City Council 04/14/2026

Thank you.

Okay, all set? Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Worcester City Council meeting. If you're able to, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and Star-Spangled Banner.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

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 rocket's red glare the bombs bursting in air They threw through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave and the home of the brave.

All right, let's play baseball.

Okay, roll call. Brueggemann, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, and Mayor Petty.

Here. Okay, we have a couple of recognitions. We have four of them to be exact. For a poet laureate, youth poet laureate, welcome here tonight. Much appreciated. and our first one is for Oliver de la Paz and Oliver. As the poet laureate of the Sea of Whistler from 2023 to 2025. You have been an ambassador for the Worcester's historic, historic, poetic, and literacy culture. You have worked to promote and form qualities of poetry and writing throughout the community, supporting other artists, encouraging the appreciation of the arts, or expanding access to the arts in Worcester. who continue to inspire others through teaching students, authoring and editing seven books and additional works, and uplift in Asian American writing throughout your position as founding member of Conundrum.

in recognition of your unwavering commitment to the city of Worcester, it is only right on this occasion of this term's conclusion, it is only right and fitting that you receive the city's highest honor. I want to congratulate you and present you with the key to the city of Worcester for the multi-year term as Poet Laureate. Come on down.

We'll get one minute.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, yeah, first of all.

Okay, Serenity Jackson's up next, and youth poet warrior. As a youth poet warrior of the city of Worcester from 24 to 25, you worked as an ambassador of the Worcester historic literacy culture. You have used your position to promote Transformation Qualities of Poetry and Writing Throughout the Community, supporting other artists, encouraging appreciation of poetry, following your own dreams in rap and writing while studying to become a nurse and inspiring others and has helped to raise awareness of the arts throughout the Worcester and beyond. in recognition of your unwavering commitment to the City of Worcester and on the occasion of your term's conclusion, it is only right and fitting that you receive the City's Hyasana Congratulations and well deserved. It's my distinct pleasure to present you the key to the city of Worcester on this occasion of the conclusion of your multi-year term as youth poet laureate.

1, 2, 1, 2, thank you.

I got two more. Okay.

Is anybody here for the American Heritage Month? Irish Heritage Month. Oh no, that's it, we're all done. Okay. I'm Irish. I'm gonna read it anyways.

Okay.

Oh, wait a minute, we got one more gift, I'm sorry. Guys, we do have one more, I'm sorry. Well, Serenity and, where's Yaffa? Is Yaffa there still? Come on out, Yaffa. Serenity has his medal here. for her achievements.

Sorry about that.

We've got one.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

We also have a proclamation for Arab American Heritage Month, whereas Arab Americans continue to make valuable contributions to the city of Worcester's success and quality of life. All Americans deserve to be recognized for their contributions to the vitality of our community, having fostered a sense of shared culture, diversity, and setting examples of model citizens and public servants. Whereas Arab Americans have been subject to misrepresentation in society and often confront these issues that come with unawareness of their heritage, the celebration of which educates our fellow Americans while countering misconceptions and harmful stereotyping. Whereas communities that provide space for acceptance and appreciation, the diverse populations uplift their people and ensure that everyone continues to feel welcome, safe, and respected equally.

Now therefore, I, Joseph M. Petty, Mayor of the City of Worcester, do hereby proclaim the month of April as Arab American Heritage Month in the City of Worcester. Is anybody here for that tonight? No, seeing nobody, okay. Okay, we also have, we also have Architecture Week here in the city of Worcester. Oh, you guys are here for that? Okay, okay. Whereas, Architecture Week held between April 12th and April 18th, 2026 is the annual celebration hosted by the AIA Central Mass to promote awareness and appreciation of architecture. Whereas Architecture Week highlights the impact of design on daily life and showcases the value architecture brings to the Worcester communities. Whereas Worcester's rich architectural history and diverse built environment reflect the city's cultural heritage and contribute to the unique visual character.

and whereas architects and design professionals play a vital role in creating healthy, resilient and inspiring public and private spaces throughout Worcester. and whereas AIA Central Massachusetts advances through thoughtful community design, responsible stewardship in built environments and public engagement to educate our understanding of architecture. and whereas Worcester benefits from the architecture week throughout strengthening community pride, economic development and recognition as a hub of design excellence. Now, therefore, I, Joseph M. Petty, Mayor of the City of Worcester, hereby proclaim the week of April 12th to the 18th as Architecture Week in the City of Worcester. Councilor Bergman, do you want to present that to Sean?

Thank you very much. Oh, excuse me. Messed the mic up. First time up here. I just really want to say thank you for this, Mayor Petty. City Manager, Batista, City Council. Being a Worcester kid myself growing up here and being able to come back home and be an architect and the president of the American Institute of Architects for Central Mass. I don't know how important or as you can see, I'm lost for words right now. I love this city. I want to see us continue to do amazing things here. if you have anything you want to do with the build community we launched the design and community partnership with the city city manager and WPI please reach out Thank you very much. And we're doing stuff all week.

I was reading to students at Gates Lane and was their dual language yesterday. And we have some more events going on. So stay tuned.

Thank you. That's great. I look forward to the Brunkhold High School design. Yeah, that too. Okay, we have the approval of the minutes of March 24th, 2026. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. We have some items that are gonna be held tonight. Councilor Bergman's gonna hold 10-J, which has to do with the Housing Authority. and also Councilor Bilotta is going to hold 8.4 A, which is the TIF. Okay, okay. for public participation. A person may speak for no more than two minutes. I am appearing on the agenda. Is your name, residence, and item number, Mr. Clerk?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 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 addressing the council on any eligible item 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 exceed two minutes for any one speaker, 30 minutes for all speakers. Rule 40 petitions. On the first occasion a petition appears on the City Council agenda. The prior petition may address the City Council for no more than three minutes on the subject of their petition.

Okay, just your names, your residents, and item number?

Listen, I have a question. Sure. If I'm talking about seven E, F, and K, I can only talk about one, right?

You can talk all three, on all three, but you only have two minutes total.

Oh, I'm gonna talk fast, okay.

Okay.

Okay, my name is Maureen Schwab, 23 Canton Street, Vice President, Green Island Resident Group, Incorporated, speaking in support of Petition 7EF and K. And first of all, I want to thank City Councilors Mitra, Ojeda, and Administrative Assistant Aiden Gleason for their assistance in filing these petitions and to the Worcester Police Department for their ongoing enforcement and assistance. 7E and F are requests for the installation of speed bumps on Canton Street and Ashmont Ave. These petitions have already been referred to traffic and parking. The need for speed bumps has evolved out of growing occurrence of electric bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters that speed down these streets with no regard for local traffic and cars that enter and exit driveways on these streets. A second serious safety issue is the deliberate travel of motorcycle, cars, bikes, and scooters that choose to go the wrong way on these one-way streets.

Canton Street Board is Crompton Park where children are put at extremely high risk because of careless drivers. The playground is at the corner of Harding and Canton. 7K, which has been referred to the Veterans Memorial Parks and Rec Commission as a request for the installation of number one, no alcohol allowed, number two, no loud music, and number three, Park closes at 10 PM signage at Crompton Park and its entrance to Canton Street. Loud music has become another escalating and disturbing issue for our neighborhood. The most recent development is individuals who come and park on Canton Street, bring large speakers which they set up on the sidewalk or in the street. Last night an individual arrived at 9.30 with a friend in a second car and proceeded to blast music that could be heard all the way over on Ashmont Avenue, one street over from where the cars were parked.

The two cars were parked in front of the tennis court and a triple speaker was set up right on Canton Street and the noise was clearly audible 200 feet and beyond. A local news outlet describes

Can we wrap up? Okay, thank you. The end, thank you.

Fred Nathan Worcester. I've always been a big supporter of the police. However, 8.3 dealing with the gross payroll earners I think right now the police in the city of Worcester, somebody's taking a black eye because the article in the paper yesterday had a police lieutenant, I'm not gonna mention his name, and mentioned his salary, but then it also mentioned that his overtime, his regular pay, his detail, but there was one other mention in there and it just said other and that was for like $70,000. Acquiring minds wanna know why it's other. 8.39.

Are we going to keep on hearing about any issues dealing with CSX? If CSX has not been are doing what they're supposed to do. And in the older city money, they need to get their stuff straight. 11A, the city council recognize the police department. I will recognize them. And when they're doing a good job, I recognize them, the recognition that they deserve. And I believe there's one more. Oh, yes. The school over on Grafton Street is creating such a problem with the parking there. The cars lining up. I realize that's going to change in about another week or two. Thanks to Councilor Fresolo's item.

It's definitely a dangerous situation having all those cars lined up like that.

Do you need me to see your residence and item number?

Andrew Marsh went to May Street in Worcester. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I rise in opposition to Resolution 11A. Mr. Mayor, it is the City Council's responsibility to provide meaningful and substantive oversight to the Worcester Police Department. It is not the City Council's responsibility, nor is it remotely appropriate, to shower the Department with pointless and unnecessary accolades when they're in their associate union's id is already higher in the sky than Artemis II's flight trajectory. The events of the past year have shown that the WPD has broken the public trust and passage of this resolution will similarly break the public's trust in its municipal legislature to exercise any measure of accountability to rein in its worst excesses. This resolution is so insensitive and tone deaf that if its passage succeeds, We may as well hand over our World Series trophy to the Yankees in advance. I urge this council to reject this resolution and commit to meaningful oversight of the police department and its union. I yield back the balance of my time.

Thank you. Is your name C. Residence?

Good evening, Councilors. Mike Kane, City of Worcester resident, as well as I'm representing the Worcester Regional Chamber here tonight. I'm here to speak in support of the Chief Development Officer's recommendation to pause the enforcement of Specialized Stretch Code. Since the City Council initiated the order, we've heard from a number of developers active in the Worcester market, and they've shared that the added complexity increased costs and tighter lending standards are making fewer housing projects financially feasible here in the city. All this happening at a time when we could least afford additional barriers to housing production. According to the city's housing production plan, Worcester needs to produce more than 1,000 new housing units each year for the foreseeable future to meet this demand. And you'll likely hear from a couple of our developers this evening and from our conversations A consistent theme has emerged.

The implementation of the enhanced code introduced additional layers of regulation along with new design and compliance requirements. These changes increased both the hard and soft construction costs, making it more difficult to move projects forward. This enhanced stretch code adds costs to an already rigorous state energy code and is a real financial obstacle for Worcester's goal of building more housing, which also creates jobs in the construction trades and expands our city's tax base. giving the timing and the cumulative impact of these requirements on top of an already elevated interest rates, insurance costs, labor, and materials, the Chamber supports a pause of no less than 12 months of the implementation of the code. Thanks, and this would give developers, supply chains, and our utility infrastructure time needed to prepare and adapt. Again, thank you.

Thank you. Should names for your residents?

Oh, hi. My name is Mark DeShays. I'm speaking on all of the agenda items tonight. Mayor Petty and city councilors, I suggest that Worcester's form of representative democracy using city councilors be replaced by a form of direct democracy called sortition, which was used in ancient Athens, which I think is a more effective form of democracy.

Thank you. Is your name C-Resident? Item number?

Hello, my name is Alyssa Harmon, and I live in Connecticut, but I work at 162 Chandler Street here in Worcester. And I will be speaking about 19A. I've worked at CHL for almost four years. Over the past few years, UMass has systematically dismantled vital programs at CHL with no regard for the staff of these programs nor the communities that need these services to survive. Now they have announced that CHL will be entirely dismantled. They have shared no plan for this process, only saying that some programs will close while others will be absorbed by non-union agencies. They say that they will do so without disrupting services or jobs, but that is simply not true. Their past actions prove that. In 2023, they abruptly shut down three detox programs, leaving 80 staff and countless clients vulnerable. Despite promises to reopen within months, the process took years.

In 2025, they chose to abruptly shut down our motivating youth and recovery program, which is a detox program for teens. This violated state regulations which require a 90 day period that allows for community stakeholders to weigh in on closures of essential services. We are here today to ask all of you to stand with us at CHL to demand that UMass share what their plan is with full transparency and to ensure that if any program is absorbed by another agency that our full workforce is retained and our union contract is recognized. We cannot let UMass dismantle an agency that has been serving the most disadvantaged of our communities since 1977 without a clear path that prevents serious disruption to the communities we serve. We cannot let UMass destabilize an entire workforce full of experienced, dedicated, and uniquely capable service workers. Let us stand together to protect our communities.

Okay, we'll let one down one go. That item is not on the agenda tonight, so you're not allowed to speak about it. So, okay. On the SEIU anyways.

But we do have an item under suspension. Mr. Chairman, I think they're speaking on 19A from what I heard. What's 19A? That's mental health and police responses. Is it mental health? Okay. Okay, go ahead then.

Come on. Well, I didn't realize it was on mental health. I thought it was a police item. We do have an item. How about we just suspend the rules? We have an item that you want to read tonight? Public Statement, if you want. They should do it now so they can speak on it. So motion to suspend the rules that bring something under suspension. Roll call.

Bregman? No. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra?

Yes.

Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? No. and Mayor Petty.

Yes, it says, whereas mental health and substance abuse services accrue at the residence of Worcester, UMass Community Health Link has provided mental health services since 1977. and CHL is being dissolved by UMass Memorial. The continuation of these services are vital to health and well-being of the Worcester community. Whereas CHL workers have union contracts with SEIU and a strong contract is essential to quality of services. and whereas UMass Hospital has brought together shareholders to discuss the plan to transfer the services to new providers. that the City Council of Worcester is hereby in support of the UMass Memorial Health Care immediately convenes stakeholders, the municipal and state government, and the community and SUI union representation to disclose their physician plan from Community Health Link, mental health and substance abuse services to provide and uninterrupted names. Anna. Okay, good.

Thank you. Good evening, everybody. I'm Thomasina Levique. I've been a Community Health Link worker for 16 years, most recently working within the continuum. We are calling upon you tonight for a resolution on UMass's dismantling of CHL. We are already feeling the impact of UMass not working with us to keep our programs in full operation during this time of transition. We need to calm the chaos UMass has caused by recklessly putting forth closures of programs that CHL provides for the community for the past 50 years. CHL has been the largest provider in the Worcester County area. We have done the work that others have not done. Our caregivers are skilled,

and full of knowledge of the intricate systems of the mental health and substance use treatment and is dedicated to keep our programs running. The community cannot afford a decrease in treatment. The city cannot afford another closure of our vital services. CHL caregivers are ready to continue their work for our community and looking for you to demand UMass on what their plan is for our agency and the services that we provide to the community. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Kwan Liu. I'm a Worcester resident and a residential counselor from Community Health Link. I work at Community Health Link over 20 years and I'm one of the worker who impact by the recent announcement of I'm here today because these closers don't just threaten our jobs, they also threaten essential mental health and recovery service for some of the most and vulnerable people in our state. We're already seeing patterns of instability and uncertainty as UMass has continued to chip away at our programs over the last several years. Now, with the latest announcement of closure, we're alarmed to see that there have been no clear plan to retain staff, ensure our union contract is

recognized at any successor agency or insured community of care. I have personally witnessed how transformative the service we provide can be to people while we are going through some of the toughest time of their lives. This service saves people's lives. We need all of the support we can. I urge the Council and all the community members to express their support. and stand with us as we demand no disruption of service retention of the existing workforce and union recognition moving forward at any assessor agency. Thank you.

Just real quick. What's your name? I'm Ricardo Rodriguez. I currently live in Fitchburg. However, I am born and raised in Western. I also do work at Community Health Link. and my name, image, and likeness is all over the city for those of you guys who don't know. So I am prominent out here. Anyway, the point of the matter is this, just real quick. We're really more into the continuity of care for these clients that we work with. I've been at CHL for 10 years. I have plenty of opportunities to go other places and do other things, city, state, and all that stuff. But one of the things that UMass needs to understand about CHL is that we're the direct line of contact with a lot of these people. A lot of these mental health, dual diagnosis people that are out here on these streets. You know what I mean? Behind City Hall, up and down Main Street, King Street, all the areas that a lot of you folks don't want to go to, don't want to deal with, and the people that you see are the ones that we actually are hand on with. Our jobs are very dangerous too at times, but we like our jobs and we still do our jobs.

I'm not saying that UMass is not capable, of doing the work. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that the other agencies that they're looking at to do the work or take over our contracts are not capable of doing the work. because I'm pretty sure they are. What I'm saying is those of us who have been working for CHL and choose to work for CHL, been here for years with CHL, are dealing with constituents and people in the city who really are familiar with us through all the different changes they've been through physically, sexually, and mentally abused in the city. We're dealing with that. All the different drugs and crimes and stuff that happen to folks, we're dealing with that. I don't know if you guys know, but it's hard for people who are in need or people who are out there to reach out and actually ask for the help. So when they finally get it from someone who's been with them for years, they kind of get a bond with that person and want to stay working with that person. I'm just saying, I just hope that UMass and whatever other agencies, or if we continue with the CHL stuff, they take that all into consideration. We take into consideration the people that we actually are. We're the hands-on, front-line people.

So I just wanted to put that out there.

Thank you.

Should name city residents and item number? I'll use your name.

Good evening, Roberta Bryan, Worcester Business Development Corporation. I'm here tonight to support the Chief Development Officer's recommendation on the pause of the specialized stretch code due in part to the difficulty in implementing the requirements to achieve a successful development for both the developer and the end users. lack of U.S. made materials, inconsistent supply chains, delays in securing power for all electric buildings, and the inability to layer energy sources such as solar with our current infrastructure weakens the feasibility of the code and dilutes development parcels to their lowest viable use. In addition, Worcester is the only community within 30 miles to have adopted the specialized stretch code, putting it at risk of being passed over for development and in addition pushing development to surrounding communities with only the base code in place at times, thereby negating any positive impact of potential climate benefits.

while development is only one source of climate degradation and while no one is seeking to increase our climate vulnerability we need to choose our solutions carefully so that our goals are balanced and the city continues to thrive for all of its residents. Thank you.

She names the residents. Item number?

Walter Bird, Worcester. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Councilors, and the City Manager. I'm excited to be tonight to speak on an item that I think is pretty important and that's establishing the Worcester Sports Commission. And that is item 10B. I want to specifically thank Councilor Economou for bringing this order forward. I really appreciate his willingness and his excitement. I was already feeling good about it, but I felt even better, and I believe it represents a really strong opportunity for the city of Worcester. I also want to thank some of his colleagues that I understand have also signed on. So I appreciate that. We appreciate that. We're already a sports city from the Woo Sox, the Bravehearts, the Railers, to the athletic teams at our colleges and universities, to soccer. Boxing, Little League, and a lot more. Sports are woven into the very fabric of this city. And I believe that could all be enhanced by a coordinated strategy to promote, grow, and capitalize these assets.

I believe Worcester needs a sports commission focused on making Worcester a sports destination, attracting sports enthusiasts who would fill our hotels, support our restaurants, and generate real economic activity. The Commission would look at what's here and also look at what could be. It would create opportunities. It would position Worcester to think strategically about the future of sports in the city, Do we need additional field space? A multi-use indoor facility? Opportunities to host higher level collegiate or regional events? How about a Massachusetts Boxing Hall of Fame? These are the kinds of questions a sports commission could take on in a focused and intentional way. I want to say in closing, establishing a Worcester Sports Commission is smart and it's a strategic step, I apologize. It could strengthen our economy, support our residents, and elevate Worcester's profile across the region and beyond. and we have other commissions. We have a ballpark. We have a civic commission.

We have other commissions and maybe we can consolidate in some places and have a sports commission really kind of take the lead.

So thank you very much. I appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. is your name, is your residence item number?

Hello, my name's Gary Hunter, I'm in District 5. First thing quickly I'd like to talk about is 13A. I think we should look at that and endorse that program because people are going bankrupt with health costs. And this would be a very big step for the state of Massachusetts to put this through. Second one quickly I would like to talk about is Public Works to consider opening for dumping and more hours. I know I've been trying to get rid of some stuff and it's really hard to make an appointment to get over there and do it. I think this is causing problems where people are dumping stuff on the side of the road because they can't even get in there to I would encourage you to extend the hours and maybe even make it free because they're not charging that much anyway.

10A and 19 about the police department. I'm in favor of recognizing the police that have done a great job beyond and what their normal duties are. But I think the first thing we have to look at is a civil review board. The DOJ report is is sitting in limbo somewhere, and we don't know if there was any accountability. I think I'm in favor of police getting recognition when they do their job, but I think before we do that, come up with a vote and tell us what's going on with the DOJ report. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Jennifer Guzman. I live in the city of Worcester, born and raised here. I work for Community Health Link in the crisis stabilization unit. I am a certified peer support specialist You know, years ago, I was a client of CHL. Yeah, I had mental health issues, and I needed help. And these people were a great program, and they brought me to where I am today. I'm working in this unit now where I used to be a patient. and I care a lot for the clients that we have. These people don't have anything else. We serve the homeless. We serve people who are uninsured. These people have nowhere else to go. and I know mental health doesn't concern many people if it doesn't affect you but let me tell you it's really it this is important and we really need people to stand with our workers

because these clients don't have much trust for anybody. And when they work with us consistently, we develop that trust and they're more likely to come to us for the help. So like I said, I was a client of CHL years ago, and now I work for them. I've worked for the past three years. I can tell you, since I joined, First, I was in Lemonsir and they closed my program down. Then I moved to Worcester and they start closing other programs down. It's like they're systematically shutting our programs down and these people have nowhere else to go. We have like waiting lines. We have patients sitting in the emergency room. Three weeks at a time they're boarding because we don't have enough mental health services. And now UMass wants to shut down more services, transition them to other organizations. We've been doing this a really long time. We know what we're doing, and we're the best choice for our community.

Thank you.

Hello and good evening. My name is Magdalene Jagona. I'm a clinician at CHL. I've been working there for five years. I'm immigrant from Kenya, and I came here and I went to school. I became a social worker. And I'm proud of working at CHL for five good years. I work at emergency services. We meet the crisis where it at. Like today I had a tough crisis where I went to West Boylston and made the crisis where it was and I was able to help that client who was growing through Psychosis, and I was able to send the client to UMass, we are sad because our program is closing. When it was closed last, 2023, It was sad. I work 7 to 3. And when I'm coming at 6.30, I have met so many people on the street. We have knock on some of them. Others, they were normal there. We met one.

Kryon, one of our client who had passed on at Chandra Street, Chandra Elementary. You can imagine those kids coming to school in the morning. and find someone dead at the door. We are sad because our community is not going to be safe if our program is closed. We save a lot of lives. and we have this connection with the Worcester Police Department, Emergency Services, even EMT. We have the connection with the community. We have the connection with all the people who save life. We are here to save life for our people. We don't want to see this happening. If there is a program that is going to take us, if they're going to like another program which is going to be brought, Let it take us, all of us, and we go with our employee because we know our client, we know what they need, and we meet them at where they're at all the time. Thank you for your service and help and you're going to support us to keep this program and save our city. Thank you.

Did your name see a residence?

Hello, I'm Luis Contras Rivera, a Worcester resident in District 4, Park Ave area, who loves Worcester. and an SEIU Local 509 Union Steward. A Community Health Link Worcester Counseling Center Affiliate of UMass Memorial. I'm here today to address the gross mismanagement that UMass Memorial has done these past years with CHL's programs. Currently, UMass Memorial is dismantling vital programs by giving the states contracts to separate organizations. I implore this council to have oversight over UMass Memorial. It's already mismanaged their restructuring

with programs like FCT, OBAT program, MIR, our detoxes, Barrows House, Orchard Street, and our HOPE program. please help us keep our union together as we transition. allow us to give our clients the services they deserve with proper continuum of care from our experienced caring experts. Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, we've got a time clock here. Is that new? There it is, too. I'm burning it. Hello. My name is Ted Conis, City of Worcester. Rivera. A couple things. I just want to acknowledge and thank Councilor Rivera for 10E, which is seeking to increase hazardous waste and bulk waste pickup and drop off and pick up. I think that's a good thing. And Councilor Fresolo for 10I, the request for looking at best practices for managing invasive species, both important things. I also want to speak to what I believe is 8-4B, the specialized stretch code. And I just, I'm concerned

I've studied the recommendation that came back, the report that came to the manager, manager's recommendation. it does not seem to answer the question I mean it seems to be kind of a one-sided recommendation I'm not seeing that the the the the counterbalancing arguments. And I'm not seeing any plan for what we're gonna do to make up for what's lost if we pause the specialized stretch code. So I would hope that this body would, I don't know where this is gonna go, but I hope this body would not Act rashly and suspend something we're already almost two years in. We are on the learning curve. We're learning what to do. Pausing it is disruptive.

Instead, I would hope that you will seek out some additional information. For example, it's been said over and over. Could I have a few more seconds?

A couple seconds.

A couple seconds. I hear over and over that the specialized code is an obstacle to housing production, but the actual numbers we issued A lot more permits in the year and a half after we adopted the code than we did before we adopted it. Thank you. Before you...

Okay, we're good. Thank you.

We're good. Thanks. Okay. Appreciate it.

is your name, see your residence item number?

Yep. Eric Appleton, Worcester, Massachusetts. I'm here to talk about the stretch code. as a prior person did two seconds ago and essentially I mean I agree with Mr. Bautista's letter differently from the person who spoke before me and there's a lot of reasons for that. As somebody who's been involved in recent development that involved qualifying for stretch code on a new construction and then extraneous and so forth. Housing in Worcester, where your average rent for a three bedroom is $2,700 currently, and we have new projects coming online for $3,700.

As we all know that it came to Mr. Batista for a tax burden or a tax assessment reduction. The problem with that is great. HERS and Specialize, especially the new stretch codes that they're talking about, are great if you're building 300 units or plus. Absolutely. Now, when you start getting into like 10s and 20s, your real cost is an improvement or real cost of 3%. or so or five or four, it really could round up as much to 30. And if we're talking about long term down the road, there's going to be a problem with our whole housing stock in Worcester because we're going to have this dichotomy between very expensive, high priced, compliant and places that pay off their affordable quotient.

And then we're going to have a small number of small construction companies that are locally owned, that are trying to basically improve the overall product. And if I may say one more thing, I don't think we want a Robert Moses Worcester. I think the best way is figuring out a way that this could be done financially viable for our three-decker stock. Thank you very much.

My name is Linda Marks. I work for Community Health Link in a residential I've been here for 14 years and we are being I'm watching. Our girls are frightened. They don't even know where they're going, some of them. We provide Community Health Link when I started 14 years ago had so many different kinds of services. And I felt proud to work there. I'm still proud of what we do. and I do want to say that I have watched over 14 years women put their lives together again.

We serve women and for like six months, we help them get their lives back together. And some of them haven't been there that long. It's also really disruptive to the staff that work there that have provided these services and understand what these women go through um and the continuity of care is so important um and i we're already we're already being, and currently, like I said, being dismantled. So what I would like to speak to is that we don't further continue, allow UMass to continue to dismantle our programs.

Thank you. Thank you. We have four more speakers. We need a suspension of the rules, so let the four more speakers, four or five more speakers speak. Motion to suspend the rules. We only have one, two, three, four, two, six more speakers. We'll go 20, so make sure we're all set.

Okay, roll call. Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Mayor Petty. Yes. Go ahead, just your name and see your residence.

Thank you. My name is Cora Des Plaines. I am not a resident of the city of Worcester. I actually live all the way out in Barrie. But I work out here, and I've worked out here for the last year. I'm a local 509 union member. and a caregiver at CHL for Barrels House. I come before you this evening requesting your support in maintaining our community services without further disruption, that the workforce is retained and that our union contract is upheld and recognized. As I said, I began working for Barrels a year ago. And in this past year, I quickly realized how precious this program is for women and infants. Just this past year, I've watched a mother gain back her freedom. Through this program, we guided her on how to work with her social worker, encouraged her to fight for her children, and through all her ups and downs, we the caregivers were there. For every happy and angry tear and every winter setback, we were there.

She graduated our program with two jobs and her own apartment and a few months after leaving she was able to bring her baby home for the first time. Barrels and Orchard Street are the only treatment programs of its kind in Worcester County. These programs help struggling women find their lives, get back their children, and return to the workforce, many of which find careers working in the recovery community. Continuity of care is a critical piece to their already fragile time in their recovery process. We ask you as stakeholders in this city to call upon UMass and demand that you, along with us, are a part of their planning process. to ensure that our clients remain in treatment and our caregivers continue to give them the care that they so desperately need. Thank you for your time and allowing me to speak.

The next speaker.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. For the record, Mark Borenstein. I'm a lifelong resident of Worcester. I'm here to speak in support of item 8.4a, excuse me, b, the pause associated with specialized energy code. I spoke when this matter first appeared before the council in support of Councilor Bergman's order. I certainly think that in terms of after reading the city manager's report, the proposed pause will allow for us to balance the interest that we have in the city, which is adhering to our climate goals, but also allowing for an increase in housing units. So I've worked with developers. I know firsthand that the specialized energy code is causing issues with respect to cost, but also, most importantly, to timing. I certainly think that this pause will give Inspectorial Services the time it needs to get more inspectors, get people up to speed, and for us to make a dent in the need for additional housing. I would respectfully request the Council to support the City Manager's recommendation for the pause. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker. This is named City of Residence. Item number?

Good evening, Mayor, City Councilors, Darnell Dunn, Director of Business Recruitment for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, and I'm here to speak on support of the Chief Development Officer's proposed amendment to the tie agreement for 39 Green Island Boulevard. Mending this agreement would allow GFI Partners, a real estate developer and owner of 1.23 million square feet over seven properties here in the city of Worcester to move forward with the residential development. of 197 transit-oriented units that will add to our housing stock here in the city, will provide financial resources to the Affordable Housing Trust to create more income-restricted units, and help narrow the fiscal deficit within the DIF. GFI has been a long-term partner to the city. I think they've exemplified that through the redevelopment of the US Steel site.

that took a contaminated brownfield site and turned it into a state of the art 630,000 square foot distribution site for national, local, and regional Distributors. It also allowed a company founded here in Worcester, Imperial Distributors, to bring their headquarters back to Worcester. think of very few developers who are more worthy of this kind of support than them and hope that the council will move forward with it. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker. She names the residence item number.

Adam Gavel, I'm a developer and contract in the city of Worcester. I grew up in Worcester. I've been in Worcester my whole life. I've done projects in Worcester, and I'm here to support the pausing of the stretch code. I'm just going to be Very quick, supply and demand. And this stretch code is good for $30 to $60 million developments, but the small guy, the small developer who's doing a $5 million project, who's doing 16 to 24 units, it really makes a dent in the design, the implementation, everything that comes to fruition. And really, increasing costs on a development project just increases rents. And the only way to bring down rents Like I said, it's increasing the supply of housing. We need 12,000 units in the city. And having more class B housing, which is really like a renovated or a new building. Maybe not a bunch of amenities. It's not luxury.

but that is really what most of people who live in Worcester are looking for based on the last 15 years of leasing apartments that I've been dealing with in the city. and everyone, you know, there's nice projects at 145 Front Street. There's all these nice, huge developments. But just recently, a gentleman came up to me looking for an apartment. He says, I'm paying $24.50 for a one bedroom at 145 Front Street. I want to pay around $1800 to $1900 for a one bedroom. I don't need all these amenities. I don't need a pool. I don't need a gym. I just want a safe place to rest my head at the end of a long shift. and that's one of the reasons why I'm supporting this pause. It will literally promote more housing in the city to have smaller developers come in and do projects that don't get TIFs, that don't ask for anything, that don't look for publicity. They just want to come in, build housing, and make the city of Worcester better. I'm one of them.

and thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak and thank you guys.

Thank you. Our next speaker. What's your name?

Good evening, Councilors. My name is Jonathan Morales. I am a Worcester resident, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Worcester Affordable Housing Coalition. To summarize the statement, the coalition has put out regarding 8.4 . We support building new housing in Worcester, but it must be housing that Worcester residents can actually afford. The proposal will provide a significant significant public subsidies, including a 10-year tax exemption and $2.5 million in state tax credits. for a development where rents start at nearly $2,000 for a studio and go up to over $3,700 for a three bedroom. These rents are simply out of reach for the essential workers, service workers, seniors, and families that keep our city running. To afford a one-bedroom at nearly $2,500 a month, a household would need to earn over $79,000 a year. That is far above what many Worcester residents make.

We urge the council to take a stand and ensure that when public funds are used, they create housing that is accessible to all Worcester residents, not just the highest earners. and we ask you to prioritize affordability and make sure that public investment truly serves the public. And then as an individual, I want to just quickly speak on 816A and just say that I urge the council to take the planning board's recommendations regarding the keeping of residential keeping of chickens. I think it's ridiculous that You would think to kind of infringe on people's liberties to do something like this. And honestly, keeping chickens is not a crime. Repairing your vehicle in your driveway is not a crime. What is a crime? sexual harassment and domestic violence and anybody who thinks any of that is acceptable to quote the counselor is living in the wrong neighborhood. Thank you very much.

Okay, Mr. Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to start with public participation online. David Webb is the first calling user. I see your name and city of residence.

Yes, hello.

Are you able to hear me? No, we cannot hear you.

What?

Can you speak up? Yeah, one second, is this better?

A little bit better.

It's a little better, but he's still mumbled. Can you come back to me after another speaker?

Okay, go ahead.

Samara, the next speaker is John. Try to meet the resident now. Please say your name and study your residence.

Mr. Mayor, this is John Weaver, President and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives. Sorry I couldn't be there with you tonight. I am coaching my son's soccer team. I'm a resident of Sturbridge, but I spent all my days trying to grow the biotech cluster in central Massachusetts, including Worcester, and trying to bring those good, high-paying jobs that are accessible to Worcester residents to our community. Here to speak on the Chief Development Officer's recommendation to pause the Specialized Stretch Code and ask the Council to move forward with that pause. Fully agree with all the comments around affordable housing, which is a key priority for the city as well as for the industry to make sure our employees have places to live. Also wanted to raise an issue that we're seeing in the biotech cluster where simply to provide the HVAC requirements for these really advanced facilities and ensure that it's safe for laboratory technicians, you have to provide very high air exchanges

and really complicated HVAC systems that frankly the technology doesn't exist currently to allow for going all electric and meeting a lot of the requirements on the specialized code. So we would ask, we think pausing sends the right signal. sends a signal that Worcester is really serious about our climate goals and that we're moving in this direction, but it gives technology developers and companies and contractors more time to understand and work towards being able to provide the technology that's required for this type of shift. So we would ask the council to consider pausing the specialized stretch code to send the right signal that we're serious about our climate goals, we're moving in this direction, and we want the industry to move along with us. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker.

Next speaker.

Joe.

Joe. Mr. Mayor, the next speaker is Joe. Try to meet the resident now.

Hi, my name's Joe Karsha. Just speaking on 10A briefly, it would be helpful if you enforce the noise ordinance on Lincoln Street. The City Council is currently stonewalling the North Lincoln Street neighborhood about A chronic noise nuisance. that's been going on for years. I would really appreciate it if you responded to my emails asking about policy and discrepancies between what employees are telling people and what public records show. I'm going to just call in every week until I get some answers here. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, the next speaker is Natalie Gibson, chairman of the resident now.

Hello, Natalie Gibson, District 5, Worcester, Mass. Good to see you in the audience, Councilor Rob Bilotta. I'm speaking on 6A regarding the old Big D property. I do hope that the city, the planning board, or refer to the planning board so that they can take care of that little piece of land so that Mr. Samuel Adams can go ahead and I wanted to speak, I don't know a lot about the stretch codes but I'm thinking to myself that if you all pretty much unanimously voted for these stretch codes a year ago or a little more than a year ago. You did it for a reason. So why don't we just continue to keep that in place? And things will continue to the cost of things will continue to rise.

We know this, nothing's coming down. What you do need to bring down is the cost of living for people. The other thing that I wanted some clarification on is I see that when it comes to the speed bumps a lot of these things are recommended to be accepted for filing so I'm just wondering if all those speed bumps that I see listed and I'll say number seventeen point H, which is 4th Street, does that mean that there are no speed bumps that are going to be placed?

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Mayor, I want to try David Webb one more time. Can you please state your name and city residence?

David Webb, Olympia. Are you able to hear me now?

Yes, you're all set.

Cool, great, thank you so much. Okay, David Webb Olympia. First and foremost, Community Health Link is an incredible organization and anyone who cares about the city should support the people who spoke earlier. They actually make Worcester better and safer and save lives. Supporting continuity of care is the least you can do. 8.3a shows who is benefiting from all of the problems in Worcester. And I think everyone should review those numbers and maybe ask if a clerk deserves $200,000 while their constituents' access to public participation is limited further and further. You know, this assistance. 8.4a and 8.4b show the city how Eric Batista supports evil developers who are fracking Worcester for its real estate. 816A shows the public that the City doesn't listen to the people and how the City Manager uses various departments to maintain a shortage of food and resources. 19a. Defunding CHL while commending the police is particularly tone deaf. The examples in the recent lawsuit was the tame stuff.

The Worcester Police Department has caused suicides, and we all know someone whose life has been ruined in a situation they escalated. 11A is absolutely brilliant, a truly great idea. Of course, we should be appreciating the police even more. They have shown that they are not racist, they are not classist, they don't harass homeless people or target activists, and they are well trained and capable of handling mental health crises of both their own and others. I think that the armed forces of Worcester that come in from Paxton and Millbury to oppress black, brown, and trans people of Worcester are doing an excellent job. I specifically think we should recognize Kerry Hazlehurst for planting evidence, Michael Bianchamano Jr. for tasing a pastor, Dominic DeStefano for his excellence in pulling over black drivers, with an honorable mention to Taylor Boucher or Boucher for harassing people downtown. So yes, ignoring the myriad of lawsuits, let's recognize them for all the good rest they've given for the city and give them a 5% raise while we're at it. Also, can we award the law department for complying with the public records law? Everyone's values are on full display.

I don't think your propaganda is working, Eric Batista, so y'all should probably do better and maybe start caring about constituents.

Thanks. Okay. We are on petition 6A to 6C. Mr. Chairman.

Since we just heard so much about the, CHL issue. Is it appropriate now if I present an order dealing with that issue?

Present a what?

An order dealing with the issue.

We have it right here. We have one already. Councilor King, I read it. He already has it.

It doesn't deal directly, I don't think. No, it does, it says, yeah. Okay, it does.

Yeah, it says, hereby I go to support UMass Medical, concerned stakeholders, the municipal and state government, the community, NCIU, union representatives of the schools, their transition plan with the community health link and mental health and substance abuse service to the new providers in an uninterrupted manner. So he's asking for a meeting and to support this.

Okay, so I was gonna have the Public Health and Human Services Committee of the City Council hold a public hearing.

I can send that there if you want.

To that committee, to the Public Health Committee. That's where I'd like to see it go.

This will go on the agenda for next week under the business suspensions. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All those in favor? Opposed? So, ordered.

Okay.

Petitions 6A to 6C refer to the Planning Board. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. 6D to 6K refer to the Public Works Committee. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. L6L to 6Z, refer the traffic and parking. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. 7A to 7J, refer to traffic and parking. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. 7K, refer to Veterans, Memorials, Parks, and Recreation Committee. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. And Councilor Fussell, did you want to speak on, was it 10H?

Yes, could you read it please, Mr. Secretary?

Yeah, just take the item out of order. Some constituents are either here or online. I request the manager request Commissioner of Transportation Mobility provide a notification to the parents of Roosevelt School regarding the implementation of the parking on Grafton Street starting on Monday, April 27th. Said notification may include mailings, social media posts, Friese, Collaboration with the Public Schools to use any existing communication channels. Councilor Friese.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through you to the administration, my colleagues, and the general public. Simea, I stand tonight to allow the parents of Roosevelt School the notification that when their children come back to school on Monday, April 27th, that the no parking and no stopping signs will be up and the length of Grafton Street from Roosevelt School to the intersection of Dalton Street. I just want to make sure that the general public, the parents, the grandparents, anyone that will be picking up their children will be aware of that. I don't want them to, you know,

have an opportunity to say they weren't informed. So Mr. Chairman, I want to provide a brief update regarding the parking situation at Roosevelt School. During next week's vacation, again, the signs will be installed. No parking and no stopping. So that means that if anyone does park on the side of the road in that area, It is our intentions. It's the administration's intentions to have the Worcester Police Department and the parking control officers there to ask them to obviously move move from that location. We want to notify these people so that no tickets are given out. That is not our intent. and I wanna make that perfectly clear. Secondly,

I just want to make sure that people know now because we only have three days left before vacation starts that I'm told children have gone home with a flyer to the parents. I'm also informed that the Worcester Public Schools website has this on it. The Roosevelt School website has these changes on it. So I want to thank the administration and the chairman of the Traffic and Mobility Committee as well as the Assistant Commissioner, I should say the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner of those that department, Traffic and Mobility, for their efforts here. I think they've come up with a good plan. I also want to add the fact that

Part of that plan is that fifth and sixth graders will leave the school at 2 o'clock and walk to the parents' cars, which has a dedicated zone of parking from the driveway of Roosevelt down toward Sunderland Road. We're allowing parents of fifth and sixth graders to park there. And the fifth and sixth graders have already been through a trial period that they have walked out to that area and have performed that exercise. So again, I want to thank the administration. for their dedication in trying to alleviate this very severe and very serious public safety issue that happens on Grafton Street in that area from 1 to 2 o'clock or 2.15

every day school is in session. So Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the time and I look forward to hopefully a smooth transition with that going through. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is an issue that doesn't seem to quite go away. I want to commend Councilor Fresolo for the work that he's done, following up on some of the work that was done, folks. preceding him, including some of our at-large counselors that are still here. Mr. Chairman, before I take a vote on this I would like to ask through the chair to the administration, what is the plan? Councilor just referenced that there's a plan and something with the fifth, sixth grade. If you could just elaborate on those details through the chair to the administration on what exactly the plan is.

Mr. Manager?

As many people know, we've had some challenges in Roosevelt and the parking. The city has provided funding not only to acquire the land, but also develop the land. And so we've had some challenges in trying to circulate The traffic within the actual parking lot for the pickup for the parents. And so what we did is we had a transportation mobility team, me with the school administration, and think through about a possible solution and idea of how to reroute the actual parking lot in addition to providing some opportunity for pickup on the street. One of the biggest issues that was happening was the parking that was happening or the standing that was happening prior to the actual entrance of the school. So that has been shifted to after the entrance of the school. And that is one of the areas that the counselor previously had provided some details on.

so the plan basically is that grades through pre-k or kindergarten all the way until fourth grade they will be able to circulate the parents will be able to circulate within the parking lot there's a designated colons area that will provide them and opportunity to go into the parking lot to stage there and be able to be picked up as the students are being dismissed. Staff will be able to assist in bringing them to the vehicles, et cetera. Fifth and sixth grade, the reason why we felt as though there would be a better opportunity to have a different location for pickup because it's much older, they're able to navigate some of the area there. Staff will also be able to provide them and direct them to the area for pickup. And so we've laid out that framework with the school administration and they've been very proactive in communicating to families, communicating to the parents, communicating to the staff.

working through that plan so that what we decided to do, we didn't want to implement it right. We wanted to make sure that we provided enough information, do a test run to see if that would work, and then be able to fully implement it. What we're fully implementing is not the permanent solution. What we're implementing is the 90-day process that was communicated here in the council. That 90 day is what we're implementing here. We're going to evaluate that and then also regroup through the summer to then fully make an implementation process for the upcoming school year.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A lot of work that's been done here. You know, I think the order was amended to 90 days or less. from what I recall. I could be wrong, but I thought I made that amendment on the floor. That being said, I do want to speak to some of the challenges that the businesses are having there as it relates to blocking entrances, et cetera. And I'd also like to speak to Mr. Chairman, and some of the parents. And I just want to state this again unequivocally for the record. We have folks, guardians, friends, family who are picking up for systemic shortcomings as it relates to after school programming. as it relates to busing, as it relates to lack of bus monitors. There's a whole host of reasons why folks are picking up their kids. Some of them are doing it to get them to an after school program and then be able to get back to their job, their first job, their second job, or whatever the case might be.

And my concern that I've had and I'm going to reiterate is this policing effort and traffic effort will be done, clearly. That's what we're moving towards. But it's also sort of a setup in some ways for law enforcement and for transportation, mobility, or whoever's assisting. And the reason why, Mr. Chairman, I don't know when the last time some of the folks here picked up children from school. But it's hectic. It's fast paced. And we've tried. We've spent a lot of money. and the parking situation. What was described here about folks being able to navigate better and more quickly with the fifth and sixth grade over here just hasn't come to any sort of and so forth.

So we'll see what real time impact that we were looking for. I am interested in what increments we're going to be measuring and how we're going to be communicating those changes. Mr. Chairman, the other concern I have, and I stated this last time as well, This is an issue at a lot of schools. There's a lot of safety issues. I've called for a safety audit of our schools as it relates to all of these things that has yet to come back to the council. Mr. Chairman, you know historically the powers that be in the city over the years have treated the east side differently than other parts of the city and the one thing that I would ask that we tread very carefully with is there is any proliferation of ticketing and things of that nature that is equitable. That's not just on one side of the city.

I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it, but I've heard rumblings about it. And I can tell you that the parents that I've talked to have particular angst and particular concern about this implementation, Mr. Chairman. I would like to make as way of a motion that we do get We're talking about 90 days, which is three months or less, depending, but we should be appraised of this, Mr. Chairman. We should be able to be nimble and not rigid. I'm glad to hear that the Western Public Schools is partnering with this. I know in my committee that I'm trying to get up and have a joint meeting with the folks from the school side. One of the items in my committee is the safety issues at our schools. and hopefully we can get that going as soon as possible Mr. Chairman but I certainly support with the explanation provided

related to the plan, notifying folks. But I do want to, just for the record, indicate my concerns as it relates to all of this, Mr. Chairman. I thank you and I thank Councilor Fresolo and other folks for the work that's being done. But let's manage this with care. Let's make sure we're a family friendly City Council, and that we're also business friendly as well. But we have to make sure that pick up time, you know, folks get there an hour early or 35 minutes early because that's their lunch time, they got to be back. And let's be as flexible as we can be and as communicative as we can be with this body. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, we'll send that to the manager as amended with the additional hours on getting the report back on the month, each month, see how it's going. all those in favor of a postal audit, we are on appointments, 8A, 8-1-A, choose to bring communication with the appointments of George Russell and George Sedaris to the Worcester Ballpark Commission, and also Treasuring Information Communications, the appointment of Rose Mary Della Cruz, Torbayo, the Constable. And so we want to thank them for their service. This motion is to file. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. Councilor King.

Did you just do 8.1a?

Yes.

Okay, I'd like to speak on that because I might be in opposition.

Okay, 8.1a, Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This goes back to the Worcester Ball Bar Commission. I know we have another agenda item on tonight regarding commissions. and this is a commission that has not met the mark. It has not met the challenge of their mission. Through the chair to the administration, I'm particularly surprised that George Russell has volunteered for this. He and I have been partners over the last four years or so as it relates to this ineffective commission. I've met with folks from the Worcester WUSOCs who are unable to validate the work of this particular commission. and we've gone back and forth with this. We had an actual for the council members that weren't here. We had a recommendation from this sitting city manager that the ballpark commission be dissolved. That's the quote from that recommendation.

This city manager had a plan, and that plan included interdepartmental work, including the cultural development, fire, police, et cetera, and making sure that the number of public events that are supposed to be hosted there actually occur. They were developing parameters for that. on this particular body and through the Charity Administration. Has there been any marked improvement or significant improvement as it relates to the public dates there through the Charity Administration?

Mr. Manager?

Yeah, through the chairs of the council, this body, the ballpark commission, one of the charges or one of the actual responsibilities is to manage the 10 community days. These 10 communities, what it is, it allows community partners in the city, nonprofit organizations to submit to the ballpark commission. The ballpark commission will review their application and grant them the opportunity to rent the ballpark at no cost or with no rental fee as a cost. They are responsible for any type of vending or any type of concessions or any staffing related to that event, but not for the purposes of rental. Their job is to go through that and then recommend and also approve those applications. I'd be happy to come back. I don't know exactly what the numbers are in terms of what their activity has been.

but I'd be happy to bring back a report to the council that gives a breakdown of what those events have been, what the decisions have been, so that the council is apprised of that activity within the ballpark commission.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a motion reflecting city managers' willingness to provide said report. in addition that to Mr. Chairman I'd like to bring back the recommendation that was made by the city managers that this body in this particular term can be appraised of the challenges and the interdepartmental solutions that were put forward here. Again, I'm surprised with former Councilor Russell. I guess you can't beat him. Join him. Maybe that's what's going on here. But I really want to remind folks as well, we had to transfer Oversight of aspects of the agreement. And that's related as well to the parking over there. And the city took responsibility because certain things weren't getting done.

and what I'd mentioned previously as well was when the Woo Sox were the Pawtucket Red Sox, when they left that facility, There was millions of dollars in lawsuits as relates to the condition of that. Part of the oversight of that commission is related to that, any work that's done, et cetera. So I'd like a report back on the findings of that commission relative to the charge of their mission, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Okay, so as the odds are in favor of postal audit, A and B, motions to file, all those in favor of postal audit, recommend the reappointment of Penelope Harderdeen to the Civic Center Commission, roll call. On this item? Which one are we on right now? We are on 8.2A.

Berkman, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Petty.

Yes. Next item is 8.3A, Transmitting Information and Communication to 2025 Gross Payroll Earners. Motion to place on file. Those in favor, oppose, so audit. 8.4A is held under privilege. A point for B, recommend the adoption of the pause and enforcement of the specialized stretch code in response to the City Council order. Councilor Bergman. You want to speak on this one? Yes. Councilor Bergman, followed by Councilor. King, and Economou.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was grateful for the informed report that we got back that covered a lot of the grounds, which makes good sense for the pause in the specialized stretch code. I would just note that Live and Learn is sometimes a useful saying. And I know previous public participant asked, well, if you proved this two years ago, why are you changing your mind? Well, first of all, I don't think anybody's changing their mind. with permanency. I'd like to get a clarification through the chair to the city solicitor regarding whether or not this even needs a vote of the council for this to be implemented, because as I read the opt-in, the opt-out of the specialized code, I don't even think the council needs to vote on a pause, because a pause isn't an opt-out, but I'm not the city solicitor,

with Chairman's permission, I'd like to ask the council. through the chair to the city solicitor. Am I correct that the pausing of the specialized stretch code does not need a council endorsement or council vote per sec?

Through the chair, that's correct. You would need a vote by the council to opt out, but that's not the recommendation or the matter before the council. So you could take a vote to support.

Thank you. I'm also a solicitor. So for those that try to color this as we're getting rid of these specialized stretch code permanently, that's not true because we're not having a vote topped out. what we are doing is pausing and it makes good sense I believe to pause and I believe the memo states good reasons to pause and also a number of members of the development Community, and attorneys who represent them also stated the reasons that also were mentioned in the memo. First of all, when we started this process, you know, we started with a math that I think existed all too often in the last council and I'm glad to see that it hasn't started happening in this council. The math I'm referring to is saying that Oh, well, 57 communities are doing it. So it must be the majority of communities believe it's the right thing to do. Well, 50% of the community seems like a lot, but out the cities and towns of Massachusetts, it's barely 15%.

It means 85% of the communities have not jumped on board yet to the Specialized Stretch Code. We have, but what have we seen happen over the last year and a half? Well, first of all, the technology doesn't exist for some of the components in new construction. You heard testimony that air conditioning systems don't even exist today that would comply with the specialized stretch code. So how can we expect developers to go ahead and develop properties with a technology that doesn't exist? Technology that does exist, for example, are windows, but they have to be ordered in Europe, because there's no American manufacturers that make windows that would satisfy and the Special Stretch Specialized Stretch Code. There are numerous other examples in the International Building Code which the city was to follow which are inconsistent with the specialized stretch code. We can't ask developers to develop here when the interpretation of whether or not they're violating building code is up in the air. And it clearly is with respect to a number of elements of the specialized stretch code.

So pausing it again makes sense. But also say that National Grid has expressed concern about keeping up with what would be the demand of what the specialized stretch code at this point would require. So I think for all those reasons, it makes good sense to take a pause, 20-month pause, try to get the International Building Code and the Specialized Stretch Code in sync with each other. Hopefully technology exists where component parts can be purchased, and not only in Europe, because we don't know what trade embargoes and other things that seem to happen on a regular basis these days could happen. and also to give developers a sense of confidence that if they start a project in Worcester, it's not going to wind up being delayed or causing and over an amount of extra cost because of the difficulties in interpreting the stretch code. Let me just add one other thing. In various conversations outside of this chamber,

with various developers who didn't seek me out to discuss this topic, but it came up in conversations. The 2% to 4% additional upfront cost, none of them agree that's anywhere near remotely near the cost of what the specialized dredge code is to their projects. And as you heard from at least one speaker at the podium, the smaller the project, the more of a percentage of cost that specialized stretch code becomes today. Hopefully in the future the costs change. But Mr. Chairman, right now we're simply asking for applause. I think it's well deserved. based on good common sense. We're not doing away with the specialized code. And lastly, let me just say, for those who think we're throwing our nose at respecting the environment, we still have and still follow the stretch code that 70% of the communities still follow.

So we're in line with over one majority of cities and towns in Massachusetts in respecting our environmental but what we shouldn't be doing is going above and beyond what technology allows us to do at the moment and penalizing developers and ultimately the ability to create more units as a consequence. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Councillor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to begin by saying that I appreciate the efforts the economic development folks put into this report. I realize and acknowledge the recommendations of our Chief Development Officer. And I also want to state for the record, I don't believe that all developers are evil. It was certainly given the cause for consideration as relates to our small developers as was described of projects of 5 million or less and 10 to 15 units or whatever the case might be. That being said, Mr. Chairman, this came before us last. I had questions about the impact on the Green Worcester plan. the timelines embedded in the Green Worcester Plan, the impact on environmental goals.

And this particular report does indicate and acknowledges and recognizes that the adoption, and this is a quote, of the specialized stretch code is expressly aligned with the Green Worcester Plan. However, this report has no data or limited data on what that impact actually is, Mr. Chairman. I expected a full report, not a partial report. Mr. Chairman, Through the Chair to the Administration, John Odell is our Chief Sustainability Officer. What exactly is a Chief Sustainability Officer? Does it have anything to do with stretch codes, environmental matters, environment goals, and do they have anything to do with the Green Worcester Plan through the Charity Administration?

Mr. Manager?

Through the Chair, through the City Council, the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency under the leadership of John O'Dell, who is the Chief Sustainability Officer, their roles and responsibility is to drive sustainability and resiliency in our community, in our city. through either policies, through programs, initiatives, and really work with different departments to provide, in some ways, some consultations, some opportunities where they can be able to either provide or seek grant opportunities, provide some guidance, et cetera, when it comes to the efforts around energy infrastructure, resiliency, and sustainability. and so they spend quite a bit of work around that. They are also responsible to working with the administration in my office. and working with the schools and all our municipal buildings and making sure that we retrofit them.

We provide all different types of sustainable efforts, whether it's solar farms, , LED, et cetera to try to reduce the carbon mitigation in the city. So they also play a role in working to negotiate our aggregation program where we try to play a role in reducing as an aggregate the actual utility costs when it comes to So they play a big role in that. Him and I work hand in hand in trying to make sure we drive those efforts forward across the city.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Based on that, Mr. Chairman, I'm going to make a motion that we get a report back from the Chief Sustainability Officer relative to the perspective on the stretch code also as part of that report the prior recommendations made as it relates to that Mr. Chairman I'd like to know the impact of pausing the stretch code on the environmental goals on the Green Worcester Plan. I'd like some data. Mr. Chairman, it was also mentioned that permits that were sought prior to the specialized stretch code moving forward and post, perhaps we can get those numbers and take a look at that. I understand the anecdotal approach that we're taking here, Mr. Chairman, but I need some more data.

And we can't, this clearly goes across departments. This is a quality of life matter. This is an environmental matter. Through the chair of the administration, it's my understanding that the Green Worcester Advisory Committee took a unanimous vote this week opposing the pause. Through the chair to the administration, are you aware of what that committee did?

Mr. Manager?

To the Chair, to the City Council, we have and we established as part of the City Council and the City Administration, we established this Green Wiltshire Advisory Committee, and their job is to work on the implementation of the Green Worcester Plan and also think about green infrastructure in our community. They met this Monday. They unanimously had discussed this item, the recommendation that discussed The impacts of it and they unanimously did vote. They submitted a letter to the city manager and I also forwarded that letter to all the city councilors here. prior to this meeting so that everybody is aware of their position as a body.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to file a motion that we get that documentation in the record as well as the minutes from that particular group, Mr. Chairman. I have significant concerns about Smaller Developers. You know, it's similar to the concerns we hear across the city that there's no relief for those folks. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we look into is there a way for our small developers that we can do a little bit more incentivizing as we do for large developers. We have a lot of folks that are homegrown. We had testimony today. We all know the families that do this work. And if there's a way we can assist them, that would be great. Through the Charity Administration, if I could just get clarification of the response from Berkman.

I'm not sure if that's legal regarding opt-out, opt-in from the question that the Councilor Berkman asked because it's How that relates to pausing this. It made me think that if we don't need to vote on it, why is it before us? So through the chair to the administrator, you could just elaborate or restate your answer to Councilor Bergman's question. And I think the question was, that there's opt-out provisions already in play.

Madam Solicitor.

Through the chair to the councillors because this is a local opt-in option in order to opt out you have to take a vote by the council that was not the recommendation before the council today the recommendation was to pause implementation so that the city administration can work with developers and stakeholders and to incentivize and find ways to make this more practical.

Thank you so much. And when you say opt out, does that mean opt out of the stretch code in its entirety, or is that related to specific projects? In addition to that, the question through the chair to the administration is, Is there also an opportunity for variances to be sought with respect to stretch code regulations through the chair? Madam Solicitor.

through the Chair to the Councillor. So this specific law does not allow exemptions of certain portions. It's an opt-in, as is the entire statute, or opt-out. So it also does not allow for variances. You have to adopt it and opt in exactly how it's presented.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We can just get a report back on the variance question as well. In writing, that would be very much appreciated. This is an important decision, Mr. Chairman. to move forward without all sides of this matter being thoroughly discussed. I know it's before us for a vote. I would certainly like to see it in committee for public hearing. Mr. Chairman, we have an environmental piece. Councilor Louie Ojeda is Chair of Urban Technology Innovation Environment. where Mr. Odell brings these sorts of issues forward. The Green Advisory Group, the Green Worcester Plan, that happens in that committee, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to see a review of that. Mr. Chairman, given the lack of this partial report. I'm going to hold this item. But I would like to see, is there a way we can make some carve outs

We're giving folks tips and ties, et cetera. And I understand the challenges of housing and affordability. I'd also like to report back on you know, how rents are increasing or decreasing and what that fluctuation has been pre and post and not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of increases. because if we're going to do this, we're going to be probably the first in the Commonwealth to pause the stretch code who knows, maybe New England. We should have all the information, Mr. Chairman. So I'm holding this item for another week. And in the interim, I'm gonna ask that the administration bring back the requested information in a week's time so that we can have a well-rounded decision here. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Economou.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I echo through the chair, I echo all of Council Bergman's comments, so I'm not gonna repeat them all. I think they legitimize what we're trying to do here. Through the chair to the solicitor, in the opt-in, opt-out, the pause. Is the opt-in, opt-out out of the specialized stretch code into the stretch code? or is it an opt-in, opt-out out of the whole ball of wax?

Madam Solicitor?

Through the Chair, you would opt out of the specialized and then it would be the stretch code. It would be the stretch code.

Very good, thank you. Mr. Chairman, I wholeheartedly support this pause. I feel that Councilor King answered some of his own questions too as it comes to cost. How can we ask the building community to build product that is affordable when it's going to cost them more to go overseas to get product. Just the time alone. I see how it works out just in a single family home. getting product here, getting product from there, if it's on back order. let alone trying to get National Grid out in a timely fashion to do the work that they need to do to get these projects up and underway. I also look at our Inspectional Services Department. they do a great job.

But this will give them the opportunity to retool their inspectors, get them up to speeds. There's so many options available under the specialty stretch code. I think it's worth the pause. I think it's worth spurring additional development if that's the case. I don't know if you could put a tangible number upon it as to how much added development this would bring in. but I know it's something that is needed here in our community and I welcome it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Listening to some of this tonight, I'm reminded of the phrase, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. I got news for you. I'm not looking to be hit by any torpedoes. And so when anomalies arise in any project, pausing isn't a setback. It's actually a responsible sign of leadership. taking the time to assess unexpected issues, protect public safety, prevent small problems from becoming costly failures, as mentioned, and ensures that decisions are based on accurate information. A brief pause allows us to identify root causes and reinforce accountability and move forward with confidence. In the long run, it leads to stronger, safer, and more successful outcomes. That's good leadership. That's good project management. And that's something that I think was outlined by Mr. Dunn, and I think is absolutely correct.

And I 100% support doing this. I know it's being held, I believe it makes an awful lot of sense to do this pause. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Bilotta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I know this is something that the council had previously enacted. 57 communities in the state have adopted the specialized stretch code. 244 communities have adopted the stretch code. I like what my colleague Councillor King said about that not all developers are equal. We certainly have some issues with even some of the smaller developers. There's a polar views, one under. I have a building it was a building in District 2 over on Hooper Street that is an absolute shambles and it's really been unsafe for the neighborhood so you know not all developers are equal so I just wanted to say that and A few questions through the chair to the city manager. Could you talk about Some of the programs through the Affordable Homes Act, are there still monies going towards climate resiliency from the state level?

For example, with the Affordable Homes Act, has that been cut? I know that was part of their funding climate resiliency goals. and also the program Climate Ready Housing through the EOHLC. Can we provide some insight on that?

Mr. Manager?

Yeah, through Chips to the Council, as part of the Affordable Homes Act, there was a number of programs, a number of regulations, a number of opportunities, more so there was also potential bond bills as well that was provided to communities. A lot of these programs, as part of the state, require some of these regulations. And so that's become one of the sticking points. is that to achieve these types of regulations or to achieve these types of build with these regulations, there has to be significant subsidy included in it to offset the cost. and so that's where we're seeing a lot of these affordable units are taking multiple years to build, but also the cost to build those units are increasing significantly. And we're seeing that across the entire state. also these affordable homes has a limited amount of funding. So it's not like they have an endless funding source for the entire state.

So there is an effort, an aggressive effort across the state to be able to build housing. But one of the challenges is that they have a limited resource and limited opportunity. For example, just the HDIP program alone limits us, the city, in terms of what we can be awarded on an annual basis. We've been very successful in working with the administration to be able to get some HDIP programs move quicker but sometimes we've been able to, we've been hindered by the ability based on their allocation of funding. And so there's a number of program we can go try to go through each individual one. But one of the biggest challenges is that a lot of these programs require us, the developer, to meet some of these regulations. however, it requires that level of incentive. The city of Worcester does not have the level of incentive that the state has to be able to offset. And you see some of our tie agreements that we do with some of the developers, they're very minimal. The one that was here tonight was 23% on average.

That's very minimal cost that we're actually providing an incentive. Now, we can provide a bigger one, but there's also been conversations on the floor about us giving even more incentives to the developer because, again, all we can provide to a developer is tax incentives. and there's been a lot of discussion in community and on this floor of us doing that. So when we have developers that have hard money, that have their own money, it doesn't need the city's incentives and they're willing to develop, but they're telling us they're having challenges based on costs related to the specialized threshold, us coming in around and giving them a further incentive when if we just think about the potential and the impact of the deregulation can give them the opportunity to move forward. Those are the things that we outweigh. But again, the Affordable Homes Act and the number of funding, they're limited in terms of what they can provide across the state. but they also have certain regulations and certain requirements related to those that also increase the cost.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Yeah, it does give me concern just knowing that we haven't, it seems like there hasn't really been a holistic conversation about pausing the stretch code. I know that there is sometimes even reference in the MIT Journal article that was referenced in the report. that says that there's resistance from some developers against transitioning from conventional detached homes to less familiar green building codes. But one thing I just wanted to share is that it points out that from the report in urban areas with fewer detached homes, multifamily homes are more prevalent. And excuse me one second. that it just mentions that these, you know, multifamily homes actually benefit more from green technology because there's a lot of shared, you know, shared walls, things like that. And again, you know, Worcester's environmental justice community We're constantly battling with heat islands.

I think it's important to try to continue our green goals, but I understand, especially when it comes to our biotech stuff, how it can be challenging. I would appreciate more conversation on this, so thank you.

Thank you. Rivera.

Thank you. I rise on it because first, I just want to say this report, I thought it was very good, informational. And there's just a few key points that I just want to point out why I think it's responsible of us to pause the stretch code. We're not talking about opting out or getting rid of it and none of that stuff. And just to start off real quick, I would just say to the chair of the administration is You would agree that there's really no incremental benefits from the stretch code to the specialized stretch code in this short of a time. there's no shown anything that the city is missing out on or benefiting from at the moment in time from the stretch code, the specialized stretch code.

Mr. Dunn.

Sure, through the Chair to the Councilor, I think as been recognized by some other speakers tonight, because the Specialized Stretch Code is so recent to analyze both the costs as well as the benefits, it's really kind of hard to do that because you don't have a high volume of projects that have gone through the entire process and have that level of aggregate data to really draw and so forth. We have a lot of conclusions on the overall cost benefit analysis. So what you're referring to, I think there's a lot of attention being paid to the upfront cost, the added upfront cost, and we do have some good primary source data for that in terms of the projects that have been attempting to get permitted over the last year and a half or so in Worcester, but to see again, more of the long-term benefits. When you think about the additional enhancements that the Specialized Stretch Code provides, there's often commentary about

the overall future savings related to lower utility bills, reduced maintenance costs in the long term, potential improved comfort for the building occupants. but we just don't have that level of data because those are more longer term benefits to really be able to try to quantify or assess that. And I think as was referenced by Councilor Economou, we do have, again, the stretch code that is still building very environmentally friendly and sustainable buildings. So there are those same kinds of benefits that you would expect from just generally more efficient buildings. that we have been having for the last 15 years under the stretch code and that would continue. It's really trying to then isolate what are those incremental benefits between that level of the stretch code and then the specialized stretch code that's really hard to try to quantify or measure at this time.

To the chair, to the administration, do you happen to have the numbers of how many developers are ready to swing the hammers once the specialized stretch code is paused?

Mr. Dunn? Through the Chair to the Councilor, it's a little challenging to come up with a specific number on that as was referenced in our report. What we do know is that there's over 2,500 units of housing that have been proposed or permitted in the city that have been delayed from their initial timeline. So I think it's reasonable to say that a number of those units, probably hundreds, if not over a thousand of those units, could potentially get unlocked, see them move forward. but as was also described in the report, there are many, many variables that are affecting overall housing production feasibility right now. This is just one of those levers. as we know many of those other variables are just not within our control. You have a war going on, you have tariffs going on, rising cost of materials, interest rates that are outside of our control, utility companies like National Grid outside of our control.

So where we do have some things within our control at the local level related to regulations like this opt-in specialized stretch code, our conclusion is that maybe we should try to pull on one of those levers that are within our control to see if we can see some of that production get unlocked.

King for a second time, followed by Councilor Bergman for a second time.

You have three minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that analysis and I appreciate the questions by Councilor Rivera so that the administration could acknowledge the multiple variables affecting housing production in addition to inflation, tariffs. Construction Pricing, etc. We heard from our Chief Development Officer here that there's a potential relief to one degree or another if the stretch code does what it's supposed to do regarding utilities. And that's one of the major things that has been before this body for quite some time. Folks are struggling out there. and to kind of roll the dice and put off something that could have an impact down the road. of Significance is concerning to Mr. Chairman.

That being said, I just would like to ask through the Chair, within the Specialized Stretch Code, are there options for appeals of aspects of that stretch code? Or is it stringent? Because I had asked earlier about variances and the like, but is there an appeals process for these folks? and in addition to that, to the Chair, to the Chief Financial Development Officer, what are we doing for our small developments? What sort of developers, what sort of incentives do we have for them as opposed to, you know, the folks that get most of things and hire, you know, tips and ties and things of that nature of our larger development stewardship? Mr. Dunn?

Sure, through the Chair to the Councilor, I'll answer the second half of the question first and then if it's okay with the Mayor, I'd invite our Commissioner of Inspectional Services to comment on the appeal process that might exist for folks related to code interpretations. but as it relates to the smaller developers and what is available to them, the primary one I would say is the Passive House Incentive Program through MassSave. It does still have to be over five units. So it is still in that kind of middle range if you were doing a single family home or one or two or three family. you wouldn't be eligible for that, but it is eligible for the new construction passive house standards for multifamily developments over five units. it's capped at five thousand dollars per project on the feasibility study so some of that initial design work and pre-development costs and then related to

and so forth. The actual incentive for the The actual incentive for the The actual incentive for the construction of the units and construction of the units and construction of the units and complying with the specialized complying with the specialized complying with the specialized stretch code standards, the stretch code standards, the stretch code standards, the passive house standards, it's passive house standards, it's passive house standards, it's $3,000 per unit. $3,000 per unit. $3,000 per unit. So, again, if you just use that So, again, if you just use that Project example of a five unit project, you're talking about a $15,000 incentive, which as we know, that is not covering that added cost upfront. And I think that's something that we're learning again, as we've had some and so on. So I think we have some time now, some 18 months or so with the implementation, because I think when a lot of this was discussed at the beginning, or some hope that a lot of the incentives would either cover that additional upfront cost. And we're just not seeing that in practice over the last several months. and we also know that just recently there was a cut of a billion dollars to the MassSave program. So this incentive is part of the MassSave program. it's not clear exactly how this program will be impacted. They talk a lot about some of the marketing or administration kind of costs of MassSave, but there's been some

I think insight that some of the incentives will also see cut but also even if it was you know primarily targeted at the administration or the marketing then You're talking about more limited awareness, limited efficiencies in administering the incentive, even if this program doesn't get totally impacted by that billion dollar cut. I guess as a whole we're just not seeing the level of incentives necessary to really cover those upfront costs in a predictable way. but at the local level as you noted we just are limited in what we have available the tools that we have in our toolbox at the local level we often rely on those state and federal programs for the level of Depth of Subsidy or Depth of Incentive necessary to cover those costs. We do have some small tax relief programs, as you know. As the manager mentioned, with the HDIP program, we're limited to one to two per year.

So when we talk about 2,500 units that are currently delayed, we can't just kind of try to wave a magic wand and give them all an HDIP to cover those costs and try to support all those projects.

Thank you. The second part? No, Mr. Commissioner.

through you, Mr. Mayor, to the council. Regarding the variance process for the specialized code, this is a code that is brought in by the Department of Energy however it falls underneath the building code and the BBRS so the appeals process is the same as any type of building code appeal is that you would appeal it to the BCAB the building code appeals board The appeals go to the Building Code Appeals Board, or BCAB. So there are aspects that can be appealed? All aspects in the code are able to be appealed. Same as all the building code items. It's just heard by a different board.

and so it would effectively pause portions and aspects of the stretch code for that particular entity that brings it forward for the appeals request, correct? Commissioner?

Through the Chair, No. Right now, if the code is adopted and we have it in place, if applicants or developers want to have an exemption from this code, they would appeal it to the Building Code Appeals Board.

OK. Thank you. We have one minute left. Mr. Chairman, again, you know, as stated by our Chief Development Officer, we have not been able to conduct a cost benefit analysis due to the newness of this. And I look forward for more information. I look forward to the motions that I put forward being honored. It's good to know that there is an appeals process, so there's some pausation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Bergman for a second time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just going to be very brief. You know, I hear the concerns that are being passed around regarding our goals for environmental justice, our goals for the green energy plan. Our goals by 2030, 100% renewable energy, 2035, 100% renewable electricity, 2045, 100% renewable energy in all sectors. These are lofty goals, maybe reachable, maybe not, but they're goals. I would say none of that to me equates with helping the average person that needs a that needs an apartment. And what my concern is, and I would hope my colleagues as well, is that these 2,500 or so units, some of which are being held up because of the confusion and the inability to comply with a specialized stretch code, those would not be held up were we to take this pause. I would also say that I'm a little familiar with the appeals process that our commission just spoke about.

and although it may exist under these circumstances, it's still a lengthy process and I'm gonna suggest that developers that don't have to do business only in Worcester are going to be less likely to be excited about appealing a decision by the building department that they have to comply with a component of the specialized stretch code. But the real purpose of standing up is I don't think it's fair for the city manager and the chief economic development officer to be put in a position where they're making the decision without our taking a vote of some sort. And I should have been clear when I initially asked the city solicitor the question about whether we're opting in or opting out and whether we even have to take a vote. We voted to opt in and I think it's only appropriate that we vote to support the position of the Chief Development Officer and the City Manager to support their recommendation for the pause, for the 20 month pause. So when this comes back after the motions, are responded to, and it's a two-week break, not a one-week break.

My motion is that we take a vote to support the report and the City Manager and the Chief Development Officer's request for the pause. Thank you.

Mayor Petty.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to thank Peter Dunn, the Economic Development Office, for this report. I think it pretty much lays it out pretty good, exactly some of the consequences, some of the challenges. I remember when we voted this, This is the community, the stretch code, the Specialized Stretch Code. People were concerned in the community, but we figured we'd give it a shot, see what came up. People came to the microphone. They had some concerns and challenges that we're gonna face. but we thought as a council, some councils had concerns too but we decided to go forth with this and implement it and I think Peter Dunn's done a great job trying to balance the pros and the cons of both sides, because we've come a long way with the Worcester Green Plan. We have a ways to go, there's no question about it. But you're right, Mr. Chairman, when you said people are struggling out there, this is about efforts for housing development here in the city of Worcester. It's about affordability. It's about jobs. Didn't really think about it. The more we can get this done, the more we can bring developers in here. We heard the developers here tonight.

I didn't know them, but they spoke. We're pretty honest with what they're facing. and I thought it was pretty interesting some of this report that and says here on one of the pages here, projects have also reported added costs and challenges in some of the buildings, materials required for compliance. You can elaborate on that. I know it was brought up when the speakers, I thought, said about the air conditioning. I think here you mentioned some people have to go to Europe to buy the supplies. So there's a lot of different things that go into this.

Chief Development Officer, Mr. Dunn.

Sure, through the Chair to the Mayor. I think some of the HVAC-related things is more on the commercial side of things, as was referenced by Mass Biomedical Initiatives' John Weaver tonight. on the residential side of things. Again, sometimes you hear different commentary about it, but I think it's really important that we're talking about the differential between the stretch code and the specialized stretch code. and the key piece there that we are seeing on materials are the windows. So to your point, almost every I think every single project that we had reached out to to get input on this is that the Sourcing of those windows to comply with those standards right now are basically just coming from Europe. There could be some US manufacturers that can do it but in terms of the availability to meet the demands in terms of the supply, when they need it, what is the cost of it. Every single project we talked to said that they're sourcing those windows from Europe. And what's interesting, because we talk about incentives and affordable housing, federal resources, and the like to help stimulate housing production,

but when you're getting federal financial assistance, you have to comply with the Buy America, Build America Act. We have literally had some developers return commitments of funds that we have offered two projects because they cannot comply with Buy America, Build America and the Specialized Stretch Code. So that's the conflicting nature of how some of these goals don't always align or work in the same direction. and then the other kind of piece on the building systems for specialized stretch code is really the standards for the envelope of the building. So there's different level of technology for the assembly system, the wall systems. and that can be a challenge to source those because it is a fairly new technology. So those are the key things that we're seeing right now. In addition to I know we didn't talk and a lot about it but as we reference in the report is really the soft costs involved so the sub consultants necessary often beyond just the

Project Architect, they need to bring on sub-consultants that are specialized in energy efficiency to produce all of the compliance documentation, and that's adding significant costs on the design side of things as well.

I think you said $100,000 to $1 million, depending on the soft cost. That's the soft cost.

and so forth. Total cost would be that range, but we are seeing six-figure kind of costs for the larger multi-families on the consultants involved.

And who knows what tariff will be implemented tomorrow. It could be tripled tomorrow. it's not just the stretch code, there's a lot of factors that are going into development here in the city of Worcester. A lot of costs, you've got the tariff situation, that's cost. you look at the supply chain, that is cost. You look at, and this is, you gotta remember the commercial, even the commercial here, you gotta think about it. We're competing with, like I think was said tonight that in a 30 mile radius, we're the only city, the only city or I could say town, that have these specialized stretch blocks in a 30 mile radius. And that was mentioned, I don't know if that's true, but that was mentioned. and if that's true, then we're competing. And we're competing why? Look at the commercial tax rate. We talk about bringing businesses in here. This is another thing why business doesn't want to come here. This is our chance to bring businesses here, bring developers here, because in other parts of the state, other cities are struggling, and their numbers are way down because of some of the policies they've set.

And they're not developing in those cities anymore. and we are only two out of 26 gateway cities that have done this, Worcester and Salem. And so because the cost is high in the gateway cities, it's higher. than there is in other cities and towns, in the gateway cities. This is higher. So, I mean, this is a good report, a lot of information here, and this is important. Remember, this council put a lot of time into the Worcester Green Plan. and the administration put a lot of time into the Worcester Green Plan. We're not throwing it away. We're just asking for applause here to see if we can get development here. Because this is about affordability. It's about jobs. It's about, and we didn't even talk about national grid. This isn't a criticism, but maybe it is, but it's an impediment to a lot of businesses, natural grid. The hookup and the power, especially when it comes to this, they don't have the equipment or the resources to do everything we want them to do.

Is that correct, Mr. Dunn?

Through the Chair to the Mayor, we could spend a lot of time talking about National Grid experience, but no, you're right, just generally speaking, what we're seeing in terms of the demands on that utility company, mostly for the the new construction and expanded service. In almost every case it's requiring additional transformers, new transformers. The supply chains have eased a little bit. It was very challenging right after the pandemic. just sourcing the transformers from the original equipment manufacturers. So that's speeding up a little bit, but the cost involved is six figures. We had one example of a downtown and so forth. We also have the conversion of an underutilized office building into housing that was over a million dollars, the National Grid. So there's costs related to their equipment and then really the and the entire territory that they cover for their folks that handle the design side to keep up with the design necessary to support these projects and then

mobilizing the work on their side has been a real challenge for development projects in the city. Mayor Petty.

And I know energy with the highest cost in the nation is Massachusetts. the highest cost of the nation's energy. And that goes all into whether commercial property owners or even developers are gonna come here. So things that, this is a balanced approach. I think it's a good report. There's a lot of information in this report. and to make a decision on. So I look forward to taking the vote or supporting the next meeting. Thank you.

At large, Councilor Satyamitra.

Thank you Mr. Chair, Vice Chair and through you to Mr. Dunn. I just wanted to let you know that you have given us a very good report. I mean I was all clear about the aspect of enforcing the powers of the Specialized Stretch Code. And I think it's something that I hope this council will agree with because it's going to help us all for what we need right now. My only one question that comes to my mind that maybe based on the current situation, maybe based on and the pipeline that all the builders or the developers that you or Mr. Manager have been talking. What's your judgment? Like if you have any judgment on this that let's say if the council Don't pause and not favor this. Do you think that the builders, maybe some of them are not going to be building anything? They're going to walk out of this?

Is that something you have any such feeling? Or do you think they'll find an alternate way and still continue with this? I know it's very important for us to give them that break. I know it will help us, but do you have any idea about what the builders or developers got feeling about this?

Sorry, Mr. Dunn?

Through the Chair to the Councilor, I think it's, as you would expect, pretty unanimous support from the development community. Anything that's going to reduce costs, help their projects in terms of feasibility. Again, with the amount of and other units that we're tracking that have been delayed from their initial timeline. There are a number of different variables that are affecting the overall feasibility of those projects moving forward. This is again is one of those levers that could be helpful. and moving that along. I think when we talk about sort of the timeframe and just the industry adoption, I know it was referenced by some previously about like just the learning curve and the ubiquitousness of this and the adoption and bringing folks up to speed in terms of widespread knowledge for those consultants that are involved in producing the compliance documentation, the supplies of

the equipment that's necessary and the trades getting as familiar as possible as well as other folks in the whole development ecosystem so I think by just letting that play out a little bit having that more widespread adoption will help in terms of just reducing the burden of it as well.

Well, thank you so much. I would hope that we all will understand that this is just a pause. just for 12 months or 20 months and then we're going to be going back to what we think should be the best thing for our city to develop and it's a great cause for us to see that Economic Development goes through without any delay, and this will probably make that happen. Thank you, Mr. Dunn, for your excellent report and explanation and everything that you always do. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This will be on the calendar next time too, Councilor Rosen.

Thank you, Mr. Shimmy. I wish it weren't on the calendar next time. I wish we could make a decision instead of holding as often as we do important items, okay? I mean, the Councilor has that choice, and he has that right, and you know, It's fine, but it just happens too often in this city council that we just can't make a decision. and I think we know where the votes are here. We all know where the votes are here. So we wait two more weeks. But Worcester's become a very popular city. We ought to all be proud, the administration, the city council, the school committee, the residents in the city, renters and homeowners. everyone associated with the city of Worcester. It's become very popular. Our population's going up. People are moving here. That's wonderful. and you know what? They need places to live. We've talked about it many times for years. They need places to live. Why would we try This is only a pause, by the way. This is not, let's throw the thing out.

It's just a pause. But why don't we try to slow down development here in the city of Worcester, instead of doing a pause. I mean, the pause, OK, I don't know, a year, 20 months, whatever it is, it's a good idea. It's going to help, according to the report. And Mr. Dunn and the city manager, it may help. It probably will help to some degree. for us to spur development here in the city of Worcester. It's a good thing to make the pause. And I think if you asked all the people in Worcester, because I heard some councilors say, yeah, we have to help people out who are needy and so on. and I understand that and I want to do that. But a lot of those needy people need a place to live here in the city of Worcester. So let's help them if we can. Let's encourage the developers not to go to other cities and towns, to come to the popular city of Worcester where people obviously want to be. They want to live here.

which is amazing because we don't have enough housing for them to live here. But I certainly won't do anything unless it's a breaking of the responsible development ordinance. If that comes up, then I will say, wait, let's slow down. But besides that, I'm not gonna do anything that's going to slow development down, residential units. I think we've gotta do anything we can to encourage it. So we'll see. Maybe in 20 months, we may say, hey, this has worked out great. Let's pause it again. Let's do away with it. Oh, bring it back, because we were wrong a couple of years earlier to even pause it. But the right thing to do now is to pause the specialized stretch code. And you know what? The right thing is to pause it tonight. So before we take any votes, and I know Councilor King has asked for some orders, and I don't know where the manager stands. You've got two weeks, I guess, to get all that information together.

Gary Rosen's recognized.

Well, you referenced, may I have a right to respond? I'll wait.

No, hang on.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. But I don't know if the city manager can come back with all those reports. and you know, it's really not necessary. The vote should be taken tonight. He has 2,000 requests for reports and after I look at tonight's agenda, it's gonna be 2,045 more, I think. So he has enough to do. he has enough to do. We know where the votes are now. Why would you hold it? There's no need to hold it. Let's get it done. Let's get it done tonight. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Council Rivera.

Mr. Chairman, just a point of order. There's no real point of order. Just a point of order. I was referenced specifically in that right to respond to it. Okay, no, you're not wrong. Based on the rules, I'd like to respond. Go ahead.

All right. Just through the chair to the administration, I just want to clarify. I need to clarify something because I heard a lot of things tonight. Is it safe to say that Pausing the specialized stretch code would help developers build more affordable housing, therefore offer more affordable housing to the residents of Worcester. because the other thing I'm hearing is that it's gonna be more affordable if we don't.

Through the Chair of the Councilor, I can elaborate on the distinction between those two perspectives. I think the conclusion of those perspectives is open to further, I guess, data in terms of as we see this kind of play out over time. I think those who say that it could enable folks to deliver more affordability now is because the upfront costs are not incurred. So by nature of trying to make sure that you can cover your construction costs, cover the debt service involved in the development of a property, you're trying to make sure that the rents support that. So if your costs are higher, you're likely going to try to charge higher rent on the front end. and then I think the other perspective about more affordability if this continues and to have as much energy efficiency as possible is long term anticipation of potential lower utility bills for the occupants of the property. So I think that, again, it's up to kind of how you weigh those two different perspectives about short-term versus long-term.

and the order of magnitude of that to come to a conclusion on whether it's more affordable or not more affordable.

I mean, I'm just I'm racking my head because My lowest bill this winter was $663. My highest was $750. So how is that affordable for the residents of Worcester? I mean, my thing is I We ran on bringing housing to the city of Worcester, bringing business to the city of Worcester, and expanding the tax base. And I think this checks all the boxes. Let's pause it and let's move forward, please.

King. I want to respond to Councilor Rosen, but not to the item.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, I was referenced and as relates to holding this and I'm going to reiterate as the public who views this can can see the questions pertaining to the impacts on the impact on the Green Worcester Plan and the impact on timelines and goals has been unanswered. It's been unaddressed by the majority of the comments made here tonight. So yes, we should take a vote, but it's not tonight. we need a report and if this and and again this does not include that we have a chief sustainability officer that's responsible for that plan and is specifically involved with the stretch code as testified today by the city manager. And none of that's in here. And he's not here. I don't see him. Maybe he's online. I don't know. But he's not here.

So it's not the night to take the vote. The night to take the vote is when we have a full picture on something so important, particularly when you have a chief development officer that just now could not state unequivocally the impact of pausing this would be. And that's why he stated both sides of the equation to the direct line of questioning by one of my fellow colleagues. So I want to be clear. This isn't holding it for no purpose. This is purposeful, and there's questions that are asked. and if the city manager you know provides that we'll have the full information and that should actually go to committee for a public hearing like everything else I'm not quite sure what we're doing here and again The reference that there's no cost analysis that can be done is important to note, but this is not being held on a whim and for any other reason. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, so we'll get on the reports that are requested. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. We're gonna hold Councilor Bergman's order on supporting the report and also the report itself. and but I guess what's in the council won't be in committee so this is we're going to do the work is right here I guess all the time so we are going to okay so that's all held we get the report and we're going on Transmitting Information and Communication relevant to Potholes. Councilor Economou, followed by Rivera.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to say thanks to the commissioner, thanks to the city manager for bringing this forward. I appreciate it very much. As recently as this morning in my meeting with the Commissioner, we talked about potholes. And how do we get ahead of it? and I think some of the steps the commissioners are working on in public works and in traffic and mobility, they're starting to hit their stride on it. And a lot of it has to do with Maintenance up front to help our asphalt last longer. But still, in my conversation this morning, I still encouraged the Commissioner

to look at avenues now, today, tomorrow, Thursday, Friday of this week, Saturday, which I was happy to see about the overtime offering. What can we do immediately to help alleviate this problem? and it's not that it just happened this year. This is cumulative over many years. But some of the ideas that I brought forward was, hey, I'll bring it forward again. Do we do them? get rid of the 311 list because crews are going all over the city and are not being effective as they can be. For instance, they could be doing potholes in this area here, yet there's more potholes at the other end of the building and they're not doing those. Ineffective. Ineffective. If you owned a small business and you were doing this, you'd be out of business. You'd be long gone because you're not working effectively.

Whether we do main arteries first, secondary arteries, neighborhoods. whether we put crews with our street sweeping crews, because then we can work street to street. and I will also go back to a conversation I had prior was in regards to working with our sanitation departments. Swarm everybody on the Monday route. Swarm everybody on the Tuesday route. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and so on until we get ahead of it. I am encouraged to read through here like I said the pavement management system which is great. I appreciate the offering of overtime to our crews who are doing the work. and on top of that I appreciate the line here to looking at private and listing private enterprise to be part of our solution.

I think everything has to be on the table. It has to be on the table now. There are areas in this city I'm just going to use our route. I travel on a regular basis West Boylston Street at Brook Street, right up along the right travel lane. There are three or four potholes. You can't travel more than one mile, two miles per hour because you need to literally come to just about a stop. to dump into one pothole, come out of it, dump into the next one, come out of that, and come into the next pothole. It's that bad. And that should not be something that we should be dealing with on a main artery. I appreciate the report. I appreciate the conversation this morning with the commissioner. I think we're moving in the right direction. I would just like to see it moving a little quicker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Council. Council Rivera.

Thank you. I, as well, very happy with the report, positive. I think at the end of the day, next winter, and the residents will decide the outcome of this. I do have a couple questions for the commissioner. Very simple to the point. I do like Real quick, to read the conclusion, our report says, Worcester Pothole's challenges are the result of multiple overlapping factors including climate, aging infrastructures, historic funding levels, and operational constraints. AND LIKE I SAID, THE DIRECTION THAT THE CITY IS GOING IN WITH THIS I THINK I'M VERY HOPEFUL FOR. BUT JUST A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO TOUCH ON THROUGH THE CHAIR, THROUGH THE ADMINISTRATION, COMMISSIONER.

I know a lot of the residents' concern is the closing of 311 tickets that have not been attended to. Do we have a solution to that or something to be working towards that?

Through the Chair, that is something that we have been looking at that was primarily an issue for us during our snow operations, but it's also an issue here and we need to do a better job and we have been reinforcing that with our team.

And the next question would be is, does the city have a time after a ticket's open for a pothole? Let's say, does the city have a time limit on when they have to have that pothole fixed by?

Through the Chair, we have had some 4,500 work orders for potholes and only just at the beginning of March did the snow fully melt so since then we have been going full force up to 10 crews a day patching those potholes as quickly and efficiently as we can One of the issues that we faced was that the local asphalt plants have not opened until the last week or so. So every morning we were going into Boston to pick up the hot mix. So that was a major constraint for us. We lost two hours every day just in picking up the materials. That's why you'll see in my report I had asked for support for us to be able to make our own hot mix asphalt in the wintertime. Save all that time. So now, because we are doing street sweeping, it's the same crew.

So we're down to one to three crews every day to be able to patch potholes. Today we had three. We were very fortunate. We did the Washington Square area and a couple of others. But yesterday, for example, because of the sanitation needs, we didn't have any pothole crews out. So I can't give you a specific time. We do our best to get out there.

I just didn't know if there was a time limit based on the 301 ticket being open that the city has to respond because I remember When I first started calling 311, the response was tremendous. Like, same day, taking care of roads, and then now it's become, it's on a waiting list because you guys are, and David with so many calls for the powerhouse. Like you mentioned, so many. So that's why I asked.

Thank you. Through the chair. Some requests we're able to respond to immediately, but other requests, when we get over 4,000 of them, it takes us more time to get to. And if I could, Mr. Mayor, just address comments that were made earlier. I appreciate the support by Councilor Economou. The DPW can do a better job and we're committed to doing a better job. And that's through new materials. support to make our own hot mix asphalt and continued investment in the pavement management program. One of the things that we have realized is that following the 311 work order requests, leads to some of the problems that we've seen where we would patch some of the potholes on a road and not the other potholes on that same road. It's because we prioritize the list and we're going through and

hitting the oldest ones first so we're going to pivot and follow the sanitation routes so that we can attack certain areas of the city and as was stated the the mains are more important because that's what sees the most vehicles and the most impact to the efficient movement of our vehicles.

Mr. Manager?

I think one of the things, just to go back to the question from Councilor Rivera related to the amount of time that we have Oftentimes, we have a practice of us, the DPW having about 48 hours to prepare that pothole. or a reasonable time. But if there's no hot mix available and it impacts our 48 hours, then sometimes that prolongs our ability to even get out there. and so that process happens through the claims in the law department where they evaluate that and they make that determination on something whether the city is liable for that or that's something that then the DPW can then respond to. Again, we always want to be within the 48-hour mark, but sometimes it's impossible to be able. But I think this approach and the conversations with the commissioner, including also the conversations

Economou, the approach to, and I know it's going to be challenging, right, because there are going to be residents that perhaps tomorrow or the next day are going to submit a request on a pothole in Friday's route. But if we want to take a proactive approach to really address the whole city, we got to do we got to put all of our efforts on one particular route address all those streets and then work our way through the city which means that some potholes are going to take some time for us to be able to get to that area of the city but we feel as though that's a proactive approach to address as much as we can the entire city and that's going to be a combination of current staff during the day over time but also utilizing some private contractors to help will address some of these areas, especially starting with the main arterials. So we're going to take a different approach, but unfortunately, it may be where as people file 311 requests, we may not get to that. for a number of days as we go through the rounds.

Okay. Okay. Councilor Mitra?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, to you, to Commissioner I think you gave a report. I read about it. I think your first line when I read it says potholes are an unavoidable byproduct of maintaining a large aging roadway Network in New England, a region known for its seasonal inclement weather. I understand that. I understand we live in an area where things are probably were more prone to get these potholes. But I think we all also know from the residents, from our constituents, what we hear, that it is a severe issue. It's an issue that people are causing the safety, There are health issues. There could be so many things that it could cause when you go over the pothole.

It's not only the car that's getting damaged, but it also impacts the health. I think we do have to come up with a plan I read a few weeks back in the Telegram Gazette that the city's mission is to take care of all the potholes. It's a mission. I was very happy to read that. The way we read it looks like we are coming up with an excuse that we live in that kind of a city where it becomes very difficult to take care of, resolve this problem. That should not be, in my opinion, our approach. Our approach should be no matter what condition we are in, we know what condition we are in, then we've got to find a way. Every problem can be solved if we put our minds together, heads together and think of the possibilities available today. Now, you have given here how many potholes are there. You're saying about 4,000.

I think that's probably because of the reports coming from 311 or the residents calling saying, I've got a pothole in front of my street. You're counting that. I had said some time back that let's not be reactive. Let's be proactive. There are ways that this city can find out how many potholes are there in the entire city. There's a way to find that out. I had mentioned that. I think we have to take an approach to have an inventory of how many potholes this city really has, and then how many potholes really you can do in a week, in month. Have some idea based on your resources, based on your workforce, how many we can do, and then determine how much how many months it will take for us to really take care of the ones that we have in our hands. Because I know it's a recurring system. Next winter, again, we'll have some.

But let's take care of what we have because people are thinking there is an outside there, the constituents, the residents have a notion that we are neglecting it. We are not really paying enough attention to fix these because every time we go there is still potholes. So, mission should be taken, I think, a little bit seriously, Mr. Manager. I would also say to the Commissioner that No matter, you know, you're making good efforts, but I think it's not messages out there is a little bit different. But when we hear that, we get the call saying that DPW is not doing the job that we expect it to do. We don't want to hear that. We want to say that, hey, we have a great DPW division. And I think you do your best, but I want to see that we have a plan. The plan that tells us that yes, we can solve it no matter what condition we live, no matter what kind of city we live, no matter what kind of weather we have, we know all this.

Knowing all these, knowing our problems, I think we should be able to come up with the solution. I don't think we can give an excuse that We live in a condition that we cannot really resolve it. That's not the way I think we should approach. So I would like to see that we have a proactive approach. We have an idea about how many potholes this city has, and we put our forces out there based on so many per week, so many per month, really to get it taken care of. I really want this city to be a city with no potholes. I may will arise, it will emerge, but we'll attack them again with a plan. If we don't have a plan, if we cannot say, Councilor Rivera asked you, we have a timeline. I know you said that, no, I cannot give you the timeline, but we're doing our best. I appreciate you doing your best, but I think we should have a timeline. I think we should have an answer that Hey, I think the way I'm planning by next eight or nine months, everything will be taken care of.

I'll be so happy if that happens. I'm not criticizing anything. I'm just giving what I would do, what suggestion I can offer you. Maybe it will help. Thank you.

through the chair. Go ahead. If I may reply. You are correct. We do need a plan and the plan was approved by the city council last January. Well, the report was put out last January and it was the pavement management plan Potholes are not the root cause. They are a symptom of the problem. And that root cause is that we've got aging roadways. Many are beyond their service life. that pavement management plan that was produced last year showed that we have an existing pavement condition index or PCI of 70 when that was produced. and in order to make improvements in that pavement condition index in the overall condition of the roads, they were recommending $19 million a year, which we're going to invest this year The past seven years, we've only invested $13 million a year.

And what that report showed was that if you're investing $13 million a year, you can expect that your PCI is gonna degrade over time. and that degradation of the PCI is not only rougher roads but it's more potholes in those roads. So there is a plan that we are looking to implement that and that's why The City this year, we believe, will be approaching that $19 million investment.

Okay. Thank you. Councilor Bergman?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me start off by saying a couple complimentary things. I do think Commissioner Westerling is a professional. I think he takes his job seriously. I have at times been very critical of what I see as a failure in the ability to do certain things that I like to see done better and I'm not going to shy away from that. So to be clear, it's not personal. I like John. I misspoke on a prior occasion of something I attributed a quote to him, and I apologize in person and will do so publicly when we come up to the budget time. And I told him so. But I will say that I've seen reports like this, not the same report. And following up what Councilor Mitra had said, Toomey, I don't see a game plan here that I think is going to be a winning game plan. I hope I'm wrong. So let me just, through the chair, ask Commissioner Westerling,

Do we know how many potholes in a given year we filled? Let's use 2025 as an example.

Through the chair in the report on the one second page In 2020 there were 1,750 work order requests and it went to the following year, 1,700, 2,600, 2,200. 3900, 3700, and this year 4500. So it has been an increase over those past six years.

So the reason why I ask those questions seems to me more potholes get created in a given year than were filling. if I'm interpreting those numbers correctly. So through the chair, is that correct?

Commissioner? Through the chair, I don't know if all of those were filled in those years, but certainly there are more potholes every year, and I don't know if that's because previous years potholes weren't filled or the roads are just degrading.

So if more potholes develop over a year that are being filled, it's a net loss of being able to fill potholes unless we increase the number of people that are able to fill the potholes. and my very non-engineered logic. So let me ask another question through the chair. One of the things that I think to make this.

Mr. Manager. I just want to touch on that real quick before you go on to the next question and the next topic. One of the things that we're also acknowledge realized that is not spoken clearly in the report. And we'd be happy to bring forward a report to analyze the impacts of it. is that providing the accessibility for residents to report incidences or requests has been exponentially increased over the last three years because of the addition of 311. Historically, the only way residents could report any potholes they would have to call 508-929-1300 if they knew the number. If they remember to call or whatever, providing incense, and that's where you see the big jump here in 22 to 23, 24. Those are the years that you saw the implementation of 311.

now you implement a 311 phone number then because of accessible you implement an application that had now not just in potholes but we look at overall the requests that are coming through the 311 application and the 311 number has doubled if not tripled the number from what historically the city would ever receive related to the 929-1300 number. So I think providing that access, which is exactly what we wanted to do, provide access to our residents to be able to submit these requests, has provided that increase. But now, one of the things that we've realized is that we need to do better in adjusting our operations to be able to provide our services to that demand of requests that's coming in. and we're seeing in combination with also the aging infrastructure. So there's a combination of things that are happening, but I think one of the things that happened was that 311 shift as well.

and I appreciate that but and I'm not suggesting that there are double the amount of puddles in 2025 that there were 2020, but they could be. And certainly making it easier for people to report them is the right thing to do. And if they exist, they exist, whether people couldn't report them in the past and are now reporting them more easily now. But clearly, between 2010 and 2020, Worcester's population grew by more than any other city. or Town in Massachusetts. And with that comes more vehicles. So we know that the trend is likely to go higher. So through the chair, if I may, to the commissioner, My belief is this has to be a partnership, not just between the city council and you, Mr. Commissioner, but your staff. And one of the things that in your Please.

And one of the things that frustrates me to no end is to the manager's comment a moment ago, people are calling this in, but do any of the DPW workers call these in? I mean, they're driving all around the city. I never hear somebody tell me that got called in by a worker. Why aren't workers, is my question, why aren't your workers that are charged with filling in potholes, calling in potholes that they see. And if I'm wrong and they do call them in, I'd love to know it.

Commissioner, the Chair, I don't have that specific information this evening. If they are identifying potholes, they are reporting that to their foreman or their managers. They will not likely be using the 311 system because that just adds a layer of difficulty in trying to get those filled. I can find out if that's how they are being reported. I suspect that that's the way that they are being reported.

What I'd like through the chair, the commissioner, if it's possible, is I I wouldn't like just a general comment they're getting called in I'd like to know if there's a method for them to call in and if there's a method for them to report it how many people have actually done it because again if this isn't going to be a partnership if somebody that works for a division of DPW just drives over a massive pothole, drives around it, and leaves it for the next sucker like me or one of my colleagues to lose a tire over it. That's not right. It just isn't. And I feel that way, and I feel strongly about it. So I hope there's a process, and I hope people are actually calling that in. And if I'm wrong and there is a process and they're calling it in, I'm glad that I asked the question. I'm glad to find that out. the other thing I'd like to ask as well is and it kind of got glossed over and it's been a big issue for me and I think you know the question that's coming through the chair of the commissioner

where in the report or in your thought process on moving forward is there a way to ensure that in an area where there are multiple potholes one doesn't get overlooked while the other one gets done because that also is something that I've, you know, probably talk more on than I want to. And that constituents tell me all the time. I've witnessed it myself. And I don't see any mechanism in here to make sure that doesn't happen or any mechanism that the consequences of that happening

We are pivoting from prioritizing 3-1-1 work orders and going to be following sanitation routes So that we don't end up with a work order to fill five potholes on the street that may have 15 where their priority or their focus would be on those five potholes. In this case now, they'll be able to go to a certain street and go from beginning to end and fill all the potholes there. So that's the pivot that we're making. Okay, so.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. So through the chair, the commissioner, I don't do well with words like that. I'm not faulting you for using it. I don't know what pivot really means concretely. What I'm asking is, with the snowplow operations, there's an inspector and there's a supervisor. I'm not always in favor of the number of levels of supervision, but at least understand it, that somebody's making sure that something's getting done correctly. Who's inspecting? the new, you know, this pivot as you're describing of moving away from 311 calls, because to me, whether somebody's responding to a 311 call, whether they're responding to a new system of how you address potholes, they're either gonna be conscientious enough to fill all the holes they're supposed to or they're not. And I want to know if they're not, which has been in the past, even though previous commissioners in your spot have told me, Councilor Bergman, that does not happen. over and over again. And it does happen. And I know what happens.

So I trust you won't say that because I think you know what happens too. What I'm trying to find out is going forward, how are we going to prevent that from happening other than our best hopes and wishes that people are going to be conscientious? and I hope they are.

Commissioner. So through the chair, we are abandoning the process of creating work orders for 311. and going to process of filling potholes based on sanitation routes. There will either be a foreman with a laborer on the actual pothole crew or if it's a driver and a laborer, then there will be a foreman following to make sure that they have completed all the pothole repairs on a specific route.

Okay. Well, I appreciate there's going to be some more levels of supervision because I think that's been missing in the past. And there are many, many, many good workers that work for DPW. I'm not suggesting there aren't. I'm just suggesting that the skipping potholes when they're within vicinity of other potholes is something that happens more often than it should. Well, the only other thing I would like to add is just consistent with what my colleague Councilor Mitra had to say is, I know we have had severe climate. Worcester is known for that. We have more volume than ever. And I know that your recommendation on the last page, Commissioner, is that DPW

Thank you.

that the goal, the right combination of funding, policy, and operational improvements, with the right combination of funding, policy, and operational improvements, the municipality is well-positioned to reduce household frequency. I sincerely hope so. I've said this in the past. I'm more than willing to support all of them, funding policy and operational improvements. I'm not convinced, however, that it's only about funding. I think there needs to be some sort of Added to adjustment or change that this is a serious, serious issue and that we can't just gloss over it. And I guess I do have one last question. I have three minutes. I hopefully only take one more minute. It says here that one of the past things we used to do is we used to go after worst roads first, or worst first roads. I'm not so sure that's a problem.

If there's a road that's in terrible shape, even though it may not have the traffic that a main road has, I don't know how you evaluate what's going to cause more harm to more vehicles. the side street that has a severe hole or the main road that has less severe role. So in the future going forward, how would you prioritize which streets are going to get would get the potholes fixed first, assuming, as I described, a side street with a severe pothole versus a main road with a less severe pothole. Who gets treated first?

Commissioner. Through the chair. The worst first refers to the fact that the city before January of last year did not have an approach for pavement preservation. So what they would do, what would happen is that roads would not be preserved. There was no crack ceiling before 2022. There were no other efforts for pavement preservation. So the roads would fall to PCI levels that were unacceptable. So those, by worse first, that's what's meant. It's not that we would now do better roads than worse first. but it was that there was no pavement preservation and that's why thankfully last year the City Council approved the pavement management plan because there are pavement preservation techniques in there

so that we're not waiting for a pavement to fully degrade to the point where it needs to be full depth reconstruction, but we're doing pavement preservation to extend the life of roads, thereby increasing the PCI.

And I appreciate your question because I would not have thought that's what that meant. But I still would like the question answered. Going forward, post 2022, how are you going to prioritize those two scenarios I gave you?

So through the chair, the DTM and the DPW work collaboratively to select roads for both pavement preservation and for full depth reconstruction and other techniques. There's also the City Councilor or District Councilor selections. So we work collaboratively. Again, we don't do roads that don't need to have reconstruction. Those roads would be selected for pavement preservation. and the pavement reconstruction is a collaboration between those two departments looking at the pavement condition index overall. And we do have a map and it's online where you can look at the pavement condition index, but picking pavement condition index for the right treatments.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Commissioner.

And we have Councilor Fresolo followed by Councilor King, Rosen, Bilotta, and Economou.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, to you, to the Commissioner. I'm glad that you brought up the fact that you had to go to Boston, East Boston, to pick up the asphalt. Once I told a lot of the the constituents that would bring up potholes to me that it seemed like we were lagging in addressing them. And I told them that. They understood it. One other point. Educate the public and myself. You drive from Boston. You come here. It's an hour or so. Does the asphalt cool off? does that allow for success with that asphalt to fill the pothole?

Commissioner? So through the chair we do have several hot boxes and those are boxes that have a source of heat that keep the hot mix So when it gets here it's at the proper temperature. Those vehicles that we send that don't have a hot box, by the time the material gets back here, Some of it turns to waste or it's not put into primary roads. It's used to resurface areas of, you know, it's not put on roads, but it's still utilized. But going to Boston and bringing it back, you're not getting the proper working temperature for a lot of the material.

Thank you. I'm glad you're honest in addressing that. My last question. Commissioner, we have had several phone calls. I have had several phone calls on the Bridge over 290, under 290, I should say, McEwen Road. From curb to curb, underneath the bridge, the road is deteriorating. So there's many potholes, and again, the road is in dire need of repair. Is that something in, I've asked, you know, DPW, and I haven't got an answer yet, but is that our responsibility or can we call MassDOT? Do they help out in that area when it's under the highway?

through the chair. We'd have to look at that specific situation. I'm not familiar with that road, but typically the MassDOT would have right of way for 290. and they would do maintenance associated with 290, whether it's the bridge, whether it's the roadway, the city streets that are approaching and leaving an under 290, those would typically be the responsibility of the city.

OK. All right. Glad to know that. But that is a huge issue. I've received several phone calls from people Quincy Village, Vernon Hill that go that route every day. And if we could look at that, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

Through the Chair, if I may, one other item related to the winter availability of hot mix. We are investigating, it's a batch plant, which we'd be able to bring in. We have a literal mountain of pavement millings from prior road projects. What the batch plant would allow us to do is to take those millings, put it into this batch plant, essentially a trailer, add liquid asphalt, and at the end, it produces hot mix at 350 degrees So we don't have to travel to Boston. We can come in in the morning. We can make tons of hot mix asphalt, thereby saving us at least two hours a day. And we've got a better product that will be better put onto the streets.

Thank you, Mr. Commissioner. And again, that's McEwen Road. Got it. Under 290, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

On the list. Okay, we have Councilor King.

Thank you, Mrs. Chairman. Certainly a lot of questions. I acknowledge this report and the work that's been put into it. from the administration department head and the folks closer to the challenges that contributed to this. That being said, Mr. Chairman, I'm hearing about 311 and doubling and tripling the number of potholes that are occurring. This was mentioned by a couple of my colleagues pertaining to what is the operational strategy at play to address that? What is the operational strategy at play? to address issues when there's a pothole here and one right next to it, one's getting filled, one isn't. I don't know if that's answered in here. And it brings me to this question, Mr. Chairman.

what exactly is the rubric that the city manager is using to evaluate performance of this department relative to this issue? What is the metrics? What's the calculus? How are we actually measuring how well we're doing? to the Chair, to the administration, because that's what's most important here. What I'm hearing is us really pursuing all these different things. I've heard comments about that the Performance related to this is insufficient. I've heard it's been mentioned tonight that it needs to be an attitude adjustment. Those are not my words, but there's clearly from the legislative side, some concerns there.

I'm trying to figure out as an oversight body how it is that we can measure efficacy if we don't know what the rubric, what the standard, what the calculus is for exactly that through the chair.

Mr. Manager.

To the Chair, to the Council. My job to evaluate and working with the department is evaluating their outputs on a day-to-day basis. There's no current rubric. I've been very vocal in this council floor. of our ability to develop evaluation plans for the workforce, starting with the cabinet and the leadership. I've been very vocal about that, and that's something that we are working towards and we're going to be implementing in this upcoming fiscal year. Part of that effort is also included to develop a strategic plan that has a number of goals and outcomes that we want to achieve. And so in the budget process, we developed what is called the departmental development plans that allow an ability for us to measure the output and the outcomes of the goals of each department. When you speak specifically to any calculus or any data particular to a particular issue,

There's a lot of different day-to-day activities that the Department of Public Works does that right now it would be very cumbersome to have a specific data set for every particular area and every particular program and every particular output. My purpose and my goal in evaluating the department head is their overall aspect when they come into their department and their ability to understand and understand what's happening operationally, Staffing, Cost, Relationships, et cetera, and then developing plans to address that. I think one of the things that's happened with regards to what's happening here regarding Parchos It's a combination of things that we're all trying to piece together related to just the overall of DPW. It's not just potholes. Pothole is not just the issue. And I'm going to reiterate that. Pothole is not just the issue.

There's some real infrastructure issues over a number of years that has created this volume of potholes in the department. We have a commissioner and a team that has come forward with evaluating the operational needs. We're listening to the council. We're pivoting. We're transitioning. We're trying to figure out ways to address some of the issues that we have right now in regards to our current infrastructure. This is a long-term game, but I want to be cautious that I don't want people to believe that a lot of these things can be fixed exponentially and then we'll have the best streets in the entire state or entire New England. it's a long-term approach. There's immediate things that we can do and those are the things that we've discussed here with the council to try to address. We did that as part of the summer to address some of the are clean efforts. We'd had a conversation about the expansion of the drop-off center.

All of these things are areas within the Department of Public Works that this commissioner is evaluating completely and providing some ideas, some potential changes to operations that then the council will be purview to for decisions related to funding and how do we fund these things. So it's a combination of things that come into play for my ability to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the actual commissioner and the team. But again, one of the ways in which we can evaluate is our strategic plan, the departmental development plans, and also the future performance evaluations of every single employee in the city of Worcester.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to clarify. I understand there's many aspects of service provision. that needs to be operationalized here in the city. There's policy, there's collective bargaining, there's all these sorts of things that are interwoven. However, this particular issue with potholes is something that's come up time and time again, particularly on this particular short term that this body has been together, but also prior to that. So that's the spirit of this, is that this is one of the pressing issues. Yes, we've talked about the cleanliness of the city. Yes, we've talked about drop-offs for years, and nothing's happened. And I look forward to the changes that are coming. And I appreciate Councilor Economou's work with the city manager. and Mr. Westerling, as it relates to moving some of these things forward in concert. And I think, again, people want to return on their tax dollars.

And if we're looking at following the sanitation folks around, As Councilor Economou has advocated for, folks are going to actually see visually and in real time that there's a different effort being made. There's some adjustment. I don't know what that means if we're back loading or back listing or back logging 311 calls. There needs to be a real big communication on that. You know, if the priority is going to be you know sanitation things like that so I just think that communication from the city to the public needs to be consistent and repetitive but I will stand by Lee asked that we get some sort of rubric, some sort of operational strategy, standard calculus for this particular issue. because it's taken up a whole lot of time this term. So it's not about everything, but it is about this, Mr. Chairman.

You know, and I look forward to 815A or 815A as relates to the report from the solicitor on the claims process because we're hearing from folks that there's extended periods of time I'll speak on that matter when it comes. I'm happy to see the prioritization that's being occurred by the Office of the Solicitor. I'll speak to that at that time. But it's all kind of intersected. and that's my motion, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, with Councilor Rosen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We've been talking about potholes on the Worcester streets for at least the last three months. I remember when we first talked about it in February, I had mentioned that We need more money in the budget of the DPW. And we all have to remember that. Coming up in May, we'll be meeting with the budget. And let's make sure that we fund that department to a level where they can do a lot more than they're able to do now and especially with the potholes. I kind of worry that our 2026 potholes are still gonna become our 2027 potholes. Potholes, without any more snow even, that some of them will be there, and we might be identifying them end of next winter, March, April, and the ones that we're talking about now. So pretty concerned. Water has a very unusual property.

It expands when it freezes, and therefore it contracts when it melts, when the ice freezes, and that process, that process continues week after week, month after month, and it's gonna damage even the best of roads. I know we'd like to have better road materials and better roads in the city of Worcester but it's going to happen and we have to get used to it uh you know we hear that uh maybe four or five years ago with 929-1300 instead of 311, there were less reports of potholes. It doesn't mean there were fewer potholes. Now they know how to report them, and that's what they're doing. And we can expect the next several years, since we have 311, that we're going to have a lot more potholes being reported. What surprises me, and I support the spring street sweeping that's going on now, but isn't it possible through the chair to the commissioner that we could delay that just a little, a week or two?

Because it seems to me what's more urgent, and they're both urgent, But what's more urgent is filling the potholes. And I think you said, oh, one day recently we had three crews, and then one day we had one. I'm saying, I don't know if we have 10 crews. I'd postpone the street sweeping. Don't want to do it, but may not have a choice. And put those 10 crews out every day, and I might do it on Saturday and Sunday too. have we ever thought of that maybe postponing the sweeping and filling these potholes which we're going to talk about I don't know we'll be talking about this in May probably again someone's going to put something on it's going to come up and The only way we're going to fill them all, or most of them certainly, is to have the crews working on them. We can talk about plans for next winter and next year and years down the road, but if you want to fill the 2026 potholes, you need crews to do it. The hot patch is there. I love the idea of us making a hot mix. And you've mentioned a couple of ways. And I don't know if other cities and towns, any of them, do that.

but it's right now, it's crews. Give us the crews, give us the people to fill them and they eventually, most of them will get filled. So through the chair, could we delay the street sweeping a bit?

Commissioner. Through the Chair, you mentioned several things there, Councilor, which I'd just like to comment on. The asphalt plant in Millbury has just opened up in the past week or so. I don't believe that we'll be going to Boston any longer. But those are certainly competing interests that we can evaluate if we want to delay the street sweeping. Street sweeping is historically something that's done in the spring to make the roadways Safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. It keeps the sand and debris from getting into the catch basins. It's also for the cleanliness of the city. We see a lot of requests about litter in the curb and after a long winter, we've got a lot of litter in the curb and that's what the street sweeping is doing. certainly something that we can evaluate to see if street sweeping is a higher priority than catch basin than potholes.

I threw the chair to the commission. I didn't say stop the street sweeping. We just had a long discussion. I said pause. paused the street sweeping, that's all, for a couple of weeks. It's something I think we should do. They're both important. I agree with you 100%. But we don't talk about street sweeping Every few weeks, we talk about potholes. And all that we've said tonight, we've said before, all of us. So I just think that you've got to put the crews back on the potholes. that's the partial solution right now and Millbury is going to have their own, is that a private business or the town business?

No, there's through the chair, there's an asphalt plant in the Millbury area that has just recently opened and other

and others will also be opening. When you say open, so it's not a new open, it's just open for the season? Correct, through the chair. So does that mean we're done with Boston at least for the rest of the season?

Through the chair, absolutely. We will not be going back and forth to Boston until next February, March.

Okay, and they're open there in East Boston, but Millbury's not?

Through the Chair, that's correct, because the Boston area has more projects going on and more paving requirements, so it's financially feasible for them to stay open.

Okay, and we haven't heard this before, but I always thought that many of our plows might be damaging the street and even causing potholes. Is that possible? Do the plows do a lot of damage, Chair, to the Commissioner?

Commissioner?

Through the Chair, plows certainly have wear and tear on the asphalt. However, they are not the primary cause. You mentioned it specifically that water intrusion in through the cracks. and that's why prior to 2022 there wasn't a lot of crack sailing going on in the city so now we again that's part of the pavement preservation in the pavement management plan is to make sure that we're filling cracks in roads that have the appropriate PCI so that they don't degrade faster. So plows certainly wear and tear on the surface, but not so much digging in and popping out pieces of asphalt.

So, Mr. Chairman, we've got speed humps everywhere. and we have these craters everywhere. So we, I mean, it's kind of ironic. I don't know which we have more of, speed humps, which a few years ago when I was on the council last, I thought was a good idea. but I see that everyone seems to want them. I go to the neighborhood groups, they all seem to want them and there's a list I think on tonight and there'll be probably every week So I don't know if there were more potholes than speed humps, but they're kind of opposite problems. But they both seem to be problems. And I think we're overdoing it in the speed humps, and we're not doing enough to fill those potholes. but I hope you will consider maybe delaying the street sweeping, which is important. But fill these and then get right back to the street sweeping. Thank you for all you do, Commissioner. I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be quick. Yeah, it was a great report. Really good to know that some of the challenges that we're facing and some of the historic, you know, some of the historic processes that were changing that have led to, you know what I mean, like you said, deteriorating, allowing road conditions to deteriorate over time. Just a couple of questions. How many... How many crews were out on a daily average in the month of March? I know we saw that. They announced they were going to be 3 to 10 crews. Is it hard to say what the average was?

I don't have a specific average. We can certainly find that. But it was our intent to have as many out as possible, which would be up to 10 a day. There were some days where we had to pull folks that that had to cover for sanitation or vacations and things like that. But it was our goal to have up to 10.

Thank you for that. And I think it's important too for the public to understand that the workers that are managing our trash pickup are also some of the same workers that are working on potholes. Is that correct? Through the Chair, that is correct. Thank you. Yeah, I understand the challenges and would look forward to supporting the purchasing of the mobile bashing unit. Definitely would. Love to support that in this year's budget or the budgets of the future. But I agree with my colleagues that I think we need to move faster on certain ones there. One is stress prioritizing our highly traveled roadways. Washington Square, those potholes were fixed. Thank you for that. You know, but however, there are, you know, potholes that have been around for a long time. The corner of Franklin, Graffin Street, I have a, you know, three-on-one ticket I put in on February 28th. I think that pothole was just filled in the last 48 hours, I know, because I travel that road a lot.

So really, definitely frustrating as a counselor to have potholes that linger for more than a month. really appreciate this report and really hope that we can push you better because we really have to and a lot of residents are concerned and it's definitely frustrating when residents see that we can't manage our major roadways Let alone the smaller ones. So I just you know, but I know everyone's we're making changes and you know, hopeful that we're going to be in a better spot next year. But I appreciate the report and look forward to supporting whatever we can do as a council to make sure that this work gets done better and quicker for our residents. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Councilor Toomey not being heard.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner, for this report. We all know that everywhere you go, all of us have here, potholes, the potholes. I go into work and I get inundated with, I got hit, can I, Can the city pay for my car to be redone? It's just, we all hear it every week, go to the supermarket. You go everywhere. So I know it's a huge issue. We also do live in New England. We have had kind of a perfect storm this year with the freeze thaw. and all of that stuff. That being said, I do think that pavement management is something that is a science, and it's subject to certain things that are out of your control. So I understand that completely.

One of the concerns that I have is that while we've been filling the holes during the winter, there's been coal patch, which doesn't stay very long and continues to exacerbate. One of the other things that I've been concerned about that has, I don't think it's been touched by anybody, potential for sinkholes for some of these potholes. I've noticed actually one particular pothole on Westboro Street that was actually not a pothole. Repair for a water leak and it was filled by the city and then that sunk and that was filled and then that fill is up. So that's why I'm concerned about water runoff underneath some of these things. And we've continued to have water main breaks throughout the city, not quite as many as during the winter.

But we have had some. So I'm just concerned about the possibility of that. Do you have any indication of any of that happening?

Through the chair, the pothole or water main repair that you had mentioned was one that was done in the winter. And in the wintertime, it's very difficult to get dry material. It's very difficult to get compaction. So that's why that one required additional attention by the DPW, which we eventually fixed after a couple of attempts to settle it down.

I would say it's not fixed right now, but take a ride.

Which street? I'm sorry?

Westboro Street, Pioneer.

But if it's a water main break in the winter, I'm thinking of a different one in a different district. then the same thing applies. It's very difficult to get the proper compaction during cold weather during the winter time. So sometimes they do take additional attempts.

and I appreciate that but you know the whole undermining having these sinkholes especially where the water tables change I know that it's been an issue on specifically on Lake Gaff North. We had a significant issue with that over there and I've noticed that there's been some deterioration there as well. So along with the potholes, you need to pay attention to some of these other things that are happening. But I do want to ask the financial impact of Current Affairs on Bituminous product. Have we seen a huge increase or are we locked in with a contract price?

through the Chair, we were pretty well locked in when we were going to Boston and back. Haven't seen what the prices will be in the nearby Millbury plant, but I suspect that Asphalt is a petroleum product. And as the petroleum supplies dwindle, I suspect that we're going to see those prices increase.

I had previously asked to have some discussion with the WPI students on civil engineering students with with us regarding the potholes and coming up with solutions. And I know that there's a lot of new research being done. So that would be great if you could Connect with them, maybe they could do an MQP project. As I know, when my daughter was there, they were talking about some projects that were actually pretty exciting. I want to thank you for that. And again, echoing my colleagues, the sooner we can get these potholes repaired and well done,

the better off we all are and again I also know that for many of our major roads there's been an excess of Utility work that has really made a major impact there. And I'm wondering if we've gotten any further with the utility companies with repairing their mistakes.

Through the Chair, at our last Public Works Committee meeting, we invited in both Eversource and National Grid, and we had a productive conversation. I'll say with them a couple of other things that the DPW has done back in 2024. We changed the requirements for utility permanent patches on their utility cuts. In the past if they had a two foot wide trench that ran down the right hand lane that's all they would be required to patch. But in 2024, we changed that so that they have to now patch from the curb to the central line. So that provides for a much better finished product. The other thing that you'll see from the DPW very soon, right now the warranty for utility patches is only two years. We're gonna come forward with a proposal for consideration by the city council

to change that warranty period to five years so that if they do a repair and it doesn't hold up, then we've got an ordinance that we can go back and ask them or require them to make those improvements.

Is that being done in other municipalities?

Through the Chair, I don't think that their warranty periods are that that long. However, I also don't think that those other municipalities have the utility cuts that we do. Witness Eversource Gas. You'll find them out on any given street, any given day. Same with National Grid.

I was basically pointing toward other urban centers. you know, older urban centers like ours, Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, Springfield, etc.

Through the chair we can certainly look into that but I think that what's most important is the effects of the utility cuts on our streets and we're seeing that they are changing the roadway conditions very rapidly. And as was mentioned earlier, the water gets in through to the sub base and freezes and thaws. through those cracks and those utility cracks. The more utility trenches we have, the more that there's the need for us to have a better warranty period and better repair requirements.

So when those repairs are done, and we did the ceiling a few years ago, I remember People going out and doing that, the crack ceiling. Why don't they do crack ceiling over the repair that they just put in?

Commissioner?

Through the chair if you have a specific street we can go back and look but typically what they do is they put down a liquid asphalt emulsion and They don't do the crack on top. What they do is they do the point where the new asphalt meets the old asphalt. So they will have a cut line and there'll be a thickness of asphalt. They'll paint that with an emulsion.

So it's a vertical as opposed to a horizontal. Correct. Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. Just trying to get mechanics of it. Thank you.

Okay, I guess one round wasn't enough, so let's go to the second round. Councilor Economou, followed by Councilor King. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. What more can we add?

I wanna thank the City Manager. I wanna thank Commissioner Westlake for sitting here and listening to us. But the one thing I want to say too, I appreciate the plan. I think a plan such as that in one week in one in one time span every part of the city will be touched and the people will see that and they will see action right and I think that alone will significantly drop the calls for repair because we're doing it. I commend you on that. I commend the manager on that for getting that done. I also want to say the mobile batching. There's a company out of Danbury, Connecticut. they have a mobile batch system that they use there too and they were able to pave streets in the middle of winter.

So it is a value, and I can see that being a great part of our arsenal going forward. Again, thank you both. Thank you for the time.

I do appreciate it. Through the chair briefly, we did go out to the city of Newton today They have one of the similar batch plants. They absolutely love it and they said that it paid for itself very quickly because they weren't traveling to get mixed and they had the appropriate material to put under the streets. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll try to be as brief as it takes. Mr. Chairman, this is just with respect to the potential of pausing a street sweeping. and I just wanted to have a question for the administration as well, but my concern As it relates to that, we have a lot of folks traversing the city. We have folks in wheelchairs. We have folks on scooters, skateboards, motorized scooters. Pedestrians. I'm a motorcycle rider. I have a Victory Hammer 8-ball, Muscle Cruiser, Tony. And Tony used to ride. And you know, it's extremely dangerous. when we have that sort of... Sand, and what have you on the surface. It could cost a life. As a motorcyclist, I can't tell you how important that is for folks, as I mentioned, who are vulnerable road users.

Significantly important. And I hope folks don't get excited about this. But once again, Vision Zero. We're talking about street sweeping and safety. and don't get excited, cars are vulnerable too, absolutely. But Complete Streets Vision Zero really focuses on, focusing on maintenance of our roads. Cleanliness of our roads, safety of our roads, lighting, infrastructure, et cetera. So if there is due consideration to be made, and I think that everything should be on the table. for consideration. I'm not saying not to consider. I'm just emphasizing there's a significant safety component as relates to street sweeping. and we cannot disclude vulnerable road users, motorcyclists, et cetera.

So I just wanna make sure that that's there and I don't want anyone thinking that that this council wasn't willing to speak on it. Thank you.

Thank you. Senator Public Works. All those in favor of postal audit. We have next time up is 2026 Arbor Day communication. Motion is to file. All those in favor of postal audit. Okay, do we want to do 8.14a or save that for later? What was that? So we have Treasurer Information and Communication for the study analysis of police response data 2024 and 2025. Councilor Toomey?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was an excellent, excellent report. As Chair of Public Safety, I've reviewed the report, the analysis for 2024 and 2025. This data-driven study basically showed 157,993 calls showing an average citywide response time of 9.65 minutes. which was outstanding. The report highlights that police service demand is heavily concentrated in Worcester's central core with particularly strong performance in the main south corridor. That high demand area also benefits from statistically faster than average response times, demonstrating that the Worcester Police Department is effectively aligning resources with the need.

The analysis further notes that critical co-response personnel handled 56.7% of crisis intervention incidents within the main south corridor. and that reflected important progress regarding mental health support with policing. Those findings affirm the Worcester Police Department's operational effectiveness in high demand zones. and we'll continue to use the data to guide resource design decisions and strengthen accountability and expand effective co-response models. To that end, I'd like to find out what we're going to do moving forward. to try to increase response times in those areas that were not as quick.

Commissioner.

I apologize. Could you just repeat the question?

Sure. We've identified that we're providing the quickest response in the areas where the highest demand. We are going to continue to use the data to guide resource decisions. And so one of the questions I have is now that we have this information, how do we increase response times in other areas?

Through the chair to the counselor. So one thing that the police department potentially could do as they do from time to time is they could take this data and look at their patrol routes and determine if they need to realign any of them or staff them differently. based off the call volume in those areas and the response times in those areas. So that is a possibility. We may also have to look at how we're responding to calls. and that data can be used by the police department to determine if they're responding to calls effectively, if they need more officers or less at certain call types based off the call volume in that area.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I'd like to go back and highlight the co-response personnel with crisis intervention. and could you please give us more information about that?

Through the chair of the councilor, so this is analyzing two years of co-response clinical co-response data for calls in the city. Specifically, these are the three clinicians that are attached to the CIT team that the CIT team works closely with. So specifically to their responses across the city, both as direct and indirect responses. So the indirect being a follow-up or assisting in other matters at certain calls. Their highest call volume as well is in that central core area, but there are utilized as a contrast, quite a bit across the city, but 86% of their overall call volume does occur in the central core area of the city.

So based on that, I'm just wondering if we can take a look at and possibly expanding the personnel. That's something that we can discuss and certainly this data will help us. I'm just also curious, I'm not sure, if I had that chart or not, but what the type of call was, incident density, what was that? I know, I just heard someone screaming.

through the Chair to the Councilor. So the only call types I identified in the report are the ones that we've removed. From the study, we removed anything that was an officer-initiated type of call because that would have skewed the results for a response time. But for the clinical co-response, it's all crisis intervention, CIT, or diversion type calls that they respond to with police or do follow-ups with calls after the fact when they need to.

Is there a plan for you, Mr. Chair, to take this information now and start planning for next year? The next steps?

Commissioner? Through the Chair to the Councilor, I can't speak for the Police Department. On our end, we're using this data to also evaluate how effectively we are responding to those 911 calls. are we making sure that we're getting the right resources there and in a timely manner and that areas of those higher clusters of call volumes that We make sure that we have the right responders in those areas so they can effectively respond quickly.

Chief. Chief.

Thank you.

Through the Chair, in reference to that question, we will be analyzing our patrol methods once we get our new Technology, our police service system is gonna be going away. We're getting a new RMS system and we can also coordinate as far as our route structure. So the study has to be done so we can figure out if we have 57.6% of calls occurring in two districts, then why would we have people in other areas that we could shorten that up. Or we could use all double cars in that one area. That would be my hope. It would be safer for the officers and it would be more efficient if we run it like that.

Well, thank you. I look forward to hearing how we're going to move forward with this. And I do want to say that this speaks very well of what's happening right now with a lot of the changes that you've put in and working collaboratively with each departments. And I know that there's an order on, my Councilor Bergman has filed an order to recognize some of the officers. But I want to say that every week we could have a recognition the amazing amount of work that's being done by the offices and also our 911 Responders as well, emergency communication folks. You guys are doing a great job and I think I'd like to one thing I have heard out in the community is sometimes and I think anecdotally from from other people is that sometimes

How people call in impacts the responses as well. And so I'm wondering if there's some sort of training program that we can come up with to educate an educational program, I should say, to educate people on what to say and what type of an emergency to make it more efficient or, you know,

Commissioner. Through the Chair to the Councilor, that is something that the State 9-1 Department does offer. They offer a number of different handouts and educational material for the public. but going back to the average responses and the utilization of the police one thing I did want to highlight is through this study we were able to also identify that on average every call they go to takes about 40.7 minutes. So that's a significant amount of time going through your shift where an officer could be tied up for that amount of time on average. and that takes away from officers that are available throughout the city to respond to the next call.

So I assume I assume that all of this information will be very valuable to and and identifying what our needs are for as we continue to go into this period of time where we're going to be having retirements, what we need to do to really push to get more recruits. through Mr. Chair. Commissioner, Chief.

Yes, daily we look at our resources as far as how we're going to structure them. within the areas of the city. There are times that we have to shut down routes, which could cause longer response times. but usually that would be those outer perimeter routes that have a longer response time because there's less calls. So we put our assets most likely where we think we're gonna put them or need them at the time.

I want to say thank you. I don't have any further questions at this time. I look forward to discussing this More in depth at the subcommittee, which is where we do our business. So I look forward to talking to you both about this and moving forward and coming up with some great stuff. Very impressed. Thank you both.

Thank you, Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have some questions. This is an extensive report, extremely helpful. That being said, Mr. Chairman, I just want to begin by acknowledging the executive summary that indicates that there are many variables at play here. One of them is response time. That is not the beginning and end all due to what we've heard this morning from the Chief and the Commissioner here. There's a number of variables. but this information is absolutely helpful. it does not define overall performance as what this particular analysis of response times indicates. But it does allow us to access and identify areas of improvement.

I have a couple of questions. One is As on page five, it talks about the scope of this review. It references eligible calls. I'm wondering what exactly that means. In addition to that, the second question related to that, perhaps for dispatch, it talks about routine dispatch calls for service that are suitable. I'm not quite sure what that means. I know what the words mean. So those are my first two questions. I have some follow-ups as it relates to that.

Through the chair and the councilor. those are both referring to the same thing and it's the calls for service that we included in the study were all ones that were not officer initiated so they came from Telephone calls, in-person requests, 911 calls, and so on. If it was an officer initiated call, We didn't include that because it would skew the response time because it would show that it was initiated and they arrived on scene at the same time. the same for any reports or calls for service that occurred within the lobby of the police department because oftentimes somebody at the records area or an officer in the building will take that call. whereas it'll show that they arrived on scene much quicker than a normal response. So we removed those in order to not skew the results of what the actual average response to a call was.

Thank you, and I apologize if that's a redundant answer if I asked in repetition. My additional question is as it relates to response time calculation. So in this document indicates that the date and time of dispatch and the date and time of arrival on the scene was part of that equation. And I'm wondering if... what exactly that means if you could share that to the public dispatch. Does that mean when the call comes in? Or is that when the officer is dispatched? And if, in fact, there's a differentiation, it may be one of the same instances. Maybe not. I'm not sure. Is there a time stamp for the call in? I bring this up in the spirit of I've been at a number of meetings over at the YMCA, those folks over there regarding response times. They've been reporting. I'm sure the Council of District 4 can speak to. I think the Chief may have been at some of those meetings as well.

They're reporting instances of no response. and I don't know if that's a category here because it also mentions an excludant instance which the police response was canceled. so I'm wondering if there's any data related to those particular variables and how do we how's the public and how's the council or the subcommittee understand dispatch you know, what that means in this report versus a call in.

Chief. Through the Chair of the Council, it's gonna be a two-part answer. myself, and then the Commissioner. As far as responding, we respond to everything. There's never no response unless somebody calls and cancels the call. if the call comes into dispatch, there may be a call somewhere else that takes priority, officers will be there. Once they clear, then they're dispatched to that other call. If the person calls back and says cancel, there was a call today for a autistic kid left the house and the mother called in. Three seconds later, she calls back, says we found them. We're all set. So that's a canceled call. So when people say the police did not respond, that's wrong. It's not because we didn't want to respond. it's because the call either got canceled or some other situation came to light. We respond to every single call.

and through the Chair to the Councilor. So to explain the timing in that mathematics. So when we take a call, the time of dispatch is the time that they've entered the call as we're on the phone with the caller. So from that point, which from the time we first answer the call, there still could be 30 seconds, 60 seconds while we're gathering information before we can enter a call for service. from the second that that is entered into the computer, that is the time of dispatch, even though it may take another minute or so for an officer to be dispatched over the radio, from that time to the time that they call out on scene. So I did include that a little bit in the executive summary as well.

Just repeat the last five words you just mentioned. I apologize. If you could just repeat the last sentence that you said, I couldn't.

Oh, so from the time that we take the call, we enter that. That is the time of dispatch. And then when the officer arrives on scene and calls us over the radio to tell us they're on scene, that's the time of arrival. I did include some information about that in the executive summary as another way that this could be skewed a little bit because an officer may not call off immediately. they may arrive to the scene of a call and it takes them an extra couple of minutes to tell us they're there because they immediately become involved in whatever scene they're going to and that could change the time as well and that's a factor that is difficult for us to actually quantify in here because we don't know when they've arrived. We have to base it off of when they're calling over the radio to advise the dispatcher that they've arrived on scene. Thank you.

And as far as the queuing and the prioritizing, These, this data, just for the public, this data does include that queuing and prioritization as well in the analysis of the response time. Is that accurate, Chair?

through the Chair to the Councilor, the only category that it includes are priority one. So the overall study is all calls that aren't officer initiated or occurred within the police department's lobby. However, we did highlight those priority one urgent calls, something like a gunshot call or something that's extremely dangerous. I did pull those out separately and analyze those response times as well, just as a comparison. So those are included in there.

Thank you.

I think that's most of my questions. I think you spoke to the variance in the call volumes. We have variances between some routes with over 12,000 responses, some with three. and it looks like you guys are going to be looking at shifting perhaps and deployment I think it was referenced so that's something that I think clearly makes sense You know, again, You know, the deployment, looking at routes, resourcing, position can improve. But I want to state, just for the record, because I've been in those meetings, and I understand and acknowledge Chief Saucier, everything's responded to.

But in the meetings when it's repetitive, perhaps that could be from a lack of knowledge. I don't know how it works if you know there's a report here someone drives by they said we responded people don't know I don't know but that's certainly been an issue in the meetings that I've been in and I'm sure the District Councilor will speak to that if he's so inclined. And it's been repetitive. That's part of the request and the orders that I've had is are those instances. Years ago, when I had that line of question, it was related to what was done with calls at the end of shifts, and they were being were expunged. And they changed that when Nicole was here at Valentine after that order in that budget hearing. And that process and that system was changed, which is a positive.

so it's just in the spirit of information that I'm asking and you know perhaps we can resolve some of these things but there's no documentation I guess of I would ask that through the chair to and the dispatch folks, if there's no zero non-response matters. Is that something that you can speak to from your calculations through the chair?

Commissioner?

through the chair to the counselor. So in the study, if a call was canceled, it was removed and not included in the response. So, well, if a call was canceled, so if a caller called in and asked for the call to be canceled, if the alarm company called and said, we spoke to a building owner, any reason for it to be canceled, we still record those. But we didn't include it in the response time because there would be no official response. So we pulled that out so it wasn't included in the actual statistical study because it would have skewed the actual response time numbers. But we do record those. So anytime that there is a canceled call, we would have a record of it.

Thank you, I know I think there's something perhaps from the auditor we're waiting for as well, but I appreciate the information, thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Economou.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you Commissioner for the report. I found it very interesting and very On point. I like that it was done in various different methods and it all came up with the same conclusion. So it tells me that Chief, that your department is working from data, actual data. And there's no mistake about it. I know for a fact that you the men and women of Worcester PD are out there doing their job going to the calls. When a call comes in, they're triaged I assume, correct?

Through the Chair of the Councilor, we don't necessarily triage it, but it is based off of the call type, so what's being reported to us. We code whatever that call is, so shots fired call, an alarm call, and then that has a baseline triage category for priority of response. Right.

And it's not always if maybe the chief could better answer this. somebody goes to report a gunshot, an officer goes to report a gunshot, they're there, they have a call waiting for a robbery in progress, they might go there before they end up at my dog's missing. Right? That would be something that would, the night could go all night long before that officer finally gets to that dog is missing.

Through the Chair and the Councilor, that's correct because everything's a priority. Yes. Life first, then property. So we would only go to a call not in progress once the office is cleared of everything else.

So also, when the officer pulls up on a call that is, my dog is not there, I'm going to put it as a low priority. He'll have a conversation. Figure out that, okay, there's not much more we can do here. If I see it out in the street, we'll call animal control to deal with it. So the officer made contact, puts it in his report, and the call gets closed out, correct?

Through the Chair of Council, that's correct.

Might not have spoken to anybody else, but spoke to somebody, saw that there was no further attention needed here, and says, okay, we're good. Close it out. I'm open for the next call. Correct? I appreciate the response, Chief Commissioner. I appreciate the work the men and women do of our PD. It's a difficult job. I think they do a fantastic job with their job. I have seen them. in various situations, compassionate and to the point with the work that they're doing. And I think this report, as specific as it is from various angles is a perfect tool that we use in our department so I appreciate both everything that you do thank you so much

And through the chair of the council, I'll just add one thing. This does speak to the importance when somebody is calling 911 to report something that they give us as much detail as possible. because there can be a difference in priority based off of what they tell us on the phone. So that will definitely affect how quickly responders get to the scene. Of course. Again, thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilor Rivera.

Thank you. Spare with me, because I want to go over a few things on the report. By the way, stellar report. And at the end, I may just have one question. But I did want to touch on a few things, because there's a big misconception between A lot of people, I've heard it going up. So I know perfectly. So when I saw this report, I thought it was important to point it out. and it says, Maine South was a particular area of focus in this report based on feedback from residents and concerns around response time expressed at neighborhood meetings, emails and calls. One of the report's key findings is that although Maine South has some of the highest demands for what the police department calls, the response times are faster than average. Overall, the trend is that the areas with the highest incident volumes do not experience the longest average response times.

and this key finding demonstrates that the Worcester Police Department is providing the areas with the highest need for services with a timely response. I think that's very important to point out. And then the other point is the analysis found that the council districts with the highest incidence volume do not appear to have the longest response times. District 2 and District 4 are by far the highest volume districts for incidents with 46,956 and 47,155 incidents. responded to respectively. Combined, those two districts account for 94,061 incidents out of the 157,993 incidents analyzed, or approximately 59.5%. Despite the significantly higher level of demand, both districts represent the shortest average response time citywide. Again, I think that's amazing.

And it's important for the residents in the city to know that that district or those districts are not being shunned or ignored for better lack of words. The other important thing for my district, and this is not a negative thing, but just basically on the analysis is the shorter travel distance between calls the reason this is that indicates that Worcester's higher demand districts may be benefiting from operational conditions that support more efficient responses such as greater concentration of patrol, activity, shorter travel distances between calls. And I guess this is where the question comes in for me for District 5, seeing that we were the longest distance, is street configuration

an issue in District 5 for quicker access, for a better word, you know, since you guys.

Through the Chair of the Council, Number one, your district is one of the largest ones. Therefore, there's more geography to travel to. And it's not as busy as, say, a Route 11 or 12 or 13. So when you have that, Route 14 and 15 are backing up 11 and 12. Gotcha. So that officer could have to be at Stafford Street may be coming from Oread Street because they're backing up a call. Gotcha. So that would be part of the .

So I guess my main concern is I wanted to make sure that there was nothing on the city's end that's and I appreciate that. And again, no complaints from the residents. I just saw the numbers and I figured let me find out because we're talking here about potholes and there's a lot of I just want to make sure there's nothing there that we're doing that's delaying you guys' job. That was it. Thank you.

Councilor Ojeda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Although the report, I feel as though it was, I guess it's good on what was asked for, I guess. I think it's important for us to identify that this report is really focused on response performance. But that response performance is more on the response, not the performance of the response. Do you understand what I'm saying? So I think this is something that I kind of think were not identifying. And what I mean by that is a lot of the issues I have in District 4 is the response times, the numbers seem to be good, and numbers don't lie. The issue is, one,

of the issues, and I'm speaking for my residents, is what is the actual process through the chair to the commissioner or to the chief on the phone calls and then who actually determines the level? A lot of residents have that concern. They feel as though whatever level it is, if it's a lower level, and what's the highest level or the level that's the most important? Is that correct? Is it one? OK, thank you. So who determines from one to five or whatever it may be? The issues that the residents are having is it could be residents arguing, probably phone call after phone call has been made. And we know these are in areas where an argument can change very quickly. And the concern for the residents is, they're not showing up for those type of calls. So those type of calls that response time, it's much longer versus

Hey, there's a gun, level one. Boom. We got to be there. But some of these lower level calls turn into a level one. But if police officers had arrived on time, it would it would deter that from turning into a level one so if you can through the chair to to the both of you how is it determined when it comes in and who sends it out to say that's level one five or whatever it may be

through the chair to the counselor. So it's all determined on the information that we get from the caller when they report whatever they're reporting. Every call type that we have has already has a predetermined priority level based off of risk to life and safety. So if it's a call where For your example, there's two people arguing, and then it could escalate. We're going to be asking certain questions like, are there weapons involved? Do you see any weapons? Do they know each other? Do you know what they're fighting about? to identify further information to determine what call type it is. But if it's reported in as two people arguing or talking loudly, and it goes in as a neighbor dispute or a complaint and we then respond and find out it was a domestic assault.

not knowing that information ahead of time, that they know each other, that they look like they're related or that there's something more going on. that will change the response, but only when there's officers tied up on other calls. So as the day goes on, We may have other priority one calls or priority two calls that come in that we have to divert the officer away from responding to a lower level call. initially, but then they should be circling back and responding to that. So it's all based off of threat to life and safety, all the way from those urgent calls that somebody may have a firearm or somebody may be trying to actively harm somebody. all the way down to those administrative things like serving a notice or making a connection with a neighborhood group or a neighborhood watch group or something like that.

Thank you. Thank you. I think what's important also with this study is to identify and understand how effective the police officers are, not just at arriving, about dealing with the situation at hand, and that's some data that I think would help this report because you know it's good to see those numbers that they're arriving at a good amount of time getting there pretty fast but then how is it being dealt with are people being arrested are people not being arrested. Is the situation being handled? Could the situation be handled with a mental health provider or an agency coming in and helping out in those situations. So I feel as though, you know, and that's why I feel as though this was an opportunity to Build out this survey even more since you do have some of this information already at hand where it can show that within four minutes five minutes we were able to

arrest someone who had a gun in his hand or whatever it may be versus just the performance. I think the word response performance kind of throws people off. What's important is the work that's being done Not just them arriving. It's important for them to arrive, but I feel as though the most important thing is when they arrive, what type of work is being done. You know, this report also, I know we talked about the accreditation. and stuff like that. Are reports like this going to be a part of, to the Chair, to the both of you, going to be a part of the accreditation program and understanding how to better the police department?

Chief?

Through the Chair of the Council, first off, I think we need to distinguish what this report was all about. it was about response time, not about what happens when we get there. And just as far as the clinical response, we do 80 hours a week. we have a co-response 80 hours every single week, seven days a week. That's out there for some reason, nobody reports on that. But that is part of our deployment plan and they are out there responding in your district to these calls. This report wouldn't capture that because that's not what was asked of the commissioner. So I just want to make sure we have it straight about what we're talking about here. As far as the accreditation, response time is not one of the parameters, it deals mostly with best practices in policy and making sure those policies are carried out.

And of course, going to a call when you're supposed to go is part of accountability and that is another concept of it, but it's not spelled out. Matter of fact, the response time here is nine minutes. I think the national average is 11. So we're probably two minutes faster than anywhere else in the nation as far as averages. And it is important because once we get to a call, as the commissioner said, it could take 45 minutes to clear up. Part of that has to do with de-escalation. We don't just get to a call and lock people up. We get there, we need to find out what's going on, we de-escalate the call, If we have to go to that point and arrest somebody, that's going to take a longer time than 45 minutes to fulfill that.

Okay, thank you. So I think you mentioned, Commissioner, about if an officer has to, maybe didn't, but I know this happens, if there's a medical issue and the officer has to go with that person to the hospital, therefore the officer that's in that area or that route has to stay with that individual. Is that correct?

Yes, those particular instances, we actually code in the system differently, so once they've been transported to the hospital, then it's what is in here called a guard prisoner. And that was removed from the study because that would have skewed how long a call takes and you know the response time and things in between because we were looking at overall call times as well but that is something that can take away from availability to respond to certain calls because Not only are we spending an average of 40 plus minutes on a call, if they have officers that have to then escort a prisoner up to the hospital and then remain with them until they're released, you know, cleared medically and released, then that's an officer that may be off the road for a period of time that is tied up doing that.

Thank you. To the chair, to the city manager, I think that's something that we should look into. You know, how many times that something like this does happen where a police officer is taken away and is at the hospital for however long there's an opportunity. The fact that we are down so many police officers, now we're in a situation where and some of those high call areas, we're missing a police officer that can attend to a situation. That's just one area. I mean, throughout the district, it can happen multiple times. And I'm pretty sure, you know, obviously, you know, once our numbers, you know, increase as far as police officers. But in the meantime, you know, I really like to know those numbers and see, you know, or if there's things already in place, what the plan is to fill that spot.

If I can respond to that, please. Chief. I'll give an example. This weekend, I believe it was Saturday or Sunday, there were five officers at the hospital got in prisons. So now if there's 20 officers out there on their routes, two or three of them calling sick, now you have five up the hospital, look at what you have for a number of officers responding to these calls. Then they back up, they keep backing up, officer runs call to call to call. and that's not something that just happened yesterday. I've been here 32 years and that's been going on ever since I'm here and we are trying to work on something now where we can fulfill those posts because the only reason I knew about that was because we had to call people in on overtime to cover the routes so that officers could be out there answering their calls. And we do track that, by the way.

OK, thank you. And lastly, unfortunately, there has been a time where a police officer has not shown up. And I have an email here. I think it was just based on communication unfortunately but that's something that just can't happen if someone is told that a police officer is going to show up and then they get a call back and this is what they were told I received a call from WPD dispatcher saying that no one will be responding to my call and that I would have to follow up with 311 in traffic. And that's really concerning because the issue was there was a car that drove up Richland Street Two buses. The buses are on both sides. And the car drove straight up to Richland Street. A kid, staff, anybody could have walked out and got hit. So he was really concerned with that. He had the person's information, took a picture of the car, had all that stuff. and to hear that they were told that, like I said, is really concerning.

And then to hear tonight that someone always shows up I don't know how you can explain that. Can I answer that please?

Sure. Can I answer that? I looked into that. The officer spoke with that person prior to. and then afterward dispatch called and said it's gonna be canceled because it's been transferred to traffic because they wanted to do either signs or something up in that area so that they could follow up. So it wasn't that nobody responded. A police officer actually spoke with that person. So I'm not sure. Believe me, when somebody complains, I look into it. And I'm gonna come to the conclusion whether or not they did it right or they did it wrong, and it will be addressed. But in this case, I don't know what else the officer had going on, but contact was made with that person. That's the information I received.

No, no. I was gonna I was gonna continue that you know you you did look into it but again it's just I guess it was just a miscommunication that on that person's part or maybe the person that was uh had spoke to the officer about that person showing up just didn't just probably didn't understand that but I think it's just important to When situations arise like that, that someone has to still show up regardless, even if it's a follow up the next day or whatever it may be, just to confirm that we were there. It's not a knock on the police. Everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. But I think it's important that we just continue to show signs of Transparency shows signs that there's times where miscommunication may happen, but we're gonna continue to get through it. So like I said, I do appreciate the report. It's something I'll definitely take back to some of the neighborhood meetings I have. but I know the question is going to be more of what's considered performance and I'll explain to them what that is.

I would love it if you guys can attend one of the Maine South Business Association meetings because lately they've been having an uptick on some issues. in the neighborhood. And they're just really concerned on how to address it for some of the owners. They've experienced someone shooting up right in front of the store. People are coming in. Now people don't want to go into the store. there's a lot of those issues that are starting to arise you know the weather's nice more people are out um but it's really affecting um the issues that we're dealing with on our main street so i'm hoping you know if we can attend the next meeting and get some more information so you can hear right from the business owners that would be great and that's all I have I just you know I think it's really important to start looking into what these calls were about and how do we address these calls and how can we, you know, as a city, as Councilor, as city manager, which I'm really big on, how do I support the the police department. How do I support commissioner? How do I support the quality of life team? You know, inspectional service.

How do we, as a councilor, how do I get out and talk to residents, talk to business owners? But the more I hear, the more I know. and I have to say this I know I've asked over and over again you know what are those common themes that these police officers are saying that they're coming back to the chief and talking to chief about and writing notes I still haven't received that it's so important for me to get that information so I can personally talk to business owners and say hey the police are saying this or I can say listen I know what's going on in the neighborhoods I can know a little bit more it can better my conversations with the city manager. It can better my conversations with the people in the neighborhood and the students and the parents and the teachers I work with. So it's important to know what this foot patrol is is doing what conversations they're having because us as counselors that's important for us to know so then we can share that with our residents or not even have to share with them but find ways amongst ourselves within our committee meetings to

to enhance the work the police officers are doing, but also to support the residents and the constituents that really care and expect us to be there for them. So hopefully I can get that sometime soon. And I really appreciate it. But the report, I would like to see on, I'm drawing a blank from earlier. Nico, can you help me out? One, it was the report on the calls, I guess, on what they were. when the data that was done, the study that was done here, if we can get that information.

Thank you. Okay, you all set?

Yeah, sorry, the police court. That's what it was, the escort. The police officers staying at the hospitals. If we can get that number.

You want to report on that?

Yes, please. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. We have next. Oh, good. What's that, Councilor King, for a second time?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanna reiterate This conversation is helpful. Again, a number of concerns over an extended period of time of no responsiveness from law enforcement. in that district. There's also been reports in district One, I think, out by Bernco, by Lincoln Plaza, where these folks are telling us no response for Norris Ordinance. We all know the issue, right? at the church or what have you. We know that there's incessant concerns there. But I say that to say this, Mr. Chairman. What's helpful for us to share in order to extend

the fact that there is a responsiveness, we need the communications and communications like this. And I think folks also want to understand, we talk about response time to dispatch for service. I am assuming that means someone's going physically to a location. We've heard the council represent you know, a response back that this isn't appropriate, this is going to go through 3.1, whatever the case may or may not be. Is that considered a response? What does that actually mean to the Chair to the administration. Commissioner?

Through the chair to the commissioner, or sorry, through the chair to the counselor. Make a lot more money that way. I'll take it. So those types of responses, if we were not sending somebody and they and so forth. If they had made contact to something else, that may be considered a cancelled call where we would note that they were contacted, it's been transferred over to traffic or another division or it's been reported on to 311 if it's You know, a sidewalk issue or something else that somebody was calling for.

So that's not considered a response. That's considered a canceled call.

Correct. In most, we will still log a lot of those in our system. So we have notes of it that we had dealt with that type of a call or we transferred it or advised 311 about it, but it would not be considered a response by police and it was not included within the study here.

okay Mr. Chairman I'd like to make a motion that we get that data you know it's it's important that we as electeds in our community meetings can convey that information and I've said this a million times and we're gonna be getting into the social work piece and the clinical piece in a bit. We ask these folks to do a lot. AAA, Repair Person, walk you across the street, walk you through Union Station, be a clinician, be a therapist, all those different things. with that comes a hierarchy of needs as relates to public safety and you know the more information we have the more we're able to convey you know real-time data that can speak to these concerns and perhaps clear up a little bit of this on behalf of the residents. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Okay, so I'll send this to Public Safety. Now on for the audits of the Manager. All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. Next up is 8.15A, Transformation and Communication. We'll go over to Claims Process. Senator M.O. All those in favor? Opposed? So ordered. B. Transfer information communication of the public records requests received in process by the law department. Senator M.O. All those in favor? Opposed? So ordered. Which one was that, Mr. Chairman? That's public records.

Okay, that wasn't the claims, right?

Then we have C, recommend the adoption of a contract with Thomas Reuters. Westlaw for the Law Department's entire legal research and two subscriptions for up to five years. Talk to the roll call. Roll call.

Yes, Mayor Petty.

Yes, Councilor King has held 8.16A on a privilege.

Mr. Chairman, I had asked a minute ago if we had done 8.15 regarding coins. What's that? I had asked if we had done 8.

I was very slow on that, yes.

The one regarding claims.

Yep, we did that.

Yeah, I'd like to speak on that, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, the motion is to suspend the rules, go back, roll call. 8.15a, roll call.

Brueggemann, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda,

Yes.

Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This particular item is pertaining to claims regarding that process, how they're investigated, the capacity of the law department to handle the volume of claims being received and the roles of claim specialists, et cetera, from our city solicitor. and I want to say I appreciate this particular document. The orders that I filed proceeding this particular report relate to folks who have expressed delays of, well they call it a delay, but having to wait six months or more longer than they think is reasonable. And so I just had a call just past two weeks ago about an incident with a city truck and a claim that went in.

and this gentleman was told six months or so when you'll get the settlement or whatever the case might be or this matter is resolved. I'm not sure if it was communicated up to six months and this is the way it was interpreted but nonetheless this particular document right here Mr. Chairman speaks to restructuring, speaks to policy changes IMPROVEMENTS BY SOLICITOR CALCUNAS AND A PRIORITIZATION FOR THIS. you know it specifically I think goes along with as I mentioned the pothole issue as well. you know folks as we know are struggling with day-to-day bills, utilities, working multiple jobs for the lack of housing affordability. It's indicated here that this is a top priority. of our solicitor.

And there's a number of tech changes and more that we are looking at. So through the Charity Administration, I do have a question as it relates to this. I know here that the solicitor is committed to improving response time to claimants, but My question is, and we had talked with this previously, and I question whether or not we have the appropriate capacity to respond to these things. We heard 311. More reports of things and what have you. And there's been an uptick in claims as I think, or I could be wrong, but that's what I recall. but I'm just wondering what's the standard as it relates to responsiveness that's reasonable, you know, and, you know,

the the second question I have is as relates to these claims is there a way that we can prioritize residents claims folks who live within city limits for priority for resolution through the chair.

Through the chair, so if someone did tell a claimant that it's going to take up to six months to get payment or a response, that's not appropriate. We have some new people in our office, so I will make sure that I address that. that's what the statute allows is six months before you can file lawsuit and that's why their process requires and so forth. We have implemented new changes where we're looking at every claim. The historical practice was that the claims agent would work on them as they came in. So there was really no risk analysis when they came in. We've now put an attorney on claims who reviews them as they come in and makes those determinations if it should be expedited, if it's a dangerous situation, if it's a sewer backup or a pothole. So there is more analysis going on when the claims are first submitted.

We don't actually get that many out of city claims that I think it would make a difference. But I mean, I wouldn't suggest doing that because I just It's not fair, but we are looking at the overall process to expedite the claims that should be resolved quicker.

I think I'm not looking to get the city into any legal issues as it relates to our residents or folks who live within the city. limits but we know those are our constituents folks who come here as well we're responsible for and the infrastructure that's that's at play etc so if you could just the last thing you could speak to the technology that you're looking for in terms of record keeping that will increase improvement you know and if there is a way to to prioritize residents. That'd be great. You don't have to respond to that. But if you could speak to the digital piece, and then I'll sit down.

Through the Chair to the Councilor. So we actually have all the technology that's implemented now. everything is live so we've been digital you can submit a claim or one of the only cities in Massachusetts that you can submit digitally a lot require you to go to the city hall or town hall and submit a claim but we've been accepting them digital since covid We now have a new software platform where it allows a claimant to go in, file, and then ask more detailed questions. It's not just a PDF that they submit. So it gives us more information. Right off the bat, instead of waiting for someone to review it and ask for more information now, you can't get to the next step if you don't provide damages or proof of ownership. So that has all happened in the last year. And we are working with all that technology and digital information that we have.

It definitely makes the process more efficient, but it's been a learning curve for the last year.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the report, appreciate the good work that's going on by the Office of the Solicitor, with the guidance of the City Manager. I do want to say that I will like to make a motion that we take a look at any internal policy. I understand there's 6 months are parameters that might be statute related but if there's a policy that we can establish for a standard for a goal of Responsiveness, because this can become financially burdensome for many of our folks that are living check to check.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Send that to M.O. and send the odds to the manager. All those in favor of a postal audit. Finance items 8.35A through H. Bergman, Belotta, Economou, Fresolo, King.

Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda.

Yes.

Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes, we are 8.39A, Transmitting Information and Communication Road to the 2010 Memorandum of Agreement with CXS, Councilor Fresolo.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. I know it's late, but I've been waiting for this report for over a decade. I had to run for office to get my answers and I want to thank the administration because this report answered all my questions and I appreciate that. Let me say that in the report It states that, well, prior to, we as a group on Grafton Hill were brought together by the Patrick and Murray administration when they wanted to bring CSX to Worcester. And in doing so, they explained what would happen. And a couple of things that I found out in this report that were contrary to what was told to us I'll explain right now.

One was, as I've said many times, that CSX or the trucks would not be able to go on Grafton Street, Route 122. they were prohibited from going on at the beginning. Then about two months or three months later, they came back to us at a meeting and said, because it's a state highway, a state route, excuse me, you can't stop commerce from from taking place on a state route. But in the description, it states right here that The new access location will provide CSX terminal truck traffic with direct access to and from I-290 Eastbound. and discourages CSX terminal truck traffic from using the section of Grafton Street. So it didn't say prohibited in the initial TIR. It says discourages.

So it never was negotiated where they couldn't use Grafton Street initially. Okay, that point over. The other point was that there would be 50 new jobs created. at the Worcester location. And in the report, it states, at the March 24th meeting of 2026 here at the City Council. A few additional topics were requested to be addressed in the report. The first topic was whether CSX had created 50 jobs that were supposed to, in connection with a tax increment finance agreement, The CSX project has certainly led to employment opportunities both directly and indirectly. However, CSX has never been provided any tax

Increment Finance Agreement or TIF benefits from the municipality nor does CSX have any contractual obligation to the municipality related to the employment levels. The short of it is that was never negotiated. That was never part of the contract. So let's get to the crux of it. and let me state also, I spent a couple hours with George Coxali. George was the former president of the Grafton Hill Business Association and was a member of the committee. four members that were were picked by then city manager O'Brien and I wanted to make sure what I remember and my memory was correct and George and I again met last night and he definitely saw everything the way I did.

So the committee was told the following. There would be 50 jobs created, new jobs that did not exist before the move to Worcester, and these new jobs would be in CSX's new Worcester location. Two. the restriction preventing a left-hand turn on from the driveway off Grafton Street. Three, the Grafton Street Route 122 from I-290 to the Mowbray Line is maintained by the City of Worcester. and is a state route in number only. I thought, I know I brought that up and obviously that doesn't matter, I guess, because we're gonna, in this, it states that Worcester is responsible for the overall maintenance of the road as well. Having said that, does the city have the right to prohibit truck traffic from using Grafton Street, Hamilton Street, and Lake Ave. And in the report, it says no.

We don't have that. Ability. So that is why I continue to state that type of activity that has been going on for over the last 15 years has created enormous harm to the infrastructure of Hamilton Street and Lake Ave. That is why these two streets should have immediate attention on resurfacing. There are probably no other streets in the city that have been abused by heavy truck traffic than Hamilton Street and Lake Yab, especially Lake Yab. If there is such a street, please inform me of where. I asked the administration, do you have any where truck traffic has hurt the infrastructure the way it's harmed, the truck traffic has harmed those two streets, Hamilton Street and Lake App. Now, just last Friday morning, I happened to witness firsthand 6 o'clock in the morning, coming back from the gym.

I'm on Route 9, taking a left on Lake Yacht. And I witnessed first-hand Friday morning a U.S. Postal Service trailer truck turn onto Lake Ave from Route 9. Ride the length of Lake Ave to Sunderland Road and onto Route 20. At the same time, I witness a cab A cab, you know, the front of the trailer, just the cab with no trailer truck behind it, which which was coming onto Lake Gaff from Sunderland Road. I followed, I turned around and I followed that cab and the cab went from Lake Gaff to Hamilton Street onto Grafton Street to CSX. So my point is they are using those streets as a cut-through. And I want to see if we can't do Grafton Street, I'm going to ask the city solicitor to come up in a few minutes and I'll ask at that time. But the height of insult

or to add insult to injury, when the trucking companies have, here's a real good one, okay? when they have an extra wide load or a large load to take out of CSX property on Grafton Street, the trucking companies have a state police escort that comes out of the CSX driveway and onto Grafton Street, to Hamilton Street, and then when it gets to Lake Ave, It goes around the medium strip on the wrong side of the road because it can't take a right, a strict right, and go on to the right side of the road. where the entrance of Lake Park is, they go on to the other side of Lake Ave. It goes around the medium strip on the wrong side of the road and continues on Lake Ave to Sunderland Road and then on to Route 20 East to wherever their projected destination is.

While it is done in the early morning, no later than 6 a.m., and I've witnessed this twice, when the traffic is light. This shows the mindset we are dealing with, that the trucking companies, not CSX, but the trucking companies are well aware that We prohibit that type of activity and they still go forth and do it. That is the height of insult. So on full disclosure, I believe, meaning, I believe we, meaning the residents and the taxpayers of Worcester were duped. Meaning that we were deceived and fooled and made to do or accept something that they did not intend to do. That is exactly what happened here and it's shameful. which describes actions or conditions which are deserving of strong disapproval. And this wasn't done by CSX, but those who were involved, again, this wasn't done by CSX,

but now in reading this report.

You got two minutes left.

Okay, thank you. In reading this report, and it wasn't done by CSX but those who were involved in bringing CSX to WSSA who negotiated the TIF while again telling neighbors and neighborhood groups things that would happen and more importantly included in the TIF and that was never done. So, and I'll just tell you, I received an email today from a neighbor that, while I was at her house campaigning, I told her I would try to fight hard to reduce the truck traffic on the road. What does she open up with in her email? That, I am not exaggerating, that starting at 4 a.m. from Monday to Friday, my house shakes at the enormous trucks turning from Sunderland Road into Lake App, blasting their exhausters, as they accelerate at the lights.

So okay, this is happening at 4 a.m. in the morning. So if I could, I'd like to have the city solicitor come up through you, Mr. Chairman.

You've got about 30 seconds left.

And after that, do I have a second five minutes or no?

You get 10 right now, you only get 10. You're in your 10 minutes.

I'm already 10 minutes? Wow. Well, Mr. Chairman, I waited 10 years for this. This is the last question I will ask.

You get one, go do your question and we'll wrap it up.

Okay.

Through you, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask the city solicitor, are we able to look at creating a city ordinance prohibiting truck traffic on Hamilton Street and Lake Avenue? If so, I don't mean to, before you answer. If so, enforcement is key. And I would look at paying for police details with the CSX funds that belong to the Grafton Hill section of funds. And I'd go as far as asking CSX to pay for those details because of the enormous harm to the infrastructure of Hamilton Street and Lake Ave. by the trailer truck traffic that never occurred until CSX located here in Worcester. But Madam Solicitor, if you could answer that question for me.

Through the chair to the counselor we would have to look into with with transportation and mobility to see if that is available at the local level also with CSX there still might be some enforcement issues We might not be able to enforce that ordinance if we adopt it.

Through you, Mr. Chairman, the trucks are independent trucks. They're not owned by CSX.

through the chair, then that federal regulations wouldn't affect enforcement of that.

OK. And then the second and last question to you, Mr. Chairman, to the city solicitor. Can the city push enforceable truck routing? And can we also limit the hours of operation to CSX.

Through the chair to the counselor. I think that depends on there's a lot of different. It's our agreement with CSX, but it's also Regulations what I defer to transportation and mobility on that Okay, we can get you a report on that

I'd like a report on that Mr. Chairman as soon as possible because people are waiting. We've waited for this report. I've received it. I thank the administration for it. But at the same time, if it's possible, I'd like to enforce operation limits of when these trucks can come in and into that facility. Again, it's a question of enforcement, and we'd have to work on how you would enforce that, and I get all that, but if we could, I'd appreciate that. Thank you.

So we'll get a report on that. We'll send it out to Public Works, ask the manager for a report. Those in favor, opposed, so awarded. We got Chairman's orders 9A to 9E. Motion was to adopt. All those in favor, opposed, so awarded. Now we get orders. Okay, first one up. Let's see, request city manager, request the commissioner of special services, ensure that landlords, especially landlords who do not have, do not live at their property are notified. Whenever the neighborhood nuisance, complaint, or emergency occurs at the property. Councilor Mitra.

Thank you Mr. Chair, to you, to Mr. Manager. Mr. Manager, I understand that the city has a system through which all those who have the rental property need to register with the city as a landlord, whether they stay in their property or they don't. I think city has the information about their email, about their phone number, their addresses, and all that. The issue that I'm bringing it up to your attention is that many residents have been finding it that Those properties where the landlords don't stay and owners don't stay in their properties, the whole building is rented, the tenants, and the tenants are not... staying within the discipline that the neighborhood like to. They will throw the trash in the indecent way.

There's a lot of nuisance things they do. So the request is that if the Commissioner of the Inspectional Services could inform the landlords who don't stay in their property to make sure that their tenants are acting and staying in the way that the city's compliance requires them to keep the neighborhood and the neighbors peacefully. I've also heard that many landlords are actually renting their attics, renting their basements. I don't think that is appropriate. I don't think that is even allowed. to rent those spaces because of the safety issues. So my request is to see that our inspection department, our commissioner, kind of take some action to let all the landlords know through the resources we have through the

We have a lot of information that we have that they make sure that the tenants are doing the right things keeping the neighborhood safe and properly at the same time those landlords are not renting The property in an illegal way such as I hear is attic or basement which are not the right things to do. So that's my request to see that the inspection services can take care of this. Thank you.

Okay, so that's the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Next we request that the manager establish the support of the city council and the sports commission consisting of at least nine and more than... 13, no more than 13 members to be appointed by the City Manager. City Commission said to be changed with attracting, promoting, and supporting sporting events in Worcester to drive economic activity. Community Engagement, and City Branding Membership, which should include but not be limited to a city representative, local Businesses, Leaders, Sports and Venue Representatives, College Athletics League Representatives, as well as citizen representatives. The commission shall elect a chairperson who will then be a member and put established short and long-term goals

Economou, including potential fundraising and growth strategies, but requested that the commission do a volunteer body, be a volunteer body. Councilor Economou?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Mr. Burt for bringing this forward and working with me on this. Having served on the Civic Center Commission, I think it was for five years, Chairperson for a couple of those five years. Seeing the amount of activity that comes through the DCU Center, the Convention Center, whether it's NCAA, the gymnastics, all types of sporting events that come to the DCU Center. How do we parlay that going forward? We've all talked about it. We just talked about it recently on a couple of weeks ago in regards to how do we get NCAA basketball back in town, the NIT tournament, boxing. There's so many different avenues that we have access to. And it doesn't have to be a national event.

It can be a regional, regional finals for any of these events. I think it would be a great idea, a great opportunity, whether we create a new commission or we merge two commissions into one, Mr. Manager, to further explore these options. I think it would be a boon to the city. I think it would help with economic development. I think would further help with our hotel rooms, all the different DIF districts that we have around the DCU Center, the ballpark. our restaurants, everything. Everything that has to do with economic development. I think this is a perfect avenue for our city to get further involved in, streamline the process, seek out new opportunities, to bring these events here to Worcester. So I'd appreciate what your thoughts are and whether you put it in a report or I'd really appreciate what you have to say on that, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you.

Rivera.

Yeah, I also think it's a great idea, not because of the sports aspect of it, but only because it talks about exactly what Councilor Economou talked about, what we talked about before, about bringing attraction to the city of Worcester. and having a commission to focus on that aspect of it. And Worcester City, City of Worcester is a sports town. And we have two commissions that almost kind of do that in a separate way. You know, if we could combine the Civic Center Commission and the Parks Commission, and so on. And then once they become a sports commission, they can deal with the business and sports entity in one, maybe add a couple people to the sports commission. However, the city manager decides to do it. I think the end goal is that we have a commission who's going to focus solely on bringing attraction to the city of Worcester which brings revenue, tourists, and all that good stuff.

So that's why I support it.

Okay, thank you. Okay, Councilor King, what purpose do you rise?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This particular order, I certainly understand the components of it, and I certainly can also say that I'm glad to hear that this was inspired by my request for an ad hoc committee specific to NCAA men's basketball. come into the city for these very purposes. I also can appreciate the I also know that we have a ballpark commission that has failed We have a civic commission that does some of this very work, Mr. Chairman. I certainly would support if this was accepted as a friendly amendment, looking at those bodies and determining

What aspects of this is occurring and what aspects can be merged? And again, as I stated earlier, that the city manager revisit the deletion of the Baseball, the Ballpark Commission with his interdepartmental plan. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to reiterate as it relates to this. I'm glad that no one's standing and talking about our shortcomings and any of these areas. The last thing we should do is be negotiating against ourselves. But I do know that as it relates to NCAA men's basketball, 2029 regionals or first rounds or what have you. That application process is opening up. The sooner we get that in, the better. We're talking about 2029. We're talking about three years or so from now with hotels and the like coming forward.

We're talking about a 30 miles, 30 minutes standard. and I think we're doing some of this. The mayor has been working with the Ghanaian community, city manager's been working with and the Haitian Ghanaian community and everyone else who's represented in the World Cup. And exactly this is going on. We're talking about. Interfaith Sessions. We're talking about trade discussions. We're talking about business interests. and these all involved. And I was happy to bring to the council that we're declaring that we are going to be the whole city for the Ghanaian folks. We've involved these groups, Discover Massachusetts, Tim Murray and Central Massachusetts, and the Commerce, the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, the Cultural and Development Office, Fabian's doing an amazing job.

So some of this stuff is occurring and I'm really gonna be taking a look at all of our boards and commissions and how they're functioning and whether or not The recommendations are coming to the floor for hearings that the city manager deems appropriate. So I don't want to see a commission for the sake of a commission. I'll support this. and I am very hopeful and want to be clear to the public, the Ad Hoc Committee that I was talking about is for a time specific measure and in addition to that, it allows us to be really focused for a short period of time. Mr. Chairman, I would like this to go to committee, just like the ad hoc did. Let's not go to the city manager, simply to actually establish this. I think it's just to follow the exact same paths that the ad hoc Committee went through, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Okay, we have Dr. Mitra.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to support and sign on to this order. I think it's a very appropriate order and a very attractive order. and other people in Worcester are really sports fan. We like all kinds of sports. The vivid example is the Polar Park and it's been a community's really fast time. So I think the sports appetite will be well catered if we have this kind of commission established. So I support this wholeheartedly and see that this happens. Thank you.

Is that it? Councilor Toomey, are you on here too? Councilor Toomey, you're on the order, go ahead. They already signed on, okay. Okay, so as amended, this is different than the Ad Hoc Committee. This is just getting a report from the manager.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, just for clarification, I was making that distinction. I'd like for this to go to committee if possible so that that committee can have their input as they had on the ad hoc committee.

Do you want it in DED Mr. Bergman or do you want us to get a report back first? Okay, Senator E.D., I was in objection, as amended. Okay, I was in favor, opposed, so ordered. Question, City Manager, remove the the overgrowth at the side of the, what was that, Tellawanda Drive, Councilor Rivera, and Brookline Street. Did I miss one? Oh, I missed one, I'm sorry.

That's what confused me, yeah.

Okay. I skipped over this one here. Of course, the manager requests the chief financial officer and provides the city council with a report. Concerning this, the discriminators and the, I can't even see this, it's getting late, cause that, this is Councilor Bilotta's office, is he, Councilor Bilotta here? Okay, so we'll go to yours, Councilor Rivera, on Brookline. As it reads. As it reads, all those in favor of a postal audit, request to see a manager, request to the Commissioner of Public Works, Consider increasing the days and hours residents are given to the drop off of both the hazardous and the bulk waste materials. said increase could include expanding the city's household hazardous waste days to more than the currently set four days, as well as providing additional days for hours each week dedicated to the bulk waste disposal. Councilor Rivera.

This is pretty much as it reads as well, but a lot of the neighbors and residents in District 5 itself, that's what I hear from, complaining that you know they just don't you know like I got example today I got a 3-1 got a call from a resident and They dropped off a couch in the Mill Street, Lake area, Wooded area. I called Senator to 311. By 6 o'clock before the meeting starts, he says they're still there. He reached out to Fresolo, who's a friend of his. We reached out to Quality of Life. He says he's still there. We'll have to reach out tomorrow. If they had more days, more times, maybe they wouldn't have dumped that couch in the Mill Street area. So just more like, let's Try to see if we can figure out to be convenient because a lot of residents, whether it's working hours or just the weekends is better, whatever it is, just if they can accommodate the residents with.

More days and more time. Maybe the times are the same, but just more days, because maybe those days they allow doesn't work for them and stuff like that. So that's the request for the residents.

Okay, so I'll send that to the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so awarded. Request the manager to collaborate with the administration at the Smock location on 1194 Main Street. to review and address neighborhood concerns regarding trash and needles being scattered in the vicinity of the property. Councilor Rivera.

Yeah, this was going to speak for itself as well. I think there's a few pictures up there that I just wanted to show. Just kind of give the city manager right there. Just an idea of what the residents are dealing with with the smog situation. Maybe if we can get them, you know, sit them down at the table, come to one of the neighborhood meetings, and understand, come up with a plan on what we can do to kind of be better neighbors.

Okay, so now to the manager. I was in favor, opposed, so ordered. Request manager to replace the past week, Trash, Barrows, and along with the... Rivera, along the boardwalk of Coast Park with the permanent metal barrels similar to those already found in the park. Councilor Rivera?

Yeah, so on the boardwalk, I'm part of a volunteer Coles Park group. And they have three dumpsters, plastic ones on there. And they've got to chain them up. and we kind of the rule is you know you change the bag and then you put another bag in but then you add an extra bag in the back and They're constantly stealing the bags or taking the bags out in the beginning. The plastic barrels break. They've got to chain them up. So we feel if we can get the black ones there that are very nice, and only we have access to it, it'll be... The cleaner and a better experience for the volunteers, but also make the boardwalk look nicer as well, instead of having chained up plastic barrels. Thank you.

Okay, so that's the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Next item, this is on I, request the City Manager of the Commissioner of Parks and Recs to provide counsel with a report concerning the best practices for the management of invasives, of the City, and the City of New York. that informs private property owners of how to identify and manage invasive plant species on their properties. Councilor Fresolo.

As it reads, Mr. Chairman, but I'd like it sent to the Parks Committee, Fetchman's and Parks Committee as well.

You get one or the other. Want to get a report back? What? We should get a report back first and send it to Parks.

Okay, I'm trying to avoid a report, but you need one to send it to committee, right?

You can send it to PACS if you want, is that what you want to do? I'll send it to PACS. Yeah, let's send it to PACS. Councilor Toomey?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've been working with the city manager on establishing a task force committee to eradicate invasive plants in the city. I had filed that in September of 25. And then just recently in March, I also asked that we coordinate with MassDOT to work cooperatively to address invasive plant species. together, so that that's economies of scale, et cetera. So if we could include those moving forward, it would be helpful.

All those in favor, opposed, so I'll send out the PACs along with the request of the Councilor Toomey. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Requests to be made by the Council to report concerning the City's allocation of opioid Settlement Funds said reports should include information concerning any pending allocations as well as how the city has engaged the community throughout its allocation processes. Council King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This particular order hits on three points or more. We have, as I understand it, used these monies for homeless outreach, recovery service, Servicing, as well as funding positions in HHS. I mentioned homeless outreach workers. and Crisis Response Workers through CHL, which we discussed earlier. And we're expected to receive around $10 million or so in total funding. At the end of all this, I believe, would like to get another report on this. This is a new council, a new body. and particularly want to know the city engagement with community throughout the allocation process. What it has been, what it's going to be, and what the allocation regimen looks like, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

could send that to the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. We are on request to the manager, request to the city solicitor to work with the commission of public works, provide city council with a legal opinion, regarding whether the city has the authority to report in or completely repay private streets in the city in certain emergency situations. Rivera, Emergency Vehicles Unable, because Emergency Vehicles Unable to Pass, or School Buses Unable to Pass Through Road, Councilor Rivera.

Yeah, I mean, I understand the ordinance and I understand the rules, but I just gotta figure, we gotta figure something out. I sent a couple pictures to Nico. I don't know if you got it. I just show you one street in particular in District 5. It's a private road that leads to a A park, a hiking trail. And I mean, I don't understand how these residents live. and the street, I mean, the way they live. But the street in particular that's terrible is Wildwood. So we have public, private, public, Which one? Wildwood Ave. Oh, Wildwood, yeah.

Yeah. That's been in front of this for 10 years, 20 years.

Well, unfortunately I'm the City Councilor now and I got to deal with it.

We got to figure out with something. Please help me out. Okay. I'll send that to the manager. All those in favor, opposed, so awarded. Request to the manager to work with the Chief Financial Office to resume the use of decals as a method of identifying vehicles that are Bergman, probably registered at the Residential Parking Program, Councilor Bergman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be brief. The city manager, I believe, probably knows more about this than I do. what I've been told by some residents is that when they contact police department in the evening particularly because there's no more decals associated with the residential parking program Police officers unable to tell whether or not the car is there legally or illegally and there's no computer mechanism especially evenings and weekends to be able to contact the necessary city department So the default position has been of late just not to take it because they're not sure which if that's accurate kind of defeats the purpose of the whole program. So I don't know if there's an alternative to the decals, but the decals used to work. So I'm asking the administration to consider something better than what exists now.

Thank you. Okay. Manager, all those in favor, oppose the order. We have a resolution that the City Councilor, City of Worcester, does hereby recognize the Worcester Police Department's Bergman, excellent work in several recent situations where potentially serious dangers to the general public's safety and well-being were averted. Councilor Bergman?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sure that work on a regular basis by the Worcester Police Department results in excellent and so forth. These two were brought to my attention, these two incidents, one of which somebody was allegedly robbed at gunpoint. The police department was eventually able to find the person who was a juvenile. And not only were they able to apprehend the juvenile, but the gun that was used and the attempted armed robbery and an additional gun were both found in the vehicle. And in a separate incident almost a few days apart, there was a good,

Investigative work ahead of time in which takeovers, which I believe are almost like swerving that exists with bikes, but takeovers exist with cars, which oftentimes cause dangerous Traffic Situations was averted entirely and as a result a number of people were arrested for planning the takeovers. So these are just two examples that were brought to my attention, but they are excellent in the sense, particularly in the sense that they were preventative, deescalative, and resulted in arrest and no one was harmed, including and our police officers and I think we listen on a regular basis to a lot of and many other narratives that I personally oftentimes don't think are accurate and I think it's helpful from time to time to be able to recognize really good police work and let the police department know that we appreciate that work.

to have the resolution to recognize these particular incidents. Thank you.

Resolution, Councilor Rivera. Sign on. Sign on, Councilor King. Opposed, any rise?

Mr. Chairman, I rise just for clarification as it relates to the takeovers. I'm not quite sure what that means. I did read about it through the chair to the administration. We had a report on that. What was that? What takeovers are and what have you. Do we have, has that been provided to the council?

Through you, Chair, to the Councilor, we have not provided any reports to the Council related to street chugger. There was a situation that was happening across the state. there was indication that there was a potential one to occur in the city of Worcester and there was a collaboration between State Police, the towns and communities around us, our police department. So our police department was able to kind of navigate that, address the issues and anticipate any potential Street Takeover. That's something that has happened across the state and we were able to address that but no particular report has come before the council.

And that's through the chair just so I was not in support of this but I don't know what I'm voting on so through charity administration. Is that related to swerving, as was referenced, or was that related to takeover? Or is that not information you can share?

I would ask the Chief. The Chief can give a more detailed explanation.

I just want to know what I'm voting on, Mr. Chairman, before I vote. Chief?

Through the chair of the council, we received information that a street takeover was going to happen. What that is, is they called different Carson, they block off whole intersections and they do donuts in the street. Often these people are armed. If you saw in Boston about a month ago, they lit police cars on fire. So it was a big deal. I called in about 25 people on overtime, so we had enough people to make sure if anybody came, we would mitigate any type of damage to the city or to people.

Thank you, and to the chair, did they come?

They did. We had, I believe, 12 arrests, multiple citations. State Police gave out 76 citations. During this process, I was in contact with Lemonster and Fitchburg, giving them information. They would shoo them away. And then finally, the end of the night, it was over.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, there's been some comments made about acknowledging this work. and I happen to come from a place of athletics as a former college coach, college basketball player, et cetera. And with that comes when there's a good job being done, Good job. As similarly, when there's a place that needs to be coached up and there's areas of improvement or evaluations that have occurred, that's also a time to roll our sleeves up Mr. Chairman so I just want to state for the record this these are worthy of commendations and kudos you know and I hope we can apply sort of the coach mentality as we move forward on any issues pertaining to any department here in the city. But this is important to hear the chief kind of describe for the public.

exactly what we're talking about. I happen to work in social work. I deal with juveniles and status offenders and serious offenses. It's good to get some of these reports, Mr. Chairman, but I really hope we take a good look at what this body's mentality will be holistically, but I definitely support this and want to sign on.

Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Mayor.

Okay, so I just want to thank Council Berman for the resolution. This probably happens more than once or twice, probably several times a week if not a month. where police go out and do some special things. And this, I just got a question to the Chief. I know you had, I think you said you had State Police District 76 citations. You made 12 arrests. What's the consequences? because this happened in Boston. You fed Lemeson and Fitchburg because probably the same thing could happen there. Now it goes to court. Is there any repercussions, like real repercussions, because of what happened in Boston? Is the court system aware of what's going on? And what's the penalty?

Chief Saucer.

This should be a big penalty. To the Chair. How much are you paying overtime to do this? Chief Saucer. How many police officers did you call?

To the Chair, probably 25.

And how many state troopers did you call?

there are multiple state troopers. We had a meeting two days prior and laid out our plan on how we were gonna handle it. And then we just used all our resources.

I remember talking to you about that, yeah. So what's the consequences? Can they pay us, reimburse us for the overtime? No. Can they go to jail? You put life in danger, is what they did.

Correct. The whole idea is to stop these things from happening. So we did make arrests, mostly for minor offenses, so that we could stop the issue from occurring. make the arrests, get that person out of there. Everything goes through social media where they communicate, they know it's hot, they go to another community. That's why I was in contact with and my brother officers in Lemonster and Fitchburg.

So what would have happened if you didn't pick up on this?

It would have been chaos.

Correct. So there's going to be some consequences here. Is this the same group of people that go to every city and town?

We're not sure. They were coming from all over Rhode Island, Connecticut. Mr. Mayor

So they basically put your life's in danger, the citizen's life's in danger, especially if you didn't know, if you didn't pick up on this with your intelligence and paying attention to what you usually do. and I don't know, I just think, Mr. Manager, I think we should write a letter to the courts. I don't know where it goes, but there should be some penalty here. I'd like to give, you probably don't know the overtime, probably don't wanna hear it. but how much that cost us and you're taking people because this is at night, right? So what time was it?

It was supposed to be 7 at night to I believe 9 in the morning, and then we had something else this weekend.

7 at night to 9 in the morning?

Correct.

Seriously?

They went out, I was getting information from Fitchburg. go into a Lowe's parking lot. They were destroying that. Then they were coming back. And wherever they weren't getting picked off, they were going. So it was basically police everywhere waiting for them to come so that we could actually stop them from damaging or causing harm. Because once they block off the whole intersection and it's like everybody's inside just doing donuts and whatever they wanna do. So an innocent person at seven o'clock coming home, they're gonna get caught up in that.

You can see it right on the front here. There's a right in front of the crosswalk. There's a Tiamat in the circle. Something probably similar.

It could have been one of them coming in, correct?

Yeah, okay. I don't know what the consequences, I mean, I don't know if there's anything we can do, advertise who did this. As long as you're commuting with other police departments and other communities, there's gotta be a common thread somewhere.

Well, something should go through legislation because now it's getting warm out. You have the people on the motorcycles doing wheelies in the middle of the road. Obviously we're not going to chase them, but the penalty should fit the crime. They're out there terrorizing people and they should pay the price. They should go to prison. It should be a felony to do that, not just some slap. They should do some time, get them off the street.

and we can ask the M.O. Committee to look at some legislation they can file to enforce that. Thank you, Chief. I'll thank the men and women of the police department, the state police, and for the other, not just this issue, but other issues that they work pretty hard to keep this community safe. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Petty, is there a motion there or no? Yeah, that's the motion.

What is that? M.O. with wickets and legislation that could be filed regarding the penalties on and other people who do this type of activity.

Is part of that motion to make it a felony or no? Excuse me? Is part of the motion to make it a felony or no?

Well, we'll see what they come up with, yeah.

Okay, thank you.

Make it a felony, if you wanna add that, yeah, make it a felony.

That's up to you. Yeah. Okay, so the motion is from the Mayor to make this a felony. To Councilor at Large, Kate Toomey.

Thank you, Chair. So as I said before, there are a number of days of the week that we could be citing many of these things. As a matter of fact, tonight there were two shootings. and our police department has been on top of everything. Every day you're doing things like this. And so I'm grateful. to those officers who were involved for these incidences, but I'm also grateful to the other officers who have been involved all along too. And I think that's really important to recognize that it's the entire department working together not only within the department, but also with other cities and towns. And I think that that's a critical element of what we've been seeing

You mentioned, Chief, about the Crime Gun Unit and working with other agencies, federal and state agencies in other cities and towns. on trying to reduce the gun violence here. And I think that that's really important. And this all speaks to how you're utilizing the connections and the intelligence that you have at your disposal and so I'm very grateful and happy to sign on to this as well and you know I support also the Mayor's order because we have to have consequences to people's actions. And we've not been seeing consequences and the judicial system. That's not happening. And this really we need to take a look at this. And as the mayor said, there could have been incredible

We've got people putting their lives at risk dealing with this every day. Excuse me. It must be too late for me to be talking. But I just wanted to say thank you to the men and women of the department and to the mayor and Council Bergman for filing this. And I look forward to recognizing them.

Dr. Mitchell wants to sign on, send that to the, oh, we got a resolution, the reports. Resolution, roll call.

Mr. Chairman, are we taking these separately? What's that? What are we taking up right now? Is it the resolution to make this a felony or is it something else?

The resolution to consider them making a filling. It doesn't have to be that, but. Okay, but that's what we're voting on right now?

Yeah.

I'm gonna do the resolution first.

Okay, resolution first, okay.

Burgman. Yes. Councilor Bilotta. Councilor Economou. Yes. Councilor Fresolo.

Yes.

Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. Mayor Pai?

Yes. Next is to ask the MO committee to come up with a report on how we could file legislation with the state. the guy in these instances from what happened in Boston and consider whether or not it should be a felony or not. Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to speak on this. I certainly understand and appreciate, as I stated, law enforcement's work not just here in the city of Worcester but with some of the cities and surrounding towns and clearly those efforts made sense. Mr. Chairman, I just want to explain my position on this vote. I think that it's probably common sense that if police officer cars are being burned or police are being attacked in that sort of a way, that that is potentially felonious behavior. however what we talked about what happened here and that's what we're basing this on is the fact that there were things that were done

that as was stated there's discretion on whether or not folks would be detained or not they result in traffic infractions and the like and to Treat that as felonious behavior. It's not something that I'm going to support, Mr. Chairman. If in fact, you know, and I don't want the public misperception or headline that we're that I'm part of supporting and escalating and widening sort of this prison pipeline when In fact, their motor vehicle infractions and the like. I also certainly would like to hear back, Mr. Chairman, once this comes back from committee, whether or not

Thank you.

Boston was referenced, not Worcester. And what happened in Boston, if that wants to be a part of this, I certainly welcome that when it comes back. And what was felonious as relates to the conduct towards law enforcement. is fair play. However, this particular motion I will not be voting for based on my statement. Thank you.

Right here. Councilor Bergman, go ahead.

Just committing Mr. Chairman on the motion which I will support to characterize this as a motor vehicle infraction to me severely undermines or misrepresents the potential seriousness of what could have been caused. There are many felonies that don't involve just assaults on police officers. Anybody could have been assaulted with a car and anybody could have been harmed. I would remind all my colleagues that there is jail time for motor vehicle homicide. And I think the analogy is not lost on me that people could be killed whether they're in vehicles or walking across the street with a child or in a wheelchair when these types of incidents happen. So whether the committee comes up with a recommendation for being proposing legislation for being a felony or not, we shall see. But to characterize this as a motor vehicle infraction like a speeding ticket to me is, I think, grossly underestimating the potential harm that could have happened. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Rivera.

I just want to also note that just I got to hear about that one of the Spots that were going to be hit was Newton Square area. And just to picture each street being blocked, and they're just doing donuts around the circle there and causing all kinds of havoc. King. Councilor King.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I'm not aware of any reports of vehicular manslaughter or motor vehicle homicide as relates to the Worcester incident. I too recognize and what could occur versus what did occur. And certainly, when we talk about motor vehicle infractions, we know speeding can result in loss of life or reduced are speed limit here to 25 miles per hour. Doesn't mean if you're speeding, it's necessarily felonious. And again, nothing that has been reported to date that I'm aware of indicates that sort of behavior. It's not a mischaracterization. It's based on what was reported in this particular incident, Mr. Chairman. and we reference Boston, as I said. Look forward to hearing what occurred there as well. But again, there's no mischaracterization here, Mr. Chairman. It's based on what was reported from the chief.

Okay, I think there's a lot of good points made, but I'm more interested in the Boston thing and how that could have happened here in Worcester. And I was very clear that could have happened, so we'll send the roll call.

Burgman, yes, Councilor Bilotta, Councilor Economou, yes, Councilor Fresolo, yes, Councilor King, no, Mr. Mitra, Mr. Ojeda, Mr. Rivera, Mr. Rosen, Mr. Toomey and Mayor Petty

Yes, and we're going to hold Councilor Bilotta's item that went over there earlier under privilege to the next meeting. to the resolution. Okay, we are on 12A, refer the MO. All those in favor, post so ordered. 13A is motion to accept and adopt. Mr. Chairman.

There's a point of order. I know by our rules, it's 1158. By rule, we're not allowed to go past midnight, saying it for the public purposes. So just a point of order, what are we going to do in a minute and a half?

So I'm going through the agenda. Accept and adopt 13A.

Mr. Chairman, I've got to say a couple of words on 13A. It's that important. You don't have to read it. You don't have to read it.

Okay, we're going to do the motion. I was trying to get through the agenda, but do a motion to suspend the rules?

Could we suspend the rules to finish the agenda?

Yes. Okay. So the motion is to suspend the rules. You need eight votes to suspend the rules. Otherwise, it's the first time of business at the next meeting.

Point of order, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, I have I have an issue. No. The chief's been waiting. Mr. Chairman, the chief's been waiting for like forever.

Okay, it's 12 o'clock. We're gonna do a motion to suspend the rules.

To suspend the rules, yeah.

Point of order, Mr. Chairman. Could you just explain what the rule is? The rule is basically saying the meeting stops at midnight. Must stop. So you have to spend, and if you want to go past midnight, If you don't want to go past midnight, it's the first item of business at the next city council meeting, anything that's left over. So we probably wouldn't have been through the whole agenda if I didn't have to do this, but... So point of order, Mr. Chairman.

This isn't that hard. I wasn't done with the question. Mr. Chairman, I wasn't done with my point of order. So just for clarification, the rule is that we must stop at midnight unless we take a vote not to.

Is that what you're saying? I think you said four times, yes. Okay. Yes. I couldn't understand you, I'm sorry. Okay, so first is a roll call, then we'll go into, you have anyone, roll call, Councilor?

I just wanted to give my explanation while I'll be voting no on this, but that's fine.

No, you can vote no. It's the first time.

My explanation, if I might, since you asked, is that we spent 20 minutes on an item earlier that I opposed.

Mr. Chairman, isn't this non-debatable? What's that? Motion suspended rules. Is that not non-debatable?

No. I don't think so.

I don't know the answer to that. I thought we had to just vote it without an explanation. I don't know. It's midnight. It's not debatable.

Roll call. O'Neill. So, Mr. Mayor, just for the clarification, this is Rule 54, the midnight, to suspend it. Councilor Bergman?

No.

Councilor Bilotta? Councilor Economou?

Yes.

Consul for Solo? Yes. Consul King? No. Consul Mitra?

Yes.

Consul Ojeda? No. Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? No. Councilor Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty? Yes. So, Mr. Mayor, that fails. Meeting technically is over. It's over, but I want to provide some clarification. Mr. Mayor, where did you leave off, which item? 13A. 13A. So we left off 13A?

18A, 13A and 18A.

I think we have 13A, 14A, and all the other items. They'll be first item of business at the next meeting.

But we needed one item passed tonight. 18A is a loan auto.

18A?

Yeah, that's the loan order. We need a roll call on that. That's for the sewer line. So we gotta do. So Mr. Mayor, I think we gotta do that before we adjourn. We gotta do one more item before. 18A is the loan order, we need that approved tonight.

Oh yeah, okay.

Berkman, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Petty, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Worcester, Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey?

Yes.

And Mayor Petty?

Yes. Motion to adjourn. All those in favor? Opposed? So moved.