world of new construction. I think that a few more months of looking at where the trends are, looking at where the options are and looking at where the costs are,

To be honest with you, it is more like the comfort level of how these decisions are typically made. the situation that we got ourselves into was that we rushed ourselves because the modular buildings were there and we had to decide right away because they're there. and that's not as the deliberative process that typically happens about a decision like this doesn't happen that quickly usually. I do think though that deliberative process can happen over the next six months and can happen between now and when we put the fiscal year 27 budget together, especially if I'm able to get an updated cost estimate based upon a little bit more design work being done from where we stand today. and then we figure out the path from there. So I think that's a long answer to a very short question which is six months from now.

I want to just throw one bit of caution to this. First of all, there's a number of steps that we have to take to get to that point. First, we don't have any money to hire Vertex. We don't have any money to hire AI3 to do the design. We would have to come to the city council get the money, then get a contract that the attorneys will have to go through. And we've had recent discussions where they've gone back and forth for months at a time and not been able to come to an agreement So there's a number of steps and I'm gonna caution that your three or four months is not gonna, I don't think is really doable because of the number of steps that we have to take to get there. just to Councilor Palomba's point that I think that we have some, I think it's a little more than three or four months. Councilor Aresian, you had a comment.

Thank you, Mr. President. yeah I you know I've three of my I have three boys they all went to the middle school I have one eighth grader there now so I've spent a lot of time in that building I spent three years there myself and you know I it needs to be redone. And when the manager made his presentation, you know, I think a lot of us thought it was dead. And I just want to credit, you know, Christie, her team, council president, city manager, and his staff on not letting it die. um, because I think they understand how important it is to at least exhaust every option that we have to look at to get it done. So I'm happy. that we have this in front of us tonight and would be supporting it. Thank you.

I would like to also just add that We've done a lot of work to try to not only keep this project alive because I think it's worthy of the discussion, but I also that the caution I have here is what's going on with the high school and having to waste potentially two months at approximately $400,000 a month because we didn't finish. That raises caution, and that's money that could be spent on buying these modulars tonight, and I think to the manager's point and to others here, the train left the tracks because we had the modules there and we were under time constraint to get it done. This takes the train and slows it down significantly and gives the manager and others an opportunity to say, Yeah, we all think we want to do this school.

We always said we wanted to do the school, but we threw caution to the wind because we think the money was getting crazy. I think this gives to the manager's word, flexibility. This gives us many more options. And again, we couldn't do this without Christie's help, George's help, the financial team's help. We're trying to... make sure that the decision that is finally made on this building is the right decision. And I think that this gives us that flexibility to do that. Councilor Palomba.

Thank you. Thank you very much for that, Council President. I just wanted to be clear, and I've said this throughout the long and it's not the figures that just bother me about this. I keep looking at you and I apologize. You're up there, so move away and then I will look at the podium, okay? It's not just, it's not just the figures. And maybe Councilor, you and Council President Zers and Councilor, I mean, and George have made it all kind of make it, give us more options, more time. and another six months we'll see what happens when he presents his budget. It's not just that and I want to make it clear. I've made this clear throughout my campaign. It's the priority. My priority is to think about a senior center My priority is to think about a recreation center. My priority is not to build a middle school.

So I just needed to say that. and that's all and let me thank you for putting up with me looking at you so much.

That's why she gets paid the big bucks. Are there any other comments? Are we comfortable with the motion at this point?

I will make a motion that the city council provide policy guidance to the city manager and the school building committee to take the appropriate action to retain ownership of the modular classrooms currently in use for the high school project. including but not limited to authorizing the current modular classroom lease to be amended to allow for purchase of these units for a negotiated price at the conclusion of the lease term as may be amended for the benefit of future city use. Is there a second?

Second.

Discussion? I think this is worthy of a roll call.

Councilor Erishin. Yes. Bays, Feltner, Gannon, Gardner, Izzo, Palomba, Piccirilli, Sideris,

Yes, thank you. Thank you to my colleagues for allowing us to have this discussion. Thank you, Christy, Mr. Manager, and the finance team, and everyone for Again, I think this gives us a lot of options. Moving on. First reading on a proposed loan order that the sum of $879,000 is appropriated to pay costs of purchasing the following items of departmental equipment for the Department of Public Works. including all costs incidental and related there too, hydro excavation vector truck for $695,000, and a sewer and stormwater camera truck for $184,000. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. President. This item is a first reading. This is a sum of $879,000 as noted for borrowing. It's consistent with conceptual recommendation number 46 in the capital improvement plan. and look forward to public hearing on this at our next meeting in December. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Next item is a first reading on a proposed loan order that the sum of $911,900 is appropriated to pay construction and construction administration costs of Howe Park Phase 1, as more fully described in the fiscal year, 2020, City's fiscal year, 2026 to 2030 Capital Improvement Program. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. President. Howe Park, as you know, has been an item in the capital improvement plan. It has been on our capital improvement schedule. We recently went out to bid on that item based upon maintaining the capital improvement schedule for parks as we have outlined over the course of time. Quick recollection here is that there's two lines on Howe Park that remained in the borrowing accounts from previous years. As we had set that back, I just want to give me one second here because I want to pull these up and have them in front of me. So the cost on Howe Park had combined two pieces and was included in the conceptual recommendation. The total borrowing amount of this is $911,900.

As you can see from the documentation, we had nine bids on this project. A couple of them were disqualified due to insufficient relevant bidding experience, but the low bidder on this came in at $829,000. which is below the total numbers that we had for Howe Park in the capital plan. And when we have our public hearing next week, I can go into more detail on this. but this is another promising step for moving our parks projects forward. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Next item is a resolution authorizing a transfer of funds in the aggregate amount of $469,250 from the fiscal year 2026 City Council Reserve to the fiscal year 2026 Water Reserve Fund and fiscal year 2026 Sewer Reserve Fund to various personnel accounts. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. President. This item transfers funds yes, to various personnel accounts for the purpose of funding the contracts. So we have signed contract agreements now with the Watertown Municipal Employees Group and with Teamsters Local 25. both of them include a cost of living increase for fiscal year 26 of 2.25%. The administration's plan is to also extend that 2.25% cost of living increase to the non-union staff that are on our classification and compensation tables, maintaining all of those tables with the grades and steps at the same levels across all of those organizations across WMEG, across DPW, and across the non-union staff. And this transfer of $469,250 will cover the first fiscal year of this contract with those increases. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Can I get a motion on the transfer of funds as presented? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Roll call please.

Bays, Feltner, Gannon, Gardner, Izzo, Palomba, Piccirilli, Sideris, Watertown, Councilor

Thank you. Next item is consideration and approval of exemptions of interests of existing city employees in contracts with the city including summer, winter, holiday, and after school program employment positions in response to disclosures filed with the city clerk by prospective employees and certification by the recreation director that no employee of that department is available to perform those services as part of their regular duties in accordance with General Law Chapter 268A, Section 20B. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. President. As you and the Council are aware, General Law Chapter 268A, Section 20B requires that if we hire a current municipal employee for a second municipal employee job, it requires City Council approval to do that. This typically occurs in circumstances where our recreation department is hiring school department employees to work on summer programs, on the winter ski program and other part-time work that recreation does that really benefits from having people with those backgrounds in the teaching programs and stuff. So we have three more of them in front of you today. and request your approval of those items. Thank you Mr. President.

Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the exemptions of interest? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Next item is committee reports. Nine A's, a committee on budget and fiscal oversight report regarding its meetings on November 5th and November 13th. Councilor Piccirilli is the chair.

Thank you, Mr. President. In the consideration of time, I'm just going to sort of summarize the report rather than reading the whole thing. So the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Oversight met on November, two nights, November 5th and November 13th to develop the budget policy guidelines for fiscal year 2027. This is myself, the chair. Izzo, the Vice Chair, and Councilor Gardner, the Secretary. Participating also were City Manager and the City Auditor and Council Analyst Doug Newton, who actually did a lot of the work this year. I do want to thank President Sideris, Councilor Feltner, Councilor Palomba, and Councilor Gannon for submitting comments in writing. And I also want to thank Councilor Bays, Gannon for attending the meetings and participating in the discussion.

So the task of the committee is not to decide whether each budget request is a good idea or not. Rather, the committee acts as an editor to take the input from nine councilors and synthesize it into a concise, actionable document for the manager. So we started by taking last year's budget policy guideline, incorporating people's input and discussing them and developing over the course of two nights. developing a course of a new series of budget policy guidelines. Many of them were had no changes. Some of them were removed because they were already done and there were several new ones added. So if you'd like, would you like me to just sort of read them? It's sort of a short list this year. So the first section of the budget policy guidelines is cost savings and revenues.

A, continue to proceed with the guidelines of the comprehensive plan with the long-term goal to promote City, diversified and growing tax base and a renewed focus on small businesses, retail corridors, and emerging industry clusters, B, continue to pursue the implementation of the Watertown Square Area Plan with a long-term goal of increasing our tax base through the development of multifamily housing and small and medium-sized businesses in the square, C, continue pursuing mitigation monies, linkage fees, and or other measures for larger scale projects, D, require all departments to actively pursue filing applications for all relevant state, federal, and private foundation grant programs. E, actively seek payment in lieu of tax agreements or other in-kind services with each nonprofit organization owning or purchasing property in Watertown, and F, with the uncertainty of the home rule petition on the tax shift, develop a series of strategies to help alleviate the burden on residential property taxpayers.

So the second section is program enhancements and expenditures. these are as follows. A, all departmental budgets should prioritize and enhance the ability of the city to implement the strategies and action items in the climate and energy plan. B, continue to work collaboratively with the Watertown Public Schools on the comprehensive multi-year educational budget that assures sustainable funding for our schools and the successful education of our children and seek to accommodate a 4% annual increase for fiscal year 27 for the educational appropriation that will provide level service funding for our schools. C, continue to build stabilization funds for these five unfunded capital items, middle school renovations, the senior center and recreation area, the East End Fire Station, the DPW staging area, and the Watertown Square plan implementation.

D, continue support for the recommendations of the community health and human services assessment in the fiscal year 27 budget. E, continue working to identify additional acquisitions of land for open space and recreation using the Acquisition of Land Open Space Stabilization Fund and using proposals submitted to the Community Preservation Committee to fund the development of the land. F, restructure the budget of the Department of Public Works so that it matches the new division structure and operational needs of each division. G, to meet our climate plan and comprehensive plan goals of allowing people who live and work in Watertown to travel car-free and reduce single occupancy vehicle trips. Continue to work with the Watertown Transportation Management Association

and identify sustainable sources of funding for local transit programs in Watertown, including options identified in the recent study for improving city-supported mobility. H. Begin the implementation of the assessment of the public buildings department to ensure that the department can meet the operational needs, continue environmental improvements in the buildings, and fulfill the recommendations of the ADA assessments. I consider the reuse of former North Branch Library, including exploring use of alternative funds to assist in renovations. and Jay, considering the changes to the community, perform an assessment of the police department and the fire department to identify needs, resources and best practices. So the next step is... once these are voted to be approved by the council. The next step is the ranking them in order of priority.

The ranking sheet is attached to this report. I'm asking everyone to fill it out and return it by December 5, 2025. Following that, the final approved and ranked budget policy guidelines will be sent to the manager and posted on the website. So the committee unanimously adopted these guidelines and asked the council to please approve them. Gardner. I do want to thank Councilor Gardner and Doug Newton, our council analyst, for the hard work of actually putting together the worksheet and all the recommendations and the final language on these. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Can I get a motion first to accept the report?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Can I get a motion to recommend that the City Council adopt the fiscal year 2027 budget policy guidelines as drafted?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?

The ayes have it. Again, just for the public who's watching, this is something that only happens in a city with a manager. So if you have a city with a mayor, the council has zero input into what the mayor does in developing the budget. thanks to the foresight of people like Councilor Oration's father, John Oration, the older John Oration, who created the charter and turned us into a city in 1980. We have this process and it is, I truly believe, this is part of the secret to our success and why we can do things in Watertown. and what I like the best about it is the collaborative way that the council works together with the manager and the auditor and other staff to actually come up with a list of guidelines that we can put in the budget and actually fund. So this is, I want to thank everyone that I mentioned who participated in the discussion and sending in the input.

And thanks to Doug in particular for doing the hard work of keeping track of everything and putting it together. Thank you.

Thank you. Communications from the manager. Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mr. President. First, I'd like to share an update with the council and the community about a program, the flock safety program. that our police department is working towards using to assist in criminal investigations. This has come up as a topic of conversation recently in a few emails, a few messages, even a message. that came to me from an outside entity. And I just want to share a little bit about what we're doing related to this particular program. when we brought the additional budget requests in the budget to the council for fiscal year 26 we had noted this is actually the only funded additional budget request that I recommended in the police department and it's noted on page 106 of the of the budget book that we were going to fund the annual cost for setting up and running this system.

and our police department is in the process of coordinating the future installation of this system, which is a series of what they call these flock security cameras, eight of them along major roadway locations in Watertown. And what the cameras do is they capture the rear license plates of passing vehicles, similar to the way a toll camera would, and upload the image onto a secure system. And the system they're uploading it onto is accessible only by the Watertown Police Department. These cameras do not capture video. There is no live feed. There is no real-time monitoring. They only capture the image of the rear of the vehicle to capture the license plate. Our contract with FLOC explicitly states that the City of Watertown is the sole owner of the images taken by the FLOC cameras in Watertown. Our Police Department maintains strict control over access to the data that is captured. No other department or agency, internal or external, has access to it. Internal police staff will be able to access the images

but they'll need to document a case or investigation associated with each search. They're only looking if they're looking for something related to a case. The history of all internal access will be audited by a captain in the police department each month to ensure that the internal access is being used appropriately. Now the Watertown Police Department will share images of the license plates but only with other Massachusetts municipalities and they'll have to submit a formal request connected with a legitimate criminal investigation. Each of these requests will be reviewed and either accepted or denied by the Watertown Police Department. None of these are automatically accepted and the requests are limited to Massachusetts municipal police departments. The Watertown Police Department will not share any images or access with any federal agencies or any departments outside of Massachusetts. They'll also automatically block all requests related to anything involving

some of the items that have been very concerning to people and the information I've received about protected healthcare cases, about immigration cases. the sort of things that are not related to the type of criminal investigations that Massachusetts Police Department spend their time doing. We received a communication this month, particularly in addition to ones we received from individuals, we received communication from ACLU of Massachusetts expressing concern broadly statewide about the installation of flock security cameras. In that letter, the ACLU made some specific recommendations. They recommended disabling the automatic data sharing with entities outside of Massachusetts. and they recommended using contract language that prohibits the company, the flock company, from sharing resident data outside of the Commonwealth.

The policies we are putting in place and the contract that we signed already address both of those things. And we are taking even further steps now as we put policies together to ensure proper secure use of the tool. Our administration intends also to reach out to the ACLU prior to these cameras going live and actually reach back out to the attorney who reached out to us, share the contract that we have. which we believe has language similar to what they indicated. Actually, it seems to be exactly what they indicated was the best practice language, as well as share our policy to see how it compares to the best practices that they are proposing for using a system such as this. but ultimately the reason why our police department brought this forward and the reason why I believe it makes sense to keep moving forward with these because these cameras are going to significantly contribute to public safety in Watertown.

In fact, we have already benefited from the flock safety images captured by other Massachusetts communities when they've been willing to share them with us. Our formal requests to other Massachusetts departments have led to arrests tied to an armed robbery in Watertown already. and help the police department in locating a missing person and also help solve a breaking and entering case in our city as well. We don't anticipate the installation of these cameras to happen for about another month or so. They were authorized in the 26th budget. I signed the contract in September, and they're working on the steps to bring it to that point. In the meantime, our communications team has worked with the police department to develop a frequently asked questions page on the city website and the police department's website, which is now live and operational. I'll ensure that those are shared directly with everyone on the council. and I will make sure that they're in a place where the public can find the information as well. I also included a copy of the contract as a link to that FAQ page because I think anybody who wants to see the contract we signed

and the provisions that are in it regarding who owns the data. I just wanted to have all of that information out there because there seems to be a lot of concern that's based upon the idea of a different type of contract that some other communities signed that is not the one we signed. So I just want to share our contract and have it out there so people know where this is where this is going. Our police department also plans to host a Tuesday night talks which event for in the early in 2026 where they want to share with the community more information about technology that they're using in policing including the flock cameras as well as our body worn cameras that we now have operational and something that I know we've worked a lot in this council to support fund and and Shore Goes Forward, amongst all of the other technology tools that they use. So I want to assure you our police department has been working diligently and carefully to ensure this tool contributes to increased public safety.

while maintaining privacy and while ensuring that this data is not being shared beyond exactly where it needs to be in order to have us and our colleagues in Massachusetts be able to solve the crimes that they seek to work on every day. If you have additional questions for me, if Councillors or even members of the public have additional questions for me, feel free to email the City Manager's office or reach out to me individually. between me and the chief we will try our best to answer them but I'm hoping the frequently asked questions document the sharing of the contract provides some base background and like I said as we as we finalize the specific policy that goes in with the cameras I've suggested that we'll reach back out to the ACLU attorney that reached out to us because their advice was not don't ever do this. It was put these parameters around it and I believe it's consistent with what we're doing and I'm happy to interact to make sure that it is. So thank you, that's the first point I wanted to make this evening.

Secondly, yesterday I signed the statement coming back from the Traffic Commission that creates the regulation on the $100 fine for snow emergency parking. So I just want you all to know that that is in place should we call a snow emergency. Third, a little bit earlier in the meeting I was mentioning as we were doing Howe Park and I didn't have the number right at my fingertips, I just wanted to mention and we can discuss this more as we head into the public hearing on this next week. The items in the capital plan for Howe Park, there were two items combined together. to put a total project budget estimate in as we were completing design on the park work. And that total estimate was at $1,150,000. As I said, the full price plus contingency and construction management, the borrowing we're asking for is $911,000.

that is 20% under budget so that is not the first park project recently that we've had go under budget and being 20% under is a good sign on that front and I just wanted to share that. Fourth item, I have received information this week from the MBTA and it is appearing on their website. yet put the new schedules up on their website but when they run the new bus schedules starting the 14th of December they are going to be including the 57 and the 71 bus in the in their bus prioritization improvement project as part of the Better Bus Project, which basically means that they're adding those two to the list of buses that they are committing to 15 minute or less headways through the vast majority of the time period that they run buses. There is a series of priority bus lines that has been in this study for the last two years.

the fundamental goal in that study has been to take each of those priority bus lines and start to get them to the point where you're a little bit less schedule dependent and you can know that if you show up at a stop within 15 minutes a bus will show up at that stop many times less than 15 minutes and 57 and 71 have been on that list to happen for the last couple of years and I've been told that when the December 14th schedules are printed, this also says this on the MBTA website, when the December 14th schedules are printed, they will be consistent with that higher level of service that they've been pursuing for those particular buses. looking forward to seeing that on the schedule and looking forward to monitoring how it works in operation and hearing feedback from the community and continuing to work with the MBTA As I said, it's very important to all of us in Watertown that the T is committed to providing robust bus service, especially because it connects

to a robust set of projects including Watertown Square where we're dependent upon transit as a big part of what we're trying to accomplish. And I'm happy to see that movement going on there and continue to work with them. Fifth item, December 6th, this Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Commander's Mansion is the Merry Mingle. Join us for a festive evening of holiday cheer, live entertainment, children's activities, crafts, stories, character meet and greet holiday display, a toy drive, and the lighting of the city's tree, which will, my understanding is, be an actual planted tree this year as the tree warden and... and Forestry Division had shared with us at our previous council meeting. This free public event includes guest parking in the East Garage near the Mocessian Center for the Arts. The Mocessian will host the Holiday Makers Market from 12 to 6 as well, featuring local artisans, holiday music, treats, and hot cocoa. For event updates, visit the Commander's Mansion's Upcoming Events link, which you can find on our city website.

and then finally, we have reached Thanksgiving and I just wanted to share with everybody there is a slight adjustment in schedule this year. City Hall, Parker Building and Senior Center will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday at 12.30. and will also be closed Thursday and Friday, November 27th and 28th for the Thanksgiving holiday. As happens when we do a short day, inspectional services, zoning and code enforcement will close at 11.30 tomorrow. The library will close tomorrow at 5 o'clock and will be closed on Thanksgiving Day as well. As you know, with the Thursday holiday, trash and recycling pickup will be delayed one day for Thursday and Friday. and with that I would like to wish the council and everybody else at home and here watching a happy Thanksgiving and thank you all and thank you Mr. President. That is all I have.

Thank you. Requests for information. Any requests for information? Councilor Gardner.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just a quick one for the manager, which is it would be great to know when the UVM tree study will be completed. Thank you.

Any other requests? Announcements? Any announcements? Councilor Erasian?

Thank you, Mr. President. Watertown Cable Access will be hosting a 20th anniversary celebration on Thursday, December 4th from 5 to 8 p.m. at their studio. This evening will celebrate two decades of empowering local voices, fostering creativity and strengthening the Watertown community through media. It will feature a variety of engaging activities. Guests will enjoy a reception with a photo area, raffles and a silent auction, and an opportunity to meet and talk with staff, board members and volunteers. also included as part of the event will be a special live broadcast, a historical retrospective followed by a game show with some of Watertown's biggest stars. the cliffhanger, I don't know who's gonna be there. Watch live or view online at 7 p.m. to see who knows Watertown best. And all proceeds for the event will go towards supporting WCAT's mission to provide accessible media opportunities hands-on learning, and community-driven programming for all Watertown residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other announcements? Councilor Palomba.

Just a quick one. The Committee on Climate and Energy will be meeting Monday, December 1st at 5.30 here in the chambers. The focus of that meeting will be at looking at new matrix that the sustainability coordinator and her staff came up with to see how we will be judging some of our goals and actions. and we may touch on a few other minor things, but that's the focus of the meeting is to look at these new matrix. It's 5.30 here in the council chambers. Unfortunately, Laurel Schwab will not be with us, but we will have Silas Feiler and some of his friends, and we want to take this opportunity to appreciate that Ms. Schwab will be on pregnancy leave as of this morning. Summerfurst.

Are there any other announcements?

The fact that you're going to be, is it the honorary captain of the football team? The annual Belmont-Watertown football game will be in Watertown this year, despite the construction in Victory Field. and the honorary captain of the team will be no other than Council President Sideris. So if you want to buy your tickets, is it still time to buy tickets? Yes, there's still time to buy tickets. The game starts at... 10 a.m. And I understand the council president will be getting his own football helmet for this game.

That was the only requirement that they had to give me a football helmet. So when everybody throws things at me, I'll be prepared.

and so on.

Gannon.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I just want to announce that Donahue's annual Turkey Trot is being held this coming Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, at 8 a.m. Those who want to run or walk can It's a great event. It raises funds for the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. Thanks.

Thank you. Any other announcements? I have a couple. First of all, This Saturday is Small Business Saturday, and it's an important day, and I would ask that you support our local small businesses. That also helps support your community. There's so many ways to do that. Grab a meal at your local favorite restaurant or find a perfect gift or get a gift card to keep your friends and family coming back to Watertown. and the other item I have to announce is the Watertown Business Coalition is gonna have their first annual holiday decorating contest. and they're calling on all businesses to help bring cheer this holiday season by decorating their entrance, storefront or any outdoor display

and the registration begins, is open now through December 4th and from December 6th to 21, there'll be online voting to the Watertown community. and then they'll be judged on Monday the 22nd. So to all the small business owners that have a place, please decorate the front of your building and a little celebration. I've seen this done for Halloween down at the Lake in Newton. All the businesses put Halloween stuff. It was great. And I think this is a great opportunity, again, to continue to promote our business friends here in the community.

President, I'm sorry, can I just do one more announcement? As many people know, we have about 2,400 individuals or families to reach. who receive SNAP benefits, and the city and our new human service coordinator has been doing a lot of work to help those folks. And so you can go onto her site and you'll see a list of places where you can drop off food from now, I think, throughout the month of December. So you want to check out her website.

and in relation to that I also want to remind the community that the Watertown fridge has moved and it's behind the library. For those that may be looking for the fridge or looking to donate to it, it's now behind the library. Public Forum, any member of the public here or at home wish to be heard? Seeing none, can I get a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Have a nice Thanksgiving, everyone.