City Council 10/21/2025

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Worcester City Council meeting. If you can, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner. I pledge allegiance

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming And the rockets' red glare The bombs bursting in air They proved through the night That our flag was still there Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free

and the home of the brave.

Do a roll call. Councilor Bergman. Here. Councilor Colorio. Here. Councilor Haxhiaj. Here. Councilor King. Here. Councilor Mero-Carlson. Here. Councilor Nguyen, Councilor Ojeda, Councilor Pacillo?

Here.

Councilor Russell?

Here.

Councilor Toomey?

Here.

And Mayor Petty? Here.

I just want to point out we have a nice display with the chair and the desk for Bill Coleman, Councilor for the day. We did that yesterday and so I just want to honor Bill and his family. They're going to try to make it tonight. I don't know if they're here yet, but I just want to thank them. They flew in from California, Hawaii, and Georgia to come to this yesterday. Rhode Island. And so it was a very nice event. And Councilor Luis Ojeda was there, Councilor King was there. It was a good event, so. And I was just mentioning the Council for the day. And so, okay. Next we have some proclamations. Whereas dysautonomia is a group of medical conditions that result in malfunction of the autonomic nervous system which is responsible for automatic bodily functions such as respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, temper control, and more. Whereas dysautonomia can be very disabling and can result in social isolation, stress on families of those impacted, financial hardship, and difficulty in completing simple daily tasks, as people with dysautonomia can become disabled with no treatment options available to improve their quality of life, productivity, and the ability to make a living. Since little is understood by the medical field, and whereas some forms of dysautonomia can cause tremendous pain and suffering for those impacted and their loved ones, sometimes resulting in death, whereas increased awareness about dysautonomia will help patients get diagnosed and treated earlier, save lives, foster support for individuals and families coping with dysautonomia in our community, and help promote understanding of this often invisible and misunderstood disability. Whereas, both the Accessibility Advisory Commission and the Dissolve Dysautonomia Awareness Campaign advocates on behalf of the patients living with dysautonomia encourage communities to celebrate Dysautonomia Awareness Month each October around the world and make visible and celebrate by using the official awareness of color of turquoise to represent hope and solidarity. and whereas we seek to recognize the contributions of the medical professionals, patients, family members and caregivers who are working to educate our citizenry and dysautonomia in Worcester. Now therefore, I, Mayor Joseph M. Petty, hereby proclaim October 2025 as Dysautonomia Awareness Month in the City of Worcester and encourage all residents to recognize and participate in its observance. Councilor Ojeda, we have with the Oh, this is yours? Okay. Okay, with us today, we have Kate McGrath. Kate?

Thank you to the City of Worcester, the Accessibility Advisory Commission, for recognizing Dysautonomia Awareness Month. On behalf of all dysautonomia warriors, past, present, future, diagnosed, undiagnosed, we greatly appreciate the City of Worcester and the Accessibility Advisory Commission of highlighting dysautonomia awareness. Hopefully someday there'll be more understanding of the autonomic nervous system dysfunction and more treatment options. So thank you for this awareness. And the city hall will be illuminated to the closest of turquoise for a whole week in recognition of Dysautonomia Awareness Month. So thank you again to the mayor, to the city, and Accessibility Advisory Commission for your support of Dysautonomia and your recognition of Awareness Month. And let's rejoice for Torquois and help dissolve Dysautonomia. Thank you.

Okay, we have a couple more proclamations and this is Financing Week. Whereas pharmacists are experts in successful use of today's complex medications, whereas patients in hospitals and outpatient clinics receive better care when pharmacists are directly involved in medication management decisions, and whereas pharmacists' direct involvement in patient care helps reduce unnecessary costs and burden on health systems, Whereas the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians practicing in the acute and ambulatory care settings of Worcester contribute to the health and well-being of our citizens. Whereas the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and UMass Memorial Medical Center have declared October 19th to the 25th, 2025 as Pharmacy Week. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Joseph M. Petty, hereby proclaim October 19th to 25th, 2025, as Pharmacy Week in the City of Worcester, I urge all citizens to acknowledge the valuable services of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who work in inpatient, outpatient home care and long-term care settings in order to help patients make the best use of their medicines. With this, I have Colleen Groeschler. Are you here, Colleen? Councilor Pacillo?

Good evening, Mayor Petty, city council members, and guests. On behalf of the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians at UMass Memorial Health, I am deeply honored to accept this proclamation recognizing Pharmacy Week. We are truly grateful to the city of Worcester for taking the time to celebrate the work of our pharmacy team and to highlight the critical role pharmacy professionals play in patient care. The pharmacy performs a vital role in ensuring medications are used safely, effectively, and are tailored to each patient's needs. We work in all areas of healthcare and provide excellent care for the patients in our community. Sometimes it's behind the scenes, compounding medications or verifying medication orders. Sometimes it's by providing clinical services directly to our patients. Every day we're supporting people from our community and our hospital, ambulatory, and retail settings, especially the underserved who need our help the most. This week gives us the opportunity to reflect on our commitment, not just to medications, but to people. Every dose prepared, every question answered, every error prevented, represents care, compassion, and teamwork. I'm incredibly proud of the pharmacy team at UMass Memorial Health. Our pharmacists and technicians face challenges such as drug shortages, new technologies, and ever-changing clinical demands. Yet they continue to rise to each occasion with professionalism, adaptability, and heart. We also recognize that pharmacy is a team effort. Our work is only possible through collaboration with physicians, nurses, and all members of the healthcare team who share in our mission to provide safe, high quality patient care. Thank you again, Mayor Petty, for this proclamation and for recognizing the vital contributions of pharmacy professionals in our community's health. This honor renews our dedication to serving with excellence, innovation, and compassion.

Thank you. One more proclamation. Is anybody here from ADHD? Okay. Okay. Whereas attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD, is a chronic neurobiological disorder affecting both children and adults that can significantly interfere with the individual's ability to regulate activity levels, inhibit behavior, and attend to tasks in developmentally appropriate ways. Whereas a greater understanding of the challenges in ADHD care for communities of color will require the country to acknowledge that systemic racism and implicit racial biases exist. And whereas meeting the needs of people affected with ADHD in communities of color demands a strategic plan, leadership, and dedication, The long-term goal is to provide information that educates parents, caregivers, and adults so that those living with ADHD are properly diagnosed and treated to give them a path to a successful life. Now therefore, I, Joseph M. Petty, Mayor of Worcester, do hereby proclaim October as HDHD Awareness Month and encourage all citizens to participate. I don't think anybody's here for that. Okay. And the Coleman family is here. Sonny, are you by yourself? Oh, John, okay. Oh, Paula, okay. We got the three, so thank you for coming in. And I know if you wanna come up and take a look, but this is, take a picture if you'd like, and it's nice. Jenna, come on up. Sonny, Paula. Okay. Now, Sonny came in from California, Paula came in from Hawaii, and Jenna came in from Rhode Island. You want it down? Did you bring the thing with you? So the plaque reads, William S. Coleman III, honorary city council for a day on October 20, 2025, recognition of his lifelong community advocacy as perennial candidate who never stopped showing up for Worcester, the city he loved.

Do you guys want to come up?

I'm getting Eric to come up here with us.

Come on.

I don't know where you are.

Take the board, just tip it. No, no, the board, just turn it a little bit.

Yeah, perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

So if people wanna go to Gardner Street, we have the street sign up on Gardner Street, off of Main Street, in Bill's name. Okay, we have, first of all, the business is that the City Council will sit hereby approve the minutes of City Council meeting of September 16th, 2025. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Okay, Councilor Russell's gonna hold 10.26A and 14C, involving the ballpark, under privilege. We have public participation. The person may speak no more than two minutes, and AM's appearing on the agenda. Nico.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So Rule 39, Items of Public Interest. At every meeting of the City Council, under public participation portion of the agenda, the Chair shall recognize any person seeking such recognition. For the purpose of adjusting the Council on any eligible items on the agenda for the meeting, both in person and remotely, Any person who wishes to speak on more than one agenda item shall combine their testimony on all items to one appearance at the microphone. The time for speaking shall not exceed two minutes for one speaker, or 30 minutes for all speakers. Rule 40 petitions, on the first occasion the petition appears on the City Council agenda, the primary petitioner may address the City Council for no more than three minutes on the subject of their petition.

Okay, get your names to your residents, anybody who wants to speak. And item number?

Hi. Nicole Apostola, resident of Worcester. I'm here to talk about what Councilor Russell just put on hold, but I'm here. Eleven months ago, Mr. McGurthy wrote a memo to this body saying, we still anticipate the DIF reserve to generate nearly $50 million through its completion by 2048. If this sounds familiar, it's because he repeated this exact phrase in his memo to you tonight in item 1026A. Maybe if we keep saying it enough, it'll magically come true. We have 23 years until 2048. Over the last three years, the DIF will, estimated, owe the city $2.1 million. It's unclear how we're going to get from consistently operating in a deficit to developing enough buildings that continue appreciating in value to not only consistently pay the district's part of the ballpark, something it's never been able to do in the past, but also to have a positive balance of $50 million. As you may recall, the original district wasn't going to pay what we needed, so we expanded the boundaries of the original district. Now, the expanded district won't make enough money, so we've had to expand the district to basically encompass the whole city. This body has a fiduciary responsibility to the people of Worcester, and so what you should be asking the city administration when this comes back up after hold is, one, why has no one been held responsible for the horrible contracts this city has been saddled with? Two, why has there never been a reckoning for the misconstruction of the doors at the park that prevents certain events from being held there? Three, why has the city not been able to take advantage of any of the revenue generating days we were supposed to have? And most importantly, number four, exactly which services are being cut so that we can subsidize multimillionaires? Thank you.

Hello, my name is Gary Hunter, District 5. That woman before me eloquently brought up a lot of points that I was going to bring up. I want to know, there's other buildings too besides the Polk Park that we give tax subsidies to. Who is responsible in the government to make sure they follow through with following up what they promised when they gave the DAC tax breaks. This goes on more and the city is losing millions of dollars. Polar Park has brought a lot of good to the city, but there's a lot of room for improvement and the area around Polar Park is not being developed like they promised. Who is responsible? I wanna know that and I think the people need to know that. The second thing I would like to talk about is 10-11 the sidewalks. It just happened to be time this time of year where I'm walking a lot on the sidewalks and walking around the cities and miles and talking to people. And the city sidewalks are in an awful condition all over the city. It's safer besides the cars to walk in the street than trying to walk up the sidewalks. And I can't imagine if I had any type of disability How I would get around the city and I think this report that is being brought up in this committee needs to be made public and so the people are aware of what's going on because they need help even and like Mr. King brought up last week and I think I brought up before is even around City Hall the sidewalks are horrible and people are going to get hurt so please consider that thank you very much thank you

names to your residents and item number.

Grace Ross, 10 Oxford Street, Worcester. And I apologize for not being here for the conversation when it happened. Item 19R. I remember as a child being haunted given our close relationships with Jewish folks as a family. with images from Nazi Germany of folks being disappeared and other people not even reacting or not even knowing what was going on. I don't think there's any question what playbook we're under at this point in our country. And unfortunately, the history of Europe teaches us that too often our Jewish communities have been put in the position of a buffer between the uber wealthy Christian folks and folks on the ground who might get angry at that divisiveness and have therefore, and Nazi Germany was the worst example, been targeted. I am concerned that as a community, as we I recognize the need to protect every member of our community equally that not everybody's paying attention to the dangerous history that we live under and want to again ask this council to represent the entire city and to remember that it is protecting each of us whoever the early Thank you. Thank you.

Hey there, I'm Keith Linares, 1 Jumaine Street, District 1, speaking on the Polar Park funding shortfall. I've been speaking with lots of residents in District 1 recently and wanted to read an email I received recently from one in particular. She wrote, I have owned my house in Worcester for almost 20 years. When Polar Park came, we were told it would pay for itself and there would be no burden to the local taxpayer. Since those developments have since fallen behind and now funding shortages are apparent, I'm worried that the Worcester homeowner is going to be stuck with the bill. I had to break the news to her that the promise that the project would pay for itself was broken long ago and that in fiscal year 24 there was a $761,000 shortfall that has fallen squarely on the backs of Worcester taxpayers. Public trust in our city's leaders' ability to provide transparency and oversight and to hold big developers accountable has eroded the past several years. Right now, there's a responsible development pledge that's going out to all of the candidates who are running for reelection. I signed the pledge myself, and I take the promises that I make very seriously. It includes a clawback to the TIE subsidy given to the Mankati group for breaking their agreement with the city. It asks elected officials to support unifying responsible development ordinances and for increased transparency on development projects through expanding reporting on the TIE TIF. and Restoring Building Permit applications to the city website. Members of the public who keep saying that they want to hear more oversight of big developers and they want these people held accountable should pay attention to who signs this pledge and who does not. By embracing the pledge, we can begin to rebuild the public trust we lost with projects like Polar Park. Thank you.

Good evening. Fiona Jatan Singh, 37 County Street. I was going to talk about Polar Park, but since so many have already eloquently said all the things I was thinking about that, I'm going to talk about the sidewalks. Since I've been fighting for 15 years for sidewalk on Sunderland Road and the transformation, this is for item 10-11, the construction progress report for sidewalks. Two years ago, George Russell brought it up at the Public Works Committee meeting that we should have a sidewalk on Sunderland Road because I was advocating for it at the time. And they did agree that they were going to pave up the sidewalk directly across the street from the school and on the side of the school at the same time. Now, the parking lot has been done. They've redone the sidewalk that was already on the school property, but there has been no sidewalk added on the other side of Sunderland Road. So who's going to hold Thank you.

Idella Hazard, City of Worcester. I know that it came to the floor a few weeks ago about the sidewalks around City Hall and I guess it was voted on. I didn't stay for the vote, but I pray that it was voted that it will be taken care of. If we're gonna do the sidewalks around the city, They say charity begins at home. Tourists, when they come, they're going to come to the center of the town. They're going to look at the center, and they're going to look at the common. They're going to come right here. This is where they're going to come, and this is where it needs to be done. I walked here from the library, and I'm having a problem from time to time walking. You don't want tourists coming and tripping on the sidewalk outside City Hall. So I think if you're gonna do sidewalks, this is the first place to do them. And I also heard somebody saying about holding the city mothers and fathers responsible. If they say they're gonna do something, do it. And I think that is very important. Thank you.

We have one calling user online. David Webb, you're the resident now.

Hi, can you guys hear me?

Yep, please say your name and city of residence and the item you're calling on.

Cool. David Webb, Olympia. First and foremost, thanks for the ADHD proclamation, and yikes, Councilor Russell, going out with a hold on the ballpark conversation. Shameful. 10.7b. I think we should disband the so-called quality of life trash force and implement actual trash solutions, which might require less cowardice from our city manager and negotiating with trash unions. But obviously, what the people in power have been doing for the past decade is not working. Vote for change. 1026 the ballpark I understand that Worcester had PR issues but when you all address those without actually doing anything about its horrible infrastructure and poor management this is the result and it's absolutely embarrassing as a city 17c I wish our city law department functioned to help the city manager's office and the department feel responsible for follow the laws rather than justify and defend them when they don't follow the laws again and again It seems the law department can't be bothered to follow the most basic public record laws themselves, though, so this is probably a smart investment. But maybe you should fill the civil rights investigator position first. I'm just saying. 12K, 12L. Thanks, Councilor Toomey, for picking up on District 2 Representative Mero-Carlson's flack. I appreciate that someone cares about sidewalks in this neighborhood. 12M. If you really want to empower artists and help them, you'd advocate for affordable housing and actual safety, but this is a nice gesture. Thank you.

Okay, we'll go on to the... Mr. Mayor, that's the last call.

Okay, hearings and orders. 7, motions to open the hearing for 7A to 7C. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Anybody opposed to 7A, B, or C, were condo locations on Canterbury Street, Williamsburg Drive, and Dana Ave. Seeing nobody in opposition, motions to close the hearing. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Motions to adopt. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Petitions 8A to 8B, refer to the Planning Board.

Excuse me, could I speak on 8D?

8B?

D, D as in daughter.

I'm on A and B right now, I'll get to D in a second. So 8A is gonna go to the Planning Board and 8B is gonna go to Public Works. Okay, those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 8C to 8G, refer to the Public Works Committee, Councilor Colorio.

Thank you. Now, just a quick note on this. This is for a guardrail at, is it 3 Hamilton Street? Let me just look at the address on it. And the thing is, this is the house, 381 Hamilton Street. This is a house that the car crashed into and all three porches fell down. And this is the second time they've hit this house, so I really hope that we can bring this to committee and pass it. Okay? I'm just looking at George. That's all I got to say. Okay. Thank you.

I should have a hearing on it. Okay. 8C to 8G, the public works. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. 8H to 8Z, refer the traffic and parking. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. 9A to 9O, refer the traffic and parking. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. Councilor Ojeda.

Can you repeat that? 9... What was that from 9A?

9A to 9O.

Okay, I'd like to just quickly speak on 9J. What's that? I'd like to quickly speak on 9J.

9J? Did I pass that one? Okay, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So yeah, this is an area of concern. There is actually an intersection right before you get to this crosswalk, but it's somewhat about the top of the hill. So when they come over the hill, they come down pretty fast. It's right before you get to Main Street, Pennywise, and things like those stores there. So when they're coming down, there's no... There's no blinking light there, and it's important to make sure we install crosswalks as well. Kids are walking by that probably between Woodland Street School and Claymont Academy. I'm sorry, Woodland Academy and Claymont Academy. You're looking close to probably about 50, 60 kids a day walking through there in the morning and the afternoon. and it gets pretty busy there's parking on both sides so I think this is a an intersection we really need to take a look at pretty soon you know again winter's coming and it does get dark in that area as well so obviously with more lighting and then crosswalk you'll actually keep the the students and family safe thank you

Thank you. So send 9A to 9O, the report of traffic and parking. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. 9P to 9R, today's hearing for November 18th, 2025 at 6.30 p.m. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. We're on the manager's calendar. Transmitting information to the location of the grocery stores. Refer that to Economic Development, Councilor Pacillo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to really quickly to thank the city manager, yourself, Peter Dunn, and his team, as well as Erin Quayle from DPH, who's been coming. She's been coming to all of the neighborhood meetings and connecting with residents to better understand how people shop and what people in the neighborhood need. I'd also just like to thank the Community Partners Center on Food Equity, REC Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester, UMass, and the Worcester County Food Bank. I'm really grateful to be a part of this working group and I think it's important for residents to know that there are a lot of people in the city who do care about grocery store access and you know people are working really hard to find ways to fill the gaps between the grocery stores leaving so thank you.

Councilor King.

Thank you. Really quickly to the chair, to the administration. The food deserts, it's defined here to a degree on page, I don't know what this is, page two or three. Do we have identified formally anywhere in the city that we are documenting as food deserts to the chair? I think I've asked something along these lines a while ago, but just curious.

I'll turn the chair to the council. We currently right now do not have a mapping structure that could identify those food deserts. I know there's been some conversations in terms of mapping those resources and trying to have an understanding of where the areas where we can strategically be prioritized for the purposes of grocery stores, but that's part of the conversation that's happened in these community meetings. So we currently do not have a mapping.

So I think I might have had an order to that effect, but I'm going to make another motion. That we get that information in a formal way to this body. This is a very important issue and as we continue to see the food pantries product diminishing and declining and the revenue that's coming in, the grants and the federal and state support. We really should be able to kind of formalize this, and I appreciate the leadership of Jenny Pacillo on this issue and the Council supporting it as well. So that would be my motion, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Okay. So we'll send the item to Economic Development. I want the motion to the Manager. All those in favor? Opposed? So ordered. Next item is recommended adoption resolution approval of the UCH TIF plan in agreement with Curtis Apartments Phase 2. Councilor Mero-Carlson has recused herself from this item and so recommend adoption.

Roll call. Councilor Bergman, Councilor Colorio, Councilor Haxhiaj, Councilor King, Councilor Mero-Carlson, Councilor Nguyen, Councilor Ojeda, Councilor Pacillo, Councilor Russell, Councilor Toomey, and Mayor Petty.

Yes. 10.7A, Transmitting Information and Communication Relative to the 2025 Fall Leaf Collection Program. We can file that, Senator. File it. Okay, we can file that. Good luck on the lease and hope it stays warm. Okay, motion to file. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. In terms of information, communication, we're over to the update on the Keep What's the Queen program. Senator of the Public Works. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. I'm going to approve the rate increase of certain categories hired. Equipment for plowing and sanding for providing an update on winter storm preparedness. So the motion is to adopt on a roll call. Roll call.

Mr. Chairman.

Councilor Russell.

Is this something we usually send to the committee or do we have, it is something we sent to committee in the past, but are we under a timeline for it?

I don't know, Mr. Manager.

Yeah, to the Chancellor of the Council, one of the things is the approval of the rate increase. The other thing is the actual storm preparedness. You could send it to the committee. I don't think there's any, do we need to? I mean, I think there's, it's just, we run the risk if there's a snowstorm next week or in two weeks or three weeks that we may not be prepared for that. But if you feel comfortable to approve it tonight, we could also send it to the committee for further discussion.

How about if we approve it with the understanding that we will send it to committee, we'll have a discussion there, and if it's something that needs to have more of a discussion, at least they won't have problems, or hopefully not have any problems, attracting equipment. and drivers, you know, if a snowstorm hits early. But we'll try and get it right on August. We'll probably have it November, December meetings quickly.

Okay, so Councilor Bergman?

If I may, Mr. Chairman, I know we've got a long agenda, and I don't want to dwell on something that's going to go to a committee, but through the chair, perhaps we could get a response from either the city manager or Commissioner Westerling. My question, I read the report carefully, but what I didn't see, and maybe there's no answer yet, is are we down snowplow drivers, and if so, how many are we down? And that seems to have been an issue in the past. I have no issue with and Councilor McFarland. I think we need to be competitive with increasing wages because I think we need to be competitive, but oftentimes after a storm, the answer we get is we don't have enough drivers or enough equipment. So I guess through the Chair, my question is twofold. Do we have enough drivers and do we have enough equipment, in your opinion, Commissioner Westerling, to successfully deal with whatever winter weather we're exposed to?

Commissioner?

Through the Chair, we would always love to have more equipment. The Council has done a tremendous job and we are grateful for all the equipment that we have received over the last 18 months. And there's a report in there of the trucks that have already been received and those that are expected in December and seven others that are expected in the spring. it's an easy answer to say that we can always use more equipment but we are we're gonna do our best with the equipment that we have again we appreciate the investments that the council has made in the Department of Public Works as far as the number of drivers I think as of this morning we were down six drivers but we've been working very closely with the Human Resources Department has been doing a great job we just concluded interviews and we are prepared to offer five and Councilor McFarland. Councilor McFarland. Councilor McFarland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner. I'm just looking at the contractor rates. And you had comparison with the mass DOT rates, which clearly they're our biggest competitor and that we were far lower than them. But even with the increases, we're not, some are very close, but we're not still meeting that. Are the surrounding cities and towns, are we going to be competitive with them? I don't see any information on the surrounding cities and towns, just the DOT rate.

Through the Chair. Commissioner. MassDOT was the only organization that we could find that had published their rates. The communities around us keep their cards very close to their best, so we didn't have any to compare to. But if you look at, for example, just that first six-wheel 34,999 GVW vehicle, If we were to compete with MassDOT or compare, that would be a 30% increase on last year's rates. So we were trying to find a happy medium between what would be competitive and what would be affordable.

Do we have an idea of where we were competitively with the cities and towns last year?

Through the chair, I don't have that information, but we could seek that out from last year.

Because, I mean, that to me is probably, you know, a good standard to try to make sure that we're competitive with them. I understand MassDOT has bigger pockets, but I'd like to see that if we could get that in the form of a report. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. So the motion was adopted on the roll call in the Senate and Committee. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman, Councilor Colorio, Councilor Haxhiaj, Councilor King, Yes. Councilor Mero-Carlson. Yes. Councilor Nguyen, Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Councilor Pacillo.

Yes.

Councilor Russell. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. Transforming information communication route to Moreland Street. Motion sent to Public Works. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Requesting approval of up to six year contract for aqueduct facilities maintenance. We can adopt on a roll call. This is 10.10 A.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Colorio? Yes. Councilor Haxhiaj? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mero-Carlson? Yes. Councilor Nguyen? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Pacillo? Yes. Councilor Russell? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. Mayor Petty?

Yes. 10.11a, Transmitting Information Communication Relative to Street and Sidewalk Construction Progress Report for September 2025. Motion to send it to Public Works. Mr. Manager?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to say a few words because I know the conversation about downtown has been there over the past couple of meetings. This council body adopted and supported the capital budget that funded the construction of the sidewalks around downtown, I mean around City Hall. That today was a press release that the contractor was awarded and they're going to begin construction November 3rd. So I just want people to know that this is important. The construction is going to happen. This body approved that as part of the FY26, I mean FY25 budget and construction is going to start very soon.

Thank you. Okay. Okay. So the motion is to send the public works to the file when the public works. Follow it, okay, so motion is to file. Those in favor, so ordered. We are on 10.15A, Transmitting Information and Communication of the Rental Agreement to Municipal Properties. Send it to Public Works so we can file that too. And then Public Works, Councilor Russell. Okay, send it to Public Works. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Behold 10.26A. More finance items, 10.35A through E, 10.36A, 10.37A through F. Motion is adopted on the roll call. Roll call.

Yes. Councilor Bergman. Yes. Councilor Colorio. Yes. Councilor Haxhiaj. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mero-Carlson. Yes. Councilor Nguyen. Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Councilor Pacillo.

Yes.

Councilor Russell. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes, Chairman's Order 11A to 11B, refer to the Traffic and Parking Committee. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 11C to 11F, motion is to adopt. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. We're on audits. Request City Manager to request Commissioner of Transportation Mobility to provide City Council report relative to the feasibility of installing speed tables on June Street. Councilor Haxhiaj?

As it reads.

All those in favor? Opposed? So ordered. Request City Manager to request the Police Chief place a speed monitor on June Street going towards Mill Street. Councilor Haxhiaj?

As it reads.

All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. Request City Manager to work with the Administrative Workforce Regional, I'm sorry, Worcester Regional Transit Authority, WRTA, to install bus shelters on the even side of the street in front of 40 Belmont Street, as it reads. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. Request City Manager to request Commissioner of Transportation and Mobility to review the walk signal on the on-ramp of I-190 Westbound on Belmont Street to ensure a safe walkway is available. to pedestrians walking at that location, as it reads. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Request that the City Manager, City Council, provide a report concerning the plans to repair the Federal Plaza Garage located at 770 Main Street. The report should include information concerning fixing the staircase of Main Street's side building and City Council. These are all upgrades to the elevators as it reads. Those in favor or opposed, so ordered. Request the Mayor to provide counsel with a report concerning the status of development occurring at 40 Hooper Street. Councilor Mero-Carlson.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. This particular project has been going on over here on Hooper Street since 2023. along with it going on since 2023 there are 17 orders that have been called in work orders that have been called into 3-1-1. The question I have for the administration is what are we doing about 40 Hooper Street other than continually asking our residents to call in for all of what's going on over there. And there has been a few stop work audits over here. And the residents who are on Hooper Street, along with going into the towers over there, that road at the end of Hooper which crosses Catherine Street becomes a private road which this project is on a private road. That road over there has been extremely dangerous to the point that they have had a hard time getting their mail delivered there. We also have an issue with the WRTA going in there, the 24A bus. will go in there sometimes, depending on the driver, because the road is a mess. Granted that the road was not in great shape to begin with, but this project has certainly exacerbated what's going on over there. And it seems to me since 12-20 of 2023, up to 6-3rd, I'm sorry, 9-30, at 9-3-2025, the quality of life team has been over here. There are, again, there is 17 orders here that have been called into the city and yet nothing, nothing is quite honestly being done for that neighborhood over there. So I would ask the administration to take a look at this project and come back to us with a report resolution as to why this is happening. But the bigger issue that I do want to point out, again, not saying that this contractor created the entire problem over there on this private street. but this street now has become almost impassable and that's due to some of this project. And why we as a city and why we as a DBW department have not made note of this is a little frustrating to me. So if we could get on this, that would be great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, we'll send that to the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. I've skipped 12E. Request the manager to request the Commissioner of Transportation and Mobility to review the sidewalk configuration and parking available in the vicinity of 330 Southbridge Street to alleviate the parking concerns at the location. Councilor King? I can do it from right here if you want.

12-E, request the City Manager request the Commissioner of Transportation and Mobility 12-C, right?

E. E.

12-E. 12-E, request the City Manager request the Commissioner of Transportation and Mobility review the sidewalk configuration and parking in the vicinity of 330 Southbridge Street to alleviate parking concerns at that location.

This is a street that we did over. We did it over. We took the businesses, all his parking spaces away, and he has no parking. Mr. Manager, if you could maybe take a look at this and your team to see if you can provide some type of relief to that area, that block of business. He gets tickets now if his cars are parked an inch over the apron onto the sidewalk and so it's pretty much really hurting his business so if we could just take a look at that maybe there's no relief but we should give it a shot maybe give him an exemption or something so we'll send that to the manager.

All those in favor of post-order? 12H, City Manager requests the Commissioner of Transportation Mobility review Salisbury Street for the installation of immediate speed calming measures and safety improvements. Councilor Pacillo, District Court.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I want to start by thanking the Department of Transportation and Mobility and DPW for all the work that has already been done on Salisbury Street. We've gone out there. I've done walk audits with residents, and they've all been very attentive. And that is really appreciated. Residents have noticed the improvements, and we all really appreciate the attention. And I know that there are changes coming. We just approved. and Councilor McFarland. There's a traffic signal at Forest and Salisbury pending design plans and funding. The intersection at Park and Salisbury Street is on the list to be redone. So there's a lot of great things that are going to be happening. But in the meantime, this street continues to be a major concern. There was an accident a couple of weeks ago. I hear from residents all the time about how dangerous and just to give some idea so up the hill from Flag Street traffic there's about 10,000 vehicles each day but the speeds are higher up there. When you get to Beechmont and Forest that section of Salisbury sees around 19,000 vehicles per day. Up the hill, the average speeds are 35 miles per hour, with 15% of them drivers exceeding 39. In between Forest and Park, this average speed is 29 miles per hour, with 15% of drivers going over 35. So, I mean, I'm sure we all know, you take the corner by Newton Ave North, it's It's dangerous. People drive really fast. And I'm hoping that the city can make some improvements now to make it safer for residents in the meantime. Thank you.

Thank you. So I'll send that to the manager. Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank Councilor Pacillo for this item. I just had a question to the chair, to the administration, regarding this speeding on that street. What are the options there in terms of police presence? I know it's a very tight street and what have you. What sort of police visibility do we have there through the Chair?

Mr. Manager?

Through the Chair of the Council, I don't know currently right now what the visibility looks like, but we can definitely send officers to patrol the area for further enforcement. There's also radars that we can temporarily put to try to help reduce the speeds in the area.

Through the Chair of the administration, I know I've talked about this in the past as it relates to the, what do they call it, the mobile speed? The mobile radars. I know some time ago we had a very small number of them. I don't know if it was two or four. I don't know. Through the Chair, how many do we have? Is it two? Is it four? Is it seven?

To the Chair, to the Council. I'm not 100% sure what number we have, but we can get that back to you. I know that some of them have been installed permanently, but we have some temporary ones that we utilize.

All right. I'd just like to take a look at that as we move forward for the next budget. City Council, Councilor McFarland, Councilor McFarland, Lastly, the intersection there with Flag Street. Quite some time ago, and I've had this conversation with a number of the commissioners, there was approved by this body a mini rotary. There's constant accidents there, and I would like an update on that request and where that is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Senator Mandra, those in favor, opposed, so recorded. I request the Mayor to request City, request the Fire Chief from Citywide Public Education Awareness Campaign concerning Fire Prevention and Safety and Lighter Reductions and Fuel Assistance. Councilor Haijiaj.

As it reads.

All those in favor, opposed, Councilor King would like to sign on too. As amended, all those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Councilor Seaman provides City Council report concerning the feasibility of the Worcester Senior Center providing programs and activities at residential communities for seniors with people with disabilities. Councilor Mero-Carlson.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. We now have several different high rises around this city for people, seniors and folks with disabilities. And unfortunately, a lot of them have Council of the City Council of the City Council of the City They have resident service folks who provide a tremendous amount of activities. I'm talking about buildings where we have seniors and folks with disabilities that there are no activities at all. So I was looking to see if the administration could Look at is this something maybe that our Senior Center could provide to some of these different buildings. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, send that to the manager. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. Request the manager, request the commission of public works and parks, review the brightness of street lights on Lake Ave and increase the said brightness at appropriate locations, especially including crosswalks, Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It certainly has been great to see the additional crosswalks available for folks there. But if you travel along Lake Gabb at night, it's really not very bright. And certainly, I believe when we I think there was an ability to increase the brightness I forget what the actual term is but I think that would be helpful and actually we might even need to add an extra light in the median because the lights may not extend that much I don't know if there's an ability to be able to to expand the lighting on the sides to reach out toward the middle or not, but that's certainly an issue. If we could do that, thank you.

Okay. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Requests to be amended. Requests to be commissioned by Public Works and Parks. Provide immediate repairs and resurfacing for the section of Solano Road underneath the railroad bridge. Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my teeth chatter when I drive through that, so I know Councilor Russell has filed for this before. The sooner we can get this done, the better, and I support him with this as well. Thank you.

All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Councilor Russell.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to sign on to that, and we have the Commissioner of Public Works, we've got the City Manager, I gotta ask, what's going on with this? I've been asking for this for years, I've had spirited conversations with everybody, I've been, whatever. I mean, and the funny part is, is that we have Habitat for Humanity built two new houses on the land on the end of Lake Av, I mean, Lake Av and Sunderland Road. The Public Works Department, Permitting Office does a wonderful job and they made them patch the street in front of those two houses and it's beautiful. And all it does is make the area that the city is responsible for look even worse. We've been asking for this. We're on the second, maybe third, no, actually the third commissioner, if you count Commissioner Moylan who filled in. The third commissioner asking for this small area to be patched. What's up, Mr. Manager? Commissioner?

Through the Chair. To the Councilor, thank you very much for your kind words. This will be the last commissioner that has to be asked to do that. I don't have the exact date, but I'll provide that to you. That is a priority for us. The great work that was done by Habitat for Humanity, as you aptly pointed out, made our section look even worse. But I will provide this body with the date when that work will occur.

Mr. Chairman, with all due respect to my friend and new commissioner, Can you translate that for us?

What does that mean? Through the chair. I just don't have the date with me tonight, but I will provide that to you.

Is it going to be done before it snows? Yes, sir. Through you, Mr. Chairman?

Yes.

Yes.

Thank you. I'll still be here for that. So I'll be following up.

Our next meeting will be in January. Okay. So I'll send that to the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 12M, request the manager to provide counsel to the report concerning the studio spaces available to artists in the city. The said report should include information as to cost increases in the spaces and any impact it may have on the arts community. Fair request to the report include a proposal to provide incentives to property owners to provide affordable, creative spaces to artists. Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We've been very grateful to have a wonderful arts community here in our city. People may not know this about me, but I was an art teacher and I do watercolor and drawings and all sorts of things myself and so I also like to support locally owned businesses and when I was in one recently purchasing some materials had a conversation with an employee who was saying that they were considering moving out of Worcester because they couldn't find affordable studio space and I think that that's something that you know we talk about living space but there's also for artists they need studio space for creating their art to help grow our economy and I think that that's something that you know with the rising prices of real estate it may have Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. to offer affordable workspaces as well. And I think that that's something that we could take a look at. I know that there's certainly a number of our colleges have purchased properties that might be fit into that space as well. But having those creatives and having the creative economy and the support for that really helps our city grow and become attractive. and so as soon as we can address that and come up with a plan that would be great. Thank you.

I'll send that to the Councilor Pacillo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to appreciate this item from Councilor Toomey and ask if I can sign on. This is a really big issue. I have friends who are artists. I've been to some of their studios, and the studios people can afford are not in great shape at all. And it really is too bad, because the artist community in Worcester is amazing, and you'd hate to see people leave the city. May I request a report on the feasibility So the Fitchburg arts community has 68 mixed income artist preference apartments that are in three former historic municipal buildings up in Fitchburg. So the feasibility of doing something similar where artists could live and work and, you know, stay in the city. Thank you.

Thank you. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 14A and 14B, we're gonna refer to the Municipal Operations Committee. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 15A, refer to the Economic Development Committee. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 16A to 16B, motion to accept and adopt. All those in favor, oppose so ordered. 16C to 16I, motion to accept. All those in favor, oppose so ordered. 17A to 17F, motion is ordained on the roll call. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Colorio? Yes. Councilor Haxhiaj? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mero-Carlson. Yes. Councilor Nguyen, Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Councilor Pacillo.

Yes.

Councilor Russell. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

Yes. Motion is adjourned. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered.