City Council 03/17/2026

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Worcester City Council meeting. And we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you can stand, please stand. Thank you. Aye. What do we?

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 proved through the night that our flag was still there.

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

and the home of the brave.

Bergeman, here. Councilor Bilotta? Here. Councilor Economou? Here. Councilor Fresolo? Yes. Councilor King? Councilor Mitra?

Yes.

Councilor Ojeda? Rivera, here, Councilor Rosen, here, Councilor Toomey, here, Mayor Petty, here.

Okay, motion to approve the minutes. All those in favor? Postal Audit. Public participation. A person may speak for no more than two minutes on any item appearing on the agenda. Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At every meeting of the City Council on the 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 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. Time for speaking, shall I see two minutes for one speaker or 30 minutes for all speakers. Petitions. On the first occasion that a petition appears to the City Council agenda, the Prime Petitioner may address the City Council for no more than three minutes on the subject of their petition.

Okay, is your name, is your residence a name number?

Fred Nason, Worcester, number 8A. No, I'm sorry, 10A. I thought we already had an ordinance dealing with property owners clearing out fire hydrants. I could have sworn we already had one. Ahem. 10D. Any issues dealing with the 311 service? I mean, if there are issues, the city needs to correct them. 11, no, yes, that's right, 11A, this is City Council, hereby support March, 2026, the Women's History Month. This is a no-brainer.

Do it. 12A. I know you guys will be going to executive session afterwards, but if the city, according to this, can get off the hook for 25 million instead of 35 million, Well, you're gonna have to do it because the longer you put this off, the more the bill is gonna keep on growing and it's been growing for what, 15 years? Started out, what, $12 million? We're talking $35 million. At some point, the city has to do the job. The city seems to have a history of having fines and different things that cost them money dating back Some 40 years ago when City Hospital had to pay back $26 million.

Oh, actually, the City of Worcester paid back $26 million for City Hospital double billing. Do the job. Whatever you need to do, vote it and do it.

Thank you.

Abby Mortillero, your pronouns, Worcester resident, District 4. I'll start by speaking on item 11a, Women's History Month, March being Women's History Month, should be recognized. by the city of Worcester. And I really do feel like it is important for the city of Worcester to recognize March. There are many great women throughout history that should be recognized. on Women's History Month March. And I think it is important for the city of Worcester to recognize Women's History Month. So next item.

Let's see. Yeah, so 16A and C, as they're both relating to housing. I think it's important to have housing stability and rent control. I think that's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really important for a city. and 16 D and F. Accountability is also important. Police accountability, systemic racism, there needs to be some accountability. I keep saying it every week, you know, accountability. You know, accountability. We need to have accountability. Ability, yeah, that's all I have to say about that. We need accountability, okay.

Thank you.

Good. Did your name say your residence?

My name is Janice Saint-Amand. I'm at Ville Avenue in Worcester. I want to thank Satra Mitra for beginning this process for me to change Ville Avenue from private to public road. I did meet with you before and I also met with the planning board recently and we made some amendments to include portion of Darling Street, and Lorenz to convert Villiaf into a public road. And I can only reinstate that. The major issue with doing so is that there is a tree planted on Billy Avenue that was done prior to us moving to that street in 92.

and that was because it was private I guess you could do whatever you wanted but it makes it impossible for any emergency vehicles if their GPS brings them to the wrong side of Ely Avenue to access which that's minutes lost in an emergency. I've seen it happen within a year and a half for a little guy who was under two years old. So it's very important that that occurs and I'm so glad to be here once again that it got to this point and Umniko, I want to thank you too because you helped me understand the process as well. So I appreciate you as well. So that's all. Thank you so much.

Good evening, Deborah Hall, District 5. Happy St. Patrick's Day and happy Women's History Month. I rise today in recognition of Women's History Month a time to honor the contributions, achievements, and resilience of women in our city and across our nation. Women have shaped Worcester in every field, Education, Healthcare, Business, Public Service, and Community Advocacy. Their leadership and dedication strengthen our neighborhoods and inspire future generations. This spring, we look forward to the Worcester Wall of Women, an important mural initiative led by YWCA Central Massachusetts. This project will highlight 40 women from Central Massachusetts who have made a lasting impact on our community. true change makers whose stories deserve to be seen and celebrated. For too long, women's contributions have been underrepresented in our public spaces. Worcester currently has only one monument honoring a woman.

it is time for that to change and this initiative is a meaningful step in that process. Women make up roughly half of Worcester's population yet today only one woman serves on this city council Thank you, Councilor Toomey. That disparity is not acceptable. Representation matters, and our leadership should reflect the community we serve. As we recognize Women's History Month, Let us commit to uplifting women's voices, expanding opportunity, and ensuring women are fully represented in leadership across our city. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mike, did your name say residence? I didn't know.

Gary Hunter, District 5. I do have a few things I'd like to talk, items I'd like to talk about, but I'd like to bring something up. The City Council, in the last session, You know, there was, you could see a divide. It was divided and it was from this side to this side.

There were clicks voting. Stick with the items on the agenda, please.

Well, it's very important. because what I'm talking about is accountability of the city council. There was a bunch of people in the city council who used to call the people that spoke up for their residents troublemakers. Now look at this last week's meeting. Mr. Rosen spoke up, it was great. Is he a troublemaker? Is Mr. King still a troublemaker? We need to get together over here and get some stuff done. I like that you can see there's less people probably talking this week. Last week, Mr. Bergman says, I don't listen to the people in the room. I only listen to 200,000 people.

No, I know that. Stick to the items, he's right. Stick to the items on the agenda. You're not gonna be calling councilors out.

It's not a lie, you told, said, I don't listen to them, I listen to you.

Please, direct your comments to the Chair.

I was here.

So you have some items you want to speak on the agenda? We get your message, go ahead. You have some items on the agenda?

I'm talking about the $35 million or the $25 million that are trying to be appropriated and you want to go into executive session. That's what's leading up. This has already been decided by the court. I think what you gotta do is have accountability and you need to talk in front and not in secret. You need to get up, be accessible to the people, and be responsible to the people. so I think you should do most of that in open session.

Okay, thank you. Our next speaker.

Good evening. Keith Linares, 1 Jermaine Street. I'm here to oppose 13A, the variance for 3 Suburban Road. This parcel is a unique environmental hazard, a peat meadow and former landfill in a high-risk flood zone. Pete acts as a giant sponge. Once you dig it up, the flood risk to this neighborhood increases exponentially. Neighbors, myself included, already face basement flooding during heavy rain and snow melts. Nearby homes are literally sinking into the ground. Furthermore, unearthing a former landfill threatens the health of families like mine who will breathe in whatever contaminants are buried there once the construction starts. We the neighbors are being asked to take on a massive amount of personal and environmental risk, and we get nothing back for this. Expanding this RG5 spot zoning creates no public benefit. Once this change is made, there's no going back.

The developer can build to a maximum density that isn't even reflected in their current proposal. And I want to be clear, I am not opposed to density when it's done right. I want a city where my family can walk to amenities instead of relying on cars and Amazon deliveries for the basic necessities of life. But this project is the opposite of good density. When I asked the planning board, does this follow now next? What benefits does this bring to us? They basically shrugged their shoulders and said, it kind of follows now next, it kind of doesn't. Instead of having good, well thought out growth, we're just stuffing units in wherever they fit in order to chase an arbitrary goal without the infrastructure to support it. This leaves residents like the neighbors who are here with an impression that Worcester has no real plan, just a housing at all costs mentality that ignores ecological reality and good urban planning and neighborhood building.

I know this is going to move to subcommittee, and I, along with many of my neighbors, look forward to continuing this fight. We're going to keep showing up, and I ask you, please don't trade our neighborhood's future and the potential that our city has for this short-sighted vision. Thank you.

Katie Silverstein, Worcester. I'm here to speak to item 13A. I know this is just going to move to the Economic Development Subcommittee. but I wanted to express my and my neighbors who can't be here tonight's concern that this is a zoning map amendment to increase the size of a spot zone without any clearly stated public benefit. In fact, instead of offering any kind of public benefit, it seems to come with it more something along the lines of a public health risk given the fact that there is evidence to demonstrate that this land is a former historic landfill sitting on top of a peat bog with areas of unknown depths and a high water table.

Disruption of this land and displacement of that water risks flooding nearby areas of lower elevation with potentially contaminated groundwater. So that's neighborhoods around Elm Park all the way to Newton Square and anywhere that follows the trajectory of Beaver Brook as it flows southward. This is clearly a complicated issue that takes more than two minutes to talk about so we are looking forward to having this item heard at the Economic Development Subcommittee and having a further discussion there. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, my name is Paula Rosenbloom and I live on Haviland Street in Worcester. I'm here tonight in opposition of item number 13A, a request that the City of Worcester zoning ordinance be amended by changing the zoning designation of the portions of three suburban road that are currently within the RS7 zoning district to the RG5 Zoning District, and changing the zoning designation of one suburban road from its current zoning designation of RS7 to RG5 as the petitioner has not demonstrated the public benefit of the requested zone changes. I request that the City Council refer this item to the Economic Development Committee. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Sarah Simsarian, I live at Haviland Street, and I'm here to discuss 13A, and in support of my neighbors as well, that this is not sound thinking. And for every person that's here tonight, there are many of us that can't be. Please help us address this problem correctly. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Al Trakemis, 18 Germain Street, District 1. I'm here regarding item 13A. There are a lot of questions we have. There are a lot of comments we have. That is why we are looking forward to this being submitted to the subcommittee. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Amy Tricamas, also on Jermaine Street. I'm also an opposed of 13A. Looking at our neighborhood, there's single residential housing. I'm now at the age, do I carry on a house here in Worcester and continue to pay taxes here in Worcester and nominate some of these lovely people here in Worcester? if I don't feel that I live in a safe area. Environmental testing hasn't been done yet and it's already big proposal plans and another, you know, More housing here in Worcester and luxury condos. That's not what we want. That's not what I want. So if that's what it's going to turn into and there's going to be health risks, that I'm not providing a family to this city and I don't feel that people would want to stay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Should they even see your residence, item number?

Idella Hazard, City of Worcester. I'd like to wish you all a happy St. Patrick's Day. I see everybody wearing green. Very nice, most of you. I would like to speak on 11A. I think it's wonderful the city is recognizing women Considering the last census showed that 50% of Worcester's population was female, and I noticed that the wall down there crossing Franklin Street from Green on Southbridge, I think it's Southbridge Street, is going to be a wall of women. I think that's great too. But I think that women should be respected as well, not just honored, but respected. And I'd also like to say that,

We, the public, when we speak, should be respected. And I think that it was raised at another meeting that when we speak does that go into reports or not and also I would like to say that when counselors speak, it goes on public record. So whether or not they say something and somebody quotes them or not, from Public Record.

Thank you.

That's a fact. I still have 29 seconds.

Speak the items on the agenda, please.

Okay, but that came up, so I was able to speak on it.

Okay.

That's the rule. And I think during Women's Month, we should be honoring particular women at the city council meetings to show that we're serious. Thank you.

Steve Hart, District 1. Here to speak about 12A and 12B. I guess it's encouraging to see some action on this, some movement. I come before you folks with a request. I consider myself a somewhat informed citizen. and regarding this $35 million sum, I don't know exactly how it happened. I don't know if it's a succession of executive decisions to roll the dice, if it was in committee, It was in this body. But at some point, a certain individual has been rolling the dice with the city's money. And that has come due. I think the city is owed a detailed explanation of this chronology and how it happened.

because otherwise we haven't gotten to the heart of the matter. How does this happen? Is it because of malfeasance, ineptitude? Is it because of the committee and council nature of our government? $35 million. That's a lot of money. And again, I request that perhaps one of the city councilors can request a report for Consumption review by the citizens to understand this more clearly because decisions have been made now and this is going forward. I appreciate any effort done along those lines. Thanks.

Thank you.

Good evening. Urasa Akwadie talking on 16C. I want to stand with tenants in protecting their rights, especially as it relates to the unrelated tenant rule. for in single family apartments. So at first glance, this rule may seem reasonable, but for many working class residents, single mothers, immigrants, students, and young workers, it quietly closes the door to one of a few affordable housing options that they have. The reality is simple. Housing costs in Worcester are rising, faster than wages for many families. A two bedroom or three bedroom apartment that once supported working people now costs far more than many and residents can pay a loan. So people do what families and communities have always done. They share housing to survive. Residence, sharing an apartment is not a luxury. It is a survival strategy.

This rule assumes that if all related people can live together, a fifth somehow becomes a problem. But poverty does not follow zoning laws. When rent is too high, people will double up with friends, cousins, coworkers, members of their church community just to keep a roof over their heads. And we must remember something important. Many of these residents are the very people who keep our city running. They work in hospitals, restaurants, warehouses, construction sites, and service jobs. They are contributing to the economy of Worcester every day. But when we restrict how people can share housing, we are effectively telling the poorest residents in our city that they must either pay more than they can afford or leave. This is not housing stability. This is displacement. Cities across the country are recognizing that overly strict occupancy rules often punish the people who are struggling the most. If we are serious about affordability, then we must recognize that shared housing is one of the oldest and most effective forms of affordable Levin.

This issue is not about overcrowding or safety. Those issues can be addressed through building and safety codes. This issue is about whether we allow working people the flexibility to survive. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, we're good. Mr. Cork? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We've got three online callers. First one is David Webb. He's going to meet the resident now. Please state your name and city of residence. You're breaking up.

Okay, I will speak slowly. Hi, my name is David Webb. I'm from the city of Olivia. It's a regarding 1610 and 16F, the so-called Safety Committee on Investigating Systemic Racism, the vast discrepancy between the GOJ and the feelings of the city. Despite the social media camera launch in response to the equity audit starring officers Casey Anembo and Angela Levine, a batch of footprints appeared like highly or nearly like men. But with the lawsuit confiding to everyone that what Mr. Christofi was doing was bad for people with mental health, they moved on to other escalating situations and established authority. You simply need to start taking responsibility for yourself. It's unacceptable and concerning that you won't fix any of the problems until you'll stand over it. It's important that single staffs like me who actually care about it, populate the moment for resonating, sobering, and engaged. This change should start from the top. It's better to clone things in a way that isn't going to happen. which makes it a 15A concept.

It's early advances from 2024. It's about trying to move on to the best bench mid-sized cities in the country. How's that going, Eric? Despite that, then, he continued to return from Prague, having not spoke to Santana, and nothing about the little brother dragged out of the monument did Slickler. So we've got something to this from the Office of Realizing the Inaction of All the Goods in the Market Group. Bilotta's conviction wasn't in Bilotta in the first place, and the three constables you see here, just provided by one of the WB officers, placing the same yet liability, said in the book of license as he was allowed to, he did nothing. This is because Aristotelian administration supports colonization and stops projected poverty. Senator said the same thing.

You have 10 seconds.

I might petition government for it by the First Amendment, but does not please me. I would just respond to act. I would say it's just me, not everyone. It would be silent and defiant, but everything gets worse. Republican, Council Potentials, and now Social Media, too.

Thank you. The next speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The next speaker is Mimi Stevens. She'll meet the resident now. You please say your name and city residents.

This is Mimi Stevens. I'm at 46 Midland Street. I'd like to comment on 13A. I'm very opposed to the proposed zoning change, primarily for environmental reasons. and you've already heard about that from other speakers so I won't belabor the point. I'm also having some safety concerns about This proposed zoning change, as many of you know, Highland Street is, especially around Doherty High School, is already quite difficult to navigate and adding more cars would pose serious traffic and safety issues. It's my understanding that the developer could still build up to 20 houses without this zoning change. And so this would allow Worcester to add to its housing stock without A serious negative impact on the environment, the safety or the quality of life. I'm very happy to see that this item will be moved to the Economic Development Committee. and I hope that they will give serious consideration to this issue. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The last speaker is Natalie Gibson. I'm gonna try and meet the resident now.

Hi, good evening. Natalie Gibson, Worcester, Mass. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, I'll be speaking on 10A, 10D, 10G, 10K, 12A. 14A. 10A, I'm just wondering, since people will be required to shovel out the hydrants, I'm wondering if there could be a decrease in their property taxes? for shoveling out the hydrant for the entire neighbourhood which is obviously needed. Or if not lower their taxes, something else. Attendee. When it comes to potholes, I continue to ask this question. Why do some of the workers not fill adjacent holes when they get the work orders? And what is the method that they use to fill these holes and why do some of these patches begin to sink within a couple of days.

I can tell you that sometimes it's hand tamped and it doesn't seem like it's hand tamped enough. 10G in regards to using low maintenance materials. In the medians, what kind of low maintenance materials are we talking about instead of using grass? If it's natural, Plants, then that's great. 10K, that is in regards to DPW and winter operations. Again, I keep asking, when are the hills going to be prioritized? Why are sand and salt trucks only appear to only, for the most part, be doing down the center of a hill or on one side of the hill, making two-way traffic even more dangerous? 12A. I actually agree with the gentleman. I don't remember his name. I think that there does need to be a report to find out what happened.

And will the taxpayers be flipping the bill for this? 14A, the alert system. What is going on with this integrated 360 integrated and directional acoustics device that will be integrated in this community in the future?

Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. Appreciate it.

Okay, we are on Executive Session. To the City Council, the City of Worcester, this hereby convenes Executive Session on Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 meeting. for the purpose of discussing litigation strategy with respect to the case of Talon Holden versus the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the City of Worcester Superior Court. We will reconvene in open session after this. Roll call.

Burgman, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda.

Yes.

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

Good evening everyone, welcome back to the Worcester City Council meeting, we'll do a roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Here. Councilor Bilotta?

Here.

Councilor Economou? Here. Councilor Fresolo? Here. Councilor King? Here. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Petty. Councilor Ojeda? Here. Councilor Rivera? Here. Councilor Rosen? Here. Councilor Toomey? Here. Mayor Petty?

Here. We have petitions, 8A, Mayor Jocelyn Petty, E. King request the Greenwood Park Basketball Court be renamed the Nancy Nya Bates 82 Basketball Court. I want the resolution.

Excuse me, Mr. Mayor, quickly, we have just some explanation on who Nancy Mayer- Yeah, we're gonna get to that, yeah.

Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Then we have the resolution that the City Council of the City of Worcester does hereby expresses its support for the designation to do a basketball court at Greenwood Park and Honor of Nancy Bates, creating a lasting tribute that will inspire future generations of athletes and community leaders. Councilor King and Petty. Councilor King. So we're taking these both together, right?

Yeah. Okay. So I want to begin by saying this particular resolution is in honor of Women's History Month. the legacy of Title IX, the growth of women's sports, and honoring Lancer Bayer, Meyer Bates. As we all know, Worcester is a basketball city. and there's another order on a little bit about March Madness. So we have the combination of March Madness, Women's History Month and as a girl dad of three, It's an honor to stand this morning. You know, recognizing March, celebrating achievements of women who've helped shape our community is important. Tonight, this resolution honors

South High alumna Nancy Meyer Bates and supports naming the Greenwood Basketball Park in her honor. and part of this is because we know that over time sports has open doors across genders, across races, across socioeconomic statuses and brings people together. She's a proud alum of Self High. In honoring her, not only do we honor women who open doors, we make sure the next generation of Worcester girls knows that doors are open and have been open for them as well. In Worcester, our courts that many of us have played on and many of us has had our children and families play on in the fields and on the basketball courts, we know that they don't just build athletes

They build leaders. Right here in Worcester, we don't have to go too far to find young girls who personify excellence. It's all around us. Our youth are inspiring. It's not a coincidence that Nancy Meyer Bates is an alumna of South High basketball, where Diego McLean leads a girls basketball program that makes history and continues to make history. We recognize the legacy also of Title IX that's often tied to women's sports. But Title IX's law wasn't simply about sports, Mr. Chairman. It wasn't solely about that. It opened access to educational opportunities and leadership opportunities for our women and girls. It opened doors in the classroom, on the college campuses, and of course on the courts across competitions.

Before that, too many girls, too many women were left out. Title IX allowed millions of women to compete, learn, graduate, and lead. We can look today and see the impact play out in real time from the energy of March Madness, WNBA's growth, inspiring new generations of leaders, businessmen, athletes, academics, and more, Mr. Chairman. Nancy was an All-American. at the University of Virginia, Nancy Meyer Bates. She's been a teacher in our public schools. She's also... played for Jack the Shot Foley and was an All-ACC for four years in Virginia.

She's been known as not just an all-American basketball player, but a devoted educator, coach, advocate, and inspiration to young people. Renaming this court provides lasting inspiration to young people, especially young women in athletics, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Mark Epstein for bringing this to the mayor and I. The mayor and I have been working on this at least a couple months, right, Mr. Mayor?

I think late last year.

Late last year. And we know that this is also going before the Parks Commission. at their next meeting. And I don't know that we have really had the opportunity to. and I honor enough women here in the city. Taking this opportunity to do that is certainly a step in the right direction, Mr. Chairman. and in closing, I wanna just mention that Greenwood Park was suggested by myself, agreed to by the mayor and the team because of the fact that that's where women college athletes played. for probably two or three decades right there at Greenwood Park. And this is just a great opportunity to really lift up and pull together our basketball community. And maybe for the first time, perhaps ever,

bringing back some of the collegiate and high school stars from across all of our city schools and the folks that have attended our private schools to one place for a celebration potentially in September. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mayor Petty

Thank you, Councilor King. And, yeah, we've been working on this for a little bit. Trump is old. I should have maybe included you. But we started this last year and apologize to you. I think this is a wonderful idea when Mark the Pathfinder. Epstein brought this to our attention and we worked together and we have a pretty good plan. We're gonna need some money probably to get it right, not much, but this is this outstanding player and scored over 1,000 points. averaged 20.5 points and 10 rebounds per game in the senior season. 1978-1980 member of the New England Junior Basketball Team, 1981-1982 the Tri-Captain of the South High Basketball Team, who led it in field hockey and softball, first player ever to be elected honorary captain of the Telegram Gazette, Basketball, All-Star for three consecutive years, Parade Magazine First Team, All-American.

and you probably can go more into Virginia stats, but she's very humble and she, you know, she's a superstar on a national level, if you think about it. At that time in the 1980s, and when she played. She was a superstar for the University of Virginia. She was one of the top rated women in basketball and definitely at South High School. Back in the 80s. So I think this is a great honor and I'm glad to participate and get this done for her and her family. and she's looking forward to this and I just want to say ask for your support here tonight. Thank you. Okay, so the petition We refer the Parks and Recs Commission for the hearing coming up.

That's a two-month process through this month of March and back in May. So refer to that. All those in favor? Opposed? So awarded. In the resolution, we need a roll call. Roll call.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay.

and Planning Board. We have 8B refer to the Planning Board. We have 8C to 8H, I'm sorry, 8B we're gonna replace on file. 8C to 8H refer to the Public Works Committee. 8I to 8R, refer the traffic and parking. And 9A to 9B will be motion to adopt, roll call.

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

Yes, 10A, request the manager to provide a council with a draft ordinance that would require property owners to clear snow from fire hydrants adjacent to the property. The fine is being established for property owners who fail to do so. Councilor Rivera.

Yes, to the chair, to the administration. I will say that I was a bit surprised to find out that this ordinance is not a finable offense. And I actually found this out through one of the neighborhood meetings. and I just figured out it has no teeth, you know, and this is a very serious situation. I mean, I think even this storm, I heard of New Bedford, this happened, where they were plowing out the fire hydrant during a fire going on. And we know that every single second counts. and it's an ordinance anyways. I just figured to have something that has some substance, especially when we know that the city is taking care of the schools, the parks and the conservation areas. You know, and even if possibly throughout the whole winter storm, I have developed a volunteer group to take care of the seniors and the people with mobility issues. And if we find that,

If there's an issue going on with some residents, then maybe developing also a hydrate maintenance team to reach out to those. Obviously, they would sign up for that as well. possibly. But I just think that we need something with substance for teeth. And if we can make it a policy where You know, maybe one warning the first time, but afterwards, just a fightable offense. It's going to save lives and it's going to hold people accountable. So, that's it.

Send that to the manager. All those in favor of a postal audit, request from the manager, request from the police chief, provide increased speed enforcement on Forestry, Councilor Economou.

as it reads, Mr. Chairman.

All those in favor? Opposed, so awarded. Questing the manager to provide council report concerning the number of service requests received by 311 over the past 30 days related to repairing potholes in the city and Councilor Portia also include how many of those senior requests have been addressed, I mean service requests have been addressed, and how many are outstanding, and how long it took to complete the work associated with each request, Councilor Economou.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll just bring the attention to you missed. I missed one. but that's all right.

I'll go back to that in a second.

All right, no problem. I'm really just, I know 311's been the system that we've been using, good or bad, indifferent. I've heard multiple different scenarios play out on that. But I think at the point, Before I even start, I just want to say thank you. I want to thank the commissioner, city manager, for coming forward with your pothole plan for the next few weeks and at post. It's bad out there, I'm not gonna lie to you. And it's bad, you know it, I know it, we all know it. But I do feel we need to hold our team accountable as to how much is getting done in a day, Are we getting to it in a timely fashion? How many calls are coming in? Just today, I just ran out to lunch real quick. I went down East Central Street, pardon me, Councilor Bilotta,

using your district. And it's like, all the DPW employees that drive down East Central Street, and that's got craters all over it. At the bottom of 290 on East Central Street, there's a huge hole there. and to say we gotta call in to 311 to get these addressed. We're way beyond that. We need to systematically go street by street, Fill them fill them properly too by the way because now I'm getting complaints too that they came by they filled the hole and the hole is depressed yet again so the system needs in totality needs to be looked at we owe the residents the business owners here in our city we own better and we're not providing it right now and I'm disappointed on that but yet I do appreciate the the effort that is being made We have to look at new materials.

We'll be doing things the same way over and over again for years. I had a conversation with Commissioner Raleigh about When do you stop filling a pothole? You know, same thing with Commissioner Westling. And you finally cut that out and patch it properly to a square patch. because I know we've all driven over them pothole patch on top of pothole patch. That's where I come from on this, Mr. Chairman. I just want, we owe ourselves better. And that's the point I'm trying to make here. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Rosen, purpose of your rise.

I'm going to tell you, Mr. Chairman. From what I've heard about 311, and you do get some complaints about 311, but they're a clearinghouse. they take all the calls and they again refer them to different departments and the problem seems to be not with 311 when they refer them because they do refer them all it's just that the departments, the individuals that they refer these calls, many of these calls too, don't respond in a timely manner. So when people say, oh, 311 is worthless, it's no good, they can't do any more. They don't do this work themselves. they refer it and then they hope, I hope they follow up with the departments, but they hope that those departments, department heads and the folks who work with those department heads get the work done.

Maybe through the Chair, this has been talked about every year, every winter at the City Council. I know for a while, as Councilor Economou mentioned, that when A complaint was made, there was a big pothole, they filled it in, whether they did well or not, but they filled it in, and they did. skip those around it because no one reported that to them. It wasn't on their list. So have we gotten away from that? If they come to my street and they fill a big pothole and there's 10 more, will they fill the other 10? That's all they want us to do. Fill them all. on each street.

Mr. Manager.

Due to the council, it all depends on the vicinity of where that pothole was reported. and so if it's in in the vicinity where that pothole is reported and yes they will take care of those I think it all it all comes down so if it's there's another pothole block away or two blocks away they now because again they have a list of potholes throughout the entire city that need to be addressed and so if they focus their attention just strictly on that street of Pajos that weren't reported on, then the Pajos that were reported are going to be delayed in fixing. And so what they do is if their report to an actual particular Pajo that was reported on, and they're fixing that and there's some around the vicinity they address those but if it's a block away or two they're not going to address them because they got to move on to the next potholes that were on the list to address.

So through the chair to the manager, you're basically saying with most potholes, they won't get done because no one's reported them. I mean if there's 12 on my street, I should call each one in?

To the councilor, I wouldn't characterize it that way. I think they would try to do as best they can to go back out there and address as many potholes as possible that they see in the road. I wouldn't characterize it, they wouldn't address them unless you report it. but the best way to address them is through reporting them.

So if there's 15 potholes, 15 phone calls?

That's correct.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't think it's a good- What was your amendment to get a report back on that?

No, I didn't make an amendment at all. I'm just saying, let's fill. If you go into a street and you see the potholes, fill them. I know we got a list and I'm due on the next street, but wait a minute, I gotta finish this street.

I'll get your amendment, okay.

It's crazy to fill one pothole and ignore another dozen. I didn't make an amendment or anything. I just hope that the administration gets the message and says to the trucks, You know, do the whole street. Fill them all. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I do have an amendment. Two friendly amendments at the end of what I'm about to say. First, let me start off by saying Something Councilor Economou said earlier. I do think the men and women of the DPW, by and large, almost exclusively, work hard, come to work, and put in a full day's work. I have a good working relationship with the commissioner.

Thank you.

and I certainly know that he provides information to the council and he provides information to the city manager. I did not intend to do anything but sign on to this item today. That's all I intended to do, however, It's coincidence would have it, I got a phone call this morning, which intrigued me because as Councilor Rosen just said, many times over the years, I've been perplexed by the question whether or not if a DPW truck goes out to fill a hole they'll take care of other potholes in close vicinity or whether or not as was just described Multiple people on the same street have to make the same call. And I too, through the chair to the city manager, I too, and I'm sure the city manager has too, have been told, If it's close by, we fill them. If it's close by, if it was far away, you have to make a separate call. So this morning I got a phone call from somebody Berg, who lives in the vicinity of Westchester Street. And they tell me, they say, Councilor Berg, you're not going to believe this.

So I just watched DPW trucks fill holes, potholes on my street. But they went over like every other one, and they skipped them. And I said, naturally, I said, they must have been spread far apart. Oh, no. He said, they were very close. So I said, that can't be because I've been told by the commissioner and others over the last few years that if it's close by, we absolutely fill those holes. Having said that, and I apologize, this is not trying to be a gotcha moment. I didn't intend this conversation to evolve the way it has, but I went out on my own time and took some pictures. And I sent it to Nico and I want Nico to put a picture up for it because this is troubling. It's troubling because Mr. Mayor, Mr. City Manager, and to my colleagues, to myself, I don't think we've been getting accurate information. That's why it's troubling. So the pothole in front, this is on Westchester, the pothole in front, I did not have a tape measure in my car, The pothole in front is not filled.

The pothole, and that's literally the distance from the tip of my finger to my elbow, because I went out and measured it, 20 inches or so away, maybe 24 inches, is filled. Not filled to the car, by the way, so I wouldn't even say that's a quality fill. What I will say, though, is somebody attempted from DPW to fill that pothole behind the one in front. The one in front they left completely unfilled. You can see there's water in it. too. Now that's not the only example on that street. That's the only one I stopped to take a picture of because all of us who've been on that street know it's not the safest street to pull your car over and take pictures. But when I see that, what tells me is tomorrow morning when the commissioner is watching this or somebody reports back to him, heads should roll. That's a waste of time going out on the street. It's a waste of taxpayers' money. It's an insult to the environment to have the trucks out there filling one hole and skipping another. That's a half-assed job. That's the only way I can describe it. That's a half-assed job. It's an embarrassment.

It should be an embarrassment to the people doing the work there because most of them do a good job. It's an embarrassment to me as an elected official. It should be an embarrassment to all of us. And I want to make sure my amendment is that we get on the record from the commissioner or his staff whether or not potholes in the vicinity of other potholes get filled. And if that's the case, why weren't they filled on Westchester Street? That's really, I did not intend to speak today, did not intend to take that picture. I'm not trying to embarrass anybody, but when I've been told year after year that that's not happening anymore and it's happening, it really ticks me off. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, we have Councilor Rivera. Okay, Councilor Mitra.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Councilor Economou, for putting this order. I'll sign on to this. Anything to do with the potholes, I think this is a severe problem for our city. We are trying to resolve it. I know the DPW and the people, those who work for it, they work very hard to resolve these issues. But I think the time has come, as I have said before, Let's not wait for the phone calls. If there are 15 holes, as Councillor Rosen said, if there are 15 calls, it's just not practical. So I think we need to see that how we can really, rather than being reactive, be proactive. That's what I have said before, that time has come that we should be more modern. We should use the modern technology to find that our city has an inventory of all the potholes and then find out the time, how much it takes for us to really fix those and then gradually fix them up rather than waiting for people to give us 15 calls saying I have 15 holes in different places.

I mean, you don't have to give the example of only District 2, but I think if you go anywhere in District 12, there is not a single street that we don't have potholes. You go on Parkton, Fuller Potholes. You go on Millbury, Fuller Potholes. I mean, it is obvious, but it's for a reason. We live in a region where it's cold. it was snows, it was a harsh winter. All those things are the causing factor for the potholes. But we've got to be rising ourselves above the stage that we are in. We've got to try to be more modern. We've got to see that we are trying to use all our technology to really resolve this issue. I'm just giving a suggestion. I know it takes a lot. to even achieve that. It takes a lot to even, you know, the budgeting. But I think budgeting is a matter of, you know, what we can do for our people so that the city can be more safer.

King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It wasn't just a few meetings ago we had like five or six items on pertaining to potholes. And I certainly support new technology minus the autonomous vehicles, of course. due to all the issues there. My question to the chair to the administration as relates to potholes and folks being made whole. It was brought to my attention by a number of folks over the last, I'd say, month or so, that when they're looking to be made whole after an incident with a pothole that has been determined, was reported or whatever the parameters are, that they've been told that in some instances it might take up to six months to get money. And I don't know if that's accurate or not. So through the chair to the administration,

what is your understanding as to your departments as it relates to recouping monies as a result of road conditions? Through the chair. Mr. Mayor.

Yeah, through the chair to the counselor. The claim process happens through the law department. And so oftentimes when there is a pothole, there is a complaint that is called claim that's processed in the law department, the law department. goes through the investigations. They work with the DPW and the respective departments to get the information. They sometimes work with the insurance companies to also address the issue. But I'll have the solicitor give more explanation in terms of the timeframe as that is a program as part of the law department.

Madam Solicitor.

Through the chair. So I mean once there's been a determination if the city had noticed then we would pay the pothole claim and to be told that it will take six months that's not something that we should be saying or that I've ever heard. The process sometimes might take a little bit longer, but from a decision where we say, yes, your claim has been approved and we're issuing checks. We have to get W-9 from the claimant and then it goes through the vendor process. So two months, a month, 30, it depends how fast that process is.

and through the chair to the administration, what is the volume of work that we have for that specific need as it relates to remuneration or making folks whole. And I recognize that you indicated once a determination is made, it's a couple of months. What is that determination process? in your experience in the years that you've been here, what is the general ballpark range of how long that process is? You know, Mr. Mayor, we have a number of folks who for one reason or another are seeking recompense from the city. And I've been approached with hostility, profanity, et cetera. and I can't respond without the knowledge and sort of an understanding of this entire process through the chair to whomever.

Through the chair, so our claims process historically has not been a fast one. I hope and I hope that we all receive good feedback this pothole season that things have been speedier. We've implemented a digital process. Our investigation is and so on. And then, much quicker, we get a claim electronically. We pull a report from the city's server to see if there was notice. We have access to 311's server. We can see if that pothole The decision doesn't take that long. The volume is based on the number of potholes. So there's 975 potholes right now. You could say there's probably 50% claims. yeah we have one claims agent but we are all chipping in and that process this season should be much quicker than it has been historically.

And through the chair to the administration as relates to other request to be made whole if it's a slip and fall, if there's a lawsuit, et cetera, is the same staff handling that? Is it an additional staff person? I'm just wondering capacity-wise how we can meet the needs of the residents, and I would ask that by way of an order as well, just to report back, but just for the public's purposes, what does that look like through the chair?

Through the chair, we have one claims agent. We recently just hired a claims Agent Assistant. So we've restructured the office a little bit. So there is probably one and a half or two people, say, dedicated to claims. That is different than a lawsuit. Slip and falls, usually people file them as claims, but they're lawsuits. So it really depends on the type of claim. there's one claims agent. So if that's what you're asking, yes.

through the Charity Administration. Just wondering, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Mr. Manager? Yeah, Mr. Manager, just to clarify, the claims agent deals with more direct claims that are related to my car was hit. by a plow driver, hit a pothole, etc. If there's related to any falls or any type of issues related to that, that oftentimes is different attorneys addressing that, not the claims agent.

Thank you. If we could just get a report back on what that process is. I know I've worked with a constituent, I know Councilor Bilotta has as well. who was informing us that there was discussion about having to request through the Freedom of Information Act for information. and that might be a sort of atypical situation, I'm not sure. But if we get an idea what that process is, Mr. Chairman, because I know years ago when I had my Little Car, and I got into one of those and our family was struggling a little bit financially. It took forever to actually pay for it. And we are in a city where there's a number of financial challenges. The quicker we can turn around things, in a way that protects the taxpayer and also compensates folks when necessary, it would be appropriate.

So I would like to see that moving forward, Mr. Chairman, you know, we talked about trying not to become a pothole city here in Worcester and I don't know what we're doing as relates to the here and now I know the the technology that we're talking about might be a bit ways out. You've done some stuff with WPI, et cetera. But we really perhaps could learn perhaps in committee, you know, what it is. being done in those locations where there is a lot of snow, there's a lot of precipitation and the like. But the last question I had to the chair, and this goes back to how do we measure Efficacy of departments. the department heads are responsible for how the work is done. City manager's responsible for how the department head works. City council's responsible for the oversight the manager has and have an oversight over that.

where we at as it relates to evaluating our department heads for performance reviews to the chair.

Mr.

Manager. Through the Chair to the Council, like I've stated previously, we've been working on these evaluation processes. They're pretty extensive. We hope that we will have something in place over the next few months. that we could start kick off in the new fiscal year in terms of evaluating every single employee starting with the cabinet members.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would certainly like to sign on to this item. And I know 311's been a challenge this year. would also like a perhaps a friendly amendment to this that that would request if not if it's not accepted I'll make it as a separate order that we get some feedback on any contingency plan and we have in case the new system encounters some difficulties as a way of notifying folks, Mr. Chairman. And the last question to the chair is, Where are we at with onboarding the new system? What date will that go live?

What system? Mr. Manager?

To the council, we expect to have a report to this council body for the 24th and our hope is to go live on the 25th.

Thank you. Councilor Economou. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Make no mistake, I'm not here to point fingers at anybody doing their job or this or that. Quite frankly, the pothole situation was in place. a year ago, over a year ago. And the 311 works great if I'm calling and saying, hey, Right outside in front of City Hall there's a pothole. That's perfect for the 311 system because then you can document that one thing. We are at such a point where As Council Rosen said, as Council Bergman said, there's potholes next to potholes. I challenge anybody here today, tomorrow, take a drive down West Mountain Street. Take your car. Don't take anybody else's car. Take your car. Drive down West Mountain Street. Drive Brook Street.

There's two inches of asphalt missing everywhere. There's potholes everywhere. and I feel now I'm being put in a position where I have to do something I didn't wanna do but I have zero problem doing it and I'm gonna do it to make the point. If you want them documented, Damn it, I will document them. And just be prepared for the amount that you're gonna get. That's all I have to say, Mr. Chairman. This has to be priority number one. You've heard us all talk about it, I appreciate the path that's been brought forward, but in two weeks, three weeks, once we start streets sweeping, that's all gonna fall to the wayside. And I've said it when I was on the council before,

In my opinion, that's a perfect opportunity to have a crew with those sweeping teams to go around street by street and start getting this pothole mess straightened out. Thank you. That's all I have to say, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And I honor both amendments that came through.

Okay.

Mayor Joseph M. Petty.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate the order. And we brought it up three weeks ago, then two weeks ago. We've been talking about potholes, and it's a serious business, no question about it. and I drive a lot through the state, the towns. It's not just Worcester, it's everywhere. If you listen to the news today, I think a pothole opened up on 495 as big as a car. and so they're everywhere because this is a tough winter. I remember back in 2000, I want to say around, Ray Mariano was the mayor, 2002, we had the same type of weather, like in the two year period where it was freezing, Ice, warmth, ice, warmth, which has a huge impact on the streets. And we got through it. We'll get through it this time. To me, it's not that difficult. We just have to stay on top of this and make sure we have the... Finances to do it, the people to do it, and have a plan. I think you're coming in with your plan, you said, in the next couple weeks, so I do look forward to that.

and the streets are a mess for all different reasons. I think weather's a big culprit of that. Utility companies are a big culprit of that. Over the last, all the infrastructure repairs or expansions that utility companies haven't done in the city of Worcester is part of that. I think, I want to say, Councilor Rivera might have filed an order about putting up a financial plan to do the streets. I think he did, I'm sorry if he didn't. So we did that after some bad years, and Council Clancy did it, and the City Council did it. We put $20 million into the streets. and I don't know if the other was already filed. But we should look back when you do the budget, maybe come in with something if there's a way, whether it's taxes, whether it's this. It was a tough vote back then. But I couldn't believe all the streets that were done. A lot can be done for a small amount of money. So something to look at, Mr. Mayor, just as my amendment to this.

to tie our hands on this, but just to have something we can discuss on how we can really upgrade the streets of the city of Worcester, because they are a mess in some respects. like I said it's not just the weather it's the utilities and then we're not just keeping up too on some of the streets because we only put how much how much money do we put away for street city manager It's not that much. One street can take someone's pretty much budget up.

Yes, through the chair to the council, on the annual basis, We fund roughly about $20 million of street infrastructure.

Yeah, that's your pick, City Council's pick.

Yeah, yeah. Our pick, any maintenance to the streets, et cetera. It's roughly $20 million.

and that money goes by, doesn't get a big bang on your buck that it used to get 20 years ago. So we get a report back on that, so many ideas that we did finance. doing streets over at a quicker pace than what we're doing with $40 million, okay? Thank you.

Okay, District 2, Councilor Robert Bilotta, followed by Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, just one question about East Central Street, because to District Councilor Economou's point, Yeah, it is pretty rough down there. And it is a heavily traveled area. There's no doubt in my mind that DPW staff have traveled that so just do the chair to the city manager to DPW do they do spot checks themselves or like record or enter in work orders themselves when they see issues or is it strictly just getting calls from 311 or communications from us and the commissioner and yourself.

Through the Chair to the Councilor, one of the priorities of the staff that's working on the streets is to try to go and address the issues that they have at hand. and so they got a list or projects, et cetera. And not every DPW worker that you see in a truck is in operations. they might be an engineer, and so it's not their responsibilities to do that. I know there's been a lot of conversations of if you're a DBW worker or any city employee, you see something, you report it. often happens by different individuals, but they're not out there reporting every single issue they see. They have tasks at hand that they have to do, and so they're either working or navigating the streets of Worcester to do whatever that next task may be. So I couldn't give you a direct answer whether each individual at DPW is seeing each issue in each street and is reporting that.

I do know that some of them report it, but oftentimes they're focused on their task at hand, which could be multiple different tasks not related to that particular pajo, for example.

All right, just thank you for that. And just as a follow up, do the folks that work on street in the streets department and that are working on those potholes, do they have the ability or the capability to say while they're filling to communicate back to put in a work order? Or I mean, obviously they can, but like you said, they're working on the task at hand but I think it would be beneficial for them to just keep their eyes open when they're out there and not to if I understand that they might not be able to address the additional potholes while they're there if they're moving on to somewhere else but at least having the for encouraging them to just put it on on the roll you know what I mean to report it I think would be helpful as well because Bergman talked about it like in the previous meeting like we're driving around we see things we're reporting it so I just think that could be helpful so just wanted to put that out there but appreciate the information.

Burrios, Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Everywhere in the city, we've had potholes erupt everywhere. There was actually on the corner of Pioneer and Westboro. They did a wonderful job during the middle of the winter. There was a leak that our DPW did a great job. and the freezing cold weather filling it. Somehow, something happened and I was coming out down the street and it was at least six to eight inches deep. The tar that they used to fill it in was almost gone. And so it was left like that with a couple of cones in the street for about three or four days. So I know they knew about it, but they needed to act on that a little bit faster. But I've filed orders about Lake Gav for the past, A couple of years to have that put on the list. I think it is finally on the list.

But that's a very long street. That's, what, a couple miles? Two and a half miles maybe. And that needs to be done. And what I would like to have as a report coming back is the impact of the cost of oil on our bituminous product because that's going to greatly impact our budget with the rise in gas and all of that. So we really need to take that into consideration as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Borgman.

Just very quickly, Mr. Chairman, I just want to be careful in how my words are interpreted. I certainly agree, Mr. Chairman, with what you said earlier, that we're not the only city that has these issues. Worcester notoriously gets whacked during most storms and the temperature variations in Worcester are certainly more significant than other cities and towns in Massachusetts. So I don't doubt other cities and towns have similar problems. But I also want to be clear about what my point that I was trying to make is. Even though other cities and towns have similar problems, I would like to think other cities and towns aren't filling one pothole and leaving one right next to it empty or unfilled. That's my issue. My issue is that I don't understand why if there's a work order for a pothole on one street the truck isn't filled up with asphalt and the instructions aren't every pothole until that asphalt is empty

out of your truck within your eyesight should be filled today because we've revved up the engine, we've emitted the carbon monoxide, we've got you in the truck, and we've got the location. where you're supposed to go. Don't come back until the truck's empty. I don't understand that. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'd like to think that the residents and taxpayers of the city of Worcester at least deserve that. despite the fact that we get an inordinate amount of potholes because of the weather here. I get that.

Okay, we'll send that out to the manager as amended as separate auditors and et cetera. All those in favor, opposed, so awarded. 10C, request to see manager, request to police chief, provide increased speed enforcement on Vassar Street. In the vicinity of Cornell Road between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m., Councilor Economou.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Real quick, this is not too far from Midland Street School. Unfortunately, Intervale Road, Vassar Street, Midland, Intervale, Vassar, people take the liberty of stepping on the gas there and there are a lot of young families in that neighborhood and now as the snow's melted away I know they'll be outside playing and they are playing Thank you.

Okay, all those in favor, opposed, so ordered. We are on, is it 10, A, B, C, D, E. The question may provide counsel through POIA's feasibility of conducting a study concerning how the Worcester Regional, Transit Authority has been serving with the public schools, students, including connecting routes, online arrivals, safety, quenziness, and overall reliability. Councilor Hayden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, not only just with public schools students, but I think just yes mainly was public school students but people in general I've noticed and just asking and get a better understanding of trying to get to school on time and they're coming from one Part of the city to the other, they may have moved and now they're travel to schools a little further away. So I just would like to know where we are at with that because sometimes it takes them over an hour to get to school based on what part of the city they're at. and that's pretty concerning. So I would love to see if we can get a report on that. And then obviously it'll be good to know, you know, The safety of it, I'm pretty sure it is safe, but until we hear from individuals, we just don't know. also the overall cleanliness and the reliability.

I know there's areas where we want more routes and maybe this will help us as well but I think it's really concerning to making sure that our students are getting to school on time and if there's any way we can work on that, that would be greatly appreciated. So thank you.

All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. I request the Standing Committee on Veterans Memorial Parks and Recreation to discuss current policies regarding planting of street trees with said discussion to include whether these Fazola. Locations are suitable and whether resources are adequate to maintain said trees. Councilor

Thank you Mr. Chairman, through you, to the administration, to my colleagues, and to the general public. I have provided some pictures tonight of what I'd like to speak about. For some reason, that last portion of the order where it says whether resources are adequate to maintain said trees and whether these locations are suitable. What I mean by that is we'll plant trees all over the city, and for some reason, some are able to take and grow fine and then others look like what's on the screen. They start growing from the base, And actually, from the ground, they start growing branches and buds. Buds turn into branches. And if you don't get them early enough, you end up seeing what's on the screen. I was just talking to Councilor Economou.

I have adopted seven trees on Grafton Street from Sunderland Road to South Plaza. that for whatever reason the businesses that have those trees outside ignore them and they grow wild like I'm speaking of. They end up looking like a bush. Now, those trees that I'm speaking of right there on the screen are on Roosevelt School property. And that's a large property. Property for the custodians to take care of. So I finally had enough and I went and I trimmed those. But that looks like a bush. That doesn't look like a bush. like a tree. So my point in all this is that I'd like to speak about this in more depth at the committee level because I understand that forestry falls under the Parks Department.

and I'd like to speak to the Commissioner and come up with some ideas and some plans to definitely improve how we plant trees here in the City of Worcester. Thank you. Thank you, those in favor? Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I rise to state that I've actually filed orders on this myself, as well as spoken with the commission. I just love being listened to and get responses back. I guess maybe I have to get up here and start complaining about it because this is not new. This has been going on for a long time and as recently as last spring. I believe it was I had a conversation with the commissioner about this and saying can we get to the neighborhood groups because These trees are city property. You can't just go and cut them without having the instructions and knowing what to do and how to do it and all of that. And I believe you have to have permission to do it as well. For the benefit of what Councilor Fresolo is saying, the frustration level that I have of not being listened to or responded to when I file orders and requests and stuff, It's frustrating.

This should be a simple thing to do. Send out literature. We have literature. We have information on how to take care of trees. But we need to make sure that the right information is getting out there and to the right people. and Councilor Fresolo was involved in the Grafton Hill Neighborhood Association, that would be a great thing for the association to get information on and help educate people. but I would like to see some positive responses to this because it's not just been my issue, I think almost every Councilor here has spoken about this, but thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Manager, all those in favor, oppose, so ordered.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like that sent to the Parks Commission. I'm sorry, Parks Commission. Committee, I'm sorry.

All those in favor, oppose, so ordered. requesting a committee on veterans memorials and parks recreation discuss the feasibility of the use of low maintenance materials in lieu of grass and medium and sidewalk strips. Councilor Fresolo.

Again, Mr. Chairman, through you to the administration, my colleagues, and the general public, another reason why I filed this order is Medium Strips as well. And the idea that we plant grass on medium strips and we don't have the manpower. It's not that the DPW are not capable of taking care of it, but we simply don't have the manpower to take care of it. and in some cases you'll go by and the medium strip can be two to three feet high before they're able to get back out there and cut it. What my thought process is, is stop designing streetscapes in the city that we can't maintain. Shift from grass strips and high maintenance tree pits to low maintenance plantings

Hardscapes where appropriate and set a clear service standard so the general public can follow it and see it. And I know that One of the people that called in earlier mentioned this item and said you know I hope we're going to replace grass with plantings if we're going to make any changes which I state right here. We need to look at some better choices than just grass because if we're gonna plant grass, we plant grass on medium strips, we plant grass on new sidewalks. that we replace. And in all due respect, in these inner city neighborhoods that I represent, I don't believe we should be planting grass by the sidewalk when the Three Decker is not owner occupied and who's gonna cut the grass?

I'll tell you who, no one. And it becomes weeds, no one fertilizes the grass, so it becomes weeds, and it grows as weeds, and those weeds grow into branches. And before you know it, you have a small tree growing out of your sidewalk. This is what happens. It happens a lot on Vernon Hill. It happens a lot in Green Island. I just drove by today on Endicott Street. Endicott Street, we did a couple years ago. and I couldn't believe when we were going to put dirt down and sprayed the grass and all the material that they do. There's no one in that area that's cutting that grass. So we have to make smart decisions. We have to make better decisions. Again, corrective criticism here. I'm not trying to criticize, but we need to be better. We need to make better decisions. And that's why I'd like to see this

Item also, go to the Parks Committee, and I'd like to speak to the Commissioner about ideas of how we can improve. And I'll leave it there. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Councillor Ojeda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just, I'd rather just to get some clarification, and not that I'm against these orders. Due to chair to the commissioner, so, I guess in the past or currently whenever I see issues like this arise I reach out to you about my concerns about similar things like this and you reach out to department heads or whoever is responsible for this. Can you just give me let us know what is that process. I understand we wanna see this, but what is that process of making sure, like I've had the issues on Millberry Street, on Pleasant Street, on Park Ave, a lot of the trees, new trees are there. then you have the overgrowth and that's not being taken care of. Can you just explain to me or to us what is that process and how does it get done and who's responsible for that?

Mr. Manager.

Through you, Chair, to the Councilor, The trees, when you're looking at the tree process that was discussed earlier, it depends on where that tree is situated, whether in a private property, a public property, et cetera. If it's in a sidewalk, the responsibility oftentimes, that responsibility of maintaining that tree is on the city, the city, the parks department maintains these trees. these street trees. We also maintain the islands as well. And so if there's any overgrowth or any kind of situations like that, we try to address them. Last year, as you saw, part of the August kind of blitz that we put forward to address a lot of the overgrowth and trash in the city was one of the reasons we saw a very dry summer then. So we saw a lot of weeds all over the city. and that was something that was kind of a pet peeve of mine.

But oftentimes, I work with the counselors. Counselors come to me. They ask questions. They request these things, whether it's through 311 or they bring them to me in my one-on-ones. and I try to address these as we talk through them with the commissioners. There has been conversations about some of the products to utilize in some of these spaces. and so again, there'd be a conversation that was to happen in committee, but I know that the departments have looked at different products. One of the areas that we've exampled a certain product is if you look at the canal district, and other pockets in the city. What we tried is a is a certain product that that allows for this kind of like a gravel in the base of the tree that allows the tree to expand over time as well because the tree needs to expand. but it also prevents from any weeds or any type of stuff growing as well. And so we've looked at products like that across the city

But again, one of those things that's important as part of what we do in the base of the tree is to impact any runoffs as well. So all these types of grass strips, or even at the end of the tree, at the bottom base of the tree, impact the ability for these runoffs that we have in our streets.

Okay, thank you. I remember we did a walk with the mayor on Millbury Street and there were some trees that you you know like you mentioned your pet peeves and and they were addressed and you know I just want to go back to Councilor Bergman's point about you know some of the people in the department they're doing great work so say seeing as Councilor Economou had mentioned but it's also the accountability on making sure that if it's part of their responsibility to go around and making sure that these trees are taken care of and you know they're cut down at the base and there's no overgrowth I think it's just that as well so we don't get to this point where where things start to to get out of hand and um you know to to your point again i want to say thank you um i did see an obvious blitz like you you mentioned the word blitz on um on addressing those issues. So again, thank you. But again, Councilors, if those are those issues, again, that's 311. Reach out to, you know,

King, obviously the City Manager, and I'm hoping this spring that we can make sure we try to get ahead of it now before it gets out of control.

So thank you.

Thank you, this is 10G, correct? Yes. And we did 10F?

Yes.

All right, so this is regarding both, it's similar. Just a couple of questions, because initially I stand in somewhat opposition to this. I understand the nature and I agree with the need to be more meticulous around how we're managing all of this. That being said, Mr. Chairman, I know from the time I chaired the Urban Tide Committee that we've been doing a lot of work on reducing the heat island effect. in certain areas of our city. We know that disadvantaged areas of our city are less likely to have green spaces. And I also know that as part of our greater mobility plan that these sorts of things, trees and

Medians, Grass, et cetera, have been explained to us serve a traffic calming purpose as well as pedestrian refuge. also from what I recall from my time as chair in that committee that in the areas of the city where we have this heat island effect and lack of tree canopy Mr. Chairman that there's Health disparities at play. The reports have shown us in committee and in this council floor that folks are suffering from asthma more frequently. consistently in other areas for one example. So that these sorts of things can help folks actually breathe. The improvements on folks' mental health as they see all of this. So while I agree 1,000%, I have those questions.

I don't know that I can support this. I just want to ask through the chair to the administration, am I off base here as it relates to the impacts of greening medians and the planting of trees through the chair?

Mr. Manager.

Through the Chichester Council, there's been an effort from the Department of Sustainability and Resiliency and also the Parks Department in partnership with a lot of the community-based organizations and advocates Thank you. Unfortunately, we were denied as part of that grant, but as part of the ARPA dollars, we also put in initial funding to enhance and increase We worked with WPI to do a heat mapping index in terms of some of the areas in the city that were impacted by these heat islands, areas that we needed to improve our tree canopy. and there's a number of reports from public health department to the sustainability office overseeing and identifying the importance of green spaces, trees, canopies, Grass strips, etc. Because again, one of the things that we want to reduce is the health outcomes in our city.

We want to improve those health outcomes. And one of those ways is to address in the tree canopy. and so right now that's why we established a tree commission. We have a tree commission in the city and we have an urban and many more. We also have a new tree master plan that we've developed to address the the the tree plantings over a period of time. And also I know right now we have a report that's an economic development committee of Tree Removals, or Sustaining Trees as well, and Tree Plantings. So, I mean, there's been a big effort around this for many different departments for a number of years, and we continue to have those conversations with the council body.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have questions about supporting this, but I will do so based on that explanation. I will support 10G, but I appreciate that because I couldn't without it. the reason I'm saying that Mr. Chairman is that it is a fact that we're trying to have these impact on these areas so what I'm hoping is as relates to 10G through the Charity Administration. Is there a way to prioritize? Because this stuff isn't going to happen overnight that the Councilor. is looking for. But is there a way to prioritize in those areas, in the areas that we've indexed, in the areas of Heat Islands, and Lack of Tree Canopy. Can we prioritize the upkeep in those areas? Like, how do we go about, I mean, we have so many medians.

I know we have some businesses that help out, communities, groups, and et cetera. but are we able to prioritize in those areas the maintenance and the tree assessments through the chair? Mr. Manager? Does that make any sense at all or no?

To the Chair, to the Councilor. It all depends because if they're fairly new trees, it requires less maintenance. the maintenance is more so on mature trees where the council alluded to where you start to see a lot of the root area starts to significantly overgrowth. and so again that's something that we will look at as part of our maintenance plans oftentimes the most the trees that are Newer, in terms of our ability to plant them, oftentimes those that require that maintenance. and so depending on the on the heat islands areas so if we put an emphasis on planting in those heat islands there's very likelihood that we would need to do enough maintenance around them the maintenance will probably happen in areas where we have more mature trees thank you

Mr. Chairman, I'm going to support this. I'm hoping that the council will allow an amendment. If not, I'll file it as a separate order. in the consideration of the use of low materials, low maintenance materials in lieu of grass that we get a report back on the impact in any areas where there's a heat island effect. and the impact on any pedestrian refuge and traffic calming as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, so we'll send that to the Committee, and all of the reports to the manager and requests. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. that the City Council see Worcester does hereby authorize the creation of an ad hoc committee on bringing NCAA March Madness to Worcester for the purposes of discussing the strengthening of the future submissions of a bid by the College of the Holy Cross and or Patriot League to the NCAA in effort to host a preliminary round of the Division I Men's March Madness Tournament, said Advocate Committee. will be established for a period ending on December 31st, 2027. Further requests may appoint members of the City Council to set ad hoc committee in accordance with Rule 48 of the Rules of the City Council. Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's March Madness time. Worcester's a basketball city. We have a number of folks that are participating right now. in the NCAA tournament, folks who have graduated from our Worcester public schools, from our private schools, Holy Cross College, it's a women's team. Their basketball team is currently going dancing in the NCAA. We know that there's a number of considerations here. I attended on reaching out to Councilor Hayden on this, and I apologize for not reaching out on this matter. for the second time. Won't happen again. But that being said, Mr. Chairman, we know that there's significant economic impacts on mid-sized cities who host this. We last hosted this in the beginnings of the 2000s.

and in the 90s and right now what's being reported is that for mid-sized cities it can generate revenue anywhere from six million to twenty million dollars due to a number of things. Hospitality, hotel stage tax revenue, sales and excise tax, Visitor Spending, Mr. Chairman. And we're lucky. We have Worcester Airport that's increasing its capacity as well. And we've seen in the media that there's some challenges around hotels. So I've done a little bit of research, Mr. Chairman. and it's not simply about having hotels in Worcester. There's a standard and that standard is 30 minutes, 30 miles, Mr. Chairman. 30 minutes, 30 miles as far as the application process.

and I think that this ask here, Mr. Chairman, is for the Office of the Mayor to partner with the Council to try to augment and try to extend and do something a little different. and contribute to the College of the Holy Cross, the DCU and the other stakeholders in their future submissions. Mr. Chairman, Right now, bids will be opening for I think 2028 and 2029, I'll double check. Those bids are opening this summer. bid responses are due in the fall, reviewed in 2026. In early 2027, sites will be announced for 2028, 2029, Mr. Chairman. We can't simply you know, fold because of concerns.

We know that we do have relationships. with the former governor of this Commonwealth who leads the NCAA. And we should exercise any influence we have as the second largest city in New England, Mr. Chairman. This is one of the most economically influential sporting events in the country. Some of the considerations that are made in the application is past history. how often applications are made. And in addition to that, Mr. Chairman, they consider the last time that you hosted. and the longer that's been, the higher up you get prioritized. Now, we are in competition. We're not looking for final four at this point. We're not looking for the finals. We're looking for the first couple of rounds, Mr. Chairman.

It requires a full court press. This would be something new for us as a council and something new to, again, create this ad hoc committee with the input of the mayor. we do have ice hockey that's here. And I just have a question about that through the chair to the administration. Is that happening again this year? Has it happened? Is it happening next year? Mr. Manager? How many years in succession have we had and NCAA ice hockey tournament. In what round?

To the chair, to the council. It is happening in this year. I don't know which round it is, but we'd be happy to get a report in terms of The consistency of number of years at these heist hockey usually is what they call, it could be like the Frozen Four, the Final Four, et cetera. So that's come to the city of Worcester multiple times. but we'd be happy to bring back a report that gives you more in detail the consistency and the number of times and the potential impact of that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really am confident that our business community, our business leadership will not being the media, bargaining or negotiating against our application publicly. I hope that we're able to kind of pull folks together and put a package forward. We have more hotels in this area than we've had in the past. We have more in the city than we've had in the past. In addition to that, 30 minutes, 30 miles talking about Northboro, Marlboro, Auburn, et cetera, Westboro. And we do have the ability to do this, Mr. Chairman. It just requires... A stick-to-itiveness. Now, I will mention in closing that basketball is king. When you think about that men's tournament, the women's tournament is exploding.

and we've won a couple of state championships and been in a couple more with our girls and our boys. And now we have people playing at the highest levels throughout the country. Ice hockey regional championships, Mr. Chairman, NCAA generated around 1.2 million or so. Again, First round basketball. First round. 10 to 20 million, Mr. Chairman. And we could certainly benefit from that. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Councilor Toomey followed by Councilor Ojeda.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually filed an order to take a look at this before and there were a couple of reasons why we didn't get it. One of the major reasons that we didn't get it is because we don't have what the NCAA is asking for in terms of facilities in terms of hotels. They want 10 full service hotels. Not a country inn that doesn't do room services, doesn't have a full restaurant. They want full service hotels. 10 of them. 10 of them in the community. We have three. We used to have more. They've also increased the number of seats because every seat brings in extra dollars, so our facility at the DCU currently has 14,500 seats.

They're looking at 17,000 to 20,000 seats moving forward. I don't think we're at a place to have an ad hoc committee on this without a frank discussion of how feasible it is to overcome these deficits. And as stated in the Whistler-Telegram article on March 14, Holy Cross's 2020 application was rejected because the NCA requirements on the number of full service hotels in the area. Also from the article, while Worcester is the second largest city in New England, and we certainly should have this, we did it and we did it well for so many years, right? We've just been the center of basketball here in Massachusetts and New England. But our stock of full service hotels The hotels that the NCAA defines as having a restaurant room service and other important perks is far too low to meet the organization's standards. Bid documents show. We have three, as I said, and the NCAA likes to have 10 full service.

I'm quoting from the So until we have those hotels, we're on the outside looking in. And even if we get them, we still have to compete with destination cities and be chosen. So let's discuss how we can encourage hotel development first so that we can continue to work toward this. I think that's something that needs to be addressed. And I'd like to see this go to economic development to be discussed rather than an ad hoc committee.

Okay. Thank you, Councilor.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was just wondering, since I was forgotten twice, if we can add a friendly amendment to include Division II, Division III, but also the other sports. Shout out to Assumption College men's hockey team. They've actually won their second Northeast Championship in three years. And then also, just recently, Anne Maria as well. to their conference. So these teams obviously get bids into the NCAA tournament, Division I, II, and III, as Councilor King said that basketball is obviously which is the Mecca, I believe. And it all started at the Boys and Girls Club on Yonagav. But we'll continue with that. but I think it's important for us to include those other sports because I could be wrong, but as we look into it, maybe what's requested because it's Division II or Division III

The request for the amount of hotels and stuff like that might change. So that's why I approve of this. You know, again, Councilor King got me twice, but he won't do it again. I trust him on that. But I think it's important to, as I said, to amend it to make sure we include these teams. because we are having multiple sports really, really putting Worcester on the map on many levels. So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had the NCAA basketball here. It was probably 20 years ago, right? It was cool, you know? You might want to get like the third or fourth round, but I think the first round's the best because that's when you get like eight teams and you come into the city. It was so packed here. I know since then the rules have changed. I wouldn't mind doing the ad hoc committee, but if I ask Councilor Berger to take this and just maybe bring something back to the council of parameters so we can have the ad hoc. and make people cheer. I don't have to cheer it, but just put councilors on there. When I first read that, I said to myself, we need 17,000 seats. I think something like that, if I remember right. And so many hotels, space, and 30 miles.

Just to come back, so people would be interested to come in on this, to say, we can do this. and put a good ad hoc committee together and say yes or no. Because I think people are going to be concerned, how do we address the 17,000 seats? How do we address the hotels? But if we actually did a survey of the area, maybe bring Discover Central Mass in, just to say what we have, how we're going to go about doing this, then do the Ad Hoc Committee. That's my suggestion anyways. Because I like to do this, I'll be honest with you. But I think we need some base path from the council and say, this is what we have for facilities, this is what we have for hotels, and the amenities that Holy Cross might say we need from the schools, and then bring the ad hoc committee together. Just a thought anyways, because it was pretty cool to have the NCAA, even hockey. It was pretty cool to have the hockey in here. and I think Councilor Ojeda mentioned the level two teams would be pretty cool too. It might be different requirements for that too, so something that we probably could do.

Maybe it's not the same standard. but we just have a pathway to this and get people interested and do it quickly so we can get this done I think would you mention 2027 Mr. Chairman at the end of 27 to have this done by Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

We're going to go to Councilor Jose Rivera, District 5, followed by At-Large Councilor Satya Meecha, Councilor Rivera.

Yes, I'd just like to add on to this, but I also don't want us to forget that in 1992 we had the boxing Olympic trials here at the DCU. and that was a great, great experience. So if we can line up with the United States Adventure Boxing Federation and future events, national events, it also brings athletes all over the country all over the world, something to think about.

Don't think about baseball, that's King. Okay, who's next, Councilor Mitra?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To you, to Councilor King, I think this is an exciting thing to happen in Worcester if we can have this NCAA March Madness happening here. No doubt about that. I remember in the past, as Mr. Mayor mentioned, that about 20 years back, I watched those NCAA initial rounds here, and it was really fun. But I think if we can make an amendment to your order that ad hoc committee to discover requirements for bringing in these We know some, as Councilor Toomey mentioned, that we need about ten hotels or five-star hotels. Category. We also probably need so many seats. Do we know exactly what are the requirements for us to have this event held here? Maybe we should find that out first and then do it. And then at the same time it's not only

I remember that in the past we also used to have NBA Celtics team used to come here and play as well. I mean, that doesn't require probably a five-star hotel because this would be local team coming in. But I think something like that could be explored. because this city has risen to that level where we really want to reflect that we are second largest city and we should have that vision to make this city be very exciting with different kinds of events being held here. So March Madness, NBA teams coming here and playing maybe one night and giving the people of this city A joy and entertainment and excitement. I think I like to see these requirements are found out and we can bring in the NCAA Final Four team or if not Final Four, at least the first round team here. Thank you for the order.

Chairman, I don't know if this is an amendment or just a suggestion, but it seems to me there's been a lot of good debate. I think we're all all in agreement that if we can get the NCAA tournament here, if we can get soccer, we can get women's basketball, we can get boxing, I would like, if the proponents of the order and those that made the amendments, I would like to see this in economic development where we can look at each sport, and each deadline for each sport tournament and then kind of come up with a report, bring back to council as to what the timeframes are in applying, what the criteria is for being a host city. and then Mr. Mayor, you can decide about the ad hoc committee and go from there because yes, we could start first with NCAA basketball but there's been a lot of good arguments and I don't want to exclude any specific I think we could do that relatively short period of time.

If somebody can tell me tonight that the deadline is in two weeks, then I would say forget it. We're never going to get to it in two weeks. but if we've got a little bit of wiggle room I can make this you know our committee can make this somewhat of a priority and I think we could come back with a very good report covering all major sports and give the council a lot more feedback and from there you can decide on the ad hoc

Okay. Councilor Rosen, I'll let Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just maybe a friendly amendment. If we don't have the hotel space, the hotel capacity, and we don't have the capacity of 17, 18,000 seats in an arena, We could look to the NIT, the other tournament, maybe competing tournament, which is a little smaller, but very well respected, very Good Tournament, and they do draw some very big crowds. And I think a city like Worcester could certainly handle that. And if we did host the NIT tournament, I think that might help us in the future to move up a little higher and interest the NCAA. So I would make that as a friendly amendment. Look at the NIT over the next year or two also. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly appreciate the discussion. I would encourage my colleagues not to publicly negotiate against ourselves first and foremost. That being said Mr. Chairman, We've done this in the past. We can do it again. As it relates to other sports, NIT, et cetera, that's great. I don't necessarily oppose that. But I will say is this. We have to take a shot, Mr. Chairman. Division one basketball is where the money's at. It's quite clear. It's not even close. When it comes to the other sports, you're talking about 1.6 million versus 10 to 20 million for a first two rounds impact on the city. I can appreciate sounds like the majority of the counselors on economic development want this.

I'm glad people are excited about it, but let's not get in our own way. Let's not get in our own way. And I certainly will make a motion that we get the parameters as it relates to bringing the Division I basketball tournament to the city. that was filed on this date for the specific reason that we're approaching March Madness, Mr. Chairman. I'll amend it to say men and women's. Mr. Chairman, I know that an ad hoc committee during my time on this council is not something that folks are all too familiar with. But the rules are there for this specific purpose.

when it comes to matters that are for a certain duration of time and for which we don't specifically have a committee or routine workings with. Certainly, economic is an important impact that we need to assess. But again, I'm hoping that as we move forward with this, Mr. Chairman, that we're all on the same page. and we're advocating for the city and not undermining our own application or position before it's even done. Let's be a little more strategic than that. And I would once again encourage our business partners and our community to do the same. Mr. Chairman, I would like to see this ad hoc committee come to fruition. I certainly support the motion that I made that the

requirements and parameters go to economic development. They want to explore all these different sports. That's great, too. But Mr. Chairman, I'm going to ask for your support in this item. I'm going to ask that we do something a little different. Let's create with your leadership and ad hoc committee to engage in this. The time is ticking. Councilor Bergman said he'll do a quick turnaround in his committee. That's great too. But I would like to take that up separately, Mr. Chairman. I would like this to go forward. Let's just begin that process. You can begin your thought process and concurrently we can send to Economic Development for their stamp of approval. and so on. a report indicating what the parameters are. There's no reason that we can't concurrently move forward on this matter, Mr. Chairman.

And let's not get lost. I like Councilor Rosen's idea about the NIT. But I think we can do this. Our airport is sometimes 15 minutes away. Holy Cross is a great co-host. We are a destination city. and we should be in competition. And us not getting this out and not applying for this in the time frame that I'm talking about, you're talking 2030, 2031. To the chair, to the administration, with respect to hotels, Do we have any more coming online?

Mr. Manager?

To the chair to the council there's been two hotels has gone to the planning process There's and so we expect those two hotels to be on the ground hopefully either one of them hopefully this spring if not the fall and the other one probably about a year out as well.

Thank you. The last thing I'll say Mr. Chairman. Paralysis by analysis is something my mom used to always say. Let's not get caught up in that. Thank you.

OK.

Okay, so we have a motion to send to the committee, but let's just think about it for once. I think everybody's excited for this, if we could do it. There's no question about it. Councilor King?

Whose motion is to send to the committee, Mr. Chairman?

Tomeys. Okay. With that said, I think Councilor Bergman, I think Councilor King has asked for Councilor Bergman to come back with the parameters. whatever we need to do. In the meantime, I could just start working. If we go forward with this, we just have in my mind how we're gonna set the ad hoc up. Councilor King? I mean, Councilor King. Councilor Bergman?

Sorry. I'm just confused about one thing through the chair. Actually, it's not through the chair because I'm not addressing Councilor King. But Councilor King mentions it's March Madness. Yes, I get that. Is there a deadline coming up for an application for March Madness in the future that has to do with March Madness starting in March of this year? because if there is no application that's due, I don't know what the rush with the ad hoc committee is. Mr. Chairman, I've been on this council now 13 going on 14 years. I can't remember an ad hoc committee being put together ever, but I have no objection to an ad hoc committee. I just think the work, this is clearly within the and a bit of what the Economic Development Subcommittee should start off doing. Now I'm being asked to make it a priority for something that another group is going to be working on, I really don't feel that that's fair to us. We've got other priorities too.

I'd make this a priority if you're waiting for our answer. But if you've got another group working on it, God bless them. If that's your decision, let them go ahead and do it. We've got other things. that involve economic development for that much or even greater values of money. I'd like to do it, but I'm not going to beg to do it. If for some reason, Councilor King decides or feels that this isn't relative to economic development, which I would disagree with strongly, then an ad hoc committee of other folks can take it on. And like I said, they have my blessing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, Councilor Mitra.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you to Councilor King. You know, it comes to the end of it, as you mentioned, that if we have it event here for one week, we're going to make X million dollars. 5 to 10, 10 to 12. But at the end of the day, that million dollars that we are going to make is reflecting economy, is reflecting the economic development. So I personally think that we really think it that way. This project should come to the Economic Development Committee Berkman, really find out what are the requirements for us to do it. And I also agree with Councilor Berkman that if there is a deadline to really make the application quicker. Yes, that is a different issue to form an ad hoc committee to get going with it, but I don't see there is any rush to do it and it should It should really go to the Economic Development Committee to really vent it out

come up with a plan so that we can really see whether we can do it or not. It's an exciting thing to do, but we need to have all the bases covered before we do that, and the Economic Development Committee is the right place for it to go. Thank you.

Okay, Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe every member of the Economic Development Committee smokes, and they want it. There are timelines. I mentioned them in the beginning. I tossed them in the recycling bin. I don't have them. in front of me, but I mentioned them at the beginning when I spoke. And the division of an ad hoc committee is a little bit different than a sitting committee on economic development where you have a lot of matters before you. the way I envision this and hopefully the mayor will have his vision as well is that this is an ad hoc committee specific to this one item. they're able to focus on it pulling other stakeholders and they're not dealing with anything else. This is going to require an effort given the parameters and the requirements that we're speaking about.

I know it was just brought to my attention. The NIT right now is losing money, that tournament. So again, if that's where it's got to go, that's great. This is not. circumventing the Economic Development Committee. If you want to put those three folks on the ad hoc committee, have at it. But this really is about having a committee dedicated to this issue. because the way we've gone about it over these past few years has been the exact same thing and the exact same result. This is an opportunity to think differently. Mr. Chairman, you want to just go to committee, go right ahead. I've never stated that it was no economic impact. That was part of the presentation. We talked about the dollars. But if that's what the chair wishes, so be it.

and if it's prioritized in this committee, I guess it gets prioritized, but my own point, Mr. Chairman, is that we should have authorized the creation of an ad hoc committee so we can do some concurrent plans. It's not about doing the job of the Economic Development Committee, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

I just want to support what Councilor King is saying. I think an ad hoc committee, you know, it would be beneficial to do that because, again, like King said they can focus on this. This is their one mission. They can pull in other stakeholders from outside of the city, other cultural entities and other folks that that this is their bread and butter to really that focus on bringing events and I think it makes sense to do that. Economic development I think has a lot of their plate. We're in a housing crisis. We're working on housing. I think that should really be the focus and let an ad hoc group really pursue this to the fullest and have nothing else on the agenda. So I just wanted to speak in support of an ad hoc.

Okay. Thank you. Okay, so we have a motion to send to Economic Development. No. I thought you said no, okay. So we have a motion to send to Economic Development, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? No. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Pacillo?

Yes.

King? No. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda?

No.

Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey?

Yes.

Mayor Petty? Yes.

Okay, the next item of request, City Manager, City Council, with an update concerning the city's current drought and reservoir levels entering into the spring and summer season. I don't know, let's talk about this.

Mayor Petty.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be quick on this. I was reading on, this was sort of surprising. This is after we had the two feet of snow, et cetera, was on the news that we're in a level three drought in central Massachusetts. which is I think more east to go it's even worse through the state and so I started thinking about I think one year we started to wait with restrictions, which put us in a bind in the city, making sure we had enough water. So if we're gonna have restrictions, Mr. Manager, we should come out sooner than later. I know you, I think you just said you've been working, by coincidence too, you started working on this because it's been highly publicized. That's why I joked a few weeks ago when the commissioner was here talking about the snow, how bad it was. about the snow removal that I thought the reservoirs would be full. After all the rain we got in the last week, after all the snow we got, and I guess it didn't happen even though we had a good snowy season too.

So I'd like to get a report back as soon as you can as far as what impact this has on the city of Worcester and our water and we should start Conservation Procedures now and not to wait to the last minute like we did several years ago. Thank you.

Mr. Petty, you got another one coming up right after it. Anyone else on this item? So motion 10 I to request city manager to provide the council with an update concerning the city current drought and reservoir levels entering into spring and summer session. I'll be quick. All those in favor, pose for order. You're at 10 J. Creston City Manager worked with the Chief Development Officer and appropriate cultural division staff members to organize watch parties and other events for all communities represented in Foxboro during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Said task force should include but not be limited to representation from the Ghanaian, Haitian, Moroccan, Scottish, English, French, and Norwegian communities, Petty.

I just want to make sure that this is all centralized. I know Councilor King, you're working hard on this. I'm working on this. We have other people working on it. I just want to make sure we have one central point where someone is in charge. And I think the cultural office, I believe, when something's different, Mr. Manager, I think that'd be the perfect spot to just work with us, the city council, and have that person the Cultural Office be in charge of this and make sure this all gets done. So if it comes to King and I want to get together and really proceed on this, that the Cultural Office is in charge and that we will work with them. in order to get this done. Because this is important. This is coming up pretty quick. And the more people that's centralized here in the city, and Councilor King's been working on this, also. So I think this could be as good as the NAACP. Thank you.

Councilor Jose Rivera, District 5.

Sign on.

Sign on. Is there anyone else? Everyone signed on. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered.

Okay. Okay, sent it to the manager. All those in favor or opposed-awarded. Next I request City Manager consider assembling a group of third party public works experts specializing in winter weather operations to provide City Council with a report concerning Bergman. Practices as they relate to DPW winter weather operations report should be provided prior to the upcoming budget. Councilor Bergman.

So I know the hour is late and comedy is limited, but I would say this is not asking for an ad hoc committee. This is something a little bit different. And let me just explain why. I started off on other topics tonight regarding DPW by saying the same thing I'm about to say, which is there are many, many, many overwhelming a number of people that work for DPW, men and women that are hardworking, put in a full day's work and deserve are tipping our hat to them and that includes you know administration there as well and I don't want The criticism of tonight that's been directed there to be taken as being personal or being singled out. But there are issues. There are issues, and these aren't issues that are necessarily new.

I started off this fall, I don't remember whether it was October or November, and I asked the commissioner before the first snowflake fell, I asked him, how are we looking this year? Do we have enough employees, enough subcontractors? Do we have enough equipment? to tackle this year's upcoming winter. And I'm not gonna quote, because I don't have the quote in front of me, but the answer I got at the time was basically we're doing okay, we're holding our own. Flash forward to a few weeks ago when Commissioner Wessling was here and he acknowledged, and I appreciate his honesty, that because of the lack of equipment and or personnel, that some streets don't get snow treatment and snow storms.

generally those are the streets that are flat and not well-traveled but as a resident and or taxpayer I gotta be honest I'd be pretty offended to know that I pay the same taxes as everyone else but my street gets omitted There was some misunderstanding, I guess, between the answer I got in the fall and the reality in the spring. But that's not the first time it's happened. I would also say that I'm not trying to be critical on the big storm we had a while ago because I understand big storms are out of the exception. But I started my Concern over the response of DPW, the very first snowstorm we had, which was, I think, more or less about seven inches. and I asked Commissioner Westerling and I remember the question I asked and I remembered his answer because a big red flag went up of concern to me that night. I asked them, were there any lessons learned? Some of you may remember that question.

Were there any lessons learned after the storm? Because most of us, if not all of us, got a boatload of complaints. And the answer I got back at the time was, the lesson, and again, I'm not quoting, but this was the gist of it, the lesson, Councilor, is to always support the DPW. Now that's a bureaucratic answer. I get it. That's not the answer I want to hear. And then let's flash forward to what's happened other than the major storm. Even a few weeks ago, we had an ice storm. I'm sure other colleagues and myself, numerous complaints that salting never even, I'm sorry, Salting and Sandy never even came to their streets. And then you've got other issues like the brine. I've been on this council 14 years now. I don't know how long brine has been a tool in the toolbox for DPW, but I can think of maybe twice in 14 years that I've ever heard it was used. Maybe it can't be used, but I hear excuses every storm. It's too warm. It's too cold. We don't have enough brine. We ran out.

it's like every storm again excluding the major there's excuses and then I was given you know fairly recently a list of streets that had more than 10 complaints over the last couple of years. And there are streets here with Milton Street, 19 complaints, need sand or salt. Reboli Street, 20 complaints. I'm trying to go just off this list quickly. And on and on and on. Over a dozen complaints. These are over 100 streets. Now, not everyone is a dozen complaints. Some are as little as six or seven. But most of them are closer to 10 plus. And then when I ask the commissioner, what about the inspectors and supervisors? Aren't they paying attention to the number of complaints on the streets? I don't get an answer I even understand. It's like, well, they do, they don't. Nobody even has a logbook that can say that the inspector's going out to inspect and what the problem really was.

Was it a citizen that was expecting more than they should have? Expected? Or was there really an issue? Was the contractor paid more than once to go back multiple times for doing a bad job? There are layers and layers and layers of concerns that I have. Layers of concerns that I have. and, you know, I was on this council when we increased the budget for $4.8 million to $6 million, which is a 20% increase. And I got to be honest, I've said this before. This comes as no surprise. I don't think the quality of snow removal has gone up since we increased that budget. I actually think the number of complaints have gone up. The quality has gone down. So before this budget comes, before me at least, I can't speak for my colleagues, I need to have some answers because quite frankly I will not if the if the status quo remains the same and I don't get answers to some of these questions I will not myself vote for a dollar more for snow removal operations and also

I would consider removing some funding from that department if they can't justify the increase with better service. One of the most important things in public safety is to be able to leave your house in the morning, Your loved ones be able to leave their house in the morning whether it's snow or ice and feeling a sense of confidence you can get to where you need to get to without taking your life in your own hands. And let me just finish by saying one more thing. I think the tip of the scale to me in wanting to make sure that we have and other people outside the department look into this issue and report back to us is not because I have a sense of disrespect for anybody in that department. But when we were here last time and had a lengthy conversation, The excuse then, more than anything else that I heard, the new excuse was that too many people are parking their cars during the snowstorm and we have to tow the cars. That to me just sent me over the edge. I mean, every single storm there's a new excuse.

And I can't justify to my constituents, to all our constituents, all the residents and taxpayers of the city of Worcester, I can't keep up with the excuses. And I've been on this council too many years. Some people might think that a great job is being done. I personally think there's a lot more to be expected from that department it's not getting done and the only way we're gonna get answers is to have outside people that have experience in snow removal they could be former employees of the city They could be former employees of Mass Highway. I don't care. I'm just asking the city manager to get new sets of eyes on best practices. maybe I'm gonna be surprised. Maybe they're gonna come back with a report that's gonna say DPW and Worcester does everything they're supposed to do and they're using all the best practices. I doubt that. I would love to hear that. But what I really would like to hear is as moving forward, this is what we need. And maybe they need more money, because maybe there are some deficiencies they're not willing to admit to us. When I asked that question in October, November,

are you all set for this year? I wasn't asking that question because I was trying to withhold funding from them. If the commission had told me, no, we need Boyle.

Thank you. Yes, I just wanted to sign on to this because I filed a similar order last week requesting a third party. for lack of a better term, audit of the DPW to find out what can we do better, what's missing. And I don't know why councils of the past 5, 10, 15 years haven't you know move to do that I something I filed within my first three months of being on Councilor Pacillo I think it's really worth doing and I do want to support this If we can't get an audit, for lack of a better term, for the whole department, it's well worth doing one for winter operations to find out where there's gaps, how we can support DBW to do better, and what can Be fixed and changed. So thank you.

Thank you. So send that to the manager. Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can't stand in support of this without a response from the city manager, Mr. Toomey. So before I cast a vote in the affirmative, I'd like to hear a response. I know last week, or I think it was last meeting, I thought the exact same thing asking for a third party review of the entire department which would include weather operations but it's been a lot said tonight through the chair to the administration I want to hear from our city manager thank you

Mr. Manager.

To the chairs of the council. I think we've been pretty clear I've been very clear in this body here that we have significant areas of improvement in the department. This department, just to contextualize a little bit, over the past two to three years since I've been on the role of city manager, has seen significant, significant turnover from the top in terms of the leadership. And so there's been a lot of changes, a lot of historical knowledge, a lot of leadership that has left for many, many years for various reasons. Many of them was retirements. And I think because of that, there's been some challenges in the department in understanding some of the things that they currently do or they've done in the past.

In addition to that, there's been an evolving kind of community in terms of demand and expectations of the department. and that I take full responsibility as a city manager in knowing to manage those expectations but also at the same time making sure that the department delivers the way they need to on a day to day basis. There's a lot of areas in this department. That's why we've tried to transition components of this department out of the department so that we can harness and focus on the areas that we need to address. I don't want to point any fingers to previous administrations of that department in terms of why we've had the issues that we've had. But there's this number of issues that have been brought up in this council floor that we've talked about. I wasn't even aware that was happening or things that were occurring in the department. We've taken corrective action in some areas.

who take corrective action with personnel in terms of discipline. There's been individuals who've made some choices that has impacted their and we've had to take some corrective actions to address some of these challenges. There's a lot going on in this department. I think there's a great number of individuals now in that department. They're fully staffed in terms of the leadership and that way down. We've come down to maybe roughly about 40 vacancies from the initial, close to 100 that we had. They've done a great job in hiring people. We got way more to go. And so they've made significant efforts. They've reached out to experts. They've reached out to whether it's brime experts, they've done significant trainings in the department to try to bring people from the outside to give better perspective They're trying to be creative in new technologies of asphalt, etc.

They're doing everything they can to, in some ways, kind of rip the band-aid, look under the hood, and address some of these issues. The issue is that these issues are occurring in real time as they are also trying to assess how can they better improve the department and what are the resources they need to better improve the department. I do have confidence in my department. I do have confidence in the commissioner. I do have confidence in the leadership that he's been able to assemble in that team. they have some great ideas and things that they want to improve they want to get better they know it the leadership there knows that the department knows it as well and so we look forward to bringing forward some some information that hopefully brings some confidence to the council in our ability to deliver as a community because

For me, I've always said there's two departments in some reality, and I don't want to minimize any other departments in municipal government. But there's really two, three departments that are the core of municipal government, right? You need a police department, you need a fire department to provide public safety, and you need DPW. it's the core of municipal government services. I acknowledge that and I know that and that's an area that we're trying to put much emphasis into supporting this. I do want to clarify something that in last year's budget we talked about reducing the actual six million dollars that the council had appropriated for snow operations. We reduced it to 5.5. And the reason why we reduced it to 5.5, because there was a historical trend where we were not spending this full $6 million. We were spending less than that.

that's why every year we were coming in with a request to allocate their surplus of those monies to allocate them for acquisition of equipment for the department. and so last year we reduced it to 5.5 million dollars and then the additional $500,000 we applied that to capital outlay for the purposes of applying and I mean purchasing equipment. as we did that in this current year's fiscal budget and the council approved that, we had probably one of the worst storms in 10 years. And so that, that budget, and we'll come back to the council to report on that, has definitely surpassed the budgeted amount of $5.5 million. So I just wanted to clarify that point. But we raised in dollars years ago for $6 million. Last year, we reduced it to $5.5 because of the historical trends.

and that was something that was community catered to council and also adopted by the council body.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I think you've changed my mind. I'm going to vote in favor of this. In addition to that, Mr. Chairman, the question that comes to me is based on what The manager just testified to succession planning career development. We're talking about a loss of historical knowledge in that department, turnover, retention, lack of retention, et cetera. I don't know what the succession planning is. I don't know if we are giving career development, leadership development, educational development opportunities to folks who are aspiring. And I'm wondering whether or not if we are in fact to what degree

are those being accessed? What are the contributing factors? If there is a lack of volunteering or folks moving in that direction, is there incentive? you know I think that we have to look at this systemically in addition to sort of where we're at currently so I would like a report back as relates to all of that, the succession planning, career development, educational development. and to what degree their workload impacts their ability to access those types of opportunities. Because at the end of the day, once we get this department to where it needs to be, sustainability is the key. And what you've heard over the last few weeks, while you have confidence in that department,

The majority of this body has expressed a lack of confidence, you know, and I'm hopeful that we can get to where we need to be. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'm going to send that to the manager. Economou.

I'd just like to sign on, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Okay, as amended. All those in favor? Opposed, so ordered. Resolutions that the City Council of Worcester does hereby support recognized marks and City of Worcester, and that the City Council of the City of Worcester does hereby call upon its public officials, community members, and residents to observe in celebration of Women's History Month by participating in the various happenings to honor the many achievements of women's throughout history, Councilor Toomey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It was very nice to hear me being recognized as the only woman on the council. It's the first time I think publicly I've heard that from someone. So it's nice to hear. We did have more women on the council, but here I am standing tall. So this month, we celebrate the incredible women of Worcester, past, present, and future. like Gabby Kelly Foster, Lucy Stone, Frances Perkins, Josephine Wright Chapman, Esther Howland, for whom the chamber is named, Sarah Robertson was his first woman mayor, and Connie Luke's first popularly elected mayor, Stacey Luster, the first African-American Councilor, former Councilor Rivera, first Latina, and every woman from all backgrounds who have run far or been elected to office. Those who are shaping our schools, our businesses, our neighborhoods, their impact is everywhere. Women have built our city, lifted our communities, and inspired us all.

And honoring them isn't just applause, it's a challenge. to support, uplift, and open doors for every girl and woman in Worcester. Let's also honor every woman who in their everyday actions Help their neighbors, help an elderly person, assist a single mother who's struggling to raise her children, volunteer in the community, or against all odds who overcame addiction or domestic violence and take their lives back. So today, this month, let's celebrate women, all women, regardless of race, religion, creed, political affiliation, and more, because we are one. And let's remember from City Hall, to Worcester City Common, from Main Street to every corner of our neighborhoods. When women rise, Worcester rises. So together, let's keep lifting, supporting, and inspiring because Worcester shines brightest when women shine. Thank you.

Councilor Bergman?

I'd like to sign off, but just very briefly. You know, we had a couple of people in the audience, people speaking, you know, saying, I hope you guys will sign on to this resolution. I mean, I don't think realistically anybody could expect us not to sign on to this. It was rather puzzling how that could even be a question. But I really rise just to make note of a couple of things. It's easy to say, and it's true, that there certainly is a disproportionate number of statues and memorials to men in the city of Worcester. There are. Mechanics Hall, you can look up, and only recently a few women have been added, but it was predominantly men. and the history of Worcester is no different than the history of many other cities and towns in Massachusetts except for the fact

that I think even though we haven't given full due up until more recently to women, we've certainly done better than most cities and towns, 1860 and 1861. were the first women's rights conventions and they were held in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 18, I believe it was 78, women were given the right to vote in Worcester, albeit only for school committee, but it was still something novel and unusual and not something that happened everywhere else In the state, but it happened here in Worcester. And as Councilor Toomey correctly pointed out, this very chamber, when this building was built in 1898 and then finished in 1899, was named thereafter for a woman who owned a business in the city of Worcester. So yes, we have come a long way and we started off not necessarily where we should have been, but I think we've made up for a lot of that and we certainly have a long

and I'm proud of the role that we've recognized of late particularly women have had in the City of Worcester and contribute to the well-being of the City of Worcester and I just don't want to leave the notions out there that Worcester hasn't been on the leading edge or on the leading curve of recognizing women's rights and I would just say that the suffrage movement, and many other movements supporting women. Worcester has played an integral role. This council, majority of this council, there are some newer members, participated in a recognition in a monument for Sarah Wall who refused to pay her city taxes when she was told that paying her taxes didn't give her the right to vote and the house was auctioned off by the city assessor and lo and behold her neighbors, many of which were men, came to make sure that the house didn't get sold and that it was reclaimed by Sarah Wall and her family.

So I think we have a lot to be proud of. We have a lot to look back on and probably regret. But looking forward, I think we have a lot to say, a lot of reason to say that Worcester should hold its head up in recognizing and celebrating women and hopefully we continue in the future to even be more equitable and more responsible in recognizing the women's roles, women's role in Worcester's history. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Councilor Bilotta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to share some words about Women's History Month. So throughout American history, women have played an instrumental in supporting and supporting roles in civil rights and social movements. Leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cote Cady Stanton use lobbying, marches, even civil disobedience to achieve the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Abolitionists like Abby Kelly Foster and Worcester, the women who led the civil rights movement like Audre Lorde, Fannie Lou Hammer, Rosa Parks, and the countless women who supported the networks and organizations in the civil rights movement. Women who led the disability rights movement like Judy Heumann, Bridget Bourne-Furrell, the countless mothers of children with disabilities who never give up hope and are fierce advocates for their children. In 1990, during the Capitol Crawl, a demonstration where disabled activists literally crawled up the stairs of the US Capitol, an eight-year-old Girl decided to join in. Jennifer Keegan Chaffins joined demonstrators. She herself was disabled, crawled up 83 marble stairs to the US Capitol.

10 months later, the ADA was signed into law by a Republican president, no less. every young women can make change. These women dedicated themselves to freedom, equality and justice. It's important we honor those who led these movements and it's even more important to acknowledge that their work was not comfortable nor safe. These same women we celebrate were ridiculed, harassed and faced the weaponization of politics, power and the justice system. Here in Worcester, we have so many great women working in services and nonprofits doing the work to better people's lives in our community. Countless women named Harriet Chandler, Senator Robert Kennedy, Senator Robin Kennedy, Parley-Jones, Sue Mailman, Julie Bowditch, Utelha G.I., Meg Coffin, Deb Hall, Ann Bureau, Maide Morales, I could go on and on. We have so many women that are doing great work in our community and we're lucky to have such a strong King, and the community of women here in Worcester. So I just wanted to say cheers to everyone and cheers to Women's History Month.

Thank you, Councilor King. As a legislative body, I want to take the opportunity to point out once again the importance of legislation. And I'm going to speak a little bit about Title IX. We know that in this country education has been considered the great equalizer. on a host of levels, socioeconomic, equity, parity, all of those things. And Title IX, which was passed in 1972 prohibited sex-based discrimination in federally education funded programs. And its impact has been significant.

The 1970s, men earned PhDs eight times higher rates than women. As of 2010, women have earned annually more doctorates than men, Mr. Chairman. This particular legislation was important as we can see in sports, of course. Going back once again, as we talked about earlier, Women went from 1 in 27 athletes to 2 in 5, normalizing the elite athlete for women. Academic opportunities were increased from legislation Title IX.

that allowed women to enter academic professions of law, engineering, STEM, medicine at higher rates. And legislation, Mr. Chairman, The Title IX legislation evolved to include covering issues of sexual harassment and sex violence that hinder educational access. as we honor and as a father of three girls, a girl dad, as we honor women, as we recognize the soul woman in our council, it's important to note what our job is. Our job is legislating as a body. We're the legislative branch of the city of Worcester. And we have the opportunity when we have the political will to make a difference as it relates to equity.

And in this instance, as it relates to our young Women, our young girls, and for their families. So it's an honor to support this, and I'd like to sign on.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I rise here to applaud for the inspiring speech delivered by Councilor Toomey. That was really nice and I think it's the right thing to do. I'm proud to celebrate the Women's History Month for the City of Worcester and really this is something this resolution is one of the best resolutions that I can enjoy so much. Thank you, Mr. Councilor Toomey, for the beautiful speech you gave, and we're doing the right things. Thank you. I sign on to this.

Let me say real quick, I want to thank Councilor Toomey and the Council and what was spoken by Councilor King, Councilor Toomey and everyone else and how important this is and we do have our first Women's City Solicitor. Yeah, and who's doing a great job for the city. and I think we had the First Woman DPW Committee and Public Works Committee, I mean, at one time, and First Woman, Public Safety, First Women Economic Development, All Women Economic Development, I think, one time. and so we're making progress and the council's going in the right direction so I just want to thank everybody. So we'll send that, everybody wants to sign on so we'll do a roll call, roll call.

Bergman, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, yes, Mr. Rosen, yes, Mr. Toomey, yes, and Mayor Petty. Yes.

Okay, we have 12A and 12B, adopt on a roll call, roll call. I'm sorry, one's the Advertiser Proposal and one's the Adopting the Rule call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta?

Yes.

and Mayor Petty.

Yes, 1380 for the ED. Motion to reconsider, Mr. Chairman. Afterwards, okay. On the last two. Oh, the last two? Yes. Okay, motion to reconsider the last two, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? No. Councilor Bilotta? No. Councilor Economou? No. Councilor Fresolo? No. Councilor King? No. Councilor Mitra?

No.

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

No. Okay, 13A for the ED. 13B for the Public Works. 14A and 14B's motion to accept. All those in favor, opposed, so awarded. 15A and 15B's are they on a roll call? Roll call.

Brueggemann, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Petty. Yes, motions to adjourn. Those in favor, opposed, so ordered.